Byline: Bob Keefer The Register-Guard

Movie director David Lynch is well known for the eccentric characters who populate his films, from the lawnmower-driving hero of "The Straight Story" to the log lady in "Twin Peaks."

So it should come as little surprise that Lynch himself could pass for one of his own creations.

The Academy Award-nominated director is on the lecture circuit seeking to raise $7 billion - yes, that's "b" as in a lotta gold bullion - to bring Transcendental Meditation to students in public schools through his David Lynch Foundation for Consciousness-Based Education and World Peace.

He will give a free talk at the University of Oregon at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Transcendental Meditation is based on the teachings of the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the Indian guru who once charmed the Beatles and whose name is attached to a large real estate empire.

Lynch has been a follower of TM for more than 30 years. He has drunk deeply, let's say, at its fountain of knowledge. In a half-hour telephone conversation, he fairly gushed about its impact on his life.

How, he was asked, does TM help you as a filmmaker?

"I don't know how it has influenced it," he said. "When fear and anxiety and stress start to leave, it is such a sense...