Are plans for degrees in transcendental meditation evidence of dumbing-down?
The winner for the most bizarre story from recent weeks is that of the transcendental meditation university. No one was quite sure when 1960s psychedelic folk singer Donovan, and Oscar-nominated American film director David Lynch told the world their plans to establish the Invincible Donovan University, a Scottish college that, in addition to standard university courses, would give transcendental meditation classes in order to help reduce crime and stress. But joking they were not. So, are Lynch and Donovan just another pair of flaky hippies who’ve not quite got over the turn of the twenty-first century, or is all this new-age ‘mumbo-jumbo’ something we should be embracing with open arms? Perhaps it’s worth explaining what Transcendental Meditation (or TM to give it its worryingly trademarked name) is. First advocated by the Beatles’ long-haired buddy, the Marherishi Mashesh Yogi, TM is said to take the mind to a “quieter state”. Its origins lie in the Indian Vedic tradition. Now it ha
