Eastern Meditation Groups: Why Join?

Abstract

This paper examines membership in a certain type of New Religious group-viz. those whose members leave the larger society of their own volition in order to participate in meditation and other practices from the East. The data include field observations, responses from a structured interview, and semi-structured, tape-recorded interviews. A model of membership is proposed: individuals with IA) a psychotherapeutic orientation who are IB) structurally available for II) in depth drug experimentation III) seek an alternative to the drug highs without the lows. In the great majority of societies, there is some built-in way of entering a meditative state, some release from the hereand-now other than drugs or alcohol. This society is one of the few exceptions. Members of New Religious groups such as the ashram may be seen as those who have found, in a corner of this society, a way of entering a meditative state.