3rd generation Scientology clone?
- Thread starter GreyWolf
- Start date
Smurf
Gold Meritorious SP
Lifespring is dead, but there have been a number of off-shoots.
http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Large_group_awareness_training
I recall in the 90s that the Scientology PR flacks had a cow after they learned that Virginia Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, contacted Cynthia Kisser of the National Cult Awareness Network.
Virginia had been a member of Lifespring & was being harassed by Lifespring members after she quit.
http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Large_group_awareness_training
I recall in the 90s that the Scientology PR flacks had a cow after they learned that Virginia Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, contacted Cynthia Kisser of the National Cult Awareness Network.
Virginia had been a member of Lifespring & was being harassed by Lifespring members after she quit.
SweetnessandLight
Crusader
Was it a brown cow? 
Lifespring pales in comparison to the cult of Scientology. I had friends that did it and LOVED IT. They left when they had enough but said it changed their lives for the better.
Imagine if Slappy did not have the billion dollars to sue and harass critics. Gawd - if Lifespring was shut down due to deaths and mental breakdown lawsuits - imagine how many suits Scientology would have had in 64 years of fleecing and bamboozling for their imagined Bridge.
The people harmed by Scientology? If they were able to sue, the lawsuits would be staggering.
Imagine if Slappy did not have the billion dollars to sue and harass critics. Gawd - if Lifespring was shut down due to deaths and mental breakdown lawsuits - imagine how many suits Scientology would have had in 64 years of fleecing and bamboozling for their imagined Bridge.
The people harmed by Scientology? If they were able to sue, the lawsuits would be staggering.
Gib
Crusader
were the friends who did it not "hard Sold" to continue?
Smurf
Gold Meritorious SP
Lifespring had it's share of people who felt their experiences were worthwhile & some whom were bitterly opposed to it. Lifespring, like other cults, was all about money & coercing people out of it.
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/kalmin-534139-worldworks-lifespring.html (read the comments)
http://www.theweek.co.uk/people-news/5773/models’-suicides-blamed-return-1970s-us-cult
http://www.culthelp.info/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=987&Itemid=12
Smurf
Gold Meritorious SP
outraged
Patron
OMG. I never saw this thread.
I worked for Lifespring.
Here is the thread I posted in March.
http://www.forum.exscn.net/showthread.php?35379-Lifespring-Inc-the-cult
I would LOVE any information on the connection betwixt and between John Hanley, Werner Erhard and LRHubbard
I worked for Lifespring.
Here is the thread I posted in March.
http://www.forum.exscn.net/showthread.php?35379-Lifespring-Inc-the-cult
I would LOVE any information on the connection betwixt and between John Hanley, Werner Erhard and LRHubbard
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Mookster
Patron
Outraged, I was good friends with Werners son and I went through some Lifespring courses back in the mid 90's before I made the John Hanley/Werner Erhard EST connection. My sister worked for Lifespring and was super gung ho. That's how I got roped into going. I wasn't sold on it to begin with but as soon as I heard Werners name I knew I hated it. That bastard (Werner) treated his family so horribly there are no words... I rarely run into people that know anything about Lifespring so I always get a little bit excited. lol
Going to read your thread now!
Going to read your thread now!
Enthetan
Master of Disaster
I vaguely recall something about Werner Erhard being a former Scn.
outraged
Patron
Mookster;963480. said:
Wow. I did not know Wener Erhard, except for his teachings. He was an asshole?
I do however know John Hanley, and met his son when he was a kid.
I rarely run into anyone either and am desperate to connect.
I want to tell my WHOLE story.
There are still so many idiots joining cults today.
The biggest problem with Lifespring, is one of the biggest problems with ScientoLIEogy.
The ethics or the training or whatever you call it may be all well and good, but it is controlled by a human being.
DM is a psychotic. But Power can fill any idiots' head so much the person loses all sense of right and wrong and becomes in love with their own power.
This is why THREE people died while I worked for Lifespring.
After caught by the cult I accepted a job and moved across the country. I totally bombed my life like a volcano, causing one college professor to say: you will never be able to put the pieces back together.
Now it is years and years and years later. My husband and I were set up on a blind date 22 years ago by my friend who I met at Lifespring 35 years ago. So there you go.
Jack, er, Warner says that is not true:
http://www.wernererhard.com/urbanmyths1.html
EST, which Erhard founded, has been on the Suppressive Groups list for a long, long time.
Leland
Crusader
So.....Werner was not a "Scientologist".....but he did study...LRH materials.... Sorry, I won't buy that one....you know how these guys lie anyway.
Enthetan
Master of Disaster
The wiki entry has
Over the following years, Erhard continued to investigate a wide range of movements, including Encounter, Transactional Analysis, Enlightenment Intensive, Subud and Scientology.[21]:383 Erhard read some works by L. Ron Hubbard, and some Scientology terms overlap with terms from est.[24] Erhard later said, "I have a lot of respect for L. Ron Hubbard and I consider him to be a genius and perhaps less acknowledged than he ought to be."[21]:383
I'm guessing that EST has some bits of Scientology, and that both EST and Scientology use a bunch of prior writings by a number of people.
Leland
Crusader
Werner Erhart stuff:
8th quote down should do it. I didn't look any farther....
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Werner_Erhard
I had heard rumors...around the C of $......back in the Mid 1970's that he had been a Class 4 Scientology auditor....don't know if that is true or not.
Here's some more stuff about EST.....geeze...the verbal abuse sounds like David Miscavige.....LOL
http://www.believermag.com/issues/200305/?read=article_snider
8th quote down should do it. I didn't look any farther....
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Werner_Erhard
I had heard rumors...around the C of $......back in the Mid 1970's that he had been a Class 4 Scientology auditor....don't know if that is true or not.
Here's some more stuff about EST.....geeze...the verbal abuse sounds like David Miscavige.....LOL
http://www.believermag.com/issues/200305/?read=article_snider
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outraged
Patron
Interesting you say that. Lifespring was all about verbal abuse. Knock someone down, strip off their defences, and then build them back up from scratch.
