MIU President Tony Nader put forward a practical pathway to reduce global tensions and relieve the global mental health crisis as part of his keynote address during the UN’s first annual “World Meditation Day,” held on December 21.

“Meditation is not a luxury — it’s a necessity,” Dr. Nader said. He described it as a simple, mechanical, universal re-set system that promotes peace and health and doesn’t depend on any belief or way of life.

Dr. Nader cited the constitution of UNESCO (the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization), which states, “Since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defenses of peace must be constructed.” The authors of the constitution recognized that world peace depends on inner personal transformation, Dr. Nader said. But no one has had a technique to accomplish this systematically and on a wide scale.

But this is exactly what the Transcendental Meditation technique accomplishes, he said. The practice enables us to “go back home” to “our true inner self,” to “enliven that on an individual level and enliven it in society. And then, naturally, spontaneously, the right decisions will be made and we can have a life of peace and harmony and well-being.”

Comparing the process to resetting a computer, Dr. Nader described meditation as a powerful prevention tool for protecting against mental and physical illness.

“It doesn’t depend on believing in it,” he said. “It doesn’t depend on a particular way of life, a particular religion, a particular belief in anything. It’s simple and mechanical.”

The ever-present stress, danger, and fear in the world activates the brain’s fight-flight-or-freeze response and shuts down the prefrontal cortex, the brain’s CEO, responsible for thinking and planning effectively, Dr. Nader said. Unless we give our brains a chance to re-set, we may develop physical and mental health challenges — a global issue today.

Fortunately, he said, the world’s great knowledge traditions developed procedures for calming the brain so we can think and plan clearly — and now we need those meditation techniques more than ever.

Evidence based

Dr. Nader reviewed research showing that Transcendental Meditation practice easily and effortlessly allows the mind to settle down into a state of inner peace and quiet. This experience dissolves stress and promotes integrated brain functioning, yielding extensive benefits for mental and physical health, including heart health.

He described further peer-reviewed research showing that this effect of inner peace radiates into the environment and can cause whole societies to become more peaceful — reflected in reduced rates of crime, infectious diseases, accidents, suicides, and even reduced war violence and war deaths. He described a dramatic 1993 study in Washington, DC, in which researchers predicted that violent crime in DC would drop 20% when a large group gathered to practice TM together — and it dropped more than 23% during the final weeks of the two-month study.

Explaining the underlying mechanism at work, Dr. Nader said that when one’s mind settles inward beyond thoughts and perceptions, one experiences and enlivens the field of pure consciousness, the unified field of natural law at the basis of everyone and everything, creating waves of harmony, coherence, and peace everywhere.

Other diplomats emphasize the value of meditation

More than 200 people gathered to hear Dr. Nader speak. These included diplomats from about 30 UN member states, including senior diplomats from the core group of countries that sponsored the proposal for World Meditation Day — India, Sri Lanka, Liechtenstein, Nepal, Mexico, and Andorra — and leaders of UN-affiliated non-governmental organizations.

The diplomats from the six core UN member states also spoke at the event, emphasizing that meditation is a vital component in all diplomatic efforts to achieve conflict resolution and peace.

Volker Türk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, speaking by live video conference from Zurich, underlined the universality of meditation, its contribution for effective diplomacy, and its benefits for individual and collective well-being.

The UN General Assembly — all 193 member nations — had unanimously passed a resolution on December 6 declaring December 21 to be World Meditation Day. The resolution was sponsored by Andorra, Bangladesh, Bulgaria, Burundi, Dominican Republic, Iceland, India, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Mauritius, Mexico, Monaco, Mongolia, Morocco, Nepal, Portugal, Slovenia, and Sri Lanka.

Additional reporting by Adrienne Schoenfeld

Long-term Transcendental Meditation® practice can help reduce the risk of high blood pressure, diabetes, heart attack, stroke, and death by about 50% in high-risk individuals.

This is the finding of systematic review of all the published studies on the TM technique and cardiometabolic disease internationally.

The study, entitled “The promising role of Transcendental Meditation in the prevention and treatment of cardiometabolic diseases: A systematic review,” was published earlier this year in a top medical journal, Obesity Reviews. The study was summarized on the website of the World Obesity Federation, publisher of the journal.

The study was conducted by a research team at RMIT University (Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology), a public research university in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

Study authors also included MIU researchers Dr. Robert Schneider and Dr. John Salerno. Schneider is dean of the MIU College of Integrative Medicine, director of the Institute for Natural Medicine and Prevention, and professor of Physiology and Health. Salerno is associate director of the Institute for Natural Medicine and Prevention. 

The research group systematically reviewed all the published scientific literature — 45 studies conducted over a span of 30 years — on the effects of TM practice on risk factors for cardiovascular disease and diabetes, collectively called cardiometabolic disease. Systematic reviews offer one of the strongest methods of scientific research because they combine all published studies on a particular topic — regardless of where, when, by whom, and what was found — in a single overall analysis.  

RMIT Distinguished Professor Barbora de Courten, one of the investigators, said that Transcendental Meditation, which is widely used in Australia and worldwide, had been shown to improve resilience to stress and benefit heart heath.

“Psychological distress has a profound effect in contributing to the onset and progression of cardiometabolic diseases and the associated risk factors,” de Courten said. “We found compelling evidence that this meditation technique effectively lowers blood pressure and reduces insulin resistance — thereby decreasing the risk of diabetes — among other cardio-metabolic health benefits.”

This new study corroborates and extends earlier American Heart Association scientific statements and Cochrane Systematic Reviews on the usefulness of Transcendental Meditation practice for lowering high blood pressure and preventing cardiovascular disease.

“Because of the promising finding to date uncovered in our systematic review, we are currently planning a clinical trial investigating the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of Transcendental Meditation on wellbeing, mental and cardiovascular and metabolic health as well as productivity in our staff at RMIT University,” Professor de Courten said.

Key findings of the study

The systematic analysis of the published research showed that long-term Transcendental Meditation achieved a reduction of blood pressure similar to some mainstream medications, de Courten said. 

“This meditation technique may also play a role in preventing the thickening of artery walls associated with atherosclerosis. This can help improve blood flow to the heart and brain and increase exercise tolerance. All these beneficial effects from Transcendental Meditation can ultimately prevent the occurrence of heart attack, stroke, and death.” 

“This study of thirty years of research together brings all the research up to date, corrects misunderstandings in the field by other reviews, and gives us an expanded picture of the broad health benefits of TM practice,” Schneider said. “The fact that the study calls for phase III clinical trials indicates that the phase II trials were successful. It’s a big thing for everyone here.”

How does meditation help prevent diseases and promote wellbeing?

“Lowering sympathetic tone and related mind-body mechanisms contributes to lower blood pressure and reduced diabetes and metabolic syndrome,” Dr. Schneider said.

“Transcendental Meditation practice leads to greater integration of brain functioning as measured by EEG coherence,” said Dr. Fred Travis, director of MIU’s Center for Brain, Consciousness, and Cognition. “In addition, TM practice resets the body’s stress response system, leading to lower stress reactivity and sympathetic nervous system activation and likely inflammation.” Travis did not participate in the study.

Reporting by the RMIT public affairs office.

Banner photography by Nappy on Unsplash.

In a grand celebration held in the Golden Dome on October 16, the campus community commemorated the presidency of Dr. John Hagelin and inaugurated the new presidency of Dr. Tony Nader.

“It’s my honor and joy to be part of this university that we all adore,” Dr. Nader said. “It’s really a great honor and joy to be with you and to receive this invitation. It is a pleasure to accept it and be welcomed and embraced by you so warmly.”

Dr. Nader, a medical doctor trained at Harvard and MIT, where he received a PhD in neuroscience, is a globally recognized expert in the science of consciousness and human development. As Maharishi Mahesh Yogi’s successor, Dr. Nader is head of the international TM organizations in over 140 countries. His recent book, “Consciousness Is All There Is,” was a New York Times best-seller.

Dr. Hagelin said he was “amazed and delighted” that Dr. Nader accepted the invitation to assume this leadership position. He praised Dr. Nader’s brilliance and outstanding academic and medical credentials and said that he is “deeply steeped in the knowledge of consciousness that makes our university stand apart.”

Dr. Nader becomes MIU’s sixth president, following the presidencies of Dr. Robert Keith Wallace (1971–1976), Dr. David Orme-Johnson (1976–1977), Dr. Lawrence Domash (1977–1980), Dr. Bevan Morris (1980–2016), and Dr. John Hagelin (2016–2024). Wallace and Orme-Johnson were present at the celebration.

Appreciating President Hagelin

The event was filled with appreciation for outgoing president John Hagelin.

“These last eight years have been a time of extraordinary growth and development for Maharishi International University,” said MIU Provost Scott Herriott in introducing Dr. Hagelin. During his tenure, Dr. Hagelin — a noted quantum physicist and international president of the Global Union of Scientists for Peace — expanded MIU’s academic program offerings, doubled the enrollment, substantially increased philanthropic giving, renovated buildings, and beautified the campus, Herriott said.

“Thank you so much for your generous support,” Dr. Hagelin said. “Thank you for the honor of serving this university, the most important university in the world — it is already that, and it will become much more known as that over time.”

“I have been looking forward to an opportunity to shift back to being more with the faculty and the students on the level of knowledge — to helping our faculty and precious staff and students to go deeper in their experiences and into knowledge,” he said. “And to speak Maharishi’s knowledge and to promote MIU on a global scale.”

“I felt it was time to move back to where my stars are, where my heart is,” Dr. Hagelin said. “I come alive when I have an opportunity to speak deep knowledge.”

“The endowment of this university is from its faculty, from its scientists, from its staff, from its students.”

In his inaugural address, Dr. Nader expressed his excitement that Dr. Hagelin will return to the world arena to promote the knowledge and technologies of consciousness that are so critically needed today.

He also applauded the dedication of the faculty, staff, and students over the past five decades.

“Many big universities have billions of dollars of endowment,” he said. “The endowment of this university is from its faculty, from its scientists, from its staff, from its students. It’s a human endowment. We have a huge endowment — all those who have served 30 or 40 years, 50 years, with heart, with fullness, with purpose. That is the spirit of MIU. That spirit you cannot find anywhere else.”

He praised the faculty scientists for their discoveries, remarkable for a small university: the discovery of a fourth major state of consciousness, the discovery of the Maharishi Effect, the discovery that pure consciousness is identical with the unified field as described by quantum physics, and the discovery of the significant benefits of TM practice for heart health.

“It is hard to imagine scientific discoveries more consequential and transformational to human life than these,” he said. “These are the scientific geniuses that MU has attracted and has nurtured so that they can nurture the world.”

“Upholding and strengthening MIU’s mission”

“On this occasion I want to commit myself to upholding and strengthening MIU’s mission,” Dr. Nader said. “I want to recommit all of us to upholding and strengthening MIU’s mission, all of us. MIU is education for enlightenment — higher education for higher consciousness.”

Dr. Nader then made a series of commitments toward this end, each greeted with applause.

“As president of MIU, I will help give all students a clear path to enlightenment, and all faculty and staff as well. We will give robust support for everyone’s Transcendental Meditation practice, with regular checking and an emphasis on twice-daily group meditation.

“We will promote regular TM Retreats for all students, faculty, and staff.

“We will remove the financial barriers to learning Advanced Techniques and the TM-Sidhi program, making it easy for students to learn these techniques if they wish to.

“We will steadily build the size of our coherence-creating group on campus so that the experience of pure consciousness becomes more and more vibrant on and around our campus, increasingly palpable, and so that group program becomes irresistible.”

MIU’s responsibility to the world

“MIU is not just for our own growth to enlightenment,” Dr. Nader said. “MIU is for enlightening the world as a whole.”

He recalled how forty years ago, at the end of the historic Taste of Utopia Assembly, which brought together more than 7,000 meditation experts from 46 countries to create a worldwide wave of peace and harmony, Maharishi charged the group with creating a permanent group of 7,000 — the size large enough at that time to create an effect of coherence and peace for the whole world.

“We must remain steadfast in our desire to fulfill this charge, making Fairfield, Iowa, a planetary center for creating coherence, peace, and harmony in world consciousness,” he said. “All of you who have participated in these large gatherings know from first-hand experience how powerful and transformative they are. We want that all the time at MIU.”

Dr. Nader committed to building participation in the four large gatherings that MIU now holds every year, “so that MIU becomes a mecca for thousands of people who wish to dive within as part of a huge group, to experience incredible personal transformations and transform world consciousness.”

Shared governance

President Nader spent the four days prior to the celebration meeting with the university faculty, staff, students, and leaders of the wider Fairfield community. 

“These people form the university’s heart and soul,” he said. “I am deeply moved by everyone’s passionate commitment to gaining enlightenment, to building the university, and to creating peace in the world.”

“It became immediately clear to me how much everyone feels ownership of this precious institution — how much everyone feels personally invested,” he said. “This is a powerful, powerful asset. I commit to making the governance even more inclusive — not just to hear everyone’s voices but to find ways to include people in important decision-making.”

Dr. Nader was especially impressed with the students, who he called “the life breath of the university.”

“Our future leaders will come from their ranks,” he said. “Therefore I want to find ways to empower our students in the life of the university.”

In concluding his address, President Nader said, “We already have in our hands the knowledge and technologies of consciousness to meet every challenge we face and achieve a flourishing life for everyone. Not tomorrow but now, in this very generation. Thank you, Dr. Hagelin, and thank you all for everything you are doing to fulfill MIU’s remarkably important mission.”

Photography by Ken West

At a global event that brought together 15 Nobel Peace Prize winners, renowned leaders of peace organizations, distinguished academics, and more than a thousand university students from around the world, MIU President John Hagelin presented a “brain-based approach to peace” that offers a scientifically-validated, field-tested, low-cost solution to the perennial problem of war and violence in the world.

It was a timely and powerful presentation. Previous speakers had stressed that the world is now closer to nuclear war than at any time in history and that the challenge before us is immense.

The gathering was the 19th World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates, held in Monterrey, Mexico, September 18–21.

This annual event, internationally recognized as one of the most important gatherings in the field of peacemaking, brings together Nobel Peace Prize winners and others to tackle global issues and promote peace and human thriving. Launched in 1999 by Mikhail Gorbachev, who had won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1990 for his role in helping end the Cold War, the Summit celebrated its 25th anniversary in Monterrey.

The Summit was structured around seven key themes related to peace, with panel discussions led by Nobel Peace Laureates and other peace leaders. Dr. Hagelin was invited to speak during the closing, summative panel, entitled “Global Peace: Time to Act.”

World peace through inner peace

The precursor to war and violence, Hagelin said, is stress. Stress in the individual shuts down the prefrontal cortex — the higher brain — while stimulating the amygdala, triggering the body’s fight-or-flight response. Mounting stress is causing ill health, psychological distress, depression, anxiety, and rising levels of social violence throughout the world.

The traditional approach is to try to reduce the stressors — oppression, poverty, injustice, prejudice, and so on. But this has proven difficult if not impossible, he said. But there is a way to directly reduce the stress itself and thereby reduce violent behavior.

Hagelin reviewed studies showing how the Transcendental Meditation technique has been used in prisons to markedly improve prisoner behavior and reduce recidivism, and how the Pentagon has used it to significantly reduce PTSD in veterans.

Then he showed how the same effect can be leveraged through large meditation groups to reduce stress throughout society.

“The first stage in the emergence of war,” he said, “is mounting social stress — acute political, ethnic, and religious tensions in critical hotspots throughout the world. These mounting tensions, if left unchecked, frequently erupt into social conflict.” Traditional efforts — ceasefires and negotiated settlements, for example — typically yield only fleeting relief. Because they don’t reduce the underlying stress, they fail to provide a stable basis for lasting peace.

In contrast, Hagelin summarized studies demonstrating how this brain-based or consciousness-based approach reduced violent crime in Washington DC by 23% while improving the quality of life for the whole city. And he described how the same approach dramatically reduced the intensity of the Lebanese Civil War in the early 1980s, with seven different studies confirming this effect.

Altogether 55 studies on this effect, known as the Maharishi Effect, have been published in peer-reviewed journals or conference proceedings. The effect has been demonstrated all over the world and at every scale of society, from cities to states and from countries to the world as a whole.

“No other approach to peace in history, as far as I know, has had a comparable track record of success,” Hagelin said. “And this particular approach to peace is not that difficult. It’s relatively easily and cost-effectively implemented in schools and colleges” as well as in the military and in police training.

“Even a small fraction of a population produces demonstrable results,” he said, adding, “It has been very effective in Mexico itself in certain school programs here.”

He then described how the effect works — how Transcendental Meditation practice allows the mind to settle effortlessly inward to its basis in pure consciousness, which is identical with the unified field, understood in quantum physics to lie at the basis of all change throughout the universe.

“Meditation expands consciousness,” Hagelin said. “It takes our scattered mental activity, our disorderly EEG, and transforms it into coherent brain functioning.” Coherent brain functioning in turn is correlated with high IQ, learning ability, memory, intelligence, creativity, and moral reasoning. 

“Regular practice of meditation brings inner peace, inner stability, inner fulfillment, inner contentment,” he said. “It brings life-supporting behavior.”

As a result, he said, “You know yourself for what you really are — unbounded, universal being. And you recognize others as unbounded universal beings — you recognize others as your own self. That brings the golden rule of behavior. And that brings a peaceful world. This is world peace through inner peace, an evidence-based, scientifically proven process.”

This is the central approach to peace recommended by the Global Union of Scientists for Peace, founded by Dr. Hagelin to help prevent of terrorism, war, and social violence through cutting-edge, field-tested solutions in the areas of conflict resolution, national security, and global peace.

Click here to watch Dr. Hagelin’s talk.

Hagelin’s panel also included, as pictured above:

• Carlos Slim, the Mexican business magnate, investor, and philanthropist, ranked as the wealthiest person in Latin America and the 11^th wealthiest in the world, according to Bloomberg (he was ranked #1 from 2010 to 2013 by Forbes), with a net worth of $105 billion. His foundation focuses on support for education.
• Kailash Satyarthi, the Nobel Peace Prize winner in 2014 along with Malala Yousafzai, for efforts to ensure child education and prevent child suppression. He presaged Hagelin’s talk by saying that consciousness is the foundation of life and that education is the birthright of all children.
• Óscar Arias Sánchez, the former President of Costa Rica, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1987 as the architect of a peace accord also signed by Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Honduras, designed to end the long-raging civil wars in those countries. He also won the Albert Schweitzer Prize for Humanitarianism and has been awarded fifty honorary degrees.

After his presentation, Hagelin was able to speak with Dr. Karen Hallberg about collaboration. Hallberg, a prominent Argentinian physicist who also spoke at the Summit, has just been appointed Secretary General of the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs, an international organization founded in 1955 that brings together scholars and other leaders in pursuit of a world free of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction. The organization won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1995 for its work on nuclear disarmament.

Dr. Hagelin had given two very short prerecorded talks at the previous World Summit of Nobel Laureates for Peace, held in December 2022 in South Korea. The distance and times involved precluded him from attending in person or speaking live. But this time it was a major talk during the highest-profile panel.

Faculty workshop

MIU faculty members Craig Pearson and Gerry Geer presented a workshop on the same theme. Entitled “Close Your Eyes and Change the World: The Extraordinary Possibility of Creating Positive Change Through Meditation,” this was one of about 15 workshops held during the Summit, concurrently with the main Summit panels.

“We had no idea whether anyone would come to our workshop, since the Nobel Laureates were hosting a Summit panel on peace education at the same time — and other workshops were taking place then too,” Geer said. “So we were delighted that about twenty people showed up, all college students.”

“They were all engaged and excited,” Geer said. “At the end of our talk they wanted to take a group photo, and several asked for selfies with us. Even our Spanish translator was inspired, since she remembered hearing about the Washington DC study in 1993.”

MIU student presentation

Three MIU students — Sam Okorie, Dylan MacDonald, and Muna Askar — created and presented a proposal for a “Peace Lab,” described as “a platform for youth from around the globe to present innovative projects and startups in the realm of peace.”

Entitled “Art and Science of Peacebuilding through Technology of Consciousness,” their proposed project had four components:

• Cultivate a global network of youth peace ambassadors equipped with the skills and knowledge to promote peace in their communities.
• Establish the MIU Peace Lab as a leading center for mentorship, capacity building, and knowledge dissemination in the field of peace-building through technologies of consciousness.
• Develop a user-friendly digital platform to facilitate youth exchange programs, knowledge transfer, and global collaboration in peacebuilding efforts.
• Provide a virtual space for conflict resolution and mediation, leveraging the transformative power of meditation to foster peaceful dialogue and understanding.

Muna Askar is an undergraduate student in the Regenerative Organic Agriculture program and one of the chief organizers of the annual Harvest Festival, to be held Saturday, September 28.

Dylan MacDonald graduated cum laude last June with a BA in Enlightened Leadership and was named that program’s outstanding student along with receiving a Development of Consciousness award. He has just started the master’s program in Enlightenment and Leadership.

Sam Okorie, from Nigeria, recently completed the MBA in Sustainable Business and is now a student in the PhD in Management program. Already well known internationally as a climate activist before coming to MIU, he had spent three days in Bonn at the beginning of September in his role as a member of the Advisory Board of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Santiago Network, where he represents children and youth globally, helping ensure that they and other vulnerable groups receive the support they need in the face of loss and damage associated with climate change impacts. Prior to Bonn he had spent time in Geneva, Switzerland, in the same capacity.

Also present at the Summit was Dr. Ash Pachauri, founder, director, and senior mentor of the worldwide POP (Protect Our Planet) movement, who was MIU’s commencement speaker in 2022. It was Pachauri, the senior advisor of environmental security in Dr. Hagelin’s Global Union of Scientists for Peace, who first connected MIU with the World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates.

MIU participants’ experiences

“Coming to the Peace Summit in Monterrey with the knowledge that we have as meditators felt like we had some secret answer that we were tasked with bringing to conference,” MacDonald said. “People asked many questions and repeatedly brought up many problems, and I felt it was our responsibility to let it be known that we actually have a solution. This feeling empowers you, not in a way that makes you feel greater than others but that makes you want to connect with these brilliant and selfless people and allow them to see the light emanating from within.”

“The most fulfilling highlight for me,” Geer said, “was seeing our own President Hagelin step out onto the Summit stage to address all the Nobel Peace Laureates and the thousands of attendees about our proven, innovative approach to peace — a truly appropriate setting for this life-changing knowledge. Equally inspiring was the passionate, heartfelt commitment of all those Laureates and attendees to the cause of peace. This historic Summit will no doubt change the world — and lead to many collaborations on peace projects between MIU and the Summit attendees.”

Interview with Muna Askar

Overall, what was it like to be a participant in this global event?

“I feel incredibly inspired by the gathering of people from all fields of life, all ages, from all over the world. With passionate young adults dominating the crowd, the future is in bright hands.”

What was your impression of the Nobel Peace Laureates and other peace leaders?

“The Nobel Peace Prize Laureates and other activist leaders acknowledged the present conflict in the world. Their words were filled with rightful grief and anger towards the suffering they witness. The call to action was one of awareness through education, sharing information, and being relentless in hope and strength.”

Do you feel they presented practical solutions?

“There seemed to be a lopsided quality leaning towards problems rather than solutions. Needless to say, I was disappointed at the lack of understanding of the root of the problem. It wasn’t until Dr. Pearson and Dr. Geer gave a captivating presentation on the Maharishi Effect with a crowd full of college students who ate it up. One woman came up to me afterwards practically begging for this to be shared with students all over Mexico, wondering how she could access this information to open the minds of her peers to this solution.”

What was it like to be in an audience of 1,500 people when President Hagelin presented the model of consciousness?

“It warmed my heart to see youth all around me engaged and affirming their support in this truth, further empowering my commitment to transcending as a worldwide peacemaking technology. I am so grateful to have received the opportunity to have this experience with such a brilliant group. Transcendental Meditation continues to be the simplest path towards world peace.”

In a widely-publicized peer-reviewed study, MIU researcher Leslee Goldstein and her team demonstrated the power of the Transcendental Meditation technique to transform the lives of underserved women and girls living in urban slums in Uganda.

The study, published in the journal Health Care for Women International, looked at 130 female youth ranging in age from 13 to 26 living in poverty in Kampala, Uganda’s capital and largest city, with four million people.

“They have limited access to education,” Goldstein said. “Many are illiterate. They face economic instability, domestic and community violence, food and shelter insecurity, gender discrimination, and employment challenges. As a result, they have low self-esteem, they can’t cope, and they’re very tired. They feel hopeless.”

After just five months of TM practice, the subjects showed statistically significant increases in self-esteem (a person’s view of their self-worth), self-efficacy (one’s belief in their capacity to complete a task or achieve a goal), and gratitude. They also showed significantly reduced tiredness, alcohol use, worry, and fatigue. The changes most noticed by the participants, their families, and members of the community were improved self-esteem and reduced excessive alcohol use.

At eight months, responding to a short-answer questionnaire, the participants described improved physical health, decreased stress and anxiety, and improved relationships with family members and neighbors.

“I feel much stronger and more confident”

“I have improved in health and mentally, and even other people notice the change in me,” said a 16-year-old subject. “After meditating I feel free, and my ability to do work has increased. I have improved in class performance and my relationships with others have also improved. I can control myself better now.” 

“Everything felt so hard before,” a 19-year-old wrote. “I have six sisters and they all have kids. I was tired of struggling on my own, so I, too, decided to get pregnant and go into marriage. I had given up on my goals but that was until I learned TM. Meditation made me strong. It empowered me to realize I can push on in the face of adversity.”

Empowerment from Within 

The study authors introduced a new theory of empowerment that they call Empowerment from Within.

“Empowerment cannot be bestowed by others but always must come from within,” the authors write. “Giving a woman food, a sewing machine, or money does not empower a woman. Such gifts may make western donors feel good about themselves, but do not necessarily empower the recipients.”

“Although programs for economic empowerment are critical for women living in poverty,” they write, “Empowerment that transforms women’s lives and society must come from a deep core level within the individual.”

Through the process of transcending, the authors note, TM practice enables individuals to find peace, calm, and resilience deep within — the foundation of personal growth and empowerment.

“Often, young women in developing countries who face similar stressful situations are marginalized as a population and can’t find a way out without assistance and tools to help them,” said Daniela Romagnoli, PhD, from Penn State University and one of the coauthors. “This study brings attention to their plight and offers an evidence-based technique.”

Widespread coverage

The study has received broad media coverage, with stories in News Medical Life Sciences (one of the world’s leading open-access medical and life science hubs), ScienMag science magazine, The Black Examiner (Uganda and East Africa), Bioengineer.org (featuring the latest biotechnology news from around the world), Mirage News (international news publication), ReachMD medical news, Read from Medscape, Global Women’s Health Academy, Head Topics (United Kingdom), and more.

Coauthors of the study are Andra Marie Smith (School of Psychology, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada), Daniela Romagnoli (University Workforce Education and Development, College of Education, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania), and Elissa Katergi (School of Psychology, University of Ottawa).

The research was conducted in collaboration with two other organizations, the African Women and Girls Organization for Total Knowledge (AWAGO) and the Empowered Women community organization.

Funding for this research study was provided by the Rona and Jeffrey Abramson Foundation.

This study on women and girls follows a similar study by Goldstein published in the same journal in 2018 — the first controlled study to demonstrate the effect of TM practice in the daily lives of mothers living in impoverished conditions. The study found significant improvements in self-efficacy, perceived stress, and mental and physical well-being, along with improved health, improved relationships, and increased employment rates. Study coauthors were MIU researchers Sanford Nidich, Rachel Goodman, and David Goodman.

Presenting a range of expression and experimentation in painting, sculpture, ceramics, and installation, MIU’s Wege Gallery will display the work of the six full-time faculty in MIU’s Art, Consciousness, and Creative Practice department.

The opening reception is Friday, September 6, 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm, in the Wege Gallery, and the show runs from September 6 to October 18, 2024.

Faculty showing their work are Sean Downey, Genevra Daley, Gyan Shrosbree, Susan Metrican, Hilary Nelson, and Jim Shrosbree.

“The group exhibition demonstrates the artists’ commitment to their own practices alongside their teaching at MIU, as well as an on-going dialogue between the artists as colleagues,” Susan Metrican said.

 

More than 230 original research studies were submitted to the Journal of Continuing Education in the Health Profession​s (JCEHP) in 2023. Just 18 were published. And of these, the journal chose a study by Marie Loiselle and her team as the outstanding work of the year.

The journal announced this annual award — the Paul Mazmanian JCEHP Award for Excellence in Research — in a special editorial in its Spring 2024 issue.

The winning study each year is selected based on “the magnitude of the problem, the underlying conceptual/theoretical framework, the methodological quality of the research, and importance to the field,” the editorial explains.

Noting that “burnout is an incredibly important topic,” the editorial gives a detailed summary of the study and its findings and concludes, “Congratulations to the award-winning authors and thank you for your incredibly valuable contributions to the field.”

Reduced burnout, emotional exhaustion, and depression

The study found significantly reduced burnout, emotional exhaustion, and depression among physicians after just four months of Transcendental Meditation practice, compared with controls.

Physician burnout is pervasive and directly affects our health care system’s ability to deliver quality care.

Burnout is pervasive among physicians; more than half of US physicians suffer from it. Burnout is linked to substance abuse, medical errors, and suicide ideation, and more than a third of US physicians are planning to cut back their hours or leave the profession altogether because of burnout. Physician burnout directly affects our health care system’s ability to deliver quality care.

The study by Dr. Loiselle and her team — the first to examine the effects of TM practice on physician burnout — was a randomized controlled trial. Forty academic physicians representing fifteen specialties at a Midwestern metropolitan medical school and its affiliated VA hospital were randomly assigned either to the experimental (TM) group or the control group.

The subjects were assessed using measures of burnout, depression, insomnia, perceived stress, and resilience. These assessments were given at the beginning of the study (baseline) and again one month and four months later.

After four months, the physicians in the TM group showed significant improvements in total burnout and its subcategories of emotional exhaustion and personal achievement, and depression. The control group showed no significant changes.

Dr. Loiselle also conducted two qualitative interviews with each of the subjects, at baseline and again after four months. The results aligned with the quantitative outcomes. At baseline, all the physicians reported classic symptoms of burnout and depression. Four months later, those in the TM group reported relief from these symptoms while those in the control group did not.

“The biggest change is that I am just happier” – physicians’ experiences

During the baseline interviews, one subject, a department chair, described the scope of the problem: “One-third of physicians are depressed — clinically depressed.” A surgeon said: “I cannot pinpoint one person in our department who is happy with current medicine. I honestly do not know a single happy physician attending in here.”

In the exit interviews four months later, most physicians in the control group said their stress or workloads had increased. All described ongoing systemic stress.

“I am more relaxed about things overall, more accepting, calmer, not as revved up by things.”

Meanwhile, the physicians in the TM group described significant improvements. “I am more relaxed about things overall, more accepting, calmer, not as revved up by things,” one of them said in an unprompted response. “I think that is the biggest change.”

“I am more patient with people I work with, or even patients if they are being ridiculous or crazy,” another said. Another reported, “It [TM practice] is getting me more mentally rejuvenated on those days where I am just mentally exhausted.”

“I am finishing things with people because I am a little bit more organized,” another said. “I think that to manage people, you have to be a little bit detached and see the big picture, and I have that ability now.”

More than half reported greater energy and productivity.

“I feel like I have more energy to deal with things,” one said. “I started exercising regularly and I started it because of the meditation,” said another. “This is the first time in twenty plus years I have exercised regularly for more than a week.”

Still another said: “I have gotten a lot more done at work. I have probably written four manuscripts in the last four months. I do not just get into a panic about something that is overdue. I cannot explain it, but I am better. I know what to do to be productive in a day.”

“It has helped me sleep significantly,” one physician said. “Sleep alone would have been enough for this to be worthwhile.”

Said another: “The biggest change is that I am just happier.”

Those in the control group were eligible to learn the TM technique after the end of the study four months later.

Judges for the award, study coauthors

Judges for the annual award — recently renamed the Paul Mazmanian JCEHP Award in honor of Dr. Paul Mazmanian, long-time editor of the journal and “mentor and role model to many in the profession” — included representatives from the journal’s three partnering organizations: the Society for Academic Continuing Medical Education, the Alliance for Continuing Education in Health Professions, and the Association for Hospital Medical Education.

Coauthors on the study were Carla Brown, Fred Travis, Gregory Gruener, Maxwell Rainforth, and Sanford Nidich. Dr. Brown is adjunct assistant professor of medical education at the Stritch School of Medicine, Loyola University Chicago. Dr. Gruener is Vice Dean for Education at the Stritch School of Medicine. Drs. Travis, Rainforth, and Nidich are faculty members and researchers at MIU.

Dr. Loiselle is currently working on a study of rural Lebanese women, where she has found significant improvements in perceived stress, resilience, self-efficacy, and happiness among TM meditators versus the control group.

MIU alumnus Caspar Jung ’15 has been appointed the CEO of Maharishi European Research University (MERU) in the Netherlands — the international headquarters for the Transcendental Meditation organization, a host for assemblies, retreats, and courses, and a center for knowledge.  

Caspar hails from a large family of TM meditators. Both his parents and his grandmother are TM teachers, all his grandparents, aunts, uncles, and many of his cousins have learned TM, and many of his family members have worked or are actively working for the TM organization in some capacity. His father was the national director for the Netherlands in the 1980s and early 90s and since 2015 has been the CFO and deputy minister of finance for the international TM organization. His uncle led the Purusha program in Europe for many years and in 2000 became the administrative director at MERU — effectively the position Caspar now holds.

Caspar’s upbringing in such a family laid the foundation for his journey toward spiritual and professional fulfillment. 

After attending Maharishi Elementary School in the Netherlands, Caspar went to university to study architecture. While enrolled, he took a one-month break to participate in the Invincible America Assembly in Fairfield, the large group dedicated to long daily TM and TM-Sidhi program practice to accelerate personal development and create peace and harmony in society.

That’s where he discovered Maharishi International University (MIU).

“I appreciated that MIU was a place for self-exploration and that there was time for self-development.”

— Caspar Jung

“I appreciated that MIU was a place for self-exploration and that there was time for self-development,” he said. “I also liked that the block system allows students to try many different subjects in a short amount of time.”

After sampling courses in different majors, Caspar decided to pursue a business degree, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in business administration in 2015.

Caspar then went to work for fellow MIU alum Amit Hooda at his Fairfield-based company, Heavenly Organics. Serving as the operations coordinator, Caspar learned the elements of running a successful business. He helped establish a North America Free Trade Agreement for Heavenly Organics, enabling the company to sell products in Canada and Mexico, and had his first experience negotiating commercial contracts. 

Returning to the Netherlands, Caspar joined MERU, initially as a financial analyst before transitioning to a managerial role.

In July 2022, his responsibilities expanded as Dr. Tony Nader appointed a new management board at MERU and picked Caspar to take the reins as CEO.

Helping drive these changes was the TM organization’s goal to empower younger people to assume leadership positions. Today the new MERU management board is comprised of a diverse group of Gen Xers and Millennials.

Reflecting on his experiences, Caspar emphasizes the personal growth he has experienced through his new leadership role. “I’m enjoying taking responsibility and watching myself grow from these experiences,” he says. 

Caspar explains that part of MERU’s new plan is to expand the organization into a self-sufficient business, tourism attraction, and modern retreat center. This is being implemented by constructing new residential buildings, an office complex, a wellness resort, and a Maharishi Tower of Invincibility (set to be completed by 2028).

“MERU has unique strengths and opportunities because of its forest location, its importance to the TM organization’s history as Maharishi’s home, and a community of the world’s experts in consciousness. We want to open the door to the public so that people can receive the value that we have to offer.” 

This vision for MERU’s future aligns with Casper’s passion for helping people achieve their full potential through inner and outer growth.

“I’m excited about personal development and the search for meaning in life that we all pursue, and I think this pursuit has the potential not just for inner fulfillment but also for professional success,” Caspar says. “I love that Transcendental Meditation has brought me inner peace as well as outer capabilities. It’s given me an advantage, and I think other people could benefit from that same advantage.”

Caspar’s appointment as the CEO of MERU marks a pivotal moment in the TM organization, part of the transition toward empowering a new generation of leaders. As MERU evolves into a comprehensive center for spiritual and personal development, Caspar’s leadership promises to inspire and empower individuals on their quest for achievement and fulfillment.

“I think the India course was a big transformation for the TM organization,” he says. “It showed that we are still capable of gathering a great deal of support both from inside the organization and outside. Now the next step is to materialize that momentum and create lasting structures and groups. I’m optimistic about our capacity and I’m encouraged by our growing momentum —especially the growing number of new people in the administration being mentored by the senior experts.”

Kathrin Gatys traveled all the way from Wolfsburg, Germany, to participate in this summer’s World Peace Assembly, held from July 20 to August 2 at MIU.

“I am so very happy that I could come back to the Golden Dome, after this long time since the pandemic,” Kathrin said. “Being in the Dome in Fairfield doing long meditations with all the others is my favorite place on earth. It gives me the experience of deep, lively silence, so enormously beautiful and huge.” 

More than 1,300 people participated in the gathering, both in person and remotely.

At the same time, MIU announced that it will hold four large meditation events each year into the future — two National TM Retreats, one in the spring and one in the fall, and two World Peace Assemblies, one in the summer and one in the winter.

National TM Retreats

TM Retreats, designed for those who practice the Transcendental Meditation technique, offer deep rest through the experience of additional daily meditation along with deeper knowledge of growth of consciousness. MIU held its first National TM Retreat this past spring, from May 25 to June 1. The next will be September 7–14.

World Peace Assemblies

World Peace Assemblies are for those who practice the TM technique along with the advanced TM-Sidhi program. MIU held a similar large World Peace Assembly this past winter, from December 29 to January 12, with approximately 2,000 online and in-person participants. The next will be December 29 to January 12, 2025.

Research over the past 40 years has found that when people practice the TM and TM-Sidhi programs in a sufficiently large group, they measurably improve the quality of life for the whole society, a phenomenon known as the Maharishi Effect. And research is beginning to show that meditation groups can enhance the brain functioning of others, which helps explain how the phenomenon works, creating more positive behavior change in others.

“My wife and I looked forward to MIU’s summer WPA because we knew it would be good for us, our country, and our world,” said Alan Steinberg, a medical doctor in Los Angeles. “We thoroughly enjoyed the winter course. Our experiences were wonderful, leaving us with a blissful glow that was replenished this summer.”  

“Some of my deepest meditation experiences have occurred in MIU’s Golden Domes.”

— Ellen Kirisitz

“Some of my deepest meditation experiences have occurred in MIU’s Golden Domes when they’re filled with people practicing these programs,” said Ellen Kirisitz, of Weaverville, California. “But these large group meditation programs also have a profound effect on the environment and collective consciousness. Participating in this World Peace Assembly is a win-win situation: helping to raise our own consciousness while creating coherence for the US and the world.”

“I just love coming back to MIU for WPAs, whenever they are held,” said Mindy Tiberi, from Evanston, Illinois. “The experience of meditation in the dome is so deeply nourishing and profoundly silent. The knowledge meetings are enriching and enjoyable and just being in the Sidha community makes me feel like I have come home to an enlightened family. I am so grateful for this opportunity to have this experience while creating coherence for the rest of the world!”

“We’re committed to offering these four large courses every year, year after year.”

— Tom Brooks

“We’re committed to offering these four large courses every year, year after year,” said Tom Brooks, long-time Vice President of Administration and currently Vice President of Sustainability and Environmental Strategy, who has served as chief administrator for these gatherings. “We know that if we do that, they will continue to gain momentum and grow.”

Are you happy? 

Before the Gospel according to John and after the gospel, according to Mark, is the gospel according to Luke. And the 48th verse of the 12th chapter of that gospel says, to whom much is given, much is expected.

Your presence here today, under this magnificent Golden Dome, suggests that all of you have received much in life, including the opportunity and the gift to reflect and to meditate. The first part of that passage in Luke, “To whom much is given, much is expected,” is often quoted, but what’s often left out is the end of that paragraph. It says, the more one has been entrusted, the more one will be expected to repay.

President Hagelin, distinguished leaders, faculty, staff, family, and friends, and especially the 2024 graduating class of MIU, get ready to repay.

Unfortunately, life does not accept Visa, MasterCard, or American Express. In this age of entitlements, bailouts, and struggle, there is great opportunity for all of us in the community of meditators to make a difference, effect change, and exceed expectations. This is especially true in the arenas of scholarship, leadership, and service. All educators will attest to the fact that students will rise or fall to the level that is expected of them.

I was born in a small village town in New York called Brooklyn. Some of you in Iowa may have heard of it. I was the son of West African immigrant parents. My mom was from Freetown, Sierra Leone, and my dad was from Makar, Ghana. My dad would say that I was made in the USA. My dad passed away shortly after I graduated from medical school, and my mom passed away just last year, five days after I retired from the military after 25 years of service in the Navy.

My parents, like most immigrant parents, wanted me to be successful. They had sacrificed much and expected me to be successful, become a doctor or a lawyer. To this day, I still try and make them proud. And so I personally learned lessons about expectations and scholarship, leadership, and service, and I developed a greater and deeper understanding of these through the lives of others. 

My scholarship and expectation lesson occurred pretty early. When I graduated from high school, I was prepared to go to college and expected to go to Morehouse, where I was accepted. However, I didn’t have enough money to go, and instead, I went to the State University of New York, SUNY Plattsburgh, a small arts and science college far up north by the Canadian border. I was far away from Brooklyn. It was a blessing. Being so far away from civilization, I didn’t have anything to do, so I studied. You guys can relate.

“Is that the best you can do? Doesn’t the scale go up to 4.0?”

After midterms of my freshman year, I made the Dean’s List and proudly went to flaunt my accomplishment to Tim, the admissions counselor. They accepted me to college at 18 years old, full of hubris. I had a 3.5. I slammed my transcript down on his desk. I expected rose petals to be sprinkled before my feet, but instead he looked at me calmly, shrugged his shoulders, and said, “Is that the best you can do? Doesn’t the scale go up to 4.0?” Infuriated, I left his office and worked even harder. I ended the semester with a 3.8 in my freshman year.

My leadership and expectation lessons occurred some years later. On April 29th, 1992, the acquittal of four Los Angeles police officers that were videotaped beating Rodney King, a black man, sparked the LA riots. Fifty-three people died, thousands were injured during six days of chaos, fires, and vandalism that cost the city of LA one billion dollars.

I was 3,000 miles away on the other coast of the country, and tension was very palpable in my community. Emotions were fermenting. In the small college town of Plattsburgh, New York, we reflected on our own individual experiences of injustice growing up in Inner City, New York, and each of us, despite being educated college students, would recall the episodic police harassment we endured in rural Plattsburgh.

“I wasn’t expecting to lead anyone anywhere on that day.”

On the sixth day of the LA riots, over a thousand emotional people gathered for something outside of our small college center. I was called that morning to Miss Janice Saunders’ office, the director of affirmative action. I walked past the gathered movement, and in her office was greeted by campus and community officials who told me I would have to lead the group that gathered outside. I wasn’t expecting to lead anyone anywhere on that day.

My service and expectation lesson occurred even later. After medical school, I joined the Navy, and after general surgery residency, I expected to complete a thoracic surgery fellowship, but the Navy had other plans.

After 9/11, very few surgeons were allowed to go into advanced training and fellowship. Instead, most were deployed, like me. I was assigned to a ship as a ship surgeon. I remember thinking I didn’t join the Navy to go on a ship. I spent 22 months on this ship, and 19 months of those were out to sea. It was the loneliest, most difficult, most stressful time of my life.

Up until that point, it was also the greatest time in my life. I served with 6,000 other volunteers, who all raised their hands, and they were dedicated to a cause and felt the same fears I did.

Years later, I would join thousands of others in a different kind of campaign in the desert of Afghanistan, supporting the Second Marine Expeditionary Forces, Second, MEF. I never expected that on the 10th anniversary of 9/11, after witnessing in real-time the collapse of the World Trade Center, that I would be halfway around the world in Afghanistan, caring for wounded Marines in a tent.

I’ve made lifelong friends in military service and always felt like I was doing my part to preserve the ideals and the freedom of our country that gives its citizens and so many people around the world opportunity.

“Meditation saved my life”

But I want to share how my lessons became a deeper understanding. Meditation saved my life. Meditation saved my life. Let me explain.

When I returned from my deployment in Afghanistan, after taking care of blown-up Marines in a tent, I was in a dark place. While I was in Afghanistan, I would retreat to the tent after our cases. I would journal, I would read. Among my favorite books was the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius. I identified with his retreating to the tent after a long day of battle, to reflect, to have gratitude, to write down the wisdom that he was gaining from seeing these atrocities.

When I returned home, I found a TM center in Bethesda, Maryland. I walked in, and I was greeted by a gentle soul called Mario Orsatti, who taught me TM. TM was the beginning of a whole new life. TM has helped me grow, increase my creativity, be a better father, be a better husband, be a better physician, be a better surgeon, and gave me peace.

One of my favorite authors once said, when you pray, you talk to the universe; when you meditate, you listen to the universe.

Last night at the graduation awards ceremony here at MIU, I was so inspired by the talented and gifted students that I’m sure are just representative of the entire class that’s here now and all your alumni in the community of MIU. Meditate and create. It’s a beautiful thing.

“Through meditation, I discovered sort of a practical education.”

My lessons were only the beginning of a deeper understanding. Through meditation, I discovered sort of a practical education. Education is like a garden snake that swallows a chicken egg. It’s in you but takes some time to digest. You know what I mean.

The experiences I had and my expectations were placed into perspective in the areas of scholarship, leadership, and service. I developed a deeper scholarship and expectation understanding.

While studying for my general surgery boards, I came across a quote of a young man from 1880. He was studying at Chicago Medical School. He said, “I’m making fair progress. I think it’s hard work and much study, but I’m up in the front rank and keep neck and neck with the leaders.”

The words of Dr. Daniel Hale Williams resonated with me. He was the first African American to be a fellow and charter member of the American College of Surgery, and among the first surgeons credited with performing successful surgery on the heart decades before cardiopulmonary bypass was even a possibility. His expectations were best summed up in his words: “If you don’t aim at something, you may go seeking, but you’ll come back without a thing.”

“Make sure you aim for something in life.”

Class of 2024, make sure you aim for something in life. Dr. Williams was directly responsible for training an entire generation of surgeons, and influenced hundreds, perhaps thousands, including me, to be clinically excellent. I thought about what Dr. Williams would have said to me if I smugly brought him my 3.5 GPA.

I developed a deeper leadership and expectation understanding by recounting a story. On December 1, 1955, Miss Rosa Parks refused to move and go to the back of the bus. She was subsequently arrested and convicted and became a historic icon.

Shortly after Rosa Parks’ trial and conviction, a young man who had just arrived in Montgomery had left a crowded, angry courtroom and headed to a meeting across town with some community officials. The Montgomery bus boycott was just an embryonic movement, and people were gathered to name a leader for the MIA, the Montgomery Improvement Association.

As soon as nominations were open, Mr. Rufus Lewis said, “Mr. Chairman, I’d like to nominate Reverend M.L. King for President.” Dr. King later wrote about the event in his autobiography: “The action caught me unawares. It happened so quickly. I didn’t even have time to think it through. It is possible and probable that if I had, I would have declined the nomination.”

“I stared out the window to the sea of faces gathered, waiting for something.”

In my moment in 1992 in Miss Saunders’ office, I too passed an angry crowd. I felt tremendous fear and uncertainty. I stared out the window to the sea of faces gathered, waiting for something.

Class of 2024, as Marcus Aurelius said, you have power over your mind, not outside events. Realize this, and you will always find strength and courage.

I was nominated to lead, and the action caught me unawares. When I answered “Yes” on that day, I did not realize a movement had been started. When Dr. King accepted the nomination in December of 1955, a movement was started that would gain national recognition and change history forever.

I finally developed a deeper service and expectation understanding. In the 1940s, a Jewish psychiatrist was imprisoned in an Auschwitz concentration camp. He was prisoner 119104, and he expected to die. However, over time the doctor began to find meaning in his fellow prisoners’ circumstances. He provided service to his fellow inmates. He encouraged them to have hope, to have hope for the future because they were still alive. He even quoted Nietzsche: “That which does not kill me makes me stronger.” The service he provided to his fellow prisoners undoubtedly helped, but his greatest service was the contribution he made to mankind. Dr. Viktor Frankl, number 119104, gave us logotherapy and the book Man’s Search for Meaning.

“You will find purpose and meaning when you serve others.”

Class of 2024, you will find purpose and meaning when you serve others. You will find purpose and meaning when you serve others. Dr. Frankl helped me to understand that it did not really matter what I expected from life, but rather what did matter is what life expected from me.

Facing Tim’s challenges, leading a Rodney King rally, or serving on the ship or in the desert of Afghanistan was not necessarily what I expected, but it was in those moments in life what life expected of me.

The greatest among us all rise and exceed all expectations because they leave a legacy, they embrace life, they become engaged, and they take on obstacles as opportunities.

“It does not matter what you expect from life, but what does matter is what life expects from you.”

Dr. Daniel Hale Williams, Dr. King, and Dr. Frankl all faced circumstances that did not consider what they expected from life, but instead, they all rose to the occasion of what life expected of them. Class of 2024, it does not matter what you expect from life, but what does matter is what life expects from you.

You all have been given the great gift of a consciousness-based education and so much more. Indeed, much is expected of you. You are all expected to exceed expectations. So, as I close, you might say, “Well, how do I exceed expectations?” I’ll give you three steps.

Number one, you will exceed expectations when you dedicate your life to answering life’s most urgent question. Dedicate your life to answering life’s most urgent question. What is that question? The question is, what are you doing for others? What are you doing for others?

Number two, you will exceed expectations when you expect to have challenges and view them all as opportunities and understand that which does not kill you makes you stronger.

And number three, you will exceed expectations when you are all grateful to the people who helped you along the way.

So, class of 2024, let’s start exceeding expectations right now. Please stand and join me in giving your families, friends, faculty, and staff a standing ovation of gratitude.

I guarantee you your parents were not expecting that.

Professor Jacques Barzun, considered among the greatest literary scholars from Columbia University, died at the age of 104. He once said, “In teaching, you cannot see the fruit of a day’s work. It’s invisible and remains so for many years.”

“You are, every one of you, someone’s favorite unfolding story.”

Graduates, I’m going to give you some great advice here. Write to your teachers and mentors and let them know how you’re doing when you leave this hallowed place. Show and tell them of the fruit of their labor. You are, every one of you, someone’s favorite unfolding story. You are. Each one of you is someone’s favorite unfolding story. Tell them how the story’s going.

In this critical time, the world needs consciousness-based individuals to positively change the world. We need you. I especially expect you all to exceed expectations. Congratulations!