Old Yogi Pension Fund Ends!

(SCROLL DOWN FOR 5/20/13 ADDENDUM)

Those who lost the most from their devotion to Transcendental Meditation, having never obtained a functional career and are unable to focus in the material world, have three months to generate an income. They will be on their own and must learn to support themselves.

Emails have been flying with the latest TM Movement news that the Settle Fund will cease in 90 days. See recent blog post "Dozing for Dollars" which described a sort  of “Old Yogi Pension Fund” of a subsistence wage, calculated by some to average $3.80 per hour, for those who meditated full time.  

Transcendental Meditation’s spiritually elite Citizen Sidhas and Governors of the Age of Enlightenment who’ve supported themselves in recent years by full participation in the padded domes’ meditation programs are already seeking personal sponsorships from TM’s wealthy to continue their lifestyle.

According to circulating emails, Bevan Morris made this announcement last week in an “Experience Meeting” of the Invincible America (I.A.) Assembly.

Once again, the TM cult organization blames the victims for their loss of livelihood, rather than owning up to the learned helplessness which Maharishi encouraged through his teaching of “Do less accomplish more until you do nothing and accomplish everything”.

One person seeking sponsorships shared Bevan’s claim “... how sad the Settles were after investing 100 million dollars over the last 7 years and not reaching the goal of 2000 yogic flyers in the golden domes.  Howard (Settle) expressed his disappointment in not being able to get the 400 pundits we needed from India; he feels this was a major factor in his lack of success in the last few months.”

 

(what hooey!)

Per one post on the Fairfield Life yahoo group,  “Yep, Dr. Bevan Morris, Prime Minister of the Global Country of World Peace and President of Maharishi University of Management yesterday morning announced to the Invincible America Assembly the end of the Invincible America grant program.”   

Of note, there never was a stable endowment for these sponsorships. Personal grants were supported by depleting an account established by Howard and Alice Settle. As Mike Doughney commented on the “Dozing for Dollars” post :

“ Basically, the foundation that's been offering the grants to dome snoozers was set up by the donation of an exploration company owned by Howard to the foundation, the foundation in turn sold it off / "liquidated" it and invested the proceeds.

That investment isn't enough to pay out the grants they've been handing out indefinitely, so the investment was consumed over just a few years. I.e. if they wanted it to last indefinitely they'd have it pay out a few percent of its value, no more, every year. They didn't do that, instead they paid it out at a very high rate, so it was gone after a few years, presumably. The IRS filings confirm this up through two years ago, eventually the filings for the current year will come out and the exact reasons will be public.

I would also note that this deal with the Settles and their foundation, as far as I can tell, is a bit different from the predecessors like the Kaplans in that the foundation money, though looped through the "Global Country," is, as far as I can tell, fully accounted for as to what its final destination is (this small group of Fairfield residents in the domes under certain rather tight conditions, and perhaps, a small administrative cut of it kept by the "Country"). The Kaplan money seems to have vanished off to India where, I would presume, it went into their school and other enterprises there. Once offshore, and particularly, in India, keeping track of where the money went would, I think, become difficult.”

According to an anonymous email “Bevan explained that the leaders of the movement have been meeting for days to come up with some solutions.”

+++ Addendum +++ May 20, 2013 +++

Commentary upon "Dr." Bevan Morris' email from MUM's development office :

From: development@mum.edu
To:
Sent: Mon, May 20, 2013 1:59 PM EDT
Subject: Important change in the Invincible America Assembly

Dear Friend of Maharishi University of Management,

 Bevan explains that :

"The Settle Foundation is facing financial challenges due to difficulties that have arisen in the past five months in the business that underlies the foundation's giving."

Bevan defers to Raja John Hagelin's directives and explains the situation : 

Word of this has reached the Invincible America Assembly grant recipients, so Raja John Hagelin asked me to explain the situation to everyone on the Assembly, which I did on Thursday.

I explained that the Settle grants would be coming to an end over the next months.

He suggests that the grant recipients find gainful employment during their few free hours daily. This reminds me of the 1979 first Word Peace Assembly when Maharishi told everyone to brainstorm on businesses to support themselves in Fairfield - resulting in numerous scammers, multi-level marketing businesses, telemarketing and other fly-by-night scenarios, some of which were shut down for SEC violations.

I said everyone should quickly make plans to be self-sufficient through "cashing in" in the afternoon (i.e., working at a job in the afternoon) as Maharishi described it, or any other approach, including, at least for some, personal funds.

Bevan attempts to explain himself, clarifying rumors that must have circulated after his public announcement. As in the past, no promises are made, but always efforts to provide for those dependent : 

I also said Raja John Hagelin, Raja Wynne and Maureen, Raja Bob Lopinto, Raja Harris  and myself are trying to come up with a plan for new sources of income that will allow the program to continue as much as possible, and we are talking to our Indian leaders about this. Of course, supporting the 600 Vedic Pandits we have here now is extremely important, and if we are successful in raising new funds, bringing the 400 Maharishi Vedic Pandits who are in India waiting to come, to create a much higher level of national coherence.

Innuendo provides a ray of hope for the most consistent participants (and therefore, least capable of holding a job) : 

I emphasized that in the future the grant, when available, would probably be for a smaller number of Yogic Flyers, especially the most active flyers, who do really long flying and make a long-term commitment to the Invincible America Assembly program. Maharishi said this from the beginning and Dr. Doug and Dr. Linda Birx have been working on this throughout. This will reduce the numbers, but we will have a more powerful group.

I pointed out the present situation means that we have been depending on the generosity of Howard and Alice too much. We need to take responsibility afresh to engage all the Sidhas of America in national invincibility.

Ever emphasizing the love and beauty of these generous souls, and how enlightened and feel-good everyone is : 

The response was extremely beautiful. Speaker after speaker sent their infinite love and gratitude to the Settles, saying they understand how they must be feeling, and want them only to feel the depth of their gratitude and love.

Yes, the I.A.A course existed before the grant - formerly known as the Creating Coherence Course - once costing $200 monthly per person to attend. Does anyone know the current cost? Oh, but wait! That's not necessary! You can apply to MUM and use governmental backed loans and other student financial aid to receive academic credit for your time on the sheet-covered padded foam! Maybe even obtain a doctorate in Vedic Studie$$!

The common feeling was that the Invincible America Assembly will continue even without the grant. The Assembly Maharishi created even before there was a grant, and it will continue even now that the grant is not possible for some time. Some also said they would apply to become Maharishi University of Management students so they could use financial aid to continue.

So what's the focus on Mexico? 8,000? hmm.. there should be no more crime in Mexico! (by Maharishi's own calculations, right?) : 

They suggested we fly at the same time as the 8,000 Yogic Flyers in Oaxaca, Mexico, that we adjust lift-off for flying time to accommodate people with jobs in Fairfield, and other positive ideas. They reminded us that Maharishi said, "I am--India and America for a bright future for the world" and we have to fulfill Maharishi's direction, all of us together.

It was a very moving and even blissful occasion. We will continue in the Invincible America Assembly experience session with more thinking from everyone.

A new campaign is also starting for all Sidhas in Fairfield, Maharishi Vedic City, and nationally to participate in the Invincible America Assembly to create a better fortune for the nation.

In closure, it's imperative to thank those who gave $100 million to support the coiffures of Maharishi's family business.

We are all so grateful to Howard and Alice for giving nearly $100 million over the past seven years--it is really just phenomenal and historic--and we know that they will continue to do everything to support national invincibility.

With Best Wishes,

Jai Guru Dev

Bevan

 (President of Maharishi University of Management in Fairfield, Iowa, Prime Minister of the Global Country of World Peace, President of Maharishi Vedic Education Development Corporation, Prime Minister of the United States Peace Government, President of the Maharishi World Peace Fund, and a founder of the Natural Law Party)
  

We at TMFree sincerely hope that those who've become dependent upon the Settle grant are able to find and hold gainful employment, and a life beyond cult dependency.

Dozing for Dollars - Advanced Transcendental Meditation provides for the Eternally Dissociated

(This tongue-in-cheek advertisement describes a real fund for TM-Sidhas and TM-Governors to practice advanced TM Programs as their full time job, 8-hours daily, in the Golden Domes of the Age of Enlightenment on Maharishi University of Management in Fairfield, Iowa).

At last - you can earn a living while contributing to the supernatural hypothetical Maharishi Effect for World Peace!

You too can receive up to $815 monthly to participate 8 hours daily in Fairfield's Invincible America Program, otherwise known as the "I.A. Course". To make it even easier, I.A. Course commitment was reduced to only one month at a time!

Howard and Alice Settle oil and gas moguls amongst Maharishi's wealthiest devotees, created Howard and Alice Settle Foundation  with an annual twelve-million-dollar grant for an Invincible America fund to support Maharishi's vision, and get TM's embarrassing dissociated space-cadettes off the streets of cozy Fairfield Iowa. Maharishi University awarded honorary Doctorates in World Peace to the Settles for their donations to this effort.

The qualifications are simple :

Are you unable to support yourself after years of dissociative "transcendental consciousness" as experienced during Maharishi's TM-Sidhi Program and living on Maharishi's promises of "Do Less Accomplish More", until you are unable to do anything?

Did you invest yourself in advanced TM training to become a Sidha - an enlightened being with mystical powers including levitation for promised rewards of health, wealth and enlightenment?

Are you unable to support yourself with your useless advanced degree in Vedic Science from Maharishi University of Management  for which your federally guaranteed student loans are now in default?

Did you spend your working years training and teaching TM or working on staff at Maharishi's facilities for a marginal livelihood without retirement funds?

Are you able to converse only with those who share a history in the TM Movement?

Do you feel emotionally safe only with other TM-Sidhas or TM-Governors?

Do your pre-TM family and contacts refuse to financially support you? 

Do you miss counting the myriad of triangles in the umbrella-curved geodesic dome ceiling?

Then the Settle Sponsorship for Invincible America is for you! 

Rather than publicly embarrassing the TM Movement by wandering in poverty, you'll have a warm place to go every day with others who are also qualified only to close their eyes in one of two large wooden domes, embraced in Maharishi's safety net inside the prairie's two man-made breasts on Maharishi campus.  

Listen to Howard Settle speak of the devotional cult value this advanced program. As you watch the video, note Howard Settle's enlightened clothing, the required tan or silk suit and gold tie, and his office with expensively approved Sthapatya Veda style architecture.

Thanks to Howard & Alice Settle's generosity, you too can receive between $700 - $815 monthly to attend the dome program with 3 - 4 rounds daily - each round consists of a cycle of asanas, pranayama, meditation and sidhis. Two rounds in the morning and one or two in the afternoon. This takes about 8 hours daily of your time, seven days a week. You will further your experiences of deep transcendence, err dissociation, and help assure the needed numbers for Maharishi's promised Super-Radiance Effect.

At last, “Program” will be your 56-hour-weekly job! 

You can claim to be one of the global elite with your full time commitment to enlightenment and world peace! 

You will have no excuse not to meditate yourself to greater enlightenment experiences, otherwise known as further dissociation! 

Your rising Kundalini towards your crown chakra will be assured by Settle Program monitors who remind you to remain sitting up during program, rather than snoring in drool on those rumpled white sheets over the high density rebound-foam. Unlike those who pay for their own Program participation, you will not be allowed to sleep horizontally throughout “Program time” (of course, you must lie down during regulated rest times). 

Video about TM & Kundalini : 

Settle monitors were instituted after homeless grant recipients used to access a warm group snooze to fulfill their daily commitment to the I.A. course, because they were bored with expensively learned mental recitations.  Then they partied all night after sleeping in the domes. 

If you are a long term meditator, the sitting requirement should not dissuade you from needed sleep, since most long-term meditators can readily sleep in a sitting position.

Today, some recipients of the Settle grant rotate nights on the sofas of other Fairfield friends as they live in support Maharishi's vision. Other grant recipients rent a cheap room nearby. A few recipients supplement a small Social Security check with their Settle grant for a reasonable Fairfield-based lifestyle.

If you are in good standing with the TM Movement, you can apply for the Settle monthly stipend with this Financial Support Request.

Two important caveats :  

1) Program attendance is mandatory to receive your stipend! You must attend at least 80% of the scheduled Programs to receive your stipend. If you miss more than 20% of Dome Program in a given month, your stipend will be forfeited.  

2) You must remain in good standing with the TM Movement by living an exemplary TM-Sidha lifestyle and never question nor speak negatively about Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and the Transcendental Meditation Movement.  

Fine print : There is no guarantee how long this fund will continue. When the Settle funds ends, you will be back on the streets begging for sponsorships in the old TM tradition.

Thirty Years Later: What was all that about? (Part 10 of a series)

(To read this series from the beginning, start here.)

The structure of the TM “movement” and the names by which it was called evolved over the decades in the same way in which it moved from an image of a pop-culture curiosity to all-out weirdness. Initially it used rather normal sounding names like “International Meditation Society” and “World Plan Executive Council.”

But if the underlying message of the movement is that it offers some means of control, not just on a personal level but on some perhaps megalomaniacal scale, of things like national and world events to allegedly bring about world peace, the movement’s name and structure eventually came to reflect that. It took on the terminology and titles of government - a government with conventions and titles and rituals and finally its own currency, but in reality it is a bunch of people with no significant power or influence playing at government. While in some sense this looks like some kind of parallel government, I call it a toy government. Its apparent primary purpose is to preside over the contrived task of getting a bunch of people to practice a certain set of mental techniques, rituals and bouncing on foam rubber (a practice delusionally dubbed “Yogic Flying”) at the same time and the same place at various points around the world, some of them in India, one of them, of course, at the organization’s facilities in Fairfield, Iowa. Real estate ownership, occasional property development (sometimes with the participation of wealthy donors), and above all, getting people to part with their money are other significant activities.

In 1976 during a year retroactively if not at the time dubbed “Maharishi’s Year of Government” the TM organization began to call itself the “World Government of the Age of Enlightenment.” Individuals who spent sufficient time and money on the organization were given the title of “Governor,” while movement higher-ups were called “Minister.” But even the nod toward a parliamentary form of government would not last, for the ultimate model it would adopt was that of monarchy - but a monarchy one could buy a role in, if one simply were willing to hand over a substantial amount of cash.

By 2000 the movement was calling itself the “Global Country of World Peace” and had crowned a king, “King Nader Raam,” the new title for former researcher and TM promoter Tony Nader. The image of a king, complete with golden crown and golden robes and the spectacle of having his weight measured out in gold, still wasn’t quite weird enough.

In 2003 the “Global Country” announced the million-dollar residence course. Here is the ultimate continuation of the movement’s toy government framework. For those who want to, as if by magic, control the world - but who have no real power, but plenty of money - they can buy into the “Global Government” and be named a “Raja” for simply coughing up one million dollars and spending some months in Holland. The alleged training course is “for those who wish to be the permanent administrators of the Global Country of World Peace in their regions.” Of course, as usual, there is nothing of substance about the position except for the raw exchange of money and time for title and status among a relatively small group of people.

It appears that in practice these “Rajas” got to sit in a room in Holland in the same building with the movement’s dying leader and watch him on closed-circuit television (and near his end, only hear him) blather more of the same things he’s said for the past fifty years. No doubt a lot of that talk was about his and his movement’s inflated sense of worth and importance.

What kind of person throws that kind of money at the “Global Government,” a toy simulation of real government? Perhaps the highest-profile example of a donor who supports this organization’s activities, such as they are, to the tune of millions of dollars a year is Howard Settle. A wealthy Texas oilman, Settle and his wife have been recently credited with making possible a stipend of seven hundred dollars a month to so-called “yogic flyers” by donating a million dollars a month over the past few years.

Settle hasn’t been named a “Raja” as far as I can tell from what’s been written about him online, so apparently he hasn’t the time or inclination to go to Holland for a while and spend a million dollars on that particular cash-absorbing program. But if you read the transcript of what he’s told those so-called “yogic flyers,” he is clearly a true believer, that the money he’s throwing at people bouncing on foam is actually buying the world something. As I’ve been pointing out, that to my eye the central feature of the TM program is a series of transactions involving money, likewise to Settle this is just another business proposition, another investment. Clearly, in Settle’s own words, he thinks that spending his money to enable people to bounce on foam rubber, after a few decades of that practice being surrounded by ridiculous claims, grandiose language and delusional expectations, is a business transaction that he can calculate a rate of return on.

I’ve quoted this piece of Settle’s statement at length, since I think it clearly shows how the throwing away of enormous sums of money by wealthy people on this toy government is somehow justified in their own minds through the use of the same cut-and-paste language the TM organization has repeated over the past few decades.

For any business transaction, you want to invest as little as possible, but in return you want to receive as much as possible.

‘We have the tools to calculate how efficient we are at this principle of ”Do less and accomplish more”: we calculate the return on investment and the rate of return.

‘In business, if you can achieve a two to one return on your investment over a period of a year, your calculated rate of return is 100%, and this is pretty good. In fact, if I offered each of you a 100% rate of return, it would be insane not to take advantage of an investment as favorable as that.

‘By contrast, Raja Hagelin has informed us that the influence we create in the Super Radiance groups is equal to the square root of 1%. The easiest way to calculate this effect is to multiply the number of Yogic Flyers by 100. So yesterday, with 1750 Yogic Flyers in the Invincible America Assembly, each of you had the effect of providing a positive influence of coherence to 175,000 of your fellow citizens. In other words, the return on investment of a single Yogic Flyer in the Assembly yesterday was 175,000 to 1; and this return did not take a year, but occurred within three hours. I haven’t calculated the rate of return on this investment of your time, but it approaches infinity.

‘This return to each of you on the Assembly is on an investment far more precious than money. It is a return on your action - your karma. And the result will be a continuous stream of positive influence in your life that will grow each day as you participate in the Assembly.

What’s really fascinating, when trying to get a handle on this man’s state of mind, is that this contrived-though-disconnected sense of pseudo-rationality supporting his spending decisions was preceded by the published admission that there is no proof at all for the claims made for these programs. In 2003, Settle financed the construction of one of the “Global Government’s” first “Peace Palace” in Lexington, Kentucky, a building into which Settle located one of his company’s offices. In an article in the local paper, which was ironically republished on one of the TM organization’s own websites, Settle made this remarkable admission:

“You can’t prove what it does for you,” Settle said of meditation, “but over time, the effects become more and more noticeable.”

So the personal effects can’t be proven, and thus, we may assume, the global effects of “world peace” and eventual creation of an “Invincible America” are likewise unproven. But he’ll throw tens of millions at the process anyway.

Many may assume that people with the kind of wealth Settle has already run the world. But perhaps the truth is that money doesn’t always buy power. The TM organizations, through endless repetition of mere rhetoric and bogus claims, have created a completely fictional web of power and influence - that all these rituals and practices will magically change national and world events, if someone will only spend the money such that enough people are doing them.

For some who started over thirty years ago inexpensively with just the twice-daily practice of Transcendental Meditation, after a few decades of conditioning that ridiculous premise is somehow reasonable. Howard Settle seems quite proud of the mental gyrations with which he justified what he sees as just another business decision. Perhaps to him these enormous sums of money are something similar to what “therapeutic shopping” is to some of us of more modest means - but we at least come home with a little something to show for it. Spending might make him feel better - but he’ll never see anything substantial for it, and he couldn’t care less.

(Continue to Part 11)