Success Key: Transformation and the Erhard Seminar Training

Success Key: “Transformation” – A Look Back

Posted by Catmandu • July 12, 2010 • Printer-friendly

Our lives are a compilation of our experiences of events, circumstances, conditions and the people around us. We have been endowed by our Creator with the ability to choose HOW we experience each of those experiences. Therefore, at every moment, we have the ability and freedom - known as “free will” - to CHOOSE how we experience this grand thing called LIFE. Nobody decides our experience for us, unless, of course, we choose to voluntarily give them control (victim consciousness). That, my friends, is the Real Power of TRANSFORMATION.

_______________________________________

Success Key: "Transformation" - A Look Back at The est Seminar Training of 1980

[Note: The following post initially started as the introduction to the download post for “The Human Machine” by Arnold Bennett. However, in due course, it took on a life of its own and I decided that it had real worth as a separate piece. The download post for “The Human Machine” will appear tomorrow in The Success Manual.]

_______________________________________

Once upon a time – long, long ago – in a not so far away place, I, along with a group of close buddies from high school decided to enroll in a seminar program called “est.” It was in the spring of 1980, and by then, we had all moved on to college.

The est Seminar Training (est being an acronym for “Erhard Seminar Training,” named after founder Werner Erhard) was one of, if not the very, first of its kind: an ambitious, high-cost, personal growth seminar program – something quite ubiquitous in 2010, but a freakish anomaly in 1980.

I don’t recall much as to how I was introduced to est, other than the fact that two of my fellow buds had already taken the seminar and urged that it would be a great thing for us all to do. (Later, I would learn that the est organization aggressively pushed its training program graduates to recruit more participants).

I remember reading, over and over again, a well-appointed, peaceful-conveying est promotional brochure, in pastel colors featuring pretty flowers and other decorative elements, and extolling the benefits of the training, including, its coveted centerpiece feature: “transformation” – or in the parlance of the time, “getting it.”

I also remember the incessant phone calls from est sales staff doing their best to enroll me in the training program. Being 20 years of age and living at home with my parents while attending college, the “rents” did not appreciate the aggressive marketing calls (if either parent answered an est call, they would advise that I was not home, request not to call again, and hang up. Of course, the calls kept coming).

The Lake of the Clouds and the Appalachain Trail atop the ridgeline of the Presidential Range as viewed from the summit of Mount Washington. Photo by Richard A. Catalina, Jr., August 1984.

The cost of the est seminar training, which included two consecutive weekends and the three consecutive Wednesday evenings immediately before, during and after the main weekend trainings, was somewhere in the neighborhood of $1,000 or so, if my memory serves me right. Given that it was near the end of the college spring semester, I was flat broke and didn’t have the required “tuition” funds to enroll in the training program. Asking Mom and Pop was out of the question, as they were totally convinced that est was a “cult” and that “those people” merely wanted my money (and possibly my mind). However, one of my friends who had already taken the training was so sure of the value of my would-be “transformation,” that he voluntarily dished out the entire tuition without me even asking for it – what a guy! (Thanks, Bebs!) The fact that he was willing to put a grand of his own hard-earned money on the line told me that there must be something to this training. Why, in the world, would someone do that? (I paid him back when working over the summer, but looking back, what a gesture on his part).

And take the seminar training we all did – the twelve of us all enrolled in the very same training program. We also all went in on a single double-bed room at the nearby hotel for the two Saturday night sleep over portions – that is, if the est trainers would let us out of the training to actually get sleep on those Saturday nights. That’s right – one room for 12 college guys.

As the first Saturday morning of day one of the training approached, our anticipation and excitement grew to a feverish pitch. You see, we were going to be “TRANSFORMED!” We had no idea what that really meant, other than some vague notion that after the est training we would somehow be different than before the training program – enlightened, changed – transformed.

My parents, on the other hand, were concerned, and now being a parent myself, I can hardly blame them. At worst, I would be brainwashed into joining a “cult.” At the least, I was throwing away a thousand dollars which could be used to pay for my continued college education. After all, this was 1980, and a thousand dollars was a ton of money at that time to a kid paying his way through college. But, let me go they did, putting their trust in my instincts that I would not run away with some “cult.” I have to hand it to them – given my propensity for getting into trouble in my youth, that was a bold move for them. I don’t think I realized that until now.

_______________________________________

Well, let me say this (and I said it back then): the est training program was an absolute blast. I had the time of my life and believe that my friends all did as well. And, yes . . . I was TRANSFORMED! We were all TRANSFORMED! Everyone who attended the training was TRANSFORMED!

_______________________________________

Transformed into what? What did “transform” and “transformation” mean? What happened to us? How were we changed? Were the bolts of lightning and did we hear God’s voice call down from heaven?

Well, . . . not exactly. But, there was a transformation nonetheless.

We were all “transformed” in the sense of having now “experienced” the “experience of the training.” That was “it.” That was the “getting it.” So, if you participate in the training and make it to the end, it is impossible not to “get it.” Everyone who attends the training therefore “gets it.” “It” is the experience of having participated in the training, and the “transformation” may be summarized thusly: before the training, an individual has not experienced the training – and all that it brings – while after taking the training, that same individual has now experienced the training. The training, or more appropriately, an individual’s experience of the training (not just the training, but what one experiences inside), is the transforming event.

I can hear the skeptics already. I am not done.

Now, since it is highly unlikely that I will spoil anyone’s intended enrollment to take the 1980s version of the est Seminar Training program, I can tell you that learning this fact was the climax of the program near the end of the final day. Three hundred of us sat through this grueling, and at times quite difficult, program, with its strict rules such as limited bathroom breaks, no medication allowed, not being able to sit next to anyone you know, no watches allowed, etc. etc. etc. (cell phones didn’t exist) waiting and waiting and waiting for that “moment” when we would all “get it” and be “transformed.” That moment came late Sunday night of the second weekend – around 10:00 pm – with a trainer screaming “Don’t you get it! This is ‘IT!’ It’s the end of the training and the training was ‘IT!’”

Now, prior to that, as the appointed moment draws near, various individuals began to grasp what was happening. These people “got it.” One by one, they started to laugh, some with tears of joy. The trainer would stop and turn to each such person and ask “Did you get it?” and they would respond something like, “Yes, I got it! I got it!” And others nearby would ask in whispered tones, “What’s it like? How does it feel?”

I was one of the fortunate few who “got it” earlier than most. In fact, other than my two friends who had already taken the training and knew what to expect, I was the first of my other friends to “get it.” I was an early Transformee!

To this day, I can recall with clarity the trainer spouting about how we are all “machines” – “human machines” – when it dawned on me that she was absolutely right. We really are “human machines,” programmable, with buttons for people and/or events to push, etc. We think we exercise free will most of the time, but in reality, we are mainly creatures of habit – including emotionally and intellectually. We are conditioned machines.

And, then I realized that the experience of the training program itself was what the training program was all about. There was no “right” or “wrong” way to experience the program, other than your experience is your experience. Your life is your life. And, your experience of your life IS your life. That, in all its glory, is it – and how you choose to experience your life, your est seminar training, your transformation, is your life, training and transformation.

But, oh – the power and ability to CHANGE your experience at any moment! Therein lies the real transformation. That each one of us has the power and ability to transform our lives, the experiences of our lives, each and every moment. We don’t have to be human machines after all!

Our lives are a compilation of our experiences. We have been endowed by our Creator with the God-given ability (and free will) to choose how we experience each of those experiences. Therefore, we can choose how we experience our life.

I started laughing uncontrollably. “Oh, boy, is this great!” I thought (taking a line from the movie Animal House, released only a few years prior). The trainer looked directly at me and said, “It looks like somebody else just got!” and I shook my ahead affirmatively. She smiled back.

Eventually, the training program came to end. It was over. Fin. Time to go home. There was nothing more to say, the trainers had done their job and now it was time for us to all hug each other, say good-bye, wish each other well and go out into life a TRANSFORMED est graduate!

There was one minor problem, however. Perhaps 1 out of 5 students in the training program apparently didn’t “get it.” According to them, they had not been transformed.

Jaws hung in disbelief. Some cried. A few grew angry and started yelling, demanding that they too receive their “transformation.” After all, they had paid for it. Others bellowed about wasting “all that money.” One or two threatened a lawsuit. I even recall one grown woman standing, sobbing uncontrollably, and demanding like a young girl “I didn’t get my ‘it!’ Give it to me! I want my ‘it!’ I want my ‘it!’” These people could not accept that the seminar training was the seminar training and their experience of “it” was “it” – just like in life.

After some time, however, they all came to accept – begrudgingly – that the seminar training program had come to an end and that there was nothing more to it. However, most eventually came to positively realize “it” – perhaps a day or two later – as they excitedly claimed at the final post-training Wednesday evening re-cap meeting. The remainder who still didn’t “get it,” which perhaps numbered less than five individuals, were at least no longer seething in anger, but they still felt that they had been “ripped off.” In life, there will always be that percentage who feels that they have been “ripped off.”

_______________________________________

Doing the est Seminar Training was one of the best things I have done in my life and my experience of attending that program – with 12 great friends – remains a life highlight. There was immense value in that program, more than I can actually remember, but it left its mark: the way we choose to think about and experience the people, circumstances and events of our life is what defines our life. Think about it. It’s true. And, this really is “it.” This is Life, the real show . . . “it ain’t no dress rehearsal.”

And, what’s more important is this: at every moment, we have the ability and freedom (known as “free will”) to CHOOSE how we experience life. Nobody decides our experience, unless, of course, we choose to voluntarily give them that control (victim consciousness). That, my friends, is the Real Power of TRANSFORMATION.

Little did I know at that time, or even in the years immediately following, that the est Seminar Training is what opened the door to my current passion with personal development, self improvement, personal growth and Success. I became a student of Life and continue to attend class. Am I a Master? Not even close! But, at least I know enough to know that I don’t know enough and that I need to attend class the rest of my life and work at it if I want to continue to progress forward. I have much to learn. Much.

_______________________________________

A bit about Werner Erhard

Werner Erhard introduced the breakthrough notion of “transformation” to the American public. His thinking gave rise to the idea that people could transform their lives in a short time, yielding powerful and long-lasting results. In 1971, he created The est Training and formed the company Erhard Seminars Training, Inc. Attended by approximately a million people, est was an extremely popular personal^, growth seminar.

Erhard co-founded independent, non-profit charitable enterprises, including the Breakthrough Foundation, the Hunger Project, the Holiday Project, the Werner Erhard Foundation, and the Education Network. He lectured for a wide variety of prestigious institutions and professional associations around the world, including Stanford University and the American Psychiatric Association.

Erhard Quotes

Create your future from your future, not your past.
You and I want our lives to matter. We want our lives to make a real difference—to be of genuine consequence in the world. We know that there is no satisfaction in merely going through the motions, even if those motions make us successful, or even if we have arranged to make those motions pleasant. We want to know we have made some impact on the world. In fact, you and I want to contribute to the quality of life. We want to make the world work.
Life is a game. In order to have a game, something has to be more important than something else. If what already is, is more important than what isn’t, the game is over. So, life is a game in which what isn’t, is more important than what is. Let the good times roll.
Happiness is a function of accepting what is. Love is a function of communication. Health is a function of participation. Self Expression is a function of responsibility.
You don’t have to go looking for love when it’s where you come from.

_______________________________________

Well, this is certainly not our usual type of Success Key post; this one is a true personal story. Thank you for allowing me to share it with you (no pun intended; for those of you who did take the est seminar training, you may well remember the oft-repeated statement used throughout the training: "thank you for sharing that with us.").

Until next time, my Friends, many Blessings, Peace - and Namaste!

To your Health, Wealth, Prosperity and Success,

The Success Manual Team

_______________________________________

Related Websites

Effort & Hard Work is the key to Magic! If you want to hack reality, nothing works better than good old effort and hard work! You want to do well in school? - Study! You want to become a great artist or musician? - Practice! You want to write a great book? Write some crappy books to get them......
Losing Fat Without Losing Muscle Ultimately there are 3 secrets to losing all the body fat you want without muscle losing lean muscle mass. In fact, if your diet and exercise program is optimal you can lose all the body fat you need to and at the same time increase your lean muscle mass. However,......
Heidi Montag Calls Divorce From Spencer Pratt 'Heartbreaking' 'We just want different things in life,' onetime 'Hills' star tells People magazine.By Jocelyn Vena Heidi Montag Photo: Jon Kopaloff/ FilmMagic After filing for divorce from Spencer Pratt last week, Heidi Montag admits that she still has feelings for her estranged husband. "This has been a heartbreaking experience to go......
Continuity Explained Internet marketing has become the buzz word in this recession. People need extra money to pay their mortgage bills and supplement their income. Many people want to succeed at it. In my opinion, if you take internet marketing as a hobby, you will enjoy it, have fun and make money......
Top 10 Ways To Green Your Office. In my previous life working in an office building, I saw first hand the amount of paper and waste thrown out every day. Once used paper, coffee cups, toner cartridges, shipping boxes...you name it, we threw it out. Los Angeles is notorious for not having a comprehensive recycling program, with......

The Success Manual

Achieving Success One Thought at a Time!

Subscribe to The Success Beacon Newsletter

Success Categories

Twitter Visitors

Success Manual Strategist Pages

Success Archives

Success Key: “Transformation” – A Look Back

Success Key: "Transformation" - A Look Back at The est Seminar Training of 1980

A bit about Werner Erhard

Erhard Quotes

2 Responses »

Trackbacks

Leave a Response

More in Success Manual Success KEYS

Success Archives

Success Meta