You get caught in "The TM Catch-22": "Something good is happening!"
But what happens when you come to a TM teacher or to a "checker" with symptoms of "heavy unstressing" (which I believe are really symptoms of chronic dissociation or bizarre induced ideation)? No matter what unpleasant effects you are experiencing from TM, the parroted response of the TM teacher or "checker" will be TM's version of "Catch-22", which is the phrase "Something good is happening!"
The dogma of "unstressing"
This statement is based on TM's dogma of "unstressing" (or "stress release"). Once again, I recommend reviewing the TM spiritual dogma on "unstressing" (called "stress release in that document") as taught in the second group meeting after initiation.
If whatever distress you are experiencing is extreme, they may recommend that you see a physician. The dogmatic basis of such advice would be to rule out that the possibility that the difficulties are being caused by something other than "unstressing", i.e. by a physical condition.
Let's assume that your doctor says that things are fine, yet you are extremely uncomfortable emotionally, extremely spacey, and perhaps having unpleasant muscular sensations. Now the teachings of TM dogma will be applied to you. The dogma is that
- The deep rest of TM releases "deep rooted stress in the nervous system."
- The experience of incurring this stress was unpleasant for you, so it is not surprising that the experience of releasing the same stress is also unpleasant.
- Therefore, no matter how bad things get as the result of TM practice, "something good is happening"! It is because that you are releasing stress that things are so distressing, and the release of this stress is a good thing! After all, it is the release of all of our stresses that will get us to Cosmic Consciousness.
- You should absolutely continue the practice of TM, because only by the continued deep rest of TM will these stresses finish releasing so that you are totally free of them.
- The absolutely worst thing that you can do is to stop the practice of TM completely. Then these stresses will be left in a "releasing" state, yet never be actually released, and your difficulties or sufferings will continue indefinitely.
You will never, ever, be told by a TM representative that TM has any "bad" effects, just temporarily unpleasant "something good is happening" effects.
The TM Catch-22, then, is this: The worse things get for you, the more psychological suffering you endure, the more you should NOT stop TM! If you feel good as a result of TM practice then of course that is a good thing. But if you feel distress or even suffering from TM, that is also a good thing! They have you both coming and going!
And the Catch-22 works. People go through psychological hell on long rounding courses, such as a Purusha, or as a Mother Divine, or on a Teacher Training course, or from four years as a MUM student, or as a permanent staff member at MUM. And they keep meditating! This is because of their absolute conviction that "something good is happening", and that if they just persevere then they will eventually push on through and the stress will release and they'll be another step closer to CC.
But what is really happening to you? You're becoming increasingly screwed up because all of this trance and dissociation, combined with the bizarre dogmatic ideation, is actually unnatural and unhealthy! TM has proven toxic for you and you should stop TM completely!
But some people have to get to long rounding courses to experience heavy
unstressing, and let's assume that you haven't experienced it yet.
But you still haven't reached the bottom of the TM rabbit hole.
