I loved those old Analog and Amazing Stories - As to Kai, I was more interested
in his take on the academic life of MIU since he was part of it.
--------------------------------------------
On Wed, 4/9/14, lengli...@cox.net <lengli...@cox.net> wrote:
Subject: Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: The Maharishi Murderer
To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com
Date: Wednesday, April 9, 2014, 12:45 AM
Looking at this exchange, I realize that Michael,
like Kai, likely went from hardcore true believer, to
hardcore in the opposite direction.
I knew Kai on my TM-SIdhis course. He was in the
room next to mine during the Yogic Flying block. He seemed
to be strongly committed to every tiny nuance of every tiny
bit of Maharishi's teaching being 100% true, which I
found odd in a scientist (or anyone else for that
matter).
Of course, my first exposure to organized
religion was in the mid-60's when I would get into
debates with my Sunday School teacher about whether Jesus
were divine, or merely some kind of telekinetic/psychic
healer able to psychically reach into the body of his
patients and treat them. Looking back, it was a pretty
sophisticated stance for a 4th grader to take, but I'd
probably been watching some TV show with my father or
reading one of the books where such things were described
(Amazing Stories and
Analog often had
stories like that in the late 50's and early 60's, I
believe).
Fortunately for me, I was in the
Unitarian-Universalist Church when I had those debates, or I
might have caused serious problems for my parents (who
frankly didn't care in the slightest what I believed
about religion, as far as I know).
Regardless, to quote Kai as an unbiased authority
on TM, then or now, is to show a certain blindness to where
Kai is coming from (then or now).
L
---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, <LEnglish5@...>
wrote :
"The needs
of the many" seen from teh perspective of the needs of
the few.
If you believe in all the little details that
Maharishi's perspective implies, then you end up with
that kind of response. It's very
fundamentalist.
L
---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, <mjackson74@...>
wrote :
When
I was at MIU there was a kid, I forget how old, I think
around 11 or 12 maybe who came onto campus riding his bike I
think right around dark. He entered campus on the lower
entrance and the MIU security had put a chain across the
entrance to keep people from coming in by automobile.
Trouble was, they had put no flags or other identifying
markers on the chain and in fog or after dark it was very
hard to see it till you were right up on it.
The kid hit the chain, fell off his bike and sustained
injuries such that he was paralyzed. The doctors said he
would not recover and would be paralyzed for life. Facing a
lifetime of medical bills and dealing with that type of
injury the parents chose to sue the university for not
having made the chain easy to see and thereby easier to
avoid hitting. I remember hearing one faculty member telling
one of the kitchen staff it was so unfortunate that the
parents were behaving so badly as to sue MIU and they were
accruing some really bad karma.
--------------------------------------------
On Tue, 4/8/14,
salyavin808 <no_re...@yahoogroups.com>
wrote:
Subject: Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: The Maharishi Murderer
To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com
Date: Tuesday, April 8, 2014, 9:04 AM
---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com,
<LEnglish5@...>
wrote :
MUM,
the TMO, and the TM movement had two main areas of
culpability with respect to this man and the
incident:
1)
there's a pervasive attitude that TM cures all ills and
that all forms of medication can be reduced by doing TM
(the
MUM homepage even had a banner proclaiming it during the
incident);
2)
there's a circle the wagons attitude to try and protect
the organization, the technique and the mystique that
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's attitudes towards ever aspect
of
life can't possibly be wrong in even the tiniest
iota.
Those
two things together brought about this tragedy:
The
kid grew to believe that he could go off his meds without
telling anyone because he believed that TM was all he
needed
because that was what everyone else around him believed as
well.
No-one
was willing to alert anyone in authority that he was
showing
signs of instability, and when his actions became so
extreme
that there was no way to deny that something was seriously
wrong, the Powers that Be still chose to try to deny that
they needed to turn to outside help.
The
result was a murder, and two simultaneous lawsuits that
nearly bankrupt MUM -one from the family of the murder
victim, and one from the family of the murderer. Only now
are they recovering from the financial fallout, from what I
can tell.
It's a
shocking story from every angle. I hope some sort of lesson
got learned at MUM. Obviously the TMO still keeps up
it's pretence of perfection but everyone should have
learned something about mental health and the limits of
meditating. It isn't going to fix things like this and
is likely to make them worse. I've seen it myself a
couple of times. No one got hurt, the sufferers just got
sent into the care of the health
service.
A
similar story lies behind the recent violence at the pundit
compound.
L
---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com,
<no_re...@yahoogroups.com>
wrote :
---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com,
<turquoiseb@...>
wrote :
It's probably worth noting that the blurb Michael
posted here is *NOT* from Sem himself, and the title of the
book is *NOT* "The Maharishi Murderer." The blurb
was written by a part-timer at the book PR agency Sem or
the
publisher hired to stir up interest in the book,
SEND2PRESS.
Yes, well spotted. I saw only
the sensational aspect through my bleary morning
eyes.
On
the other hand, "the Maharishi Murderer" *IS*
exactly what he was. What makes such PR excess possible are
the extravagant (and clearly untrue) claims made by MUM
about what an "ideal society" it represents, and
how violence and crime simply can't exist inside the
awesome Field Of Woo generated by the domes. When
you've
made claims like that and then had them proved untrue, *of
course* you pretend the event never happened in your campus
newspapers. Many of the people on campus (and the TBs here)
are still busy pretending it never happened in their own
minds.
I think the
excess of hyperbole in the TMO is always going to be a
problem. Words like "ideal" and
"invincible" are all very well but it's all
rather easily disproved. Somehow, terms like "Same as
everywhere else" or "We're only as good as
the
people who come and stay" aren't going to be such
a
big draw. But they won't backfire
either...
From: salyavin808
<no_re...@yahoogroups.com>
To:
FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com
Sent:
Tuesday, April 8, 2014 8:39 AM
Subject:
[FairfieldLife] Re: The Maharishi Murderer
Sounds like
an interesting book. Shame about the appalling title. I
think the tagline should read:
One
Man's Escape from Insanity' is the story of
Shuvender Sem, who, 10 years later, we are now going to
pretend that on March 1, 2004 became known as 'The
Maharishi Murderer' to sell more books.
Maybe it
covers this, but here is also an interesting story about
how
some people with latent psychosis are adversely affected by
TM and the TMSP. I've known a couple myself. Maybe they
do too much, maybe they
would have had a breakdown anyway, but they say that about
those people who are insane after a hit of LSD. Some things
open unconscious wounds and we all know that TM is much
more
than just a relaxation technique. But it's impossible
to
say for sure. I think it's just hopelessly ineffective
with deep psychological problems, a bit of seratonin goes a
long way but it isn't a cure all.
But I seem
to remember some research claiming that TM lowers psychotic
succeptability, didn't help a friend of mine and the
people in the TMO had no way of dealing with it which I
seem
to remember was the main problem at MUM.
Most
interesting aspect of it for cult watchers was the news
blackout, a murder on campus didn't even make the
student newspaper! I'm all for global good news but
that
was sinister, our very own Bob Brigante commented that
it's like living in North Korea.
---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com,
<mjackson74@...> wrote :
New
Autobiography Gives Insight into Maharishi Murder
Tue, 19 Feb 2013, 14:47:52 EDT
Edited by Debra Tone
LANCASTER, Pa., Feb. 19, 2013 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) -- It
is
a story that could only be written by one person. A
compelling autobiography that not only pushes the
boundaries
of sanity, it takes readers on a frightening voyage to meet
it face-to-face. "Murder and Misunderstanding; One
Man's Escape from Insanity" (ISBN-13:
978-1479256969) is the story of Shuvender Sem, who on March
1, 2004 became known as "The Maharishi
Murderer."
The murder took place in Fairfield, Iowa, on the campus of
a
university that prided itself on non-violence. The
Maharishi
University of Management used a variety of techniques
towards its non-violent goals including twice-daily use of
Transcendental Meditation. It was to no small degree that
this setting put the murder in the national spotlight.
In one moment Sem was a college student. In the next he was
"The Maharishi Murderer." Shuvender killed
freshman Levi Butler without provocation on the campus by
stabbing him four times in the chest with a paring knife.
The murder took place following an incident earlier in the
day when Sem stabbed a student with a pen. That previous
incident led to the student getting seven stitches to his
face.
Deemed competent to stand trial, the judge ruled he was
"not guilty by reason of insanity" at the request
of both the defense and the prosecution. Against popular
belief, NGRI is an extremely rare plea, used in less than
one percent of criminal cases. A not guilty result is even
more uncommon, occurring just one-quarter of one percent of
the time.
Now, after years of psychotropic medications and intense
therapy, Shuvender is telling his story of schizophrenia in
his autobiography, "Murder and Misunderstanding; One
Man's Escape from Insanity." It is not only an
extremely rare look into the mind of a killer from his own
perspective, but it is also a deeply personal story that
explores the darkest, most grim places of the mind.
"Our mental health system is broken. We need to fix
this before more crimes are committed," says Sem.
In his book, Shuvender tells of his relationship with his
father, and the events that led to that day on campus. He
describes his struggle with, and eventual escape from this
misunderstood illness. It is a story of recognition and
realization. A story of redemption desired, and hope
delivered. It is a book written to serve as a beacon for
those with schizophrenia and their families, by a man who
was held in its strongest grips, and managed to escape.
Shuvender Sem, or Shubi as he is known, now speaks publicly
about his experience with schizophrenia in the hopes of
helping others. He is available for presentations and
Q&A sessions for law enforcement, mental health groups,
attorney associations, academic institutions and others who
may feel they can benefit from his story.
The self-told story of Shuvender Sem, "Murder and
Misunderstanding; One Man's Escape from Insanity"
is available at http://www.ShuvenderSem.com/
. The book is available in paperback; as well as Kindle,
iPad and Nook digital editions.
