It is extremely valuable and important to provide all the elements of Consciousness-Based Education to students for the rapid, smooth, and full blossoming of their creative intelligence.

Education solutions: The four components of Consciousness-Based Education
by Global Good News staff writer
22 November 2010

Just as the Transcendental Meditation Technique awakens the creative genius of students, unfolding their full creative potential, all of the components of Consciousness-Based Education are to this same end, complementing and supplementing the Transcendental Meditation Programme, effortlessly and naturally accelerating the students’ growth to enlightenment.

Four basic components constitute Consciousness-Based Education and have been successfully used at Maharishi School of the Age of Enlightenment in Iowa, USA, in Great Britain, Holland, New Zealand, South Africa, Australia, Switzerland, and India for many years.

Dr Susie Dillbeck, President of the International Foundation of Consciousness-Based Education, in a presentation to the Global Mother Divine Organization Congress on July 22, 2010, discussed the four components, clarifying the difference between simply having the Transcendental Meditation Programme in a school and fully implementing Maharishi’s Consciousness-Based Education programme.

Appreciating the first element—experience and study of consciousness

‘The first and most fundamental component of Consciousness-Based Education,’ she said, ‘is courses on consciousness—that is, experience and study of consciousness.

‘The experience, we know, is given through the Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi Programmes. The study of consciousness is through courses outlined by Maharishi, primarily his Science of Creative Intelligence for primary and secondary education.’

Dr Dillbeck explained that this course allows students to consider universal principles of creative intelligence. She pointed out, as an example, the principle, ‘life is found in layers, the unseen layers being the most powerful.' 'The students,’ Dr Dillbeck continued, ‘locate this principle in their own lives, in nature, in their communities, in their different subjects of study, and in their own experience during Transcendental Meditation.’

She elaborated on the value of performing these exercises saying, ‘The students become increasingly aware of the unseen values below the surface of life and realize that the deeper the level of natural law from which they function, the greater the field of influence they command through their action.’

The students are therefore awakening the more creative and deeper values within themselves both through the study of the principles of consciousness, their own creative intelligence, and by their direct experience through the Transcendental Meditation Programme.

Understanding all subjects in the light of one’s own Self

The second aspect of Consciousness-Based Education was described by Dr Dillbeck as teaching standard subjects ‘in the light of the expanded understanding of life lived in its full potential.’

She used the study of algebra as an example. ‘When students are solving linear equations,’ she said, ‘learning that the same precise, analytical approach is used to solve ALL algebraic equations, the teacher [of Consciousness-Based Education] points out that the reliability of mathematics comes from the orderliness of natural law—which is [also] expressed in the orderly functioning of our own intelligence, based on the field of complete orderliness, which we twice-daily experience,’ during the Transcendental Meditation Technique.

Dr Dillbeck quoted the founder of Consciousness-Based Education, Maharishi, to express the significance of this component. ‘When every wave of knowledge gained is connected with the Self, then every discipline becomes a means to develop the creative potential of the conscious mind, to enliven the Self. Whatever the students study in the process of gaining specific knowledge of different subjects, they grow in the awareness that the center of all knowledge is present within themselves.

‘This means that if they study 30 different disciplines, then 30 times the Self is connected with the discipline, and with this, all the knowledge remains intimately connected with the knower.'

Culturing holistic awareness through unique teaching techniques

Dr Dillbeck next spoke of the third component of Consciousness-Based Education, 'teaching techniques and curriculum design from Maharishi that culture holistic awareness.' These elements include important charts used daily in the classroom as well as ‘academic exercises through which the students are continually analyzing and synthesizing and expressing what they are learning. These unique techniques from Maharishi,’ Dr Dillbeck continues, ‘develop the habit of the student to maintain awareness of the whole while focusing on the parts—awareness of the whole course while focusing on today’s lesson, awareness of the central idea of the lesson while focusing on the details.’

She explained the significance of gaining this ability of simultaneously possessing broad awareness and an ability to focus. ‘This swinging of the awareness,’ Dr Dillbeck said, ‘between whole and part, between synthesis and analysis, helps develop the ability of the student to maintain holistic awareness—silent Transcendental Consciousness together with the dynamic diversity of thought—from where only evolutionary thought and action emerges.’

This development of holistic awareness is the development of enlightenment—life lived free from mistakes and problems.

Promoting full realization of what one IS through routine and environment

Dr Dillbeck presented the fourth and final component of Consciousness-Based Education, ‘a daily routine and atmosphere conducive to rapid, comfortable growth toward the complete realization of what one truly IS.’

She elaborated on several different aspects of this component. ‘A restfully alert quality of mind and body is crucial for unfolding one’s full potential; therefore Consciousness-Based schools promote a balanced, healthy routine that includes the Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi Programmes, academic classes, sports and creative activities, pure food, early bedtime, and no big homework assignments.’

Dr Dillbeck further explained that ‘boys and girls, men and ladies, are educated in their own atmosphere, which fosters a lifestyle that is simple, focused on knowledge, and conducive to unfolding one’s unique talents.’

The buildings are another important part of a school of Consciousness-Based Education. They are ‘constructed or selected in accord with principles from natural law based architecture, for the enhanced health and well-being of the occupants,’ Dr Dillbeck said. The atmosphere of the school also supports the growth of each student to higher states of consciousness, being, in Dr Dillbeck’s words, ‘saturated with peace, alertness, and positivity,’ as a result of the group practice of the Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi Programme.

Dr Dillbeck concluded that ‘each of the four components of Consciousness-Based Education contributes profoundly to enlivening the students’ full creative potential, total brain development in the state of enlightenment.’ It is therefore extremely valuable and important to include them all in education for the rapid, smooth, and full blossoming of all students.

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