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Jim Andrews was a big fan of Ken Wilber after reading Boomeritis in 2003 and several other Wilber books, until he read Geoffrey Falk's essay "Norman Einstein (Ken Wilber)" from his book Stripping the Gurus, which has later expanded into the book Norman Einstein: The Dis-Integration of Ken Wilber. After having corresponded with Falk, Andrews wrote the essay below. See also his "Twenty Boomeritis Blunders".

Note: I have reposted this essay by Jim Andrews as a good example of a close and critical reading of Wilber's works, which is rarely seen. Since it was written a long time ago, many links to his sources no longer work, but I have left them all in, to show that—contrary to Wilber—at the time of writing Andrews provided references to his statements. (FV)

KEN WILBER
ON MEDITATION

A Baffling Babbling of Unending Nonsense

Jim Andrews

People think that being awakened means you understand everything, but it really means the opposite. It means you don't understand anything. It is, all of it, a total Mystery, a baffling babbling of unending nonsense.
— Ken Wilber, One Taste, page 142.

Abstract

KEN WILBER (KW) REGULARLY CLAIMS that meditation accelerates the development of human consciousness. However, as this essay argues, his key claims are unsubstantiated.

Here are the nine Concerns to be discussed in this critique:

1. KW asserts that meditation accelerates the development of human consciousness, yet he typically provides no supporting evidence
2. KW suggests that 20 to 25 years of meditation can yield full enlightenment, yet he admits that he has not achieved this state nor met anyone who has
3. KW states that only meditation has been demonstrated to accelerate the development of human consciousness, yet he also recommends other spiritual practices
4. KW praises the research of Skip Alexander and his colleagues, yet he also acknowledges that their studies are subject to "valid criticisms"
5. KW claims that meditators can advance two levels in only three or four years, yet the cited study is subject to "valid criticisms"
6. KW reports that 38% of meditators advanced to the highest levels on Jane Loevinger's scale of ego development, yet the cited study is subject to "valid criticisms"
7. KW advocates the use of meditation and community verification to establish spiritual truths, yet this recommendation is not "good science"
8. KW asserts that even skeptics acknowledge that "the Maharishi effect" is authentic, yet skeptics have repeatedly rejected "the Maharishi effect"
9. KW is aware that meditation can have "negative effects on practioners," yet he provides only a very few warnings of the potential hazards

Purpose and Methodology

The purpose of this essay is to evaluate the quality and integrity of KW's advocacy of meditation, not to evaluate the efficacy of meditation.

The methodology employed in this essay is to explore each Concern by:

• first listing quotations from KW's books and audio program; thirty-one new KW quotations are indicated by an asterisk at the end of the parenthetical citation. I have included KW quotes to avoid the accusation that I am among the alleged 85% of critics who have "criticized [KW] for things [KW] never actually said. In other words, 85% of the reviews misrepresented [KW's] work." (Unidentified interviewer in "On Critics...")
• then offering my critical evaluation.

Sources cited in this essay are listed in the References section.

Concern 1.
KW asserts that meditation accelerates the development of human consciousness, yet he typically provides no supporting evidence.

In each of the following quotations, KW asserts that meditation accelerates the development of human consciousness:

KW cites no research to support of any of these 13 assertions.

Concern 2.
KW suggests that 20 to 25 years of meditation can yield full enlightenment, yet he admits that he has not achieved this state nor met anyone who has.

In his recorded Kosmic Consciousness audio program, KW repeatedly claims that people who conscientiously meditate for 20 to 25 years (or a lifetime) can achieve "the equivalent of enlightenment in this lifetime...a permanent, ever-present, nondual awareness:"

However, despite his decades of meditation, KW denies having achieved full enlightenment (i.e., "a permanent, ever-present, nondual awareness"):

In this quote, KW admits four times that he has not achieved full, permanent enlightenment:

KW also acknowledges that he has not met anyone who has achieved full enlightenment:

KW made a remarkable claim about the benefit of meditation—people who conscientiously meditate for 20 to 25 years can achieve "the equivalent of enlightenment in this lifetime...a permanent, ever-present, nondual awareness"—yet he provided no supporting evidence.

Concern 3.
KW states that only meditation has been demonstrated to accelerate the development of human consciousness, yet he also recommends other spiritual practices.

In his Kosmic Consciousness audio program, KW repeatedly asserted that only meditation has been proven to accelerate the development of human consciousness:

However, in the very same interview (that was recorded during a four-day session in the Spring of 2003), KW also recommends various other spiritual practices, claiming that they each can also accelerate development through the stages/levels of human consciousness:

In these quotes, KW asserts that contemplation, yoga, integral psychotherapy, shamanic voyaging, altered states, non-ordinary states, centering prayer, sitting with teachers, working with teachers, and contemplative prayer can accelerate development through the stages/levels. However, the only evidence he provides for these rather astonishing claims is his mere say-so.

Nor does KW attempt to explain the contradiction between his claim that only meditation has been demonstrated to accelerate the development of human consciousness and his many recommendations for other purportedly consciousness-accelerating spiritual practices.

Concern 4.
KW praises the research of Skip Alexander and his colleagues, yet he also acknowledges that their studies are subject to "valid criticisms."

KW repeatedly touts Charles N. "Skip" Alexander and his colleagues for having conducted research supporting his claim that meditation accelerates the development of human consciousness:

But in an endnote that is associated with the first quotation, KW warns that:

Why are such damning comments reserved for (or more accurately, buried in) an endnote? Why wasn't this information featured prominently in the text? How can KW be cognizant of these "inadequacies" yet continue to consider the research as "still quite impressive"? Aren't these "valid criticisms" ("occasional bias in the researchers, inadequate methodology, and obliviousness to negative effects on practioners") sufficiently disturbing to reject Alexander's TM research? By the way, "what's left of the research" after subtracting "occasional bias in the researchers, inadequate methodology, and obliviousness to negative effects on practioners"? How many more "inadequacies" would KW tolerate before he finally rejects the TM research performed by Skip Alexander and his colleagues?

Also, did KW deliberately avoid identifying Skip Alexander as having been Professor and Associate Chairman of the Department of Psychology at Maharishi International University (MIU, now Maharishi University of Management)? Was KW concerned that Alexander's affiliation with MIU might cause his readers and listeners to suspect that Alexander's studies were tainted TM advocacy research that could not be trusted?

British psychologist Susan Blackmore has identified:

"a persistent problem in meditation research. Much of the research is now done by members of the TM organization, often at their own Maharishi International University (MIU) [now Maharishi University of Management] in Fairfield, Iowa. Most of it is published in their own publications, where it is not subject to the normal peer review system of scientific journals. A strong motivation to 'prove' the efficacy of TM could bias the findings." ("Is Meditation Good For You?," pages 31-32)

There is evidence that KW's enthusiasm for the research of Skip Alexander may have waned. The Kosmic Consciousness CD and audio cassette programs that are sold by Sounds True include the 7-second endorsement cited above: "...and I mention Skip Alexander who was a real genius and a real pioneer in this, and I still recommend looking into his work." However, this brief phrase has been skillfully deleted from the lengthy online audio sample on the Sounds True website.

Concern 5.
KW claims that meditators can advance two levels in only three or four years, yet the cited study is subject to "valid criticisms."

On five occasions during his Kosmic Consciousness interview, KW claims that meditation can accelerate the evolution of human consciousness two (or several) levels in just three or four (or few or several) years:

KW cites the following research as the "really solid proof" supporting these claims:

In the absence of an explicit citation, I presume that KW is referencing Skip Alexander's Ph.D. dissertation at Harvard University that KW cited in The Eye of Spirit, page 207 (which is the first quotation listed Concern 4); here is a summary of Alexander's thesis:

"In two samples (total n = 90) of maximum security prisoners followed over a one-year period, both long-term and new TM subjects significantly improved by one step on ego development in comparison to wait-list controls, dropouts, and those not interested in learning TM...." (Alexander and Langer, page 331)

While this study may be the source of KW's assertion that meditation will advance people two levels in three or four years, the actual results were one level in one year, not two levels in three or four years. Alexander's claim of two levels in less than three years was an explicit assumption generated by his imagination, not a conclusion derived from his research:

"Assuming that the advanced TM subjects started at a comparable ego level to the new TM group, they advanced a mean of two steps during less than three years." (Alexander and Langer, page 332)

Here are other cautions about Alexander's dissertation that are consistent with KW's warning concerning "valid criticisms of some of the TM research," especially "occasional bias in the researchers" and "inadequate methodology":

• Was there a possibility of selection bias since subjects were not randomly assigned to the experimental and control groups?
• Was there a risk of rater bias since progress was measured by the subjective interpretation of Sentence Completion Tests by just one rater rather than multiple raters with demonstrated reliability?
• Was a sample size of 90 total subjects in four programs adequate?
• How could Alexander's abstract claim that the study was double-blind when subjects were assigned to TM, Counseling, Drug Rehabilitation, fundamentalist Christian, and fundamentalist Muslim programs?
• Is it reasonable to generalize from maximum security prisoners (many of whom may have been violent sociopaths) to the general population?
• Is it appropriate to extrapolate the prisoners' one-year, one-step growth (from conformist to self-aware, or from self-aware to conscientious) to growth to higher, post-conscientious (individualistic, autonomous, and integrated) stages?

KW's claim that meditators can advance two levels of development in three or four years is dubious—it is based on a study that is subject to what he admits are "valid criticisms."

Concern 6.
KW reports that 38% of meditators advanced to the highest levels on Jane Loevinger's scale of ego development, yet the cited study is subject to "valid criticisms."

On five occasions, KW cites research allegedly demonstrating that 38% of meditators advanced to the highest levels of ego development:

Here's a summary of this study:

"A longitudinal study...compared change in ego development over an 11-year period in graduates of Maharishi International University (MIU), where the TM program is incorporated into the college curriculum, to change in graduates from three well-known control universities offering standard curricula.... Where at pretest 9 percent of the MIU sample scored at Loevinger's highest 'autonomous' and 'integrated' stages, at posttest 38 percent reached these two highest stages. In contrast, only 1 percent of the control college samples scored at these two highest stages at both pretest and posttest." (Alexander and Langer, pages 331-32)

While KW has written that there are "valid criticisms of some of the TM research," he did not identify any of the many "valid criticisms" of this study; e.g., KW did not:

• indicate that the duration of the study was 11 years, not the "several years" he claimed in "Announcing the Formation of Integral Institute" and "Ken Wilber's Response to John Heron," or the "four years" he claimed in Kosmic Consciousness
• specify that this research studied practitioners of TM
• identify likely problems in the experimental design:
  • selection bias as subjects were not randomly assigned to groups
  • expectation bias as those aspiring to develop may have chosen to enroll at MIU
  • rater bias as only a single rater was used, not multiple raters
  • small sample size as the study had just 136 subjects in four groups
• question the controls since "most control subjects also indicated that they currently practiced some form of self-development, stress-management, or exercise program." Is just a mere "exercise program" an adequate control condition for comparison?
• explain that since 9% of the meditators were already at the highest (autonomous and integrated) levels at the beginning of the study, only 32% of those not already at the highest levels advanced to these levels
• caution that if just a very few subjects in the control samples had advanced to the highest levels, it would have produced a growth from 1% to 4%, comparable to the meditators' four-fold growth from 9% to 38%

A more accurate summary of this research might read something like the following:

One small, poorly designed, poorly controlled study that was subject to "some valid criticisms...including occasional bias in the researchers" and "inadequate methodology" concluded the following: A single rater interpreting Sentence Completion Tests judged that less than one-third (only 32%) of the meditators not already at the highest (autonomous and integrated) levels of ego development advanced to these highest levels after 11 years of Transcendental Meditation. Said another way, over two-thirds (68%) of the meditators did not advance to the highest levels of ego development despite practicing TM for over a decade. The low rate of development of the meditators (just 32%) may be greater than the rate of development of the control groups (some of whom merely engaged in exercise), or maybe not (due to likely problems with selection, expectation, and rater bias). Because of the researchers' "obliviousness to negative effects on practitioners," we don't know how many meditators suffered from the "negative effects" of meditation (see Concern 9).

KW's claim that 38% of meditators advanced to the highest levels of ego development is specious—it is based on a study that is subject to what he admits are "valid criticisms."

Concern 7.
KW advocates the use of meditation and community verification to establish spiritual truths, yet this recommendation is not "good science."

KW claims that meditation and communal verification can be used to establish spiritual truths:

However, KW's recommendation is subject to the following challenges:

• Religious fundamentalists have made much the same appeal and been quite successful. They've made amazing promises about divine beings, inspired prophets, incarnating saviors, sacred scriptures, holy priests, indwelling spirits, answered prayers, etc. Then they've challenged nonbelievers to test these claims in their own lives and to discuss their progress with their community of the convinced. Lo and behold, many doubters become ardent converts. Does consensual belief make things true? I think not.
• Grace and Grit indicates that meditators will discover that "God is." Which God is this: a theistic, deistic, pantheistic, or panentheistic deity? An Abrahamic monotheistic deity, e.g. Yahweh or Allah? Or a fundamentalist Christian Risen and Living Jesus?
• Have spiritual traditions with the injunction of meditation produced a "consensually validated pool of experiential knowledge"? How much similarity is there among the various meditation-based Buddhist traditions: Zen, Theraveda, Mahayana, and Vajrayana? Maybe a slender common thread, but also many differences.
• Where are the controls that "good science" demands in experimentation? How about presenting a group with the following simple instructions: sit quietly, tune your awareness, discover what you can, then come back in a couple of years and tell us what "subtle phenomena of transcendelia" you have discovered? The meditators are to receive no other teachings, trainings, or readings in spirituality, psychology, philosophy, etc., and only non-directive facilitators are to help them refine their understandings. Would there be any commonality among the subjects? I doubt it.
• I admit that the prior thought experiment omits community verification ("compare your test results with others who have also performed the experiment"). So, how about conducting an experiment where subjects are randomly divided into groups, and when they begin meditating, each group is assigned to a "community of trained meditators" from a different spiritual tradition. Would self-fulfilling prophecy prevail? Would new meditators begin to experience then report "profound truths" that are consistent with the spiritual tradition of their "community of trained meditators"? Would new meditators begin to experience what they believe that they should experience, then view that as a confirmation of what they've learned? I suspect that they would.
• How about the influences of social pressure and conformity? During the verification phase, would novice meditators defer to the judgment of senior meditators "who have completed the injunctions"? Would neophytes begin to experience what they believe that they should experience in order to be commended for their progress? Again, I suspect that they would.
• Finally, what about meditation's possible "negative effects on practitioners"? How much human wreckage will be tolerated in this effort to discover "certain laws of the spirit"? (The potential "negative effects" of meditation are discussed in Concern 9.)

KW's suggestion that meditation and community verification be used to establish spiritual truths is unsupported; he has presented no solid evidence for this questionable claim other than his reliance on his belief and mere say-so, which is not "good science."

Concern 8.
KW asserts that even skeptics acknowledge that "the Maharishi effect" is authentic, yet skeptics have repeatedly rejected "the Maharishi effect."

KW's only endorsement of "the Maharishi effect" (the claim that mass meditators can promote collective peace and cooperation, thereby reducing crime) is as follows:

I attempted to identify evidence supporting KW's assertion that "even skeptics admit that ['the Maharishi effect' is] a real phenomenon," but my research revealed the following:

• KW fails to identifying any skeptics who support "the Maharishi effect" in his voluminous "Endnotes to Boomeritis" at his publisher's website.
• The Institute of Science, Technology and Public Policy (ISTPP) at Maharishi University of Management claims that groups practicing the Transcendental Meditation program can lower violent crime levels (see "Preventing Crime Through the Maharishi Effect"). However, none of the many references to "the Maharishi effect" at the ISTPP website boast of any believing skeptics (pardon my oxymoron!).
• TM advocate David W. Orme-Johnson, Ph.D. has a posted a presumably best case list consisting of the "Personal Views" of seven "scholars who have reviewed the research on the Maharishi effect [and have offered] some positive reviews." However, none of the seven are identified as skeptics, and none explicitly "admit that it's a real phenomenon."

On the contrary, "the Maharishi effect" has been repeatedly discredited by skeptics:

• James Randi in Flim-Flam! Psychics, ESP, Unicorns, and Other Delusions (1982)
• Martin Gardner in "Doug Henning and the Giggling Guru - Maharishi Mahesh Yogi" Skeptical Inquirer (1995)
• Evan Fales and Barry Markovsky in "Social Action at a Distance? Evaluating Heterodox Theories" Social Forces (1997)
• Robert L. Park in Voodoo Science: The Road from Foolishness to Fraud (2000)
• Robert Todd Carroll in The Skeptics Dictionary: A Collection of Strange Beliefs, Amusing Deceptions, and Dangerous Delusions (Wiley, 2003)

Since the only endorsement of "the Maharishi effect" occurs in Boomeritis, can KW claim that Jonathan's advocacy of "the Maharishi effect" is part of the fictional element of the novel? At first blush, KW may have plausible deniability since the second of his seven characteristics of the "perfect post-modern novel" permits him to "[i]nclude real references, make some of them up, mix and match, what the hell" (page 325). However, "the Maharishi effect" is not something that KW has fabricated—it has been a widely publicized claim for decades of the Maharishi and the ISTPP at Maharishi University of Management.

I have been unable to identify any evidence supporting KW's assertion that "even skeptics admit that ['the Maharishi effect' is] a real phenomena."

Concern 9.
KW is aware that meditation can have "negative effects on practioners," yet he provides only a very few warnings of the potential hazards.

KW cautions about the "negative effects [of meditation] on practitioners" on just a very few occasions:

What is KW's source for information on meditation's "negative effects on practioners"? Could it be the discussion of "Negative Experiences" in The Physical and Psychological Effects of Meditation (1997) which KW cited in an essay posted in 1999? KW referenced The Physical and Psychological Effects of Meditation as a resource providing an:

Here is the discussion of "Negative Experiences" from Chapter 4 of that book:

"Otis (1984) described a study done at Stanford Research Institute in 1971 to determine the negative effects of Transcendental Meditation. SRI mailed a survey to every twentieth person on the Students International Meditation Society (TM's parent organization) mailing list of 40,000 individuals. Approximately 47% of the 1,900 people surveyed responded. The survey included a self-concept word list (the Descriptive Personality List) and a checklist of physical and behavioral symptoms (the Physical and Behavioral Inventory). It was found that dropouts reported fewer complaints than experienced meditators, to a statistically significant degree. Furthermore, adverse effects were positively correlated with the length of time in meditation. Long-term meditators reported the following percentages of adverse effects: antisocial behavior, 13.5%; anxiety, 9.0%; confusion, 7.2%; depression, 8.1%; emotional stability, 4.5%; frustration, 9.0%; physical and mental tension, 8.1%; procrastination, 7.2%; restlessness, 9.0%; suspiciousness, 6.3%; tolerance of others, 4.5%; and withdrawal, 7.2%. The author concluded that the longer a person stays in TM and the more committed a person becomes to TM as a way of life, the greater is the likelihood that he or she will experience adverse effects. This contrasts sharply with the promotional statements of the various TM organizations.

"Ellis (1984) stated that meditation's greatest danger was its common connection with spirituality and antiscience. He said that it might encourage some individuals to become even more obsessive-compulsive than they had been and to dwell in a ruminative manner on trivia or nonessentials. He also noted that some of his clients had gone into 'dissociative semi-trance states and upset themselves considerably by meditating.' Ellis views meditation and other therapy procedures as often diverting people from doing that which overcomes their disturbance to focusing on the highly palliative technique itself. Therefore, although individuals might feel better, their chances of acquiring a basically healthy, nonmasturbatory outlook are sabotaged.

"Walsh (1979) reported a number of disturbing experiences during meditation, such as anxiety, tension, and anger. Walsh and Rauche (1979) stated that meditation may precipitate a psychotic episode in individuals with a history of schizophrenia. Kornfield (1979 and 1983) reported that body pain is a frequent occurrence during meditation, and that meditators develop new ways to relate to their pain as a result of meditation. Hassett (1978) reported that meditation can be harmful. Carrington (1977) observed that extensive meditation may induce symptoms that range in severity from insomnia to psychotic manifestations with hallucinatory behavior. Lazarus (1976) reported that psychiatric problems such as severe depression and schizophrenic breakdown may be precipitated by TM. French et al. (1975) reported that anxiety, tension, anger, and other disturbing experiences sometimes occur during TM. Carrington and Ephron (1975c) reported a number of complaints from TM meditators who felt themselves overwhelmed by negative and unpleasant thoughts during meditation. Glueck and Stroebel (1975) reported that two experimental subjects made independent suicide attempts in the first two days after beginning the TM program. Kannellakos and Lukas (1974) reported complaints from TM meditators. Otis (1974) reported that five patients suffered a reoccurrence of serious psychosomatic symptoms after commencing meditation. Maupin (1969) stated that the deepest objection to meditation has been its tendency to produce withdrawn, serene people who are not accessible to what is actually going on in their lives. He said that with meditation it is easy to overvalue the internal at the expense of the external."

The potential hazards of meditation reported in these studies are very disturbing; behind these statistics are thousands of damaged and devastated lives. More sources concerning the possible detrimental effects of meditation can be found in the References section.

Shouldn't KW have cautioned his readers and listeners of the possible "negative effects" of meditation each time that he recommends meditation? If the guiding principle of human subject experimentation is voluntary informed consent, shouldn't an ethical, worldcentric scholar who advocates meditation have consistently warned his readers and listeners about the potential "negative effects on practitioners" so they can make fully informed decisions?

Summary

Here again are the nine Concerns that have been presented in this essay:

1. KW asserts that meditation accelerates the development of human consciousness, yet he typically provides no supporting evidence
2. KW suggests that 20 to 25 years of meditation can yield full enlightenment, yet he admits that he has not achieved this state nor met anyone who has
3. KW states that only meditation has been demonstrated to accelerate the development of human consciousness, yet he also recommends other spiritual practices
4. KW praises the research of Skip Alexander and his colleagues, yet he also acknowledges that their studies are subject to "valid criticisms"
5. KW claims that meditators can advance two levels in only three or four years, yet the cited study is subject to "valid criticisms"
6. KW reports that 38% of meditators advanced to the highest levels on Jane Loevinger's scale of ego development, yet the cited study is subject to "valid criticisms"
7. KW advocates the use of meditation and community verification to establish spiritual truths, yet this recommendation is not "good science"
8. KW asserts that even skeptics acknowledge that "the Maharishi effect" is authentic, yet skeptics have repeatedly rejected "the Maharishi effect"
9. KW is aware that meditation can have "negative effects on practioners," yet he provides only a very few warnings of the potential hazards

Conclusion

KW has proposed principles of validity, so it is important to ask: Has KW's advocacy of meditation been consistent with his principles of validity?

In A Brief History of Everything (page 96), KW defines validity claims as:

Has KW's advocacy of meditation been consistent with these principles of validity? You can determine whether KW has followed or violated his own principles of validity by formulating your own answers to the following questions:

• Have KW's claims that meditation accelerates the development of human consciousness been "in touch with truth" or "lost in falsity"?
• By touting TM research despite his own admission that the studies have been subject to "valid criticisms," has KW been "honoring the good" or "obscuring it"?
• When KW endorsed the use of meditation and community verification to establish spiritual truths, and when he claimed that even skeptics acknowledge that "the Maharishi effect" is real, was he "adequately attuned to the Kosmos" or was he driven by "egoic fantasies and self-centered ways"?
• By failing to provide consistent warnings of the potential psychological harm from meditation, has KW been "moved by the beautiful" or "promoting degradation"?

It is my opinion that KW's advocacy of meditation consistently violates his principles of validity, yet he continues to promote meditation; KW makes still another now-and-forever-true-for-everyone-everywhere endorsement of meditation in a posted draft book:

Will KW reconsider his position on meditation? In the future, will he:

• either discontinue asserting that meditation accelerates the development of human consciousness, or provide solid, compelling evidence to support his claims?
• admit that the research on meditation that he has cited is subject to "valid criticisms"?
• acknowledge that the use of meditation and community verification to establish spiritual truths is not "good science"?
• renounce his claim that even skeptics admit that "the Maharishi effect" is authentic?
• provide consistent warnings that meditation can have "negative effects on practioners"?

I hope so, but I am troubled that he may continue his unfounded, misleading, and potentially harmful pronouncements concerning the benefits of meditation, claims that I consider to be, as the subtitle if this essay indicates, "a baffling babbling of unending nonsense."

Jim Andrews

My e-mail address is Deep Trout as one word (with no space) at msn.com. Please write me if you've detected any errors in this essay.

Acknowledgment

Special thanks to Geoffrey D. Falk for:

• authoring his provocative "Chapter XXI: Norman Einstein (Ken Wilber)," notably his critique of KW's advocacy of experiments in consciousness with community verification which I've utilized in my discussion of Concern 7
• paraphrasing (with elaboration and gusto!) my e-mailed concerns about KW's advocacy of meditation in his blogs of July 13, 19, 23, 2005.
• performing a superb analysis of TM research in his blog of August 7, 2005 which I've utilized in my discussions of Concerns 4, 5, and 6
• alerting me to KW's citation of The Physical and Psychological Effects of Meditation in his blog of January 9, 2006 which I've utilized in my discussions of Concern 9

References

Works by Ken Wilber (listed chronologically):

• "Announcing the Formation of Integral Institute" at "http://wilber.shambhala.com/html/books/formation_int_inst.cfm" (ND, presumably 1998)
• The Marriage of Sense and Soul: Integrating Science and Religion (Broadway Books, 1998)
• "Ken Wilber's Response to John Heron" at http://www.integralworld.net/heron.html
• The Collected Works of Ken Wilber: Volume Three (Shambhala, 1999). "Introduction" at http://wilber.shambhala.com/html/books/cowokev3_intro.cfm/
• Grace and Grit: Spirituality and Healing in the Life and Death of Treya Killam Wilber, Second Edition (Shambhala, 2000)
• A Brief History of Everything, Second Edition (Shambhala, 2000)
• One Taste: Daily Reflections on Integral Spirituality (Shambhala, 2000)
• A Theory of Everything: An Integral Vision for Business, Politics, Science and Spirituality (Shambhala, 2001)
• "On Critics, Integral Institute, My Recent Writing, and Other Matters of Little Consequence: A Shambhala Interview with Ken Wilber—Part 2" (2000) at http://wilber.shambhala.com/html/interviews/interview1220_2.cfm/
• The Eye of Spirit: An Integral Vision for a World Gone Slightly Mad, Third Edition (Shambhala, 2001)
• Boomeritis: A Novel That Will Set You Free (Shambhala, 2002). "Endnotes to Boomeritis" at http://wilber.shambhala.com/#boomeritis
• Kosmic Consciousness (Sounds True, 2003). Online audio sample at http://soundstruestore.stores.yahoo.net/af00758d.html
• Integral Spirituality: The Role of Spirituality in the Modern and Postmodern World, First Draft (June 2005) at http://integralspiritualcenter.org/Integral%20Spirituality.pdf

Other works:

• Alexander, Charles N. "Ego Development, Personality and Behavioral Change in Inmates Practicing the Transcendental Meditation Technique or in Other Programs: A Cross-Sectional and Longitudinal Study." Ph.D. Thesis (Harvard University, 1982, Abstract AAT 8216181)
• Alexander, Charles N. and Langer, Ellen. J., eds. Higher Stages of Human Development. (Oxford University Press, 1990).
• Blackmore, Susan. "Is Meditation Good for You?" New Scientist, Issue 1776 (July 6, 1991). Article preview at http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=mg13117765.300
• Carroll, Robert Todd. The Skeptics Dictionary: A Collection of Strange Beliefs, Amusing Deceptions, and Dangerous Delusions. (Wiley, 2003). Also available online at http://www.skepdic.com/tm.html
• Fales, Evan and Markovsky, Barry. "Social Action at a Distance? Evaluating Heterodox Theories" Social Forces, Volume 76 (1997)
• Gardner, Martin. "Doug Henning and the Giggling Guru - Maharishi Mahesh Yogi" Skeptical Inquirer, May-June 1995. http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2843/is_n3_v19/ai_16836643
• Ingram, Catherine. "Ken Wilber: The Pundit of Transpersonal Psychology" Yoga Journal, September/October 1987 (Note: This citation is problematic. I cited this article as the source for a KW quotation in Concern 9 to demonstrate that KW has occasionally warned about the hazards of meditation: "...[Meditation involves] a whole series of deaths and rebirths; extraordinary conflicts and stresses...some very rough and frightening times." While searching online, I discovered this quotation in essays that cited a 1998 book (Occult Invasion by Dave Hunt) as a secondary source for this quotation. I have not yet been able to secure a copy of the September/October 1987 issue of Yoga Journal so I can personally verify this KW quotation as none of my community or state-wide university libraries have this issue in their collections; I have recently requested an inter-library loan which may take several weeks or months. I decided to include this questionable quotation since I was favorable to KW, but if I discover that it is inaccurate or bogus, I'll promptly correct or delete it. If you have the September/October 1987 issue of Yoga Journal, please contact me.)
• Murphy, Michael and Donovan, Steven. The Physical and Psychological Effects of Meditation: A Review of Contemporary Research (Institute of Noetic Sciences, 1997). See "Negative Experiences" in Chapter 4: "Subjective Reports" at http://www.noetic.org/research/medbiblio/ch4.htm3
• Orme-Johnson, David W. "Personal Views" in "Societal Effects: Scholarly Exchanges on the Maharishi Effect" at http://www.truthabouttm.org/truth/SocietalEffects/Critics-Rebuttals/index.cfm#personal
• Orme-Johnson, David W. "Preventing Crime Through the Maharishi Effect" at http://www.istpp.org/rehabilitation/12.html
• Park, Robert L. Voodoo Science: The Road from Foolishness to Fraud (Oxford University Press, 2000). Dr. Park's critique of "the Maharishi effect" is excepted in the September 2000 issue of Skeptical Inquirer at http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2843/is_5_24/ai_67691836
• Randi, James. Flim-Flam! Psychics, ESP, Unicorns, and Other Delusions (Prometheus, 1982)

More information about the potential detrimental effects of meditation.

• Brundage, Sandy. "Bad Vibes—Warning: Meditating may be Hazardous to Your Health," SF Weekly, August 28, 2002 at http://www.sfweekly.com/issues/2002-08-28/bayview.html
• Singer, Margaret Thaler. Cults in Our Midst: The Hidden Menace in Our Everyday Lives (Jossey-Bass, 1995). See "Meditation May Not Always Be Good for You" (pages 139 to 184).

Notes Concerning Version 3.0

This version supercedes Version 2.0 dated June 14, 2006 (which was a quick fix to delete references to two citations in Concern 9 described below) and features the following changes:

• incorporation of various minor editing changes to text and References
• revision of Abstract to state the nine Concerns
• creation of a Purpose and Methodology section near the beginning of the essay to clarify that this is a critique of KW's scholarship, and not a critique of the efficacy of meditation
• addition of thirty-one new KW quotes, most of which were discovered while researching "Twenty Boomeritis Blunders: Shoddy Scholarship, Salacious Sex, and Sham Spirituality"; these new KW quotations are indicated by an asterisk at the end of the parenthetical citation
• addition of time markers to the Kosmic Consciousness citations
• creation of new Concern 2 to evaluate KW's claim that 20 to 25 years of meditation can result in full, permanent enlightenment
• creation of new Concern 3 to expose the contradiction between KW's claim that only meditation has been demonstrated to accelerate the development of consciousness and his many recommendations for other purportedly consciousness-accelerating practices
• creation of new Concern 5 to address KW's claim that meditators can advance two levels of development in three or four years; this issue had been part of Concern 4
• revision of Concern 8 to focus on KW's unsupported claim that "even skeptics admit that ['the Maharishi effect' is] a real phenomenon," rather than critique the purported efficacy of "the Maharishi effect" to promote peace/cooperation and reduce crime
• deletion of two citations in Concern 9. A reader notified me of a serious problem with The Report of Germany's Institute for Youth and Society on TM (1980)—the investigators relied solely on a bias, non-random sample of complainants (just ex-meditators and their relatives) with no control group. Concern 9 now exclusively references the "Negative Experiences" reported in The Physical and Psychological Effects of Meditation: A Review of Contemporary Research (1997) which KW cited in an essay posted in 1999.
• addition of a Summary prior to the Conclusion
• addition of a request that readers "Please write me if you've detected any errors in this essay" that I'd included in my second KW critique "Twenty Boomeritis Blunders"
• incorporation in this section of two (now three) shamefully self-promoting references to my second KW critique "Twenty Boomeritis Blunders" :~)