Erhard Seminars Training

Last updated
Erhard Seminars Training, Inc.
Company typePrivately-held corporation
FoundedOctober 1971
Defunct1984 (dissolution)
Headquarters San Francisco, California, United States
Key people
 Werner Erhard, founder [1]

Erhard Seminars Training, Inc. (marketed as est, though often encountered as EST or Est) was an organization founded by Werner Erhard in 1971 that offered a two-weekend (6-day, 60-hour) course known officially as "The est Standard Training". The purpose of the training was to use concepts loosely based on Zen Buddhism for self-improvement. The seminar aimed to "transform one's ability to experience living so that the situations one had been trying to change or had been putting up with clear up just in the process of life itself". [2] [3]

Contents

Est seminars operated from late 1971 to late 1984 and spawned a number of books from 1976 to 2011. Est has been featured in a number of films and television shows, including the critically acclaimed spy-series The Americans , broadcast from 2013 to 2018. Est represented an outgrowth of the Human Potential Movement [4] of the 1960s through to the 1970s.

As est grew, so did criticisms. [5] Various critics accused est of mind control [6] or of forming an authoritarian army; [7] some labeled it a cult. [8]

The last est training took place in December 1984 in San Francisco. The seminars gave way to a "gentler" course [9] offered by Werner Erhard and Associates and dubbed "The Forum" (currently named Landmark Worldwide), which began in January 1985. [10]

History

Early influences. 1960s through 1971

In W. W. Bartley III's biography of Werner Erhard, Werner Erhard: The Transformation of a Man, the Founding of est (1978), Erhard describes his explorations of Zen Buddhism. Bartley quotes Erhard as acknowledging Zen as the essential contribution that "created the space [for est]". [11]

Bartley details Erhard's connections with Zen beginning with his extensive studies with Alan Watts in the mid-1960s. [12] Bartley quotes Erhard as acknowledging:

Of all the disciplines that I studied, practiced, learned, Zen was the essential one. It was not so much an influence on me, rather it created space. It allowed those things that were there to be there. It gave some form to my experience. And it built up in me the critical mass from which was kindled the experience that produced est. [13]

Other influences included Dale Carnegie, Subud, Scientology and Mind Dynamics. [14]

As est, 1971 to 1984

In 1971, Werner Erhard reported having a personal transformation, and created the est training to allow others to have the same experience. [15] The first est course was held at a Jack Tar Hotel in San Francisco, California, in October 1971. [16] Within a year, trainings were being held in twelve major cities and had over 62,000 graduates. [17]

Beginning in July 1974 the est training was delivered at the U.S. Penitentiary at Lompoc, California, with the approval of the Federal Bureau of Prisons. [18] [19] [20] Initial est training in Lompoc involved participation of 12–15 federal prisoners and outside community members within the walls of the maximum security prison and was personally conducted by Werner Erhard. By 1979, est had expanded to Europe and other parts of the world, and in 1980 the first est training in Israel was offered in Tel Aviv. [21] A few years later in 1983, the organization moved into a large facility built for the Marine Cooks and Stewards in Santa Rosa, California. [22]

As est grew, so did criticism. It was accused of mind control and labeled a cult by some critics who said that it exploited its followers by recruiting and offering numerous "graduate seminars." [23] In 1983 in the United States, a participant named Jack Slee collapsed during a part of the seminar known as "the danger process" and later died at the hospital. [24] A court subsequently found that the est training was not the cause of death. [24] A jury later ruled that Erhard and his company had been negligent, but did not give Slee's estate a monetary award. [25] [ page needed ] The United States Tax Court in 1986, upheld an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) claim that est owed the federal government more than $3.3 million in back taxes "because of sham transactions involving the movement's 'Body of Knowledge." [26]

According to a 1991 report by the Los Angeles Times , est had been the target of a smear campaign by the Church of Scientology. This campaign had spanned several years, with examples being found in documents seized by the FBI in 1977. This smear campaign involved hiring personal investigators to spy on Erhard, recruiting Scientologists to covertly enroll in and disrupt est courses, and compiling information from disgruntled former est participants which could be used to discredit est. Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard (who died in 1986) believed that Erhard had copied Scientology. Erhard disputed this, saying that est was essentially different despite some similarities. [27]

In their 1992 book Perspectives on the New Age James R. Lewis and J. Gordon Melton said that similarities between est and Mind Dynamics were "striking", as both used "authoritarian trainers who enforce numerous rules," require applause after participants "share" in front of the group, and de-emphasize reason in favor of "feeling and action." The authors also described graduates of est as "fiercely loyal," and said that it recruited heavily, reducing marketing expenses to virtually zero. [28]

As Landmark, 1985 to present

The last est training was held in December 1984 in San Francisco, after which it was replaced by a purportedly "gentler" course called "The Forum," which began in January 1985. "est, Inc." evolved into "est, an Educational Corporation," and eventually into Werner Erhard and Associates. In 1991 the business was sold to the employees who formed a new company called Landmark Education with Erhard's brother, Harry Rosenberg, becoming the CEO. [29] Landmark Education was structured as a for-profit, employee-owned company; since 2013, it operates as Landmark Worldwide with a consulting division called Vanto Group. [30] Some sociology and religious movement scholars have classified Landmark as well as its parent organization 'est' as a "new religious movement" (NRM). [31] [32] [33]

Practices

The est Standard Training program consisted of two weekend-long workshops with evening sessions on the intervening weekdays. Workshops generally involved about 200 participants and were initially led by Erhard and later by people trained by him. Ronald Heifetz, founder of the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard University, called est "an important experience in which two hundred people go through a powerful curriculum over two weekends and have a learning experience that seemed to change many of their lives." [34] Trainers confronted participants one-on-one and challenged them to be themselves rather than to play a role that had been imposed on them by the past. [35]

Jonathan D. Moreno observed that "participants might have been surprised how both physically and emotionally challenging and how philosophical the training was." [35] He writes that the critical part of the training was freeing oneself from the past, which was accomplished by "experiencing" one's recurrent patterns and problems and choosing to change them. The word experience meant to bring into full awareness the repetition of old, burdensome behaviors. The seminar sought to enable participants to shift the state of mind around which their lives were organized, from attempts to get satisfaction or to survive, to actually being satisfied and experiencing themselves as whole and complete in the present moment. [36]

Anecdotal results

Some participants reported experiencing powerful results through their participation in the est training, characterized by Eliezer Sobel as perceived "dramatic transformations in their relationships with their families, with their work and personal vision, or most important, with the recognition who they truly were in the core of their beings". [35] [ need quotation to verify ] One study of "a large sample of est alumni who had completed the training at least 3 months before revealed that "the large majority felt the experience had been positive (88%), and considered themselves better off for having taken the training (80%)". [37] Other est participants described the sessions more negatively. [38]

Controversy

In 1976 psychologist Dr. Daniel Fullman called est more of a money making scheme than a practical way to provide therapeutic help. [39] Dr. Leonard Glass, a clinical professor of psychology at Harvard University, alleged in 1983 that participants of est showed "severe emotional problems, notably psychosis, which occurred in the midst of or shortly after EST training." [40] A participant of an est seminar sued the organization in 1985 over negligence and fraud, [41] and est has been accused of mind control and labeled a cult by critics who said that it exploited its followers by recruiting and offering numerous "graduate seminars." [42]

In 1985, a group of psychology researchers studied participants of the Forum, which had just evolved from est and was classified as a Large Group Awareness Training course. These researched compared their outcomes to a control group of non attendees. They published their results in the book Evaluating a Large Group Awareness Training . They found that while participants had a short-term increase in internal locus of control, or the belief that one can control their own life, no long-term positive or negative effects on the study participants' self-perception were detected.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Bartley, William Warren, Werner Erhard: the Transformation of a Man: the Founding of est. New York: Clarkson N. Potter, Inc. 1978. ISBN   0-517-53502-5, p.164.
  2. ↑ Fenwick, Sheridan (1976). Getting it: The Psychology of Est. Philadelphia: Lippincott. p. 44. ISBN   9780397011704 . Retrieved 13 January 2021. [...] printed on the first mailing I received after sending in my deposit: 'The purpose of the est training is to transform your ability to experience living so that the situations you have been trying to change or have been putting up with clear up just in the process of life itself.'
  3. ↑ Compare: Rushkoff, Douglas (2011). Life Inc: How the World Became a Corporation and How to Take it Back. Random House. p. 140. ISBN   9781446467787 . Retrieved 2017-02-05. 'The purpose of the EST training,' we were told when I took it as a college student in the early '80s, 'is to transform your ability to experience living so that the situations you have been trying to change or have been putting up with clear up just in the process of life itself.'
  4. ↑ Greil, Arthur L.; Rudy, David R. (1981). "On the Margins of the Sacred". In Robbins, Thomas; Anthony, Dick (eds.). In Gods We Trust: New Patterns of Religious Pluralism in America (2 ed.). Abingdon: Routledge (published 2017). ISBN   9781351513067 . Retrieved 13 January 2021. Organizations generally associated with the human potential movement, such as Silva Mind Control, est, Lifespring, Transformational Technologies, etc., are easily conceptualized as quasi-religions. Although it is now defunct and its founder, Werner Erhard, has moved on to other projects, such as the Forum and Transformational Technologies, est remains one of the best known of the human potential groups. [...] Like other organizations within the human potential movement, est understands 'itself to be communicating epistemological, psychological, and psychosomatic facts about human existence [...]' [...].
  5. ↑ Haldeman, Peter (28 November 2015). "The Return of Werner Erhard, Father of Self-Help". Fashion. The New York Times. Retrieved 17 August 2020. The criticism intensified as EST grew.
  6. ↑ Haldeman, Peter (28 November 2015). "The Return of Werner Erhard, Father of Self-Help". Fashion. The New York Times. Retrieved 17 August 2020. The criticism intensified as EST grew. It was labeled a cult that practiced mind control (verbal abuse, sleep deprivation), a racket that exploited its followers (heavy recruiting, endless "graduate seminars").
  7. ↑ Tipton, Steven M. (1982). "EST and Ethics: Rule-egoism in Middle Class Culture". Getting Saved from the Sixties: Moral Meaning in Conversion and Cultural Change. Eugene, Oregon: Wipf and Stock Publishers (published 2014). p. 215. ISBN   9781625646996 . Retrieved 25 November 2020. Accused by critics of being an authoritarian army, the est organization is, in fact, a boot camp for bureaucracy. Hierarchical, tightly rule-governed, and meritocratic, it trains its young volunteers and staff to answer phones, write memos, keep records, promote and stage public events, and deal smoothly with clients.
  8. ↑ Lewis, James R. (11 September 2014). "Erhard Seminars Training (est)/The Forum". Cults: A Reference and Guide. Approaches to New Religions (3 ed.). London: Routledge (published 2014). p. 129. ISBN   9781317545132 . Retrieved 17 August 2020. While not a church or religion, est is included here because it has often been accused of being a cult.
  9. ↑ Whippman, Ruth (10 March 2016). "Personal Journey? Its Not All About You". The Pursuit of Happiness: Why are we driving ourselves crazy and how can we stop?. London: Hutchinson (published 2016). ISBN   9781473519602 . Retrieved 17 August 2020. The Landmark Forum is the direct successor to the notorious 1970s programme est [...]. In the 1980s, Erhard reinvented his course in a gentler, more corporate incarnation as The Forum, which later became the Landmark Forum.
  10. ↑ Kyle, Richard G. (1993). The Religious Fringe: A History of Alternative Religions in America. InterVarsity Press. p. 319. ISBN   9780830817665 . Retrieved 17 August 2020. In 1985, Erhard changed the name of est to 'the Forum.' The Forum is not substantially different from est . Ruth Tucker says that the changes made by Erhard are largely cosmetic, for the philosophy of the Forum is essentially that of est.
  11. ↑ Bartley, William Warren, Werner Erhard: the Transformation of a Man: the Founding of est. New York: Clarkson N. Potter, Inc. 1978. ISBN   0-517-53502-5, p. 121, 146-7.
  12. ↑ Bartley, William Warren, Werner Erhard: the transformation of a man: the founding of est. New York: Clarkson N. Potter, Inc. 1978. ISBN   0-517-53502-5, p. 118.
  13. ↑ Bartley, William Warren, Werner Erhard: the transformation of a man: the founding of est. New York: Clarkson N. Potter, Inc. 1978. ISBN   0-517-53502-5, p. 121.
  14. ↑ Bartley, William Warren; Werner Erhard: The Transformation of a Man, The Founding of est. New York: Clarkson N. Potter, Inc. 1978. ISBN   0-517-53502-5, pp. 144–148.
  15. ↑ Bartley, William Warren, Werner Erhard: the transformation of a man: the founding of est. New York: Clarkson N. Potter, Inc. 1978. ISBN   0-517-53502-5, p. 165.
  16. ↑ "Hotel to hospital: Farewell to S.F. era". San Francisco Chronicle. October 31, 2009.
  17. ↑ Kazickas, Jurate (23 December 1975). "EST Experience -- Why People Pay to 'Get It'". The Tampa Tribune. p. 1. Retrieved 15 April 2025. and "EST". p. 2 – via Newspapers.com.
  18. ↑ Woodward, Mark (1982). "The est Training in Prisons: A Basis for the Transformation of Corrections?". Baltimore Law Journal. Archived from the original on November 13, 2013.
  19. ↑ "est in Prison" by Earl Babbie, published in American Journal of Correction, Dec 1977
  20. ↑ Rogin, Neal (7 June 1978). "Getting 'It' in Prison – The First est Training at the Federal Correctional Institution at Lompoc, California in 1974". Internet Archive.
  21. ↑ Despair and deliverance: private salvation in contemporary Israel by Benjamin Beit-Hallahmi page 121
  22. ↑ Norberg, Bob (25 January 1992). "Ex-Erhard School Goes On the Block". The Press Democrat. pp. A1. Retrieved 15 April 2025– via Newspapers.com. and "Erhard". The Press Democrat. 25 January 1992. Retrieved 15 April 2025.
  23. ↑ Haldeman, Peter (2015-11-28). "The Return of Werner Erhard, Father of Self-help". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved November 6, 2017.
  24. 1 2 Ragland, Jr., Gerald F. (1984). "Complaint in Trespass for Wrongful Death – Demand for Jury Trial". Civil Action No. N 84 497 JAC (United States District Court for the District of Connecticut).
  25. ↑ Kay Holzinger (2001). "Erhard Seminars Training (est) and The Forum". In James R. Lewis (ed.). Odd gods: new religions & the cult controversy. Prometheus Books. ISBN   978-1-57392-842-7.
  26. ↑ "Tax Court Upholds Judgment Against EST". Tyler Morning Telegraph. 28 October 1986. Retrieved 15 April 2025– via Newspapers.com.
  27. ↑ Welkos, Robert W. (December 29, 1991). "Founder of est Targeted in Campaign by Scientologists : Religion: Competition for customers is said to be the motive behind effort to discredit Werner Erhard". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved December 2, 2019.
  28. ↑ Melton, J. Gordon; Lewis, James R. (1992). Perspectives on the New Age. SUNY Press. pp. 129–132. ISBN   0-7914-1213-X.
  29. ↑ McClure, Laura (July–August 2009). "The Landmark Forum: 42 Hours, $500, 65 Breakdowns". Mother Jones. Archived from the original on October 18, 2010. Retrieved October 13, 2010.
  30. ↑ Bass, Alison (March 3, 1999). "Soul Training: A Retooled Version of the Controversial est Movement – Seekers of Many Stripes Set Out on a Path of Self-examination". The Boston Globe. Retrieved October 11, 2010.
  31. ↑ Barker, Eileen (2004). "General Overview of the 'Cult Scene' in Great Britain". In Lucas, Phillip Charles; Robbins, Thomas (eds.). New Religious Movements in the Twenty-first Century: Legal, Political, and Social Challenges in Global Perspective. Sociology/Religious studies. New York: Psychology Press. p. 28. ISBN   978-0-415-96577-4 . Retrieved 23 June 2021. Erhard Seminars Training (est) and other examples of the human potential movement joined indigenous new religions, such as the Emin, Exegesis, the Aetherius Society, the School of Economic Science, and the Findhorn community in the north of Scotland, and a number of small congregations within mainstream churches were labelled 'cults' as they exhibited some of the more enthusiastic characteristics of new religions and their leaders.
  32. ↑ Barker, Eileen (2005). "New Religious Movements in Europe". In Jones, Lindsay (ed.). Encyclopedia of Religion. Detroit: MacMillan. p. 6568. ISBN   978-0028657431. The majority of NRMs [New Religious Movements] are, however, not indigenous to Europe. Many can be traced to the United States (frequently to California), including offshoots of the Jesus Movement (such as the Children of God, later known as the Family); the Way International; International Churches of Christ; the Church Universal and Triumphant (known as Summit Lighthouse in England); and much of the human potential movement (such as est, which gave rise to the Landmark Forum, and various practices developed through the Esalen Institute).
  33. ↑ Beckford, James A. (2004). "New Religious Movements and Globalization". In Lucas, Phillip Charles; Robbins, Thomas (eds.). New Religious Movements in the Twenty-first Century: Legal, Political, and Social Challenges in Global Perspective. Abingdon and New York: Routledge. p. 256. ISBN   0-415-96576-4. The prospect of a new global order is also central to many variants of the Human Potential and New Age movements and Scientology. All these very different kinds of NRM nevertheless share a conviction that human beings have, perhaps for the first time, come into possession of the knowledge required to free them from traditional structures of thought and action. Hence, the confidence of the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, founder of Transcendental Meditation, and of Werner Erhard, the founder of est (now largely re-configured as the Landmark Trust)
  34. ↑ Leadership Can Be Taught: A Bold Approach for a Complex World, by Sharon Daloz Parks, published 2005 by Harvard Business School Press; pp. 157– 158
  35. 1 2 3 Jonathan D, Moreno (October 2014). Impromptu Man: J.L. Moreno and the Origins of Psychodrama, Encounter Culture, and the Social Network. Bellevue Literary Press. ISBN   978-1-934137-84-0.
  36. ↑ Werner Erhard: The Transformation of a Man, the Founding of est, by William Warren Bartley, III; New York: Clarkson N. Potter, Inc. 1978. ISBN   0-517-53502-5, p. 199.
  37. ↑ Galanter, Marc (1990). "Altered Consciousness". Cults: Faith, Healing, and Coercion (2 ed.). New York: Oxford University Press (published 1999). p. 75. ISBN   9780198028765 . Retrieved 18 February 2021. The whole thing ["getting it"] is treated as a joke, discomforting the new converts. [...] Nonetheless, one study of a large sample of est alumni who had completed the training at least three months before revealed that the large majority felt the experience had been positive (88%), and considered themselves better off for having taken the training (80%).
  38. ↑ McClellan, Bill (9 January 1985). "'Hunger Network' Unites Opponents". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Retrieved 15 April 2025– via Newspapers.com.
  39. ↑ Hostetler, Harold (4 April 1976). "Expanding the Mind: Real--or a Hustle?". Honolulu Star-Advertiser. Retrieved 15 April 2025– via Newspapers.com.
  40. ↑ Rodgers, Ann (16 July 1983). "Life Training or Brainwashing? EST: The Story Behind Erhard Seminar Training". Concord Monitor. p. 13. Retrieved 15 April 2025. and "EST". Concord Monitor. 16 July 1983. p. 14 – via Newspapers.com.
  41. ↑ "$5 Million is Sought for Est 'Breakdown'". 6 December 1985. Retrieved 15 April 2025– via Newspapers.com.
  42. ↑ Haldeman, Peter (2015-11-28). "The Return of Werner Erhard, Father of Self-help". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved November 6, 2017.

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