Does Meditating Help…Other People?

A story I used to hear about meditation when I was little was that meditation was the reason the cold war never turned into a hot one. It was rumored that the Maharishi bringing meditation to the west allowed enough people to be sending peaceful vibes into the world that the war dissolved before it came to blows.

I began thinking about this assertions again when I received an invitation from a fellow SES child to join a Facebook event meditating for peace in Israel and Palestine.

Of course I joined and did my part to be peaceful and meditative at the appointed hour, but I wonder if this sort of thing really does help.

I suppose it goes back to my continued question of whether our prayers effect things but with a slightly different flavor.  Can we as individuals pray or meditate, bringing our own minds to peace, and have that change the peace of others?

I think maybe yes. I think maybe we are all connected to one universal consciousness, one life force that is God humming all around us, and we can use our minds to contribute either peace or agitation.

What do you think?