Lifton's Criteria of Thought Reform applied to TM. Parts Six and Seven of Eight

by Gina Catena, M.S.

This is a continuation of an essay series. This blogpost addresses how Lifton's sixth and seventh criteria of thought reform apply to the Transcendental Mediation program.

You may begin Part One of this series by clicking here.


LOADING THE LANGUAGE

“The language of the totalist environment is characterized by the thought-terminating cliché (thought-stoppers) Repetitiously centered on all-encompassing jargon, The language of non-thought. Words are given new meanings -- the outside world does not use the words or phrases in the same way -- it becomes a "group" word or phrase.” (1)

Loaded language isolates a person from meaningful communication with others who do use words in the same way. The classic TM thought-stopping cliché is the attribution of any sadness or anxiety to “unstressing.” A person will discredit discomfort or doubts by believing they are “unstressing.”

Another thought stopping cliché is taught during the TM-checking procedure “if you experience any roughness, pay it no mind and gently return awareness to the mantra.” In that one sentence, TM teachings acknowledge that some individuals may experience anxiety or "roughness" in response to this meditation practice, and simultaneously denies the validity of inner conflict by directing a person to return to their hypnotic mantra-repitition. Many currently practicing TMers, and former TMers, say they automaticly return to the mantra, even involuntarily, during times of stress.

Other altered terms are common to TM-speak such as gaining "Spontaneous Support of the Laws of Nature" when things fall into place in one's life solely because they meditate. “Bliss” refers to experiencing the “transcendent” or the source of all thought within ourselves. The physics term “Unified Field” refers alternately to “transcendental consciousness,” “God,” “Being,” or “the Absolute.” “Ignorance” refers to that state of not having learned TM, such as that of any outsider. "Group concsiousness" or "coherence" refers to the power of the group process. More specific Vedic-derived terms apply to minutiae of lifestyle guidelines for diet, dress, architecture, food supplements, music, astrology and gemstone therapies.

Upon leaving the TM community, I struggled to integrate into my present community (family suburbia). It was difficult to eliminate the loaded language from my thoughts and speech. It was more difficult to extricate TM’s loaded language from my thought processes, than it was to learn two foreign languages. Others raised in the TM movement, but younger than me in age, verify the same experience.

One young woman said, "those thoughts and directions keep coming in my head. They get in the way of everything. It's hard to shake off those inner life cliche's and focus on tasks in front of me. Some things are good, but others just prevent me from thinking properly. And that mantra! It still keeps coming in my head. What the f**k is THAT about? I just want it to go away!"

DOCTRINE OVER PERSON

“Every issue in one's life can be reduced to a single set of principles.” (2)

When in the TM mindset, The Science of Creative Intelligence (SCI) and Maharishi Ayur-Ved are the only accepted sources of truth and life principles. Maharishi taught us the 33 lesson course of SCI encompasses all the "Laws of Nature."

“If one questions the beliefs of the group or the leaders of the group, one is made to feel that there is something inherently wrong with them to even question -- it is always "turned around" on them and the questioner/criticizer is questioned rather than the questions answered directly. The underlying assumption is that doctrine/ideology is ultimately more valid, true and real than any aspect of actual human character or human experience and one must subject one's experience to that "truth."(3)

To be truly on the TM path to enlightenment, there is limited acceptable variation of individual thought or expression. Maharishi taught us that doubting (him) could jeopardize our chances to enlightenment. He threatened with, “If you doubt, the doubt will manifest. Never doubt.” We were afraid to question.

The experience of contradiction can be immediately associated with guilt. One is made to feel that doubts are reflections of one's own evil. When doubt arises, conflicts become intense.” (4)

Many who leave the TM organization do not tell old friends, or family members, of their decsions to live outside the TM paradigm after moving away. Current True Believers (TBs) attempt to reconvert us back to TM. The thoughtful person who left the TM program, is deemed misguided at best, and evil at worst. (I am officially a lost cause now!)

Speaking against the TM organization risks losing our loved ones, and being ostracized for ever. Prior posts on this blog, and some comments, express the knee-jerk defensive response that many devout TMers have to our online discussion and analysis. It is sad to read vehement attacks on us here and elsewhere on the internet, in defense of threatened ingrained beliefs. We once also believed that those who spoke against TM were "lost in ignorance," or erroneously directing their "unstressing." We thought, "If only they would meditate again, their anxiety would leave and they would see the light again."

“The pattern of doctrine over person occurs when there is a conflict between what one feels oneself experiencing and what the doctrine or ideology says one should experience.” (5)

Inner conflict between doctrine and personal thinking, as described by Lifton, may be the cause of TM-related psychosis and suicides. Since most of those who committed suicide did not leave notes behind, we cannot know with certainty.

When inner thoughts conflict with the deemed-to-be-ultimate-truth, one’s community, and everything one loves, an existential crises may ensue. The TM solution to this “experience of intense unstressing” would be to return to meditate and calm oneself. This silences disquieting thoughts by returning to transcendence, or a self induced inner trance.

“Witnessing” in TM refers to the state of observing oneself as if an outsider, ostensibly because one is grounded in the “Absolute” (God) and experiences even their own existence as cosmically inconsequential. The doctrine and inner experience is more important than any individual. The ultimate goal of TM's "transcendence" is "Cosmic Consciousness."

TM teaches that in Cosmic Consciouisness (CC), one observes even themselves as if from the outside, twenty-four hours per day. This constant separation of self is the goal. The individuality leaves and all creation is ultimately connected as one in the highest state of Unity Consciousness (UC). In UC the ultimate dimunition of personhood would be exalted, as individual personhood disappears. Unity Consciousness is the extreme valuation of "doctrine over person," since personal idenity ceases.


The final segment may be read by clicking here.

1) Lifton, R. (1989) Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism. Chapel Hill. University of North Carolina Press.
2) ibid Lifton
3) ibid Lifton
4) ibid Lifton
5) ibid Lifton