MEDITATION: Journey to the Self

A sugary, well-intentioned account of some recent forays into ""the lost kingdoms of inner space."" Whitman surveys the more conspicuous effects of the ""inward movement"": the new religions and the attempts to discover old ones on new terms, the vast popular interest in biofeedback and TM, the burgeoning of ""research foundations"" and experimental programs. There is little attempt to separate the wheat from the chaff, and the ""Foundation for Mind Research"" and ""Maharishi International University"" rub elbows with well-known psychology departments and prison rehabilitation programs. Oddly enough, the author's few caveats about avoiding quackery and not using meditation as a social placebo merely emphasize the generally blurry, uncritical focus of this ill-organized melange.