Suchergebnisse

The relationship between individual and group practice of the Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi program andreductions in social stress, tension, and violence has been the topic of systematic exploration since the 1970s in Canada,India, Israel, Lebanon, New Zealand, Norway, the Philippines, Puerto Rico, United Kingdom, and United States.Findings from these quantitative studies have been published in leading international conflict resolution and peacestudies journals. However, research in Cambodia has to date only been of a descriptive and qualitative nature with afocus on economic and social variables not violence or crime.The purpose of the present study is therefore to examine socio-political violence in Cambodia between January 1990and December 1992 (the baseline period) and the possible influence of group practice of the Transcendental Meditationand TM-Sidhi program at Maharishi Vedic University (MVU) by 550 undergraduate students beginning in January1993 through December 2008 (the impact-assessment period). This study uses an explanatory mixed methods designto examine socio-political violence using time series analysis of machine-coded news reports (quantitative data) anddocument analysis of national and international media reports, personal statements, and public documents (qualitativedata).Results indicate that beginning in January 1993, when meditating students at MVU began their group practice, amarked downward shift occurred in the trends of socio-political violence and other forms of violent crime in Cambodia,contrary to predicted baseline trends and contrary to widespread community and media expectations. Such aconclusion can be drawn from both the quantitative and qualitative evidence when comparing baseline andimpact-assessment periods, suggesting that the observed decline in socio-political violence during this time wasassociated with an increase in peace, order, and harmony—that is, a rise of social coherence—in the collectiveconsciousness of Cambodia generated by the group of meditating students at MVU.

These two studies tested the prediction that the group practice of a procedure for the development of consciousness, the Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi program, by a sufficiently large group of individuals would be sufficient to reduce collective stress in the larger population, reflected in two stress-related health indicators, infant mortality rate and drug-related fatality rate. Based on theoretical prediction and prior research, from January 2007 through 2010 (intervention period), this effect should have been measurable. Change in the rates of these two indicators during the intervention period were estimated from 2002 through 2010 data using a broken-trend (or segmented trend) intervention model with time series regression methods. Significant changes in trend for both the infant mortality rate and drug-related fatality rate were evident at the predicted time and in the predicted direction, controlling for preintervention trends, seasonality, and autocorrelation. The changes in trend were both statistically and practically significant, indicating an average annual decline of 3.12% in infant mortality rate and 7.61% in drug-related fatality rate. Diagnostic tests are satisfactory and indicate that it is unlikely that the statistical results are attributable to spurious regression. The mechanism for these collective effects is discussed in view of possible alternative hypotheses.

This research tests the hypothesis that group practice of the Transcendental Meditation® (TM) and TM-Sidhi® program by a group of sufficient size is associated with reduced rates of homicide and violent crime. Data from a prospective quasi-experiment were analyzed using intervention analysis or interrupted time series analysis. Dependent variables are time series of the U.S. monthly homicide rate as well as violent crime rate from a sample of 206 cities. The binary intervention variable is based on the size of the largest U.S. TM-Sidhi group. Intervention effects were analyzed by time series regression using a broken-trend intervention model. As hypothesized, there was a statistically and practically significant shift in trend in the direction of reduced rates for each of the variables beginning with the onset of the intervention period. Diagnostic tests indicate that key statistical assumptions of the analysis are satisfied. Alternative hypotheses are considered for the apparent effect of macro-level social behavioral change without micro-level behavioral interaction.

This study outlines and empirically tests a field-theoretic view of consciousness and positive social change based on the ancient Vedic tradition of knowledge from India (Veda means "knowledge" in Sanskrit) as brought to light by the Vedic scholar and scientist of consciousness, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. In contrast to most contemporary theories of mind and consciousness originating in the West, Maharishi's Vedic science of consciousness posits the existence of an interpersonal, nonlocalized dimension of consciousness that underlies both individual consciousness and the "collective consciousness" of society, or "national consciousness." We review previous empirical tests in Cambodia, India, the Philippines (and other countries) of hypotheses derived from this field-theoretic view of consciousness. We then present new empirical results, which together with prior research, provide evidence for an interpersonal dimension to consciousness. Segmented-trend regression analysis of data from a prospective, 15-year U.S. national social experiment found support for the hypothesis that "field effects of consciousness" created by group practice of Transcendental Meditation® and its advanced technique, the TM-Sidhi® program, by a theoretically predicted number of participants contributed to a reduction in social stress in national consciousness as indicated by improved monthly homicide trends during the study's experimental period 2007-2011 (p < .0001). These results are consistent with significant reductions in crime and violence associated with group practice of the TM® and TM-Sidhi® program as reported in previous peer-reviewed research. This reduction was followed by a predicted subsequent increase in homicide trends 2012-2016 (p < .0001) after the group fell below the required size (approximately the √1% of the U.S. population).

Many conceptions of field-effects of consciousness have been proposed. The most well-developed of these is Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's, which holds that every individual in society, whether stressed or coherent, contributes to collective consciousness. Collective consciousness in turn impacts the life of every individual, guiding the trends of life in the nation. Over 600 studies have documented that the Transcendental Meditation® and advanced TM-Sidhi® program increase coherence in the individual, as indicated by improved brain integration, health, cognitive abilities, and behavior. Fifty additional studies indicate that these more coherent individuals radiate an influence of coherence throughout society, as reflected in reductions of conflicts and improvements in quality of life. In the present study, interrupted time series analysis was used to evaluate the effectiveness of this population-level health intervention that was implemented at a clearly defined point in time. It found that during the Demonstration period of 2007-2011, compared to the Baseline period of 2000 to 2006, when a group practicing the Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi techniques reached or exceeded a predicted required threshold of √1% of the U.S. population (1725) there were significant and meaningful trend reductions in indicators of national stress: homicides, rape, aggravated assault, robbery, infant mortality, drug-related deaths, motor vehicle fatalities, fatalities due to injuries in youths ages 10-19, and in a composite index of all eight variables (p's < .0001). Moreover, from 2007 to 2016, when the size of the group decreased to below the required threshold, all stress indicators increased again. Potential alternative explanations in terms of changes in economic conditions, political leadership, population demographics, and policing strategies could not explain the results. The results support a new highly practical field-theoretic understanding of social dynamics.