Have You Lived Before This Life

Have You Lived Before This Life

First edition
Author	L. Ron Hubbard
Country	United States
Language	English
Publisher	The Hubbard Association of Scientologists International Limited
Publication date	1958

Have You Lived Before This Life is a non-fiction book published by L. Ron Hubbard in 1958. It is one of the canonical texts of Scientology.^[1]

It purports to be a collection of "forty-one actual case histories" of reincarnation and past-life experiences, gleaned from auditing with an e-meter at the Church of Scientology's "Fifth London Advanced Clinical Course" held in 1958.^[2]

Scientology's official website says of the book: "The major portion of the book is devoted to the auditing case histories of individuals, detailing their memories of past lives. These case histories graphically show how a person’s attitudes and actions in present time can be affected by incidents in his or her past lifetimes. They also document the improvements that occurred when such incidents were addressed and run out in auditing." Their promotional text for the book also goes on to note that the book answers important questions such as:

• "How does a thetan behave when the body dies?"
• "When and how does a thetan pick up a new body?"
• "What causes someone to have a "famous person" fixation?"^[2]

The book has been consistently in print until 1989. It is still sold in Church bookstores but it is not currently offered for sale today by Scientology's Bridge Publications and New Era Publications websites.

Reception

In her book The Scandal of Scientology, Paulette Cooper examined the often fantastical nature of the past lives described, referred to by Hubbard as "space opera":

"Hubbard has devoted a special book called Have You Lived Before This Life: A Scientific Survey just to past-life case histories of Scientologists. The preface of this book also contains the names and addresses of the people who took part in the experiment so that the cynical could check its facts ... Most of the Scientologists who relived their past lives believed that they had once been plain people, or very often space people, and for plots, their histories read like a type of science-fiction sadomasochism." ^[3]

Unpublished sequel

According to Cooper, Hubbard announced a sequel called Where Were You Buried? was in the works. He instructed his auditors to check all preclears for recent deaths, and then to physically locate their place of burial.^[3][4]

Proper title

Some editions of the book have a question mark in the title, but most, including the first printing, do not. Later editions added the proper question mark missing from its title in the original printings. Adding to the confusion, some editions use the question mark on the dust jacket but not on the book itself.

See also

• Scientology bibliography
• Scientology beliefs and practices

References

1. Rothstein, Mikael (2007). "Scientology, scripture and sacred tradition". In James R. Lewis, Olav Hammer. The invention of sacred tradition. Cambridge University Press. p. 21. ISBN 978-0-521-86479-4. OCLC 154706390.
2. "More on Have You Lived Before This Life by L. Ron Hubbard". The L. Ron Hubbard Bookstore. Church of Scientology.
3. Cooper, Paulette (1971). "4. Have You Lived Before This Life?". The Scandal of Scientology. Tower Publications.
4. • Ability (Scientology newsletter) number 114.
   • Miller, Russell (1987). "14. Lord Of The Manor". Bare-faced Messiah, The True Story of L. Ron Hubbard (First American ed.). New York: Henry Holt & Co. p. 238. ISBN 0-8050-0654-0.

External links

• New Era Publications: Have You Lived Before This Life? Archived July 1, 2007, at the Wayback Machine.
• Scientology Library: Have You Lived Before This Life? Archived October 14, 2006, at the Wayback Machine.