Virginia "Ginni" Lamp Thomas, dutiful wife of Clarence--ex-cult member

[blondeatlast]

Mrs. Virginia Lamp Thomas strikes me is becoming very powerful--and seems rather unstable; not a good combination.

To her (shudder) credit, she has been vocal in criticizing it, but I find it alarming that she got involved in the first place:

From Wikipedia:

Lifespring was founded in 1974 by John Hanley Sr., after working at an organization called Mind Dynamics with Werner Erhard, the founder of est, which became the basis for Landmark Education. Lifespring concentrated on how people experience each other, whereas est dealt with changing the way people experience themselves.<5> However, there are many similarities between the two, as well as with Scientology<1><6>.

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Though John Hanley denied that Lifespring was a duplicate of Erhard Seminars Training, Melton and Lewis described the similarities between the two as "striking", in their 1992 work, Perspectives on the New Age<6>. Melton and Lewis point out that both Werner Erhard and John Hanley had previously worked at Mind Dynamics. They then went on to cite specific examples of techniques utilized by both Lifespring and EST, stating that both used "authoritarian trainers who enforce numerous rules", both groups require applause after a member's "share" in front of the group, both deemphasized reason, in favor of "feeling and action"<6>. The authors also pointed out that graduates of both Lifespring and EST were "fiercely loyal", and recruited heavily for their respective groups, reducing marketing expenses to virtually zero<6>.

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One prominent critic of Lifespring is Virginia Thomas, wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. Mrs. Thomas asserted in an interview with The Washington Post that she chose to seek counseling after her decision to stop participating in Lifespring. In order to avoid phone calls from fellow Lifespring members, urging her to remain in the course, she chose to hide in another part of the United States. One explanation for the criticisms and actions taken by roughly 8% of all Lifespring graduates comes from clinical psychologist and Lifespring graduate Bronson Levin. Levin said, "people who are not prepared for the intense emotional experience of Lifespring or who have hidden traumas tend to become overwhelmed as childhood memories come thundering back to them during training." Virginia Thomas went on to speak on panels and organized anti-cult workshops for congressional staffers in 1986 and 1988. <2>

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In 1993, Lutheran Reverend Dr Richard L. Dowhower, conducted a survey of clergy attitudes toward other groups that they have labeled as cults. The 53 respondents were from the Washington, DC area and included 43 Lutheran clergy and seminarians, one Roman Catholic and one Jewish clergyman, and an Evangelical minister. The response chart indicates twenty eight (28) responses to "The cults I am most concerned about are:", with the answer "Scientology, est/Forum, and Lifespring". <25>. Dr Dowhower was an advisor of the American Family Foundation, which published the Cult Observer<25>.

[stevedeshazer]

1. My ex was in Lifespring.

It has a lot to do with the 'ex' part.

[Cassandra]

2. I have friends who were in Lifespring.

They are normal, nice people. Your reaction to cults of all kinds depends on your psychological makeup. If you're an authoritarian follower, it may be a cult for you. I did the Forum. Although there were lots of rules, I'm a non-conformist, so cults have no pull for me. I got out of the work what was useful for me and then moved on.

[blondeatlast]

3. In light of recent events, I think the Lifespring issue speaks to Mrs. Thomas'

emotional stability--along with her dogged dedication to her spouse.

[Raster]

4. I have a friend involved with Landmark and the Forum. He is trying to get me in.

Your thoughts about the Forum, please?

[Cassandra]

5. It is useful...

for waking you up to the conversations in your head you might not be aware of (I can't do X, I'm an X sort of person, I'll never have X in my life, etc.). One of my forum leaders said he offered a "shit-back guarantee", by which he meant that we should try on what he said and if it didn't work, we could have our shit back.
I don't know what, beyond the basic course, they are offering right now, so I can't speak to that. Don't do more than you can handle in both time and money.

[MurrayDelph]

6. I got dragged to a meeting by a girl I was dating

When she "invited" me, there was something in the tone that sounded off, so I asked if this was at all religious, and was assured that it wasn't.

When I went there, I noticed that "visitors" had a different color ID badge than members. I found out why later.

My first feelings were that I was attending a meeting of the "Schick Center for the Control of Thought."

After their little sales pitch, they broke off into little groups, where current members tried to convince you to join. When a cute young girl wasn't able to convince me to join, she left and was replaced by a cute young boy (who had even less chance).

As a precaution, when I filled out the information card on the way in, I had provided the address and phone number of the company I was working for at the time. On my way out, the registration desk was unmanned, and being highly adept at quickly recognizing my own handwriting from a distance, I pulled that card from their pile.

Needless to say, the only time after that I ever spoke to that woman again was when I returned a few books she had left behind.

(Edited to correct one small detail: the visitor cards were not in a stack, they were arranged face-up across a table, so I was able to get mine without violating anyone else's privacy)