Perhaps, reader, you are one of those who have been bombarded with a TV and billboard campaign promoting the book Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health, by L. Ron Hubbard. Dianetics contains information that will bring freedom and self-fulfilment, say the ads. What the ads don't tell you is that Dianetics, a "fringe" therapy that first appeared in book form in 1950, is really a "hook" to pull people into the Church of Scientology, a powerful hydra-headed international organization that extracts money and services from its members through its control of their minds and pocketbooks. Scientology (the collective term for the teachings, techniques and network of church corporations created by the late L. Ron Hubbard) sells "mental processing" that bears little resemblance to the book Dianetics. However, Scientology, for reasons my own book makes clear, uses Dianetics to lure "raw meat" (non-Scientologists) into its thought-control machine.
The words "Dianetics" and "Scientology" are built on Greek and Latin roots and sound "scientific" and innocuous. Dianetics and Scientology are not sciences, and they are anything but innocuous. Deceptive use of the name "Dianetics" is typical of Scientology's operations. The organization has much to hide. Scientology and its other "fronts" such as Dianetics speak of freedom. But what kind of "freedom"? I am one of those who spoke out about Scientology. Agents devised a way to enter my home and photograph my papers. A piano concert I booked to play at Carnegie Recital Hall in New York City was canceled at the last moment by a man identifying himself as "Robert Kaufman." My publisher was destroyed in Great Britain by a massive campaign of theft, forgery and poison pen letters.
Scientology tried to steal my freedom of thought and speech, both when I was a member and after. That has only made me want to speak out all the more. In doing so, I have your freedom in mind also. You are about to enjoy a true science fiction adventure in "another world here on earth." Entertainment, yes. But I also wish to share with you -- perhaps with an intensity you haven't known for a while -- the preciousness, the blessedness, of our right to think and speak as we choose.
Your freedom. My freedom. Our freedom.