WERNER ERHARD WAS BORN John Paul Rosenberg. He took his new moniker on a cross-country plane trip, as a combination of two names he read in an in-flight magazine: quantum physicist Werner Heisenberg—developer of Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle—and then-economics minister of West Germany, Ludwig Erhard.

As to the man’s character, the late Buckminster Fuller effused in the New York Times (in February of 1979):

I have quite a few million people who listen to me. And I say Werner Erhard is honest. He may prove untrustworthy, and if he does then I’ll say so.

That endorsement came, of course, from the same futurist who, only a few years earlier, had whole-heartedly endorsed the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. At the time, Fuller and Erhard were splitting the proceeds from a series of public “conversations” between the two of them.

Erhard’s est training had its roots in many other well-known therapies and disciplines. Indeed, Mark Brewer (1975), in an article for Psychology Today, found traces of Zen, Scientology—which Erhard once followed—Dale Carnegie and gestalt therapy in the core teachings of est (“Erhard Seminars Training”):

What the training is more than anything else [is an] application of classic techniques in indoctrination and mental conditioning worthy of Pavlov himself.

Yet, the relatively low concentration of things “Eastern” reportedly did not stop the former used car salesman, Erhard, from pondering his own high position in the cosmos:

“How do I know I’m not the reincarnation of Jesus Christ?” Erhard once wondered of a friend (Pressman, 1993).

In other times, Jim Jones asked himself the same question, coming to the conclusion that he was exactly that reincarnation (Layton, 1998)—as well as having more recently been Vladimir Ilyich Lenin. Wanna-be rock star and alleged pedophile David Koresh, too—of Waco, Texas, i.e., Branch Davidian infamy—believed himself to be Jesus Christ (England and McCormick, 1993); as did Marshall Applewhite of Heaven’s Gate (Lalich, 2004).

One can, however, always aim higher. Thus, in the autumn of 1977, as reported by Steven Pressman in his (1993) Outrageous Betrayal, during a beachside meeting of est seminar leaders in Monterey, one participant got to his feet.

“The question in the room that nobody is asking,” the man told Erhard solemnly, “is ‘Are you the [M]essiah?’”

The room grew silent as Erhard looked out to the curious faces of some of his most devoted disciples. After a few moments he replied, “No, I am who sent him [i.e., God].”

Marshall Applewhite’s spiritual partner, Bonnie Lu Nettles, likewise believed herself to be an incarnation of God the Father (Lalich, 2004).

Given reported feelings such as the above among the formerly encyclopedia-selling “God”—Erhard—and his seminar trainers, it is hardly surprising that alleged horror stories such as the following should surface:

David Shy (2004) lists additional relevant published concerns.

Erhard himself has reportedly “hotly denied any damaging effects from the est training” (Pressman, 1993).

Early graduates of Erhard’s four-day est seminars included John “Windy Kansas Wheat Field” Denver—who wanted to give up his singing career to become an est trainer. Also, Diana Ross, astronaut Buzz Aldrin, and Yoko Ono. More recently, Ted Danson, Valerie Harper, Roy “Jaws” Scheider and numerous other Hollywood stars have taken Erhard’s courses.

At any rate, as if to argue that the harsh discipline of any “holy man” directed toward his followers simply begins a cycle of abuse with future generations of disciples, we have the following allegation:

Those who worked closest to Erhard often witnessed his own tirades and yelling bouts, and sometimes felt free to mirror his own behavior when they were in charge (Pressman, 1993).

Erhard’s home life may have taken tragic turns as well. For, Werner’s daughter Deborah once alleged that he had

coerced one of his older daughters ... into having sexual intercourse with him in a hotel room they were sharing during one of his frequent out-of-town trips (Pressman, 1993).*

“Thank you for sharing.”

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