QuotemyshkinWhen I really got that being powerful is not pushing people around, but a commitment to my purpose with a good dose of honesty, listening and serenity, it blew me away. yeah, dude, your purpose. so you learned to use subtle tactics versus overt, all the better to serve your own ends. QuoteThe possibility (sorry, hard not to use the word) I see is real partnership, where it
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

QuoteskepticOne huge issue I see is that, on the whole, critical thinking is NOT valued, taught or fostered in families, in school, in society. and you cannot teach what you don't know yourself. (if my answer, BTW, seems redundant, I hadn't read the other replies before I replied myself.) honestly, I less a real lack of critical thinking on this messageboard, too. anyway. th
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

Quotepatrick-darcywhat is it that makes so many people so gullible ? peer pressure. lack of critical thinking. not knowing the basics of human psychology. lack of knowledge in general. lack of self-love.
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

if you read my above post carefully you will note that I didn't defend Children of God. I did say that I don't know one way or the other about whether Children of God engages in abusive practice though I do know about their past. as far as ISKCON, I gave an educated guess, based on my own firsthand experiences. let me narrow my opinon down a bit. I seriously doubt that devotees that
Forum: Recovery from Destructive Cults and Groups

QuotebonnieWhat I find particularly disturbing about the site is the way it minimizes and/or neglects to mention well-documented sexual and physical abuse of children by such organizations as Children of God and ISKCON. some groups employ abuse as a systematic policy and others don't but... any group above a certain size will contain abusive or predatory members. I have some first-hand
Forum: Recovery from Destructive Cults and Groups

This covers everything except a few other tips. * They will keep the room dry and cold. Dress accordingly. * Have a sense of humor, always. * Prepare yourself for the trick where the Forum Leader will set up a food break and state that he expects the group back in twenty minutes. When the participants return to the room he or she will chide the last people into the room and say that he a
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

he does say "done our work in" rather than "done our work with".
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

as you requested, QuoteWe've done our work in the State Department, Legislative Branch, fortune 100 companies. Been written up by Harvard, USC college of Business, Talent Foundation, Time, Newsweek. All about the difference we make in community...and the communities are person by person by person.
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

Quote Quotemidonov123 It is true. It is in the Harvard report which is (or was) distibuted to Landmark graduates only. I got a copy from my ex-girlfriend and she kept repeating me about this utimate objective for year 2020. Hahahahaha! That's hilarious! I guess on December 31, 2019 there will be large vats of KoolAid being prepared when they realize their failure is imminent. they'
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

yeah, whenever the Landmark article on Wikipedia gets too critical one or more someones (who must check the page every day) comes in and fixes it with cut-and-pasted-looking rebuttals.
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

Quotepatrick-darcywhen a group has *more* in common with something doesnt mean it doesnt have something in common with something else. true. Crowley did not practice Satanism. he practiced his own religion which he called Thelema. he did not worship Satan except in the broad sense of opposing institutional Christianity and believing that the time of the Father (the patriarchal age, represe
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

as a matter of well-documented historical fact, LRH had little to do personally with Crowley. (it stretches my credibility and image of Hubbard to think of him accepting anyone except himself as a guru.) Crowley and LRH never met but identified him, correctly, as a scam artist and advised one of Crowley's actual disciples, Jack Parsons, to avoid him. Parsons ignored the advice and Crowle
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

QuoteMarkusWelchCan you not see then a contradiction with your previous statement: "Yeah you're right. None of us have actually been, so it's impossible to say if it is manipulative and controlling." please don't put words in my mouth.
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

I don't defend Landmark, I defend using good arguments against Landmark. making arguments they cannot easily pick apart.
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

QuoteglamQuoteAcid Reindeer by the time the scandals came about est, the company already had a solid existence and a hardcore of dedicated followers. Cuddle Party has no such solid base. I find it amazing that you're still arguing this. You must have a lot invested in defending your experiences in alternate sexual activities. yeah, actually I do. QuoteWhile the scandals may have be
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

on a relative scale, a group like Landmark may seem iffy but Cuddle Party may seem as borderline deviant. if they make any mis-steps, they'll have no more Cuddle Party and I think they know it. they cannot afford to make mistakes like the big cults do, does not answer your question?
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

Caligari, apples and oranges. by the time the scandals came about est, the company already had a solid existence and a hardcore of dedicated followers. Cuddle Party has no such solid base. and no one subjects them to seventy-two hours (plus, if you count the cost-free introductory events and homework) of thought reform. sort of like claiming the three hour introductory meeting cou
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

one matter I had not put up, because I had thought of it... the founder of CuddleParty, has a business right? if he maintains a tense atmosphere where anyone feels threatened, his business will collapse fast. (ditto if an assault takes place, by the way.) I think the emphasis on using yes and no tends to indicate that they know that you cannot secondguess the feelings/thoughts of others
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

I think I really will withdraw from this thread now. not worth my time to defend what I don't have personal stake in (other than, in general tersm, the freedom to make your own life choices).
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

glam, I make a distinction beween assuming and questioning. assuming I do not like so much, questioning I do like. never did I say that you must try Cuddle Party myself. I have not tried it, nor do I intend to do it. only saying you can hold off until you have more to go upon, like, I don't know, some proof that it causes harm? I have observed, firsthand, the dynamics of similar ev
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

did I say you had to experience Cuddle Party for yourself to understand it? I never did and I don't believe that you do. guess what? I know about cult and LGAT tactics and language too. as a reminder, my uncle worked from 1975 to 1996 in the company that later turned into Landmark. he has tried to use those techniques on me. I have seen the effect that those techniques had on my siste
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

QuotecaligariThe view that the destruction of people's ego and individuality is good clarifies the principal for the defense of events like Cuddle Parties. destroy? awful big word for an event that last two or three hours. see I try not to generalize like that. I take what information I have and if I have enough, make a decision. haven't enough information and I (try not to) preten
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

QuoteglamWas it here or somewhere else that I read the article about the core group of "disciples" that follow the creators from cuddle session to cuddle session? The whole thing just reeks of LGAT hypersexuality. To say "cultures all of the world have extreme ways of breaking down the ego and they have not only strengthened the person but strengthened the society" sounds very
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

QuoteelenaWell, in just a quick look at a paragraph in the guy's biography I see such Landmark or est-type phrases or "concepts" as: ~creating a space~ ~safe space~ ~fully self-expressed~ the "creating a space" phrase did originate in est (AFAIK) and did diffuse throughout the culture. the other two just sort of form part of the new age/therapeutic style backgro
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

QuotecaligariQuoteAcid Reindeerif you looked into the folkways of any culture on Earth you will find losing identity as a central human experience. you will a lot more freaky business than Cuddle Party on this planet of ours. try ritualistic scarification ceremonies, group sex, Appalachian snakebiting cults, those crazy Japanese phallus festivals. shocking I know. If you consider falling off th
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

QuotecaligariQuoteAcid ReindeerCaligari, though you keep harping on this damage or whatever that could happen, like I said, possibility does not equal certainty. What I am doing is predicting outcome based on activity. If you put human beings into a staged situation where they are doing a specific type of action, the results from those actions can be predicted. The prediction may turn out fal
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

QuoteMarkusWelchDoes one need to experience the event as a participant in order to properly criticize it? The logic you are using here, Acid Reindeer, is that the entire event is new to one's experience and cannot be criticized by someone who has not participated. not really. just asking you all, if you would, to hold out for more evidence to support your conclusions before you leap to th
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

QuoteDynamixYeah you're right. None of us have actually been, so it's impossible to say if it is manipulative and controlling. However, its obvious links to LE make it a 9 on the creep-o-meter for me. I'm staying away. And should landmark spawn any more children, I'll be staying away from them too. fair enough.
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

Caligari, though you keep harping on this damage or whatever that could happen, like I said, possibility does not equal certainty. if you looked into the folkways of any culture on Earth you will find losing identity as a central human experience. you will a lot more freaky business than Cuddle Party on this planet of ours. try ritualistic scarification ceremonies, group sex, Appalachian snakebit
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

I would not know what to say. I would save the e-mail and send it back to the sender later so that they get to read how crazy they sounded back at that time. unless they have gotten further into LEC, reading what they wrote while on the high as a kite phase could serve as a wakeup call.
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"