The Greatest Scientific Discovery of Our Time 

By what criteria should we judge the greatness of a discovery? Can any person, idea or invention truly be called great if they do not contribute to the development of peace and harmony on our planet and bring happiness to us all? If you believe that increasing peace within yourself and within the world is a worthwhile pursuit then keep on reading. This article will introduce you to what could possibly be the greatest scientific discovery of our times.

An enormous amount of lip service is paid to the subject of “Global Peace,” yet considering the level of violence and fighting in our world, one can only ask, “is it really possible?” And if it is possible  to achieve, by what means? Is there anything that we can, as individuals who lack any real political influence, wealth, time or energy, do to bring about world peace? Can our seemingly insignificant efforts really have any affect on our increasingly violent and untenable global situation?

The Maharishi Effect

In their ground-breaking book “The Maharishi Effect,”1 authors Elaine and Arthur Aron examine the phenomenon known as the “Pure Consciousness Experience” and the powers of group meditation.

Named after the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, well-known spiritual teacher and founder of the worldwide Transcendental Meditation Movement (from here on to be referred to as TM,) the Maharishi Effect refers to the verifiable, life-enhancing impact which is created upon the external environment when a percentage of the population meditates in unison.

Simply said, wherever the Maharishi Effect is applied on the planet, the quality of life in that sector of the world increases substantially.

According to the authors, quality of life can be statistically determined by measuring the levels of twenty-one basic social characteristics including crime rate statistics, employment levels, suicide rates, marriage and divorce rates, death by unnatural causes, alcohol and cigarette sales,  weather patterns and pollution levels.

Through a series of experiments and studies which are well-documented throughout the book, researchers discovered that whenever a group of meditators moved into a new community and practiced group meditation, the following occurred: levels of crime, violent or otherwise, decreased as did the divorce rates and the levels of alcohol and tobacco consumption. An increase in individual self-esteem was directly correlated to a decrease in the level of suicides, murders, robberies and traffic fatalities. Levels of pollution in the chosen area decreased and the weather patterns changed to better suit the needs of the particular environment. For instance, if local crops needed rain, the rain increased. Otherwise the weather was stable and appropriate for the region.

The claim that meditation can substantially increase the quality of life may seem to be the stuff of fairytales or at the very least inflated and overly simplistic. How can something so effortless (and so inexpensive) as group meditation, cure the complex and seemingly insurmountable difficulties we face in our world? Before you disregard these claims with a series of “Yeah buts…” keep an open mind a while longer and read the facts below. The proof of the pudding is in the eating.

The experiments and studies pertaining to group meditation have been well-documented and duplicated over and over again since the 1970’s. Due to the importance and potential impact this discovery could have on the world, researchers went to great lengths to ensure accuracy of data analysis. The Maharishi Effect experiments have gone through stringent tests and have proven true regardless of our understanding of how it works. In order to explore this subject further, it is helpful to understand the nature and purpose of meditation for the individual.

What is Meditation?

Meditation is a process by which one can systematically turn their awareness inward and still or quiet the “thinking mind.” Many researchers today, such as Deepak Chopra, have suggested that the average individual thinks upwards of 50,000-80,000 conflicting and ineffective thoughts per day.2 These incoherent thoughts, which deal overwhelmingly with the past or the future but rarely with the Now, are considered to be the origin of stress and aging.

A main goal of meditation is to create a restful, healing state in which the mind and body become very still. It is in this state that one can consciously experience stillness, or a state of “no thought.” This state can be referred to as the experience of “Pure Consciousness.”

The benefits of consistent daily meditation have been widely recorded and described in detail by many authors over the centuries with early descriptions dating as far back as over five thousand years ago.3 The practice of meditation results in a deep healing state in which stress is dissolved and the body’s cells are coated in good-feeling, anti-aging hormones of health and happiness. The body is given a deep rest and the effects of time and stress are reversed. On average, a person who has meditated regularly for one year experiences a physiological age reduction of seven years. After two years, the average reduction in age is eleven years.

Practicing meditation is the best stress reduction technique in the world; it is the best anti-aging practice in the world out-performing any skin cream or other fads. Meditation is also one of the smartest tools for fighting anxiety and depression since it helps your body to produce chemicals which induce feelings of contentment, bliss and happiness; all this without any negative side effects. To put it simply, meditation is one of the most intelligent practices you can include in your daily routine.

During a recent talk held in Nova Scotia, Sam Graci, a long-standing health advocate and creator of Greens + stated that if you are interested in optimizing your health, “meditation is mandatory, not optional.”

In his latest book, The Path to Phenomenal Health, Graci includes meditation in his list of “Twelve (Feeling Good is Good For You) Boosters” and has this to say about it:

Daily Meditation and prayer are the best way to raise optimism, hope and positive attitudes to life. They are powerful ways to boost your moods by raising your “youth hormone” dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), reducing the acidic and corrosive stress hormone cortisol and boosting your “feel good” neurotransmitters dopamine and serotonin in your brain.

...fMRIs prove that the left prefrontal cortex of the brain, a center of higher mental functioning (and responsible for feelings of contentment, happiness, joy, connectedness, self-esteem and a sense of unity and oneness) is enhanced during meditation. What does this mean? It means you can improve your brain’s biological structure and electrochemical wiring all life long, while reducing stress and making yourself happy.

...Science is proving that meditation strengthens our peaceful equanimity muscle and vaccinates against fear, depression, anxiety, insecurity and melancholy. Not surprisingly, for some this is an opportunity to go beyond sensory pleasures into the timeless, spaceless region of now!” 4

Through regular and proper Meditation one can begin to cultivate the experience of “Pure Consciousness.” This experience is distinct from the ordinary meditative state and happens during the deepest phase of meditation. During this state of “Pure Awareness” the following, measurable, physiological changes occur:

The breath nearly stops.

The heart rate drops dramatically.

Skin resistance (a measure of relaxation) increases greatly.

Brainwave activity becomes nearly perfectly coherent.

The achieving of brainwave coherency is a very important factor when considering why group meditation can affect the environment. The average person has brainwave activity that is scattered and incoherent. This is due to not being fully in the present, thinking relentlessly about the past or future, feelings of fear, anxiety, self-consciousness and the experience of contradictory emotional patterns such as wanting love but subconsciously feeling unworthy of love. In short- Stress. A mind in this state is much like a light bulb in which the light photons are scattered in all directions.

During the experience of Pure Consciousness however, there is no thinking about useless or trivial matters. Instead, the mind is fully present, still and alert. Distractions within the mind are non-existent and the whole being is doing the same thing all at once…“Just Being.” In this state, the brainwaves are coherent which means they are working together and moving in the same direction, fully present in the Now. This is similar to the incredible power of a laser beam in which all the light photons are unified and moving in the same direction.

Although they both provide light, the difference in the intensity of light between a light bulb and a laser beam is vast. A light bulb is incoherent light and therefore shines in all directions but only for a short distance; about a mile or so for a 75 watt bulb. A laser is coherent light; photons are focused in one direction. The difference in power is that a 75 watt laser can extend for hundreds of miles.

The intensity of incoherent light (such as a light bulb) is measured by merely adding the photons together. The measure of intensity of coherent light is figured by taking the square of the number of photons. Therefore to equal the power of eight coherent light photons, one would need 64 (82 = 8 x 8 = 64) incoherent light photons.

If you apply this formula and theory of coherence  to the mind (or consciousness,) you will see that the thoughts and intentions of someone who has coherent brainwave patterns is going to be much more powerful than a person with scattered and weak, incoherent brainwave activity. Said differently, a person with incoherent brainwaves is going to have to work a whole lot harder to achieve the same results as the one with coherent brainwaves.

Meditation clears away the stresses which cloud our perception of reality. Eventually, this clarity allows us to perceive our true or essential nature which is Pure Consciousness itself. This also happens to be the essential nature of everything in existence. It is synonymous with the “Unified Field” which is the level of reality where we are all connected. By touching this Unified Field with our awareness during deep meditation, we are able to enliven it in our environment. This is how we cause changes in what appears to be the external world.

How Does Coherence Affect Us?

Have you ever felt scattered, unclear, stressed or foggy? These feelings are a result of incoherence in your brain and energy. In this state, your body cannot function at its full potential. Instead, it wastes energy by throwing it in all directions like a light bulb scatters its light in all directions. This is similar to taking two steps forward and three steps back. If you inject coherence into this situation, the fog lifts and what needs to be done in any moment or situation, is clearly seen and addressed. In a similar way, coherence gives us what we need. If a region is experiencing a drought, chances are it is due to an over abundance of incoherent energies. Coherence will bring the region what is needed. If there is a drought, rain will come.

The beauty of this phenomenon is that everyone can learn to increase their own level of coherence and bless the world with what it needs just by being here.

The “Unified Field”

There is a Unified Field of life force that permeates all of creation. Our thoughts and feelings do not stay confined to our bodies. Thoughts and feelings actually vibrate outward from our minds and bodies and then collide with the environment. This is accomplished by traveling through the all-pervasive Unified Field of Consciousness. Others, in turn, react to our vibrations. They then send out reactionary vibrations of their own thus contributing to environmental vibratory incoherence.

If we are uneasy or not at peace, these “low” vibrations move outward into the world. Others pick up on these vibrations and depending on how strong and at peace they are, they may begin to feel the same uneasiness. They in turn, resend those lower vibrations back out to the world which means we can absorb those feelings again. This vicious cycle continues until we consciously choose to break free from it. Meditation helps us break this loop by putting us in touch with the “Well of Peace” within rather than looking outward and being a victim to the energies of the world that constantly swirl around us.

If the Unified Field is a part of who we are, then we have the power to influence it. In a 1974 conference on the “Pure Consciousness Experience,” Maharishi Mahesh Yogi made the claim that it would only take one percent population of meditators who regularly experienced Pure Consciousness to affect the other 99% of the population. He further added that creating an impact would not necessarily be through anything the meditators said or did, but would be created by them simply experiencing pure consciousness and adding their coherence to the incoherent environment around them.

According to the Aron’s book, after this conference, Psychologist Candace Borland looked for and found eleven U.S. cities with over 25,000 people of which one percent were meditators. They used the yearly crime rates as a measure of social coherence in a city. They also found eleven other cities that were similar in population, region and past crime rates; a less than one percent level of meditators.

Data was gathered from 1967-1972 and as theorized, the cities below the 1% mark followed the national trends and the crime rates increased by an average of 8.3%. But the cities with a one percent population of meditators followed a dramatically different pattern. Every city showed an average decrease in crime of 8.2%! It was determined statistically that the probability of this being a coincidence was less than one in 1000.

By the mid 1980’s, a score of subsequent studies had confirmed these original findings and much more, leaving little doubt regarding what a tiny population of meditators could do for the quality of life in their environment.

Power Grows with Time and Practice

In 1977, it was found that experienced meditators who practiced advanced meditation techniques showed an even greater level of brainwave coherence. This led to the theory that it would take less than one percent of these experienced meditators in order to cause the Maharishi Effect.

In 1978, 350 TM teachers moved to Providence, Rhode Island for the summer. Their plan was to teach one percent of the population how to meditate and then measure the effects on the quality of life in the city. City officials were informed of their intention and were told exactly what changes  the community could expect. The officials smiled at the nice meditators and let them go about their business.

As it turned out, not very many people wanted to learn meditation that summer so they fell far short of their on percent goal. However, something even more exciting was discovered. Most of these TM teachers were advanced meditators and very skilled at experiencing Pure Consciousness. They were also practitioners of advanced meditation techniques. It was soon discovered that just their presence alone was enough to bring about the Maharishi Effect.

These teachers spent a lot of time meditating in groups and as an outcome, the same results which were expected for a one percent population of meditators occurred despite the fact that there were only 350 teachers.

The twenty-one social indicators showed a 43% increase in the quality of life from the year before and an approximate 28% increase when analyzing the averages for the previous five years. In brief,  during the three months the TM teachers were in Rhode Island, they managed to reverse deteriorating social trends and substantially increased the quality of life. The social indicators resumed their downward trend as soon as the teachers departed thus further proving that this correlation was not a coincidence.

World Peace…A Real Possibility

After this experiment, TM researchers initiated the “World Peace Project” in which they made an offer to “any Head of State…faced with a crisis which needs an immediate solution.” Simultaneously Esteli, then leader of Nicaragua, issued a plea to all national agencies for help and intervention in the face of their civil war. Two days later, 250 advanced experiencers of Pure Consciousness showed up and within days of their arrival, the violence subsided and negotiations between the opposing factions moved forward. Two months and many positive changes later, Nicaraguans celebrated in the streets, freely and without violence during a holiday. It was not long after the meditators left the country (only a few weeks later) that the fighting resumed.

During the period that this project was carried out, similar events occurred in other politically unstable nations such as Iran, Israel, Africa and Southeast Asia. Unfortunately, this experiment in world peace had to end. After all, it was quite an expensive project for a non-profit organization to support. In addition, the participants could not be expected to leave their native countries indefinitely.

What Would It Take?

It has been determined that when dealing with advanced experiencers of Pure Consciousness, only the square root of one percent of the population is needed. This is a substantially lower requirement than the original one percent figure. With this new information, the TM movement set its sights on affecting the whole planet. Using the above formula, it was determined that only 7,000 advanced meditators would be required to affect the whole world. (The world population in 1984 was almost five billion. 50 million is one percent of five billion. 7,071 is the square root of 50 million.)

In 1983, 7,000 meditators from around the world gathered in the small town of Fairfield Iowa for one of the greatest experiments ever conducted.

The results were as predicted. During those few months, peace and prosperity increased around the whole planet. Levels of crime and war decreased, acts of reconciliation and talks of peace increased and even the global stock markets were affected in a positive way proving once again the power of the ancient technology of meditation.

The discovery that such a small percentage of meditators could effect the environment should offer us even more optimism as we grapple with our planet in its current state of unrest. On a personal level, this discovery also proves that as we cultivate the stillness and peace within our own individual selves, our ability to transmit peace increases. One of the key elements of this phenomenon is that advanced meditators have the greatest effect when they are meditating at the same time and in the same general vicinity. Gathering advanced meditators on a global scale would require a large amount of funding, support and the creation of a small community where people could live and commit themselves strictly to this endeavor. When we consider what our countries spend on defense, wars, crime, healthcare and responding to natural disasters, the creation of such a community would be a very small price to pay and one which would, in a very short time, pay for itself. Here at home, it would only require a little less than 600 people meditating in unison to affect all of Canada.

Since the Eighties, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi has been urging world leaders and their governments to spend part of their national budgets on creating a community in which people could live and dedicate themselves to practicing the vital global function of group meditation. After twenty years, the Maharishi continues to share his message and the support for such a community is gaining momentum. The old tradition of the community-supported monastery perhaps recalls a time when groups of monks were appreciated for their unceasing prayer and meditations and the benefits this group meditation brought to the community.

We, in the Maritimes, have the power to create groups for each city as well as a group for the Maritimes as a whole. Considering our current regional population, it would only require a group of 132 advanced meditators to blanket the whole of the Maritimes with coherence. (It only takes about a year or so to become an advanced meditator) Individually, we do have the power to make peace and harmony a reality in our times by simply joining our forces together in the common desire to create a better world for us all.

References

1.The Maharishi Effect. A Revolution Through Meditation. Aron, Arthur & Elaine. 1986: StillPoint Publishing.

2.Ageless Body, Timeless Mind. The Quantum Alternative to Growing Old. Chopra, Deepak, MD. 1993: Harmony Books.

3.Enlightenment. The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. A New Translation And Commentary, MSI, 1995: SFA Publications.

4.The Path to Phenomenal Health. Graci, Sam. 2005: John Wiley & Sons Canada, Ltd.

Shivaraj is an Ishaya monk and has been teaching meditation for ten years. If you have any questions or would like to learn how to meditate please contact:

This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it '; document.write( '' ); document.write( addy_text41581 ); document.write( '<\/a>' ); //-->\n This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or 506-854-6991 ~ www.ishaya.ca .

Before learning to meditate...

It is highly recommended that you receive personal instruction from a qualified teacher or from someone who is adept at enlivening the Pure Consciousness Experience. There are too many benefits at stake to find out later that you are putting in the time and energy and not receiving all that you could from it. There are many techniques which may feel good and are enjoyable to practice but do not provide the same physiological benefits of meditation (as described above.) For instance, Visualization has many benefits, but they are not the same as those which are derived from the practice of meditation. Receiving feedback from a qualified teacher can help to ensure that you are making the most of your efforts.

In addition, since meditation cleanses and heals on a profound level, you may begin to throw off or experience more stress than usual. This effect of meditation can be likened to the cleansing crisis and is a sign of healing. However, releasing large amounts of stress and toxins does not always feel good. When toxins release, you may feel irritable, frustrated, depressed, hopeless or unclear. It is at these times that a teacher is extremely valuable. A qualified guide can make suggestions that will keep you moving in a positive direction.

Are you Interested in
Creating a Meditation Community?
 

A long-standing goal of mine has been to create a community of individuals who are committed to creating global peace as described in the article above. Not a group which merely talks about peace, but one which actually touches and enlivens peace through group meditation as well as by committing to live it in every moment. I believe many of you share this goal. I am interested in hearing from any of you who are committed to this same vision. If the idea of creating and/or living in such a community is of any interest to you, please contact me. Who knows; if the interest and commitment are great enough, we could make such a community a reality here in the Maritimes! We now have the power and the knowledge to create global peace. Let us transform this knowledge into Wisdom by actually living it. Please Contact:

This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or 506-854-6991