The Lazy Way to Success

Part 2: The Lazy Way of Making the World a Better Place

Here’s an update from the Weapon of Mass Harmony.

Meditation experiences on this Invincible America Course are off-the-charts wonderful. In all my 39 years as a TMer, I have never experienced anything as deep, as clear, as consistent, as powerful, as profound, and as blissful as I have these last two weeks. It is amazing. In fact, each day gets significantly better. It is blowing me away. I’ve always loved to meditate and I’ve enjoyed some magnificent benefits but this is unbelievable. And it is happening for EVERYONE. Something super-special is going down here. It feels like a huge awakening is taking place. Maharishi is obviously pulling out all the stops. 

What is astounding is that these great experiences are being generated by a group of only 1200 TMers who are doing their program together. The coolest, most historic news is that Maharishi is sending between 1000 and 2000 Vedic pandits from India to join us. These pandits have been  trained under Maharishi’s guidance. Besides their practicing the TM-Sidhi program, they will be doing special Vedic performances to help bring about world peace. The overall effect on the course and the world is certain to be huge.

The first group of 49 Vedic pandits arrived Saturday night. Another 50 will arrive tonight (Monday, October 30, 2006). An additional 100 will arrive on Tuesday. Groups will continue to come over the next several weeks as seats on airlines become available.

There is even a foundation that is PAYING people a salary to meditate in the group.

Fairfield Iowa, if not already, is going to become irresistible. And humanity’s most cherished dream is about to come – peace.

Here are the latest predictions based on the group's growth in size:

• The Dow will continue to surge towards 15,000.
• Oil prices will continue to fall to below $45 a barrel.
• Unemployment rates will continue to fall.
• Consumer and investor confidence will rise.
• The North Korea and Iran standoffs will be peacefully resolved.
• There will be a dramatic reduction in violence in Iraq.
• Violent crime in the US will decrease by 20%.
• And finally, the party that wins the November elections will be in a position to hold onto power indefinitely.

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The Lazy Way of Making the World a Better Place

I’ve been practicing Transcendental Meditation (TM) since 1968 when I was a senior at Rutgers University. I loved doing it from the start and I love all the benefits I have received. It has done (and continues to do) wonders for my health, happiness, financial success, and spiritual outlook. These are obviously all personal benefits. One does TM for him or herself and enjoys the results. Interestingly, however, there is a “sociological” spill-over effect.

This sociological effect was first noticed (and researched) back in the mid 1970s when TM was quite popular on college campuses. Scientists found that when 1% of a city’s population practiced TM, the crime rate dramatically decreased. At that time, four cities were identified. I recall Iowa City and Ithaca, NY being two of them. In any case, these cities were paired with control cities of comparable economics, college population, location, and demographics. The one difference was that these control cities did not have 1% of their populations doing TM. In the control cities, crime rate continued to increase.

The explanation was that TM produces coherence in the functioning of an individual's brain as observed in various EEG readings. When a critical mass of meditators is reached, their collective orderly brain functioning  exerts a positive influence on the functioning of everyone else in society and everyone begins to think and behave in a more orderly manner. Crime obviously is a measure of disorder in society so a decrease in crime can be viewed as a measure of increasing orderliness. This phenomenon was observed and researched many times.

A couple of years after this initial study, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the founder of the TM movement, introduced an advanced program for TMers called the TM-Sidhi program. Sidhi is a Sanskrit word meaning perfection or super-normal power The TM-Sidhi program taught people the underlying technique on how to achieve the sidhis which are described in Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, an ancient Vedic text. The most famous sidhi, of course, is yogic flying or levitation.

Needless to say, I jumped on this opportunity like a fumble in 1977 and learned the TM-Sidhi program. As powerful and as wonderful as TM was for me, the TM-Sidhi program was more so. But instead of dwelling on my personal experience, I want to get back to the sociological spill-over.

It was quickly found that when people practiced the TM-Sidhi program in a group the effect was magnified. Instead of needing 1% of a population to practice TM to have a pervasive positive influence, now all that was needed was the square root of 1% for “sidhas.” The only catch was the sidhas needed to practice in a group. Translated into practical numbers, the requirement for the United States is 1730. (1% of 300 million is 3 million and the square root of 3 million is approximately 1730.) The requirement for the world is around 8000.

Groups of that size have been assembled on a temporary basis but only for a couple of weeks. Interestingly, however, when those numbers are achieved, the results are always astounding. Crime decreases, stock market booms, accidents and hospital admissions decrease, hositilities and war deaths decrease, etc. By the way, this research has been replicated over 40 times and some of these studies have been published in the most prestigious, peer-reviewed scientific journals.

Wanting to create the effect on a permanent basis, the TM movement have made various efforts to create a stable group for America and for the world but it has been difficult to achieve for many reasons.

Now the story gets really good.

Remember back in July when Israel and Lebanon were at war and the economists were predicting a major bear market and oil and gas prices were soaring and America’s reputation was in the worldwide hopper and the US was bracing itself for another devastating hurricane season? At that time, Maharishi made another concerted effort to assemble a group of at least 1730 yogic flyers to, in his words, “create an invincible America.”

The group is being assembled where I live (Fairfield, Iowa) so I don’t have to relocate to participate. While I have participated in many of the other large TM-Sidhi gatherings, this one is different. For one thing, Maharishi really turned up the intensity of the program. Without going into detail, we are doing it for much longer periods.

My personal experience has been extraordinary. For this I am exceedingly grateful. But then again, most people are having great experiences. Our group is only 1200 strong at the moment, but many more are arriving. It will not be long before the magic 1730 number is achieved.

As for sociological results so far, the Middle East calmed down, the stock market which was predicted to tank is now setting records, oil prices have plummeted, consumer confidence has risen, unemployment has dropped, and dire forecasts of destructive hurricanes have not come true. Coincidence, you say? Stay tuned. We're just getting warmed up. If you see major upsurges of peace, harmony, and prosperity in the immediate future, I'm sure you won't mind me saying I told you so.

Of course, Iraq and North Korea are still major headaches but remember we are only at 1200. It will be fascinating to see what happens to the world when we achieve and exceed 1730. A major influx is expected in the next week or two so hang on to your hat.

Life is definitely sweet.  And it is going to get sweeter. Mark my words.

www.lazyway.net

 

Weeds and Life’s Purpose

I took my wife and mother to a wonderful organic farm a few miles from our home. The 180-acre operation which includes a three-acre greenhouse is run by an enchanting couple. Dean, the husband, captivated us with tales of soil chemistry and local bacteria. And his wife Christine, a drop-dead gorgeous French woman, dazzled our taste buds with her culinary magic. If P.G. Wodehouse were alive today, he would readily agree that like his character Anatole the French chef, Christine is also “God’s gift to the gastric juices.”

Every Sunday throughout the summer, Dean and Christine hosted an outdoor brunch. They held two seatings, each for 24 people. They used the produce from the farm in their dishes which meant the food was so fresh you wanted to slap its face. Even though they did not advertise, reservations went fast. Guests had been known to drive over 100 miles one way to attend.

On the Sunday we were blessed to be there, Christine prepared spanikopita (spinach pie made with filo pastry). Even now as I write about it I am overwhelmed with reverential feelings for that particular masterpiece. But I digress. While serving myself a second helping (and still swooning in delight over eating the first), Dean sidled up to me and whispered that there was actually no spinach in this spinach pie.

“What’s in it?” I gasped in astonishment.
“Weeds,” he replied.
My knees buckled.
“Weeds?” I gasped again.
“Weeds,” he confirmed.
“What kind of weeds?” I asked.
“Lamb’s quarter,” he said.

Dean proceeded to extol the nutritional value of lamb’s quarter but all I could think about was how great it tasted.

Lamb’s quarter was the first weed I could identify as a toddler when I “helped” my mom in the garden. For nearly 60 years, up until brunching on those bliss-bestowing morsels, I hated seeing lamb’s quarter in gardens. Farmers must also share that hatred since they spend billions upon billions of dollars on herbicides and untold hours spreading it on their fields to kill off every single sprig of lamb’s quarter. Now Dean tells me that lamb’s quarter is good, wholesome stuff. And my mouth was an immediate convert.

Lamb’s quarter, the archetypal worthless weed that is found in everyone’s garden, isn’t so worthless after all.

The realization got me thinking. The story of lamb’s quarter was yet another piece of evidence that nothing in Nature is wasted and Whoever or Whatever created this Whole Thing didn’t make any junk. Every plant, every creepy crawly, and for that matter, everything and everyone has value.

Let me, for a moment, put a bookmark at that thought and bring out another wrinkle.

My son dropped out of high school two weeks ago. He is/was a senior. He claims it is only for a month and that he plans to re-enroll for the second quarter and make up the school work he missed via correspondence courses to graduate with his class. We’ll see. In any case, he maintained that the purpose of this “hiatus” is to travel around the country and hope to find and/or ignite a spark in his life.

That got me thinking more about purpose and the spark that drives purpose. 

Here is what I realized.

I am convinced that we were all put here for a purpose. Identifying that purpose and then expressing it is the real fun. I am also convinced that each one of us has all the tools and resources necessary within arm’s reach to realize our purposes. Perhaps those inner resources are latent but everyone already has the requisite intelligence, creativity, energy, and time. Everyone also has the necessary passion to drive the process.

So where’s the problem?

The problem is that most folks, besides not believing they are special (a tragic oversight, by the way), are so dulled out or fatigued that their innate intelligence, creativity, and passion are encrusted with inertia and thereby rendered sluggish.

The sharpness of our intelligence, and the liveliness of our creativity, and the intensity of our “spark” are all directly proportional to how rested we are. If we dissipate our energy in inane activity and pointless work, and if we squander our time in traffic jams and commutes, and if we eat empty, dulling foods, and if, with whatever time we have left, we watch mind-rotting television, then finding our purpose will be darn near impossible.

The intensity of our spark in life is completely dependent on how rested we are. If my son would listen to me, which he doesn’t, I’d have communicated this point. So instead of running around the country and getting exhausted in the process, I’d have counseled that he get deeply rested. Then the path becomes both obvious and irresistible.

I saw an apropos comic strip (“Bizarro” by Dan Piraro) in the newspaper yesterday that should give us pause to evaluate the direction each of us is taking in our lives. An old guy on his death bed is surrounded by family. The old guy is reflecting on the achievements of his life. He says, “I watched a lot of TV, ate a lot of fast food, and sold more laminated countertops in June of 1973 than anyone else in the Southeast region. My work here is done.”

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When to Hold ‘em; When to Fold ‘em

I’ve had a flurry of similar questions from readers regarding when to “move on” from “toying” with an idea, project or job if one is repeatedly being stymied. I can understand the conundrum because you don’t want to abandon something that could become big yet you don’t want to invest too heavily in the walking dead either.

I thought I’d answer those questions the lazy way, by doing it here instead of writing to each individual separately. This way I embrace two birds with one hug.

These questions got me thinking about how I do things. Since I have certainly clung to projects (financially, emotionally, habitually, stubbornly) way past their expiration dates, I looked at those times and analyzed when and why I finally jumped ship. (Or, in the case of my ice cream company, when I was involuntarily thrown overboard. You can read that story here. The story runs for several posts.)

Here is what I learned from that analysis. I have found that I need an overarching dream. I will happily pursue a project or an idea if that project nourishes my dream. A dream is important to me because it serves as an evolving blueprint on what to do in order to achieve it.

I like my dreams to be paradigm-shifting-world-changing-mega-home-runs. If my current project or idea doesn’t have the potential of realizing a big dream then I abandon it pretty quickly. I guess that is why I could never work for someone else. I’m not interested in doing stuff to realize someone else’s dream unless my dream gets realized also. But many more times than not, that person’s dream is pedestrian compared to mine. And nothing could be more excruciatingly boring to me than dreaming small.

So if a project keeps my dream lively and inspiring, I stay with the project. It usually takes a new project that comes with a vastly improved dream to make it possible for me to let go of an old project. I definitely hate to be between dreams.

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