TM: Discovering Inner Energy and Over-coming Stress

by ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 22, 1975

Given the recent research findings, it's not hard to believe there are benefits to be had from meditation which you won't Find in this extended advertisement for Transcendental Meditation and Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. Introduced by Hans Selye (who has lately been preaching taradiddle like ""earn thy neighbor's love"") and Buckminster Fuller (in an unusually cryptic -- and that's cryptic -- series of circumlocutions), the book sees TM's greatest value in counteracting stress. It explores some hackneyed terrain: alpha waves, states of consciousness, brain hemispheres. It progresses into psychological gains: besides lessening anxiety TM encourages ego growth in ""pure awareness"" -- the self apart from environment. TM is discussed as therapy in relation to Freud, Wolpe, Peris, and, especially, Maslow -- ""creative intelligence"" (CI) is similar to ""self-actualization"" and can be extended into a fifth state (""cosmic consdouaness"") and a sixth and seventh (don't ask). There are many contradictions: perhaps not everyone will gain from TM, but it is ""universally effective""; it is not a panacea, but it will transform education, therapy, business, prison life, drug problems, and thinking in general; a scientific approach is professed, but the technique of mantra selection should never be submitted to empirical scrutiny. Personal testimonials are predictable (""I'm convinced that TM is the greatest thing that ever happened to me""). As presented here, much of TM is BS.

Pub Date: March 22, 1975

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Delacorte

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1975

Categories: NONFICTION