--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Vaj <vajradh...@...> wrote: > > > On Apr 4, 2009, at 5:37 AM, TurquoiseB wrote: > > > As for the program itself, I wish it well. I really > > do think that kids would benefit from learning a > > simple form of meditation while still kids. That the > > form of meditation being proposed is TM I think is > > problematic because I honestly believe that the way > > it's taught and explained in followup talks is > > religously-based and thus inappropriate for American > > schools given the Constitution and the clear wishes > > of America's founding fathers. But the courts will > > decide that. > > While one did get a good feeling that kids meditating was a good > thing, I was more interested in that they are targeting 'kids at > risk'. What seems to be happening is, since it's getting harder for > the TM Meditation industry to target American kids without drawing > negative attention, they're now targeting the poor in third world > countries where such opposition is less likely. In America they seem > to be targeting the poor also where resistance would likely be less, > as resources to investigate or oppose are also much more feeble. In > other words, I have wonder if the TM meditation industry is targeting > the poor because they're an easy target.
In Tucson, they're targetting charter school kids, who often are from wealthy families. Its more a matter of taretting people who don't object, then anything else, I think. > > What it really boils down to is: what is the underlying motivation? Is > it to help kids, or is it targeted market segments to get the TM > Meditation industry back making money and recruiting fresh blood--at > 600 bucks a pop? Clearly if it was just for the kids, they could > easily pay a salary of 100,000 to a dozen or so teachers who could > teach for free for a living. But that is not what they're doing. > Therefore, there's a different underlying motivation. What is that > underlying motivation? > But, the funding pays for the local TM teachers AND their management of the program. This frees the TM teachers up to do outreach to the current meditating population rather than try to seek more converts, which is a Very Good Thing from the perspective of the TM teachers since they are no longer required to preach to non-believers with no motivation to pay the huge TM fee upfront. E.G. rather than wasting their time trying to sell TM to adults directly, the local center brings in Sitar players to give mini concerts and/or Indian elders to talk up TM on the reservation and/or MIU faculty to talk up research, all of which is directed at believers, so there's no despondancy from trying to sell an expensive intro course to non-believers. It also gives the believers a better venue for promoting TM themselves to their non-believer friends. Its a LOT more effective to take someone to a pot luck dinner with a sitarist performing, where everyone chats about the performance, than drag them to an intro lecture where they are pitched a $2500 program. None of this may be a direct rationale on the part of the TM teachers or the TMO, but it is how it works out in practice. It's quite a practical system, I think and seems to have evolved spontaneously in the past few years. Much more sustainable than the old TMO, IMHO. Lawson
