Hoffman Quadrinity Process

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The '''Hoffman Quadrinity Process''' (or '''Hoffman Process''')<ref>[https://www.hoffmaninstitute.org/the-process/ What is the hoffman process?] ''Hoffman Institute''.</ref> is the current name of a course described on their official website as a course of "personal discovery and development" which "allows you to examine your life and your behavior and empowers you to make lasting changes".<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20101216125054/http://www.hoffmaninstitute.org/ What is the Hoffman Process?] ''Hoffman Institute'' (archived from December 16, 2010).</ref>

==Origin==
It was founded in 1967 by Oakland, [[California]] tailor Bob Hoffman as Fischer-Hoffman Psychic Therapy after Hoffman claimed to have had a vision of his late [[psychiatrist]] Siegfried Fischer who appeared to him and told him the key to emotional healing is to undo "negative love", unrealistic expectations and manipulations which parents saddle their children with.  Claudio Naranjo, later known for being one of the popularizers of the [[enneagram]], helped develop the program further by adding material from the [[Human Potential Movement]] to Bob Hoffman's spiritualist/psychic notions. It was later renamed the Fischer-Hoffman Process, and after that, the Fischer part of the name was dropped after Fischer's widow protested Hoffman's use of her late husband's name.<ref name=ireland>[https://jesuskoan.blogspot.com/2019/08/the-ontological-odd-couple-and-origins.html The Ontological Odd Couple and the Origins of of the Fischer-Hoffman Psychic Therapy] by Kenneth Ireland (November 5, 2019) ''Buddha Koan''.</ref> Hoffman died in 1997<ref>[https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Robert-Hoffman-2830027.php Robert Hoffman] (Aug. 21, 1997) ''SFGate''.</ref> and it is now offered as an 8-day residential course by the Hoffman Institute, set up as a nonprofit.

==The early process: spirit guides and psychic contact==
In its original form, the program involved meeting a purported [[angel|spirit guide]] and establishing [[psychic]] contact with one's parents when they were children, while cataloging all the bad things one's parents ever did and emotionally discharging all the pent up hate and resentment toward parents by crying, beating pillows, screaming, and such. The purpose of the alleged psychic contact with parents is to learn the reason why they mistreated one with "negative love", and to see that they were treated the same way by their parents, and so on. This psychic contact is supposed to help one forgive their parents and move on in life. At the end the program, one is supposed to re-integrate what Hoffman claimed are the four parts (or "quadrinity") of a person: the body, intellect, emotions, and spirit.{{efn|This description is based on Bob Hoffman's 1976 book ''Getting Divorced from Mother & Dad: The Discoveries of the Fischer-Hoffman Process''.<ref>''Getting Divorced from Mother & Dad: The Discoveries of the Fischer-Hoffman Process'' by Robert Hoffman (1976). Dutton. ISBN 0525113282.</ref> As can best be gleaned from Hoffman Institute websites, the terminology has changed and is now framed as visualizations rather than actual psychic contact.}}

==Skeptical view==
The original program's reliance on the [[supernatural]] and use of concepts internal to the movement like negative love and quadrinity clearly put it in the realm of [[pseudoscience]]. Alleged psychic communication with one's parents as they were when they were children does not have any scientific basis, and the "communication" thus received may be imagined or suggested.  

The current Hoffman process appears to have de-emphasized or dropped supernatural elements and claims of psychic abilities and spirit guides present in the early program. Indeed a great deal of [[psychology]] was incorporated into the process as it developed, gradually supplanting earlier elements that according to one source<ref name=ireland/> came from the [[Spiritualism|spiritualist church]]. Current participants may not be aware of the program's origin as Fischer-Hoffman Psychic Therapy.

==Trivia==
Curiously, for all its New Age trappings, the Hoffman Institute has on its board of advisers Ken Blanchard, a close associate of [[Rick Warren]] of [[Christian]] [[megachurch]] fame.<ref>[http://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/kblanchardhoffmanquadarticle.htm Ken Blanchard and the Hoffman Quadrinity Process] (c. 2005) ''Lighthouse Trails Research Project''.</ref> Also in the department of the weird, the [[Bhagwan Sree Rajneesh]] cult offered an "Anti-Fischer-Hoffman Process",<ref>[http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/welcome-to-club-meditation-bhagwan-shree-rajneesh-1463884.html Welcome to Club Meditation: Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh] by Danny Ben-Tal (28 August 1993 00:02) ''The Independent''.</ref> which one supposes was along similar lines as the "[[Erhard Seminars Training|Est]] Repair Rundown" offered by the [[Church of Scientology]].<ref>{{wpa|Rundown (Scientology)#Est Repair Rundown}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[Spiritualism]]

==Notes==
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==References==
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[[Category:New Age]]
[[Category:Parapsychology]]
[[Category:Woo]]

Categories: New Age, Parapsychology, Woo