With all the oh-so-polarized discussions on Scientology rampant on the Net, I got the idea of balancing it off with this:

Anyone that wants to participate on the discussion on this very blog post must, as their opening comment, list their 5 main pros and 5 main cons regarding Scientology. Five real gems and five real disasters. Five good things and five bad. Unconditional good and unconditional bad. Not bad things that could be interpreted as good, or good stuff that could be taken to mean something bad. And no qualifiers such as “while Scientology is a complete and utter scam, there is one thing that could seem good…” or “while the core of Scientology is workable, there is one aspect that may be seen as flawed…”. Just simple statements that stand on their own; 5 real plus points and 5 real minus points. Let’s see if this can be done.

To be fair, and to be allowed to participate in this discussion on my own blog, I’ll go first.

My five main positives about Scientology:

• The communication drills: I have seen these do wonders in me and others to help the person be more open and clearer in his or her communication
• The importance of helping a person really be Here and Now: Auditing that helps a person be more in Present Time is very valuable
• The auditing principles of not invalidating or evaluating for the person is a real gem
• The auditing processes that help a person sort out the dichotomies in life is something I have seen help people to be more harmonious and relaxed in life
• The research into the nature of a being, the nature of the life force, the “theta” is something I have learned a lot from

My five main negatives about Scientology:

• The notion that Scientology is The Only Way – that it is complete and consistent, that it represents a one-size-fits-all
• The worshipping of the super-human, of Homo Novis, of OT powers and every aspect of personal power is despicable
• The total absence of openness and transparency in research (or the lack thereof)
• The branding/trademarking/copyrighting of Scientology and the attempt to compartment Scientology as “a body of knowledge” or something special instead of contributing knowledge freely to the mainstream human pool of knowledge
• The focus on enemies, war, battle and the attacking of anything critical or tangential to Scientology (disconnection and the lack of love come under this heading)

Want to pitch in and discuss? Start by posting your 5+ and 5- aspects of Scientology 🙂