Friends emailed me to see the premiere episode of Season 3’s NCIS: Hawai’i. NCIS (Naval Criminal Investigative Service) is a popular TV series. I was able to stream it on Paramount+ and now watch new episodes each week. Here’s how they describe the show.
NCIS is more than just an action drama. With liberal doses of humor, it’s a show that focuses on the sometimes complex and always amusing dynamics of a team forced to work together in high-stress situations. From murder and espionage to terrorism and stolen submarines, these special agents investigate all crimes with Navy or Marine Corps ties.
James Todd Smith, known professionally as LL Cool J (short for Ladies Love Cool James), is an American rapper, songwriter, record producer, and actor. He starred for many years as federal agent Sam Hanna in NCIS: Los Angeles and was recently transferred to NCIS: Hawai’i. He brought everyone up to date via Instagram and TikTok on how Season 2 ended, with Jane Tennant (Vanessa Lachey) in bad shape.
After passing her medical and psych evaluations, Jane Tennant is surprised to see Sam Hanna conducting her final interview to clear her return to work. In the middle of this premiere Season 3 Episode 1, Run and Gun (Feb 12, 2024), Tennant and Hanna have a heart-to-heart talk one evening at a private shooting range (23:15).
Both have been deeply traumatized due to violent situations on the job. Tennant may have been medically cleared to return to work after healing from severe injuries, but she is in denial about her psychological and emotional state.
Hanna has been there and is trying to get through to her about it. Tennant finally asks Hanna what he did “to get out of the hole.” See his answer and how she responds to it in this 2-minute segment—Whatever Gets You Through The Night!—available on cbs.org and The NCISverse.
LL Cool J was involved in the creation of the Def Jam Recordings label. His collaboration with Rick Rubin laid the foundation for one of the most influential hip-hop record labels.
A TM practitioner since he was a teenager, legendary music producer Rick Rubin received the Lifetime of Harmony Award (Feb 27, 2014) from the David Lynch Foundation through its new performance arts events division, DLF Live. See more details in this Feb 25, 2014 billboard article.
Which leads me to think that maybe LL Cool J has also been doing TM, is familiar with its researched beneficial effects, the good work of the David Lynch Foundation, and might have had something to do with including Transcendental Meditation into the script. Whatever the reason, it was an unexpected surprise, and turned out to be an appropriate plug for TM!
— Written and compiled (citing sources) by Ken Chawkin for The Uncarved Blog.
Some of the Trinidadian participants of the 10,000 for World Peace Assembly (standing) and their facilitators. Photo courtesy Shelley Hosein. –
Concerned by the state of the world, eight Trinidadians joined over 10,000 people in India to try to bring about a decrease in the level of conflict around the world.
From December 29, 2023-January 13, over 10,000 people gathered at Kanha Shanti Vanam outside of Hyderabad, India for the 10,000 for World Peace Assembly, organised by the Global Union of Scientists for Peace (GUSP).
The aim was to demonstrate what the followers of the late Maharishi Mahesh Yogi called “the proven consciousness-based approach to creating world peace.”
The idea is, that if the square root of one per cent of the population, about 9,000 people, practised Transcendental Meditation (TM) and TM-Sidhi programmes twice a day consistently, it would create “the field effect of consciousness” throughout the world.
The Global Union of Scientists for Peace website called it the Brain-Based Approach to Peace. It said there had been over 50 demonstrations and 28 scientific studies over the years which proved the approach would prevent social violence, terrorism, and war.
It said, “This research has been carefully scrutinised by independent scholars and accepted for publication in leading peer-reviewed academic journals. In every case, this approach produced marked reductions of crime, social violence, terrorism, and war, and increased peace and positivity in society.”
Certified TM teachers Shelley Hosein and Anthony Grell were two of the people representing TT at the assembly in India.
Vedic pandits specially trained in chants and recitations were part of the 10,000 for World Peace Assembly in India. Photo courtesy Shelley Hosein. –
Hosein said previously, when the Maharishi was alive when there were “disturbances” in countries, he would send or arrange for groups to do meditation and the advanced TM-Sidhi programme in or near those countries.
“Of course, the individuals always feel the deeper peace and happiness but, it had the effect of reducing crime, reducing hospital admissions and a few other negative trends, and when things settled a bit people would leave.”
Grell added that such mass meditations were done in 1983 in Israel during the Lebanon war and in Washington, DC in 1993.
According to the Global Union of Scientists for Peace, over a two-year period during the Lebanon war, there were seven sessions in Israel; Utopia, US; Lebanon; Yugoslavia; Fairfield, US; Netherlands and Washington, DC, US.
It said during those periods war-related fatalities and injuries decreased by 71 per cent and 68 per cent respectively, the level of conflict dropped by 48 per cent and co-operation among antagonists increased by 66 per cent.
In the 1993 Washington experiment, measured by FBI Uniform Crime Statistics, it said soon after the study started, violent crime began to decrease, up to 23.3 per cent. And the rate stayed at those lower levels until the end of the experiment.
Hosein said, “Based on that and the state of the world, I think that is what really motivated Dr Tony Nader (chairman of the GUSP, physician and neuroscientist) to say, ‘We have a technology. It’s been scientifically proven over many years, why not let’s do a gathering so that more people will become interested and realise there is something that can be done for the individual and the world?’”
The other aim was to motivate people to establish a permanent group of meditators there for the benefit of the world.
She said India was a natural choice as it is the land of the Veda, meditation was prevalent there and a large enough space to host so many people.
Early morning mist settling over and between the tents set up for participants of the 10,000 for World Peace Assembly at Kanha Shanti Vanam, India. Photo courtesy Anthony Grell. –
Over 100 countries were represented at the event, including students who learned Yogic Flying in colleges throughout India.
Grell said he wanted to be part of the memorable event, meditating and being around people who wanted the same things for the world. He said he knew the value of TM – increased productivity, increased spiritual connection, improved emotional regulation, mental clarity, stress reduction, relaxation, perspective, increased problem-solving ability and more – and, in a group, the effect was magnified.
Hosein described the group meditating experience as profound and expressed gratitude for being there as she would have never had that opportunity in TT. She said having people from all over the world, of different races, speaking different languages, from different religions, all unified in their purpose, felt like family and like something very valuable.
Some participants of the 10,000 for World Peace Assembly during a brief meditation session at a meeting. Photo courtesy Anthony Grell. –
She recalled that their every need was taken care of and they did not have to worry about anything. There were tents for sleeping, meals, sim cards and minor health care were provided, and translation services for 30 languages. There were also book and clothes shops, a grocery, a laundry and other amenities. They were even provided with chairs, foam mats and cushions with backrests for meditating.
Every day for two weeks they would wake up, shower, meditate, have breakfast, attend inspirational or motivational talks and workshops by representatives of different spiritual organisations, have lunch, attend more talks or socialise, meditate, have dinner and then go to bed.
For meditation sessions, men were in the central area with the women in several wings or halls off the main area in smaller groups. People could walk around the central area while the women had more privacy.
She said even after decades of practising TM, she gained a deeper experience of self and more experience with inner silence.
There were live demonstrations where EEG (electroencephalogram), which measured electrical activity in the brain, leads were attached to meditators and everyone saw the changes in their brain signals shift from erratic to calm before meditating to deep meditation.
“It enhanced my strong belief that it is possible to change the world, there is a way and it doesn’t have to be with more guns. More of that type of thing that does not help and it even depletes the society. We lose so many people in war. How could that be the answer?”
“People have to start thinking outside the box, and recognise that each individual has the ability to change themselves and then have that effect on the rest of the room.”
TM teacher Anthony Grell (R) and fellow meditator Lamayani Ole Darvni from the Maasai tribe in Kenya, Africa. Photo courtesy Anthony Grell. –
Grell agreed saying people project their energy and the type of energy depends on how they are feeling. In such a large group, the benefits of TM – increased clarity of mind, harmony, tolerance and patience as well as feelings of happiness and peace – were amplified and sent outward.
“If you can actually prevent or remove enmity, take away that energy, it means the people will not want to go to war, sending young people to war to die, and they will not want to destroy.”
He said when people were living in a constant state of stress, anger and fear, they radiate that into their environment thereby affecting others. Also, under chronic stress, people react before they think or do not think clearly, increasing negative behaviours like road rage, school violence and domestic violence.
According to the US National Library of Medicine, stress could cause an imbalance of neural circuitry instrumental in promoting cognition, decision-making, anxiety and mood that affect behaviours and behavioural states.
Grell said if a person wanted peace, they had to go to where peace resided, in that inner aspect or consciousness. He noted that the bible said the kingdom of heaven is within you and, many other religions had similar sentiments. TM was a technique that allowed people to experience that inner aspect, leading to spiritual development.
He compared the multiplying effect of group meditation to a population getting vaccinated. If a certain percentage of the population was vaccinated against a disease it would protect those who did not or could not get vaccinated.
In the cause of gaining peace through meditation, at least the square root of one per cent of the population, which would be around 300 people in the case of TT, needed to practise TM consistently as stress came constantly from different avenues.
Hosein said they all knew the effect would not happen overnight and scientists were already gathering the data and doing research on the effect of the 10,000 for World Peace Assembly.
The Great Wave off Kanagawa has been described as possibly the most reproduced image in the history of all art, as well as being a contender for the most famous artwork in Japanese history. This woodblock print has influenced several Western artists and musicians, including Claude Debussy, Vincent van Gogh and Claude Monet.
Roger Start Keyes, art historian, Hokusai scholar, and co-founder of York Zen, wrote his poem “Hokusai Says,” featured on the York Zen Welcome Page, in Venice in 1990. It appeared suddenly as he was making notes for the “Young Hokusai” paper he was to give at a symposium on Hokusai the following day.
Hokusai says look carefully. He says pay attention, notice. He says keep looking, stay curious. He says there is no end to seeing. He says look forward to getting old. He says keep changing, you just get more who you really are. He says get stuck, accept it, repeat yourself as long as it’s interesting. He says keep doing what you love. He says keep praying. He says every one of us is a child, every one of us is ancient, every one of us has a body. He says every one of us is frightened. He says every one of us has to find a way to live with fear. He says everything is alive – shells, buildings, people, fish, mountains, trees. Wood is alive. Water is alive. Everything has its own life. Everything lives inside us. He says live with the world inside you. He says it doesn’t matter if you draw, or write books. It doesn’t matter if you saw wood, or catch fish. It doesn’t matter if you sit at home and stare at the ants on your veranda or the shadows of the trees and grasses in your garden. It matters that you care. It matters that you feel. It matters that you notice. It matters that life lives through you. Contentment is life living through you. Joy is life living through you. Satisfaction and strength is life living through you. Peace is life living through you. He says don’t be afraid. Don’t be afraid. Look, feel, let life take you by the hand. Let life live through you.
Click to listen to poet Roger Keyes recite his poem, Hokusai Says.
Hokusai’s instructions, received, written and recited by Roger Keyes, about paying attention, noticing things, and living life fully, remind me of Mary Oliver‘s lessons on attention, receptivity, listening, delighting in and writing, expressed in many of her poems, like Mindful and Praying.
When I saw this clever New Yorker cartoon by William Haefeli it reminded me of the one by Karl Stevens. Both humorously emphasize the need to be present—to learn to live in the moment, in the now.
William’s cartoon shows a wife’s frustration with her husband’s memory loss, and his clever way of dealing with it: “I’m not losing my memory. I’m living in the now.”
In a way, when it comes to dementia, the present moment is all some afflicted seniors are eventually left with as they forget the wounds from their past and stop worrying about an unknown future. A welcome relief. But the present moment is all that the rest of us have as well. It all comes down to how much of it are we aware of, and actually, happily, living.
To see more of William Haefeli’s cartoon art, visit the Condé Nast Store. He also has cartoons posted on the Punch Magazine website in the UK. William Haefeli was interviewed for A Case For Pencils. He was also featured in a more personal article at the Advocate: Drawing on life.
New Yorker cartoon editor Bob Mankoff is quoted in the Advocate article talking about seeing a cartoonist’s comic style and a personality. “Sometimes it’s commentary, sometimes satire, sometimes absurdity, sometimes what I call ludic, a mind play. It’s someone communicating his ideas through the medium of humor. Bill is one of the best examples of it—his cartoons are social commentary.”
It took Bill Haefeli 19 years of failed submissions to the New Yorker, until Mankoff became cartoon editor, when he received his first acceptance. “Bill is an interesting cartoonist because he thinks of a broad range of issues—gay and straight,” explains Mankoff. “He has a world that’s not just a joke. It’s bigger than a stereotype.”
There has been a wave of publicity before, during, and after the largest group of 11,000 TM meditators from 139 countries who gathered at Kanha Shanti Vanam near Hyderabad for 14 days to help create world peace. Here is a sample of some of that news coverage starting with The Week, which came out in their print issue on Sunday, February 4, 2024.
IN EARLY 2005, security checkpoints at the Abu Ghraib prison complex in Iraq―notorious for torture and abuse of its inmates―were overrun by armed militants. The surprise attack met with strong resistance from US coalition forces guarding the site. Several American soldiers suffered injuries, and many militants lost their lives. Brian Rees, a doctor with the US military, remembers rushing out to treat civilian casualties. Whenever he got a chance, he said, he would retreat to a corner and meditate.
I felt I could use TM to reset. It kept me resilient on the ground. It is important to maintain a healthy rhythm.
—Brian Rees, us army veteran
Rees has learned to find peace among chaos. He meditates twice a day―20 minutes each in the morning and in the evening. Transcendental Meditation (TM) has been a source of strength for him while serving in Iraq and in Afghanistan. It helped him beat long periods of boredom and to cope with the shocking sights of blood and gore. “I felt I could use TM to reset. It kept me resilient on the ground. It is important to maintain a healthy rhythm or things can go very wrong,” said the veteran about the benefits of meditation in a war zone.
Rees has introduced hundreds of US veterans to TM in the last 10 years, helping them return to normalcy after stressful missions. He still remembers a veteran telling him just two minutes after attending a session that TM was going to save his life. “The veterans have a lot of questions on why this is happening. But they have no answers,” said Rees. “TM will really help them see hope and remove negative aspects.”
Nearly 4,000 TM practitioners from outside India like Rees and 6,000 Indians took part in a residential meditation programme organised by the Global Union of Scientists for Peace (GUSP), a group that works to carry forward the legacy of the late Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. It was held for two weeks from December 29 at the Kanha Shanti Vanam ashram near Hyderabad. The programme was intended to trigger a world peace field based on a theory propagated by the Maharishi.
Tony Nader, chairman of GUSP, explained the idea behind getting 10,000 people at one place. “The research is based on findings of 50 years that when one per cent of the total population practises Transcendental Meditation in any city, there is a reduction in crime, conflict, hospital admission and road accidents. One per cent of the world population today would be 81 million and it is a big number to bring together for meditation. The Maharishi produced a new technique, which is based on Patanjali yoga sutras, where it was found that the square root of one per cent of the population is enough to achieve the desired effect. It means that instead of 81 million, its square root―9,000―could be used. The number 10,000 was selected to have the safety factor on top of the needed number.”
Nader, who leads TM-related organisations in more than 100 countries, hails from conflict-ridden Lebanon and credits meditation for helping him survive the horrors of the civil war in the 1970s. The 14-day programme saw participants practise basic TM, yoga sutras and flying sutras. Frederick Travis, director of the Centre for Brain, Consciousness and Cognition, Maharishi University of Management, Iowa, used a special device fitted with 19 sensors on a participant to study the impact of group meditation on the brain. He recorded a high coherence in the brain as a result of meditation practised by thousands in the vicinity.
Alex Kutai, a theatre actor-turned PR professional from Israel, said meditation was an antidote to war. Kutai, an active TM teacher, was drawn to the movement after the 1973 Yom Kippur war. “After every war, the interest in TM becomes high. Thousands learned TM after the Yom Kippur war. I thought it could support my well-being,” he said.
Kutai said many people were suffering from trauma, depression and pain because of the ongoing Israel-Gaza conflict. “When people along the Gaza Strip had to be evacuated, we taught them meditation so that they could cope with the loss. We are also teaching TM for free to those who are suffering from the loss of lives of close ones,” he said. Kutai lives in Hararit, a village near the Lebanon border which was created by a community of TM members in the 1980s. Though he has not taught TM to Palestinians, Kutai said he was willing to teach friendly Arabs who reside around his village.
Another participant in the programme was Vadym Bykovets, a Ukrainian who nurses war wounds even though he is not physically involved in the war with Russia. The 49-year-old lives in Lithuania and works in the private sector. He counts his friends and acquaintances among those who died or were seriously wounded. He encourages fellow Ukrainians to practise meditation. “I feel that they are emotionally wounded and stressed. Without meditation, they would feel terrible. They are even scared of loud sounds.” How does meditation help him? “War is a painful topic. Regardless of what information I get from back home, I meditate,” he said. “It cleans my mind and soul, and I do not feel involved in that situation.” The reason Bykovets came all the way to Hyderabad is to support the belief that meditation is the right medium to achieve global peace.
Correction: Maharishi University of Management is Maharishi International University.
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Visit Dr Tony Nader’s Instagram @drtonynader for inspiring photos, excerpts from articles, and video clips from the course and more.
They wrote: Dive into the fascinating world of Dr. Tony Nader, a Lebanese neuroscientist, researcher, and leader of the Transcendental Meditation movement. Discover his inspiring journey from the turmoil of the Middle East’s civil war to becoming a renowned figure in neuroscience. Join RJ Archana as she explores Nader’s insights on the current global conflicts, the roots of youth anger, and the importance of grassroots change. Learn about Nader’s transition from his initial days to his current stature, and gain profound insights into his work, including the founding of the International Journal of Mathematics and Consciousness. Don’t miss this thought-provoking episode on Viral City!
This first video (6:05) features Dr. Tony Nader at Maharishi International University (MIU) in Fairfield, Iowa talking about the need for TM in today’s stressful world. The video opens with students meditating with Dr. Nader. Using EEG, Dr. Fred Travis demonstrates the increase in brainwave coherence of a subject as she starts meditating. Students also discuss the practical benefits from their TM practice.
The second video (7:50) takes place in Medellín, Columbia at one of Father Gabriel Mejia’s shelters for rehabilitating homeless children with addiction problems. One of them went on to become a TM teacher and returned to teach the students how to meditate. They were inspired by the positive transformation and growth in his life.
The third video (5:02) was filmed in a Rhode Island hospital where medical staff were still dealing with the stressful repercussions from the Covid-19 pandemic. TM provided welcome relief from the traumatic loss of life and continues to be taught there. Dr. Nader mentions the David Lynch Foundation’s Heal the Healers Now campaign. They provided the funding for TM instruction, which helped thousands of healthcare professionals during the pandemic. Many continue to meditate regularly.
Embedded below are the videos with their short descriptions posted on the GWI site. Each title and chapter also take you to the BBC StoryWorks pages with the same videos plus 3 slides selected from each per chapter: Nature, Self, Community.
1. TM: Listening to your inner rhythm: Dr Tony Nader has been researching the mind and meditation since he was a medical student. Discover his methods for finding peace in a busy and ever-changing world.
2. TM: A healing journey: For Breiner, meditation had a transformational effect on his life, a lesson which he is now passing on to younger generations.
3. TM: The calm in the storm. Finding a peaceful moment to recalibrate. Ongoing strains on health clinicians from the Covid-19 pandemic are still apparent in hospitals. These medical doctors are finding strength in the moments of peace that Transcendental Meditation can provide.
See this remembrance of Mary Oliver (1935-2019) and her astonishing poetry, with links to articles, interviews, and readings, as well as more of her favorite poems I’ve loved and posted over the years.
— Written and compiled (citing sources) by Ken Chawkin for The Uncarved Blog.
Mary Oliver’s poem, Swan, asks us if we see, hear, and feel what she does, drawing rich references to the beautiful aspects of a swan, culminating in two powerful questions.
Did you too see it, drifting, all night, on the black river? Did you see it in the morning, rising into the silvery air — an armful of white blossoms, a perfect commotion of silk and linen as it leaned into the bondage of its wings; a snowbank, a bank of lilies, biting the air with its black beak? Did you hear it, fluting and whistling a shrill dark music — like the rain pelting the trees — like a waterfall knifing down the black ledges? And did you see it, finally, just under the clouds — a white cross streaming across the sky, its feet like black leaves, its wings like the stretching light of the river? And did you feel it, in your heart, how it pertained to everything? And have you too finally figured out what beauty is for? And have you changed your life?
The questions that Mary Oliver asks her readers at the end of the Swan poem remind me of the one she asks at the end of The Summer Day (aka “The Grasshopper”).
See this remembrance of Mary Oliver (1935-2019) and her astonishing poetry, with links to articles, interviews, and readings, as well as several of her favorite poems I’ve loved and posted over the years.
— Written and compiled (citing sources) by Ken Chawkin for The Uncarved Blog.
On December 8, 2023 Angelina Jordan Official/Republic Records/UMG released her new 5-song Christmas album, Driving Home for Christmas. I think the first song, Driving Home for Christmas, may have been recorded this year, while the other 4 holiday tunes were taken from her live-streamed Christmas Concert Dec 23, 2021 during the pandemic.
I hadn’t heard of this song before and loved it. This popular holiday tune was written and recorded by Chris Rea in 1986. I did some research and was surprised to discover he’d also written and performed the 1978 hit song, Fool (If You Think It’s Over), which I remembered and enjoyed.
Here are videos of Angelina Jordan and Chris Rea singing ‘Driving Home for Christmas’. Chris explained he wrote the song during a snowstorm on the drive home for Christmas. He misplaced it, forgot it, rediscovered and recorded it for fun, and surprisingly, without promotion, it later became a seasonal favorite. It was voted the UK’s favorite Christmas song, and is considered to be one of their top 10 Christmas singles. I can see why. It is a very catchy tune about people driving home for Christmas. Chris Rea and Angelina Jordan also sing this song on Spotify.
This song was broadcast Dec 25, 1986 in the UK appropriately on Christmas Day. Read the music video’s notes detailing the song’s release dates and ratings in different countries over the years. TopPop have now remastered it in HD and posted it Dec 19, 2023. Enjoy listening to Chris Rea – Driving Home For Christmas [REMASTERED HD] • TopPop
Here is a longer version: Rock ‘n’ roll survivor, slide player and all-round top guy Chris Rea tells The One Show how “Driving Home For Christmas” came about. Interesting how he first got the idea for the song at Abbey Road Studios and returned years later, successful, to record it with added strings. How Chris Rea wrote “Driving Home For Christmas”.
The holiday season is upon us and families get together to celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas. Here are some funny videos related to these special occasions. The first one has not been featured here before, while the other two have, so I’ll reference and link to them below.
The Uncarved Blog 