Landmark Education

Some former participants and outside critics have categorised Landmark as a large group awareness training (LGAT) and attributed multi-level marketing or cult-like characteristics to it, mentioning terms such as brainwashing, hypnotism, parasitism or "business cult."

Operation

Landmark comprises an international employee-owned corporation with more than half its offices in North America. Landmark promotes the work and technology of Werner Erhard, though without stressing his name, his ideological forebears (people have cited Heidegger, Scientology — in which Erhard had membership — Fernando Flores and Zen) or his sometimes controversial reputation.

Landmark operates by inviting guests of seminar participants to attend The Landmark Forum, encouraging them to "transform" their lives and to recruit their family members, friends and acquaintances by word-of-mouth. Landmark Forums have taken place in 26 countries -

• Asia - Japan, Israel, India, the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Hong Kong
• Europe - Romania, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Sweden, United Kingdom
• Africa - South Africa, Kenya
• North America - Jamaica, US, Canada
• Latin America - Mexico
• Australasia - Australia and New Zealand

Many participants become 'assistants' for the corporation, with the status of volunteer unpaid workers. People who assist work with the staff and and receive further training in Landmark practices and (what Landmark markets as) general leadership skills.

Stated attitudes of Landmark

Landmark presents itself as "not therapy" and opposes psychoanalysis, an attitude shared with or inherited from Scientology.

At one time Landmark marketed its new methods of training as "non-linear learning". More recent changes in fashion have seen it associate its work with the concept of emotional intelligence.

Criticisms of Landmark

Despite Landmark presenting itself as "not therapy", some participants claim that some of its practices or exercises resemble psychotherapy. Landmark attempts to forestall potential criticism by setting up (or 'creating') an atmosphere of trust and by disparaging reasoned questioning as "cynical".

Effects

Landmark jargon may seem pervasive and confusing. Some participants' confusion/enthusiasm has allegedly led to mental illness issues and legal action. (See Das Forum: Protokoll einer Gehirnwäsche: Der Psycho-Konzern Landmark Education Forum: Account of a Brainwashing: The Psycho-Outfit Landmark Education by Martin Lell, Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag, Munich, 1997, ISBN 3423360216.)

Most graduates of Landmark programs express a commitment to "the work", at least initially.

A study commissioned by Werner Erhard and Associates suggests that attending a Landmark Forum has minimal lasting effects on participants' self-perception. (J.D. Fisher, R. C. Silver, J. M. Chinsky, B. Goff and Y. Klar Evaluating a Large Group Awareness Training: A Longitudinal Study of Psychosocial Effects Springer-Verlag, 1990, ISBN 0387973206.)

Academic, peer-reviewed long-term studies of effects of attendance do not appear to exist.

Prominent members of Landmark

• Harry Rosenberg, brother of Werner Erhard, heads Landmark Education.
• Art Schreiber functions in the important role of legal representative: Landmark has issued legal threats against media expressing anti-Landmark publicity.
• Charlene Afremow has conducted courses from the earliest appearances of Werner Erhard in the personal training field.

External links

General Links

• Landmark Education official website
• Usenet group: alt.fan.landmark
• Delphi discussion group
• Landmark Forum: Rants and Raves
• Landmark Education registration as a Limited Liability Company

Critical links

• Skeptic's Dictionary: Landmark
• Berlin Senate report (in German)

Referenced By