h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Do any of you know anything about an organisation called Landmark Forum?

I don't

Although 'The Forum' in Rome could be considered a landmark!!

I didn't a few moments ago but I think this looks like a reasonably balanced and brief overview http://religiousmovements.lib.virginia.edu/nrms/est_draft.html
though I admit I have not read it all yet.
Math

Only what I've seen on the Web... which seems to be a heck of a mixture of opinions, from outright 'THIS IS A MONEY GRABBING CULT AND IT DESTROYED MY LIFE' through to 'The best thing that ever happened to me!'

After a brief look through a few websites I'd say that anyone who feels the need to go to one of their seminars might be better served by seeking less radical psychiatric help beforehand.

The trouble with this sort of organisation (specifically in connection with information on the internet) is that its very difficult to sort out what is propaganda, what is truth and what is paranoia

Okay, I originally posted as a joke (as if you couldn't tell) but now my interest has been caught. I don't have internet access at work outside of the BBC site so I can't view the linked sites. What is this Landmark Forum, can anybody explain?!!

Having skimmed the page I posted it seems to be balanced, and well referanced, I'll happily stand my choice of recomendation

Math

Thnaks for the link, I'll have a look at that in a minute.

What is it?? Tellll me! I want to know!!

Me too!! Or is this mystery a conspiracy?!!

Or they are all big fat liars!!

Guess I'll have to wait 'til I get home to find out...?

Oh well, only 25 minuites...

For a fee, the Landmark Forum teaches a kind of life philosophy that can, in some cases, radically change the way people think about themselves and their lives. Other people have been less impressed. From what I can gather, after an intensive three-day course, Landmark Forum participants often come out with a different 'perspective' on how they view themselves, their past, their relationships, their futures, etc. The whole point is towards self-improvement - learning the tools that enable the fulfilling of one's potential - and freeing yourself from laboursome attachments to the past, preventing us living 'in the present'.

It seems to borrow from lots of other 'philosophies' and 'religions', and again from what I can gather, it seems to borrow quite heavily from basic Buddhist models. Landmark Forum has its roots in America during the 'self-help' boom in the 1970s.

Some people have had very positive experiences and are quite evangelical about others joining (others commentators feel it to be a cynical exercise in marketing praying on the innate insecurites and a desire to 'improve' that most human beings have). And this is how Landmark Forum recruits: at the end of the three-day course, participants are encouraged to invite others to share with them their 'fantastic' experiences and new perspectives, with a view to those people joining up themselves.

Some people I know have experienced the Landmark Forum 'education' and are very positive about it and so I was intrigued to find out more.

It's not for me, but whatever floats your boat I supppose...

I can speak about this general topic from some personal knowledge, in the sense that I was quite actively involved in 'self-help' or 'self-improvement', or whatever you want to label it, in the 70s and 80s - and to some extent still am.

It was a personal quest that was extremely important and fundamental to me, yet in an area which I guessed would also attract quacks and charlatans.

Among what you might call the 'self-help community', in which I was fairly active, there was naturally much talk and discussion about Wernher Erhard and 'est', which was the precursor to Landmark, and I met a number of people who had done 'est'. From what they told me I concluded that it wasn't for me.

I think it's fair to say that apart from est's most evangelical and fervent champions, the consensus was that est seemed superficially very attractive to some people, but those that 'did' it found that the results were mostly disappointing and at best very shallow and short-lived. Some people described it as a con, possibly in the sense that it didn't work for them. I couldn't possibly comment, except to say that I never met anyone who had done est and got any real lasting benefit from it. Some people found the experience of est just very distressing, with no compensating features, and regretted that they had gone in for it. Others just didn't get anything worthwhile out of it. I never pursued it myself, and can say nothing about Landmark.

I would add that I did try several other 'trainings' and 'programs'. They were pretty expensive, but that wasn't a problem for me, and if they gave me what I was looking for it would have been money well spent as far as I was concerned. Some of them were very good indeed, and helped me a lot, and I am very glad I discovered and pursued them. The best ones, in my view, are the ones that do not depend on the experience of the 'training' itself, but the ones that give you valuable tools which you can take away and use long after the weekend or week is over. Most of them claim to do this, but few actually do. It's safe to assume that to acquire important new life skills and tools is going to take time, application and practice, even if you are only in your twenties. It can be very hard to let go of a dysfunctional past. So a well structured follow-up program is important, as is an element of community, with peer advice and mentoring etc. I would also say that learning to teach what you have just learned can be a very valuable process.

If you don't need any of this sort of stuff, rejoice in your good fortune. Making major changes in the orientation of your life can be a long uphill path strewn with obstacles and setbacks. Beware the 'quick fix' approach. The idea of a weekend that will transform your life can seem very attractive to someone whose life is in need of an urgent makeover, but as Mark Twain pointed out, the habits of a lifetime are not to be thrown out of an upstairs window, but coaxed down the stairs, one step at a time.

Bels

Hmm. Interesting!!!

If you have completed the 45 hour course called the landmark Forum, you basically sat through a transformation that guided you to realize that you are the creator of your life. The logic and curriculum to they use, when completed or looking back at the forum as a whole, instantly Reminded me of the book/movie The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy! Has anyone who's been through the forum see what I see? It is very apparent and present and it inspired me to literally type in to google search: "landmark forum hitchhikers guide" (key words of course). This is one of the sites that came up as a result. I thought Landmark was great and could really inspire average people to be great and hitchhikers guide is one of my favorites. Both the Forum and the novel/movie changed my life and I'm very excited and stoked that they are, to me, from the same overall meaning and way of being.

Bah! I'd rather be neurotic and full of doubts..