Fairfield 20: Picking Up Where I Left Off

 This post is the first in two years about Fairfield, Iowa, and MIU (Maharishi International University), which I visited again in November 2024. (The previous post is here.) There wasn't much to report about in the interim; I spent 99% of my time at the Raj during the intervening trips, focusing on Ayurvedic health treatments and dodging COVID-19. I entered the Golden Dome for my meditation program only once, or twice, or not at all during those visits. This trip was the reverse: it was 100% about meditating in the Dome.

The view approaching from the back.

This sunset photo shows the Maharishi Tower of Invincibility and the side of the women's Dome, the view every time I walked to the men's Dome.

The front of the Dome had a refreshed entryway. No more would ice and snow slide down on folks opening the front door in winter. (Click on any image to enlarge.)

Inside the Dome, in the lobby and shoe room, there were lots of ways to spend your money.

A small alcove exists for those who wish to perform yoga postures (asanas) before entering the meditation area.

It was satisfying to settle in at the Dome again. While the early-morning session was well attended, the late-morning 2nd session typically had only a couple dozen of us.

 

Walking from the Dome to the Argiro Student Union, this bridge and scene caught my eye.

Climbing up to the Argiro.

The miniature Vedic Observatory in front of the Argiro.

For a long time, the cafeteria in Argiro barred visitors such as myself, but now, with a decreased student population, guests may purchase a meal pass. The old paper punch-out tickets have been replaced by credit-card-sized e-cards, and the number of remaining meals is stored electronically.

In the Argiro, I reconnected with many of the folks I hadn't seen in a while, including Tom Hall, a TM instructor in Knoxville in the early 1970s -- I was instructed by his wife, Jill Hall. I also dined off-campus with Steve Nolle, another former Bell Labs employee, and Irene Murphy.

 

I paid a brief visit to the Wege Center for the Arts,

The view from the atrium; you enter from the other side.

Many of the student works had a deeper meaning, or, were perhaps whimsical?

The most significant change over the last two years was the university's financial situation. After a greater-than-expected deficit in the budget, the Dome Market & Cafe and the university store were closed as cost-cutting measures. Various staff were let go, including, perplexingly, a shrink in the Development Department (fundraising!). The president of the university, John Hagelin, was replaced by Dr. Tony Nader the month before I arrived. Uncertainty about what would happen next floated around the campus.

 

On the last day of my visit, I was fortunate enough to visit Bill Graeser, a poet, photographer, and locksmith. Here's a rough panorama of his office. The camera collection was the first thing that jumped out at me.

A closer look:

Bill is also fond of visual puns, for example:

A keyboard.

Shoehorn and mousetrap.

 

My ten-day visit was chock full, yet from what I heard and saw, I'm concerned about the university's future.

Fairfield 18: Little Did I Know

In November (2019) I made another trip to Fairfield Iowa and the Maharishi University of Management (now Maharishi International University, its original name). This was the latest in a series of visits, the first of which I documented here. I overnighted on the journey in Champaign, Illinois, where I took this sunset photo from my hotel window.

The first several days of this two-week Fairfield sojourn were spent at The Raj, an Ayurvedic health clinic, where I received a series of treatments. One of my early reports on the Raj is here. I enjoyed and felt refreshed by my stay, more than I could achieve with the duties and distractions at home, but I was also eager to begin joining the folks doing their TM-Sidhi program in the Golden Dome.

After my time at The Raj I moved down to the campus Peace Palace, where the lower floor hosts meeting and consultation rooms, and the upper offers residential rooms to rent. After spending most of each morning practicing in the men's Golden Dome as part of the Invincible America Assembly, it would be lunchtime, and after that I would explore. Here is a campus map, only slightly out-of-date, from the university website. Click on the image to enlarge.

This first photo is of the back side of the men's Dome, and includes the solar panels.

Here's a panorama that includes the Argiro Student Center and the (relatively) new amphitheater.

The lobby of the Argiro, seen from an upper balcony.

Inside the old Student Union/Art Center, the post office boxes had been turned into an art installation.

The expansion of North Campus Village was in its final phases, adding housing options for those who wish to live close to the campus.

This increase has carried North Campus to the edge of Highway 1.

Adjacent to the scene in the above photo was the home of the regenerative agriculture program at MIU.

One of the interesting oddities on campus is the "silver shed." It held overflow meditation space for an assembly I attended in 1993, but is now the campus storage building. Inspect the foundation in this photo. The concrete triangle in the shade. What's that?

At some point the building was rotated about 17º so that the entrance faced due east, the most auspicious direction according to Maharishi Vastu® Architecture.

 

A sunrise photo. The Maharishi Tower of Invincibility sits between the men's and women's Domes.

Big changes were afoot: a meeting was called for all who practice the TM-Sidhi program in the Domes, "sidhas" for short. John Hagelin, the president of MIU, announced that starting on Dec. 7th meditators who had not taken the Sidhi course would be allowed to do their TM program in the Dome. The more enthusiastic meditators had been requesting this for a while, and, I noted to myself, there was space available in the Dome because of the decline in attendance at the now thirteen-year-old Invincible America Assembly.

 

The presence of non-sidhas meant several changes in procedures at the Domes. The interested meditators would apply for a Dome badge. Those accepted would have their own section marked off with tasteful screens, and use a particular entrance from the lobby. Sidhas would use the other entrance. Proctors or "angels" would check badges to ensure that the proper entrance was used by both, and to guarantee that the meditators would depart after 30 minutes (the sidhas go on longer). The sidhas, on their part, must be on their best behavior, and, for example, not discuss in the shoe room advanced topics to which the meditators have not been introduced. My reaction was hopeful; this was a step towards greater integration or camaraderie between the two groups.

I made a point of walking downtown to view this month's display at ICON, Iowa Contemporary Art, featuring Irene Murphy.

This exhibit showcased a particular one of her several styles, flowers in black-and-white.

Within a constricted medium there is still room for great variety of technique.

A new storefront on the town square, now moved to Briggs Ave.

A wine store in Fairfield!

One sunny afternoon I strolled on a portion of the Jefferson County Loop Trail, from Chataqua Park down through the Lamson Woods.

The weather had been cold, and the streams sported a skim of ice.

Near the end of my walk the woods opened up and the path widened as it passed by a large pond.

 I had a chance to visit friends as well as to sink into program in the Dome, making this another excellent visit. Once back in Columbus I planned to repeat the visit in March 2020, including treatments at The Raj. Little did I know what was coming.

The coronavirus pandemic appeared on the scene in January and February. By the time we appreciated the scope of the plague, I had already made my reservations at The Raj and the Peace Palace. In early March another trip seemed uncertain, so I queried the Invincible America Assembly, and they replied "Please, no out of town visitors on campus." The Raj was still running, however; it is supervised by an MD and classified as a health clinic, not a spa, and was allowed to remain open. In the end I drove to Fairfield and stayed at The Raj for seven days of treatment, and then drove home. No walks -- I didn't go outdoors for a week -- and only two short visits with friends, for The Raj had taken the step of not allowing visitors, but the reservations I had already made for lunch guests were honored. It was a good seven days, but I was then glad to be home.

 

A November 2020 visit was completely scratched off the calendar. March of 2021? Who knows? The best-case scenario might be another Raj-only visit. The Dome, completely closed for several months and then available on a limited basis, will not be open to those who don't live on campus for a while to come.

Fairfield 14: Poetry, a Reunion, and More

In the latter half of March 2017 I journeyed out to Fairfield, Iowa, with Belle and Alboart.

Belle on the left.

The pigs help keep me grounded after several hours of group meditation in the Golden Dome each day, on the campus of Maharishi University of Management (MUM). They approve of the plentiful vegetarian food, and remind me to partake often.

The place I had stayed last November was already booked when I enquired, so I stayed at the Men's Peace Palace for the first time.

Men's on the left, Women's on the right.

The ground floor has several meeting rooms and the upper floor has seven-ish guest rooms for rent. Mine looked out onto the back. The public spaces were adopting a new, less pastel color scheme. At first, colors were being tested.

Later on the new palette was taking hold.

Early in my visit I attended a poetry reading by Bill Graeser, Rustin Larson, and Glenn Watt. The event consisted of two rounds wherein each poet recited from their work for ten minutes.

Here's the setting in the MUM library.

Rustin Larson.

Glenn Watt, an avid birder.

But Bill's my main poet.

Thanks, guys!

Early in the visit I had a chat with Dr. Birx, the TM-Sidhi administrator. Any certified TM teacher can check your TM meditation, but only a handful of TM-Sidhi administrators exist. He wanted to follow up during my next visit, and I'm sure we'll have more to talk about.

I also reconnected with Tom Hall. Tom and Jill Murphy (later Hall) were the TM teachers in Knoxville, Tennessee when I was attending UT; Tom interviewed me and Jill was my TM instructor, and Jill taught the SCI (Science of Creative Intelligence) course when it first came out. Although I had bumped into Tom once or twice at MUM in the last couple of years -- he splits his time between Atlanta and Fairfield -- and learned that Jill had passed away, we hadn't had a chance to catch up.

Tom invited me to have dinner at his new condo in North Campus Village.

He was lucky, because there's a waiting list for these units, but a friend of Tom's who had made a deposit on one later decided not to purchase, and the developer was willing to transfer the sale to Tom.

He whipped up a Thai-style dinner while the NCAA basketball final was on the TV, and four of us, including his son Orion and a friend of Orion, sat down to eat and to chat. It gave Tom and me a chance to sketch in what had happened to us over the last thirty years or so. Afterward Orion took a photo.

Tom on the right.

I took two "day spa" treatments at the Raj. Before when I've booked at the Raj it's been for several days of the full panchakarma regimen, which includes pulse diagnosis and consultations with the director of the Ayurveda program, special meals, and extended daily treatments. I didn't feel ready to jump into all that again, and the "day spa" allowed me to simply book treatments, albeit from a restricted set, not from the whole panoply that the director might prescribe. I had two shirodara, oil on the forehead, very soothing. I fell asleep during the second one.

During the two weeks I toured the campus, its landmarks, and immediate environs, as well as shopped for a couple of friends back in Columbus.

The bridge over nothing was now complete: there were caps on the "interior" posts, which had been bare wood back in November.

A closeup.

The nearby bridge that actually spans Crow Creek now has wooden safety wings instead of yellow tape.

The removal of dead wood and replanting of the area along the creek made progress over the winter.

Looking towards the Dome.

By the end of my visit the banks of the creek had been completely cleared of deadwood. Future plans include appropriate species such as willow.

This view combines the Argiro Student Center and the miniature Vedic Observatory.

Closer to downtown an old house -- check out the stone foundation -- had been demolished (click on the image to enlarge). Who knows what I'll see on this lot next visit?

Several of Irene Murphy's paintings are on display at Everybody's Cafe, where I met her for lunch.

She likes flowers.

One afternoon I took a long walk along the reservoirs on the Jefferson County Loop Trail, not far from campus. Halfway on a flock of huge birds flew by, high enough to be in controlled airspace, first heading north and then northeast. The light was such that the maximum zoom photo was almost black and white to begin with, and I completed the job with the GIMP.

Does anyone recognize the silhouette?

This striking sunset framed the Men's Dome (the Maharishi Patanjali Golden Dome).

At the Women's Dome (Bagambhrini Golden Dome) some drainage work (pipe replacement, apparently) was going on.

On a misty evening I experimented with photos. Here's the Men's Dome, viewed from the north. Note that the padlocked basement entrance is nonetheless well illuminated.

A look at the Women's Dome from the parking lot. It's backlit by the spotlights for the Invincibility Tower.

Then after two very restorative weeks it was time to head home again.