Here are my posts from the other thread:Church letterhead
May 11, 2001
To: General Authorities and the following priesthood leaders: Area Authority Seventies; Stake, Mission, and District Presidents; Bishops and Branch Presidents
*Underlined* Self-Awareness Groups (to be read in sacrament meeting) *end underline"
Dear Brethren:
It has come to our attention that some commercial enterprises promising heightened self-esteem, improved family relationships, increased spirituality and the like by participating in their programs are implying Church endorsement. Such claims are untrue and unfounded. *italicized* The CHurch has not endorsed any such enterprise. Neither should the Church's failure to formally challenge any such enterprise coming to its attention be construed as a tacit endorsement or stamp of approval. *end italicization*
We repeat the counsel set for in the Church Handbook of Instruction, page 157:
"Church members should not participate in groups that:
1. Challenge religious and moral values or advocate unwarranted confrontation with spouse or family members as a means of reaching s one's potential
2. Imitate sacred rites or ceremonies
3. Foster physical contact among participants
4. Meet late into the evening or in the early-morning hours
5. Encourage open confession or disclosure of personal information normally discussed only in confidential settings
6. Cause a husband and wife to be paired with other parties"
We strongly counsel against affiliation with any such group and warn against believing any claim of Church approval, tacit or otherwise, by any private organization offering "experiential" or "empowerment" training.
Sincerely yours,
Gordon B Hinckley (Signed)
Thomas S Monson (Signed)
Jame E Faust (Signed)
The First Presidency
To me this sounds more aimed at groups such as "The Great Life Foundation" and "Impact Training" here in Salt Lake. Pretty much all of my wife's immediate and extended family has gone through the "training." I just asked one of them if this letter describes the events they went through and the response was "Yes, I would say that The Great Life Foundation would fall squarely in this description."
I have some funny and terrible stories about these organizations....
Just wanted to open this up for discussion. What do you guys think of these organizations? I am curious to hear others' first hand experiences.I have never gone through the course myself, but have witnessed first hand several family members who did. I'll share briefly what I experienced. The leaders are just a handful of people who run the show. As I recall, one was an active member of the church whom I didn't care for, another was a lesbian minister as I recall, and the others don't stick out in my mind. These leaders are involved in the trainings, but former graduates also volunteer to help out. There are 3 levels of the training. They are supposed to lead you through a path of self enlightenment and awareness. I actually agree with a lot of what I came to see there, but that was overshadowed by the things I disagreed with.
The first session is done over a weekend and starts with one of the leaders getting into peoples faces yelling and making them feel like crap. It goes on for several hours into the night, often not getting done until 3-4 AM. The participants are encouraged to share their inner most secrets with each other to build a bond amongst the group. They are given challenges to accomplish and go through a bunch of games to learn certain lessons that should be applied to life. I believe the first session is referred to as the "awakening." After the first weekend there is a little graduation ceremony where the group is taken into a darkly lit room while calming music is played, and they are to remain there against the outside wall of the room with their eyes closed as friends and family members come in and stand before them. They are supposed to soak in the love and good energies of those around them. At one point the person leading the graduation tells the group to open their eyes and greet their family. The whole thing had a feeling of a mock baptism to me. They were killing their pre-training person and almost covenanting to start a new life based around the concepts they had learned.
The second phase is called "The Brilliance Within." As I recall the focus is centered on showing people the power they have within themselves to accomplish the desires of their hearts. It shows them the connection they have with the universe - it's a very "The Secret" kind of feeling. If I recall correctly, during this part of the experience there is a large focus on unconditional love and getting to the inner child. Groups are encouraged to show their love to the others in the group by hugging, cuddling, whatever. There is a strict rule against getting involved in a romantic relationship with anyone in the group for like 90 days after. Around this part of the training there were a lot of problems among spouses as the wives/husbands were having what I feel as completely inappropriate relationships with members of their groups. There is also an exercise that gets people completely outside their comfort level. Grown men dressing in drag seemed to be a favorite. I don't recall much more about this step. At the completion of part II there is another graduation similar to the first. This time the members come up with a "Brilliance Statement" and share it. It's basically a mixture of exciting adjectives - something like "I am a bright sensitive caring powerful man who inspires people by love passion and courage." After someone says their statement everyone shouts back "Yes you are!" and then the person responds "Thank you. I know!" It was all pretty stupid IMO.
The third phase was outside on weekends and involved team building exercises and courses. I don't recall the specifics of it.
All of this, besides the graduation ceremonies which I attended was done behind closed doors. There is a great deal of secrecy involved in all of this. The participants are sworn to not divulge things that go on. This of course is so you won't spoil the surprise for people who go through later (even if you promise to them that you will absolutely never participate in the program. I tried).
During any part of the program the leaders issue challenges to stretch the group such as "Your group needs to find 50 people to sign up for this program by tomorrow. If you don't do it, you are not living your life right." The program by the way is thousands of dollars.
I was particularly intrigued with some of the tactics that were used to get recruits and during the trainings. There was a specific rule against food and water during the sessions which would go almost all night. I'm pretty sure sleep/food deprivation is a pretty effective brainwashing tool. I went to some meeting at the behest of my mother in law where I was singled out and asked questions about why I didn't love myself to sign up for the training. That seemed to be a common theme. If you didn't go through their program you didn't love yourself. My wife actually went through the 3 parts, and at every stage people kept asking me if I was excited for my new wife. I was actually getting really pissed off at this question, because I liked my old wife just fine - enough to promise myself to her for eternity in fact. Throughout the experience there were some real challenges for us. There was a great barrier between us because she couldn't share anything that was going on, and everyone there was telling her that I didn't love myself enough to go through it. She also didn't take well to some of the things that kept being forced on her, and will absolutely admit she was worse after the experience. It seemed that this place was a breeding ground for gays/lesbians (is that possible). It seemed that people with issues like that were drawn to this place where they could be accepted and encouraged to follow whatever path they chose. I also remember quite a few people who went inactive after this because they discovered that the Church wasn't for them.
Back to the secrecy - after some of my wife's family went through the program, they had a few meetings amongst themselves to discuss matters of deep doctrine with their new found light. I was anxious to sit in on these, as I like getting into some meaty gospel discussions, but was not welcome because I hadn't gone through the course and therefore couldn't comprehend the things they wished to discuss.
Some people who take this course swear by it, that it is life changing. I have heard it described many times that it is a course that will teach you 20 years worth of life's lessons in a few weeks. For me, it fits exactly with the organizations that we are counseled to avoid.
-SC