I find it amusing that someone recently started a website about personal development programs that they titled simply ‘It’s Not a Cult‘. While the site itself has a pretty extensive description/review of The Landmark Forum, I like it especially for the sentence which begins to describe the site:
In navigating the vast world of self development programs, we think that there are better questions to ask than “is this a cult?”
Calling something a cult is a conversation ender. It’s the organisational equivalent of calling someone a racist – it casts a dark shadow that is hard to dispel. It implies that something is nefarious, insular and strange and brooks no argument. Most of the random internet folks I’ve seen calling a personal development program a cult aren’t really interested in making a serious case for this; they’d simply like to scare you into not looking to something. The ‘cult alarmists’ usually have a few things in common:
1) They argue that one should should trust so-called ‘experts’ (random people like themselves on the internet) instead of one’s own experience – people are too vulnerable/weak/stupid to judge things for themselves.
2) They believe people should be afraid, very afraid – bogeymen exist everywhere trying to con you, to steal your money and your soul.
3) They believe any personal development that exists outside their personal paradigm of choice – religion or psychology, usually – is dangerous hogwash.
Fact is, I’ve seen a whole lot of personal development courses of all shapes and sizes, some I’ve liked and some I didn’t, but I’ve yet to encounter one that I would call a cult by the true definition of one. There are a whole lot of good questions to ask about any self help course – what are the intended goals, what are the methods, is this company’s a philosophy a match for what I wish to accomplish – but, as this website says, “Is this a cult?” is rarely one of them. It’s like going to an auto dealership and asking “Will this car explode when I attempt to drive it?” – probably won’t help you find the auto you’re looking for.
Anyways, the review above is worth reading – it gives many details about the landmark forum that would answer someone’s more reasonable questions.
