No, and I wasn’t there.
I did, but I got up to go to the bathroom and they didn’t let me in. (If you get this, then you have been there).)
Go watch the movie “Semi-Tough”! Even though its satire you will learn all you need to know about EST training.
No, but I had Six Sigma training at GE and that was all smoke and mirrors, too.
Good friend of mine did EST in San Francisco about 1974. What little he said about it was bizarre, like a secret society on par with Scientology, the Freemasons, the Illuminati, or the Knights Templar. It was like they were going to come and get him if he said anything about it at all.
I never saw what he got out of it, but fortunately, it didn’t seem to change him.
What brings this up in 2016?
I believe nowadays it’s called the Landmark Forum.
I went to a Totalled Quality Management seminar once.
I knew people who became followers back then in Bay Area. It had a lasting influence on me listening to them explain how they had the ability to tune into people through their minds. Hippie stuff that Erhard dropped later. I learned about the predator and the prey. There were other flourishing groups who required submission to a leader. But EST was the one that stood out as preying upon weak but nice types who were in pain emotionally. After I’d spent several years watching how people got nowhere in their quest for happiness, I rejected all forms of mysticism in favor of reason as a guide to life. (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!?)
Stan (the FBI agent) goes to EST, and eventually Philip (the KGB sleeper agent) goes with him.
The show is set in the 80's when EST was all the rage. But, I have no idea if it is representative of what EST was really like.
watch the americans. they cover est pretty well. all that’stuff to me is bs, but i can see for people who never had anything to begin with, it might be serious for’them.
i think it partly depends on what people want to believe. for some dianetics worked. for some, other wacky bs worked.
Today it is the “Landmark” training. Same exact crap.
No, but I did take Qi training under Master Jun Wui Sui where I mastered the “Ascending Heavenly Steps” technique which allows me to fly into the sky, and the “Whirlwind of Never Ending Pain” kick, which is done by kicking the opponent in the balls repeatedly.
There was an equivalent thing in Nashville called “ISA” (Institute for Self Actualization) and it was lame to a then 19yo me
I know this will sound insane BUT Trump when to Norman Vincent Peale’s church in NY and says it had a uuuugggeee impact on him.
I am in fact re-reading “The Power of Positive Thinking” again after learning this about Trump.
You might recommend his writings to your son.
I went once in hunt valley, md. Early 70’s. I was invited by a young lady.
They told me it was $600 bucks for the course and I couldn’t use the bathroom during the sessions. Erhard Sensory Training as I recall.
Buckminster Fuller if I remember correctly. They lost me at $600. I remember leaving and going to a bar on York Rd.
It’s now called the Landmark Forum, and part of Landmark Education. A lot of roots in Scientology, which Jack Rosenberg a.k.a. Werner Erhard was previously involved.
Sort of how to be a sociopathic used car salesman like its founder.
The first black thunderbird in the AF went through it. He retired with four stars. A similar program was Life Spring. My wife and knew several folks that went through that to the tune of thousands of dollars.
I went to high school with Erhard’s daughters. I didn’t know them very well, but the book on them was that they were “troubled.” Older one was very pretty and popular at the time, though.
My Dad recently gave me old cassettes of Earl Nightingale. I started listening and realized the cassettes were ruined. I found him online pdf of some of his audio, as well as some youtube. He may be more leadership, so maybe only parts of what he says will pertain to what would help your son now.
Another thought I had is EST, Tony Robbins and the like kind of sound to me secular versions for like needing God, talking to God and asking Him for answers and guidance, which works in conjuction with also have 1-2 good Christian people to talk to as well. I don’t mean to be pushy, it’s just what kept coming into my mind as I read what you and others posted.
NO!!!!