wow! now that was a well thought out response... you come up with that on your own?

One more thing: Who are these self-proclaimed "cult experts" that keep popping up in the popular tabloid press--but never in the scientific literature? What accredited university medical, psychology, or neuroscience program granted them the expertise or authority to blather on with such impugnity about so-called cults? Their alleged experience decades ago as a meditator or meditation teacher? Bully. I know once healthy joggers who are now fat and lazy. Jogging is not the problem, it is the slovenliness of the former jogger. The real expose would be to find out who funds these unaccredited "cult awareness" groups that perpetrate such confusion in the minds of the people—confusion that is in complete opposition to repeated, randomized controlled studies published in top scientific journals. And why don't your sites link to the American Medical Association and American Heart Association where TM research has been cited and its practice ecommended? Somehow I do not believe that a tiny handful of self-proclaimed "cult" experts know more than millions of people--doctors, lawyers, architects, clergy members, housewives, retired people, etc. who have learned the technique and continue to enjoy its practice--and the medical institutions that have objectively documented its benefits. This is not Salem, Massachusetts, and it is not 1692,

Fortunately we live in a scientific age. Here are the facts...

• Published brain research by (nonmeditating) neuroscientists at the University of California at Irvine and the University of Pennsylvania on short-term (6 months) and long-term (10 years) TM meditators found increased alpha production and increased coherence in brain functioning between all the regions of the brain--in particular in the prefrontal cortex, which governs the higher executive functions of the brain, such as decision-making, judgment, and planning. (By the way, brain scans of people with emotionally imbalanced, fanatical, or delusional thinking show diminished functioning of the prefrontal cortex.) The improved brain functioning during TM indicates increased wakefulness and has been correlated with the increased intelligence, creativity, and academic performance found in meditating students.

• Top medical doctors and scientists comprising the Internal Review Board (IRB) at American University in Washington, D.C. rigorously reviewed, over a six-month period, ALL the scientific research conducted on TM over the past 45 years, found the technique to be beneficial, and UNANIMOUSLY approved a study on TM for 300 university students (www.au-tm-study.org). The study is now in its second year.

• As stated above, the National Institutes of Health has granted over $25 million to study TM during the past 18 years. The studies, conducted at such top independent research institutes as Cedar-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, UCLA Medical School, the University of Iowa, University of Wisconsin, the Medical College of Georgia, etc, have been published in the AMA’s Archives of Internal Medicine, the American Heart Association’s Hypertension, the American Journal of Cardiology, etc. These studies were on people meditating from 3 months to 18 years.

• The American Psychological Association regularly features presentations on the mental health benefits of TM, the American Medical Association provides Continuing Medical Education Credit to physicans who study TM, and the American College of Cardiologists recently featured a major symposium on the considerable heart benefits of long-time TM practice.

The idea of “enlightenment” is certainly not unique to TM, nor, as I would hope any rational person would know, is it a religion. Translated into the language of modern science, enlightenment is the full development of the brain and the healthy functioning of all parts of the body. It can be quantified and monitored. It has been sought after by scientists and poets and artists and doctors, people of the world--“householders”--as well as those who wish to retire from the world—monks and nuns. To use meditation to follow your own particular path to develop your full potential in life is natural.

Finally, and forgive me for not maintaining my scientific dispassion here, but the kind of calculated fearmongering promulgated by the above writer, rehashed from websites 20 years old without an iota of recognized repeatable scientific evidence, has had its day. Enough already. Get a life. Jog. Eat more fiber.

Oh, please, Allison. Do a little research on TM... There are thousands of students in scores of schools in the US where kids practice TM as part of a school-sponsored "Quiet Time" to help them overcome stress, the National Institutes of Health has granted over $25 million to study the benefits of TM for heart disease, and the American Medical Association just published a study (Archives of Internal Medicine) that showed TM is effective in reducing the risk factors of hypertension, diabetes, and obesity. And right now, American University in Washington, DC is conducting the largest ever, two-year scientific study on the effects of TM on grades, anxiety, depression, and health on 300 students. I applaud David for actually having the convictions to stand up publicly for something he believes in. You may not like the abstract way he makes his films or writes his books, but don't unfairly diss the man for putting his own money and time into helping kids cope with ever-increasing stresses in their lives (www.davidlynchfoundation.org)... PS Another correction: The Beatles, John Lennon included, continued to meditate In fact, George Harrison gave a sizeable donation for music scholarships to the fully accredited Maharishi University of Management in Iowa.