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      Similarly, although he never counted himself as a professional musician in the strictest sense, his musical accomplishments are by no means insignificant. A radio balladeer in the 1930s, he actually held a slot that Arthur Godfrey would later fill, and continued to compose and perform through the remainder of his life. In the 1970s, he organized, trained and orchestrated several performing groups, and eventually even saw to the production of their album. His next album, comprising the “soundtrack” to aforementioned Battlefield Earth, offered what has been described as a wholly new musical form, and utilized then unexplored computerized instrumentation. No less innovative was his second literary soundtrack, Mission Earth and his Scientology musical statement, The Road to Freedom.

      But music served another purpose, and therein lies what may be viewed as the most enduring LRH artistic contribution: for it was specifically through his 1965 examination of musical structure that he derived his definitive statement on aesthetics as a whole: ART. Described as a codification of all artistic endeavor, ART has probably inspired more creativity than any single text of its kind. Moreover, and when combined with what he provides the artist through Scientology, one is looking at a truly monumental contribution. In point of fact, one is looking at exactly that means to elevate a culture.

      In pages to follow, we shall examine the whole of it: Ron’s dissection of the creative process, his greater efforts on behalf of artistic expression, and his forging of actual tools with which to rekindle any creative enthusiasm. We shall also, of course, consider all he himself created, or the substance to his own very modest introduction: “I was not unacquainted with the arts.”




Writer Photographer Filmmaker Maker of music Philosopher of Art