1986, Robert Wuthnow, “Religious movements in North America”, in James A. Beckford, editor, New Religious Movements and Rapid Social Change, London: Sage/UNESCO, →ISBN, page 6:
A second variety of new religion that began to flourish during the 1960s consisted of the various groups, techniques and spiritual disciplines which came to be known collectively as the 'human potential movement'. In some ways, the human potential movement was an offshoot of the encounter group movement which flourished on college campuses during the 1960s (Back, 1972) and of popular psychology which had blossomed in a good many minds since the heyday of Fulton Sheen and Norman Vincent Peale in the 1950s. But the 1960s witnessed an intensification of them with respect to conventional religion, and a noticeable syncretism when it came to influences from mysticism, science, the occult and Asian religions. One of the first of the human potential groups was the Inner Peace movement (1964), dedicated to self-realization, personal growth and the exploitation of psychic energy. By 1972 it had established 590 centres in the United States and Canada. Scientology experienced most of its growth in North America towards the end of the 1960s, resulting in the establishment of centres in 28 locations by the early 1970s, with members totalling around 2,000. Erhard Seminars Training ('est') was not founded until 1971, but as time progressed it gained one of the more devoted followings of the human potential groups (Tipton, 1982) Blending a brash, pragmatic self-help ideology with a mixture of psychic experience, self-awareness techniques and social concern, it 'trained' some 20,000 people during the first three years of its existence.
1999, Jamie Cresswell, Bryan Wilson, editors, New Religious Movements, Routledge, →ISBN, page 35:
...the human potential and psychotherapy movements, as well as the more 'life-affirming' New Religious Movements and religions of the self. This was the complex world of the Californian 'psychobabble', of Scientology and est (Erhard Seminars Training, later called Forums Network), of Encounter Groups, meditation techniques and self-help manuals designed to assist individuals 'realise their potential'.
1996, Eileen Barker, “New Religions and Mental Health”, in Dinesh Bhugra, editor, Psychiatry and Religion: Context, Consensus and Controversies, London and New York: Routledge, →ISBN, page 126:
Perhaps one should start by asking 'what is a new religion?' I believe that too precise a definition is constraining and unnecessary for our present purposes; several of the movements about which we shall be talking are not obviously new or religions. ... many associated with the New Age or the so-called Human Potential movement, who deny that they are in any way religious. These may, however, be included in so far as they help their followers to search for, discover and develop 'the god within' or to get in contact with cosmic forces, or explore 'the spiritual'; indeed, any movement that offers in some way to provide answers to some of the ultimate questions about 'meaning' and 'the purpose of life' that have traditionally been addressed by mainstream religions would be included in this broad understanding of the term 'NRM'.") ... To illustrate rather than to define: among the better-known NRMs are the Brahma Kumaris, the Church of Scientology, the Divine Light Mission (now known as Elan Vital), est (erhard Seminar Training, now known as the Landmark Forum), the Family (originally known as the Children of God), ISKCON (the Hare Krishna), Rajneeshism (now know as Osho International), Sahaja Yoga, the Soka Gakkai, Trandscendental Mediations, the Unification Church (known as the Moonies) and the Way International. One might also include Neo-Paganism, Occultism, Wicca (or witchcraft) and several movements that are within mainstream traditions, such as part of the House Church (Restoration) movement from within Protestant traditions, and Folkolare, the Neo-Catechumenates, Communione e Liberazione and perhaps even Opus Dei from within the Roman Catholic traditions.
2000, Peter Bernard Clarke, Japanese New Religions: In Global Perspective, Routledge, →ISBN, page 64:
Rupert (1992) discusses a range of cases where religious or philosophical ideas have been used to underpin business training seminars, including both movements which fall under the 'New Age' umbrella and the so-called 'self religions' such as the human potential movement, est, or Scientology.
2000, Donald A. Eisner, The Death of Psychotherapy: From Freud to Alien Abductions, Westport, Connecticut: Praeger, →ISBN, page 60:
est and Large-Group Awareness Seminars: Arising out of the human potential movement in the 1960s were a number of workshops, seminars and training programs. The most famous human potential program was erhard seminars training known as est. est was an intensive 60-hour workshop designed to alter a person's life view. There are a number of est clones including Life Spring, Actualizations and Forum, which is a successor to est. All of these workshops have several features in common. Participants are verbally attacked. The idea is to break down emotional defenses in order to allow new beliefs and attitudes to take over. There is a significant cathartic element in that emotional release is generated by the est techniques.
2003, Michael York, Historical Dictionary of New Age Movements, Scarecrow Press, →ISBN, page 95:
Human Potential Movement. A loose congeries of "technical" approaches to empirical-experiential immediacy found in individual practices as well as various religio-therapeutic movements (e.g., gestalt, encounter, Scientology/dianetics, est, Zen...
2004, James A. Beckford, “New Religious Movements and Globalization”, in Phillip Charles Lucas, Thomas Robbins, editors, New Religious Movements in the 21st Century, Abingdon and New York: Routledge, →ISBN, page 208:
The prospect of a new global order is also central to many variants of the Human Potential and New Age movements and Scientology. All these very different kinds of NRM nevertheless share a conviction that human beings have, perhaps for the first time, come into possession of the knowledge required to free them from traditional structures of thought and action. Hence, the confidence of the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, founder of Transcendental Meditation, and of Werner Erhard, the founder of est (now largely reconfigured as the Landmark Trust), that the state of the entire world would improve if a sufficient number of people became sufficiently energetic and disciplined about their spiritual practice.
2004, Douglas Atkin, “What Is Required of a Belief System?”, in The Culting of Brands: Turn Your Customers Into True Believers, New York: Penguin/Portfolio, →ISBN, page 101:
There has been an enormous growth of the phenomenon known as Large Group Awareness Training represented by such companies as Landmark Forum. Its former iteration was EST, begun by the famous and infamous Werner Erhard. He retired it in 1985 and started The Forum. One of several cults categorized as examples of the human potential movement that started in the 1970s, it focused on exploring and actualizing the self. It has gained great traction in recent decades with professionals working within highly demanding occupations—entrepreneurs, business managers, the fields of acting, advertising, and marketing. EST and The Landmark Forum have had over a million customers.
2011, George D. Chryssides, Historical Dictionary of New Religious Movements, Scarecrow Press, →ISBN, page 169:
Such ideas were further developed by Abraham Maslow, particularly in his notion of the “hierarchy of needs,” culminating in self-actualization—a dominant theme in the Human Potential Movement (HPM)—and the rise of Gestalt psychology was a further contributory factor.
2005, Eileen Barker, “New Religious Movements in Europe”, in Lindsay Jones, editor, Encyclopedia of Religion, Detroit: Macmillan Reference, →ISBN, page 6568:
The majority of NRMs are, however, not indigenous to Europe. Many can be traced to the United States (frequently to California), including offshoots of the Jesus Movement (such as the Children of God, later known as the Family); the Way International; International Churches of Christ; the Church Universal and Triumphant (known as Summit Lighthouse in England); and much of the human potential movement (such as est, which gave rise to the Landmark Forum, and various practices developed through the Esalen Institute).
Scientology is thus one of several groups that form part of the Human Potential Movement (HPM) - an umbrella term for organization that offer enhanced quality of life. Werner Erhard, founder of Erhard Seminar Training (est - now Landmark Forum) previously studied Scientology, but other groups have no such influence: for example Silva Method, PSI Mind Development and the School of Economic Science (SES), the last of which is influenced by TM.
2005, Edward Shorter, A Historical Dictionary of Psychiatry, Oxford University Press, USA, →ISBN, page 119:
Gestalt Therapy. “Gestalt,” meaning in this context wholeness of form, became a kind of therapy associated with the human potential movement of the 1960s and 1970s.
2009, Robert Jean Campbell, Campbell's Psychiatric Dictionary, Oxford University Press, USA, →ISBN, page 467:
Through experiential means, each person can develop his greatest potential, or self-actualization. Humanistic psychology is related to the human potential movement and its encounter groups, growth centers, sensitivity training, etc.
2012, Sharon Klayman Farber, Hungry for Ecstasy: Trauma, the Brain, and the Influence of the Sixties, Lanham, Maryland: Jason Aronson/Rowman & Littlefield, →ISBN, page 139:
Years ago recruitment for cultic groups was far more obvious than today because extreme religious groups were easy to identify. They lived isolated from the general population, and the public had become aware of their deceptive recruiting techniques. Today many are attracted to organizations that are less overtly cultic, not overtly religious, and are often linked with the human potential movement, while others operate as businesses, with their tactics focused around financial success. Landmark Forum, for example, is a human potential/business hybrid.
