a kind word

"If you have come here to help me, you are wasting your time. But if you have come because your liberation is tied up with mine, then let us work together." --Lilla Watson, Aboriginal activist

I recently came across this quote at a prison-reform site in which I am involved. For those of you who know the name Bo Lozoff, maybe you have also read his book We're All Doing Time. Whether we are satisfied with our lives or puzzled by our lives, it seemed to me that this quote was valuable and might have some significance here.

The Maharishi Starts Teaching Again in Britain

Apparently they've suffered enough.

MAHARISHI FOUNDATION
Press Office, Tel: 020 8894 9229 Mobile: 07852 279 176 Email:

STATEMENT FOR THE PRESS

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi reopens
his Transcendental Meditation Centres
throughout the UK

‘My leaders will resume their national services immediately and raise Great Britain to the height of great Invincibility.’

London, Friday 27 July 2007:-
His Holiness Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, founder of the worldwide Transcendental Meditation Movement, which has been active in the world for over 50 years, has announced that he is lifting the ban on the teaching of Transcendental Meditation (TM) in Great Britain. Maharishi had imposed the ban in May 2005 when the population of the country re-elected Tony Blair as Prime Minister and thereby perpetuated the destructive policy of Britain in the world, including its leading role in the war in Iraq.

Maharishi closed British TM organisation in May 2005
so as not to ‘feed nectar to the destroyer of the world’

During an international press conference on 11 May 2005, Maharishi had said: ‘I am withdrawing my activity from Britain because the island has been so bold in continuously destroying the world and creating divisions and dissensions in every nation, working on the principle of ‘divide and rule’. When I heard that again the same destroyer of the world had been re-elected by the people of England, I decided that I am not going to feed Britain with the positive values that are produced through Transcendental Meditation.’

Maharishi referred to the extensive published scientific research on Transcendental Meditation showing the wide ranging health benefits of the practice, particularly a newly-published study showing that it significantly increases longevity. (See: ) Maharishi said: ‘I don't want to increase the lifespan of the destroyer of the world. British policy has proved for many decades to be poison to the whole world.’

Maharishi's historic initiative to raise whole nations to the level of invincibility

Maharishi emphasised that he did not want it to go down in history that his Movement had fed the destroyers of the world. At that time, Maharishi was adopting countries that were more positive in order to make them invincible – totally immune to negative – through the application of his scientifically validated programme to enhance positive trends in society, based on group practice of Transcendental Meditation and its advanced techniques, including Yogic Flying.

‘I cannot support long life and healthy life and more creativity for a country that is constantly destroying the world. You cannot afford to feed the scorpion, because a more healthy scorpion will have a stronger sting. Transcendental Meditation is a gift of nectar from me to those who want to create peace and harmony in the world.’

Maharishi predicted at the time that the focus of his organisation on raising positivity and invincibility in countries such as The Netherlands, the USA, and India would help to raise coherence and positivity in world consciousness as a whole – a phenomenon already demonstrated in over 40 published scientific studies over the past 30 years. Maharishi explained that the negativity in British national consciousness could only be neutralised from outside through this rise in world consciousness.

Maharishi acknowledged that although there were many peace-loving people in Great Britain, the country as a whole had nonetheless re-elected such a leadership, and this is why he had to deal with the country in this way. However, now there has been a dramatic shift.

Maharishi hears review of policies of new UK Government

The trigger for Maharishi to reopen his organisation in Britain came when he heard a review of the policies of the new Prime Minister, Mr Gordon Brown, and his Government. These included the fact that one of the first measures introduced by Mr Brown was to initiate a change of Parliamentary procedures so that the Commons has a formal say on the deployment of Armed Forces abroad, so that the Prime Minister could not unilaterally take the country to war.

Maharishi also heard excerpts from the speech of cabinet minister, Douglas Alexander, the new Trade and Development Secretary, as presented in Washington recently. In that speech, Mr Alexander had said: ‘In the 20th century a country's might was too often measured in what they could destroy. In the 21st century strength should be measured by what we can build together. And so we must form new alliances, based on common values, ones not just to protect us from the world, but ones which reach out to the world. …We need to demonstrate by our deeds, words and our actions that we are internationalist, not isolationist, multilateralist, not unilateralist.’

Maharishi lifts all his reservations to make Britain invincible

On hearing this and other positive developments since the change of leadership in Westminster, Maharishi proclaimed that he was completely releasing his hold on the activities of his organisation in Great Britain. Maharishi said that he was lifting all his reservations to make the country invincible, and that the teaching of Transcendental Meditation could be offered again throughout the country. The 50 Centres of Transcendental Meditation, which had been closed down in May 2005 will now be reopened and their facilities improved.

Maharishi saw the words and actions of the new Government as an expression of the changed quality of national consciousness in Great Britain, which had quietly resulted from the activities of his organisation to raise coherence in world consciousness in recent years. Maharishi felt that Britain is no longer shrouded by the politics of war. ‘We feel that England has no barriers for positivity any more,’ he said.

Raising Great Britain to the height of great invincibility

Maharishi said that he is allowing all the leaders of his Movement in Britain to resume their national services. Dr Geoffrey Clements will be the National Leader of Maharishi's organisation in England; David Rae will be the National Leader for Scotland; and Helen Evans will be the National Leader for Wales. (In Northern Ireland, where Maharishi never closed his Movement, Andrea Gribben, continues as National Leader with her programme to make the country invincible.)

Maharishi said that his leaders in Great Britain will ‘raise Great Britain to the height of great invincibility’. Maharishi's National Leaders will make available Transcendental Meditation and all of the programmes of his global organisation, The Global Country of World Peace, to lead every part of the UK to the level of invincibility -- good health, social well-being, prosperity, freedom from crime, a state of all positivity where negative trends will not arise within the nation nor penetrate it from outside. See

: and


TOWER OF INVINCIBILITY

To mark the reopening of Maharishi's Movement in Britain, a Tower of Invincibility with a Maharishi School of Invincibility will be inaugurated this Sunday, 29 July, at a development near Ipswich in Suffolk that is utilising all of Maharishi's programmes to create an ideal quality of life -- see: Details of this event appear below.

The Tower of Invincibility will be an historic monument for the nation marking the dawn of an invincible country. The Maharishi Invincibility School at the base of the Tower will be an example of ideal education unfolding the full potential of every student and creating an influence of harmony and positivity throughout society through the use of Maharishi's programmes. It will follow in the footsteps of the highly successful Maharishi School established in Skelmersdale, Lancashire, in 1987 – see:

On Sunday, full moon day, representatives of the Global Country of World Peace will perform ground-breaking ceremonies for a Tower of Invincibility in over 150 countries to promote indomitable positivity and harmony in the collective consciousness of each nation, and in the world as a whole.

World peace will be the natural result of Maharishi's programme to create rising invincibility in the 192 countries of the world. Unless every sovereign country is invincible in its own right, the sovereignty of any nation will always remain fragile and world peace will always be elusive.


Artist’s illustration of the Tower of Invincibility

Transcendental Meditation™, founded by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi®, is a programme for the Development of Consciousness which, in the UK,
is available only from Maharishi Foundation® registered educational charity No. 270157.

Is the Maharishi a Narcissist?

I received an e-mail inquiry asking me to expand on my suspicions that the Maharishi exhibits narcissistic tendencies. I want to be clear: I don't believe it is possible to diagnose a person merely on the basis of their public writings and appearances. So I am not saying the Maharishi is a narcissist. But a quick glance below is likely to make any open-minded reader suspicious, too.

The DSM-IV Diagnostic Criteria for Narcissistic Personality Disorder are:

A pervasive pattern of grandiosity, need for admiration, lack of empathy, as indicated by at least five of the following:

1. a grandiose sense of self-importance

2. is preoccupied with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty, or ideal love

3. believes that he or she is "special" and can only be understood by, or should associate with, other special or high-status people (or institutions)

4. requires excessive admiration

5. has a sense of entitlement, i.e., unreasonable expectations of especially favorable treatment or automatic compliance with his or her expectations

6. is interpersonally exploitative, i.e., takes advantage of others to achieve his or her own ends

7. lacks empathy and is unwilling to recognize or identify with the feelings and needs of others

8. is often envious of others or believes that others are envious of him or her

9. shows arrogant, haughty behaviors or attitudes

A really good resource, created by a clinical psychologist, is this checklist of narcissism symptoms.

A quick comparison of the Maharishi's behaviors with the symptom list:

The Maharishi gave himself one of the most grandiose titles available in his tradition, usually reserved for saints such as Patanjali, Vyasa, and others. He allows his underlings, such as Bevan Morris, to insist that he has attainedthe highest state of consciousness of anyone human on the planet (Bevan's intro to SBAL). He states that his teaching is the highest knowledge available to humanity and so forth.

He is preoccupied with fantasies of unlimited success, in the form of the World Government, the Global Country, Invincibility, Immortality, the Age of Enlightenment, and so forth, when in fact he is the leader of a relatively small religious movement that is having no discernible impact on the culture at large -- at least not since the 1970s.

He believes he is special and can only be understood by special people. Like many narcissists, the Maharishi surrounds himself with "name" people. He holds constant symposia to which he invites what he calls the leading lights in various fields to discuss the brilliance of his teaching. He insists that only "scholars" such as "physicist" John Hagelin can fully understand the subtlety of his teaching.

He requires excessive admiration in his insistence that he be called "Maharishi," be honored with flowers and other symbols of admiration, is accorded the utmost respect, appears only in sumptuously and ritually decorated speaking venues, surrounds himself with a regal retinue and countless bodyguards, and more.

People who have been close to the Maharishi know that he has a vast sense of entitlement. He makes extraordinary demands on his inner circle for unquestioned loyalty, unreasonable demands for volunteer work, and his unceasing demand for vast sums of money for his "knowledge," and more. He is interpersonally exploitive in his manipulative pitting of one person against another among his inner circle, his insistence that meditators attend courses to avert war or natural calamity, and more.

The DeNaro Affadavit documents his callous lack of empathy and inability to identify with the needs of his students, in that he has been aware for decades of the damage caused by excessive rounding and advanced meditation practices on his students.

He demonstrates envy of others in his jealous hoarding of students, not allowing them to study other teachers or religious leaders -- or even psychological movements -- something not demonstrated by other "spiritual leaders" that I am aware of. He also shows a narcissistic strain of paranoia in his insistence that the U.S. CIA, the American Medical Association, drug companies, and others are jealous of his "knowledge" and attempt to infiltrate his movement to learn his "secrets." Interestingly enough, Hagelin and other "luminaries" in the Movement appear to show a similar halo of paranoia when they insist that mainstream science -- or insert your favorite field of endeavor here -- ignore them because they are jealous of their accomplishments.

Doesn't this sound all too familiar?

John M. Knapp, LMSW
KnappFamilyCounseling.com

Link to University of Alberta Meditation Study

There's been some controversy on TM-Free Blog and elsewhere regarding the University at Alberta study on meditation research. Read it for yourself here. It cites TM research in particular for lacking sufficient controls and other problems. While it concludes meditation probably won't hurt you, there's no evidence it will help much either. (Some of us differ with the assessment that meditation is harmless. Our experience is that when practiced to excess, such as on rounding courses, there are a wide-range of dangerous or uncomfortable side-effects that a proportion of practitioners experience.)

John M. Knapp, LMSW
KnappFamilyCounseling.com/

Links to Rare Maharishi Audio

Did this guy ever know what he was even talking about? You decide!

1. MMY on Kundalini from Lake Louise, Canada 1968

2. MMY - Expressions of Individuality from Infinity - Humboldt

3. and 4. parts 1 and 2. Residence course with Satyanand and Jerry
Jarvis - Cape Cod, Mass 1968

Part 1

Part 2

Another MMY Audio shared by an anonymous donor.

MMY Audio: Unity and Prayer
From: Humboldt State College

3 MMY Unity Consciousness and Prayer.mp3
33:29

128 kbs MP3

UPDATE: All the links should be working now. H/T Sudarsha for letting me know they were screwed up!

Yes, We Are No Religion

Not only does the TM movement sell "yagyas" -- religious ceremonies to Hindu gods such as Ganesh -- they print a monthly calendar of holy days for various Hindu deities. What follows showed up in my mail today. Thought you'd all be interested.

Celebrating the Vedic Calendar Auspicious Vedic Days for August, 2007 Available on the Maharishi Channel by satellite and Internet Thursday, August 2 Sankashti Haran Shri Ganesh Chaturthi, Day of Ganesh
For removal of great problems

Sunday, August 5 Bhanu Saptami, Day of Surya
Promoting health and perfect functioning of physiology

Thursday, August 9 Kamada Ekadashi, Day of Vishnu
Accomplishing one's desires
Friday, August 10 Pradosh, Day of Shiva
For spiritual and material progress

Saturday, August 11 Monthly Shivaratri, Day of Shiva
Promoting progress of life
Thursday, August 16 Vinayaka Shri Ganesh Chaturthi, Day of Ganesh
For removing obstacles
Friday, August 17 Surya Sankranti, Day of Surya
Surya – nourishing all life
Friday, August 24 Putrada Ekadashi, Day of Vishnu
Flow and continuation of the evolutionary process
Sunday, August 26 Pradosh, Day of Shiva
For spiritual and material progress

Tuesday, August 28 Raksha Bhandan, Day of Vishnu
Strengthening one's family relations
Wednesday, August 29 Ashunya Shayan Vrat, Day of Lakshmi and Vishnu
Enlivening fullness and restfulness in awareness
Friday, August 31 Sankashti Haran Shri Ganesh Chaturthi, Day of Ganesh
For removal of great problems

Guruphiliac's Suggestion for Our Readers

Jody, over at Guruphiliac, had a great suggestion he sent me. Readers may be interested in the exercise. Try the Google search he suggests:

Hey John.

Today I did a search for "global country for world peace" and was astonished at the amount of TM™ propaganda out there. I suspect it has been a concerted effort to get that much material up. They've done a great job. It's all a bit chilling, actually...

Nice job on your blog. It seems so happening when I go there, bustling with information.

--jody.

Another Great "Load of Bright" Article -- on AyurVeda

Read all about it.

J.

Reader Question about Experiences

I was at MIU 198-83 and during the big courses had experiences which I never forgot, but can't explain outside of TM paradigm. While in the Golden Dome of Pure Knowledge (do they still call it that?) during the flying sutra I had very clear impulse to hop come from outside my body and mind. Like it was popping up from somewhere else in the environment. And I had nothing to do with it. What was that? It came from outside like a radio wave or something.

Seriously, I want to know what it was if not the unified field and all that. And if we don't know what it was, how do we live with this odd experience of something so strange?

This was actually very frightening, most normal experiences in the body do not include invisible penetrations by outside forces. The end result for me was and is an uncertainty about reality. It still haunts me and I haven't meditated regularly for ten years.

Peter L. Valunas

Detailed "Program" for Stopping Meditating

I recently received a request -- inspired by my previous post, "TM and Trance Addiction, for advice on how to cut back or stop meditating. Polished up and shortened, this was my reply:

I'll share my experience with you. After stopping TM in 1996, I didn't practice any form of meditation for roughly a year. I, like you, experienced a number of symptoms of trance addiction. I decided I wanted to know what life was like without TM -- and that I would decide later whether it added or detracted from my life when I had a TM-free period of my life to compare it to. After about a year, I began experimenting with doing TM as well as other forms of meditation. I found that every form of meditation I tried -- Buddhist, Hindu, Christian, and the Relaxation Response -- took me to essentially the same place. The only differences I noted were subtle differences in how long it took to get there. I won't share which meditation that I settled on. I don't want to influence you in any way as you try to figure out how you would like to fashion your life with or without meditation. Suffice it to say, I chose to do another form of meditation, not TM, and am very happy with my experiences.

Okay, enough speechifying.

There are four aspects to reducing meditation time: physiological, psychological, social/environmental, and spiritual.

As to the simplest: the physical addiction. Here is a method to try to cut back your meditation time. On long-rounding courses, the Maharishi had us gradually decrease the number of times we meditated in preparation for going back to 2x20.

I recommend that you cut back your program time by 5 minutes a day. This means in a few weeks you will be meditating 2x20. But you have to ease the discomfort caused by the addictive side effects as you cut back. Do this by adding 5 minutes of physical exercise every day to replace the meditation time you lose. This could be working out with weights (my favorite suggestion) or simply going for a stimulating walk. The idea is that you want to exercise to the point of at least starting to faintly sweat. This has several effects. It pumps you full of good chemicals -- like endorphins -- that tend to replace the feelings you have become addicted to during TM. Exercise tends also to lift the mood, which can help alleviate any traces of depression you might experience from ceasing meditation. Finally, it gives you something to do. It's a distraction, much like chewing gum helps people quitting smoking. (This routine is based on some observations that Pat Ryan of TM-Ex made years ago.)

After you have successfully reduced your meditation as much as you want, you can begin reducing your exercise time (unless you enjoy it and want to continue!). The whole process shouldn't take longer than a month.

Make sure you get plenty of sleep, but don't take naps during the day as you reduce your meditation. Naps have a nasty habit of turning into meditation sessions as your mind and body try to grab meditative moments because of the addiction.

Also try to schedule in plenty of relaxation time. I have some suggestions for relaxation routines on my counseling web site.

This brings us to the second aspect of reducing meditation: the mental. Like quitting any addictive behavior, you have to be committed to the process to have any hope of making it work. To help you build commitment and keep it, I suggest talking about your decision with a loved or trusted friend. Talking about a decision with someone else tends to make it more concrete for us, and we're more likely to follow through. You might also consider journaling about your experiences and writing affirmations, such as "I can have a happy and fulfilled life without TM" or whatever your own selection would be.

As to the social/environmental: You may have to decide what kind of environment you surround yourself with during this difficult time. In my counseling experience, people who surround themselves with friends who continue to meditate -- or at least support the TM Movement and the Maharishi -- have a difficult time cutting back or ceasing meditation. Just as an alcoholic has to choose to avoid bars and drinking parties -- even drinking friends, it is possible, although not certain, you may need to change your social environment to successfully cease TM.

Finally, let's talk about the spiritual need that TM may have filled for you. Spirituality means so many different things to different people. I try to use the broadest definition possible: the need to identify with something larger than the self. This can be God, but it certainly doesn't have to be. For some it is science, for others, nature, friends, family, volunteer work, meditation, prayer, so many different things. Most likely, even if you feel you didn't get too involved in the TM movement, TM played some spiritual role in your life. As you reduce your TM time, you'll have time to reflect on the role TM played for you. If you hope to continue with a reduced TM time -- and not slip back into addictive behavior -- you'll need to fill the hole that losing TM creates in your life. This is something you will have to fashion for yourself. But I can mention things that have worked for people that I've counseled in the past. What makes these suggestions works is again commitment. Consider scheduling these activities into your calendar and then making sure you follow through on them. Spend more time with family. Take trips and walks in nature. Consider reconnecting with the religion you were raised in -- or another religion. Consider attending AA meetings, a very spiritual experience for many addicted individuals whether or not they were addicted to alcohol. Immerse yourself in fine art, writing, or music. Consider volunteering time with your favorite charitable organization -- after all, you're going to have a lot more time in your life once you cut out an hour or two a day from your TM schedule. Offer comfort to a friend. Call friends you haven't contacted in a long time. There are probably dozens of things that might occur to you that will fill the emotional and spiritual needs that TM is currently fulfilling for you.

It's my hope, that you will get sufficient inspiration from this letter to make the changes you want to make. But don't be discouraged if that doesn't happen right away. I've worked with so many people who have gone through what you are going through. Many easily either ceased or reduced their meditation times on their own. Some others have sought help. It is possible that a little help from someone experienced in this process may give you the extra boost you need to make a change if it's too difficult at first.

Okay, this has turned into a really long letter. My thanks if you lasted all the way through and read this far.

I just want to leave you with one final thought. I admire your courage in having the strength to ask for help both in contacting me and in working with your therapist. My guess is that it was a hard decision to make. In my experience, the people who have the wisdom to seek out help are the ones who recover from whatever difficulty they are having recover most quickly and gracefully.

John M. Knapp, LMSW
KnappFamilyCounseling.com

Reader Question about Charlie Lutes

I wonder if you could respond to a question I have. I recently discovered the tmfreeblog site, and despite the fact that I stopped TM some years ago after being fairly committed, I found it very helpful in explaining many of my experiences. However, there's this nagging thing. I used to go to Charlie Lutes lectures back in the 80's and 90's, and he seemed to be a very credible sincere voice for TM based on his own personal experience. I guess I feel a need to somehow release that tie to TM. Do you have any suggestions, any take on his role and persona, etc.? Thank you.

Jake Rodin

“The Maharishi Vedic City Blues”

Published July 29, 2007 11:13 pm -
Songwriter expresses anger over eminent domain issue
The Roady Less Traveled
By Jeff Hutton, Courier Associate Editor
ATHENS, Ga. —

Tony Arnold was upset. He and his wife were reading some news accounts when they saw the story about the Maharishi Vedic City eminent domain controversy.
“My wife and I were absolutely appalled,” Arnold told the Courier. “We’ve seen other similar stories about eminent domain; the idea of this family’s farm having been here for so long and being threatened by [Vedic City] kept me up at night.”
Arnold did some more research on the issue and said he “kept stewing” about.
But instead of writing a letter to the editor or venting his frustration at folks he did not know, Arnold wrote a song.
Arnold penned “The Maharishi Vedic City Blues” and the song is part of his band’s most recent album.
“I just wrote the lyrics at my home studio and started messing around with it,” he said.
The song, he said, is representative of of a “textbook example of how these types of powers can be abused ...”
Part of the song goes like this:
“A hundred years before the Maharishis came to town/One family’s farm began to feed its neighbors from the ground/They’re trying to run the family off/... and we’ll pay you for your pain/but if you don’t sell, we’ll steal it/ It’s called eminent domain.”
The song could be interpreted as a protest song, and in some ways, it has that feel.
Arnold could hardly be called a troublemaker or anti-establishment. He’s a former law enforcement official whose music is a sideline to his ownership of a book shop in small-town Georgia.
And while the song is featured on his band’s newest CD, Arnold said he’s not trying to make money. In fact, the cost of the CD barely covers production expenses.
He said the song is simply an expression of his frustration at one local Iowa municipality and support for a Century Farm in Iowa.
“There’s too much history, too much at stake/The farmer needs a living, the farmer needs a break/There’s no consideration, no common sense/Just too much fiber, too much incense.”

http://www.ottumwacourier.com/local/local_story_210231323.html

$3.5m City Tower

$3.5m city tower

A MULTI-storey "tower of knowledge" may be built at 190 Greenhill Rd in honour of Dr Bevan Morris, a leader of the Transcendental Meditation movement.
His mother, Mrs Dulcie Morris, 94, will turn the sod of what could be a tower without residents, pending Unley Council consent. No one will live in the tower and it will be a permanent exhibition of the scientific research on the Maharishi Transcendental Meditation program.
David Seymour, director of Maharishi's Global Administration through Natural Law, said it would not be a temple.
Dr Morris is now the "prime minister" of the Global Country of World Peace. It is estimated the tower would cost about $3.5 million.
The Iowa, U.S.-based movement has made sketches of the tower and had preliminary discussions with the council. "We are confident enough to hold a sod-turning ceremony," Mr Seymour said.
Unley Council mayor Richard Thorne said his meeting with Mr Seymour was to discuss preliminary plans.

http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,22155138-2682,00.html

More info on 190 Greenhill Road at the following link:-

http://www.realcommercial.com.au/commercial-real-estate/5293920