Susan Shatkin

When my son Soren was first learning to speak, he pronounced her name Duzin (or perhaps it would be spelled Doozin’). There’s something about that name that I love to this day — some kind of name-form relationship I can’t put my finger on. Perhaps because she was always busy, always doing something — she always does a lot. Perhaps because it sounds a bit like doozy, as in, “That Susan Shatkin — she’s a doozy” (meant, of course, as high praise).

Susan’s last name possesses remarkable properties. Take away the “a” and rearrange the remaining letters, and you get thinks. Take away the “i,” and the remaining letters spell thanks. Take away the “n” and you can get Shakti. All quite appropriate words. With her first name, if you take away the “a,” you can get nuss, the German word for nut. Make of that what you will.

Susan

OK, everybody, stop cruisin’ —
Start mindin’ yer P’s an’ yer Q’s an’

Yer A’s, B’s, an’ C’s,
Dot yer I’s, cross dem T’s —

Here comes dat eagle-eye, Susan

If the writing is rough, she’ll refine it
If the writing is smooth, she will shine it

If it’s polished, she’ll go
And she’ll make those words glow —

She’s a pro any way you define it

As Academic Publications Director
Inspector, Corrector, Perfecter,

She made a profession
Of perfect expression —

People both love and respect her

She’s sweet, she’s serene, and she’s sensible
She’s also grown quite indispensable —

If she left, we’d have swarms
Of unsignatured forms — (1)

The prospect is incomprehensible

Susan was somehow selected
When Papers, Act 5, were collected (2)

Each paper could trust her
To ensure it passed muster —

Each letter was Susan-inspected

She’s seen, in her publishing mission,
The journal through its fourteenth edition (3)

She blazes, she cooks,
Through articles, books,

And brings even Keith to fruition

And now she is making a shift —
A Press Council to Institute gift (3)

Its purpose she’ll bless
And ensure its success

Giving even that great rocket a lift

No inertia withstands her great zeal
Her focus can melt solid steel

So clear, so alert —
Enlightened, we’d assert —

She defines what we mean by ideal

She sets a high standard: perfection
She personally sets the direction

From cover to cover
We honor and love her —

She’s our Book-of-the-Yuga Selection

With an intellect keen and acute
She connects every word to its root

The root that we mean
Is silent, unseen —

The alphabet’s source — Absolute

With a speed rather faster than blinking
She’ll adjust to Maharishi’s latest thinking

Her heard and her mind
Are so closely aligned —

When she smiles, it’s the Absolute winking

She soars so incredibly high
She does have the eagle’s rare eye

So expansive a vision
And yet such precision

And a heart that’s as great as the sky

(1) All printing requisitions had to be signed by Susan — a responsibility she did not take lightly.

(2) One day — it was a Wednesday — we received a message from Maharishi that he wanted Volume 5 of the Collected Papers ready to be printed by the following Monday. These are the volumes that bring together all the scientific research studies on the TM and TM-Sidhi programs. Each volume is typically 600-700 pages long. The project involved gathering all the studies that had been done since Volume 4 had been published, having them reviewed by our scientists, entering all the text, redoing all the charts and graphs, formatting everything into the Collected Papers page layout, and proofing/correcting/proofing/correcting/proofing/correcting — a massive, massive undertaking — at a time when desktop publishing was still quite new. Dozens of people were involved, and Susan Shatkin was at the center, working day and night. We didn’t make the Monday deadline. In fact, we ended up completing the project three months later — still a very impressive achievement. Maharishi had made his point — he wanted it done quickly, as a major university focus, and we did it.

(3) The journal is Modern Science and Vedic Science, founded and edited at the university, and Susan was at the center of this as well for a number of years.

(4) In 1993, Dr. John Hagelin founded the Institute of Science, Technology and Public Policy, in the wake of his 1992 campaign for the US Presidency with the Natural Law Party, which he helped establish. The institute was envisioned as a think tank and consulting body for best practices in all areas of life, including Consciousness-Based practices. Susan left MUM Press to work with Dr. Hagelin in this institute.