The topic of this thread:Examining and debating the possible role of LGAT room environment and scripting the social interactions to covertly disorient and disempower the subjects while empowering the leader: This bundle of information may perhaps turn out to be the most compelling and useful body of information on LGATs that has been assembled on RR.com's message board. Contributors to
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

This thread is a discussion of issues and concerns relating to Large Group Awareness Trainings and Human Potential Seminars. We are not set up to discuss situations like the one you've described. A health-care related website would be more appropriate.
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

The most radical thing you can do is outside research on RR.com and other websites, so you can identify the box at a very safe distance and stay out of it. But if an LGAT graduate insists that you can only benefit by not being told beforehand how the process will work--thats what makes it hard to stay out of these boxes. ((A personal hunch/reflection: And it means that if you're ever thi
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

If you read Drew Kopp's paper, he gives plenty of information about his time in Landmark and all the courses he took--that is he does indeed tell us what his 'educational background is.' And his paper was published on a website related to an institute of higher education--the URL has 'u.arizona.edu' in it. Thats the University of Arizona--an institute of higher educ
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

You dont have to go through a car crash to know that being in a car crash is a bad experience, best avoided when at all possible. This URL will take you to a long, long list of articles on mind control/aka thought reform otherwise known as ‘brainwashing’ In the article entitled Thought Reform Programs and the Production of Psychiatric Casualties, Singer and O
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

From Dr. Lane's excellent website, The Neural Surfer What makes this account so very remarkable is that Dr. Lane, who is no guru, found that HE could easily create conditions in which high school students had special experiences that resembled those created by Indian gurus. Fortunately, Dr. Lane is an ethical man and did not start his own cult. This essay is a must-read, especially fo
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

paranormal phenomena. This is the 'Neural Surfer' website created by Dr. David Christopher Lane. In an interview, he commented, 'We need to shave more with Occam's Razor.'--that is when something strange happens, consider and eliminate the most common place, simplest reasons for its occurance instead of jumping to conclusions that something paranormal has happened.
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Years ago, I read a memoir by a physician named Axel Munthe, entitled The Story of San Michele. I dont have the book in front of me so I have to paraphrase. Dr. Munthe was a Swede, studied medicine in France and was licensed to practice in France. In the late 19th century, he was a specialist in internal medicine, and practiced in Paris. A lot medical quacks and frauds flocked to Paris,
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

The Doctor's Plot In the world of professional wrestling, fans fall into two categories, known as the Smarts and the Marks. The Marks believe that they are watching spontaneous contests of strength and skill. The Smarts know that they are watching a fascinating, highly plotted, roughly scripted form of dramatic entertainment--a sort of sweaty soap opera. The Smarts and the Marks have
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

The author's findings may perhaps apply to: Some psychotherapists with legitimate credentials who shift gears and eventually become charismatic gurus who commit boundary violations and other acts of malfeasance, (Timothy Leary who started out as a professor of psychology and ended up being an apostle of psychedlic drug use) as well as leaders in authentic spiritual traditions who go in eg
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

A legitimate Life Coach should resemble a gas station: You get fuel for the journey, get your car fixed, and can check a road map in case you think you've got lost. But the people at the gas station are there to help you reach YOUR chosen destination. They should not trick you into abandoning your plan to follow their plan, nor should they trick you into pitching your tent in the gas s
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

I see lots of ads and adverts for various 'Life Coaching' events. Is 'Life Coaching' itself a copywrited term--something that is franchised? Or is it just a grab-bag term for services anyone can offer--whether legitimate, or fronting for an LGAT?
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

who wrote an autobiography entitled 'Living With Kundalini'. Krishna was a Brahmin from Kashmir, worked in India as a civil servant, had a family and practiced a form of kundalini or kriya yoga at home. His practice included visualizing the chakra centres in his spine. In the midst of doing this exercise, Krishna had a surge of energy up his spine and it affected his health, thought
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

The Esalen Institute contributed in very important ways to the New Age movement. Geoffrey Hill gave several lectures at Esalen and in this long but worthwhile article, he gives his take on how the Human Potential Movement fell short of its early promise. (Hill quotes) THE FAILURE OF THE HUMAN POTENTIAL MOVEMENT: FROM SELF-ACTUALIZATION TO EXPERIENTIALISM 'Like all other socia
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

'As i think about it, i think basic New Agey beliefs are ok, just as long as they don't go too far. Then real harm can set in.' If Karla McLaren (the former New Age teacher) is right, and if rejection of critical thought is an essential part of New Age culture, then right away, you've jettisoned the one thing that can help you determine whether your commitment to New Age be
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

you can go visit the www.sustainedaction.com website--it covers the very troubled legacy of Carlos Castaneda, whose work has been revealed as fraudulent, and who has, since last year, been unmasked as leader of a very cruel, secretive cultic group. Castaneda's fantasy books were a major contribution to New Age thought, which has its earlier sources in Gnosticism, Blavatsky/Theosophy and G
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

who abandoned a formerly lucrative career in the New Age world and is preparing to return to school to become a social scientist and researcher. Many thanks to Mr. Brian Steel of Australia, who alerted me to this article. (For those unfamiliar with his work, Brian Steel is a Spanish language specialist. For a few years, Mr Steel was a disciple of an Indian guru named Satya Sai Baba and
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

There is a huge thread of material on ISA available on Fact net. **Some rather strange correspondance happened on the thread, too. People started getting quite mean to each other, which was a shame.
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

This is an interesting scenario: a charismatic leader sent his followers to an existing LGAT (in this case, a group called Harmony) whose methodology broke down boundaries and conventional ethics. The followers were 'processed' by the LGAT, and rendered yet more malleable for the leader's purposes. [66.102.7.104] The leader exploited the malleability created by the Harmon
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

There's a citation about it from our friends on FACTNET (see other discussion thread at - see March 21, 2004)
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

I spent the past week out of town and by a total fluke, met the author of People Farm. (We were both petting the same dog!) We got to talking about this and that, and he volunteered that he'd been in a cult. (On my honor, he said it first, I did not). So I have not yet had a chance to read the book. Warning: according to some of the reviews, parts of the book are sexually very gr
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

****Plus by the time people enter an LGAT room they will already have paid a couple hundred bucks--or whatever the going rate will be. Just paying or charging a sizeable sum of money pressures most of us to convince ourselves that the expenditure is, or will be 'worth it.' (In social psychology this is explained through the research done on cognitive dissonance. In cognitive dissonance
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

These two threads will introduce you to a concept that other persons recovering from LGATs have found useful—meme theory--that is, that ideas can function as viruses of the mind. If you combine mimetics with awareness of how certain problematic LGATs reportedly engineer their room set ups and in some cases, strategically use embarrassment, you’ll have a potent cock
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

you cannot 'think your way out' of authoritarian situations that refuse to be examined objectively by someone standing outside their mental boundaries. Others have tried to get us to believe that we can 'crack the code' by analyzing LGAT word games. This will not work. If you try to do it, you' risk just get more confused. LGAT semantics appear designed to disable y
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

which means 'a short course' in Spanish. The Cursillo movement is NOT a Catholic LGAT. It is not done for profit. And you have to be committed Catholic in good standing at your parish in order to participate--totally different from the way LGATS try to get everyone to participate. The Cursillo movement is an integral part of the Catholic church. It started in Spanish-speaking par
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

LGATs: First, there are many ways to be Roman Catholic--there are ultra conservative Catholics, politically liberal Catholics. Go to various parishes in your own city and each will have a different ambiance. There are Catholics in communion with Rome who use the liturgy, theology and canon law of the Eastern Christian Churches--these are the 'Byzantine Catholics' whose traditions
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

Visit the author's website here www.peoplefarm.com Very, very interesting. He told me the cult leader had excellent academic credentials and that for a time, insurance companies had covered the costs of 'therapy' at Rancho Vista
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

(Warning: Serious Message Cloaked in Metaphor) It has been suggested that perhaps one of our correspondants who has misgivings about this forum cannot 'help herself.' Oh yes she can. Visitors and new members can 'help themselves' by reading the rules for participation here, then read posted material, then sit back and honestly assess their concerns and decide whether
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

The existence of this message board is itself an act of compassion and hospitality for the many who have come here in pain, asking questions and seeking sanctuary. To permit this space to vandalized by taunts, jeers and invalidating mind games would undermine compassion, not support it. We have a lot of material on hurtful groups. If a person is still loyal to that group, that information
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"