So, a couple of friends of mine have really suggested that I try out the Landmark Forum. I've heard alot of what they say they can do and it sounds appealing- for instance how they can really improve your sense of self confidence. I also like how they say they can help you let go of your past... I was bullied alot as a kid in school and as a result I have been prone to anger and do not have a lot of self esteem.. and Landmark says they are really effective at helping people be free of the past...

It seems like they also have a number of respected people vouching for them- psychologists, business people, clergy, including the former head of the APA. They also had a number of news articles about them from people who were skeptical about it- but the articles didn't seem like they written by a landmark zombie or anything.

But then I have also been able to find plenty of horror stories online about people who were traumatized by it or who had a friend who went crazy after doing it... So I am pretty nervous about the whole idea.

Do you think I could be OK doing the forum if I kept in mind when I went in that I was walking into a dangerous place, and made a commitment to myself in advance to not sign up for any advanced courses, not volunteer for Landmark, and not call anybody to "complete" past relationships and definitely not recruit anyone into Landmark, as well as avoided some of the freakier stuff such as the fear exercise story?

It is important to recognize that any perceived benefit merely masks the manipulative nature of this organization. You will be much better off spending your money at a bookstore. In fact, someone working at a bookstore would probably be more help to you than anyone at Landmark. Stay away.

JaredDC,

I'm going to tell you straight up. Don't do it.

It is not worth the time and money you spend on it. Yes they do have people that have people that are "respected" saying that it's a good thing. But let's look at that closer, have you ever heard of those people before? Also, be street smart about this, ANY organization can find people that will say good stuff about them. It's called marketing.

You are alredy skeptical, so why go into something your already doubting? Trust your instincts. Don't think that you can go into the Forum and come out unscathed, especially if you don't have any formal psychological and counseling training and an understanding of the mechanisms used on people. Don't go just to get people off of your back that want you to attend. No matter how tough and resistant you think you are you can be broken.

If you do have issues surrounding traumatization go seek professional counseling. It really is actually cheaper to get professional help. Your insurance plan may cover it. If not find a local university with a Psychology program. All Psychology programs offer counseling services to the public at discounted rates. I've seen people pay as little as $5 a session if they are really really poor. The fees are based on a sliding scale usually, if you can't afford it tell them they will work with you on the cost. The Universities offer this as a service to the community and they do have the interest in the public at hand. Plus they are bound legally to not hurt the clients. You will be getting professional counseling services from Graduate Students that are about to complete their program of study. These students are supervised by staff with Ph.D's with years and years of experience, many of whom may be concurrently offering counseling services themselves outside of the University environment.

Comparing this to Landmark. The people counseling you DO NOT HAVE TRAINING IN PSYCHOLOGY, many may not even have a college education. They are not liscened to offer services either.

If you are having issues please go seek professional help from a liscenced professional. Believe me, it is cheaper than taking the Forum. With a professional you get one on one help for 45 min to an hour. Just you and the counselor. At Landmark you get maybe 5 minuetes of floor time in front of 100 plus people with a person that has no professional training what so ever and doesn't even have your best interest in mind. All Landmark wants is your money, mind, body, and soul so that they can get you to make them more money and push their own agenda on an unsuspecting public.

The bad stuff you see on the internet has actually happened to people. If you don't believe it contact the individual if possible and check them out on your own.

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JaredDC
So, a couple of friends of mine have really suggested that I try out the Landmark Forum. I've heard alot of what they say they can do and it sounds appealing- for instance how they can really improve your sense of self confidence. I also like how they say they can help you let go of your past... I was bullied alot as a kid in school and as a result I have been prone to anger and do not have a lot of self esteem.. and Landmark says they are really effective at helping people be free of the past...

It seems like they also have a number of respected people vouching for them- psychologists, business people, clergy, including the former head of the APA. They also had a number of news articles about them from people who were skeptical about it- but the articles didn't seem like they written by a landmark zombie or anything.

But then I have also been able to find plenty of horror stories online about people who were traumatized by it or who had a friend who went crazy after doing it... So I am pretty nervous about the whole idea.

Do you think I could be OK doing the forum if I kept in mind when I went in that I was walking into a dangerous place, and made a commitment to myself in advance to not sign up for any advanced courses, not volunteer for Landmark, and not call anybody to "complete" past relationships and definitely not recruit anyone into Landmark, as well as avoided some of the freakier stuff such as the fear exercise story?

If your aware that hypnosis is used in what's called "processes" and read up on how hypnosis works, you'll probably manage.

I think it does not work in the long run. Some things might improve, but only internally with other LE graduates, but not in the outside world. Positive effects are overlayed by negative effects, which are also a result from your participation.

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JaredDC
So, a couple of friends of mine have really suggested that I try out the Landmark Forum. I've heard alot of what they say they can do and it sounds appealing- for instance how they can really improve your sense of self confidence. I also like how they say they can help you let go of your past... I was bullied alot as a kid in school and as a result I have been prone to anger and do not have a lot of self esteem.. and Landmark says they are really effective at helping people be free of the past...

It seems like they also have a number of respected people vouching for them- psychologists, business people, clergy, including the former head of the APA. They also had a number of news articles about them from people who were skeptical about it- but the articles didn't seem like they written by a landmark zombie or anything.

JaredDC,

Landmark always seems to latch onto the good reputations and prestigous titles of anyone they can to make themselves appear like a respectable company, which they are not. Its just Landmark riding on the shirt tails of any who let them.

A Landmark Forum is the last place to go and deal with a self-esteem and anger issue. Landmark has no respect whatsoever for personal pain, personal experiences, or for the person who has had those experiences. Self esteem is something that Landmark will first destroy in you to get you to think they are superior to you and that they know better than you do. Please do not confuse self confidence with arrogance or boldness as you might be witnessing in your friends, who are putting on their best faces to recruit you. If you take your anger and self esteem issues to a Landmark Forum, you will be blamed for all of it, you will be accused of causing it all to happen to you and you will be absolutely devalidated emotionally, spiritually, and intellectually. The Landmark Forum leader will revictimize you to convince you that you don't have a problem. Then, he or she will expect you to get up in front of everyone and give Landmark all the credit, praise and glory for saving your life (which did not need saving, just validation), and will also expect you to show your gratitude for Landmark by recruiting others, just like your friends are doing with you. I hope that you will value your experiences, good or hurtful, and your humanity, enough not to let a bunch of vultures crap all over them just to make themselves feel more proud and make werner erhard and his family a few hundred dollars richer.

Please don't allow this to happen to you, find a good friend or a trained professional instead. A trained landmark forum leader does not qualify as a 'professional'. Your friends don't know it yet, but whatever issues they 'dealt' with at their forum still lie just beneath the surface, and in time or simply in the right circumstances, those 'dealt' with issues will surface again in the same, or worse, form they were in before they were forcibly supressed and devalidated during the psychologically controlled/hypnotically induced experience which they have mistaken for 'transformation'.

I realize peer pressure must be heavy on you to do this but you will not gain TRUE self-confidence or be freed of your emotional baggage in a forum, you will only be told that you have, and you will likely come out believing it.

Save your money and guard your dignity, Landmark Education has its own wicked plans for both, and those plans do not have your best interests in mind.

My apologies for being so forward, but I knew a person who thought like you are now, and they no longer have an individual identity and none of their issues have shown any signs of having been dealt with, they just get ignored now. And that friend now lives to serve Landmark and its 'work', but oddly enough that 'work' doesn't seem to be a source of any great joy or personal breakthroughs--just more recruits for Landmark.

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JaredDC

Do you think I could be OK doing the forum if I kept in mind when I went in that I was walking into a dangerous place, and made a commitment to myself in advance to not sign up for any advanced courses, not volunteer for Landmark, and not call anybody to "complete" past relationships and definitely not recruit anyone into Landmark, as well as avoided some of the freakier stuff such as the fear exercise story?

If you don't commit to sign up for more, to volunteer, to call people to 'complete' the past, to recruit, to do the freaky exercises... well, mate, there is nothing else to do in landmark. That's all there is, really. At that conditions, you might as well stay at home and save yourself the inevitable pain. There will be pain. And if you have problem with bulling, believe me, you wanna stay away from landmark. They are pros at it. It's like they invented it.

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JaredDC
Do you think I could be OK doing the forum if I kept in mind when I went in that I was walking into a dangerous place, and made a commitment to myself in advance to not sign up for any advanced courses, not volunteer for Landmark, and not call anybody to "complete" past relationships and definitely not recruit anyone into Landmark, as well as avoided some of the freakier stuff such as the fear exercise story?

Listen to the above advice and just DON'T do this to yourself. You will be BULLIED and beaten into submission to take part in all of the above by a very charismatic individual backed up by a bunch of hypnotised worker drones hell bent on your money, mind and soul. Save yourself $500 of your well earned money and over 40 hours of your life and seek out some help from a trained professional, as others have advised.

If this will help, here is a breakdown to save you that money and time

The Good (About 10%)

Hearing others talk about stuff that has happened to them which puts your problems into context
It's nice to apologise to people you have been nasty too

Thats about it, really

The Highly Questionable (About 20%)

What happened in the past is what you make it (Actually sometimes IT IS what happened - we don't delude ourselves all the time).

Choice is better than Deciding because deciding means thinking about it (uuuummm I still don't get that one but its kinda fun to think about in its weird bizzare LM way)

Most of what we don't know we don't know that we don't know. (great, and so what?)

Load of other stuff that you can put up a logical argument to the contrary if you can be bothered........

The downright corrupt, twisted, perverted mind controlling garbage you will ever come across (70%)

Enrolling others = bring us more people to make more money from, if you don't do this you have failed, you are an evil selfish human being for not sharing this gift we have given you etc, etc

Mind control, brainwashing, don't take prescription drugs, uncomfortable seating, no toilet breaks, temperature control, guilt trips, commitment = doing what we say, integrity = doing what we say to the exclusion of the reasonable, the rationale or anything which is contrary to our beliefs or evil little plans

Don't question us, we are better and more powerful than you, we have all the answers. You are low life human grbage but we can save you but only if you accept what we say is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

Untrained, unqualified, irresponsible, two faced, manipulative but charismatic "Leaders" bullying and controlling you, incentivised to get as many more new recruits as possible. by money and sick satisfaction out of dominating others.


I could go on but i'll just make myself angry. Read the posts on Rick Ross and other sites as well and just DON'T do this to yourself.

I wish I'd read ON2 LF's post before I did the forum as it sums up the scam that is Landmark perfectly. It's nothing but a well oiled machine designed to get you to get your friends, their friends and everyone in your environment on to pay for and complete a course. There is nothing else on offer. I went in with no history of mental health problems and had a psychotic episode during a course that no one at Landmark was able to, or even interested in helping me deal with. I am convinced that you risk your sanity by participating in something like Landmark.

If you feel you need help with any aspect of your life, please go find a professional with the appropriate qualifications, experience to help you.

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JaredDC
So, a couple of friends of mine have really suggested that I try out the Landmark Forum. I've heard alot of what they say they can do and it sounds appealing- for instance how they can really improve your sense of self confidence.

On a good day, that's just sales training -- better gotten someplace like Dale Carnegie. On a not-so-good day, it's training on how to manipulate, dominate, and control people. Yes, you may have a "sense" of improved self-confidence but it's more likely that you've turned cold-blooded or into a user. Even a little bit of this can harm your relationships with those who are important to you, as you can probably imagine. What it boils down to is that they want you to sell Landmark to your friends and family. Some people fall for this ploy and try to push the programming onto everyone they know -- as your friends have done.

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I also like how they say they can help you let go of your past... I was bullied alot as a kid in school and as a result I have been prone to anger and do not have a lot of self esteem.. and Landmark says they are really effective at helping people be free of the past...

That's the scientology part. They call it ~disappearing the past,~ ~erasing engrams,~ or something similar.
It's their snake-oil. Who doesn't have bad memories they'd rather forget? It's a scam. Firstly, it's impossible, unless you have a stroke or get Alzheimer's. Secondly, if you have memories that are that painful or that traumatic, you'd be much better off seeing a professional who won't denigrate or dismiss the importance of them or tell you they are all in your head, can be obliterated, or that you created your own victimization.

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It seems like they also have a number of respected people vouching for them- psychologists, business people, clergy, including the former head of the APA. They also had a number of news articles about them from people who were skeptical about it- but the articles didn't seem like they written by a landmark zombie or anything.

Shills.

Were you not able to spot the repetitive and formulaic nature of these testimonials? They all use the same words and phrases. They all use the same jargon. It's pathetic.

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But then I have also been able to find plenty of horror stories online about people who were traumatized by it or who had a friend who went crazy after doing it... So I am pretty nervous about the whole idea.

Do you think I could be OK doing the forum if I kept in mind when I went in that I was walking into a dangerous place, and made a commitment to myself in advance to not sign up for any advanced courses, not volunteer for Landmark, and not call anybody to "complete" past relationships and definitely not recruit anyone into Landmark, as well as avoided some of the freakier stuff such as the fear exercise story?

They are good at finding your particular vulnerability. That's their specialty. They've been doing it for more than thirty years. If you think you're too smart or too prepared to fall for their scam, they'll find another way.



Ellen