Werner Erhard didn’t get the last laugh
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Werner Erhard didn’t get the last laugh
Werner Erhard holding court.
Posted: Saturday, July 16, 2011 3:58 pm
|
Updated: 6:10 pm, Mon Feb 18, 2013.
Werner Erhard didn’t get the last laugh
Back in 1978, it was a whole new world for me. I was out on my
own and in my first real adult (I thought) relationship. Think
about 1978. Think about the fashion, the music and the culture.
Our Hippie leaders were no longer relevent and as a generation we
were left to our own devices. Most of us turned to drugs at one
point or another to expand our minds but all that really did was
expand our troubles. And because nature abhors a vacuum, something
new came along. Self-awareness and self-discovery were becoming
big business and there was money to be made from sheep like me:
People who wanted to squeeze every drop out of life.
My (then) Mother-In-Law had taken a cutting-edge program called
Erhard Seminars Training or EST.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erhard_Seminars_Training. She
seemed in constant search for something, anything, so I didn't
think much about it until she began hounding my (then) husband and
I to follow suit. At nearly $600 each, and remember this is 1978,
it was too high a price to pay to simply appease her. Eventually,
she offered to pay so we caved.
The structure of the training is to attend a pre-seminar, 2 full
weekends and then a post seminar. They also had follow-up courses
on a variety of subjects designed to keep the momentum, and the
money I assume, flowing. A single "Trainer" conducted the seminar
with a group of facilitators who did not acknowledge your existence
except to direct you to your seats. (They were the Buckingham
Palace Guards of this shindig and I'll admit mugging to get a
reaction. This did not further my cause nor education but, at
times, put me squarely in the Trainer's spotlight, the one place I
did not want to be) The weekends began at 7am and could go on
until 1 or 2 in the morning depending upon where the attendees were
"heading" in their progress. I was perpetually confused about
where we were heading so I simply listened and sat...and sat...and
sat. At times I was alternately entertained and mind-numbingly
bored. "Push through the boredom" was a frequent and feveroant
call from the facilitators who had discovered a sleeping attendee.
Why? There's just more boredom on the other side.
EST contained a whole new vernacular. "Ride the horse in the
direction its going". "Be here now". "Own the moment". "Realize
you are part of the machine". These are phrases I recall from the
tedious hours of one guy talking to 500 people. When it was all
over, I took away a lot of paper, some catchy esoteric phraseology
and a $1200 debt to my MIL. I'd been had and Werner Erhard was
most likely having a good laugh and some top grade scotch on
me.
But that was 1978. When I look back from 2011, I recogize some
of the principles of EST are still with me and are commonplace in
today's social structure. The concepts about personal
responsibility, accountability, truth and honesty are a part of my
personal fabric. Staying in the moment comes easily to me and
therefore I believe I experience life more fully. The realization
that I alone have the power to change any given situation, or how I
respond to it, is second nature. These are tools I use each
day.
In the end the debt was paid, I took ownership of the EST
experience and dare I say...I'm a better person for it. Take that
Werner!
Posted in
Women of a certain age
on
Saturday, July 16, 2011 3:58 pm.
Updated: 6:10 pm.
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Charles Nelson posted at 11:36 pm on Mon, Jul 18, 2011.
I went through the training in the early 80's. I'd heard it had toned down somewhat from the more "in your face" style of the 70's training. I found it to have made valuable and positive changes in who I am. Warner Erhard was the founding father to people like Tony Robbins. I wish I'd had the training as a teenager. I think it would have made my formative years see a more "clear" sense of direction.
Howard Schumann posted at 6:39 pm on Sat, Jul 16, 2011.
Your blog about EST was fun to read. I took the training back in 1974 and I found it to be extremely valuable. Aside from the fact that I met my future wife there, the biggest value I received was in being able to see why I created all the unworkable things in my life. I also found it quite valuable to realize how much I was judging the other participants at the beginning and how I moved after the first day to be able to establish an empathy with others.
I also didn't feel like I got much out of it right away but after six months, I noticed all the things that had changed for the better. One question, though. I do not remember the training ever costing $600. When I took it in 1974 it was $250 and the most I recall was that it was $350 through the 70s. Even today the Landmark Forum is only $450 so I think you must be mistaken.