Est
est (always in lower-case), or Erhard Seminars Training, was a controversial large group awareness training (LGAT) seminar program, widespread during the 1970s. Werner Erhard (born Jack Rosenberg) founded est and conducted the first est seminar in October 1971.
Approximately 700,000 people participated in the seminars during the existence of est, including John Travolta, Cher, John Denver, Valerie Harper and several other celebrity figures. Some of the unique est word usage became an enduring part of the popular lexicon.
Influences on and Philosophy of "est"
The forebears of est allegedly include Heidegger. Erhard himself cites Zen, or as some have alleged, Westernized Zen. The "est" principle that, we ourselves created this world as God and created amnesia so as to play a game on ourselves (or Himself) derives from the writings of Alan Watts, a hipster popularizer of religious thought, most notably Zen and other eastern religions.
As quoted in "est: Making Life Work" by Robert A. Hargrave, Erhard cited the influence of Zen, Subud, Encounter Therapy, Gestalt Therapy, Scientology and an obscure group known as Mind Dynamics. Erhard's supporters would later accuse Scientology of having engineered a campaign against Erhard for his borrowing of key concepts, just as "being at cause", meaning the cause of an event.
Responsibility assumption formed an important part of the est curriculum however critics might charge only in one direction, from the top down, est Forum Leaders and Erhard himself tending towards autocratic shows of discipline.
One can perhaps best grasp the nature of the est program by reading through some of the many personal narratives available on the web. These illustrate the nature of est from the points of view of both the program's supporters and detractors. The Psychology Today article [1] gives a factual account and occasionally shows up in on-line sources.
Controversies Surrounding
One participant, James Slee, died during a seminar, and his family sued the organization. Other participants had breakdowns.
In 1976 the IRS indicted Harry Margolis on charges of tax fraud on behalf of Werner Erhard and Associates, a charge later dropped. Erhard would later sue the IRS for damages and win.
A segment on 60 Minutes portrayed Erhard as physically abusive to his wife and featured a fabricated accusation by one of his daughters that he had had sex with her.
The daughter later recanted, saying that a reporter had offered her two million dollars to make a false statement. Defenders of "est" and Erhard alleged a sting operation by the Church of Scientology, as detailed in the book by Dr. Jane Self (see below).
"Est" metamorphosed — supporters might say "transformed itself" — in 1980 - 1981 into "Werner Erhard and Associates" and "The Forum", eventually becoming "Landmark Education" around 1991. Landmark operates seminars today with similar method and teachings.
External Links
Individual est-oriented web pages come and go ephemerally and accordingly do not appear here. A search for "werner erhard est" will turn up many of them.
References
- Brewer, Mark. "We're Gonna Tear You Down and Put You Back Together" — Psychology Today, August 1975
- "Research on Erhard Seminar Training in a Correctional Institution" (Hosford, Ray, E., Moss, C. Scott, Cavior, Helene, & Kerish, Burton. Catalog of Selected Documents in Psychology, 1982, Manuscript #2419, American Psychological Association)
- "Psychiatric disturbances associated with Erhard Seminars Training". L. L. Glass, M. A. Kirsch and F. N. Parris. American Journal of Psychiatry, 1977; 134(3): 245-7.
- Rhinehart, Luke, The Book of Est
- Fenwick, Sheridan, Getting it: the psychology of est
- Self, Dr. Jane, "60 Minutes and the Assasination of Werner Erhard"
