The Transcendental Meditation and Tm-sidid Program and Moral Development

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether the practice of the Transcendental Meditation (TM) and TM-Sidhi program influences cognitive-moral development. Seventy-six undergraduate students, ranging in age from 16 to 23 years, participated in the study: I7 students from Roger Williams College, Rhode Island, who were not predisposed to starting the TM program (nonmeditators); I2 students from the same college who were tested immediately before starting the TM program (pre-meditators); 20 students from Maharishi International University, Iowa, who were regularly practicing the TM program (TM group); and 27 students from the latter school who were regularly practicing the TM and TM-Sidhi program (TM-Sidhi group). All students were tested in a group situation using Rest's Defining Issues Test, which measures the percentage of principled moral thinking. Results indicate that no difference existed between the nonmeditator and premeditator groups, although significant differences were found between the TM program group and nonmeditator and pre-meditator groups. Most importantly, a significant difference was found between the TM-Sidhi group and the TM group. These findings indicate that the practice of the TM program positively influences the development of principled moral thinking and that the practice of the TM-Sidhi program enhances development of principled moral thinking still further. Discussion of the results, based upon the experience of the unified field of natural law, is included.