Erhard Seminars Training
Encyclopedia
Erhard Seminars Training, an organization founded by Werner H. Erhard, offered a two-weekend (60-hour) course known officially as "The est Standard Training". The purpose of est was "to transform one's ability to experience living so that the situations one had been trying to change or had been putting up with, clear up just in the process of life itself." The est training was offered from late 1971 to late 1984.
The first est course happened at the Jack Tar Hotel in San Francisco, California
, in October 1971. Within a year, trainings were being held in New York City
, and other major cities in the United States followed soon after. Beginning in July 1974 the est Training was delivered in Federal Prisons.
By 1979 est had expanded to Europe and other parts of the world. The popularity of est peaked in 1981, then enrollment for the various courses began to decline. The last est Training was held in December 1984 in San Francisco; in its place came a newly developed course called "The Forum", which began in January 1985. The est Training presented several concepts, most notably the concept of transformation and taking responsibility for one's life. The actual teaching, called "the technology of transformation", emphasizes the value of integrity.
"est, Inc." evolved into "est, an Educational Corporation", and eventually into "Werner Erhard & 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. Landmark Education was structured as a for-profit, employee-owned company; it operates with a consulting division called Vanto Group.
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]".
Bartley details Erhard's connections with Zen beginning with his extensive studies with Alan Watts
in the mid 1960s.
Bartley quotes Erhard as acknowledging:
See also the list of associated organizations.
est courses
San Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
, in October 1971. Within a year, trainings were being held in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, and other major cities in the United States followed soon after. Beginning in July 1974 the est Training was delivered in Federal Prisons.
By 1979 est had expanded to Europe and other parts of the world. The popularity of est peaked in 1981, then enrollment for the various courses began to decline. The last est Training was held in December 1984 in San Francisco; in its place came a newly developed course called "The Forum", which began in January 1985. The est Training presented several concepts, most notably the concept of transformation and taking responsibility for one's life. The actual teaching, called "the technology of transformation", emphasizes the value of integrity.
"est, Inc." evolved into "est, an Educational Corporation", and eventually into "Werner Erhard & Associates". In 1991 the business was sold to the employees who formed a new company called Landmark Education
Landmark Education
Landmark Education LLC is a personal training and development company which offers educational programs in approximately 115 locations in more than 20 countries worldwide....
with Erhard's brother Harry Rosenberg becoming the CEO. Landmark Education was structured as a for-profit, employee-owned company; it operates with a consulting division called Vanto Group.
Early influences
In William Bartley'sWilliam Warren Bartley
William Warren Bartley, III, was an American philosopher and Professor of Philosophy at Stanford University.-Life:...
biography of Werner Erhard, Werner Erhard: The Transformation of a Man, the Founding of est (1978), Erhard describes his explorations of Zen
Zen
Zen is a school of Mahāyāna Buddhism founded by the Buddhist monk Bodhidharma. The word Zen is from the Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese word Chán , which in turn is derived from the Sanskrit word dhyāna, which can be approximately translated as "meditation" or "meditative state."Zen...
Buddhism. Bartley quotes Erhard as acknowledging Zen as the essential contribution that "created the space [for est]".
Bartley details Erhard's connections with Zen beginning with his extensive studies with Alan Watts
Alan Watts
Alan Wilson Watts was a British philosopher, writer, and speaker, best known as an interpreter and popularizer of Eastern philosophy for a Western audience. Born in Chislehurst, he moved to the United States in 1938 and began Zen training in New York...
in the mid 1960s.
Bartley quotes Erhard as acknowledging:
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.
Timeline
- 1971 - Erhard Seminars Training Inc, first est Training held in San Francisco, California
- 1973 - The Foundation for the Realization of Man - incorporated as a non-profit foundation in California (subsequently the name of the foundation was changed to the est Foundation in 1976, and in 1981 to the Werner Erhard Foundation)
- 1975 - est, an educational corporation.
- 1981 - Sold assets to Werner Erhard and Associates and est ceased operations
- 1984 - The last est training was held.
Notable participants
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- Walter Kaufmann (philosopher)
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Related organizations
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1977–Present - Landmark EducationLandmark EducationLandmark Education LLC is a personal training and development company which offers educational programs in approximately 115 locations in more than 20 countries worldwide....
See also the list of associated organizations.
Books
- Bartley, William WarrenWilliam Warren BartleyWilliam Warren Bartley, III, was an American philosopher and Professor of Philosophy at Stanford University.-Life:...
(1978). Werner Erhard, The Transformation of a Man: The Founding of est. New York, New York, USA: Clarkson N. Potter, Inc. ISBN 0-517-53502-5
Articles in periodicals
- "est: Communication in a Context of Compassion", by Werner Erhard and Victor Gioscia http://www.scribd.com/doc/47744120
- "Being Well", by Werner Erhard, Victor Gioscia, and Ken Anbender, from Beyond Health and Normality: Explorations of Exceptional Psychological Well-Being, ed. Roger Walsh and Deane Sharpiro Jr .http://www.scribd.com/doc/38581906
- Earl Babbie, "est in Prison", American Journal of Corrections, Nov.-Dec. 1977 http://www.scribd.com/doc/38712993
- Interview: Werner Erhard, by John Johns, PSA Magazine, May 1976 http://www.archive.org/details/InterviewWithWernerErhard-1976
- Werner Erhard on Transformation and Productivity: An Interview, by Norman Bodek, published in Revision: The Journal of Consciousness and Change, Volume 7, Number 3, Winter 84/Spring 85 http://www.archive.org/details/WernerErhardOnTransformationAndProductivityAnInterview
- Justin Simon, "Observations on 67 Patients who took Erhard Seminars Training", American Journal of Psychiatry, 1978, 135:686-691, http://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/abstract/135/6/686
- Mark Brewerk. "We're Gonna Tear You Down and Put You Back Together", Psychology Today, August 1975
- L. L. Glass, M. A. Kirsch and F. N. Parris. "Psychiatric disturbances associated with Erhard Seminars Training", American Journal of Psychiatry. 1977; 134(3): 245-7.http://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/abstract/134/3/245/
- Peter Marin. "The New Narcissism", Harper'sHarper's MagazineHarper's Magazine is a monthly magazine of literature, politics, culture, finance, and the arts, with a generally left-wing perspective. It is the second-oldest continuously published monthly magazine in the U.S. . The current editor is Ellen Rosenbush, who replaced Roger Hodge in January 2010...
, October 1975, 251:45-56. - Perry Pascarella. "Create Breakthroughs in Performance by Changing the Conversation,” by Perry Pascarella. Industry Week, Vol. 233, No. 6 (June 15), 1987. http://www.scribd.com/doc/50304321/Create-Breakthroughs-in-Performance-by-Changing-the-Conversation-Werner-Erhard
- Eliezer Sobel. “This Is It: est, Twenty Years Later” (Quest Magazine, Summer 1998)http://www.wildheartjournal.com/est.html
- "Research on Erhard Seminar Training in a Correctional Institution" (Hosford, Ray, E., Moss, C. Scott, Cavior, Helene, & Kerish, Burton. Catalog of Selected Documents in Psychology, 1982, Manuscript #2419, American Psychological Association)
- "The est Training in Prisons: A Basis for the Transformation of Corrections?" (by Mark Woodard, Baltimore Law Journal, 1982)http://scribd.com/doc/38713955
- "Separate Realities: A Comparative Study of Estians, Psychoanalysands, and the Untreated", Rabow et al. http://sgr.sagepub.com/content/10/4/445.citation
- "The est Experience", Adam Smith, New York Magazine, September 29, 1975 http://books.google.com/books?id=7egCAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA34&vq=est%20experience&pg=PA34#v=snippet&q=est%20experience&f=false
- "est Outcome Study", Robert Ornstein, Charles Swensionis, Arthur Deikman, Ralph Morris http://www.scribd.com/doc/54172450/Outcome-Study-of-Werner-Erhard-s-est-Training
External links
- www.wernererhard.com
- Werner Erhard and est on Youtube
- Erhard Seminars Training, at the Open Directory ProjectOpen Directory ProjectThe Open Directory Project , also known as Dmoz , is a multilingual open content directory of World Wide Web links. It is owned by Netscape but it is constructed and maintained by a community of volunteer editors.ODP uses a hierarchical ontology scheme for organizing site listings...
- est and Werner Erhard, The Skeptic's Dictionary
- www.erhardseminarstraining.com, The Graduate Review Website
- A look at four psychology fads — a comparison of estEST-Places:* Est , a town in Gelderland* Estonia, a nation in northern Europe** Estonian language, the Estonian language in ISO 639.2 or ISO 639–3 language codes* Est Region , one of Burkina Faso's 13 administrative regions...
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, Transcendental MeditationTranscendental MeditationTranscendental Meditation refers to the Transcendental Meditation technique, a specific form of mantra meditation, and to the Transcendental Meditation movement, a spiritual movement...
and lucid dreamingLucid dreamingA lucid dream is a dream in which one is aware that one is dreaming. The term was coined by the Dutch psychiatrist and writer Frederik van Eeden . In a lucid dream, the dreamer can actively participate in and manipulate imaginary experiences in the dream environment. Lucid dreams can seem real and...
at the Los Angeles TimesLos Angeles TimesThe Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country.... - Summary of Studies on the Benefits of the est Training
- Behaviordyne Report on the est Training