--- In [email protected], TurquoiseB <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > --- In [email protected], "sparaig" <sparaig@> wrote: > > > > Thing is, I know several of the researchers. They're all > > true believers, but when they're wearing the hat of a > > researcher, they're a lot more skeptical than you seem > > to believe. > > I defer to your experience. I suspect that some > of the TM-related research is strong, but I also > suspect that some of it is laughably weak. I'm > only speaking to the mindset of true believer > posing as dispassionate scientist. If you're > looking for something to validate your own > strongly-held belief system, the tendency is > to "find" it. > > On the other hand, there are research projects > that turn out to have real researchers manning > them, who are not afraid to admit it when their > assumptions turn out to be wrong. I'm thinking > of the recent long-term study on "the power of > prayer" with regard to healing. The researchers > expected to find a correlation between "being > prayed for" and faster healing; in fact they > found that either there was no correlation, or > in some cases, the people being "prayed for" > got worse or healed more slowly than statistics > say they should have. > > I'd feel better about the TM research if there > were a few more of those kinds of studies, along > the lines of, "We expected to find X positive > result and didn't find it." >
The TMO's self-funded research is probably loaded with that kind of thing. It never sees the light of day. By the time the Movement researchers are willingto spend the time and energy to request government grant money, they're pretty sure they're going to find an effect, based on the in-house research. By the time they're willing to seek out non- meditating collaborators to do research, they're *positive* they're going to find an effect. There are a few instances of unexpected failures making it out however. Kesterson's work on breath suspension during transcending showed conclusively that transcending had nothing to do with reduced metabolism, which was Kieth Wallace's original belief. OTOH, Kesterson established that there was something unusual going on, even so. The weakest research you see these days is for stuff that the scientists have no clue how to study anyway, like sthapatya veda and the like. That's pure marketing BS, IMHO. ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Yahoo! Groups gets a make over. See the new email design. http://us.click.yahoo.com/XISQkA/lOaOAA/yQLSAA/UlWolB/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/
