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The Physics of FlyingA review of a videotape by Dr John HagelinOne way to hold the attention of an audience is certainly to introduce your talk as "focusing on the physics of flying, or more generally the mechanics of supernormal abilities." And it is probably true to say that few of those who heard these opening remarks on the video-tape and few will have looked at their watch during the next hour and a half. In this presentation, Dr John Hagelin discusses the TM-Sidhi programme from the perspective of modern science, particularly quantum physics. How does the TM-Sidhi programme work? How can a subtle mental impulse affect events in day to day life? Does Yogic Flying violate the laws of gravity? These and other topics are brilliantly explored by Dr Hagelin, one of the world's leading quantum field theorists, who has worked closely with Maharishi for many years. Quantum physics may not immediately sound fascinating; but TM meditators tend to feel at home with the subject, because it refers to our daily experience in meditation. "During Transcendental Meditation," explains Dr Hagelin, "the mind effortlessly traverses the entire range of natural law, from the obvious macroscopic level to finer and finer levels of nature's functioning." Nature is structured in layers, he points out: "the macroscopic physical world all around us, the molecular world-the basis of the macroscopic world, and the atomic world, and the nuclear world, and worlds within worlds .. and each of these worlds is qualitatively different from the others." The most important theme of Dr Hagelin's talk is that, so to speak, 'the inner is the basis of the outer' as Maharishi's SCI principle states. Events at the level of nature that we observe in our day to day life are the statistical outcomes of innumerable processes operating at the microscopic level of life, at the level where all forces merge with one another. This fundamental level of nature, the unified field, is also described in physics as 'space-time-foam' to convey a sense of the tremendous activity present there. In Transcendental Meditation we experience this field of dynamic silence as a field of pure consciousness. The classical laws of nature which seemingly govern what we can and cannot do in daily life, are not really laws at all, says Dr Hagelin. They are 'statistical laws'-they are descriptions of what happens, on average, as a result of innumerable microscopic events. One example given by Dr Hagelin is the outcome of flipping a coin a hundred times. The chances are we'll get approximately fifty heads and fifty tails. But there is no actual law which demands this. The outcome is just the statistical averaging of innumerable microscopic factors-air currents in the room, the surface on which the coin lands, force of the spin, and so on. "I just want to make the point" says Dr Hagelin, "that with enough knowledge, particularly of the microscopic phenomena influencing that action, it could become possible to take advantage of that and arrange for the coin toss to become heads every time." Transcendental Meditation brings the knowledge of deeper levels of nature's dynamics; while the role of the TM-Sidhi programme is to create a specific, directed, coherent influence at these deep levels. "..just by putting an infinitesimal input, the most delicate possible impulse, it is possible to tip the scale, to affect the statistical laws of averaging, to overthrow the classical laws on the macroscopic level", says Dr Hagelin. In the case of TM-Sidhi Yogic Flying, this means that an impulse can alter the shape of the gravitational field. "Instead of falling down, which is the most probable outcome, the body would fall up, or to the left or to the right, or in any desired direction." "If somebody would ask you about your Yogic Flying practice, 'doesn't it violate Newton's Law of Gravity?', the first thing you should say is that Newton's Law of Gravity is a seventeenth century law!" Dr Hagelin reminds us. "If they proceed to say 'well, I suppose that's the case, but you're violating Einstein's General Relativity'-which I doubt most would-you can go on to say that Einstein's General Relativity was obsolete the year after it was introduced. It was replaced by quantum gravity-and according to quantum gravity, all these classical laws which we cherish, including these classical laws of gravity, are not laws, they have no absolute status, they're statistical laws, approximate laws, they have their occurrence in the likely happenings of many microscopic events." Dr Hagelin points out that gravity is the last of the forces of nature to transcend its classical laws-quantum gravity does not begin until the unified field itself is reached. "I think that's what makes the TM-Sidhi of Yogic Flying such an important Sidhi," he says, "and such a powerful demonstration of higher states of consciousness, and such a powerful exercise to culture the nervous system to sustain higher states of consciousness. "Because where certain other competencies, super-normal abilities, may be possible at more superficial levels of thinking,...Yogic Flying, the ability of the body to float and fly, really demonstrates mastery over the gravitational force and you can't master gravity without transcending the classical laws that prevent such a phenomenon, without taking recourse to quantum gravity, and quantum gravity again is the level of the unified field. So Yogic Flying is a clear demonstration of the capability of the human nervous system to function coherently at the level of the unified field." For the rest of the TM-Sidhi programme, says Dr Hagelin, "we can consider each and every sidhi described by Maharishi Patanjali in the Yoga Sutras, and understand how through some conscious behaviour, some coherent influence introduced at the microscopic level, we would expect to see the classical laws of nature overthrown according to the predictions of Patanjali. "That's the important point-it is essential that the mind be awake, that consciousness be wide awake and functioning at this foundational level of Natural Law, at the unified field of Natural Law which is literally the switchboard of all known laws of nature in the universe-and on that level gain total mastery of Natural Law." Dr Hagelin's talk explains Yogic Flying in considerable detail as well as covering other topics and questions from the audience. It's a totally fascinating presentation which can't be done justice in a short review, and all I can do is recommend you to definitely see it! The videotape is available for hire or purchase to TM Centres from Maharishi Ayur-Ved Products. What is the TM-Sidhi programme? The TM-Sidhi programme is a natural extension of Transcendental Meditation. Derived by Maharishi from Patanjali's Yoga Sutras, part of the Vedic tradition of knowledge, the TM-Sidhis are very simple, effortless techniques that train the individual to think and act from the field of pure consciousness where every thought and action is completely supported by Natural Law. In other words, the TM-Sidhi programme develops Unity Consciousness. Comments Dr Hagelin: "the Sidhis give us familiarity, practice, and ultimately competence, at desiring from within the Self." He adds that the TM-Sidhi programme "certainly reflects a science of mind that is far beyond, far more developed, than any Western science of mind or psychology." Thinking clearly at this deep level of the mind both requires and develops extremely coherent functioning of the brain, coherence which reaches its maximum during the practice of TM-Sidhi Yogic Flying. This coherence, experienced as 'bubbling bliss', is generated through the collective consciousness of society by large group practice of Yogic Flying, leading to spontaneous falls in negative tendencies-such as crime-and increases in positive trends in the daily lives of the whole population. 'World peace is a by-product of it' says Maharishi of this 'bubbling bliss', 'Heavenly life on earth is a by product of it'. Widely popularised in recent years through the activities of the Natural Law Party, the TM-Sidhi programme is becoming recognised as the most significant and exciting technology in the world today.
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Dr
John Hagelin, Chairman of the Department of Physics at Maharishi International
University and Director of MIU's Institute of Science, Technology and
Public Policy. Dr Hagelin received his PhD from Harvard University, and
has worked at the European Centre for Particle Research (CERN) in Geneva,
and at the Stanford Linear Accelerator in California. He has worked closely
with Maharishi for many years, examining the relationship between the
most foundational aspect of human experience, pure consciousness, and
the deepest aspect of physical existence, the unified field, identified
by modern theoretical physics.