James Ray Lawsuits reminds this blogger of the Jack Slee death during an est Training
computeruser
Estate of Jack Slee vs. Werner Erhard - Death During Est Training. Set a
Precedent for the James Ray Lawsuits?
This post was written by Andrea on November 18, 2009
Posted Under: A's thoughts about things
In the ongoing investigation of the James Ray Sedona Sweat Lodge matter,
more survivors are coming forward to speak out, and more incidents are
coming to light. But these death incidents are not particular only to James
Arthur Ray. They have happened before and are documented, notably in the
case of Werner Erhard, founder of est. An excellent and revelatory book is
Outrageous Betrayal: The Real Story of Werner Erhard from Est to Exile by
Steven Pressman. Erhard�s est is now owned by Erhard�s brother and marketed
as Landmark Education formerly Landmark Forum. Granted, most of the est
cases where students broke down psychologically and/or died got settled out
of court under confidentiality agreements, so it�s not easy to find legal
precedents to rely on.
At Death during est training, Wikipedia tells us: Jack Slee paid $425 for
the seminar, and attended the August 14, 1983 est training given at the Park
Plaza Hotel in New Haven, CT. Hours before the incident involving Slee,
emergency responders transported another est training participant named
Thomas Kruh, age 31, to the hospital. Kruh blacked out and experienced a
seizure during the est training, was attended to and revived by paramedics,
and transported to Yale-New Haven Hospital where he stayed for one night.
Witnesses to the incident told law enforcement officials that as Kruh fell
to the floor he started screaming that he was dying. Firefighter William
Seward stated that while attempting to respond to the incident involving
Kruh, himself and his crewmember were instructed by two est officials that
they were not to enter the ballroom where the est training was ongoing.
Seward and his partner had to push past the est officials in order to gain
access to Kruh. According to Seward, participants in the est training were
seated and facing the stage while Kruh was receiving medical treatment.
�They didn�t stop the program. People were standing up telling stories. They
were crying,� said Seward. Kruh later refused to discuss the incident with
police, and his medical records were reported as missing from Yale-New Haven
Hospital.
Jack Slee died during the est training seminar after participating in a
16-hour session. He fell backwards while standing on stage with other est
participants, during a part of the training known as �the danger process� or
�fear confront� which had started at approximately 11:30 P.M. that night.
During this process, Slee was supposed to confront his fear of standing in
front of a group of individuals. Individuals were known to collapse during
the est training, and an est graduate whose role was called a �body catcher�
or �people catcher� broke Slee�s fall and then went to get help. Assistants
in the est training discovered that Slee was not breathing, and attempted to
resuscitate him.While individuals were attempting to revive Slee, est
trainer David Norris yelled to those in the hotel ballroom: �This is all
right. Don�t let this bother you. This has nothing to do with you.�
Responders and paramedics from a local New Haven fire department arrived at
the hotel, but were held outside the emergency scene by est training
assistants who were standing guard by the ballroom doors. Paramedic Daniel
Dolphin stated that a woman met him and his crewmember outside the hotel and
escorted them inside, but would not allow the room to attend to Slee.
�People were laughing. They were crying. My first impression was that it was
a comedy show and the guy who was lying on the stage was faking it,� said
Dolphin in a statement to the New Haven Journal-Courier.The firefighters
pushed past those guarding the doors, and found Slee did not have a
heartbeat. Dolphin�s ambulance partner, Tony Deluise of the New Haven
Ambulance Company, said to the Boston Phoenix that he witnessed odd behavior
while responding to Slee: �They were all in seats, just sitting there and
facing the stage, like an audience. Most were quiet; a few you could hear
crying, a few laughing.�
Paramedics removed Slee from the ballroom prior to midnight, and transported
him to Yale-New Haven Hospital. Meanwhile in the est training, instructor
David Norris requested that participants �share� their thoughts on what had
just transpired, and one of the trainees stated Norris had told est
participants to think about the likelihood that Slee had �willed his own
death�. At 1:03 A.M., Slee was declared dead by physicians at Yale-New Haven
Hospital die due to �undetermined causes�.
Read further about the Police Investigation, the Response from est Officials
and the Wrongful Death Lawsuit against Werner Erhard for he details.
The book Outrageous Betrayal details how Erhard became increasingly and
obsessively megalomaniacal with not only the participants, but notably his
staff. Using techniques he took from Scientology, Mind Dynamics and other
group awareness trainings, he spied on his staff, psychologically abused
them, physically abused them, sexually abused them (and his underage
daughters by the way) and under duress everyone became an automaton to do
the personal bidding of Erhard.
The book even details that he took control of their sex lives, of which by
the way they had to reveal the details to Erhard in the various mandatory
audits and consulting sessions he demanded. Erhard was well versed in how
to program someone�s mind, how to break them down and rebuild them as he
would have them.
Sound familiar? What also sounds familiar is how, even when during the est
seminar victims where lying dead or dying on stage, the est officials
assured everyone that it was business as usual, saying this has nothing to
do with you. Kind of reminds me of James Ray standing around after the sweat
lodge victims had been dragged out of the lodge and were lying sick and
dying on the grounds, some being attended to, some not, but all being
watched over by James Ray, who did nothing to assist. By witness accounts,
he did not approach anyone to offer help, he simply stood there, watching,
until he left the scene altogether.
As early as 1975 a state board decided that est amounted to a form of
psychology and as a result had to comply with state law requiring that a
certified psychologist or physician supervise every training taking place.
Erhard refused to comply and the matter was turned over the the Office of
Consumer Protection for enforcement.
I took est in the 1970�s, when I was very young and very naive and very
impressionable. I learned I am emotionally a very strong person, so I got a
lot out of it and suffered no ill effects. Not so with many of the
attendees however. It was nothing to see seemingly strong people broken
down psychologically until they were lying fetal on the floor, screaming,
blubbering and drooling, completely out of control, right next to me. My
husband at the time was one of them. We were not allowed to sit together.
We were directed not to touch them or pay attention to them. In these
cases, I just figured, as did all involved, that someone responsible would
be in charge at the seminar so that no real damage was done. This was not
the case. My husband was never the same and took his own life a few years
later.
We can�t change the past but we can change what happens in the future by
making sure that anyone doing any kind of work like this is fully qualified
to do so. And we can bring out into the open anyone who is not.
Everyone deserves a chance to clean up their act and clean up their karma.
Even James Ray.
.
RELATED POSTS:
When Former Devotees Expose Fraudulent Gurus:
John-Roger, Werner Erhard, Carlos Castaneda
Updated Links for info about the James Ray Sedona Sweat Lodge
In case the FTC is wondering, I am not endorsing anyone.
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Visit www.horizonsmagazine.com
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Tags: Amy Wallace, body catcher, Boston Phoenix, Carlos Castaneda, Daniel
Dolphin, David Norris, est, fear confront, from est to exile, Jack Slee,
James Arthur Ray, John-Roger, Landmark Education, Landmark Forum, mentoring,
Mind Dynamics, New Haven Ambulance Company, New Haven Journal-Courier,
Outrageous Betrayal, personal development, personal growth, Peter
McWilliams, Scientology, Sedona sweat lodge deaths, self help, Sorcerer's
Apprentice, spirituality, Steve Pressman, the danger process, Thomas Kruh,
Tony Deluise, Werner Erhard, Yale-New Haven Hospital
Reader Comments
You use this unfortunate incident to defame a program that has made enormous
contributions to over half a million people since inception in 1971. I would
be interested in seeing the number of people who have committed suicide
while under the care of a psychiatrist during that same time period, yet I
don�t hear you calling for a crackdown on psychiatrists.
As a participant in both the est training and The Landmark Forum and one who
was active in many trainings as a volunteer, I can tell you there was
nothing more inspiring that seeing people�s lives turn around in the space
of two short weekends.
What was said in the training (as you no doubt know from your own
experience) was that people�s lives were run by their belief systems, their
act, their rackets, their making others wrong, and not taking responsibility
for who they really are. Underneath that is a profound respect for the power
of human beings to live a satisfying and fully productive life in which they
are able to give and receive love. I have never in my adult life experienced
such total love and support as I did during the two weekends of the
training.
Whatever techniques were used during the training were used because they
produced the desired result, that of having people�s lives turn around in a
very short period of time. To be allowed to participate, those who were in
therapy had to get a letter from their therapist saying that they were
winning in therapy. Those with heart conditions as was this unfortunate
young man should not have been allowed to participate and, while every
effort was made to screen out people who would be at risk, some were
overlooked.
Remember that the courts ruled that est was not legally responsible for this
young man�s death, a verdict that was upheld on appeal.
Werner was an innovator, a man who had the courage to step outside of the
box and produce programs that changed people�s lives for the better. He
could have written his ideas in books or gone on the lecture circuit like
Deepak Chopra. Instead he put everything on the line by confronting people
in the flesh and produced results that have to be considered amazing.
Independent research studies have indicated that the vast majority of
graduates felt it was the most valuable course they ever took.
http://www.landmarkeducation.com/menu.jsp?top=21&mid=80&bottom=116
The greatest testament to his work is that his programs are being offered
all over the world today, 36 years after they began.
Written By Howard Schumann on November 19th, 2009