The TM Doctrine of Spiritual Darwinism -- there was something wrong with you!

Some people fall down the TM rabbit hole and end up crashing and burning.  What is the response of Mahesh and his organization to such casualties? 

TM is an "esoteric" religious sect

This is the point where I want to emphasize something: Transcendental Meditation is an esoteric religious sect. By esoteric I mean that the "outer teachings" that are made available to the public are different from the "inner teachings" that are made available to initiates. And there are deeper and deeper levels of "inner teachings" as you "advance".

TM has "basic articles of faith"

Before going on, you should understand that, in the TM dogmatic system, the most basic articles of faith are these:

All other TM doctrine is founded on those articles of faith. Notice that your own indoctrination into these articles of faith began with your very first "introductory lecture" (except for the part about Mahesh's enlightenment, which officially is only implied but which is absorbed through the pores after you've been involved with TM for awhile).

An introduction to the "TM Doctrine of Spiritual Darwinism"

You need to first understand that your TM instruction was rife with mental reservation from the time you walked into the first introductory lecture until the time you left the "third night of checking" meeting. You had no real idea of what you were really getting into. Here is some TM "inner doctrine" that you don't find out about until later:

• A piece of TM doctrine that may have been implied all along but not clearly stated is: "TM is the highest spiritual teaching on the planet, and higher than any other spiritual teaching ever taught, and the practice of TM is always good for everyone".
• On that third night's meeting, you were told that development of "Cosmic Consciousness" only requires regular meditation morning and evening and regular activity during the day. The true TM dogmatic position is this: " only 'long rounding courses' can provide the sort of sustained 'deep rest' that is required to release the 'deepest stresses' and thus bring you to CC."
• You were also never told that there was anything unpleasant about the practice of TM. The true TM dogmatic position is: Spiritual "evolution" is difficult. The practice of Transcendental Meditation makes it as easy and fast as possible, of course. However, TM inner doctrine states that releasing those "deep stresses" can unavoidably produce intense mental, emotional, and physical discomfort.

The "Doctrine of Spiritual Darwinism", then is this: if you ever abandon the practice of TM, then there was something wrong with you! You either did not have the right moral intentions to begin with, or else you were too weak in mind or character to handle the powerful spiritual evolutionary forces unleashed by TM.

"You didn't follow instructions!"

Probably the first approach to rationalizing away your problems will be to tell you: "You didn't follow instructions".  The "logic" goes something like this:

"Since the practice of TM produces only positive effects [an irrefutable article of faith] then you must not have really been ‘practicing TM'.  That is, you must have been either ignoring or misunderstanding some of the instructions given by your TM teachers.  This means that you were not really ‘practicing TM', but were only practicing something similar to TM.  And, of course, we don't know what results will arise from anything other than practice of the authentic TM technique." 

Therefore: "That is probably why you had some negative outcome. You were probably doing it incorrectly.  Please come in and have your practice of TM checked."

After that you are in a bit of a double-bind. If you do go in and have your "practice of TM checked" (i.e., if you come in for re-indoctrination), then you are postponing what you should really do in the face of toxic symptoms, which is to quit.  But, if you do not go in and have your "practice of TM checked" (i.e. if you do the healthy thing and just drop the practice completely), then TM advocates may feel justified in continuing to say that you must have been doing it incorrectly.     

"Something good was happening -- you were wrong to stop!"

However, suppose that you can convince a particular TM advocate that you did go in for checking numerous times, and that you did pay attention, and that you probably were doing TM correctly.   

"You did follow instructions?  In that case, ‘something good was happening'.  You should have continued with the practice (perhaps at a reduced number of minutes per day as instructed by your checker or teacher), and then everything would have worked out when the stresses released. 

In short, "if you quit the practice then you were just too weak to handle the beneficial process of unstressing!" 

As mentioned above, when they gave you the impression in the introductory lectures and basic course that everything about TM was "easy" they were again practicing a mental reservation. And, as always, they were doing it "for you own good".  In fact, when you learn the actual TM doctrine on the subject , you learn that you must be prepared to endure the sometimes extreme suffering of "unstressing" in order to release all of those stresses that keep you from happiness and from spiritual advancement.

So, if you were "too weak" to endure the sufferings that are required in order to gain spiritual advancement, then that is your own problem!

"You probably had serious psychological problems before starting TM!"

Sometimes, you can convince the TM advocate that not only did you practice the technique "correctly", but that you also displayed a heroic ability to endure the sufferings caused by "release of stress".       

In that case, the TM advocate has to dig much deeper for a rationalization.  But they might refer to the TM dogma that "the practice of TM produces only positive effects" and say:

"You did follow instructions, and you did try to stick it out and let the unstressing complete, but you crashed anyway?  In that case, "you must have had serious psychological problems before starting TM".

This one is my favorite.  Did they warn you in the introductory lectures not to start TM if you had pre-existing "serious psychological problems"?  Wasn't TM supposed to help with whatever was keeping you from unlimited happiness?  Not when it's time for rationalizations!

"You are malicious!"

This is the ultimate rationalization.  It is a correlate of the basic TM article of faith that TM is the highest spiritual teaching that has ever been taught on the planet.

If you relentlessly criticize and attack TM, therefore, certain conclusions become inescapable. Therefore, if none of the previously mentioned rationalizations suffice, then this one can be used either alone or in combination with any of the above: "You are obviously a negative, possibly even malicious, person."

Clearly, in that case everything you say can be discounted.

The dehumanization of TM casualties

"TM Spiritual Darwinism" all too often leads to a dehumanizing attitude among serious TM practitioners towards those who crash and burn as a result of following Mahesh's teachings.  TM advocates often display a shockingly callous lack of concern about those who experience difficulties after beginning TM practice.  

Where do these attitudes arise?  From Mahesh himself.  The whole attitude of "Spiritual Darwinism", including the common lack of concern and compassion for those who crash and burn, reflects Mahesh's own personal attitude.

One memory that stands out for me is from the taping of the "Science of Creative Intelligence" (SCI) course.  My Teacher Training Course (TTC) (the one I describe in my story) had recently ended.  One day there was a break from the SCI taping, and Mahesh began discussing the problem of one of the TTC course participants going back home and having to be placed in a mental institution by his father, who was a psychiatrist.

The striking thing is that Mahesh conveyed absolutely zero sense of concern about the son.  Instead, Mahesh issued a general complaint about the poor state of the TTC qualification procedure that had allowed such a "weak" person into the TTC. 

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Joseph W. Kellett
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