Hey Ali-

Sounds like the boyfriend's sister is out of her mind.

I am glad to hear that you are doing better. It certain is a pain to go through the process of breaking ties with these types of organizations, especially if breaking those ties means breaking ties with family who are clinging to it for dear life.

Having only dealt with it on the outside, I cannot say that I fully understand what anyone has gone through, but I do know that because I was one of the first (and loudest) of those to question the ethics of Impact Trainings and my former employers ties with it, I STILL deal with the ugly side of Impact. The side that is quite clearly a cult.

Not many other organizations wage psychological warfare on a single person who disagrees with their message and/or actions.

How has your boyfriend been dealing with the loss of his family? I'm sure it must be difficult for him, and if he has stuck by you this long and with any conviction at all, I would say that you have yourself a good man who has his head on straight. ;-)

Best of luck to the three of you. Your baby is lucky to have you because you're a survivor with a lot to teach him/her about the world.

~D~

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, 1807-1882, wrote the words for the Christmas music entitled "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day." Verse 4 caught my attention this year as being wisdom on the subject of "right and wrong" as presented in Impact Trainings. To quote verse 4,

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep: "God is not dead nor doth he sleep; The wrong shall fail, the right prevail, with peace on earth, good will to men."

Of course Impact just copied their notions on right and wrong from Werner Erhard; that is, there is no right and wrong, just what works and what does not work. Maybe some short term happiness can come from the Impact notion, but long term happiness is better served by the Longfellow notion. Anyway this has been my experience.

The Impact notion will fail; is failing. The Longfellow notion prevails or sure.

Actually that Longfellow quote makes as much sense to me as any Impact gibberish, but to each his/her own.

I agree Glaucon, Hopeful Soul has continued (for years now) to be a shining example of "Poe's Law".

“Without a winking smiley or other blatant display of humour, it is impossible to create a parody of fundamentalism that someone won't mistake for the real thing.”

OK! I became too prescriptive. Let me state things more discriptively. "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day" is hymn #214 in the LDS Hymn Book. This makes the hymn de facto LDS doctrine. I was just pointing out that it is impossible to reconcile or harmonize Impact Trainings with LDS doctrine, as so many trainees try to do. Other LDS hymns such as "Choose the Right," #239 and "Do What is Right," #237, are additional examples that I have used earlier. There is much evidence on this thread that not only LDS folks are offended by Impact training, but the LDS are in the company of atheists, pagans, and those of whatever other religious or non-religious belief in being offended by Impact Trainings. My intent was to not bring up LDS doctrine specifically; but I did use the word "Christmas," which has itself become a controversial subject it seems. Of the many LGAT's, surely Impact Trainings is unique in the high percentage of LDS trainees involved.

Ali,
I haven't been back here for a long time but I read your post and there is hope. It is good that you are in therapy. I had to go through de-conditioning for awhile. I've been away for a long time and I have my life back. There are still repercussions because I deal with old relationships that still buy into justifying their actions a la impact. There is a right or wrong and there is common sense. The first thing that Impact does is get rid of your critical thinking skills and if you have underlying dysfunction you drink the koolaid quicker. I could have written a lot of your post and I am sad you had to go through that. Don't give up and continue getting your life back. You will see the beauty in the world, not the destruction and greed of the Berger Corporation for big bucks.
My therapist told me he has so many clients dealing with the repercussions of being in this training. It is not worth it. It destroys families, marriages and brain cells IMO.

While posts to this thread are getting rare, readership continues at a roughly 50 hits per day. Of the LGAT threads on this forum, only the Mankind Project seems to come close in activity to Impact Trainings, with just over 61 K views since 11/11/05; while Impact has had over 77 K views since its beginning 5/4/06.

Quest begins tomorrow, with March, April and May sessions being advertized as open. This means no waiting for those who choose this ill advised path. With few new posts to read here, I have allowed myself to visit the many other threads offered by this forum. I find that there is not really much difference in the various brands of LGATs. There are a host of rival explanations as to why this thread has had such high relative activity.

My experience over several years now is that there are long lasting, residual, negative effects of the "trainings" that will probably never be totally erased from my own mind or the minds of those close to me. My bottom line advice to those wondering what LGATs are all about is to read carefully this forum and then choose out before you get sucked in.

[www.facebook.com]

Impact Facebook page....Interesting display of brainwashing, kinda like LDS testimony meetings.

This thread crossed the 78000 hits line this morning. Remarkable! Whatever your views on LDS doctrine, Impact Trainings, and other LGATs are obviously targeted by LDS leadership as bad stuff. I feel a degree of comfort and vindication in the fact that LDS leaders are calling a spade a spade, and helping to expose LGATs, of whatever ilk, as bad stuff. Just giving credit where credit is due. If you believe that the LDS Church is just another LGAT, then that is your right. I believe otherwise, and that is my right. Right? Impact Trainings teaches that there is no right and wrong, only what works and what doesn't work. Nonsense, of course. Perhaps that is one reason why this thread gets so many hits.

So true what are saying about lingering effects. We (my wife and I) quite our involvement in an LGAT in 2003, and the effects for both my wife and myself are still present. At the same time every year (during the times that we were involved in the workshops), certain odd behaviours become evident. Fortunately we both know and see this happening and can at least help each other through this.