To my knowledge Dr. Herbert Benson never learned TM, he steadfastly refused to learn claiming he would no longer be objective about it. Keith Wallace hounded him to start, I heard Maharishi hound him relentlessly one night and he would not budge.
Though you may be biased towards TM what do you say about the fact that he has measured the same physiological changes with meditators self-choosiing words such as "one", "rose", "love" etc. Maharishi, in his Beacon Light of the Himalayas, said you can transcend on any sound. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "hyperbolicgeometry" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > --- In [EMAIL PROTECTED], "hyperbolicgeometry" > <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Get a synchronistic picture of your psychological state before and > after meditation. Pics change each minute and are sent in from around > the world: > http://www.humanclock.com > Click on to the square at top (view the clock); then scroll down to > where > it says "random" and click on to it. > Each minute will have a new pic. > > On another topic, some of you may have seen Sri Ravi Shankar and Dr. > Herbert Benson on CNN (Shankar came to Atlanta while Benson was at > Harvard, consulted as an academic "expert".). > Benson displayed his usual level of ignorance but this is to be > expected...the average CNN viewer (expect for the Chrstian > fundamentalists), wouldn't discriminate between various forms of > meditation/concentration/prayer/breathing exercises. Benson lumps them > all together under the rubric of the "relaxation response"; and > declares them all to be of equal value depending upon which you prefer > coupled with your religious or non-religious background. > I found it interesting that Benson borrowed an important concept from > TM (since he was initiated into it long ago): that if you are > consciously aware of a thought, innocently recognize it without using > mental force to manipulate the mind; then allow the next thought to > enter the mind...something like that (can't remember the exact words > Benson used but it had a distinctive TM/MMY flavor). > Benson has carved out a distinctive academic niche for himself at > Harvard by declaring his "they're all of equal value" manifesto. I > suppose that just from a physiological viewpoing, using gross > parameters of relaxation such as breathing amd heart rate, brain waves, > skin response, etc; such forms of meditation/prayers/breathing > excercise might be somewhat equal with ballpark data; but the notion > of "transcendance" hasn't apparently dawned on Benson, intellectually > at least. Maybe he's experienced TC but has concealed the fact. After > all, he has an academci career to protect and it's risky to entertain > ideas far from the mainstream of academia. ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Get fast access to your favorite Yahoo! Groups. Make Yahoo! your home page http://us.click.yahoo.com/dpRU5A/wUILAA/yQLSAA/JjtolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> 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/
