Back to what was counterproductive (in my opinion) about the est and Werner Erhard and Associates culture of 1980-84, the period in which I was active.
The est training was where I first discovered many of my patterns and realized that I could take responsibility for the crap in my life and that I had the opportunity to be the source of my own sense of being loved and loving. And it was in experiences designed by Werner Erhard that I had these discoveries.
And they were all things that had been around for a long time. Werner Erhard did not invent unconditional love, self love, self-esteem, non-attachment to emotions, meditation and meditation-like experiences, etc. Many of us ran around talking about these things, though, as if Werner Erhard had somehow invented them. And as if they were only discoverable through Werner Erhard programs.
Werner has a unique ability, I would say a genius, for designing and leading experiential-learning programs. He is a great teacher and coach and facilitator. And we made it too much about the personality Werner Erhard (and by "we" I include everyone, including the personality Werner Erhard), to the point that the personality Werner Erhard became the greatest hindrance to the cause of personal, organizational, and social transformation.
I don't want to deny in any way the extraordinary and unique effectiveness of the est training and all the programs which followed it! But I also don't want to deny the unique obnoxiousness of many of the people who took the est training, were encouraged to share their experience with others, and didn't realize they had adopted a belief that these people "should" take the training and would be "better" for having done so.
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Werner Erhard's brother Harry Rosenberg is CEO of Landmark Education. His sister Joan Rosenberg is a member of the Board of Directors of Landmark Eduacation. His attorney Art Schreiber is General Counsel and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Landmark Education. His former employee from 1967, who went door-to-door with Werner Erhard when he worked as a door-to-door salesman, Laurel Scheaf, was an executive in EST and is now a "Landmark Forum Leader" in the Landmark Forum.
You are correct!
And what do you think about all that?
Well, I don't think there's ever been any secret that during the 1980s Erhard's reputation became an increasing liability in marketing and promoting the programs he developed, and that just before the 60-Minutes 'expose," and that he sold his business and licensed his programs to his then-employees, including his brother. So I just think of this as a rather neutral fact.
If you view est/Landmark as a "bad" thing, then it looks like a coverup. If you view it as a "good" thing, it was just a business decision, and it makes sense that the new owners of Landmark would publically distance themselves from Erhard.
The CEO of HBO, who is credited with virtually all of its success, recently resigned in some sort of scandal, but that doesn't make the programs he developed bad (or good).
What's been interesting to me about Landmark is that it has thrived without having the organization built around a famous personality, the way est was.
Back to you . . .
By the way, Gurutruth, congrats on your great research on "Eagle Island Films."
And what is your feeling on " Eagle Island Films " and this individual who was at least at one time Werner Erhard's attorney, Walter Maksym ?
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