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Consciousness, Creativity and the Brain: Talk by film director David Lynch with quantum physicist Dr. John Hagelin and neuroscientist Dr. Fred Travis, a first-hand report from Lynn Lass
by Lynn Lass

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8 November 2005

On Monday, 7 November, at the University of Washington, Kane Hall 130 was completely full: 725 mainly students, but also members of the general public, educators, a few philanthropists and some Meditators, Governors and Sidhas. There was a palpable aura of energy, curiosity, and excitement. An overflow room held several hundred. The Lynch tour team commented that this was the most well-organized of all the universities the tour had been to. Check-in tables were set up and manned by UW staff and volunteers, the UW bookstore had a display table with books on Lynch and TM for sale, ushers directed people to seats, the stage and audio/visual set-up was perfect, the hall was well-lighted and beautiful. While the audience was getting seated and waiting for the talk to begin, slides with trivia Q&A about David Lynch were being projected on a screen on stage.

The Dean of Arts and Sciences opened the evening with glowing praise for David Lynch, gratitude for the UW's opportunity to host his talk, and affirmation that developing the creative potential of students was the goal of the university. He said this particular talk had generated more interest than any other at the UW.

Robert Roth, Vice-President of the David Lynch Foundation, gave an introduction, citing Lynch's status as an internationally acclaimed independent film-maker known for the integrity, complexity, and boundary-breaking imagination and vision of his works. He noted David's passion for 'doing' and 'being', and announced the creation of the David Lynch Foundation for Consciousness-Based Education and World Peace.

David Lynch was received with thunderous applause. His trademark salt-and-pepper bouffant hair stood like a tidal wave above a craggy face lit by bright eyes and inner radiance. He glowed the whole evening, radiating warmth, openness, and an uninhibited childlike enthusiasm. He immediately began taking questions from students who used two open mikes set up in the aisles. The questions were often specific to his films, TV work, the film industry, and his creative or directorial process. His responses were unaffected and straightforward, revealing an artist whose work grows out of the spontaneous 'catching' of ideas, is developed by following intuition or what he calls 'thinking feeling', and which transforms inner vision into outer expression, but not necessarily in a linear way. Many students prefaced their questions by expressing their deep appreciation for the honour of speaking with him. Hero worship was rampant! Many of those who asked questions were film students.

Over and over again, woven into every answer, he referenced Transcendental Meditation and the experience of Pure Consciousness, which he constantly referred to as an 'ocean of bliss', an 'unbounded ocean of consciousness', the 'reservoir of creativity and intelligence'. He explained how the daily experience of TM deepens his awareness, enabling his intuition to be clear and his mind to be open to more ideas, enhancing his problem-solving abilities, reducing anger, anxiety and fear, and generating bliss in his life. He used the word bliss frequently. He said the experience of transcending dissolves the 'rubber clown suit' that encases us in fear, stress and narrow thinking. He said he's never missed a meditation since he learned 32 years ago.

He said the goal of his foundation is to help students learn to 'dive within' and become enlightened. He spoke of inner peace as the basis for world peace and said that world peace results from the 'spilling over' of individual peace in a ripple that spreads throughout the whole field of collective consciousness—especially when individuals meditate together in groups, which amplifies the effect on the whole.

Dr John Hagelin explained how physics has revealed and documented the increasingly subtle and more fundamental levels of the universe, culminating in the discovery of the Unified Field. He described how the structure of the universe parallels the structure of consciousness, with both objective and subjective universes merging at the level of Pure Consciousness, the Unified Field. He then further explained, from the viewpoint of physics, how the dynamics of consciousness can create world peace. Finally, Dr Hagelin discussed enlightenment of the individual in terms of total brain functioning.

Dr Fred Travis showed slides explaining brain functioning, how experience changes the brain, how meditation engages the whole brain and increases coherence in brain functioning. Then he conducted a live EEG demonstration with an M.U.M student, projecting the student's EEG activity on a screen before, during and after he practised TM.

David Lynch finished the evening by taking more questions from students. When he concluded, he received a standing ovation from the audience. Afterwards, he stayed to meet students, sign autographs, and pose for photographs. Journalists from the UW Daily and The Stranger were on hand to cover the event and interview him. Look for articles in the upcoming issue of these publications. The UW's live webcast will be edited and then posted on their website. The UW also filmed the event and will broadcast it nationally on their research TV channel many times in the coming weeks.

Copyright©2005 Global Good News(sm) Service



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