Editing Erhard Seminars Training (section)

== History ==
=== Early influences. 1960s through 1971 ===
{{Further|Werner Erhard#Influences}}
In [[W. W. Bartley III]]'s biography of Werner Erhard, ''Werner Erhard: The Transformation of a Man, the Founding of est'' (1978), Erhard describes his explorations of [[Zen]] Buddhism. Bartley quotes Erhard as acknowledging Zen as the essential contribution that "created the space [for est]".<ref name="bartley3">Bartley, William Warren, ''Werner Erhard: the Transformation of a Man: the Founding of est''. New York: Clarkson N. Potter, Inc. 1978. {{ISBN|0-517-53502-5}}, p. 121, 146-7.</ref>

Bartley details Erhard's connections with Zen beginning with his extensive studies with [[Alan Watts]] in the mid-1960s.<ref>Bartley, William Warren, Werner Erhard: the transformation of a man: the founding of est. New York: Clarkson N. Potter, Inc. 1978. {{ISBN|0-517-53502-5}}, p. 118.</ref>
Bartley quotes Erhard as acknowledging:
{{Quote|Of all the disciplines that I studied, practiced, learned, Zen was the essential one. It was not so much an influence on me, rather it created space. It allowed those things that were there to be there. It gave some form to my experience. And it built up in me the critical mass from which was kindled the experience that produced est.<ref>Bartley, William Warren, Werner Erhard: the transformation of a man: the founding of est. New York: Clarkson N. Potter, Inc. 1978. {{ISBN|0-517-53502-5}}, p. 121.</ref>}}

Other influences included [[Dale Carnegie]], [[Subud]], [[Scientology]] and [[Mind Dynamics]].<ref>Bartley, William Warren; ''Werner Erhard: The Transformation of a Man, The Founding of est''. New York: Clarkson N. Potter, Inc. 1978. {{ISBN|0-517-53502-5}}, pp. 144–148.</ref>

=== As est, 1971 to 1984 ===
In 1971, Werner Erhard reported having a personal transformation, and created the est training to allow others to have the same experience.<ref>Bartley, William Warren, Werner Erhard: the transformation of a man: the founding of est. New York: Clarkson N. Potter, Inc. 1978. {{ISBN|0-517-53502-5}}, p. 165.</ref> The first ''est'' course was held at a [[Jack Tar Hotels|Jack Tar Hotel]] in [[San Francisco]], California, in October 1971.<ref name=sf>{{cite news|title=Hotel to hospital: Farewell to S.F. era|work=San Francisco Chronicle|date=October 31, 2009}}</ref> Within a year, trainings were being held in twelve major cities and had over 62,000 graduates.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Kazickas |first=Jurate |date=23 December 1975 |title=EST Experience -- Why People Pay to 'Get It' |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-tampa-tribune/170399881/ |access-date=15 April 2025 |work=The Tampa Tribune |pages=1}} and {{Cite news |title=EST |work=The Tampa Tribune |date=23 December 1975 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-tampa-tribune/170400080/ |pages=2 |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref>

Beginning in July 1974 the est training was delivered at the U.S. Penitentiary at [[Lompoc, California|Lompoc]], California, with the approval of the [[Federal Bureau of Prisons]].<ref name=ReferenceA>{{cite journal|last1=Woodward |first1=Mark |title=The est Training in Prisons: A Basis for the Transformation of Corrections? |journal=Baltimore Law Journal |date=1982 |url=https://www.scribd.com/doc/38713955/Werner-Erhard-s-est-Training-in-the-Prisons |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131113104720/http://www.scribd.com/doc/38713955/Werner-Erhard-s-est-Training-in-the-Prisons |archive-date=November 13, 2013 }}</ref><ref>"est in Prison" by Earl Babbie, published in American Journal of Correction, Dec 1977</ref><ref name="archive.org">{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/GettingitInPrison|title=Getting 'It' in Prison – The First est Training at the Federal Correctional Institution at Lompoc, California in 1974 |first=Neal |last=Rogin |work=Internet Archive|date=7 June 1978 }}</ref> Initial est training in Lompoc involved participation of 12–15 federal prisoners and outside community members within the walls of the maximum security prison and was personally conducted by Werner Erhard. By 1979, est had expanded to Europe and other parts of the world, and in 1980 the first est training in Israel was offered in Tel Aviv.<ref>Despair and deliverance: private salvation in contemporary Israel by Benjamin Beit-Hallahmi page 121</ref> A few years later in 1983, the organization moved into a large facility built for the [[Marine Cooks and Stewards]] in [[Santa Rosa, California]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Norberg |first=Bob |date=25 January 1992 |title=Ex-Erhard School Goes On the Block |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-press-democrat/170381158/ |access-date=15 April 2025 |work=The Press Democrat |pages=A1 |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}} and {{Cite news |date=25 January 1992 |title=Erhard |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-press-democrat/170381404/ |access-date=15 April 2025 |work=The Press Democrat}}</ref>

As est grew, so did criticism. It was accused of mind control and labeled a cult by some critics who said that it exploited its followers by recruiting and offering numerous "graduate seminars."<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/29/fashion/the-return-of-werner-erhard-father-of-self-help.html|title=The Return of Werner Erhard, Father of Self-help|last=Haldeman|first=Peter|date=2015-11-28|work=The New York Times|access-date=November 6, 2017|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> In 1983 in the United States, a participant named Jack Slee collapsed during a part of the seminar known as "the danger process" and later died at the hospital.<ref name="Slee_v">Ragland, Jr., Gerald F. (1984). [[Wikisource:Slee v. Erhard, Complaint in Trespass For Wrongful Death Demand for Jury Trial (1984)|"Complaint in Trespass for Wrongful Death – Demand for Jury Trial"]]. ''Civil Action No. N 84 497 JAC'' ([[United States District Court for the District of Connecticut]]).</ref> A court subsequently found that the est training was not the cause of death.<ref name="Slee_v"/> A jury later ruled that Erhard and his company had been negligent, but did not give Slee's estate a monetary award.<ref name="Lewis2001">{{cite book |author=Kay Holzinger |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9781573928427 |title=Odd gods: new religions & the cult controversy |publisher=Prometheus Books |year=2001 |isbn=978-1-57392-842-7 |editor=James R. Lewis |editor-link=James R. Lewis (scholar) |pages=386 |chapter=Erhard Seminars Training (est) and The Forum}}</ref> 
The [[United States Tax Court]] in 1986, upheld an [[Internal Revenue Service]] (IRS) claim that est owed the federal government more than $3.3 million in [[back taxes]] "because of sham transactions involving the movement's 'Body of Knowledge."<ref>{{Cite news |date=28 October 1986 |title=Tax Court Upholds Judgment Against EST |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/tyler-morning-telegraph/170399377/ |access-date=15 April 2025 |work=Tyler Morning Telegraph |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref>

According to a 1991 report by the ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'', est had been the target of a [[smear campaign]] by the [[Church of Scientology]]. This campaign had spanned several years, with examples being found in documents [[Operation Snow White|seized by the FBI]] in 1977. This smear campaign involved hiring personal investigators to spy on Erhard, recruiting Scientologists to covertly enroll in and disrupt est courses, and compiling information from disgruntled former est participants which could be used to discredit est. Scientology founder [[L. Ron Hubbard]] (who died in 1986) believed that Erhard had copied Scientology. Erhard disputed this, saying that est was essentially different despite some similarities.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Welkos |first1=Robert W. |title=Founder of est Targeted in Campaign by Scientologists : Religion: Competition for customers is said to be the motive behind effort to discredit Werner Erhard. |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-12-29-mn-2102-story.html |access-date=December 2, 2019 |work=Los Angeles Times |date=December 29, 1991}}</ref>

In their 1992 book ''Perspectives on the New Age'' [[James R. Lewis (scholar)|James R. Lewis]] and [[J. Gordon Melton]] said that similarities between est and Mind Dynamics were "striking", as both used "authoritarian trainers who enforce numerous rules," require applause after participants "share" in front of the group, and de-emphasize [[reason]] in favor of "feeling and action." The authors also described graduates of est as "fiercely loyal," and said that it recruited heavily, reducing marketing expenses to virtually zero.<ref>{{cite book| last1 = Melton| first1 = J. Gordon| author-link = J. Gordon Melton|last2=Lewis|first2=James R.|author-link2=James R. Lewis (scholar) | title = Perspectives on the New Age| publisher = SUNY Press| year = 1992| pages = 129–132| isbn = 0-7914-1213-X}}</ref>

=== As Landmark, 1985 to present ===
The last est training was held in December 1984 in San Francisco, after which it was replaced by a purportedly "gentler" course called "The Forum," which began in January 1985. "est, Inc." evolved into "est, an Educational Corporation," and eventually into [[Werner Erhard and Associates]]. In 1991 the business was sold to the employees who formed a new company called Landmark Education with Erhard's brother, Harry Rosenberg, becoming the CEO.<ref name="lauramcclure">{{cite journal |title=The Landmark Forum: 42 Hours, $500, 65 Breakdowns |last=McClure |first=Laura |journal=Mother Jones |url=https://motherjones.com/media/2009/07/landmark-42-hours-500-65-breakdowns |date=July–August 2009 |access-date=October 13, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101018174746/https://motherjones.com/media/2009/07/landmark-42-hours-500-65-breakdowns |archive-date=October 18, 2010 }}</ref> Landmark Education was structured as a for-profit, employee-owned company; since 2013, it operates as [[Landmark Worldwide]] with a consulting division called Vanto Group.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Soul Training: A Retooled Version of the Controversial est Movement – Seekers of Many Stripes Set Out on a Path of Self-examination |last=Bass |first=Alison |journal=The Boston Globe |url= http://boston.com/globe/search/stories/reprints/soultraining062199.htm |date=March 3, 1999 |access-date=October 11, 2010}}</ref> Some sociology and religious movement scholars have classified Landmark as well as its parent organization 'est' as a "[[new religious movement]]" (NRM).<ref name=Barker_2004>{{cite book  | last1 = Barker | first1 = Eileen | author-link1 = Eileen Barker | chapter = General Overview of the 'Cult Scene' in Great Britain | editor1-last = Lucas | editor1-first = Phillip Charles | editor2-last = Robbins | editor2-first = Thomas | editor2-link = Thomas Robbins (sociologist) | title = New Religious Movements in the Twenty-first Century: Legal, Political, and Social Challenges in Global Perspective | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=WW-XcDe-IMEC | series = Sociology/Religious studies | year = 2004 | location = New York | publisher = Psychology Press | publication-date = 2004 | page = 28 | isbn = 978-0-415-96577-4 | access-date = 23 June 2021 | quote = Erhard Seminars Training (''est'') and other examples of the human potential movement joined indigenous new religions, such as the Emin, Exegesis, the Aetherius Society, the School of Economic Science, and the Findhorn community in the north of Scotland, and a number of small congregations within mainstream churches were labelled 'cults' as they exhibited some of the more enthusiastic characteristics of new religions and their leaders.}}</ref><ref name=Barker_2005>{{cite book  | last1 = Barker | first1 = Eileen | author-link1 = Eileen Barker | chapter = New Religious Movements in Europe | editor1-last = Jones | editor1-first = Lindsay | title = Encyclopedia of Religion | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=ODIOAQAAMAAJ | year = 2005 | location = Detroit |publisher=MacMillan | page = 6568 | isbn = 978-0028657431 | quote = The majority of NRMs [New Religious Movements] are, however, not indigenous to Europe. Many can be traced to the United States (frequently to California), including offshoots of the Jesus Movement (such as the Children of God, later known as the Family); the Way International; International Churches of Christ; the Church Universal and Triumphant (known as Summit Lighthouse in England); and much of the human potential movement (such as est, which gave rise to the Landmark Forum, and various practices developed through the Esalen Institute). }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Beckford |first=James A. |author-link=James A. Beckford |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WW-XcDe-IMEC |title=New Religious Movements in the Twenty-first Century: Legal, Political, and Social Challenges in Global Perspective |publisher=Routledge |year=2004 |isbn=0-415-96576-4 |editor1-last=Lucas |editor1-first=Phillip Charles |location=Abingdon and New York |page=256 |language=en |chapter=New Religious Movements and Globalization |quote=The prospect of a new global order is also central to many variants of the Human Potential and New Age movements and Scientology. All these very different kinds of NRM nevertheless share a conviction that human beings have, perhaps for the first time, come into possession of the knowledge required to free them from traditional structures of thought and action. Hence, the confidence of the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, founder of Transcendental Meditation, and of Werner Erhard, the founder of est (now largely re-configured as the Landmark Trust) |editor2-last=Robbins |editor2-first=Thomas |editor2-link=Thomas Robbins (sociologist)}}</ref>