<< Hi jmag et al!
I've heard this for years from students of TM, even one lady with a doctorate
who rented an isolation tank which I had to try. She told me quite freely
that she had levitated using the TM process...
....People who have observed this say the photograph is taken while the TMers
pop their muscles is such a way as to throw themselves into the air but... >>
Jerry, It sounds like we are not talking here about sincere practitioners of
Transcendental Meditation but ego-maniacal parlour tricksters.
It is not the fault of the founder, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, if some people
choose to abuse and misrepresent his teachings. "TM" was merely a lable that
Yogiji used to help westerners more easily understand the ancient art/science
(don't dare call it a religion) of yoga meditation.
But the honorable practice itself, yoga, goes back many hundred if not
thousands of years. Over the years, Yogiji has attracted thousands, if not
millions (not that mere numbers can prove legitimacy) of followers throughout
the world.
<<There have been some interesting studies by TMers who claim that their
mediations on peace will have a broadcast effect and lower the crime
rate in a community. I've always thought this was amazing if true.>>
The above is true and not surprising, unless you believe in the duality, (of
subject/obect, mind/body, physical/spiritual, etc.)which run counter to the
teachings of all the great disciplines, such as the Tao, Buddhism, Sufi
Islamic, mystical Christianity, the Jewish Cabbala, and of course, Yoga.
"There is power in numbers" is real only if you consider that the power of the
group (that is meditating or, praying, if fou prefer) comes only from the
realization that we all are one (which, by the way, is the true definition of,
"E Pluribus Unum." Regards,
JC Snooky