Artist’s rendering of the University of Peace, with branch campuses planned worldwide.

Dr John Hagelin, shown here at a celebration, has pioneered the use of Unified Field-based technologies proven to reduce acute societal tensions and to promote peace throughout society.

Students to create a peaceful future through a university of world peace
by Global Good News staff writer
22 May 2009

‘There is an urgent need in the world for a high-level academic institution dedicated to cutting-edge peace research and effective solutions to crime, terrorism, and international conflict,’ says Dr John Hagelin, a world-renowned quantum physicist and public policy expert, lifelong educator, and director of the Institute of Science, Technology and Public Policy at Maharishi University of Management in Fairfield, Iowa.

It is noteworthy that Dr Hagelin is also the world’s leading scientific authority on the societal application of the Transcendental Meditation Programme as extensive scientific research, published in leading scientific journals, has found that group practice of this programme is an effective approach for reducing stress and promoting health—not only in the individual but also in society as a whole.

Recent research has also revealed that societal stress—including acute political, ethnic, and religious tensions—directly fuel social violence, such as crime, terrorism, and war. Realizing the enormous ramifications of all these findings, Dr Hagelin, along with a distinguished faculty of scientists and policy experts, is establishing a Maharishi University of World Peace in Washington, DC. The university will be dedicated solely to the prevention of war and the promotion of global peace.

Why create a university of world peace?
Dr Hagelin explains fully the rationale of creating a university of world peace. ‘Prevailing theories and methodologies of conflict resolution and violence prevention have proven to be inadequate,’ he says. In the past 60 years—since the United Nations was founded following World War II to prevent the outbreak of conflict—there have been more than 120 wars. Here in the US, violence plagues our streets and threatens the security of our schools and children.

‘While there is an abundance of military academies and graduate war colleges dedicated to advancing the science of war, there is no university wholly dedicated to the prevention of war and the promotion of peace. And while the military and defence industries are the largest employers in many countries, there are few if any professional “peacemakers” with the capability and responsibility to prevent the devastation of war.’

‘The [Maharishi] University of World Peace will meet these needs by performing research on innovative, peace-promoting technologies and programmes and by employing those methods that have demonstrated their ability to prevent crime and violent conflict. For this, we are establishing a campus near Washington, DC for 2000 students—with plans for a second, larger campus to be centrally located in the Midwest for 8000 students.’

Efficacy of the university’s programme
The technologies to be used by the Maharishi University of World Peace are the Maharishi Technologies of the Unified Field, the Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi Programmes, including Yogic Flying. When asked how he knows that these programmes reduce stress, Dr Hagelin referred to the extensive scientific research, over 600 studies performed at 250 universities and research institutions in 33 countries over the past 40 years.

‘First,’ he said, ‘on the individual level, medical science has utilized Transcendental Meditation to dissolve stress, with associated dramatic improvements in health. For example, an 11-year insurance study involving thousands of subjects (published in the American Journal of Managed Care 3 (1997): 135–144) has shown that people who practise Transcendental Meditation experience markedly reduced incidences of major surgery, cancer, and heart disease.

Second, on a societal scale, 50 scientific studies have shown that Transcendental Meditation defuses acute societal stress, as measured by reduced crime, terrorism, and conflict. For this purpose, groups of trained meditation experts have been engaged to radiate a measurable influence of calm and coherence throughout society—in accord with recent theoretical understandings of long-range field effects of consciousness.’

Students to create powerful waves of coherence and unity and a peaceful future
Dr Hagelin was asked if students can create a peaceful future for themselves? ‘Absolutely,’ he replied. ‘Research shows that a school with a few hundred meditating students is enough to significantly defuse tensions in a city; and a school with a few thousand meditating students can measurably reduce social tensions for the nation. Repeated studies also show that a group of 8000 advanced meditation experts is enough to defuse social tensions on a global scale, markedly reducing violence and conflict in critical hotspots throughout the world. That is why we are establishing a group of 2000 meditating students in Washington, DC, followed by a second group of 8000 meditating students elsewhere in the US.’

Dr Hagelin clarified how Transcendental Meditation and the TM-Sidhi Programme, including Yogic Flying, can produce such far-reaching effects. ‘The answer,’ he said, ‘comes from the most advanced theories of modern science. Progress in theoretical physics during the past quarter century has led to a progressively more unified understanding of the laws of nature, culminating in the recent discovery of completely unified field theories, based on the superstring. These theories locate a single, universal field of intelligence at the basis of all forms and phenomena in the universe. Research demonstrates that human consciousness can directly experience this unified field of intelligence in the simplest, most settled state of human awareness through the Transcendental Meditation Programme and its advanced techniques.

‘Regular experience of the unified field through Transcendental Meditation has been shown to dissolve deep-seated stress in the individual, bringing marked reductions in hypertension, stroke, heart disease, and other stress-related illness. When practised collectively in groups, this same programme has been shown to effectively reduce societal stress and tensions. From the perspective of physics, such groups of trained, peace-creating experts collectively accessing and stimulating the unified field generate powerful waves of unity and coherence that permeate the collective consciousness of the whole population. The immediate, practical result is markedly reduced crime and social violence and improved positive trends throughout society.

As simple as switching on a light
‘Fortunately, these benefits of Transcendental Meditation come naturally and automatically and do not require belief or intellectual understanding of the mechanics. It’s as simple as switching on a light switch and enjoying the light. Group meditation defuses acute societal stress and creates calm and coherence throughout the whole population.

‘We invite a few people of vision and means to consider this practical, proven approach carefully and to create a group of 2000 students in Washington, DC, and a group of 8000 students in the heartland of America—and to maintain these groups permanently.’

Note: Maharishi University of World Peace is also being planned in Geneva, Switzerland, the seat of many international organizations and institutions.

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