Psychotheraphy Cult: The Landmark Forum

I’m not going to waste time talking too much about my average day. It started off with a morning meeting for OST which finished late and subsequently made me late for class. No worries though. My students were typically late as well. On to bigger and not so brighter events though…

Last night’s experience was… disturbing to say the least. It was like an Amway meeting and Evangelical Jesus camp all rolled into one. As soon as the moderator/leader started talking I knew what the hidden agenda was. She talked like a used-car salesperson but selling self help. Which is ironic since the founder of the program was a used-car salesman… who left his wife and two children for another woman, moved out west, changed his name, founded EST (the precursor to Landmark Forum), and then got into trouble with the government for tax evasion. Nice breakthrough! Bet you “didn’t know you didn’t know” that! You can read the whole story here. The entire night was a classic experiment in social manipulation, misdirection, and blatant commercialism. Problem is, the techniques work. Which is why used-car salesmen do such a good business. The cost for this “life changing” experience? 15,000 baht for a three and a half day course. Hmmm… tell me again why everyone is the room is usually successful and financially able to pay for the course? Why not offer the course to the poor and impoverished? Don’t they need more help? Oh. Right. They can afford the fee. They must be blocking. If they really wanted to have a better life they would stop making excuses and just get the money and pay for the course. Good grief. I could go on and on about the Jedi mind fuck they put on people. But like the moderator ad assistants said, you can’t tell someone about it, you can only know by doing it yourself. Just prepare yourself for HOURS of heavy propaganda and pressure to sign up NOW.