The dubious research claims of Transcendental Meditation, part 5: The bottom of the barrel of published TM research articles

Read this series from the beginning.

Read the previous installment of this series (Part 4).

David W. Orme-Johnson. From "Inaugurating the
Dawn of the Age of Enlightenment," 1975

We here at the TM-Free Blog have received a comment from David W. Orme-Johnson. He’s a former Maharishi University of Management psychology department chairman and a frequent defender and promoter of TM research studies. I’ve mentioned him and his website a number of times in previous parts of this series, “The dubious research claims of Transcendental Meditation.” He submitted his comment in response to the second part posted here at the TM-Free Blog on September 22, 2019, subtitled ‘"Peer review" doesn't always mean "quality" or "accuracy.”’ In 2015, he claimed to have no formal affiliation with the TM movement on his website, but a published comment that same year indicated that he was then associated with the “Research Desk, Maharishi Foundation USA.”

As a matter of editorial policy, the contributors to the TM-Free Blog don’t particularly care to reprint the TM movement’s marketing materials. There are thousands of TM movement operated or affiliated websites worldwide that serve that purpose. There is also, of course,  Orme-Johnson’s own website, “Truth About TM,” that contains plenty of defenses of TM research and a few rebuttals of critics from his point of view, that’s evidently very similar to that of the TM organization. Parts of his submitted comment are of a promotional nature, therefore I won’t be running his comment in the comments, or as a post, verbatim.

The "evidence-based" claim, as it appears on the
tm.org website at the time of this writing.

I may write up a full response to Orme-Johnson’s comment at some later date. Since this is a series about the usual claims made by the TM movement, particularly with respect to research findings and how they are represented, particularly with respect to being published in “peer-reviewed” journals, I will respond here to two elements of his comment. The first part of his comment further illustrates the problems with TM research that contradict the TM movement’s claims that, among other things, Transcendental Meditation should be considered “evidence-based” because of this body of research studies. He wrote:

The second paper the blog uses to criticize TM research is a preliminary study by the late Sarina Grosswald and co-authors on ADHD. In children with ADHD, the study showed statistically significant reductions in stress, anxiety, and improvements in ADHD symptoms and executive function. The authors were obviously not naïve about experimental design, as the blog portrays them, because they said in the title that this was “An exploratory study”. 

This passage in Orme-Johnson’s comment leaves me chuckling to myself. The idea that calling their work “an exploratory study” excuses blatant problems and errors in their methods is, in my view, ridiculous. If the experimenters really wanted to draw serious attention to their work, which makes a rather novel if not controversial claim, why wouldn’t they take particular care to ensure that what they were doing wasn’t obviously problematic? Relying on self-reporting and self-controls, ensuring that the schools’ most prominent authority figure was an enthusiastic TM meditator, and coaching the student subjects to expect positive results - and recording that coaching on video! - are not excusable because the study was “exploratory.” If anything, these faults show that the claimed results were most likely the result of the kind of wishful thinking and confirmation bias common among TM meditators, and aren’t really worth considering for further study. But a paper like this, published in a third- or fourth-rate journal, provides the kind of story that’s commonly circulated among TM insiders, that reinforces, for them, that what they’re doing, spending time and money on, is a valid and worthwhile cause. It also provides fodder for press releases that are sent to reporters who aren’t in a position to approach these matters with the skepticism, resources or time to do anything other than to publish these claims verbatim without the most basic examination of how these conclusions were reached.

Convicted child pornography collector was a MUM trustee and major donor to TM organizations

It’s a standard article of faith among many practitioners of Transcendental Meditation, that long-term practice of TM improves moral decision making, and a movement spokesperson has even claimed that donating money to the organization will hasten one’s own “personal evolution.” The recent conviction and imprisonment of a long-term meditator, former Maharishi University of Management trustee and major donor to the cause of TM emphasizes what should be obvious: that meditators are seldom any better off than most everyone else, and the people who make such claims should never be trusted.

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There are certain claims of eventual benefits that are regularly made to people after they’ve started practicing TM, that are often eagerly accepted by those who’ve had enough experience with it that, accurately or otherwise, they begin to view it as beneficial for themselves. The experience of perceived initial, immediate benefit primes them to readily believe what they’re told may come later if they stick with the program. These claims stand in stark contrast to the everyday, mundane reality of the lives of many long-term meditators. That has never stopped both those meditators, and people with positions of responsibility in TM organizations, from continuing to make specific yet completely unsupportable claims about how all meditators’ lives will be improved through the practice of TM.

Far exceeding their public promotional claims of stress-free, healthy lives made as if TM were some “wellness” cure-all for everyone, are the statements that aren’t often made in public, and that are reinforced among meditators and in the meditating subculture. One of the most ridiculous, if not corrosive, of these claims is that of “spontaneous right action” resulting from long-term practice of TM and related “Maharishi” branded programs.  But if you know where to look, you’ll find out that the publishing operation of the Maharishi University of Management (MUM) actually has printed such drivel, written by the university’s vice president of academic affairs, and former executive vice president, Craig Pearson. This places such things well beyond the realm of simple rumor, into that of fully acceptable, officially sanctioned, doctrine or belief.

Keeping in mind that though every TM introductory lecturer insists that “no belief is necessary” to practice TM, people who’ve been meditating for decades often sound much like the following quote from  “The Complete Book of Yogic Flying,” a book which describes the TM movement’s long-running levitation hoax that they call the “TM-Sidhi program.” To insiders who do this “program,” the point isn’t necessarily to actually levitate, since every single one of them knows that all they’re able to do is simply bounce on foam rubber and convince themselves that whatever they’re doing in their minds at the same time is somehow worthwhile and beneficial, is worth spending considerable sums of money to learn, and is worth spending two hours a day, or more, doing. This excerpt is much like that:

Moral reasoning ability increases significantly after people learn the Transcendental Meditation technique, and even more after they learn the TM-Sidhi program. Moral reasoning ability, moreover, is correlated with EEG coherence; that is, the more coherent one's brain physiology, the greater one's moral development. The "moral compass" resides in a coherently functioning brain.

As we grow in enlightenment and live increasingly in accord with Natural Law, Maharishi explains, we spontaneously use our growing creativity and intelligence more responsibly, acting in a way that benefits everyone around us. This growth of "life-supporting behavior" reaches its fulfillment in Cosmic Consciousness, when we enjoy what Maharishi calls spontaneous right action. We no longer make mistakes. Everything we do is for good.

Almost every sentence of these two paragraphs is completely disconnected from authentic, generally accepted, scientific research. EEG coherence is one of the TM movement’s hobby horses, and this assertion of such a hard link between alleged TM-induced coherence and moral behavior exists solely in the realm of unpublished research performed at the movement’s university by meditators who were once trained in the scientific method. But that hasn’t stopped these assertions from becoming some of the core beliefs of thousands of meditators.

Review of "Greetings from Utopia Park; Surviving a Transcendent Childhood" by Claire Hoffman

Greetings from Utopia Park; Surviving a Transcendent Childhood

by Claire Hoffman

(2016) HarperCollins Publishers, New York, 265 pages

Claire Hoffman offers a tender and honest memoir about her childhood in Transcendental Meditation’s mecca in Fairfield, Iowa. Born in 1977 to parents practicing Transcendental Meditation (TM), Claire lived in TM’s Iowa community from age 5-16. For those seeking a full exposé about TM's lifestyles, this would not be the story for you.

The preface opens with the author in present time, in her mid-thirties. As a successful journalist, she is a happily married young mother living away from cult origins. She returns to her former community to resolve what she labels as youthful cynicism. She wants to believe and thus registers for an advanced TM program to learn to fly. Belief versus cynicism is the thread winding through her narrative.

Clare then weaves a beautifully written story from the 1970’s seduction of her hippy parents by the Beatles’ guru during TM’s heyday. The young adults find Maharishi Mahesh Yogi’s promise of inner tranquility, world peace, and eventually a community with other meditators to be a welcome respite from their own abusive childhoods. Claire is their second child. When her father stops practicing TM, succumbs to alcoholism, and abandons his young family in New York City, her mother lacks the means to support her children. Initially they relocate from New York to the Florida home of Claire’s grandmother, then resettle in Fairfield, Iowa with Maharishi’s so-called “Ideal Society” outside his university. 

Young Claire eagerly anticipates enrolling in her third kindergarten that year to join classmates who share a lifestyle and also practice TM’s childhood mantra meditation, or “Word of Wisdom” - she quickly learns she will not attend Maharishi’s private school because the private tuition is prohibitive. Instead, she and her brother attend a local public school where classmates taunt them as “Ru’s”, short for “Guroos”. An anonymous sponsor eventually enables Claire and her brother to attend Maharishi’s school. She happily dons the requisite blue jumper and bow tie to blend with other children who together sing Maharishi songs, learn their guru’s teachings interwoven with the three R’s, and receive grades for meditation.

When they move into one of two hundred dilapidated trailer homes in “Utopia Park”, Claire and her brother merge with a close-knit subculture of unsupervised children who create excitement while parents daily attend hours of group “Program” meditation. A few unusual childhood deaths provide a shadowy backdrop to other childhood mishaps. She has a close brush with a man who befriends children and targets Claire alone for physical exploration; she runs from his apartment while he showers with the bathroom door open. She mentions others’ stories of wild teenage explorations, fathers who have affairs with teenage babysitters, and easy access to recreational drugs. She describes her world as “binary”, divided between those who follow Maharishi’s teachings versus those who are not to be trusted. Their mother struggles financially through a series of jobs with meditator companies and a series of heartbreaks with sequential boyfriends. In contrast to her family’s struggles, Claire provides a brief overview of TM’s history and mentions Maharishi’s multibillion dollar global empire.

Their father becomes sober and reenters the lives of his now adolescent children to explain that they live in a cult. Her father is a writer who encourages his children to express themselves. As Claire prepares to enter high school, her anonymous sponsorship for Maharishi school evaporates. She enrolls in Fairfield’s public high school along with other TM kids who are stigmatized because their families cannot afford Maharishi School. She finds her way with “townie” teens. After a drug laden party at an abandoned rock quarry, sixteen year old Claire can no longer tolerate the confusing lifestyle. She apologizes to her mother and joins her father in California to finish school and pursue mainstream education and lifestyle.

The story jumps forward fifteen years to find Claire, an accomplished professional, flipping perspective on her early years. She holds a faculty position with the University of California and has published articles in the New York Times, Washington Post, and Rolling Stone. With a supportive husband and crying baby, Claire has a crisis of meaning in her seemingly mundane life. She misses her community and connection to a higher purpose. In an ironic twist, she writes she misses the “safety” of her childhood community. 

TM luminaries David Lynch and Bobby Roth invite Claire to meetings in Los Angeles with Hollywood celebrities recently recruited to Transcendental Meditation, causing her to question her youthful cynicism. She feels that her negativity from a TM childhood should not interfere with celebrities’ benefitting from TM. Lynch and Roth meet individually with Claire, tempting her back to her roots. The memoir concludes as it began. Claire attends advanced meditation retreats and returns to her childhood home to learn TM’s advanced meditation to fly, bouncing on high density foam. She experiences the inner bliss that initially captivated her mother. However, she fails to mention the $5,000 price tag for TM’s advanced flying program; she does not disclose her mystical meditation mantra nor advanced techniques. When Claire's daughter learns her “Word her Wisdom”, she reveals her meditation mantra is “wisdom” which Bobby Roth verifies. Claire is surprised that it’s not a meaningless sound, but fails to mention TM’s touted meaningless sounds are derived from Hindu deities.

In the Epilogue she reflects that utopia didn’t exist, but the quest for bliss, satisfaction and inner peace were hard to relinquish. She states the TM Movement was not a failure, and that her community was not fooled. She acknowledges their sincere desire to build utopia and pursuit of a shared dream… “what mattered was the believing. The willingness to believe is everything.” She admits that today “. . . one of the hardest things to see are the staff members who have worked there for decades, giving their time and their lives to a cause that is no longer there. Their guru is dead and the fortune he amassed from his followers is being fought over in Indian probate court.”

The author tenderly describes both idealism and frank details of destructive neglect in her childhood community. However, when summarizing TM’s scientific benefits, she does not question research methodology, nor mention alternatives.

In the acknowledgements section Claire thanks lifelong friends, alluding to other experiences, “I know you all have different lenses with which you view our shared past but I hope you recognize the one you read here.” She thanks Bobby Roth for “his openhearted invitation to me to keep Transcendental Meditation in my life, despite my cynical and questioning heart. It is in many ways thanks to him that I still practice - and enjoy - meditation today.” She is grateful for her mother’s love and hard work to raise her children, stating that this memoir “is really just a bumbling, inept love letter to her and to the religious experience, even though it may not always feel like it.”

Claire’s humble and honest memoir is a quick read. I recommend “Greetings from Utopia Park” for one perspective on making sense of a confusing cult childhood.

As reviewer, I must state my inherent bias. I was also raised in TM. My conclusions differ from those expressed by Claire Hoffman in “Greetings from Utopia Park”. Claire and I share many personal connections, much as would distant cousins in a small community. Some TM kids, now adults, tell me Claire’s story mirrors their own. Others share more gruesome tales. Unlike Claire Hoffman who concludes with an upbeat note about TM, my own cynicism remains unabated even as I love people from my past. I suspect that Bobby Roth and David Lynch lured Claire back to the dissociative high of TM’s prolonged meditations because her journalistic skill risked exposing their organization. In this memoir, Claire does not reveal TM’s mystical mantras nor the price tag of TM’s advanced programs, thus sheltering key first steps to cult indoctrination. She glosses over mention of TM’s many costly add-ons and monastic programs. When reading that Claire’s daughter’s mantra is “wisdom”, I wondered - did the TM Movement change mantras from Sanskrit to English after Maharishi's death? Or only for Claire’s daughter? In either case, there is no magic.

"TM-Kids" Open Up Publicly

Willy Blackmore's essay about a young father's childhood hometown was published online October 24, 2014 : Growing Up in Utopia .

He describes the contrast between growing up as a non-Iowan in Iowa.  How do you tell your current friends that you learned to fly when you were 17?  Why do local Iowans think "you're not from around here" when you really did grow up in their backyard? He eloquently describes coming of age surrounded by cornfields, idealistic ex-hippies who believe they bring world peace by holing up to bounce on padded foam for hours daily, shmoozing with visiting celebrities, and his peers' angst.

Click here to read Willy's : Growing Up in Utopia

After years of declining invitations to make a formal presentation at San Francisco's reputable intellectual forum The Commonwealth Club of California, On October 20, 2014 I presented  Cult or Benign Cure-all? Life in Transcendental Meditation's Hidden Society

With an illustrated Power Point presentation and screen shots of TMO's active websites, I described the lives of my loved ones and myself in the TM Movement from 1966-2014.  By coincidence fifty years of my family life were defined by the TM Movement, even though I physically left in the late 1980s with my own three TM-born children. Without throwing slanderous stones, I shared stories of loved ones as TM's focus changed from mysticism to mystical science, of child neglect, psychosis, suicides, thousands of dollars spent for promises, fortunes lost and the next generation's struggles for self definition.  Such stories lay doubt on the David Lynch Foundation's promise of one-shot panacea for Transcendental Meditation in public schools, the Veterans Administration and elsewhere.  Listeners might appreciate post-talk objections that were raised by TM true believers.

You may listen to the 45 minutes audio track by clicking here : Cult of Benign Cure-all? Life in Transcendental Meditation's Hidden Society

Meet Mumosa!

To enhance your enlightened enjoyment!

A new site http://mumosa.com exposes fallacies of Maharishi University of Management and life in Fairfield, Iowa - the North American mecca for the Transcendental Meditation Movement.

Enjoy!

Rekha Basu : "There's a little disconnect" in TM Pandit Compound

Rekha Basu states "There's a little disconnect" when pandits for peace threw rocks at a sheriff, during a stealth 6 a.m. operation to remove their leader for an undisclosed reason.

In summary, there needs to be some oversight about this suspicious situation.

Rekha Basu, journalist for the Des Moines Register, explains Vedic City and Pandit compound clearly to non-TMers. In this video interview she reviews the noble purported goals of the TM Movement, the financial and cultural contributions to the larger community, and the pandits' apparent totalitarian controlled living situation :






She provides an excellent overview of the Pandit compound in the video interview and her article "Maharishi Vedic City: Inside the compound with Rekha Basu".

Ms. Basu investigated only the pandit compound. So she understandably made a mistaken assumption in introductory remarks, stating that Vedic City private homes are for faculty of Maharishi University of Management.  In reality, MUM faculty live primarily on campus, because (like the fenced-in pandits) MUM faculty are compensated with room and board and a minimal stipend. The only MUM faculty who live off campus either have an outside income, personal trust funds or married into wealth.

Vedic City private homes are owned by private TM devotees.

The psychological totalitarianism of the TM Movement extends beyond the physical pandit enclosure.

Thank you, Rekha Basu!

Pandit Protest or Freedom Cry

ABC’s KTVO TV in Iowa March 11, 2014 reported on a “Pandit Riot” that took place at the gate to Vedic City’s pandit compound after TM officials arrived with sheriff support at 0600. They planned to remove one of the compound’s leaders for unspecified disciplinary action and possible return to India :

According to the televised report, dozens of the Indian men who receive $50 monthly stipend (with $150 presumably sent to families in India) surrounded the sheriff’s vehicle, threw rocks and broke a squad car light. The sheriff called for other law reinforcements from Wapello County for support.

The Global Country of World Peace or Vedic City authorities must have suspected some unrest to justify requesting sheriff support to escort this pandit leader away. 

The pandits protested their leader’s departure. Law enforcement officials could not understand words that were shouted in Hindi. News reports do not mention any attempt by law enforcement to understand the pandits.

News reports do not address (lack of) a Hindi interpreter. There is no mention if the shouting men were later provided an objective interpreter or offered impartial legal representation.

Credit goes to the sheriff who avoided escalating an altercation by successfully backing his vehicle away through the unarmed crowd. The sheriff’s office did not press charges since no one knows who assaulted the vehicle. Vedic City agreed to cover costs for the sheriff’s auto repairs.

The sheriff expressed incredulity that these men “held no respect for the law” when they mobbed his vehicle.  

The pandits were escorted back inside their square mile of fenced compound.

TMFree previously posted concerns about the pandits’ captivity in a previous three part series that can be read by clicking here.

The recent “riot" might be a desperate attempt by these caged men to communicate to the outside world. 

One woman interviewed for the televised report stated that these pandits WANT to stay impounded together, rather than return to their family squalor in India. However, if the pandits want to stay impounded, why did 163 of them escape within the last year? Their absence was not reported by the sponsoring TM organization that holds their passports. 

AlJazeera's review of January 27, 2104 “Indian Vedic students go ‘missing’ in the US”  

can be read by clicking here.

Vedi City's pandit situation resembles this animated United Nations’ video about modern human slavery :

These young pandits receive slave wages of room and board plus $50 / month. $150 per pandit is supposedly sent to their families in India. They may spend their $50 at small store in their compound. They rarely leave the compound. Their “job” is to inspire donations from TM True Believers for mystical chants that TM leaders promise will assure good weather, economic prosperity and world peace. For video clips, click here.

If these men want greater rights, they could be desperate enough to vie for attention from law enforcement.

Raja John Hagelin, Maharishi's Raja of North America (aka Dr. John Hagelin in the films “What the Bleep Do We Know” and “The Secret”) Bill Goldstein, spokesman of The Global Country of World Peace, and John Revolinski, an administrator for the pandit campus, said the majority of these pandits began living in TM’s pandit compounds as children. This sounds suspiciously like child trafficking.  See “Students inquire about pandits during forum” by clicking here.

Revolinski referred to the pandits’ group dynamics. He did not discuss the group dynamics of the larger community which colluded to keep these men inside a fenced compound.

Some reports state the pandits have R-1 Visas. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Web Site defines R-1 visas here.  A key excerpt below :

“An R-1 is a foreign national who is coming to the United States temporarily to be employed at least part time (average of at least 20 hours per week) by a non-profit religious organization in the United States (or an organization which is affiliated with the religious denomination in the United States) to work as a minister or in a religious vocation or occupation.   …

To qualify, the foreign national must have been a member of a religious denomination having a bona fide non-profit religious organization in the United States for at least 2 years immediately before the filing of the petition."

Forgive our confusion. For decades the TM Movement stated they are a non-religious organization. The TM Movement used this non-religious argument to infiltrate public schools and the American Veteran’s administration through the David Lynch Foundation.

Yet, the pandits received visas to work for an “organization which is affiliated with the religious denomination in the United States”. 

TMFree addressed religious aspects of TM many times, for example "Is it a religion, or a dessert topping?"  and "Still "not a religion": Video of puja, the religious ritual central to TM Initiation".

Vedic City issued a TM-speak statement on March 11, 2014 which can be read here, and stated that :

“A very harmonious meeting was held with the entire Pandit group immediately after the incident to discuss what transpired. An internal review of the situation is being conducted with an aim to avoid any such repeat incidents in the future. “  

No investigator had contact with the pandits. Will an outsider speak directly to these men?

How can law enforcement assist the containment of voiceless innocents inside an isolated compound?

Some reports said these men were promised an education and job training. Does chanting for a net of $50 monthly equal a career?

Pandits are human beings whose concerns should be heard. These are not the mute Orca whales whose captivity in San Diego SeaWorld garners press attention through animal activists.

An objective legal investigation into this should be initiated by people outside of Jefferson County, Iowa. Authorities of southeast Iowa already demonstrated both lack of objectivity and collusion with Vedic City through seven years of silence about these men confined to one square mile in a cornfield.

The pandits may have learned that drama attracts attention after fire fighters responded to a small fire in a pandit mobile home on November 8 2013, as reported here.

Another fire on March 3, 2014 was reported here.

If these men are desperately calling for help, they might be succeeding.

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.

Yogic Flying and Post Hypnotic Suggestion

Following Maharishi’s tradition of brainwashing ridiculousness, and the power of post-hypnotic suggestion, you are invited to attend tomorrow’s “Yogic Flying Competition”. True Believers who paid thousands of dollars to learn the phrase “relationship of body and akasha - lightness of cotton fiber” will squeeze their gluteus maximus muscles with enough force to bounce upon high density rebound foam in the name of spiritual awakening and manipulating natural law to defy gravity.

Cookies will be served as gastronomic reinforcement of juvenile psychology.  Per the flyer below, you may also see an EEG brainwave demonstration - we assume to show, once again, how Transcendental Meditation creates coherent brainwaves.  TM teachers fail to mention that no one knows the significance of synchronous brainwaves.  It is known that comatose states and death also create synchronous brainwaves.

        If readers of TM-Free Blog attend tomorrow’s demonstration, we will be happy to share your photos and reviews of the session. 

Your Brain on East-Facing Buildings, and open thread

Here are a few images found on the web. These are from an online presentation, "Intro To Maharishi Sthapatya Veda," which is the TM movement's architecture and construction product, promoted by the very same people who attempt to sell Transcendental Meditation as some kind of "scientifically validated" practice.

Despite the reference to "neuro-scientific research" in the second slide, there is zero scientific evidence that indicates that physical orientation has any direct effect on the human brain. Of course, that doesn't stop the promoters of TM from making these sorts of outrageous claims, that aren't even clearly supported by the religious traditions of India. In other words, it appears "Maharishi" and his entourage may have made this stuff up. It's a uniquely megalomaniacal stance, this claim that almost all buildings across the planet should be bulldozed and rebuilt according to their rigid strictures.

The first slide is very similar to a poster I once found taped to the doors of a since-demolished building at the Maharishi University of Management, announcing that certain doors were not to be used. Here's my previous article with a picture of that poster, and more about the 70 million dollar office building that was built near Washington, DC, to comfort those few people who've developed this kind of peculiar phobia about the orientation and design of buildings. Or as a peculiar gimmick to sell the building to renters - funny, that trick doesn't seem to have worked, at last glance the building still sits mostly empty.

The TM-Free News Brief is on hiatus this week.


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