Werner Erhard, Est: Communication in a Context of Compassion

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Reprinted from Current Psychiatric Therapies Vol. 18E di t e d by Jules H. Masserman , M.D.e 1979 by Grune & Stratton, In c .

Werner Erhard and

Victor Gioscia, Ph.D .

est: Communicationin

aContext of Compassion

FORMAT OF THE E S f STANDARD TRAIN1NG

Th e est Standard Training is approximate ly 60 hours long and isusually presented on two successive weekends: two Saturday s and twoSundays , beginning at 9 A . M . and ending after midnight , when thetrainer observes that the results for that day have been reached."Breaks" are usually taken every four hour s and there is us ually onemeal break during the day . People eat breakfast before and some have asnack after the training day. Included in the $300 tuition are pre- , mid- ,and post-training se min ar s . These are each about 3Y:z hour s in duration,and take place on three weekday evenings-one before, one between.

and on e after the training weekends .Approximately 250 people take the training together at one time ,sea ted in a hotel ballroom . Chair s a re arranged theatre style, facing alow platform on w hich a chair , a lectern, and two chalkboards areplaced . Everyone wear s a nametag printed in letter s large enough to beread from the platform.

In acc ord with the Pre s idential Introduction to thi s iss ue . the se a nnu a l volumes willinc lude . whenever appropriate . one or more ch ap te r s o n popul a rly acce pted movement sof psy chiatric intere s t. The following i s an acco unt of est no t previou sly avai lable in the

psyc hiatric literature , written by the founder of es t and an est re se arch consultant. It ha sbe e n edited to conform to Cllrr ent P sy c hi a tri c Therapies s tand ard s.

117



11.8 CURRENT PSYCHIATRIC THERAPIES: 1978

COl'\TEI\T OF THE TRAIl'ING

In est there are four principal topics addressed in the t rainingbelief. experience. reality. and self. Trainees have the opportunit y toexamine their experience of each of these topics in three ways: (I)lectures by the trainer, (2) "processes" (guided experiences . usuallywith eyes closed , and (3 ) sharing-communications from individualtrainees to the trainer and /or to the class.

Th e following chart presents these schematically :

Topic Process Sharing

Day I Belief Body Yes

2 Experience Truth Yes3 Reality Center Yes4 ~ e l f Mind 'Yes

Trainees realize early in the training that the trainer is not actually"Iectur ing"- i .e. , presenting conceptual information-but presentingthe trainees with a chance to "look and see what is so for you in yourown experience" about the topics discussed . Similarly, trainees soonreal ize that '' 'processes' ' are opportunities to examine the records of

previous experiences in the privacy and safety of their own experience(o r "space") and that. as they wish, they mayor may not share what is

so for them .

Ds)" 1

On day I, after an assistant has read the ground rules to thetrainees , the participants spend the remainder of the day observing therole of belief in defining their experience of living . The purpose of the

est training , which is carefully read and examined in detail, is thetransformation of one's ability to experience living so that problemsituations clear up just in the process of life itself.

The trainer's "attitude" seems to trainees to be on e of uncommoncer ta inty-as if to say, "This training works. I say only and exactlywhat I mean . Pay attention if you want your money ' s worth. See ifwhat I say is true for you. Don't beliel 'e me . Look in your ownexperience. It's up to you ."

The trainer says unusual things, each designed to present trainees

with an opportunity to examine whether the statement is true for thetrainee. Examples are:



est: Erhard, Gioscia

"Anything truly experienced will disappear.""What you resist will persist. ""The truth believed is a lie."

119

"U nderstanding is very low on the scale of experience-creating

your own experience is very high."

It becomes clear to most trainees very early that they are in thepresence of an individual who is engaged in an astonishingly candidconfrontation of the full range of human experience , in a way that doesnot fit easi ly- i f at al l - in to the trainees ' preconceptions . This style ofconfrontation itself becomes a demonstration of the topic under discus-sion. The trainer seems completely beyond "point of view, " able tospe a k as easily from on e trainee ' s viewpoint as another ' s without

seeming to have one ofhi

s or her own. In addition, where the trainerseems completely able to re-create each and every trainee ' s sharing ,an individual trainee seems stuck on l y with his or her ow n point ofview . Thi s inability to speak except from within on e 's point of view, a tle a st from some point of view , is belief , the trainer says.

The di scussion of belief last s s ever a l hours . Trainee s begin towonder, Is it pos s ible to speak from no point of view?

The trainer then describes what a "process" is and assists traineesto prepare to "do " one. Trainee s are informed they will be asked toclo se their eyes a n d " take what comes up for you " as the trainer a s ksthem , for example , "Loc a te a sensation in your right foot. .. . Fine.Now locate a sen sation in your right calf. . . . Good ," a nd so onthrough the body .

The trainer explain s that there is no right or wrong way to do aproce ss . Wh a tever the traineee become s a ware of is fine . To observewhat on e is aware of in one 's body , a per son engage s in the proce ss of" ob serving ," or noticing , not only what one senses, but also that these" sen ses " are amenable to " observation."

A short "process " is done , locating body sensation. I t lastsfor 15 or 20 minute s, after which t rainees" s hare." They are asked tos tand after being recognized by the tr a iner a nd to u se a microphone andto sa y whatever they would like to say . They may relate an experi-ence , or comment on some aspect of the proce ss , or ask a question .The se are addres sed to the trainer or to the clas s, but not to the sharingof other trainees. In this way trainees are encouraged to focus on theirown experience and ar e reminded that the training takes place in theprivacy of one's own "sp a ce ," not in interchanges with the group.

Before they leave for the night , participants ar e asked to locate in

their live s a "persistent unwanted condition" and to return with a



12 0 CURRENT PSYCHIATRIC THERAPIES : 1978

phr ase describing it in the morning, when they will "observe " it duringth e "truth process." The tr ai ner points ou t that by "pe rsistent un-wanted conditions " ar e meant such things as (I) minor headache s, (2)uncomfortable feelings or emotions , and/or (3) considerations or evalua-tions of other s' experience. The trainer notes that the truth proces s willassist them to uncover th e role of belief in these conditions.

Day 2

After some opening s haring, the trainer outlines the "anatomy ofa n experience" an d discusses th e fact that inherent in th e nature ofmost experiences ar e sensations, perceptions , thoughts , feelings an demotions, attitudes, points of view, mental states, considerations ,evaluations, judgments, a nd images from the past. Trainees discusstheir persistent conditions (o r " items ") with th e trainer , who remindsthem that "a completely experienced item will disappear. "

Then for approximately 90 minutes , the trainer asks trainees s im-ply to "observe" what they become aware of as he instructs them to"l ook a t" what sensations ar e associated with their item , then whatperceptions , then what thought s, a nd so on through images from thepast.

After thi s process most trainees share that their item hasdisappeared-that their belief in th e condition is the cause of its per s is-tence , without which the "condition" vanishes. In short, trainees findthey have begun to " observe"-i .e" to transcend belief. The shift fromc onc e ptual to experiential reality ha s begun.

During the evening of day 2, there is a long two-part process calledthe " d a nger process " during which trainees are given the chance to"observe" the fear or acute embarrassment most people feel whenre a lly being with another or others. This process reveals thepretenses or systems of personality people usually hide behind orconfuse with who they genuinely are. As before , trainees become

increasingly aw a re that anything completely experienced disappears.Most depart from the sess ion elated an d joyous, experiencing whatthey believed could not be experienced-an open, undefended , ex-panded experience of their natural ability to experience living .

Day 3

On day 3 the trainee s begin to observe what is real in their live s. Ina profound "dialogue" with th e trainee s, which lasts some 6 or 7 hours

(with a break) , the tr a iner conducts a conversation with t r a ineespressing them to look , to observe, really to examine the criteria they





12 2 CURRENT PSYCHIATRIC THERAPIES: 1978

transformed reality of selves awakened to their formerly unawakenedselfhood. Their now common dom a in is so un speakably simple, soobvious, so unchanged , so light filled and real - i t is hard for them tocontain (heir enthusia s m for simpl y being who they are.

Stil l- the trainer counsels-there is "more." Now that ttaineesare willing to experience transcendent to the once binding automatici tyof their former content-determined "points of view," it is possible toexamine "the autonomy of the sel f ."

"After a break , " the trainer says, " We'll talk about self as thesource of the experiences of responsibility and satisfaction-thewillingness to experience one ' s self as the cause of what on e causes.Then we ' ll talk abo ut sex, love , a nd relationships." Th e "space" of theroom is now one of delight a nd celebration. The " s ecret" of es t hasbeen revealed: What is , is , and what isn ' t , isn't! It is an amazinglyfreeing realizat ion , which restores to trainees their natural ability to bespo ntaneously and naturally what they naturally and spontaneously are .Trainees no longer hope to be. They are. And now they "know " it.

To sum m a rize what happen s in the es t training, then, we mightquote the following:

I t is a transformation-a contextual s hift from a state in which thecontent in yo ur life is organized around the attempt to ge t staisfiedor to survive - t o obtain sa tisfaction or to protect or hold on to wh atyou ha ve go t - to an experience of bein g satisfied, right now , andorganizing the content of your life as an expression, manife s tation,and s haring of the experience of being sa tisfied , of being whole andcomplete, Now. On e is aware of that " part" of one's Self whichexperiences sat isfaction-the self itself, whole, complete, and en-tire .

The natural state of the self is satisfaction . You do not have

to get there . You ca nna! get there . You have only to re alize yourself and as you do you are satisfied . Then it is natur a l and spontane-ous to express that in life a nd s hare the opportunity with others. I

CONTEXT OF COMPASSION

The very obviousness a nd the context of the es t experience are

what makeit

so difficult to talkabout

est with those who have not hadthe experience . After all, it seems obvious that what is, is , and



est: Erhard, Gioscia 123

what isn't, isn't. So, why have 185,000 people paid all that money tofind that out? And why do they continue to recommend est to theirfriends? More specifically , how can so simple a contextual shift in

context be experienced by so many profes s ional psychotherapistsacross all the "schools" of therapy-as empowering 'and enablingthemselves and their patients to experience lives in which completehealth, happiness , love, and self-expression are ordinary and routine?Do educators, physicians, clergy, attorneys, and other professionalsexperience an equivalent empowerment?

The se t of all epistemologies is not itself an epistemology, andthe context of all points of view is not itself a point of view. Th eimplications of this fact are extraordinarily far-reaching , especially withregard to what might be called the Theory of the Self. On this fact rests

the nature of the training and the est trainer's ability to transcend beliefabout the nature of the self.

It lies at the heart o f he est trainer's ability temporar ily to adopt anypoint of view since the context from which the trainers speak is not itselfa point of view.

The distinction between context and viewpoint enables thetrainers to talk to trainees who know they are not who they think theyare. The trainers ' awareness that self is context-not content-enablesthem to experience trainees so intimately that trainees are moved by

how fundamentally they ar e " known ," even while they are baffled andinitially frightened by the trainers ' ability to comprehend them so completely.

Contextual awareness enables and empower s (I) the tr a iner topresent the training as if he /s he were both trainer and trainee and (2) thetr a inee to "get it." We call this contextual awareness a "context ofcompassion.

In short, the trainer a n d - a t some point during or soon after thet raining-the trainee have actually shifted the very context of self

experience from one in which (I ) an y self is a thing , limited and definedby a specific configuration of ma tter /energy in space / time to (2) acontext in which self is not a thing, but a context of contexts, anawareness of awareness, or as the trainers say, an "experienced experience. "

Thus , the apparently paradoxical ability of the trainer to experience the trainee ' s experience more completely than the trainee derivesfrom the trainer's awareness of his / he r ability to experience an yexperience-since no on e experience can threaten a context which

enables and empowers every experience .The trainee no longer believes him /herself to be one (or more) of the



12 4 CURRENT PSYCHIATRIC THERAPIES: 1978

contents of experience traditionally associated with "se l f - i . e . , sensations, perception s, thoughts, feelings, emotions, attitudes, point s ofview, mental s ta te ,co ns ideration s, evaluations, judgments , imagesfrom the past, and so on.

Thus , the trainer is able to experience wha tever the trainee rega rd s as the trainee's " se lf ' - i n a context of compassion-that is, in away which re-cre ate s the trainee's own experience of him / her se lf andtranscend s the trainee's own se lf-definition .

Th e trainer and the training thus come from a n aware ne ss that truese/f is not a position in the universe and not a n identity assembled ou t ofbits and pieces of prior "ex peri ences." It is a way of experienc in g theuniverse , a context not a thing.

This sa me "context uality " also acco unt s for the nature of the

benefits psychotherapists and their patients report after taking the esttraining. Therapists and patients report an enhanced ability to see similar to the change in view one would hav e if one shifted from a ca r to ana irplane . The contents do not change; the perspective (that by which wesee) is clarified. Trainers admire therapists' ability to unravel the intricacies of p atie nt s ' ofte n tangl ed lives, while therapist graduatesadmire trainers' ability to "know about knowing " and to engage incompassionate co m munic ation which holds all differences as essential,hence none preferable .

SUMMARY

The purpose of the es t training is the tran sfo rmation of the abilityto experience living , so th a t the sit uation s one is trying to change or isputting Lip with clear up ju st in the process of life itself . Transformationis a shift in the experience of .. I am" from seeing yourself as content of

experience to see ing yourself as the context of your contextual experience .Graduates of the es t training-whether they are therapists , pa

tient s, educators, physicians, attorneys , or people from other walks oflife-regularly report th at their ability to be, to be with themselves andwith others. and to engage with others in a full participation in theopportunities of life have been transformed; i.e., shifted from a thingdetermined to a self -determined context. This shift enables and empowers ther a pi sts and patients who have taken the est training to experiencethemselves as the sou rce of their abili ty to experience each other witha bsolute compassion.



es t : Erhard, Gioscia 125

REFERENCE

I . E rh a rd W . G io s c ia V : e s t s ta nd a rd tr a inin g . Bio sc ie n c es CO lllllluni c at io ns3: 104 - 12 2. 19 77

Werner Erhard, Est: Communication in a Context of Compassion

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