Archive for November, 2012

Reducing tension in the Middle East

By Dr. David Orme-Johnson and Dr. David Leffler

A statement released by the Jewish-American group J Street says: “Military force alone is inadequate as a response to the broader strategic challenge Israel faces.” (“For Israel, it’s different this time http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bs-ed-israel-20121119,0,74423 80.story ” November 19, 2012). History shows that political resolutions cannot be achieved while tensions remain high.

While we agree with this wise advice, history shows that political resolutions cannot be achieved while tensions remain high. Deep-rooted ethnic and national stresses embedded in the collective consciousness of the region are at the basis of the Israel and Hamas conflict, as in all other conflicts worldwide. Unless these stresses are rooted out, destruction and killing will continue, as they have for millennia.

Now there is hope because a proven technology of consciousness to create peace is available. This novel approach establishes a filter of coherence and order in collective consciousness in the present, which is capable of transforming the flow of negativity from the past into a more harmonious future.

This technology is group practice of an advanced form of the Transcendental Meditation (TM) technique. Over 600 scientific studies show that TM practice reduces stress in the physiology, mind, and behavior of the individual. Even a small fraction of individuals in the population engaging in its advanced practice has been found to reduce stress in cities, states, nations, and the world, as seen by reduced war deaths, terrorism, and crime and increased cooperation, cultural exchanges, and creativity.

An experiment conducted during the peak of the Israel-Lebanon war in the 1980s found that on days when the numbers of meditators were largest (and also on the subsequent day), levels of conflict were markedly reduced by about 80 percent overall. Moreover, the quality of life in Israel improved, as indicated by reduced crime, auto accidents, and fires; a rise in the national stock market; and improved national mood.

These results were published in Yale University’s Journal of Conflict Resolution (1988, 32:776812), and were later replicated on seven different occasions over an 821-day period when such groups were formed in Israel, in Lebanon itself, and at locations throughout the Middle East, Europe, and other parts of the world (Journal of Social Behavior and Personality, 2005, 17(1):285-338). Subsequent analyses showed that the effects could not be accounted for by social, political, or climatic events at the time (Journal of Scientific Exploration, 2009, 23(2):139-166).

Another notable intervention study conducted in 1993 in Washington, D.C. then called the crime capital of the world, because of its high crime rate found that violent crime declined 23 percent below the predicted level. This outcome, like those in the Middle East studies, was predicted in advance, with research monitored by an external project review board. Temperature, weekend effects, and previous trends in the data failed to account for these changes (Social Indicators Research, 1999, 47: 153-201).

Another study, using data provided by the Rand Corporation, found that global terrorism decreased 72% and international conflict decreased 32% when groups of over 7,000 meditators were in place (Journal of Offender Rehabilitation, 2003, 36(1-4): 283-302).

In all, over 50 studies have demonstrated statistically and socially significant effects of this approach to reducing conflict and improving the quality of life in society. Although the causal mechanism is not completely understood, studies have shown that TM practice increases EEG coherence and serotonin levels of other individuals in the environment (International Journal of Neuroscience, 1989, 49(3/4):203-211; Journal of Social Behavior and Personality, 2005, 17(1):339-373). Both these biological effects predict reduced stress and increased harmony in individuals, even at a distance from the meditators.

The military in Mozambique used this strategy to end its civil war in the 1990s. Today, many Latin American countries are successfully implementing this approach in military and education settings. In the Middle East, responsible people from any country in any sector of society, public or private, could create peace-keeping groups in the military, in prisons, among retirees, or wherever such groups are practical.

Modern unified field theory supports the perennial philosophy of all major cultural traditions that there exists a transcendental field at the most fundamental level of natural law, which can be directly accessed as the silent transcendental level of the human mind. Hundreds of studies have shown that experience of transcendental consciousness breaks the chain of conditioned reflexes coming on from past behavior, as seen in reduced addictive behaviors of all kinds, decreased prison recidivism, and reduced behavioral problems in inner-city children.

Are we as nations to go on like rats trapped in a conditioning cage, reacting the same way decade after decade? Or shall we step out of the cage into the transcendental level of our own consciousness and grow up into enlightened human beings, rather than continuing to resort to destroying and killing? This is the choice we have right now.

We are not suggesting that politicians drop what they are doing. They would never be able to do so, nor would that be wise. What we are suggesting is that the military of Israel, or any organization establish such coherence- creating groups to quickly reduce tensions in the Middle East’s collective consciousness.

The military is traditionally the most organized aspect of society and by itself could quickly create such a group. The international classic, Sun Tzu’s Art of War, advises that it is better to win without fighting. A proven technology now exists that takes recourse to the most powerful level of natural law to enable the military to succeed by preventing the birth of an enemy. Its implementation could be a scientific experiment, using objective measures and independent, outside observers.

The predicted outcome is accelerated progress towards a just, equitable, lasting peace.

David Orme-Johnson, Ph.D., is one of the principal researchers in the world on meditation and its effects, having over 100 publications. He has traveled to nearly 60 countries to speak about the research on meditation to scientific conferences, the public, the press, program directors, government officials, members of Congress, parliaments, heads of state, and the United Nations, and he has served as an expert on meditation for two NIH technology assessment conferences.

David Leffler, Ph.D., a United States Air Force veteran, received his doctoral degree in Consciousness-Based Military Defense from The Union Institute & University. He served as an Associate of the Proteus Management Group at the Center for Strategic Leadership, US Army War College. Dr. Leffler has published articles in over 400 locations worldwide about the strategic military advantages of applying the TM technique and its advanced practices. Currently, he is the Executive Director at the Center for Advanced Military Science (CAMS). Dr. Leffler is available as a certified teacher of the TM program at: http://www.StrongMilitary.org http://www.StrongMilitary.org.

The burden of leadership

By Ralph Geeplay

President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has been busy touring Europe, getting awards, giving speeches and receiving investors. For a Liberian president, Sirleaf clout in the international community is unmatched.

On her most important trip days ago, she stopped in Paris, France to receive that country’s highest award, the Grand Croix of the Légion d’Honneur, which puts her in the company of the select few: Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Queen Elizabeth II, Aung San Suu Kyi, Toni Morrison and Lord Mountbatten, etc.

About a month ago, perhaps as if aware that Sirleaf would be in Paris to be decorated, another Liberian Nobel laureate, Leymah Gbowee was also in the French capital. There, she disassociated herself from the Liberian leader and called her government corrupt and nepotistic.

Gbowee, resigned from the reconciliation commission she was heading sending again a significant blow to Sirleaf, given that the Verdier Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) tabled recommendations and findings are getting dusty on the shelves, and are completely being ignored by the Unity Party led government.

The 74-year old Sirleaf is learning that taking responsibility for what happens on your watch is what true leadership is about. Before becoming president, she was a master of the craft. As an opposition leader and political activist, she dished out the same stinging criticism to three Liberian presidents, as she sought the presidency.

She did not agree with President Tolbert over spending and resigned from her deputy finance minster position, only to later return as minister. She called President Samuel Kanyon Doe an “idiot;” and turned against Taylor vehemently. Sirleaf rise to the presidency earned her respect from both sides even from those who opposed her. She is determined and resolute when she makes up her mind; but is too stubborn, which could hurt her.

But If Gbowee thought she went to France to put a dent in Sirleaf’s credibility, she was wrong. Sirleaf received a rousing welcome on her recent European trip where she addressed the Belgian Senate in the process.

In a well-attended and publicized press conference last month in Paris where she launched her book: “MIGHTY BE OUR POWERS,” Gbowee said: “People are very disappointed. We have a deficit when it comes to having a moral voice in the country.”

Gbowee said, “I’ve been through a process of really thinking and reflecting and saying to myself ‘you’re as bad as being an accomplice for things that are happening in the country if you don’t speak up,'” she told the BBC. “And when tomorrow history is judging us all let it be known that we spoke up and we didn’t just sit down.”

But Gbowee has come under sharp criticisms from within the country for doing less to advance ideas to move the country forward. It has been said of her that little was seen in the way of any action on her part to advance peace before she resigned, pinpointing the flaws they said was not enough, if she wants to see peace she had to get her hands dirty. But others in the country praised her boldness, however.

Close associates to Sirleaf say the president was shocked. And then suddenly Sirleaf was on the plane across the Atlantic. London was her first stop, meeting David Cameron, the British Prime Minister and the Indonesia president on issues relating to the Millennium Development Goals (MDG).

On her European tour, Sirleaf dismissed Gbowee as she landed in the Netherlands, where she received an honorary doctorate degree: Doctor Honoris Causa, from Tilburg University in appreciation “for her leadership and her interest in education and social responsibility.

“The President accepted the distinction on behalf of the people of Liberia,” said Radio Netherlands. The Liberian president called Gbowee inexperience, and also said: “My fellow Nobel laureate is too young to know what we’ve gone through to achieve peace and security in my country, to reach the level of democracy that we all are experiencing today,” calling on Gbowee to work with her still.

Sirleaf is accused of appointing her sons to three top senior government posts, which her rivals call nepotistic. Son Fumba, heads the nation’s spy agency, while Charles is a deputy at the nation’s central bank, and Robert chairs the country’s body that regulates the nation’s oil industry.

But Sirleaf is not budging. When asked if she would fire them given the outcry in the country, she said “No, I will not.” Adding, “I have trust in Liberia. I’m not talking about the noisy minority… I’m talking about a satisfied majority who I meet in rural areas, and who are pleased that their lives have changed, their incomes have increased and they’re getting better services.”

Observers say Robert Sirleaf repeated the same quote recently in Monrovia saying in essence that those who lives were being transformed in rural Liberia were not complaining. It is hard for Sirleaf to dismiss these criticisms. She told radio Netherlands that “Nepotism is putting somebody who is a relative in a position for which they don’t have the qualifications, integrity or competence.

There are times when you have to hire relatives, even when it’s a temporary measure, to achieve your objectives.” That quote was a nice tap dancing by the Liberian president. Nepotism literally is simply putting your relatives in positions, qualified or not.

This is where analysts say the toothless Liberian legislature, which is busying itself today with increasing its own benefits as the country struggled with a small limited budget of $672 million much needed—for development purposes, for example schools, hospitals and roads not to mention civil servants salaries increment, could assert itself and win some public opinion.

The Liberian Assembly could draw the line and craft legislation so that future Liberian presidents including Sirleaf would be striped of nepotism and its antecedents. The Liberian legislature could now spring into action and enact a law to barred Liberian presidents from appointing relatives to powerful positions. And let the moral will of President Sirleaf, the laureate, be tested when the bill arrives at her desk at the Executive Mansion.

Ordinary Liberians are appalled by the act: Samuel Doe tribalized the Liberian army creating incompetence in the file and file of the AFL, which led to witchhunts on the part of the military with Doe solidifying power. (By the way Nov. 12 just came and went and nobody said anything about it.) Also, so were other most recent modern Liberian presidents: Tubman, Tolbert and Taylor were also nepotistic.

That Sirleaf could ignore this cardinal fact that has troubled Liberians and contributed toward the civil war, could also tint her legacy. Liberians voices are clear, they simply disapprove of the act. To a point, Sirleaf’s rebuff is disingenuous.

She expects those in rural Liberia who knows little about Liberian politics and the complexities of the day to day running of the country and government, and who are busy with farm work and selling in the market stalls to send their children to schools, to censure her administration? And yes, rural Liberians are intelligent and responsible electorates, but nepotism is the last thing on their minds.

The argument can also be made that since 85 percent of the population also is illiterate, how and what do they care about nepotism to want to criticized the president? Sirleaf statement is insincere. Gbowee also needed to choose her words carefully, Liberia does not lack a moral voice.

Long before she spoke, others including Tiawon Gongloe and Augustine Toe had already taken Sirleaf to task, say observers. To be fair to Sirleaf, she has taken a stand against corruption, even though the slate is not clean. She has often said corruption is endemic in the Liberian society, and she is right.

The judiciary too has not been robust in persecuting graft cases, but it is her government at the end of the day. Call the three branches co-equal, and independent, but Sirleaf, like most presidents commands the bully pulpit. Her legacy will ultimately depend on her success during her presidency years from now.

The recent friction between the legislature and the Liberian presidency is healthy, and it needs to be sustained. Analysts say Sirleaf on the last leg of her administration will have to find that delicate balance between the burdens leadership placed on her shoulders, and the resolve to remain humble. Facts are not in dispute that her sons are qualified for the posts, but given Liberian recent political history, Sirleaf is setting a bad precedent given her influence.

US President John Kennedy could still make the argument that his brother Bobby was qualified to head the Justice Department. It is the notion of the abuse of power that presidents, as authoritative as they are, and given the power of the office they occupied will appoint their relatives to positions that could have easily been occupied by other qualified citizens.

Given the burden leadership placed on Sirleaf’s shoulders as president of the nation, she must have learned by now that leaders make mistakes, and that they take responsibility for whatever happens in their government.

Ralph Geeplay can be reached at [email protected]