Sometimes it takes someone who hasn’t even done any of Landmark Education’s programs (and who professes absolutely no interest in any personal development courses) to clearly explain what people get out of the Landmark Forum in everyday language. The Snumbers blog, despite hearing some of the false rumors about Landmark, does it well, I think.
Snumbers
I recently heard about a self-help program called Landmark Education. It’s been called controversial, has been labeled as a cult in France, and has as many detractors as it does supporters. Apparently it is a weekend course in which you learn to eliminate mental barriers that keep you from seeing yourself as the rest of the world sees you, and breaks crutches that keep you separated from the real world. I’m not going to make any judgment calls about Landmark Education, other than to say that it sounds interesting. What works for each person is different, and surely this works for some people. I imagine that it leads many people (it did me, as a gut reaction) into the circular thinking of “if there is nothing wrong with me, I could take the course and be better knowing that there is nothing wrong with me, if there is something wrong with me, I could take the course and try to fix it,” essentially instilling enough doubt about one’s personality to at least be curious about the program.
In any case, I have no real interest of taking the course, but I did find the following (edited slightly to remove jargon used within the program) that now hangs on my office wall:
· Be Humble: give up being right, even when you know you were.
· Be Powerful: be straight in your communication and take what you get.
· Be Courageous: acknowledge your fear (not necessarily get rid of it) and then act.
· Be Peaceful: give up the interpretation that there’s something wrong.
· Be Charismatic: give up trying to get somewhere. Be entirely fulfilled in the present moment.
· Be Enrolling: share your new possibilities in such a way that others are touched, moved and inspired.
· Be Unreasonable: in expectations of yourself and others beyond what you would think they are capable of.
I’m not generally into the whole self-help thing, but we all need goals, and these, I think, are good general ones.
