Is the world peace research reliable?
It is so easy to be sceptical about something new and extraordinary. This is especially so for something as extraordinary as the effect of Transcendental Meditation (T.M.) on social behaviour. For this reason the scientists studying the Super Radiance effect have been meticulous in setting up and organising their research.
The result of this rigorous attention to detail is that there is now a body of academic literature unique in the social sciences field for its clarity and unequivocal conclusions.
As John Hegelin, a leading authority on the subject, says, “There is more evidence that the group practice of Transcendental Meditation can turn off war like a light switch than there is that aspirin reduces headache pain"
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| Wherever you learn ... |
The vision of consistency
A large part of the success of the research into TM derives from the systematic way in which it is taught and practiced.
Almost from the start of his life long mission to bring the benefits of Transcendental Meditation to the Western World, Maharishi realised the need for objective independent research to validate the claimed benefits of daily meditation.
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| Whoever you are .. |
Maharishi's declared vision was to use the searchlight of scientific analysis to penetrate the fog of ignorance that pervades the West about the human mind and consciousness.
So, ever since the 1960s Maharishi set about establishing precise standards of systematic teaching. During his lifetime Maharishi trained thousands of TM instructors around the world to teach their students in exactly the same way following a well established seven step procedure.
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| Whichever TM teacher teaches you ... |
This systemisation has been invaluable. The
standardised approach adopted by all accredited TM teachers ensures both consistency of practice and consistency of results. This consistency has given researchers complete confidence that, whenever they are analysing the impact of large groups of meditators, the results are going to be reliable.
Furthermore, the uniform nature of both the teaching and the benefits allow for a high degree of replication in research activity, again with stunningly consistent results.
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| Everyone is taught TM in exactly the same way |
It is this pattern of consistency that provides such a strong foundation for research study. The reliability of teaching and consistency of results enable the research to benefit from the following six features that produce such a high degree of credibility to any findings.
The six features that underpin TM's world peace research reliability
In essence research into the collective effect of TM benefits from:
1. Repeated findings that show strong correlation
2. Publically available standardised evidence
3. Lead-lag analysis
4. Precision in timing and numbers removes alternative explanations
5. Time series analysis
6. Peer reviewed and published work
1. Repeated findings on peace projects
Peace creating groups of TM-Sidhas have been set-up on innumerable occasions over thirty-five years, all with what are now familiar results to the participants. The fifty or so actual studies that have arisen from these many events provide a thoroughness of field-testing that is rare if not unique in the social sciences.
The repetition of studies all yielding pretty much unfailing results demonstrate a strong correlation between the TM peace-creating activity and reductions in international hostility, war deaths, terrorist activity, violent crime and so on. This repetition reduces the probability that the results are achieved by random chance to effectively zero. (Read 'World Peace Through Meditation' - 50 research summaries)
2. Publically available standardised evidence
One of the advantages that the TM peace researchers have is that they do not have to find their own means to measure the results. The studies draw on publically available statistics to back up the research.
Developed nations, where many of the peace projects took place, all have various government departments and agencies collecting and collating data on factors ranging from fatal car accidents, homicides, suicides, terrorist activity, other violent crime and so on.
Even in war zones there are international agencies monitoring and publishing statistics on war deaths. Inter government activity and international relations are closely monitored by a number of different research organisations and think tanks that publish their results.
The public nature of the statistics provides the opportunity for other researchers to check and even replicate a study and this provides a strong precaution against scientific bias or incompetence.
3. Lead-lag analysis
The precision of both the results gained and the timing of peace group activity mean that lead-lag analysis can be used to determine the causal factor. In other words, researchers can easily observe which moves first. Is it the initiation of the peace group or the initiation of the social change?
The lead-lag evidence indicates that the initiation of the peace group is the causal factor everytime and this has been a winning argument in achieving publication of important studies. One excellent example that demonstrates the cause and effect factor is the Lebanon study, where war deaths fluctuated in line with how many TM-Sidhas were attending the coherence group.
4. Precision in timing and numbers removes alternative explanations
All published studies involve careful research into the possibility that the social changes have not been caused by alternative factors.
So, studies look at various factors such as police procedures, weather changes, seasonal differences, government initiatives and so on. The precision in the timing of both the start and finish of TM based peace projects helps rule out other possibilities as being alternative causal factors. Particularly good examples of this factor occur with the Washington crime study and the Rhode Island QOL study.
5. Time Series Analysis (TSA)
Researchers have used time series analysis in the published world peace research studies.
TSA is a mathematical tool that helps clarify the confusing complexity of social interaction. TSA creates a statistical model to predict, given all known data on social, seasonal, weather and economic trends, what is likely to be happening in any given social situation. If there is a sudden and dramatic change that contradicts the TSA prediction then it helps reinforce the argument that there is a new causal factor in play. This tool was useful for the first global peace project that assessed the impact of a global coherence group on a wide range of QOL factors across the world.
6. Peer reviewed and published peace research projects
As a result of the five factors above 28 research studies on TM based peace projects have now been published in peer reviewed scientific journals or have been presented to academic conferences.
To get published in academic journals or to be submitted to a conference debate means that the research has been read, analysed and accepted by panels of distinguished and independent experts in the relevant field of academic work.
Getting a paper accepted for publication demonstrates that the research is judged of sufficient professional quality, by academic peers, to be worthy of attention by a wider community of academic experts.
| “I think the claim can be plausibly made that the potential impact of this research exceeds that of any other ongoing social or psychological research program. It has survived a broader array of statistical tests than most research in the field of conflict resolution. This work and the theory that informs it deserve the most serious consideration by academics and policy makers alike.” David Edwards Ph.D., Professor of Government, University of Texas at Austin |
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