--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Vaj <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: <snip> > In real samadhi,
(as defined by Vaj, that is) there are actually profound changes to the > physiology which are of great interest to scientists--it's > just that these types of markers have yet to appear in TMers. > So they exaggerate and try to make mountains out of the > molehills they have. TM is scientifically almost identical > the EEG patterns of people napping or in some phase of the > waking-sleep cycle. TM/TMSP EEG coherence is very, very little > difference also from these same coherence patterns. Based on looking only at the early TM studies, Vaj once again "forgets" to note (as well as some serious misunderstandings of the TM process and theory). The researchers who examined the TM studies, moreover, were doing so under the auspices of an organization devoted to finding scientific validation of Buddhist principles. One of the three authors is a Buddhist scholar and author; another is "a longtime friend of the Dalai Lama" and "one of the most important scientists in the Dalai Lama's quest to validate Buddhism with science," according to Wikipedia. So there's a built-in bias involved (just as there is with the TM researchers). Regarding the sleep issue, the study says: "The initial claim that TM produces a unique state of consciousness different than sleep has been refuted by several EEG meditation studies which reported sleeplike stages during this technique with increased alpha and then theta power." Of course, these findings have by no means "refuted" TM's claim to produce a unique state of consciousness. TM has never claimed that this unique state is found continuously throughout the meditation period; it occurs sporadically for varying lengths of time. (Plus which, as I recall, at least one of these studies was performed under distinctly unfavorable conditions; the subjects were college students, and the tests were done during a period of the year when the students would be expected to be more tired than usual--I think it may have been during an exam period at the end of the semester, but I can't remember the exact details. In any case, periods of drowsiness or sleep during TM are not at all uncommon and are considered perfectly normal.) This is such an obvious straw man that it's hard to believe it was inadvertent; and if it was, it demonstrates significant ignorance of what TM's claims actually *are*. It's not the only such problem with this study, but it's so egregious that it suggests the researchers really did not do their homework.
