Anyone check out "Lester and Me"?

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Permalink Reply by liiloo on February 18, 2012 at 9:50am

it is stephen seretan if im correct and umm , if im correct , here in hootless are some ppl who have been using his method of lesters ways to release.

Correct me if i´m wrong.

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Permalink Reply by HOOTLESS CREW [ADMIN] on February 18, 2012 at 11:39am

Yes Evan & Liiloo. It is by Stephen Seretan who was also one of Lesters students. He led a call for us once although that one is no longer available as a replay. He is still active, as far as we know, and we are grateful for the forum that he had (not sure if it is still going) but it is where many of us originally met over four years back.

He uses Lesters "Keep it Simple Sweetheart" or KISS way of releasing, and has kept it going for many years too.....again he brought many releasers together via the forum who are still friends now, so that was a great gain right there....

As far as memory serves the book is about Steve's time with Lester rather than transcripts or conversations. It is a long time since reading though....perhaps someone who has recently read it might comment?

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Permalink Reply by Chuck Goodwin, [SMaRT Host] on February 18, 2012 at 7:41pm

Review:

You may want to go get a cup of coffee.  This is not a sound bite or a snippet.

The below is an account of my experience with what you asked about in your post.  I'm serving in my occasional capacity as a book or event critic for this one.  What follows is fact and my opinion- my story.  There are certainly others.  I'll give you a brief and hopefully objective, report from my first-hand, personal encounter- just one person's take on it all.  

During the long, cold Michigan winter of '08, I had some time on my hands and had exhausted all the Lester material available from both Larry and Hale (L&H).  I still had a thirst for anything Lester and somehow stumbled across what you refer to in your post.  I decided to take this for checking and find out for myself. 

I believed the hype and bought his alleged book, along with his 3-part teleseminar.  I think I got a discount by buying both at once.  I discovered, too late and much to my dismay, that both were vastly over promoted and each was distinctly underwhelming.  

It seems that he did actually attend a seminar or two with Lester and even prevailed upon him to take a picture posing with him, as did many others.  Seminar/retreat leaders and featured speakers often do that for people attending their events, like L&H do today.

The seeming "book" is an e-book which means that you read an electronic version of it on your computer screen or else use your printer, your paper and your ink to print it out.  How you choose to bind it is also up to you and of course at your expense.  I three-hole punched mine and put it in an appropriately small binder. 

As an aside- high quality, professionally printed and bound books, from established authors, are readily available, sent to your door, with shipping; for less than the cost of this e-book, let alone any printing and binding costs.

I started a pot of tea, opened my new e-book and started to read.  Before too long I was done and wishing it had come with a money-back guarantee.  No such luck.  There were notes, of course, but nothing even approximating transcripts.  It was from some of whatever he had attended of Lester retreats.  There were not a lot of them.  They weren't thorough, weren't extensive, weren't organized and weren't illuminating.

Maybe the teleseminar would be better I hoped.  It was touted as goal-setting the way Lester used to do it.  I dialed in at seminar time and was greeted by atrocious audio quality, the worst I've ever heard- with cut-outs; unexplained, loud, electronic noises, etc.  The presenter acknowledged calling in to his own teleseminar on a cell phone, from a coffee shop, using a pre-paid phone card.  Honest.  The content he offered was not materially different from what L&H have offered for years.  He took callers and helped them release using the very basics.

The second call was no better and I don't remember even getting on the third one. 

I taped over the recordings I'd made of the calls, threw away my e-book, and deleted the PDF and its folder from my computer; hoping to not be reminded of the whole incident.

A couple of my friends suffered the same fate. We just never mentioned it again, feeling a bit sheepish at being so easily taken in.

At the time, he was also promoting a seminar in Sedona on what used to be Lester's ranch.  One or two members of this site attended it.  I'll let them add their 2 cents, if they feel so inclined.  There wasn't a second one.

Later, his web site went down for a long time.

I later heard Hale say, when asked about him on a support call, that this person was never authorized by Lester to be an instructor.  I've never heard him or anyone else say that he has been authorized to do anything- be a workshop leader, a facilitator, a coach- nothing at all.

He seems to have just taken it upon himself, with the occasional help of an amateur promoter, to hype what little he has on the internet and to hope for the best.  I also heard that he has appeared at conventions and expos promoting his wares at a vendor table.

There's more than enough professional material from L&H and the other instructors, who actually were authorized by Lester, to have regular and prominent gains and maybe to even realize the freedom you have always been, if you follow the Six Steps as Lester advised.

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Permalink Reply by John [Hootless Crew] on February 18, 2012 at 7:58pm

I do not find the website writing that bad, but it is true that the quality of editing and proofreading in the book is low. It should have been better, but anyone keen to gather as much about Lester as possible can look beyond the technical weaknesses, and get another individual memory and take on Lester.

The forum to which Steve contributed contained a lot of interesting material, not least because of Steve's recollections of Sedona Institute and Lester, so it is a pity in a way that it is not currently online to be read.

Steve loves Lester (which student does not?). Because there was some disagreement when Sedona Institute came to an end, Steve and probably many others had their own take on things and did not agree on everything. When Steve started to offer teaching, there were really no other teachers active on the Internet apart from Hale and Larry and their respective assistants. Steve felt that loyalty to Lester and his mastery meant sticking as closely as possible to his teaching and the method in its early form. This attempt to keep the method unchanged is reflected in the way he teaches. While Steve, like others, generally refrained from personal comment on the breakup of Sedona Institute, he openly doubted the value of developing the teaching with additional techniques, which he felt Hale had done more extensively than Larry, and this is reflected in his liking for the 'keep it simple sweetheart' slogan.

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Permalink Reply by John [Hootless Crew] on February 18, 2012 at 8:27pm

To responds to Chuck, I am sure it is right that Steve never went through the Sedona teacher training course. It is also true that he does not display the level of 'professionalism' which may be expected in the coaching industry. Most teachers are no doubt flawed. Whether you are likely to gain from Steve's book is very much an individual thing, which is hard to advise on.

There are many excellent teachers contributing to hootless, whom I would recommend ahead of Steve. I quite like the fact that his approach is 'basic', I am not a huge fan of 'advanced', but there are other teachers represented here giving a 'basic' style of teaching, and perhaps doing it better. I wish some of them would also follow Steve's lead in committing to writing their personal recollections of their contact with Lester.

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Permalink Reply by Evan on February 18, 2012 at 8:37pm

Interesting- thanks. 

There was a forum I came across when I first heard about the sedona method. If i'm reading between the lines correctly, I won't ask about it here but if someone wouldn't mind messaging me what the name of that forum was.. if it's the one I saw, let's just say it made a, uh, strong impression on me. 

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Permalink Reply by John [Hootless Crew] on February 18, 2012 at 8:41pm

I will send the url if you like, but it is offline, I just looked, so not much point... not sure how much is available on wayback machine.

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Permalink Reply by Akin on February 21, 2012 at 12:28am

I found the book interesting. It's not the type of book that will blow you away with new info, but everytime I do read it, I receive new information.  Steve seems sincere in what he does.  It is interesting to note that he is the only teacher that speaks of almost going totally free, which is the point of the method.   

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Permalink Reply by Chuck Goodwin, [SMaRT Host] on February 21, 2012 at 1:43am

I've heard Hale talk live about it, indirectly, on a retreat once referencing "the changes" and more directly on a CD, referring to it only as "what I got."  He has also said that anyone who tells you they are enlightened, isn't. 

Not sure we can justify putting SS in the category teacher.

I've personally heard a few people refer to their "being close" or "being done."  This often causes others, who know them only too well, to furrow their brows and tilt their heads.

Not sure what Larry's comments on himself have been.

There are a few Lester-authorized instructors or former Lester students who might very well be, but I doubt they'd ever discuss it, as it pertained to them.  When your default reality becomes oneness, why bring up the apparency of differences?

I'd further guess that _some_ of the thousands of SM and TR graduates have realized the freedom they have always been.  I know of a few who I think are likely candidates.

Hale is fond of the quote, "The only difference between a realized person and an unrealized one is that the realized one knows that there's no difference."

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Permalink Reply by Evan on February 21, 2012 at 2:34am

"Almost" does sound funny - there is a threshold though that is rare to cross.. our man http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNSXAViW0Bw&feature=relmfu speaks to it well.

Lester said he isolated himself for ten years.. if your mind goes "ok yeah ten years.." - really let it sink in.. TEN YEARS. Most people at this level, you won't come into contact with. They could give a rats ass whether or not you acknowledge their free-ness :) A few will drop down a bit to teach. 

We are so results obsessed and most people still judge their success with these techniques based on how pretty their life becomes, or how much money starts coming in. The mind can't possibly picture freedom,  so I believe this turns into having all desires fulfilled on the egoic level, as we are trained to associate that temporary feeling of connectedness with the satisfaction of desire. How can one fathom freedom when it means freedom from the one who tries to fathom it in the first place.

I would bet money the mind's image is certainly NOT disappearing and sitting alone all day for ten years - but that seems to be the theme of many, Lester included, and many of the others never even bother to tell us the story so we don't know about them. Personally, I think most people are drawn to the "super power" side of Lester's story and picture having this kick ass super power life.. the mind might edit out the part where you sit alone for 10 years or as hale talked about him sitting all day watching TV :)

It's an energetic thing when these rare folks speak and write.. you all feel it. It's sort of a silly thing for one to try to prove it or speak about it in a way to convince you. It's like trying to explain to a girl why she should be attracted to you- and is about as effective. 

I think Larry and Hale are too smart to ever make a direct claim like that as it is business suicide and rocket launcher ammo for people that want to scream scam/fraud, they always take a knee to Lester in their materials. Their careers really are as facilitators of an excellent technique, not as guru giving satsangs etc. and I think they are both excellent facilitators in their own way. I think both could use some of the characteristics of the other but that's just my own stuff. 

If this is inappropriate to the forum go ahead and delete, but if Stephen is the guy from the "going free" forum I first found, it was so full of obvious bitterness that I almost was dissuaded from pursing this method further (i was very new to it at the time). There are some non-dual discussions like that too-- it is the most extreme, funny/sad version of irony I can think of. 

In the end though, more power to anyone who is making an effort to get this stuff out there. 

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Permalink Reply by Lisa [Hootless Crew] on February 21, 2012 at 5:40am

Hi guys....

It was 'Going Free' yes indeed there is no secret of that....I have to say that when I first started releasing and wanted a forum to discover more. Going Free was a presence that showed on a search right away. I joined, and my first post was something I was going through in relation to 'bullying' (John B)will remember this! :) I have to say that I received alot of support in the form of wonderful e-mails from members and also from Steve personally. That to me at the time was a great service, even if I didn't always agree with some things there all of the time.

In fact it was how I connected with John B/Mario/Per/iFrank/Tom/Fab/Warren/Patrik & Peter....

It is because of these connections made that Hootless was formed when 'Going Free' disbanded, we had started releasing together and wanted to continue with the calls. The rest is history. I am grateful to Steve Seretan and Sam that ran the forum for their part in my own releasing story in that had they not started it then we might not have come together as we did and would certainly not be here right now discussing this particular story!!!

We must ask ourselves if we should sit in judgement of someone else here and the way they do things? Everyone does the best that they can according to their own place on the path....'Everything and that means EVERYTHING has unfolded exactly as it should in the releasing arena. Each person has had their part to play in getting it out there and sharing it with the world. From Virginia and Ernie in the early days to Hale, Larry, and the wonderful opportunities that Lesters Instructors have brought to us all. All I can say is thank you so much to them all, and that gratitude includes Steve too.

I also liked Steves KISS basics, as it was the nearest to teaching the Method as Lester apparently did without diluting it, adding and subtracting other things or deviating from the original teachings. Steve led a very nice call for us, than many people enjoyed as he does explain things very well when asked.

I feel maybe some 'special release processing' wouldn't go amiss here if anyone has a judgement about Steve etc. 'Can we all accept Steve exactly as he is?' Release to completion on negative opinions because they serve nobody. What we see in another is but a reflection of a part of ourselves after all.....

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Permalink Reply by Evan on February 21, 2012 at 6:37am

Nice. Kudos to the dude for being the impetus for hootless.

I didn't really see anyone hating on the guy as a man- just sharing their experience of the material, which I did ask about. I appreciate that stuff not being sugar coated, as it's not personal. Even Hale at the last retreat told us about some book that was being written about Lester was all BS, not sure what it was, but I'm glad he said it vs. saying it's all good.

In any case I like that he's giving it up to Lester - and not presenting a "let me tell you why i'm enlightened" vibe that kinda tangented into above :)

Glad that forum led to here. It must have had good stuff if ya'll were on it so it's too bad it's not archived. I must have just had random bad luck, I remember visiting and seeing some pretty attack-y things on Hale and Larry who were not addressed by name but "funny laugh guy" and such and I got rubbed the wrong way. My loss it sounds like. 

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