David Lynch, Diving Deep with Transcendental Meditation

David Lynch: Meditation and ‘Catching the Big Fish’

Director David Lynch is famously elusive about what his movies mean, or where his ideas come from. In films like Mulholland DriveTwin Peaks and The Elephant Man, he submerges us in the dark and foreboding currents of the subconscious. So how does he come up with this stuff? Well, the way he tells it, every morning since 1973, he has gotten up…closed his eyes…slowed down his breathing…and ‘gone fishing’ in the ocean he calls the ‘unified field,’ using Transcendental Meditation. He spoke to Mitch Horowitz, author of Occult America and One Simple Idea: How Positive Thinking Reshaped Modern Life on this tenth anniversary of his book, Catching the Big Fish: Meditation, Consciousness and Creativity.

Understanding Transcendental Meditation

Although its origins are in ancient India, Transcendental Meditation has only been popular in the United States since the early 1960s. That’s when a man with a twinkle in his eye named Maharishi Mahesh Yogi taught an updated version of an ancient technique that spread throughout the West coast. After its embrace by the Beatles, it faded from popular view, but then in the early 2000s, director David Lynch brought it back into the spotlight. We asked Erik Davis to put this all in context for us. Erik is host of the Expanding Mind podcast and author of The Visionary State: A Journey through California’s Spiritual Landscape.  He spoke to producer Laura Kwerel.

Mindfulness: From Sacred Buddism to Secular Stress-Relief

Mindfulness meditation was once practiced mostly by Buddhist monks and nuns. Now it’s practiced by CEOs, teachers, politicians, and basically anyone who wants to take the edge off life. So how did mindfulness meditation transform from something passed down from Buddhist elders into a popular prescription for the ills of the middle class? Jeff Wilson is author of Mindful America: The Mutual Transformation of Buddhist Meditation and American Culture.  He spoke to Maureen in 2014.


Share This Episode