> Anyone heard of Landmark Education? My friend
> wants me to attend a "open house". Anyone been
> involved with them? Thanks! I do know they do
> "self help" stuff.
I'll jump in here with my guarded opinion:
I had a good experience, overall, with Landmark. That's not to say
that there aren't things to be concerned about as you look at it.
It is an offshoot of EST. Perhaps you've heard of that. You can read
about Landmark, including its EST roots, at Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia
Currently, the Wikipedia entry is locked because of the controversy it
has garnered. And yet, I can't help but endorse the experience *I* had.
Complaints that I had about it include:
* It's an expensive program. The initial Landmark Forum costs
several hundred dollars, and the subsequent two programs are even
more. (I think the total is around $2000, and that was 12 years ago!)
* They use the training to recruit volunteers to do tasks that really
should be done by paid employees or contractors.
* They don't do a very good job of screening out people who might not
benefit from the training or who might, in fact, be negatively
impacted by it.
* They spend an enormous amount of time getting participants to
contact and invite people to participate. Given how difficult it is
to promote any training of this sort, I don't blame them completely.
But it does seem over-the-top. And the advertising is almost
completely word-of-mouth, which makes me wonder where all the money
goes - probably into their publications and the pockets of their staff
and trainers. I know that there's a lot of travel involved for the
training staff, so again, the high cost of the seminars may be
justified - I don't know.
So in the end, there are complaints that it is another cult-like
organization that uses their methods to separate people from their
money. And I can't say with certainty that Landmark's critics are not
correct.
I CAN say that there are no gurus involved with it. It is not a
religious cult. They do not promote it as a way to earn money, get
rich or start a business. It will challenge your views about a lot of
things, including religion.
My experience with it brought my wife and me closer together and had
other beneficial effects on our relations with friends and colleagues.
It strengthened our faith and our outlook on the world (and gawd,
couldn't we all use THAT?).
So the bottom line here, from my perspective, is that I'm glad you've
decided to take a little time to research it before deciding whether
or not to go to the introduction. You may decide that it's not worth
getting involved in something with so much baggage. Or you may decide
that you can deal with the negatives with so much to gain.
I have not had an opportunity to read up on the current crop of
complaints about it, so I realize that I may not be addressing
specifics the way you'd like. I also may be looking at it from an
out-of-date perspective, so I encourage you to look at the Wikipedia
entry for a good, bad, and ugly representation of how Landmark is
perceived.
My experience was good, and many who went through it with me came out
feeling good about it. But I also realize my experience my not even
be in the majority. There's no harm, I suppose, in going to the intro
meeting expecting to say "no" to it. Expect typical sales pressure to
get involved. Knowledge is power. If you don't like what you see,
turn around and don't look back. You'll get through life with or
without it.
PW
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