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Posted on Mon, Jun. 19, 2006 Town mixed on plans for 'peace palaces' The Transcendental Meditation movement wants to build the World Capital of Peace in Smith Center. BY CARL MANNING Associated Press SMITH CENTER - Supporters of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi see his Transcendental Meditation movement as fostering world harmony. But in this farm town in the heart of the heartland, the movement's plans to build its World Capital of Peace here are creating more tension than tranquillity. Folks became alarmed when the outsiders bought up large tracts of land. Nine local pastors warned the movement that it is encroaching on their spiritual turf. And when a TM representative started throwing around terms at a meeting like "waves of coherence" and "silent zero point," the farmers just shook their heads. "It hasn't split the community, but it has caused a lot of tension," Mayor Randy Archer said. "We're an older community, and new things that come to town are scary for some people." The TM movement -- whose founder, the Maharishi, was the Beatles' guru -- has announced plans to spend $15 million to build a dozen marble "peace palaces" facing east in Smith County. Because TM's practitioners want to disperse "waves of coherence" as widely as possible to influence others, they chose a spot just 10 miles west of the geographic center of the continental U.S. Eric Michener, who works as project coordinator out of a storefront office on Main Street, conceded that his group, the nonprofit Maharishi-affiliated Global Country of World Peace, probably could have made a better first impression. Altogether, the Maharishi wants to build 2,400 peace palaces in 250 U.S. cities and has opened ones in Houston, Bethesda, Md., Lexington, Ky., and Fairfield, Iowa, where his group also has operated Maharishi University of Management for three decades. In Smith County, initial plans call for about 300 people to live in the two-story palaces, but that could increase to 2,000 over the next three years, said Kent Boyum, the group's director of governmental affairs. He said the palaces also could be open to tourists. Work is expected to begin this summer and be completed by year's end. TM traces its roots to India. The movement began in the 1950s and is best known for its celebrity disciples, who have included Clint Eastwood and the comedian Andy Kaufman. Practitioners repeat a thought -- a mantra -- over and over to achieve relaxation, typically for 15 or 20 minutes every morning and evening. Supporters say that TM is a technique, not a religion -- that people can meditate and still be of any faith they want. But the Rev. Greg Hubbard of the Evangelical Free Church, countered, "They say they aren't a religion, and I say baloney." In April, he and other pastors signed a letter to the local newspaper saying: "They are welcome, but they must understand we are competing for the eternal souls of people." Hubbard said freedom of religion or the right to own property aren't issues here. "The thing that bothers us is what we perceive to be their blatant dishonesty about who they are. The bottom line is, dishonest neighbors aren't good neighbors," he said. Others in Smith Center -- a dwindling town of 1,800 with an aging population -- are withholding judgment. "I'm not for them. I'm not against them. You've got to wait and see," the mayor said. "If it helps the community, that'll be great, and I hope it does help the community." Boyum held out the possibility of an economic boost for the town: "Our intention is to funnel as much finances and work through the local community as we can. We all are consumers and will bring resources into the county." __._,_.___To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!'
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- [FairfieldLife] Town mixed on plans for 'peace palaces' Vaj
