On the advice (really, pressure) of my brother-in-law, I signed up for the Landmark Forum. He's been very active for two years, done all the classes, flew out to Dallas many times for weekends, plus he's volunteering weekly in Atlanta, even though he has to drive 3.5 hours one way from Asheville.

My forum weekend was, two weeks in hindsight, one of the most bizzare and surreal experiences of my life. The only parallel I can produce from my life is a job I once had to photograph a church where people were "stricken with the spirit" and lay on the ground, writhing, speaking in tongues and giggling hilariously.

Tuesday night at the Forum, everyone is saying "Power!" The leader (has anyone else noticed that all of the Landmark leaders are divorced?) says "What would that possibility give you? It would give you power, wouldn't it?"

"Power!" Like a pack of sheep being led into a slaughterhouse.

I left there bewildered. Some good things had been discussed, and I tried to focus on those, but as the following week passed I began to feel an intense anger and some anxiety about what I had witnessed. And why was my brother-in-law involved so deeply in this?

I found culteducation.com and began to read the accounts to try and make some sense of this sick game. I phoned my sister (who has done much "training") and she immediately started in with "I'm present to the fact that..." I could barely contain my anger. Five days later, she refuses to read any of the information I've offered her.

My brother is convinced that everything good about his life comes from Landmark. He also talks about how he "doesn't fit in." It's all Landmark, all the time. My sister thinks that nothing is wrong. She has, however, asked him to quit the organization after he completes his current "commitment."

My father did the course and he now spends time with his mother and brother on a regular basis, after years of estrangement. That being a very good thing, I am left even more confused. Am I seeing nothing but the bad in LE?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. As I said, I am tremendously confused and upset by this whole ordeal. I wish I had never let him badger me into signing up. I've always been a very healthy, honest and open person, and I'm feeling pretty beat up right now.

Parkito,

You sound more like a survivor than a victim. Consider yourself fortunate for seeing the forum for the sham that it is.

There is a lot of great info here, as Corboy pointed out, that will help you understand what really happens in a Landmark "Education" seminar - how they mess with your normal human expectations and they screw with your mind all the while telling you they are helping you.

Anger is a good thing.

Mate,

This kind of crap made my slightly unhinged ex-wife go totally full on bonkers and try out prostitution. Obviously, she already had issues otherwise she wouldn't have fallen into this junk - but she would NEVER have done that in her normal mental state. She just went psychotic for a month.

We spoke to a shrink - she told us it's normal after attending LGATs. Not very surprising. Something to do with trance induction and not being taken out of it properly or something like that.

Stay away from this stuff. Whatever you do, do not go back. This is really the most shady, diry, sleazy bunch of junk I've heard of that you can do without breaking the law.

The professional money makers make me sick. There's a good story on Rick Ross about one where partners are made to watch each other get all intimate with a third party. It's mad.

Just as you suggest, Notmad.

One of the quickest and most effective ways to "deconstruct" the personality is through the sexual identity route because it is the "bedrock." That they use these tricks on people to destroy whatever foundation they have holding them up and then turn them loose with nothing to ground them but the "empty & meaningless" nonsense is abusive and would be criminal if there were any legal understanding of the practice. Unfortunately, it is hitched to that sacred cow, "free will," and will probably never be tackled for the crime that it is. The stage hypnosis trick of suggesting to an old woman that she is Britney Spears is hilarious and no one takes it particularly seriously, I think because professional hypnotists have an ethical agreement not to leave people in this state. Landmark does this kind of thing and gets away with it because people don't believe it is possible. It would be funny if it didn't work out in tragic consequences so much of the time. Can you imagine "waking up" and discovering that you have been laboring as a time-share salesman or telemarketer for the last five years?


Ellen

Hypnosis cannot "take control" of people, and there is no need to "bring someone out" of a "hypnotic trance". There is enormous controversy about what hypnosis actually is.
[skepdic.com]

I think it is more accurate to talk about "Influence".
In my view there is no need to get "mysterium" about it.
Its hardcore Social Influence at work.

Coz

Ahhhh, but it is a mystery. And there are lots of myths floating around about what hypnosis is, exactly. I and others have posted a whole slew of stuff on alt.fan.landmark regarding hypnosis from the sensational to the scholarly. What is seems to boil down to is that, for undetermined reasons including possible genetic factors, a certain segment, usually estimated at between 10 and 20% of the population, are extremely suggestible or susceptible to hypnotic induction and can be induced to do just about anything by a skilled hypnotist. It is something entirely different from social influence, though social influence can be coersive enough in its own right.


Ellen

I agree that a certain % of the population is highly suggestible.
There is massive hysteria, distortion, and lies about hypnosis out there, much of it propagated by those who sell hypnotic services.
I know a lot about hypnosis. I have been "hypnotized" countless times, and can perform "hypnosis", and have watched countless acts of hypnosis.

In my opinion all it is, is the power of self-suggestion.
It is the brain processing information. (Linguistic and Visual).

Also, what people BELIEVE about hypnosis affects their experience of hypnosis.
If people want to believe that hypnosis is a mystery, and that hypnotists can exercise power over them, then guess what?

In my view, what is going on is simply the power of SELF-SUGGESTION.
No different than a person telling themselves to get up in the morning, or to not eat that chocolate cake.
Our brains process information about our environment, which then guide our behaviors. "Hypnosis" is simply people choosing to accept the suggestions of another person.
The disinformation and distortion about hypnosis SERVES the cultists, and others, as it gives them a "shroud of mystery".
They are merely the Wizard of Oz, hiding behind the curtain. Lets not give these charlatans false powers.

If you believe in Voodoo, a Hex can cause you great grief. If you do NOT believe in Voodoo, then it is harmless. Its the same thing, the power of Self-Suggestion. If people BELIEVE others have mysterious and Occult powers over them, then they WILL get themselves in real trouble.

By Social Influence, i mean the fact that Leaders set themselves up as Authority Figures, so their Suggestions are accepted by their followers.
"Hypnosis" is not a "mystery" to me. Hypnosis is a red herring, and a false God.
The "mystery", or rather, the "scientific problem" is how human Cognition and Consciousness works, and that can be investigated scientifically and ethically.

Coz

(here is some selected quotes)
[skepdic.com]
The hypnotist and subject learn what is expected of their roles and reinforce each other by their performances. The hypnotist provides the suggestions and the subject responds to the suggestions. The rest of the behavior--the hypnotist’s repetition of sounds or gestures, his soft, relaxing voice, etc., and the trance-like pose or sleep-like repose of the subject, etc.--are just window dressing, part of the drama that makes hypnosis seem mysterious. When one strips away these dramatic dressings what is left is something quite ordinary, even if extraordinarily useful: a self-induced, “psyched-up” state of suggestibility.

In short, what is called hypnosis is an act of social conformity rather than a unique state of consciousness. The subject acts in accordance with expectations of the hypnotist and hypnotic situation and behaves as he or she thinks one is supposed to behave while hypnotized. The hypnotist acts in accordance with expectations of the subject (and/or audience) and the hypnotic situation, and behaves as he or she thinks one is supposed to behave while playing the role of hypnotist.

Last year a friend of mine, actually my best friends wife joined Landmark. She had been battling depression for many years unknown to us. She joined with a vengeance. She got her sister into it and then tried to get my wife and I and her husband and children into it. The first phone call to us was a red flag "come to this meeting I really want you there because I love you and need and by the way bring your check book!” She dove head first into it doing all the Landmark things. It started off OK but then she got off her medication that kept her level. She started going off the deep end. She belittled her husband all over town (she adored him before). She changed her appearance, (somewhat good), she engaged in confrontational dialog with her friends. She made wild assumptions about her husband. She really changed in some ways not too bad. She went from the perfect Mom, wife and friend to someone we did not know how to deal with.
One weekend we went away as we did a few times per year and lunch started off with her hitting on the waiter in front of her husband while also belittling him in front of us. Then to dinner where she and I (I, a male) always enjoyed a good friendly debate had a terrible disagreement where my opinion did not matter. This was a person who always allowed open dialog. We then had to lay her out verbally at the end of the evening. We told her to stop this way of life or she would lose her husband. Everything she stated was Landmark jargon. She was in hard and not getting out. She alienated her friends, she distanced her husband. She even tried to recruit his company. They called him and said to get her out (they even knew how bad it was).
We and her husband and children dealt with it for a few more months. She got so far into Landmark the pressure's hit her harder than any before. She was off her meds and slid deep into depression. She was bed ridden it was so bad. A vibrant, beautiful, caring wonderful woman who had every thing and everybody in her life she could ever need. I could go for hours to tell you how she cared for everyone around her.
Without ever a mention ever ..... With her family in the house she took her own life six months ago. There were over a thousand people at her funeral. She didn't think she mattered.
My point is she became dependent on Landmark; they pressured her to the point she could not deal with it. They as unprofessional took her off of something only a professional could do they took her off her medication.
She never ever mentioned suicide, but the pressures became too much.
We blame Landmark.
If you become involved, run. They are a cult, they do use brainwashing. They tell you, you matter as long as you belong to them and give them the money for their programs. Try to get out and you don't exist.

Thanks to everyone for their replies.

I am currently trying to contact other members of my forum group to warn them about this. My brother continues to insist that everything is cool, all the while talking about "being complete" with me. The jargon just makes me ill.

Thinking back over the Forum two weeks later, I find more and more things that are objectionable and abusive. When someone begins a conversation by telling you how "honest" they are, and what exceptional "integrity" they have, you know they are full of it. When they claim kinship with the spirits of Ghandi and King, you know they are full of it.

Honesty teaches by example, and trust is earned over time. They pack all these people in the room and drone on and on about the integrity of Landmark, all the while filling you with jargon so quickly that you are not allowed time to digest and analyze it with your fully critical mind. "Turn off that voice in your head" they say. My brother listened.

Larry, the leader, made an example out of anyone who dared challenge his authority. He always used the room, the group against the questioning of any individual. He was a master of the game.

My brother made mention of a "potential leadership position" within the organization, supposedly paid. I think they're just jerking him along to get more "commitments" and volunteer time. I can hear it: "I told you I see a leader within you, but leaders make the sacrifices, they do the hard work necessary for the good of the organization. We need you to keep your commitments to Landmark, and maybe we can look at that paid position in a few months."

I've asked a few questions which I hope might break through the fog: Why are you volunteering your time for a multi-million dollar corporation?

Thanks again for the posts. The story will continue.

This is the suggestion/command to turn off your Critical Thinking faculty.
They want you to suppress the very faculty of mind which can stop them from harming you. This is one of the most damaging things anyone can do to you.
NEVER LET SOMEONE TAKE AWAY YOUR ABILITY TO THINK FOR YOURSELF.

Coz

Quote
parkito
"Turn off that voice in your head" they say.