ILP in the fall

Thanks for taking the time, Tex.

I am signed up for the SELP. I am loving the Landmark work. I decided in the Forum to make sure I stayed focused on why I WAS THERE.

I share my way of being with everyone in different ways as I go about my life. Some folks I invite to intro Forum nights. I think a person has to be in the right space to sign up just like that. Others see the way my life is and are curious as to why I am the way I am. That affords me the opportunity to bring up my way of being . Of course, the Landmark Education is a huge part of my sharing.

I strive to keep a balance, every day, in every way. including the Landmark Education.

namaste













'. In my own way, I am enrolling everyone I touch every day. Some will bubble up and end up in the Forum. It is as it should

i did the ilp in 2001, and got to about the same spot as tex before i resigned... i had been passed to lead an introduction and was one registration away from my targeted numbers.

what happed to me is that i went into my classroom and found one of the coaches had left the course. we were told that it was an issue about use of substance, and that was against the agreement we had made. for those who don't know me, i am an activist for dance rights and the rave scene, and am a proudly countercultural person who has always been up to bringing about positive change in the world. i am a regular pot smoker, and credit two main things in my life to my personal development: the insights i gained through landmark education, and the insights i have gained through ganja and loud bass on the dance floor. i hold both of these learning opportunities in very high regard, but most of my most powerful and life-shifting insights happened in the latter situation. i cannot deny that.

and i am a person of my word... and had never been told that there was any agreement not to use any subtances. so i went to the center manager and was told that i must have misunderstood or been out of the room when that agreement was discussed, but i'm pretty certain it was somehow skipped over since i would have been very aware had it been discussed.

my stand is that transformation can be accessed in many ways, and that use of certain substances has been used by people for thousands of years to gain access to realms of information and insights that are simply not easily available in other ways, unless you sit in a cave somewhere and hope to be struck by an epiphany. i understand that the business needs to protect itself against potential scandal, considering the history of est and werner's problems, but it still felt out of integrity for me to take on an anti-ganja stance, because that would require me to turn my back on one of my great teachers. so i resigned.

that experience made the ilp truly one of the greatest learning experiences of my life. first, i learned to take on more than i ever thought possible, which is what is required of you in the program. the level of personal integrity and impeccability that is expected is phenomenal, and calls you to be someone you never imagined you were.

the hours you will work are also huge. we had two assisting agreements plus many many hours of studying each week. i don't know how i would have done it if i weren't self-employed.

the coaching in public speaking and the vigilence at pushing you beyond your limits is remarkable, and even with me not completing the program, left me far beyond where i was and who i was when i began.

we were never encouraged to lie about anything, tex, so perhaps that's been cleared up. i never would do that in a million years, and if i was asked to, i too would have walked. it simply is not possible to espouse integrity and truth-speaking while asking people to lie. we did get coaching in how to make our personal story more interesting and engaging, of course.

and i saw more than a few people blossom into something entirely new and pretty much unrecognizable. one of our group drove almost two hours to get to our classrooms every week, using that time to listen to the format (the script you must learn verbatim in order to then be able to understand it well enough to generate it yourself). she was the fastest person to be passed to lead ever, and was an introduction leader before she was half-way through! she went on to go onto staff, and now is a very successful entrepreneur who is still up to changing the world in a big way... and i know that the ilp was a major turning point in her life.

so, my advice is -- if you see something here that really turns you on, go for it. if you are ready to step up to something far more demanding than anything you have ever taken on, go for it. if you are ready to invest your time and energy into recreating yourself as an entirely different level of person, go for it. it will take a lot of time (i estimated 20 hours a week including drive time), and it will leave you banging your head against the wall and being activated in every possible way.

and if this stuff doesn't speak to you, and you dont' see the value for yourself, then don't do it.

i also highly recommend having completed the communication courses first too. there's so much to get there about being with people and creating space for real conversations that is invaluable in the ilp -- and in life in general. there are tools there that will set you up to succeed in the ilp on a much bigger scale, i think.

Tex,
Yes, they are having a "reviewers only" forum in DC this month.
You might call the center and see if they are doing the same thing in Boston.
I think it would be a great way to see "what's so" in the current forum without suffering through 2 1/2 days of no agreement... :)
Joe

I've been working on this "make more time" thing for about a year now. I've eliminated many non-essential activities (like calculating my gas mileage on every tank...), but it comes down to making time for family, work, and personal commitments and I've found it very difficult to say I'm a "5" in all three areas. As a matter of fact, it's a lot like pinball. When I get three balls going, I usually lose all three shortly after. I'd like to hear if others have found a way to balance all of this (AND spend 20 hours a week on Landmark stuff)