School of Economic Science

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School of Economic Science

British-based organization that helped to promote the Transcendental Meditation technique of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in Britain in the 1960s. The school's roots actually stem from the land reform economic theories of Henry George (author of Progess and Poverty, 1879) and the mystical theories of Georgei I. Gurdjieff and his disciple P. D. Ouspensky. It commenced primarily as a political and economic group, founded by Andrew MacLaren in Glasgow. It was developed by his son Leon (Leonardo da Vinci), who added the esoteric philosophy of Gurdjieff and later the meditation popularized by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in the belief that the practical problems of the world could best be solved by transforming the nature of human beings.

Leon MacLaren was strongly attracted to the teachings of the Mahareshi at the latter's first visit to London in 1960, and in the following year MacLaren organized the Maharishi's first world assembly in the prestigious Albert Hall, London. In that year a school of meditation was established by members of the SES. Leon MacLaren made a pilgrimage to India and became convinced of the importance of Hindu-based meditation and philosophy. The connection with Maharishi appears to have been short lived and was eventually discarded as the school's own technique was put in place.

Leon MacLaren began to devote more time to the SES, giving up his professional work as a lawyer. The SES acquired a number of valuable properties throughout the United Kingdom and, with the success of its teachings, soon expanded abroad, with branches in Europe, Cyprus, Malta, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, North America, Trinidad, and Fiji. The organization was variously styled the "School of Philosophy," and/or the "School of Economics and Philosophy." The enormous successful expansion appears to owe much to MacLaren's systematic method and his firm control over the organization's branches.

As with the esoteric tradition in general and the Gurdjieff tradition in particular, some degree of secrecy veils much of the SES program from the uninitiated public. It appears to have an eclectic program for personal development drawing on the Sufism so central to Gurdjieff and various more or less familiar Hindu and yogic techniques.

The organization has encountered some criticism. Several people who had a bad experience with the group have branded it with the "cult" and "brainwashing" labels of the anti-cult movement, which the leadership of SES has chosen to ignore. Address: 90 Queen's Gate, London, SW7 5AB England. Website: http://www.schooleconomicscience.org/.