So you’ve been cajoled into attending The Landmark Forum by a loved one, or an employer. What do you do?

I attended The Landmark Forum a few weeks ago, against my better judgment, and afterwards I decided to compile this list of helpful suggestions for people who find themselves in the same uncomfortable position that I did.

The Landmark Forum may vary from region to region, so I don’t know if everything that I bring up happens at every Landmark Forum weekend, but I’m not exactly willing to find out firsthand. Anyway, here is my advice on how to go through it with your brain intact, and a few observations.

1. Don’t go. If it’s a friend or employer who is “enrolling” you, give a very firm “NO” as soon as possible, or better yet, use Landmark-speak and say “I choose not to go.” Give no explanations, for none will be accepted. This will not be easy for most people, but it is highly recommended.

2. If you chicken out with rule #1, don’t count on going to The Forum and getting your refund on the first day. Yes, they do offer a refund, but before they offer it to you there is a speech on how much “courage” it takes to attend Landmark, and how everyone there should be congratulated for having so much “courage”. After that, people who want a refund are asked to rise, go to the back of the room and collect their refund. Very clever. If you don’t have the fortitude to do #1, you won’t find this to be any easier.

3. Before you go, read as much about The Landmark Forum, from culteducation.com, as you can stomach. It helps to know the jargon, techniques, “philosophy”, history, and of course the big Sunday afternoon punch-line; “Life is empty and meaningless.” (Not worthless, meaningless. Be aware of the distinction.) Many of the worst case scenarios that you will read are just that, worst case. It’s not likely to happen to you, but why take that chance (See #1).

4. VERY IMPORTANT: Bring your own chair. Landmark has notoriously hard chairs. Bring along one of those fold up canvas chairs. On the breaks, take the chair with you, and move to another area when you return. There is no acceptable reason for you to be uncomfortable. If you bring your own chair, you can consistently choose to be on the end of one of the last rows. Also, an added bonus is that you are likely to inspire others to show up on subsequent days with their own chairs. Landmark wants a very controlled environment (Especially chairs.), they don’t like this control being disrupted, but they will accommodate you.

5. Bring a cooler full of food, and keep it in your car. The half hour breaks aren’t long enough to run out to a restaurant. Make your own sandwiches and bring your favorite fruits and vegetables. Eat things that will keep your energy up. You’ll need healthy foods to keep your critical thinking in gear.

6. At the beginning of The Forum, the leader may mention that “Everything I say up here, isn’t the truth.” Remember this, and take them at their word. Pay attention to these sorts of disclaimers. Essentially, they tell you outright that what they are telling you for the next few days…is crap. You can, at the very least, agree on that.

7. They give you homework at the breaks. Don’t do the homework. If by chance someone asks you why you didn’t do your homework, just say “Because I chose not to.” That is all you need.

8. Don’t stand up and try to reason or argue with the leader. This is pointless (See #6.) The Landmark “philosophy” rejects the concept of reason. Remember: You can’t reason a person out of an idea, that wasn’t reasoned into to begin with (apologies to Jonathan Swift.)

9. The leader and volunteers aren’t your friends. They’re like car salesmen, or people who sell time shares in Ft. Lauderdale. They may be friendly, they may be very nice people, but they aren’t your friend.

10. Don’t be angry. You’re already there, don’t make it worse for yourself by being angry. Yes, you’re bored, frustrated (Remember #6), and…bored, but maybe make a game out of the situation. Think up nicknames for the various volunteers. Call them by their designated nicknames when you breeze past them on your way to and from the meeting room. “How’s it goin’ Roscoe?” “’Atta boy, Skippy.” “Beautiful day, eh Chuckles?”, etc.
Disclaimer: Enthusiastic friendliness is an important key.

11. When approached by one of the volunteers, tell them no more about yourself than what you would tell to a perfect stranger. Be cheerful, maintain unwavering eye-contact, and deflect their prying questions about you, by asking only questions about them. “Where are you from?” “How long have you been in Landmark?” “What event in your past did you overcome because of the Landmark Forum?”, “Are you a cat person?” etc. If there’s one thing you can count on, it’s that Landmarkians loooove to talk about themselves. Keep them going until they get bored, or until time runs out.


Observations:

I found it startling how much Landmark “philosophy” is almost an exact photo-negative of Objectivism; feelings over reason, denial of objective reality, devaluing of human judgment, and volunteers that give up their time for a group without compensation. Both “philosophies” emphasize choice, but in diametrically opposite ways. Landmark encourages choice as an end to itself (“I choose, because I choose to.”), cutting evidence or reason out of the equation. Objectivism is about choice based solely on a devotion to ones own interest, using ones own senses and mind to reason and understand a tangible world.

Ask yourself why the "leader" keeps quoting a Stalinist (Jean Paul Sartre) and a Nazi (Martin Heidegger). No doubt, some people will be impressed by quotes from philosophers with exotic sounding foreign names, but why does the leader feel that such compromised individuals are so intellectually persuasive? Does the leader hope that most in the room haven’t heard of these people, or maybe haven’t yet mastered the finer points of Googling?

The Landmark Forum claims that they can help you to unlock your creativity. Create a new possibility, if you will. I’ve had the opportunity to watch several movies made by, and promoted by Landmarkians; [b:02b2fc9ff1]Pay It Forward[/b:02b2fc9ff1], [b:02b2fc9ff1]The Matrix[/b:02b2fc9ff1] sequels, even [b:02b2fc9ff1]What the Bleep Do We Know[/b:02b2fc9ff1]. On the surface, very different movies, but they all have one thing in common. They’re crap. Not just crap, mind you, boring, proselytizing crap.
Think of your favorite movie and realize that there is at least a 99% chance that the writers and directors of that film didn’t use Landmark “technology” to “unlock” their creativity. What it took was determination, luck, and some combination of innate and acquired skills. There is no one-weekend magic bullet for creativity.

In reading various sites by people promoting The Landmark Forum, there is one thing that becomes immediately apparent. They…all…sound…alike.
There’s a limp SAMENESS to nearly everything that I’ve read by these people, and it’s chilling to go from page to page, person to person, seemingly all written with the same voice. Reading these sites makes it difficult to imagine there ever being a “Landmarkian Hemingway”, a “Landmarkian P.G. Wodehouse”, or a “Landmarkian James Ellroy”.


Certainly there are more points that I could make, but these are my most obvious suggestions and observations.
Remember, always think for yourself, and be wary of anyone who tries to convince you to turn off your inner voice, because that inner voice IS YOU.

This covers everything except a few other tips.

* They will keep the room dry and cold. Dress accordingly.

* Have a sense of humor, always.

* Prepare yourself for the trick where the Forum Leader will set up a food break and state that he expects the group back in twenty minutes. When the participants return to the room he or she will chide the last people into the room and say that he allowed a break of fifteen minutes and that they could not abide by their promise to show on time.[/list]

Oh and don't forget to be prepared for the old "your life doesn't work" routine. It goes something like this:

"You're not really happy."

[i:caecf9fb69]i'm not really happy.[/i:caecf9fb69]

"You're potential hasn't even been reached!"

[i:caecf9fb69]my potential hasn't even been reached.[/i:caecf9fb69]

Don't forget that for them to fulfill a need in you, they must first create one. Only people with an exceptional high level of self worth can resist this sort of con.

This is a great resource for people considering the forum! Well done!

Well done, an excellent list of what to do to avoid their techniques. I would add to the following :

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Don’t go. If it’s a friend or employer who is “enrolling” you, give a very firm “NO” as soon as possible, or better yet, use Landmark-speak and say “I choose not to go.” Give no explanations, for none will be accepted. This will not be easy for most people, but it is highly recommended.

firstly I totally agree it is best not to go!

Using landmark talk prior to doing landmark doesn't always work, staff and senior volunteers are trained to deal with this kind of deflection and will manipulate the conversation to divert from choice to - do they really know what choice is!

Its better just to stick to NO. I dont want to. Please stop pressuring me, use of the pressure word is important because landmark has been trying to get rid of the view that they pressure people. Use of the word pressure automatically makes people back off.

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sonnie_dee
Its better just to stick to NO. I dont want to. Please stop pressuring me, use of the pressure word is important because landmark has been trying to get rid of the view that they pressure people. Use of the word pressure automatically makes people back off.

I wonder how Landmark graduate can stick to this one. How can you "share your new possibilities" without pressuring people? How can you be authentic, enroll people, meet objectives (of enrolling people for those who take the ILP or Seminar leader programs), "make a difference" to people, offer Landmark as a "gift", etc ... without "pressuring"?

I think there will always be "pressure" but it is more deceptive, subtle and insidious. It's like you put pressure by saying you don't put pressure. That sort of thing. It's a contradiction, like saying "remember, this is not the truth". Now they can pressure you and say "remember, this is not pressure". Their logic is simply defective.

Well said, midonov. This is part of the insanity of the LGAT with which I was involved. Redefining words, redefining reality. Doublespeak. All very confusing, and really, unuseable. It's MIND GAMES. You learn how to deceive yourself, which leads to deceiving others and to living a life of deception (sociopathic). Since you create reality, if you don't like something, you just tell yourself it's not true. You learn the handy tools of lying and denying which the LGAT I was with called "reframing".

And, yes, the LGAT tactics get slicker and trickier. The uneducated (which I was) can sooooo easily be conned. And I never thought it would happen to me. I never thought a cult would get ME! HA! Since I was uneducated, I could not recognize the slick ones that don't *look* like cults. And when I was being indoctrinated, I thought I was involved in "personal growth". It's really unbelievable to me now.

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ArtHuck
In reading various sites by people promoting The Landmark Forum, there is one thing that becomes immediately apparent. They…all…sound…alike.
There’s a limp SAMENESS to nearly everything that I’ve read by these people, and it’s chilling to go from page to page, person to person, seemingly all written with the same voice. Reading these sites makes it difficult to imagine there ever being a “Landmarkian Hemingway”, a “Landmarkian P.G. Wodehouse”, or a “Landmarkian James Ellroy”.

Dear ArtHuck,

Thank you for the interesting and informative post.

Very interesting that you posted a reference to a Mike Davis. I have been cyberstalked by a person using that name, who also employs NLP technique. He has been using MULTIPLE IDs, somehow manages to find every BB or group I join, and joins those five or six times to play mind games with me and my friends.

I was never able to guess which particular cult he belonged to because he employed generic disinfo and harassment techniques common to many. What the Mike Davis who is harassing me is currently part and parcel of is milking the fan base of a cancelled TV show into paying for one of their cult members to have a Star Studded Birthday Party (which they are referring to as a "fan run convention"). I have never seen more deceitful bait and switch tactics in my life. They have created a campaign which has channelled the collective anguish of this TV show's fanbase into a movement which they initially claimed would "help save the show" when in fact, the perps created merchandise which directly competed with the official show merchandise, quashed discussions which were aimed at increasing the fan base of the show, enlisted people to work for free to create websites to propel their own agendas under false pretenses, and made statements which were blatantly fraudulent. Using gross manipulations, they hijacked a fanbase into servitude to their unstated hidden agenda while convincing the group they were all working together to "save or revive" the cancelled TV show. Worse, principals and actors of the show are playing into it. One of the actors of the show "Idolizes" Aliester Crowley and loves W.T. Smith, and the creator of the series even honoured Smith by making him a character in the series AND using a bastardized version of Smith's name as a nom de plume. This "writer" and the network who produced the show are currently being sued in Federal Court for copyright infringement by a person claiming to be the legitimate author of the storyline.

At first I thought it was Scientology because I recognized the "artificial urgency" technique and other common deceits, but some of the folk are into O.T.O. Thelema and other cults as well. Sometimes, I think they just are all selling the same cult crappola, but they put it in different packages to attract different kinds of raw meat.

Anyhow, I was most interested to see the face of a Mike Davis (aka any number of sockpuppets). If this person is the same as the one who has been harassing me, it sure says alot. My impression is that such persons are nothing more than mindless drones, doing the bidding of some queen bee for some hive somewhere. Also, they create multitudes of sockpuppets and take turns babysitting boards to do damage control. So, they may actually be the same person using different IDs or several people using the same ID, whatever serves them. I have seen both.

You know, I am glad I don't have to spend my precious time doing damage control for people who are scamming others. My observation is that people like this come out of the aether in their mid life, and they will have plenty of regrets when they look back on the waste of their precious time and probably feel very badly for attacking those whose intent was to liberate them from psychological and emotional bondage.

But you cannot tell them this, they will just have to see it for themselves. And tragically, by that time, they will be faced with the sad fact that they sent a couple or three decades of their lives down the tubes.


Love,

Os