Consciousness-Based Education - Maharishi University of ...

TRANSCEnDENTAL MEDITATION PROGRAM and CORRECTIONSsubstantial proportion reported decreased use of tobacco as well as decreaseddrug usage (Ferguson, 1990a and 1990b).A double-blind cross-sectional and longitudinal study of the longtermeffects of the Transcendental Meditation program at MCI,Walpole, was performed as part of a doctoral dissertation at Harvard(Alexander, 1982). In the cross-sectional part of the study, subjectswho had previously learned the Transcendental Meditation program atWalpole (an average of 20 months practice) were compared with thoseinterested in learning the program and those not interested in learning.Ego development and 13 other psychological variables were measured,which were reduced by factor analysis to three factor scales—psychopathology,psychological development, and postconceptual experience,The last factor was associated with scales which attempted to measurethe development of higher states of consciousness predicted to be associatedwith regular practice of the Transcendental Meditation program,The Transcendental Meditation program participants and controls didnot differ on pre-incarceration variables such as age, education, intelligence,father’s occupation, family size, race, religion, or crime severity,and the groups who were and were not interested in learning the TranscendentalMeditation program did not differ on any of the measures inthe test battery. The major finding of the cross-sectional study was thatthe long-term Transcendental Meditation participants scored significantlylower than other groups on psychopathology and significantlyhigher on psychological development and postconceptual experience,A separate analysis of the ego development scale, related to a majordevelopmental hypothesis of the study, indicated that TranscendentalMeditation program participants had a significantly higher level of egodevelopment. Participation in other prison programs was not significantlyassociated with the three factor scales when demographic variableswere controlled.In the longitudinal study, the group interested in learning the TranscendentalMeditation program was divided into a new TranscendentalMeditation program group and a wait-list control group. Following a13–17 month intervention period, longitudinal results replicated thecross-sectional findings. Both the Transcendental Meditation participationgroups (long-term meditators from the cross-sectional study andthe group of new participants) displayed a significant increase in ego275