The purpose of these "Transcendental Passages" is to recount the early days of the Transcendental Meditation (TM) movement from my personal perspective at the time, and I hope to make Maharishi's original teachings clear. I heard them with such intensity that I could never forget his words or the scenes in which they were spo-ken. They differ greatly from his later statements. Since he was walking a tightrope and constantly making di-plomatic compromises, I believe it is important to high-light his original message. Everything is about "expanding consciousness." To wi-den the narrow frameworks of our inner life, we conti-nuously navigate life's ups and downs until these frameworks loosen, expand, or even dissolve entirely! TM aids in this process. After nearly 50 years of regular TM practice, I can attest to this! With TM, you always get back up, and then you keep moving forward. And that's all life is about. Only that! After life-threatening illnesses, a near-fatal fall down stairs that left me with torn muscles and a spinal injury, and a paralyzing stroke, I can confirm TM's life-saving impact. TM is an effective survival technique-at the very least.