asceticism in mysticism: transcendental meditation

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This article was downloaded by: [York University Libraries] On: 13 November 2014, At: 16:27 Publisher: Routledge Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK Sociological Spectrum: Mid-South Sociological Association Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/usls20 Asceticism in mysticism: Transcendental meditation William H. Norman a a Clarke College , 1550 Clarke Drive, Dubuque, IA, 52001 Published online: 30 Jul 2010. To cite this article: William H. Norman (1982) Asceticism in mysticism: Transcendental meditation, Sociological Spectrum: Mid-South Sociological Association, 2:3-4, 315-331, DOI: 10.1080/02732173.1982.9981671 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02732173.1982.9981671 PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the “Content”) contained in the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis, our agents, and our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinions and views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors, and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sources of information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to or arising out of the use of the Content. This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http:// www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions

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Page 1: Asceticism in mysticism: Transcendental meditation

This article was downloaded by: [York University Libraries]On: 13 November 2014, At: 16:27Publisher: RoutledgeInforma Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House,37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK

Sociological Spectrum: Mid-South SociologicalAssociationPublication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information:http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/usls20

Asceticism in mysticism: Transcendental meditationWilliam H. Norman aa Clarke College , 1550 Clarke Drive, Dubuque, IA, 52001Published online: 30 Jul 2010.

To cite this article: William H. Norman (1982) Asceticism in mysticism: Transcendental meditation, Sociological Spectrum:Mid-South Sociological Association, 2:3-4, 315-331, DOI: 10.1080/02732173.1982.9981671

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02732173.1982.9981671

PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE

Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the “Content”) contained in thepublications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis, our agents, and our licensors make no representationsor warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Anyopinions and views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors, and are not theviews of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon and should beindependently verified with primary sources of information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses,actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoever or howsoevercaused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to or arising out of the use of the Content.

This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematicreproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in anyform to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions

Page 2: Asceticism in mysticism: Transcendental meditation

ASCETICISM IN MYSTICISM:

TRANSCENDENTAL MEDITATION

WILLIAM H. NORMANClarke College

Max Weber differentiated mysticism from active asceticism andregarded the two as polar orientations to the world. It is the contentionhere that, although Transcendental Meditation (TM) is based on a tradi-tional Eastern otherworldly mysticism, it nevertheless serves to reinforcean innerworldly ascetic orientation. Evidence is presented that the TMtechnique is promoted as a means to mundane (worldly) ends and thatelements of the belief system—coupled with the physiological correlatesof meditation—serve to facilitate and reinforce an attitude of activemastery rather than accommodation and contemplation. This instru-mental use of a mystical religious tradition is explained in terms ofthe process of secularization.

Max Weber's sociology, supplementing Marx, assigns anindependent role to the realm of ideas in influencing humanbehavior. Religion is not simply an epiphenomenal reflec-tion of infrastructural processes but may act as a causal force.According to Weber's typology of religious orientations, how-ever, only the active ascetic is oriented toward mastery overand rationalization of the secular world. This paper proposesto look at Transcendental Meditation (TM) and its underlyingideology, the Science of Creative Intelligence (SCI) in aneffort to determine whether or not this Weltanschauung,despite its origin in Eastern mysticism, has an affinity for theinnerworldly ascetic orientation.

The author would like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their valu-able suggestions and Oliver D. Newsome for the use of his data from interviewswith meditators.

SOCIOLOGICAL SPECTRUM, 2:315-331,1982 .0273-2173/82/030315-17J2.25

Copyright © 1982 by Hemisphere Publishing Corporation 315

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316 W.H.NORMAN

THE WEBERIAN TYPOLOGY

According to Weber, each of the major world religionshas had to contend with a "problem of meaning." The dis-crepancy between normative expectations and actual experience(e.g., suffering and evil—what is their meaning?) has poseda persistent problem for humankind. The need to resolvethe resultant tension may be met by either (1) escaping fromthe conflicts of worldly existence or (2) trying to bring theworld into accord with the religious ethic.

These two methods of resolution are achieved throughone of two orientations (or "paths of action"): mysticism(i.e., resignation or adjustment) or asceticism (i.e., mastery).For either of these paths, one may choose between an inner-orldly and an otherworldly solution, that is, between workingwithin the institutional order and breaking with it (Parsons,in Weber, 1963:li).

Of these several orientations, only innerworldly asceti-cism, as epitomized by Calvinism, has contributed to the de-velopment of modern capitalism. Active ascetics, regardingthemselves as the instruments of divine will, seek masteryover the world—seek, indeed, to prove themselves through amethodically rationalized fulfillment of their vocationalresponsibility.

Hinduism exemplifies otherworldly mysticism. For thelay Hindu, the world is still enchanted; the practical way toorient oneself is toward magical coercion of the spirits andfulfillment of the ritual caste requirements. It seems doubt-ful that this magical religiosity could lead to a rational con-trol of life. Reality to the Hindu is an immutable world orderconsisting of the eternal cycle of rebirths. When each indi-vidual is merely part of this cosmic order governed by aneternally valid mechanism of retribution, he or she becomesinsignificant.

On the other hand, the Protestant ascetic sees the worldas a proving ground, so to speak. The Calvinist comes to regardworldly success as a sign of election, and so ultimately one'sactions in this life determine one's eternal salvation. Hinduismis more "ethically proportional"; it would be regarded asunjust to have finite human qualities result in infinite, eternalconsequences (Bendix, 1960:209).

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TRANSCENDENTAL MEDITATION 317

For the Hindu, the mundane world and its materialinterests are deprecated. Escape from the world is sought throughmystic contemplation—flight from the world (at least forthe Brahman caste). The accepted means of attaining salva-tion are extraordinary and irrational. The pious Hindu's focusis away from the world, not toward it like the Protestant's.Rational capitalism thus conflicts with the contemplativereligious attitude of Hinduism, inasmuch as the pursuit ofprofit deflects the individual from the pursuit of the divine.The psychological condition striven for leads away from theeconomic activity (Weber, 1968:531; Freund, 1968:181).From the point of view of the mystic, worldly action, inclu-ding economic action, is religiously inferior.

TRANSCENDENTAL MEDITATION

Elements of Otherworldly Mysticism

The Science of Creative Intelligence, as taught by MaharishiMahesh Yogi, is founded in the Hindu tradition of contemplativemysticism. In his book, The Science of Being and the Art ofLiving, Maharishi describes "Being" as "the ultimate realityof all that exists; it is absolute in nature" (Yogi, 1966:35).It is, furthermore, the "source of creat ion. . . permeatingeverything—all time, past, present, and future, all space andall aspects of causation" (Yogi, 1966:36).

Maharishi acknowledges the source of his philosophyin the Vedic tradition:

The idea of Being as ultimate reality is contained in the oldestrecords of Indian thought. The eternal texts of the Vedas,crowned with the philosophy of the Upanishads, reveal therelative and the Absolute as two aspects of the one reality,Brahman, absolute Being, which, although unmanifest in itsessential nature, manifests as relative creation. (1966:36)

SCI's roots in Indian religion are reaffirmed by the Maharishi'sacceptance of traditional Hindu doctrine. For example, hestates that "Karma from a past life is responsible for the mind'sidentity in the present life" (1966:42), and "It should befirmly established in the mind of every individual that he ispart of the whole life of the universe and that his relationship

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318 W.H.NORMAN

to universal life is that of one cell to the whole body" (1966:77). But this element of otherworldly mysticism is temperedby an emphasis on the practical innerworldly consequencesof meditation.

Affinity with Innerworldliness

Although homage is paid to the transcendent and all-encompassing conception of Being, what Maharishi emphasizesis Being as the source of all thought—making the philosophyamenable, as I try to show, to an instrumental orientation inwhich TM is seen to facilitate innerworldly action. In TM,the experience of Being may become a means to one's mundanegoals, rather than the end sought. The Hindu mystic's orienta-tion toward contemplation as the road to salvation and unityis replaced by the instrumental orientation characteristicof a capitalist society. The ¡deal becomes not rejection of thematerial world but realization of oneself through participationin it, and the philosophy of SCI acts as both a guide and aresource for this realization.

It is not the contention here that TM causes innerworldlyasceticism but that it is compatible with—that it clarifies andreinforces—such a predilection. I- am proposing that TM is at-tractive to and elected by persons concerned with masteryand that this concern is a very general one in our society.The rational approach in life, the moral virtue of work, theimportance of worldly success, and the individual's responsi-bility for his or her own fate, which are all associated withProtestant innerworldly asceticism, have lost their connec-tion to a religious base and now, as Weber asserts (1958b:181 ), constitute a cultural "iron cage."

This paper considers such an innerworldly asceticismthe cultural norm and assumes correctively that failure to"achieve" brings on somewhat negative self-evaluations anda lack of self-confidence in one's ability to deal with problems.Given these conditions, a system of meaning, such as SCI,which is able both to neutralize negative self-evaluationsand to instill self-confidence, facilitates the developmentof an assertive attitude toward the world and decisive actionwithin it.1

1 Compare the Tensho religion studied by Lebra (1970).

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Although SCI contains a good deal of traditional Easternmysticism, it does not seem to have the radical otherworldlyfocus usually associated with such beliefs. As Weber usedthe term, otherworldly mysticism involves a derogation ofthe material world. Whether the Maharishi is himself materi-alistic, he finds material concerns quite compatible with hisphilosophy. "Transcendental meditation does not reject thematerial world," he told an audience in New York, "it merelyhelps to acquire greater happiness within it." (Robbins andFisher, 1972:12).

The present study aims to analyze the recruitment ofmeditators and the practice of TM, with an eye to supportingor disconfirming the proposition outlined above, that is, thatTranscendental Meditation is a belief system that has anaffinity with the innerworldiy ascetic orientation.

METHODOLOGY

Three sources of data were examined: (1) interviews withmeditators, (2) public TM lectures, and (3) TM literature.

Interviews

Tape recordings of 17 interviews conducted in connec-tion with another project were analyzed. The meditatorsinterviewed were volunteers from a series of lectures for con-tinuing (advanced) meditators or friends of these. They weretold that the researcher was interested in the way meditatorssee and experience their world and were asked if they wouldlike to take part in a study. Most of those interviewed wereage 25 or under, and most had been or were then enrolledas college students. A sample of 7 men and 10 women werequestioned, using a 64-item interview schedule.

Lectures

Field notes were taken during attendance at TM-sponsoredpublic lectures, including a Seminar on Education, a Seminaron Business, and introductory lectures. All of these lecturestook place in the Iowa Memorial Union of the University ofIowa, except the Seminar on Business, which was held in theIowa City Community Recreation Center, and an introductorylecture at the public library in Dubuque, Iowa.

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Literature

Some 22 items of promotional literature were collected.All of these items, although they may contain large amountsof "factual" material, were distributed for their propagandavalue, and all were printed (or reprinted) by the TM-SCIorganizations, including especially Maharishi InternationalUniversity.

These three sets of data were analyzed in regard to boththe recruitment of meditators and the consequences of medi-tation, in an attempt to evaluate the hypothesis that TM-SCIboth attracts and promotes interworldly asceticism.

EVIDENCE

Recruitment

Most of the meditators interviewed (12 of 17) originallyheard of and became interested in TM through friends orrelatives who were meditators themselves. Nearly all reportedthat they had friends or relatives who meditated prior to theirown initiation, and virtually all of them spoke to at leastone meditator before attending the introductory lecture.When asked why TM interested them originally, 10 of the 17interviewees answered that they had been looking for some-thing like this, 6 said that they had seen results in othersthey knew who meditated, and 1 cited both of those things.

The introductory lecture, open to the public and thefirst step in the only sanctioned route to meditation, acquaintsthe audience with some basic tenets of the Maharishi's philos-ophy and (especially) TM's claims for positive consequences.All the introductory lectures are substantially the same andmay even be presentation from rote.

An introductory lecture attended by the author was alow-key presentation given by a (stylish but conservativelyattired) husband-and-wife team. The woman, Peggy, beganwith an explanation that TM was a "technique for developingone's full potential" and not a religion or philosophy. Thistheme is often repeated. TM lecturers and proselytizers donot try to compete with more established religions for clientele.

Transcendental Meditation, according to this and otherspeeches attended, allows us to "be more successful in what

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we're doing, and also to enjoy our mind and body (sic) andwhat we're doing more." TM allows us to be "even moreawake," to "use more of our potential—what is naturallyours." "Fulfillment" is sold in these introductory lecturesand is defined in rather conventional terms as productivityand (worldly) success. TM, it is emphasized, is a practical(as opposed to either theoretical or idealistic) way to "morecreative solutions to problems and success in a vocation."

The considerable scientific evidence supporting the viewthat TM is an "altered state of consciousness" is touted inprinted pamphlets and brochures as well as in lectures andspeeches. Documentation of the physiological changes ac-companying meditation is presented as objective proof ofTM's ability to "actualize" more of one's potential. Studiesconducted by the president of Maharishi International Uni-versity while he was still a physiologist at UCLA are amongthe earliest and most widely referenced studies of the effectsof meditation on the body (Wallace, 1970).

Peggy's husband, Mark, followed her with a very straight-forward presentation of some of the results of scientific re-search on the influence of meditation on both body and mind.The customarily cited data on skin resistance (an indicatorof "stress"), electroencephalographic patterns, and metabolicrates was accompanied by information on brain-wave synch-ronization and an increase in \Q by Maharishi InternationalUniversity students. A free booklet available at the meetingincluded 64 graphs and tables.

Both lecturers emphasized that it is not the experiencein meditation that is important but the consequences of medi-tation for the rest of one's life activities. "The experience(of meditating) is nothing flashy at all; it's just very pleasant."People meditate "for the growth outside meditation." Thistheme was strongly emphasized in a Seminar on Businessentitled "Increasing Productivity through Elimination ofStress: The Practical Application of Transcendental Medita-tion to Business." The seminar began with videotaped and oralpresentations, according to which meditation not only reducesone's "accumulated" stress but makes one more "resilient"to stress in the future. Furthermore, this elimination or reduc-tion of stress results in increased worker productivity andbetter morale. Speakers at this seminar alleged that "TM

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can be an effective tool with respect to business and industry."Testimonials, particularly by scholars and public offi-

cials, abound in the TM literature, and two well-known localbusinessmen were present at this seminar to relate the positiveeffects TM had on both their business and (especially) theirpersonal lives. One of these men felt that, as a small business-man, he "puts in a very stressful day" but meditation had"done a lot of good for me—I'm sold on it." His entire familyand two of his employees now meditate also. The other business-man—a realtor and a commited Christian—emphasized thatTM has not only made him calmer and more relaxed but that"it's helped my prayer life" and has "complemented myreligious life."

TM handouts available at this meeting included such titlesas "TM . . . A Trademark for Success?", "Business Tries Medi-tating," and "Meditation for Managers." A reprinted articlefrom the San Francisco Examiner was headlined "MeditationIrons Furrowed Brows in State Legislative Halls." This andother TM propaganda seems to fall into one or more of thefollowing four categories:

1. reprinted articles emphasizing TM's acceptabilityamong normal establishment-type persons and combattingthe exotic/weird image;

2. various materials documenting TM's positive effectsin the lives of meditators—typically in terms of increased pro-ductivity and/or less psychological stress;

3. literature containing assertions of the rehabilitative ortherapeutic potential of meditation; and

4. reports of the scientific evidence that meditation con-stitutes a special physiological state and that this state haspositive consequences—in everything from improved athleticperformance to increased normality to better job performance.

Two or three of these themes are often combined in the sameitem, of course.

Examples from a few of the printed items distributed bythe TM-SCI organization serve to illustrate the ways in whichthe four themes are presented. For instance, the "acceptability"of TM is demonstrated by a picture of the Maharishi with thegovernor of Illinois, together with reprinted articles fromChicago papers about the state legislature's resolution encouraging

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the use of TM. There are also reprints of the entire resolutionitself. An article reproduced from The New Englander (nodate) discloses that meditators in two localities include "atop executive of a major Boston bank, president of a Con-necticut manufacturing firm, vice chairman of the board ofa Boston food products concern, and an executive of a BayState plastics firm."

The success theme is obvious in the reprinted letter froma New York school superintendent to a Department of Edu-cation official in British Columbia, which asserts that medi-tating students (1) improve their grades; (2) get along betterwith teachers, parents, and other students; and (3) have lessdrug use. Another article, reprinted from Industry Week,The Magazine for Managers (August 6, 1973), states that"meditators show increases in job satisfaction, a decreaseddesire to change jobs, better performance, and better rela-tionships with supervisors and co-workers." Continuing inthis vein, the article says, "The farther up the organizationalladder the executives are and the more democratic the organiza-tion, the greater the impact of TM upon productivity."

The theme of TM's rehabilitative or therapeutic poten-tial is emphasized in articles on -drug abuse, prisoner rehabili-tation, and even the treatment of mental patients. One ofthese, reprinted from Kentucky Law Journal (1971-72),cites a report submitted to a congressional committee: "Thestudy showed that after one to three months of meditationonly 2.5 percent were heavy users of marijuana and hashishwhereas 22.4 percent had been heavy users before beginningTM." Similar decreases in use were reported for LSD and hardnarcotics. The author of the article continued by assertingthat "experts agree that most people could stop drug use if asufficiently desirable and simple alternative were offered tomake them stop. Transcendental Meditation is available assuch an alternative."

The scientific proof theme is best exemplified by the"Fundamentals of Progress" booklet containing synopsesof 64 studies, each illustrated by at least one graph, and bythe article from Science, entitled "Physiological Effects ofTranscendental Meditation," by Robert Keith Wallace (1970).This article reports Wallace's studies of TM's relationship tosuch phenomena as metabolic rate, skin resistance, EEG patterns,

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and oxygen consumption. He concludes, with proper scientificreserve, that "physiologically, the state produced by tran-scendental meditation seems to be distinct from commonlyencountered states of consciousness, such. as wakefulness,sleep, and dreaming, and from altered states of consciousness,such as hypnosis and autosuggestion" (1970:1754).

Although recruitment is low-key, teachers of TranscendentalMeditation do not hesitate to deny its triviality. In the wordsof one enthusiast, the TM movement "doesn't endorse form-ing committees to find out what the problem is and to ex-plore the problem, but to head off the problem at its source."Maharishi Mahesh Yogi has reputedly stated (according toMark's introductory lecture) that if even 1% of the populationof any country were to meditate, then wars, crime, and othersuch problems would be drastically reduced.2 Not only wouldmeditators not be adding to the world's tension and stress,they would also be more creative and productive in contributingto their solutions.

The business seminar mentioned above was part of TM-SCI's World Plan, an ambitious campaign to "train one teacherof the Science of Creative Intelligence for every one thousandpeople in all parts of the globe."-The seven goals of the WorldPlan, which "can be realized in this generation," are (1) todevelop the full potential of the individual, (2) to improvegovernmental achievements, (3) to realize the highest ¡dealof education, (4) to eliminate the age-old problem of crimeand all behavior that brings unhappiness to the family ofman, (5) to maximize the intelligent use of the environment,(6) to bring fulfillment to the economic aspirations of indi-viduals and society, and (7) to achieve the spiritual goals ofmankind in this generation.

Persons attending the first (introductory) lecture areinvited to attend a second, preparatory lecture, in which thetradition of TM and some of the mechanics involved are dis-cussed. At the conclusion of this lecture, those interested inbecoming meditators make appointments to begin the series

2One of the speakers at an MIL) program in Iowa City failed to appear becausehe was negotiating a sort of package deal with the King of Nepal, whereby MIUwould teach the TM technique to tens of thousands of Nepalese.

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of five sessions in the technique.3 According to Mark's com-ments in the introductory lecture, there are only three re-quirements anyone must meet in order to be initiated intoTM: (1) pay the tuition, (2) meet the physiological require-ments, and (3) give up the time necessary to learn thetechnique.

The tuition is currently $200 for adults, $150 for col-lege students, $125 for high school students, and $300 forfamilies. Teachers of meditation contend that the TM organiza-tions are nonprofit and that the monies collected go to main-taining TM centers and teachers. Robbins and Fisher (1972)quote Jerry Jarvis, Director of Students International Medi-tation Society and International Meditation Society, as follows:"When Maharishi was told that people in the West equatedeverything according to its monetary value, and that a week'snet income would enable people to place the true value ofwhat they had been given, he reluctantly agreed to the pay-ments" (p. 121).

Physiological requirements consist mainly in abstinencefrom "non-prescribed recreational" drugs for a period of 15days prior to starting TM. This requirement is in Mark's words"not ethical or moral but practical." The body must be cleansedof impurities before meditating. (This requirement may ac-count for the relationship sometimes noted between medi-tating and being cured of drug abuse.) Alcohol should not beingested within 15 hours of meditation.

About two hours each day for four consecutive days,plus another two-hour period the following week, must becommitted to the learning of Transcendental Meditation,with check-ups about once a month for the first two yearsafterwards.

In summary, the recruitment of meditators seems toemphasize not only that meditators and meditation are con-ventional rather than deviant but especially that meditationcan provide both peace of mind and greater productivityto those who adopt the technique.

3Robbins and Fisher state that "many of the people who attend the(first two) lectures have already decided to go ahead and be initiated" (1972:38).

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Consequences

Interviews with a nonrandom sample of Iowa City medi-tators provide evidence that Transcendental Meditation andthe Science of Creative Intelligence, although based upon anotherworldly mysticism, also reinforce an ¡nnerworldly asceticorientation. The practice of meditation, an immanent con-ception of god, and acceptance of the world as given are allelements of a contemplative mysticism. TM also includes aninstrumental approach to meditating, a propensity to mini-mize concerns with negative evaluations of one's behavior,and the encouragement of confidence and decisive action,all of which interface with an attitude of active mastery.

Responses from our interviews with meditators pointto the Eastern mystic element in TM. Questions about thenature of god elicited answers like "Creative Intelligence isGod," "a cosmic Force," and "I'm a pantheist." Virtuallyall interviewees held to this immanent conception of godusually associated with a mystical religious Weltanschauung.

Acceptance of the status quo and a predilection forindividualistic solutions were apparent in answers to ques-tions about politics. Although some had once been self-definedpolitically active radicals, and many others judged themselvesliberal in political philosophy, nearly everyone interviewedsaid they were not politically active since taking up medita-tion. One subject said, "I don't want to be involved in any-thing political." Others agreed. "Anyone who does anythingto disturb anyone is wrong." "To make government betterwe must first have better people." "If everyone had cosmicconsciousness they'd do what's right."

The political passivity evidenced by meditators is charac-teristic of contemplative mysticism, but it is not necessarilyincompatible with the ¡nnerworldly ascetic's rational questfor success or self-actualization. Because the political ordervalues the same personal qualities and goals sought by thesemeditators, it is hardly surprising that they are not politicalactivists bent on overthrow of the system.

Despite the world-rejecting element in the SCI beliefsystem, it seems to be peculiarly amenable to rational inner-worldly activity. First of all, the doctrine encourages a relaxedattitude toward life—"taking things as they come," and second,

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the doctrine and the physiological experience of meditationtogether serve to instill confidence in one's own capacity todeal with problems and to succeed.

If the first of these seems to be contrary to innerworldlystriving, perhaps an illustration will help. Fear of failure some-times becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy; one defines oneselfas likely to fail an exam or to perform as a social fool, andthe tension that results leads to failing the exam or to makingsocial blunders. Transcendental Meditation's doctrine servesto place personal acts in the context of a vast and impersonalcosmic order. The problems of this world are no reason forworry, despair, or self-criticism. The technique of meditationand the SCI theology aim at the elimination of tension, andmeditators are expected to take a relaxed approach to life.The doctrine "relativizes" individual actions and minimizesself-consciousness and self-blame, so the tension resultingfrom negative self-evaluation does not arise.

The first consequence of the belief system—neutralizationof negative self-evaluation—is coupled with a second majorconsequence—the encouragement of assertiveness throughinstilling confidence. This is accomplished through a combi-nation of (1) the conceptualization of Being as the sourceof all creativity and thought and (2) the physical experienceof meditation itself.

The belief that one has the truth, the correct solutionto any problem, at his or her disposal would indeed be a power-ful confidence-builder and an encouragement to take decisiveaction. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi teaches just that. All creativityand thought originates in Being, to which the meditator hassuperior access through the technique of meditation. Buthow might meditators come to place any faith in such a belief?

The physiological changes that accompany meditationact as signs that verify the doctrine and confirm one's abilityto more fully experience this "realm of pure consciousness"from which thoughts arise. The meditator has experiencedfor himself or herself the promised "altered state of conscious-ness," and this experience lends solid support to the Maharishi'steaching. The meditator thus feels himself or herself to be amore creative and capable person as a result of meditating, andany subsequent evidence tending to support this belief may betaken as confirmation.

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Interviews with meditators seem to indicate that theydo take a more relaxed and positive approach to problemsolving since starting TM. All 17 said that they cope betterwith their problems since they began to meditate. Here aresome of their answers to the question "How do you react toproblems in your everyday life?"

I used to go away from them—I'm not doing that as much as Iused to (before TM). Maybe I'm facing them a little more.

Before I started meditation—when I did dope—I lost the abilityto handle probems Now I'm prepared for, I plan for myexperience. Problems occur less because I plan for things more.

I react positively. I'm able to see solutions more quickly...problems don't affect me as much (now).

I try to take care of it—do what has to be done. Before, I sataround, stewed . . . had (to have) it all figured out

Before I would dwell on a problem too much, make it worse formyself. I try now.

DISCUSSION

Although TM may not be responsible for producing orcausing that state of mind typified by Max Weber as inner-worldly asceticism, the data lend support to the proposition thatTranscendental Meditation has an affinity with that orienta-tion toward the world. If we are to judge on the basis of therecruitment program, many persons apparently join the move-ment precisely because they feel it has some instrumentalvalue—TM can be used to bring about a better and more success-ful relationship between oneself and the rest of the world.Those interested in mastery, it is suggested, become meditatorsfor that reason. The TM-SCI belief system serves to reinforceand supplement that approach to one's environment.

Transcendental Meditation is based on a traditionalEastern otherworldly mysticism, yet has elements that servean innerworldly ascetic orientation. The legitimacy of material-istic concerns, together with an instrumental approach to thetechnique, encourage the participation of persons with mundaneinterests. The belief system promotes an easy-going acceptanceof the difficulties of day-to-day life, while simultaneously

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equipping the meditator to act confidently and decisivelywithin that context.

This diversion of an essentially contemplative belief systemto practical, worldly ends would seem to be but another mani-festation of increasing secularization. The process of seculariza-tion involves the differentiation of the religious sphere fromother institutional spheres, together with the increasing "ra-tionalization" of all spheres of life and the growth of religiouspluralism.

Much of what was once understood to be the purviewof religion—from the standards governing commerce to thedefinition and punishment of deviance—is now under secularcontrol. Even religious belief systems themselves are sometimesmeans to secular ends, and this is the case with TranscendentalMeditation. TM's stress- and anxiety-reducing consequencesare especially valued in a society whose economic and socialinstitutions generate high levels of stress and anxiety. Transcend-ental Meditation serves as a means to the goals of secularsociety by helping meditators adjust to and perform well intheir niches in the secular world.

Functional rationality (or Zweckrationalität (Weber, 1964:117)), is the dominant orientation of contemporary secularinstitutions, and this attitude increasingly invades the religiousrealm. Functional rationality chooses among means on thebasis of expediency rather than absolute standards. With respectto TM, people join the group for instrumental reasons, inorder to achieve their secular goals, not (at least at first) asan end in itself.

Peter Berger points to the necessity in a secular age ofmarketing belief systems (1969:138). In their search for legiti-macy in a capitalist industrial society dominated by functionalrationalism, even religions rooted in otherworldly mysticismmay offer an earthly pragmatic justification for their practices.The TM "marketing program" defines away its competitionby disavowing its status as a religion, and it offers what theconsuming public appears to want—a technique for reducingstress and enhancing productivity. (TM's emphasis on scien-tific evidence for the effects of meditation reflects the factthat "science sells" in a rational, secularized society.)

We have in a sense come full circle. It was a religiousethic that helped to modify secular institutions, becoming the

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normative basis of the capitalist economic system. Now thesecular world and its spirit of functional rationality act tomodify religious institutions, to make them serve secular ends.The realm of ideas both affects and reflects material interests.

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Bendix, Reinhard1960 Max Weber, An Intellectual Portrait Garden City, N.Y.: Double-

day.Berger, Peter

1969 The Sacred Canopy. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday.Forem, Jack

1973 Transcendental Meditation. New York: E. P. Dutton.Freund, Julien

1968 The Sociology of Max Weber. New York: Random House.Gerth, H. H., and C Wright Mills

1946 From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology. New York: Oxford Press.Lebra, T. S.

1970 "Religious conversion as a breakthrough for transculturation:A Japanese sect in Hawaii." Journal for the Scientific Study ofReligion 9 (Fall):181-195.

Parsons, T., E. Shils, K. D. Naegele, and J. R. Pitts (Eds.)1961 Theories of Society. New York: Free Press.

Robbins, Jhan, and David Fisher1972 Tranquility Without Pills. New York: Peter H. Wyden.

Wallace, R. K.1970a The physiological effects of transcendental meditation: A pro-

posed fourth major state of consciousness. Ph.D. thesis. LosAngeles: University of California, Los Angeles.

1970b "Physiological effects of transcendental meditation." Science(Mar. 27): 1751-1754.

Wallace, R. K., and H. Benson1972 "The physiology of meditation." Scientific American 226:84-90.

Weber, Max1958a The Religion of India. H. H. Gerth and D. Martindale, trs.

Glencoe, 111.: Free Press.1958b The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. Talcott

Parsons, tr. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons.1963 The Sociology of Religion. E. Fischoff, tr. Boston: Beacon.1964 The Theory of Social and Economic Institutions. A. M. Henderson

and T. Parsons, trs. New York: Free Press.1968 Economy and Society. G. H. Roth and C Wittich, trs. New York:

Bedminster.

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Yogi, Maharishi Mahesh1968 The Science of Being and the Art of Living. New York: Inter-

national S RM Publications.

Received January 10, 1982Accepted May 12, 1982

Request reprints from William H. Norman, Clarke College,1550 Clarke Drive, Dubuque, IA 52001.

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