Maharishi Effect
Global Reduction of Violence and Terrorism
When the number of experts in Maharishi's Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi program participating in each of three assemblies approached or exceeded 7,000 (the square root of 1% of the world's population), there was a significant decrease in international conflict, and a large drop in fatalities and injuries resulting from international terrorism.
Reference: Orme-Johnson, Dillbeck, Alexander, Chandler, & Cranson, 1989.
Population influenced: World.
Coherence group: The three largest international assemblies of participants in the TM and TM-Sidhi program, all large enough to have a global influence (approaching or exceeding 7,000 participants): the Taste of Utopia Assembly, Fairfield, Iowa, U.S.A., December 1983 to January 1984; Vedic Science Conference, The Hague, The Netherlands, December 1984 to January 1985; World Assembly on Vedic Science, Washington, D.C., U.S.A., July 1985.
Dependent variables: Daily content-analysis ratings of international conflicts before, during, and after each assembly; international terrorism data (daily casualties and injuries, 1983–1985) obtained from the Rand Corporation; World Index of stock prices, daily, 1983–1985.
Experimental design: Box-Jenkins time series impact assessment analysis of the intervention period.
Results: There was a highly significant decrease in international conflict during each of the three assemblies (36%, 24%, and 35%, respectively); a 72% drop in international terrorism immediately after the beginning of three assemblies taken together; and a significant increase in the World Index of stock prices during the three assemblies taken together.
Conclusions: One large group of TM-Sidhi participants is sufficient to calm violence and improve the quality of life all around the world through the Global Maharishi Effect.
Reference: Orme-Johnson, D.W., Dillbeck, M.C., Alexander, C.N., Chandler, H.M., & Cranson, R.W. (1989, September). Strategic interventions reducing international conflicts and terrorism: Time series analysis of the effects of coherence-creating groups. Paper presented at the 85th Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association, Atlanta, GA. (Summary printed in Scientific Research on Maharishi's Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi Program: Collected Papers, Vol. 5, pp. 3263–3264.)
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