Comments on: Landmark Forum: a religiobiological perspective (III) http://www.numenware.com/article/475 Religion. Brain. Dogen. Language. Japan. Wed, 20 Aug 2008 09:52:10 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5 By: Missing old Friends http://www.numenware.com/article/475#comment-3773 Missing old Friends Fri, 07 Mar 2008 20:38:18 +0000 http://www.numenware.com/article/475#comment-3773 About nine years ago I had two friends go head-over-heals for Landmark. I noticed 'the change' after they attended the second 3-day in-service. After that second time, both of them returned, smiling like jackals. They became unable to distinguish reality from illusion. Everything that bothered them in the past that was once a topic of conversation was forever off limits. The pregnancy scare - the cancer diagnosis - hey those things didn't really happen, right? My friends were clean and new and reborn into "myriad" possibilities. I hope that getting jobs in Denver fulfilled this new reality, because that's what they did. To me, that endeavor is nothing more than growing up, getting a life, bringing home the bacon etc. They just got steady jobs and bought a house. Standard stuff. Over the years the two of them have pumped hundreds of dollars into this group-think. When I do speak to them (not often) their narratives are still loaded with Landmark buzz words and terminology. What a waste. About nine years ago I had two friends go head-over-heals for Landmark. I noticed ‘the change’ after they attended the second 3-day in-service. After that second time, both of them returned, smiling like jackals. They became unable to distinguish reality from illusion. Everything that bothered them in the past that was once a topic of conversation was forever off limits. The pregnancy scare - the cancer diagnosis - hey those things didn’t really happen, right?

My friends were clean and new and reborn into “myriad” possibilities.

I hope that getting jobs in Denver fulfilled this new reality, because that’s what they did. To me, that endeavor is nothing more than growing up, getting a life, bringing home the bacon etc. They just got steady jobs and bought a house. Standard stuff.

Over the years the two of them have pumped hundreds of dollars into this group-think. When I do speak to them (not often) their narratives are still loaded with Landmark buzz words and terminology.
What a waste.

]]> By: MikeFrog http://www.numenware.com/article/475#comment-266 MikeFrog Sat, 15 Oct 2005 09:54:54 +0000 http://www.numenware.com/article/475#comment-266 “In order for it [philosophy] to be an effective part of the religion or system, at a minimum it needs to be sustained and highly coherent and targeted.” Still with the assertions! What you say there may be true, but I didn’t see any argument or evidence for it. Rather than just introduce an asssumption like the above, and conclude that Landmark can’t be effective, even though it seems to be so—why not explicitly state that you are testing that assumption, observe that landmark appears to be effective, and conclude that your assumption must have been false? As the commentator you quoted said: “The program has forced them to be more self-conscious, forced them to think and examine their lives”—and it seems to have helped, even over a couple of days. SO the question I’d be really interested in investigating is, how brief can an “enlightening” or a “conversion” or just an “important” moment be? Can one change one’s life in a few moments of revelation, with exactly the right input and help, or is it, as your stance seemed to assume, necessary to work on it over a very extended period? “In order for it [philosophy] to be an effective part of the religion or system, at a minimum it needs to be sustained and highly coherent and targeted.”

Still with the assertions! What you say there may be true, but I didn’t see any argument or evidence for it.

Rather than just introduce an asssumption like the above, and conclude that Landmark can’t be effective, even though it seems to be so—why not explicitly state that you are testing that assumption, observe that landmark appears to be effective, and conclude that your assumption must have been false?

As the commentator you quoted said: “The program has forced them to be more self-conscious, forced them to think and examine their lives”—and it seems to have helped, even over a couple of days. SO the question I’d be really interested in investigating is, how brief can an “enlightening” or a “conversion” or just an “important” moment be? Can one change one’s life in a few moments of revelation, with exactly the right input and help, or is it, as your stance seemed to assume, necessary to work on it over a very extended period?

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