Pfft, oh yeah. I basically just glanced at a few sentences and was like, "uh yeah, that's a cult." I know that's not a very scientific way to put it, but given the fact that other people have given more robust answers, it doesn't look like you need another one. Just the use of the word "truth" sets off alarm bells that suggests they feel that they have a monopol
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Haha! Wow! It totally does seem like the same guy! Amazing catch! I mean, I'm sure there must be at least one other guy in the world named Geoff who's taught LGAT stuff, but still, the specific ideas he was talking about (e.g. delving into your past) seemed very similar. Weird! It freaks me out that LGAT proponents actually try to defend their warped ideas on this website. It
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

Hi Jeanna, thanks so much for your story. It really does help. It's so unbelievable that there are such predatory people out there... Daytripper: That's cool that you related to that! I TOTALLY agree with the whole respecting the law thing. I guess that IS one sort of "rock" we can cling to without any doubt: trying to do the right thing, not hurting others and rather t
Forum: Abusive and Controlling Relationships

QuotemaariuThis is more common than you can imagine Rickety. There seem to be a lot of folk running around who think that they are called to be Gurus. Thanks, Maariu, it really does help to know this. I don't feel so idiotic. :) And you're right, I really do feel immunized from future swindles (e.g. the post I recently left about a friend of mine who just got sucked into somethin
Forum: Abusive and Controlling Relationships

Has anyone heard of Geoff Laughton? He runs "Transformational Workshops" and I heard of him after a friend of mine wrote an extremely disturbing e-mail to all her friends talking about how the weekend intensive she spent at his workshop enabled she "fell in love with herself" and that he is "all love, all power, all safety, all WISDOM" (caps hers). This immediate
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

Thanks so much, corboy. Those articles look really interesting. No one has criticized me for being in therapy so long (thank goodness)--except for myself. I just question whether it's having any effect at all and hate how expensive it is. This did happen during adolescence, and so yeah, I do feel a lack in social skills and such, which I feel only recently have I fully made up for--a
Forum: Abusive and Controlling Relationships

Wow, Nettie, as people have been saying, this is extremely fascinating and enlightening. It's actually given me a lot of understanding and empathy for a couple of relatives who used to be a part of Landmark--whom me and my siblings would harshly deride for their relatively weird behavior, but now whom I will have to look at in a more compassionate way. I find it kind of bizarre that Rick
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

Hi everyone, This site has been so useful in validating my suspicion that a highly destructive ("mentor") relationship I was in for three years in my teens was in fact a "one-member cult". Those of you who were involved in group cults may disagree, but reading about all the brain-washing techniques cults employ and the effects on their members (e.g. negative personality ch
Forum: Abusive and Controlling Relationships