There are too many documentaries of public figures that have the simple goal of saying “watch this genius at work.” They can be compelling and enjoyable for the fans, but I wanted to find a documentary that would show David Lynch in a different and more critical way. The documentary Shadows of Paradise (2016), directed by Sebastian Lange, is a nuanced portrayal of Lynch and a subtle critique of the grand promises of meditation.
The documentary is framed by Lange’s own story of growing up in a community in Fairfield, Iowa, that was founded on the teachings of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. Lange left that community because he lost faith in the movement. But what makes his journey throughout the documentary compelling is that he is skeptical yet still open to returning, which is why he begins to follow the true believers David Lynch and Bobby Roth. Lynch and Roth were inspired by their studies with the Maharishi to found the David Lynch Foundation for Consciousness-Based Education and World Peace. This non-profit based on the Maharishi’s teachings is dedicated to bringing meditation practices to youth and at-risk communities.1
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi is credited with developing Transcendental Meditation. The simplest way of describing Transcendental Meditation practice is as a silent repetition of mantras twenty minutes a day, but his teachings were broader than this.2 His belief was if enough people practiced his method, then it could bring paradise on earth. The Maharishi traveled throughout the world spreading his teachings. He established a community and Maharishi International University in Fairfield, Iowa. David Lynch was a devoted follower of the Maharishi. Towards the beginning of the documentary he travels to India to attend the Maharishi’s funeral. Lynch’s own short book on meditation, Catching the Big Fish, is dedicated to the Maharishi, and he is open about his great love and admiration for this spiritual leader.
The documentary follows the rapid expansion of the David Lynch Foundation after the Maharishi’s death. Lynch too begins to travel throughout the world, spreading the power of meditation, attending large fundraisers, and appearing at international gallery exhibits of his paintings as well. Lange makes note of the fact that Lynch has had a far greater reach in a few years than Maharishi achieved in decades of work.
David Lynch may seem like the worst person to promise paradise on Earth. His work is full of violence, evil, and suffering. Several of his characters suffer from severe psychological distress caused by extreme situations, domestic violence, or past trauma. But a clip of a video call between Lynch and the Maharishi acknowledges this superficial contradiction and Maharishi says it instead makes Lynch the ideal messenger for paradise on Earth.
In Catching the Big Fish Lynch addresses this in greater depth. He explains that his art reflects his own life experiences and acknowledges there is great evil in the world. He thinks that darkness and suffering make compelling fictional characters and films, but he argues that great artists are not great because of depression or anger. From his own experiences, he believes such states of distress make it extremely difficult or impossible to be creative. He credits his meditation practice with helping him expand his creativity while also providing a new sense of peace.3
This optimism is on full display in the scenes of Lynch visiting schools on behalf of the Lynch Foundation. At a school in Ukraine he explains that “cinema is a great experience,” but it doesn’t bring about change in the real world. He tells the crowd meditation can lead to “enlightenment for the individual and peace for the world…good will overcome evil for sure.” This documentary was released in 2016—two years after Russia annexed Crimea, and six years before Russia’s brutal full invasion of Ukraine.4
Lange is never openly judgmental of the Lynch Foundation, but lets the footage speak for itself. It makes the viewer uneasy seeing so many celebrities, people in business suits, and donors speaking about the power of meditation to help children and the less fortunate of the world as they dine, laugh, and donate exorbitant amounts of money. In a different scene Lynch professes there is no commercial intention in meditation. But a large non-profit requires a lot of money to operate. And capitalism can corrupt anything – even meditation.
A further sense of discomfort is created through music and moody lighting whenever the shrines, university, and community built around the Maharishi appear on screen. When images of the Fairfield community are shown, Lange describes his former devotion and then his loss of faith in the community’s mission after his friend survives a terrible accident. Lynch is not a religious leader, but he’s a celebrity who has his own devoted followers. Thousands flock to his events promoting meditation and his art exhibitions. There is a strange scene of Lynch on a small boat in India retracing the Maharishi’s travels. Several cameras are pointed at him at once. Lynch is making a documentary about the Maharishi, actor Richard Beymer is creating a documentary about his travels with Lynch, and Lange is also documenting Lynch.5
Along with these moments of vanity there are also more humbling scenes. After a series of successful fundraisers, Lynch is seen speaking to a smiling group of staff members at the Lynch Foundation. He thanks them for all the work that they are doing and proceeds to recite the Maharishi’s goal of achieving heaven on earth. Maybe Lynch believes this, but in this moment he looks tired and doubtful, as if he has repeated that line a thousand times.
Lange never offers easy answers or judges Lynch and Maharishi too harshly. He is not trying to expose either of them as being insincere in their beliefs. At times Lange seems to genuinely want to believe in the practice of meditation to heal and change the world. He remembers the comforts of his upbringing in the Maharishi’s Iowa community. He even goes looking for a legendary cave known as a place for deep contemplation. But Lange’s private travels are always a bit darker than the footage of Lynch and accompanied by an unsettling score.
I started practicing meditation in 2023 and it has genuinely helped me at times, but it is not a miracle cure or ticket to paradise. People in severe mental distress need much more than a daily meditation practice. They need psychological help, shelter, food, and a minimum sense of safety. The problem with the recent popularization of meditation is not the practice itself, but the lofty promises associated with it. It unfairly burdens the individual with full responsibility for their own suffering.6 As Lynch’s fictional work illustrates, there is great evil in the world. When people experience violence, abuse, and catastrophe it can leave lasting psychological damage despite an individual’s greatest efforts to find inner peace.
This conflict between the belief in paradise and healing and the lasting impact of trauma is an important theme of Twin Peaks. My last article in this series will explore this in greater depth, but David Lynch’s quest for peace on earth is not so different from Agent Dale Cooper’s quest to defeat the shadowy forces of evil and chaos.
“About DFL.” David Lynch Foundation, accessed July 12, 2024, https://www.davidlynchfoundation.org/about-us.html.
“What is TM.” Maharishi Foundation International, accessed July 12, 2024, https://www.tm.org/what-is-tm.
David Lynch, Catching the Big Fish (New York: Penguin Group, 2006), 91 – 95.
David Lynch has openly spoken out against the war in Ukraine. He continued to advocate for meditation as a way to bring about peace in a 2022 interview with IndieWire. Samantha Bergenson, “David Lynch Launches $500 Transcendental Meditation World Peace Initiative,” IndieWire, April 14, 2022, https://www.indiewire.com/features/general/david-lynch-transcendental-meditation-world-peace-initiative-1234716956/.
As of July 2024 David Lynch has yet to complete his documentary on the Maharishi. Richard Beymer is the actor who plays Ben Horne in Twin Peaks. His documentary It’s a Beautiful World was released in 2014.
For further reading on this critique see Ronald Purser, “The Mindfulness Conspiracy,” The Guardian, June 14, 2019, https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2019/jun/14/the-mindfulness-conspiracy-capitalist-spirituality.