As a designer, photographer, and Teacher of Transcendental Meditation, John Ashforth was inspired to create the above ‘word cloud’ – a graphic representation of the Invincible Europe Assembly, held in the meditation Dome, Skelmersdale, Lancashire, UK in 2014. At that time, John was the Assembly leader. His responsibilities included the presentation of participants’ experiences of Transcendental Meditation which were often profound and sublime. He later analysed hundreds of their written accounts and added up their most regularly used descriptive words. Note: The size of the word represents the frequency of the word’s usage.
I first joined the Invincible Europe Assembly (IEA) in the Spring of 2006, the attraction being an extended schedule of the Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi programmes, lectures, and special knowledge presentations on Maharishi’s Vedic Science[1]. I had not had an opportunity to spend so much of the day with the eyes closed since my TM Teacher Training Course in the early ‘70’s. The greatest appeal was that Maharishi Mahesh Yogi oversaw the Assembly. Maharishi’s insights into the development of consciousness were always profoundly masterful and fascinating. The minimum period of attendance was one month, which allowed us to enjoy prolonged immersion in pure bliss consciousness, the unbounded field of the inner Self.
I remember feeling submerged in stillness the whole time, never completely coming out of that inner silence, even in activity. The borderline between the depth of meditation and my activity became less obvious and began to blur in that completely settled state. After a couple of weeks, the experience became a quiet continuum. Different periods of the day – sleeping, walking, mealtimes, meetings and the TM practise – effortlessly blended together.
Sharing of Personal Experiences
Experiences of meditation were presented to Maharishi each afternoon and formed the highlight of the day. The participants described clear, blissful experiences of higher states of consciousness. Many sounded like extracts from ancient Vedic texts or quotes from yogic Masters. To be able to recall an experience you had in meditation that morning, then hear Maharishi comment on it, was such a privilege. I felt immensely fortunate to be attending this Assembly in the presence of such an enlightened Master, whose compassion extended to enlightening the whole world.
Subsequently, the Invincible America Assembly (IAA) was set up on 23 July 2006 by Dr John Hagelin to create a ‘kavach’ or invincible shield of protection through the establishment of a permanent peace-creating group for the United States. More than 1,200 practitioners of the TM and TM-Sidhi programmes soon gathered at Maharishi International University (MIU) in Fairfield, Iowa, to participate in the Invincible America Assembly. My wife Anne, and myself had the great fortune to be there when businessman Howard Settle proclaimed he would fund the Assembly. For the first time in modern history, the goal of 1,500 TM–Sidhas (practitioners of the TM-Sidhi programme, including Yogic Flying) was about to become a reality – ‘professional peace-creators’ – a valuable occupation dedicated to extended daily practise of deep meditation for the purpose of creating coherence, peace and harmony in society.
The euphoria in the University’s two large golden Domes where the TM practice took place was palpable and spread throughout the surrounding campus, cascading into the town and drenching the whole area in waves of joy. We were starkly aware of such a momentous occasion. Assembly numbers continued to rise but sadly, after a few months our US visas expired, and Anne and I had to return home to the UK.
Achieving the ‘Maharishi Effect’
However, we returned the following year with our son Jonathon to enjoy more of this unique experience. In order to boost the size and peace-creating impact of the Assembly, 1000 Vedic Pandits (experts in Yog and Yagya, traditional Vedic disciplines) arrived from India to contribute their powerful influence, raising the group size to 2,500.
America had achieved the square root of 1% of the population, the number required to create coherence in the US national consciousness known as the Maharishi Effect, as reflected statistically in reduced crime and other negative tendencies in society. Our collective practice of the TM-Sidhi programme continued the same – profoundly deep, silent and blissful.
A mathematics professor pointed out that, according to his calculations, the size of the US group plus another large group of Sidhas in South America meant that the whole American continent had that day, achieved the Maharishi Effect for the first time in modern history.
The Peace Creating Formula Comes to Europe
The Invincible Europe Assembly (IEA) soon followed in the TM Programme Dome in Skelmersdale, Lancashire, UK, with the aim of creating an equivalent, permanently funded coherence-creating group for Great Britain and Europe. I enjoyed many weeks of this Assembly also as it was nearby my home. How perfect to be in the blissful silence of the Dome just minutes from home!
From the launch of the IEA in Skelmersdale, participants reported experiences as deep and profound as those on the original Invincible Holland and American Assemblies. After frequently hearing descriptions of higher states of consciousness from the participants such as ‘light’, ‘stillness’, ‘peace’, ‘bliss’, ‘silence’, ‘transcendence’, ‘flowing’, ‘powerful’…the idea came to create a graphic ‘word cloud’ representing the frequency of the experiences.
I gathered together the written experiences of hundreds of participants on the UK Skelmersdale Assembly and listed the most commonly used descriptive words. I then counted up the number of times each word was used. The size of each word reflects the frequency of its use. I used a linear approach; the relative font sizes are in proportion to the number of times each word was used. My choice of layout and colours was purely instinctive. The image at the top of this blog is the result.
The Invincible Assemblies in the U.S., and UK have since become an ongoing programme for practitioners of the Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi programmes. Permanently funded groups which meet the Maharishi Effect requirement of the square root of 1% of the population of the US and UK would, according to published scientific research, significantly reduce negative trends in society and replace them with increasing positivity, peace and harmony.
‘The Proof of the Pudding is in the Eating’.
On the basis of the repeated experience and published research on the Maharishi Effect, any government, wealthy individual, or organisation can generate a powerful influence of peace and invincibility for their nation. All that is required is to fund a permanent group of experts in the peace-creating technologies of the Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi programmes. Only by reducing the build-up of toxic stress in collective consciousness can peace be permanently achieved. The formula has been repeatedly validated. There is no reason for the vicious cycle of stress, violence, and terrorism to continue when the formula has been shown to work. ‘The proof of the pudding is in the eating’. Here is the long sought art and science of creating individual and collective peace, from the level of unbounded peace itself in consciousness, which resides within every human being.
Peace and Positivity Resulting from the Invincible America Assembly
- Dramatic improvements in the USA took place during the Invincible America Assembly, as publicly announced in advance. The Dow Jones rose 11.9% during the first 100 days of the Assembly and the U.S. economy enjoyed a period of sustained growth. Dr. Hagelin said, ‘We expect all these positive, life-affirming changes to continue and intensify as the size of the group increases.’
- Rising peace in the Middle East – A Middle-Eastern flashpoint for decades became peaceful for many months; the U.S joined talks with Iran and Syria to resolve the Iraq war; the U.S. took part in serious negotiations with North Korea to resolve the nuclear crisis.
- Saving lives: Scientists found that when the Invincible America Assembly was sufficiently large, national homicide rates dropped by 21.2% and urban violent crime rates by 18.6% across a four-year intervention period. The researchers estimated that over 8,000 lives had been saved from homicide during this intervention.
Please see: ‘Reduction of U.S. Homicide and Urban Violent Crime Rates Societal Violence and Collective Consciousness’:
Research Results
For more information about the Maharishi Effect: https://research.miu.edu/maharishi-effect/
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2158244016637891
Websites on the Maharishi Effect
- Global Union of Scientists for Peace: https://www.gusp.org
- Global Peace Project: https://globalpeaceproject.org and https://globalpeaceproject.net
- Invincible Europe Assembly, Skelmersdale, Lancashire, UK: https://www.goldendome.org.uk
- Invincible America Assembly, Maharishi International University, Iowa, USA: https://www.invincibleamerica.org
- An Antidote to Violence – Evaluating the Evidence: https://anantidotetoviolence.org
Books on the Maharishi Effect
- An Antidote to Violence – Evaluating the Evidence (Authors: Spivack and Saunders)
UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Antidote-Violence-Evaluating-evidence/dp/1789042585USA: https://press.shopmiu.com/product/an-antidote-to-violence/ - The Coherence Effect (Authors: Clark, Marcus, and Wallace): https://press.shopmiu.com/product/the-coherence-effect/
John Ashforth has two BA degrees in Photography and Graphic Design, a Diploma in Film Making and an MA in Screenwriting from the Northern Film School in the UK. John’s first job was at BBC Television. He works freelance and his photography has been exhibited in many UK galleries. John has taught at the University of Central Lancashire, the University of Derby and Trent Polytechnic. He has been a semi-professional musician and has studied Gandharva-Veda (classical music of India) and the veena. He became a Certified Teacher of Transcendental Meditation in 1978 and served as Director of the Maharishi European Sidhaland in Skelmersdale, Lancashire, from 2010–2015. He is a member of the planning committee of the Academy of Arts for Enlightenment.