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Concerned Oz
* 23 Feb 2004 - I pass to her a document written by a local Uniting CHurch Minister explaining how the philosophy of Landmark is about "being God", creating all possibilities. This document made her realise that the philosophy of Landmark was counter to her religious beliefs.
Oz,
It looks to me as if the "religious beliefs" were crucial for helping your girlfriend out of Landmark. Is this a fair assumption?
Landmark is built on the New Age sets of beliefs which is a form of a new religion for many (being your own God, like Hindhu gurus said to be greater that God!). Werner Erhard said that the most significant contribution to est was Scientology and Hindhuism. According to the Judeo-Christian faith, these are pagan religions, like all of the New Age sets of beliefs actually.
There is a good documentary called "Gods of the New Age" filmed back in the '80s that I recommend. It explains many things about New Age that are far from being unique to Landmark. Except that landmark utilizes persuation and manipulation techniques in a deceptive way to instill new sets of (New Age) beliefs in the participants. I am glad that your religious values were able to help you, but not everybody have that chance in our modern society. In Quebec where I live, only 5% of the population now go to church, compared to 80% when I was a kid.