John Hagelin ’76

What I've learned since graduation

"AT DARTMOUTH MY PROFESSORS COULDNOT AGREE ON WHO SOD WAS. I tried for a joint major between physics and religion, but I was turned down. I was told there was no connection between the two. I believed that if science was a reliable path to truth, and if the religious traditions of the world that have withstood the test of millennia had a grasp on truth, then certainly those truths must be related. I still believe that."

" IT TOOK BEING IN A BODY CAST FOR A YEAR TO TEACH ME SELF-SUFFICIENCY. The year before I came to Dartmouth, I had a serious motorcycle accident. At the recommendation of my orthopedic surgeon, I learned transcendental meditation. Meditation became a very important research tool for me because it deepens and sharpens the mind. For 30 years I've meditated every day, twice a day, for 20 minutes."

"THE COSMOS WITHIN US, THE STRUCTURE OF HUMAN INTELLIGENCE, MIRRORS THE COSMOS WITHOUT. The laws that govern the human body, whether it's fluid mechanics or chemistry, are the same laws that govern the universe outside of us. Everyone and everything in the universe is ultimately one entity, one reality. I don't know if I can say it any simpler than that."

"FIVE PERCENT OF THE BRAIN MAY HAVE BEEN ENOUGH FOR HUMANSTO SURVIVE PRIOR CENTURIES. I'm doing pure physics research, continuing to fathom the birth and evolution of the universe. But I also have a brain research institute that is looking at which methodologies are really effective in developing the brain more fully. There's tremendous plasticity in the human brain and it really can learn to process information more efficiently than is generally achieved in our educational approach today."

"IF A POLICY DOESN'T BENEFIT EVERYONE, IT BENEFITS NO ONE. I founded the Natural Law Party and ran for president out of frustration. There are common-sense, proven, humane, cost-effective solutions to all the problems we face as a nation that have been ignored by government for purely political reasons. For example, the health-care debate has been a surface squabbling over who will pay for whose disease. Instead, I have focused on the core of America's heath-care problem, which is poor health. Through proven preventive medicine, we can save money and make people healthy."

"OUR TWO-PARTY SYSTEM STAGNATES DEMOCRACY. We are the only country where the two parties in power have legislated themselves into permanent victory by keeping independent candidates and third parties off the ballot and out of the debates. The Republican and Democratic parties are absolutely bought and paid for by a handful of corporate interests."

"THE SYSTEM OF COUNTING VOTES NEEDS TO BE REFORMED. I would call for instant runoff voting, where people could really vote their conscience but never worry that they were voting for the lesser of two evils."

"IN 2004 THE NATURAL LAW PARTY WILL PROBABLY COME BACK FAR BIGGERANDFAR STRONGER THAN IT IS TODAY.In the meantime I'm founding a university of world peace. This will be the only university in the world dedicated solely to the prevention of armed conflict and the promotion of peace."

JOB TITLE: Founder of the Institute of Science Technology and Public Policy at Maharishi University of Management in Iowa NOTABLE ACHIEVEMENT: Ran as 2000 presidential candidate for the Natural Law Party after losing Reform Party nomination to Pat Buchanan AGE: 46 COLLEGE MAJOR: Physics ADVANCED DEGREES: Master's and Ph.D. in theoretical physics from Harvard