In reference to Cousin2004's story:
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patrick-darcy
i would like to know if u can furnish us one little bit of information on your family member.
did this person fight the brainwash of landmark.
it seems that people who have breakdowns are many times the ones that are not as suceptible to landmarks tactics, which is very few people.
this could be relavant. maybe u could ask sometime in the future.
AND
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patrick-darcy
yes my post was about the psychotic breaks.
i have no proof of this but i have thought for years that there are a few people that wont fall under landmarks spell and that these are the people that have the breakdowns.
i talked to one on a newsgroup and he said that he couldnt believe in God anymore because of landmark.
i have heard of others but havent had any contact with them.
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board.culteducation.com]
I think that there are many reasons for why some people have psychotic breaks and others do not.
Even though the person may be on an even keel prior to Landmark, if they have a sensitive and self reflective disposition, the confrontional approach of the LE psychological process may trigger them adversely, especially considering that their critical thinking has been dampened in the first day of the Forum.
For this to happen, I see three possible factors at play:
1. Critical thinking shut down;
2. Participant Ego abuse;
3. Participant is in a state of cognitive conflict internally.
Point 3 I can relate to my past. I refer to a time 13 years ago when one of my fellow participants exclaimed to me that when we die, we don't go to heaven but we become one with the cosmos. A sudden fear came over me that:
1. This must be true
2. That means my own personal identity will be lost forever.
The feelings of helplessness was overpowering. What I was experiencing was what is called an Existential Crisis. The framework for what I held to be true was shot down in pieces. An existential crisis can have the same affect as any other crisis triggered by a precipitating event - a traumatic car accident, loss of a loved one, destruction of the family home, loss of career etc.
At a deep level, a person who has a frame of reference or belief system that provides answers to the meaning of life experiences is presented with a sudden shift in meaning.
But why then do some Christians not have the conflict?:
I would take a stab at, that for ther to be an existential crisis, there must be still some critical thinking active to have this internal debate going on in the person's head. The ones who do not see the conflict and so are not in crisis, have their critical thinking turned off to a greater degree.
For example:
A Christian, Jew or Muslim may believe that when things go wrong, God will support me - this is a very strong meaning to existance.
Once the person goes into Landmark they are confronted with the philosophy of:
[i:49f08935ff]You are responsibile for everything in your life or, "I am it".[/i:49f08935ff]
This is quite a sudden shift in belief, one that I understand as enough to trigger an existential crisis and possible breakdown.
In the case of the clergy adopting LE philosophy, I think they are in denial of the conflict and they try and make the opposing belief system compliment each other to arrest there unease in conscience. I know I was in total denial about this.
Oz