David Lynch - Peace through Yogic "Flying"

February 3, 2006 11:26 PM

David Lynch - Peace through Yogic "Flying": Communication departments and film schools throughout the Midwest are currently being approached by representatives of David Lynch and the Marharishi School of Fairfield, Iowa. On the surface, they're out to publicize a seminar about filmmaking and the creative process. In actuality, it's part of an ongoing effort to (according to IMDb) raise $1 billion to build a world wide network of Transcendental Meditation "peace palaces". . . including head-quarters in India which will be capable of housing 40,000 followers - in the hope of bringing peace to the world through the practice of mass "yogic flying". The cost per student? $45. Related MeFi posts: 1, 2, 3
posted by aladfar (25 comments total)

that damn david lynch and all his alterior motives
posted by obeygiant at 11:39 PM on February 3, 2006

Better mass yogic flying than mass phobic lying.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 11:56 PM on February 3, 2006

Better mass yogic flying than mass phobic lying.

How are the two things different? Both are bullshit.
posted by PeterMcDermott at 5:04 AM on February 4, 2006

Great, another Yogic-Transcendental-Meditation bashing post. Enough flogging the dead horse.
posted by Jimbob at 5:12 AM on February 4, 2006

peace through yogic flying my ass!


posted by quonsar at 5:19 AM on February 4, 2006

don't forget this too.
posted by brevator at 5:29 AM on February 4, 2006

peace through yogic flying my ass!

Hi, I'm quonsar, fly me!
posted by Wolof at 5:51 AM on February 4, 2006

You can't forget Doug Henning, one of Lynch's predecessors in this area. He was also married to Barbara DeAngelis, who was later married to John Gray, another prominent adherent of TM and yogic flying. The connections are strange among talented people who have altogether too much time on their hands.
posted by mikel at 6:13 AM on February 4, 2006

> Better mass yogic flying than mass phobic lying.
>
> How are the two things different? Both are bullshit.

Quite right, Peter! If certain Presidents and War Secretaries and saber-rattling Ayatollas spent a lot of time sitting on mats thinking flower thoughts and contemplating their Inner Om, this would in no way contribute to world peace. Silly rabbit, what an idea.
posted by jfuller at 6:52 AM on February 4, 2006

Yes. Good luck distracting George Bush with meditation.
posted by grobstein at 7:08 AM on February 4, 2006

All it takes is a camera on a wire.
posted by melt away at 7:14 AM on February 4, 2006

Marharishi, you made a fool of everyone,
you made a fool of everyone...
posted by doctor_negative at 7:21 AM on February 4, 2006

Yes. Good luck distracting George Bush with meditation.

Well, he comes by the empty mind state quite naturally.
posted by doctor_negative at 7:23 AM on February 4, 2006

I voted for these guys once. The Lib Dems got in, though.
posted by nowonmai at 7:25 AM on February 4, 2006

Lynch &co. are on a TM recruitment/propaganda tour - I watched one of their appearances at U.Wash (ResearchChannel); although its fascinating to listen to David Lynch talk about his creative process, after he stops answering questions, some creepy pseudo-scientists come on stage and spend an hour talking about how TM will reshape your braaiiiins - very reminiscent of (bleep).
posted by unmake at 7:56 AM on February 4, 2006

Jimbob: I searched through MeFi prior to posting this (hence the referenced threads). I thought it important to share because, as unmake points out, this recruitment tour is going on right now. The materials sent to my university just arrived, all of it carefully worded so that the true nature of the presentation is obfuscated.

Sharing the true nature of the event via MeFi was the best means I could think of to spread the word. This is not a dead horse, unfortunately. It's a very real effort to swindle college kids out of some cash and perhaps recruit them into a religious cult.
posted by aladfar at 8:20 AM on February 4, 2006

It is not the reality that matters, grasshopper, but the potential.
posted by cenoxo at 8:38 AM on February 4, 2006

Fred the flying egg.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 9:32 AM on February 4, 2006

David Lynch may be may favorite filmmaker (he's at least on the short list), but I never assumed he had good judgement on any non-filmmaking issue. For that matter, I never make that assumption about any artists whose work I like. I just assume they're personal wrecks.
posted by argybarg at 11:31 AM on February 4, 2006

I went to one of these (although, it was free) at a local university. It was precisely how unmake described it. I even received a free cd-rom with more information!! Creepy, sad and fascinating...

(which I have yet to open... I should, though. I bet it's a barrel of monkeys)
posted by basicchannel at 1:40 PM on February 4, 2006

Erm, aladfar, I was kidding. You may have noticed that people make structurally similar comments in every thread posted around here dissing on Christianity, then claim it "doesn't happen to any other religious belief". I was just...you know...trying to riff on that. Don't worry. I was drunk at the time.

Having said that, there are probably worse things they could be swindled into. Shit, sounds cheaper than scientology.
posted by Jimbob at 2:19 PM on February 4, 2006

I posted an AskMe about this a little while back, specifically, 'what is going on with David Lynch?'.

I also dug up an interesting link about how this damnable cult's programming works:

Falling Down the TM Rabbit Hole
posted by MetaMonkey at 2:32 PM on February 4, 2006

Photo of one of Lynch's presentation (an on-stage EEG of a meditating student) here (self-link). Everyone wanted to talk about his filsm and creative process. He just wanted to talk about his cult.
posted by rafter at 2:40 PM on February 4, 2006

nice photo album
posted by airguitar at 4:29 AM on February 5, 2006

The spiritual motives of any religion that needs to trademark it's name are immediately questioned by me. (cf. Scientology®)
posted by MikeKD at 4:18 PM on February 5, 2006