Landmark Forum

The Skeptic's Dictionary has a great page about Landmark Forum. Landmark is the successor to Werner Erhart's "est" from the 70s. Swami Muktananda was explicitly influenced by est in creating the "intensive" weekends in the "Siddha Yoga (SYDA)" org, The influence of est can be seen in the many other currently-active LGATs (Large Group Awareness Trainings), and this piece sheds some clear-thinking light on all of them:

http://skepdic.com/landmark.html

One ultra-simple concept that I found intriguing is this. People naturally go through high and low psychological phases of their lives. Among those who are drawn to an LGAT, people in a down-phase are over-represented, as they have the most motivation for seeking quick and extreme "transformation." The tendency of people at low psychological points is to eventually "regress to the mean," that is, move to a phase that's higher than the low-point that motivated them to seek transformation. If the LGAT can convince people of its transformational power, then when a better state occurs (for whatever reason), they'll likely attribute it to the LGAT, and become "true believers."

(Of course there are some people who get extraordiary bliss-states etc, not just relief from a low-point. Surely, the mere fact that attendence of these workshops or seminars or courses gives people an opportunity to ponder their lives, seek new perspectives, question old assumptions, etc, can have amazingly powerful effects. But among the masses who become LGAT devotees, I'd think regression to mean is a significant dynamic.)

In a broader sense, many psychologists say that our happiness tends to follow a U-shape. We're happy as children, then struggle as young adults as we adapt to challenging jobs and relationships and life complications. Somewhere in mid-adulthood, most people tend to gain greater mastery of their lives (and/or ours lives actually become easier, as we advance beyond shitty jobs, as kids grow up and no longer demand constant attention, as relationships become more solid, etc). The point is that when we experience a natural life up-turn, we tend to project a reason on it, even if it's just corrolation and not causation. If we happen to be Christians, we say Jesus is making us happier. If we're into meditation, we credit that. If we value money most, we think that wealth is the cause of this increased happiness, etc.

Our experience is one thing, and the way we interpret it (assigning a cause to our good or bad feelings) is something different.