coComment at Landmark Forum with Jon Burke from Alarm Clock

Saturday morning I got up early kissed the kids, stopped by 7/11 for a cup of coffee and drove into a slumbering San Francisco to get to know the Landmark Education crew. As I expected they were all glowing smiles as I entered. When I didn’t find my badge at the entry hall I asked a staff member - an older gentleman - where I could locate it. He replied “oh you’re Mr. Burke, we need to talk.” He then pulled me over into a corner and informed me that because I missed Friday they would not let me continue. “It’s like taking a class on how to build an airpline but missing day 1,” he explained.

Now I have attended as many events any the next guy and more often than not I miss time either at the start or the end of an event. When I read about Landmark I was sure that there must be low attendance on Friday as most people have jobs and then then file in for the weekend sessions. Landmark, however, doesn’t seem to correlate to other events.

“But,” I responded, “your Web site says that attending all hours of the event is recommended. It doesn’t say anything about mandatory hours?” “That’s correct” he just said and then stared me down with no further explanation. I understand from reading reviews of Landmark Forums that there are sessions where people practice staring into each others eyes for up to 20 minutes so I had the feeling I would lose badly in a stare down. I did ask him if we was sure I could not just sit in to observe, and he shut me down with a “that’s not possible.”

When I asked what the suggested I do, the staffer told me that I should reschedule and plan to take time off from work next time around.

As I drove back home I felt the short experience was very odd. I felt as I’ve I’d been barred from the gates of heaven by the true believers due to my irresponsability. This is hard to swallow as I was responsability working on Friday, rather than calling in sick as I imagine many Landmark attendees do.

So there you have it. What should have been extensive blogging about an intense weekend has been reduced to this. My applologies to readers and commentors who may have been looking forward to more.

It’s T Minus 48 hours and counting before I check into the Landmark Forum in San Francisco. I’d better start by explaining what is going on around here. If you are reading this blog you probably know what CoComment does. The company aggregates comments that you might have made across blogs and other social network sites. I contribute to a tech business site called alarm:clock. So to illustrate the point behind CoComment, they have commissioned me to blog about a subject in a blog galaxy far, far away. CoComment is dispatching me to a weekend seminar called Landmark Forum. I am not just a technofile, I read the newspaper and watch cable TV news but to be honest I had never heard of Landmark Forums. Now that I have boned up on it I can tell you that is seems to be big shakes for many people it is off-putting to someone like me who is not prone to much self reflection and gets the heebie-jeebies at corporate bonding outings.

I have heard of Landmark’s predecessor - Werner Erhard’s est Training. So my stereotype of Landmark is something like Tony Robins meets Scientology with a touch of AA. Going into this, I’m not thinking of Landmark as being a cult (although I have asked a buddy to stand buy should I hit the panic button) but rather more of a corporate mind-meld retreat replete with silly exercises and highly paid motivational goons. Like the corporate retreats, Landmark has an ear for painful jargon like Unmessable with - The quality of being able to stand in the face of any circumstance and not be thrown off course.’ And ‘Racket(s): Recurring complaints in tandem with a “way of being” that allow persons to justify themselves and their point of view but which can rob them of opportunities for satisfaction and joy; ways of being that allow people to justify themselves and their point of view; preconceived notions of why one is right and others are wrong.’

Making these statements might make me sound unappreciative. Thousands of people have to sacrifice to save up the $400 to get into The Landmark Forum and CoComment is paying my way. But we all understand that blogging is dull if you’re not honest and this is how it is. I’d much rather catch the UCLA game this weekend and then doze off in an blissful afternoon nap than to face down my ‘rackets.’

This is how I expect to feel at the Landmark Forum.

I am not the first blogger or journalist to infiltrate the Landmark Forum. It’s nice to see that these folks were not body-snatched: Huffington Post and GQ.