a new educational paradigm for the new millennium: consciousness-based education

Futures,Vol. 30, No. 7, pp. 717–724, 1998Pergamon 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved

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A NEW EDUCATIONALPARADIGM FOR THE NEWMILLENNIUM

Consciousness-based education

James Grant

It is the year 2050 and education is dramatically different from education inthe 20th century. At the basis of the new education is the insight that a fieldof pure consciousness exists which can easily be experienced by all. From thisinsight, a new educational paradigm has emerged—consciousness-based edu-cation—with a more profound understanding of human development and howto promote it. The primary goal of education now is enlightenment and theentire curriculum is organised to foster this goal. The flowering of human poten-tial produced by this educational approach has created a new age forhumanity—the Age of Enlightenment. 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rightsreserved

It is the year 2050 and the world is at peace with itself. There are no international con-flicts, no standing armies, minimal crime within countries, and robust economies withlittle inflation or unemployment. Harmony exists between and within nations; differencesin religion, culture, and ethnicity are appreciated for the richness they contribute to col-lective culture. Love and joy predominate. In short, this is the Age of Enlightenment.

A key feature of this new age is the status and resources given to education. Schoolsand universities are the most prized institutions in society because they are recognisedto be the foundation of the new age. Resources that were formerly devoted to the military

James D. Grant is at 1000 N. 4th St. FM 1064, Fairfield, IA 52557 (Tel: 515-472-7000 × 5022; fax: 515-472-7884; email: [email protected]).Transcendental Meditation, TM-Sidhi, and Consciousness-Based are registered or common law trademarkslicensed to Maharishi Vedic Education Development Corporation and used under sublicense or with permission.

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Consciousness-based education: J Grant

and social problems are now funnelled into education, allowing ample support for allwho want to attend, to whatever level of post-secondary education they choose.

Education in the Age of Enlightenment is radically different from late-20th-centuryeducation. The technological revolution contributed partly to this transformation. In theyear 2050, individuals can access virtually any information through the Internet and it isfree of charge. All books, journals, newspapers, and government reports are availableon-line and access to the Internet is ubiquitous. In addition, there is on-line access tolive lectures (lectures at major universities are videotaped and instantaneously archivedfor Internet access) and electronic ‘tutors’—highly developed educational software—inall major educational areas. These allow students of all ages to take any course, or anyacademic program, from home—or anywhere in the world.

The revolution in information technology has led to the true globalisation of edu-cation. Electronic language translators built into the Internet have eliminated languagebarriers. It is now possible, therefore, for students in any country to tune into lectures,course materials, and books produced by educators in any other country, as well as theirown. Because all education is publicly funded, there are no cost implications of this forthe individual. This globalisation of knowledge access has been an important contributorto the diminishing of economic disparities between nations and, consequently, to theeconomic robustness of the world economy.

Despite this universal access to knowledge, the demise of in-residence, post-second-ary institutions foreseen by late-20th century educational pundits has not occurred. Thisreflects another, even more fundamental, change in education: the emphasis ondeveloping higher states of consciousness.

The transition to consciousness-based education

The most striking difference in mid-21st century, post-secondary institutions from thoseof the late 20th century is their emphasis on promoting enlightenment and the associatedholistic view of knowledge. At the basis of this new perspective on education is onecentral idea—that there is a field of pure consciousness, an unmanifest absolute field oflife at the source of all creation, which can be easily experienced regardless of tempera-ment or background.

The understanding that there is an unmanifest field of life at the source of bothsubjective and objective creation is a very old one. Aldous Huxley in the 20th centuryhad referred to this understanding as ‘the perennial philosophy’ precisely because it wasso old and shared by so many cultures. Plato, for example, had referred to this field asthe Good, Lao Tze as the Tao, Buddhist sages as Nirvana, Vedic rishis as Atma, Aristotleas Being, Emerson as the Oversoul, and so forth. Though the concept of an unmanifestsource of all life was ancient, wide-spread acceptance of the existence of this field andunderstanding of its implications for life had not occurred until the beginning of the21st century.

Many individuals contributed to the revival of the perennial perspective. Among thepersons most responsible, however, because of ability to develop institutions and providescientific evidence for the perennial perspective, was the Indian exponent of the Vedictradition of knowledge, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.

Maharishi, in the last half of the 20th century, brought out a full revival of the Vedictradition of knowledge, showing its relevance for all areas of life, from education and

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business to medicine, defence, and government. Maharishi, in his life-long exposition ofVedic Science, made several significant contributions to the acceptance of the conscious-ness-based paradigm. First, he provided detailed understanding of pure consciousnessand its value for life. Second, he dispelled the misconception that meditation is just forrecluses, demonstrating its profound benefits for individuals engaged in the world. Third,he also dispelled the misunderstanding that meditation is difficult. He taught effortless,non-sectarian technologies for developing consciousness, especially the TranscendentalMeditation and TM-Sidhi programs, that gave millions of people benefit of the experi-ence of pure consciousness. Finally, and perhaps most significantly for the wide-spreadacceptance of this knowledge, he encouraged scientific research to verify the value ofexperience of pure consciousness for life.

This scientific research was highly significant because it bridged the chasm betweenthe great subjective traditions of meditation and the objective paradigm of modernscience. It made concrete and objective many of the deep truths associated with spiritualtraditions throughout time. This research, begun in the 1970s, was of three kinds.1 Thefirst verified that there were unique psycho-physiological characteristics of the experienceof pure consciousness. Initial research verified that subjective experience of transcend-ence did comprise a unique fourth state of consciousness, characterised by deep physio-logical rest and heightened mental alertness, different from waking, sleeping or dreamingconsciousness.2 Later research confirmed the unique psycho-physiological correlates ofthe stabilised state of enlightenment.3 Physiological research of a different sort, but offundamental significance, established the profound correspondence between theexpressions of pure consciousness, as found in the Vedic Literature, and the structureof human physiology.4 This discovery, by Dr. Tony Nader under Maharishi’s guidance,concretely demonstrated that the total potential of Natural Law—pure consciousness—is lively within the human physiology.

The second sort of research examined the practical benefit of experience of pureconsciousness for activity. This research showed profound and wide-ranging benefits con-sistent with the premise that pure consciousness is a fundamental field of intelligenceand orderliness. Research showed that experience of pure consciousness led to significantimprovement in all areas of life—mind, body, and behaviour. Specific findings on individ-uals practicing Transcendental Meditation included sharply reduced medical expendi-tures in all major health categories, improved academic performance, growth of IQ,greater psychological balance, unprecedented growth on measures of self development,and significantly reduced recidivism in prison inmates.5

The third highly significant area of research looked at the environmental influenceof practice of the Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi programs. This research con-sisted of dozens of carefully controlled research studies showing that significant positiveeffects are created in society—reductions in negative tendencies such as crime, violence,sickness, and accident rates, and increases in positive indicators such as politicalcooperation and economic indices—when a sufficient number of individuals practice theTM and TM-Sidhi programs. It is possible for individuals meditating in one place to affectthose in a far distant place because all individuals are connected at the level of pureconsciousness. When, for a given population, a critical number of people enliven theunderlying field of consciousness, the effect is great enough to influence the individualconsciousness and physiology of individuals not meditating. Individuals, therefore, cangain the benefit of transcending without meditating themselves. On an individual level,

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these benefits include more effective activity, happiness, and positivity, effects whichtranslate on a societal level into less frustration, less violence, and greater cooperation.6

This research on the collective effects of meditation had great significance both forthe confirmation it provided of the field nature of consciousness and for the practicalsolution it suggested to the myriad problems of 20th century society. In fact, it was thecreation of large ‘creating coherence groups’ on all major continents in the 21st centurythat caused the transition to the Age of Enlightenment. The enlivenment—or raising—ofconsciousness created by these groups led to the dissolution of social stress and thedropping away of negative behaviours. It also stimulated people around the world to bemore interested in spiritual goals and to attain enlightenment for themselves.

Educational implications of the existence of pure consciousness7

The discovery—or perhaps, more accurately, empirical confirmation—of the existence ofpure consciousness and a technique for easily contacting it radically changed the charac-ter of education. The implications of this understanding of consciousness for higher edu-cation were first introduced by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in institutions that he began tocreate in the late 20th century. Maharishi International University, later to become Mahar-ishi University of Management, was the first of these institutions. It was founded in 1971in Iowa in the US. Later, he founded Maharishi Vedic Universities and Maharishi Univer-sities of Management around the world. Maharishi called these institutions ‘Conscious-ness-Based’SM universities because they were based on the existence of the field of pureconsciousness. Now, in the year 2050, all universities have become consciousness basedand are governed by significantly different principles than guided 20th century insti-tutions. Understanding of the fundamentals of education has changed, including concep-tions of knowledge and development, and as a result, the goals of education are under-stood differently. As a reflection of these more fundamental changes, educationalpractices have also changed, including the introduction of new courses and disciplinesand a transformation in the approach of existing disciplines to their subject matter.

Goals of education

Goals of education can be formulated both from individualistic and societal perspectives,but there is one formulation that encompasses both: the full development of humanpotential. As John Dewey wrote 100 years ago, ‘Here individualism and socialism are atone. Only by being true to the full growth of all the individuals who make it up, cansociety by any chance be true to itself.’8 Recognition that enlightenment is the state offull human potential has considerably altered the focus of higher education. Whereas20th century institutions focused on learning, contemporary institutions emphasise devel-opment, particularly development of consciousness. Whereas in the 20th century the goalwas to create a knowledgeable person, now the goal is to create an enlightened person.

The ability of education, through providing knowledge and experience of pure con-sciousness, to create enlightened individuals makes it possible also to conceive of anideal society. It is not by chance that Plato’s Republic, which is the first systematic westerntreatise explaining the nature and importance of pure consciousness, is also the first sys-tematic western treatise on the creation of utopia. The ability of education to develop fullyenlightened individuals who have knowledge of ultimate reality creates the possibility of

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a more perfect society. As Maharishi says: ‘A few fully educated or enlightened individ-uals are sufficient to give a new direction to the life of their community and by theirvery presence bring about an enlightened society, create and maintain world peace, andestablish Heaven on Earth.’9 In his Science of Being and Art of Living, Maharishi presentedthis new potential for society in moving terms:

A new humanity will be born, fuller in conception and richer in experience and accomplishmentsin all fields. Joy of life will belong to every man, love will dominate human society, truth andvirtue will reign in the world, peace on earth will be permanent, and all will live in fulfilment infullness of life in [enlightenment].10

Change in educational practices

The emphasis on growth of consciousness is a major reason that post-secondary insti-tutions exist to the extent that they do in 2050, despite the near-universal access to knowl-edge allowed by technology. Growth of consciousness is enhanced through collectivepractice of meditation and simultaneous growth of intellectual understanding. An in-resi-dence collegiate environment thus provides an optimal situation for this growth to occur.In addition, the benefit to society of having large coherence-creating groups has createda societal incentive to retain the tradition of physical attendance at colleges and univer-sities. The social benefit in terms of enlivenment of collective consciousness and conse-quent elimination of social problems more than pays for the cost of publicly support-ing education.

The reorientation of post-secondary education to the fostering of enlightenment hasled to significant changes, including the introduction of new courses and disciplines anda transformation in the approach of existing disciplines to their subject matter. Perhapsthe most fundamental change is that all students collectively meditate morning and eve-ning. This practice constitutes a course—research in consciousness—required of all stu-dents. Students, in addition to their academic report cards, receive a psychophysiologicalreport card that indicates growth to enlightenment. These report cards are possiblebecause of clear understanding of the psychophysiological correlates of growth of con-sciousness and the development of technology that can easily measure these correlates.

In addition to the required course in research in consciousness, there are other newacademic courses and disciplines that relate to the knowledge of consciousness. Of great-est importance is the now standard discipline of the Science of Consciousness, alsoknown as Vedic Science. The Science of Consciousness Department oversees coursesand academic programs that provide intellectual understanding of development of con-sciousness. Because complete knowledge requires both experience and intellectualunderstanding, all students in current consciousness-oriented institutions take an on-goingcourse in knowledge of consciousness to complement their experience-based researchin consciousness program. This course is interdisciplinary in nature. Topics range fromabstract understanding of the nature of pure consciousness, found for example in theVedic Literature, to practical understanding of the mechanics of development of con-sciousness; they cover scientific understanding of the physiological correlates of growthof consciousness as well as investigations into expressions of this underlying reality foundin the art, literature, religion, and philosophy of the great traditions of the world. TheScience of Consciousness Department offers not only individual courses but complete

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academic programs at the bachelors, masters, and doctoral level. The study of conscious-ness is now its own discipline.

The approach to teaching established disciplines as well as the subject matter ofthese disciplines has also changed due to the acceptance of the consciousness-basedparadigm. One general change in the 21st century curriculum is the emphasis on whole-ness and connection. On the level of consciousness, everything is connected. Wholenessis the ultimate reality and this realisation colours the entire curriculum. Understandingof wholeness is fostered experientially through the growth of consciousness produced bymeditation—a developed consciousness spontaneously sees life in terms of connections.Intellectually it is fostered through a variety of modalities. One is the science of conscious-ness course that systematically explores the holistic basis of all life, pure consciousness,and how this wholeness manifests in the different relative fields. A second is use of largecharts in all courses that graphically represent how all areas of a discipline relate to eachother and their source in pure consciousness.

A third is emphasis on common principles that function in all of the disciplines. Anexample is the principle of self-referral, considered the first principle of nature’s func-tioning. This principle is seen in physics in the self-interacting dynamics of the unifiedfield, in electrical engineering in the notion of feedback, in art in the source of creativeinspiration deep in the mind, and in education in its goal to create independent, self-sufficient individuals who are capable of directing their own lives. Emphasis on basicprinciples such as self-referral—and wholeness, growth, and alternation of rest andactivity—helps students appreciate deep connections within and between disciplines.

Full understanding of consciousness has also impacted the content and goals of manydisciplines. We have seen this clearly with regard to education. Understanding of pureconsciousness has changed our understanding of the goal of education, the nature ofknowledge, and courses to be taken. This has also been true of many other disciplines.The arts and literature have been transformed by the understanding that the highest aes-thetic experience is transcendence, experience of pure consciousness. Art and literaturenow exalt this experience and seek to promote spiritual refinement. Twentieth centuryart and literature now seem crude in retrospect.

In the social sciences, understanding of pure consciousness has also brought dra-matic transformation. Psychology, which floundered in the 20th century without anadequate understanding of the mind, is now making important contributions to humanwelfare. The field has been immeasurably enriched by understanding of transcendenceand enlightenment. Growth to higher states of consciousness is now a major field ofstudy, and the practice of transcendence is thoroughly integrated into all the appliedareas of psychology. In sociology, the new understanding of collective consciousness hastransformed the field. The understanding that everyone in society is connected at thelevel of pure consciousness, and that enlivenment of this field by even a small percentageof individuals can raise the collective consciousness of the whole society, has changedthe way sociologists approach collective problems. This, in turn, has also had a significantimpact on the field of government. Political scientists now recognise that the greatestdeterminant of political outcomes is collective consciousness. The collective conscious-ness of a society is a direct and sensitive reflection of the level of consciousness of itsindividual members, and in turn becomes a force of its own influencing individual con-sciousness. When collective consciousness is incoherent—reflecting and in turn exacer-bating the stress of individual members—conflict dominates and the interest of the indi-

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vidual and group supersedes that of the whole. As collective consciousness rises, harmonygrows and values become more enlightened, reflecting a simultaneous respect for thewhole and the part. Cooperation and peace are now much more the emphasis of study,rather than conflict and war. Consciousness is now seen to be a key determinant ofpolitical behaviour on the individual and collective level.

In the natural sciences, the appreciation of the unity of man with nature has softenedthe rash move of 20th century science to dominate and replace nature. The environmentis deeply respected and natural approaches to everything from agriculture to medicineare studied and practiced. Approaches such as genetic engineering and cloning are nowrecognised to be the height of folly, the misplaced attempt to replace nature’s intelligencewith man’s intelligence. The discipline of physics has been subtly transformed by therealisation that the laws of nature outside are the same laws that function inside thehuman being and in all human endeavours from art to politics. Most fundamentally,physics now recognises that exploration of the finest levels of creation, and especiallythe unified field, requires subjective technologies such as meditation because they cannotbe grasped by objective technologies. In general, science has a more humanistic face,and it has advanced tremendously with the aid of scientists whose minds are functioningwith the profound intuition characteristic of the enlightened mind.

Conclusion

Life in the mid-21st century is very different from what it has been in the past centuries.The lack of violence, the level of prosperity, the degree of individual and collective happi-ness, the spirituality are so distinctive that they define a new age in human history—theAge of Enlightenment. In this age, individuality is fully vibrant, because individuals areliving their full potential, and yet harmony reigns because of the lively quality of lovethat permeates society. The leading dynamic of this age is not craving for wealth andpower, as in earlier ages, but the desire for growth of consciousness, that holistic growthencompassing both spiritual and relative values. The lurking enemy of this age is notchemical or nuclear weapons, but a complacency that comes when relative life is sogood, leading citizens to forget the transcendental knowledge at the basis of the age.

The focus of this age on personal growth makes educational institutions dominantin society, and at the heart of the educational system is knowledge of pure consciousness.It is this knowledge that has transformed the educational system and the age. There isan old saying that it takes a new seed to yield a new crop. Knowledge of the infinitestatus of human life in enlightenment and how to promote it through proper educationhas now yielded a civilisation worthy of the spiritual status of humanity.

Notes and references

1. See URL , http://www.miu.edu/tm research/welcome.html > for a comprehensive summary of researchon the Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi programs. This site also contains a summary of morethan 100 research studies directly relevant to education.

2. Travis, F. and Wallace, R. K., Autonomic patterns during respiratory suspensions: Possible markers oftranscendental consciousness. Psychophysiology, 1997, 34, 39–46.

3. Mason, L., Alexander, C., Travis, F., Marsh, G., Orme-Johnson, D., Gackenback, J., Mason, D., Rainforth,M. and Walton, K., Electrophysiological correlates of higher states of consciousness during sleep in long-term practitioners of the Transcendental Meditation program. Sleep, 1997, 20(2), 102–110. The following

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doctoral dissertation is interesting because it contains extensive interviews with individuals experiencinghigher states of consciousness: Guttmann, J., The Search for Bliss: A Model of Emotional DevelopmentBased on Maharishi’s Vedic Psychology, UMI Dissertation Services, Number 9633806, 1996.

4. Nader, T., Human Physiology: Expression of Veda and the Vedic Literature. Maharishi Vedic UniversityPress, Vlodrop, Netherlands, 1995.

5. Following are some representative articles in these areas: Orme-Johnson, D., Medical care utilizationand the Transcendental Meditation program. Psychosomatic Medicine, 1987, 49, 493–507. Alexander C.,Rainforth, M. and Gelderloos, P., Transcendental Meditation, self-actualization, and psychological health:A conceptual overview and statistical meta-analysis. Journal of Social Behavior and Personality, 1991, 6(5),189–247. Cranson, R., Orme-Johnson, D., Gackenbach, J., Jones, C. and Alexander, C., TranscendentalMeditation and improved performance on intelligence-related measures: A longitudinal study. Personalityand Individual Differences, 1991, 12, 1105–1117. Alexander, C., Robinson, P. and Rainforth, M., Treatingand preventing alcohol, nicotine, and drug abuse through Transcendental Meditation: A review and statisti-cal meta-analysis. Alcoholism Treatment Quarterly, 1994, 11, 219–336. Bleick, C. R. and Abrams, A. I.,The Transcendental Meditation program and criminal recidivism in California. Journal of Criminal Justice,1987, 15(3), 211–230.

6. The following URL has references to and short abstracts of more than 40 studies examining the environ-mental influence of practice of the TM and TM-Sidhi programs: ,http://miu.edu/tm research/tm biblio/socio/socio c.html > The following two studies have good reviewsof this effect: Orme-Johnson, D. W., Alexander, C. N., Davies, J. L., Chandler, H. M. and Larimore, W.E., International peace project in the Middle East: The effects of the Maharishi Technology of the UnifiedField. Journal of Conflict Resolution, 1988, 32(4), 776–812. Assimakis, P. D. and Dillbeck, M. C., Timesseries analysis of improved quality of life in Canada: Social change, collective consciousness, and theTM-Sidhi program. Psychological Reports, 1995, 76, 1171–1193.

7. The educational implications discussed in these last pages largely reflect the actuality of education atMaharishi University of Management in Fairfield, Iowa. I would like to thank my colleagues at MaharishiUniversity of Management, Dr. Chris Jones and Dr. Sam Boothby, for their thoughtful comments.

8. Dewey, J., The school and social progress. In The School and Society, ed. J. A. Boydston. Southern IllinoisUniversity Press, Carbondale and Edwardsville, Illinois, USA, 1980, p. 5.

9. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, Maharishi Vedic University: Introduction. Maharishi Vedic University Press, Vlod-rop, Netherlands, 1994, p. 147.

10. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, The Science of Being and Art of Living. Signet, New York, USA, 1968/1988,p. xvii.

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a new educational paradigm for the new millennium: consciousness-based education

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