-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 >From: drogers@primenet.com (David D. Rogers) >Newsgroups: talk.religion.newage,alt.religion.eckankar,alt.support.ex-cult >Subject: A Seminar >Date: 12 Jul 1995 07:50:00 GMT >Organization: Gyre & Gimble Wabemakers! >Lines: 87 >Message-ID: >NNTP-Posting-Host: ip212.lax.primenet.com >X-Newsreader: Value-Added NewsWatcher 2.0b24.0+ >Xref: news2.delphi.com talk.religion.newage:26072 alt.religion.eckankar:6410 alt.support.ex-cult:1790 [Forward to alt.support.ex-cult] The following was posted in talk.religion.newage and alt.religion.eckankar. :From: adams@cs.unr.edu (Brian Adams) :Newsgroups: talk.religion.newage,alt.religion.eckankar :Subject: A Seminar :Date: 11 Jul 1995 23:35:47 GMT :Organization: University of Nevada, Reno Department of Computer Science :Lines: 62 :Message-ID: <3tv1sj$14a@umbra.unr.edu> :NNTP-Posting-Host: hunter.cs.unr.edu :Xref: dump.primenet.com talk.religion.newage:40445 alt.religion.eckankar:6220 : :A friend of mine in Hong Kong told me this tale. Enjoy! : :---------------------------------------------------------------- : A SEMINAR : :Last night I went to a Life Spring "Guest Orientation Seminar." :Life Spring is one of five companies which share a common origin :in the teachings of some post-sixties touchy-feely guru. EST is :also one of the five. They are currently working at a six to ten :million dollar pace in Hong Kong, showing repressed Chinese and :expatriate Brits how to engage their feelings and empower :themselves. I have always been just a little curious about this :sort of horseshit so when the bass 'bone player from the HK Phil :asked me to come share the seminar with him I agreed. Time will :tell if he will recover from the experience. The striking thing :about this program is that the promotional work is all done :gratis by "the graduates." The other striking thing about it is :that the place was filled with repressed women who were just :looking for an excuse to get on all fours and yap (and lap) like :Fido. Not half of them were trolls either. The last striking :thing is that most of the men are such limp-wristed whiners that :someone like me, but with fewer scruples and one fewer old lady, :could make hay in a big way. : :After a few experiential exercises entitled, "Diad Delivery and :Response," "Mingle and Address," and some other like-sounding :phrases, the graduates got together with the initiates and gave :us a real hard sell to fork over the initial five hundred skins :to enroll in seminar the first. I was soon surrounded by :graduates and didn't get a chance to watch the registration :tables but my buddy said they usually get 100 people per seminar. :As soon as I indicated that I was more than a match for the new :graduates, one of them snuck off to get reinforcements from :higher up. I ate them up and they went for more. Eventually, :the head guy came over and began a mesmerizing series of speeches :which all but made my eyes glaze over. I fought him off by :asking him questions about the history of the company, how many :people were employed, how long they worked an area the size of :Hong Kong, etc.. After awhile, he decided I was a lost cause and :said something like "Thank you for sharing your scepticism with :us" and "I hope you find what you are looking for." I was just :barely cool enough to say thank you for sharing, too. : :These guys are really good. They throw out all sorts of :generalities and vague horoscope-like little tidbits which are :very hard not to be grabbed by unsuspecting humans. I really :believe it would be hard to resist if they had you for a week :which is how long the initial seminar lasts. I am also sure it :does not last very long for intelligent humans. All around, a :very interesting evening. People are really a pathetic, self :indulgent bunch of fools. Makes a feller wretch. However, if a :young nubile maiden of the monkey love persuasion wants to :empower herself atop my magic wand, well...... : :Frankemus :------------------------------------------------------------------ : :Any comments? : :Brian Adams :Reno - -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- "We have a Department of Defense, they're to make war. We have an intelligence community to produce secrets- I'm sorry, to gather secrets." - --CIA Director John Deutch, speaking freely at his recent college reunion - ---------- "Well, I didn't have a computer when I was a teen-ager, but I can assure you my very attentive and responsible parents would have been horrified by many of my after-school activities." - --Los Angeles Times technology editor Jonathan Weber on childhood, 6/22/95 -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: PGPfreeware 6.5.8 for non-commercial use iQA/AwUBOrOZEDL5APkWv2amEQI90gCgtEYWKi+MAf+ASNDrlVS4Cy3pBNMAn1t6 oOC+qihKe8sAvt/A+Fby1p0+ =gJiF -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----