MIND TRIPS: The Story of Consciousness-Raising Movements

by Aaron E. & Cynthia L. Klein Klein ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 21, 1979

As the consciousness revolution of the mid-Sixties to mid-Seventies is something your children might ask you about, you'd better learn what it is and get straight what the words mean, say the Kleins. And so, after a 30-page briefing on everything from Kent State and Watergate to Transcendentalism, Yoga, and est, they settle down to an investigation of Transcendental Meditation, which we are told both the authors and their children practice. This narrow focus is bound to disappoint after a buildup that seemed to promise something grander or at least broader--but the Maharishi can be grandiose enough, as the Kleins regretfully reveal. After so many people came to swear by TM, after scientific experiments confirmed that something happens physiologically during meditation, after proposing a seven-point World Plan for spiritual, intellectual, political, and economic ""fulfillment"" and awarding unimpressed nations with ""Certificates of Invincibility,"" the Maharishi blew it. First, TM fell victim to its own success when an organized parent group put a stop to federal grants for meditation in public schools. To recoup, the leader announced his new, expensive TM-Siddhi program for developing supranormal powers. After that the great TM debate pretty much degenerated to whether the woman in the come-on film was levitating or bouncing. In their summary, the Kleins continue to overcredit TM for more important changes that co-existed with the movement; but overall they provide some straight scam for anyone still curious about what goes on inside ""the McDonalds of the consciousness movement.

Pub Date: Sept. 21, 1979

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Doubleday

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1979

Categories: NONFICTION