Dropping The Deuce

I've had a really hard time blogging because, it seems to me, at some point, trying to reason with the unreasonable has to end. I mean, I can't be living in Kurt Andersen's "Fantasyland" and also be expected to respect the fantasists (he describes as "we") enough to want to speak to them. Rationality just doesn't work that way. (Of course, I only know this, now, after screwing with this subject for 32 years, which - as far as I'm concerned, under any circumstance - has been far beyond the call of duty.)

So now I'm writing for me. Just so I can see in print - somewhere - that, if studies say yoga and meditation increase the ego (as I always said it did and demolishing the claims of beloved con artists like David Lynch) then all these "studios" sprouting up in cities large and small *might* be one big overlooked reason for, both, our recent narcissism epidemic and this last generation of little Hitlers in spandex demanding we all go vegan.

Nobody else is going to say it. Anderson Cooper won't catch it. Not for a while. Based on the way assimilation and dissemination of this type of information seems to work - say, as demonstrated by NXIVM and how long it took for the media and the authorities to catch up there - nobody else is going to say what I'm thinking and/or aware of for, at least, another 10 years, or more, so I guess I might as well get it all down, today, if I just want to see it (possibly) at all.

But "you're welcome" anyway.

So, as expected, the NewAge hasn't exactly turned out as the believers imagined it would, back in the halcyon days of 1987 and their "Harmonic Convergence", when Pandora's Box was supposedly opened and, released, we were all to bow before The Furies - never realizing President Trump was one (as well as being a former Democrat). As Mr. T used to say, I pity the fools.

After Hillary Clinton getting beat by President Trump in 2016, and like The Wizard Of Oz's Wicked Witch of the West lamenting the world's loss of her "beautiful wickedness" as she's "melting, melting," NewAge believers can only watch their works dissolve as it slowly starts to register in the public mind that, say, being against vaccines (as political loudmouthed Robert DeNiro is) and GMOs (as Whole Foods Supermarket and almost all of France is) is stupidity personified - and someone should be held responsible for those believing otherwise. Especially if they got really passionate about it.

(How does Hillary's vocal advocacy for yoga look, now that it's known to inflate the ego and she's allegedly regularly falling down stairs and currently using a back brace? Who talked her into it? Does anybody care? Come on, how does a former Secretary of State go from talking whatever kind of nonsense produced slavery in Libya to talking the kind of nonsense that has her demonstrating "alternate nasal breathing exercises" as though they're some equal level accomplishment?)

It's all normalized insanity - and it wasn't "idiot" Trump who fed it.

Ann Althouse & Meade To TMR: "I Know - It's A Cult. It's Not Scientific. But You Don't Have To Join To Let [It] In."

 So lookee here - this is,...interesting.

The New York Times did a puff piece on David Lynch and his TM cult (what else?) but what's cool is they also included a chart (above) of who's in it, and - whouldn't you know - all the media's major movers and shakers are in there:

The David Lynch Foundation for Consciousness-Based Education and World Peace may focus on teaching meditation techniques to at-risk children and soldiers suffering from PTSD. But Lynch has had a significant impact in his own industry. Some of the foundation's recent initiates are shown above.

So, as I've always told you, if you're ever trying to discover why Oprah, Ellen, Dr. Oz, Susan Sarandon, George Stephanopoulos, Candy Crowley and all the rest are spoon-feeding us what seems like a mutli-pronged but singular message (feminism, gays, save the planet, soul mates, etc.) and who it's really coming from, we might now know who one of their biggest cult leaders in America is:

Eraserhead. 

Now, let's not forget who David Lynch is. I've done a lot of work on Lynch, and I'm not alone. But first, the blog for people who've escaped the cult, TMFree, led me to the NYT article and they have a few things to say about it:

Longtime TM Initiator-Governor Bobby Roth, currently employed by David Lynch’s foundation, carefully cultivates celebrity TMers. Like high profile celebrities in other cult-like groups, TM celebrities are sheltered from the dysfunctions, demands, psychosis and poverty experienced by many rank and file TM devotees.

This is what I'm now calling "The Instapundit/Ann Althouse (& Meade) Effect". It's when you dispense misinformation without a care for it's effects on others you exploit. ("You've got your good thing, and you've got mine.") Here's some more from TMFree:

On March 4, 2013 John Horgan pubished for his Scientific American “Cross-Check” blog “Do All Cults, Like All Psychotherapies, Exploit the Placebo Effect?” referring to Hoffman’s article, above. 

Horgan offers a short discussion of the placebo effect, followed by an explanation of destructive cults.  He closes his essay “The more you believe in the uniquely transformative power of your cult, the more you get out of it. The only price you have to pay is your rationality.” 

A few days later, on March 8, Horgan offered another essay critiquing TM’s research, in response to the True Believer comments on his first TM expose’ post, “Research on TM and Other Forms of Meditation Stinks”.

Anyway - back to David Lynch. If you truly want to see him in action, you have to check out the film, David Wants To Fly, where Lynch shows the venality in his heart and that of his program. I've told you what it's about - Naziism - and the Germans saw it clearly when Lynch spoke there:

"The flap those words created, with their echoes of the Third Reich, reveals both the deadly seriousness with which Germans view their wartime past and the gulf separating Lynch's new-age agenda from that of some hard-bitten Berliners with a more historical mind-set.”

 Yeah, don't anybody dare remember where the phrase "Mind/Body/Spirit" came from. (Has anybody else noticed that hasn't ever been a news item?) And the fact the Nazis were doing yoga while maintaining concentration camps for undesirables, like me, who didn't want to practice that or homeopathy. 

Well, not me, baby, I know what Nazis are about - killing anyone who has a real culture:

And - just like last time - I'm waiting for 'em to dare and try to get me,...

 

Shame Of The 60s: The Sham Of Enlightenment

We've covered this documentary before but, since it's finally coming to the United States, we think "David Wants To Fly" deserves all the exposure it can get:

"David Wants to Fly" is a documentary film that is at times hilarious, frustrating and enlightening. Bourgeoning filmmaker David Sieveking takes us on his path to filmmaking, as he peaks behind the Maharishi's curtain, that wonderful wizard of "Ohm." While Maharishi's teachings of Transcendental Meditation spread to the world through the likes of the Beatles, Sieveking tapped the unlikely source of David Lynch.

The widely influential films of David Lynch such as "Eraserhead", "The Elephant Man", "Blue Velvet" and "Mulholland Drive" are transcendentally macabre, more than meditative. Yet, Sieveking idolized Lynch and jumped a plane to Iowa to see the master speak about creativity through Transcendental Meditation (TM). Iowa is of course the unlikely home to Maharishi University and its Golden Dome of Pure Knowledge.

Throughout the course of Sieveking meeting Lynch and embracing his assigned TM Mantra, the documentary traces the realization of true filmmaking. Sieveking knows he is his own subject, playing the protagonist on the yellow brick road of self-discovery. Though, David doesn't want to go home, "David Wants to Fly."

Inspired by his idolization of Lynch, Sieveking learns some essential lessons in documentary filmmaking and the deconstruction of Idols. Sieveking comes to odds with Lynch, challenging how he has become a spokesman for a multibillion dollar industry. Through Sieveking's deconstruction of Lynch, he obsessively questions the TM movement itself, thus deconstructing Maharishi.

Sieveking comes to the potent realization that Transcendental Meditation has done the exact opposite of what Lynch promised him. The documentary lens zooms in on the unraveling of Sieveking's personal life. He runs into the open arms of the TM community, but is banished once he questions that it is industry, rather than community. As his girlfriend leaves him, his filmmaking career seems to be blackballed by Lynch's disapproval and Sieveking's mantra chanting starts to sound more like a Country song.

Yet, the young filmmaker's journey is in essence transcendental as he finds his true path. He becomes a filmmaker, not by blindly following Lynch's advice to close his eyes in meditation. Instead he opens his eyes to the blind following of a movement and shines light on the dirt swept under the rugs they meditate on.

Catch it where you can, people, because this is a picture that contains a damn good lesson for everyone:

Do not follow.

(Click the tags, below, for more on the lies of David Lynch, the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and Deepak Chopra, and Transcendental Meditation.)

Every Search For Truth Always Leads To A Lie (But If You Only Want Sex We Got Somebody)

Wait - before we get into anything else - look at that photo. Is that a great photo, or what? Guys, seriously, what could you imagine doing - just with the space between her tits? And then look at her face. Is that a face that says "sincerity", or "integrity", or potentially "love"? Hell no! That's a face that screams, "What can you imagine doing - just with the space between my tits?"

Women - you gotta love 'em.

Alright, back to the (other) show:

We've had this for over a week, but it got lost in the Christmas shuffle (O.K., it just got lost, or we got lost, or something) but we know you want it (who doesn't want Rose McGowan dishing?) so here it is from New York Magazine:

Vulture caught up with Rose McGowan at the David Lynch Foundation’s “Change Begins Within” Benefit and asked her if she practices the Lynch Foundation–sponsored practice of Transcendental Meditation. "Should I lie to you?" McGowan asked us with a smile. "You know they’re all lying. None of these bitches meditate. Are you kidding me? This is fucking Hollywood; we put on lipstick. That’s what we do. It’s a fact." So if you did meditate, what kind of stressful events would trigger a session? "This kind of thing, really. I don’t do drugs and I don’t drink to get through it like most other people. Not only are these people lying about meditating, they’re all drunks and alcoholics. And drug addicts."

Fine. So everyone in Hollywood, who's telling you how "spiritual" they are, is pulling the wool over your eyes. Big surprise there. And don't you love Rose's "spiritual" language? Shit, if that Hollywood thing doesn't work out (and even if it does) she can hang out with us anytime!

If you want to know more about how the people who do meditate are lying to you, the Transcendental Meditation-Free blog (by meditators who've caught on - yes: people do catch on!) provides extensive coverage of David Lynch's latest Maharisi-inspired scam for you to enjoy - so go enjoy:

We're only going to tease you here.

Call TMR "Hogan's Raiders Of The Lost Heroes"

We swear - we're going to stop this at some point - but that "dead end" of a "New Age witch hunt" Ann Althouse's (second) husband, Meade, says we're on never seems to actually come to a cul-de-sak.

Like today, Ann and Meade's friend, Glenn Reynolds (above) has a long (for Instapundit) and fascinating discussion of the resemblances between Communists and Nazis. Reynolds ends his first section of the discussion with these words:

Communists are as bad as Nazis, and their defenders and apologists are as bad as Nazis’ defenders, but far more common. When you meet them, show them no respect. They’re evil, stupid, and dishonest. They should not enjoy the consequences of their behavior.

Got that? Communists are as bad as Nazis. Nazis and their defenders are bad, and "when you meet them, show them no respect. They’re evil, stupid, and dishonest."

Well, we couldn't agree more! That's why we find it weird that we're considered crazy for attacking NewAge when it was Glenn Reynolds' other friend, Jonah Goldberg (above) who wrote:

Many of the progressive and holistic ideas that lie at the heart of today’s lifestyle Left, the environmental Left, and the New Age movement share numerous unquestioned philosophical, emotional, and practical similarities with the intellectual and cultural currents that fed into and sustained Nazism.

Seems to us, this means we should all be treating NewAgers as Reynolds says and "when you meet them, show them no respect. They’re evil, stupid, and dishonest", right?

Yet we can barely compel Reynolds or Althouse (or Meade) to take the subject seriously.

Another of Glenn Reynold's friends, Bill Whittle (above) did a talk that got this response from a commenter:

[Bill Whittle’s] attacking a whole group association think-set. I had been an uber New Agey leftist for many years and his caricatured characterization is right on. He could have also put in adjectival terms such as 'homeopathic', 'Buddhistic', 'yoga posturing', Indigenous peoples loving’, or 'meditating'. Any of those fits the group although none on their own would be considered insulting — except for perhaps, homeopathic — if you don’t like invisible, non-existent medicines. There is definitely a personality grouping of the New Agey hip, cool, enlightened, pacifistic Earth warrior. I think that ignoring the hard core paganistic tendencies of the New Agey left is to be in denial.

We hope Meade remembers this the next time Ann does a post about the gobs of money the two of them spend at Whole Foods, where they had to have passed the various sections devoted to Buddhist statues, homeopathic medicines, yoga mats, the sale of items by Indigenous peoples, fraudulent environmentalist items, and the like.

Moving along through Instapundit's Communist/Nazi conversation, in the next section Reynolds reminds us:

The [communists] “good intentions” argument has long been an excuse for mass murder.

"Good intentions" and "mass murder", you say?

Well, on that note, we'd like to point you to a post we did - about Geoff Gilpin (above) author of the book The Maharishi Effect - which we called "Good Intentions Can't Help The Occultists". Don't forget - according to Glenn Reynolds' own friends, Goldberg and Whittle - the NewAgers are Nazis and, according to Reynolds, "when you meet them, show them no respect. They’re evil, stupid, and dishonest".

So who are the Nazis Gilpin's referring to? He calls them "the "left wing occult" which, by some remarkable coincidence, is exactly what we call them too! Small world, huh?

Communists, Nazis, The Left, and NewAge, all wrapped up together like that. Remarkable!

So what's our proof there's a connection between all these influences Reynolds has labeled "evil"? How about a New York Times Magazine interview with Louise Hay (above with Oprah Winfrey) - AKA "The Queen of New Age" - where she agrees that "with a situation like the Holocaust, the victims deserved what they got"?

Or how about that slip-up film director David Lynch (above) made in Germany?

Lynch ("whose new-age beliefs are sometimes as quirky as his movies") was trying to establish "a network of so-called 'invincible universities' to teach the philosophy of transcendental meditation", when his partner in the effort to build a school on "Devil's Mountain", Emanuel Schiffgens, took the podium and this happened:

"What do you mean by this concept of invincibility," asked an onlooker from the audience, made up mainly of film students with a smattering of meditation devotees. "An invincible Germany is a Germany that's invincible," replied a Delphic Schiffgens, who was dressed in a long white robe and gold crown. Adolf Hitler wanted that too!," shouted out one man. "Yes," countered Schiffgens. "But unfortunately he didn't succeed."

Nice, huh?

By the way, the connection between NewAge and Naziism has also been pointed out by Bronte Baxter of the Transcendental Meditation Free blog, and Chris Locke (author of the internet marketing bible "The Cluetrain Manifesto") has repeatedly been banging that drum (and hitting all the same major themes and players we do) to almost no recognition.

What's important for Glenn Reynolds, Ann Althouse, and Meade, to understand here is we are (all) trapped in a NewAge culture - it's the Baby Boomer's true legacy to America - and, being Baby Boomers themselves, we can see how easily it can be for them to ignore or dismiss it rather than fight:

They (all) grew up in it.

What Geoff Gilpin called the Maharishi's "create your own reality" philosophy is the same one mentioned by "Brightsided" author Barbara Ehrenreich (above) as she's been explaining the reasons our economy crashed.

It's the same one that provided the fuel for the Bernie Madoff scandal. And it's the same one that caused my ex-wife, Karine Ann Brunck (a Boomer) to kill three people, for Penelope Dingle's husband to kill her, for Thomas Sam to kill his daughter, for Oprah Winfrey to help kill Kim Tinkham (as well as getting girls raped at her NewAge "school" in Africa) for Homeopath Frank Shallenberger to kill two people, and for NewAgers the world over to kill countless others - especially in Africa.

NewAge is Naziism, and this is Glenn Reynolds' "mass murder" - happening right under everyone's nose because they claim to have "good intentions" - and we think it's a shame so many truly smart people can find nothing better to do than attack the messenger for utilizing the only style available that's been proven to work.

Honestly, we're sorry - we don't necessarily mean to offend - but, as Glenn Reynolds himself also says:

Communists are as bad as Nazis, and their defenders and apologists are as bad as Nazis’ defenders, but far more common. When you meet them, show them no respect. They’re evil, stupid, and dishonest. They should not enjoy the consequences of their behavior.

NewAge Is (Finally) Getting Off The Ground

It's about time.

I was just mentioning, yesterday, that there aren't enough documentaries on NewAge. I've, also, covered a bunch of the subjects in this movie - Transcendental Meditation, the Maharishi's death, Yogic "Flying", the embarrassment in Germany as TM's crew of weirdoes got booed for spouting Nazi slogans - but I didn't ever think anyone was actually filming it all.

Well, somebody was, and the resulting movie is called David Wants To Fly - a title which is close enough to Werner Herzog's Little Deiter Wants To Fly that, like that film, it's sure to provide more-than-a-few chuckles amid some really surreal NewAge moments.

So, buckle-up meditators, and hop/fly on down to the local cineplex - these are your people, in all their twisted glory, revealed by someone who came to you for "help".

I'll be the black guy in the back of the joint, laughing my ass off at all you paid-up (and life-long) "searchers", only now discovering the truth:

"Gurus don't sell their knowledge, they share it."

[Click the tags, below, to know more about the lunacy of TM.]

Sounds Like He Had Some Really Bad Monitors

I have to say, at this point, there's something emotionally honest about a musician named Sparklehorse shooting himself - after working with a producer of the song "Crazy" (Danger Mouse) and a spokesperson for the even-crazier Transcendental Meditation cult (David Lynch) - only to have The Los Angeles Times file it all away under the heading of ENTERTAINMENT.

Finally: A Movie Worthy Of A Cult Following, II

"A sprightly docu about finding your own artistic inspiration, 'David Wants to Fly' follows German writer-helmer David Sieveking on his road to enlightenment, a journey that involves David Lynch, various headquarters of the Transcendental Meditation (TM) movement and the icy source of the Ganges. Both tongue-in-cheek and seriously questioning (particularly as pertains to TM's financial empire), this entertaining, globe-trotting pic already has bigscreen release dates in co-production countries. It could take off for further niche theatrical play, maybe even Stateside, before making a landing at broadcasters.

Both star and narrator of his five-years-in-the-making project, Berlin-based Sieveking begins his tale as a recent film school grad wondering how to take the next step. When he learns that his idol, American helmer David Lynch, is toplining a conference on the source of creativity, he packs his bags for Fairfield, Iowa.

Fairfield is home to Maharishi U, one of many 'consciousness-based' education centers launched by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, founder of the TM movement. In the mattress-lined Golden Domes of Pure Knowledge, students (separated by gender) practice 'yogic flying.'

For those who don't know Lynch is an avid practitioner of TM, it may be a bit disconcerting to hear him hold forth on avoiding the 'suffocating rubber clown suit of negativity' and the joys of finding the tranquility within. He's even established a foundation to fund the study of TM in all public schools.

Back in Germany, Sieveking signs up for TM lessons. On the first day, he's required to bring some unusual items -- plus a check for E2,380.

While covering the Maharashi's funeral in India and a subsequent convening of his successors (the 'Maharajah' and 'Rajas') in the Netherlands, Sieveking witnesses a battle for power within the TM empire. He also spotlights some of the organization's questionable plans for world peace (for which they raise millions of dollars) including the fascist-sounding Invincible German and Bramasthan, where 10,000 pandits are supposed to be chanting 24/7.

However, it's when he begins talking to renegade former TMers who spill the beans about the Maharashi's multiple affairs and the way he bled followers for cash (e.g., raja training is available for $1 million), that emails start to fly and lawsuits are threatened."

-- Variety

Yea, Genius, Figure It Out And Get Back To Us

"Perhaps it isn't surprising that when international director and raja ("administrator") of Transcendental Meditation in Israel, Kingsley Brooks, talks about the practice in which he's been involved for 35 years, he speaks using elusive terms,..."

-- Mel Bezalel, who perhaps needs some "quiet time alone" to consider why a grown man - who's been doing Transcendental Meditation for most of his life and acts as it's representative - still can't speak in plain language about it, to The Jewish Post.