First post because I am worried about my friend.

She has recently contacted me after a long time, said she was attending the Landmark Forum. I have met other people who attend and they have been very odd in the way they talk about things, sort of psychobabbley.

The thing is she started saying how much she loved me and what we were going to do about it. This is great to hear in its way, but I told her I was worried about her involvement with Landmark and immediately she told me that I was too cynical to dismiss it without knowing the possibilities.

I searched the forum here and have learned some useful things but don't understand the steps of Landmark. It sounds very complicated to me and I would rather be informed before I go and visit her.

Any help would be very appreciated,

e

Edna, there is a lot of good info right here. Look up Landmark in the database section.

It's kind of hard to "sum up" what they believe. There is a lot of "psycho-babble" involved. It has a lot to do with taking responsibilty for everything in your life (including things that are beyond your control) and wrappped up with watered down and mutated Zen.

Frankly, that doen't bother. Believe what you wish. What bothers me is their "do as we tell you and don't think for yourself" attitude. That's dangerous. They also pressure you into taking classes and sucking you in deeper and deeper.

They play head games with people. They rip people apart and get them all upset and then tell them "Landmark's teachings will make you right again." From what I have seen, it is pretty much brain washing. I don't say that lightly.

It came from EST. I have studied EST as a cultural happening for about a year. It's very troubling. Most of the people were fine, some people believed they received some benifit from it, others were hurt by it. Landmark is the same thing as EST, just a different name.

Why put yourself at risk? I realize she is your friend, but you need to be firm. You don't have to put your hand on the stove to get burned. Tell you friend that you love her, but Landmark is not for you. If she is your friend, she will understand.

Direct her to this site.

Please don't go a meeting. Just stay away from it. If you want to feel more fulfilled, go volunteer somewhere, give food to the homeless, just stay from these people.

I hope it all works out for you.

Regularjoe

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She has recently contacted me after a long time, said she was attending the Landmark Forum. I have met other people who attend and they have been very odd in the way they talk about things, sort of psychobabbley.

edna,
you have good reason to be concerned. If you search the extensive database on this site pertaining to landmark education and if you simply continue to observe your friend's behaviour as she continues with her involvement in landmark, you will find that she is under the influence of an extremely destructive organization. Landmark is recognized as a cult in France and if you read up on what it is that makes a cult a cult, you will find that your friend is not involved in a "self-help" organization but a self destructive one instead. Approach your friend with caution when slamming landmark because the landmark slamming triggers an aggressive defense mechanism in the mind of the brainwashed person and she will then basically repel any negative words you speak about her new found 'friends' and organization. You are not the first person to be concerned about a person affected by this particular parasite but I hope your intervention proves more successful than most others' in the same situation.
Be careful in how you approach her and be prepared to be confronted with someone who becomes like a total stranger to you as the lekkie programming becomes more embedded into her psyche.

Thank you for your replies. I think you have confirmed what I thought intially which is it can be exploitative. I have now done some reading and I am better informed about it.

I am a free spirit so I always worry about friends who suddenly change and find a solution that involves in paying cold hard cash on a regular basis which has its own funny lingo and cuts out anyone who does not "believe".

I am also concerned about anything that involves you revealing difficult memories in front of strangers and attempting to "forget" the past to remake yourself with a "transformation". This friend of mine has had a traumatic past with some sexual abuse and I do not want to have some money grubbing organisation to lay it all out and mess her up more.

I will never attend a meeting voluntarily but I think many of her current friends are deeply involved with Landmark in Hong Kong and there is cult of doing the classes to improve business performance.

She wants me to visit her (I live in England) and I am concerned that if I did go I would end up at some sort of Landmark social through no fualt of my own.

your friend should be very careful and tell Landmarkians nothing about her abuse. Some people experience mental breakdowns because Landmark is teaching them that they are responsible for any "story they made up about their lifes".

This is, in my opinion, a really dangerous side of Landmark, that people without any training behave like arrogant pricks who have the same explanation for everything ... There is no real compassion or anything.

BE CAREFUL ..

I know there are some psychotherapists on this board. The might give you better information. Or you might watch the French video on Landmark, where a psychologist is giving warnings.

This girl also has a long history of using drugs to get high. I am beginning to think that she found an emotional high out of being at Landmark and now thinks it is really what life is about. It is the emotional manipulation I fear most - she is a highly qualified professional but has a tendency to look for a kind of pseudo spirituality either chemically, medatitively and now by seminar.

She is also doing things like practicing being "authentic" or having "integrity". This weird language is very unnerving.

More personally, for someone who lives on the other side of the world, she seems very interested in my personal life suddenly. She is giving me advice that tells me to give up being right, which makes no sense.

I have been involved in Landmark. A friend of mine was involved over many years, she had a serious issue in the past, and never talked about it at Landmark. She intuitively protected herself and worked on her issues in private.

But in the more advanced courses she talked about it, and then she had a mental breakdown after leaving Landmark. Landmark people just don't have any real compassion and training, they just apply their technology like robots.

to be fair, some leaders at Landmark do have compassion and find the right way to deal with serious issues. But some just don't. In general, their leaders don't have the proper training, that applies for all LGATs.

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edna
She is also doing things like practicing being "authentic" or having "integrity". This weird language is very unnerving.

More personally, for someone who lives on the other side of the world, she seems very interested in my personal life suddenly. She is giving me advice that tells me to give up being right, which makes no sense.

Consciously or unconsciously, she wants you to do the Landmark forum. Because she is brainwashed to register other people for the course ...
Also she is brainwashed thinking that everything Landmark teaches is the absolute truth.
This may go on for a long time. Just tell her that you are informed about Landmark, that it has emerged from Est/Scientology and that you are not interested.

the more I hear from outside the more scared I get ...
all Landmark clones being on a high and desperately trying to convince others to do the courses

What kind of weird organization is that