I had a question interrelating your practice of art and filmmaking with meditation. And I practice meditation. I’ve been to a retreat in which one individual was using a notepad, writing down ideas; I assume he was a writer. And the teacher sort of noted and asked him to get rid of that—you don’t need to carry the baggage of your idea of your profession of writing. And I was wondering: How do you

How do you think Transcendental Meditation would affect those of us that find our creativity in conflict and stress?

I think you’ve got to understand conflict and stress. It gives you ideas. Ideas can come from everyplace. But I guarantee you, if you have enough stress, you won’t be able to create. And if you have enough conflict, it will just get in the way of your creativity. You can

I’ve listened to the lectures, but I’ve never had a TM experience, and I was trying to think of something that might be a corollary to the TM experience. Is there something that you can describe that might be something we’ve all experienced that comes close to that?

What they say: many people have experienced transcending. And there’s an experience that you can have just before you go to sleep.

While I can respect the overall goal of world peace for your Foundation, I’m wondering: Do you think that this emphasis on the individual and individual consciousness takes away from important discussions about the structural, economic, cultural, historical, and ideological causes of war and violence?

In my mind, yes. But I’m interested in enlivening this field of unity with a peace-creating

Can you could make some explicit statements about creativity, please?

Creativity is a little bit like problem solving.

And catching ideas: they’ve got to enter your conscious mind. So to me, if that conscious mind can get larger, you can catch ideas at a deeper level. And you can understand those ideas more, and appreciate a depth of them. And the thrill of them is more, and you can solve those

You were saying that your Foundation is serving people ages 10 to 155. I’m wondering what’s magical about the age of 10? And you talk about children and reaching children at a very young age, and so why 10? 

When you learn Transcendental Meditation you can get what they call a “walking mantra” at age five, and your “sitting mantra” at 10—that’s how come I said 10.

Are there personal spiritual lessons that you’ve learned over the years, especially in reference to creating?

What has happened is the heavy weight of anxieties and fears, those things have gotten less and less and less. And for me, life has gotten to be more like a game. And the things that used to almost kill me don’t kill me so much. And the enjoyment of doing gets so beautiful. And the ideas

I have a question that’s about a tension I’m struggling with, and I’m sure a lot of students are struggling with. And that’s the tension between changing your internal world and the external world. I guess it’s this tension between being content with what you have, because there’s a peace internally, and really transforming your external world so you can be at peace internally and making the

I’ve tried to do some experimenting with a more Zen technique of meditation. At some times, I think I have had the experience of bliss that you describe, but equally often I have experiences of advertising jingles or profound resentments for sins committed against me in high school. And I just wonder: Does that mean that I’m doing it wrong?

I don’t know Zen meditation. In Transcendental

When you speak about Transcendental Meditation, you speak about going into a place of bliss and extreme positivity. In your films, you show us a lot of horror and darkness. And I’m wondering if you think there is any inherent value to be had in human suffering, and if so, what.

Not a lot of value, except that it might turn you in another direction. And I think the number one thing is: