--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "feste37" <feste37@...> wrote: > > That's a good summary.
Thanks. It is interesting that you responded first to this. I actually was thinking of asking you to help me edit this particular paper for this particular scholarly audience. I pushed ahead anyway and they seem quite pleased with this as an entry in to the subject of TM and Fairfield for discussion. -Buck > But if the scholars didn't know about TM and Fairfield, I'd be interested in > knowing what were the Utopian/spiritual/intentional/communal groups that they > did discuss, especially those currently in existence. Where are these groups > located? Who are they? > > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "Buck" wrote: > > > > I wrote this piece below and have been e-mailing individually to a number > > of scholarly folks who I met at an academic meeting studying Utopian and > > communal groups that I attended recently out in upstate New York. I came > > away with about 50 business cards from scholars who I met and talked with > > at the conference. I wrote this to be able to send to them something > > descriptive about (meditating) Fairfield, Iowa as a 'communal' group. Of > > course what I set out to write became longer than I intended. Here is the > > unabridged version with the links. I hope you'll like the Shaker > > comparison and I think you'll appreciate the links. > > Best Regards from Iowa, > > <paste>: > > > > Communal (Meditating) Fairfield, Iowa > > > > On returning home from the annual meeting I find myself wanting to catch up > > by sharing some links on 'communal' Fairfield, Iowa with you that might > > better give insight in to a scale and circumstance of the communal society > > I come from and have lived in for 40 years. Starting from the outside > > looking in on meditating Fairfield it can seem like looking at a monolith. > > Evidently it is easy to make assumptions about Fairfield and its meditators > > as it is also tough to discern what is going on inside the meditating > > community. But it need not be difficult at all once there are handles on > > it. The Fairfield meditating community has matured in time and is quite > > developed with many communal features to find and look at. I see > > Fairfield, Iowa in fact can provide a large and living laboratory for > > communal community scholars to look at. > > > > Beginning with Tim Miller's Communal Societies Vol. 30 No.1, 2010 paper in > > mind I'll give you some things further below to look at for yourselves, > > > > "A Matter of Definition: Just What Is an Intentional Community?" > > > > -A sense of purpose and distinctiveness, with deliberate intent to be a > > community > > -Some kind of shared living space > > -Some shared resources > > -Critical mass > > > > For communal studies scholars looking in I believe one of the best ways to > > understand the scale of the Fairfield Meditating community is to relate to > > it in a form like the old Shaker villages as organizational structure back > > while the Shakers were up and running. In the middle of TM is the > > equivalent of a Shaker 'Ministry Family' of upper administration and then > > elements of communal families of meditators that are in concentric circles > > around the middle including meditators who live well outside the middle in > > town but come inside to meditate also as members. The upper level is a > > more exclusive level (only for sake of an analogy though, they do not use > > that term 'ministry' to describe themselves) which currently now tends to > > live more exclusively out in an adjacent new town area called Maharishi > > Vedic City to the northwest of Fairfield proper. The university community > > lives more on their campus in Fairfield. The larger meditating community > > lives through out Fairfield and the County area either disperse singly or > > in meditator households in neighborhoods. Maharishi Vedic City and the > > university community each function with obvious communal aspect with people > > living together, working for their community together, housing close > > together, educating their kids together, socializing together, sharing > > resources etc. The larger surrounding meditating community also functions > > that way. The common thing to these Shaker-like 'families' of meditators > > in the Fairfield area like the Shakers is that they moved to Fairfield as > > meditators to be practicing meditators in something larger. > > > > In starting, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi was a proponent of Transcendental > > Meditation for 60 years in the West and there has been a meditating > > community in Fairfield, Iowa for about 40 years. > > > > The Transcendental Meditation (TM) movement purchased a bankrupt college > > campus in Fairfield, Iowa and moved a university there in 1974. The > > university was teaching a wide liberal arts curricula where the students > > and faculty were also practicing meditators. That functioned as a unit in > > Fairfield for about a half decade when at a large gathering of meditators > > meeting with Maharishi it was suggested that folks as meditators move to > > the Fairfield community to be able to meditate regularly in large group > > meditations. That was the start of the Fairfield meditating community > > where meditators moved to Fairfield, Iowa generally. Through the later > > 1970's, 1980's, 1990's and even up to present time thousands of meditators > > have lived in Fairfield. > > > > Like happened with the Shakers there are now lots of projects that go along > > with meditating that start to be defining otherwise but still the formative > > communal reason here is more essentially about the spiritual practice of > > meditating. Hopefully this is useful as a way of looking at it. I am > > providing here below some source links to these elements that I think are > > good ways of accessing what is going on inside of a communal meditating > > Fairfield. > > > > The Group Meditation: > > Large daily group meditations are held in community facilities the > > meditating community built in the early 1980's intended to house large > > group meditations. This source link gives an overview to this aspect of > > the community: > > http://invincibleamerica.org/tallies/ > > > > Notice clear down at the bottom of this page are daily tallies that in this > > record go back to 2006. The point is that in the daily ebb and flow of > > meditating in Fairfield is this particular communal aspect of meditation > > which happens everyday twice a day and has for a long time. > > > > The 'Golden Domes': > > Back in the 1980's the meditating community built two large wooden dome > > structures to house the community meditation. There is a site on Wikipedia > > about these buildings. This Wiki 'Golden Domes' site is very well > > sourced. > > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Domes > > > > The meditating university community as 'Consciousness-based Education': > > The university in Fairfield functions as its own communal group which is > > also part of the larger meditating community in Fairfield. University > > faculty, staff, and students housed close together on campus, take their > > meals together, meditate together, work together, their kids go to the > > meditating primary and secondary community school together, and sustaining > > resources are shared from the community: http://www.mum.edu > > > > Likewise the meditating community's elementary and secondary school > > function as another communal group or 'family' with similar communal > > features as the university. http://www.maharishischooliowa.org/ > > > > > > The Larger Meditating Fairfield Meditator Community: > > Most meditators who have come to live in the area live in Fairfield proper > > or out in the county area living outside of both the university campus and > > the Maharishi Vedic City area . The general Jefferson County Iowa > > population is about 15,000. The Fairfield population is about 10,000. In > > the Jefferson County/Fairfield area there are about 3,000 adult age > > meditators living still. The university campus houses many hundred > > people. The recent census found about 250 people living in Maharishi Vedic > > City and an approximate additional 1,000 pundits on temporary visas living > > to the north of Maharish Vedic City in a compound that has recently been > > built. When Transcendental Meditation was culturally popular previously > > around the time that the Beatles were followers of Maharishi, > > Transcendental Meditation (TM) often drew heavily from college and > > university communities. As a result the immigration of TM meditators to > > Fairfield has brought both an educated and cosmopolitan group together in a > > small midwest town. This aspect combined with its Utopian values in the > > larger community of meditators living outside of campus and outside of > > Vedic City deserves a look as its own distinctive communal society. The > > greater or larger Fairfield meditator meditating community often gets more > > defined locally by its communal arts, civic activities and businesses > > alongside the indigenous Fairfield and Jefferson County Iowa population. > > This becomes its own large area in communal Fairfield studies that has not > > been written about so much other than feature articles appearing in > > newspapers and magazines and now more recently in an Oprah film production > > in a form of overview journalism. > > > > The Maharishi Vedic City Communal Grouping: > > Maharishi Vedic City functions effectively as a theocratic municipality in > > the vein of Holly Folk's paper on the subject about theocratic municipality > > in Communal Societies V 31.2, 2011. > > Two sources of information on the internet that are authored by people in > > the community of Maharishi Vedic City are: > > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maharishi_Vedic_City,_Iowa and their own > > website: http://www.vediccity.net/ > > > > In conclusion generally I have found Fairfield, Iowa to be an extremely > > vital and fun communal place to live as one of the larger and older Utopian > > places currently operating in the U.S. I see now that it is old enough and > > mature enough to deserve some study by scholars so I wanted to share these > > link with you to help you become introduced. These then are the three or > > four communal groupings within the meditating Fairfield community that you > > can look at easily from outside. I hope you find their links and > > descriptions both useful and interesting to the studies of communal > > societies. > > > > And, of course there is Fairfield itself: > > http://cityoffairfieldiowa.com/ > > > > > > With Kind Regards from Fairfield, > > > > > > > > *** > > > > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "Buck" wrote: > > > > > > A couple months ago I attended an academic conference with about a > > > hundred scholars who study our kind of group. They were generally > > > unaware of Fairfield. In conversing with these scholars over several > > > days time it was as if 'TM' had dropped off the planet. These were > > > tenured professors, department chairs, directors of collections who teach > > > at real universities from all over the country. Basically zip > > > understanding of TM let alone Fairfield. TM seemingly disappeared from > > > culture from the 1980's and on and suffers still from that amnesia of > > > inertia. It got to the point even in Fairfield where the Dome numbers > > > had dropped in the y-2000's to just a couple hundred people meditating > > > together. Nearly died out except for the resuscitation of the urgency > > > of the invincible America meditation program (2006) and the last ditch > > > efforts of some few people (Bob Wynne) in Vedic City to actually bring > > > pundits to Fairfield http://www.vediccity.net/welcome.html > > > It is an amazing thing going on in Fairfield. It is real interesting > > > to be in the middle of communicating that to people outside in the world. > > > > > > -Buck in the Dome > > > > > > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "Buck" wrote: > > > > > > > > It is interesting, that most people out in the world, even educated > > > > people, have no idea what is going on here let alone the gravity of it. > > > > We should all be unperturbed by their general old-age ignorance of it > > > > though and rigorously just attend to our meditations. Great is our > > > > method and science of peace here. The New Jerusalem is coming, > > > > -Buck > > > > > > > > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Share Long <sharelong60@> wrote: > > > > > > > > > > Buck, forget emailing. Have him visit FF for Dec 7 Art Walk. As > > > > > George somebody, former Redskins coach said, the future is now. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Your brave enthusiasm and still makes me smile just about every day > > > > > (-: > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > ________________________________ > > > > > From: Buck > > > > > To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com > > > > > Sent: Saturday, December 1, 2012 11:51 PM > > > > > Subject: [FairfieldLife] Re: Reducing Tension in the Middle East > > > > > > > > > > > > > > >  > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "Buck" wrote: > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "emptybill" <emptybill@> > > > > > > wrote: > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Buckyball > > > > > > > > > > > > > > "A perennial philosophy of all major cultural traditions that > > > > > > > there > > > > > > > exists a transcendental field at the most fundamental level of > > > > > > > natural > > > > > > > law ..." > > > > > > > > > > > > > > If this is true then it is not "transcendental" but rather a > > > > > > > supporting > > > > > > > ground. > > > > > > > In other words, it is prakriti/pradhâna/avyakta (an unmanifest). > > > > > > > It is nature, but not transcendent. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Bill, Yep I know what you mean, that's my experience too. As I was > > > > > > editing that piece I chose to stick with the western language and > > > > > > stay away from the Vedic so as not to confuse the ignorant lurker > > > > > > here. Going with the 'Transcendental' field was good enough for > > > > > > the release posted here. Best Regards, -Buck > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > I went to a lecture at the U. of Ia. in Iowa City the other nite > > > > > given by a visiting classicist professor and went out to dinner with > > > > > him after. In discussing Fairfield he broke from what we were saying > > > > > at a point and declared he could not understand what Utopia could > > > > > possibly be. That he lives in the past and present but could not > > > > > understand what I was saying about a future Utopia this way. It was > > > > > not the time to say anything more but we are e-mailing. It is a > > > > > challenging thing to communicate. > > > > > -Buck > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "Buck" wrote: > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > A perennial philosophy of all major cultural traditions that > > > > > > > > there > > > > > > > exists a transcendental field at the most fundamental level of > > > > > > > natural > > > > > > > law, which can be directly accessed as the silent transcendental > > > > > > > level > > > > > > > of the human mind. Hundreds of studies have shown that > > > > > > > experience of > > > > > > > transcendental consciousness breaks the chain of conditioned > > > > > > > reflexes > > > > > > > coming on from past behavior, as seen in reduced addictive > > > > > > > behaviors of > > > > > > > all kinds, decreased prison recidivism, and reduced behavioral > > > > > > > problems > > > > > > > in inner-city children. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Now there is hope because a proven technology of > > > > > > > > > consciousness to > > > > > > > create peace is available. This novel approach establishes a > > > > > > > filter of > > > > > > > coherence and order in collective consciousness in the present, > > > > > > > which is > > > > > > > capable of transforming the flow of negativity from the past into > > > > > > > a more > > > > > > > harmonious future. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Meditation is certainly the answer, > > > > > > > > > -Buck in the Dome > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > >
