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Skip Alexander was a bright star in a constellation of gifted professors at Maharishi University of Management. His Harvard Ph.D., his brilliance, his almost stern high standards, his fame in his chosen field, made him a star. But with all his gifts, Skip was never overbearing nor vain. Yet he was well aware of his personal power and used it--not for himself but for the world. For him, Maharishi's Transcendental Meditation was an antidote to suffering. It meant a lot of other things, of course, but he knew it could free people of their shackles, whether it was drug abuse, depression, or just plain tiredness. He served on an endless round of committees and went to an endless round of speaking engagements, charging up his listeners with his enthusiasm.
The first time I met Skip he was wandering the halls outside his office in Building 141, possibly looking for excitement. "Hi!" he said. I didn't know who he was, and he didn't know me. But he radiated friendliness from the core; you could almost see it coming off him like steam. All that friendliness, vitality, and good looks--it was almost too much to expect from one person.
But beyond the charm and the nickname lay a sincere and compassionate nature. He was a visionary and a warrior, armed with a new concept of the healing potential of psychology. He battled what he felt were the superficial trends in his chosen field. In his "A Critique of Twentieth Century Approaches to Counseling in Light of Maharishi's Vedic Psychology," he wrote: "Over 500 psychotherapies have proliferated to treat personal problems. Presumably they continue to proliferate, in part, because none thus far has proven sufficiently efficacious." He felt that therapy was well-intentioned but misguided. It could never help people on a deep level because it only addresses the "waking state" level of life. All of Skip's revolutionary approaches to psychology, founded on Maharishi's Vedic Psychology, emphasized Self-knowledge, healing from the inner transcendental realm beyond the waking state.
I was aware of Skip's contributions to psychology because as a writer and editor for the university publication MIU World (as it was called at the time), I kept track of all the publications by our scientists. Skip had spearheaded dozens of ground-breaking research studies on Transcendental Meditation, from the effects of a single neurotransmitter to an exhaustive meta-analysis on all existing studies on meditation and relaxation techniques, including Transcendental Meditation.
So it was natural at some point that I would interview Skip for an article. In 1994, when his book on substance abuse, Self-Recovery, co-authored with David O'Connell, came out, he asked me to review it for him. Written for professionals, the book daunted me from the beginning with its highly technical language and abstract psychological concepts, but I was impressed with the practicality of its solutions. I realize now that Skip must have hated the draft I handed him, but it never showed. For the next couple of weeks afterwards he called or visited me daily, sometimes several times a day, and relentlessly insisted on endless changes in the text. We wrangled on every single word in the article and I watched helplessly as my style dissolved into his. He only let up when he was totally satisfied.
Years later, Skip complimented me on the article, saying it was one of the best reviews of the book he'd ever read. I told him it was mostly Skip, and he replied, "Skip is good."
Skip came into my life once again in early 1997 when he called and asked me to write a book with him. I was flattered and agreed to do it, but I hadn't forgotten what it was like to collaborate with him on a single article and I looked forward to the book with some trepidation. Also, I was very busy at the time and couldn't get to the book right away. I know Skip thought I was a slacker, and he would call me and berate me good naturedly into accomplishing something. We would meet weekly, I with my tape recorder, he with his experience and visions, talking, talking, talking, about making life better for the world. He would expound on his ideas, make phone calls mid word, pummel me affectionately on the shoulder, and doodle all over everything in sight.
The idea behind the book was to be a popular version of Self-Recovery for plain ordinary folk who wanted to treat a spouse, relative, or neighbor hooked on drugs or alcohol. We could never agree on what "popular" meant. He didn't want to sacrifice a single psychological term or chart because he felt they were crucial to his vision of total mental health. Around that time I began to appreciate how profound his ideas were. He had thought deeply about the structure of the mind and its relationship with the environment and had conceived of ingenious yet practical ways to tackle drug abuse.
For instance, Skip had evolved a chart comparing Transcendental Meditation with its polar opposite--drug addiction. On the drug side of the chart he listed a dozen parameters, such as: ingest drug, experience initial mood altering euphoria, decrease serotonin, increase craving, etc. Then on the other side, he listed: practice Transcendental Meditation, experience bliss, increase serotonin, increase fulfillment, etc. When I admired the comparison, he replied, "I know, it just flows out of me. I have at least a dozen books inside me if I just had the time." I never doubted this for a moment.
Ultimately the book didn't get written. About the time I completed the book proposal, Skip went on a national, then an international speaking tour that only hurried his sickness. A few months before he left for the tour I took the photo accompanying this article; but a mere photo could never capture his personal magnetism.
I still have my file box full of articles, notes, and tape recordings from Skip. But the thing I treasure most and which seems to personify him best was his inscription in my personal copy of Self-Recovery: "I hope you enjoy this volume. I see ways it can be applied to help our society."
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Writing consultant Jim Fairchild has a Ph.D. in English from the University of Iowa. He is an Assistant Professor at Maharishi University of Management and teaches Professional Writing and Literature. He can be reached at (515) 472-6974 or e-mail<jfairchi@mum.edu>.
