FOR SALES' SAKE MEDITATE!

Responsible leaders of society have realized that the peace, power, prosperity, happiness and success of a community are based on the collective peace, power, prosperity, happiness and success of all the constituents of the community. In their search for a means to improve the community by improving the individual, leaders have inquired into the merits of the Transcendental Meditation program. Once convinced of its merits, leaders have publicly stepped forward to introduce the Transcendental Meditation program to society.

Twenty-five years ago Thomas P. Salmon, then governor of Vermont, sent a letter to every legislator in Vermont, every school superintendent and principal, every social service agency and to many state employees urging them all to personally investigate the Transcendental Meditation program as a means to utilize our most abundant and yet untapped natural resource: man's inner potential of energy, intelligence and creativity. Also at that time, the governors of Illinois, Maryland, Nebraska, Washington and Wisconsin issued proclamations to encourage their respective constituents to use the Transcendental Meditation technique to improve the quality of their lives. Likewise in 1972, the Illinois House of Representatives passed a resolution strongly encouraging the statewide implementation of the Transcendental Meditation program in order to uplift society as a whole.

Due to the efforts of these individuals, and others like them, the Transcendental Meditation program has gained increased acceptance in society over the last three decades. At this writing almost one percent of our nation has begun the practice of the Transcendental Meditation technique.

When we consider the need to strengthen the community in order to strengthen the nation, we must also consider the business community. The salesman's community is not only his place of residence, but also the place of his business. At work he lives and interacts with his community of business associates. The individual is the building block of a corporation. A corporation is only as strong and successful as the collective strengths and successes of the people who work for it. For maximum corporate growth collective harmony needs to exist. Collective harmony is orderliness in action - efficiency. Efficiency is the intelligent application of energy. An efficiently run company maintains orderliness, even amidst chaos.

A company structured with individuals who are anchored deep within themselves, who are connected to the source of life itself, who have energy, intelligence and wisdom, whose actions are in attunement with the underlying laws of nature, will naturally grow in success and prosperity because nature moves in the direction of success and abundance. Success and abundance is the natural evolutionary flow of life. When workers are in tune with nature then the collective output of the corporate community of workers must yield success and prosperity.

Gil Younger, president of Transco, a manufacturer of replacement auto parts, credits the Transcendental Meditation program for his firm's 299% profit growth in five years. He reported that the annual increase in profit directly correlated to the annual increase in the percent of employees meditating in his firm. He notes that the 299% profit growth was mostly due to increased productiveness since payroll has increased only 34%. His company's growth rate exceeded expectations in spite of fuel problems, reduced auto usage and service, and inflationary pressures. Younger stated:

This did not happen from any high-powered, production, management, or sales meeting, or psych sessions or banners and slogans. It just happened, spontaneously and easily. After fourteen years in business we are amazed to find such a simple and inexpensive program that dramatically improves productiveness while generating harmony and cooperation ... I certainly recommend Transcendental Meditation to all companies that want improved progress. Subjectively I must say, 'It is a pleasure.'

The strength of an entire nation depends upon the collective strength of its people. When people are living happy, prosperous and fulfilled lives the family unit is happy, peaceful and prosperous. A collection of happy, peaceful and prosperous families results in a harmonious and prosperous community. When each and every residential and business community is living in harmony, peace and prosperity, then the entire nation is strong and powerful. Therefore, the status of a nation is a reflection of the collective status of each and every individual. Everyone has the responsibility to his nation, and that responsibility is to uplift oneself. To uplift oneself it is only necessary to connect one's awareness to that inner source of life itself. We have seen how this will result in peace, power, love, success and prosperity in daily life. The nation will then reflect that collective status of its constituents.

It is only when individuals are at peace within themselves that the nation can be peaceful. When each nation is at peace within itself then we will see peace throughout the world. World tensions, conflicts and wars are due to the collective dissatisfactions of individuals. Therefore, the only solution to world peace is through the fulfillment of individuals. The Transcendental Meditation technique, by bringing one's awareness to that absolute fullness of life within, enables each individual to also have fullness in the outer field of active life. This creates a happy home life - and home is inclusive of one's immediate family, one's residential and business community, one's nation, and the world.

You as a salesman have a greater influence in society, your country, and the world than you may realize. The salesman is the pivot point in industry. Therefore, it is the salesman who can make the greatest impact on the progress of our nation. The wheels of progress would stand still were it not for salesmen. The best engineered and manufactured products benefit no one until they are sold. Ideas are a dime a dozen and meaningless until they are implemented. Before they can be implemented they must first have had to be presented to someone—they had to be sold. The best of services benefit no one unless there is a sales effort to bring the service to the awareness of consumers. Even as great an invention as the telephone, which was initially ridiculed, had to be sold to the public. The entire field of banking and finance would be stagnant were it not for salesmen negotiating contracts, investment vehicles, finances and services.

Selling is the oldest, most basic sustaining force of public and private enterprise. Professional services of lawyers, doctors and even health and social services of nonprofit organizations, normally not thought in terms of being sold, are often communicated by word of mouth based on the goodwill generated by staff and administrators incorporating salesmanship. All interactions between individuals involve salesmanship. Today's news is sold to the public. Even the clergy, realizing the impact of salesmanship, incorporate salesmanship into their sermons and services. Educators use salesmanship to sell youngsters knowledge. Therefore, it is the salesman, who by practicing the Transcendental Meditation technique, can make the greatest possible contribution to his community, to his nation and the world.

This is not some fanciful theoretical dissertation, but a practical achievable reality in this generation because, all that is necessary is for just one person in one hundred to meditate. One percent of the people in society, company or nation is sufficient to bring about a positive influence within that society, company or nation.

To test this concept of "1 in 100," two researchers, Dr. Candace Borland and Garland Landrith III studied the effect the Transcendental Meditation technique had on restoring order to one of the more negative behavioral aspects of society: crime. All cities in the United States with a population of over 25,000 were studied for their crime rate. Every city in the United States that reached one percent of the population meditating showed a marked decrease the following year in the crime rate as reported in the Uniform Crime Reports compiled by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Additional studies are being conducted to measure other effects on society where one percent of the people are practicing Transcendental Meditation. *Please see Fig. 16

The 1 in 100 phenomenon should not be surprising since this principle is found throughout nature. In physics, a one-percent alignment of the electrons in a magnet is sufficient to maintain the strength of the whole magnet. In biology, the orderly functioning of an entire cell is caused by the orderly functioning of DNA which constitutes less than one percent of the cellular material. In laser mechanics, stimulated light emission by one percent of the atoms is sufficient to produce macroscopic wave coherence resulting in laser light. In chemistry, a supersaturated solution requires just one additional crystal to create an orderly crystallization of the entire solution. In neurophysiology, the orderly functioning of the entire brain results from less than one percent of the brain cells functioning orderly.

The Transcendental Meditation technique opens one's awareness to the home of all the laws of nature where maximum orderliness is found. This produces a concentrated orderly life-supporting influence within the individual resulting in more productive activity, happiness and prosperity. This positive influence of a few people practicing the Transcendental Meditation technique is sufficient to bring an orderly life-supporting coherence to the functioning of the entire community. Only one percent of the people practicing the Transcendental Meditation technique is necessary to bring about a phase transition (transformation) in the community, work environment, nation and the world.

(*NOTE: Figs. appearing in this online book may vary from those in the paperback version. These Figs. are links to the official www.tm.org website.)