David Lynch Foundation
Encyclopedia
The David Lynch Foundation For Consciousness-Based Education and World Peace (DLF) is a global charitable foundation
based in Fairfield, Iowa
. It was founded by film director and Transcendental Meditation
practitioner David Lynch
in 2005.
The foundation primarily funds scholarship programs for schools whose students and faculty volunteer for instruction in the Transcendental Meditation technique
.
Lynch, DLF President John Hagelin
, and Maharishi University of Management
researcher Fred Travis went on a lecture tour in 2005, giving free talks on TM titled "Consciousness, Creativity, and the Brain". Stops included University of Southern California
, UC Berkeley, the University of Oregon
in Eugene, the University of Washington
, Emerson College
, Yale University
, and Brown University
.
In 2006, six public schools in the U.S. were each awarded $25,000 by the David Lynch Foundation, and a total of 25 public, private, and charter schools in the United States had offered Transcendental Meditation to their students. As of September 2006, the DLF had "helped approximately 500 students and 50 teachers learn how to meditate". In October 2006, the foundation withdrew a $175,000 pledge to a San Rafael, California
high school after the pro-separation Pacific Justice Institute threatened to sue for violating the First Amendment
's Establishment Clause. Lynch assigned all of the author royalties
from his 2006 book Catching the Big Fish
to the DLF. The DLF sponsored a presentation on the benefits of TM in education at the Harvard Club of Boston
in 2006.
As of 2008, the foundation had funded more than 2,000 students, faculty and parents at 21 universities and schools, in addition to substantially higher numbers at schools overseas.
The 2009 "Change Begins Within" benefit concert
, held at Radio City Music Hall
, was hosted by David Lynch and Laura Dern
. It featured performances by musicians Paul McCartney
, Ringo Starr
, Donovan
, Moby
, Eddie Vedder
, Ben Harper
, Paul Horn, Jim James
, Bettye LaVette
, Sheryl Crow
, and Angelo Badalamenti
, and appearances by Mike Love
, Jerry Seinfeld
and Howard Stern
. It generated gross receipts of about $3 million.
The foundation held its second "Change Begins Within" benefit event, titled "Operation Warrior Wellness", at The Metropolitan Museum of Art
in New York on 13 December 2010. In addition to David Lynch, participants included actor and director Clint Eastwood, designer Donna Karan
, comedian Russell Brand and several veterans.
, and is offered to children with no cost to parents or to the school.
According to the DLF, it has funded school programs in Washington D.C, New York City, Hartford CT, Detroit MI, California, Brazil, Peru, Bolivia, Vietnam, Nepal, Northern Ireland, Ghana, Kenya, Uganda, South Africa and Israel. According to its website in 2009, the foundation has funded over $3.5 million in school programs aiding over 55,000 students in 26 countries. The David Lynch Foundation's mission to introduce Transcendental Meditation to public school students has been criticized by Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, claiming that the foundation's efforts undermine the constitutional separation of church and state
.
In addition to funding in-school Transcendental Meditation programs in the USA and Canada, the foundation has supported meditation instruction for over 35,000 students in South America
. According to the DLF web site, Columbian priest
, Father Gabriel Mejia, has founded 47 shelters for homeless children where thousands of young people practice the Transcendental Meditation technique.
The Transcendental Meditation technique has also been taught to soldiers with post traumatic stress syndrome (PTSD) as part of research at the University of Colorado. Other initiatives to teach the TM technique to war veterans who are at risk for PTSD, are ongoing.
The DLF has the long-term goal of raising $7 billion in order to establish seven affiliated "Universities of World Peace" in seven different countries, to train students to become "professional peacemakers".
, Jeffrey S. Abramson, Rona Abramson, Ramani Ayer
, Robert G. Brown, Stephen Collins
, Joni Steele Kimberlin, Arthur Liebler, and Nancy Liebler.
Current foundation Board of Advisor members are: Russell Simmons
, Gary P. Kaplan, William R. Stixrud, Frank Staggers Jr., César Molina, George H. Rutherford, Carmen N’Namdi, Ralph Wolff, Ashley Deans
, Linda Handy, Sarina Grosswald.
Foundation (charity)
A foundation is a legal categorization of nonprofit organizations that will typically either donate funds and support to other organizations, or provide the source of funding for its own charitable purposes....
based in Fairfield, Iowa
Fairfield, Iowa
Fairfield is a city and the county seat of Jefferson County, Iowa, United States. The population was 9,464 in the 2010 census, a decline from 9,509 in the 2000 census. - History :...
. It was founded by film director and Transcendental Meditation
Transcendental Meditation
Transcendental Meditation refers to the Transcendental Meditation technique, a specific form of mantra meditation, and to the Transcendental Meditation movement, a spiritual movement...
practitioner David Lynch
David Lynch
David Keith Lynch is an American filmmaker, television director, visual artist, musician and occasional actor. Known for his surrealist films, he has developed his own unique cinematic style, which has been dubbed "Lynchian", and which is characterized by its dream imagery and meticulous sound...
in 2005.
The foundation primarily funds scholarship programs for schools whose students and faculty volunteer for instruction in the Transcendental Meditation technique
Transcendental Meditation technique
The Transcendental Meditation technique is a specific form of mantra meditation often referred to as Transcendental Meditation. It was introduced in India in 1955 by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi...
.
History
David Lynch founded the DLF in July 2005. An article in the New York Times described it as an organization that "offers TM at no cost to troubled students, veterans, homeless people, prisoners and others" via scholarships for the Transcendental Meditation (TM) program in venues such as public, private and charter schools in the United States and abroad. Lynch told ABC News,Kids come to school and they meditate together for 15 minutes in the morning. And before they go home they meditate for 15 minutes. A lot of them come from, you know, bad situations, and so this gives them this thing you know, at the beginning and the end of the day, the rest of the time you just watch the violence stop. Watch relationships improve. Watch happiness in the hallways, in the classroom, watch creativity flow more and more, watch that heavy weight that we are living under gently lift away.
Lynch, DLF President John Hagelin
John Hagelin
John Samuel Hagelin is an American particle physicist, three-time candidate of the Natural Law Party for President of the United States , and the director of the Transcendental Meditation movement for the US....
, and Maharishi University of Management
Maharishi University of Management
Maharishi University of Management , formerly known as Maharishi International University, is a non-profit, American university, located in Fairfield, Iowa. It was founded in 1973 by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and features a "consciousness-based education" system that includes the practice of the...
researcher Fred Travis went on a lecture tour in 2005, giving free talks on TM titled "Consciousness, Creativity, and the Brain". Stops included University of Southern California
University of Southern California
The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...
, UC Berkeley, the University of Oregon
University of Oregon
-Colleges and schools:The University of Oregon is organized into eight schools and colleges—six professional schools and colleges, an Arts and Sciences College and an Honors College.- School of Architecture and Allied Arts :...
in Eugene, the University of Washington
University of Washington
University of Washington is a public research university, founded in 1861 in Seattle, Washington, United States. The UW is the largest university in the Northwest and the oldest public university on the West Coast. The university has three campuses, with its largest campus in the University...
, Emerson College
Emerson College
Emerson College is a private coeducational university located in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1880 by Charles Wesley Emerson as a "school of oratory," Emerson is "the only comprehensive college or university in America dedicated exclusively to communication and the arts in a liberal arts...
, Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
, and Brown University
Brown University
Brown University is a private, Ivy League university located in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1764 prior to American independence from the British Empire as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations early in the reign of King George III ,...
.
In 2006, six public schools in the U.S. were each awarded $25,000 by the David Lynch Foundation, and a total of 25 public, private, and charter schools in the United States had offered Transcendental Meditation to their students. As of September 2006, the DLF had "helped approximately 500 students and 50 teachers learn how to meditate". In October 2006, the foundation withdrew a $175,000 pledge to a San Rafael, California
San Rafael, California
San Rafael is a city and the county seat of Marin County, California, United States. The city is located in the North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area...
high school after the pro-separation Pacific Justice Institute threatened to sue for violating the First Amendment
First Amendment to the United States Constitution
The First Amendment to the United States Constitution is part of the Bill of Rights. The amendment prohibits the making of any law respecting an establishment of religion, impeding the free exercise of religion, abridging the freedom of speech, infringing on the freedom of the press, interfering...
's Establishment Clause. Lynch assigned all of the author royalties
Royalties
Royalties are usage-based payments made by one party to another for the right to ongoing use of an asset, sometimes an intellectual property...
from his 2006 book Catching the Big Fish
Catching the Big Fish
Catching the Big Fish: Meditation, Consciousness, and Creativity is a book by film director David Lynch.-The book:Catching the Big Fish was inspired by Lynch's experiences with Transcendental Meditation , which he began practicing in 1973...
to the DLF. The DLF sponsored a presentation on the benefits of TM in education at the Harvard Club of Boston
Harvard Club of Boston
The Harvard Club of Boston is a private social club located in Boston, Massachusetts. Its membership is essentially restricted to alumni and associates of Harvard University...
in 2006.
As of 2008, the foundation had funded more than 2,000 students, faculty and parents at 21 universities and schools, in addition to substantially higher numbers at schools overseas.
The 2009 "Change Begins Within" benefit concert
Benefit concert
A benefit concert or charity concert is a concert, show or gala featuring musicians, comedians, or other performers that is held for a charitable purpose, often directed at a specific and immediate humanitarian crisis. Such events raise both funds and public awareness to address the cause at...
, held at Radio City Music Hall
Radio City Music Hall
Radio City Music Hall is an entertainment venue located in New York City's Rockefeller Center. Its nickname is the Showplace of the Nation, and it was for a time the leading tourist destination in the city...
, was hosted by David Lynch and Laura Dern
Laura Dern
Laura Elizabeth Dern is an American actress, film director and producer. Dern has acted in such films as Smooth Talk , Blue Velvet , Fat Man and Little Boy , Wild at Heart , Jurassic Park and October Sky...
. It featured performances by musicians Paul McCartney
Paul McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE, Hon RAM, FRCM is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings , McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100...
, Ringo Starr
Ringo Starr
Richard Starkey, MBE better known by his stage name Ringo Starr, is an English musician and actor who gained worldwide fame as the drummer for The Beatles. When the band formed in 1960, Starr was a member of another Liverpool band, Rory Storm and the Hurricanes. He became The Beatles' drummer in...
, Donovan
Donovan
Donovan Donovan Donovan (born Donovan Philips Leitch (born 10 May 1946) is a Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist. Emerging from the British folk scene, he developed an eclectic and distinctive style that blended folk, jazz, pop, psychedelia, and world music...
, Moby
Moby
Richard Melville Hall , better known by his stage name Moby, is an American musician, DJ, and photographer. He is known mainly for his sample-based electronic music and his outspoken liberal political views, including his support of veganism and animal rights.Moby gained attention in the early...
, Eddie Vedder
Eddie Vedder
Eddie Vedder is an American musician and singer-songwriter who is best known for being the lead singer and one of three guitarists of the alternative rock band Pearl Jam. He is widely considered a cultural icon of alternative rock.He is also involved in soundtrack work and contributes to albums...
, Ben Harper
Ben Harper
Benjamin Chase "Ben" Harper is an American singer-songwriter and musician. Harper plays an eclectic mix of blues, folk, soul, reggae and rock music and is known for his guitar-playing skills, vocals, live performances and activism. Harper's fan base spans several continents...
, Paul Horn, Jim James
Jim James
James Edward Olliges Jr. , professionally known as Jim James or Yim Yames, is the lead vocalist, guitarist, and primary songwriter of Louisville, Kentucky-based rock band My Morning Jacket. James grew up in the Hikes Point neighborhood of Louisville, attended St. Martha grade school and graduated...
, Bettye LaVette
Bettye LaVette
Bettye LaVette is an American soul singer-songwriter who made her first record at sixteen, but achieved only intermittent fame until 2005, with her album, I've Got My Own Hell to Raise...
, Sheryl Crow
Sheryl Crow
Sheryl Suzanne Crow is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, musician, and actress. Her music incorporates elements of rock, folk, hip hop, country and pop...
, and Angelo Badalamenti
Angelo Badalamenti
Angelo Badalamenti is an American composer, known for his movie soundtrack work for director David Lynch, notably Blue Velvet, the Twin Peaks saga and Mulholland Drive...
, and appearances by Mike Love
Mike Love
Michael Edward "Mike" Love is an American singer/songwriter and musician with The Beach Boys. He was a founding member of the band along with his cousins Brian, Carl, and Dennis Wilson, and their friend Al Jardine, and continues to perform with the band to the present day...
, Jerry Seinfeld
Jerry Seinfeld
Jerome Allen "Jerry" Seinfeld is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, and television and film producer, known for playing a semi-fictional version of himself in the situation comedy Seinfeld , which he co-created and co-wrote with Larry David, and, in the show's final two seasons,...
and Howard Stern
Howard Stern
Howard Allan Stern is an American radio personality, television host, author, and actor best known for his radio show, which was nationally syndicated from 1986 to 2005. He gained wide recognition in the 1990s where he was labeled a "shock jock" for his outspoken and sometimes controversial style...
. It generated gross receipts of about $3 million.
The foundation held its second "Change Begins Within" benefit event, titled "Operation Warrior Wellness", at The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art is a renowned art museum in New York City. Its permanent collection contains more than two million works, divided into nineteen curatorial departments. The main building, located on the eastern edge of Central Park along Manhattan's Museum Mile, is one of the...
in New York on 13 December 2010. In addition to David Lynch, participants included actor and director Clint Eastwood, designer Donna Karan
Donna Karan
Donna Karan is an American fashion designer and the creator of the Donna Karan New York and DKNY clothing labels.-Early life:...
, comedian Russell Brand and several veterans.
Programs
The David Lynch Foundation focuses on school-wide instruction in Transcendental Meditation with the aim of improving educational and health outcomes. All school program instruction is voluntary, is done only with parental permissionParental consent
Parental consent laws in some countries require that one or more parents consent to or be notified before their minor child can legally engage in certain activities....
, and is offered to children with no cost to parents or to the school.
According to the DLF, it has funded school programs in Washington D.C, New York City, Hartford CT, Detroit MI, California, Brazil, Peru, Bolivia, Vietnam, Nepal, Northern Ireland, Ghana, Kenya, Uganda, South Africa and Israel. According to its website in 2009, the foundation has funded over $3.5 million in school programs aiding over 55,000 students in 26 countries. The David Lynch Foundation's mission to introduce Transcendental Meditation to public school students has been criticized by Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, claiming that the foundation's efforts undermine the constitutional separation of church and state
Separation of church and state
The concept of the separation of church and state refers to the distance in the relationship between organized religion and the nation state....
.
In addition to funding in-school Transcendental Meditation programs in the USA and Canada, the foundation has supported meditation instruction for over 35,000 students in South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
. According to the DLF web site, Columbian priest
Priest
A priest is a person authorized to perform the sacred rites of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities...
, Father Gabriel Mejia, has founded 47 shelters for homeless children where thousands of young people practice the Transcendental Meditation technique.
The Transcendental Meditation technique has also been taught to soldiers with post traumatic stress syndrome (PTSD) as part of research at the University of Colorado. Other initiatives to teach the TM technique to war veterans who are at risk for PTSD, are ongoing.
The DLF has the long-term goal of raising $7 billion in order to establish seven affiliated "Universities of World Peace" in seven different countries, to train students to become "professional peacemakers".
Directors and advisors
The foundation is governed by the Board of Directors consisting of: John HagelinJohn Hagelin
John Samuel Hagelin is an American particle physicist, three-time candidate of the Natural Law Party for President of the United States , and the director of the Transcendental Meditation movement for the US....
, Jeffrey S. Abramson, Rona Abramson, Ramani Ayer
Ramani Ayer
Ramani Ayer is an American-Indian business executive, and the former the CEO and chairman of The Hartford.-Education:Ayer earned his bachelor's degree in chemical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay in 1969 and his master's and doctorate from Drexel University in...
, Robert G. Brown, Stephen Collins
Stephen Collins
Stephen Weaver Collins is an American actor, writer, and singer. He is perhaps best known for playing the role of Eric Camden on the long running television series 7th Heaven and more recently as Dr. Dayton King on the ABC TV series No Ordinary Family.-Early life:Collins was born in Des Moines,...
, Joni Steele Kimberlin, Arthur Liebler, and Nancy Liebler.
Current foundation Board of Advisor members are: Russell Simmons
Russell Simmons
-External links:** * * * * * * from the US Holocaust Memorial Museum* *...
, Gary P. Kaplan, William R. Stixrud, Frank Staggers Jr., César Molina, George H. Rutherford, Carmen N’Namdi, Ralph Wolff, Ashley Deans
Ashley Deans
Ashley Deans is Professor of Consciousness-Based Education at Maharishi University of Management in Fairfield, Iowa and Executive Director of Maharishi School of the Age of Enlightenment...
, Linda Handy, Sarina Grosswald.