Jul 12 2007
The Art & Science of Meditation
Let me begin with a bold assertion. We were not put on this planet to suffer. We were not born to make mistakes. Life is in our hands and “the choices we make dictate the life that we lead—to thine own self be trueâ€. It is our ignorance of life that is at the basis of our mistakes and suffering. From this we conclude that something fundamental must be missing in the field of education.
One of the traditional goals of education is to create ideal citizens. The current focus of our educational system is on thinking and action because we know that thinking is the basis of action, action is the basis of achievement and achievement is the basis of happiness and fulfillment. Therefore, if our thinking is clear, creative and intelligent then this will lead to progress and prosperity.
But our educational system has not shown an ability to develop ideal citizens because thinking is not the basis of life. The basis of thinking is Being. As Dr. Deepak Chopra says, “We are not human doings or human thinkings. We are human beings.†The quality of our thinking depends upon the quality of our being or consciousness. Using only 5-10% of our conscious mind has created the problematic society that we live in. Without attending to the development of consciousness our educational system is baseless.
According to personal experience, ancient records and the latest scientific research the best known technology for developing consciousness or Being is the Transcendental Meditation technique.
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the founder of the TM technique explains the art of meditation: “When, during meditation, the mind enters into the experience of subtle levels of thought, it becomes more collected, more steady, with every step and therefore feels itself entering a field of increasing charm. This process ends in the absolute happiness of the Transcendent.
If the mind is more steady, it is in a better position to experience greater happiness. As on a calmer surface of water the sun reflects more clearly, so a calmer mind receives a clearer reflection of the omnipresent bliss of the absolute Being. As the mind fathoms finer fields of thinking during meditation, the metabolism is simultaneously reduced. This establishes the nervous system in degrees of ever-increasing peace. Eventually, when the entire nervous system comes to a completely peaceful state, it reflects Being, and this gives rise to bliss-consciousness.â€
The science of meditation can be explained by the third law of thermodynamics which says that if you reduce the activity or temperature of a system you will create a more orderly system. By reducing the mental activity and the physical activity of the human nervous system, the Transcendental Meditation technique naturally and spontaneously removes the noise, stress and impurities for a more orderly functioning mind and body, which improves the quality of thinking, which improves the quality of action, which improves the quality of life as a whole.
The benefits of the Transcendental Meditation technique documented in more than 350 scientific studies conducted over the past 25 years shows that this simple, natural, effortless procedure, practiced for 15 - 20 minutes twice a day provides profound rest, removes accumulated stress and develops greater intelligence, creativity and self actualized qualities such as self-esteem, self-confidence and self-control.
In the area of health this program has been shown to substantially reduce health care utilization by over 50%, including 87% less hospitalization for cardiovascular disease, 55% less for cancer, 87% less for diseases of the nervous system, and 73% less for nose, throat and lung problems.
Remarkably the TM program has been shown to be 12 times more effective in reducing illegal drug use than the more politically correct D.A.R.E program. And research has shown that when at least 1% of a population practices the TM program, negative trends in the population decrease such as crime, hospital admissions, alcohol and cigarette consumption while economic and quality of life indicators improve.
From this we conclude that we now have the knowledge to create an ideal society. And when our educational system makes this a part of their curriculum so that every student can learn how to eliminate their stress and develop their full potential, then we will find that the choices we make and the lives that we lead will become better and better.
