"Nothing has changed"

December 1999
From an est participant in the 80s

I was involved in the work of Werner Erhard and Associates for four years in the 1980s. I did both the est training and the Forum. I must say, from reading postings at this site, it seems that little or nothing has changed in the way the operation does business since it became Landmark. The manic pushiness to enroll, the constant presumption that you're getting value from it (whether you know it or not) and the not so subtle pushes to make your dress and style match that of a slick corporate salesperson (seen as the way to most effectively "share" the Forum with others).

What was once known, in-house, as "Werner's work" has apparently remained poisoned by arrogant fanaticism and a maddening overuse of jargon. A shame, as a philosophy class and as a provocative method of philosophical inquiry, I usually found the Forum and its seminars to be top-notch. And I admired the impressive personal discipline of many of the Forum leaders I saw.

But unless you're willing to accept the probability of being pushed to make Landmark the center of your life, and to make enrolling others in the Forum JOB NUMBER ONE--don't even bother going to one of the guest seminars. Just by your showing up to a guest seminar, it triggers a presumption on their part; you want to play their game, whether you know it or not.