Conversation with an Exit Counselor, 1987

I've been cleaning out my files, and I came upon notes from my conversation with an exit counselor back in 1987.  I hope you will enjoy reading some of his comments:

"Of all the groups I have dealt with, some of the most severe casualties have been in TM.  This is in direct contradiction to TM publicity.  Meditation techniques are not appropriate for everyone, because some people have difficulty distinguishing between the inner content and outer content of their minds.  Such people can go into a psychotic state from doing meditation, because these techniques loosen boundaries between the conscious and the unconscious.  For the average person, this is a pleasure, because most people have too many boundaries there.  But for a minority of people, it is dangerous to have the boundary more porous." 

[Editor's comment:  When I saw the film "David Wants to Fly," I had the good fortune to find Dr. Herbert Benson, author of "The Relaxation Response" sitting right behind me!  I introduced myself to him, and he told me a few stories.  Included was, "I observed the course in Fuiggi, Italy.  Since I am an M.D., when I and course participants got off the plane in the U.S., I did sign a bunch of them straight into mental hospitals."] 

"So it was normal for people in TM to "freak out" -- to have highs, lows, get emotional." 

[Editor's comment:  In the TM world, careening highs and lows were considered normal, even positive.  It was called unstressing, and we were told that it meant the person was throwing off old stress.]

I suggested to the exit counselor that TM had a special hook for the average Westerner because it backs up its beliefs with appeals to science.  He replied, "Scientology also bombards people with statistics."  


"If you have a busy, multidimensional life, to sit down for 20 minutes is okay.  But if meditation becomes a goal in itself, it's bad.  It's like fasting.  The first time you do it, it feels good, healing.  But if you continue to fast, it turns on itself.  The mind is similar - it needs information and stimulation.  Without outside stimulation, it stimulates itself.  Thus, inner material comes out.  The person becomes increasingly swallowed up in their inner world, and outside decisions and the outer world become more difficult."

"I feel TM has a callous view of people.  I've treated one of Maharishi's lovers.  She was seduced and abandoned by Mahesh.  She became psychotic.  He promised he would marry her; then she was told, "You're being sent to Switzerland." 

[Editor's comment:  This strikes me as Mahesh being callous, not the TM organization.  But I believe he set the tone, and did make policy for the TMO that was callous.]

"Dr. Herbert Benson's book 'The Relaxation Response' demonstrates that one can create TM-like results without TM.  By any autohypnosis technique, one can do this.  TM's marketing insisted that TM was distinct."

"True scientific research shows that anyone can have a TM-like response.  Almost all psychologists discredit TM research as self-serving and flawed.  For instance, the research on reduced crime is totally without controls, confounding factors, etc.  That research is extremely specious.  All TM research is designed to hook people in.  The TMO allows scientific proofs but not scientific critiques.  When you were in TM, you were only exposed to the research that they wanted you to see."

[Editor's comment:  Is TM research still in disrepute?  I think much less so.  It's being taught in some public schools and veterans' organizations.  And I believe the Surgeon General recently had an amiable discussion with a leading TM proponent.]  

Hope you enjoyed this trip down memory lane.  

Nepalese Earthquake Victims Without Food, Water, Shelter

Recent earthquakes in Nepal have left the populace in crisis.


---------------

 
According to the Oxfam International website:

"...Hundreds of thousands of displaced people need urgent humanitarian assistance now - including children and women who are forced to be out in the open, huddled in groups with no food, safe water, or shelter...." 


---------------
 
According to Maharishi’s Global Family Chat, 16 May 2015:

"A far-reaching and permanent solution to Nepal’s emergency....

...Many people are helping Nepal from many angles at this time. Raja Kingsley presented a...plan to support all efforts from the inside out...[by] enlivening the collective consciousness for permanent harmony on all levels – including environmental....

...Nepal has a rich, unbroken tradition of Vedic Pandits, and currently has 500 Gurukuls (training schools for Pandits)....The first step of the plan is to train Transcendental Meditation Teachers for each Gurukul so they will take care of teaching the students and the local community. The next level is to build five Maharishi Vedic Institute campuses for the training of the Pandit boys when they leave Gurukul. In this way tens of thousands of Maharishi Vedic Pandits can be trained most economically and effectively to support the growth of Nepal....

...Your support will make a difference to how quickly and well Nepal recovers. A powerful emergency programme to create 2,500 Sidhas at a cost $50 each (a total of only $125,000), will create a wave of sustainable coherence...To donate, please visit...."

--------------- 

From a youtube video of MUM students questioning Bob Roth, (vice president of the David Lynch Foundation, which helps spread TM):

"...Student:  Is there any scientific proof that the yagyas work?

Roth:  Let me get back to you on that...."

---------------   

From  TM-Free Blog article entitled "Regarding Maharishi Yagyas," written by me, and posted May 20, 2014:

"...a TMO [TM organization - ed. note] email from December 18, 2013 states that: 
  
         '...the National Yagya program is now averaging [i.e., receiving donations of - ed. note]  
         $429,000 USD per month....The whole world is enjoying the blessings of the daily 
         performance....'
  
That's $5,148,000 a year income for the 'National Yagya program' alone...."

---------------

From an anonymous TM-Free Blog follower who sent us the Maharishi Global Family Chat announcement:

"...I can't express how repulsed I am by this low-rent attempt to fund raise."

---------------

What do you think?

Emotional Problems Post-TM; Relating to Fairfield Relatives, Part II

[This is Part II of the previous article "Emotional Problems Post-TM; Relating to Fairfield Relatives, Part I" - ed.]

Second topic:  How to Relate to Fairfield TM Relatives

Reader's comment:

"I’d like to get back to some previous comment threads on how to relate to family in TM if you are not in it....

'...I don’t expect my [relatives] to give up TM, and I don’t even try to convince them much or argue with them. But I do want to be able to visit them and find things to do (even if by myself or with other family) that are not completely connected to TM or MUM.  I don't mind spending some time at MUM....

'There is certainly a lot of sensitivity to criticism of Maharishi by most I talk to. 

'I’m curious if others have found ways to visit Fairfield and their TM friends and family comfortably, or if it is always uncomfortable for those who are not part of TM any more (or never were).

'...Finally, I’d add that I’m continuing in my reading and effort to see TM as a new religious movement rather than destructive cult, even if some on this site think this misguided or impossible."

My response:

I don't have friends or family in Fairfield, so I won't respond to the first question.  I hope others have some pointers for this reader.  But I will respond to his/her final comment.

My take on it is that the reader is confusing him/herself by trying to compare apples and oranges.  Religions, whether old or new, are in my opinion defined by beliefs and practices.  Destructive cults, on the other hand, are not defined by beliefs and practices, (no matter how unusual the beliefs and practices.)  Rather, destructive cults are defined by the manner in which a person is drawn into and kept in the group.

There are several models to describe this process.  One of my favorites is this simple model:  A groups is a destructive cult if outsiders are: (1) drawn in my deception, and (2) kept in by mind control.

For example, when a person is given an introductory lecture on TM, is s/he told that if they learn TM, in a few years, they might be celibate, meditate  6 hours a day, spend thousands of dollars on astrology and Vedic rituals, wear beige or scarlet, eat a lacto-vegetarian diet, buy an expensive new house, and be convinced that if they don't do their daily TM program, will be personally responsible for World War III?  

Are they told that on relaxing residential retreats, the extra meditations will put them in a state of reduced critical thinking, where they will absorb quasi-Hindu doctrine?  And that in this state of cognitive vulnerability, they will be told that (sub-standard) research "proves" that TM is the solution to all human problems?         

My suggestion to the reader is to learn more about new religions and also more about destructive cults, and then decide for him/herself what they think TM is.  (It could be both!)  There are other models on what constitutes a destructive cult beside the 2-point one I've reviewed here.  I recommend googling Margaret Singer Ph.D., and Robert J. Lifton, M.D, and Steve Hassan, M.Ed's website as noted above, for other useful models.  Also you could look at websites listed on the right hand side of the TM-Free homepage for a start.

Thank you to all commenters for your many, many intelligent and insightful comments.  Also thanks to all who read TM-Free but do not send comments.  

If any other reader would like their comments placed in this position of prominence as a TM-Free Blog "post," please let us know, and we will try to oblige!

Emotional Problems Post-TM; Relating to Fairfield Relatives, Part I

Recently I saw two readers' comments on TM-Free Blog that caught my attention in that I thought they lent themselves to serious discussion.  

The first one mentioned psychological problems the reader has had since leaving the TM movement.  

The second one asked how others manage the tricky terrain of visiting true-believer TM relatives and friends who live in Fairfield and Maharishi Vedic City, Iowa.

I was surprised that no one responded to these two comments.  Since some TM-Free readers read only the essays, but not the reader comments, I suspect this may have been what happened, and these two topics slipped through the cracks.      

So I hope I have not overstepped these two readers' privacy by reprinting portions of their comments below:

First Topic:  Emotional Problems Post-TM?

 Reader's comment:   

"...My commitment to TM lasted about 8 years....I did not have any acute psychological trauma as a result of the rounding and the indoctrination, and the recovery, although a bit slow, was not traumatic either. But I sometimes wonder if some of my psychological/ emotional difficulties are related to my years with TMO [TM organization - ed]."

My response:  

It is not uncommon for people who have left high-demand groups and have re-integrated themselves into the non-cult world to find that they have emotional problems.  The problems may not seem connected to the group; therefore it may not occur to them that these problems are a result of their time in the group.  If they see a psychotherapist, the psychotherapist may also agree that the problems are due to pre-existing issues.  (Psychotherapists are only slowly being educated on this new field of post-cult syndrome.)  For example, long ago I told my psychotherapist that I walked around in constant terror that the world was about to blow up.  He interpreted it in the standard psychodynamic way.  That is, he theorized that I must be angry about something from my childhood, and that I was experiencing that anger in a disguised form, as fear of the world exploding.  

Then, I met with Steve Hassan, an exit counselor.  Steve asked me, "What did they tell you would happen if you left TM?"  I replied, "Why...they said that if I left Fairfield, I would be 'personally responsible' for World War Three!"  And as soon as I made the connection, the terror went away!

That's an obvious example, but it illustrates my point.  I recommend Steve Hassan's website freeminds.org, and his books.  I hope these help.        

Second topic:  How to Relate to Fairfield TM Relatives

Reader's comment:

"I’d like to get back to some previous comment threads on how to relate to family in TM if you are not in it....

'...I don’t expect my [relatives] to give up TM, and I don’t even try to convince them much or argue with them. But I do....

[NOTE:  Something's gone wrong with this computer program, so I will continue this article as Emotional Problems Post-TM; Relating to Fairfield Relatives, Part II. - ed.]

Regarding Maharishi Yagyas®

(Please note:  This website does not promote, encourage, approve of, recommend, or support the purchase of or the value of "Maharishi Yagyas."  This article is written solely for the purpose of education and discussion. - Laurie)


A friend of TM-Free Blog recently showed me an email he received on January 12, 2014 from one of the branches of the TM organization (TMO).  The email starts with the title "Maharishi Vedic Pandits Creating World Peace."  Excerpts from the email follow:

"We are delighted to...announc[e] a highly beneficial, affordable and exciting expansion to the Yagya program for individuals and families - the Maharishi Special Yagya Program."

My comment:  This seems to me like deceptive advertising.  Where is the proof that the yagyas are "highly beneficial"?  And why do they call these yagyas "affordable"?  I clicked around, and found that they cost from $1,000 to $10,000 apiece.

"Maharishi designed a beautiful series of Special Yagyas for important times in life: Birthdays, Weddings, Wedding Anniversaries, and for the Birth of a Child."

They say "Maharishi designed" them.  Well, Maharishi has been dead for several years, but they're only being advertised this year.  So did he design them after he died?  Or, if he designed them during his lifetime - for the benefit of humanity - why are they only being made available now?  Also, Maharishi freely admitted that he knew only a little Sanskrit.  If so, how could he design Sanskrit rituals?  So what's going on?  Personally, I believe that someone else designed them, but is attributing them to Maharishi because that gives them more credibility.  

The yagyas are called "beautiful," but since donors are not present when these rites are performed, we'll have to take the TMO's word for it.  Also, we'll have to take the TMO's word that these rituals are being performed at all.

"These Special Yagyas bring the blessings of Nature to individuals and families at transitional times when specific, supportive Laws of Nature are particularly lively and accessible...."

Here we have several unscientific and undefined phrases which however have strong emotional resonance.  This style of writing circumvents scientific inquiry, since science requires terms to be defined.  Evocative phrases include "blessings of Nature," "specific, supportive Laws of Nature" and "particularly lively and accessible."

"All funds from this program support the large group of Maharishi Vedic Pandits, which is bringing peace, affluence and harmony to our world...."

According to Wikipedia, in  January 2014 there were 41 armed conflicts on earth.  In 2012, there were 905 natural catastrophes  which resulted in approximately $200,000,000 USD worth of damage.  So to me it seems inaccurate to state that the Pandits are bringing "peace, affluence and harmony" to our world.

But to backtrack, you may be asking, "What is the Maharishi Yagya program?"  Here is the answer, from maharishiyagya.org.

 "...the remedial measures one can take to avert problems seen in the birth chart to be coming to the individual.  It is a practical means to help protect us from unwanted influences - such as illness, accidents or loss; and also to support positive influences.  Regular Maharishi Yagya performances help maintain life in balance.

..Maharishi Vedic Astrology expert has seen something in the birth chart; and it's destined for the person.  But some influence could be created to change that destiny - and that's the Maharishi Yagya program...." 

More evocative and undefined phrases.  The above quote sort of explains what a Maharishi Yagya supposedly does.  But it doesn't explain what a Maharishi Yagya is.  Other TMO sites explain that it is a TMO-style Sanskrit chant plus ceremony performed by one or more TMO-trained Indian men.  The many TMO websites are vague, but apparently each yagya takes one day or less. TMO literature clearly states that the more money you spend on your yagya, the more powerful its effect.  They also strongly urge the customer to buy the most expensive yagya one can afford.

How much money is the TMO earning from this program?  A TMO email from December 18, 2013 states that:

"...the National Yagya program is now averaging (i.e., receiving donations of - Laurie) $429,000 USD per month....The whole world is enjoying the blessings of the daily performance...."

That's $5,148,000 a year income for the "National Yagya program" alone.  (The TMO says that the National Yagya program -- that is, the 350 Indian men in Maharishi Vedic City, Iowa who live in pre-fabricated, under-heated homes and earn $100-200/month apiece -- costs $600,000 a month to run.  I'm not sure why it should cost that much.  Anyone have any ideas?)  And there are many other "Maharishi Yagya" programs, which also bring in money for the TMO.

The announcement/advertisement for this new yagya program states that:

"the oral tradition of Vedic chanting has been declared an intangible heritage of humanity by UNESCO."  (United Nations Educational, Scientific & Cultural Organization - Laurie).  

This sounds impressive, but by now I always double-check anything the TMO says.  So I researched the "Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity" UNESCO project.  Their website states that their list of intangible cultural heritages is made up of those "elements that help demonstrate the diversity of this heritage and raise awareness about its importance."  From 2008-2013, 282 intangible heritages were listed by UNESCO.  Aside from yagyas, other examples of "intangible heritages" included woodcrafting in Madagascar, textile art of Peru, ox-herding traditions of Costa Rica, and Sardinian pastoral songs of Italy.
  
By the way, payment for these yagyas is legally designated as a "donation," and donations are tax deductible for U.S. tax payers.  All U.S. non-profits must make public their finances, and the financial audit can be found at www.vedicpandits.org/pdf/BSF-Audited-Financial Statement-12-31-2011.pdf.

Musings on the process of getting caught up in a cult and breaking free

I learned TM in 1968. Mahesh had just been dumped by the Beatles, something I didn’t know at the time; he  hadn’t yet started showing the world just who could out-perform some of the greatest performers of his time. TM was, at that time, just a nice thing, twice a day, and meeting with other meditators once in a while and hearing a talk by Mahesh was also nice (even though looking back I knew full well that he didn’t always say things I could understand). No, it probably wasn’t a nice thing, but it seemed like that at the superficial level.

Two years later, I quit a perfectly good, well-paying job to become a TM teacher and the year after that, Mahesh asked me to stay on as a member of his “international staff”! This lasted 3 years, until one day I got a call: Maharishi wants you to go and teach. And that was the end of my sojourn with his travelling psychotic circus. The year after that, I quit TM.

So, here’s what I am thinking: I noticed when I moved house, recently, that it was very hard to remember to do little things, small matters of daily routine previously established. I’d forget to floss or I’d forget to put something away, forget where I had put something that used to have a “special” place; I’d reach out to put my hand on something, but it wasn’t there any more. Alas, the “old ways” have ceased to function.

I had created patterns, pathways of behaviour that were dependent upon the relatively stable objects in my environment (where furniture was, what set of behaviours to follow after watching TV in the evening, for example) — I had previously been prompted by a routine that had become dependent upon the objects in my environment and now those prompts were gone but the behaviours remained, the tendencies remained, the patterns remained - but didn’t exactly work! This is obvious to almost all of us the first time we come home and find that the furniture has been re-arranged! We keep stumbling over the furniture as well as the routines set up by the old arrangements.

No, this isn’t news.

But what might come as something of a surprise is when we put this exact same thing into the TM-Maheshism context: we established patterns of behaviour based on the relatively fixed or stable things in our environment. For example: we are prompted to do and think specific things dependent upon either the objects or people who remind us of what comes next. So, it’s easy to get set into patterns we have created in order to easily navigate our environment, whether or not that environment is physical, mental, or, in another sense, emotional. Because TM-Maheshism is based on very subtle suggestion, subtle prompts established during our highly susceptible moods generated by TM, our patterns are deep-set, almost ingrained, deeper than “superficiality”.

We depend on our environment to remind us what to do after we do this or that. Otherwise, almost every activity would be new learning, take a lot of time and we’d become very frustrated and stressed; our productivity would decrease and our quality of life would be less skilfully managed.

People who travel constantly (salesmen, military personnel, etc.) spend a lot of time reminding themselves of routines because there are no external prompts or because external prompts are constantly changing. It’s somewhat of a tiring life! It’s a lot like living in the constantly changing rooms of the fun-house at the amusement park – but not very amusing on a long-term basis.

So what point am I making‽

First, I want to be very clear that I am in no way seeking to perpetuate the all too familiar defence mechanism followed religiously by the Maheshites! I am not seeking to blame the victim here. BUT, we all have to, at one time or another, recognize that we were “victimized” by Mahesh. We were beguiled by his charms and built up patterns of behaviour in order to find our way around his various teachings and attempts to control our lives. Really, simple as that.

So, here’s the point: if we built patterns, we can change the patterns we built. It doesn’t matter why we built the patterns. The patterns, in and of themselves, are neither addictive nor demanding nor powerful. They are just patterns, means to save time and thought. They do not have meaning inherent in their being. They only have the meaning we attribute to them, the meaning we let them have. Same for the mantra, by the way, and Mahesh, and the beliefs he led us into about all the stuff he made up and convinced us was real, important, vital and necessary to the survival of the whole world (actually meaning his organization and meal ticket).

I am not an exit counsellor, not a professional psychotherapist, so please do not simply take my word for this. YOU have to weigh and consider, seek your own information, do some introspection, do some work. Sorry. I know that following the leader is so much simpler – that’s what the Germans were doing before WWII ! It didn’t turn out so well. I have difficulty seeing that following Mahesh/Maheshism has turned out well.

What patterns are you following? What pathways have you created (based on TM-Maheshism) that you are letting manage your activities, your mental and emotional behaviour? Can you look at them, see their context, move your mental and environmental furniture so that new pathways can be created?