TM-EX NEWSLETTER TRANSCENDENTAL MEDITATION EX-MEMBERS SUPPORT GROUP Volume IV, No. 5, Fall 1992 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- U.K. Physicist running for president is accused of distorting science to fit guru's ideas To those who want science to play a larger role in politics, John Hagelin is a reminder that such a development may be a mixed blessing. Hagelin, a quantum physicist trained at Harvard University, is running for U.S. president as the candidate of the Natural Law Party, whose motto is ``bringing the light of science into politics.'' He and a supporting cast of local candidates will appear on the ballot in at least 35 states. (More than 300 people ran unsuccessfully under the party's banner in the British parliamentary election in June.) He is by all accounts a gifted scientist, well-known and respected by his colleagues. He is a co-developer of one of the better-accepted unified field theories, known as the flipped SU(5) model. In May, he received an award for young innovators named after Jack Kilby, inventor of the integrated circuit. And his political platform is eminently sensible: practise only those social and economic policies that are supported by scientific data. However, there is another side of Hagelin that disturbs many researchers. Hagelin is a follower of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, best known as the guru who taught the Beatles about transcendental meditation (TM), and is on sabbatical from Maharishi International University in Fairfield, Iowa, where students practise mass meditation as a way to ease many of the world's ills, from crime to stress. The home of the Natural Law Party is near the university and most of its members embrace the Maharishi's teachings. Hagelin has been investigating a scientific mechanism to explain how TM can influence world events. The answer, he believes, lies in extending the grand unified theories of physics to human consciousness. In the past several years, Hagelin has worked on integrating the SU(5) model, which does not include gravity, into the four-dimensional heterotic superstring model, which is currently considered one of the better prospects for a grand unified `theory of everything.' Everything, in this case, may even include human consciousness. Two-page advertisements, with row after row of partial differential equations, appear regularly in U.S. newspapers describing how the theoretical physics work of Hagelin and others explains the impact of TM on distant events. Hagelin often lectures on SU(5) and other unified field theories to both scientific and nonscientific audiences, mixed in with a lengthy discussion of TM. Not surprisingly, the linkage of SU(5) with TM infuriates his former collaborators. It is hard enough, they complain, to win scientific support for any type of unified theory. ``A lot of people [Hagelin] has collaborated with in the past are very upset about this, '' says Jorge Lopez, a Texas A&M University physicist. ``It's absolutely ludicrous to say that TM has anything to do with flipped SU(5).'' John Ellis, director of CERN's theoretical physics dept., has asked Hagelin to stop mixing TM and SU(5). ``I was worried about guilt by association,'' Ellis explains. ``I was afraid that people might regard [Hagelin's assertions] as rather flaky, and that might rub off on the theory or on us.'' Physicists are not the only scientists to take issue with Hagelin's mix of science and politics. One plank of his party platform calls on presidential candidates to undergo an electroencephalogram (EEG) brain scan that would purport to reveal their neurophysiological qualifications to hold office. EEG scans, in use since the 1930's, ``show the orderliness of the brain,'' he explains. ``Science correlates that to intelligence, creativity, moral stability and broad comprehension.'' He says that he has had his own brain scanned (he claims an exceedingly orderly brain, in the top 1 per cent of those tested) and will release the results when his competitors do. EEGs, he says, ``give us a look under a candidate's hood.'' Jonathan Pincus, chairman of the neurology dept. at Georgetown University, says that researchers once hoped the results of EEG tests might somehow correlate to intellectual qualities. Although EEGs have remained an important tool for spotting neurological disorder, he says, ``they have nothing whatsoever to say about a person's moral fibre.'' Hagelin himself cites work by E. Roy John, director of the Brain Research Lab at the NYU Medical Center, to back his claims. But John says that Hagelin is ``overselling'' the technique. EEG brain scans have been shown to correlate to ``a large number of subtle malfunctions,'' from senility to substance abuse, he says, ``but qualities like moral stability and intelligence are simply not measured.'' Even the Kilby award is a bit of a mystery. Few have heard of it, perhaps because it was created 3 years ago by the N. Dallas Chamber of Commerce to draw attention to the area. Truman Cook, a chemical engineer who is a member of the selection committee, says that a member of the selection committee who practises TM proposed Hagelin for the award. Nature, Vol. 359, Christopher Anderson, Sept. 10, 1992~ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- NEW ENGLAND NEW ENGLAND JOURNAL OF MEDICINE Book Review AMERICAN HEALTH QUACKERY, by James Harvey Young, Princeton University Press, 1992. GUIDE TO THE AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION HISTORICAL HEALTH FRAUD AND ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE COLLECTION, edited by Arthur W. Hafner, with James G. Carson and John F. Zwicky, American Medical Association, 1992. James Harvey Young, the author of American Health Quackery and emeritus professor of history at Emory University, is a living legend for his graceful and lucid chronicling of health quackery. His continuing effort to educate government regulators and the public about how con artists deceive include two superb books, The Toadstool Millionaires (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1961) and The Medical Messiahs (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1967). This new book is a worthy addition to that work. From his prologue listing ``Quotations on Quackery'' through 14 chapters--including ``Folk into Fake,'' ``The Regulation of Health Quackery,'' ``The Marketing of Patent Medicine in Lincoln's Springfield,'' ``Laetrile in Historical Perspective,'' and ``AIDS and Deceptive Therapies''--he links earlier scams with the most recent ``alternative therapies'' (for which read ``alternatives to responsible to therapy''). One can only hope that members of Congress and those who vote them into office will read this book. If they had done so early in 1992, we might not have seen a deceived Congress, at the urging of a misguided former congressman who had been ``treated'' by an ``alternative practitioner, requiring the National Institutes of Health to waste $2 million in 1992 and 1993 to attempt to validate ``alternative therapies'' and requiring it to include on its committee not only the former congressman but also a number of persons who make their living promoting health cons, including one from the former congressman's home state. Among Young's ``Quotations on Quackery'' I found particularly apt his quotation from Arthur William Meyer (``The Vogue of Quackery.'' Medical Journal and Record 1927;125:736): ``Bravado, selflaudation, a ready wit and a double tongue, shrewdness, a knowledge of the foibles of men, a blunted conscience and an ignorance of the very things in which they claimed competence always have characterized the quack.'' The Guide to the American Medical Association Historical Health Fraud and Alternative Medicine Collection is exactly what its title says it is. As such, it is a useful resource to have available in your institution's library, but not in your own, unless you freqently write on the subject of health fraud. Unfortunately, the book does not inform readers about the existence of other (and more up to date) primary source materials on health fraud, quackery, and ``alternative medicine,'' such as the Available Resource Materials, Sixth Edition (available from the National Council Against Health Fraud Resource Center, 3521 Broadway, Kansas City, MO 64111) or the extensive archives of the Food and Drug Administration. Its ``Selected Books for Further Reading'' ends in 1987 and thus does not mention three excellent recent books: Health Schemes, Scams, and Frauds by Stephen Barrett and the editors of Consumer Reports (Mount Vernon, N.Y.: Consumers Union, 1990), The Hidden Agenda: A Critical View of Alternative Medical Therapies by David and Sharon Sneed (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1991), and the superb Consumer's Guide to ``Alternative Medicine'': A Close Look at Homeopathy, Acupuncture, Faith-Healing, and Other Unconventional Treatments by Kurt Butler (Buffalo, N.Y.: Prometheus Books, 1992). Moreover, it does not even list the excellent six-page expose by Andrew Skolnick of ayurvedic medicine, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (``Maharishi Ayur-Veda: Guru's Marketing Scheme Promises the World Eternal `Perfect Health'.'' 1991;266;1741-50), or Skolnick's ScienceWriters article ``The Maharishi Caper: JAMA Hoodwinked (But Just for a While),'' published in the fall of 1991 (39:5-7) and republished in the spring 1992 Skeptical Inquirer (16:254-9). The Skolnick articles lay out a beautiful example of Young's (and Abraham Lincoln's) thesis that ``you may fool all of the people some of the time; you can even fool some of the people all of the time; but you can't fool all of the people all of the time.'' Victor Herbert, M.D., J.D., Mount Sinai School of Medicine, NY. New England Journal of Medicine, Dec. 17, 1992, Vol. 327, No. 25, pp. 1820-1821. ~ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- MASSACHUSETTS TM variety of twaddle on ballot The Natural Law Party is the latest piece of transcendental twaddle to come down the pike from the followers of the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. The Natural Law Party comes from the same people who brought us the following delights: * Transcendental Meditation. TM is the practice of silently saying a secret word over and over to yourself, an unbelievable exercise in self-induced boredom. It costs about $400 to get your secret word. * Yogic flying. TM-ers sit cross-legged while repeating the mantra ``Relationship of body and akasha lightness of cotton fiber,'' and hop about on the floor. They are convinced this is levitation. The course costs $3,000. * Ayur-vedic medicine. The heart of Maharishi Ayur-vedic medicine is the Maharishi's line of herbal products, including herbs, teas, oils, food supplements and devices. One commentator has wryly described the TM movement as having become a sort of ``New Age Amway,'' but there is a darker side to things--in England last year two doctors were barred from practicing medicine after prescribing Ayur-vedic products to AIDS patients. Samples were reported to contain feces, which the TM movement has denied. U.S. Food and Drug Administration spokesman Mike Shaffer says his agency is looking into the products. Now we have the Natural Law Party, which is fielding political candidates all over the place for everything from president to dog catcher. The presidential candidate, John Hagelin, has already been qualified to receive $100,000 in matching funds from the Federal Election Commission. The party's political platform is long on promises and short on details. It says that by lowering taxes the party will save the nation ``hundreds of billions of dollars'' and ``eliminate the budget deficit and retire the national debt.'' A ``disease-free society'' will be created by education and (naturally) Maharishi Ayur-vedic medicine. Its crime prevention program will save the nation ``billions of dollars.'' As for gun control, well, it won't be necessary, because if the Natural Law Party gets in, the use of weapons will automatically decrease. The platform talks a great deal about a mysterious ``scientifically proven technology'' that will do all this and bring about world peace, too. This ``scientifically proven technology'' is, of course, our old friend Transcendental Meditation. Why are the maharishi's people doing this? No doubt TM-ers have discovered what the more savvy businessmen have known for years, namely there's no better way of improving the health of your business than getting into politics. Politics means power, prestige and publicity--lots and lots of publicity, and that's something the maharishi and his people have always loved. ADVERSE HEALTH EFFECTS TM and the maharishi have enjoyed largely positive publicity since the sixties, when pop singers and sybarites flocked to be photographed sitting at the feet of the ``giggling guru.'' But things have been changing. Evidence has come out that Transcendental Meditation is not better than other forms of meditation, and even that practicing TM at more intense levels can have adverse effects. A West German government study of former TM-ers found more than 70 percent cited problems including back and stomach pain, depression, hypersensitivity, hallucinations and instability. Another study found that 40 percent of people who meditated 18 months or longer became chronically anxious, confused, frustrated and depressed. Disaffected former members call TM a cult, and some have successfully sued the movement. The maharishi's brand of medicine has also taken its share of hits. As well as the British AIDS scandal mentioned above, Ayur-veda was in the news last year after a letter praising it was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The authors of the letter had failed to disclose, as JAMA authors are routinely required to do, that they could benefit from such positive publicity. JAMA, after a barrage of criticism from the medical establishment, followed up with a long expose of the methods of the Ayur-vedic promoters and concluded that they followed a pattern of distortion, deception and exaggeration. As for the ``levitation'' achieved by yogic flying--this is pure, unadulterated, no-filler-added, grade-A bunkum. The maharishi has long claimed that his aim has always been to create ``Heaven on Earth.'' With his fortune hovering at an estimated $2 billion, he indeed has succeeded in doing this for at least one person. James Dempsey, Worcester (MA) Telegram & Gazette, October 21, 1992~ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- EUROPE NATURAL LAW PARTY SAYS EUROPEANS MUST LOVE ONE ANOTHER Forget subsidiarity, the Maastrichty treaty and transparency, the way to European harmony is to follow the ``universal intelligence.'' The Natural Law Party launch[ed] a new Maharishi European Council of Natural Law Parties, a supranational body of 16 Natural Law Parties which will try to promote the use of the precepts of their leader, the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, in European politics. The Natural Law Party, the first of which was founded in Britain in March ahead of a general election, says one of its key policy elements is the use of transcendental meditation by a small number of people to calm trouble spots in the world. It says people only use two to three per cent of their potential but that Natural Law philosophy gives access to a ``universal intelligence.'' ``Through Maharishi's Vedic technology, the European Community can rise above problems and provide a sure foundation for peace and co-operation throughout Europe and the world,'' a Natural Law leaflet said. Reuters, Brussels, Belgium, November 6, 1992~ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Philadelphia Meditation is his campaign mantra: Going with natural flow, he challenges Curt Weldon William Alan Hickman, the meditating candidate for Congress, is coming a long way to see his intended constituents in Philadelphia's western suburbs. He lives in Fairfield, Iowa. Tomorrow, the 45-year-old man with a mantra is due in the Seventh Congressional District, where he will take up temporary residence and begin a doomed campaign against incumbent U.S. Rep. Curt Weldon, a Republican, and Democrat Frank Daly. Hickman is from the new Natural Law Party, organized by adherents of Transcendental Meditation. Hickman's own mother gives him no chance. And there is one vote he cannot possibly get. It's his own. Hickman found out Thursday that he'd blown Pennsylvania's voter registration deadline. The deadline, he said, was ``one of the rules that's got to change. I certainly would like to vote for myself.'' Hickman, a regional manager for a bookselling company, said he had been an entrepreneur in California and an oil broker in Houston. He graduated from Pennsylvania State University in 1971 with a degree in landscape architecture. He got married seven weeks ago. He has practiced Transcendental Meditation for 20 years. Hickman's first scheduled debate will be tomorrow night. [His opponent's] spokeswoman read this statement: ``This year above all, the voters are looking for serious candidates who will have the ability to make an impact on Congress, and the transcendental meditation candidate will not do that. He is a frivolous candidate at best.'' Reid Kanaley, Philadelphia Inquirer, October 18, 1992~ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- WASHINGTON D.C. A Do-It-Yourself Motorcade Caper: Natural Law Party's October Surprise What a fool I've been all these years. Inching along in downtown Washington traffic, stuck at the same red light while it changes two or three times, merging into one lane to avoid the double-parked cars. Trying to obey the law. Why, all we have to do to avoid those nasty delays at red lights, as we shall see, is to form a motorcade and rent a motorcycle escort service to whisk us through the lights. That is what occurred when a political group called the Natural Law Party threw itself a 40-vehicle sightseeing motorcade through downtown Washington on Oct. 5. This isn't a large scandal; its' just another little traffic tale in our city, one that may break new ground in how to get around on the clogged streets. Here is what happened: The Natural Law Party, which says it had a presidential candidate on the ballot in 30 states this week, formed a motorcade to carry its leading members from the Washington Hilton on Connecticut Avenue to the Grand Hyatt, near the Convention Center. They had six super-stretch limos, six convertibles, two buses and assorted sedans, and they very much wanted to keep their procession together. The group's Washington campaign coordinator, Dean Snyder, asked the police department for a motorcade escort. The department said no. The police will provide escorts to visiting heads of state, the president, vice president and celebrities such as Michael Jackson on orders from the mayor, but not for the Natural Law Party or most of the rest of us. The department said the Natural Law Party motorcade would have to obey all traffic regulations. Snyder then hired Mills Escort Co. and Metro Motorcycle Escort Services. Those firms usually escort funeral processions. The motorcade left at 10:25 a.m. from the Washington Hilton and headed south on 17th Street, then east on Pennsylvania Avenue for some sightseeing, past the White House and Washington Monument on to the Capitol, the Supreme Court and the Library of Congress before arriving at the Grand Hyatt at 10:55 a.m. for the party's convention. ``There were a lot of politicians in open-air cars waving at people,'' said The Washington Post's Real Estate editor. ``They had placards on their cars and looked like local pols and town football heroes. People watching this on the sidewalk seemed puzzled. The motorcycle escorts blocked us off.'' The lead motorcycle rider that day, Thomas Mills, owner of Mills Escort Co., says he is able to block off intersections because he looks like a D.C. police officer. He wears a dark blue uniform with light blue shirt, a badge shaped like the D.C. police badge and a white motorcycle helmet, and he rides a Harley-Davidson motorcycle that ``doesn't just look like a police motorcycle, it is a police motorcycle.'' Same colors, same vehicle, he says. The difference is that he has yellow lights, instead of red ones, and no siren. Mills said he blocked traffic by scooting ahead of the motorcade to the next light, always hitting it on green and then stationing himself there until the first few cars came through before he turned the intersection over to the three trailing motorcyclists from the two escort services. Walter Tucker, who owns the Hyattsville service, said he and the others blew whistles to help let motorists know that something special was coming. To look official, Tucker and an assistant wore black uniforms with gold stripes and black and gold helmets. Mills estimated the motorcade ran 50 red lights and held other motorists in place for two or three light changes at each one. Tucker said he thought the motorcade ran ``10 or 15'' red lights. Steve Langford, an officer in the police department's special events unit, which handles motorcades, seemed stunned: ``They were not authorized to do what they did; it was not approved by the Metropolitan Police Department, and it was not safe. It was risky; they didn't have sirens or red lights. It borders on reckless driving.'' Snyder, informed that the party's motorcade had illegally run red lights, said, ``When I contracted these guys, I felt sure they had a permit to go through these lights. When you hire a chauffeur, you don't look at his driver's license.'' Mills said, ``They wanted to know how to get through red lights. I told them I will break the lights, but once you get into that intersection, I'm not responsible.'' Snyder, who, like his party, is based in Iowa, said the Washington motorcade ``was twice as successful as we could have imagined.'' Asked about running red lights, he offered no apologies: ``We didn't cause any problems whatsoever. It was a good event. To me, it was all good. It was a matter of wasting one or two minutes [of motorists' time]. People should have really enjoyed this thing. People got a kick out of it. For some [motorists] this was the neatest thing of the day for them. This is not a negative thing. It's a positive thing.'' Well, Dean, you're getting the Washington spin down. Pardon me, but [I am] a tad grouchy about people who, without authorization, take over public streets for their own use. Where else can a political group ask for a police escort, be denied one, hire private escorts and run a 40-vehicle motorcade through red lights without police intervention? But if the rest of us linger minutes at an expired parking meter, it's a $50 ticket. Ron Shaffer [Dr. Gridlock], The Washington Post, November 5, 1992~ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- U.S.A. OTHER U.S. ELECTION RESULTS 43,860,888 Bill Clinton 38,220,427 George Bush 19,266,862 Ross Perot 283,790 Andre Marrou (Libertarian Party) 97,754 Bo Gritz 70,595 Lenora Fulani (New Alliance Party) 42,547 John Hagelin (Natural Law Party) 25,960 Lyndon LaRouche ----------------------------------------------------------------------- INDIA A Visit to the Shankaracharya, Part IV [Editor's Note: The following transcript is taken directly from the taped conversations between Robert Kropinski, a former TM teacher and follower of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, and Shree Shankaracharya Swaroopanand Saraswati, a pre-eminent disciple of Swami Brahmananda Saraswati (Guru Dev), who is considered Mahesh Yogi's Spiritual Master.] Q: My Lord, it is reported by some that with this type of meditation many people have harmed themselves physically and mentally. I think people give huge amounts of money to buy some sickness for themselves? Shankaracharya: For correct meditation it is necessary to control the emotions of the mind (Chitta). Mind should be free from `raga' and `dweshara' or attachment, likes and aversion, dislikes. So long as mind is not indifferent to outside objects, is not rid of its impurities, free from desires, material objects, etc., wavering mind continues to exist and mind does not stop thinking about them. This process that Mahesh Yogi teaches, there is not place for such a spiritual pursuit. Anyone who comes to him, whether he is a meat-eater, or an alcoholic, he is initiated into dhyaan [TM]. In minds, where attachment and aversion continue to be present, they try to concentrate on outside objects. Because, the process of his yoga is that you sit quietly, let the mind wander wherever it goes, you just repeat the mantra I gave you. For example, when mother-in-law and daughter-in-law quarrel with each other and after that sit for transcendental meditation (Vabatita) in transcendental meditation center, what will they meditate on? Mother-in-law will meditate on daughter-in-law and vice versa. The reason is simple, both of them are still full of hatred for each other. Without accomplishing the kind of ability needed for meditation, if one meditates, it can be fatal. This is true, however, making the people who are physically very tired, sit peacefully and make them do some yoga posture like shavvasan, etc. can provide temporary peace. But, such a process is not at all helpful in destroying our sins. This (TM) is a worldly Yoga. For people who are distressed by worldly objects, or by worldly problems, they can temporarily forget the world. However, even this much is not achieved if they sit without control over their minds. One should be qualified for meditation or in other words show them the necessary prerequisites to do meditation. Who comes to practice this so-called `yoga' (TM), and comes with all anxieties, worries and filled with all worldly thoughts. Q: [The following paragraph was then read to Shankaracharya from a TM brochure]: Furthermore, there is a specific set of mantras handed down for centuries in the Shankaracharya tradition that seems to have a special property of becoming increasingly pleasing as they are perceived a finer stages. These particular sounds are mantras in Sanskrit. The Shankaracharya tradition has preserved not only these sounds but also a system of rules or formulas by which they are to be assigned to individuals. And this is what he (Mahesh) is saying in print. These are the mantras he gives to people. Shankaracharya: He (Mahesh) made them up. These are not given by Guruji (Guru Dev). He (Mahesh) was an ordinary clerk. People here in India are concerned. He (Mahesh) cheated millions of rupees from people like him (Kropinski). Because of his cheating practices, people might lose faith on Indian Spirituality. Swami Vivekanand and Swami RamTirth left a good impression in America. We wanted that impression to continue. It makes me sad that some people from here like Rajneesh and Mahesh went there (to America) and they destroyed those good feelings. Mahesh has caused a severe blow to Indian culture. Q: [The following statement was then read to Shankaracharya from a TM brochure. It was explained that this brochure was allegedly spoken by Shankaracharya about Mahesh. Later, Bevan Morris, the President of MIU, read the statement to TM participants by when attempting to raise money from donations.] He (Mahesh Yogi) comes from the tradition of Shree Shankaracharya. He (Mahesh) is a disciple just like the Master (Guru Dev). He is the bestower of light and is the incarnation of Shankaracharya, the (Mahesh) is the Rishi of the Rishis (Divine Seers), greatest of the great, greater than greatness, he is the reason of the welfare of the tradition of Shankaracharya... Shankaracharya: Only he can dispel darkness who does not want anything. Only such a person can drive people out of darkness to light. But he himself (Mahesh) is in darkness. We want that people like you should tell others that he does not know anything about yoga. Neither he is serving American people nor Indian people.~ --TO BE CONTINUED-- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- FROM ZAMBIA TO KENYA? An African correspondent writes us that after leaving Zambia, Maharishi's ``men'' have moved to Kenya. They are running 30-minute ads promising the following changes if the country supports the TM movement: * All roads will run at right angles, and be paved; * Cars will be powered by electricity and solar power; and * Kenya will rule Africa. Keep us informed! Write or FAX us with any news from your part of the world.~ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- IOWA Council members should work for entire city: A Letter to The Fairfield [Iowa] Ledger To the editor: Having read articles on the proposed [highway] bypass project in The Fairfield Ledger in the last couple weeks, it seems clear that something is surfacing and appears to be coming to a head. I am speaking specifically of the bypass route and which direction it should go, either north or south. To an outsider, it would appear that only Maharishi International University is to be affected by a northern route. So far as I have read, the MIU community is the only group leading any opposition to the northern route. That in and of itself is not bad. I'm sure they have their reasons as they have pointed out, but what really annoys me is the attitude of the city council, I speak specifically of the three council members who are in favor of the south route because it will benefit MIU. What I'd like to know is just who are these three council members representing? I thought the members of the city council were to represent the CITY OF FAIRFIELD, and what is best for the CITY OF FAIRFIELD. Instead I see these council members arguing what is best for MIU and NOT what is best for the whole city. This seems like a line I've heard from too many politicians already. If elected I will represent everyone but when it comes down to crunch time, we see who is really representing who. If this is the way our council members are going to treat the people of Fairfield, I believe they should reassess why they ran for the council. I also strongly disagree with council member Ed Malloy and his statement that the future of Fairfield's economy depends upon whether MIU is able to expand. No doubt MIU has had an economic impact on the community; and this letter is not about MIU bashing. But Fairfield was here long before MIU showed up and I dare say would be able to survive quite nicely should something dreadful happen to MIU. I believe those people who are in a position to help the city of Fairfield act responsibly and work for ALL the people. This bypass is supposed to benefit Fairfield by taking much of the traffic away from the inner city. If the route benefits Fairfield most by going north, so be it. I think it's time some of the tails quit wagging the dogs. David R. Pacha, The Fairfield Ledger, March 19, 1992~ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- The following is an ex-member's perspective on involvement with Eastern groups. The Guru: Requires an escalating commitment; creates dependency; replaces father-mother and attempts to become the ``perfect parent.'' Feeding: A fundamental role of parenting is to feed. The guru often assumes this role, by controlling diet and feeding the disciples ``purified'' leftovers (prashad). Dominance: The guru requires surrender. His/her authority must be maintained and obedience to his/her commands assured. Individual thoughts must be viewed as `` a gift of the guru.'' Phobia: Fear is created of outside relationships, independent ideas, negative thoughts and forces. Idealism: The leader abuses the idealism of the disciple. Social Relationships: Unapproved relationships are an indication of divided loyalty. Compliance: Methods used to gain compliance include: flattery, threats, suppression of criticism (negativity), guilt, and the tenuous spiritual/social standing in group hierarchy. Autonomy: Is threatening to leadership. If you exercise independence, the results of your actions are often criticized. Yet the good devotee is expected to anticipate the desires of the guru. Cognitive dissonance: Unpleasant or discordant facts of the guru's behavior often creates cognitive dissonance. The good devotee must believe and accept the doctrinal view of the teacher's actions. Uncertainty: The group promises to fill the feeling of powerlessness of life in an unpredictable world. The totalist leader gives a sense of certainty to life's complexity. This sense of certainty is based upon compliance to the group's teachings. Authority: The guru lacks peer review. His word is the ultimate authority (scripture). No outside appeal to his authority exists. Eastern Groups and some their techniques of mind control: Sai Baba - Magician, chanting, guided imagery. Rajneesh - Chaotic meditation, breathing, guided imagery, sexual. Muktananda - Shaktipat, chanting, meditation, physical humiliation of disciples. Hare Krishna - Constant chanting. Transcendental Meditation - 4 to 6 hours of trance-inducing techniques a day. ISDL (Swamiji) - Chanting, guided imagery, guilt manipulations. Long hours in often monotonous tasks can result in the impairment of critical thinking. Extended periods of chanting, singing and meditating contribute to the slackening of intellectual capacity. Gurus often proclaim that the ``mind is the enemy.''~ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Dear Sir:I have been meditating for two years, learned the Sidhis this past summer, and am contemplating going to MIU for graduate school. I read an excerpt from ``Combatting Cult Mind Control,'' by Steve Hassan about your involvement with the TM movement. This was not the first time that I had read something negative about the TM movement, but it was the first time I had read something negative from someone who had been so involved. Since I am considering going there to school I am naturally very concerned about having a non-brainwashed matriculation. I too have grown to dislike some of the things the movement does. Most of my problems with the movement are religious in nature like referring to Maharishi as ``His Holiness.'' I would appreciate any literature or information that you could provide on the TM Movement. Thank you for your time and effort. Sincerely, VA ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Dear TM-EX: I just want to thank you for taking the time to speak with my father-in-law about TM. Having heard the complete story now, he has decided to have nothing to do with TM or its affiliates. I know that you have saved him some time and aggravation. Possibly a lot of both! Sincerely, MA ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Dear TM-EX: Enclosed please find a contribution to TM-EX, which I know you will put to good use. Your recent newsletter just arrived and was a great one. I suppose you have heard by this time that the Natural Law Party lost, and I know that comes as a surprise. A Parent, USA ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Dear TM-EX: Thanks for the Summer 1992 issue. Please note my new address above. I left Iowa in August. Keep up the good work. I loved the letter from the new president of Zambia. Yours, LB, Oregon ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Dear TM-EX: I would like information on TM-EX and its newsletter. I have gone through TM's sidhi program within the first three years it was offered and have wondered about its effects. DD, MI~ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Swami's planned Hindu temple is center of speculation A Hindu-based religious group has broken ground and is trying to raise money for a huge $2.5 million temple in the rolling hills southwest of Austin. The 30,000-square-foot white concrete structure would become the world headquarters for the International Society of Divine Love, a group led by a swami from India, H.D. Prakashanand Saraswati. Society members have been living at the 200-acre ashram--or spiritual retreat center--[Barsand Dham] since 1990, practicing Saraswati's philosophy of ``divine love consciousness'' based on ancient texts common to Hinduism. ``The temple is to benefit the community and have a place people can come to learn to grow together spiritually,'' said Meera Devi, one of five saffron-robed preachers who travel the world spreading the group's philosophy. Not everyone is convinced of the group's benevolence. Two former members of the International Society of Divine Love accuse the society and Saraswati, whom followers call ``Swamiji,'' of manipulation and greed. ``You're encouraged to give as much money as you can. I know people who have given him literally everything, all their real estate, all their investments,'' said Diane Hendel, who lives in Washington, D.C., after quitting the group in 1987. Joe Kelly left the society in 1988 after five years as a devotee in Philadelphia. He said he grew wary of the way Saraswati inserted his will in the lives of his followers. ``I was frightened by what I saw around me, which was people giving up their total will to the system,'' he said. ``I consider it very much a cultic group.'' Saraswati spends most of his time at the Austin ashram. He moved his U.S. base from Philadelphia to Austin about 2 1/2 years ago. Why did he choose Austin? ``Austin chose us,'' Saraswati said, smiling. Such mystical answers may be vague, but one thing is clear--the International Society of Divine Love has money. The Philadelphia ashram consists of an 11-room, three-story dwelling with a large swimming pool and an acre of well-tended grounds, Kelly said. ``It's a mansion,'' he said. An $800,000 mortgage on Barsand Dham [the Austin ashram] is about 75 percent paid off, Devi said. Devi said money to buy, renovate and build the ashram is raised through donations from followers and from supporters who attend society programs. Meetings and classes in meditation are free, she said, but the group receives membership payments that are not at a set price. Hendel said her membership cost $1,000. Devi would not disclose how much money the society receives. ``That's our own private, internal business,'' she said. ``We have a lot of well-wishers.'' But, Hendel, 35, attributes the group's financial success to another source. ``He (Saraswati) curries favor from people who have money,'' she said. Kelly, 36, estimates he gave the International Society of Divine Love $20,000 to $30,000 in ashram rent, donations, insurance, car payments and other purchases. A turning point, Kelly said, came when he sought Saraswati's advice as his business was about to fail. ``He turned to me and said, `I need $2,000.''' said Kelly. `Here was an individual I put all my faith in, but what did I get but another demand for money?'' ``There was always a constant pressure to give. Always,'' said Kelly who lost his company and now makes his living as a consultant to people trying to leave cults. He said his business has not included former society members. Likening her [months] with the society to ``spiritual rape,'' Hendel said pressure from Saraswati went beyond the financial to odd extremes. ``He told me if I ever left him, I would spend the next 500 lifetimes as an insect,'' she said. ``It's funny now, but it wasn't then. I actually had nightmares about that for a while. He had a hold on me.'' During an interview, Saraswati replied with a laugh: ``Ridiculous. All ridiculous statements.'' Later he said the two detractors ``are very prejudiced people.'' A July 6, 1989 Miami Herald article details Cassandra De Troyban's two-year experience with the International Society of Divine Love, which she accused of mind control and almost ruining her marriage to a nonmember. Society officials denied the allegations, and one questioned De Troyban's mental state. ``My involvement, in some ways, was one of the most devastating experience of my life, Kelly said. ``I'm very suspicious of this organization as a benign religious group.'' Within a mile of Barsana Dham's main gate is the entrance to Radiance, a Transcendental Meditation community founded in 1982. Chuck Lindell, Austin American-Statesman, September 27, 1992 [Editor's Note: Membership in the International Society of Divine Love is largely composed of former TM'ers. In past years, recruitment has been primarily from the TM community.]~ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Waiting for the Apocalypse in Crown Heights A rainy Wednesday in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn, and the streets had been quiet for hours. Then, suddenly in the early afternoon, hundreds of Lubavitcher Hasidim came running down the sidewalk, their black coats billowing. The Lubavitchers all hoped that they had not missed the chance to see Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the ninety-year-old man they are confident is the Moshiasch--the Messiah of this fallen world. Since suffering a stroke last March, Schneerson, the Lubavitcher Rebbe, has been able to communicate with his people through only the slightest of gestures--a wave, a weary tilt of his head, an arched brow. The Rebbe's aides, a small group of rabbinic elders, are charged with interpreting his gnomic signals, including one that says he is feeling well enough to appear in public. Once this decision has been made, word spreads almost immediately through the fifty-square-block area in Crown Heights that has been since 1940 the seat of the Lubavitcher sect of Hasidic Judaism. The followers' urge to see the Rebbe is nearly impossible to exaggerate. Many of the Lubavitcher men wear beepers, and the instant they hear the tone, or feel the slight vibration, they are off. They put down their work, relay the signal to a few friends, and come running to the Lubavitcher headquarters. Before the stroke that made Schneerson mute, he told his people that the signs of redemption were everywhere: the defeat of Iraq and the safety of Israel throughout the Gulf War; the fall of Communism; the ``ingathering'' of Jews from Russia, Ukraine, and Ethiopia to Israel. Even the violence and racial tension in Crown Heights is now said to be, somehow, a harbinger of the Messiah. ``Somewhere, deep down, one hundred per cent of this community feels that the Rebbe is the Moshiach [Messiah]. They might not admit it to you, an outsider, and not everyone will say it, because of a fear that saying it will drive people away. But we are all convinced of it.'' I asked [her] if she could ever conceive of a situation in which the Rebbe died and the Moshiach still had not come. ``No,'' she said. ``That just cannot happen. It's impossible. I don't even think I could answer that question. You see, we all think there is a message in the fact that the Rebbe never had any children--a message that everything is going to be all right. God always provides a solution to a problem even before He creates the problem itself.'' With the Rebbe ailing, I could not help asking myself what trauma lay ahead. Before I left Crown Heights, I met with a rabbi named Sheah Hect, and I tried to raise the question. The rabbi cut me off. ``Think what you want,'' he said. ``But what if it turns out that we're the ones who are right? We are ready for the Messiah. We are ready now.'' David Remnick, The New Yorker, December 21, 1992 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Erroneous eros: Author knows subject firsthand Maybe it was when she was being sawed in half for the umpteenth time by her then-husband, magician Doug Henning, that Barbara De Angeleis asked herself: Is this all there is to love? Or perhaps that empty feeling crept into her soul after she exhanged vows, and ohms, with a follower of Transcendental Meditation. Her personal quest to unravel the mysteries of love led her to a doctorate in psychology and a high-profile career as a love therapist on radio and television. Her radio call-in show on KFI-FM in Los Angeles and her daytime television show on CBS are no more. But she continues to teach a popular seminar on ``Making Love Work'' at the Los Angeles Personal Growth Center, which she founded 10 years ago. Now hundreds of people spend the weekend at her center as she guides them along the slippery road to romantic bliss. [Married four times], Ms. De Angelis finally may have made the right choice herself--the fifth time around. She's been romantically involved with chiropractor Jeffrey James for the past six years. Saul Rubin, The Washington Times, November 16, 1992~ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Suggested Readings Exit Counseling: A Family Intervention How To Respond to Cult-Affected Loved Ones, by Carol Giambalvo. Published by the American Family Foundation, the leading professional organization devoted to cultic studies, this important new book, with an introduction by Dr. Michael Langone, provides practical information for families concerned about a cult-involved relative. It describes the process of exit counseling, a voluntary approach to helping cultists makes informed decisions about their group affiliation. Exit counseling is the most effective alternative to the controversial process of deprogramming, which involves coercion. Combatting Cult Mind Control, by Steven Hassan. MUST reading for anyone who has been touched by cult phenomena. A former Moonie tells his story. TM and Cult Mania, by M.A. Persinger, Ph.D. An in-depth investigation into the claims of TM, hypnosis and research. [Available from TM-EX] Trauma and Recovery, by Judith Lewis Herman, M.D. An in-depth exploration into the commonalities of traumatic experience and the process of healing. [See review, Summer 92] Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism, by R.J. Lifton, M.D. A classic textbook and case study on victims of thought reform and the elements of thought reform programs. [See excerpt, Winter 92] Heaven on Earth: Dispatches From America's Spiritual Frontier, by Michael D'Antonio. A Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter visits America's spiritual communities including MIU, Fairfield, Iowa. [See review, Spring 92] Cultic Studies Journal: Psychological Manipulation and Society. A refereed semi-annual journal published by the American Family Foundation (AFF), P.O. Box 2265, Bonita Springs, FL 33959. The CSJ seeks to advance the understanding of cultic practices and their relation to society, including broad social and cultural implications as well as effects on individuals and families. [See ``The Use of TM to Promote Social Progress in Israel, Vol. 3, No. 1, 1986] Cult Awareness Network (CAN) News, 2421 West Pratt Blvd., Suite 1173, Chicago, IL 60645, (312) 267-7777. Founded to educate the public about the harmful effects of mind control as used by destructive cults. CAN confines its concerns to unethical or illegal practices, and passes no judgment on doctrine or beliefs. How We Know What Isn't So: The Fallibility of Human Reason in Everyday Life, by Thomas Gilovich. An investigation of how even highly educated people become convinced of the validity of questionable or demonstrably false beliefs about the world, and the unfortunate impact of these beliefs. Skeptical Inquirer, Box 229, Buffalo, NY 14215. Journal of the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal, which attempts to encourage the critical investigation of paranormal and fringe-science claims from a responsible, scientific point of view. [See Winter 1983-84, ``An investigation of the effects of TM on the Weather.''] NCAHF Newsletter (National Council Against Health Fraud), P.O. Box 1276, Loma Linda, CA 92354. To aid in activism against health fraud, misinformation and quackery. Influence: The New Psychology of Modern Persuasion, by Robert B. Cialdini, Ph.D. A landmark publication in furthering our understanding of the persuasion process. Now Available From TM-EX Reprints--including early TM studies, journal research and news articles. Investigative reports from BBC, CBC and other news media available on audiotape. Write for a complete list.~