| Course Junkie |
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| Angus Douglas | |||
| Monday, 12 September 2005 | |||
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So, someone in the office has just done an Insight course, (or Quest, or Harlequin, or whatever other experiential workshop is currently doing the rounds), and he's beginning to proselytize about how it's changed his life. And he's irritating you because he's saying things like, "it's all Quantum Physics, it's about the inner being - the ascended light - you need to connect with your inner guide". It's at this point that the discussion ends, and you head to your favourite website www.harmoniousliving.co.za. And that lands you right where you were destined to be - reading this article. So here are a few facts and a very thoroughly considered opinion. I did Insight 14 years ago - I've had plenty of time to think it through. Warning: my opinions may be more pertinent to Insight than to the other courses. Insight, Harlequin, Quest, Landmark Forum et al derive from Erhard Seminars Training (EST) which was begun by Werner Erhard (born John Rosenberg) in San Francisco in October 1971. According to www.skepdic.com; "EST is a hodgepodge of philosophical bits and pieces culled from the carcasses of existential philosophy, motivational psychology, Maxwell Maltz's Psycho-cybernetics, Zen Buddhism, Alan Watts, Freud, Abraham Maslow, L. Ron Hubbard, Hinduism, Dale Carnegie, Norman Vincent Peale, P.T. Barnum, and anything else that Erhard's intuition told him would work in the burgeoning Human Potential market." In terms of the South African incarnation, Pat Grove was the first to do this sort of large group awareness training, and is credited with having trained, among others, Baruch Banai, Buster and Wendy Sefor, Steven Norvell and Phil Smith; all of whom have at some point run courses in South Africa. Of these Baruch Banai's Insight Training is the biggest, with permanent training facilities in Fourways. So much for the facts; my opinion: Erhard's hodgepodge of philosophical bits somehow created a heady and explosive brew that took on a life of its own. Whatever it was, it worked, and still works to this day. "Why" and "how" it works is not so clear. States that might normally take a spiritual adept years of training to accomplish, these courses achieve in a matter of days. The camaraderie achieved thanks to the intense emotional and spiritual highs attained on the course creates a warm feeling of belonging for graduates, but a creepy cultish feeling for friends and family who haven't yet been through it. However, these courses do not offer a coherent set of practices or philosophical enquiry that can turn heightened states of consciousness into a permanently sustained growth experience. A further weakness is that whilst the courses set up strict rules and codes of behavior, it is invariably the trainer who runs the show. The assistants defer to him in a way that a devotee would to her guru. The guru-like status of the trainer is never properly dealt with in the courses, with the organizers preferring to have it both ways. A carte blanche situation for the trainer allows them to wing it a lot of the time, going with their instincts and challenging people's blocks by confronting them in whatever way they see fit. Always the emphasis is on results, and the trainer is never wrong. However, if anyone tries to find fault with the trainer the answer is the same: "it's about you, not about him." Those wanting to do the course should take heed of the double standards, and play it the same way. Pay your money, get the most out of it, throw yourself into the processes and use it as a growth experience. Take much of the threats and manipulation with a massive pinch of salt, and when the course is over and they try manipulate you into doing things for them you'd rather not, walk away.
Disclaimer: Harmonious Living is written for and read by a community of individuals with strong and independent opinions. While the publishers of Harmonious Living are dedicated to providing a forum in which views can be openly expressed, those views do not necessarily reflect those of the publishers.
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This is the powerful story of the author's struggle with Multiple Sclerosis and how a healer's unusual prescription of mindful altruism - to 'give away 29 gifts in 29 days' - ignited her energy, her happiness, and invited more abundance into her life.
