Will Department of Defense Turn to Meditation to Bring World Peace? [Excerpts]
An article, "A proven enlightened counter-measure," written by Dr. David Leffler, an eight-year US Air Force veteran, now the Executive Director at the Center for Advanced Military Science (CAMS), appeared in The Aljazzera Magazine, an "independent media organisation established in 1992 in London" reporting on world events that affect the Middle East.
In the article, Leffler discusses US Defense Secretary Robert Gates in Gates' recent speech at the U.S. Institute of Peace. Gates said that "[e]nlightened counter-measures ... will bolster the internal strength of vulnerable states so they will not harbor violent networks seeking to launch the next attack." Leffler suggests that in the DoD's "struggle to eliminate violent extremism," eastern-style meditation techniques should be used:
"Extensive scientific research indicates that the best way to reduce collective societal stress, eliminate extremism and thereby snuff out war and terrorism, is to adopt an ancient strategy. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi has revived the ancient Vedic technology of Invincible Defense Technology (IDT) in a non-religious manner. It has been quietly and successfully used by members of many faiths to eliminate conflict in the past."
Leffler's article states that for this "Maharishi Effect" (ME) to take place, a certain percentage of the population would have to practice this joint-efforted meditation: "Extensive research shows that the group size needed to reduce social stress depends on population size. It needs to be at least the square root of 1% of the population." Leffler says that based on research, crime drops and quality of life goes up when the ME takes place. He gave a 1993 example where an ME intervention was studied in the U.S. capital - crime was said to have dropped by 23%.
The article says that "the U.S. is close to achieving the requisite number of IDT experts through the Invincible America Assembly in Fairfield, IA," but that economic conditions in Iowa are keeping the meditation group from full success. Countries like Holland, Bolivia, Colombia, Trinidad, and Peru are said to have enough practitioners of the TM-Sidhi program to create the Maharishi Effect in their countries.
http://www.crossroad.to/Quotes/spirituality/lighthousetrails/08/11-defense-meditation.htm
[TBC: We have addressed America’s turning to Eastern Mysticism in past issues of the newsletter. http://www.thebereancall.org/node/5816 .]
