It was 1978. Saturday Night Fever was still playing at the Park
Cinema. Disco was king. Jimmy Carter was President. And researchers were meditating on
Rhode Island as a possible model for an ideal society.
Rhode Island? That’s right. You and me.
It was part of a study on the effects of Transcendental
Meditation on society.
The theory was (and still is) that when enough people practice
Transcendental Meditation in a community, their enlightenment will have a positive effect
on the quality of life affecting the community as a whole. It is kind of like the harmonic
convergence only with a specific meditation tool. And, they picked Rhode Island as their
model test community.
The Transcendental Meditation (known affectionately as TM) is a
method of stress relief and consciousness expansion introduced to the western world by
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in the 1960s. The Beatles, Donovan, The Beach Boys, Mia Farrowl and
other celebrities became followers of the Maharishi travelling to India to spend time at
his Ashram. They brought back a way of experiencing altered mental states without drugs.
It took off in the United States and Europe at nothing short of the speed of thought.
Millions of impressionable baby boomers (your humble author included) were initiated in
Transcendental Meditation and became "TMers". Today, Transcendental Meditation
is a worldwide movement claiming 5,000,000 with its own University and numerous centers in
both the eastern and western hemispheres.
What is Transcendental Meditation anyway?
TM is a type of mantra meditation. A mantra is a sound or word.
The meditator focuses on his or her mantra repeating it silently or even aloud. Herbert
Benson, M.D. author of The Relaxation Response, suggests picking a peaceful,
meaningful word like "love" or "one" and there are many other mantra
meditation practices. But the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi must be credited with introducing and
popularizing mantra meditation among westerners: The Transcendental Meditation.
When I was initiated into Transcendental Meditation in 1968, it
was the height of its popularity. I waited in line with a couple of dozen other initiates
to be given my mantra and instructed in basic technique in a short ritual. A middle-aged
German-accented woman Charlotte Peters who was one of their senior teachers/initiators at
the time presented it with an atmosphere of mystery and significance. The technique truly
is simple. You sit comfortably. You close your eyes. You then silently repeat your mantra
over and over again. When you notice that your mind has wandered, you gently guide it back
to the mantra. Stress is released. The mind quiets. Consciousness goes to progressively
deeper, more powerful levels ultimately reaching Bliss Consciousness itself.
New meditators are told to meditate 20 minutes twice each day and
to come back to the center for periodic checking.
Personally, I liked it.
TM was easy. It was quick. My idol John Lennon did it so how bad
could it be.
And, I did feel relaxed and refreshed afterwards. TM-sidhi came
later. This is said to be an advanced form of meditation, which the Maharishi’s
people profess, can actually allow people to levitate. Adds a new dimension to the term
"natural high" doesn’t it?
The benefits claimed for TM are nothing short of amazing. TM is
said to improve mental ability by increasing intelligence, creativity,
learning ability, memory, reaction time, moral reasoning, and orderliness of brain
functioning and increased self-actualization. It is also said to improve health
by reducing stress and anxiety. And, it also claims to improve social behavior.
These improvements include greater self-confidence, reduced anxiety, more harmonious
family life, better job performance and increased job satisfaction.
TM researchers postulated that there is a thought-field that we
all collectively generate through our mental activity. This thought-field in turn affects
the entire society’s thoughts, emotions and behavior. By raising the vibration of
those thoughts to finer more powerful levels, we can positively effect this thought field.
This would lead to observable improvements in society.
Where does Rhode Island come in?
Maharishi and his followers are notorious for quantification and
scientific] inquiry. The Maharishi himself has a degree in physics. His approach to
metaphysics therefore has a refreshingly western flavor. If the benefit of meditation is
real, it should be measurable. And his organization measures the effects of TM with
tireless enthusiasm. Over 500 different studies have been completed on the psychological,
psychological and social effects of the Maharishi Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi
techniques. They are said to have been completed at 210 different universities in 27
countries with articles published in more than 100 scientific journals. These studies have
credibility-stretching titles like Alleviating political violence through enhancing
coherence in collective consciousness: impact assessment analysis of the Lebanon war
and The group dynamics of consciousness and the U.K. Stock Market in which
they document rise in the stock market index as a side benefit result of meditating or, my
favorite, Effect of coherent collective consciousness on the weather (we
hope for the better). The people at Maharishi’s University in Iowa are happy to share
these sources with you in detailed bibliographies.
The Rhode Island experiment was party of a study called Consciousness
as a field: the Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi program and changes in social
indicators.
The basic premise is that if 1% of the population
practiced the transcendental meditation technique or as few as the square root of 1%
collectively practiced both the Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi, they would create
an influence of coherence in collective consciousness capable of neutralizing the stresses
that are the cause of social problems.
What kind of social problems? In theory, any social problem would
be addressed. In the research study seven "indicators" of a societal health were
evaluated: 1) crime rates 2) auto accidents 3) vehicular-related fatalities, 4) deaths
from all causes 5) alcoholic beverage and cigarette consumption 6) unemployment 7)
pollution. The control group they compared Rhode Island to was the state of New Jersey
where presumably this critical mass of mediators did not exist.
According to the researchers, the experiment was a major success.
They claim that Rhode Island showed measurable improvements in these areas. The figure
below plots a composite of all these factors, kind of like an overall wellbeing scale.
(Chart)
Rhode Island Quality of Life: Ideal Society Study
1974 to 1980
Change in Quality of Life Index
Before 1974-1978
Three Month Ideal Society Campaign in Rhode Island
1978
After
1978-1980
Long term effects
6
5
4
X
3
2
X
1
0
X
From Consciousness as a Field: the Transcendental Meditation and
TM-Sidhi program and changes in social indicators. The Journal of Mind and Behavior 8:
67103, 1987.
It wouldn’t be responsible not to mention that
Transcendental Meditation and its followers have some critics. A great deal of the
criticism centers on questions of the researchers’ objectivity with some nasty
allegations of data manipulation and result suppression. Other critics bristle at
TM’s insistence that it is a unique, secret meditation process distinct from and
superior to other Indian meditation forms. There is also a charge that TM is another form
of hypnosis and works through suggestibility.
Okay, so a couple of decades later Rhode Island is not a
paradise. But haven’t there been improvements since Transcendental Meditation came on
the scene, not just in Rhode Island but the world as a whole? Life expectancy is up. The
threat of nuclear war is down. Computerization is bringing people together in a way that
is unique in the history of man with benefits yet to be fully realized. Who is to say that
the Maharishi’s 5,000,000 mediators may not be a factor?
Speaking from personal experience, I can tell you that for me
Transcendental Meditation has been an important part of my spiritual journey for over 30
years.
Clearly, the TM organization is unique and historically
significant in bringing together eastern and western traditions. But, at the very least,
most people find TM relaxing and generally beneficial. And, if by becoming more enlighten
you help raise the thought field to a higher vibration, all the better.
Why not do yourself a favor? Give some serious thought to TM or
any meditation practice for that matter,
Ponder this. If we come together to raise our consciousness,
maybe one day we can change Rhode Island’s slogan to the most enlightened state
in the union. It’s worth meditating on…
For more information, contact the Maharishi Vedic
School, 28 Post Road, Warwick, RI. Tel 401-780-9600
NOTE: According to the Providence Journal,
$625,000 has been allocated starting in 2009 to teach inner city kids TM
meditation. Click below for details: transcendental
meditation in Rhode Island 2009.
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