Patrick, I think we're all fairly complex individuals and oversimplifications of cause/effect just don't work. Generalisations about behaviour arising out of having sat and meditated just ignore the complexity of the individual. Transcending the everyday thought patterns and having a touchdown in bliss will not yield behaviour that can be grouped and classified. That anyone has suggested that it might has created this expectation that it will. No such evidence has emerged. Simply speaking, the concept of meditation is that the individual loses the sense of individuality and merges with the whole. When the individual re-emerges who knows what he/she will do? It is much safer to make predictions by use of other factors. We have to be bold enough to reject nonsense non-science wherever we find it without regard to who implanted the notion. That becomes difficult if one holds the conduit in high regard but we cannot tie ourselves slavishly to what Simon Says... So the assumption that by transcending one becomes incapable of error of judgement is non-science and we ought to rely on better methods to determine whether we are right or not. Else we become fundamentalists who can do and say nothing that is out of key. So what are the true Maharishi effects? Increased global awareness on Indian Culture (including increased interest in vegetarianism). More awareness about possibility of finding increased happiness through yoga/meditation. Jay Gurudev
--- In [email protected], "Patrick Gillam" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Thanks, Peter. > > My questions about the Maharishi effect tie to > a larger issue we kick around a lot in this forum, > namely, what's the connection between growth > of consciousness and relative life? > > Most of us are keen on growth of consciousness > -- we aspire to awakening and believe it's not a > delusion but a genuine human experience -- but > we can't seem to agree on what the ramifications > of enlightenment are in daily life. > > Does awakening elicit ethical behavior? Not necessarily. > Does higher collective consciousness reduce crime and > suffering? See the refutations below. Will my desires be > fulfilled when I'm enlightened? Two answers: you already > are enlightened, and "you" as an individual entity, with > an individual's desires, don't exist. You are a fiction of > your own mind. > > It surprises me that any of us would give a damn about > enlightenment. > > Back to Maharishi and his effects: I'm not ready to write > off all that he taught and predicted. My beef with him > has more to do with his administration than his knowledge. > He cultivated a True Believer culture which makes all > pronouncements suspect. But being suspect doesn't > make them wrong. It merely means they require further > examination. > > - Patrick Gillam > > > Peter Sutphen wrote: > > > > the null > > hypothesis must be rejected to "prove" the research > > correct. In the "Maharishi Effect" (ME) research the > > null hypothesis is that any reduction of negative > > trends is by chance. Most of the ME research has > > methodological problems that does not rule out the > > null hypothesis. Therefore a more prosaic > > explanation-chance-is in order. In terms of "evidence" > > one only has to look at the crime rate in Fairfield > > and then look at the number of meditators in the > > community to reject the ME as it is currently > > understood. Post hoc explanations of a "washing > > machine effect" indicate either the immaturity of the > > ME theory or the ridiculousness of it. Social > > field-effect theories are fun to ponder, but there is > > almost no research to support them. The use of the ME > > "research" by the TMO is just cult politics. To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
