Consciousness-Based Education - Maharishi University of ...

quality of life in the us (1960–1984)The Maharishi EffectCollective consciousness, like other collective systems, may showchange through qualitatively different phases. A new phase in a collectivesystem may develop once a certain critical mass of elementsexhibits this new kind of functioning, giving rise to a phase transition.Maharishi predicted in 1960 that if about 1% of a social grouppracticed the Transcendental Meditation technique, a phase transitionto more harmony and fulfillment in that social system would be found(Borland & Landrith, 1977).Sociological studies have in fact found that when a small proportionof the population practices the Transcendental Meditation technique,an improved quality of life is found in the whole society. Thisphenomenon has become known as the Maharishi Effect. In 1975, astudy of 11 U.S. cities found that when 1% of the population in thosecities practiced the Transcendental Meditation technique, a significantdecrease in crime rate took place in comparison to 12 control cities(Borland & Landrith, 1977). Since then, this finding of increased orderand harmony in society resulting from the practice of the TranscendentalMeditation program has been substantiated in several other studiesinvolving larger numbers of cities (e.g., Dillbeck, Landrith & D.W.Orme-Johnson, 1981), using methods of crossed-lagged panel analysisto establish causality (Dillbeck, 1981), and including other variablessuch as suicides and auto accidents (Landrith and Dillbeck, 1988). Fora complete review of the scientific evidence of the Maharishi Effect todate, the reader is referred to D.W. Orme-Johnson and Dillbeck (1987).The TM-Sidhi program has been found to enhance the effects ofthe Transcendental Meditation technique. Whereas the TranscendentalMeditation technique allows the individual to experience pure consciousness,the TM-Sidhi program provides specific mental exercisesto be performed while the individual is established in pure consciousness.This accelerates the integration of pure consciousness with moreactivated levels of consciousness and psychophysiological functioning.Enhanced outcomes of the TM-Sidhi program have been indicated bya number of studies (e.g., Gelderloos, 1987b; Nidich et al., 1983; D.W.Orme-Johnson & Haynes, 1981; D.W. Orme-Johnson et al., 1982;Wallace et al., 1982; Wallace et al., 1983). Also, the TM-Sidhi programis expected to generate a greater amount of coherence throughout539