Have You Lived Before This Life is a non-fiction book published by L. Ron Hubbard

L. Ron Hubbard

Lafayette Ronald Hubbard , better known as L. Ron Hubbard , was an American pulp fiction author and religious leader who founded the Church of Scientology...

 in 1960. It is one of the canonical

Canonical

Canonical is an adjective derived from canon. Canon comes from the greek word κανών kanon, "rule" or "measuring stick" , and is used in various meanings....

 texts of Scientology

Scientology

Scientology is a body of beliefs and related practices created by science fiction and fantasy author L. Ron Hubbard , starting in 1952, as a successor to his earlier self-help system, Dianetics...

.

It purports to be a collection of "forty-one actual case histories" of reincarnation

Reincarnation

Reincarnation best describes the concept where the soul or spirit, after the death of the body, is believed to return to live in a new human body, or, in some traditions, either as a human being, animal or plant...

 and past-life experiences, gleaned from auditing

Auditing (Scientology)

Auditing was developed by L. Ron Hubbard, and is described by the Church of Scientology as "spiritual counseling which is the central practice of Dianetics and Scientology".-Description:...

 with an e-meter

E-meter

An E-meter is an electronic device used during Dianetics and Scientology auditing. The device is a variation of a Wheatstone bridge, which measures electrical resistance and skin conductance. It is formally known as the Hubbard Electrometer, for the Church's founder, L. Ron Hubbard...

 at the Church of Scientology

Church of Scientology

The Church of Scientology is an organization devoted to the practice and the promotion of the Scientology belief system. The Church of Scientology International is the Church of Scientology's parent organization, and is responsible for the overall ecclesiastical management, dissemination and...

's "Fifth London Advanced Clinical Course" held in 1958.

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
  Thetan
  In Scientology, the concept of thetan is similar to the concept of spirit or soul found in other belief systems. The term is derived from the Greek letter theta, which in Scientology represents "the source of life, or life itself." In Scientology it is believed that it is the Thetan, not the...
  
   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?"

The book has been consistently in print until 1989. There are still copies for sale but it is not currently offered for sale today by Scientology's Bridge Publications

Bridge Publications (Scientology)

Bridge Publications, Inc. is a Californian 501 non-profit corporation. It is based in Los Angeles, California, and is the Church of Scientology's North American publishing corporation. It publishes the Scientology and nonfiction works of L. Ron Hubbard...

 and New Era Publications websites. There was no new edition in 2007 although 18 new editions of earlier Scientology books came out.

Criticism

Journalist Paulette Cooper

Paulette Cooper

Paulette Marcia Cooper is an American author who is best known for activism against the Church of Scientology and the harassment she suffered as a result. Cooper's books have sold close to a half a million copies.-Early life:...

, a critic of Scientology and the target of harassment and a failed frameup

Frameup

A frame-up or setup is an American term referring to the act of framing someone, that is, providing false evidence or false testimony in order to falsely prove someone guilty of a crime....

 for writing her book, The Scandal of Scientology

The Scandal of Scientology

The Scandal of Scientology is a critical exposé book about the Church of Scientology, written by Paulette Cooper and published by Tower Publications, in 1971....

, stated in her review of Have You Lived Before This Life:

"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. Many of the preclears believed that they had lived on other planets ... One preclear remembered that when he was in another life and was five years old he was "already on the lookout for brothels," by fourteen or fifteen had learned all about "sex and homosexuals," and by sixteen had killed his father, baby, and captain, breaking up the body of the last, before finally being taken away to the "Zap machine" where he was decapitated and his arms and body placed in a space coffin."

Unpublished sequel

Hubbard, who was extremely enthusiastic about the project, 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. The book was never released.

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.

External links

• New Era Publications: Have You Lived Before This Life?
• Scientology Library: Have You Lived Before This Life?