Not least because I just had this published: When cults collide: Scientology vs Landmark and am not sure how much longer the link will work, because the article is likely to be pulled. I'd like to point out that while I have strong ideas on cults, I do not think Landmark Education is a cult by intention or design. It's just interpreted that way, by many attenders observers alike.
Let's note that the first comment on my article, essay-length long and defending Landmark (read carefully and you'll see THE SCOPE OF THE ARTICLE HAS VERY LITTLE TO DO WITH LANDMARK- it is Werner Erhard vs Scientology and the entire debacle), was posted at the tender time of 7:52am, somewhere in the vicinity of 1-3 hours after the article was written. Let's assume that's chance.
Now, thousands of people have taken Landmark courses. There are not a thousand mouth-frothing Landmark-obsessed people. I would hazard that there are more than a hundred, though, that peter on in their daily lives, but have a wee button that one should not push, lest one wants a calmly worded speech regarding how great Landmark is..
People like to have something to believe in, something to rely on, a hope and a dream for the future, something to support. Some people need desperately to be needed, and some people need desperately to need.. Religion, cults, friendships, relationships, all are examples of what fill that little dent of doubt telling you your life is not a happy one. But when that dent in your personality is a crater, well, that's when people go from "I like to have a close group of friends who talk every day on the phone," to "I need to live in a commune chanting to our alien overlord with my sisters from the planet Azterba." Cults, by definition, have some part in taking people from the dent to the crater. Making people go from filling that dent as a 3 day a year Jew, to the crater of needing the cult in their life every day, because they can't function without it.
Now, Landmark almost by definition does not provide that thing to believe in, to rely on, to love and receive love from. Landmark teaches you to assess what your goals are, your hopes and dreams, how you live, and how you empower yourself to change. This is a great thing. Lets get that straight. But it is teaching people how to live their lives more effectively. It is teaching you not what to live for, but how to live for it. It is teaching you to use its skills daily. It could be described as not the content, but the structure.
This reminds me of something, but only briefly touches on what I'm actually talking about. Let's play spot the parallel.
A Krishna I was reading about on one a cult website (on which I found no end of discussion about the founder of Landmark- Werner Erhard) was saying how living for Krishna, loving Krishna, taught her that the way she acquired money for the Hari Krishna movement was ok. Because it's the getting money that it important, Krishna deserves it above all else- lie, cheat and steal- live that way for Krishna. She wasn't praying for Krishna, thinking about Krishna- she was thinking how she could best get money (for Krishna) until the (for Krishna) disappeared from the thought pattern altogether...
Now, I have definite ideas on Judaism and religion. But I would not set up a google alert to defend Judaism's honour when a nobody posts an article for a university magazine. I love Salient, don't get me wrong, but we occasionally think cute cats are news. I do not know many people who take such an exhorbitant amount of time ensuring that the tiniest possible infringement on the sanctity of a training organisation is defended with gusto. And I know people who think it's fun to argue with trolls on a regular basis, that there is a point to it. I know 4chaners. I still know few who would actively troll the internet to defend a training organisation they attended 'that one time'- people who felt that commentary on the site would be worth it.
Enter people who have taken Landmark.
Enter Landmark, an organisation who has at the ready somewhere in the vicinity of 3 PAGES of 'expert testimony' up their sleeves to send off, proving they are not a cult. Know many training organisations that do that? It's hardly standard industry practise, is it? Maybe they're just that good, that say 1/100 taking the courses develops that much devotion to the company?
Who does that remind you of- taken a personality test lately?
;)
