Consciousness-Based Education - Maharishi University of ...

Harnessing the laws of nature—maximum success to governmentThese and other findings on the macrosocial level are consistent withresearch linking stress and violence on the individual level. For example,high life-events stress is associated with domestic violence and withaggressive behavior, delinquency, and crime among youth—with moreintense levels of stress associated with more serious offenses (See Hagelin,1998, Chapter IV).Modern medical research has delineated possible mediating neuroendocrinemechanisms linking stress to aggression, violence, andcriminal behavior (Sarne et al., 1995). Animal and human studieshave shown that chronic stress disrupts the coordinated regulation ofthe neurotransmitter serotonin and key hormones, including cortisol,impairing the individual’s ability to respond adaptively, and in manycases causing serious physiological malfunction. Specifically, chronicstress produces abnormally low levels of serotonin as well as abnormallyhigh levels of cortisol, changes which have been directly correlated withaggression, hostility, and impulsive, violent behavior (Cleare & Bond,1997; Fishbein, Lozovsky, & Jaffe, 1989).In recent years, individual and social stress has reached epidemicproportions. Today, 44% of Americans suffer from stress-related illness(U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 1995). The origins ofthis stress are multidimensional. However, examination shows that mostof these origins have their ultimate source in the violation of natural law,and the strain this places on the individual physiology, on the economy(through health and crime-related costs), and on the fabric of society.Any concerted effort to address these multiple sources of socialstress (for instance through drug-abuse prevention and rehabilitationprograms, job training, etc.), would be a large scale and costly undertaking—evenif only high-risk communities were targeted. Thus it iscritically important to identify solutions that (a) address the roots ofindividual and social stress in the violation of natural law and (b) arepractical and cost effective to implement widely.We have seen that one highly-effective approach to reducing individualand social stress and bringing life into accord with natural law isthe Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi program. TM practiceis associated with a distinctive physiological state of restful alertness,indicated by decreased respiration rates and basal skin conductance,and increased coherence and integration of brain functioning (Jevning,201