Hi BATGAP
Dear Rick (and Irene),
I hope this application finds you well. Apologies in advance for this longer than usual application, I hope for both of us the juice is worth the squeeze.
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I'm a big fan of BATGAP and have been deeply inspired by many of your interviews over the past few years. Your work has been a significant influence on my journey, and I am reaching out with an exciting and somewhat unique proposal.
I would love the opportunity to be a guest on your podcast. I believe I can offer a fresh perspective, as I am likely about 30 years younger than your average guest. I am currently living in Australia and conducting my own experiment into the Maharishi Effect. I've heard you mention your involvement in the original studies of the Maharishi Effect on several occasions, but I haven't come across a detailed discussion of your experiences and insights. I think a podcast episode where we delve into these topics could be fascinating and valuable for your audience.
Here's a bit about my background: I had my own spiritual awakening in my early twenties, through LSD , much like you, it gave me a peek behind the curtains of reality and since then have been on my own exploration of consciousness. I came across Vedic Meditation when I was living in New York City about eight years ago. I enjoyed it so much and wanted to be able to share with my friends and family that I underwent the joyful journey of becoming an initiator. This journey ultimately brought me to the Maharishi Effect, and I became very excited about its potential. I am also a filmmaker, I decided to pack up my bags and company I had built in New York City and move back to my hometown in regional Australia. I have been working on a documentary that follows my efforts to teach 1% of my hometown’s population, which has about 30,000 residents, Vedic meditation. The town faces significant challenges with violence, drug issues, and antisocial behavior, and I believe meditation can make a substantial positive impact.
To support this project, I underwent a 3,000-hour Teacher Training Course under Tom Knoles, like you a disciple of Maharishi, and have been documenting our progress over the past two years. Even though I close in on the 1% number of people who have since learnt meditation. One of the challenges I am finding is actually how to measure how many people are meditation each day. To address this, I am organizing an event in October where we will invite hundreds of meditators to our town for a month-long celebration of Vedic knowledge. We plan to measure various factors such as crime rates before, during, and after this period to see the tangible effects of our efforts.
Given your involvement in the original studies, I would be thrilled to have a conversation with you about your experiences, the challenges, and the criticisms those studies faced. I believe this discussion would not only enrich the documentary but also provide your audience with valuable insights into your life and experience during that time, or as much as you are willing to share. One of my favorite episodes of BATGAP is the one where you are interviewed by Angelo Dilullo, I think your listeners love you and want to hear more about your life.
I've included a link to the trailer for our documentary, which we created for a Kickstarter campaign. The kickstarter had 384 individual donations and raised Aud$77k. This project is entirely self-funded by myself and our community, and many of the events we’re hosting in October will be free to attend.
My ultimate goal with this documentary is to inspire other wellbeing practitioners to bring their practices to regional areas and demonstrate there is a need for these modalities outside of the regular spiritual hotspots. Taking these practices to everyday people.
I would love to discuss this further and see if we can create a special episode together. It would be an honor to share my story and learn from yours in a meaningful conversation. The best part is, you won’t have to spend time reading a book I’ve written, as I haven't authored one yet. We can simply have a dynamic and engaging discussion.
In charm and cheerfulness.
Your friend Barron.
PS. I admire your work with ASI and recently registered there for myself and the organisation.