By Pandora’sJF
It is pretty well known that Keith Raniere “borrowed,” elements of his courses from other well-known self-help groups, such as Scientology, Est, NLP, Theosophy, Korzybski and Tony Robbins just to name a few.
The Nxivm EM (Exploration of Meaning) aspect of the courses certainly has had many adherents, with, for example, Marc Elliot proclaiming it to have cured his Tourette’s Syndrome, and others saying they were helped tremendously by it.
Was it original? Well, curiously enough, Morty Lefkoe had a book out in 1997 called “Re-create Your Life Transforming Yourself and Your World with the Decision Maker® Process” that could possibly be where Keith copied the EM idea.
See also:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
http://www.decisionmaker.com/dmi.htm
A Reddit thread commenter (ILoveMyFerrari) tried to summarize Morty’s process this way:
“For example, let’s say your problem is ‘I’m not good enough’. They [Lefkoe interviewer] will try to question you about your early childhood, trying to get you to remember an ‘event’, where you came to the conclusion, because of the event itself, or the reaction of others, that you’re not good enough.
“Then they focus on explaining that the event, and what you decided about that event are two completely different things. That the event exists all by itself. You gave the event a meaning, but the meaning is just something in your head. They ask you to try to explain to the interviewer, how you are seeing ‘I’m not good enough’ during the event. To explain to the interviewer, how you know absolutely for sure that the event means that ‘you’re not good enough’.
“Then, if you can’t explain in a rational way exactly how that event means that, then basically that belief, around that particular event crumbles. You realize that the meaning you gave to a specific event, is just something that you conjured up, and that it isn’t necessarily true.”
One of the problems with the Lefkoe method, as wildly demonstrated with the NXIVM group, is the unspoken, central idea of going to some outside authority to challenge your negative beliefs. This creates a sense of dependence, submission, and deference to those holding the keys to your healing.
No one else holds the keys to your own healing, but if you believe they do, you give them a tremendous amount of power. Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Some people love power and love to wield power over others.
In the USA, the founders tried their best to limit the abuse of power by the government knowing full well that the people that crave power would use it and possibly, if given a chance, impose tyranny as King George did.
Keith Raniere suffered from Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD), tried to heal his inner emptiness by reading self-help books, and discovered he could create narcissistic supply by claiming authorship of some of the things he read. Sadly, in the self-help industry, it is an all too common occurrence. Perhaps, even more, the rule rather than the exception.
Ex-Nxian Kristin Keeffe testifies about Nxivm EM aka Exploration of Meaning methodology.
Frank Parlato 
Janine Morrison 
J.J. O'Hara 
Richard Luthmann 
Marie White 
Paul Serran
Please leave a comment: Your opinion is important to us!
I just read about what EMs were. Instantly I said to myself, that sounds a lot like the Lefkoe Method. I looked up EMs further and saw this article, saying the same thing. It sound pretty similar.
As someone very familiar with the Lefkoe Method, (a set of several different processes to deal with limiting beliefs, occurrences, conditioning, etc.), I can say that there is NO indication that one needs a counselor, practitioner, clinician, etc. to facilitate these processes. Because the methods teach that the person is the creator, giving meaning to past and current events, there is no one who can disestablish those meanings besides the creator. Even today, EACH Lefkoe process outline is available FOR FREE to anyone wishing to learn more about it, and the processes themselves are made so that the person runs the process themselves, for themselves. Of course, one can choose to have help, but there is nothing inherent in the processes that disable the person from initiating and completing the entire process, successfully, by themselves.
That said, I DO believe KR bastardized these methods, and weaponized them in the following manner:
1. Charging people thousands and even millions of dollars over a period of time to learn and become “credentialed” to apply the technology. Again, today, in 2021, I am able to find all of the Lefkoe process breakouts, for free, online, by doing only a tiny bit of digging.
2. Charging people hundreds of dollars to have the EMs administered, when they could absolutely use the technology by themselves.
3. Encouraging people to not only begin with severe trauma, or even moderately traumatic events, and working through those events in front of others, forcing others to expose personal beliefs, fears, information, etc.
4. Using knowledge of the person’s trauma, limiting beliefs, etc. against them via manipulation, persuasion, and coercion.
5. Preemptively using this technology to “erase” or dissolve beliefs that WERE NOT HARMFUL to the person to begin with, and were SERVING TO EFFICIENTLY ENSURE THE PERSON’S SURVIVAL AND WELL-BEING. Ex: Dissolving an occurrence of anger when a partner leaves a mess is NOT the same thing as dissolving an occurrence of doubt/alert when one feels they are being manipulated or used.
I could go on and on. The Lefkoe method does not take power out of people’s hands. Nowhere in the processes are people told that a counselor or practitioner must perform the process steps in order for the processes to work. Nowhere in its literature does is it said or implied that one should eliminate beliefs that ensure a person’s well-being, security, or survival. Nowhere does it claim that any power is held in any place other than the person holding the belief. KR absolutely pirated this technology, and used it for his own personal gain, and to torture and use others.
I do not believe there is conclusive evidence to suggest any technology was stolen – at best, inspired by.
I wasn’t part of NXIVM nor I’ve read this book. However articles keep coming out to discredit Keith and I think they are unnecessary. I’ve read a lot of information and a lot of articles that contradict themselves. Literally if Keith were tu save a kitten it would be seen as a bad thing. Again I don’t know him nor was part of NXIVM, I’ve been studying his case and a lot of irregularities came up with his arrest, trial and a ridiculous sentence. This doesn’t mean I’m defending him per se. I actually believe there are alleged crimes that have not been investigated and justice hasn’t been served. We need to stop this everything that Keith did was bad and really focus on the actual crimes that went on at his trial, then actually focus on the crimes he did and have justice.
Anthony, we duplicate your data 100%. Like you, we are objective and, ergo, only focused on the truth and agree that the irregularities and digging for gold are throughout this case impossible to overlook unless one only takes care to notice the media hate and bias. The many so-called articles are definitely unnecessary, contradicting, and all lack data. It is a travesty of justice that saving kittens is considering to be a felony if only Raniere does this.
Interesting to note: Morty Lefkoe called his sessions “DM sessions” in the 1997 widely distributed book.
Keith called his “EM sessions” “invented” a year later in 1998.
Both sessions use the exact same methodology of pinpointing an earlier (usually childhood) belief, interpretation or meaning and realizing it only an interpretation and not objectively true. Once we realize we created it and it’s not objectively true, the painful belief/meaning crumbles and associated pain and behaviors with it.
This is incorrect. That is not how EM’s work in ESP.
Anonymous,
I just based my comment on what I read on Wikipedia.
“During “exploration of meaning” (EM) sessions senior members questioning participants as they delved into their childhood memories.” —https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NXIVM
Feel free to explain how I got it wrong.
Isn’t that the same idea as past life regressions? Nancy came to the table doing these.
If the goal of “rational inquiry” is to remove emotion – why is the end goal of the training an emotional state?
As in Keith Raniere’s quote:
“He who has the most joy wins”.
All I see from Nxivm posters is derision toward emotion. An obsession with “data”.
So this logically does not make sense to me. So much criticism in their comments about “being emotional”. Yet, “He who has the most joy wins”?
Can someone explain this to me, please?
Thank you!
Everything is similar to everything. If you want.
Yes Joshua, at the end of the day people are people, it’s all wheels within wheels..and turtles.. all the way down.
“that could possibly be where Keith copied the EM idea”. That is what it is, a possibly copie. Everything in the world is possible. But the way in which is presented, creates the perception of It is it.
Incontrovertible Fact:
Keith Raniere, L Ron Hubbard, Morty Lefkoe all plagiarized and twisted Sigmund Freud’s work.
Don’t go to charlatans—go to Freud.
https://www.freudfile.org/self_analysis.html
I wouldn’t personally pay someone to ask me questions that I could ask myself.
It sounds like really being in your own head and self involved. You could also just seek to serve others and learn about yourself in the process. Maybe donate time. Self.
I don’t see this fostering independence. I’ll take the Emerson. All day. Errrry day!
Emerson is my spirit animal!
(Apologies if this is double-posted; I did not see my original reply appear)
This post includes 3 of my favourite terms: Cults, NPD and NLP.
I discovered in November that an ex was in Tony Quinn’s Educo “cult” for the last year of our “relationship”. They also have a fascination with NLP and I now acknowledge they have NPD also, from their contempt for abuse-victims, their no-regrets-mantra, and their trail of failed relationships.
I now know that 9 years after I left them, they rose to the top of the Tony Quinn Educo “cult” and it’s documented here:
https://dialogueireland.wordpress.com/2010/05/14/the-good-life-club-%E2%80%93-educo-tony-quinn-club-trying-to-reinvent-in-city-west/?c=124641
I really appreciate others putting these 3 terms together: Cults, NPD and NLP. Interestingly, her brother (apparently still recruiting for this “cult”) also seems to have delusions of grandeur and likes to be called “Vanguard”
Thank you for sharing!
Happy to share. I really rate Frank and all he has done and I think he’s a genuinely great person.
It may be the Baader-Meinhof Frequency Illusion but I am observing the juxtaposition between Cults and Narcissism so often I wonder what I was doing before. The word features a lot on the I-Got-Out twitter-handle for example.
Certainly, this Educo Method, of the “cult” I refer to, has co-opted a lot of NLP and I’m told, from those who attended the $25k seminars, covert hypnosis. Certainly, 10 long days overseas hearing the Tony Quinn shtick would be incredibly boring; even I would enter a trance.
I’m told the brother of my ex, who was seen to be running events for Educo in 2020, can fall into a trance very quickly.
I’d be interested in knowing other’s thoughts. I certainly cannot think of anything worse than entering into an exercise with someone with no accountability talking me to recall childhood events. I can imagine, however, that for those with seemingly benign childhoods their experience will appear to be beneficial, but so what? It’s the danger it does to those who do not, and cannot, speak out.
Well this is an article that has all my favourite subjects. Cults, NPD, NLP! I became aware an ex who treated me criminally was in Tony Quinn’s Educo cult for the last year of our “relationship”. With this information I was able to determine she too has NPD from the lovebombing-devalueing-discarding-hoovering cycles I now see in the relationship along with her general philosophy of mankind (condeming abuse victims, a mantra of no-regrets, a trail of failed relationships and friendships). It turns out, 9 years later, she, her brother, and my co-worker who recruited her, all got to the top of Tony Quinn’s “cult” to rebrand it. I discovered this in November and I was already following NXIVM then, so this is Educo nonsense is quite a shock and quite difficult to come to terms with. But I find it useful others are putting Cults, NPD and NLP together.
https://dialogueireland.wordpress.com/2010/05/14/the-good-life-club-%E2%80%93-educo-tony-quinn-club-trying-to-reinvent-in-city-west/?c=124641
It’s always very hard to unpack exactly who took what from whom in these groups. The Human Potential Movement of the 1960s and 1970s, and its later offshoots, are a stew of shared sources and cross-influences, like some terribly inbred family where children can also be cousins of a parent.
For instance, while we have testimony that Raniere took ideas and material directly from Scientology, I think it’s also pretty likely that he would have known people who did upstate New York-based Avatar – which was a program created by a former Scientology mission holder from Elmira, NY., and from which he may have gotten other elements, possibly modified and fused with other things. And Nancy Salzman studied Ericksonian hypnosis itself, which heavily influenced NLP. On top of it all, L. Ron Hubbard was in Flagstaff, Arizona developing Scientology at the same time Erickson was there, working within a mile of him, and there’s reason to suspect that Hubbard may have gotten some ideas and techniques either directly from Erickson or, perhaps more likely, through some intermediary involved with both.
Lefkoe’s techniques sound to me a lot like NLP and Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT), though that may be somewhat coincidental. His work certainly arose out of the same milieu, and Lefkoe would have been familiar with them, as well the other sorts of concepts and practices that influenced them. The Lefkoe website itself even has an article about all three:
> https://www.mortylefkoe.com/threemethods/
I can’t find any direct connections or influences, but typically he turns out to have been based in California, the hotbed of the Human Potential Movement, and home to everything from novel therapies to full-blown cults. And Lefkoe did apparently sort of get his start doing Werner Erhard’s est, which itself is one of those points in the complex web that had multiple sources, and in turn became of the influences for other things, including (through its later incarnation, Landmark) NXIVM.
“Werner Erhard – thanks for my first exposure to transformation, for assisting me to shift my life from a focus on “what’s in it for me” to a focus on contributing to others, and for the immeasurable difference you have made in the lives of hundreds of thousands of people through the est training” http://www.wernererhard.com/influence.html
Great info. That’s crazy about Hubbard and Erickson.
Glad if you found that interesting.
It’s conjecture on my part, but given that they were working so close together, it seems more likely than not that there was some sort of overlap, given how people working in this milieu seem to almost inevitably have connections.
Hubbard was documented by his contemporaries as being very accomplished in performing stage hypnosis style tricks on people, and that predates his time in Phoenix, so he was a quite capable hypnotist regardless. I’ve never seen an account of how he learned, but given a reference claiming he spent time working as a ‘swami, I’m guessing he picked it up when he was doing various things to make ends meet after the war.
AnonyMaker-
Hypnosis has not been scientifically studied nearly enough.
It’s an overly long story, but hypnosis on some people works beyond what conventional wisdom says is possible.
Some people are much more malleable and can greatly be affected/manipulated via hypnosis.
I personally believe people should not be hypnotized whatsoever.
—On top of it all, L. Ron Hubbard was in Flagstaff, Arizona developing Scientology at the same time Erickson was there, working within a mile of him, and there’s reason to suspect that Hubbard may have gotten some ideas and techniques either directly from Erickson or, perhaps more likely, through some intermediary involved with both.
Fascinating fact!
I always look enjoy and look forward to reading your comments.
I am glad you are still contributing in the comments section.
Thank you!
I have experienced many EMs and the process was very helpful to me. I didn’t feel like I was being told how to think or what to think. I did experience strong emotions sometimes. I was always grateful for this experience, though. It felt like a release of an internal conflict I was holding on to.
Why do you focus only on yourself? Why do you ignore the people who recount how it had a destructive impact on their psyches?
Frankly, you come across as narcissistic and incapable of empathy.
Have you ever read a book and it didn’t make that change you were looking for but a conversation or an experience did make that change? Even if the claims of this article are true that the source of an EM was from this book, an EM goes way beyond just words being read on a paper. This article feels like a way to discredit a truly life changing process.
I agree, it was a truly life-changing process. I not only speak for myself this time but for hundreds of people I personally witnessed. How they were able to get rid of a fear that had been stopping them from something they really loved (like having a dream of traveling to Italy but being afraid of flying on a plane) or forgive someone who had wronged them. It was a powerful and beautiful process.
Also, we are all standing on other people’s shoulders; if what this article raises is true, I don’t think is bad to build upon ideas. In fact, I think this is the only way it has ever been done.
Honest brokers don’t usurp the ideas of others, they acknowledge their influences and admit their admiration rather than concealing it and letting it curdle into envy.
Acknowledgment is key, whether you are going to climb onto the shoulders of a great idea or debunk it. Raniere was such an errant usurper that he filed patents for things he didn’t invent just as he claimed sporting and intellectual prowess he didn’t have. Just as the MO of the Nx redux is to make fantastic claims against a somewhat sordid reality. The dishonesty is plain to see and becoming something of a bore to deal with.
But now she “speaks for hundreds”.
Do we all get to do that now? Or are we all just speaking for ourselves as responsible people do? If we are doing the forme,; I speak for 1 million people. So there.
He, he, this was a humorous comment to me. I didn’t mean to be vague or to not take responsibility for my comment; this was my honest experience: I was part of this company for a long time (as a coach), that is the reason I witnessed so many people going through the EMs and these people consistently reported to have a wonderful experience (given this is as much as one can know about someone else’s experiences, I give it to you that it can have inaccuracies). So, I take your feedback, thank you; I will try to be more precise in the future and stick to data (you know which is my stance so I get to use this world freely now 😉 ) and speak for my own experience.
PoP, you are an irresponsible [redacted] in my opinion.
Raniere’s hypocrisy really shines through here. If you read the NXIVM materials available online, you’ll see that Raniere preached that other people’s ideas should never be stolen. I believe he made his followers even say some type of statement affirming that they would never steal ideas from another. And yet, he completely ripped off the works of these “self-help” groups. Raniere had not one original idea. He is far from being a genius. Just a petty, little man.
.
Right? not a word of his precious plagiarism could be uttered outside the magic circle without him summoning the four horses of the apocalypse from Clare and Sara’s wallet. Complete and utter charlatan!
Brilliant. I never thought about this rather obvious point.
Oooo! How does it go beyond words if it’s just words? Magic?
Doesn’t sound like rational data from you.
We’re their ghosts, too?
Ooooo
I have not experienced any specific program to be as effective as truly changing a person’s life for the better as an EM.
No conclusive evidence here.
There is very little “conclusive evidence” anywhere. At some point, you stop with the endless searching and reach some logical conclusions. Then we are able to have communication with agreed-upon shared knowledge.
Example: We have by and large agreed to call the planet we inhabit Earth.
To say that Keith authored EM technology and he stole it from someone else lead me to some reflections.
Most of our common knowledge is based on others’ past achievements. Even communication is based on language and was created by ancient people and then systematized by others and so on.
Rational Inquiry or EM technology was at some point (or still is) patent-pending, beyond other different opinions.
Seems to me that “guest view” is biased about finding Keith’s achievements false. What moves him to say so?
Just wondering…
I experienced EM tech for 10 years; this guy’s work doesn’t come close…
Let’s see your data!
“One of the problems with the Lefkoe method, as wildly demonstrated with the NXIVM group, is the unspoken, central idea of going to some outside authority to challenge your negative beliefs. This creates a sense of dependence, submission, and deference to those holding the keys to your healing.”
In the psychoanalytic process, the client develops a sense of dependence on the practitioner, like a child towards its parent. The psychoanalyst then works to break this dependence and help the client stand on their own two feet, much like a good parent fosters independence in their child when the child is ready. Dependence is part of the process, but this dependence, and psychoanalysis itself, is not supposed to go on forever. Submission and deference are not part of the psychoanalytic process.
The goal of a cult is to abusively keep dependence going on permanently, so that one cannot break free. That is when it becomes a toxic combination of dependence, submission, and deference.
Diane,
Thank you for explaining the psychologist-patient dynamic…That was one of the “missing pieces of the puzzle” for me personally; it goes a long way in understanding the “dependency” issue cult members develop and that cults like to foster.
I hope everyone takes the time to read Diane’s comment!
Until now, I was not aware of that aspect regarding cults.
Thanks, again!
In my opinion, the vast majority of people using the EM tech did good for others. Most people genuinely wanted to help others, and they did. I thought it was moving, and it helped me through some profound things. At no point did I feel dependent on needing it to deal with every day problems.
It was more of a help with finding clarity on things that I didn’t realize weren’t clear, or things that I had not re-evaluated in a while, and maybe never would. This gentleman’s book sounds like a similar focus. Theft? I haven’t read deep enough to tell you, nor was I an EM tech teacher/implementer that could look at it from that angle either.
Thanks for the post – I’ll check it out sometime.
—my opinion, the vast majority of people using the EM tech did good for others.
Stolen from Sigmund Freud which did do a lot of good.
The information exists, each person can configure it. It is like learning to add. Tribute to Mr. Lefkore, excellent book.
Why so much focus on whether Keith Raniere’s NXIVM methodologies were original or not? Did he ever say his teachings were 100% original and only his ideas? Could people in the self-help field independently discover the same or similar techniques?
It sounds pretty cool to me that NXIVM seemed to help people with Tourette Syndrome. I wonder if Morty Lefkoe’s methods could achieve similar results. That would be very interesting, I think.
Keith tried to patent it. So, yes – he did claim everything to be original.
I once asked him his thoughts on Scientology. He lied and said he didn’t know much about it. We now know he secretly asked for and studied their materials years before he started ESP.
Heidi Hutchinson certainly Illuminated the Scientology link!
Anyone interested in learning more should type in Hutchison and Scientology in the Frank Report search bar. 😀
Scientology-Nxivm connection!!!
More inside info:
https://frankreport.com/2019/01/17/heidi-scientology-proprietary-info-was-secreted-to-keith-raniere-at-his-request/
The truth!
Patents don’t claim that everything in them is original – they make very specific claims of the parts believed to be original.
As for Scientology, I know I’ve tried to read up on various things before and felt like I didn’t understand them very much so I would’ve said I don’t “know much about” them if asked – I don’t think that’s necessarily lying.
I hear you. I’ve tried a ton of angles like that. For some reason, he lied. He should have just blown off the question or been vague. Instead, it became a red flag and built distrust with me.
—Could people in the self-help field independently discover the same or similar techniques?
You are 1/2 correct!
The fact is Keith Raniere, L Ron Hubbard, and Morty Lefkoe all perverted, twisted, and plagiarized Sigmund Freud.
All three men took Sigmund Freud’s, “exam
of self”[self-analysis] and repackaged it and as well as monetized Freud’s concepts.
Sigmund Freud Self:
https://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/12328212/Watson_Who_am_I.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
Yup if you take away the human slavery issues, the suicides, the sex with underage women, the fact that NXIVM was a Ponzi scheme, the branding, embezzling millions from the two airheaded heiresses, the extensive use of the judicial system as a weapon…
I am probably forgetting a lot but my point is that if one is willing to look past the above-mentioned issues, we would be more willing to credit Van(prison)Guard with curing Tourette’s, bringing the Dalai Lama to Albany, saving kittens, and enlightening the masses (for a price, of course).
Someone mentioned the excessive sentence, basically, a life sentence, imposed on Raniere. Since a 60-year sentence would have been sufficient to assure that Raniere dies in prison, why the 120-year sentence?
Bernard Madoff was given a sentence that makes certain he will die in prison. Madoff, of course, operated a Ponzi scheme for decades. I am certain there were suicides due to fortunes lost to Madoff. There was no human slavery. There was no branding. Madoff did not use the judicial system to punish his enemies. The Madoff victims have been able to claw back some of the money that was lost. Madoff and all of his corporate entities PAID TAXES.
The victims of Madoff were lucky in terms of seeking restitution in that Madoff owned properties in France, Manhattan, and Long Island. There was probably cash lying around, jewelry, some luxury vehicles, maybe a yacht…
What will the victims of Raniere have available when they seek restitution? Raniere is the man who claimed he “owned nothing”. Maybe the NXIVictiMs can share in the patent rights to inventions that have already been patented by other companies? Maybe they can all divvy up the half-million in cash found in a shoebox in Frau Salzman’s lair?
Was part of the thinking behind what is admittedly a longer than necessary sentence the fact that Raniere’s victims could never be made whole in civil actions?
This should not have been a consideration.
Because this was a criminal trial and the Judge was limited to an extent by sentencing guidelines, the sentence I proposed was not possible: At Clare Bronfman’s expense, put a huge wall and barbed wire fence around Clare’s Fiji property. Hire a small militia (again, Clare’s expense) to guard the perimeter. Then drop Clare and Keith in the enclosure and let them spend the rest of their lives together.
This is something that could be filmed and released as reality TV.
How the Lefkoe Belief Process Works, Part 2
https://www.mortylefkoe.com/020910/
The Lefkoe Institute
Eliminate your beliefs quickly … Change your life permanently (TM)
How the Lefkoe Belief Process works, Part 1
https://www.mortylefkoe.com/020210/
Lefkoe Institute
…
The Lefkoe Method (TLM) enables you to replace the foundation by eliminating the causes of our problems: limiting beliefs and emotional conditioning. Our methods show you how to unlearn what you’ve learned in the past that keeps you stuck today.
This is why it’s possible to make change last with our methods. You unlearn the old, instead of learning new things that don’t stick. And that allows you to build a new house with a firm foundation that can weather any storm. You get change that lasts.
What we’ve discovered clears up many mysteries of human behavior
As you read the articles on this website, you’ll finally understand…
Why so many of us fear failure and rejection and what can be done to overcome these feelings for good.
Why we often don’t take action on our most important goals and how to eliminate these barriers so you can live a more fulfilling life.
Why we often feel angry, doing and saying things we later regret, and how to get rid of the causes of anger so you can be calm and collected in even the most difficult of situations.
How to stop our daily stress by learning how to dissolve the negative meanings we give to everyday events.
You’ll discover that achieving your goals is not about working harder but about discovering what holds you back so you can overcome those barriers for good.
…
https://www.mortylefkoe.com/
I think Keith’s “tech” was to use EM’s also to gain information on the fears and/or weaknesses of the EM subjects (especially the women) and use that to exploit them.
A tool is a tool is a tool. So, I think you are right; if someone wanted to use the EM tech as you describe, I believe it would be possible, same as in any other relationship where you open up and disclose your Achilles tendon (fears/weaknesses), and that later could be used against you if the person wanted to, hopefully, they won’t but that is not under our control, I guess we share ourselves on good faith and it’s up to the other person’s morality how they use it.
Being part of the community for 10+ years, it was never my experience the EMs were used this way; on the contrary, people who were using this tool (there were many who practiced and applied them) were people who wanted to help others in their growth.
I do not doubt this at all.
I’ve seen the most amazing transformations with this process. I think to label it simply as something ‘to gain information’ is one sided at best and probably inaccurate.
I’d say gaining info was a side benefit that could come in handy if a student ever turned heel. Or, to be more accurate, if a student ever woke up with a conscience.
Interesting thought. How would you test this hypothesis?
Great article. Would love to hear any comments on this. I’ll read the book but not promising how quickly. The timing is interesting. Book published in ’97 and he was really getting “Rational Inquiry” lined up to present in late ’98.
I agree, great article. 👍🏼 And I wondered about the timing, too… 🙄
They both have pretty hair, Lefkoe’s is a little prettier, even when Raniere’s is washed. Of course, with Lefkoe 6′ under Raniere wins the race now, just like he could probably beat Lefkoe in a 100 yard dash, judo, or a pizza eating contest with hot sauce, although Raniere could probably beat Lefkoe in the last one even when he was alive.
It is pretty well known that Keith Raniere “borrowed” elements of his courses from other well-known self-help groups, such as Scientology, Est, NLP, Theosophy, Korzybski and Tony Robbins just to name a few.
What proof do you have of this?
What proof do I have? Oh, just that they were using the same methods and ideas only 25-50 years earlier.
It’s been broken down and documented on FR over the years. The way he compartmentalized everything makes it necessary to piecemeal the proof.
Incite-full and novel point!
I take back all the bad things I’ve said about you.
Guest View: Was the Nxivm EM (Exploration of Meaning) Process Stolen by Raniere From a Man Named Morty Lefkoe? Who is the guest? Why is the guest so interested in attacking Suneel?
Hi Joshua,
I’m not interested in attacking Suneel. I may have noted that Suneel’s attempts to gloss over KR’s lies, pedophilia, blackmail, extortion, and fraud are characteristics of cult behavior and that KR is not an ideal candidate to start a criminal justice campaign.
If Judge Judy and the guy from the old Isuzu commercials ever had a kid, this guy would be in the genetic looks ballpark.
Eugene Levy + Jeffrey Epstein= Lefkoe
Clown Fish can do it!
Check all known Lefkoe books for pizza drippings with hot sauce.
“One of the problems with the Lefkoe method, as wildly demonstrated with the NXIVM group, is the unspoken, central idea of going to some outside authority to challenge your negative beliefs. This creates a sense of dependence, submission, and deference to those holding the keys to your healing.”
Hmmmm… So, people should look to the author for advice on how to heal correctly?
Is that what you got out of that statement? How many dozens of EMs have you paid for?
I know. This comment is pretty short sided. The concept of “going to some outside authority to challenge your negative beliefs” is the entire basis of what’s commonly known as “education.” Other people are essential for us seeing our blind spots. This author must not have any 🙂
In the past, they used to say education seeks to teach and set you free to use what you’ve learned.
Cults seek to create dependence and servitude from you and veneration for their leaders.
They used to say that University is not to teach you “what” to think but to teach you “how” to think. That’s all been thrown out now. Now they just teach you what to think. Unless you are getting a STEM degree, you are just there for the propaganda and credentials.
Anyway, Morty Lefkoe had a system where you could be free of a belief for $1000 and five beliefs for $4500 or something like that.
Guess what? You don’t have to pay Morty or Nancy or anyone to get free of your limiting beliefs or “meanings.”
I had experienced a couple of EMs myself and witnessed it in other people. I don’t know about it being stolen/taken elsewhere (I really mean I don’t know..not it is untrue) but, in my experience, EMs and really all the stuff was for people to become more independent.
Then why do so many people end up stuck? Broke? Paying for EMs over and over? And in for decades?
Teach a man to fish and all…
Since Raniere was a lazy man, I would suggest that the more industrious Nancy Salzman probably did the stealing from Lefkoe.
Didn’t Salzman steal from Scientology?
Salzman brought the NLP and hypnosis. I’m almost positive that Keith told everyone (especially Nancy) that Rational Inquiry was his invention. That’s why this article is interesting to me, as it could provide a missing puzzle piece.
Ask Heidi NutJob.