Landmark disrupts the tissue of existing relationships, like a virus that injects its genetic material into healthy cells in body tissue. The viral material hijacks the cell's metabolic functions, becoming a becomes a virus factory.

This description goes back to 2003 -
Adrienne describes what happened to two friends of hers who agreed to be her bridesmaids, then encountered Landmark one month before the wedding. Back then, it was only phone calls.

[forum.culteducation.com]

The entire discussion thread describes disrupted relationships. The bridesmaid situation was just one of them.

corboy Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> A graduate from a Large Group Awareness
> Trainings(LGAT) on Facebook.
>
> Guys, what Throughmyeyes suspects might happen --
> if the ex partner goes on to recruit people via
> social media, some heavy shit is going to happen.
>
> It is no longer the effects of Landmark on one
> person. It will be the effects of Landmark on one
> person magnified exponentially via social media
> which has been designed to get people hooked.
>


Hi Corboy, I am adamant this is what he is doing. His prolific liking of my friends posts and the pictures he has been posting are all classic Landmark. It is a major concern as I know he is going to subtly be in the background saying how fantastic his life is, he will purport to be caring, compassionate and listening and he will come accross as being kind and understanding - praying on those slightly vulnerable or whom
already trust him and don’t know our story...(for want of a better term!).

What do I do? Do I very diplomatically give them a very benign but factual run down or do I sit back to see what unfolds? I don’t quite know what to do with this. I’ve written a draft I thought I might be able to send some friends I can see he is blatantly targeting.

This is my draft I was thinking remembering these people have no idea what they are dealing with....anyhow just a thought.(and sorry about long post!)


Hi there, what I am about to say will sound completely bonkers but please just hear me out. Ok as you can imagine I’ve possibly obtained enough research to write a thesis on landmark over the last six months. As I said, if this wasn’t important I wouldnt be saying it. Anyhow, a major component of what they are taught, especially over the advanced courses, is to portray an outward persona of how happy and fantastic life is (hence the prolific posting and excessive liking of others posts etc). They are meant to describe how they have been unburdened from previous perceived constraints and that they are living their life of possibilities. They come across as always smiling, happy, fulfilled and willing to listen to others. They are outwardly overly friendly, caring and compassionate but below the surface they have become brainwashed self serving sociopaths. It is why the company doesn’t advertise. They rely solely on graduates to recruit others who trust them. The graduate is then empowered even more for getting others involved and they move up in the social climbing stats Scientology like. They prey on the vulnerable or whom they perceive to be a good candidate. It seems innocuous to begin with but unless you are aware they slowly groom you for it - over time you start to think it can’t be that bad, this person seems genuinely happy, they have their crap together and they are a really kind person. I know you pay no attention and would think it is a load of garbage but I truly believe he is using social media as a tool to recruit people. It’s what they are taught to do. He won’t ever mention the course by name - it is all under the guise of personal development. I know this sounds insane, and I promise I won’t mention it ever again but please be careful. I have him blocked but I can guarantee he would have liked essentially every post of yours since reunion. He will want to subtly be in the background to stay connected and eventually lure people in. Please just trust me on this one xxxx

Throughmyeyes,

What he's doing on social media sounds a lot to me like triangulation, which is a classic narcissist tactic. As we know, Landmark seems to turn seemingly normal people into narcs.

I had something similar happen to me, via someone whom I now believe to be a "dark triad" narcissist. They beat you to the punch by contacting YOUR friends and giving them the version of the story they want them to believe.

This person was NOT in Landmark, but she contacted the person who recruited me into L.E. Her daughter was getting married, and my (former) L.E. friend was a shaman, and could perform wedding ceremonies. The narc asked me for my shaman friend's phone number, saying that she wanted to ask her about doing the ceremony.

My shaman friend told me that she hadn't heard from her. Then, right after the wedding, my shaman friend started behaving strangely toward me, and i could see that she had turned against me. She also seemed to have bits of information that the narc would have given her, and started asking me questions that led me to believe that she had been coached, again, by the narc.

I ended up losing that entire social group. I don't know what you can do to avoid this, as the narcs are correct in their assumption that most people end up believing the first thing they hear, even if it is a bald-faced lie. This is why they preempt you with their side of the story.

Throughmyeyes,

I should add that a lot of the Lekkies DO plug Landmark on social media.

Also, when I was in Landmark, the people in my seminar group kept pushing to get me onto f.b, as I had never used it before.

Since then, I have seen the f.b. page of my recruiter, and of course, under things she likes, there is Landmark.

I don't know how far they go with this, but they are definitely on there plugging away.

Yes I think they are well across it. I’m just going to sit back and see what plays out. He seems to be making a bit of a fool of himself on fb and only those working in the same company seem to be paying attention.

Hopefully it stays that way.

And yes kdag, the same thing happened to me with my ex husband. He is a classic type A, narcissist. I think that most definitely contributed to the impact all of this had on me. Some people are born nasty and there are affected either by life events or dangerous self help groups etc

So in other words, he appears to be love-bombing your friends on f.b. I had a thought. You could just paste this article, (or one like it), on your f.b. page, and just make a comment that it has some interesting information that you stumbled across.

[en.m.wikipedia.org]

Thanks kdag, yes it is exactly what he is doing and I am finding it repulsive.

I think your idea of just a benign post is a good one. That article is rather spot on.

It is quite exhausting watching it all unfold aftually. I have seen some photos of him recently and it it like watching a train wreck unfold. It is quite sad. He looks predetory and as if he is searching for something. He may have a smile on his face but his eyes are telling a completely different story.

People Sum Up Why They Ended a Friendship in Six Words or Less

Succinct, to the point. Compare them with crazy making Landmark jargon.

[www.vice.com]

Succinct, to the point.