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Zorro
The course leaders also ask people to skip very important events in peoples lives, like birthday's, graduations, funerals, you name it, so that they can attend a Landmark event and continue with the "Transformation" of their lives because it is so important and must be done. Can you imagine how pissed off your friend or relative would be if you skipped an important event in their life for Landmark? Can you imagaine how really pissed that person would be if they finally attended an Introduction to see what it was about and realized what a crock of crap it is? The friend / relative would be absolutely livid. At least I know I would.
This is like the Landmark equivalent of gang initiation. New gang members are expected to commit criminal, cruel and generally atrocious acts against others to prove their loyalty and to prove whether they will be any good to the gang or not. Landmark's expectation of its new recruits is pretty much the same in cruelty and atrocity. They expect the new recruits to sever their ties with any of their previous relationships and any part of their history, their life's experience. When they miss important dates and occasions or don't show up for their family or friends during important times, its just another way of committing a painful act against them.
When they call up people to get 'complete' about presently ongoing or long forgotten issues, what they are really doing is drawing the dividing line. After that phone call, the person on the other end can either sign up with the cult/gang too or they can be written off and their being written off will be used as proof to the cult leader(s) that the new recruit is loyal and worthy of the fold.
This is just my opinion. I've been the person who got the phone call and the invitations to join and became the leper on the other side of the dividing line. When I tried to cross that line to reach the person I was losing, it was like running directly into the old Berlin wall. I still haven't quite recovered from that crash, and I don't think I will until the monster behind that wall is destroyed.
I have alot of empathy for anyone who was once on the side of the wall who was expected to draw that line and begin proving themselves to Landmark. I especially empathize with those who have lost, or feel they have lost their faith in God, humanity, and their purpose. I haven't been on the 'new recruit' side but my entire faith system has been shaken just for being on the leper side.
Its been hell, and I've had to let go of my relationship because if I had clung to it like it were still a living thing, I would have destroyed even the good memories. I made me sick to let go, it was heartbreaking and it was then that I began to see the distorted mess it left in my soul.
Where I've been in the last two years is not the road I would have chosen but I was propelled onto it by Landmark, and before I exit this route, I too will have made my case against Landmark and it will not be restricted to ranting and venting on this site. I feel that the key to making an effective stand is to choose the time and event well, and to pick the battle that in some way dictates to the entirety of the war.