David Lynch helping Donovan to open meditation university in Scotland
"For a country the size of Scotland it would take only 250 students meditating to protect Scotland from its enemies and to bring peace, to stop violence and drug abuse," Lynch said. "That is just a byproduct of the students meditating together."
Currently touring British schools and cities to discuss the benefits of Transcendental Meditation (TM), singer Donovan and David Lynch, have announced plans to set up the Invincible Donovan University in Glasgow or Edinburgh. Whether Lynch, whose TM foundation has spent some £2.5m introducing the practice to schools, will teach at the University remains to be seen. Critics of TM highlight how official courses normally charge £1,200 to learn how to still your mind, contrary to many eastern teachings, which are normally free. Donovan studied it with the Beatles in India, while Lynch has been practicing it since 1973 and recently wrote a book on the subject.
Report below from The Scotsman
FORGET the faded towers of learning in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen or St Andrews. Scotland has a bold new university to promote yogic flying and national "invincibility".
Invincible Donovan University has been named after Scotland's "great cultural hero".
Donovan, famous for Sixties hits like Catch the Wind and Mellow Yellow, is regarded as a pioneer of flower power. He is also known for being the first British pop singer to be arrested for taking drugs.
Students in the college will study education, health, economics and music and arts, along with "total knowledge" and the "unified field". It will promote national "invincibility" and world peace.
"It will be a regular university, but powered by this extraordinary technique," Donovan declared yesterday, launching the project. "Invincible youth, building a future of peace, surely that's only in a Donovan or John Lennon song? But no, it's a reality."
Donovan and the US film director David Lynch have been touring the UK, touting Lynch's campaign to bring transcendental meditation (TM) to the children of the world. Lynch speaks, and Donovan sings. They were to appear at the Queen's Hall in Edinburgh last night.
They went one better, however, launching Invincible Donovan University at a luxury Edinburgh hotel, in a mind-boggling foray into Indian meditation techniques that felt part like a cult and part like a throwback to the Sixties.
It emerged the project was only 48 hours old, though three sites in Edinburgh and Glasgow are under consideration.
"It's so new, it's so fresh, it's just been born, the intention has now been created," Donovan said. "It's been in my heart and thoughts for the last 40 years."
In early 1968, Donovan spent several weeks at the ashram of the Indian guru Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, learning about TM.
The pair were supported yesterday by two Americans, Dr Bevan Morris of the Maharishi University of Management, and Dr John Hagelin, quantum physicist and president of the Maharishi Central University. They told how US campuses boast golden domes where students can practise "yogic flying".
Twenty minutes of meditation once or twice a day might seem reasonable. It's believing that group meditation can influence whole cities or countries - making them peaceful or "invincible" - that's a bit of a stretch.
There was much talk of how orderly thoughts would spread their influence outward to protect Edinburgh or Scotland from violence or terrorism. Fewer than 1,000 students, it was said, could influence the whole UK.
Lynch directed the 1980s classics The Elephant Man and Blue Velvet, and the cult hit television series Twin Peaks. Two years ago he launched his Foundation for Consciousness-Based Education and Peace to promote TM.
He has been meditating for 20 minutes every day for more than 34 years, he says, and teaches the technique to his grandchildren.
He cut an earnest figure, with his shock of grey hair. "A group doing advanced techniques will affect collective consciousness in the most positive, natural way," Lynch insisted. "It's the unified field, all the power that expands the ever expanding universe."
A CULT OR A WAY TO INCREASE CREATIVITY?
TRANSCENDENTAL meditation is the trademarked name of a meditation technique introduced in 1958 by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, taught through a network of licensed teachers. "TM" advocates allowing the mind to "transcend" by sitting quietly for 20 minutes with the eyes closed.
It is said to be derived from India's Vedic tradition. Critics say it has the characteristics of a cult; followers say it's a simple and natural technique that increases creativity.
Donovan encountered TM when he visited India with the Beatles in 1968.
David Lynch, the film director, says he was initiated in July 1973. He recently wrote Catching the Big Fish: Meditation, Consciousness and Creativity. The David Lynch Foundation For Consciousness-Based Education and Peace has put £2.5 million into promoting TM's positive effects.