As published in the Fiji Daily Post.
LEFFLER – An overlooked, proven solution to terrorism – 4-Sep-2008
Despite its advance technology and valiant efforts, the US Department of Defense (DoD) is struggling to eliminate terrorism utilizing its current strategies and tactics.
Terrorism and war are human problems requiring human solutions. The underlying cause of these, and other types of social violence, is accumulated social stress.
Therefore, to eliminate such social problems, the DoD needs to reduce collective societal stress. No collective stress means no tension between the United States and other countries, religious groups, and insurgents. No terrorism.
Extensive scientific research indicates that the best way to reduce collective societal stress, and thereby snuff out war and terrorism, is by adopting an ancient strategy: “Avert the danger that has not yet come.”
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi has revived the ancient Vedic technology of Invincible Defence in a non-religious manner. It has been quietly and successfully used by members of many faiths to eliminate conflict in the recent past.
By applying this human resource-based technology, which is non-lethal and non-destructive, the military could reduce tensions and control terrorism. In this way, the military becomes invincible because the country takes out the enmity of the enemies.
With no enmity between them, former enemies become friends and the nation becomes invincible because there are no enemies to fight.
A Prevention Wing of the Military would be the ideal way to utilize this ideal goal of invincibility. This wing would comprise about 2 to 3 percent of the military. The remaining personnel would carry out their normal military duties.
The Prevention Wing of the Military would be trained in the primary components of Invincible Defence Technology the Transcendental Meditation (TM) programme and its advanced practice, the TM-Sidhi programme. They would practice these techniques in large groups, morning and evening.
According to extensive scientific research, the size of the group needed to reduce social stress depends on the size of the population.
The group size needs to be at least the square root of one percent of the population. To calculate this number, multiply the population size by 0.01, and then take the square root of this number. For instance, the US has a population of approximately 301 million.
301,000,000 x 0.01 = 3,010,000. The square root of 3,010,000 is approximately 1,735, so a group of at least 1,735 IDT experts would be needed. The group size needed to affect the world is currently about 8,126.
Studies show that when this threshold is crossed, the “Maharishi Effect” takes place.
Crime goes down, quality of life indices go up, and war and terrorism abate. For instance, a Maharishi Effect intervention was created and studied in the US capital in 1993. Predictions were lodged in advance with government leaders and newspapers. The research protocol was approved by an independent Project Review Board. Crime fell 23 percent below the predicted level when the TM-Sidhi group reached its maximum.
Temperature, weekend effects, or previous trends in the data failed to account for changes. This research was published in the peer-reviewed Social Indicators Research.
Over 50 studies have shown that Invincible Defense Technology works. Mozambique used IDT to end its civil war in the 1990s. Today, Holland, Bolivia, Columbia, Trinidad, and Peru have enough practitioners of the TM-Sidhi programme to be invincible. The United States is close to having a large enough group. And India is working on a global project. These are all civilian groups.
How Does Invincible Defense Technology Work?
The causal mechanism for IDT is not completely understood, however, a study published in 2005 in the Journal of Social Behavior and Personality offers an explanation of a proposed causality of IDT in biological terms. Research on the powerful neurotransmitter serotonin research has shown that is produces feelings of contentment, happiness and even euphoria. Low levels of serotonin, according to research, correlate with violence, aggression, and poor emotional moods. The IDT study showed that higher numbers of IDT experts practicing in groups correlated with other community members having a marked increase in serotonin production. These results were statistically significant and followed the attendance figures. This offers a plausible neurophysiologic mechanism to explain reduced hostility and aggression in society at large.
The experience of transcendental consciousness in the advanced individual TM practitioner appears to be associated with an increase in serotonin activity and a decrease in cortisol.
As far as we can speculate, the experience of transcendental consciousness during the practice of the Transcendental Meditation technique produces coherence in the brain of the TM practitioners (more powerfully in a group) and enlivens coherence within the unified field.
Since the unified field underlies everything and everyone, there is increased coherence in the non-TM practitioner’s brain as well. Serotonin is materially involved in this increased coherence.
This research was referenced in a paper published by the Security and Political Risk Analysis (SAPRA) think tank which puts this in a more complete context.
Theoretical physicists allude to the unified field as the basis of all laws of nature. IDT appears to work from this fundamental level. The Maharishi Effect happens when collective consciousness is made more coherent through IDT.
Examples:
One year ago, civilians in the Netherlands quietly formed a large enough group of IDT experts to achieve the Maharishi Effect. Since then, civilian groups in Bolivia, Trinidad, Columbia, and Peru took responsibility for building sufficiently large groups.
The United States is very close to achieving the requisite number of IDT experts through the Invincible America Assembly in Fairfield, Iowa.
The pilot project in Mozambique dissolved after the United Nations broke up the military as part of the civil war treaty. High school students, who will graduate and move on, make up the bulk of the practitioners in Columbia.
Limited economic opportunities in Iowa have hindered the development of a permanent group in the US civilian groups may not be reliable over the long term.
The DoD is responsible for protecting the nation, and is obligated to thoroughly examine realistic, scientifically-proven methods for ending war and terrorism.
Since the military is funded and its personnel are paid to perform their duties, it is not subject to the fluctuations of donors, jobs, graduations, and optional activities.
Military members are paid to follow orders and protect the nation. Ultimately, it is the DoD’s duty to build a Prevention Wing of the Military.
A Paradigm Shift, In Progress Dr. Carla Brown examined bias against IDT in her Harvard doctoral dissertation, which explored whether and how members of the Middle East policy community applied truth and utility tests to research findings.
The study she used had been published in the Journal of Conflict Resolution showing a dramatic 45 percent reduction in war intensity and 75 per cent reduction in war deaths when a critical mass of experts practiced IDT in large groups.
Dr. Brown found that several respondents in each elite group that she interviewed were likely to examine a similar paper in the future, motivated in part by their examination of the quality of science involved. She also explored how some of her interviewees did not take the effort to examine the research, including some social scientists that were critical of the research. Dr. Brown explored means for overcoming barriers to use of this research, including prejudice. At a time when the research outcomes described are greatly needed, this paper may provide context for those who want to understand their own prejudice or built in reservations.
This paper helps defense experts better understand why Invincible Defense Technology is difficult for people to accept, and how these barriers can be addressed. This research has been published in the Journal of Social Behavior and Personality.
A paradigm shift is taking place in the US military. “We believe that preventing wars is as important as winning wars,” according to a new strategy announced by the Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard in October. This is the biggest revision of US naval strategy in 25 years, by focusing more on humanitarian missions and improving international cooperation. From the US Army side, Colonel Brian M Rees, MD, MPH, Medical Corps, US Army Reserve, recently completed his Masters research paper from the US Army War College on the topic of IDT called “The Applications of Strategic Stress Management [SSM] in Winning the Peace“.
The paper concluded that “SSM has demonstrated efficacy when addressing the nefarious activities of criminals and terrorists, as well as the legal violence of combatants.”
Colonel Rees recently gave presentations to the Proteus Management Group at Carlisle and Association of Military Surgeons of the US (AMSUS) about how Invincible Defense Technology could prevent the collective stress responsible for war and terrorism.
Published with permission of the author www.davidleffer.com
DAVID R LEFFLER, PhD – Executive Director, Center for Advanced Military Science at the Institute of Science, Technology and Public Policy http://www.StrongMilitary.org
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