Walter Kaufmann and est

As I discovered today, Walter Kaufmann mentions *est* more than once in his scholarly 3-volume work, The Discovery of the Mind.

*est* is the grueling psychological seminar that morphed into the Landmark Forum. And Kaufmann was some kind of fan!

Kaufmann develops an idea from Nietzsche and then adds:

...the basic idea is no longer esoteric. In the 1970s it was made popular by Werner Erhard through est: "EVERYTHING A LIVING CREATURE EXPERIENCES IS CREATED UNIQUELY BY THAT LIVING CREATURE WHO IS THE SOLE SOURCE OF THAT EXPERIENCE." To be sure, this point, which is made most emphatically on the third day of the four-day training, is qualified on the final day when people are told:"You're machines.... Your lives are meaningless."

Kaufmann thinks the purpose is to give people a "jolt" through Zen-like "paradox".

But my first thought was: No wonder some people had severe psychological difficulties after subjecting themselves to this goofiness!

You're a meaningless machine
and everything you've seen
or felt your whole life through
was all made up by you!

Your best bet, after this jolt
is to let your mind revolt.
Throw off the contradictions
that can grow into afflictions.