M.U.M. Here I come!!!

This is a summary of my visit to the college I will be going to; Maharishi University of Management. If you would like to know more about the school, simply go to www.mum.edu.

So I was thinking of how I could possibly do justice to my visit to Maharishi University of Management in a simple blog. I decided the only way was to make it really, really, long. I suppose I’ll just start out at the beginning and work on from there, yes?

 

I started out on Friday afternoon; a little nervous, a little gung-ho. This is actually the first trip outside of Illinois that I’ve undertaken on my lonesome. The trip was for the most part very blah, till I got just outside of Jefferson County, where M.U.M. and Fairfield are located. The radio said a tornado had touched down not even twenty miles from where I was currently driving! Eek! I thought I was finally gonna realize a life-long ambition and see a tornado firsthand.

 

Needless to say, I made it to M.U.M. with no major problems and proceeded to get myself completely lost driving around campus. This might not be a huge problem on other campuses; however, the university is based on a series of rolling hills, so lots of up and down traveling. Finally I park my car and start hoofing it, the advantage being that at least now I am not wasting gas. I found a couple of buildings marked “David Lynch Weekend” but they were rather empty, or at least conspicuously lacking in prospective students. I was just starting to toy with the idea of driving around campus again when a student came up to me and asked if I needed help. She looked at my little map and pointed out the way I needed to go, and even offered to walk me over. Impressed as I was by her generosity, I decided to maintain what was left of my dignity and walk over. Got lost… again. Yet another student noticed my perplexed expression and helped me find the right building, chatting with me while we walked. Two total strangers, both friendly and helpful. She led me to the Agiro Student Center, then said her farewells and went on her way.

 

I have to tell you, I wasn’t that impressed with it. Sure the building looked very nice on the outside, and a touch exotic. There was however, a proliferation of mud puddles, piles of mud, and gravel-coated mud surrounding the outside. (Later I learned that they had just barely completed construction before this visit. In fact, they were putting pavement down on an adjacent parking lot when we showed up.)

 

Good lord, I’m gonna have to speed up the play-by-play if I’m gonna make this less than ten pages. Ah, screw it! I can make it as long as I want! Now where was I….. ah yes….

 

So I’m walking into the Agiro Student Center, nervous as all get out, and I stop dead as soon as I enter. It was absolutely stunning! Beautiful marble floors, sweeping staircases running along both sides of the hall, a stately chandelier hanging above a tastefull arranged display of four couches. There’s an intricate design set into the floor, and two inlaid marble carvings on the wall; one is a quote made by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the other is the credo for the university. There must have easily been seventy or more people walking about the room, yet it still seemed almost empty. I was blown away at how huge it seemed inside! It had seemed only average-sized from the outside, yet it looking enormous when viewed from within. There were almost no artificial light sources at all that I could see, yet the room was brightly lit with virtually no shadows looming anywhere. This is not euphemistic-me speaking. It really is that beautiful.

 

So, after I finished gawking and blocking the entryway, I made my way to the appropriate table and presented my credentials to the guy. It took him a bit to find my info packet, three times, actually, but in the end all was good. They told me it was ok to walk around and that dinner would run from 6:00 to 7:30. I located the Student Lounge and noticed something bit odd. There were shoes scattered all around the doorway. Nike’s, flip-flops, dress shoes, hiking boots, jogging shoes, the whole gamut were strewn around all in various conditions. I took the cue and took off my own hiking boots, wishing that I had worn better socks. I sat on one of the couches in there and waited to see what would happen.

 

First I met a person who turned out to be from my home state, woot! He actually resides in Bloomington/Normal and is here for the sustainability degree. He is also learning the TM technique, and got here on Thursday. We chat for a while about all sorts of things, and he said that my skill as a writer is obvious and that he felt I would go pretty far, which I am still none to sure of on the best of days. A very fascinating person is Chay.

 

Then, we were joined by Sal and Jessi. Sal looked like a combination of A & F and Hot Topic and makes it work. Jessi was more reserved than Sal, yet I sensed a very strong personality lurking there beneath the surface. It turns out that they are from Ohio and had driven here as well. For driving that long they were in remarkably good moods. I never did catch what Sal wishes to study, but I do know that Jessi was very interested in Music. I also learned that they are considered entering M.U.M. in the spring like me. After we chatted a while, we each went our separate ways to eat dinner.

 

Dinner was great! The food was wonderful, and you really didn’t even care that it didn’t have meat! It turns out that they are not vegan there, which is great, cause I really love my cheese and yogurt. The dining hall is, by the way, located on the upper level of the Agiro Student Center, and is massively sized in its own right.

 

It was off to Darby Hall after that, also located in the Student Center, where we were given a overview of the weekend, and treated to a performance by a local band made up of students called One Time Only. They were freaking awesome. Every member of the band is from a different country, yet they combined all their various musical methods seamlessly. They played a few songs, each one totally different in style from the last.

 

After that, we went to find our respective student hosts. I presented her with a problem that had been on my mind since I had arrived. I was currently without accommodations. I had been under the impression that I didn’t need to reserve a place at the local hotel, since I had already been accepted as an incoming student. This, however, was not the case. When I presented the problem to Marissa, my host, she immediately told me not to worry and that we would find a solution. We traded cell numbers to stay in contact, and within ten minutes I had a place to stay with a wonderful man named Kendrick. Problem solved. They were totally accommodating and not in the least annoyed at my problem.

 

After this was done, we were free to socialize down in the lobby area or attend some student entertainment in the Student Lounge. I opted to socialize in the lobby and met yet another fascinating prospective, this time also interested in the Literature and Writing degree. Unfortunately, I did not catch his email address and have no way of contacting him now. Sigh. I located Kendrick and made my way to our hotel room. We chatted for a bit on the way back and shared our views on the students here. After we got to the motel room, we had a nice, long talk on all sorts of stuff. It turns out that he is bisexual! I got the feeling that he actually is really bi and not “pretend bi” as I like to call them; the people who are on the way to total gayness. A totally fascinating person. Slept like a baby.

 

We went back to the university the next morning, taking my car in unspoken agreement, as opposed to the shuttle buses hat were running. Breakfast was great. I loved the tofu scramble they served, as well as potato wedges. I went to the Student Lounge after breakfast and sort of half meditated, half slept till it was time to go to the next talk.

 

We went to the Grand Assembly Hall for the big talks next, a big massive building made to hold up to 7,000 people. However I would say that, at most, there were about 1,500 to 2,000 people there. Bob Roth, the VP of the David Lynch Foundation, talked to us about what exactly consciousness-based education was. It turns out that it is a two-part deal. On the one hand, it is based on a block type system. Instead of having 4 or more classes all at once and cramming for multiple finals/tests/projects, you take one class at a time for four weeks, then take a three day weekend before starting the next one. This allows one to immerse yourself in detail into a given subject without the constant distractions of other subjects clouding your thoughts. The other part is learning TM meditation. TM, without going into too much definition, helps you get rid of stress in your life, both mentally and physically. It allows the body to recuperate from the day far faster and far deeper than normal meditation techniques. So those things coupled together make for a killer combo, when it comes to getting everything you can out of a class.

 

After Bob talked, David Lynch came to the stage. Apparently, he has a lot of fans. The crowd immediately erupted, people whistling and yelling and waving their arms about. It took nearly five minutes before they became settled enough for him to speak. His personality appealed to me right off the bat. He was very self-effacing, very funny, very simple, and very complex all at the same time. I’ve already decided that I need to rent some of his movies, and see if they reflect his personality. He talked for a while on what happens to him when he meditates, then took a lot of questions from the prospectives and answered them all. After about an hour, Bob intervened and Dr. John Hagelin, Ph. D, was introduced. While his cheering might not have been quite so enthusiastic, he meant more to me. I actually knew more of who he was than David Lynch. He is a world-renowned quantum physicist, and also a very influential public speaker. He talked about the science behind TM and how it not only does those beneficial things for the person using it, but how it also affects those around the user. He didn’t get into the math behind the concept, but it was clear he knew the stuff behind it when he easily answered specific questions that people asked him about quantum theories that I haven’t even heard of. Both of them were very informative. Off to lunch.

 

As expected, lunch was great! I had a ton to eat, but didn’t really feel stuffed. I tried something called Dahl, but it wasn’t that good. The salads are amazing! Everything you can think of to put on top, and they even have organic 1000 Island dressing year-round. I sat at a table and talked to all the people there, mostly lighthearted stuff.

 

It was Lonnie Gamble after that, with an amazing talk on sustainability. This man knows his stuff, and he told it in such a way that I was half-tempted to quit the writing program and join the Sustainability degree the same day! He is a seriously good motivational speaker. It is mind-boggling how easy some of the tips on becoming sustainable are. He showed pictures of his house, which he has lived in for over fifteen years, I believe, and built from scratch using renewable resources. He and his wife haven’t paid an electric or natural gas bill in over fifteen years!!!!! They also build a town called Abundance Ecovillage which lives off the grid and sells their excess energy they create back to the grid. There are currently about ten houses built and another five in construction. He showed us just how much energy is wasted every year and different ways in which we can learn to sustain ourselves, no matter what climate we are in. There was a student panel after that, in which we were allowed to ask the different students on varying aspects of sustainability. It turns out that they practice not only learning how to sustain themselves on the outside world, but also how to sustain yourself on the inside, through learning to think in a more positive way, and critically looking at beliefs and values and seeing how those beliefs and values affect the world around you.

 

David Lynch had another Q & A after that, this time there were more questions about his films, rather than the TM technique. This went on for about forty five minutes, then there was a break and we went into different groups, depending on what class we wanted to sit in on. I chose Vedic Science, as I had heard students talking about it, and it was intriguing me. It turns out that you first learn how to read Sanskrit, which is the language that the Vedic Texts were originally written in. Then you study the Vedic texts, drawing on your own interpretations as well as commentaries by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and your fellow students and teachers. It is a fascinating subject and I am seriously tempted in doing a double major, writing and Vedic Science. After this, we were let go until dinner, to do whatever we wanted. I opted to go on a nice solitary walk around campus and take pictures.

 

Now that I wasn’t totally confused where I was going, I can see the campus as a whole. The middle, where a quad typically is, is actually a wild prairie park, complete with a small stream going through it. There are a couple of bike paths and one or two foot bridges poking around the prairie. The golden domes, the advanced participants meditate, look even bigger from here, as they are situated at the top of the rolling hills. I walked up to one of the domes but instinctively realized that it probably not be a good idea to into one of them. Later I learned that only those who practice TM:Sidhi are allowed in the domes, as there are full-time meditators within who would be disrupted if lots of visitors kept poking their heads in. I found a massive soccer field; they play ultimate Frisbee there, and some very nice apartment lodgings for the upperclassmen. I headed back and listened to some of the students doing an impromptu jam session in the Student Lounge.

 

Supper time! I sat at a table and was listening to the people near me talk about garlic and onions. I was intrigued, so I joined them. Lol, the girl talking was very animated about the cafeteria’s lack of these two spices. She had developed a whole philosophy as to why. Eventually she left to go set up for the concert, and I went to it with a person at the table. He is from some big university on the east coast and getting his Doctorate’s in Philosophy. Very cool guy. While we were waiting for the concert to start, we had a very in depth discussion on existentialism and its merits and drawbacks.

 

I met up with Kendrick somewhere along the way and we went to a special concert with Chrysta Bell, Moby and Laura Dawn, and Donovan, but got split up again. They were all of them quite good, and there was one song that Donovan played that caused the audience to grow so still you could here a pin drop. After that, we went back to the motel and fell asleep, exhausted.

 

Sunday started out a bit chilly, so I stacked up on the clothes. We had breakfast , then went to a presentation by Ken Daley on M.U.M.’s study abroad program. It was freaking sweet!!! They an extremely active program and it covers quite a few countries. Here is a list of the countries, with a small description of what the trip is focused on:

 

Greece – Self-sustainable biking trip, in depth look at Plato’s Republic.

India – Self-sustainable biking trip following Maharishi’s path to unite the teaching of the other Maharishi’s

Italy – Study of architecture and food

Switzerland – Self-sustainable biking trip, mainly for writing students

U.S. – Mainly for sustainability student, with emphasis on leadership skills

Australia – Self-sustainable biking trip, nomadic with emphasis on leadership skills

New Zealand – Self - sustainable biking trip, nomadic with emphasis on leadership skills

 

As you can see, there is a strong emphasis on leadership development here, as well as a great sense of adventure. The students are responsible for how the money is spent, with the teacher along only in an advisory capacity. Total sweet!

 

This awesome talk was followed up by a live demonstration of what happens to the brain when you use TM. The demo was conducted by Dr. Fred Travis, Ph.D., Director of the Center for Brain, Consciousness, and Cognition. He used his daughter as the live subject, and had her hooked up to a machine that read her brain frequencies. It read her alpha and beta levels, as well as the functioning in the back hemispheres of her brain. All I can say folks, is that TM totally works. As soon as she closed her eyes to start meditation, her brain waves changed completely. The beta brain waves settled down a bit, and all other areas lit up and equalized. Very cool. Beta waves are typically associated with waking state, by the way, and alpha waves are typically active during dreaming, I believe. She came back out of it and her brain waves turned back to normal, but with the alpha waves a bit more elevated, I noticed. He then fielded lots of technical questions as well as simple questions, from students and prospectives.

 

This demo was followed by Dr. John Hagelin, Ph. D, David Lynch, and Donovan again, this time on how to create peace from the quantum level. They had some fascinating views on the subject, as well as documented evidence by OUR government on how effective TM is in defusing global conflict. Apparently there is a worldwide effort going on to create a Maharishi University in 192 countries. There are three, so far, one each in China, India, and the US. I think they are hoping for one in Europe soon. Lunch time!!

 

I ate lunch, and had some very interesting conversations with my table mates. We had a student panel after that, discussing what it was like to be a student at M.U.M.  This was a vary informative discussion for me, and gave me a detailed view into the day of an average student. They were very realistic, and told us what they loved and did not like about the school. They told us how insanely flexible and caring the professors are here. If you get stuck on a problem, or your project is stagnating, you can call you teacher at anytime of the day and they will be there for you. Although, they don’t have a ton of degrees here, the professors will allow you to do an emphasis on almost anything. For me, I think I am going to do a Literature and Writing degree with an emphasis on Creative Writing, and a Vedic Science Degree with an emphasis on Leadership. The student body has almost a family fell to it, and that includes the staff. Very cool!

 

Free time again! I went on a walk again, then went to the Student Lounge and played some Boggle with a bunch of students. I sucked, but it was a lot of fun regardless. Then I got into a game of Scrabble and there was a big debate as to whether “cum” was a real word or not. Lol. Turns out, it is. We played a rather loud and raucous game of pictionary after that; our team lost, but it was really close. Very good times.

 

Time to eat!! I found Chay again, and we had fun talking and I convinced him to attend this upcoming concert, as he had skipped the last one. This concert totally blew away the last one!!!! It started with a family band, that was far from folksy and much closer to heavy metal. Sweet! Then Chrysta Bell started and showed us an astonishingly diverse array of songs. She has an amazing jazz style, and a strong similarity to Amy Lee when she sings her rock songs. After she sang, we heard Moby, and he sang South Side, a song he hasn’t performed in over 9 years. He also let Laura Dawn sing some of her songs and played accompaniment to her. All I can say is why the hell isn’t she famous?!!! Mad skills, people, mad skills. Donovan sang again, performing his legendary Atlantis song and sang a couple of songs with the whole musical ensemble. He is still quite the singer!

I got home to the motel and crashed.

 

Monday I was actually a little sad when I woke up, know that this would be my last day. Kendrick and I ate breakfast in mostly silence, each of us reminiscing about what we had taken from this place. I started taking people’s names and email so I wouldn’t forget them. I am frustrated that I couldn’t get them all, but I’m sure in the end it’ll work out.

 

After breakfast we all got onto tour buses and were show different aspects of the campus and surrounding areas. One our particular bus we were shown to a reservoir where we can swim, canoe, and kayak in the warm months, as well as ponds that freeze over in the winter to have an outdoor skating rink. The reservoir even has a beach! We saw the outdoor tennis courts, and the different locations of the housing buildings. Then we toured different aspects of Fairfield proper. I was amazed! There are forty different restaurants in a city with only 10,000 people, a big Sondheim civic center, and a nice center square where they have daily organic farmer’s markets and every third Friday of the month a huge art walk. Awesome!! Who knew a town so small could have so much! We went to the north of town after that and toured Vedic City, a community that is made up solely of buildings made in the Vedic style of architecture. They are completely off the grid too! The houses all face the same direction, and have a very expansive look to them. Dr. Hagelin makes his home there as well. We also viewed their observatory.  I have no idea how it works, but apparently it is hyper accurate. It is outdoors, and to me looks like a series of nice sculptures arrayed in a circle. Then it was off to view Abundance Ecovillage. To be honest, it looked like a regular community, just no wires connecting the houses together. We also saw the greenhouses. Those were mind-boggling!! Acre-sized greenhouses, with more vegetables and herbs than you can imagine! Plus it uses almost no electricity! After that we did a quick tour of the sustainability wing of the campus. I saw a biodiesel plant in action. It used old vegetable oil from the restaurants around Fairfield as its fuel to make biodiesel. We also saw many innovative uses of floating floors, tunnel sky lighting, wind power and solar vehicles. They are slowly retrofitting the aging building to be completely self-reliant, and I believe they will succeed soon. After that, it was a short visit to the men’s dormitories to see what living there would be like. They were surprisingly spacious! All of them had windows, and none of them had TVs. I asked about that. I was told that they did offer cable, but not many seemed to take up the offer. Interesting. I did notice that one person had a big set of D & D books, which gave me the idea of making a D & D club here. Woot! That was pretty much the trip. I ate lunch and left.

 

This school is absolutely amazing! That sense of pessimism and stress just doesn’t exist here. Everyone instinctively trusts one another. I saw people leave their laptops or phones or iPods lying around. I never saw one bike chained up. No one even locked their cars that I saw. It was insane, and amazing at the same time. Everyone is helpful, not because they have to, but because they want to. They all have a lot of the same problems we all face, but the way they approached those obstacles was so much more …..mature than most people do. I am seriously tempted to go here in the fall, rather than wait till the spring. Thanks for reading!!!

 

Author's Note

No need to edit, this is more of a plug for M.U.M. than anything.