Landmark's slogans and jargon encourage a sense of unity and insider/outsider dynamics.
(I am still working on completing credit where due. Please let me know if you recognize a quote that should be credited.)
Acknowledging – Clapping that follows a person's sharing a realization or declaration.
"Already always listening" – People often aren't listening because they are filtering information through that filter of pre-existing beliefs.
Applause – Occurs after each "sharing" from a Forum participant. Landmark people are planted within the groups to trigger it. (shadowlands's website)
"be your word" –Slogan promoting integrity
Being a Cause -you are actively doing something to be transformed. [
www.primechoice.com]
Being authentic – Taking complete responsibility for your actions; being truthful; your best self. "The Landmark Self-Expression and Leadership Program is designed to empower participants in the authentic expression of themselves."
Breakthroughs - Life-transforming realizations.
Being "coachable" – Being able to let go of your questions and accepting everything that the leader of the session says without inquiry.
contributing to your life – Graduates sharing their Forum experiences and pressuring you into enrolling in a Landmark course.
"Commit to the possibility of being" –Agree to do whatever it takes to make the transformation in your life.
commitment-being committed to being committed. Commitment to other people, being authentic, spreading the transformations the Forum; testifying to the changes.
Completing - Speaking to people you have "unfinished business" with and accepting responsibility for any problems that occurred in the relationship (being argumentative, having been raped or abused, etc.). Ex: "I'm looking forward to completing with my ex-fiancee and creating the possibility of a unique friendship."
Forum participants are instructed to begin with the words: 'I've been making you wrong for...', 'I've been resenting...' or 'I regret that...'. and end it 'I love you.' (Amelia article)
"Do you want to make a difference in your life?" –Typical intro to a conversation about the Forum.
Drugs and medication –No prescription drugs, aspirin or alcohol are allowed. They keep you from "fully participating in and receiving all the value available to you."
"Enroll in the possibility of being"
Be Enrolling: share your new possibilities in such a way that others are touched, moved and inspired. ("Be actively enrolling people in Landmark.) Amelia Hill Sunday December 14, 2003 The Observer
Filters- Beliefs that cause you to judge people by the past "If you don’t want others to judge you, stop judging others"
Forum rules - NO talking without permission, NO taking notes, NO food or drinks other than water in the room, NO tardiness, NO drugs or booze during the weekend, etc. Any deviation from these rules risks out entire Forum experience.
"generating myself as the possibility of freedom and generosity" (livejournal-landmark)–creating yourself daily as the result of your possibilities.
"Getting it" – Accepting the Forum teachings as truth. There is no meaning in life except what you give it.
"Graduation" night – The Tuesday following the 3-day Introduction to the Forum (Fri-Sun), or the 4-day Advanced Course (Thurs-Sun) is when "graduation" or "completion" takes place. Enrollees invite their friends and family, typically with the phrase "It would mean so much to me if you came to this Tuesday night to my graduation."
The evening has two phases; the first, where Forum graduates share their "breakthroughs" with the large group. In the second half, the visitors are divided into small groups and taken to small seminar rooms to get a "taste" of the Forum, after which they are invited to sign up for the Forum. Meanwhile, the inviters finish their course with the leader at the same time.
Integrity – being your word. The worst accusation "You're not being your word." Signing a registratration form and putting down a deposit is making a commitment to take a course. Cancelling is not being your word. Even standing up to sign up to take a course is considered a commitment.
It's not about what you know, but about letting go of what you know. –The Forum
learning about what we don't know we don't know- What the Forum teaches you
Looking good –Posited as the only reason why people do good deeds. Forum leaders have cited this as Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr.'s motivations for their work not because they believe in them, but because they want to "look good."
''making up a story'' –ways of interpreting a story that explains the way you see the world.
meaning-making machines – Humans
Paradigm shift -(Shadowlands points out, these phrases are selected because they resonate with white-collar professionals.)
racket - believing someone is a certain fixed way. According to Landmark, rackets are not reality and not the truth. Patterns of thought and behavior that pay off; persistent complaints with a payoff
Reasons why the Forum didn't work for people-
"Well, actually, there were people who weren’t satisfied. But that’s just because they didn’t really want to get something from the Forum"
"The Forum only gives you what you want to take from it."
another_ga@hotmail.com another_ga@hotmail.com[
www.geocities.com]
RULES Intro Course; 3 15-hour days +4 hour Tuesday night meeting; Advanced Course -4 15-hour days + Tues night meeting, with only 1 90-minute meal break. Participants are informed, that the slightest deviation from the rules might result in failure. Discipline is strict. You can't go to the bathroom when you want, you take meals ingroups,there are strict rules about talking and conduct, and the leader won't hesitate to shame you into compliance.
"How much is the rest of your life worth?" Common question to people equivocating about signing up for the Forum.
Sales pitches:
1) VOLUNTEER: Did you accomplish everything you wanted to accomplish?
Potential enrollee: No I haven't
VOLUNTEER: Well, you need the advanced course.
2) If you say the course hasn't helped they ask:
Why not? What's holding you back? Lack of money, lack of interest?
If the answer is lack of interest they'll sit with you. They close in on your insecurities. They find out your insecurities and tell you that you need the Forum to overcome these things.
Summary of friend's experiences told to Karl Ericson [
www.primechoice.com]
Sharing – Often occurs in large groups in front of microphones creating a bond of instant intimacy among the participants. The "oversharing" encourages/pressures others to do the same.
"stop already always listening and be in the conversation" - drop your preconceived ideas and listen to what I'm saying.
"stop running your racket." - You were supposed to face your past, examine your reactions, and finally let it go. Give up being right.
Taking a stand for you – I'm committed to your making your goal. Ex: "I'm taking a stand for you having everything you've ever dreamed of." "In creating a future, we discover in The Landmark Forum how powerful taking a stand can be in having possibilities be brought into reality." (Landmark Forum Website)
"There are no words to describe the Forum" –There are no textbooks, notetaking, or recording allowed in the Introductory Forum. There are catch-phrases and it's described as something that must be experienced to be understood.
"There's something wrong" –Interpretation of your past and your life that you give up. Everything happened. It was not good or bad.
Transformation -. After transformation, according to the theory, people put their past behind and became more effective in achieving their life goals.
Technology –Landmark's technique of using marathon-training sessions to open enrollees to the beliefs that there is no inherent meaning in life; humans are meaning-making machines, and one's potential is limitless if old thought patterns are broken.
Ex: "This technology is all about empowering people to have a choice about how they live so they aren't the powerless victims of their past."
Things being just "what happened," – Humans assign meanings, interpretations and explanations to them instead of accepting the past as a non-meaningful collection of events.
What runs your life – rackets with payoffs. Ex: "_____ is what obviously runs your life"
What you do – rackets. "is this what you do. do you do this?"
Winning Formulas -the tricks people rely on as tools for survival in the world, like good looks.
"Words are meaningless" –Funny, since words are conveying the Forum philosophies to you. (shadowlands)
"your stories" – explanations you've made up to explain your past.
Landmarkian graduate websites:
Ilovepossibility.info