Consciousness-Based Education - Maharishi University of ...

consciousness-based education and governmentMaharishi predicted that it would only take 1% of a population practicingthe Transcendental Meditation technique to generate positivechanges in the collective consciousness and show a measurable influenceof coherence on the entire society. The theoretical rationale forhow a few can affect the many is the principle of coherence in nature:coherence is more powerful than incoherence. For example, coherentlaser light will shine further than incoherent, incandescent light.Several variables were chosen to examine this phenomenon, whichbecame known as the Maharishi Effect. Of prominent interest werestudies on the crime rate, auto accident rate, and quality of life. Citieswere chosen where 1% of the population had been instructed in theTranscendental Meditation technique, and matched with control citiesfor demographic variables. In 1974 the findings for the first of thesestudies was announced: when 1% of a city was practicing the TranscendentalMeditation technique, the crime rate dropped significantlycompared to controls. 19Over the last two decades, the initial research has been replicated ina series of increasingly rigorous experiments, through greater sophisticationof statistical methodology, investigation of larger sample sizes,comprehensive control for factors affecting the dependent variables,replication across outcome variables and geographic locations, andemployment of prospective research protocols. For example, Dillbeck,Banus, Polanzi, and Landrith III used cross-lagged panel analysis todemonstrate the Maharishi Effect, controlling for demographics, in asample of 160 cities and 80 Standard Statistical Metropolitan Areas,which constituted over half the urban population of the U.S. 20 Resultsindicated a causal effect of Transcendental Meditation participation inreduction of crime rate over a six-year period.An even more powerful influence has been found when individualspractice the more advanced TM-Sidhi program. According toMaharishi, the Transcendental Meditation technique locates pure consciousnesswithin one’s awareness, and the TM-Sidhi program trainsthe mind to function from the level of pure consciousness, producinggreater coordination between mind and body, and the ability to enlivennatural law for greater success in life. Of the advanced technology ofthe TM-Sidhi program, Yogic Flying is the technique that appears toproduce the greatest mind-body coordination. Maharishi 21 explains60