ABSTRACT
The most conspicuous trend is that messianic research appears to be on the decline. In the early 1970's meditation research tended to be conducted by new meditation converts who at times seemed more committed to furthering their cause than to objective research. The design involves comparing transcendental meditation (TM) to no treatment and to a control treatment carefully constructed to match the form, complexity, and expectation-fostering aspects of TM. In many respects meditation is proving to be a complex and heterogeneous phenomenon. Meditation may well be as complex as sleep, and involve various stages within and across sessions. The topics of meditation research are indeed filled with exciting possibilities, as can be seen from the selections. However, it is too early to draw firm conclusions from this research.
