Marinharishi High
File under: The Siddhi of PR
As crazy as the old coot is to think he's going to take over the world, you've got to give the Madharishi Mahesh Yogi credit for still having some brain matter that's not yet gone to goo. Case in point, the TM™ org would just love to Trojan horse their programs into schools in the U.S., and they've enlisted freak filmmaker David Lynch to shove it down the throats of the educators who make the decisions:
Lynch established a foundation in his name to spread Transcendental Meditation to schools as a method of stress management. The Terra Linda program would be the David Lynch Foundation's first in California, although others operate in Washington, D.C., and Detroit.No duh! The fact is that TM™ is derived from Hinduism, and there is no number of "scientific" studies (all funded by TM™) that will ever change that fact.
Principal Carole Ramsey became an enthusiastic supporter after hearing Lynch speak, but some say Transcendental Meditation is rooted in a religious movement that is inappropriate for public school.
The fundies are going to come down on this like Moses off the mountain. As much as we personally believe in the value of meditation as an important life skill, we stand right next to the Jesus brigade in their objections to this program. If Carole Ramsey wants to bring meditation into her school, there's literally thousands of alternatives to TM™ that would be just as effective at stress reduction without any of the baggage that comes with it being the cornerstone of a senile old man's world takeover scheme.
posted by guruphiliac @ 2:17 PM
8 Comments:
why not? it's a simple and effective meditation. noone is asked to alter their religious perspective. when I was in school, we had the Lord's Prayer and prosletizing by popular students, usually Baptists. This was also in public school.
Maharishi has an ultra-orthodox view that you cannot be converted to Hinduism, only born into it.
Maharishi has an ultra-orthodox view that you cannot be converted to Hinduism, only born into it.
Regardless, the practice has its origin in Hindu ideology. If we are to have a true separation of church and state, TM™ can't be included in a public school curriculum anymore than creationism.
Jody,
I am not really pro-Maharishi or pro-TM, but your characterization of bija mantras as "Hindu" is inaccurate. They are from the Sanatan Dharma tradition; attaching the Hindu label detracts from their universal nature.
I am not aware of any mantras or mind-entrainment tools which have been empowered with consciousness so powerfully as Vedic mantras, such as Gayatri and even the simple bijas used in TM (aim, shrim, klim etc); nor in my personal experience have I noticed such rapid and easy quiescence of the mind in beginners by using non-mantra based approaches (visualization, breath-watching etc).
Mental repitition of a Vedic mantra is hardly going to brainwash someone into becoming "Hindu".
As long as there are public schools where kids are being exposed to the Christian perspective on anything, TM should be taught there along with Hare Krishna.
> They are from the Sanatan Dharma tradition
*****
For the intents and purposes of a government institution in the United States under the Constitution, bija mantras arise from Hinduism and are a religious practice, regardless of how the TM™ org tries to spin it otherwise.
As long as there are public schools...
...that are government institutions under the Constitution, no religion should be taught outside of humanities class, and then only studied as a cultural phenomenon.
I'm sure some camp of people or the other would even find problems if Osho's dynamic meditations, which are wholly secular, were taught in schools. That's just the nature of bigotry...
'm sure some camp of people or the other would even find problems if Osho's dynamic meditations, which are wholly secular, were taught in schools. That's just the nature of bigotry...
Public scholl education in the US is pathetc in most places, except the elite schools for the privileged. They should teach a secular form of meditation in schools. That would not be religious bigotry. It is bigotry to keep kids from being exposed to some thing that could help them. Maybe TM would fall under the religious category, but other forms could be taught not tied to the Maharishi.
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