Editing Landmark Worldwide (section)

=== Landmark Forum ===
Erhard promoted the idea that all events (good and bad) of an individual's life were of their own making, and that individuals would be empowered when they take personal responsibility for all events in their lives, an idea based in the [[Human Potential Movement]].{{r|Believer_2003|Spears_2017-03-30}} Many individuals liked this belief, whether or not it is true, or simply works as a [[placebo]].{{r|Believer_2003}} The Landmark Forum's niche was for people who did not have major psychological problems, but were nonetheless seeking self-improvement and were not served by the medical psychological establishment.{{r|Believer_2003|CSIndy_2019-07-24}}

The Landmark Forum takes place over three consecutive days with three long sessions.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Braid |first=Mary |date=5 December 2003 |title=Turn Up, Tune In, Transform? |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-independent/170403992/ |access-date=15 April 2025 |work=The Independent |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.landmarkworldwide.com/the-landmark-forum|title = The Landmark Forum - Personal Development Courses – Landmark Worldwide}}</ref>  The Forum is attended in a group varying in size between 75 and 250 people.  Landmark arranges the course as a dialogue in which the Forum leader presents a series of proposals and encourages participants to take the floor to relate how those ideas apply to their own individual [[personal life|lives]].{{sfn|Stassen|2008}} Course leaders set up rules at the beginning of the program and Landmark strongly encourages participants not to miss any part of the program.{{Cn|date=November 2024}} Attendees are also urged to be "coachable" (open minded to the course's concepts) and not just be observers during the course.{{r | Time_1998-03-16 }}{{sfn|McCrone|2008}}

Various ideas are proposed for consideration and explored during the course. These include:

* There can be a big difference between the facts and events in a person's life and the [[meaning (psychology)|meaning]], interpretation, and significance the person gives to or makes up about those events.{{sfn|Stassen|2008}}<ref name=Allinson>{{Cite journal|last=Allinson|first=Amber|date=April 2014|title=Mind over Matter|url=https://issuu.com/runwildmedia/docs/mayf_apr_14_issuu|journal=The Mayfair Magazine (U.K.)|volume=April 2014|pages=72–73}}</ref> The course proposes that people frequently conflate facts with their own interpretations of what occurred and, as a result, create self-inflicted suffering and a loss of effectiveness in their lives. 
* Meaning is a function of language, something people make up, rather than something intrinsic to life or occurrences. By articulating differently in a given context, people can alter the meaning they create  and experience a greater degree of effectiveness in how they deal with events.{{sfn|McCrone|2008}}
* In learning to perceive self-created meaning, people begin to see that assumptions they have made about who they are in life are actually shaped by limitations they have made up in response to past circumstances or events. This realization allows participants to articulate new meanings that are free of self-imposed constraints. The Forum goes on to train participants in actualizing these new possible meanings by sharing them with people in their lives. This creates a supportive social environment for achieving one's dreams and goals.{{sfn|McCrone|2008}}<ref name="Promise of Philosophy">{{cite journal |author1=McCarl, Steven R. |author2=Zaffron, Steve |author3=Nielson, Joyce |author4=Kennedy, Sally Lewis |date=January–April 2001 |title=The Promise of Philosophy and the Landmark Forum |journal=Contemporary Philosophy |volume=XXIII |issue=1 & 2 |doi=10.2139/ssrn.278955 |ssrn=278955}}</ref> 
* The term "new possibilities" means something different from the common definition as something that may happen. Rather, the term refers to a here-and-now opportunity to be differently or take new action, free of constraints from the past.<ref name="Promise of Philosophy" />
* A person's behavior is often governed by a perceived need to look good and be right, and people are often unaware of how their behaviors are shaped by these needs.{{r | Allinson}}
* People have persistent complaints that are accompanied by unproductive fixed ways of being and acting,<ref name="ReferenceA">See:
*{{request quotation|date=August 2017}};
*{{harv|McCrone|2008}};
*{{harv|Odasso|2008}}.</ref>

During the course, participants are encouraged to call friends and family members with whom they feel they have unresolved tensions,{{Cn|date=November 2024}} and to take responsibility for their own behavior.<ref>See:
*{{harv|Odasso|2008}}.</ref>

The evening session follows closely on the three consecutive days of the course and completes the Landmark Forum. During this final session, the participants share information about their results and bring guests to learn about the Forum.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

A 2011 [[Time magazine|''Time'']] article stated that "Landmark has been criticized for delving into the traumas of largely unscreened participants without having mental-health professionals on hand."{{ r | TIME_2011-04-10 }}