My wife signed up for next September's Your Life as art seminar conducted by Robert Fritz, Inc. Does anyone have any info or warning to share on this matter. I have seen his book the Path of Least Resistance and thought it was decent work.

[www.robertfritz.com]

thank you

Appears to be "mass marathon training."

See [www.culteducation.com]

rr,

I am sorry but I do not see the connection from the Mass Marathon description of the article. I understand the program runs on a weekend and that it is geared to teach how to set goals, etc.

I did not become concerned about it until I read the various posts on this site about LGAT and I was looking for first hand knowledge or some other source that directly names Fritz, his organization, or seminars.

I appreciate any relevant input.

thank you

I do see the connection.

There are so many of these groups and they all use a weekend seminar as a vehicle for training, which is more like group therapy.

The problem is people such as Fritz, are not really qualified to lead therapy sessions, which frequenlty delve into people's lives and personal problems.

LGATs essentially teach a philosophy for "empowerment" based upon whatever the founder has put together.

See [www.robertfritz.com]

This is Fritz expounding on what he calls "transcendence."

He says,

Quote

Moments of transcendence come in three forms:
Bad and/or painful moments in your life, such as failure, loss, a health crisis, a near death experience, tragedy, a sense of hopelessness.
Neutral moments in which nothing in particular may be going on.
Good moments in life such as being in the height of success, falling in love, a change of aspirations or desires, the successful accomplishment of a major goal.

The form transcendence often takes is:

An original state, followed by a moment of realization, followed by a fundamental choice, followed by a new modality of taking effective actions on behalf of your highest values and aspirations.

Transcendence is not simply a peak experience followed by a return to business as usual. It is a life-changing event that allows you a new direction, and enables you to change your ways and live life differently. It is not a reaction to past circumstances, rather an awakening to new possibilities.

Transcendence ranges from that of a spiritual experience to that of a cognitive realization and all the points in-between. We are interested in your story, however it played itself out.

Fritz then goes on to detail his philosophy, which sounds much like Landmark Education and other so-called "human potential" groups.

Also see [www.robertfritz.com]

Fritz teaches others to become instructors.

Quote

Our Instructor Training (IT) will equip you with all you need to begin teaching the five week course in creating – Creating Your Life.

Fritz explains,

About Creating Your Life

Quote

This course, created by Robert Fritz, is designed to help individuals achieve their most meaningful goals and learn to master the creative process as their life-building process. During the five weeks of the course (one session of around 3 hours per week) participants learn principles and tools that can lead them to sustained and measurable growth – principles and tools that enable them to organize their lives around their highest aspirations and deepest values. Through DVD videos, exercises, group interactions, and profound explorations, the participants discover how to create the lives they've always dreamed of creating.

If you go to the Landmark Education Web site you will read much the same thing in similar jargon.

See [www.landmarkeducation.com]

Landmark says,

Quote

The Landmark method is more like coaching than teaching, more like conversation than lecture. While conventional education methods focus on content (adding facts, rules, or skills to our knowledge), the Landmark method deals with context - the framework(s) in which content can exist.

Whenever we're limited in life, there is something - a context or framework - that we are blind to and that is holding that limitation in place. Landmark's technology allows you to create breakthroughs in a two-step process in which you:

• Uncover and examine the blind spots or context holding you back in your life.
• Find out where your current context originated and address it for what it really is.

Having completed these two steps, a new realm of possibility is available to you. The constraints from the past disappear. Your view of life, your thoughts, your feelings, and your actions, change - and the change is immediate, dramatic, and without effort. It is a breakthrough.

rr,

Thank you for your post. I followed your link and read the blurb by Fritz about transcendence. However, he actually says that we do not need to work on resolving past issues or therapy or Karma. What I read there is that we work on our future by learning how to master the cause and effect principle.

Again, I appreciate your input and I am sure you know about cults and groups a thousand times more than I do but I did not see anything that led me to believe that therapy was to be conducted.

If nobody on the forum has direct experience with Fritz or his program, then I will let it die and try to find information through the web. So far all I can see is that he is commended by Peter Senge, and that Fritz background is in art, composing, etc. I thought maybe someone new of any him ever been involved with or gotten training through a known cult-like entity.

Based upon my direct experience over the years with LGATs beginning in the 1980s, Fritz is running an LGAT.

That may not be what you want to hear, but if it quacks like a duck, walks like a duck--well you know the rest.

But if it makes you feel better to ignore this that's your choice.

Quote

During the past twenty-five years, over 80,000 people in 27 countries have participated in trainings created by Robert Fritz. His insights on the creative process and structural dynamics serve as the foundation of meaningful and lasting change for both individuals and organizations.

Yeesh, there they go again, spouting out and bragging about unfounded statistics.

Quote

The workshop helps participants clarify their actual desires, including specific goals, the qualities of their life, the relationship between their inner lives and their outer experiences, and how their life can be a greater expression of their real spirit, aspirations, and values. Your Life As Art is designed to be totally transformational, a workshop in which one can rethink his or her life, to be freed from oscillating structures, and to be free to create one's life as if it were a work of art.

Seems like they all have to use the word "transform" or "transformational" somewhere.

This stuff seems exactly like Landmark Education The Forum's dubious "technology" to me ...

Yes.

If Fritz were forthcoming in an interview he would likely admit to attending Landmark, Lifespring or some other LGAT, before he came up with his own training weekend.

It never ceases to amaze me how many LGATs there are and how one LGAT begets others.

Fritz says,

Quote

The Instructor Training (IT) takes place over 3 days.

Cost: $1,200 – the deposit is $400

So for $1,200.00 you can start your own LGAT.

Fritz's bio says,

Quote

composer, filmmaker and organizational consultant is founder of Technologies For Creating

He lists no educational qualification, counseling credentials, board certifications--nothing.

And he calls his seminars "technologies," just like Landmark does.

See [www.robertfritz.com]

Quote

range of programs, services and products are designed to help individuals and organizations create the results they want to create.

For individuals, we offer workshops led by Robert and Rosalind Fritz including our flagship weekend event ’Your Life as Art’.

Apparently, the "Your Life as Art" weekend is the Fritz equivalent of the Forum, the introductory weekend offered by Landmark.

I read his book, "Path Of Least Resistance" many years ago, and it came across as gibberish at the time. I don't remember one "idea" from it.
So he must have been using "jargon" even way back then.

All of these LGAT's are "experiential" and are supposed to heal your life. That's the problem. You can't heal your life over the weekend.
Normal educational seminars are a completely different thing, where you go and learn a SKILL or some specific KNOWLEDGE, or listen to keynote speakers, etc. Those can be very helpful and interesting, and you can get credits for them.

But this type of "group therapy" with an unqualified person, with vague goals about enlightnment...just a big money machine...and even much worse...

Ugh. Until now I'd nearly forgotten my former participation in Robert Fritz's "technology" -- which he was calling "DMA" at the time.

After attending a big workshop with Fritz (which I can't recall much about now), I joined a group led by someone trained in his method and got all excited about "creating my reality." The leader boasted that after doing a bit of processing (she may have used another term), she was able to eat all the goodies she wanted to, without gaining weight. I took her at her word, and after thinking I'd sufficiently addressed my beliefs re food and weight, I began regularly consuming candy bars and other junk food, whereas prior to that I'd been a bit of a health nut. I even allowed myself to eat foods that had formerly aggravated an asthmatic condition. I figured I was protected with the Fritz technology!

Would it surprise anyone to learn that within about a month, I ended up in the hospital for 5 days with severe breathing difficulties that required IV steroid to heal? Yep. Fortunately I woke up to Fritz's b.s. soon after that and stopped working with his stuff. I also went back to eating a healthier and more balanced diet, rather than the delusional one I'd been following.

I sometimes marvel at how long it has taken for me to realize how much fakery is perpetrated in the name of self-improvement and healing. Actually I will admit that I can still get taken in somewhat easily, so I must watch myself carefully. And that is why I'm in counseling today -- with a credentialed professional rather than some New Age huckster.

Personally I'd stay away from Robert Fritz's stuff.