A Wind of Freedom at Transcendental Meditation U

I received an email last night that has given me such hope!

Although I've worked with thousands of former TMers, I've only worked with a few adults who were born or raised in TM. It's easy, unfortunately, for me to forget about the very different needs and experiences of Maharishi's Children. (My heartfelt thanks to Gina Catena for her help in my understanding this community.)

The note below gives me a glimpse into a very different world: The next generation of Maharishi University of Management in Fairfield, IA.

There is a bracing wind of freedom blowing in the halls of MUM (the old MIU) where some students are not afraid to state changes they want to see -- as well as an articulate statement of those things they want to keep and improve.

I urge readers to click on the linked article below. The essay is an eloquent call to arms from the next generation of the TM Movement.

Speaking only for myself, and not any other contributor to TMFB, if I can be of any help to these brave students, this is one aging hippie-wannabe I hope they will not hesitate to ask. (I can be reached on my cell at 518.651.6490 or by email at jmknapp53@gmail.com.)

For starters, I would be very interested in proposing a representative of these students to my fellow contributors as a columnist here at TMFB. (Gabriel Renfrew, are you listening?) Theirs is a perspective I believe readers here would be inspired by!

Hi John,

So this article is circulating around student Facebook profiles... I thought this may be of interest to you or possibly even to post. Much of what he says about the student body is true. Many of us this year have just begun to do what we wish without fear of repercussion. Well, the fear is still somewhat there, but we care far less about the motives of the TM organization. In fact, recently the "RC Dept." brought the hammer down on quite a few students telling them they had to leave at the end of the year because of low meditation attendance. I myself am one of these students. Word soon spread to the V.P. and he was dumbfounded that the RC department (in cooperation with an "Academic Committee") was assuming the authority to kick students out. Almost all of these students, including me, also have above a 3.0 GPA. So the V.P. told them to stop kicking people out, but for the most part it was too late because quite a few of the students told to leave had
already made plans.

We still have respect for what the founders intended with the university, but we are not those same people. Much of what Gabriel Renfrow's letter embodies is the spirit of a majority within the students. We know what is going on. We laugh at the answers we get from our "rounding" instructors. We think John Hagelin's burger king crown is ridiculous. TM works for some people, though we are highly curious about new and different practices. But most importantly, we believe in what this university could be and we think the movement/TM organization is ruining it.

Here is the link to the blog post my friend and student recently made:

http://www.facebook.com/ext/share.php?sid=91000722430&h=Bwd3D&u=_U11O&ref=nf

Feel free to post whatever you'd like :-)

All the Best,
Andrew
RandEm Hero arcatec23@yahoo.com