In this post-Landmark period, one week after my last direct exposure in the Advanced Course, I am sorting through what I "got" and attempting to de-clutter my head.
It's tricky: in any given moment, I recognize I'm using the tools of Landmark to de-clutter my thinking about Landmark. Very odd sensation...
One of the less slippery items, unequivocally identified as problematic, has to do with integrity. A lot of talk about integrity in Landmark....the phrase "you're only as good as your word" is passionately repeated. And yet, better than half of my interactions with Landmark staff and graduates, lack the integrity of "being true to your word."
Given the dominance of logic and justice as "personal tests" in my world view, witnessing inconsistency of action with word within the kingdom of Landmark is remarkable and troubling.
But it's not the lack of follow-through that bothers me most; more troubling than this, is the hypocrisy of holding this principle so close to the core of the teaching, repeating it to student/participants frequently and taking them to task when they stray from it, and creating an atmosphere that makes it difficult for leaders to be taken to task for similar infractions.
We all make mistakes. We all break promises. Acknowledgment and apology reduce potential stress, disappointment and inconvenience. I don't even mind being called out when I screw up -- but outside the framework of a reciprocal, mutual responsibility, it feels unfair and abusive. If integrity is important for the student, I think it's also important for the teacher.
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The technology of Landmark Education has changed my life, modifying the architecture of my thinking 
in deep ways. It will take some time to sort the wheat from the chaff. And it feels like a necessary evaluation and elimination process -- there's definitely treasure for keeping and it would be tragic to let my displeasure with some features lead me to trash the entire thing.
It feels a little like teaching myself to talk.
in deep ways. It will take some time to sort the wheat from the chaff. And it feels like a necessary evaluation and elimination process -- there's definitely treasure for keeping and it would be tragic to let my displeasure with some features lead me to trash the entire thing.It feels a little like teaching myself to talk.
That is so extremely odd.... I wonder if the leaders themselves realize what they're doing....
ReplyDeleteYears ago, I was a peripheral part of a combine (aka a commune, although they called themselves a combine)whose putative leader was an EST graduate & EST promoter. I found the same thing- while integrity was said to be a core value, integrity was often casually, transparently violated by that very leader & other members of the group, while at other times supposed violations of integrity were verbally, publicly slammed,& protests were buried in flurries of dissent & obfuscation. I never did know what to make of that, but did take what I wanted from that bountiful spiritual buffet, & still benefit from some of the things I learned there.