Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 325 GROUP MEdITATION dEFUSES ACUTE SOCIETAL STRESS, REdUCES CRIME ANd SOCIALVIOLENCE Extensive research, including 50 scientific replications and 23 studies published in peer-reviewed journals, demonstrates that TM practice, and in particular group TM practice, is an effective, and highly cost-effective, approach for reducing societal stress and associated violent crime and social conflict. It is not surprising that reducing stress on the individual level causes a corresponding reduction of stress on the societal level. Yet it is both surprising and fortunate that even a relatively small proportion of a population practicing this powerful, stress-reducing technology in a group produces an almost disproportionate and demonstrable reduction in societal stress and in associated crime and social violence. The meditating group produces an extensively documented“spillover”effect of orderliness and calm in the surrounding society. Theoretical explanations of this surprisingly powerful impact of group meditation on crime and social stress include a“field model of consciousness,”in which consciousness, at its deepest level, is a field that underlies and connects individuals throughout society. Such a theory is consistent with the latest findings in physics, physiology, and neuroscience. (See figure to the right.) In any such model (irrespective of its details), the stress-reducing, peace- promoting influence generated by a group will grow as the square of the size of the group. This N2 power of a peace-creating group has been observed and repeatedly confirmed by dozens of published scientific studies—and renders this Brain-Based Approach to Peace especially practical. It means that only a few thousand individuals are needed to produce an extremely powerful and scientifically demonstrable effect of orderliness and calm in the surrounding society—even on a national or global scale. (See research, pages 16–19.) . 12 G L O B A L P E A C E I N I T I AT I V E