Preaching

From Dianetics to Scientology:

The early system of Dianetics focused primarily on the goal of achieving the state of clear and optimal mental health in this lifetime. Scientology had more ambitious spiritual aims. Rather than focusing on the temporal world, Scientology's primary emphasis is on what Hubbard called the Thetan—the immortal soul or spiritual dimension of the individual—and liberating the Thetan from its bondage to the world of the physical. However, it was not a purely spiritual matter. Hubbard also promoted Scientology as a way to achieve a more successful life in all domains—not just psychological well-being, personal relations, and physical health but also success in business.

Scientology was by no means opposed to the mainstream values which reigned in the context of Cold War America and the larger concerns with secrecy during this period. On the contrary, in its basic ideals and corporate structure, Scientology is one of the clearest expressions of many basic American concerns from the 1940s to the 1980s. In its tactics of secrecy and concealment, it is a strange mirror image of the FBI during these years. The FBI was quite as paranoid about Hubbard, the founder of Scientology, as Hubbard was about the FBI. Scientology and the FBI are perhaps two sides of the same coin in Cold War America, as both expressed an extreme concern with secrecy, espionage, and information control which at times bordered on paranoia.