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| The Men Who Stare at Landmines |
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| Written by John Berthelsen | |
| Tuesday, 18 August 2009 | |
 The Maharishi Tells us How If enough positive people of positive mien thought positive thoughts for long enough, could you skip through an Afghan minefield with nary a thought for being blown out of your combat boots? You could if the square root of 1 percent of the population, preferably soldiers, were standing somewhere nearby, chanting “Om” over and over, according to three former military men. Indian Army retired Maj. Gen Kulwant Singh, German Air Force retired Lt. Col. Gunter Chasse, and Dr David R Leffler, US Air Force veteran, say that transcendental meditation, the seven-step technique taught to the Beatles, the Beach Boys, Deepak Chopra and a few million hippies in the 1960s by the late Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, will do the trick. Kulwant Singh spent 30 years in counter-terror operations in India. Lt Col Chasse retired from the German Air Force in command and staff positions, and Leffler, among other things, is a former Associate of the Proteus Management Group at the Center for Strategic Leadership at the US Army War College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. The three are connected to the Center for Advanced Military Science at the Institute of Science, Technology and Public Policy, itself a wing of the Maharishi University of Management in Fairfield, Iowa, in the US. The board of directors of the Center includes an eye-popping cadre of retired military men. Among them are Maj. Gen. Franklin M. Davis, Jr., U.S. Army (Ret.), former director of the Army War College and winner of the Distinguished Service Medal, the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Legion of Merit, the Purple Heart, and the Bronze Star with V for Valor; Col. Brian M. Rees, who in 2005 was the Brigade Surgeon for Task Force Guardian in Afghanistan and later head of outpatient medicine for detainees at Abu Ghraib Prison in Iraq; Lieutenant Colonel Richard E. Neate, retired from the US Air Force after flying 200 missions as an F-4 pilot in Vietnam, earning four Distinguished Flying Crosses, 12 Air Medals and the Distinguished Service Medal; Coast Guard Captain Raymond E. Seebald, a military aide to Presidents Ronald W. Reagan and George H W Bush while assigned to White House duty from 1986-1990; and a flock of other international military men as well. “The large number of ex-military types may simply reflect the paucity of military pensions, the generosity of the Maharishi’s stipend and perhaps the barely understood long-term effect of flying fast jets, spending too long under water or working in government labs has on the human intellect,” says a skeptic involved in international risk assessment. “The most obvious way to test the veracity of the theory is for its proponents to accompany a military patrol in Helmand province or up against the Pakistan border and see what happens.” Undeterred, Leffler, Kulwant Singh and Chasse three have written a heavily-footnoted 5,500-word article offered for publication to Asia Sentinel, which argues that as Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) continue more and more to be the weapon of choice by weaker foes in asymmetrical warfare, “military strategists are now advocating concentrating on devising IED prevention strategies and technologies that operate farther and farther to the ‘left of the boom’” – intervening long before the explosions happen. So could Invincible Defense Technology – the Maharishi Effect - get us to the left of the boom? And does the military really believe it would? According to their website, Lt. Col. Chasse is scheduled to give a presentation to NATO and EU leaders at a conference in Berlin on October 21 and 22. Leffler said in an email conversation that he had briefed military and law enforcement personnel about using Invincible Defense Technology to prevent IEDS in Washington, DC last November and has had extensive communication with military officials across Europe, particularly in the Soviet Union. Asked if the US or any other military were funding the Invincible Defense Technology theory, Leffler, in his email, said: “in this business there are certain things that one is not at liberty to discuss. I will contact my superiors about your questions.” He didn’t respond again. The theory is reminiscent of the Stargate Project, which the Central Intelligence Agency and the Department of Defense got underway in the 1970s after reports that the Soviets were studying the use of psychic phenomena as a potential Cold War weapon. Stargate attempted to discover ways to make clairvoyance and out of-body experience more scientific. At its peak, according to various reports, Stargate was operating as many as 14 laboratories researching so-called “remote viewing” in which military subjects sought to change the outcome of certain events by staring at them. The program gave rise to a hilarious 2004 book by British author Jon Ronson titled “The Men Who Stare at Goats” (available at Amazon Books, used, from US$4.99). The book, which is now being made into a movie, took its title from an experiment in which soldiers stared intently at goats in an effort to kill them. The CIA shut down the final vestiges of the program in 1995. Ronson described attempts by Maj. Gen. Albert Stubblebine III, the army’s chief of intelligence, who believed that if he concentrated hard enough to align the molecules of his body with those of his wall, he could walk through it. He repeatedly walked into the wall without success.
Nonetheless, the three write, “during the past 40 years, more than 600 scientific studies conducted at 250 independent universities and medical schools in 33 countries have validated the wide-ranging stress-reducing benefits of the TM program. By applying this human resource-based technology, the military and related security agencies could reduce tensions and control terrorism, including IED attacks. Counter-intuitively, combat casualties diminish through non-lethal and non-destructive methods.” And thus, “If the military were to harness the power of the unified field through IDT, the nation would rise quickly toward invincibility.” For instance, the authors say, “Afghanistan has a population of approximately 34 million: 33,610,000 x 0.01 = 336,100, and the square root of 336,100 is approximately 580, so a group of 580 IDT experts would theoretically be the minimum size to produce significant reductions in terrorism and conflict in the Afghanistan. The group size needed to affect the world is currently about 8,126.” More than 50 studies, they write, have shown that IDT works. "The causal mechanism has been postulated to be a field effect of consciousness—an effect from the level of the unified field created by the peace-creating group that spills over into the larger population." Seratonin levels, they say, rise in people who just happen to be in the Maharishi’s force field. Mozambique, they argue, used the technique to end its civil war in the 1990s. It has driven profound changes in the politics of the Netherlands, they say. Groups in Bolivia, Trinidad and Tobago, Colombia and Peru “have also taken responsibility for building sufficiently large groups within their boundaries. And in the US, the number of IDT experts in Fairfield is growing towards critical mass. Once they apply the requisite unified field, the US should chill out, which would be welcome news to President Barack Obama and the US congressmen who are conducting heated “town hall” meetings to legions of apparently outraged citizens screaming at them over the president’s attempts to pass a national health plan. The authors suggest that amateur or volunteer force fielders aren’t reliable. What is needed, they say, is a professional force. “IDT achieves best operating characteristics when all participants comprise one group within close association of each other (proximity averaging 1.5 meters between participants). However, positive effects will still be attained when participants operate in several smaller groups.They suggest, for instance, that carrier battle groups supporting IDT experts could be deployed to the Persian Gulf to reduce tensions in the entire Middle East (approximate population = 800 million; 1 percent of population = 8 million; square root of 8 million = 2,829 IDT experts needed to achieve the Maharishi Effect). This same type of configuration could be utilized in other hot spots, such as North Korea and South Korea." However, getting government leaders to examine IDT research has proven difficult, the authors say. Getting left of the boom, especially after the Stargate Project, seems to be a problem.
Comments (13)
  written by Luke Walker, August 18, 2009
We have a history of hundreds of years of crime, violence and war. US prosperity on the backs of weapons sales to countries we later oppose, destroy and then rebuild. Iraq or Afghanistan anyone?
Say we try this. What's the worst case scenario? We waste some money and embarrass ourselves? We've been doing that for decades. I say give it a whirl. It just might work.
written by Toni A., August 18, 2009
I have participated in the group practice of the Maharishi TM-Sidhi program in various projects in order to generate the Maharishi Effect and ease tensions in a particular area. This involves particular techniques, but does not involve having positive thoughts on the conscious thinking level. In each case after participation, research was conducted showing positive changes. Some studies have been published in important journals (e.g.: the Journal of Conflict Resolution).
This is real science. We think nothing of using computer technology; e-mails go all around the world at the touch of a key. The Maharishi Effect is just as scientific and can be explained in terms of the latest findings in physics.
written by jammyman, August 18, 2009  This is a very interesting article about a fascinating subject. I have been doing TM for many years and am familiar with the research on the Maharishi Effect. I was one of the group of people who took part in the experiment in Washing DC in 1993 to lower the crime rate. Using the crime stats from the FBI and DC police, it was shown that the crime rate dropped over 20% that hot summer. This theory and technology is worth further investigation.
written by sparklingstar, August 19, 2009
There was a time in the history of the US Military where the debate was whether to invest money in developing what was then the new "radio" technology to send messages or to continue using homing pigeons to send messages. Most of the people involved at the time could not imagine that this new "radio" technology could really work--the idea of being able to send messages thru the "air" that could be received and understood at the other end seemed to be an impractical dream. And so, the decision was made not to invest in the new "radio technology" but to continue to fund homing pigeons. Of course, later they saw the absurd error of their decision. We are now at a similar crossroads. Research has already overwhelmingly validated the Invincible Defense Technology. It is negligent not to implement it.
written by mmfiore, August 19, 2009
As an alternative to Quantum Theory there is a new theory that describes and explains the mysteries of physical reality. While not disrespecting the value of Quantum Mechanics as a tool to explain the role of quanta in our universe. This theory states that there is also a classical explanation for the paradoxes such as EPR and the Wave-Particle Duality. The Theory is called the Theory of Super Relativity and is located at: Super Relativity
This theory is a philosophical attempt to reconnect the physical universe to realism and deterministic concepts. It explains the mysterious.
written by Reuven Zelinkovsky, August 24, 2009
As an Israeli Defense Force retired Lt. Col I know that violence will never create peace. We have been trying this useless approach in the Middle-East for about 100 years. We also have tried negotiations and peace treaties - they all have failed in the long run. The article explains that the reason for the eruptions of violence and wars is the accumulation of stress in the collective consciousness of the people. The article also suggests a scientifically proven, easy to implement and very cost effective method to alleviate the collective stress and thereby prevent war. We are living in the scientific age - it is the time to adopt scientifically proven methods.
written by Tiffany Necklaces, September 26, 2009
Yeah , pay me a few million Indian Rupees for a demo. I will use a few hundred rupees to hire a bunch of unemployed Indians to "Ommmm" and stare with me at a bunch of trouble makers to calm down. Then write you a report and give you a presentation. If you think it is humbug, just throw the report away and have a few laughs at the pub. If you think it works, give me a few million more Rupees to do a follow up experiment. And by the way, I will share the millions of rupees 50/50 with you for awarding the project to me. Kekekekeke!
written by louis vuitton, October 22, 2009
Give this a try, it's been proven to work!
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One can't get round the scientific research on what has happened when large groups have quelled violence with this technology in the past.
This is a very cost effective solution.
We have tried pretty much every other option.
A professional group, administered in a careful way to maintain the critical number of participants regardless of weather, holidays, power-cuts, disruptive influences in a comfortable sustainable way
would pay for it's self in no time & would have many beneficial side effects for both the positively effected population & the individual participants.
Give this a try, it's been proven to work!