The Book of est is a
fictional book about
Werner
Erhard's
Erhard Seminars
Training (
est), first published in 1976 by Holt,
Rinehart and Winston. The book was written by est graduate
Luke Rhinehart. Rhinehart is the
pen name of writer
George Cockroft. The book was endorsed by
Erhard, and includes a foreword by him. Its contents attempts to
replicate the experience of the est training, and the reader takes
the place of a participant in the course. The end of the book
includes a comparison by the author between Erhard's methodologies
to
Zen,
The Teachings of Don Juan by
Carlos Castaneda, and to
Rhinehart's own views from
The Dice
Man.
Reception of the book was negative, with critical reviews in
Library Journal and
The New York Times
Book Review. An article about Erhard and est in the
religious journal
Quarerly Review placed the book among
"the most accessible sources about est". Professor Walter A.
Effross of the
American
University Washington College of Law cites
The Book of
est in an article in the
Buffalo Law Review analyzing
the control of
new age movements over their
intellectual property.
Background
Werner Erhard, a California-based
former encyclopedia salesman born John Paul Rosenberg, created the
Erhard Seminars Training
(
est) course in 1971. est was a form of
Large Group Awareness
Training, and was part of the
Human Potential Movement. est was a
four-day, 60-hour self-help program given to groups of
250 people at a time. The program was very intensive: each day
would contain 15–20 hours of instruction. During the training,
est personnel utilized jargon to convey key concepts, and
participants had to agree to certain rules which remained in effect
for the duration of the course. Participants were taught that they
were responsible for their life outcomes, and were promised a
dramatic change in their
self-perception.
est was controversial: critics characterized the training methods
as
brainwashing, and suggested that the
program had
fascistic and
narcissistic tendencies. Proponents asserted that
it had a profoundly positive impact on people's lives. By 1977 over
100,000 people completed the est training, including public
figures and mental health professionals. In 1985,
Werner Erhard and Associates
repackaged the course as "The Forum", a seminar focused on
"goal-oriented breakthroughs". By 1988, approximately one million
people had taken some form of the trainings. In the early 1990s
Erhard faced tax and family problems. A group of his associates
formed the company
Landmark
Education in 1991, purchasing The Forum's course "technology"
from Erhard.
Publication
The book was first published in 1976 in a hardcover format by Holt,
Rinehart and Winston, and a paperback edition was released later in
the same year. It was published in
German in 1983 by
Hugendubel. In November 2008, Luke Rhinehart, in
association with
Joe Vitale and
Mark J. Ryan, re-released
The Book of est as an
E-book.
Contents
The Book of est includes a one-page foreword by
Werner Erhard. Erhard writes in the foreword
that Rhinehart's book "brilliantly ... communicates clearly to the
reader both a sense of being in the training room and the spirit of
what takes place there." Erhard's foreword notes: "although this
book dramatizes the highlights of the training and attempts to give
you the vicarious experience of being at a training, this is a
book, and the est experience cannot result from reading any
book".
With Erhard's endorsement, Rhinehart attempts to replicate the
"transformation" experience from est. The book imparts the message
that the participant's life "doesn't work", and that after two
weekends the individual will come to understand how to "win". The
book presents a fictional dramatization of the est training.
Punctuation style usage including exclamation points and boldface
type bring the reader's attention to key items in the text.
Rhinehart describes the est training as a form of
participatory theatre, writing:
"Seeing the trainer as a master actor ... permits us to evaluate
his acts and words more intelligently than if we misinterpret him
as being a scholar or scientist giving a lecture." In an analysis
of how to approach the est training, Rhinehart comments that "It
might best be described, if it can be described at all, as
theater—as living theater, participatory theater, encounter
theater. Once we begin to see est in these terms, much that fails
to fit the scheme of therapy or religion or science begins to make
sense."
In Rhinehart's fictional account of the training, the est course
leader begins with the instruction: "Let me make one thing clear. I
don't want any of you to believe a thing I'm saying. Get that.
Don't believe me. Just listen." The est trainer explains that the
course techniques are used because "Werner has found that they
work." When of the est participants asks why the instructor says
certain statements during the course, the instructor responds: "I'm
saying them because Werner has found that the trainer's saying them
works."
Participants in est are told that they cannot take notes during the
course, and at the end of the seminar the instructor declines to go
over a review of the training. In order to participate in the
course, trainees must adhere to agreements which include: they may
not exit the course facility except during specified break time,
they cannot sit next to someone they knew before coming to the
course, and they cannot take unprescribed medications or alcohol
for the week prior to the training.
Individuals are given a chance to receive a full refund and leave
the course after the instructor goes over the course agreements. A
second chance to leave the course and receive a refund is offered
on the third day of the course. At the end of the training, the
seminar participants are strongly encouraged to bring guests to
sign up for the course – participants are instructed that "bringing
guests is a manifestation of a person's willingness to participate
in life."
The concluding portion of the book includes a comparison of Werner
Erhard's methodologies to
Zen,
The Teachings of Don Juan by
Carlos Castaneda, and to
Rhinehart's views from
The Dice
Man. Rhinehart comments that those who have taken part in
the est training feel the need for a sense of community: "Most
graduates indicate that the value of the seminar series depends not
so much on is ostensible data content or on the processes
introduced, but on the sharing on an intimate basis with others."
He notes that some of the graduates of the est training "treat him
[Erhard] with the love and awe normally associated with that of
disciples for spiritual teachers". He likens Erhard's relationship
to his staff members to the way in which a
guru
interacts with
disciples. "[It is] the
essentially eastern phenomenon of a powerful being (usually a guru
or a spiritual teacher) attracting other powerful beings who
nevertheless choose to channel their power through their leader,"
writes Rhinehart.
Critical reception
James Charney notes in his review of the book for
Library Journal, "Questions of
effectiveness or possible harm are hardly considered." Charney
characterizes the problem of the book and its subject matter as a
"kind of with-it diffuseness which disallows any intelligent
understanding on principle". In a review of the book for
The New York Times
Book Review, Zane Berzins was critical of the work,
commenting: "There isn't much to be said for the book except that
it exudes a kind of repellent fascination."
In an
article about Erhard and est for the religious journal
Quarterly Review, Florida
International University
assistant religious studies professor Robert
R. Hann places the book among "the most accessible sources
about est". Hann comments that since the book has been "reviewed by
Erhard and carries his statement of support for the author", it
"can therefore be presumed to be, if not 'canonical,' then at least
not significantly at odds with the perspective of est
itself."
Professor Walter A. Effross of the
American
University Washington College of Law cites
The Book of
est along with Adelaide Bry's
est: 60 Hours That Transform
Your Life, in an article in the
Buffalo Law Review
analyzing the control of
new age movements
over their intellectual property. Effross notes that the copyright
page of
The Book of est gives a notice that: "material
based in part on unpublished lectures created and copyrighted by
Werner Erhard and used by the author with his permission. No
material created and copyrighted by Werner Erhard may be used or
disseminated in any medium or language without his prior written
authorization." Effross comments on the potential loss of control
over his material that Erhard may have invited due to endorsing
these books about his methodology:
"In conjunction with a nondisclosure program, the
leaders of spiritual groups should themselves take care not to
disseminate broadly material integral to their teachings and
techniques: whether or not their nondisclosure agreements allow
group members to repeat, acknowledge, or discuss material that has
been publicly unveiled by their teachers or by other group members,
this might be the members' natural assumption.
From this point of view, and because it enabled
commentators to make "fair use" of the disclosed information, it
was not helpful for ...
Werner Erhard, the founder of est, to endorse a
first-person account of an est training, even one which provided
only simulations of est's "processes," or guided
meditations.
(However, the publicity [Erhard's organization]
achieved from such exposure during crucial periods of ... expansion
may have been seen as justifying the intellectual property
risk.)"
See also
References
Further reading
- Book reviews
External links
Wikis
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