Commentary from an old TM teacher on the "new" TM.
BURGERDAMMERUNG: TWILIGHT OF THE TRANSCENDENT,
or "Do you want fries with that enlightenment?"
Those who have been waiting with 'bated breath to hear the official
definition of an Ideal Vedic Society from Maharishi need wait no more;
the verdict is in. The Ideal Vedic Society is a Burger King franchise
operation in drag.
As we speak, several dozen devout TM teachers and TM pracitioners are
in residence at MUM learning the details of this spiritual fast-food
operation, and details of its organizational structure are beginning to
filter back to this and other forums. The old TM structure is gone,
kaput. Long live the new structure. The old TM teachers have been
obsoleted. Long live the kings and queens of the new order. There are
even loyalty oaths to sign before you can become privy to the details
of this new Ideal Society, much less become a part of it.
And this new Ideal Structure has all the earmarks of "New Coke," that
is, if the Coca-Cola Corporation had, at the time they brought out
*their* monumental marketing failure, declared that:
* All existing Coca-Cola distributorships are null and void.
* All existing distributors must be "re-certified," at their own
considerable cost.
* The existing distributors are the ones to be blamed for the low sales
figures.
* No existing distributor has the right to sell "New Coke" or "Classic
Coke."
* NO ONE has the right to sell Coke, period, unless it's sold from one
of the approved outlets.
The new structure is basically a fast-food franchise operation, but one
seemingly conceived in a nuthouse. Within four or five days of the
completion of the "New TM" course, prospective franchisees must find
adequate premises in shopping malls, office buildings or motels and
"set up shop." They must find 9 employees who are willing to work for
$15 an hour or less, and who must be willing to pay $2500 for the
"uniform" required for their job -- instruction in the basic TM
technique. (Do the math. This ain't gonna work. A massage therapist
would have to work 167 hours just to BREAK EVEN after paying for the
"uniform." Not to *mention* the requirement that they have to raise 3
million bucks each within a very short time.)
It doesn't stop there. The whole franchise operation is run by "Rajas"
who are required to dress up in long, flowing robes and (appropriately
enough) wear gold Burger King crowns. These royal overseers are
*required* to spend seven hours a day doing "program," so it's not as
if they're gonna get their hands dirty a lot. And the absolute kicker
is that male Rajas can instruct or check only males, and female Rajas
(or is that Rajinis) can instruct only females. As a marketing plan,
it simply defies the imagination -- imagine going into a Burger King
and being told that the guy behind the counter can take your order
because you're male, but your wife or girlfriend is going to have to
wait for a female employee to wait on them.
It's official -- the TM organization has lost its mind.
So where does that leave YOU, as a still-loyal TM teacher or
rank-and-file TMer? Well, in my opinion, that leaves you in a pretty
enviable place -- spiritual crisis.
As TM teachers, you have been rendered obsolete. You have been told
that you can no longer teach TM, the thing that you made tremendous
sacrifices to be able to do. Furthermore, as TM teachers you are being
specifically BLAMED for the obvious fact that TM has not saved the
world as it was supposed to do. The person blaming you is the same
person who has thought up this amazing boondoggle of a franchise
operation, and the blame is obviously coming from the same place the
marketing plan did -- senile dementia.
It's going to inspire some moments of spiritual crisis in the most
devoted of followers, and I for one think that's a good thing.
A lot of seekers don't *like* moments of spiritual crisis. They
actively hide from them behind the safety of blind faith. Personally,
I think that blind faith is a kind of spiritual "holding pattern," in
which seekers dwell for months or years or even decades to keep
themselves from ever having to deal with the R word -- reality.
Well, reality has hit the fan big-time in the TM movement, folks, and
pretty much everyone except the few dozen faithful at MUM is going to
have to finally deal with it.
The *ways* that people will deal with it are all too familiar:
* Some are going to persevere in blind faith and assume that Maharishi
"sees" better than they do.
* Some of these are going to go into Inquisition Mode and declare
everyone who doesn't immediately log on to the "New TM" idea Off The
Program.
* Some will declare anyone who even expresses doubts about the "New TM"
heretics.
* Some will begin to entertain doubts not only about the senile old man
who thought this hare-brained scheme up, but about everything they have
been taught for many decades, and will stalk off in a snit and declare
everything they've learned over the years invalid, and themselves
victims for having had it forced down their throats.
* And some will look at this situation not without passion, but also
not without reason, and will decide that although
TM-As-Fast-Food-Operation is so silly that even Saturday Night Live
would have rejected it as being unbelievable, TM itself is valuable and
so were a few things that they were taught along the way. And they
will survive, and be better for the experience.
It is to this last group that I speak. I've been there, done that, got
the T-shirt. I bailed from the TM organization back in the late 70s,
after years running one of the Regional Offices and a short stint as a
State Coordinator. It was the latter experience that precipitated a
crisis for me; I was being asked by the TM movement to do unethical and
morally reprehensible things in the name of enlightenment too often to
able to continue doing so.
And so I experienced my own moments of spiritual crisis, and went
through some of the phases I listed above, settling at last on the
final one. I still think that TM is a pretty cool meditation
technique. I think now that the TM-Siddhis are the same cartload of
Brahma bullshit I thought they were when I first learned them. I think
that Maharishi has had his good moments, and he has had his bad ones,
and that while some of the things he taught were valid, others had
their origin in the same nuthouse that this latest Enlightenment Burger
Franchise idea came from.
But the bottom line is that I'm still grateful for the whole stinking
mess, all 14 years of it. I learned from the good times, and I learned
from the bad times, and I grew spiritually as a result of both. So did
you. In the coming moments of spiritual crisis that this "latest and
greatest yet" fiasco is going to precipate in you, try to remember
that, and try to keep some sense of balance about it all.
There is a great world to discover out there beyond the bastions of
"TM-approved" communities and activities. You can travel it alone and
still be spiritual, or you can travel it in the company of other
seekers from other traditions and still be spiritual.
Crisis is good; it precipitates change. This Fast Food Chain Of The
Gods idea is going to force you to change, whether you are an integral
part of it or not. I'm just trying to let you know that you don't have
to be all bummed out AS you change. Let the T-shirt you wear as you go
through the change and come out the other side of it say, "Been there,
done that, still doing."
Barry Wright, 2 mai 2005, Paris
