82 International Journal of Cultic Studies ■ Vol. 10, 2019
became a real estate broker. He left that TM
chapter of his life behind until 2015, when he
discovered with alarm that TM was again being
promoted as a secular technique to public
schools through the David Lynch Foundation.
And that is the purpose of this book: To offer a
concise history and factual assessment of a
controversial religious practice that promotes
itself as a proven well-being technique with no
occult (hidden metaphysical) agendas. This book
is a clear warning to go beyond propaganda and
experience before you absorb the snake oil or
give it to your kids.
After one reads this book, it should become clear
that TM is more than religion disguised as a
science. The business model employed by TM’s
founder relies on hijacking science to enhance a
belief in occult powers. Religion’s chronic flaw
has been the superstitious desire to manipulate
reality through prayer, ritual, sympathetic magic,
and the casting of spells. It is of interest here that
one translation of mantra is to cast a spell. With
the rigorous rise of the sciences in the past few
hundred years, the occult arts have been
discredited. Protoastronomy, for example,
divided into astrology and astronomy. Alchemy
fell away from chemistry. Despite efforts by
giants in science such as Sir Isaac Newton and
Robert Boyle (1627–1691), who both diligently
tried to apply occult arts, including alchemy, the
scientific method won out as our best means to
improve health, locomotion, and our grasp of
reality.
Siegel’s book reminded me that humanity’s
deeply ingrained impulse to use mental and
spiritual power to transcend and manipulate
reality remains in every culture, including the
postindustrial nations. New cults continue to
appear with techniques for sorcery, magic,
extrasensory perception, and communication
with metaphysical beings. Nineteenth-century
New Thought and Theosophy groups have
proven that mankind’s desire for occult powers
has not waned in the scientific era. Science has
been co-opted by movements promoting occult
or paranormal powers, including Christian
Science, Scientology, Science of the Mind, and
the Church of Divine Science. The Maharishi of
TM knew what he was doing when he made
more and more outrageous claims for the occult
powers one can gain through TM: levitation
without wings or machines, for example. At the
very least, the average person paying a hefty fee
for a special mantra harbors hope that the puja
ceremony to Guru Dev and the Hindu gods will
tap a real cosmic force to enhance the power of
their TM practice. That is religion—not science.
To support his allegation that TM is a deceptive
business, Siegel cites court cases, properly run
studies on effects of meditation, and ex-member
testimonies. Siegel mentions the fine
documentary David Wants To Fly by German
filmmaker David Sieveking (2010). I bought
Sieveking’s film when it came out, but I had to
order it from Europe at the time because of
TM’s legal efforts to block distribution in
Canada and the United States. Why would TM
want to stop freedom of speech? The film is an
honest effort to document one young David
Lynch fan’s effort to seek why TM has been so
important to his hero’s filmmaking career. In his
journey, Sieveking managed to interview Lynch,
become initiated into TM practice (for a fee),
then change course when his many questions
were not being addressed by TM’s leaders.
Sieveking turned to prominent ex-TMers to
discover the hidden and not-so-hidden
deceptions in the movement. He managed to
expose the fraud behind the Vedic Cities where
thousands of “pandits” (specially trained
pundits) were supposedly meditating to bring
peace and harmony to the planet. The one in
India, the Brahmasthan, was practically a ghost
town with a few dozen meditators at the time.
The proposed Vedic Cities would have 8,000
pundits (meditators) doing what amounts to a
mediation mill to send good vibrations to the
universe. TM meanwhile has been fundraising
for $400 million to support these silly ventures.
In 2014, India Today reported that Maharishi
Vedic City in Iowa recruited 1,050 young
Indians, more than 150 of whom defected. These
young men were promised high-school
educations and room and board for their planet-
saving efforts—if indeed they comprehended
what they were hired for. They were not high-
level TM members with purported TM powers.
In Siegel’s book, we learn that TM has relied
partially on multimillion-dollar grants from the
US National Institutes of Health (NIH) to fund

International Journal of Cultic Studies ■ Vol. 10, 2019 83
services to schools and prisons to study TM. The
NIH agencies gave TM nearly $23 million from
1992 through 2010, then the awards stopped.
Siegel offers evidence that the NIH finally
discovered or admitted that, with all the new
studies about many forms of mindfulness and
meditation that are equally effective yet offered
for low fees or are free, TM is nothing special.
TM’s latest effort at proselytizing through many
high-profile celebrities who support the David
Lynch Foundation may be an effort to rescue a
failing and deceptive business model.
Furthermore, studies have shown that all forms
of meditation may be overhyped with respect to
their effectiveness for lowering blood pressure
and bringing about inner harmony. The one-size-
fits-all offerings of most yogic and meditation
styles may be too good to be true.
Another anecdote here regarding David Lynch:
In 2014, Lynch had a major showing of art at the
Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts (PAFA) in
Philadelphia. David Lynch: The Unified Field
was Lynch’s first major art show in the United
States.1 Lynch graduated from PAFA 2 years
before I began attending in the early 1970s. As
alumni, my colleague Brian O’Neill and I
attended the show with hopes of hearing Lynch
lecture, but his lecture was sold out. By
coincidence, we were behind the lecture hall
when Lynch appeared alone outside the back
door, smoking a cigarette. Brian, an amateur
photographer, walked up to him and requested a
photo and brief interview, to which Lynch
complied after he put out his cigarette. The
scene made me wonder: What’s with the
nicotine? A major promoter of TM does not
have the means or desire to kick a bad habit.
On page 144, Siegel states the “goal of this
book” is to “empower concerned citizens,
particularly parents, to confront and expose
TM’s deceptions and secrets ...The welfare of
children is what matters.” As TM exposés go—I
have several in my collection—Siegel’s book
functions very well. It offers a solid survey of
what TM is all about for people new to the sect
and is also a great reference for anyone familiar
with TM. If any school director has questions
1 See https://www.pafa.org/davidlynch
about David Lynch’s foundation to promote TM
in public schools, give them this book
immediately. We owe it to the children.
About the Reviewer
Joseph Szimhart began research into cultic
influence in 1980 and began to work
professionally as an intervention specialist and
exit counselor in 1986. Since 1998 he has
worked in the crisis department of a psychiatric
emergency hospital in Pennsylvania. He
continues to assist families with interventions
and former members in recovery. In 2016 he
received an ICSA Lifetime Achievement Award.