Scientifically verified means to end protracted violence in Sri Lanka

By Maj. Gen. Kulwant Singh, Dr. John Hagelin and Dr. David Leffler
Despite the recent successes of the Sri Lankan troops, an editorial in the 4 January 2009 issue of the Sunday Observer warns that: “The victory should not let us relax our vigilance about sinister attempts of the enemy to destabilize society and create mayhem. Yesterday’s suicide attempt is a stark reminder that the war on terror is not over.”

Such attacks show that Sri Lankan troops, despite their valiant efforts, still struggle to eliminate violent extremism and cannot guarantee lasting peace. Clearly, after over 25 years of civil war in Sri Lanka, a new strategy for peace is desperately needed.

Violent extremism is a human problem requiring human solutions. The underlying cause of extremist social violence is accumulated social stress. Therefore, to protect their civilian populations effectively, the armed forces of Sri Lanka need to reduce the collective societal stress in their nation.

A new technology of defense exists that can accomplish this goal. It is based upon the latest discoveries in the fields of physics, neuroscience, and physiology. Ultimately, it is based on the discovery of the unified field of all the laws of nature -- the most fundamental and powerful level of nature’s dynamics. Extensive research has confirmed its effectiveness. This new technology is easily applied and highly cost-effective. It can prevent disruption and attack from within the country or outside the country.

This approach is known today as Invincible Defense Technology (IDT). It has its roots in ancient technologies of consciousness, revived in modern times by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi as a non-religious approach to peace. These technologies of consciousness directly access and harness the unified field on the deepest level of human experience -- pure consciousness itself. Extensive scientific research indicates that this approach reduces collective societal stress, eliminates extremism and thereby snuffs out war and terrorism. Over the past three decades, it has been quietly and successfully used by members of many faiths to defuse and eliminate conflict.

The approach involves the creation of large groups of peace-creating experts practicing Invincible Defense Technology together. A Prevention Wing of the Military consisting of approximately 2% to 3% of the military of each country could easily achieve this goal. These special units would be trained in the technologies of consciousness revived by Maharishi -- the Transcendental Meditation (TM) and TM-Sidhi programs -- and would practice these techniques in large groups, twice a day.

Extensive research shows that the size of the group needed to reduce social stress in a given population should exceed the square root of 1% of the population size. Sri Lanka would therefore need to train about 451 soldiers as IDT experts. (Source: www.SquareRootOfOnePercent.org)

Studies show that when the required threshold of IDT experts is crossed, crime rates go down in the affected population, quality of life indices go up, and terrorism and war abate. Scientists refer to this phenomenon as the Maharishi Effect in honor of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, who first predicted it. As an example of this effect, in 1993 a two-month Maharishi Effect intervention was implemented in Washington, DC, the capital city of the US. Predictions of specific drops in crime and other indices were lodged in advance with government leaders and newspapers. An independent Project Review Board approved the research protocol. The findings showed that crime fell 24 percent below expected levels when the group size reached its maximum. Temperature, weekend effects, and previous trends in the data failed to account for these changes. The study was published in Social Indicators Research (1999, vol. 47, pp. 153-201).

A day-by-day study in the Journal of Conflict Resolution (1988, vol. 32, #4, pp. 776-812) of a two-month-long coherence-creating assembly in Israel showed that, on days of high attendance, war deaths in neighboring Lebanon decreased by 76%. On the same days, a composite quality-of-life index showed decreased crime, traffic accidents and fires in Jerusalem, and decreased crime accompanied by improvements in the stock market and national mood throughout Israel. Other possible causes (weather, weekends, holidays, etc.) were statistically controlled for and could not account for the results. A follow-up day-by-day study in the Journal of Social Behavior and Personality (2005, vol. 17, #1, pp. 285-338) of more than two years showed that during seven different coherence-creating assemblies, war deaths in Lebanon decreased by an average of 71%.

The research results on the effects of coherence-creating assemblies on the Lebanese conflict are particularly significant. One study covered the period from July to August 1983, and the other covered the two-year period from 1983-1985. The research indicates that during the coherence-creating assemblies, decreased stress and increased coherence in regional collective consciousness may have diminished violent outbursts in Lebanon and facilitated more co-operative interaction among typically antagonistic factions. This research provides strong evidence for the reliability of coherence-creating groups even under extreme conditions of protracted political violence.

Over 50 studies have shown that IDT works. The causal mechanism has been postulated to be a field effect of consciousness -- a spillover effect on the level of the unified field from the peace-creating group into the larger population. On this basis, a study in the Journal of Social Behavior and Personality (2005, vol. 17, #1, pp. 339-373) additionally offers a proposed explanation of causality in biological terms. Research conducted on the powerful neurotransmitter serotonin shows that it 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 correlated with a marked increase in serotonin production among other community members. These results were statistically significant and followed the attendance figures in the IDT group. This finding offers a plausible neurophysiologic mechanism to explain reduced hostility and aggression in society at large.

The Maharishi Effect has also been documented on a worldwide scale in a study published in the Journal of Offender Rehabilitation (2003, vol. 36, #1-4, 283-302) using data provided by the Rand Corporation. When large assemblies of IDT experts exceeded the Maharishi Effect threshold for the world during the years 1983-1985, terrorism decreased globally 72%, international conflict decreased 33%, and violence within nations was reduced without intrusion by other governments.

In the 1990s, the military in Mozambique used IDT to end its civil war. (See: “Mozambique’s Prevention Wing of the Military: End civil war, Improve the economy” published by Africa Economic Analysis). Today, The Netherlands, Bolivia, Colombia, Trinidad and Tobago, and Peru have enough practitioners of IDT to create the Maharishi Effect. The United States of America is close to achieving the requisite number of IDT experts through its Invincible America Assembly in Fairfield, Iowa. And a group large enough to have a global effect is planned for India. But these are all civilian groups, and most require financial support. Since the armed forces of Sri Lanka are funded by their government and their personnel are paid to perform their duties and protect their citizens, an IDT group in the armed forces would not be subject to fluctuations of donors, jobs, student graduations, and optional activities. It would be a permanent peace-creating group.

The armed forces of Sri Lanka are responsible for protecting their civilian population, and are obligated to thoroughly examine realistic, scientifically proven methods for ending war and terrorism. IDT is such a method. Therefore, we feel it is their duty to create a Prevention Wing of the Military and truly protect their citizens.

About the Authors:

Maj. Gen. (Retd.) Kulwant Singh, U.Y.S.M., Ph.D. fought in combat and led India’s fight against India’s intransigent terrorism problem for nearly 30 years. He was awarded the Uttam Yudh Sewa Medal, the second highest decoration for senior officers during operations in Sri Lanka as part of IPKF (Indian Peace Keeping Force). Today he leads an international group of generals and defence experts that advocates Invincible Defence Technology.

John Hagelin, Ph.D. is the Director of the Institute of Science, Technology and Public Policy (ISTPP), an organization in the United States that advocates prevention-oriented technologies. He is a Harvard-trained quantum physicist who won the prestigious Kilby Award, and appeared in the feature films The Secret and What the Bleep Do We Know? Dr. Hagelin also serves as the Director of the Global Union of Scientists for Peace.

David Leffler, Ph.D. a United States Air Force veteran, is the Executive Director of the Center for Advanced Military Science (CAMS) at ISTPP. www.StrongMilitary.org.