Landmark Education

by Andy Testa

The entity known as Doug Shelton (dshelton@nps.navy.mil) posted: * Please give any info on landmark "forum" program. Is this similar to * scientology. Was this previously called EST? Why did they have to * restructure thier entire program? Thanks in advance

STAY AWAY. An intense course that deconstructs personality and rebuilds it around continued participation in the group. Anal-retentive non-stop participation in seminars and advanced courses is sold HARD. Read on for details.

Landmark Forum is the current incarnation of est, begun by Werner Erhard in the 60s after he was declared Supressive by scientology. I'm not sure of the dates. Werner was a staffer in Co$ who squirreled: he changed the tech and thought he had a better way to "clear" people. After his SP declare (mentioned in Captain Bill's letter) he started est. Est was pretty abusive, relying on incredibly strict discipline, insults and shouting to break down the resistance of the "student". The effect is to break down the personality and rebuild it around the group. Through the years, Werner refined the techniques so that the abuse was no longer needed. The result was the Forum. NOTE: Since est was and is a squirrel group, you are an SP for partici- pating in it or belonging to it. Since I participated in it, I have used squirrel processes and am officially an SP, not just a self-declared!

I did the Forum around 1986. At that time, it cost $500 and took 4 1/2 days (two weekends, then a friday night). I got involved through a roommate. He was very enthusiastic about how it could transform my life, so I went with him to one of his weekly meetings. I was treated to a room full of very white people in nice clothes, all very positive and testifying as to how their lives had been changed by the Forum and their current involvement. I was then taken to a separate room and subjected to HEAVY sales pitches by about 5 staffers and volunteers. My roommate was there, and offered to loan me the money, and I agreed as I was a pretty wishy-washy sot back then. So of to the Forum I went.

The Forum attempts to deconstruct personal attachments in a non-abusive manner by focussing your attention inward: The basis is being kept in a hotel ballroom for 10 hour days with little sleep, listening to the same thing over and over and over. Most of it consists of having people look at their childhood, and find the events that caused them to make decisions about other people, especially their parents. Unlike Co$, this usually results in a CLOSER relationship with the parents. Once everyone has been reduced to tears through the constant confessions of the participants, the Forum leader builds everyone back up by directing their attention on using the Forum philosophy (still called a technology!) to better their relationships and self esteem.

Sounds good, eh? well, the strict discipline is still there. You can't go to the bathroom when you want, you take meals in groups, there are strict rules about talking and conduct, and the leader won't hesitate to shame you into compliance. Much of it is psychology parlor tricks, like making a headache go away by imagining it as a physical void in your head, and imagining it being filled. This goes on for four full days. The last 1/2 day is sales night. This night, all the participants are told to bring friends and relatives. The focus of the evening is on sales: signing up your relatives for the Forum, and signing YOU up for advanced classes.

Oops! What advanced classes? nobody said anything about advanced classes! Yes, you are again leaned on heavily by the staff to sign up for seminars. Their goal is to have you ALWAYS enrolled in a class. ALWAYS. They claim to transform you in the Forum, but the transformation only lasts as long as you stay involved in the group. Now, when you've just finished the Forum, you're feeling on top of the world, so you sign up and testify for your family real hard. As well as participating in the seminars and Forum, they also rely on volunteers. Part of your involvement is to volunteer to help put on the seminars and Forum. In fact, most of the work is done by volunteers. There are very few paid staff.

I participated in several seminars and volunteered at seminars and a Forum. I took part in a sales barrage on friends and family during a Forum sales night. The approach is to not let people equivocate, not let them leave without signing up. "How much is the rest of your life worth?" is a common throw-away line. This group is really into the hard sell, and they are EXTREMELY anal-retentive and leader-oriented. Everything is ordered in excruciating detail, down to the separation between rows of chairs at seminars (no shit, I had to use a ruler to measure). Any question about WHY something was done was met with a terse "because Werner said to do it that way".

I decided to stop participating after they began pressuring me to take the Six Day course. Six Days at a camp for intense further scrubbing of your cranium. At this time, I was a student working two jobs. This course cost over $1000 and I had none, so I had no intention of taking it, but they insisted. They told me to get a job that would pay for it. I refused to change my life plans to take this course, so I became a target for constant recruitment. The same happened when I refused to sign up for a further seminar. You see, to these people, when you stop participating it means you are allowing all those negative thoughts you purged to influence you again. You need them to keep you on the path to transformation. By wanting out, you PROVE you need their help. Well, they called me every single day for weeks. They would not even get off the phone, but would just tell me about the breakthroughs waiting, and how they would help me if they could, but they wouldn't accept no. They wouldn't get off the phone. I had to hang up on them. They don't see social politeness as anything but equivocation, which is seen as a desire for help. So if you don't like being rude, they'll never leave you alone.

Now this was in 1986, recall. Is it still the same? Yes. A friend of mine did the Landmark Forum this year, before I could talk to her about it. She confirmed that the personality deconstruction is still used, although it only takes 3 1/2 days now (friday-sunday, plus tuesday night). My step- son attended one of the meetings at the request of a friend this year, and he was disgusted by the shameless hard-sell. One of his friends was actually told to take up a collection from the strangers in the room so he could afford to sign up for the Forum.

A bit rambling, but hopefully it answers you question. As this question seems to keep cropping up, I'll save this post for future reposts.

/ Xenu stole my lunch money / Andy Testa (KoX) I'm OT! I could KILL you with \testa@hou.moc.com a thought! BWAAAHHAAAAHAAAAAA! /

\ Contributing to the downfall of Scientology since 1995. /

........................................................................

Landmark Education

by anon-remailer@utopia.hacktic.nl (Anonymous)

Doug Shelton dshelton@nps.navy.mil wrote

*Please give any info on landmark "forum" program. Is this similar to *scientology. Was this previously called EST? Why did they have to *restructure their entire program? Thanks in advance

It was previously called est (lowercase) for Erhard Seminar Training; then became The Forum; then after Werner Erhard was described on national TV as being less than reputable (I seem to remember allegations of wife beating and molesting his daughter) he transferred his holdings to a corporation which became Landmark.

est was a seminar where the instructors would scream at you, inform you what a worthless piece of dreck you were, where you had to stay in your chair, and you were not allowed to take rest room breaks (stopping to pee might interfere with your "getting it").

It metamorphosed into the Forum where you had more frequent breaks and the instructors didn't shout as much (kinder and gentler cult found to be necessary when the novelty of paying to be verbally assaulted wore out).

It's similar to the CO$ in that it's an institutionalized way of separating a sucker from his money and it always has new courses/seminars for additional bucks. It never made it to legal religion status, but it could be considered a cult. Erhard is probably as much of a megalomaniac as LRH was.

Best wishes,

SP ace