Fighting the Tide. Rose Rosetree’s TM Precedent #3
Fighting the Tide, that’s what I did in the 1980s, while living in Springfield, Illinois.
Fighting by setting my TM Precedent #3. Namely, the first federally-funded program in America for learning the Transcendental Meditation Program (TM).
Here’s a teaching tale of interest to you if you care about:
- Spiritual Awakening
- Entrepreneurship
- Running a Startup
- Self Improvement
- And/or Life Lessons
Fighting the Tide WHERE?
Maybe you know this already. How the state capital of Illinois is hardly beachfront property.
Exactly how landlocked was Springfield, anyway? When I lived there in the early 1980’s, you’d arrive off one highway. (And one highway only.) Until you saw THE LANDMARK, nothing would catch your eye. Except for quite a few cornfields.
Eventually you’d drive by THE LANDMARK:
Garish yet effective! Picture the side of a barn painted with the motto: “Start your day with pork.”
Yes indeed, that’s how one entered this state capital.
So What Kind of Tide Would I Be Fighting in Springfield?
At first, I noticed no tide whatsoever. At first, I fell in love with Springfield, Illinois.
Of course, I was also in love with David Ramsay. As a matter of fact, he was my husband #2. Because of his new job on the Republican House Staff for the state government, we moved to the Land of Lincoln.
And as a lifelong Democrat, I adored the idea of living in Lincoln Land. Never before had I lived in the Midwest. Besides being besotted with David, I relished my new name: Laura Ramsay. Especially because of the unusual spelling. Not with an “ey,” like the financial guru Dave Ramsey. More like Mrs. Ramsay in “To the Lighthouse” by Virginia Woolf. (Although I might have learned something useful… had I pondered the quality of the husband in that novel.)
Besides adoring my husband, who was an environmental planner, I found that all the friendly people of Springfield warmed my heart. When you passed them on the street, they’d actually look you straight in the eye. And then smile — OMG, what a pleasant surprise that was for this native New Yorker!
Thus, for my first few months I had zero experience of fighting any tide whatsoever. However, soon I was…
Gamely I Opened Springfield’s First TM Center
Despite my high hopes, no oceanic tide of people began fighting to gain entry to this Very Important TM Center. Admittedly, it just looked like a very modest apartment.
However, word got out. While David did his day job, I did my best to promote my regular TM Introductory Lectures.
Over the months, somehow I managed to initiate several people. Plus, I met the other local teachers, notably Initiator Gil Timm and his wife Trili, truly stand-up people. Also among my Springfield friends, my favorite was Hilma Hawkins — a magnificent social worker, devout Catholic, and altogether a person of great honor.
Yes indeedy, word was getting out. Springfield now had an official center for teaching Transcendental Meditation.
Uh-oh!
Fighting the Tide After Word Got Out
Was it just my imagination how folks on the street stopped acting so friendly? Loads of Fundamentalist churches thrived in Springfield. Although I had no beef with them, the same couldn’t be said regarding how many of these official followers of Jesus… felt about me.
For example, what happened with my chiropractor? Surely that wasn’t my imagination. During every single appointment, Mr. Chiropractor took it upon himself to save my soul. He’d ask questions like, “How do you know you won’t go to Hell for doing TM?” And “How do you know that you’re not being tricked by Satan?”
Meanwhile, I’d try to sincerely answer each question. In retrospect, we were like two cult members, trying to convert each other.
Doing My Job, I Wouldn’t Let Anything Stop Me
So what if Springfield folk stopped smiling at me? Nonetheless, I kept doing my level best to spread TM. When Maharishi began promoting “TM in Prisons,” I sent out press releases, dutifully trying to establish a First American Program for Teaching TM in Prisons.
Although that was not to be, I did have a lengthy phone call with one person who seemed interested.
Only later did it dawn on me that he was a reporter for National Public Radio. Later Don, a friend who worked with my husband for the Illinois State Government, called up to congratulate me. “You were on ‘All Things Considered,’ he said with admiration.
At the time, I had no idea there was even such a thing as “All Things Considered.” (Sadly, there’s no trace of my interview on the Internet. Who used the Internet in 1981?)
Interview or no interview, I kept pushing against the tide of what was popular in that very Midwestern city. Although that tide wasn’t visibly elevating the technique taught by my beloved guru, Maharishi.
Finally It Happened. A Second Big National Precedent for TM
Realistically, it should have felt like a miracle. You know, given the not-in-the-TM-direction of society’s tide.
Yet somehow David and I negotiated a federally funded Program to teach TM for staff at a government agency. First in America! Thank you, Illinois Environmental Protection Agency. (EPA)
For reasons that will become clear, I’ll just refer to our EPA contact as “Executive Joe.” He set up a package deal that included:
- Full TM instruction for a set of EPA employees
- Himself included!
- And a weekend “Residence Course” to be taught by David and me.
David and I were thrilled. More than ever, I was so glad that I knew how to teach TM. Otherwise, how great were my worldly accomplishments? Not so impressive. For instance, I couldn’t ride horses like Gil and Trili. Nor could I do much else that would help me fit in, Midwest-wise.
At least, I had some skill at writing. And cooking. (While in Springfield, I wrote a cookbook published by Contemporary Books and presented on Page 1 of the catalog for the Better Homes & Gardens Book Club.)
Otherwise, at the time I was otherworldly far more than worldly. Mostly my human specialty was hope.
Specifically my hope was that this would set a powerful precedent for TM. Akin to my first, the accredited course in the Science of Creative Intelligence (SCI), about a decade earlier. That influential precedent at a public high school Dade, Florida led to similar courses in 4 high schools in New Jersey. Plus, similar SCI Courses in Louisville, Ky., Eastchester N.Y., and San Lorenzo, Calif.
Or my second precedent, the only syndicated column in the history of TM in America.
Clobbered by the Tide
In case you’ve ever wondered… giving people TM for free, all paid for through work? That didn’t necessarily lead to ideal outcomes.
Even I, the huge idealist, couldn’t help but notice how all the course participants behaved during our instructional meetings. Learning TM, and then during our meetings at the Residence Course, how to put it politely? Our students merely went through the motions. Unlike most of my initiates, who paid their own fees, these new TMers didn’t seem exactly interested.
As for that Residence Course, it may have been given by somebody feeling a sacred thrill. Plus her husband, who may or may not have felt thrilled. (Difficult to tell, since David was such a well-adjusted Midwesterner. Unlike me, raised as a nice Jewish girl in New York.)
What was definitely clear? Regarding all of our students during that weekend workshop: Consistently they were either ultra-cool… or else not very interested.
And while David and I drove home that Sunday night, he told me:
“Saturday night, I had a feeling that something was wrong. Following a hunch I went down to the hotel bar. There were our Residence Course Participants, social-drinking and laughing their heads off.”
Life Lessons, Please
At this point maybe you’re curious. What’s the inspiring part of this story?
Congrats! Because you’ve come to the right blogger, somebody who insists on personal growth.
Otherwise this story could have seemed like a dismal failure. Just like all my years in Springfield. (Including my marriage to Husband #2, incidentally. By 1982 this ended in a divorce.)
Only consider this:
- Intrepid teaching, even when fighting a social tide of disinterest? That strengthened me. Even like how some athletes exercise by walking against resistance.
- Later those teaching muscles would help me after I left TM. And somehow, bit by bit, I became the founder of something quite different: Energy Spirituality.
- Publishing my first book — the one I that wrote in my spare time? That led to a pretty long list of books that I’ve written and published since.
I Would Do It All Again
Because one thing hasn’t changed since that time in Springfield. Although my beliefs and occupation have changed, guess what? I’ve always stood for the truth as best I understood it.
No matter what, I’ve lived in integrity. Whether others liked my pioneering ways or not.
Regarding that habit of working really hard? Now I’m 72 years old, still going strong, with no plans for retirement. Helping people is still my jam. And guess what?
I still never wait for them to come to me. Instead I do my part every day… joyfully.
