anonday,
Not just the consequences vs the intent, but the overreach, and the complete lack of respect for boundaries. Not only does Landmark, (deliberately), fail to respect boundaries as an organization, but they seem to train this into the people who go higher up in their programs.
I sincerely believe that Landmark trains people to assume authority that they don't actually have, (to a great extent by acting "as if" they do), and wield it over the lives of others.
I can't believe how easily people, including myself, fall in line and give away our power over our own lives. Something inside of us can apparently be convinced, even if we know better intellectually. They use language to great effect, but it is also the delivery, and the body language.
The domestic partner of the person who recruited me had trained beyond the ILP. I was talking to my recruiter about boundary violations, and she told me that her partner had been told that, "Boundaries are for cattle," by a trainer at one of her out of town Landmark marathon trainings. I don't recall the name of the program, and it may have been for staff only. The partner had also worked at Landmark as a paid staff member.
In addition, these people not only recruit from 12-step and other support groups, but are also not above using information that you may have disclosed in support groups to gain leverage. Just by casually letting you know that they have this information, they threaten you without overtly threatening you.
Add to this the fact that the first two days of the forum are spent deliberately tearing down peoples' self-concepts and identities. They do this with premeditation.
When I look at all of this, and compare it to everything that I have ever read about narcissists and other "Cluster B" types, it seems to me that the intent HAS to be bad.
A narcissist may or may not have the self-awareness to realize that his intent is bad, but this is a scripted program, which has been going on for forty years, into which people are aggressively, manipulatively recruited. If you look at the level of organization involved, i don't believe that anything there is unintentional.
Not just the consequences vs the intent, but the overreach, and the complete lack of respect for boundaries. Not only does Landmark, (deliberately), fail to respect boundaries as an organization, but they seem to train this into the people who go higher up in their programs.
I sincerely believe that Landmark trains people to assume authority that they don't actually have, (to a great extent by acting "as if" they do), and wield it over the lives of others.
I can't believe how easily people, including myself, fall in line and give away our power over our own lives. Something inside of us can apparently be convinced, even if we know better intellectually. They use language to great effect, but it is also the delivery, and the body language.
The domestic partner of the person who recruited me had trained beyond the ILP. I was talking to my recruiter about boundary violations, and she told me that her partner had been told that, "Boundaries are for cattle," by a trainer at one of her out of town Landmark marathon trainings. I don't recall the name of the program, and it may have been for staff only. The partner had also worked at Landmark as a paid staff member.
In addition, these people not only recruit from 12-step and other support groups, but are also not above using information that you may have disclosed in support groups to gain leverage. Just by casually letting you know that they have this information, they threaten you without overtly threatening you.
Add to this the fact that the first two days of the forum are spent deliberately tearing down peoples' self-concepts and identities. They do this with premeditation.
When I look at all of this, and compare it to everything that I have ever read about narcissists and other "Cluster B" types, it seems to me that the intent HAS to be bad.
A narcissist may or may not have the self-awareness to realize that his intent is bad, but this is a scripted program, which has been going on for forty years, into which people are aggressively, manipulatively recruited. If you look at the level of organization involved, i don't believe that anything there is unintentional.
