Consciousness-Based Education - Maharishi University of ...

volume introductiongrew 19% despite an expected growth of only 6%, in part due to the endof the century’s worst drought.A paper submitted by Drs. Ken Cavanaugh and Paul Gelderloosin the same section tests the hypothesis that between 1979 and 1986,superpower relations were significantly improved through the reductionof global stress and tension produced by four large global “WorldPeace Assemblies” of experts practicing the Transcendental Meditationand TM-Sidhi program. In these assemblies, the number of participantsapproached or exceeded one percent of the world’s population,the predicted critical threshold for a Global Maharishi Effect. Timeseries analysis found evidence of a significant increase in cooperationand a reduction in conflict for Soviet behavior directed toward theU.S., both during and shortly following the assemblies, as measured bymonthly content-analyzed data from the Zürich Project on East-WestRelations.Also in the Invincible Defense section, Drs. Charles Alexander,David Orme-Johnson, and Kenneth Walton propose the implementationof the Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi program as amethodology for preventing both man-made (technological) and naturaldisasters. Their proposal cites a meta-analysis showing the effectivenessof the TM and TM-Sidhi program in alleviating physiological,psychological, and social manifestations of stress, and on this basisthey suggest that the reduction of stress in individual life is capable ofbreaking the cycle between stress, human error, disasters, subsequentpanic, and further stress. They further describe the results of over 50sociological studies that demonstrate how a very small proportion of asocial system practicing the TM and TM-Sidhi programs in a groupincreases harmony and alleviates stress in society as a whole. Notingthat the theory underlying the Maharishi Effect (supported by empiricaldata) indicates that the effect operates on the most fundamental,unified field level of natural law, they suggest that it can also be used toprevent the occurrence of natural disasters, such as hurricanes, earthquakes,tsunamis, and other natural catastrophes.The final paper in this section examines improvements in qualityof life in the U.S. as a result of a permanent group of practitioners ofthe Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi programs at MaharishiUniversity of Management in Iowa. This paper, by Drs. David Orme-19