Consciousness-Based Education - Maharishi University of ...

consciousness-based education and governmentcollectively practices the TM-Sidhi program, the influence of coherencewill be sufficient to create a strong positive effect on the quality oflife in the society as a whole. The index was constructed so that whenthe combined effect of participants in the Transcendental Meditationprogram and participants in the collective practice of the TM-Sidhiprogram exceeds one, the predicted necessary level of coherence for thepopulation will have been met, and the occurrence of a phase transitionto increased positivity in the quality of life is hypothesized (see Table1).This index indicates the overall level of influence of the MTUF foreach of the 25 years under study. A separate analysis of the period from1976 to 1981 was conducted to study the effect of the sharp increase inthe number of meditators in the U.S. during the later half of 1975. Inaddition, the years 1982 to 1984 were considered separately because inthese three years the Maharishi Effect Index exceeded one (see Table1). Data were analyzed using the Interactive Data Analysis and Forecastingprogram (IDA) on a VAX 11/780 computer, and the LISRELVI program on an IBM PC.Dependent VariablesQuality of Life Index. For this study, a quality of life index was constructedwhich covered different areas of life: crime, health, healthhabits, economic welfare, creativity, education, marital stability, andsafety. These factors were chosen in accord with the common criteriafor objective social indicators found in the literature, stating that ideallysuch factors should possess the characteristics of being: a) sufficientlyuniversal—so that underlying principles would apply to the majority ofpeople in the U.S. today; b) easily understood—representing a generalconsensus with respect to their selection; c) flexible enough to encompassany lifestyle among individuals at different places and at differentpoints in time; d) adaptable to changing social, economic, political andphysical conditions in a dynamic society; e) open to verification accordingto recognized scientific approaches; and f) focusing on areas inwhich individuals have an active personal interest (House et al., 1975;Liu, 1974). For the sake of parsimony, an attempt was made to locatethe most holistic, central indicator in every field (e.g., GNP for economics),and largely redundant variables were avoided. Experts in the542