I know a couple from Salt Lake who went through a bizarre period of being 'seminar junkies,' signing up for everything they could which they felt they could drive to. They look back 'fondly' on those years with quite a lot of head-shaking at themselves, by the way. But they were able to do some interesting comparisons though, especially between Landmark's Forum and Impact's Quest. With neither of them being from Utah originally (or LDS), I heard them remark last year that Impact Trainings were the "Intermountain Edition" of Lifespring. I also heard one of them say that Quest could be called 'est for dummies.' (But hey, the estholes got taken for a ride just as easily.)

I read Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead several years ago. Atlas Shrugged helped me out of a years-long depression. It helped me take control of my life, to stand up for myself. I paid 5 bucks for a copy of Atlas Shrugged, and it had more of an 'impact' on me than some phony 4-day group therapy scam. Some of Rand's conclusions I agree with, others I do not. The books are sitting on our shelf, but never in a million years would my wife be interested in reading them. Not her kind of book.

I still want to produce some kind of book or film that exposes the Bergers and Impact for the corrupt, lying parasites they are.

You reading this, old Hans old pal?

I'm comin' for you.

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jk.genesis
I guess my question is: do you see many Impact enrollees who are scientists, engineers, doctors, lawyers, teachers, etc?

Page 38 (and maybe others) of this thread briefly talk about this.

I finally got my mother out of Impact. I didn't have a full-blown conversation at any point but whenever the opportunity presented itself, I'd make little comments - like seeds of descent. I noticed that she, like many other Impacters, was hyper sensitive to anything mentioned about Impact so I would only make one comment at a time then, waiting sometimes weeks for another opportunity to add another idea. I started by saying I thought Impact's methods were too harsh, that it was mean to yell at people. We can learn things at a normal tone of voice. About a week later she made a comment about some people being wicked for drinking coffee. I replied that I felt that no one should be held accountable for another's religious beliefs and especially not judged. I told her I learned on my mission (LDS) that most people won't learn from a teacher that won't respect them. (Not directly Impact but it dealt with the us and them problem.)
The comment I know was a turning point was when she was talking about her angel (whom I know). And I asked her if Impact has made her rich yet or if she got that husband she wanted yet? "She's been doing it long enough, she should have at least one of those things by now" My tone of voice was admittedly sarcastic but I saw her practically jump with realization that no, it's not doing squat for her friend. It took weeks/months to get through these ideas with her - just a little at a time, but now she's calling them a cult and mocks what they're doing. I am so proud.

too much-

Thanks for writing. I know that exImpact, formerimpactgrad and others have stated many times that the little thought provoking comments are what work and I'm glad to see they did once again. It's been a long time since we had a success story and I LOVE IT!

Yeah, I had two friends that dealt with me in precisely the same way you mentioned you dealt with your Mom toomuch, and it worked. Patience, prudence and resolve. It may not work every time, but it works.

As for my previous post about my "Atlas Shrugged" experience, it was only one of passages that I found profound. I do not necessarily agree with the entire body of work.

Simply discussing and understanding the nature of David Hume's skepticism and Kant's answer to it works out kinks in the mind that one may not even know were there. :)

Also, concerning the Coversations books...what a crock. If people can imagine worlds with wizards and dragons and self-aware robots and angels and demons and Darth Vader and the DaVinci code...why can't one imagine he is having a conversation with god and write down what that might be like? Playing pretend is fun. Conning people into believing the pretend is real is, well, profitable.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 07/24/2008 08:53AM by exImpact.

So about 2 years ago I heard something really funny from a group of people who were/are still involved with the Impact Trainings. Apparently a grad and former trainer, Nicole Sherman, was made an executive VP of AmericanWest Bancorpration and they were going to penetrate the Utah market by buying Farwest Bank (which they did) then employing a bunch of Impacters with banking experience in various management positions. They were going to use their light tools and affirmations to increase the size of the company and compete with Wells Fargo, Chase and Zions for business in Utah. I'm not sure if any impacters, besides Nicole, were actually hired but today AmericanWest Bancorporation looks like its in danger of failing.

In the last year their stock price has fallen from a high of $20.86 per share to a current value of $1.72. Just yesterday they posted a quarterly loss of $6.21 million for 2nd quarter on the heels of consecutive losses of $31.56 million and $3.34 million in the two prior quarters. These are even bad by current Wall Street standards considering the company had a market cap of $29 million. Look at it this way, in the last 3 quarters the bank has lost more value than the company is actually worth!

Way to go Nicole!

That vaguely reminds me of a mutual fund company (dang -- wish I could remember the name) that tanked in the mid 90's after they started trying to run the place like an LGAT center. I guess the CEO and some top management people took the forum, lifespring or something (quest, perhaps?) and decided to 'transform' the office. I even saw an article in Money Magazine back then that said the HQ felt like an est office.

I think the company was gone within three years of that article. If I can ever remember the name of the Fund company, I'll get back with yuz.

Know what? There's some sound investment advice in all this....

Here is my ignorance showing: What is "est"? Also, I never heard of the term "angeling" until I found this site (I think I was "angeled" myself). What exactly does that mean? Are Impacters supposed to "angel" all their friends and family? I've also read here how trainees have "angels" while in the training. Are angels other Impacters as well as dead people (I only heard about the dead ones). Please enlighten me. I've heard Impact diehards talk about helping people "get in touch with their angels" and the "portal keepers" who are supposedly gifted with that ability because they can communicate with "the other side" (dun dun dun). What the hell? Are there a lot of trainers/staff who claim to have this ability? Thanks.

Former: That is pretty funny about Nicole Sherman. You probably know she used to work for Zions Bank. I bet she took a few of her sycophantic Impact people from there to Far West. I bet Zions isn't complaining...

jk: You are called an "angel" if you get someone to go into quest. In the mastery trainings you learn that, yes, the term is taken literally and you are coached to listen to your angels and follow instructions from the other side. Hans not only talks to angels and claims he has been able to see them since childhood, but he also talks with Jesus Christ and every other possible holy persona ever propped up by almost any religion. Every trainer claims they listen to divine guidance CONTINUALLY as they train and the office staff and mastery trainees are to do the same. Hans' words (paraphrased): "Lord Archangel Michael is the head of this family, we are his army of light. We are the blue protective energy to inspire this world to ascend into it's perfect glory!!!" Or some such. He would re-phrase and expound (or repeat) this nonsense regularly. (yawn...)



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 07/26/2008 03:43AM by exImpact.