In-Reply-To: <960407004351_507532231@emout07.mail.aol.com>
Message-ID: 
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
Status: O
X-Status: 


	Rex Ballard - Director of Electronic Distribution
	http://cnj.digex.net/~rballard


On Sun, 7 Apr 1996 SamOLSamOL@aol.com wrote:

> Rex,
>
> First of all, I want to let you know that I appreciated what you posted.
>  Your communication was interesting, informative and articulate.
>
> The only concern I have is for the two portions which I have exerpted below
> which read:
>
> << Peace in the Middle East was actually initiated by Landmark
> Graduates who were able to have leaders from the various countries choose
> the values that empowered them while allowing them to let go of beliefs
> designed to disempower others. >>
>
> < struggling to force their proprietary technology into the exclusive use for
> telecommunications.  It
> was the actions of a handfull of Landmark Graduates that caused an alignment
> my several industry leaders around adoption of the internet technologies as a
> standard for what we now know as the commercial internet or the "World Wide
> Web".>>
>
> Although what you say *may* be accurate, and I have no reason to doubt you,
> you are most certainly going to get *a lot* of "flaming" on these statements.
>  You may want to be prepared to back up (with evidence) what you say here
> *or* be cautious in the future to not say something *of this nature* for
> which you have no evidence.  It *could* damage your credibility.

Actually, I happened to be an assistant in the back of the room for the
course in which a participant in the Self Expression and Leadership
Program announced this project and gave weekly updates on the progress of
this project.  I am not allowed to give out names, but I can say that this
particular participant was a graduate of the New Jersey Center.

In this program, participants are coached and trained in enrolling other
leaders into taking on a project in their "communities" by enrolling the
leaders into the possibility of their projects.  Participants have
enrolled leaders including Presidents, Senators, Leaders of other
countries, and CEOs of multinational corporations.

Landmark is beginning to "come out" of their cloister.  They have several
corporate clients who are now letting Landmark use their names in
promotional and informational liturature.

>
> I'm not sure your first statement *can* be backed up with evidence.  I think
> people may have difficulty with the word "initiated" as attempts to bring
> about peace in the Middle East were initiated *well* before Landmark, est,
> (and probably you or I) were on the planet.  Although I have no doubt that
> people who have done the Forum have made an enormous contribution to a
> relative "peace" in the Middle East, what "I hear" you saying  tends to
> negate the contributions of the hundreds of thousands of non-Forum graduates
> who, in many cases, gave their lives in the service of peace in that area.
>  It also seems a bit naive to think that *one* specific event, or *one*
> specific person or group of people had *the* causative impact in the matter.

Actually, records of SELP participants are kept on file in San Jose
California.  In addition, participants routinely write letters to the
staff detailing their accomplishments.  The Advanced Course is designed to
help distinguish the difference between the "reality" of agreement (we've
been at war for 2000 years, how can there be peace?) and physical reality
(producing specific measurable results in distance, form, and time).  The
SELP trains people in how to shift the "agreement" in such a way that it
alters the perception of "reality".  This technology can "cause" many
interesting and worth-while things to happen.

> The second statement may have some validity; however, my problem with what
> you say is that your statement again credits the contribution of a Landmark
> graduate *above* and *distinct from* the contributions that other people made
> in the work that you are speaking about.  And I personally find that to be a
> detrimental way of looking at and speaking about what Landmark graduates are
> doing and have done.

Another distinction of the SELP is to empower other leaders.  As you
enroll other leaders, you empower them such that the project would be
completed even if you died.  It is actually the test of whether a project
is "worthwhile".

By the way, many participants in the SELP play much smaller.  About 20%
have "block parties" or "family reunions".  About 20% take on some work or
charity related project.  Only about 20% actually take on something on an
national or international scale.  Of those, only about 20% produce the
kind of "obvious" results I have described.  On the other hand, when you
have about 1/2 million SELP graduates over 5 years, the results start to
add up.

> And I would also suspect that there may be Forum graduates who have gone on
> to do some pretty terrible things in the world (although I have no direct
> evidence for this).

Actually, I have some personal experiences of friends who took the Forum,
decided the whole thing was B.S. and ended up making a mess of their
lives.  One used the principles of the Forum to get a new boyfriend, and
ended up getting someone who was quite abusive.  It was her choice, and
she had to deal with the consequences.

> My last point here is that what people have done *after* participating in
> Landmark and its programs really only says something about who *they*
> are...not about Landmark.

The references given were accomplished or initiated DURING their
participation in Landmark Programs.  Landmark has several programs
which are "executive coaching" programs.  These include the Self
Expression and Leadership Program, the Team Management Leadership
Program, and the Seminar Leaders Program.  These programs were actually
designed by management consultants who coach corporate executives in how
to cause breakthroughs at the corporate level.

> If they want to credit their ability to have
> produced a particular result to their participation in Landmark's courses,
> they of course have earned the right to do so.  For someone like you or like
> me to give the credit to Landmark, is *at best* not useful.

My hope is that others will be willing to call the local center managers
and find out what participants in that center have accomplished.  Each
center manager keeps a set of "Success Stories" they are allowed to talk
about.  I hear success stories every week.  I am one of those success
stories as well.  If you want more details, I can discuss them.

> Regards,
> Sam
>


From rballard@cnj.digex.net Tue Apr  9 14:53:57 1996