Columbia Missourian
Missourian NewsSeptember 19, 2005 Planning for peace palace continues The center would serve as a place for meditation and enlightenment. By LORI BROOKHART Jim Morrow thinks the Capitol building in Jefferson City should be rebuilt. He came to this conclusion after he recently toured the Capitol. Admiring its history and architecture, he felt like something was wrong. It is affecting the lives of everyone in Missouri, and they shouldnt use it. I could feel it. Its confusing and sending the wrong influence into your awareness, Morrow said. Morrow believes the Capitol, and all other buildings, should be designed and constructed according to Maharishi Vastu, an ancient architectural system that is used by the Transcendental Meditation movement. The systems principles, such as the idea that entrances should only face due east or due north, would come into play if Morrow is successful in the mission that brought him to Columbia: establishing a peace palace and Maharishi enlightenment center. Morrow moved to Columbia from Fairfield, Iowa, in June to establish a center here. Hes run newspaper ads seeking donors and said he is talking with potential developers and shopping for land to build one of 100 peace palaces that Global Country of World Peace hopes to build in the United States. The estimated cost for land, a two-story building that totals 12,000 square feet, and annex space for staff, is $1.5 million to $3 million, said Kent Boyum, an adviser for Global Country of World Peace. The organization is a not-for-profit organization associated with the Transcendental Meditation group. The peace palace would include classrooms and retail shops offering herbal preparations, clothing and spa services. Morrow has been a practitioner of Transcendental Meditation since 1969 and operated a center for the group in Cheyenne, Wyo., in the mid-1970s. He will hold sessions at 3 and 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Columbia Public Library to introduce his organization. The movement, like me, has matured over the years. Theres a whole new range of products and services. All programs are designed to bring enlightenment to the individual and invincibility to the nation, Morrow said. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the Indian guru who introduced his meditation technique to the West 50 years ago, teaches that it can improve mental and physical health as well as professional and personal success. It uses the ancient teachings of Veda, sacred Hindu texts. The Maharishi says there are 6 million practitioners worldwide. Learning the technique costs $2,500, which pays for the course over a one- to two-week period, and what Morrow calls lifetime follow-up programs. The price pays for full-time certified teachers, advertising, office equipment and other expenses. I guess you could say their way of bringing meditation is professional. (Its) no different than building a synagogue or church, said Seido Ray Ronci of the Hokoku An Zen Center, who has been teaching a form of Buddhist meditation in Columbia for six years. Ginny Morgan, a meditation teacher with Show Me Dharma Center, has been part of the Columbia meditation community for 11 years. Columbia is a very open community and curious community, Morgan said. (Their success) is contingent on the center itself and the offerings and the real embodiment of the people who come. To complement the peace palaces, enlightenment centers, small retail spaces offering products and services, are also popping up across the country. For Columbia, the focus has shifted from finding retail space for an enlightenment center to finding land for the larger peace palace, Morrow said. The Maharishi organization has 25 enlightenment centers around the country, and that number will jump dramatically in (the) next six weeks, said Wally DeVasier, co-director of the Fairfield peace palace and private pilot for developer Curtis McDonald of Iowa-based McDonald Properties. McDonald is the real-estate developer responsible for bringing in Bass Pro Shops at his CenterState Crossings development at U.S. 63 and Vandiver Drive. He has his business that is consuming 150 percent of his time. He really has nothing to do with this (project), DeVasier said of McDonald, a practitioner of Transcendental Meditation. Located in southeast Iowa, Fairfield is home to the Maharishi University of Management and is adjacent to Maharishi Vedic City, which was incorporated in 2001. There are three completed peace palaces in the U.S.: Lexington, Ky.; Bethesda, Md; and Houston, where the most recent palace opened one month ago. Global Country of World Peace also has plans to build peace palaces in Kansas City, St. Louis and Cape Girardeau, where David Zimmer, of the Zimmer family-owned radio stations, is heading the project as the Cape Girardeau director. A portion of this report first aired Sunday during the ABC 17 News at 10. Comments? Contact us or sound off __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com ------------------------ 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! 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