A sold-out crowd packed into 150 Columbia Tuesday night to hear famous filmmaker David Lynch speak. Perhaps they came to learn about the meaning of his dark films, but Lynch primarily used his time to promote the controversial practice of Transcendental Meditation.
A practitioner of TM for 32 years, Lynch wants to raise billions of dollars to teach it to any child in America who wants to learn it. Like many TM proponents, Lynch, accompanied by two “experts,” described TM as a way to usher in world peace and achieve greater personal effectiveness. Lynch and his comrades couched the practice in scientific terms.
But they didn’t give the audience the whole story.
Now famous as the Beatles’ one-time guru, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi founded TM in India in 1958 as the outgrowth of a Hindu spiritual movement. Since then, more than 6 million people have learned TM, according to the organization’s Web site. Learning the technique costs $2,500.
At first, TM practitioners meditate for about 20 minutes twice daily with their eyes closed, repeating a syllabic phrase or “mantra” to reach “pure awareness” and rid themselves of conscious thought.
We don’t dispute the fact that meditation in general can be calming and beneficial. Yet we raise questions consumers should seriously consider before purchasing this commodity as a means to attain peace.
First, we question the high cost. During his speech, Lynch said people who really want peace will find the money to pay for TM classes. Some advocates say the cost ensures the TM movement will persevere and grow, and that the price wouldn’t seem outrageous if we lived in a culture that values meditation. Yet people can learn many types of meditation for free from books and classes. Proponents claim the TM mantras are more effective than repeating secular sounds, but some books on meditation say otherwise.
We also question the scientific merits of TM. Advocates claim a multitude of scientific studies validate the physiological benefits of TM. Many of these studies, however, are conducted at the organization’s own Maharishi University of Management and they are not necessarily published in peer-reviewed journals. Any scholars thinking about trying TM should check out these scientific claims, especially those that suggest TM is different from other forms of meditation. We also cannot find any credible evidence to support the claim that TM creates peace by “radiating an influence of harmony to your surroundings.” In light of the recent heated debate over the scientific merit of Intelligent Design, TM should come under equally rigorous investigation.
People with certain religious beliefs should also investigate the religious roots of TM. Although advocates claim it is simply a “mental technique” and not a religion or philosophy, historical facts clearly show TM is rooted in Hinduism; the mantras people repeat during TM are the names of Hindu gods. Moreover, the movement lost a 1979 suit after the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled TM was based on religious concepts and shouldn’t be taught in schools. TM has been presented in a secular package to appeal to Westerners.
Millions of people like Lynch have found TM to be a satisfying and worthwhile purchase, as demonstrated by their longtime commitments to the practice. However, we hope listeners at Lynch’s recent speech take the initiative to investigate the statements made by this salesman of pseudo-science and evaluate whether they belong in an academic setting like this University. We think they don’t.