The Master,Paul Thomas Anderson’s new film, takes a hard look at the early days of a faith-based organization that sounds a lot like Scientology, which science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard concocted in 1952. How, in 2012, would someone go about amassing followers for a new cult—er, religion? It’s not that hard. Fill in this crazy-ass creation story and you, too, can be a prophet.
This feature appears in Complex's October/November 2012 issue.