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From: dyer@wivax.UUCP (Stephen Dyer)
Newsgroups: net.singles
Subject: Re: Lifespring, est, etc.
Message-ID: <19585@wivax.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 2-Jun-84 15:29:54 EDT
Article-I.D.: wivax.19585
Posted: Sat Jun  2 15:29:54 1984
Date-Received: Sun, 3-Jun-84 03:51:54 EDT
References: <997@hao.UUCP>
Organization: Wang Institute, Tyngsboro, Ma.  01879
Lines: 47

I cannot speak for anything but my own experiences with est,
so I do not know whether "Lifespring" or organizations
are exactly like it.  I took the est training about 3 1/2 years ago on
the encouragement of a very close friend whose opinion I value very
highly.  And there was no pressure there, merely the statement that
she got a lot out of it.  Now, I felt no real need for therapy or
self-help at the time, but I *am* pretty adventuresome, and I was
about to switch jobs, so I thought that it would be an interesting
experience with potential benefits--if not, I had at least given it
a shot.

I found the whole experience fascinating and very valuable.  Briefly,
the est training is about personal responsibility and the power
of one's choices.  In some sense, no new knowledge is conferred,
but it is the way the training forces one to reconfront basic truths
about oneself that is so useful.  Skeptics might say that locking 300
people up in a hotel ballroom for two weekends without doing anything else
would be as profound as the two weekends of the est training.  Maybe!
But even now, I find the material presented useful, especially when
I occasionally feel overwhelmed by events.

Now for the geeky side.  Yes, there is a lot of Amway/Shaklee/MaryKay
revivalist/capitalist crud which comes along with all of this, most
strongly once the training is finished.  People are encouraged to
enroll in "graduate seminars" which meet every couple of weeks.
And aside from the material treated within the seminars, which can be
valuable, one is encouraged to bring uninitiated guests for their own
special seminars wherein the training is explained and the opportunity
is presented for the guests to enroll themselves in the training
(read: bring your friends for a sales pitch.)  est has no advertising,
so the only way additional people are found to enroll is through
word-of-mouth.  Hence, the concentration on "recruitment."

I finally got fed up with the trappings of the organization, despite
the value of the training.  Many of the hangers-on around the programs
including the people who worked in the Centers simply weren't my kind of
people--I didn't feel comfortable with them nor what the est program
seemed to be for them--a kind of secular "church."

So, there is a lot of ambiguity here.  The training can be valuable
AND the organization as a whole is a bit geeky.  I would still recommend
that people investigate it.  Is it worth $400?  I don't know what anyone else
would feel.  I was satisfied.
-- 
/Steve Dyer
decvax!bbncca!sdyer
sdyer@bbncca.ARPA