Catching the Big Fish: Meditation, Consciousness, and Creativity Book

Description

In Catching the Big Fish, internationally acclaimed filmmaker David Lynch provides a rare window into his methods as an artist, his personal working style, and the immense creative benefits he has experienced from the practice of meditation.

Lynch describes the experience of “diving within” and “catching” ideas like fish – and then preparing them for television or movie screens, and other mediums in which he works, such as painting, music, and design. Lynch writes for the first time about his more than three-decade commitment to Transcendental Meditation and the difference it has made in his creative process.

In brief chapters, Lynch explains the development of his ideas – where they came from, how he grasps them, and which ones appeal to him the most. He specifically discusses how he puts his thoughts into action and how he engages with others around him. Finally, he considers the self and the surrounding world – and how the process of “diving within” that has so deeply affected his own work can directly benefit others.

Catching the Big Fish comes as a revelation to the legion of fans who have longed to better understand Lynch’s personal vision. And it is equally intriguing to those who wonder how they can nurture their own creativity.
Hardcover, 192 pages. Published December 28, 2006

About the Author:

Born in precisely the kind of small-town American setting so familiar from his films, David Lynch spent his childhood being shunted from one state to another as his research scientist father kept getting relocated. He attended various art schools, married, and fathered future director Jennifer Chambers Lynch shortly after he turned 21. That experience, plus attending art school in a particularly violent and run-down area of Philadelphia, inspired ERASERHEAD(1977), a film that he began in the early 1970s (after a couple of shorts) and which he would work on obsessively for five years. The final film was initially judged to be almost unreleasable, but thanks to the efforts of distributor Ben Barenholtz, it secured a cult following and enabled Lynch went on to make such cult films as THE ELEPHANT MAN, DUNE, BLUE VELVET, WILD AT HEART, MULHOLLAND DRIVE, LOST HIGHWAY, and the television series TWIN PEAKS. Lynch is also a renowned painter and author.