The Uncarved Blog

I remember this incident as if it was yesterday, even though it happened around 50 years ago. I had purchased a ticket to see a well-known rock group perform that evening at Place Des Arts, Montreal’s newest and most beautiful arts center at the time.

I had learned Transcendental Meditation a few years earlier and was conscientious about getting both 20-minute meditations in every day. The morning one was easy, but fitting in the evening session could sometimes be a bit of a challenge depending on where I was.

There was a long intermission between performances, when people could go to restrooms or get refreshments on the mezzanine. As audience members around me got up to leave, I decided to stay and do my evening meditation. I closed my eyes and meditated undisturbed. I could hear the buzz of people socializing on the other side of the closed doors to the concert hall, but it didn’t bother me.

After I finished, I went out to see what was happening. People were milling about and talking. There were several oval-shaped bars located on the floor with a few servers behind them. Some people had formed separate lines on all sides leading up to them to purchase drinks or snacks. I joined one of the lines closest to me. I felt calm, relaxed and refreshed, and was in no hurry.

We were moving slowly. Some people spoke casually among themselves. The lady in front of me was antsy. She kept looking at the barman at the front of our line serving customers, wanting him to hurry up and get to her. Frustrated, she blurted out, “He’s everywhere but in front of him.”

“He’s everywhere but in front of him.”

I looked and noticed the barman taking an order from the person in front of him. He then ran to serve a drink to someone further down the bar. Next, he gave change to a customer who had just paid for their drink from another side. He was all over the place.

After seeing how busy he was, I rearranged her words from a different perspective and said, “But everywhere is in front of him!”

“But everywhere is in front of him!”

She anxiously looked again, and this time noticed that he was quickly trying his best to serve as many people as possible. My observational joke had broken the tension. She laughed and said, “That’s a good one.”

I was just as surprised as her at what had spontaneously come out of my mouth. I smiled and said, “You like it? It’s yours.”

Visibly relaxed, she smiled and thanked me. Good thing I had done my TM! Just goes to show you the effect we can have on each other for good.

When we’re highly stressed, we lose perspective of the big picture and develop tunnel vision. It’s only about me, not we.

One of the many benefits of TM is developing a broader comprehension with an increased ability to focus on details. When the mind transcends it settles down to an unbounded state of inner being or transcendence, while the body relaxes deeply, dissolving stresses. Coming out of meditation the mind is sharper and can focus on a problem for longer periods of time. Both opposite abilities are integrated naturally outside of meditation. We lose ourselves less in the heat of the moment. We become more resilient. Compassion can grow, and we make more appropriately right decisions.

TM research has come a long way demonstrating the benefits for an individual’s physical and mental health. Recently, newer studies have shown positive effects on society. When people meditate together in groups they effect their environment in positive ways. See the most recent study in a series of four over a period of several years: Follow-up study suggests large advanced TM groups reduced murder rates in large US cities.

Check out this recent post about a new book on the topic: An Antidote to Violence: Evaluating the Evidence. Authors Barry Spivack and Patricia Saunders examined peer-reviewed research suggesting that Transcendental Meditation can influence the collective consciousness of society, leading to decreases in violent crime and war fatalities, and increases in quality of life and cooperation between nations. (EurekAlert!)

Added in December 2022: A seventeen-year landmark study finds that group meditation decreases US national stress.

For further references, see Examples of Maharishi Effect Research.

Tags: An Antidote to Violence, anxiousness, breaking stressful thoughts with humor, broader comprehension, calmness, group meditation reduces conflict and violence in society, humor, increased ability to focus, insightful observation, meditation, Montreal, overcoming stress with humor, Place Des Arts, TM, Transcendental Meditation, tunnel vision

This entry was posted on February 11, 2021 at 3:33 pm and is filed under Articles, Health, Humor, Peace, Writing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.