This is just an FYI. Randy Revell, who co-founded Mind Dynamics and Lifespring (according to what I've read) and who started his own LGAT in 1978, CONtext Associated, died over a year ago. There is no mention of it on ContextAssociated.com. In fact, under his bio is his email address if you want to contact him!

CONtext Associated's webpage says they teach emotional intelligence. Emotions are taboo in CONtext, there is no language for emotions. CONtext also says it teaches leadership. HA! It teaches people how to FOLLOW.

I may post a whole rant about the CONjob later, for now I just want to note that Randy Revell has died.

Hi skeptic,

This group sounds like another cultic movement of some sort. I was in one for years, Scientology, and it is still going strong, from what I have read.

Is the group you are referring to still prospering in some way? Is it in decline? I have heard of Life Spring in the past. Did this Randy Revell found more than one philosophy or movement?

Thanks for the information.

Sincerely,

i_was_one

From what I've gathered, Randy Revell's involvement in the cultic arena has all been in the LGAT genre. Unfortunately, I think CONtext Associated is still prospering. Based on what I've read, and am reading here, about Landmark (and also about Lifespring) CONtext Associated is essentially the EXACT same thing! It just didn't hit the big time like est/Landmark, but the so-called teachings and the techniques that change peoples' personalities all sound exactly the same.

Correction to my initial post: There is mention on Context Associated's (CA) webpage that Randy Revell died. His wife, Judy, mentions it in a few of the "Weekly Newsletters" under "Forums". His bio, however, says that Randy and Judy *reside* on Vashon Island and "You may contact Randy Revell at randyrevell@contextassociated.com". Conveniently not updated?

When Judy mentions the death of her husband (a sudden, unexpected death to my knowledge), not once does she mention feeling emotion. Emotion is "sin" in CA. Consequently, I consider (and experienced) the aspirations that CA promotes to be inhuman. Humans are hard-wired with the ability to feel sad, angry, hurt, disappointed, etc. (the so-called negative emotions) as well as the to feel joy, satisfaction, etc. (the so-called positive emotions).

CA teaches people to lie to themselves when they feel "negative" emotions by "reframing" the feeling to make it go away, right now! To me, this is the opposite of emotional health.

LGATs create a bizarre fake form of human, more robot than human.

Randy Revell's bio still reads as if he's alive.

Got scam?

[i:be147d2181]Finally, Randy's death hit the webpage. I note that nowhere in his expertise/background is there anything related to the field of human psychology. And interestingly, his involvement with Lifespring is also omitted. Hmmmm, wonder why.[/i:be147d2181]


[www.morecourse.com]

RANDY REVELL 
Founder of Context Associated

Randy Revell passed away on July 10, 2004. The principles, concepts, and foundations of Context Associated are based on a lifetime of learning, teaching, and practice shared by Randy with over a hundred thousand people from all parts of the world.

Randy is known worldwide as one of the premier leaders and innovators in the field of professional and personal effectiveness enhancement. A warm and exciting person, Randy was intensely interested in, and constantly studying, all aspects of human and organizational potential and motivation. Anybody who met Randy experienced his curiosity, his willingness to be fully engaged, and his deep love of people.

Randy held a B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Wyoming and did post-graduate work in mathematics and communications at American University in Washington, DC. His eleven years with the U.S. Government included duty as an instructor of electronics, an educational television program producer, a Captain in the U.S. Air Force, five years of which was with the National Security Agency in communications.

Randy's multi-faceted experiences contributed to his extensive knowledge of business and people. He formed the first "restaurant club" in the United States, did a stint as a venture capitalist in California's Silicon Valley, served as a consultant to top management of a number of Fortune 500 companies, and was involved with several training companies. With his wife, Judy, he co-founded Context Associated in 1978.

One of Randy's most unique qualities was his ability to apply his experience and knowledge to his personal life as well as to his professional life. His activities over the past years have led to financial, professional and personal success. He knew from his own experience that his ideas about effectiveness work for people.

Randy resided with Judy on Vashon Island in Puget Sound, just off the coast from Seattle, Washington, after they relocated early in 2004, from San Francisco, California, where they began Context Associated.

However, on Contextassociated.com, Randy appears to still be alive.

Hmmm, on this webpage [leadingmylife.com]

Randy is still alive!!

"The Revell's are now in their 26th year of an experiment designed to assist people to strengthen themselves and find both effectiveness and fulfillment."

"Randy and Judy have been actively involved in the human possibility field since 1971 - over 30 years. They describe their work as a continuing experiment in assisting people to be both productive and fulfilled."

"The Revells currently live on Vashon Island in Puget Sound, off the coast of Seattle, Washington. They live just around the corner from their daughter."

Maybe they just haven't gotten around to updating the webpage. HOWEVER . . . (now I'm not sure but) I think the CONtext Vacation (vacation - talk about SPIN!) was developed AFTER Randy died.

I stumbled across this page by accident and I must say that I was shocked to read the suspicions here about Randy Revell and Context. This site provides a valuable service in fighting the oppression of cults. But good mental health lies in a middle ground between too much trust (leading people into cults) and unfounded suspicion. The "evidence" of bad web page maintenance is scarcely good grounds for the assertions here.

Here's a first hand experience of Context and an assessment of Randy. You can't of course trust any of this but my firsthand reporting is at least more reliable than the speculation so far provided.

I participated in their programs on and off between 1988 and 1991 and I finally lost touch in about 1993. I was and still am a professional businessperson. I thought of myself as open to new ideas then but enough of an skeptic to stay at the edges. I'd heard about Est/The Forum and didn't like what I heard. So when (on the recommendation of a business associate) I went to Context's introductory lecture, found myself surrounded by businesspeople and saw a professional presenter presenting sensible, practical ideas I signed up. My first impression of a sometimes human and flawed but generally honest, effective and well meaning organization was never challenged in five years.

The programs themselves were fun, sensible and respectful. You were presented with an idea and invited to try it out. If it worked better than the idea you'd had before run with it; if not, abandon it.

The primary ideas were derived--I later found out--from Cognitive Psychology, but there was a peppering of influences from the training programs of companies like IBM and from other practical thinkers like Andrew Carnegie and even Norman Vincent Peale. Yes, many people have taken those ideas "over the top" and exposed them to ridicule but the original ideas were simple and practical.

There were aspects of Context that would make cult-sniffers suspicious. I initially found the pressure to "spread the word" and sell the ideas to others a bit alarming. But over time, I came to trust it even if I didn't participate much. The reality for organizations like this is harsh. Personal growth is a tough sell and without a consistent and persistent effort to market the program Context wouldn't have helped nearly as many people as it did. But (a) sales "pressure" never approached that of organizations like Time-Life or your local home security systems provider; (b) Randy had very strong directives about how to sell: don't push or pressure people. Tell them the value you got out of the program but leave it at that. There was also a tendency among some participants to get over-enthusiastic--hugging and breaking into tears at Introductory events, or getting so involved in the programs that they abandoned their lives. Randy strongly discouraged all of this; staff would approach a group that was getting out of hand; and people were encouraged to take breaks between programs so that they could absorb the material. But the "groupies" were a turn-off for at least one person I know who attended an Introductory session.

But a cult has a pattern of characteristics that mark it as a cult and behaviours must gibe before you can be sure. Context had none of the usual ones. People couldn't "leave" the program because there was no program join; participants were requested not to make other beliefs or ideas "wrong" and so on. Context's behaviours were generally opposite to that of a cult.

Randy himself was a character. He was a decent honest man but he wasn't a saint. He didn't have academic qualifications but neither did many of the people who modernn academics now making a name for themselves are quoting. He was very human. The organization began to founder in 1991 (I think it was) when Judy Revell, Randy's wife, had a stroke and was all but incapacitated. Randy's focus on her well-being led to an obvious deterioration in the quality of the organization and I lost touch with it. But "organization" was frankly never great...in fact chaotic would be a better word. Randy never did grasp the technology that could have done so much for him. Yes, he was a businessperson but he was a strategist not an administrator. It drove me crazy because in those days I was a technology manager and I saw what technology could do but Randy did everything wrong--in part because by then his mind was elsewhere. His daughter, Elisabeth, who took over when Randy died, was not, I suspect, much better. All the evidence you are pointing to above is typical of Context's inaction and blunders in matters like this. Any effort to deceive would have been repugnant to Randy.

Randy's dead and the organization looks as though it has withered on the vine. May I suggest that you move on to do good work with organizations that deserve your attention. Sullying the reputation of a man who did a pile of good for the planet, based on evidence presented here, is scarcely helpful to anyone.

Regards
John

I also attended CONtxt "courses", over a period of six years, and while I was very impressed with the "material" at the time (due to the fact that I was conned, coupled with my ignorance of mind-control technology), I am no longer impressed. CONtxt is an LGAT, and is/was in the business of mind control. Naturally, when I was involved I did not see it. Alas, that is the nature of good, covert mind control: you do not know that it's happening.