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This is from a 3-part mini-memoir about the Landmark Forum from my old blog in March 2009. It received tens of thousands of views, and I still hear from people about it. You can read Part 1 here and Part 2 here…
It’s “Day 3”, or, life after the Landmark Forum. Here I will give my final thoughts and opinions on the Forum and how it operates. I think I’ve recalled this subject in an informative manner, and I hope it’s helpful for anyone researching it.
What the Forum is/is not:
After a few years to reflect on my experience with the Landmark Forum, from this distance I can tell people what the Forum truly is, and what it is not. The Forum definitely is NOT a theology or religion. The Forum is also NOT a psychiatric program; however, it does use the power of a group to offer and drive home specific concepts that can relate to mental health. This can be equated to therapy, as people are wont to do with most LGAT programs; however, I don’t believe traditional group therapy lasts just 3 days and smacks your ego around!
As for what the Landmark Forum really is: it is an ongoing 3-day intense conversation. It is a structured deep discussion with exercises designed to help a group of people get certain insights. It’s claimed you will make distinctions that will help empower you to “live in the present”, a concept taught by countless authors, philosophers, and belief systems for centuries. Yet, the Forum’s version of this is fairly strong and more hard-hitting: if you abandon self-defeating complaints, stop needing to be right or for others to be wrong, and be straight in your communication, you become open to new ways of thinking and you can experience life in a different way.
The aim seems like a relatively general one. Who wouldn’t want to live in the now, avoid your past experiences affecting your present thoughts and decisions, and stop struggling with others about who is right or wrong. The aims of most Human Potential movements deal with these issues, and addressing them successfully is the lofty goal of all of them. I know people living in the past, ruining their future, with one self-dwelling pain after another. I also know people who try to dominate, or avoid domination (the Forum says humans usually do one of the two), by trying to “make other people wrong”. Human beings naturally get a bit turned-around during the course of a life, so I think it’s a valiant aim to help people find better ways of being; however, many self-help groups miss their target. I believe no LGAT or seminar is a natural or perfect way to learn these things, including the Landmark Forum. But, ultimately, neither is religion or a host of other philosophies concerning “being”, and our experience of it.
The “Cult” of the Forum?
Obviously the Landmark Forum is frequently branded a for-profit self-help company, while harsher critics label the Forum a cult. My take? It’s light on the cult, but heavy on the pushy sell and unpaid volunteers. Sure, they didn’t ask me or my fellow attendees to leave my family and friends or sell all of my possessions. And, true, they (no longer) can be said to have a single charismatic leader (although with Erhard's brother being CEO—can you really say there's no "charismatic leader"?). They never asked me to make a pilgrimage anywhere, or mix kool-aid. Seriously though, is the Forum actually a cult? It's not a question I feel I can answer having only attended one single 3-day (and one evening) Forum seminar. Are they cult-like? In a couple of ways, to me, yes: First—the Tuesday night session. Those enthusiastic graduates talking about their breakthroughs and transformation, they were practically proselytizing the Forum at the two Tuesday night “introductory sessions” I attended. And that just creeped me and several friends out. It smacks of old-school religious zealotry to any healthy skeptic. So those recent grads, backed by Landmark Education volunteers (who are unpaid) creates this atmosphere of a really hard-sell of The Landmark Forum—and that pretty much earns it the cult moniker, in most any casual circle of skeptics. It's not technically an MLM, but it really feels that way to most people at those Tuesday Night sessions. The other way in which I feel Landmark is cult-like is how Volunteers are unpaid, and their eagerness exploited along a difficult path to become employed by Landmark. Legally this is essentially an Internship, but because fresh Landmark Graduates are usually enthusiastic and eager to make a difference—it's very easy to take advantage of eager and dedicated people, in that situation.
If you look at the Forum’s “7 commandments for being an extraordinary person” (now retired, or called something else—I think) you see a lot of common-sense and powerful statements; however, there’s just one that bothers most people (in bold italic):
Be Racket-Free — give up being right, even if you know you were.
Be Powerful — be straight in your communication and take what you get.
Be Courageous — acknowledge your fear (not necessarily get rid of it) and then act.
Be Peaceful — give up the interpretation that there’s something wrong.
Be Charismatic — give up trying to get somewhere. Be entirely fulfilled in the present moment.
Be Enrolling — share your new possibilities in such a way that others are touched, moved and inspired.*
Be Unreasonable — in expectations of yourself and others beyond what you would think they are capable of.
* So if you look at the “Be Enrolling” commandment, I think this is where it unravels for me and damages so much of all the positive gains of that 3-day weekend.
I've spoken with other graduates over the years, who feel the same way. “Be Enrolling” has an official meaning of “sharing with others your breakthroughs or new possibilities”; however, there’s an implicit meaning that “Enrolling” is little more than recruitment tenet at this point: because "Enrolling" in action became our assignment at the end of the seminar weekend—as an exercise in integrity to bring someone to that Tuesday Night session. Those guests received the same heavy-sell on the Forum I saw before when our company's CEO brought us. Graduates themselves get also are pressured anew to sign up for the “Advanced” Landmark Forum courses as well.
I cannot speak for other Forum graduates, but I intensely rejected this aspect of Landmark. People are naturally skeptical of enthusiastic wide-eyed people who experienced a life-changing breakthrough. So it was no surprise to see some visitors walking out of that Tuesday night session. Those who stayed heard testimonies from Forum grads, got acknowledgment (applause etc) with each person’s story, and a genuine palpable excitement in the air amid a kind of "evangelism"—that really is the only word that came to mind. Cult experts call enthusiasm and applause “love-bombing”. I’m not so sure it applies here, because “acknowledging” people (clapping) was done to a positive (mostly-not-manipulative) effect during the actual seminar itself. But this all was just a complete turn-off for me, seeing how Landmark people and volunteers acted in both of the Tuesday night recruitment efforts I had attended.
I know they are a for-profit and need to make money (and that means attendees in chairs) but the natural push-back that occurs with their registration recruitment efforts. I believe Tuesday Night is likely on of the key reasons why Landmark graduates do not number 50 or even 100 million people in 2009.
So the Tuesday night “Enrolling” session is a big part of what makes the Forum seem like a cult. But, excluding the Tuesday night session—I must acknowledge that I did get many new distinctions and perspectives...and I created several new opportunities for myself with those perspectives. But the recruitment angle just ruins it, and I think they should have re-engineered this part of Landmark Education long ago. Some Forum grads might say my observation about Landmark Education’s recruitment practices is my “Racket”, or that I don’t “get it”. I’ll not belabor that argument, except to say my complaint is shared by many outsiders and Forum grads alike, and the “Cult” meme gets earned by Landmark Education’s refusal to revisit and explore changing this practice.
Yet, even after consideration of the ugly business of Tuesday night “Enrolling...”, I believe The Landmark Forum has two distinctive facts that help it somewhat-manage a true cult status—from attendees points-of-view: the Forum doesn’t separate attendees from family, or ask graduates to part with personal assets (other than money for additional training workshops, of course). In fact, the Forum’s 3rd day focuses on improving relationships with family, strengthening familial ties wherever it’s beneficial, and to take responsibility for your relationships. This is something most traditional cults do not want you to do, since no cult is made any stronger when you remain in the orbit of your family and relationships outside of the cult. That said...it feels like it's an entirely different world for those unpaid volunteers for Landmark. From speaking with a former Landmark volunteer—I have come to feel that internally Landmark has some difficult aspects keep it problemmatic in the cult-like department. For attendees and participants, I never experienced anything cult-like beyond the "Enrolling" Tuesday night stuff.
When you look at Werner Erhard (the founder of the original est and Forum from the mid-80s) and all of the ink spilled over the years about the ways in which Erhard is problematic—it doesn't really help them. It seems to me that (for purposes of my write-up here) Landmark Education separated itself from Erhard as soon as it was founded—to carry on a reformed est training program. You never hear a remote mention of his name from Landmark—yet his brother runs it.
The Landmark Forum states forcefully that its own language, insights, and lessons are NOT any big "truth"—and the "Empty and Meaningless" exercise reinforces that. The traininig is about insights and distinctions—and about things people routinely miss. But can "Distinctions" and tools imparted allow for what people might call "transformative" outcomes? Landmark definitely was not about “enlightenment” as much as they're looking for "transformation" in participants. But, to me, obtaining a different POSSIBLE way of being and communicating, which can produce practical results (their "technology"). If you take it on that and that alone—it doesn't feel culty. But the same can't be said about how Landmark is on the inside for its volunteers, who are probably NDA'ed to kingdom come. The Forum seems to get its juice from seeing certain things as “meaningless” and looking at any “truth” skeptically—where you deal with your world from a place of empowerment. A concept ripe for manipulating people, in the wrong hands. All I can say is: I never witnessed such potential manipulation happen in front of me during my brief experience.
So there you have it on my thoughts about the cult thing—which I fully-admit is incomplete and solves nothing. I guess I should just say it's didn't feel like a cult during the 3-days of the seminar—but felt differently on those Tuesday night sessions. Landmark Education does not market the Forum much beyond the word-of-mouth of “Enrolling”. Look—you can have all the powerful ideas in the world but the tragedy of Human Potential movements and LGATs is simple: outsiders and insiders often build them up into more than they are. No powerful ideas are perfect, and imperfect humans can blow them out of proportion—perspectives can get skewed. So I believe that cult or snake-oil claims will always happen with any for-profit LGAT, including Landmark.
Final thoughts
Would I ever recommend the Landmark Forum? I have never gone out of my way to recommend it in the 15+ years since I attended the Forum. But I got a lot out of it, for myself. If their Tuesday night recruitment sessions go away, would I then recommend it? I'm not sure, but it would be easier to recommend. At any rate, I cannot deny that the insights and distinctions I gained—from my own experience—helped me be more confident in my work. And the concepts I gained helped me be better at communicating, and taking personal responsibility for my relationships. Good or bad. Did it make me a better person? Nah. I do that myself, day by day, learning from my experiences and with help from family and friends. I just have some nice tools to use, to help me continue in my journey and growth.
So I will say this instead: if someone were searching for something that can empower them without becoming their whole life, and they skip the Tuesday night business and additional courses (don't worry, your integrity will not be harmed), the Forum cand be a powerful option for growth for some people. As I have said before, people are imperfect...therefore any organized teaching is always imperfect. I have no doubt a lot of people have benefited from Est and the Forum in spite those shortcomings I discussed. People should research and make their own determinations, and your mileage may vary. Here is a brief guideline for people considering the Forum:
-If you hold rigid beliefs which help you function in life, I think the Forum could be more harmful than helpful.
-The more fragile the state of a person’s ego the more harsh the Forum sessions may feel. Conversely, the more ego-centric you are the more harsh the Forum sessions will seem.
-I believe The Forum is definitely NOT for anyone who has ever participated in long-term psychiatric therapy, *or is currently undergoing counseling. At all.
-If you are someone who has a strong developed individuality and curiosity, can acknowledge the strengths and weaknesses of groups...AND can separate the wheat from the chaff to get practical use from something new...then the Landmark Forum can be something worth doing. You have to be a healthy individual who enjoys a little risk, and can appreciate having parts of your worldview challenged and turned on its ear.
It takes guts to plunge into something and allow your everyday notions to be checked, tested, and to try on new ideas. As imperfect as the messengers Werner Erhard and the Landmark may be, I do believe there is value in it for people of certain personality types—or people in a place of heavy seeking. I never found the information the Forum imparts to be “the answer”, because nothing is “the answer” (see what I did there?). The Forum simply shares a practical set of tools that you can use in everyday life.
Since my experience in 1995 I have had my own personal successes, failings, and life-events in between. In finding my own personal peace in the messy and imperfect journey of life, I’ve always been inquisitive and trying new ways of thinking. Did things that I learned in the Landmark Forum help in that journey? Possibly. Is it the reason I am happy? Of course not! But I cannot deny the useful tools my Landmark Forum experience gave me. A different way of thinking was simply available to me, and I picked the parts that were the most useful to me. And I am absolutely certain my career success owes much to some of the concepts I learned in the Landmark Forum.
The ability view life as individual moments that I am attaching meaning to, and to learn that I’m free to remove and create my own meaning was always a useful thing. It allowed me to turn around some dark moments, and help others in my professional career and life. To some people that’s just Zen Buddhism, to others maybe it’s God. Whatever your own beliefs or thoughts about what it means to be a human being...there are many other “Forums” out there that you can learn from. Whichever place you choose to get new knowledge from is entirely your own individual choice. As imperfect as beliefs, ideas, and new ways of thinking are...they are out there in the world for us to learn about, and maybe benefit from. Or even discard. Good luck!
Originally published at mydigitalpathos.com in 2009, and re-published at julianwest.me on September 15, 2012.
Footnotes: My custom Definitions Page for terms in these articles can be found here