My one year Landmark Anniversery!
Date: June 11, 2008 12:50PM
The last couple of days mark the anniversery of me realizing that Landmark is a cult. Calling them on their crap and basically telling them to F-ck Off in front of a room full of students.
This last year has been a tough one of recovery and rebuilding myself. Today I am happy to say that I am a much stronger man than I ever was before. My BS detector is finely tuned. And I'm doing and getting what I want out of life. WITHOUT the assistance of Landmarks technology, i.e. brain washing.
I've gone from being a scared man that felt weak and insecure after getting a Landmark mental F-ck. To a man that is confident enough to have just come back from spending several days exploring the city of Zurich by myself and starting out at the airport with nothing more than a back pack and a reservation in a Hostel that I didn't know the location of, a few Euro I converted to Franks and oh yes, let's not forget...a credit card (LOL).
Basically I took me a good old fashioned "Walk About" I didn't realize it at the time that I was doing this exactly one year after leaving Landmark! Doing this Walk About was sort of an Anti-Forum! Three days and jet lag! But unlike the Forum I came away with knowledge and confidence that Landmark can not deliver. I did it with out an instructor. I set goals for myself while there and accomplished them. I met wonderful random people while I was there. It's amazing what a smile and a willingness to talk to people will do. I didn't need to take a Landmark Communications class for that. I had accomplishments that were more substantive than any Landmark "break through". I didn't have to tell some sob story and shed tears to "get complete". Instead I told people about where I was from, exchanged ideas and had happy conversations.
I spent less during these three days than I did on all of my Landmark Classes and gained more knowldge from those three days in Zurich than the whole time I did in Landmark (Landmark is actually the reverse of knowledge, its a dumbing down process).
From Zurich I came away educated from the street and real life. From Landmark I came away dumbed down.
From Zurich I came away happy and confident. From Landmark I came away scared and depressed.
From Zurich I came away with positive memories and experiences I will cherish a life time. From Landmark I came away with negative memories and experiences that I will detest for the rest of my life.
In Zurich I spent money and came back with real tangible items that I will probably have the remainder of my life. In Landmark I spent money and came away basically "empty handed".
My reccomendation to anyone considering doing Landmark is to instead take that money and time that you are going to spend and take a meaningful trip to some place you've never been before. You can go alone or with people. I can pretty much gurantee you will learn more worth while things about yourself, life, people, and the world around you than you will in all the days you will spend at Landmark.
I'm glad I said to hell with Landmark, told them to screw off, and unloaded my brain of all their nonsense. If I hadn't done those things I would not have accomplished what I have been able to accomplish in the last few months. If I had stayed in Landmark I would still be putting off life and signing up for one more course in search of fulfillment and happiness.
For everyone out there that is scared that Landmark has permanently damaged them. That is not the case. I'm living proof of it. Sure I may not be 100%, I do still have my Landroid moments and freeze up. But they are fewer and further between now. Eventually they will go away. Have confidence in yourself, trust yourself, and don't be afraid to live life again.