Landmark Forum

"In the United States, we have altered the public conversation about our work and our enterprise. For example, it is no longer possible for informed people or publications in the United States to pin pejorative labels on us."

"We're all over, as you can see. Next, we're thinking Korea, Hong Kong, China, Singapore. We're already in two cities in Japan. Japan is ridiculous!"

"Werner made some very, very powerful enemies. They really got him."

"We've been accused of pressuring people in terms of our, quote, 'sales,' and we're out to avoid any of that."

"I'd like to experiment with advertising. We're coming out with an audiotape. We'll probably do a book."

"Besides the fact that he's my brother, the company considers Werner a friend."

"Landmark evolved from an organisation called EST (Erhard Seminar Training), founded in the 1970s by former salesman Werner Erhard…In 1991, he sold his intellectual property to former EST employees, who founded the more mainstream Landmark Education."

"Werner Erhard, founder of 'Landmark Education's 'The Forum',' and 'est' seminars, which have about 2.4 million graduates, was influenced by Hinduism through Swami Muktananda, one of Erhard's principal gurus."

"There has been an enormous growth of the phenomenon known as Large Group Awareness Training represented by such companies as Landmark Forum."

"The first connection between New Age and business life started with the founding of Erhard Seminar Training (EST) in the US, California in 1971. In 1984 EST became known as Forum and nowadays it operates under the name Landmark."

"Landmark Education, as it's formally known, is hardly alone. There are any number of groups that foster change in an intense, supportive environment. Formally, they are gathered under the rubric 'large group awareness training'."

"Other seminars may offer supportive hugs; this one hits you between the eyes."

"In effect, to those who are members of traditional faiths, programs such as Landmark are saying: your religion is a hindrance to becoming your true self."

"More direct evidence comes from a careful study of Large Group Awareness Training programs, variously known as Erhard Seminars Training (est), Lifespring, or simply the Forum. The basic procedure of these courses parallels the group training workshops … but the emphasis shifts from group effectiveness to personal development."

"It's weird to think about how skeptical I was when I first went to the Forum. I brought a book with me in case I was bored. I immediately started railing against the leader about how they were just using me for my money. Then, when I was walking out, it struck me that I was 26 years old and I was never going to take another risk in my life. I was the one being an asshole! So I went back and said, 'Okay, I'd like to take a risk, where do I sign?' After that, I bought a word processor. That was my first step to being a writer."

"I was 26 when I did the seminar, convinced the world was out to burn me at every turn. If it wasn't for that seminar, I wouldn't be a writer. They taught me to see how closed down I was, to face my fears."

"The Forum and/or est, whose origins are in the United States (Tipton 1982) holds to the belief that the self itself is powerful."