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Dispelling the darkness by becoming the
light At 22, Lyric Benson has experienced more of life than some people twice her age. Though successful and accomplished in acting, directing, and writing, at nineteen she left the seemingly glamorous world of entertainment, because something was missing from her life. When she learned the Transcendental Meditation Technique, Lyric quickly found the health, happiness, peace, and inner fulfilment that had eluded her. From famous, gifted, theatrical parents, Lyric spent most of her childhood in Los Angeles behind various film and television sets as an apprentice to her father, actor/writer/director Robby Benson: Ice Castles, One on One, Running Brave, The Chosen, and the voice of the ‘Beast’ in Disney’s Beauty and the Beast. Some of his directing credits include, Friends and Dharma and Greg. Although it was a great learning experience, it didn't take long for Lyric to realize that the film industry can be extremely superficial, ‘the illusion of all illusions’. After attending college prep schools, Lyric decided to follow in her family's artistic footsteps. At seventeen she was awarded the title of California Arts Scholar for her photography, and then went on to attend the prestigious New York University's Film School (NYU). As a freshman at NYU, Lyric was at the top of her class. After writing her first screenplay, entitled Miracle in Maine, Nebraska, her professors were so impressed that they placed her directly into the senior screenwriting class. Lyric was only the second student in the NYU Film School's long and illustrious history to be given this honour. She continued writing screenplays at such a rate, with such professional quality, that her professors encouraged her to return to Los Angeles to sell them. Inspired by their confidence in her ability she returned to LA. Almost immediately she began developing a project with a production company affiliated with Sony Pictures. Yet, despite all her relative successes, Lyric knew something was missing. She explains, ‘I was so stressed out. All my achievements looked really nice on paper, but for some reason I just wasn't happy. I also had been diagnosed with fibromyalgia, which is a very painful muscle disorder. I tried almost everything, but it just wouldn't go away. I knew I needed something, I just didn't know where else to look.’ Soon after realizing this, her parents decided to move to Boone, North Carolina and Lyric resolved to follow. Lyric explains, ‘This may sound funny, but I had always wanted to own a cow. I knew that this was my chance.’ A few months later, Lyric met her TM teacher while walking her miniature Jersey cow, Lola, down a country road near her home. Lyric recalls, ‘When we moved to North Carolina, I suddenly had this strong desire to learn to meditate. But, I thought, ‘Where am I going to learn to meditate in Boone, North Carolina? I'm in middle of nowhere.’ Then, one day a bright, radiant lady came walking down the road towards me. I asked her if she wanted to pet my cow and we started talking. Somehow I mentioned I wanted to learn meditation, and she revealed that she was a Transcendental Meditation teacher. It was so amazingly easy! Nature just organized.’ Two weeks after learning the Transcendental Meditation Technique, Lyric's life-long muscle disorder vanished. She exclaimed, ‘I thought it was some sort of miracle. I knew TM must be something really amazing in order to melt away all my muscle problems so quickly.’ Thirsting for more knowledge and experience, she immediately enrolled at Maharishi University of Management in Fairfield, Iowa, where she learnt the TM-Sidhi Programme, including Yogic Flying. Lyric then returned to Boone, North Carolina to join the Mother Divine Programme, which is committed to developing higher states of consciousness and living as a professional peace-creating group. There, she finished up her B.A. degree in Maharishi’s Vedic Science and recently graduated magna cum laude from Maharishi University of Management. Lyric explains, ‘I just realized the reason I wanted to be a writer was because I simply wanted to help people. I wanted to bring them out of suffering in whatever little way I could. If I thought I saw an injustice in the world, I would write about it, hoping to shed some light on the darkness. But I soon realized that tackling problem by problem in this way is extremely ineffective, and if I continued at this pace, it could take me a thousand lifetimes to make any real changes in society. That’s why I am so fulfilled being on the Mother Divine Programme. I am dispelling the darkness by becoming the light, and radiating that light and coherence through the Unified Field to all society. It’s so fulfilling. I am infinitely grateful for this knowledge of the Vedic Tradition of Total Knowledge, which His Holiness Maharishi Mahesh Yogi has brought out of India for the whole world to enjoy.’ Lyric plans to dedicate her life to spreading the profound message of Maharishi's Vedic Science. She enthusiastically states, ‘I want to be the embodiment of Vedic Wisdom, by living and teaching the absolute truth of eternal freedom. And it's so simple and easy because it's within the Self of everyone.’ © Copyright 2006, Global Good News(sm) Service
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