David Orme-Johnson was one of the first scientists to research TM, the more advanced TM-Sidhi effects on individuals, and later group consciousness effects. His consciousness and collective consciousness research laid the groundwork in the 1970s and 1980s for establishing the Maharishi Effect as a verifiable, repeatable undertaking that can be quantitatively measured.
Anyone who has been to a TM introductory lecture in the last 50 years has heard of David’s pioneering studies on the development of consciousness, using EEG brainwave measuring equipment, and various other methods of measuring short and long-term mental and intellect-related developments. Then there are the collective effects on a society where the researchers use public statistics for measurement. The studies over many decades have piled up and represent a testament to the value of the ancient meditation we call Transcendental Meditation and the TM-Sidhi program.
In the future, these techniques will exist under different brand names but with parallel effects. Unfortunately, this is due to the behavior of the Raja kingdom, which we will not delve into in this article. Here we wish to celebrate a great scientist’s work who started his research in the old TM Movement days when science was seen as an important way to raise TM out of the muddy waters of the new age esoteric lake of spiritual practices. He and his fellow scientists succeeded in unforeseen ways!
If anyone deserves a RajaLeaks lifetime achievements award it would be David Orme-Johnson for his research accomplishments and for laying the groundwork for quantitatively understanding the Maharishi Effect. It is vital to understand that he was not alone in his research, and other great scientists were at the forefront of meditation research in the 1960s and 1970s. We will write about them also in future articles.
One particularly important point is that years ago David created a concise website:
which summarizes some of his research and also research by other scientists.
The website also serves as a rebuttal for some of the criticisms of TM/TM-Sidhi research.
It is good that at least the counterarguments are available on his website for others to see.
One such counterargument can be seen regarding the crime rate in Fairfield Iowa. Below I show the graph taken from the website and a quote giving more details.
Fairfield is one of the safest towns in the USA. The web site alleges that Fairfield is place with a lot of crime. On the contrary, a comparison of the violent crime rate in Fairfield from 1991-1998 (the period addressed by the web site) shows that Fairfield’s crime rate was 34% lower than other comparable small U.S. towns under 10,000 population. Moreover, the rate of violent crime in Fairfield is dramatically less than larger U.S. cities– 38% to 85% less. In fact, before 1974 when Maharishi University of Management was established in Fairfield, Fairfield’s rate of violent crime was similar to the mean of small U.S. towns under 10,000. However, in the 30 years from 1975 to 2005 since M.U.M has been in Fairfield, the city’s violent crime rate has been lower than the mean of other small towns 90% of the time, indicating a consistent record of being one of the safest cities in America.
– source: https://www.truthabouttm.org/SocietalEffects/FairfieldCrime/
So please, look at his website. We like it.
Since our website is called RajaLeaks, we are compelled to mention a small criticism when we find something that bothers us. Our opinion is that on David’s website, the inclusion of articles claiming TM is not a cult or a religion is problematic. I think he is referring to the old TM Movement days and does not take into consideration how the Raja kingdom looks and acts nowadays. His references seem out of date, and they don’t seem to hold water since the Rajas took over. Sorry, David, we have to point this out, but otherwise, your website is fantastic!