Editing Erhard Seminars Training

{{npov|date=March 2024}}
{{Short description|Organization founded by Werner Erhard in 1971}}
{{Infobox company
| name       = Erhard Seminars Training, Inc.
| logo       =
| type       = Privately-held corporation
| foundation = October 1971
| defunct    = 1984 (dissolution)
| location   = [[San Francisco]], [[California]], United States
| key_people = [[Werner Erhard]], founder<ref name="bartley">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.164.</ref>
}}

'''Erhard Seminars Training, Inc.''' (marketed as '''est''', though often encountered as '''EST''' or '''Est''') was an organization founded by [[Werner Erhard]] in 1971 that offered a two-weekend (6-day, 60-hour) course known officially as "The est Standard Training". The purpose of the training was to use concepts loosely based on [[Zen Buddhism]] for [[self improvement]]. The seminar aimed 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".<ref>
{{cite book
 | last1 = Fenwick
 | first1 = Sheridan
 | author-link1 =
 | title = Getting it: The Psychology of Est
 | year = 1976
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=QvXaAAAAMAAJ
 | location = Philadelphia
 | publisher = Lippincott
 | publication-date = 1976
 | page = 44
 | isbn = 9780397011704
 | access-date = 13 January 2021
 | quote = [...] printed on the first mailing I received after sending in my deposit: 'The purpose of the est training is to transform your ability to experience living so that the situations you have been trying to change or have been putting up with clear up just in the process of life itself.'
}}
</ref><ref>
Compare: {{cite book
| last1                 = Rushkoff
| first1                = Douglas
| author-link1          = Douglas Rushkoff
| title                 = Life Inc: How the World Became a Corporation and How to Take it Back
| url                   = https://books.google.com/books?id=Z7gsYCkbv24C
| publisher             = Random House
| date      = 2011
| page                  = 140
| isbn                  = 9781446467787
| access-date            = 2017-02-05
| quote                 = 'The purpose of the EST training,' we were told when I took it as a college student in the early '80s, 'is to transform your ability to experience living so that the situations you have been trying to change or have been putting up with clear up just in the process of life itself.'
}}
</ref>

Est seminars operated from late 1971 to late 1984 and spawned a number of books from 1976 to 2011. Est has been featured in a number of films and television shows, including the critically acclaimed spy-series ''[[The Americans]]'', broadcast from 2013 to 2018. Est represented an outgrowth of the [[Human Potential Movement]]<ref>
{{cite book
 | last1 = Greil
 | first1 = Arthur L.
 | last2 = Rudy
 | first2 = David R.
 | editor1-last = Robbins
 | editor1-first = Thomas
 | editor1-link = Thomas Robbins (sociologist)
 | editor2-last = Anthony
 | editor2-first = Dick
 | editor2-link = Dick Anthony
 | year = 1981
 | chapter = On the Margins of the Sacred
 | title = In Gods We Trust: New Patterns of Religious Pluralism in America
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=qSEuDwAAQBAJ
 | edition = 2
 | location = Abingdon
 | publisher = Routledge
 | publication-date = 2017
 | isbn = 9781351513067
 | access-date = 13 January 2021
 | quote = Organizations generally associated with the human potential movement, such as [[Silva Method|Silva Mind Control]], est, [[Lifespring]], Transformational Technologies, etc., are easily conceptualized as quasi-religions.  Although it is now defunct and its founder, Werner Erhard, has moved on to other projects, such as [[Werner Erhard and Associates|the Forum]] and Transformational Technologies, est remains one of the best known of the human potential groups. [...] Like other organizations within the human potential movement, est understands 'itself to be communicating epistemological, psychological, and psychosomatic facts about human existence [...]' [...].
}}
</ref> of the 1960s through to the 1970s.

As est grew, so did criticisms.<ref>
{{cite news
| last1                 = Haldeman
| first1                = Peter
| title                 = The Return of Werner Erhard, Father of Self-Help
| url                   = https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/29/fashion/the-return-of-werner-erhard-father-of-self-help.html
| department            = Fashion
| work                  = The New York Times
| date = 28 November 2015
| publication-date      = 28 November 2015
| access-date           = 17 August 2020
| quote                 = The criticism intensified as EST grew.
}}
</ref> Various critics accused est of [[Brainwashing|mind control]]<ref>
{{cite news
| last1                 = Haldeman
| first1                = Peter
| title                 = The Return of Werner Erhard, Father of Self-Help
| url                   = https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/29/fashion/the-return-of-werner-erhard-father-of-self-help.html
| department            = Fashion
| work                  = The New York Times
| date = 28 November 2015
| publication-date      = 28 November 2015
| access-date           = 17 August 2020
| quote                 = The criticism intensified as EST grew. It was labeled a cult that practiced mind control (verbal abuse, sleep deprivation), a racket that exploited its followers (heavy recruiting, endless "graduate seminars").
}}
</ref> or of forming an [[authoritarian]] army;<ref>
{{cite book
 | last1 = Tipton
 | first1 = Steven M.
 | year = 1982
 | chapter = EST and Ethics: Rule-egoism in Middle Class Culture
 | title = Getting Saved from the Sixties: Moral Meaning in Conversion and Cultural Change
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=gAyvCwAAQBAJ
 | location = Eugene, Oregon
 | publisher = Wipf and Stock Publishers
 | publication-date = 2014
 | page = 215
 | isbn = 9781625646996
 | access-date = 25 November 2020
 | quote = Accused by critics of being an authoritarian army, the ''est'' organization is, in fact, a boot camp for bureaucracy. Hierarchical, tightly rule-governed, and meritocratic, it trains its young volunteers and staff to answer phones, write memos, keep records, promote and stage public events, and deal smoothly with clients.
}}
</ref> some labeled it a [[cult]].<ref>
{{cite book
 | last1 = Lewis
 | first1 = James R.
 | author-link1 = James R. Lewis (scholar)
 | chapter = Erhard Seminars Training (est)/The Forum
 | title = Cults: A Reference and Guide
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=JWJ_BAAAQBAJ
 | series = Approaches to New Religions
 | date = 11 September 2014
 | edition = 3
 | location = London
 | publisher = Routledge
 | publication-date = 2014
 | page = 129
 | isbn = 9781317545132
 | access-date = 17 August 2020
 | quote = While not a church or religion, est is included here because it has often been accused of being a cult.
}}
</ref>

The last est training took place in December 1984 in San Francisco. The seminars gave way to a "gentler" course<ref>
{{cite book
 | last1 = Whippman
 | first1 = Ruth
 | chapter = Personal Journey? Its Not All About You
 | title = The Pursuit of Happiness: Why are we driving ourselves crazy and how can we stop?
 | date = 10 March 2016
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=y_XlCgAAQBAJ
 | location = London
 | publisher = Hutchinson
 | publication-date = 2016
 | isbn = 9781473519602
 | access-date = 17 August 2020
 | quote = The Landmark Forum is the direct successor to the notorious 1970s programme est [...]. In the 1980s, Erhard reinvented his course in a gentler, more corporate incarnation as The Forum, which later became the Landmark Forum.
}}
</ref> offered by [[Werner Erhard and Associates]] and dubbed "The Forum" (currently named [[Landmark Worldwide]]), which began in January 1985.<ref>
{{cite book
 | last1 = Kyle
 | first1 = Richard G.
 | author-link1 = Richard G. Kyle
 | title = The Religious Fringe: A History of Alternative Religions in America
 | year = 1993
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=WYbXAAAAMAAJ
 | publisher = InterVarsity Press
 | publication-date = 1993
 | page = 319
 | isbn = 9780830817665
 | access-date = 17 August 2020
 | quote = In 1985, Erhard changed the name of est to 'the Forum.' The Forum is not substantially different from est . Ruth Tucker says that the changes made by Erhard are largely cosmetic, for the philosophy of the Forum is essentially that of est.
}}
</ref>

== Training ==
The est Standard Training program consisted of two weekend-long workshops with evening sessions on the intervening weekdays. Workshops generally involved about 200 participants and were initially led by Erhard and later by people trained by him. Ronald Heifetz, founder of the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard University, called est "an important experience in which two hundred people go through a powerful curriculum over two weekends and have a learning experience that seemed to change many of their lives."<ref>''Leadership Can Be Taught: A Bold Approach for a Complex World'', by Sharon Daloz Parks, published 2005 by Harvard Business School Press; pp. 157– 158</ref> Trainers confronted participants one-on-one and challenged them to be themselves rather than to play a role that had been imposed on them by the past.<ref name=Moreno>{{cite book|last1=Jonathan D|first1=Moreno|title=Impromptu Man: J.L. Moreno and the Origins of Psychodrama, Encounter Culture, and the Social Network|date=October 2014|publisher=Bellevue Literary Press}} {{ISBN|978-1-934137-84-0}}.</ref>

[[Jonathan D. Moreno]] observed that "participants might have been surprised how both physically and emotionally challenging and how philosophical the training was."<ref name=Moreno /> He writes that the critical part of the training was freeing oneself from the past, which was accomplished by "experiencing" one's recurrent patterns and problems and choosing to change them. The word ''experience'' meant to bring into full awareness the repetition of old, burdensome behaviors. The seminar sought to enable participants to shift the state of mind around which their lives were organized, from attempts to get satisfaction or to survive, to actually being satisfied and experiencing themselves as whole and complete in the present moment.<ref>''Werner Erhard: The Transformation of a Man, the Founding of est'', by William Warren Bartley, III; New York: Clarkson N. Potter, Inc. 1978. {{ISBN|0-517-53502-5}}, p. 199.</ref>

Participants agreed to follow the ground rules, which included not wearing watches, not speaking until called upon, not talking to their neighbors, and not eating or leaving their seats to go to the bathroom except during breaks separated by many hours. Participants who were on medication were exempt from these rules, and had to sit in the back row so that they would not interfere with the other participants.<ref name="Cults 1999, p.75">''Cults: Faith, Healing, and Coercion'', by Marc Galanter; New York: Oxford University Press, 2nd ed., 1999, p. 75</ref> These classroom agreements provided a rigorous setting whereby people's ordinary ways to escape confronting their experience of themselves were eliminated.<ref name=bartley2>{{cite book|last1=Bartley|first1=William Warren III|title=Werner Erhard: The Transformation of a Man, The Founding of est|date=December 12, 1988|publisher=Clarkson Potter|isbn=0-517-53502-5|url=https://archive.org/details/wernererhard00will}}</ref>{{pn|date=November 2021}} Moreno describes the est training as a form of "[[Socratic questioning|Socratic interrogation]]...relying on the power of the shared cathartic experience that [[Aristotle]] observed."<ref name=Moreno /> Erhard challenged participants to be themselves instead of playing a role that had been imposed on them<ref name=Moreno /> and aimed to press people beyond their point of view, into a perspective from which they could observe their own positionality.<ref>{{cite book|last1= Bartley |first1= William Warren III|title=Werner Erhard: The Transformation of a Man, The Founding of est|date= December 12, 1988|publisher=Clarkson Potter|isbn=0-517-53502-5|url= https://archive.org/details/wernererhard00will | page = 233 | quote = The training provides a format in which siege is mounted on the Mind. It is intended to identify and bring under examination presuppositions and entrenched positionality. It aims to press one beyond one's point of view, at least momentarily, into a perspective from which one observes one's own positionality. }}</ref> As [[Robert Kiyosaki]] writes, "During the training, it became glaringly clear that most of our personal problems begin with our not keeping our agreements, not being true to our words, saying one thing and doing another. That first full day on the simple class agreements was painfully enlightening. It became obvious that much of human misery is a function of broken agreements – not keeping your word, or someone else not keeping theirs."<ref name=kiyosaki>{{cite book|last1= Kiyosaki |first1=Robert|last2=Kiyosaki|first2=Emi|title=Rich Brother Rich Sister|date=January 2009|publisher= Vanguard Press|isbn=978-1-59315-493-6|url=https://archive.org/details/richbrotherrichs00kiyo}}</ref>

Sessions lasted from 9:00&nbsp;a.m. to midnight, or to the early hours of the morning, with one meal-break.<ref name="Sun Times">{{cite news|last1= Ruys|first1= Chris|title=Can you unchain your mind through est or TM?|issue= January 23, 1977|publisher= Sun Times (Chicago)}}</ref> Participants had to hand over wristwatches and were not allowed to take notes, or to speak unless called upon, in which case they waited for a microphone to be brought to them.<ref name="Lewis2001">{{cite book|editor=James R. Lewis |editor-link=James R. Lewis (scholar)|author=Kay Holzinger|title=Odd gods: new religions & the cult controversy|chapter=Erhard Seminars Training (est) and The Forum|year=2001|publisher=Prometheus Books|isbn= 978-1-57392-842-7|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9781573928427}}</ref>{{page needed |date=September 2019}} The second day of the workshop featured the "danger process".<ref name="Lewis2001" />{{rp|384}} As a way of observing and confronting their own perspective and point of view,<ref name=bartley /> groups of participants were brought onto the stage and confronted. They were asked to "imagine that they were afraid of everyone else and then that everyone else was afraid of them"<ref name="Lewis2001" />{{rp|384}} and to re-examine their reflex patterns of living that kept their lives from working.<ref>{{cite journal|last1= McGurk|first1= William S.|title= Was ist est?|journal= Contemporary Psychology|date=1977|volume=22|issue=6|pages=459–460|doi=10.1037/016030}}</ref> This was followed by interactions on the third and fourth days, covering topics such as reality and the nature of the mind, looking at the possibility that "what is, is and what ain't, ain't," and that "true enlightenment is knowing you are a machine"<ref name="Lewis2001" />{{rp|384}} and culminating in a realization that people do not need to be stuck with their automatic ways of being but can instead be free to choose their ways of being in how they live their lives.<ref name=bartley /> Participants were told they were perfect the way they were and were asked to indicate by a show of hands if they "had gotten it".<ref name="Lewis2001" />{{page needed|date=September 2019}}

[[Eliezer Sobel]] said in his article "This is It: est, 20 Years Later":<ref>{{cite journal|last1= Sobel |first1=Eliezer|title=This is It: est, 20 Years Later|journal=Quest Magazine|date= 1998|issue=Summer}}</ref> <blockquote>I considered the training to be a brilliantly conceived Zen [[koan]], effectively tricking the mind into seeing itself, and in thus seeing, to be simultaneously aware of who was doing the seeing, a transcendent level of consciousness, a place spacious and undefined, distinct from the tired old story that our minds continuously tell us about who we are, and with which we ordinarily identify.
</blockquote>

===Participants' reported results===
Many participants reported experiencing powerful results through their participation in the est training, characterised by Eliezer Sobel as perceived "dramatic transformations in their relationships with their families, with their work and personal [[Goal|vision]], or most important, with the recognition [[self-awareness |who they truly were]] in the core of their beings".<ref name=Moreno />{{qn|date=February 2021}} One study of "a large sample of est alumni who had completed the training at least 3 months before revealed that "the large majority felt the experience had been positive (88%), and considered themselves better off for having taken the training (80%)".<ref>
{{cite book
 | last1 = Galanter
 | first1 = Marc
 | author-link1 = Marc Galanter (psychiatrist)
 | year = 1990
 | chapter = Altered Consciousness
 | title = Cults: Faith, Healing, and Coercion
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=dKlkYgGo2cEC
 | edition = 2
 | location = New York
 | publisher = Oxford University Press
 | publication-date = 1999
 | page = 75
 | isbn = 9780198028765
 | access-date = 18 February 2021
 | quote = The whole thing ["getting it"] is treated as a joke, discomforting the new converts. [...] Nonetheless, one study of a large sample of est alumni who had completed the training at least three months before revealed that the large majority felt the experience had been positive (88%), and considered themselves better off for having taken the training (80%).
}}
</ref> Others described the sessions more negatively.<ref>{{Cite news |last=McClellan |first=Bill |date=9 January 1985 |title='Hunger Network' Unites Opponents |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/st-louis-post-dispatch/170402912/ |access-date=15 April 2025 |work=St. Louis Post-Dispatch |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref> 

=== Controversy ===
In 1976 psychologist, Dr. Daniel Fullman, called est more of a [[Get-rich-quick scheme|money making scheme]] than a practical way to provide therapeutic help.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Hostetler |first=Harold |date=4 April 1976 |title=Expanding the Mind: Real--or a Hustle? |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/honolulu-star-advertiser/170398850/ |access-date=15 April 2025 |work=Honolulu Star-Advertiser |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref> Dr. Leonard Glass, a clinical professor of [[psychology]] at [[Harvard University]], alleged in 1983 that participants of est showed "severe emotional problems, notably psychosis, which occurred in the midst of or shortly after EST training."<ref>{{Cite news |last=Rodgers |first=Ann |date=16 July 1983 |title=Life Training or Brainwashing? EST: The Story Behind Erhard Seminar Training |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/concord-monitor/170397799/ |access-date=15 April 2025 |work=Concord Monitor |pages=13}} and {{Cite news |date=16 July 1983 |title=EST |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/concord-monitor/170397911/ |work=Concord Monitor |pages=14 |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref> A participant of an est seminar sued the organization in 1985 over [[negligence]] and [[fraud]].<ref>{{Cite news |date=6 December 1985 |title=$5 Million is Sought for Est 'Breakdown' |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-evening-news/170401878/ |archive-date= |access-date=15 April 2025 |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref>

== History ==
Werner Erhard reported having a personal transformation, and created the est training to allow others to have the same experience.<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. 165.</ref> Erhard changed the name of The first ''est'' course was held at a [[Jack Tar Hotels|Jack Tar Hotel]] in [[San Francisco]], California, in October 1971.<ref name=sf>{{cite news|title=Hotel to hospital: Farewell to S.F. era|work=San Francisco Chronicle|date=October 31, 2009}}</ref> Within a year, trainings were being held in twelve major cities and had over 62,000 graduates.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Kazickas |first=Jurate |date=23 December 1975 |title=EST Experience -- Why People Pay to 'Get It' |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-tampa-tribune/170399881/ |access-date=15 April 2025 |work=The Tampa Tribune |pages=1}} and {{Cite news |title=EST |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-tampa-tribune/170400080/ |pages=2 |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref>

Beginning in July 1974 the est training was delivered at the U.S. Penitentiary at [[Lompoc, California|Lompoc]], California, with the approval of the [[Federal Bureau of Prisons]].<ref name=ReferenceA>{{cite journal|last1=Woodward |first1=Mark |title=The est Training in Prisons: A Basis for the Transformation of Corrections? |journal=Baltimore Law Journal |date=1982 |url=https://www.scribd.com/doc/38713955/Werner-Erhard-s-est-Training-in-the-Prisons |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131113104720/http://www.scribd.com/doc/38713955/Werner-Erhard-s-est-Training-in-the-Prisons |archive-date=November 13, 2013 }}</ref><ref>"est in Prison" by Earl Babbie, published in American Journal of Correction, Dec 1977</ref><ref name="archive.org">{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/GettingitInPrison|title=Getting 'It' in Prison – The First est Training at the Federal Correctional Institution at Lompoc, California in 1974 |first=Neal |last=Rogin |work=Internet Archive|date=7 June 1978 }}</ref> Initial est training in Lompoc involved participation of 12–15 federal prisoners and outside community members within the walls of the maximum security prison and was personally conducted by Werner Erhard.

By 1979, est had expanded to Europe and other parts of the world. In 1980 the first est training in Israel was offered in Tel Aviv.<ref>Despair and deliverance: private salvation in contemporary Israel by Benjamin Beit-Hallahmi page 121</ref> The est training presented several concepts to these new attendees, most notably the concept of [[spiritual transformation]] and taking responsibility for one's life. The actual teaching, called "the technology of transformation," emphasizes the value of integrity.<ref>''The Herald Sun''; March 1, 2008; http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,23298425-664,00.html</ref> As est grew, so did criticism. It was accused of mind control and labeled a cult by some critics who said that it exploited its followers by recruiting and offering numerous "graduate seminars."<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/29/fashion/the-return-of-werner-erhard-father-of-self-help.html|title=The Return of Werner Erhard, Father of Self-help|last=Haldeman|first=Peter|date=2015-11-28|work=The New York Times|access-date=November 6, 2017|issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

In 1983 in the United States, a participant named Jack Slee collapsed during a portion of the seminar known as "the danger process" and died at the hospital to which he had been transported.<ref name="Slee_v">Ragland, Jr., Gerald F. (1984). [[Wikisource:Slee v. Erhard, Complaint in Trespass For Wrongful Death Demand for Jury Trial (1984)|"Complaint in Trespass for Wrongful Death – Demand for Jury Trial"]]. ''Civil Action No. N 84 497 JAC'' ([[United States District Court for the District of Connecticut]]).</ref> A court subsequently found that the est training was not the cause of death.<ref name="Slee_v"/> A jury later ruled that Erhard and his company had been negligent, but did not give Slee's estate a monetary award.<ref name="Lewis2001"/>{{page needed|date=September 2019}} Also in 1983, the organization moved into a large facility built for the [[Marine Cooks and Stewards]] in [[Santa Rosa, California]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Norberg |first=Bob |date=25 January 1992 |title=Ex-Erhard School Goes On the Block |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-press-democrat/170381158/ |access-date=15 April 2025 |work=The Press Democrat |pages=A1 |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}} and {{Cite news |date=25 January 1992 |title=Erhard |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-press-democrat/170381404/ |access-date=15 April 2025 |work=The Press Democrat}}</ref>

The [[United States Tax Court]] in 1986, upheld an [[Internal Revenue Service]] (IRS) claim that est owed the federal government more than $3.3 million in back taxes "because of sham transactions involving the movement's 'Body of Knowledge."<ref>{{Cite news |date=28 October 1986 |title=Tax Court Upholds Judgment Against EST |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/tyler-morning-telegraph/170399377/ |access-date=15 April 2025 |work=Tyler Morning Telegraph |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref>

According to a 1991 report by the ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'', est had been the target of a smear campaign by the [[Church of Scientology]]. This campaign had spanned several years, with examples being found in documents [[Operation Snow White|seized by the FBI]] in 1977. This smear campaign involved hiring personal investigators to spy on Erhard, recruiting Scientologists to covertly enroll in and disrupt est courses, and compiling information from disgruntled former est participants which could be used to discredit est. Scientology founder [[L. Ron Hubbard]] (who died in 1986) believed that Erhard had copied Scientology. Erhard disputed this, saying that est was essentially different despite some similarities.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Welkos |first1=Robert W. |title=Founder of est Targeted in Campaign by Scientologists : Religion: Competition for customers is said to be the motive behind effort to discredit Werner Erhard. |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-12-29-mn-2102-story.html |access-date=December 2, 2019 |work=Los Angeles Times |date=December 29, 1991}}</ref>

In their 1992 book ''Perspectives on the New Age'' [[James R. Lewis (scholar)|James R. Lewis]] and [[J. Gordon Melton]] said that similarities between est and Mind Dynamics were "striking", as both used "authoritarian trainers who enforce numerous rules," require applause after participants "share" in front of the group, and de-emphasize [[reason]] in favor of "feeling and action." The authors also described graduates of est as "fiercely loyal," and said that it recruited heavily, reducing marketing expenses to virtually zero.<ref>{{cite book| last1 = Melton| first1 = J. Gordon| author-link = J. Gordon Melton|last2=Lewis|first2=James R.|author-link2=James R. Lewis (scholar) | title = Perspectives on the New Age| publisher = SUNY Press| year = 1992| pages = 129–132| isbn = 0-7914-1213-X}}</ref> The last est training was held in December 1984 in San Francisco.

It was replaced by a gentler course called "The Forum," which began in January 1985. "est, Inc." evolved into "est, an Educational Corporation," and eventually into [[Werner Erhard and 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.<ref name="lauramcclure">{{cite journal |title=The Landmark Forum: 42 Hours, $500, 65 Breakdowns |last=McClure |first=Laura |journal=Mother Jones |url=https://motherjones.com/media/2009/07/landmark-42-hours-500-65-breakdowns |date=July–August 2009 |access-date=October 13, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101018174746/https://motherjones.com/media/2009/07/landmark-42-hours-500-65-breakdowns |archive-date=October 18, 2010 }}</ref> Landmark Education was structured as a for-profit, employee-owned company; since 2013, it operates as [[Landmark Worldwide]] with a consulting division called Vanto Group.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Soul Training: A Retooled Version of the Controversial est Movement – Seekers of Many Stripes Set Out on a Path of Self-examination |last=Bass |first=Alison |journal=The Boston Globe |url= http://boston.com/globe/search/stories/reprints/soultraining062199.htm |date=March 3, 1999 |access-date=October 11, 2010}}</ref>

== 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>

== 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.
* 1977 – The first est training outside of the United States, in London.
* 1977 – The Hunger Project was established
* 1979 – The first est training in India
* 1980 – The first est training in Israel<ref>{{cite book|last=Beit-Hallahmi|first=Benjamin|title=Despair and Deliverance: Private Salvation in Contemporary Israel|date=July 1, 1992|publisher=State University of New York Press}}</ref>
* 1980 – The Breakthrough Foundation was established (Youth at Risk)
* 1981 – First of ten annual physicist conferences sponsored by the est Foundation
* 1981 – est became Werner Erhard and Associates
* 1984 – The last training was held under the name of est<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.erhardseminarstraining.com/?page_id=671|title=» History of the est Training|work=erhardseminarstraining.com}}</ref>

== Related organizations ==
* [[The Hunger Project]]
* [[Werner Erhard and Associates]]
* [[Landmark Worldwide]]

== See also ==
* ''[[Semi-Tough]]'', a 1977 film which parodied the then-popular course
* [[EST and The Forum in popular culture]]
* ''[[Getting It: The Psychology of est]]''
* [[Human Potential Movement]]
* [[Large-group awareness training]]
* [[List of large-group awareness training organizations]]
* ''[[Outrageous Betrayal]]''
* ''[[Circle of Power]]'' (1981 film)

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== Further reading ==
*Bartley, III, William Warren: ''Werner Erhard The Transformation of a Man: The Founding of est'', New York, New York, USA: Clarkson N. Potter, Inc (1978) {{ISBN|0-517-53502-5}}.
*Bry, Adelaide: ''est: 60 Hours That Transform Your Life'', HarperCollins (1976) {{ISBN|978-0-06-010562-4}}
*Fenwick, Sheridan: ''[[Getting It: The Psychology of est]]'', J. B. Lippincott Company. (1976) {{ISBN|0-397-01170-9}}
*Hargrove, Robert: est: Making Life Work, Delacorte (1976) {{ISBN|978-0-440-19556-6}}
*Kettle, James: ''The est Experience'', Zebra Books (1976) {{ISBN|978-0-89083-168-7}}
*Marks, Pat R.: est: ''The Movement and the Man'', Playboy Press (1976) ASIN B004BI5A3E
*Moreno, M.D., Ph.D., Jonathan D. ''Impromptu Man: J. L. Moreno and the Origins of Psychodrama, Encounter Culture, and the Social Network.'' Bellevue Literary Press (2014) {{ISBN|1-934137-84-7}}
*Pressman, Steven: ''[[Outrageous Betrayal]]: The Dark Journey of Werner Erhard from est to Exile''
*Rhinehart, Luke: The Book of est, Holt, Rinehart and Winston (1976) {{ISBN|978-0-557-30615-2}}

== External links ==
{{Wikiquote|Werner Erhard}}
{{Wikisource}}
{{Commons}}
<!--========================({{No More Links}})============================
    | PLEASE BE CAUTIOUS IN ADDING MORE LINKS TO THIS ARTICLE. WIKIPEDIA  |
    | IS NOT A COLLECTION OF LINKS NOR SHOULD IT BE USED FOR ADVERTISING. |
    |                                                                     |
    |           Excessive or inappropriate links WILL BE DELETED.         |
    | See [[Wikipedia:External links]] & [[Wikipedia:Spam]] for details.  |
    |                                                                     |
    | If there are already plentiful links, please propose additions or   |
    | replacements on this article's discussion page, or submit your link |
    | to the relevant category at the Open Directory Project (dmoz.org)   |
    | and link back to that category using the {{dmoz}} template.         |
    =======================({{No More Links}})=============================-->


{{Werner Erhard}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Werner Erhard]]
[[Category:1971 establishments in California]]
[[Category:1971 in San Francisco]]
[[Category:1984 disestablishments in California]]
[[Category:Companies based in San Francisco]]
[[Category:Companies disestablished in 1984]]
[[Category:Companies established in 1971]]
[[Category:Defunct companies based in the San Francisco Bay Area]]
[[Category:Large-group awareness training]]
[[Category:Privately held companies based in California]]
[[Category:Self religions]]
[[Category:New religious movements established in the 1970s]]