bar Jonah
July 18th 2004, 10:25 PM
Cult Alert: Landmark / The Forum / Est
GODISNOWHERE.org – Ministry of Truth & Challenge
Ever heard of Landmark Education, The Forum or “Est?” Chances are, you probably haven’t. And yet, over a million people have already completed the initial seminar given by this organization that began as recently as the late 60’s, incorporating its principles into their lives and spreading the word to friends, family and coworkers about the amazing transformational blessing of learning “how to BE,” the Landmark way.
How can a $60-million-a-year organization touch more than a million lives, claim that world peace can be achieved by following its principles, get sued by the Church of Scientology for stealing its ideas, and yet remain virtually anonymous? Even after a movie is made about the organization in the late 70s called “Semi-Tough,” starring Burt Reynolds? Quite simply… because Landmark doesn’t want to be a household name. It flies under the public radar, escaping most scrutiny. For the vast majority of people, the first time they ever hear of Landmark is from a friend, relative or coworker. Someone they love and trust.
Why does Landmark want to remain unknown while spreading through over a million lives? The bottom line is money, of course. But it’s a lot more complicated than that. Sure, it is a self-help/empowerment seminar. So is Tony Robbins’ stuff. But is Landmark really a cult? Apparently, anti-cult and cult watchdog organizations around the word are convinced of this, whether they are Christian, inter-faith or secular. There are two issues at the heart of this matter:
1) Does Landmark teach false and/or harmful things?
2) Is Landmark a cult?
There are many belief systems that teach false and/or dangerous things but which are not cults. Likewise, there are even Christian groups that are really Christian (e.g. International Church of Christ or The Local Church) which are cults because of how they brainwash people into zero-critical-thinking, sheep-like obedience and separating them from the world in some significant sense.
Either of these questions alone – if the answer is yes – is reason enough to avoid this organization. But in this case, both accusations are true.
First, Landmark teaches things that are at best, nonsensical, and at their worst, absolutely false and in denial of reality. Most importantly, its teachings contradict the Bible in critical areas. Some of the more nonsensical truth claims in their own words include:
In life, understanding is the booby prize.
Obviously the truth is what's so Not so obviously, it's also so what.
The end is the end. Or it isn’t.
The end justifies the means, or it doesn't.
By its very nature, change is past-based. Essentially, change yields more, better, or different from what came before. Transformation, on the other hand, is an act of bringing forth or inventing. It is creating out of nothing.
One creates from nothing. If you try to create from something, you're just changing something. So in order to create something, you first have to be able to create nothing.
But Landmark isn’t just about spouting self-contradictory and circular statements. It also contains some very harmful falsehoods and contradictions of the Bible. What they likely won’t tell you is that Est was created by founder Werner Erhard based on the beliefs of Scientology, Zen Buddhism, Hinduism, atheistic Freudian psychology, a manipulative use of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and even such bizarre New Age belief systems as “psycho-cybernetics.” In the world of Landmark’s “Forum,” you are taught that you can have all the power. Reality and truth are what you decide them to be, and you can create your world according to your will. It is inherently pluralistic and teaches relative truth, relative morality, even a relative reality. Again, in their own words, some of Landmark’s beliefs and doctrines are stated here:
You are God in your universe. You caused it. You pretended not to cause it so that you could play in it, and you can remember you caused it any time you want to.
If you keep saying it the way it really is, eventually your word is law in the universe.
We are… the author of our lives in any and all situations.
You must come to a point where nothing in your life has any meaning.
If you experience it, it's the truth. The same thing believed is a lie.
If God told you exactly what it was you were to do, you would be happy doing it no matter what it was. What you’re doing is what God wants you to do. Be happy.
Perfection is a state in which things are the way they are and are not the way they are not. As you can see, this universe is perfect. Don't lie about it.
Give up being right – even when you know you are.
Give up the interpretation that there’s something wrong.
Give up trying to get somewhere. Be entirely fulfilled in the present moment.
Landmark preaches the very first lie in the Bible – that you can be the one in charge, be the author of your own life, that you can be like the Creator, that you can have the power to overcome every problem in your life. One of the most repetitious words in Landmark’s own course syllabus is the word “Power.” You can have the power. You can be … God.
Finally, one of the most dangerous techniques or “technologies” taught in the Forum is the art of denying reality. This goes far beyond the concept of using affirmations to change your attitude. Have you failed to sell a single product for over a year? When people ask you how your business is going, tell them it’s great! Tell yourself that it’s going great, and that it is even improving. Trying to lose weight? Even if people can see you have fallen off the wagon and gained a few pounds back, tell them on the contrary that you are still losing weight successfully and your diet plan is better than ever. Unfortunately, the consequence of this teaching is that people go bankrupt, or even that they deny illnesses to the point that they suffer serious injury or even death. Denying reality is obviously not a healthy way to live.
Teaching false and dangerous doctrines is one thing. But is Landmark really a cult? The above is certainly enough reason to not join, yourself. But if a friend is in something that simply has some false beliefs, isn’t that just “life?” How much imminent danger is really there? Unfortunately, Landmark is a widely recognized cult in both apologetic and psychological circles.
Thirty minutes dedicated to a couple of online search engines can produce a laundry list of anti-cult and cult watchdog organizations that believe Landmark is definitely a cult. These organizations include not only Christian ministries but also inter-faith groups and even secular organizations.
Rick Ross - cult expert and intervention specialist
The Apologetics Index - apologeticsindex.org (Christian)
The Watchman Fellowship (Christian)
American Family Foundation (the world's largest, secular counter-cult org.)
The Cultic Studies Journal
The Cult Awareness Network
The Swiss Cult Advisory Organization
Dienst für Analyse und Prävention (Service for Analysis and Prevention, a German org.)
Project Outreach
ReFoCuS -- Recovering Former Cultists' Support Network
Rick Ross is a widely respected cult expert, and specialist in cult interventions -- pulling people out of cults. His website has a section on Landmark (provided below) which not only provides many articles relating to Landmark, but also has many testimonials of varying strength and conviction, painting a rather dramatic picture of a brainwashing cult that psychologically enslaves and harms those who are indoctrinated into it. People who had to get psychiatric counseling as a result of their experience with Landmark, and even two individuals who -- on opposite sides of the world from each other -- ended up in psychiatric wards after only 2 or 3 days of Landmark “education.” There are testimonials of people who have lost their spouse, their child or parent or sibling, their friend, their coworker to Landmark. Lost them forever, cut out of their loved one's life.
There are even organizations like ReFoCuS Network -- the Recovering Former Cult Survivors Network -- which has a chapter devoted to people who have escaped from the Landmark cult and are now recovering from the damage inflicted in that time with Landmark. Why would this exist if Landmark were not a cult?
Psychologists and psychiatrists have extensively studied both the methodologies and the effects of cult brainwashing in its many forms, throughout the 20th century and into the new millennium. Landmark uses a particular brainwashing technique called “thought reform.”
If you read the testimonials and other information about Landmark (links at end of this article), you will see that Landmark's training/education/methodology in their seminar is almost to the letter described by the processes outlined by psychologists who describe “thought reform” brainwashing. These include:
The process begins with “Unfreezing,” which is designed to crack open a person’s psyche and remove any mental defense mechanisms and destroying critical thinking, creating a person who is easily manipulated and programmed. This first means controlling a person's time and space extensively, to the point that they become physically fatigued and mentally exhausted after 14+ hours of intensive and highly emotional and repetitious teaching and indoctrination, and then requiring homework after that 14+ hours
The organization controls other basic needs such as not only rest but food and bathroom breaks, all of which makes a person feel completely in lack of control, feeling vulnerable, and wearing a person out to the point that they cannot think critically or defend themselves well
The second step is the “Destabilization of Identity,” in which they break down the person's identity stemming from their past, thus proving their absolute need for this solution. This erases a great deal of the person’s self-image by labeling it as wrong and rejecting it.
The “Change Phase” portrays the organization and its teachers as having some kind of hidden or special knowledge (even an almost sacred knowledge) by intentionally teaching nonsense at first in the seminar (reinforcing to the person that they do not yet understand this system), all the while using special and loaded language which makes the seminar-goer feel like an outsider, but an outsider who now desperately wants in, wants to own this language and participate and feel as though they belong and are accepted for it.
They then indoctrinate the person with the belief system. At this stage, the more illogical, circular and/or self-contradictory the belief system, the more effective the brainwashing tends to be. The specific reason for this is that it forces the person to choose between their own human understanding and reason..... or the organization's teaching. It was already proven that you are a fool, cannot function properly in life or understand how to BE. So you are forced to embrace the Other -- the organization that has the answers. If their teaching too closely resembles the person's own understanding of reality, the person will have little or nothing to choose between. It is critical that the person emphatically choose the organization over his or her own ability to reason and think. It must be seen as superior in all things, and thus it becomes faultless and perfect in the student's mind. When a person gives himself over to the organization at this point, it is rewarded with tremendous love and recognition and reward, validating this decision.
Finally is the “Refreezing” process. While the initial “unfreezing” was designed to crack open the person's psyche to make them vulnerable, the “refreezing” is designed to close the person up again, like a doctor closing the patient after surgery. This is done with circular logic and training in how to dismiss the slightest criticism of the organization, and how to create stories to explain everything away. Landmark promises that upon completing the initial seminar (there are many others to take, btw), you will be in a state of constant meditation for the rest of your life. If anyone has a problem or disagreement (whether they are a Landmark graduate or not), clearly that person has a “racket,” or essentially is the one with the problem.
They are equipped with language and phrases that allow them to dismiss anything. By accepting that “there is nothing wrong,” that the person simply has a “racket,” that the person just doesn't get “it” because they have not experienced Landmark, themselves, and finally by simply saying “So be it,” or “It is what it is.” If anything starts conflicting with a Landmark graduate's worldview, they simply say, “So be it… It is what it is,” and it is dismissed from their view. Landmark is never wrong.
When shown the testimonials of people who were psychologically/emotionally harmed by Landmark, the automatic response from a Landmark graduate is that these people obviously had severe mental problems to begin with, and thus should never have taken the course. They automatically decide that the problem lies with those individuals; Landmark cannot possibly be to blame. Circular logic, making a story to explain this criticism, thus making the complainer the one who has a “racket.”
Yet another important element of Landmark’s cultic mentality is their reliance on “experience” to discern reality. What is the foundation for a Landmark graduate's “knowledge” that Landmark is right, that it is “the way to be?” Is it based on evidence and logic and reason? No… by their own frequent admission, it is based on “experience.” Landmark says, “If you experience it, it is truth. The same thing, believed, is a lie.”
Mormons experience the burning in the bosom that proves to them that their belief is the Truth. They know that we are all wrong and they are right. As a former witch, myself, I had a personal “experience” with the Goddess, a relationship with her. Even more powerful were my experiences in remembering past lives. I very vividly experienced those memories, seeing them in my mind quite explicit detail, remembering the sensations of all five senses. Some of them were incredibly emotionally intense, and a couple of them were even horrifying. I experienced that. Therefore it is the Truth?
But I believe in Jesus Christ, therefore He is a lie?
The truth is, experience is one of the worst possible methods of discerning truth. Experience leads people to Hell daily, in the millions. Experience can be misunderstood, and even worse, easily manipulated. Audience members “experience” magician David Copperfield running a sword through his own body and surviving, making the Statue of Liberty disappear, and teleporting across a room before their very eyes. There are even real Christians who are so sucked into the Word Faith philosophy that they honestly have delusions that God has made gold dust rain down on their church property, and that God put gold fillings in their teeth, even though their dentists were able to prove that they (the dentist) put that gold filling in their tooth, and they had the records to prove it. Not God. But these people truly believe this delusion. They [/i]experienced[/i] it, therefore it is the Truth.
“You can't see that Landmark is true until you experience it for yourself and believe in it.” Circular logic. You can't really understand it until you submit to it and believe in it, and then you'll see the evidence that it is right. The Mormons do this, as well. You just have to read these passages, and then pray to God that He will tell you the Book of Mormon is God's word, and Joseph Smith is the one true prophet. And not so amazingly, many people receive an answer to their prayer -- YES. They experience that. But is that the truth? Absolutely not. Experiencing something doesn't make it true, and believing in something doesn't make it a lie. And saying that the same thing is truth for one person but a lie for another, at the same time.... This is relative truth, relative morality, relative reality, and therefore it absolutely flies in the face of the Bible and God, not to mention what our entire ministry stands for. How can the same thing be true if you experience it, but be a lie if you believe it?
Is Landmark a cult? The ten anti-cult and cult watchdog organizations I listed above are all in agreement -- yes. Not because it teaches dysfunctional values and beliefs, but because it does brainwash a person, rewires their thinking. Landmark often proudly promises to rewire a person’s mind, “blow their mind” or completely alter the way the see the world. With what goal?
Follow the money.
Landmark makes about $60 million a year. Their workforce is about 95% to 98% volunteer, comprised of Landmark Education “graduates.” Their seminars are low budget in nature. They don't fund extensive research or build expensive campuses of knowledge and wisdom. You do the math. Est/Landmark founder Werner Erhard (real name John Rosenberg) eventually fled the country after this organization was so repeatedly investigated by the government for tax fraud, tax evasion and refusal to pay massive financial debts to debtors. Keeping the massive majority of their $60 million a year just wasn't enough; they had to cheat people and the government out of millions more. “Werner Erhard” sold Est/The Forum/Landmark to his brother Harry Rosenberg, who now is the top dog head of Landmark.
All the while, Landmark stays under the public radar because it never advertises, never markets itself openly. It only operates by word of mouth such that the first time you ever hear of it is from a relative or friend or coworker -- someone you love and trust. Over a million people have now completed the initial Est/Forum/Landmark seminar, around the world… and yet almost no one has ever even heard of Landmark or Est.
If you know someone who is considering attending Landmark, warn them first, and then educate yourself further so you can educate them in turn. If they are already involved, educate yourself first as much as you can, and then approach them with what you have found. Scripture gives us a model for how we are to deal with a conflict such as this. Approach them alone and seek a resolution that way. If that does not work, return with one or two witnesses – people who will back up what you’re saying and give additional perspective. If the issue is still unresolved, you must confront them on this issue before the available body of believers – whether the church you share, the ministry you work together in, or simply the group of friends you share who are fellow believers. Beyond this point, while it may be painful to consider, such a person who continues to support such a cult should not be working in Christian ministry under any circumstances. A ministry should turn away such a person until such time as that person renounces their involvement in a cult.
Please note that Landmark Education/The Forum/“Est” is not the only cult of this kind. There are a number of others, including one called LifeSpring. If a friend or relative talks about a self-help/empowerment organization or seminar that promises to give you the tools or “technology” to radically change your life, investigate it. Find out the truth about it. It may be a cult, or it may simply be more of the same run-of-the-mill Tony Robbins style of psychobabble. But it pays to make sure.
Below are a few more links about Landmark and its history. Any questions, don't hesitate to contact our ministry for more information.
Jim Schofield
jim@godisnowhere.org
GODISNOWHERE.org – Ministry of Truth & Challenge
“If you won’t challenge what you believe… we’ll do it for you.”
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The official Landmark website (http://www.landmark-educationcom/)
The official Landmark syllabus (http://www.landmarkeducation.com/display_content.jsp?top=21&mid=59&bottom=62)
Landmark, its philosophy and methods (http://skepdic.com/landmark.html), from the Skeptic's Dictionary
Est and Werner Erhard (http://skepdic.com/est.html) (the origin of Landmark, also from the Skeptic's Dictionary)
A powerful in-depth personal testimonial (http://perso.wanadoo.fr/eldon.braun/awareness/bblack.htm)
List of psychology research papers (http://www.rickross.com/reference/landmark/landmark22.html) on people who have attended Landmark, with synopsis
GODISNOWHERE.org – Ministry of Truth & Challenge
Ever heard of Landmark Education, The Forum or “Est?” Chances are, you probably haven’t. And yet, over a million people have already completed the initial seminar given by this organization that began as recently as the late 60’s, incorporating its principles into their lives and spreading the word to friends, family and coworkers about the amazing transformational blessing of learning “how to BE,” the Landmark way.
How can a $60-million-a-year organization touch more than a million lives, claim that world peace can be achieved by following its principles, get sued by the Church of Scientology for stealing its ideas, and yet remain virtually anonymous? Even after a movie is made about the organization in the late 70s called “Semi-Tough,” starring Burt Reynolds? Quite simply… because Landmark doesn’t want to be a household name. It flies under the public radar, escaping most scrutiny. For the vast majority of people, the first time they ever hear of Landmark is from a friend, relative or coworker. Someone they love and trust.
Why does Landmark want to remain unknown while spreading through over a million lives? The bottom line is money, of course. But it’s a lot more complicated than that. Sure, it is a self-help/empowerment seminar. So is Tony Robbins’ stuff. But is Landmark really a cult? Apparently, anti-cult and cult watchdog organizations around the word are convinced of this, whether they are Christian, inter-faith or secular. There are two issues at the heart of this matter:
1) Does Landmark teach false and/or harmful things?
2) Is Landmark a cult?
There are many belief systems that teach false and/or dangerous things but which are not cults. Likewise, there are even Christian groups that are really Christian (e.g. International Church of Christ or The Local Church) which are cults because of how they brainwash people into zero-critical-thinking, sheep-like obedience and separating them from the world in some significant sense.
Either of these questions alone – if the answer is yes – is reason enough to avoid this organization. But in this case, both accusations are true.
First, Landmark teaches things that are at best, nonsensical, and at their worst, absolutely false and in denial of reality. Most importantly, its teachings contradict the Bible in critical areas. Some of the more nonsensical truth claims in their own words include:
In life, understanding is the booby prize.
Obviously the truth is what's so Not so obviously, it's also so what.
The end is the end. Or it isn’t.
The end justifies the means, or it doesn't.
By its very nature, change is past-based. Essentially, change yields more, better, or different from what came before. Transformation, on the other hand, is an act of bringing forth or inventing. It is creating out of nothing.
One creates from nothing. If you try to create from something, you're just changing something. So in order to create something, you first have to be able to create nothing.
But Landmark isn’t just about spouting self-contradictory and circular statements. It also contains some very harmful falsehoods and contradictions of the Bible. What they likely won’t tell you is that Est was created by founder Werner Erhard based on the beliefs of Scientology, Zen Buddhism, Hinduism, atheistic Freudian psychology, a manipulative use of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and even such bizarre New Age belief systems as “psycho-cybernetics.” In the world of Landmark’s “Forum,” you are taught that you can have all the power. Reality and truth are what you decide them to be, and you can create your world according to your will. It is inherently pluralistic and teaches relative truth, relative morality, even a relative reality. Again, in their own words, some of Landmark’s beliefs and doctrines are stated here:
You are God in your universe. You caused it. You pretended not to cause it so that you could play in it, and you can remember you caused it any time you want to.
If you keep saying it the way it really is, eventually your word is law in the universe.
We are… the author of our lives in any and all situations.
You must come to a point where nothing in your life has any meaning.
If you experience it, it's the truth. The same thing believed is a lie.
If God told you exactly what it was you were to do, you would be happy doing it no matter what it was. What you’re doing is what God wants you to do. Be happy.
Perfection is a state in which things are the way they are and are not the way they are not. As you can see, this universe is perfect. Don't lie about it.
Give up being right – even when you know you are.
Give up the interpretation that there’s something wrong.
Give up trying to get somewhere. Be entirely fulfilled in the present moment.
Landmark preaches the very first lie in the Bible – that you can be the one in charge, be the author of your own life, that you can be like the Creator, that you can have the power to overcome every problem in your life. One of the most repetitious words in Landmark’s own course syllabus is the word “Power.” You can have the power. You can be … God.
Finally, one of the most dangerous techniques or “technologies” taught in the Forum is the art of denying reality. This goes far beyond the concept of using affirmations to change your attitude. Have you failed to sell a single product for over a year? When people ask you how your business is going, tell them it’s great! Tell yourself that it’s going great, and that it is even improving. Trying to lose weight? Even if people can see you have fallen off the wagon and gained a few pounds back, tell them on the contrary that you are still losing weight successfully and your diet plan is better than ever. Unfortunately, the consequence of this teaching is that people go bankrupt, or even that they deny illnesses to the point that they suffer serious injury or even death. Denying reality is obviously not a healthy way to live.
Teaching false and dangerous doctrines is one thing. But is Landmark really a cult? The above is certainly enough reason to not join, yourself. But if a friend is in something that simply has some false beliefs, isn’t that just “life?” How much imminent danger is really there? Unfortunately, Landmark is a widely recognized cult in both apologetic and psychological circles.
Thirty minutes dedicated to a couple of online search engines can produce a laundry list of anti-cult and cult watchdog organizations that believe Landmark is definitely a cult. These organizations include not only Christian ministries but also inter-faith groups and even secular organizations.
Rick Ross - cult expert and intervention specialist
The Apologetics Index - apologeticsindex.org (Christian)
The Watchman Fellowship (Christian)
American Family Foundation (the world's largest, secular counter-cult org.)
The Cultic Studies Journal
The Cult Awareness Network
The Swiss Cult Advisory Organization
Dienst für Analyse und Prävention (Service for Analysis and Prevention, a German org.)
Project Outreach
ReFoCuS -- Recovering Former Cultists' Support Network
Rick Ross is a widely respected cult expert, and specialist in cult interventions -- pulling people out of cults. His website has a section on Landmark (provided below) which not only provides many articles relating to Landmark, but also has many testimonials of varying strength and conviction, painting a rather dramatic picture of a brainwashing cult that psychologically enslaves and harms those who are indoctrinated into it. People who had to get psychiatric counseling as a result of their experience with Landmark, and even two individuals who -- on opposite sides of the world from each other -- ended up in psychiatric wards after only 2 or 3 days of Landmark “education.” There are testimonials of people who have lost their spouse, their child or parent or sibling, their friend, their coworker to Landmark. Lost them forever, cut out of their loved one's life.
There are even organizations like ReFoCuS Network -- the Recovering Former Cult Survivors Network -- which has a chapter devoted to people who have escaped from the Landmark cult and are now recovering from the damage inflicted in that time with Landmark. Why would this exist if Landmark were not a cult?
Psychologists and psychiatrists have extensively studied both the methodologies and the effects of cult brainwashing in its many forms, throughout the 20th century and into the new millennium. Landmark uses a particular brainwashing technique called “thought reform.”
If you read the testimonials and other information about Landmark (links at end of this article), you will see that Landmark's training/education/methodology in their seminar is almost to the letter described by the processes outlined by psychologists who describe “thought reform” brainwashing. These include:
The process begins with “Unfreezing,” which is designed to crack open a person’s psyche and remove any mental defense mechanisms and destroying critical thinking, creating a person who is easily manipulated and programmed. This first means controlling a person's time and space extensively, to the point that they become physically fatigued and mentally exhausted after 14+ hours of intensive and highly emotional and repetitious teaching and indoctrination, and then requiring homework after that 14+ hours
The organization controls other basic needs such as not only rest but food and bathroom breaks, all of which makes a person feel completely in lack of control, feeling vulnerable, and wearing a person out to the point that they cannot think critically or defend themselves well
The second step is the “Destabilization of Identity,” in which they break down the person's identity stemming from their past, thus proving their absolute need for this solution. This erases a great deal of the person’s self-image by labeling it as wrong and rejecting it.
The “Change Phase” portrays the organization and its teachers as having some kind of hidden or special knowledge (even an almost sacred knowledge) by intentionally teaching nonsense at first in the seminar (reinforcing to the person that they do not yet understand this system), all the while using special and loaded language which makes the seminar-goer feel like an outsider, but an outsider who now desperately wants in, wants to own this language and participate and feel as though they belong and are accepted for it.
They then indoctrinate the person with the belief system. At this stage, the more illogical, circular and/or self-contradictory the belief system, the more effective the brainwashing tends to be. The specific reason for this is that it forces the person to choose between their own human understanding and reason..... or the organization's teaching. It was already proven that you are a fool, cannot function properly in life or understand how to BE. So you are forced to embrace the Other -- the organization that has the answers. If their teaching too closely resembles the person's own understanding of reality, the person will have little or nothing to choose between. It is critical that the person emphatically choose the organization over his or her own ability to reason and think. It must be seen as superior in all things, and thus it becomes faultless and perfect in the student's mind. When a person gives himself over to the organization at this point, it is rewarded with tremendous love and recognition and reward, validating this decision.
Finally is the “Refreezing” process. While the initial “unfreezing” was designed to crack open the person's psyche to make them vulnerable, the “refreezing” is designed to close the person up again, like a doctor closing the patient after surgery. This is done with circular logic and training in how to dismiss the slightest criticism of the organization, and how to create stories to explain everything away. Landmark promises that upon completing the initial seminar (there are many others to take, btw), you will be in a state of constant meditation for the rest of your life. If anyone has a problem or disagreement (whether they are a Landmark graduate or not), clearly that person has a “racket,” or essentially is the one with the problem.
They are equipped with language and phrases that allow them to dismiss anything. By accepting that “there is nothing wrong,” that the person simply has a “racket,” that the person just doesn't get “it” because they have not experienced Landmark, themselves, and finally by simply saying “So be it,” or “It is what it is.” If anything starts conflicting with a Landmark graduate's worldview, they simply say, “So be it… It is what it is,” and it is dismissed from their view. Landmark is never wrong.
When shown the testimonials of people who were psychologically/emotionally harmed by Landmark, the automatic response from a Landmark graduate is that these people obviously had severe mental problems to begin with, and thus should never have taken the course. They automatically decide that the problem lies with those individuals; Landmark cannot possibly be to blame. Circular logic, making a story to explain this criticism, thus making the complainer the one who has a “racket.”
Yet another important element of Landmark’s cultic mentality is their reliance on “experience” to discern reality. What is the foundation for a Landmark graduate's “knowledge” that Landmark is right, that it is “the way to be?” Is it based on evidence and logic and reason? No… by their own frequent admission, it is based on “experience.” Landmark says, “If you experience it, it is truth. The same thing, believed, is a lie.”
Mormons experience the burning in the bosom that proves to them that their belief is the Truth. They know that we are all wrong and they are right. As a former witch, myself, I had a personal “experience” with the Goddess, a relationship with her. Even more powerful were my experiences in remembering past lives. I very vividly experienced those memories, seeing them in my mind quite explicit detail, remembering the sensations of all five senses. Some of them were incredibly emotionally intense, and a couple of them were even horrifying. I experienced that. Therefore it is the Truth?
But I believe in Jesus Christ, therefore He is a lie?
The truth is, experience is one of the worst possible methods of discerning truth. Experience leads people to Hell daily, in the millions. Experience can be misunderstood, and even worse, easily manipulated. Audience members “experience” magician David Copperfield running a sword through his own body and surviving, making the Statue of Liberty disappear, and teleporting across a room before their very eyes. There are even real Christians who are so sucked into the Word Faith philosophy that they honestly have delusions that God has made gold dust rain down on their church property, and that God put gold fillings in their teeth, even though their dentists were able to prove that they (the dentist) put that gold filling in their tooth, and they had the records to prove it. Not God. But these people truly believe this delusion. They [/i]experienced[/i] it, therefore it is the Truth.
“You can't see that Landmark is true until you experience it for yourself and believe in it.” Circular logic. You can't really understand it until you submit to it and believe in it, and then you'll see the evidence that it is right. The Mormons do this, as well. You just have to read these passages, and then pray to God that He will tell you the Book of Mormon is God's word, and Joseph Smith is the one true prophet. And not so amazingly, many people receive an answer to their prayer -- YES. They experience that. But is that the truth? Absolutely not. Experiencing something doesn't make it true, and believing in something doesn't make it a lie. And saying that the same thing is truth for one person but a lie for another, at the same time.... This is relative truth, relative morality, relative reality, and therefore it absolutely flies in the face of the Bible and God, not to mention what our entire ministry stands for. How can the same thing be true if you experience it, but be a lie if you believe it?
Is Landmark a cult? The ten anti-cult and cult watchdog organizations I listed above are all in agreement -- yes. Not because it teaches dysfunctional values and beliefs, but because it does brainwash a person, rewires their thinking. Landmark often proudly promises to rewire a person’s mind, “blow their mind” or completely alter the way the see the world. With what goal?
Follow the money.
Landmark makes about $60 million a year. Their workforce is about 95% to 98% volunteer, comprised of Landmark Education “graduates.” Their seminars are low budget in nature. They don't fund extensive research or build expensive campuses of knowledge and wisdom. You do the math. Est/Landmark founder Werner Erhard (real name John Rosenberg) eventually fled the country after this organization was so repeatedly investigated by the government for tax fraud, tax evasion and refusal to pay massive financial debts to debtors. Keeping the massive majority of their $60 million a year just wasn't enough; they had to cheat people and the government out of millions more. “Werner Erhard” sold Est/The Forum/Landmark to his brother Harry Rosenberg, who now is the top dog head of Landmark.
All the while, Landmark stays under the public radar because it never advertises, never markets itself openly. It only operates by word of mouth such that the first time you ever hear of it is from a relative or friend or coworker -- someone you love and trust. Over a million people have now completed the initial Est/Forum/Landmark seminar, around the world… and yet almost no one has ever even heard of Landmark or Est.
If you know someone who is considering attending Landmark, warn them first, and then educate yourself further so you can educate them in turn. If they are already involved, educate yourself first as much as you can, and then approach them with what you have found. Scripture gives us a model for how we are to deal with a conflict such as this. Approach them alone and seek a resolution that way. If that does not work, return with one or two witnesses – people who will back up what you’re saying and give additional perspective. If the issue is still unresolved, you must confront them on this issue before the available body of believers – whether the church you share, the ministry you work together in, or simply the group of friends you share who are fellow believers. Beyond this point, while it may be painful to consider, such a person who continues to support such a cult should not be working in Christian ministry under any circumstances. A ministry should turn away such a person until such time as that person renounces their involvement in a cult.
Please note that Landmark Education/The Forum/“Est” is not the only cult of this kind. There are a number of others, including one called LifeSpring. If a friend or relative talks about a self-help/empowerment organization or seminar that promises to give you the tools or “technology” to radically change your life, investigate it. Find out the truth about it. It may be a cult, or it may simply be more of the same run-of-the-mill Tony Robbins style of psychobabble. But it pays to make sure.
Below are a few more links about Landmark and its history. Any questions, don't hesitate to contact our ministry for more information.
Jim Schofield
jim@godisnowhere.org
GODISNOWHERE.org – Ministry of Truth & Challenge
“If you won’t challenge what you believe… we’ll do it for you.”
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The official Landmark website (http://www.landmark-educationcom/)
The official Landmark syllabus (http://www.landmarkeducation.com/display_content.jsp?top=21&mid=59&bottom=62)
Landmark, its philosophy and methods (http://skepdic.com/landmark.html), from the Skeptic's Dictionary
Est and Werner Erhard (http://skepdic.com/est.html) (the origin of Landmark, also from the Skeptic's Dictionary)
A powerful in-depth personal testimonial (http://perso.wanadoo.fr/eldon.braun/awareness/bblack.htm)
List of psychology research papers (http://www.rickross.com/reference/landmark/landmark22.html) on people who have attended Landmark, with synopsis