Influences and Acknowledgements 03:
Werner Erhard
(skip to Main Coaching/Prime Path)
I've got more to say about Werner Erhard and his influence on my work than I did about Heidegger. But there are problems.
The first problem is, Erhard is still alive.
The second problem is that people have been intensely studying Heidegger for decades now, and so, the circumstances of his life are easily ascertainable. Not so Erhard. He's been a fairly private guy for the last few decades, and there things about his life that I don't know, and can't know.
So, I'm going to deal with what I do know. If anyone wants to step up and assert that I am wrong, then have at me.
I've mentioned this before, and I'll mention it again: I took a course called the est training in 1980. Erhard developed the training in 1971, so it had been going on for nearly ten years by the time I took it.
At the time that I took the training, I loved it, and I felt that I received a great deal of benefit from having taken it. Over time, my appreciation for the training and for the benefits that I received from it has evolved, and has waned to some degree, but I still think that the est training was an amazing thing, worthy of study and recognition.
The training was sold as a life-changing event, the effects of which would last a lifetime. It was a life-changing event, but the effects did not last a lifetime. I know many people that took the training, and I stone cold guarantee you that, when it comes to these people, the effects of it wore off. They wore off for me, too. I mean, I learned some skills in the training that I never forgot, but after a bit, I stopped growing as a being and moving forward in my life as a result of having taken it.
But let me be absolutely clear: the training was well worth it in terms of the time and money that I invested in it.
I put the training, and Erhard's work, in the "movement" side of the coaching conversation, although, unlike the work of Heidegger, the training did have some coaching regarding direction. In retrospect, however, the coaching involving direction that was contained in the training was feeble at best, and was far outdistanced by the coaching contained in the training that generated movement and growth.
In other words, the training provided power--the ability to get what you want out of life--but not much direction as to how to best use that power.
Now, look, here's the deal with Erhard: he not only founded the est training, he also developed many other courses. Furthermore, he founded a series of organizations that served up and managed these courses. The first of these organizations was called "est, an educational corporation." It's successor, formed in 1981, was entitled "Werner Erhard and Associates." These organizations founded "centers" all over the world to manage and deliver the various programs the Erhard developed.
I should mention that the ultimate successor to these organizations is now called "Landmark Worldwide." Landmark still exists, and still offers a variety of courses, including the successor to the est training, which is now called "The Forum."
There was a significant amount of controversy connected with Erhard's departure from his company, and from the United States, in 1991. This controversy was crystallized in a 1991 60 Minutes report that contained allegations against Erhard that I will not repeat here, because Erhard denied all of them, and most of them have been debunked. CBS subsequently withdrew the video of the 60 Minutes program from the market. A disclaimer said, "this segment has been deleted at the request of CBS News for legal or copyright reasons".
However, from my perspective, there are still questions that remain unanswered concerning Erhard and his conduct during the latter stages of his work with Werner Erhard and Associates. Again, from my perspective, the continuing existence of these questions is in contrast to Erhard's absolute "tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth" personal policy that existed before this time. The fact that I have questions, however, is not in any way the same as me saying that Erhard did anything wrong.
In any event, in 1991, Erhard left the United States and moved to Costa Rica. At that time, he also sold Werner Erhard and Associates to some of it's employees, and separated himself from these programs and activities. The organization was then renamed "Landmark Education." As I noted above, it is now known as "Landmark Worldwide." (According to Wikipedia at the time of this writing, Erhard still consults on a periodic basis with Landmark.)
Now, I recognize that the way that I am expressing this might be interpreted as suspicion on my part concerning Erhard's departure in 1991. It is inarguable that there was a great deal of controversy surrounding Erhard during this time, but I have no personal knowledge of any misdeeds by Erhard. I am bringing all of this up because it would be incomplete, and it would appear as if I was being misleading, if I failed to mention the controversy that surrounded Erhard in and around the year 1991.
Furthermore, I want to be clear about the following, because it's important to me. To this day, I am amazed, and more than a little intimidated, at the things the Erhard accomplished in the twenty years that he helmed the organizations that provided the est training, the Forum, and other programs.
If I met Erhard today, which I would love to do, then I'd be thrilled, and--with his permission, of course, because he's not a spring chicken any more--I would hug him, and then look him in the eye and sincerely thank him for everything that he did for me, and that he did for the quality of human life in general. I'd probably tear up a bit as I did so.
In fact, back in the say, I was in the same room with Erhard on two occasions, although I was never introduced to him, and never spoke to him face to face. (They were big rooms.) I wrote to him twice in the years after I took the training, and both times, he wrote me back--short, sweet little notes, to be sure, but he wrote me back. One year, he also sent me a Christmas card, and a damn nice one, too. (I realize that he sent out thousands of Christmas cards, but still, I was happy to get it.)
I'll be honest: in 1991, when Erhard suddenly abandoned the work he was doing in the United States and left the country, I was hurt, and more than a smidgen of my mixed opinion of him today shows up as a function of that hurt. I still don't understand what exactly happened then. And that's how things stand now, more than thirty years later.
You can access a LOT of information concerning Erhard and his work, either by using your preferred search engine, or by searching for Werner Erhard on youtube.
But you can get an idea of Erhard's work at it's absolute zenith by exploring a series of events that Erhard developed and led in the winter and spring of 1980. These programs were entitled "A Shot Heard Round The World: A World That Works For Everyone." Tens of thousands of people worldwide participated.
There are two ways that you can get a sense of what transpired during these events.
There is a lengthy written summary of the ideas that Erhard discussed at these events which you can access here.
You can also hear an edited version of the things that Erhard said at these events in a youtube audio, by clicking here.
Now, look, I don't expect you to read all of that summary, or listen to all of that audio. But, if you would, just take a few moments and look over the beginning of the summary of the program, just so you can get a general idea about the nature of the ideas that Erhard was exploring and about which he was communicating. It's remarkable stuff.
I was a college sophomore in the winter and spring of 1980, when I took the training. I was 21 years old. From the time that I took the training until I graduated from college in May of 1982, I immersed myself in Erhard's organization, and many of his programs. I did a great deal of "assisting", which meant volunteering. One thing I did in particular was "assist" in every est training that was offered in the Pittsburgh area, where I went to college, between the time that I took the training and the time that I graduated.
I was young then, rawboned, energetic, and fairly athletic, so, when I assisted in the trainings, among other duties, they had me "run mikes." This meant that during specific lengthy periods of the training, I knelt in the back of the training room with a live microphone in my hand. If the trainer called on someone in my section, I sprinted forth to where the person was, and handed him or her the microphone so that the person could interact with the trainer, and everyone in the room could hear.
This meant that I spent a lot of time in the training room, while the training was going on. A lot.
I also assisted in other programs that called for mike runners, such as the "communication workshop." I did a great deal of other assisting as well, and took many programs as a participant, including a program called the "6 day", which, as the title suggests, was a 6 day live-in retreat, offered on the east coast during the summer at a facility in upstate New York. I took this course in the summer of 1981.
My point is that a hell of a lot of this "est" stuff was inserted rather impactfully into my young and somewhat unformed brain, and I remember all of it very well. This was a heady time for me. I had many friends who had also taken the training, and we thought that we were a part of a movement that was changing the world. Of course, this was the same time that Erhard's "Shot Heard Round the World" thing was out before the public, and this only fed our heady ambitions.
During my years in college, and the years immediately following when I was in law school, I was a very successful dude, living large, having a great time, getting good grades, etc. This had more than a little to do with the results of the training and the other Erhard-founded courses that I took.
But that success ran out in 1985, when I got out there in the real world and started practicing law. I wasn't cut out to be a lawyer, and at the age of 40, I called it quits and became somewhat adrift. This is all detailed to the degree that it needs to be in my biographical section, which you can access by clicking here. My point? The "good life" benefits of the training didn't last forever for me.
That's my point: the est training had remarkable benefits, but they didn't last forever. They didn't last for me, they didn't last for many other people that I have known, and dare I say it, they didn't last for Erhard, either.
What would it take to have the benefits of the training last, and get stronger as the years go on? That, more than anything else, is the question that has motivated my development of this website.
When one "graduated" from the training, one was given a small booklet that contained a series of "aphorisms", or sayings, that represented Erhard's teachings. One of these aphorisms was "in life, understanding is the booby prize." This saying is in line with Werner's work.
In Erhard's programs, a person didn't really understand what was happening, and why the benefits were accruing. Werner used to say that "understanding" was counter-productive. In line with this, Werner often spoke in a ways that were difficult to understand fully. Kind of like Heidegger, if you think about it.
You could count on Werner back then to be honest, though, so that aphorism--"understanding is the booby prize"--is, in fact, accurate. The trouble is, it's misleading. You see, in your life, there's only one person in the race: you. That means that first place and the booby prize are the same thing. You have to "understand" to cross the finish line, and first or last place ain't got nothing to do with it.
And, in my opinion, that's why the results of the training wear off--
Because without understanding, a person can't take Erhard's coaching and implement it on his or her own.
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