--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, William Parkinson <ameradian2@...> wrote: > > L., forgive me, but I went though my old posts, which had several from you > and none had any links for further research. Did I miss one of them? > Cheers > Bill
Re: "The Soul is extracted and judged by weight" An email I fired off recently might be of interest to you: Dear Professor Brown, I just finished reading your article, Doubt as Methodology and Object in the Phenomenology of Religion, found in M/C Journal http://www.journal.media-culture.org.au/index.php/mcjournal/article/viewArticle/\ 334 ... I'd like to present the TM theoretical "take" of the Vedic philosophy and ask that you reconsider calling TM a religion, per se: Rather than theories or beliefs about God, the Universe and Everything that are strictly the product of the specific culture that they are found in, TM theory asserts that these are cultural interpretations of states of consciousness that are natural to humans, regardless of culture. TM theory further asserts that TM is a "technique" (in the same sense that "the Way that cannot be spoken" is a technique) that increases the probability that practitioners will enter into the state of consciousness called "turya" -"pure consciousness"- in the Upanishads. The theory further asserts that long-term practice of TM, alternated with normal activity, leads to the situation called "turyatita" (quality of turya) where turya is omni-present, in some sense, in the individual. This theory is nothing new. You can find it, with minor variations, in various places. E.G. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turiya What IS unique to TM theory, however, are the assertions that: 1) turya is a physiological state of the brain in the Western scientific sense, that can be measured using the tools of Western science; 2) that turyatita is likewise a measurable state; 3) that turya is the state of least stress in a resting nervous system; 4) the process of TM is merely a resting state of the nervous system that repairs stress (note that obvious episodes of turya are NOT required for this resting state to be effective --one can become fully "enlightened" according to TM theory, without ever having a clear experience of turya during meditation, at least prior to full enlightenment); 4) turyatita is merely a state in mature adults whose nervous systems are sufficiently strong and mature due to lack of physiological stress that turya is evident, even during waking, dreaming and sleeping. this leads to the logical conclusion that turyatita is NOT some esoteric state, and that the physiological signature of turya during meditation should more likely appear, not only in long-term practitioners of TM contrasted with non-meditating or short-term meditating controls, but also in non-meditators whose success in life suggests that their nervous systems are very efficient, e.g.: world champion athletes (as compared to non-champion professionals in the same sport), professional classical musicians (as compared to amateur classical musicians) and high-functioning business managers as compared to their less successful counterparts. Research on the physiological correlates of turya found during TM practice: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7045911 Breath suspension during the transcendental meditation technique. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10512549 Pure consciousness: distinct phenomenological and physiological correlates of "consciousness itself". http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9009807 Autonomic patterns during respiratory suspensions: possible markers of Transcendental Consciousness. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10487785 Autonomic and EEG patterns during eyes-closed rest and transcendental meditation (TM) practice: the basis for a neural model of TM practice. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19862565 A self-referential default brain state: patterns of coherence, power, and eLORETA sources during eyes-closed rest and Transcendental Meditation practice. Research on the physiological correlates of turyatita in long-term TM meditators: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12406612 Patterns of EEG coherence, power, and contingent negative variation characterize the integration of transcendental and waking states. http://www.tm.org/american-psychological-association Abstract for the 2007 Conference of the American Psychological Association Brain Integration Scale: Corroborating Language-based â¨Instruments of Post-conventional Development Research on the physiological correlates of turyatita in non-meditators: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1600-0838.2009.01007.x/full Higher psycho-physiological refinement in world-class Norwegian athletes: brain measures of performance capacity While all these findings are preliminary, you might consider what they imply for interpreting TM as a religion. In my view, it is not. It is merely a technique that allegedly leads to a more healthy functioning of the nervous system. TM theory, Vedic philosophy, etc, are merely attempts to explain a natural human condition which can be found in (and interpreted by) people in any culture and religion. Thanks for reading. Lawson English LEnglish5@... http://www.siliconsqueak.org
