As a former new age, personal growth seminar junkie, I have been reading a lot of posts under the subheading of LGATs. I have been interested to see how I was sucked in by some of buzz words used to promote these seminars. I know one of my issues that I need to work on is trying to be perfect all the time (never making mistakes) and boy, does the word "transformation" sound to me like the opportunity (unrealistic as it is) to finally be perfect. It may not mean that to everyone, but it is enlightening to see how these vague buzz words which promise nothing less than total transformation in one short weekend (of course, then why the next course and the next?) can key into people's vulnerable areas and suck them in. The farther I get away from all this new age stuff that promises so much and delivers so litte, the more I have the opportunity to live a real (albeit no so transformational) life with all its satisfactions and disappointments, not to mention how much money I am saving.

Thanks to all who have the courage to post here and to Rick Ross for creating and maintaining the site.

QE

Helpful hint: there is a deeply embedded suggestion in the, ahhh, "languaging" of Nu Age Junkthink(tm)... that ALL you require is a (somewhat mysterious, to be sure, but take our word for it, marvellously powerful) shift in perspective.... you see, the problem isn't the way your brain works, or your life experiences, or the situation you are in, oh no, the problem is the way you interpret these things... so all problems, it should be so patently obvious, are really nothing more than having faulty perspectives, and thus, once you locate the RIGHT prerspective, all your problems go away...

Now, there is a lot to be said for having the flexibilty to see an issue from different perspective angles, and not being locked into to one theory of "how it really is"...

However, this whole attitude structure can go totally off the rails with the belief that "perspective dominates reality" and corallary belief, IF reality isn't what you would like, then you MUST be guilty (very guilty, very, very guilty, bad dog ! bad, bad dog! most bad dog! for shame! asshole!!!!!) of operating from a "weak perspective"... you lack the proper intensity, you are not sufficiently cranked up, you won't take responsibility for creating reality, you really suck.... and we refuse to feel any sympathy for you because you are choosing to really suck...

Why can't you understand this ? Why are you holding out on us ? Why do you refuse to accept the obvious truth of the matter ? You must be a sad case....

I would add that the LGATs never really suggest that the problem could be your [i:e9debad02f]behavior[/i:e9debad02f]. Maybe in real reality you are making some bad choices that, as a natural consequence, "mess your life up" and "make it not work." Of course, the response to this would be to look at your behavior, learn from it, and make better choices next time. But why bother with that when, instead, you can simply find a "empowering interpretation" that allows you to keep the unconstructive behavior you secretly want to keep, and allows you to [i:e9debad02f]feel [/i:e9debad02f]good about it too? In our me-first, drive-thru society, what is better than that? Isn't this much more palatable to most than the hard work of really looking hard into the mirror (or accepting what others are telling you they see)?

I'm sure the proverbial emperor found the praise of his new "clothes" a more empowering interpretation of reality than the truth that he was, in fact, naked. But that empowering interpretation didn't put real clothes on him. I think that LGATs encourage people to cheer each other's new illusionary wardrobe, when in fact the LGATs have stripped people of what healthy constructs they may have had.

The ironic rub to all this is that in the search for the right interpretation, the right behavior is overlooked, and the problems still remain -- just dressed in a nice evening gown, cool suit, nice shoes -- whatever. The iconic pig in a dress. We just won't call it a pig.

QE- glad to hear that you are seeing things for what they are. May your recovery continue!

- lightwolf

Another twist on "all you require is a shift in perspective" is the way it makes a healthy relationship nearly impossible.
I get a little of the fallout from my Landmark friend who thinks like this, but I get ill watching how he treats his wife. Mind you, he is a "nice guy" (who was screwed up by Werner Erhard a long time ago). When his wife tries to bring up that she is
unhappy with something he did, the "conversation" always ends up with her apologizing for "interpreting" his actions in a way that made her think badly of him. She married him before she did Landmark,
and took just the Forum so she could learn to do this *thing*, this "anything that is wrong (with how you are disrespecting me) is my fault for interpreting it that way".
Needless to say, the relationship is very strained and can't get healthy under these circumstances because the real issue is never approached.

Where, oh, where DO these outlandish ideas come from ?

What was the pebble rolling down the mountain that grew into to the LandSlide of MindCrap ?

Hmmmmm.... here's a juicy little interview with L. Ron Hubbard Jr., that's righ. Ron's SON.... who consented to a devastating interview in Penthouse magazine... as he know Ron better than enyone..... so, take a look and see for yourself.... the basis for these ideas is ????? :

"Penthouse: He was trying to perform an abortion?


Hubbard: According to him and my mother, he tried to do it with me. I was born at six and a half months and weighed two pounds, two ounces. I mean, I wasn't born: this is what came out as a result of their attempt to abort me. It happened during a night of partying --he got involved in trying to do a black-magic number. Also, I've got to complete this by saying that he thought of himself as the Beast 666 incarnate.


Penthouse: The devil?


Hubbard: Yes. The Antichrist. Alestair Crowley thought of himself as such. And when Crowley died in 1947, my father then decided that he should wear the cloak of the beast and become the most powerful being in the universe.


Penthouse: You were sixteen years old at that time. What did you believe in?


Hubbard: I believed in Satanism. There was no other religion in the house! Scientology and black magic. What a lot of people don't realize is that Scientology is black magic that is just spread out over a long time period. To perform black magic generally takes a few hours or, at most, a few weeks. But in Scientology it's stretched out over a lifetime, and so you don't see it. Black magic is the inner core of Scientology --and it is probably the only part of Scientology that really works. Also, you've got to realize that my father did not worship Satan. He thought he was Satan. He was one with Satan. He had a direct pipeline of communication and power with him. My father wouldn't have worshiped anything. I mean, when you think you're the most powerful being in the universe, you have no respect for anything, let alone worship."

Ahhhhhh.... how TRANSFORMATIVE ! The entire article is here:

[www.lermanet.com]

What gets me, and I absolutely cannot understand this, is how many people actually worshipped this idiot. What "god" would visit earth in an ugly, over-weight, puffy-faced, chain-smoking body full of problems and diseases and disabilities. One wonders how he explained these to himself, for I do think, at least some of the time, he really believed his own schtick. Imagine the self-fullfiling nature of his "created reality" when what he got back from his followers was adoration.

Beats the sh*t out of me.



Ellen

Quote
lightwolf
I would add that the LGATs never really suggest that the problem could be your [i:1e4cc87abb]behavior[/i:1e4cc87abb]. Maybe in real reality you are making some bad choices that, as a natural consequence, "mess your life up" and "make it not work." Of course, the response to this would be to look at your behavior, learn from it, and make better choices next time. But why bother with that when, instead, you can simply find a "empowering interpretation" that allows you to keep the unconstructive behavior you secretly want to keep, and allows you to [i:1e4cc87abb]feel [/i:1e4cc87abb]good about it too? In our me-first, drive-thru society, what is better than that? Isn't this much more palatable to most than the hard work of really looking hard into the mirror (or accepting what others are telling you they see)?

The ironic rub to all this is that in the search for the right interpretation, the right behavior is overlooked, and the problems still remain

You summed this up perfectly. Thank you.

Quote
elena
What gets me, and I absolutely cannot understand this, is how many people actually worshipped this idiot. What "god" would visit earth in an ugly, over-weight, puffy-faced, chain-smoking body full of problems and diseases and disabilities.

Ellen

LOL Ellen! Thank you for the laugh of the day! :lol:


-lightwolf

Quote
nutrino
Helpful hint: there is a deeply embedded suggestion in the, ahhh, "languaging" of Nu Age Junkthink(tm)... that ALL you require is a (somewhat mysterious, to be sure, but take our word for it, marvellously powerful) shift in perspective.... you see, the problem isn't the way your brain works, or your life experiences, or the situation you are in, oh no, the problem is the way you interpret these things... so all problems, it should be so patently obvious, are really nothing more than having faulty perspectives, and thus, once you locate the RIGHT prerspective, all your problems go away...

The proverbial carrot on a stick - an instant fix to all your life's problems. Just by taking "so and so's" weekend seminar, everyone without exception, if they are just receptive and do the program, can have success, financial abundance and happiness without end and have the relationship of their dreams. All it takes is a shift in your perspective and you can achieve whatever fantasy you want - forget the realities of what it might take to achieve your goals, your history, your personality, your financial resources.

These groups take something that is only one component of your life experience (i.e., your perspective on life, which can have an impact on how you experience life) and take it to the extreme, by making it the sole determiner of your life experience. And if their method doesn't work, don't blame them - you are at fault because you are choosing your reality or you are resisting change or you are comfortable in your rut - the fact that perhaps they are not providing their clients with real tools for real change and realistic expectations is never considered. It is all or nothing - nothing less than total transformation into the ideal self and elimination of the problematic, egoic (funny how that word ego gets such a bad rap in these new age type things - as if the very idea of being an individual self is a bad thing, after all, we are all one aren't we?), real self that is messy and has all sorts of uncomfortable emotions like anger, pain, sadness, etc.

QE

"Ron Hubbard Jr. remembers that when he was ten years old, his
father, in an attempt to get his son in tune with his black
magic worship, laced the young Hubbard's bubble gum with
phenobarbital. According to Ron Jr. drugs were an important part
of Ron Jr.'s growing up, as his father believed that they were
the best way to get closer to Satan--the Antichrist of black
magic.

"In my father's private circle," Ron Jr explains, "there were
lots of mistresses. When I was younger, I participated in
private orgies with him and three or four other women. His
theory was that one has to open or crack a woman's soul in order
for the satanic power to pour through it and into him. It got
kind of far out, culminating in a variety of sex acts. Dad also
had an incredibly violent temper. He was into S & M and would
beat his mistresses and shoot them full of drugs."


When asked by a interviewer how this "soul-cracking" worked, L
Ron Hubbard Jr said, "The explanation is sort of long and
complicated. The basic rationale is that there are some powers
in this universe that are pretty strong.

"As an example, Hitler was involved in the same black magic and
the same occult practices that my father was. The identical
ones. Which, as I have said, stem clear back to before Egyptian
times. It's a very secret thing. Very powerful and very workable
and very dangerous.

Brainwashing is nothing compared to it. The proper term would be
"soul cracking."