EFL (removed all mundane wackiness
In this little pocket of Iowa, houses are built to face the rising sun, something called yogic flying is a popular pastime and Dennis J. Kucinich is a leading candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination. Mr. Kucinich has become a phenomenon in Fairfield, population 9,500. His proposals to promote world peace, universal health care and environmental sustainability arguably resonate here as in no other place in America.
Mr. Kucinich, a congressman for his native Ohio, is polling in the low single digits nationwide, and is not expected to do much better in tomorrow’s Iowa caucuses. But you wouldn’t know that here ... Mr. Kucinich, a vegan, who has proposed a cabinet-level Department of Peace, is not a typical candidate. And Fairfield, despite its picturesque town square and fluttering American flags, is not a typical Iowan town. The home of Maharishi University of Management and a center of the Global Country of World Peace, Fairfield and the surrounding area is home to 2,000 practitioners of Transcendental Meditation who began settling there in the early 1970’s. Hundreds of Fairfield residents now bike, walk and drive to twin 25,000-square-foot golden domes, which rise like gilded breasts from the Midwestern plains, to practice deep Transcendental Meditation twice a day. Through yogic flying, a kind of seated hopping levitation that practitioners believe can lead to enlightenment, their collective mission is to bring peace to the world.
While Mr. Kucinich does not practice Transcendental Meditation, after he was voted out of office as mayor of Cleveland in 1979 he did spend time in New Mexico and California finding what he describes as inner peace. "It’s so humbling being here in your presence," he began at an event on Jan. 10, "because stepping into this moment you can sense this field of energy which is created by all the shared aspirations for peace — the energy and the light which is present right at this moment. You can feel it. It’s palpable."
| "Like, wow, man! Listen to the colors! Pro-found!" |
Mr. Kucinich has had an especially deep impact on the students at the private Maharishi School of the Age of Enlightenment, where children from preschool through 12th grade meditate twice a day and classroom posters include "50 qualities of the unified field" among geology maps. One key to Mr. Kucinich’s support in Fairfield is his longtime friendship with Mr. Hagelin, the three-time presidential candidate of the Natural Law Party, who has endorsed Mr. Kucinich. "Here was a mainstream Democrat that really presents all the contents that the Natural Law Party wants to see espoused," said Ed Malloy, the mayor of Fairfield, and a supporter of the Natural Law Party. "They were excited that these ideas could move on the agenda."
In addition to Mr. Kucinich’s plan for a Department of Peace, which would emphasize preventive techniques against violence, supporters are drawn to his plan for universal health coverage, one that would embrace alternative medical techniques like acupuncture. They also like his belief in environmental sustainability, an issue dear to a community that embraces organic farming. "Dennis is the only candidate who will go to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and do something about genetically engineered food," said Eileen Dannemann, a Fairfield resident.
I am surpised to find such an enclave anywhere but on the West Coast or in the Dakotas. |