Thursday, November 22, 2012

Selling Sizzle (not Steak) : Transcendental Meditation, David Lynch and Pandits


This “Africa for Norway” video exemplifies how TM’s fundraising sells feel-good sizzle, without evaluating the steak :


Yes, the video spoofs the successful business model of fundraising charities that do not provide substance. 
(To read more about this creative team highlighting racism and charity abuse, click here.)


The David Lynch Foundation is sponsoring (yet another) feel-good benefit gala to bring Transcendental Meditation to veterans with PTSD and at-risk youth.


The merit of the steak behind the DLF’s sizzle, Transcendental Meditation, has not been  properly evaluated, and in this case may even be dangerous for the trauma victims they claim to helpTM is a dissociative meditation.  TM's numbing dissociative meditation may cause further long-term harm to the  targeted PTSD survivors and at-risk youth that David Lynch's Foundation claims to help.

The International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation studies the very real phenomenon of dissociation related to trauma and PTSD. More can be found about dissociation and trauma in other psychology and public health journals. The Transcendental Meditation Organization breaches ethics by teaching trance-induction dissociative practices to this vulnerable population.

Oxford University research scientist Kathleen Taylor, author of 2004 Brainwashing; The Science of Thought Control, writes that soldiers with PTSD are especially vulnerable to suggestion. Experts on brainwashing, the late Margaret Singer and still-living Robert Jay Lifton conducted their first brainwashing research on military PTSD survivors, Korean War POWs. 

Maharishi's promised “transcendental bliss” actually triggers dissociation in many practitioners. Anyone who has been around the TM Movement knows the “bliss ninnies” or “space cadets”, as we once called the walking zombie-like members of our beloved "TM Family" cult. 

TMFree's Sudarsha wrote in a private email : “If politicians advocate something, no one believes them. If your parents advocated something, you couldn't get far enough away. If the minster/priest/rabbi/imam advocates something, everyone is suspicious ... but if a celebrity advocates something, everyone immediately believes it's real, good, desirable, necessary, right and certainly something one needs to get as quickly as possible.

Not sure why this is so, but, at least for those who might be seen as prone to addiction (very broadly, of course), this seems to be the case, so a fund-raiser by celebrities ... well, that's a no-brainer! Surely celebrities can and must be trusted!”  Thanks, Sud'!


Meanwhile, another insider sizzle email provides updates on Vedic City's growing pandit compound. From Maharishi's invented Global Country of World Peace, we offer excerpts :




To our dear Movement family,

The Vedic Pandits are finally coming—not just the original 556 but a total of 600!
We know you’ve been waiting for some time to receive this update. So we are delighted to finally have some concrete news to give you.
With the addition of this group of Pandits, we will achieve a stable Super Radiance group of 2,000 Yogic Flyers to create Invincibility for America, a goal we have all worked towards for 30 years.

Of course, they require more money to keep the sizzle popping :

What more is needed?
We still need $1,000 per Pandit or an additional $600,000 total for airfare and other associated costs to bring all of the Pandits here. More than ever, your contributions are crucial. Please donate now!
Donation details
Donations can be made online at www.GlobalCountryofWorldPeace.org or by check payable to Global Country of World Peace, 1900 Capital Blvd, Maharishi Vedic City, IA 52556.
We would be happy to speak with you about this in more detail. Please contact us directly or through Eloise Raymond at eraymond@globalpeaceinitiative.org or 641-470-7027.

The "Movement Family" fundraising letter closes with TM's Raja Royalty :

Warmest wishes,
Jai Guru Dev,
Raja John Hagelin
Raja Harris
Raja Wynne
Raja Bob LoPinto
Ramani Ayer


We at TMFree encourage everyone to learn about the steak behind any tantalizing sizzle. Don’t just donate or buy based upon feel-good advertising. Don’t fall for celebrity - studded good intentions.

Evaluate the merit of any campaign, the TM-DLF organization, politics, the sleek new car, or the fabulous online dating profile. Sizzle usually lacks ethics. Do your homework and don’t be duped!

Wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving. Thankful for independent thought, lifelong learning, the loss of naiveté and so much more.

Jai to Freedom, to free thought and honest discourse,

The TM-Free Blog Moderators

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