(NOTE TO READERS:
I originally published this book review on TMFree on October 15, 2008, but for some reason it has disappeared. So here it is again. - Laurie)
Published 1976 by William Morrow & Co., 181 pages.
Commentors and contributors have been recommending books on TM-Free Blog for some time now. I have recently read a few of those books, and thought you might enjoy some book reviews. This is my second review in a series.
First, a little background information about this book, (from my memory, so a few facts may be off). About 1970, Herbert Benson M.D. (not a TMer) and Robert Keith Wallace (a TMer), then either a new M.D. or a post-graduate student writing his thesis, collaborated on research on the effects of TM. Theirs was the first scientific study on TM, and a long line of scientific studies on TM by them and others were to follow, now officially touted by the TM organizations as "over 600 scientific research studies, published in peer-reviewed journals, showing the benefits of the Transcendental Meditation program in all fields of life." (Skeptical and alternate TM websites have pointed out the inaccuracy of many of these studies.)
Benson's and Wallace's research focused on physiological changes in the subjects during the practice of TM itself, in areas such as blood pressure and oxygen consumption. All indices pointed to a state of reduced physical activation, or relaxation, yet wakefulness, a state they called "restful alertness." If my memory serves me, this first research project of Benson and Wallace was published in approximately 1970 in The Lancet, a respected British medical journal.
These early experiments gave scientific standing to the heretofore esoteric practice of Transcendental Meditation. I remember that in the TM introductory lectures I attended in 1971, I and my friends were much impressed and influenced by this scientific validation.
As my friends and I got deeper into the TM world, Benson and Wallace were our secular "heroes" for the legitimacy they had given TM. The first crack I recall in this "love affair" was Benson's wistful comment that he now had so much evidence on the benefits of TM that he would love to do it himself, however he felt that if he learned TM his impartiality as a researcher would be compromised.
Some time after this, Benson made the leap to the theory that the state of "restful alertness" must be a physiologically imbedded state, and therefore be attainable through ways other than Transcendental Meditation. He then went on to theorize, study and research, and out of that came his book The Relaxation Response.
Benson studied many meditation, contemplation and prayer techniques from around the world and from many centuries, techniques developed by mystics, saints, nuns, monks, and so on from different spiritual traditions (Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, etc.) and discovered that other teachings appeared to use similar techniques to TM and appeared to produce
similar results to TM.
When I was on my TM Teacher Training course back in 1974, I was taught contempt and condescension for all other techniques, which, Maharishi taught, were all completely different from - and inferior to - his Transcendental Meditation. (Please see my TM-Free Blog post, published 10/13/2008, "Book Review. The Maharishi: The Biography of the Man Who Brought Transcendental Meditation to the World by Paul Mason," where I describe how Maharishi isolated himself from all other traditions.) So, in reading The Relaxation Response in 2008, I was struck, humbled and shamed to see the obvious similarities between TM and techniques handed down by myriad traditions. One example, "dhikr," from the mystic Islamic tradition known as Sufism, will suffice to show the similarities. The instructional language is poetic with its emphasis on divine love and religious devotion, but the underlying technique is strikingly similar.
"Let [the practitioner] sit alone in some corner....Let him not cease saying continuously with his tongue 'Allah, Allah,' [God, God,] keeping his thoughts on it. At last he will reach a state when the motion of his tongue will cease, and it will seem as though the word flowed from it. Let him persevere in this until all trace of motion is removed from his tongue, and he finds his heart persevering in the thought. Let him still persevere until the form of the word - its letters and shape - is removed from his heart, and there remains the idea alone, as though clinging to his heart, inseparable from it....If he follows the above course, he may be sure that the light of the Real will shine out of his heart."
I was struck by how much these instructions resemble the instructions I memorized on TM Teacher Training in 1974, on how to instruct someone in TM. Following the puja (ceremony), the TM teacher says, "Aem, aem, aem, aem," (or some other mantra, all of which are the names of gods). Teacher gestures to student to repeat the mantra. When the student is doing so, teacher gestures to the student to sit and continue repeating. When student does so, teacher says, "Close the eyes and continue....More quietly....More quietly....More quietly....Now, mentally, without moving tongue and lips....Slowly open the eyes. It's easy? Mental repetition is not a clear pronunciation. It's just a faint idea. Now close the eyes and continue...."
Benson determined that all these different techniques - including TM - had four elements in common: (1) a quiet environment, (2) a mental device such as a word, phrase, object to be gazed at, etc., to be repeated in a specific fashion, (3) a passive attitude, in which ideation drifts into the mind, and one does not concentrate or be concerned with how well one is doing it, and (4) a comfortable position, but not a lying down one which might induce sleep.
After reviewing the similarity of various techniques. Benson studied subjects doing six different techniques that followed these four rules in order to see if they did indeed produce the same physiological results as TM. Benson tested subjects during the practice of TM, Zen and yoga, autogenic training, progressive relaxation, hypnosis with suggested deep relaxation, and sentic cycles for changes in oxygen consumption, respiratory rate, heart rate, alpha waves, blood pressure and muscle tension. The results were almost indistinguishable.
I can imagine the horror, disbelief and denial I would have experienced if I had read this book in 1974, after I became a TM teacher. I repeat the heresy: The results of the six techniques were almost indistinguishable from each other and from TM.
I do remember Benson's name fading from TM lectures after the the publication of this book. I remember what contempt and pity we TM teachers had for Benson for "betraying the movement." I remember never bothering to read his book until 2008. I remember hearing with triumph (and relief) that people who took up Benson's "relaxation response" technique were soon bored and gave it up, but we TMers found our experience fulfilling and kept at it. I remember one TM teachers saying dismissively, "Well, you get what you pay for."
This short, easy-to-read, down-to-earth book is food for thought, a "how-to" book on how to achieve the relaxation response, and also a useful tool for people wanting to take the next step in deprogramming themselves from the TM mindset.
Friday, October 24, 2008
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Book Review. My Father's Guru: A Journey through Spirituality and Disillusion by Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson. 1992, 174 pages.
From time to time, commentors and contributors to TMFree have suggested books that they have found relevant. I have recently read a few of them, and thought you might enjoy a few book reviews. This is the third in the series.
In 1947, when Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson was 6 years old, his father brought home "Dr." Paul Brunton, a soft spoken, mild mannered sweet little Englishman. Brunton, a minor author of "spiritual" literature in the early 20th century, was to become Masson Sr.'s guru for the next 19 years. During those years, "Brunton" (the name he gave himself) lectured, philosophized, led, cajoled, encouraged celibacy (leading to mental health problems in the family), supported fasting, advised, taught a form of meditation which brought no results but which the family nevertheless practiced for over a decade, inspired, instructed, lived with and sponged off the Masson family.
He was modest and disarming, underwhelming in appearance. He never took sexual advantage of his disciples, and he didn't always accept the large sums of money Mason Sr. offered him. But what he did do was claim to have a Ph.D., be a Sanskrit scholar, foresee the future, talk with higher beings, have a grand mission to save the human race, remember his past lives, be a sage, be from another planet, and to know the answer to all questions.
He invented a quasi Hindu/ Buddhist/ Theosophical system. He never admitted ignorance on any topic, secular or spiritual. If he didn't have an an answer, he would give a mysterious smile that seemed to say that he had secret knowledge that he was not at liberty to share, or alternately he would invent an answer.
Here are a few of his teachings (paraphrased), to give you a taste of what he offered.
On his powers: "Should you ever feel a hostile force, immediately kneel, then say very firmly, 'I command you in the name, by the power and compassion of Paul Brunton, to come out of my body.' Then make a sign of the cross...No evil force can withstand this."
On reincarnation: "All my incarnations were not on this planet. Life on other planets are inhabited by higher beings. They never come to visit us because we are not worthy."
On evolution: "Man did not evolve from the monkey. The race of apes came from a sexual union between primitive man and female beasts."
On his mission: "Buddha himself foresaw that a new teacher would arise within a few thousand years after himself...with a higher spiritual status than himself, within this current century."
On the family's financial problems: "Either earn more or spend less." (This said in a solemn, sage voice.)
On his teachings: "Any negative thought my disciples may have about this path, their guru and his powers are at best tests and at worst the work of external mischief-makers."
Jeffrey lived a double life. His normal-looking outside life consisted of school, extracurricular activities, friends, etc. Then there was the secret life he, his family, the other disciples and Brunton shared. Jeffrey never told his friends that there was a guru living in his house on and off for 19 years, that his family was specially favored by God, that his parents sometimes fasted for 40 days until they were skeletal, and that the only topics discussed in the house was spirituality and esoterica, filtered through Brunton's philosophy.
After 19 years, the family fell out with Brunton after he inaccurately predicted the imminent arrival of World War III and had his disciples pull up stakes in the U.S. and move to South America to avoid the coming radioactive fallout. Jeffrey made his own escape when adolescent independent thinking kicked in. He studied Sanskrit and Pali, and discovered that Brunton had lied about being a Sanskrit scholar, and that Buddha had never made any predictions about a guru appearing in the 20th century. He broke the family's "gentleman's agreement" of not asking Brunton embarrassing personal questions, forcing Brunton to reveal his inconsistencies. And he caught Brunton in a parlor trick which Brunton was perpetrating in order to convince his disciples that he had psychic powers.
I felt both horror and fascination as I read this book. What, I wondered, would make perfectly intelligent people give their minds, their money, and 19 years of their life to a person and a system so obviously flawed and fraudulent? Here is some of what I theorize happened to the Masson family. Perhaps as Isaac Newton said, things in motion tend to remain in motion and things at rest tend to remain at rest. Objects continue on their paths until they are met with an immovable object. Continuing to believe in Brunton was the path of least resistance. Brunton combined the carrot and the stick - he appealed to his disciples' pride, desire to be special and to have esoteric wisdom, and to their fear of falling outside the loop of this charmed life. Also, Masson's family lived in a closed system - they socialized only with other disciples, who could reinforce each other's awe for Brunton. And maybe Jeffrey's family and Brunton got caught in a strange unconscious dance, where he craved to be admired and they craved a guru. He offered "proofs" of his specialness, which caused them to put him on a pedestal, and then to demand more extreme proofs of his specialness, which caused him to produce grander and more entrenched lies, until eventually Brunton himself may have come to believe his own lies. And, the longer the Masson family followed Brunton, the harder it became to admit that they had been hoodwinked.
Ever since I left the TM movement after 10 years in it, I have been asking myself how I could have totally believed a system so full of contradictions, and why I found it so hard to leave. An exit counselor once told me that a helpful tool in assisting a person to leave a cult is to educate them about a different cult. The objectivity that comes with distance makes it easy to see the craziness of the other group, and the cult member can then more easily spot the dysfunctional systems holding oneself hostage to ones own cult. As I ponder what held the Massons captive, I am struck by some of the parallels
with Maharishi and the TM movement. Maybe reading about this family will help others gain more insight into their own life journey and become a little more free.
In 1947, when Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson was 6 years old, his father brought home "Dr." Paul Brunton, a soft spoken, mild mannered sweet little Englishman. Brunton, a minor author of "spiritual" literature in the early 20th century, was to become Masson Sr.'s guru for the next 19 years. During those years, "Brunton" (the name he gave himself) lectured, philosophized, led, cajoled, encouraged celibacy (leading to mental health problems in the family), supported fasting, advised, taught a form of meditation which brought no results but which the family nevertheless practiced for over a decade, inspired, instructed, lived with and sponged off the Masson family.
He was modest and disarming, underwhelming in appearance. He never took sexual advantage of his disciples, and he didn't always accept the large sums of money Mason Sr. offered him. But what he did do was claim to have a Ph.D., be a Sanskrit scholar, foresee the future, talk with higher beings, have a grand mission to save the human race, remember his past lives, be a sage, be from another planet, and to know the answer to all questions.
He invented a quasi Hindu/ Buddhist/ Theosophical system. He never admitted ignorance on any topic, secular or spiritual. If he didn't have an an answer, he would give a mysterious smile that seemed to say that he had secret knowledge that he was not at liberty to share, or alternately he would invent an answer.
Here are a few of his teachings (paraphrased), to give you a taste of what he offered.
On his powers: "Should you ever feel a hostile force, immediately kneel, then say very firmly, 'I command you in the name, by the power and compassion of Paul Brunton, to come out of my body.' Then make a sign of the cross...No evil force can withstand this."
On reincarnation: "All my incarnations were not on this planet. Life on other planets are inhabited by higher beings. They never come to visit us because we are not worthy."
On evolution: "Man did not evolve from the monkey. The race of apes came from a sexual union between primitive man and female beasts."
On his mission: "Buddha himself foresaw that a new teacher would arise within a few thousand years after himself...with a higher spiritual status than himself, within this current century."
On the family's financial problems: "Either earn more or spend less." (This said in a solemn, sage voice.)
On his teachings: "Any negative thought my disciples may have about this path, their guru and his powers are at best tests and at worst the work of external mischief-makers."
Jeffrey lived a double life. His normal-looking outside life consisted of school, extracurricular activities, friends, etc. Then there was the secret life he, his family, the other disciples and Brunton shared. Jeffrey never told his friends that there was a guru living in his house on and off for 19 years, that his family was specially favored by God, that his parents sometimes fasted for 40 days until they were skeletal, and that the only topics discussed in the house was spirituality and esoterica, filtered through Brunton's philosophy.
After 19 years, the family fell out with Brunton after he inaccurately predicted the imminent arrival of World War III and had his disciples pull up stakes in the U.S. and move to South America to avoid the coming radioactive fallout. Jeffrey made his own escape when adolescent independent thinking kicked in. He studied Sanskrit and Pali, and discovered that Brunton had lied about being a Sanskrit scholar, and that Buddha had never made any predictions about a guru appearing in the 20th century. He broke the family's "gentleman's agreement" of not asking Brunton embarrassing personal questions, forcing Brunton to reveal his inconsistencies. And he caught Brunton in a parlor trick which Brunton was perpetrating in order to convince his disciples that he had psychic powers.
I felt both horror and fascination as I read this book. What, I wondered, would make perfectly intelligent people give their minds, their money, and 19 years of their life to a person and a system so obviously flawed and fraudulent? Here is some of what I theorize happened to the Masson family. Perhaps as Isaac Newton said, things in motion tend to remain in motion and things at rest tend to remain at rest. Objects continue on their paths until they are met with an immovable object. Continuing to believe in Brunton was the path of least resistance. Brunton combined the carrot and the stick - he appealed to his disciples' pride, desire to be special and to have esoteric wisdom, and to their fear of falling outside the loop of this charmed life. Also, Masson's family lived in a closed system - they socialized only with other disciples, who could reinforce each other's awe for Brunton. And maybe Jeffrey's family and Brunton got caught in a strange unconscious dance, where he craved to be admired and they craved a guru. He offered "proofs" of his specialness, which caused them to put him on a pedestal, and then to demand more extreme proofs of his specialness, which caused him to produce grander and more entrenched lies, until eventually Brunton himself may have come to believe his own lies. And, the longer the Masson family followed Brunton, the harder it became to admit that they had been hoodwinked.
Ever since I left the TM movement after 10 years in it, I have been asking myself how I could have totally believed a system so full of contradictions, and why I found it so hard to leave. An exit counselor once told me that a helpful tool in assisting a person to leave a cult is to educate them about a different cult. The objectivity that comes with distance makes it easy to see the craziness of the other group, and the cult member can then more easily spot the dysfunctional systems holding oneself hostage to ones own cult. As I ponder what held the Massons captive, I am struck by some of the parallels
with Maharishi and the TM movement. Maybe reading about this family will help others gain more insight into their own life journey and become a little more free.
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