What was “EST”?
Someone will know better, but I think in EST you stayed in the room for hours with no bathroom breaks while some guy you paid $200 bucks talked bad to you. That's where I left the bus.
The Best Of Est?
Monday, Mar. 16, 1998
By CHARLOTTE FALTERMAYER WITH REPORTING BY RICHARD WOODBURY/SAN FRANCISCO Article
Buzz When Werner Erhard (born John Paul Rosenberg) founded Erhard Seminars Training, Inc. in 1971, the former used-car salesman from Philadelphia had a hook. Born of the theater-of-the-absurd atmosphere of the late 1960s, est (Latin for “it is”) promised to help people get “it,” whatever “it” was.
Erhard’s 60-hour seminars were strenuous ordeals, complete with “body catchers” and barf bags for the weak of mind and stomach. Trainers applauded bladder control and cursed those who didn’t get it. Still, Erhard and his message proved popular, even winning celebrity advocates.
Then, after two decades and two divorces, the self-help messiah vanished amid reports of tax fraud (which proved false and won him $200,000 from the IRS) and allegations of incest (which were later recanted).
(snip)
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,987975,00.html