This article were originally published in The Review, Vol. 19, #18, Fairfield, Iowa, United States, 14 June 2004. All pictures and captions were provided separately by a conference attendee.

Dr. Hagelin speaks to Danish Peace Conference attended by Minister of Defense

By Jim Karpen

Last month John Hagelin, director of the University’s Institute of Science, Technology and Public Policy, traveled to Copenhagen, Denmark, to speak at a number of events that attracted large crowds, including a conference on peace that was attended by the Danish Minister of Defense.

Dr. Hagelin was accompanied by Oscar-nominated film director David Lynch, who is a Trustee of Maharishi University of Management and a graduate of the Enlightenment Course.

Danish Minister of Defense Søren Gade at the conference. Regarding the use of Invincible Defense Technology to create peace, Defense Minister Gade said, “We share the same goal: Peace and security. There are many ways of achieving peace, I believe that the Peace Keepers of the United Nations is a good way of doing this, but it is important to discuss other methods of achieving peace.”

The national peace conference drew hundreds of participants, including government and business leaders. The Danish Minister of Defense [Soeren Gade] said that the goal of creating peace in Denmark and the world is something he has in common with the other speakers at the conference.

“We have the same goal: peace and security,” he said. He indicated his support for traditional methods but said that it is “important to discuss other methods of achieving peace.”

Dr. Hagelin began his remarks by expressing his appreciation of the openness of the Minister of Defense and went on to talk about the scientific research showing that a group of 500 Yogic Flyers would strongly reduce and even eliminate negative influences in Denmark with its 5 million inhabitants. A larger group of 1,000 would be sufficient for all the Scandinavian countries.

Mr. Lynch spoke about his experience with the Transcendental Meditation® technique for over 30 years and his support for this approach to peace. ‘This could really change everything,” he said. “What I cannot understand is why this has not been done long ago.”

The event received extensive coverage by the media, including a national television broadcast on the Danish equivalent of the Today show and articles in the nation’s leading newspapers, Politiken and Berlingske.

Dr. Hagelin and Mr. Lynch drew capacity crowds at other events as well. An education conference attracted 800 education leaders from schools, colleges and universities around the country. Follow-up efforts are now underway to implement Conciousness-Based^(SM) Education in these institutions.

In the city of Aarhus, Dr. Hagelin and Mr. Lynch drew a crowd of 500, and at a meeting at the School of Architecture in Copenhagen, approximately 600 people attended.

The events were part of a month-long “peace fair” organized by the Transcendental Meditation program Movement in Denmark.

	Danish Minister of Defense Søren Gade shakes hands with filmmaker David Lynch while Dr. John Hagelin looks on.
The Danish Minister of Defense Soeren Gade and David Lynch light a candle as a symbol of inaugurating the group of 500 practitioners of Invincible Defense Technology for Denmark. Reporters from TV2, Politiken, Berlingske and other major Danish media outlets recorded the historic ceremony.

Published in The Denver Post, Denver, Colorado, October 12, 2003. Expired link: http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36%257E73%257E1690164,00.html

Here is the original letter with their relevant edits shown. (The Denver Post made some small edits for clarity that are not indicated here.)

Yes, reduce stress [Deleted original title: Initiative 101 is Good Preventive Defense]

As a military scientist I support Denver’s Initiative 101, “Safety through Peace”, because it requires Denver’s leaders to investigate scientifically validated, cost-saving programs to reduce individual and collective stress. Stress ultimately leads to social problems like crime, terrorism and war. [Deleted: One such stress-reducing program is the Invincible Defense Technology (IDT) which uses the Transcendental Meditation (TM) and TM-Sidhi program. IDT has been extensively studied and field-tested. Lt. Gen. Villamil, a former Ecuadorian Vice-Minister of Defense, used IDT to end Ecuador’s war with Peru. Maj. Gen. Israni, editor of Combat Journal, argued that IDT could have prevented the 9/11/01 attacks.]

When collective stress builds up to high levels, violence erupts. On the international level, this leads to war and terrorism. On the local level, this stress results in social problems, such as homicides, unemployment, and illness. Reduce Denver’s collective stress, and the stress-related problems will be reduced measurably: expect lower murder, hospital admission and unemployment rates. [Deleted: It is not necessary to read a mountain of research to grasp the concept of collective stress reduction. It is common sense: people who are not stressed out are not likely to murder or suffer severe illness. It’s that simple.]

[Deleted: Dr.] David R. Leffler
[Deleted: InvincibleMilitary.org]
Wappingers Falls, N.Y.