Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!portal!cup.portal.com!doug-merritt
From: doug-merritt@cup.portal.com
Newsgroups: sci.misc
Subject: Re: Transedental Meditation....
Message-ID: <4860@cup.portal.com>
Date: 27 Apr 88 20:23:23 GMT
References: <1126@maccs.UUCP> <995@crete.cs.glasgow.ac.uk>
Organization: The Portal System (TM)
Lines: 68
XPortal-User-Id: 1.1001.4407


Jack Campin writes:

>TM is a pyramid selling racket.

Inaccurate. There is no multilevel sales; it's direct from the
organization to the customer. (Unless they've made recent changes???)
Whether it's a "racket" depends on whether they deliver what they
claim to, doesn't it? And I haven't heard *that* disputed...they *do*
teach you to meditate. Secondary points about "secret knowledge" strike
me as relatively unimportant:

>The "secret knowledge" bit is hogwash; full
>instructions on how to do it are in Lawrence LeShan's book "How To
>Meditate", for about one-twentieth of the cost of "instruction" from
>the Maharishi's organization. (I was told this by ex-TMers).

Very true. That doesn't make it a racket, though...consider painting.
There are expensive classes, and you can also learn from cheap books.
It seems clear that they put some window dressing on their course for
the sake of marketing, but hey, this is America, wake up. Companies
do the same for aspirin..."our aspirin is uniquely perfect". Wrong,
generic aspirin is just as good.

> And this is one bit even they don't have the nerve to
>claim to have tested - i.e. there has been no study comparing the effects of
>TM-like meditation with randomly chosen mantras versus the officially
>approved product.

Actually, it has been tested (not by the TM organization), and as far
as anyone knows, random mantras *do* work just as well.

Over the years I've run into a lot of people who complain about the
cost of TM (and painting classes, and other courses as well), and say
"Well, I could learn it on my own just as well. Why waste the money?"

Fine, in theory. What I observe in practice is that 99% of these people
don't follow through on it, making their observation a moot point. In
other words, there is value in taking a class in *anything*, versus
learning on one's own: you have external motivation, which makes it
*far* more likely that you'll finish.

The other obvious benefit of taking a class in *any* subject is the
opportunity for interaction and feedback with/from the instructor.
People tend to take the attitude that they can do just as well on their
own, but this is *rarely* true, again for *any* subject. But especially
so on subjective issues like whether you're performing a purely mental
activity correctly. Very easy to get it wrong in subtle ways (I speak
from experience).

>They also claim to teach advanced practitioners how to levitate. I
>have heard that these levitation sessions consist of roomfuls of people
>making squatting bunnyhops on cushions.

I must admit that, although sympathetic to meditation and the organization,
this sounds like a bunch of BS. Despite having personal experience with
the efficacy of meditation, I simply can't believe outrageous claims
like this without proof. I might be wrong, of course...

>The Maharishi's latest product line is a "Unified Field Theory". I would be
>mildly curious to know what this is but have no intention of spending time
>or money finding out.

Agree. Anyone out there know about this?


      Doug Merritt        ucbvax!sun.com!cup.portal.com!doug-merritt
                      or  ucbvax!eris!doug (doug@eris.berkeley.edu)
                      or  ucbvax!unisoft!certes!doug