Members of the David Lynch Foundation for Consciousness-Based Education and World Peace addressed a full Salomon 101 Sunday night as part of "Consciousness, Creativity, and the Brain," a lecture featuring acclaimed film director Lynch. The lecture, however, did not focus on Lynch's films; instead, the talk centered on Lynch's advocacy of transcendental meditation and the director's nonprofit foundation, which he created to help others obtain their maximum brain potential.
Lynch answered a short series of questions before and after a presentation by John Hagelian, president of the David Lynch Foundation, and Fred Travis, an associate professor and director of the Center for Brain, Consciousness and Cognition at Maharishi University of Management in Iowa.
"There's an ocean of pure consciousness right inside each human being," Lynch said. "Transcendental meditation is a superbly profound technique that allows you to experience a subtler, more pure consciousness. The outcome of that growth of consciousness is enlightenment, and that is the full potential of human beings - supreme consciousness," he said.
With transcendental meditation, Lynch said he was capable of attaining happiness. "I started meditating 32 years ago - before, I was filled with anxieties: fear, depression and anger." But Lynch said that now his life is filled with bliss, which is "so beautiful they call it the sweetest nectar of life."
Lynch and Hagelian argued that if transcendental meditation is properly practiced on a wide scale, it will also lead to world peace.
"David's philosophy is simple," Hagelian said. "If you obtain individual peace and let it grow, let it stabilize, we will have world peace. ... If you can't get George Bush to meditate, let's surround him by a world of meditation and peace," he said.
Travis explained the anatomical implications of transcendental meditation on the brain. "Every time you have an experience, the connections between your brain cells get stronger and stronger. Your brain is a river, not a rock," he said. "During the experience of transcendentalism, the whole brain is settling down - it's achieving pure wakefulness."
To further this claim, Travis demonstrated a live EEG scan on a patient who was meditating. "What he's doing is he's turning the attention in, the mind is becoming more expanded and more full - this is the total brain function," he said.
Lynch followed Travis' presentation by fielding audience questions, specifically about practicing transcendental meditation.
"We can reach this blissful creative energy," he said. "I thought in two weeks we'd have it, but nobody listened. I think it will work - it's been tested. Every time, it's reduced the things we measure: accidents, crimes and trips to the hospital."
One apparently skeptical student asked what kind of monetary gain Lynch hoped to attain.
"I'm trying to raise $7 billion," Lynch said. "I want to raise money for consciousness-based education for those who want it."
The student asked how much of every dollar donated would go to administrative and operational costs of Lynch's organization. "Zero," Lynch said. "We're all volunteers."
In response to a question of political aspirations, Lynch joked, "I'm running for president. No, this isn't a political thing one bit."
Audience reactions to the lecture were mixed.
"I thought it was really beautiful. He's such a sweet, genuine man. I actually will research more about transcendental medicine," said Tessa Ferreyros RISD '06.
"That was probably the strangest lecturing experience in my life, and that's putting it delicately," said Scott Kolp '06. "I have a feeling that they didn't explain anything about it whatsoever," he added.
Many were surprised that Lynch spoke only briefly about his films, and that he spoke for only a fraction of the lecture.
"We were more bewildered than disappointed," said Sam Biagetti '06.
The lecture was co-sponsored by the Department of Theatre, Speech and Dance and the Contemplative Studies Group.
