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GK, an
old boy from my school wrote to me regarding the
letter to the NATO Secretary General:
[This is quite long so you might want to save or print it
and read off-line]
William
I admire your chutspah but got a bit lost in the letter,
interesting though it is. However I think you have missed what I feel is an
important lesson from history; namely that the longest and most stable periods
of peace have nearly always been when one overall power maintained that peace
through their strength. That was not necessarily through enforcing it by
draconically but by the very fact of their being the only effective power.
This is why it is said that the most efficient and beneficial form of
government is a benevolent dictatorship. The trouble with that is ensuring the
benevolency before corruption sets in. Thus the most effective weapons of war
have a use in stopping wars by their existence alone. No-one ever used a
hydrogen bomb in war but it has prevented a major war between the so called
super powers. The problem is complex and to just throw away weapons has been
shown to be more altruistic than practical in maintaining peace.
The reply you get from Lord Robertson, if you do get one, could prove
interesting. If so I trust that as you have raised the subject you will give
is guidance and access to it. At least this is an interesting chat and should
produce more profound comments than mine. Many thanks for all your site works
and links.
Yours, G
My response?
Dear G, I hope you won't mind me reducing a complex world into some minimal
examples for the sake of easy explanation? If not, Maharishi's proposition, and mine, could
perhaps be best explained like this (in my words):
Scheme A
- James has a weapon (gun, sword, knife, cruise missile, H bomb…)
because he wishes to influence his neighbour John's behaviour.
- That influence is brought to bear on John in proportion as it creates a
state of fear in John.
Scheme B
- Matthew practises, for twenty minutes morning and evening, a very
particular, special, mental technique that develops creativity,
intelligence, orderliness, coherence, harmony, good health in himself
because he wishes to do the best for himself.
- In so doing, as a side effect, Matthew creates a similar influence,
though smaller in magnitude, on his neighbour Michael.
- That influence spreads naturally, neither Michael nor Matthew notice it
happening, but it changes Michael's behaviour: he becomes more cordial to
Matthew. The influence is mediated by a "field effect".
The essence of the world's present day technology of defence is encapsulated
in Scheme A above. The problems with it include their competitive and never
ending qualities.
The essence of what Maharishi and his followers like me want to achieve is
encapsulated in Scheme B.
As a sensible person you will immediately ask:
As a cautious person you would probably ask:
- If Scheme B does really work, how would we move from
the present state of affairs, Scheme A, to Scheme B without risking our
present day security?
As a compassionate person you would surely ask:
- Again, if Scheme B does work and we implement it how would
we re-deploy the 5% or so of the world's resources currently engaged in
the defence industries?
Lastly:
It is Transcendental Meditation, as taught by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi - TM
for short. It is not just any old meditation picked off the shelf but that
very specific one. Nor is it any form of contemplation, praying, sitting
quietly or cogitating.
TM allows the mind to settle down from the surface, active, thinking level
to finer and finer levels of activity until it comes to rest, awake and
completely alert, yet at the same time completely rested. This practise
invokes subtle changes in the way the nervous system works. As the mind and
nervous system settle down, so too does the body: it too becomes very deeply
rested.
Hundreds of published studies, in reputable journals, show the practise of
TM to have benefits on mind, body, behaviour and world peace - just from
practising it for twenty minutes morning and evening. It is not a religious
practise, nor is it prayer. It demands neither faith nor belief.
Just as turning on the light switch brings light, without for most of us,
any understanding of how electricity is generated or distributed, so
practising TM is, in that sense, completely mechanical. Top
I have described, above, that during the practise of TM the mind and body
settle down. That is the understanding that most practitioners of TM have and
they are quite happy to leave it there. But, something far more complex and
vitally important is happening. To understand what it is easiest to turn to
modern physics.
Modern physics tells us that the entire universe is constructed from and
ordered by an invisible, intangible field: a unified field. This unified field
is the source of everything, of every law of nature, of every atom, of every
photon, every electron and all the laws of nature that govern how all those
things move. It is the source of space, time, gravity, light, thought,
everything. The atomic levels of life hold enormous amounts of energy. The
unified field, much subtler and finer than the atomic level, is the source of
infinite amounts of energy. Because it orders the whole universe it is a
source of infinite intelligence. Especially, the unified field is a field of
complete connectivity - every part is simultaneously connected to every other
part - because of course there are no parts: remember it is the source of
space and time so within it no such constructs are found.
Now we turn to an ancient (and timeless) tradition from the east: the Vedic
tradition. This tells us that the entire universe is constructed from and
ordered by an invisible, intangible field: the field of pure consciousness.
The Vedic tradition tells us that pure consciousness is the source of
everything, of every law of nature… and so on, exactly the same description
of the universe!
Scientists trained to the highest degree in the modern physics of the
unified field and who also know the Vedic tradition, as revived and codified
by Maharishi2, are quite convinced that they are explanations of the self same
thing. They compare for instances the expressions in the Veda of
"bubbling bliss" or of "orderly progression" (and the
experiences of thousands of meditators) and show how the equations of the
unified field have similar qualities. Scientists from various disciplines are
able to show quite clearly that their individual sciences each have
correlations with the Vedic tradition. The Vedic tradition has a literature
codified into forty branches. Each of these branches is found in complete
detail in the expressions of the equations of the unified field.
TM is from the Vedic tradition. It allows the mind to settle down to
experience the state of pure consciousness or, in modern physical terms, the
unified field. Why should that be good? Because the unified field is the
source of all the laws of nature, it is the home of all the laws of nature.
When the mind or consciousness of an individual dips into that field of life
the whole of natural law comes, bit by bit, to support the life of the
individual. The infinite intelligence of the unified field comes to support
the life of the individual. The life of the individual moves in an
evolutionary direction: negativity, disharmony fall away, love and unity
spontaneously develop.
The result is that mental abilities improve, health improves, social
behaviour improves and lastly behaviour between societies improves. Top
The evidence says that it does. The Maharishi Effect, which is the name we
have given to it, has the strongest evidence supporting it of any social
science studies. No other, repeat no other, social science technology has been
validated so thoroughly. There are over 50 published studies to show that when
a group of people practise TM and the advanced TM Sidhi techniques in
sufficient numbers there is a measurable effect on the surrounding community.
These effects have been seen in measures of crime rate, suicide rate,
terrorist acts, warlike acts and so on.
The first experimental evidence was in 1975. It was seen that when 1% of
the population of a group of cities practised TM the crime rates there dropped
when compared to closely matched cities that did not have that 1% effect.
In a planned experiment in Washington DC in 1992 some 4,000 meditators
assembled in the city and the crime rate went down by 20%. It went down while
they were there and went back up again to normal when they left. The predicted
20% reduction in crime rate was lodged with the authorities beforehand. You
can see all the studies summarised here and in the
same place you will find links to the details. Top
When Matthew lets his mind "dip" into the field of pure
consciousness it stirs that field. The "ripples" spread out into the
neighbourhood and enliven that level of life in his neighbour Michael. It is a
field effect. Field effects are common in our lives but we are rarely
conscious of them. Radio is a field effect. A tiny amount of power used to
"stir" the electromagnetic field here in my cell (mobile) phone,
causes a "ripple" to run through that field for several miles until
it reaches the aerials at the base station. This ripple runs through walls,
glass, steel, trees without leaving a trace. You most likely have no idea how
it works beyond that simplistic level. Yet almost everyone uses mobile phones.
Similarly, without any idea of how the Maharishi Effect works you can make use
of it - it uses the unified field, the field of consciousness.
One last consideration is the scale of the effect. If 1% of the population
of a city or country practises TM a decrease of negativity is found in those
areas. If the square root of 1% of the population (e.g. 800 people for the
whole of the UK) practise the advanced TM-Sidhi techniques together then that
is large enough to bring the same effect in the city or country.
An organisation or group of individuals which establishes groups of people
practising the TM and the TM-Sidhi techniques is deploying a technology to
generate peace. This is very different to trying to be, or actually being,
peaceful. See my letter to the World Peace
Delegates at the Hague in 1999. Top
The main principle here is that having Scheme A in place does not stop the
world from implementing Scheme B. So gradually, without taking any risks is
the way to do it.
The programmes and groups needed for Scheme B can be put in place at the
same time as Scheme A is in operation. As the effects of Scheme B become
apparent the bits and pieces of Scheme A will gradually become more and more
redundant and the resources used for it will automatically be re-deployed. Top
This is a question that I am often asked: the hundreds of thousands of jobs
in the UK defence industry, and the servicemen and women, what would they all
do?
But it is worse: what would the pension funds with millions or billions of
pounds invested in the likes of GEC and BAe and Marconi do? What would happen
to pensioners' incomes?
The answer can begin3 with a story about my friend, lets call her E. She was
struck down with rheumatoid arthritis at the age of about fifty. She had been
working hard all her life as an arts teacher and had in the last few years
begun to see the rewards: she was the head of an adult education institute
with hundreds of staff, was adept at working through committees and other
aspects of officialdom and was beginning to make a real difference to the
educational achievements of the London borough in which she worked. She was
vivacious in all ways and always looked to me as though she lived life on
springs.
All that, apart from her spirit, has gone now. She has replacement knees,
elbows and hands very badly disjointed, neck beginning to deteriorate and of
course, for nearly ten years, no job. She can no longer drive because she
cannot turn her head properly. This means that one of her great pleasures,
driving out into the country is denied her. She can hardly unlock her door and
can do very little in the physical line at all, even reading or using the
telephone is very difficult: in short, she is physically disabled.
If we have technology that can guide a missile at several hundred miles an
hour over the landscape and find a small building we could have smart gadgets
that can take people like E around the country, around her house and can hold
her books and newspapers. There are millions of people in the world with
arthritic disabilities like E. They need very smart tools and gadgets to make
life fulfilling.
Do you not think that the defence industries could provide for them and all
the other disabled in the world? Wouldn't a company that invented a really
usable robotic car find the world knocking at its door?
You might be cynical and question whether these disabled people could
afford the hi-tech gadgets. Excuse me! Can they afford that their country
spends about 5% of its wealth, every year, on so called defence? If a nation
can spend about 5% of GDP annually on destruction, in the name of defence, it
can easily spend a similar amount looking after its needy members properly -
once defence is taken care of much more cheaply and effectively than at
present.
As for the people in the armed services. I guess a fair proportion of them
will be administrative, back office types, so redeployment for them should also
be fairly straightforward. For the others who find nothing more enjoyable than
living an outdoor, active life, working in genuine teams, knocking things down
and making things go
"bang" (and why not?) things will be trickier - but I am sure we will collectively
come up with something to keep them happy. For as the world re-orients itself into co-operation and
harmony rather than fear based competition the ability to generate new ideas will
improve too. Top
- Every individual should receive as part of his education the technology
to make use of the unified field. Each person should be trained in the
practise of TM to enable them to live life in an evolutionary way. They
should receive education of the stature to enable them to lead mistake
free lives: lives which are good for themselves and simultaneously good
for their neighbours. They should have the benefit of "consciousness
based" education, just as my daughter and many others have.
- The world should fund a group of Vedic pandits, 40,000 of them1,
to do some things at the level of the unified field, every day, as a
profession. Those things include the practise of TM, the TM-Sidhi
techniques and lastly Vedic performances to specifically "stir"
the unified field in ways known to directly enhance and develop world
peace.
- The cost of funding that group of 40,000 Vedic pandits, in perpetuity,
is $1 billion. This is about one day's expenditure on defence by the US
government. It is about the same as the cost of one B2 bomber.
We see a rose bush growing in the garden. The whole bush is nothing but sap
transformed in various ways and sap is the invisible sustainer of the whole
thing. The flowers, soft petals, ephemeral scent, shiny leaves, hard stems and
sharp thorns are all transformations of sap and are all sustained in their
enormous diversity
and unity by the sap.
When the bush is failing, attention to the level of the sap is the best way
to put it right: we might water the plant or give it fertiliser - at its
roots.
Pure consciousness is the "sap" of the universe, the world, the
individuals in it and their societies.
When the world is failing, attention to the level of the pure consciousness
is the best way to put it right. Dealing with this level enhances both the
diversity and the unity of all peoples and cultures.
Top
Footnotes
- As an observant reader you will have noticed that the world population would
only demand around 10,000 using the "square root of 1%" formula.
Maharishi is asking for four times that for a big safety factor. In the words of
H.E. Dr John Hagelin at the September 28th press
conference, "We need strong medicine". Back
- The Vedic tradition has long been in a state of great
disrepair. Maharishi has successfully brought it back to its roots and
established its status as a science (rather than a religion) with both a rigorous theory and a
practical, experiential side that brings the benefits of that theory to
individuals and the world. Because it is no longer the mistaken
interpretation that has been prevalent for so long we are usually careful
to call it Maharishi's Vedic Science. Back
- This is an example of one of the many ways that
the defence industry could be turned to the benefit of all mankind. One
could think of many others in the fields of say agriculture, travel,
energy production and distribution, space travel... Back
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