Maharishi

Lets think for a second about power in this world. Today it is mostly a made-up concept among men. Yes, there are those of us with militarizes and those of us with truly vast fortunes but most power is in the eyes of the beholder. As the numerous leaders of cults will surely tell you from their prison cells: it is easy to manipulate people.

Stock prices, stability of nations and indeed how we view other individuals can and is often influenced not by actual factors but simply by manipulation and imagination. When a stock price rises and falls, it is not because that company sold more or less product, it is because some investor decided (imagined) that their stock is worth a certain price. This is why markets tank into depressions; people become scared and in a heartbeat, money is flooded out of the economy and despite no companies actually doing worse off immediately, their stock prices plummet. The same can be done of people. To manipulate someone you just have to make them think what you want them to, it doesn't even have to be real. I just manipulated you now because surely you thought I was coming to a brilliant point but you'd be wrong: I couldn't think of one!

John Lennon learned about this manipulation first-hand when he met Maharishi Yogi. The Maharishi taught transcendental mediation to The Beatles and they eventually discovered he was scamming them and teaching phony BS. Lennon was furious and strummed out a little diddy called 'Maharishi' whose lyrics bashed the Yogi for his phony teachings and false spotlight. In the end Lennon decided to remove the Maharishi's name from the song and what you get is 'Sexy Sadie' on The White Album.

"Sexy Sadie what have you done
You made a fool of everyone
You made a fool of everyone
Sexy Sadie ooh what have you done

Sexy Sadie you broke the rules
You layed it down for all to see
You layed it down for all to see
Sexy Sadie oooh you broke the rules"