This has absolutely nothing to do with the primaries, but I feel compelled to make mention of the fact that the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, father of the Transcendental Meditation technique, died yesterday. Or, as the related press release put it, his holiness "is welcomed with open arms into Heaven."
This guy always fascinated me. Born in Jabalpur, India (some time between 1911 and 1918, according to Wikipedia), he came to the U.S. in the late 1950s. A decade later, he emerged as a symbol of the '60s counter-culture as spiritual guru to a variety of pop stars, including, most notably, The Beatles. Then, after bumping around SoCal for several years, he set up a sprawling, full-fledged, PhD-issuing, vaguely TM-related university (now known as the Maharishi University of Management) whose students all practice TM daily and whose mottos is: "Engaging the Managing Intelligence of Nature." And he did it in Fairfield, Iowa, of all places.
Hmmm. Iowa. Maybe this does have a link to the primary season after all.
--Michelle Cottle
