Last night I accompanied my wife to the final meeting of a seminar she had attended this past weekend. All I knew about it was that it was some kind of psychology thing.
There were about 200 people at the Pointe Squaw Peak in Phoenix. The night started with a testimonial -- about half a dozen people got up and told how their lives had changed. Things like saved marriages, mended families, etc. Everybody was applauding and supporting each other. We were told kind of what the thing was all about, and then we separated into groups of about 20 for a workshop. It was stuff like, “what's working in your life and what is not?”, then we picked and analyzed a “what's not”, to determine why and to find a new “possibility”.
They were trying to sign up new people for the next seminar in December, and I decided to do it. It is all day Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, then Tuesday night. And when I say all day, I mean from about 9:00 am until midnight. Hmmm.
Today I did a little research into the Landmark Forum. Google turns up a lot of stuff -- both for it and against. Turns out there are a lot of opinions on both sides. All the way from “it is a cult” to “it is a new way of looking at life”. There are insinuations of mind control, group hypnosis, and mental breakdowns. Wow! So now I am a bit apprehensive.
Even many of those who were critical of the Forum recommended going to the first seminar (there are additional ones, including and advanced one). They say it is powerful, but don't go overboard. So for now I still plan on going to it. One interesting thing -- I noticed the unclaimed name tag of the president of my company there last night. I knew he was going to be on vacation this week -- so I guess he went to the weekend seminar then skipped last night. I will have to talk to him next week and see what he thought.
It is in December -- I'll let you know my take on it afterwards.