Be careful about curiousity--just like glittering lures for fish, it can be used against us.

I used to patronize a bicycle shop where one of the mechanics was a former biker. His gang had been like the Hell's Angels, but more obscure.

One day, it was warm and X had his shirt sleeves rolled up, displaying a veritable gallery of tattoos.

I pointed to one of them and asked, 'What's that?'

X looked ashamed and rolled down his sleeves. He'd made a clean break with his past and was genuinely sorry someone had noticed his body art.

'That particular tattoo is "conversation starter" he admitted. Its very effective for starting conversations with girls.'

A man who artfully displayed that tattoo when out prowling the bars would increase his chances of getting laid.

There must be a body of esoteric knowledge about certain symbols and behaviors that elicit curiosity and if a charlatan can access that knowledge, he or she is in one hell of a position of power.

Amy Wallace was involved in a very toxic cult centered upon Carlos Castaneda. She said that the thing she had to do to begin breaking the hold of the group was to give her need for final closure. The persons who kept power after Castaneda died did so by keeping secrets, being mysterious, dangling the carrot, and never coming across.

If you dont know when to set limits to your curiosity you will always be manipulable by spiritual c**kteases and fluffers--pardon my French.

Someone figured out that the mystique and hypnotic mystery of the Mona Lisa is caused by an optical trick in the painting; it has hidden cues that keep the eye and brain from being able to focus upon the lady's face. Her face always remains slightly blurred and subliminally out of focus because gazing at the portrait causes confusion between two different visual pathways in the eye and brain. We are kept cognitively off balance in a subliminal manner gazing at the Mona Lisa, hence her 'mysteriousness.'

Certain teachers like Gurdjieff and Castaneda were total con artists but they'd perfected all kinds of ways to keep people curious, aroused, off balance, fluffing their curiosity but never really satisfying it. Curiosity kept people coming back to be screwed.

A homeless man who wrote a survival guide to the streets said, 'You will know when youve found spiritual truth because it will soothe your soul, it will get you all the way off, while spiritual counterfeits will merely c**ktease you to distraction. Let that be your guide.'

So curiosity is like a blood hound. It can track things that are useful, but, like a hound, curiosity doesnt always know when to quit. There comes a time when you have to know when to get the hound back on its leash and go home.

[u:62728335f2]Cognitive dissonance is a psychological phenomenon which refers to the discomfort felt at a discrepancy between what you already know or believe, and new information or interpretation.

--[www.dmu.ac.uk][/u:62728335f2]

Cognitive dissonance is different from the trance language I described earlier, but elena is correct that it is "easier to sneak up on someone who is confused."

In Ericksonian hypnosis (which has been assimilated into NLP) trance language puts the person into hypnosis, then the hypnotist slips in the suggestions. This is not necessarily bad--if you want to make positive changes and you've contracted with a hypnotist to help you make those changes, that's the way the game is played and everybody wins.

The problem with Landmark, as I see it, is that they put you into a trance, input a lot of empowering suggestions and good information, but they also slip in this "You've been transformed, now transform others by bringing them to Landmark" mickey which turns people into these Landmark enrollment robots without them really knowing what happened.

I'm somewhat immune because I've been through est before and I've taken a lot of NLP courses and I've been through other conversion-type experiences since then. But I must say that Landmark is powerful stuff and I'm not surprised that people go crazy for it.

>You're not going to get the real experience of camaraderie,
>contribution and challenge through LEC. Only a facade that will
>keep you coming back for more.

Could be. One of the my post-est insights was noticing that after six years of continuous participation I did not make a single friend. Now it's true that I don't make friends like a house afire, but in just about every environment where I've been for a couple years or more I've made at least one friend who lasted into the next phase of my life. Not est.

There was always lots of good feelings at seminars or while assisting but nothing lasted outside the environment. I felt like Rip Van Winkle. When I awoke from the dream of a great time drinking with others, there was nobody there and I was just so many years older.

is it true that rrick ross has no qualifications 2 be a cult expert or buster?

is it true that he has a criminal record?

can any 1 clear this up for me?

Rude Dawg -- I'd prefer you find or start a different thread for questions about Rick Ross. This one is important to me and I would like it to remain coherent. Getting back to the topic, I do want to hear more Landmark manipulation techniques.

>people were processed until they gave in every time.
>(typically with the horsesh*t line about being unreasonable)

Another classic Landmark technique. Well spotted, gc.

Like most Landmark material it contains a truth: to have impact in life one must be unreasonable at times, particularly with oneself. For those susceptible though it can be a mechanical method, perhaps what Guy means by "lever", for Landmark to pry a person loose from their No to a Landmark request.

After several years at est I finally learned to "Just Say No" right upfront without hesitation, explanation, apology, or softeners. Once you listen to a pitch past a certain point it becomes harder and harder to extricate yourself. This is why I keep checking the Do Not Call box on my Landmark info forms. I did get two calls at first, but I was icily firm about it and they stopped calling.

>...keep an eye on the man behind the curtain...

gc, Guy -- Who is the man behind the curtain? I know that Werner's brother runs Landmark and I can hear Werner's voice being channeled by some Landmark staff. Is Werner still in charge?

you can read it here

[www.culteducation.com]

For every group, this site includes the official website of the group, if available, along with critical information.

High demand, authoritarian groups often try to shield their members from information or social contacts that undermine their doctrine, training methods and long term agendas.

By contrast, RR.com has a site 'The Hall of Flames' where people can express whatever disagreements they like.

[www.culteducation.com]

Unlike problematic groups, Rick posts information from those who disagree with him.

Jack,

Yes.

GC4062 is not joking.
If anything he is being "nice".

"...expect to be processed severely by your centre manager and/or regional manager (some compare the experience to being accused of serial murder and getting a certain treatment to extract a confession)... by the time you are finished with, you're begging forgiveness for being a bad and horrible human being for not producing the numbers."

This is no joke, the mental and emotional abuse is beyond what you might imagine.
You are "evil" if you do not make the numbers. No kidding. Not kidding.

"Why are you trying to make him wrong?" was asked of me when I gave a little info about the doctor who recruited me into LE. The fact that he had lied to me about his credentials, his experience, about side effects of meds, etc, were all ways I did not take responsibility, not his. Hmmm...

"who are you managing the existence of yourself as?"

This was always a favorite, pull them over the table and poke them where it's dark, line to mess with the head.

From there you could get dragged in any number of directions from incompetence to criminality.

One of my personal favorite opening lines for mental and emotional torture.