Day Tripper Across the Universe

Ex-Beatles to unite to promote Transcendental Meditation in schools around world, including in Israel.

By GREER FAY CASHMAN
mccartney in tel aviv 224.88 (photo credit: AP)
mccartney in tel aviv 224.88
(photo credit: AP)
Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, the two remaining Beatles, will perform together for the first time in more than six years at a benefit concert at Radio City Music Hall in New York on April 4. And one of the beneficiaries is evidently going to be Israel. The concert, titled "Change Begins Within," is to benefit the David Lynch Foundation, which has provided scholarships to more than 60,000 people interested in practicing Transcendental Meditation throughout the United States, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa. The foundation also funds university research on the effects of TM on stress, learning and behavior. According to Alex Kutai, a leader of the TM movement in Israel, some of the proceeds will go to encourage TM here. McCartney and Starr were last on stage together in London in 2002, at a tribute concert for late George Harrison. Next month's concert is also set to feature Sheryl Crow, Eddie Vedder, Ben Harper, Moby, Paul Horn, Bettye Lavette and Jim James. Tickets, ranging in price from $79.50 to $500, went on sale this week. Film director David Lynch, who established the David Lynch Foundation to "create peace and harmony between people of all ages and backgrounds," is a devotee of TM. According to his Web site, Lynch believes every child should be given the opportunity to have one class period per day in which to "dive into himself and experience the field of silence." He also believes TM is "the path by which people can reach the enormous reservoir of intelligence energy that is within all people." McCartney has been practicing TM for 40 years, and according to Lynch, he had had no problem in persuading McCartney to do the benefit concert. During a visit to Israel in October 2007, Lynch met with President Shimon Peres. He told Peres that the only way to make peace was to reduce tensions and pressures and to develop intelligence and creativity among students. At the time, Lynch pledged that his foundation would help Jewish and Arab schools in Israel. Peres commended the initiative and proposed that Lynch establish a framework for Jewish and Arab students to engage in TM together. Lynch is convinced that if it becomes an accepted practice in the Middle East, it will do more to bring about peace than any military effort or political negotiations.