Editing Erhard Seminars Training (section)

== Early influences ==
{{Further|Werner Erhard#Influences}}
In [[W. W. Bartley III]]'s 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]".<ref name="bartley3">Bartley, William Warren, ''Werner Erhard: the Transformation of a Man: the Founding of est''. New York: Clarkson N. Potter, Inc. 1978. {{ISBN|0-517-53502-5}}, p. 121, 146-7.</ref>

Bartley details Erhard's connections with Zen beginning with his extensive studies with [[Alan Watts]] in the mid-1960s.<ref>Bartley, William Warren, Werner Erhard: the transformation of a man: the founding of est. New York: Clarkson N. Potter, Inc. 1978. {{ISBN|0-517-53502-5}}, p. 118.</ref>
Bartley quotes Erhard as acknowledging:
{{Quote|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.<ref>Bartley, William Warren, Werner Erhard: the transformation of a man: the founding of est. New York: Clarkson N. Potter, Inc. 1978. {{ISBN|0-517-53502-5}}, p. 121.</ref>}}

Other influences included [[Dale Carnegie]], [[Subud]], [[Scientology]] and [[Mind Dynamics]].<ref>Bartley, William Warren; ''Werner Erhard: The Transformation of a Man, The Founding of est''. New York: Clarkson N. Potter, Inc. 1978. {{ISBN|0-517-53502-5}}, pp. 144–148.</ref>