Education News: Top Stories

1,800 come to hear David Lynch, Dr John Hagelin, Dr Fred Travis
by GGN staff writer

Global Good News Translate This Article
5 October 2005

A packed auditorium of 1,400 students and people of all ages and backgrounds waited in an atmosphere of excited anticipation at the University of Michigan's Power Center on 25 September for a presentation by Director David Lynch, His Excellency Dr John Hagelin, President of the US Peace Government, and Dr Fred Travis, Director of the Center for Brain Consciousness and Cognition at Maharishi University of Management. The line of people hoping to attend extended around the block 1⁄2 an hour before the programme was scheduled to begin, and 400 people had to watch on an outdoor video display.

This presentation was the first of a ten-day tour to promote the David Lynch Foundation for Consciousness-Based Education and World Peace at college campuses across the East Coast and Midwestern United States.

David Lynch, who was welcomed with a thunderous standing ovation, began his talk by taking questions from the audience. Although questions comprised a wide range of topics including film, education and Transcendental Meditation, in all of his answers Lynch noted the great benefit that the TM Technique has had in his personal life and also for others around the world, especially students.

Lynch explained that while his art sometimes reflects the less positive aspects of the world, life itself should be lived in bliss. He went on to say that since he began the practice of Transcendental Meditation more than 30 years ago, each day of his life has been better and better. He said that this technique is the blessing of His Holiness Maharishi Mahesh Yogi for the whole world and the results are very real.

Lynch said that he wanted students everywhere to enjoy bliss in their everyday lives, and blossom in the full potential of their creativity and intelligence. He also explained how each and every meditating student, shining in his own life, will help to create peace in the world. He noted that scientific research has repeatedly confirmed that when individuals practice the Transcendental Meditation Technique, life in the surrounding environment becomes freer from negativity, crime, accidents etc., and that when the advanced programmes, the TM-Sidhi Programme including Yogic Flying are practised together in groups, the effect is remarkable, even world transforming.

During his talk, Lynch made everyone in the audience a very generous offer: for anyone wanting to learn the Transcendental Meditation Technique, he would try to raise the necessary funds. At the end of the evening, 800 people had expressed an interest by returning the cards they received as they entered the hall. In addition, Dr Hagelin mentioned the possibility of $20 million study at the University of Michigan that would allow many, many students to learn the Transcendental Meditation Technique.

Dr Hagelin also gave a brilliant, very entertaining and engaging talk, in which he illuminated the fundamental unity that exists at the basis of the diversity of life. He explained that by accessing this field of unity through Transcendental Meditation, we create more unity in the world and also more coherence and unity within our own brain. He said that without the experience of unity, or Wholeness, the brain is like an orchestra warming up before the conductor arrives: every part of the brain functions without regard to the other areas of the brain. He said that everything good about the brain depends upon its coherence. The typical college lifestyle with its elements of sleep deprivation, junk food, and other harmful substances has led to a surprising question (and the title of a new book): Is college education bad for the brain? He said that Transcendental Meditation is an antidote to the incoherence that is often part of college life.

Next, Dr Travis gave a visual demonstration of the holistic brain coherence described by Dr Hagelin. He had a college student hooked up to a small EEG machine, which was then connected to a large video screen via a laptop computer. The electrical impulses of the brain were displayed on the screen and the audience was able to see how the student's holistic brain coherence increased tremendously during the practice of Maharishi's Transcendental Meditation. Dr Travis explained that every experience shapes the way the brain functions and changes the pathways that are forged among the brain's 100 billion neurons. Dr Travis' conclusion that we must not be satisfied with only a college degree, a mere piece of paper, but only with a coherent, fully functional brain, drew much laughter and applause from the audience.

The evening's presentation entitled Consciousness, Creativity and the Brain was hosted primarily by the University of Michigan's Program in Consciousness and Creativity Studies as well as UM Integrative Medicine, The Center for Urban Innovation, The School of Music, and The Program in Film and Video Studies.

Copyright © 2005 Global Good News(sm) Service.

Translation software is not perfect; however if you would like to try it, you can translate this page using:

(Google)
(Altavista babelfish)