Question: Did anyone here attend est training?

YouTube ^ | 1970s | Wernehr Erhard

[Steely Tom]

Did anyone here at Free Republic ever attend Erhard Seminars Training, back in the 1970s? Did anyone know another person who did?

If so, do you have any observations to share about the experience? Did it have any lasting influence over you?

Was it just an exercise in groupthink? Erhard certainly seemed to think he was on to something.

[hulagirl]

I did it. It was mind control and brainwashing tactics for sure, they manipulated the temperature in the room to be super freezing or super hot, they “hypnotized” you, an amalgam of TM and The Secret. It is group think, and new age type of self realization stuff. It was a money making scheme with weirdos at the helm, as was a lot of that stuff. There is a follow up called The Forum. Friends of mine who kept going in it to the higher levels are quite judgmental of others, and think they know it all. And that bathroom thing I think was to show you hey if I can control my own body I can control anything....I think. I wouldn’t recommend it.

[az_gila]

There was an equivalent thing in Nashville called “ISA” (Institute for Self Actualization) and it was lame to a then 19yo me

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It’s still around...

https://www.isaexperience.com/events/

[hulagirl]

I did it. It was mind control and brainwashing tactics for sure, they manipulated the temperature in the room to be super freezing or super hot, they “hypnotized” you, an amalgam of TM and The Secret. It is group think, and new age type of self realization stuff. It was a money making scheme with weirdos at the helm, as was a lot of that stuff. There is a follow up called The Forum. Friends of mine who kept going in it to the higher levels are quite judgmental of others, and think they know it all. And that bathroom thing I think was to show you hey if I can control my own body I can control anything....I think. I wouldn’t recommend it.

[jetson]

I was in SF years ago and was walking down the sidewalk and this beautiful gal walks up and asks if I would like to participate in life altering class. Thinking with my hormones I followed her up these stairs to a room with a few chairs. There were three or four other people sitting there so I sat and waited. So this guy comes in and writes EST on the black board and starts talking about crap I did not want to even understand so got up and started to walk out. This old oriental lady and two guys block my path saying I can’t leave. I’m six foot five and I said please step aside. She said you can’t leave, so grabbed one of the guys and threw him down the stairs and I said “ Oh Yeah”. The guy wasn’t hurt as I walked down and I asked “ what is this EST sh*t”. I later heard it was a brain washing center.

[Steely Tom]

Thanks hulagirl. I’m glad to meet you, and to get your personal experience. Very much appreciated.

[stylin19a]

No...maybe minimize to some extent, but no.

[ModelBreaker]

“Maybe the fact you were not allowed to leave the group meeting to use the restroom was the thing that clued me in. Why make people suffer in the name of curing what ails them!?”

There’s a way to solve that issue without a bathroom. But that probably would have gotten me kicked out.

I went to a Moonie meeting once in Berkeley. They took your shoes at the door and then wouldn’t give them back until they were finished. I made them give me my shoes back. It isn’t hard—just be willing to be very rude.

[Steely Tom]

Yeah, I guess it was mostly a scam. SF in those days was an amazing trip, but I'm glad I didn't go.

BTW — and apropos of your screen name — have you seen the commercial that updates the intro to The Jetsons?

Here's a YT link. You might like it.

[Steely Tom]

No...maybe minimize to some extent, but no.

Well, we minimized it to some extent in the last election, but the rot will take time to purge just the same.

[az_gila]

I did it. It was mind control and brainwashing tactics for sure, they manipulated the temperature in the room to be super freezing or super hot, they “hypnotized” you, an amalgam of TM and The Secret. It is group think, and new age type of self realization stuff. It was a money making scheme with weirdos at the helm, as was a lot of that stuff. There is a follow up called The Forum. Friends of mine who kept going in it to the higher levels are quite judgmental of others, and think they know it all. And that bathroom thing I think was to show you hey if I can control my own body I can control anything....I think. I wouldn’t recommend it

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Your description is quite accurate.

I did it four decades ago to help keep a first marriage - it didn't work, both the marriage and the EST bit.

The program seemed to deliberately create a “us” vs. “them” attitude and only encouraged contact, and free volunteer work, with other estoles. This went along with an "I'm better than you attitude" as well as the need to convert the world.

A liberal neighbor recently finished the modern Landmark equivalent and with another friend we enjoy asking folks at her parties “what is Landmark?” - you can never get a coherent straight answer...:^)

[anathemized]

When all else fails,(and it will) you can always(literally)try the gospel of John, then the rest of the Bible. It may seem foolishness now or to some, but it is the word of eternal life.

[yetidog]

I worked for a federal agency in the 70’s and 80’s which was very much into what was broadly called “organizational development” training. All of it was contracted and used transactional analysis concepts (see book “I’m OK-You’re OK) and self actualization methods to encourage teamwork and cooperation. I have seen this same framework used in both secular and religious settings (”Walk to Emmaus”). I would not say my participation in any of it was life-changing, but did admittedly give me the capacity for some introspection. But then again, I would say that time spent in quite isolated prayer/mediation/contemplation for me is just as productive as an intricately planned program of self-discovery.

[Steely Tom]

It may seem foolishness now or to some, but it is the word of eternal life.

Never would it seem foolish to me.

Thank you, my FRiend.

[Night Hides Not]

My life turned out OK, but I wish someone at about the same time in my life had had a chat with me about ROTC.

Three weeks before the application deadline, my guidance counselor posted a poster about Army ROTC scholarships. I applied, and was awarded a four year scholarship. Best thing that ever happened to me.

It afforded me experiences I never dreamed imaginable when I was a snot nosed 17 YO kid.

[Steely Tom]

I remember Transactional Analysis from the early- to mid-'70s. "My parent is talking to your adult" and "your child is talking to my parent."

Amazing the fads they had back then. That was when America was going through a period of introspection and doubt, brought on (I think) by the loss of Vietnam, the Watergate mess, and the slow loss of our industrial supremacy.

Reagan reversed all that, and I hope that Trump will do the same for us over the next eight years.

[FreedomPoster]

LOL, that’s classic.

You lucked out happening to go to that movie with her on the first date. Otherwise, you might have spent a lot more time figuring out she was a flake.

[Auntie Mame]

Scott Adam’s ‘How To Fail At Almost Everything But Still Win Big’

As I was reading this thread I thought of this book and how it might be a good fit for the young man here. Really excellent book and it would be perfect for someone finding their way.

I would never want to be that age again. It is a hard age and if there's a message I would give him, it's that it gets better. It really does. I think the 20s are pretty sucky, the 30s are a bit better, and the 40s rock.

My mother, a very wise woman, once told me that your job, as the parent of an adult child becomes very simple. All you do is love them.

The way I got through all that angst at that age was I worked. I worked two, three jobs. I kept so busy I didn't have a lot of time to wallow. But there were days, weeks, months, when it was hard. I called it "the blacks," when it felt like life was bleak and hollow. I couldn't even verbalize what was wrong. When I would find myself at the bookstore perusing the self-help section was about the time it began to pass. And it does pass.

[Svartalfiar]

Question: Did anyone here attend est training?

No, I've never been to your Erhard thing, but I have done the military's electronic shooting thingy. (Engagement Skills Trainer)

[Heart-Rest]

That sounds a little like the "management/organizational training" that some of the corporate world was involved in back then too.

We were required to take numerous organizational/management/quality/etc. training courses back then, but about the only thing I can dig up from my memory at the moment of all that kind of training is the "thinking outside the box" or "thinking outside the nine dots" puzzle, which was supposed to open one's mind to alternative, creative solutions to problems and situations, and not impose artificial and unnecessary limitations on yourself.

For anyone who hasn't seen it already, here's that puzzle:

[Steely Tom]

Thanks Auntie Mame.

I agree completely. My twenties were the most frustrating, lonely, self-defeating time of my life. My ideas about how the real world worked were so totally wrong, and it took me a long time and much pain to figure that out.

I think your timeline is pretty accurate, although now I'm reduced to hoping that things start "rocking" for me in my '60s!

Bleak and hollow... I know all about that, believe me.

I once read an article about people who commit suicide by jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge. They interviewed one of the rare survivors, who said that he jumped because it seemed to him that he was facing so many problems, all hitting at the same time, that he could never solve them all, and that ending it was the only solution.

He said that the instant he cleared the railing and the edge of the roadway, he realized that every single problem he had could be solved, except the problem he had just caused himself.