I think my favorite saying is, “The purpose of life is the expansion of happiness.” At first, this may sound simplistic or unrealistic, as so many of us go through life struggling against odds or sacrificing our dreams to meet the demands of work or personal responsibilities. But it is possible for life to be set on a course of increasing happiness through proper lifestyle and self-care, which must include meditation.
On the basis of scientific evidence alone, it is clear that everyone needs to meditate every day. But it is also necessary to be educated about the wellspring of energy and happiness that lies within us all, and how to access it. Otherwise, a person may live their whole life without knowing that this rejuvenating field of inner happiness resides deep within them.
I trained in neurology as a medical doctor at Harvard University and in neuroscience at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where I received a PhD in Brain and Cognitive Science. During the course of my research, I was also trained as a teacher of Transcendental Meditation or TM, a practice from which I have learned more about consciousness than in all my studies with some of the best scientific minds of our time.
Valuable knowledge can certainly be gained through the objective approach of modern science, but to fully understand consciousness and the potential of the human mind, the subjective approach to gaining knowledge is also essential: research into consciousness from within the field of consciousness itself. Traditionally, this subjective approach to gaining knowledge has been called meditation. However, meditation practices vary widely in their aims, methods, and effects. The kind of meditation I find most useful allows the mind to transcend its noisy, busy, surface values to experience the deeper, quieter, more settled levels of awareness, where there is greater clarity and insight into the truer nature of ourselves. This process of transcending is not merely psychological. It also involves a natural, spontaneous shift in the entire physiology, which means it is measurable.
I have made it my life’s work to explore, understand, and communicate the science of higher consciousness to everyone interested in improving the human condition. The paradigm that is emerging today sees consciousness as a fundamental unified field, the ultimate reality of all existence. One applied aspect of this consciousness paradigm is Transcendental Meditation, as brought to light by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. Experience in TM shows us that our own consciousness is a field of limitless possibilities. Though the TM technique is the gift of an ancient tradition of knowledge, it can be viewed as a contemporary technology of consciousness, with modern science now verifying its life-transforming benefits. My goal is for our non-profit foundation to make this stress-reducing wellness technology of consciousness available in every community—especially to people at risk from traumatic stress—so that everyone can live a happier and more fulfilling life.
The challenge to this transformation to a higher stage of human evolution is that the old paradigm still dominates—the current scientific view, for the most part, still sees reality as entirely physical and material. My book, Consciousness Is All There Is (drnaderbooks.com), presents the evidence and logic for a change in paradigm to the view that the whole universe is a manifestation of consciousness.
This new consciousness paradigm offers practical solutions to humanity’s biggest problems, which are caused by underdeveloped consciousness and the belief that we are all separate from one another, that we’re on our own to try and make life work for ourselves regardless of how it may affect others or the environment. To make life work for everyone, we need to see that we are all interconnected and that we are all expressions of the same unified consciousness. By drawing upon that inner reality through the Maharishi technologies of consciousness, we all can experience that consciousness is big enough and creative enough to resolve all differences and overcome problems that had seemed insurmountable.
Such a change in worldview doesn’t happen overnight. It is akin to humanity’s shift from seeing the Earth as the center of the universe to the Copernican reality that the Sun is the center of our solar system. Today, we are witnessing the gradual overthrow of the superstition of materialism. The shift is happening, and I welcome everyone to be part of it and rise to enjoy a better life.
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