Lifespring Cult

Flightless Bird

David Farrier

Comedy, Documentary, Society & Culture

4.9 • 3.3K Ratings

🗓️ 2 June 2026

⏱️ 65 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this week’s episode of Flightless Bird, David looks into the bonkers world of the Human Potential Movement and Large Group Awareness Training - viewed through the lens of a child whose mother got sucked into the Lifespring cult in the 80s. Founded in 1974 by three people, Lifespring members found out that it was incredibly hard to leave, as their brains were systematically broken down and dismantled piece by piece. What can we learn from Lifespring, and is this kind of movement still an issue in 2016?Feedback: flightlessbirdchat@gmail.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, Beth.
0:02.0	Hi, Rosabel.
0:04.0	What's the best thing that's happened in your day so far besides this call?
0:09.0	Oh, well, I bought myself a sneaky bag of lollies and I've been having little nibbles of lollies all day, which has been really nice.
0:21.5	Today's episode is about an American human potential group that sort of got out of control
0:28.3	and turned into a cult, you know, one of those sort of self-help groups that suddenly gets out
0:33.0	of control.
0:33.7	Okay.
0:34.4	Yeah.
0:34.9	And I had some memories of some of our friends in New Zealand getting involved in a group.
0:41.6	Do you know what I mean when I say human potential and a bit culty?
0:45.1	I haven't heard that phrase human potential, but I know what program in back home here that you're talking about.
0:53.3	What's it called? Do you remember because I forgot?
0:55.4	I think it's called the Landmark Forum. Landmark forum. And if I recall a big part of the landmark
1:01.4	procedures, you call up people you've wronged and you either confront them or apologize or
1:07.0	cut them off or something. It all got a bit bad shit, didn't it? Yeah, but you bring them into the space, don't you? It's not just a call. Like, I was never
1:17.4	invited. Nobody's ever wronged me enough to care. Well, look, if you want to find out about
1:23.6	the American version of a human potential group that does truly get out of control.
1:28.5	Keep listening, Rosebel and whoever's listening to this podcast. Here we go.
1:33.5	I'm David Farrier, a New Zealander accidentally marooned in America, and I want to figure out
1:37.8	what makes this country tick. Now, if it's one thing America is not short on, it's cults.
1:43.1	We have cults in New Zealand,
	...

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