At a friend's invitation, I went along to an introductory session of the Landmark Forum, a self-motivational course. It doesn't seem cultish or anything, seems to be fairly grounded and uninstrusive, and I believe those who say it's made a difference in them thinking more clearly about problems in their lives and being more confident. It is a business though, and a commitment, at €400 for a full weekend. Have you heard anything about this, been to it yourself or know someone who has?
Landmark Forum has been around for decades. It used to be known as est, or as Erhard Seminars Training. Werner Erhard, who founded est and who is still connected with Landmark, is a former used car salesman named Jack Rosenberg, who changed his name to Werner Erhard because he thought he'd be more credible as a self-help guru. It has always been highly controversial. They use a mix of psychotherapeutic techniques and self-help, and the introductory seminars are intended solely to suck you into paying the $500-1000 (depending on country and location) for the weekend. You'll also find that half of the first seminar is subtle and not-so-subtle pitches, hypnotic suggestions, etc to get you to sign up for the more advanced seminar, and the one after that, etc. Rick Ross, who is a nationally (US) known studier of cults, has branded it a cult but he brands practically every self-help group a cult. Nonetheless, it is true that they do an amazing job of convincing people who attend the first one to spend more money on the additional ones. Of the people I know that have been sucked in attended, some got short-term benefits, but I don't think any of them got any meaningful long-term benefit. A couple left a couple hours in because they felt it was BS. I believe there was also a study showing there was almost no long-term benefit from attending est/Landmark, and that a lot of people, after the "glow" wore off, felt sort of shafted for the money they'd paid, particularly if they got suckered into more seminars. You can honestly, if you're trying to better yourself, put your money to much better use buying and reading some high-quality self-help books; I regularly recommend Joe Kort's "Ten Smart Things Gay Men Can Do To Improve Their Lives" and I also highly recommend "The Gifts of Imperfection" by Brene Brown. While I don't think Landmark is a good value or provides any meaningful long-term benefit, it isn't completely terrible, and, other than the fact that you'll likely get bamboozled into attending the advanced seminars, you might get some benefit, though probably short-term, from attending.
Thanks for the advice. That is partly what I'd worry about, I could do with even short-term motivation, I just don't want to be continually hassled and pressured with them beyond a single weekend. Like most gay men at some point, I could do with being more confident about telling others I'm gay, and I think a solid weekend trying to visualize the reasons behind the hang-ups could get me over the final barrier. My status here correctly says that I'm out, and there's no one I'm actively trying to hide anything from. Anyone could find my blog, under fullname.com, where I mention being gay in the About section, or see the occasional gay-related links I post on Facebook. But I feel something like this could get me to the point where I feel comfortable casually mentioning it where relevant to those who haven't realized I'm gay, and many don't. As I say, thanks for the input. I'll think about it for a while anyway, €400 is a fair bit to spend. And thanks for the book suggestions.
