The Anticult - and when someone claims an accredtation from a university but won't say which university it was, or provide a reference, don't alarm bells ring?
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

And the top British University with contact details was which one?
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

QuotesparrowQuoteCarlos B (yes modelling does have its flaws and areas where it does not work but most of the time its extremely useful) Right, so this is where you get to be like Einstein - by modelling his behaviour and becoming a great mathematician. Grow up sparrow and please realise you are talking to adults. I am not a specialist and most of what you are rambling about is just so fami
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Quotesparrow One of the first ideas in NLP was called "modelling" if that jargon is too difficult for you to understand, think of it as copying in minute detail a behaviour or skill in terms of exterior behaviour and what is going on in the mind. of the person you are modelling. What you do here is find someone who is excellent at something, and find out what they are doing internal
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Quotesparrow"Meta" as used by the NLP community (comes from the greek word) usually means something that is "beyond" or "adjacent" to something else. In NLP a lot of jargon uses the word meta: Meta communication Meta model Meta mirror Meta programme etc.... In terms of manipulation (er sorry I mean "influence" !) what is really being referr
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

QuoteThe Anticultyeah, just dropped that in there. Its not something that can be explained in a few words. There are all sorts of "meta-levels" and meta-patterns they get into in NLP. In one way, it can be the difference between "content" and meta-level processes being done at the same time. So the content can be anything, as in any subject on earth, like a subject in a c
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

QuoteHopeThe dilemma obviously is almost a Landmarkian one - you don't know what you don't know. Most people who haven't been damaged (yet) by one of these programs or individuals is likely to be persuaded to cease using their products. A poster at a post-abuse forum uses BK's stuff on fear (who would you be without your fear of____?). She's a nice, intelligent, gentle
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

QuoteHope I picked up a free publication entitled, "Inner Realm", and even though I laughed all the way through it, it was at the same time kind of frightening to see how many PhDs, LSWs, etc who are licensed in their state to practice medicine, therapies, etc. are involved in this stuff, quite frankly to make a quick buck. There are also groups with weekend-trained reverends, and all
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

QuoteChristaCarlos, I'm very glad you brought this issue up. I've actually been thinking about why it is that so many "pseudo-sprituals" like Tolle, Katie, and others are getting such massive play. It's like eating Cheez-whiz instead of Cheddar or Camembert. Sure, you can do it, but why would you? (Unless you want to eat crap petrochemicals instead of real food and weigh
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Hi corboy Yes that's it exactly! A lot of food for thought there. A couple of observations. The New Age is a milieu that's antithetical to thought of any sort. Ego is bad, authentic self (or whatever the term) is good. Dualism bad, non dualism good and so on. The irony is of course that the dual/non-dual dichotomy is an idea, the product of thought, and nothing more. It's
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Thanks for all the comments - interesting stuff. For the moment I want to pick up The Anticult's point that the real power lies with the deep group experience. I agree that these groups are not going away and I'm not advocating ignoring them but a real shift of power is taking place/has taken place. I want to illustrate this with the Neal Donald Walsch example. An unknown guy writ
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Hi corboy, In direct reply to your post I'd say that it's reaching a situation where fixed groups are becoming redundant. Wayne Dyer for example doesn't have any sort of membership organisation (as far as I know) but his ideas are very influential because a powerful marketing machine has replaced the need for a formal structure. The same process and techniques that sell washing
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

I've been taking a quick look at Eckhart Tolle - watching videos, reading articles. He's treated with a lot of reverence by the media and readers of his material. It's a bit scary because he doesn't seem to know anything at all. He is though representative of what almost seems like a conspiracy to lull the population, or large parts of it, into a comforting hazy sleep. Tolle a
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

It's a bit difficult to dive into a 205 page thread but I want to make an observation about Eckhart Tolle. I'm just beginning to look at him and I notice he has a very similar hook to Andrew Cohen - 'join me in the noble cause of advancing the evolution of consciousness.' This kind of stuff is particularly pernicious because the initiate is made to feel responsible for the de
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Hi Lincoln, Sorry to hear about this and sorry to say there may be a rocky road ahead. In my opinion it may be best not to bang the anti-Landmark drum too loudly right now. It may actually be a time to do nothing because you risk forcing your sons to choose between you and Landmark. Be emotionally supportive, keep the door open - both ways - work on that, just focus on not losing contact, be
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

The healing/spirituality industry in the west reminds me greatly of the cottage industry of 'specialists' and 'consultants' that surrounds the movie industry. These people target wannabe screen writers with the claim that they can tell them how to write the perfect, saleable script that will get them that big break in Hollywood. In the US there are innumerable (expensive) even
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

I define the New age as a form of pop-spirituality. Theories are cherry picked from more complex sources. They've taken synchronicity and the collective unconscious from Jung and ignored all the rest. I'm not a fan of Jung's - far too many theoretical and practical connections with Nazism - but at least he was an intellectual. The idea of the collective unconscious (in Jung) is not
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

John - it's a great article. Thanks for that. It's a pity the writer didn't stick it through the whole course. It has the makings of an amazing screenplay. "Dogshit metaphysics" - what great title that would be. I did have the notion to write a screenplay based on the Forum but never got past the first draft, maybe I'll go back to it. The Anticult - I think ther
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

Hi John, well, it's a bit like trying to convince someone that chocolate ice cream doesn't taste so good. So far as Landmark goes prevention is easier than cure. On the bright side I would guess that most people who do the Forum are not affected too much one way or another once the initial euphoria has worn off. I've met a number of people who've done the Forum and liked it
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

It's a useful video - I could only find part 1 (lasted about an hour). Are the other parts on the web site? I thought it was a pity that the woman in the studio who said she found the Forum useful wasn't listened to more carefully instead of just getting a lecture about how she'd been duped. It may be beyond the scope of a program like that but I think the most useful way of dis
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

It's true, the Law of Attraction is everywhere. Why? Because it's a get rich quick scheme promoted by the very rich via the mass media. It's pernicious for a number of reasons. It gives false hope. It trivialises life. It corrupts spirituality. It justifies the vast differences of wealth that exist in the world. It makes poverty and suffering a personal and not a social issue. I
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

I'm not sure how you can get them out of the country unless you can demonstrate that they break laws. You can though attack their message through a website set up for that purpose. This would take a lot of thought and preparation because you have to avoid opening yourself to litigation and at the same time find ways to cut through their propaganda which is mainly carried by word of mouth. Mo
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

Nothing has come back from ruevan - does anyone have any information? I think the idea of going to a Forum to debate with the Landmark people is really mistaken. They are in complete control. It's not like a public forum with a critical audience. Almost everybody there has bought into the transformational possibilities (in three days!) before they got through the door and they're not in
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"