ICOC roots in Erhard's EST and Human Potential Movement
I participated in the Landmark Forum a few months ago, a seminar that is pseudo-well known. Many of you may have been "invited" to one. Sound familiar? While there I noted both ICOC and Landmark's roots in Erhard's EST, as I was very struck by the similarities. Insights are developed through long, intense large group seminars, as well as small group and individual coaching. Emphases on sharing - in a pyramid scheme model for the organization, yes - but it is the way to move insights from your head into real life. How much it actually does, depends on whether you interpret it as doing what someone told you to do, vs. choosing to take truly deeply felt insights and share them with others in a transformative way- in a way that makes an impact. Again - sound familiar?
More on Erhard's est and the human potential movement (HPM) here: http://www.believermag.com/issues/200305/?read=article_snider
Let me know what you all think.
posted by icc at 7:39 PM
2 Comments:
Hmmm....very interesting. I had some extremely cursory involvement with Landmark Education some time ago. I actually want to go to one of their forums and see how strange and weird the whole thing is. I had no idea they even existed until a couple years ago. That sparked a fascinating journey for me researching est, the ICOC, Scientology, and all those other organizations that have been accused of being the dreaded "c" word they hate so much.
Werner Erhard and Kip McKean strike me as being two peas in a pod. They've both been accused of being authoritarians and narcissists, and they appear to delight in controlling and abusing other people. Just imagine what craziness they could do if they hooked up! *LOL*
I was a a disciple in the LA Church of Christ and then "fell away" in 1991. I completed the Landmark Forum at the urging of my girlfriend and Yes there were many similarities. What was most obvious was the 'zombie-like' commitment to the cause by the members. When we broke into their version of D Groups, I felt like I was right back at the LA Church. However as legalistic as LA Church was, at least it was based on the Bible. Coming out of that and going into a three day seminar based on a vision Werner Erhardt had while driving his car that "Everything is empty and meaningless and it's empty and meaningless that its empty and meaningless" C'mon! It was a joke. But yes, a lot of similarities there.
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