MILESTONES

As Mr. Hubbard’s research continued, he encountered increasing evidence of man as a wholly spiritual entity and his findings suggested potential states of existence far beyond those previously envisaged—what followed was the foundation of all that is addressed by Scientology.

In 1938, the first summary of these and other findings appeared in his unpublished manuscript, Excalibur. The work proposed that the dynamic thrust of all life is the urge to survive. The scope of Excalibur was immense and proposed not only the means of placing all life into a definitive framework of survival, but a method of resolving any problems related to existence. Mr. Hubbard chose not to publish it, however, as it did not also offer a workable therapy.

His research thus continued along two broad veins: to further confirm his theory on survival as life’s single dynamic thrust, and to determine what internal mechanism within the human mind tended to inhibit that thrust.

With the outbreak of the Second World War, Mr. Hubbard was commissioned a lieutenant (junior grade) in the United States Navy, and saw service in the Pacific and Atlantic. By early 1945, he was adjudged partially blind from injured optic nerves and lame from hip and back injuries, and admitted to Oak Knoll Naval Hospital in Oakland, California, for treatment.