The organisation has been described in a variety of different ways: a "
human potential movement", as providing "mind discipline" for achieving mental quiescence, as a cult, sect or
new religious movement, as a non-religious organisation, or a
platonic community, as "
Georgist". SES state that "Advaita does not stand in the place of religion. Rather, as many students in the School of a religious disposition have found, it has the capacity to expand and deepen an understanding of their own religion, whatever it may be. It is equally valuable for, and applicable to, those who practise no religion."
Comments from journalists and authors In the early 1960s, British Buddhist teacher and writer
Sangharakshita (Dennis Lingwood) returned to England after 20 years in India. His book
Moving Against The Stream includes descriptions of SES member Terry Delamare's experience at the organisation during this period. SES is described as "the organisation whose meetings Terry attended most regularly, and whose teachings he took most seriously" during difficult times. The philosophy taught was described as "a curious amalgam of
Western Esoterism and brahminical
Advaita Vedanta." "The School's teachings were therefore sufficiently broad, not to say eclectic. Students moreover were encouraged to read the philosophical and religious classics of both East and West. In particular, it seems, they were encouraged to read Plato". The author also states SES regarded the music of Mozart, in particular, as having a positive, spiritualising effect on the mind. Lingwood concludes "Contact with the School of Economic Science had, in fact, widened his (Delemare) intellectual horizons, and he had much to be thankful to it for". In 1983, the day before the
UK General Election, reporters
Peter Hounam and Andrew Hogg, writing in the
London Evening Standard, alleged the SES was a cult infiltrating the Liberal Party. The articles were described by SES as "largely politically motivated". The book contained a reply from Pincham disputing allegations, and also included interviews with ex-students who said they had gained much from their attendance. The authors commented that, in hiding from publicity, the School might have made secrecy its worst enemy. Colin Slee,
Provost of
Southwark Cathedral, who had contributed to the book and saw the organisation as a cult, in 1999 said he had shifted his attitude and saw it as a
New Religious Movement instead. Journalist
William Shaw wrote a 1994 book ''Spying in Guru Land: Inside Britain's Cults,'' in which he attended SES along with several other organisations. "In the whole colourfully eccentric splatter of cults, there has never been one as genteel, stiff-upper lipped and absurdly British as the School of Economic Science. In many ways, it's quite the strangest cult I join," Shaw said. He reported that during the introductory course he did not witness brainwashing and that the "yearning dedication of those who stay, turning up week after week in their quest for the big answer to life, is somehow ignored by those in the anti-cult movement who try to tell us that behind the fluty-voiced Miss Crammond lurks a malicious agent of mind control." Characterising Leon MacLaren as authoritarian, he described a "regime of holy servitude—part Gurdjieffian discipline, part oriental mysticism, part Christian mysticism, part social snobbery". Shaw interviewed "Giles", a former SES tutor, who blamed SES for losing two relationships and that he "suffered a complete mental breakdown, during which he says he came very close to suicide."
Sociologist of religion David V. Barrett, in his 2001 book
The New Believers based partly on interviews with David Boddy, described SES as not a religion, but as having at the heart of its teaching a very distinctive philosophy which draws on elements of Christianity and esoteric origins and beliefs but is largely Eastern. The path of the SES is "a case of personal development rather than attaining knowledge". He points out SES follows the teaching of the
Shankaracharya because they say "his wisdom, which we have followed, works". In 2010, Ariel Kiminer of
The New York Times reported on her attendance of an introductory course at the School of Practical Philosophy, for which 400 people signed up. She said that passengers on the
New York City Subway were familiar with its advertising placard which stated: "This poster can make you happier than any other". Attendees were "young immigrants and wizened retirees, pretty actresses and tired parents" and that it was touching that "so many people from so many backgrounds join in the pursuit of wisdom". She said fellow attendees recounted the effect of the classes on their lives with candour and eloquence, and that the teaching was "not esoteric but practically conventional wisdom." After the initial meetings, attendance fell off considerably and she started to dread it; however whenever she would lose patience with the instruction, "one of the students would talk about incorporating these lessons into life, and the honesty and eloquence would win me over again." Commenting on allegations that it is a cult, she said: "If so, it must be an unsuccessful one: no one tried to sign me up for the next course, let alone get me to donate my earthly possessions." Kiminer stopped attending the course and doing 'The Exercise', and said: "I do still think about what I give my attention to, though. And I do still feel touched by the enthusiasm of the other students." In his 2013 book
Philosophy for Life: And other dangerous situations, Jules Evans said the SES relationship with an Indian guru was key to its development, because its members "like
Plato himself, were trying to invent a religion." Describing the historical abuse of SES children confirmed in a 2006 report, he said that they often received no sympathy from their parents because of their membership of the "deeply hierarchical organization". He added that the day schools are today "apparently run a lot better now by professional teachers, attracting the children of well-to-do parents" and that there has been a shift towards the mainstream of society. Evans also reported that 18-year-old St. James School girls were introduced to older SES members at two specially arranged parties and that Principal Ian Mason and SES Leader Donald Lambie have both married former St. James girls; Evans said that the organisation wanted to encourage in-group marriage to preserve its values, Mason pointed out the women in question were adults in their 20s when married, nevertheless Mason admitted "It's a bit weird." Evans concluded, "I personally don't think SES is a 'secret cult'. It has lost its charismatic and authoritarian Leader. Its membership is declining", "SES seems to me to be an interesting experiment, an interesting attempt to turn Eastern and Western ancient philosophy into a genuine community and way of life". In 2019, a writer for
The Outline enrolled in the School of Practical Philosophy introductory course. She reported that "There was something surreal about leaving work on Thursday evening and taking the subway to a mansion where I would be told a bunch of weird lies." She read
Secret Cult midway through the course and commented that "it was hard to square its horror stories with the SPP, which, like a lot of Americanised British things, wasn't quite as compelling as the original." The reviewer opined that it seemed strange the SPP had so much money and attributed it to low overhead. She observed that "teachers are unpaid, students perform custodial work, and the SPP owns its own building."
Comments from members and ex-members In 1963, writing in
Land & Liberty, A. J. Carter describes coming "into contact with one of the most important influences on my development" at SES. The economics programme introduced him to,
land-value tax and
Progress and Poverty, by which "a vital seed was sown, but it was not yet to flower". The philosophy course he describes as "directly and indirectly, altered my whole outlook on the deepest aspects of life." On 26 May 1982,
Roger Pincham, who had been a member since 1955, Commenting on the book
Secret Cult, SES member and author Brian Hodgkinson responded to its allegation that the programme encourages "destroying the personality". He said that description conceals the actual focus of the teaching, which is to free the mind from the limitations imposed by the ego. He added that "of course, no actual force was used. The whole teaching of the school is word of mouth. Anyone can walk away from a School meeting or event at any time. Some do!" Hodgkinson later wrote a history of the SES called
In Search of Truth: The Story of the School of Economic Science, published in 2010. It included details of its economic and philosophical thought, and examination of positive and negative aspects of the organisation. In response to reports that some people had become emotionally disturbed while attending the programme, he stated that such cases may have been caused by "outside circumstances, such as family relationships or careers" or pre-existing mental health problems. He added, "When they sought help from School tutors, the advice given may sometimes have exacerbated the situation, but there have been a great deal more cases where tutors' help has been much appreciated." In 2019, actress
Emily Watson spoke of her upbringing in SES, which she described as "a quasi-religious organisation/cult" where people are "taught to think a certain way about the world, and about yourself, that is very denigrating to the individual and to women." When Watson took the role for
Breaking the Waves (1996) the SES "told me to go on my undignified way," which she said she found "terribly painful" but didn't tell anyone, only confiding in her co-star of that film about it in 2018. In 2014, she described the SES central teaching of Advaita Vedanta as "a kind of spiritual communism where everyone is one and the same ... which in principle is great but [it was] an organisation that had a lot of problems." At its day school, she said children were treated with "a sort of emotional cruelty that was utterly out of place in a place of education that purports to be based on love and understanding." In 2020, she described SES members as believing "that they are in the one true light and everybody else is in the darkness" and knows "the effect that that has on people's sense of power and self-worth". In her 2002 book,
Nothing Left Over: A Plain and Simple Life, Tionette Lippe, who attended SES in London and New York, describes how she remained in this organisation for a "considerable number of years, studying the philosophy of many of the world's great traditions, and what I heard and put into practice there laid the groundwork for the rest of my life". Her own philosophy of wanting to be of service to other people and share with them whatever has comes her way, to live so that supply does not exceed demand or consumption, and to trust that the universe will respond to you in the same way that you respond to it, is of no surprise as she "began my training at a place called the School of Economic Science!". In a 2006 interview with
Oprah Winfrey, actor
Hugh Jackman said he had been a member of the School of Practical Philosophy since 1991. He said, "now I meditate twice a day for half an hour. In meditation, I can let go of everything. I'm not Hugh Jackman. I'm not a dad. I'm not a husband. I'm just dipping into that powerful source that creates everything." In a 2010 interview with
GQ Australia, Jackman said: "Really, the spiritual pillar for me has become the School of Practical Philosophy. I'm a regular attendee there and I suppose that has become my church." stating "I just find the evangelical church too, well, restrictive. But the School of Practical Philosophy is nonconfrontational", "We believe there are many forms of scripture", "What is true is true and will never change, whether it's in the Bible or in Shakespeare. It's about oneness. Its basic philosophy is that if the Buddha and Krishna and Jesus were all at a dinner table together, they wouldn't be arguing. There is an essential truth. And we are limitless." Jackman has attended SES branches in the US and Australia In her 2009 book
The Power Within, MacLaren's secretary Dorine Tolley wrote: "The philosophy course he (MacLaren) had developed over the years had slowly become a life-changing method with all its consequences. The advertisements were not explicit enough and did not indicate that one's habitual patterns of life would come under scrutiny.". "In spite of attempts to malign Leon MacLaren and his methods his critics were vastly outnumbered by his supporters and none of the sceptics have ever been able to explain why so many thousands of discerning people flocked to the school". His colleague
Tim Bell thought SES gave Sinclair a sense of equilibrium, keeping him well enough balanced that he never got affected by blowups at the agency. in 2013, Martha Dewing, raised
Episcopalian, now an Interfaith Minister, said studying Advaita Vedanta at the School of Practical Philosophy in New York changed the way she saw her inherited faith, stating "It opened me up and broadened my perspective" and "I see a bigger Jesus. I see what he meant rather than what they say he said.". Dewing's two primary spiritual practices are mantra meditation twice a day, and a heartfelt practice of gratitude.
Comments from SES In 2011, invited by a reporter to reply to allegations that SES and its branches are a cult, spokeswoman Monica Vecchio said: "I've known Mr MacLaren for many years," referring to SES leader
Leon MacLaren. "I met him when I was a very young woman in my 20s. For anybody to call anything Mr MacLaren started a cult is just ridiculous. I've never met a man who was more a man in the greatest sense of the word than Mr MacLaren was." SES representative Ian Mason responded to criticism in Jules Evans's 2013 book. He said: "The idea is not to break down the ego for the sake of it, but rather to put you in touch with yourself, to help you distinguish what's real or not, and to nourish and strengthen the mind. But perhaps there was too unquestioning an attitude to the leader in those earlier years. People took things that MacLaren said and applied them without intelligence." About the parties reported by Evans, Mason said, "The balls were a response to requests from young women for opportunities to meet some eligible young men in the SES and were pretty innocent occasions. I should emphasise that there was no coercion involved." In a 2013 interview with
Voice of America, Mason stated that life is a voyage of discovery and deepening understanding and the courses are designed to support this. The participants are the judges as to the successes of the programmes, no certifications are offered, and the aim is to liberate people. ==Notable members==