by L. Ron Hubbard

By 1935, much of Ron’s philosophic research was supported by his professional literary career -- a career that spanned over 50 years as one of America’s most popular and widely read authors. Yet, given his primary endeavor, his on-going quest for philosophic truths, it is only natural that elements of his research would spark story ideas. After all, what writer does not draw inspiration from the world around him and from personal experience?

Ron’s 1938 short story, "Dangerous Dimension," is but one example of this. "Dangerous Dimension" is the story of an eccentric university professor, Dr. Henry Judge, who chances upon a philosophic equation that allows him to literally "think himself" anywhere in the universe. An intriguing notion, the story immediately prompted a reader to suggest that "Dangerous Dimension" was actually grounded in a real philosophic premise. In response to that reader’s letter-to-the-editor, Ron replied with nothing less than a major philosophic treatise.

In essence, Ron explained there was indeed a firm philosophic basis to his story -- particularly in light of Vedic theories which hold that an adept being can project himself "into far realms and ranges." Ron further cited Berkeley’s "Principles of Human Knowledge" wherein one is told that "all is a divine intelligence," and "is only a sideplay on an ancient idea that everything is a Mind and therefore there exists nothing but Mind and, hence, no space." Thus anyway one looks at it, Ron concluded, when he wrote of Professor Mudge teleporting himself across the galaxy, he was actually drawing upon concepts of a very profound philosophic nature.

In the piece that follows, then, Ron not only defines the philosopher’s role in society, but points out that when a man begins to speculate about the future, he has entered a philosophic realm.

---