The David Lynch Foundation

I recently stumbled upon this while reading my CNN.com (which I vowed to stop doing but still do, much to the chagrin of my anger management therapist). Intrigued--considering that I have studied meditation in the past (through Eckankar, which I don't follow anymore)--I thought I'd drop them a line and see how they planned on executing their plans. Here's what I wrote:

What kind of an agenda do you have? What are your short-term and long-term goals? I've read about your group aiming to have an 8,000-member group of teachers (or words to that effect). How do you plan on achieving this? Thank you.

I got this as a response:

Thank you for your email and your interest. I hope the following explanation goes part of the way to answering your question about our agenda and plans.

As I am sure you are aware, there
is a deep, common thread in virtually all the
traditions of the world that have taught the
wisdom of the "transcendent" level of human
consciousness--the source of peace and wisdom. As
Dr. John Hagelin discusses on the Maharishi
Channel during his weekly introduction on
Wednesday's to the weekly news conf, this level of
human awareness is described by modern physics as
the "unified field"--the source of Nature's
intelligence, the absolute basis of all streams of
knowledge and experience. The tremendous,
inestimable value of Vedic wisdom that provides
humanity with both the understanding of this level
of life, and the direct experience of it.

Since the "unified field" is, by character,
everywhere, at all times, permeating everything,
if it is able to be experienced by the human mind,
it is theoretically possible for it to be
experienced in an infinite variety of ways. Human
history provides ample support for this
hypothesis. Throughout history, in different
cultures and places, people of insight (in some
cases poets, artists, musicians, mathematicians,
biologists, saints and sages) have described their
experience of this level of existence in a variety
of contexts and in many ways.

Experience and scientific research has shown that
Maharishi's Transcendental Meditation technique
and its advanced programs are the most natural,
effective methods for experiencing this level of
life. Scientists have been amazed to discover the
efficacy of Maharishi's programs. The extensive
research in the field of neuroscience has
confirmed that human awareness can be trained to
access the unified field. Modern physiological
science has discovered a "hypo-metabolic,
physiological state" indicating a unique fourth
state of consciousness-subjectively and
physiologically distinct from waking, dreaming,
and sleeping. Scientific journals like SCIENTIFIC
AMERICAN have published this research performed at
UCLA and Harvard Medical School on the
Transcendental Meditation technique.

The use of Maharishi's programs to solve society's
problems is also supported by the fact that in the
past 15 years the U.S. government's National
Institutes of Health have invested more than 20
million dollars in the research and application of
this fourth state of consciousness--the experience
of the unified field--for the treatment of stroke,
hypertension, heart disease, and other
stress-related illnesses, and that these TM
related techniques has been verified in research
to be free of negative side-effects for those who
follow this particular program of instruction.

As you know Dr. Hagelin's immediate plan is aiming
to amplify the influence of peace that can be
being generated by individuals practicing
Transcendental Meditation by developing a group of
as many as 40,000 TM trained Vedic pandits who
will live in one place and will have as their
full-time profession the enlivening of the unified
field, generating a power influence of harmony and
positivity in the world's collective
consciousness. They will utilize a number of
ancient Vedic techniques throughout the day to
generate the maximum influence. Based on previous
research, it is felt that a group of at least
8,000 will be needed to reduce societal stress in
the entire world consciousness. This effect will
make it possible to significantly reduction war,
violence and terrorism which is fueled by
individual and social stress and tension.

India was chosen as an immediate source of
peace-creators for implementing this proposal
because in the past 15 years more than 160,000
experts in Vedic peace techniques including
Transcendental Meditation were trained in schools
started by His Holiness Maharishi Mahesh.

For a view of some of the programs and
institutions that have resulted from the revival
of Vedic wisdom that Maharishi has devoted his
last 50 years to creating.

Now, I know that a lot of quantum physicists and astrophysicists come to feel a sense of spirituality when they study their field; and some feel that their field comes close to proving God (I wish I could quote where I saw that exactly... I remember Tim Allen--yes, the comedian--wrote a book on quantum physics and philosophy once, called Am I Really Here?). This explains the "unified field" reference in the response.

They still didn't quite answer my burning question: how will they get these 8,000 people out there to help reduce societal stress throughout the globe? Dr. Hagelin wants to put 40,000 people in one place to devote their time to this TM (transcendental meditation) movement. How will they manage that? Is this where the 8,000 come from?

I, of course, homed in on this site like a shark in water where a drop of blood has just been spilled. I am always interested in ways of improving my and others' lives. So I'll send my question(s) back to them and see what comes up. I have a sad feeling they'll be looking for "donations", and the selection process for these forty thousand/eight thousand includes pretty much nothing more than the size of the candidate's pocketbook.

Yes, I am also a little bit jaded. But, maybe I'm wrong here. I can hope. We'll see.