Consciousness-Based Education - Maharishi University of ...

consciousness-based education and GovernmentIntroductionUS-Soviet relations have been the dominant influence on theglobal political climate since 1945. Given the long history ofSoviet-American confrontation it has been difficult for mostanalysts to explain the remarkable and sudden warming of relationshipsbetween the superpowers since the mid-1980s, along with theconsequent transformation of the global political climate. For example,in reviewing the remarkable events of 1989—including the opening ofthe Berlin wall and the largely peaceful fall of hard-line communistgovernments throughout Eastern Europe—McGeorge Bundy (1990:197–199) characterized 1989 as “the best year for East-West relationssince World War II.” The year 1989, he said, brought “one splendidsurprise after another,” and he added “I know of no one, expert or not,who foresaw these events.”Although developments in superpower relations in the mid- to late1980s were particularly surprising, political scientists have long beenfrustrated in their attempts to understand and predict the developmentof superpower relations (Pipes, 1984). Numerous systematic explanationsof superpower relations have been proposed (Ruloff and Frei,1985), including trend models (Arbatov, 1981), cyclical models (Maddox,1973; Wolfe, 1979), and stimulus-response models (Frei, 1980).Several theorists have also emphasized the subjective nature of theEast-West conflict and the role of stress, emotions and cognitions.High levels of societal stress and tension have been associated in manyways with increased risk of international or domestic violence (Lebow,1981; George and Smoke, 1974; Wright, 1942). Such factors have alsoimpeded steps toward arms control and disarmament by the superpowers(Frei, 1986). White (1984) has also argued that none of the traditionalapproaches to improved superpower relations can be effective inthe absence of a concurrent program to drastically reduce psychopoliticaltension.The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the influence on East-Westrelations of the group practice of the Transcendental Meditation (TM)and TM-Sidhi program. The theoretical framework underlying thisresearch predicts that the group practice of these subjective technologiesby a sufficiently large group of participants can reduce global stressand tensions, resulting in reduced conflict and increased cooperation458