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tywebb
It's like something is being dragged away from you and there's not a damned thing you can do about it.
Something is being dragged away -- the soul of someone we care about. It is very sad. When I read the stories of those who have lost loved ones to Landmark, including my own, I'm reminded of C.S. Lewis in [i:92427b87f3]The Screwtape Letters[/i:92427b87f3]: "An ever increasing craving for an ever dimishing pleasure is the formula . . . . To get a man's soul and give him [i:92427b87f3]nothing [/i:92427b87f3]in return" (Letter 9, emphasis Lewis'). This seems to be how Landmark and these "Human Potential" groups work -- keep stringing them along, making them always want more, giving them less and less, promising that if they take just one more course they will reach the promised "enlightenment" . . . , until they are left financially, emotionally, mentally and spiritually stripped, and they have nothing to show for it. The really sad part is that they convince their prey to be [b:92427b87f3]happy [/b:92427b87f3]to receive nothing in return.
The impacts aren't limited to involvement in Landmark. For the true believers, it becomes their life. In the case of my friend, her Landmark experience opened the door to a whole host of other New Age practices, which she enthusiastically dived into, until now she has a completely New Age life. This is her choice of course, and she subtly yet routinely tries to "enroll" me in it (in very clever ways at times) -- which I refuse. That is the one thing I can continually do. Someday, hopefully, the increasingly diminished pleasure will wake her, and others, up.
I agree, a [b:92427b87f3]real [/b:92427b87f3]relationship with someone is LEC is impossible, because there is nothing to share.
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tywebb
LEC should have to be licensed by the state like any other mental health professional. If they are practicing hypnosis or any form of group psychotherapy, they need to be licensed.
I read in "Outrageous Betrayal" that the psychology boards in Hawaii at one time had required that [i:92427b87f3]est[/i:92427b87f3] seminars be supervised by a licensed psychologist and that Erhard withdrew from Hawaii because of this. I haven't been able to verify this. Does anyone else have info on what Hawaii did?