Show Dark Films Aside Lynch Brims With Light of TM William Booth The Washington Post David Lynch is wiggling his fingers As the filmmaker becomes excited wiggle speed increases He is really wiggling now He is talking about diving diving diving div div- ing into an infinite ocean of pure bliss Earthlings pack a bag David Lynch is on a mission It might not be the mission mission mission mis mis- sion you would have chosen for him But it is his mission and he appears sin sin- cere The director behind some of the most disturbing images in cinema who brought us the mutant baby in the garde avant-garde classic and the portable inhaling gas-inhaling mask apparatus for Dennis Hoppers Hopper's mommy mommy mommy character in Blue Velvet would now like to save the planet from negativity Its a no-brainer no he says The plan Peace factories You build a facility like a factory you house the people you feed the people people peo peo- people they do their meditation he says beautiful for forthe forthe forthe and its it's a beautiful thing the world Lynch is sitting in the recording studio studio studio stu stu- stu- stu dio at his three-house three modernist complex complex complex com com- plex in the Hollywood Hills just down the road as it turns out from Drive which is also the title of one of his inscrutable films His space if not his mind is spare and uncluttered There is a row of guitars guitars guitars gui gui- tars he plays A studio for his canvases canvas canvas- es he paints In a kitchen sits a high- high end espresso machine He confesses a fondness for caffeine and sweets he famously went to a nearby Bobs Bob's Big BigBoy BigBoy BigBoy Boy restaurant almost every day for 1 seven years for a chocolate milkshake On a recent morning the year old artist is dressed in a white shirt buttoned buttoned buttoned but but- toned to the collar like a cowboy nerd His pompadour of gray is swept up three stories tall He smells richly of recent cigarettes From his work in film and television he was also the creator of the series Twin Peaks one might expect Lynch to be creepy He is not Instead he appears almost sunny as happy as can be talking about his plans for the David Lynch Foundation for Consciousness-Based Consciousness Education and World Peace and about his ongoing tour of college campuses to promote his vision For 32 years twice a day morning and evening for 20 minutes Lynch says he has practiced the Transcendental Meditation technique developed by the Beatles' Beatles former guru His Holiness Mahesh Yogi originally from India and now living in Holland The peace factory workers would do dothe dothe dothe the regular TM Lynch says and more Like what This is going to blow your mind Lynch warns Fire away The advanced techniques Of course the advanced techniques Specifically the advanced techniques taught by that include yogic flying which the University of Management MUM in Fairfield Iowa describes in its literature literature literature litera litera- ture as blissful hops A photograph on its Web site shows a pair of students with legs crossed in the lotus position lifting off a mat meaning they're levi levi- tating Heres Here's his plan At least beautiful souls working like factory workers doing their program pumping peace for the world Lynch says Why That is approximately the square root of 1 percent of the worlds world's population which is the number needed needed needed need need- ed to produce the Global Effect for reducing international con con- The price tag Seven billion dollars Lynch says Give or take The figures are in flux For seven peace factories Why seven when you only need one A safety factor Lynch so far has spent of his own money and raised 1 million in donations from a handful of wealthy individuals and organizations Money will open so many doors It will start snowballing Still Seven its it's a alot alot alot lot of money Or is it Lynch estimates that world peace or what followers call Heaven on Earth can be purchased for the price of 3 31 2 2 1 B 1 bombers In which case Lynch says it would be bea a bargain Tom Cruise and Scientology Madonna and The recent results of celebrity endorsement for higher consciousness are arc mixed Lynch once famous for his reclusive habits has been touring college campus since September First he did the East Coast then the West and early next year he plans to do the Midwest and South To date he has visited 13 schools including several league Ivy-league colleges as well as American University home of a Lynch-inspired Lynch research project to see whether meditation meditation meditation tion increases healthy habits and work performance while reducing stress AU i is s i irr t. rr r j. j A I I J c o i L 1 I 4 r f r David Lynch figures that if they'll bring world peace 7 billion worth of TM institutes is a pretty good deal Hes He's chipped in and has launched a nationwide speaking tour to promote the concept psychology professor David Haaga who learned TM years ago but no longer practices it is a principal investigator investigator investigator for the study He expects students to participate they get TM training free it usually costs 2500 paid for by Lynch and the Abramson Family Foundation Last month Lynch appeared at the performing arts auditorium at the University of Southern California The free event was filled to the balcony seats Bob Roth a longtime figure in inthe inthe inthe the TM establishment which claims 6 million people worldwide have undergone undergone undergone under under- gone training and now vice president of the Lynch Foundation warns the stu- stu Lynch Cont on Page 12 Lynch Cont from Page 8 dents in Los Angeles that his boss will be using big words such as bliss consciousness being and enlightenment David really doesn't like public public public pub pub- lic speaking Roth says Lynch strides to the podium in a skinny black tie white shirt and rumpled jacket and announces I will try to answer questions on film and meditation meditation meditation tion and consciousness He does not give a speech going right to the QA He is asked how he started meditating and Lynch says Initially lly I had zero interest in it but there was something in inthe inthe inthe the voice of his sister who had just been trained in TM and he signed up He explains that youre expert from your first mediation He says hes he's never missed a session in 32 years You sit down comfortably close your eyes say your mantra and away you go Lynch like other TM-ers TM keeps his mantra secret Some of the questions sound like they come from TM practitioners practitioners practitioners planted in the audience but Roth later says that is not so Then its it's time for show and tell Fred Travis director of the Psychophysiology Center at the University of Management comes onstage with Shane a volunteer volunteer volunteer volun teer who is wearing a blue cap bristling with electrode sensors who has been meditating meditating meditating ing since he was 5 years old takes a seat and Travis plugs him into an electroencephalograph graph and the EEG EEC readout is projected on a large screen Travis asks to close his eyes and begin to mediate After 16 seconds Travis points to a change in the waves See There But if the thc squiggles are profound its it's hard to grasp The demonstration seems a little cheesy The audience is not moved to and Next up is John Hagelin a trained Harvard-trained physicist past presidential candidate from the Natural Law Party dominated by TM ers TM-ers ers and now at University Hagelin alludes to such concepts of physics as the Grand Unified Theory and cosmic super- super strings though he does not describe them in any detail The universe he announces is superficially complex and fundamentally simple This docs does not seem to blow anyone's mind Hagelin and Travis appear to serve a need in that the TM movement strives to prove itself as scientific as opposed to religious because the meditation does docs have its roots planted in the Hindu tradition tradition tradition tion Then Hagelin makes the pitch David Lynch wants to see TM introduced into the curriculum curriculum curriculum lum from elementary school to college He wants students everywhere to learn to meditate He wants world peace There are 52 published studies Hagelin says that prove the spillover effect that TM emits like some kind of cosmic wi wi-fi into the surrounding ties Back in 1993 about TM-ers TM gathered in Washington for two months to repeat their mantras and according to Hagelin reduced violent crime by 18 percent though police commanders at the time attrib- attrib to increased ut d the decrease and arrests patrols morning at his The next leased eased seems p home Lynch to toRoth 4 According with the talk Roth more than 1 00 s student dents information at atthe atthe asked for more the use event and to date several several sev sev- several sev- sev eral hundred across the country scholarships scholarshiPs- TM sc have gotten Their goal he says is to tram train 10 in the next 18 months Lynch is asked why he is doing this making I was just a regular tor for a long while making films and paintings Lynch Y he hc what TM did says but saw for him how it helped him navigate navigate navigate nav nav- the perils of Hollywood In this town people hate you People would really like to kill you and they'll do it many ways Do this to your film They'll threaten you Put that pressure on you It happens to everybody in this business and every busi busi- ness If I ran my set on fear I wouldn't get 1 percent of what I could Fear in the workplace A macho cool thing They're total idiots Fearful Theres There's no joy Zip Fear turns to hate Hate turns to anger You want to kill your boss Going to go the extra mile milt No you want to kill him rum This is what talks about Dont Don't worry about the darkness Walk toward the light Turn on the light Using meditation to reduce stress is one thing But these peace factories even Lynch says sounded kind of Yeah They say its it's pie in the sky They say its it's baloney OK |