--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "Rick Archer" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> From: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> On Behalf Of mainstream20016
> Sent: Sunday, February 11, 2007 7:51 PM
> To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: [FairfieldLife] was: Moments of movement now: Relax. Response
> precipitated Sidhis ?
>
>
> The widespread popularity of TM probably led Benson to research TM
>
> Somehow Benson linked up with Keith Wallace to do the early research. I
> forgot how they met.
>
> and the creation of
> the generic RR technique.
>
> The popularity of TM definitely inspired him to do that. Benson never
> learned TM, because he claimed that he wanted to remain objective. But for a
> while he was a TM spokesman. One time I drove up to Cambridge from
> Connecticut to drive him down to Yale for a lecture, and then back to
> Cambridge.
>
> Benson's claims of RR technique's equality with TM coincided with the
> development
> of the TM-Sidhi program (earliest development of TM-Sidhi courses in late
> 1975). Might
> the development of the Sidhis program been a premature reaction to the
> competition from
> the RR technique?
>
> Might have been. Benson tried to follow suit for a while, or at least made
> some initial investigations. He travelled to Tibet to find yogis who could
> perform sidhis. He did find some who could do more than any TMer I've ever
> met. He observed a group of monks who could dry wet clothing in 10 degree
> weather by generating body heat. This adventure inspired him to write Beyond
> the Relaxation Response - http://tinyurl.com/2goac8
>
> The development of the Sidhis caused a huge inward stroke in the TM
> movement's organization, and a corresponding decreased presence in the
> market - the
> field TM teachers vacated the market in favor of attending long rounding
> courses that
> taught the teachers the Sidhis.
>
> It also scared away a lot of celebrities like Mary Tyler Moore and
> professionals like Dr. Charles Glueck head of The Institute of Living
> who had become a supporter.
>
> I'm curious to hear any suggestions as to how the TM movement might have
> thrived with just the basic TM instruction remaining as its only product,
> rather than what
> actually happened with the introduction of the Sidhis as the product that
> represented the
> movement.
>
> My guess is that if MMY had stuck to his core message of TM, and conducted
> himself sensibly and with compassion for his teachers, the movement would be
> much more mainstream than it is today. It still wouldn't be in the schools
> because of the puja and other Hindu associations, but far more people would
> have become participants than have. Claims of flying, Rajas, etc., put TM
> far outside the mainstream, and although the movement tries to put up a
> public façade which hides these things, anyone who becomes more than mildly
> curious discovers them and most steer clear.
How might the TM movement today offer instruction of just the basic TM
technique?
Might a fully certified branch organization be created that would have as its
mission to
teach only the TM technique, residence courses, and SCI, and nothing else?
Perhaps if a certified yet distinctly independent organization were created,
the general
public might be secure in approaching such a setting where just basic TM
instruction
occured --a setting where the basic experience of transcendence was considered
self-
sufficient to generate maximum well-being, and where one would never be enticed
to
consider acquiring additional products or services? How might such an
arrangement be
created today, to the benefit of all ?
