The '''Science of Creative Intelligence''' (SCI) was developed by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi as an effort to integrate modern physics, such as unified field theory, with ancient Vedic beliefs and scripture, ultimately proposing that pure consciousness (including creativity and intelligence) underlies the universe and a person can connect to that consciousness through Transcendental Meditation (TM).<ref name=Hume2005>{{Cite book |last=Humes |first=Cynthia A |year=2005 |chapter=Maharishi Mahesh Yogi: Beyond the T.M. Technique |title=Gurus in America |editor1-first=Thomas A |editor1-last=Forsthoefel |editor2-first=Cynthia Ann |editor2-last=Humes |publisher=SUNY Press |pages=55–79 |isbn=0-7914-6573-X}}</ref><ref name="Philip Goldberg2">Goldberg, Philip (2011) Harmony Books, American Veda, page 165</ref> SCI has been criticized as a pseudoscience.<ref name=sci/><ref name=Randi106/><ref name="Bainbridge"/><ref name="web.archive.org"/>
==Overview== [[File:Maharishi Centre for Educational Excellence, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India..jpg|thumb|left|Maharishi Institute of Management in Bhopal, India, where SCI is taught as part of the curriculum.]] In 1961, the Maharishi created the "International Meditation Society for the Science of Creative Intelligence" and, in 1971, inaugurated "Maharishi's Year of Science of Creative Intelligence,"<ref name=Kennedy>{{Cite news |title=Field of TM dreams |first1=John W |last1=Kennedy |first2=Irving |last2=Hexham. |work=Christianity Today |date=January 8, 2001 |volume=45 |issue=1 |pages=74–79}}</ref> describing SCI as a link between "modern science with ancient Vedic science."<ref name=Hume2005/> Between 1970-1973, various SCI symposiums were held in places such as Humboldt State University and University of Massachusetts, attended by international scientists.<ref name="Philip Goldberg2"/><ref>{{Cite news |work=Sociological Analysis |year=1992 |volume=53 |issue=–S S1–S13 |series=Presidential Address — 1987 |title=On Founders and Followers: Some Factors in the Development of New Religious Movements |first=Benton |last=Johnson}}</ref><ref>Jefferson, William (1976). ' 'The Story of The Maharishi' ', pp118-123. Pocket Books, New York, NY.</ref><ref>Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and Fuller, Buckminster (1971) Maharishi Channel Maharishi and Buckminster Fuller Press Conference YouTube, retrieved September 24, 2012</ref> In 1974, the Maharishi created a "World Plan" to spread SCI across the world.<ref>{{Cite book |page=[https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofaf00murp/page/1045 1045] |chapter=Eastern Family, Part I |last=Melton |year=2003 |title=Encyclopedia of American Religions |isbn=0-8153-0500-1 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofaf00murp/page/1045}}</ref>
=== Education === SCI has been integrated into the curriculum of various universities across the world, including Maharishi International University (MIU) in Fairfield, Iowa, The Maharishi College of Natural Law in Odisha, India,<ref>{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20111025053453/http://maharishicollegebbsr.org/history.htm Welcome to Maharishi College of Natural Law]}} Official web site</ref><ref>{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20090615055921/http://www.maharishiinstituteofmanagement.com/v-management.jsp "Vedic Management"]}}. Maharishi Institute of Management. Retrieved May 22, 2013.</ref> and the Maharishi Institute of Management with various campuses all across India.<ref>{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20090615055455/http://www.maharishiinstituteofmanagement.com/distn-features.jsp "Distinctive Features"]}}. Maharishi Institute of Management. Retrieved May 22, 2013.</ref><ref name=campuses>{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20090615055445/http://www.maharishiinstituteofmanagement.com/campuses.jsp "Our Campuses"]}}. Maharishi Institute of Management. Retrieved May 22, 2013.</ref> For a time, a 33-lesson video course on SCI was available at universities such as Stanford, Yale, the University of Colorado, the University of Wisconsin, and Oregon State University.<ref name="Sarasota Herald">{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=NRAzAAAAIBAJ&pg=5803,3090100&dq=transcendental-meditation+public-schools&hl=en |last=Irwin|first=T.K. |title=What's new in science – Transcendental Meditation: Medical miracle or 'another kooky fad'?|work=Sarasota Herald-Tribune |date=October 8, 1972}}</ref><ref name="maharishi.org">{{Cite web|url=http://www.maharishi.org/sci/sci.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101125150229/http://maharishi.org/sci/sci.html|archive-date=November 25, 2010|url-status=dead |title=The Science of Creative Intelligence Course|publisher=maharishi.org}}</ref> In 2010, it was reported that children at the Maharishi School in Lancashire were taught SCI principles.<ref>{{Cite news |first=Michelle |last=Teasdale |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/healthy-living/mummy-can-we-meditate-now-how-relaxation-exercises-can-help-your-child-to-sleep-1990059.html |title=Mummy, can we meditate now? |work=The Independent |date=June 3, 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303224507/http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/healthy-living/mummy-can-we-meditate-now-how-relaxation-exercises-can-help-your-child-to-sleep-1990059.html |archive-date=March 3, 2016 }}</ref> Children in other schools, such as those in Iowa, Maryland, and the United Kingdom were also taught SCI as part of their primary school education.<ref>{{Cite news |title=This School Offers Readin', 'Ritin' and Mantras |first=Stephen |last=Buckley |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=March 19, 1993 |page=D.01}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |title=Children meditate on top class GCSEs |first=Claire |last=Tolley |work=Daily Post |location=Liverpool |date=January 12, 2002 |page=13}}</ref>
=== Medicine === SCI also served as the foundation for the Maharishi Vedic Approach to Health (MVAH), an ayurvedic alternative medicine founded by the Maharishi during the mid-1980s, based on models and practices of health and disease that conflict with modern medicine and biology.<ref>{{Cite book| last1 = Wujastyk| first1 = Dagmar| last2 = Smith| first2 = Frederick M.| title = Modern and global Ayurveda: Pluralism and Paradigms | year = 2008 | publisher = State University of New York Press | location = Albany | isbn = 978-0-7914-7489-1 }}</ref><ref>{{Citation |doi=10.1089/act.1995.1.364 |title=Maharishi Ayur-VedaAn Ancient Health Paradigm in a Modern World |year=1995 |last1=Sharma |first1=Hari |journal=Alternative and Complementary Therapies |volume=1 |page=364 |issue=6}}</ref><ref>{{Citation | last= Micozzi | first=Marc|title=Fundamentals of Complementary and Alternative Medicine, Fourth Edition | year=2010 | publisher = Saunders Elsevier | location=St. Louis | isbn=978-1-4377-0577-5 }}</ref> According to MVAH researcher Hari Sharma, their model understands the human body as an abstract pattern of intelligence, drawing from quantum mechanics and Vedic tradition to postulate the existence of "a unified field of pure, non-material intelligence and consciousness whose modes of vibration manifest as the material universe."<ref>{{Citation | last1 = Sharma | first1 = Hari M. | last2 = Clark | first2 = Christopher | editor1-first= Marc |editor1-last= Micozzi|others= Foreword by Gary Kaplan| title = Contemporary Ayurveda : medicine and research in Maharishi Ayur-Ved |series= Medical Guides to Complementary and Alternative Medicine| year = 1998 | publisher = Churchill Livingstone | location = New York | isbn = 978-0-443-05594-2 }}</ref> Tony Nader, as successor to the Maharishi and "maharaja" of the TM movement,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mou.org/mou/overview/raja_nader_ram/index.html |title=Coronation of Vishwa Prashasak Raja Raam|access-date=January 18, 2010|publisher=Maharishi Open University |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20020705202507/http://www.mou.org/mou/overview/raja_nader_ram/index.html |archive-date = July 5, 2002}}</ref> has written books detailing astrological influence of the planets upon the human brain and correlations between Vedic literature and human physiology in an overarching attempt to find scientific basis for SCI.<ref>Raval, Indravan B. (2001) "Non-Traditional Interpretation of 'Anarthaka Hi Mantrah' ''Journal of the Oriental Institute'', Vol. 50, Nos. 1–4, Sept. – June 2001, pp. 17–22</ref><ref>{{cite news|title='Vedas' influence on human anatomy proved|work=The Hindu |location=Chennai |date=January 30, 1997|page=1|first=Ian|last=Brown}}</ref> This includes using Vedic mantras in efforts to "to enliven the inner intelligence of the body" and heal a person of disease through sound vibration.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Science and Vedic Sound|publisher=Maharishi's Vedic Vibration Technology web site|url=http://www.mvvt.org/Science%20and%20Vedic%20Sound%20english.htm|archive-date=June 12, 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100612045225/http://www.mvvt.org/Science%20and%20Vedic%20Sound%20english.htm|first=Steele |last=Belok}}</ref>
=== Physics === Physicist and MIU president John Hagelin proposed that unified field theory is the same as with the Maharishi's "unified field of consciousness", but this postulation was rejected by "virtually every theoretical physicist in the world" in 2006,<ref name="Woit">{{cite book |last=Woit |first=Peter |title=Not Even Wrong: The Failure of String Theory and the Search for Unity in Physical Law |publisher=Vintage Books |year=2007 |isbn=9781446443019 |location=London |pages=206}}</ref> with academic peers "ostracizing" Hagelin for connecting science with a "form of Hinduism that doesn't acknowledge its roots."<ref name=Fox2005>{{cite web |first=Jonathan |last=Fox |url=http://www.dallasobserver.com/2000-10-05/news/good-vibrations/ |title=Good Vibrations |work=Dallas Observer |date=October 5, 2000 |ref={{sfnRef|Fox|2005}} |access-date=December 8, 2009 |archive-date=June 17, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110617073232/http://www.dallasobserver.com/2000-10-05/news/good-vibrations/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> Dennis Roark, former chairman of the physics department at MIU, referred to Hagelin's work as "crackpot science".<ref name=Rohrlich>{{cite web| url = https://www.thedailybeast.com/ivanka-trumps-gurus-say-their-techniques-can-end-war-and-make-you-fly| title = Ivanka Trump's Gurus Say Their Techniques Can End War and Make You Fly| last = Rohrlich| first = Justin| date = October 14, 2018| website = thedailybeast.com| publisher = The Daily Beast Company LLC| access-date = May 21, 2024| quote = TM has its own set of scientists, viewed with skepticism by the mainstream scientific community.| archive-date = May 22, 2024| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20240522012419/https://www.thedailybeast.com/ivanka-trumps-gurus-say-their-techniques-can-end-war-and-make-you-fly| url-status = live}}</ref>
==Criticism== The Science of Creative Intelligence has been criticized as unscientific in nature.<ref name="sci">{{cite news |url = https://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/2012/may/13/letters-steiner-maharishi-schools-wrong |title = Schools of pseudoscience pose a serious threat to education |newspaper = The Guardian |date = 12 May 2012 |first1 = Pavan |last1 = Dhaliwal |first2 = Edzard |last2 = Ernst |first3 = David |last3 = Colquhoun |first4 = Simon |last4 = Singh |display-authors = etal |url-status = live |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170910173601/https://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/2012/may/13/letters-steiner-maharishi-schools-wrong |archive-date = 10 September 2017 }}</ref> SCI (and TM in general) have been described by scientists, academics, and skeptics as containing pseudoscientific claims,<ref name="Sagan, 1997 p16">{{Cite book|author=Sagan, Carl |title=The Demon-haunted World: Science as a Candle In the Dark |publisher=Ballantine Books |location=New York |year=1997 |page=16 |isbn=0-345-40946-9 |oclc= |doi= }}</ref><ref name=Kennedy/><ref name=Bainbridge/><ref name=Randi106>{{Cite book |author=Randi, James |title=Flim-flam!: psychics, ESP, unicorns, and other delusions |publisher=Prometheus Books |location=Buffalo, N.Y. |year=1982 |page=106 |isbn=0-87975-198-3 }}</ref> including for its goals of supernatural abilities (such as yogic flying) and for obfuscating its Vedic-Hindu beliefs.<ref name=Bainbridge>{{Cite book| last = Stark | first = Rodney | author-link = Rodney Stark |author2=William Sims Bainbridge |title = The Future of Religion: Secularization, Revival, and Cult Formation | year = 1986 | publisher = University of California Press |location = Berkeley | isbn = 0-520-05731-7 | page = 289}}</ref><ref name="web.archive.org">{{Cite web |url=http://religiousmovements.lib.virginia.edu/nrms/tm.html |publisher=Religious Movements Homepage Project |title=Transcendental Meditation |date=January 12, 2001 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060831081613/http://religiousmovements.lib.virginia.edu/nrms/tm.html |archive-date=August 31, 2006 }}</ref><ref name="Chryssides, George D.; Margaret Lucy Wilkins 2006 7">{{Cite book |author1=Chryssides, George D. |author2=Margaret Z. Wilkins |title=A reader in new religious movements |publisher=Continuum |location=London |year=2006 |page=7 |isbn=0-8264-6167-0 }}</ref> SCI has been compared to creationism and characterized as religious in nature, including indoctrination into its metaphysics (including "creative intelligence") and participation in Sanskrit puja rituals invoking Hindu deities.<ref name="Price">{{Cite journal |url=http://ncse.com/cej/3/1/scientific-creationism-science-creative-intelligence |last=Price |first=Robert M. |author-link=Robert M. Price |title=Scientific Creationism and the Science of Creative Intelligence |journal=Creation Evolution Journal |volume=3 |date=Winter 1982 |pages=18–23 |issue=1 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100331072532/http://ncse.com/cej/3/1/scientific-creationism-science-creative-intelligence |archive-date=2010-03-31 }}</ref> In 1977, a US district court ruled that a TM-based curriculum in SCI that was being taught in New Jersey schools was religious in nature, violating the First Amendment and therefore prohibited.<ref>{{cite journal|last=American Bar Association|title=Constitutional Law ... Separating Church and State|journal=ABA Journal|date=Jan 1978|volume=64|page=144|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eDu0e8buVPAC&q=Transcendental+Meditation+was+held+to+be+a+religion+in+a+New+Jersey+court+case&pg=PA124}}</ref><ref name="Humes page 69">{{Cite book|last=Humes|first=C.A.|year=2005|chapter=Maharishi Mahesh Yogi: Beyond the T.M. Technique|title=Gurus in America|editor1-first=Thomas A. |editor1-last=Forsthoefel |editor2-first=Cynthia Ann |editor2-last=Humes|publisher=SUNY Press|page=69|isbn=0-7914-6573-X |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ugSb7mArJlYC |quote=This lawsuit was the most significant setback for TM in the United States ... Since then TM has made a comeback of sorts with some governmental sponsorship}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
Category:Pseudoscience