QuoteJack Oskar LarmI agree. And I suspect that for many people Landmark and other LGATs is a kind of last hope - the answer to all their suffering. I liken the Landmark experience to childhood trauma but did not intend to imply that attendees to the forum ARE in fact childhood trauma survivors. In fact, I disagree with you. I think a large proportion of attendees to the forum are coerced to
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

QuoteelenaQuoteJack Oskar LarmQuoteBefore the course she was reclusive and depressed. When I saw her during the "intro talk" (i.e. recruitment session), she appeared to have a bunch of friends and appeared very alive and happy. Yeah, I noticed that, too. I suppose it's normal when people are made to feel they belong to something. But my problem was that it 'felt' like
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

QuoteMy Ex Girlfriend, I love what Landmark has help me make possible... if it wasn't for Landmark I'd have had nothing to do with you & lots of other things, it assists & reminds me to open doors & maintain them in a good way.. I have to decide whether I like the person you are without Landmark. Not that there was any pressure to do Landmark... Quotemazella
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

Oh! The Wicker Man. Edward Woodward is the copper sent to a remote Scottish isle to investigate the death of a young girl, discovering there a remote island community that has developed its own unusual ways of life.. When the Pitcairn Island scandal broke, I kept thinking of the Wicker Man. Not so much a film about a cult but at least a film about a strange, isolated community.
Forum: Celebrities associated with "cult-like" groups

My Landmark spruiker also signed up for Big Brother Big Sister program. Is there a link? (It worried me a lot. She said things like, "I had a training course today on how to spot the kids who are being abused.")
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

"DISTANCE" is the movie about the water supply cult, inspired by the real-life Aum. )
Forum: Celebrities associated with "cult-like" groups

I recently watched an interesting movie from Japan called "Wasurerarenu Hitobito" (Not Forgotten). In it, a creepy cult preys on the elderly, the weak and the frail. I wondered whether this portrayal of a destructive cult had been modelled on a particular real-life cult. Does anybody know the inspirations behind the following portrayals of cults in movies and on tv? HOLY SMOKE
Forum: Celebrities associated with "cult-like" groups

I object mostly to the idea that Landmark Education is a forum to "step outside of your comfort zone". Landmark Education IS a comfort zone. It is a large, protected, tight-knit, and defensive comfort zone, and one that is resistant to criticism, closed to inquiry, and prone to legal action. Laura has used her column to advertise Landmark. And she has done so in a regular column
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

Yes, that is the same group. It is also known as the School of Philosophy in Australia, and elsewhere as the School of Economic Science. It is a religious group. The philosophy referred to in the name of the school is not philosophy general, but a very particular branch of eastern esoteric religion with ties to controversial figures such as Gurdjieff. That the school steers people into th
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

I mentioned earlier in the thread that I was attending a weekend get-together with a friend who is involved in the School of Philosophy. It was in the Glasshouse Mountains and was the birthday party of a friend of a friend. It was fun. I think it is armed with the information I have learned from this forum that I was able to relax and enjoy myself despite there having been several occasions
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

It appears the school markets itself as a general philosophy school, whilst the students are in actual fact being channelled into a very specific stream of Eastern philosophy with ties to esotericism and to controversial figures like Gurdjieff. You do not study philosophy at the School of Philosophy -- you study a philosophy. Specific complaints about the School of Philosophy based upon
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

I've been invited away for a weekend by my friend who is involved in the School of Philosophy. She is having several friends get together in an apartment in the mountains in Queensland for a birthday, I think. And it has prompted me to look again for information about the school. Diane Cilento, a former wife of Sean Connery, is involved and speaks seemingly openly about the school and
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

I'd love to know which town...!
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

Drop-outs form a large part of Scientology's target audience? From all that I've read, it sounds little more than remedial schooling for people who haven't learned sufficiently fast. I recall Milton or Myles or whatever his name is, spruiking here on the forum about Scientology, telling everyone the church had helped him not get angry about losing wallets.
Forum: Celebrities associated with "cult-like" groups

How is the secret technology of the Forum going to survive increasingly small hidden cameras!!?
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

QuotezenithWell, I'm new to this forum but not to the "rewms" of AA. I have been both a voluntary and coerced member for about 20 years now, and just recently made the decision to stop going altogether. because even though I enjoyed the people I had met at one of the better groups, I hate most of what it stands for and do believe it to be a cult. What I have asked repeatedly at
Forum: Clergy and Therapy Abuse

My sister reads all of the books by Robert T Kiyosaki and swears by them. Today, I picked one up and said, "You know he is a Scientologist, right?" Or was. Right? "Just thought you should keep that in mind as you read it." My sister went ballistic. It wasn't okay for me to disregard a person's work because they are or were a Scientologist. It was paranoid
Forum: Coercive Persuasion and Undue Influence

And now gay kisses over at John Travolta's corner of the world. I'm beginning to suspect an orchestrated coup. What's next?! Jenna Elfman exposed as a mediocre actress??
Forum: Celebrities associated with "cult-like" groups

I wanted to bring this thread back because I am still hoping for some more accounts of people's involvement with the School of Practical Philosophy, The School of Philosophy, or the School of Economic Philosophy, I think it is sometimes called. I have a friend who has been involved for years. Last couple of times I've met with her, she has asked me along: "It's great. We
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Paramount parting ways with big mouth Tom Guru-se? When I heard the news, I almost punched the air. And came back here expecting celebrations! What do you all think? Is it really a case of Tom-too-bizarre-for-Paramount? Or is it a media beat-up more to do with actors' salaries and pay reforms in Hollywood than an anti-Scientology shift?
Forum: Celebrities associated with "cult-like" groups

I thought this. It is a really alienating notion and I think you are right in suggesting it is a thought-stopping technique. To an extent, you can argue that we are responsible for our own individual successes in spite of our circumstances, but this idea of being responsible fully for our own, complete reality, the bad, the middle, AND the good, takes the notion to sociopathic levels. It i
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

Quotebarabaracolter: QuoteI'll say it again, I'm not a big advocate of court orderd AA, I thinks that it's unnatural but seeds do get planted. In AA we are put is an aquard position when such an individual shows up. We would not want to turn someone away from AA because of some biass on our part. We might ruin a chance to help at a later time so we let them do as they wish. My p
Forum: Clergy and Therapy Abuse

QuotebarabaraMy point is, and has been all along, that AA deliberately seeks attendees from court referrals, in spite of stating, in literature, on the websites, and at meetings, that a desire to quit drinking is the only requirement for membership. These two actions are contradictory and denote a definite hypocracy on the part of the organization of AA. I'm sure that trying to explai
Forum: Clergy and Therapy Abuse

Have a look on wikipedia. They have a lengthy entry regarding Sokka Gakkai. My friend in Japan, a 30 year old, expressed surprise at my suggestion that the group was a cult. "Not like Aum," he said. The current prime minister, Koizumi, enjoys the great support of Sokka Gakkai, apparently. My friend even went so far as to say it was almost a political party with its strong ties
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Thanks for the links. So the difference is that whilst China admits to having a policy of harvesting the body organs of executed prisoners whom they maintain are "enemies of the state", David Kilgour's report alleges a policy of harvesting the organs of Falun Gong members who are political prisoners. And that these are claims that China denies.
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Quotebarabaraupside down: QuoteYou have mentioned supreme court rulings against forced participation in AA. Why haven't these rulings been upheld, do you know? This question contains an stated assumption that the rulings have not been upheld. Do you have any evedence to suport this assumption, a link to individual court cases, for instance, or media coverage of statistics related to co
Forum: Clergy and Therapy Abuse

Whether they do it at all, to anyone, is of course the main question, but the report of David Kilgour is titled: REPORT INTO ALLEGATIONS OF ORGAN HARVESTING OF FALUN GONG PRACTITIONERS IN CHINA, and seems quite particular in dealing with Falun Gong political prisoners. Here is a link to the report for anyone who is interested.
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Barabara or ughaibu: barabara wrote: QuotebarabaraCourt ordered referrals to 12 step programs have been found to be in violation of the establishment clause of the 1st amendment. You have mentioned supreme court rulings against forced participation in AA. Why haven't these rulings been upheld, do you know?
Forum: Clergy and Therapy Abuse

QuotekathQuoteughaibu. Undemonstrable hypothetical entities "beyond ourselves" do not intercede in our drinking. To say "I stopped drinking with the help of my belief in God" can be true, in the case of certain people with certain religious beliefs, but to say "I stopped drinking with the help of God" is not true. Then you are getting into an atheism vs theism t
Forum: Clergy and Therapy Abuse

QuoteughaibuUpsidedownnewspaper: Drinking is a real activity, if there is something other than the drinker that can influence whether or not the drinker drinks, that something must also be real and demonstrable. Undemonstrable hypothetical entities "beyond ourselves" do not intercede in our drinking. To say "I stopped drinking with the help of my belief in God" can be true,
Forum: Clergy and Therapy Abuse