An Antidote to Violence: Evaluating the Evidence
Published by Changemakers Books in 2020. Go to https://www.amazon.com/Antidote-Violence-Evaluating-Evidence to obtain a copy. Kindle and Audiobook versions are also available.
Most people know the individual benefits of Transcendental Meditation®—reductions in stress, reductions in rates of heart disease, anxiety, and depression. This is common knowledge nowadays. But the premise of An Antidote to Violence: Evaluating the Evidence takes this further. Peer-reviewed, published research suggests that practice of Transcendental Meditation and its advanced programs also leads to the larger, social good.
To be specific, when Transcendental Meditation (or the TM® technique as it is popularly known), is practiced by a relatively small number of people in a city or a nation, there follows a concrete, powerful, and scientifically demonstrable influence of calm, coherence, and peace. This influence positively impacts the entire population, meditator and nonmeditator alike.
Evidence of this comes from more than 50 demonstrations and 20 peer-reviewed and published studies. Scientists controlled for a wide array of confounding variables and the results were clear: group practice of Transcendental Meditation and its advanced programs produces reductions in crime rates, regional conflicts and war deaths, and other indicators of reduced societal stress.
An Antidote to Violence: Evaluating the Evidence explains collective consciousness—the togetherness of all the consciousness that make up a society—and the influence of Transcendental Meditation on society as a “field effect of consciousness”. Written for the social scientist and the lay reader alike, the book weaves together psychology, sociology, philosophy, statistics, politics, and physics to provide evidence that governments have the knowledge to reduce all kinds of violence in society simply by creating coherence in collective consciousness and thereby neutralizing collective stress. In addition, An Antidote to Violence offers answers to key questions, including: how does it work? What is the evidence? What do skeptics say? What are the implications for society? And perhaps most importantly: what are the next steps to secure scientific acceptance and public policy adoption?
An Antidote to Violence: Evaluating the Evidence was published by Changemakers Books in 2020. Go to https://www.amazon.com/Antidote-Violence-Evaluating-Evidence to obtain a copy. Kindle and Audiobook versions are also available.
Read the reviews!
“I was initially skeptical that such a simple solution could be effective. However, after examining the evidence, I changed my mind. An Antidote to Violence is a serious and well-researched book that offers an unconventional but effective peaceful solution to violence and terrorism.”
– Lieutenant General Clarence E. McKnight, Jr. (U.S. Army – Ret) is a former Director of Command, Control and Communications Systems for the Joint Chiefs of Staff in Washington, D.C.
“Barry Spivack and Patricia Saunders address the problems of preventing violence and war with a high level of professionalism, and, by examining a means to achieve sustainable peace supported by long-term research, have created a book that is hugely relevant. Most importantly, they highlight the interdependence of power, violence, security, and individual and collective consciousness. This book will be extremely useful for people of all nationalities, regardless of their status, different religious beliefs, personal preferences and life strategies. The theoretical and methodological principles outlined here deserve to be studied carefully and disseminated in the world.”
– Lieutenant General Vasyl Krutov, former First Deputy Head of the Security Service of Ukraine and First Deputy Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine
“My most sincere congratulations to the authors for their research and presentation of this book. I hope it will be read and applied by leaders of government and by all in general for the good of society and each person in particular.”
– Lieutenant General José Martí Villamil de la Cadena, former Chief of Staff of the Army and Commander of Ground Theatre Operations, Chief of Staff of the Joint Command, Vice-Minister of Defense, and General Secretary of the National Security Council in Ecuador
“An Antidote to Violence is a timely book that traces the progress of scientific studies of the Maharishi Effect as they developed from modest beginnings to large-scale demonstrations involving thousands of people practicing advanced Transcendental Meditation techniques near conflict zones. The results of these experiments were then published in scientific journals. This book is especially good at discussing the evidence and the alternative explanations that have been advanced for the results. I can recommend the book to all readers with an open mind.”
– Huw Dixon, Professor of Economics, Cardiff University
“Based on hard evidence corroborated by rigorous scientific studies, this is a compelling and convincing account of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi’s effective approach to creating lasting peace through Transcendental Meditation. The book compiles an array of incredible success stories from all over the world in an easily readable style for all those interested in addressing the monumental challenge of eradicating violence and conflict.”
– Ved P. Nanda, Professor of Law, University of Denver
“An Antidote to Violence should be required reading for anyone passionate about creating a sustainable global peace. Neuroscientists, historians and philosophers are certain to find sections of the book of great interest. Students will discover many attractive ideas to delve into for their theses or dissertations. Come to think of it, everyone should read this book. Our future may depend on it.”
– Dean Radin, PhD, Chief Scientist, Institute of Noetic Sciences, author of Real Magic, Entangled Minds, and other books
“The evidence in favor of the proposition that a) meditation has a positive effect on people, and b) that group meditation pushes this effect beyond the boundaries of the individual and has a profound effect on the environment, is staggering. It is hard to accept these propositions with my western-wired brain. It is equally hard to refute them in light of so much evidence.”
– Bas Van Gils, Sustainable Digital Transformation
“An Antidote to Violence: Evaluating the Evidence” is not your casual mid-afternoon read. It is a thought-provoking and in-depth presentation of a still-controversial topic, Transcendental Meditation (TM). The authors, Barry Spivack MA and Patricia Saunders Ph.D. have created a monumental piece by critically analyzing decades worth of scientific research on the social effects of the practice. After a careful evaluation of evidence, the authors conclude that there is indeed an antidote to violence.”
– Timea Barabas, Bestsellersworld.com
“If something so simple, universal and cost-effective as more people meditating for their own personal benefit can translate into something so big that helps to heal the societal tensions that have fueled crime, violence and conflict for millennia, then, my friend, the future of our world can be unfathomably brighter than we could ever have imagined.”
– Bob Roth, CEO of the David Lynch Foundation and author of the 2018 New York Times bestseller Strength in Stillness: The Power of Transcendental Meditation.