Episode Details

Content Warning: Drugs, meditation, and naked cleaning. Also, mention of mental health challenges, self-abuse, and suicidal ideation. It remains a blast of an episode!

James Paterson has been contemplating the Universe since he was four years old when he would stay up all night listening to Jean-Michel Jarred’s new age synthesizer cassette on his Fischer Price tape deck. Growing up in the 80s and 90s, he showed great promise with computers, but as a teenager, he shifted his energy to drawing in an effort to impress the ladies. Today, James’s work dances around the intersection between drawing, animation, and code. James is fascinated in the points of resonance where these disciplines collide. Grounded in quirky and truly singular drawings, James’s art takes us on an immersive and mesmerizing journey, whether through prints, animation, virtual reality, or these peculiar and life-changing 3-D shapes. I was once the proud owner of an exquisite penis-like finger scroll and I was pleased about this, though alas, the piece did not fare well in my house fire. James is an avid meditator, and integrates meditation into his creative practice, which is as deep as they come and the realest deal I’ve ever seen. This episode was a massive treat and a must-listen for anyone with a quirky, creative, and fluctuating brain. Thank you, James, for this fun fab interview!!!

James Paterson on This Is Your Strange and Beautiful Life

James’s Morning Routine: He’s up at the ass crack, and you’re invited! To spread his love for meditation, James hosts a daily online sitting practice from 5 to 6 a.m. It’s not as austere as it sounds! Drop in anytime. It’s lurker and introvert-friendly. Come late, leave early, judgment free. James promises you don’t need to be a good meditator, and suggests that maybe there’s no such thing. Sit with James and Friends right here.

Meditation and Creative Practice and Mental Health: For James, meditation has been instrumental in every aspect of his life. But as far as zealots go, he is palatable and gentle. In fact, he claims that meditation should probably come with a warning label on the bottle. Like it can blow your life apart, especially if you throw in psychedelics. More on that later.

Can Meditation Help With Challenging Mind States? Sure, but in an acute mental health crisis, meditation may not be your thing, and it’s certainly not a cure. Doctors and therapists and collages and gardening, these are all great too. Erica loves collages. And library books.

Three Buddhist Phrases to Describe James’s Awakening-Slash-That-Time-When-Meditation-and Psychedelics Blew Up His Life

Good in the beginning. Good in the middle. Good in the end.

It’s best not to start, but if you do start, it’s best to finish.

Once you get the message, hang up the phone.

We dove pretty deep into drugs and meditation and awakening but James also had a lot to say about art and creativity. James is impressively disciplined about facing the blank page and perservering until you can’t criticize yourself because you forget that you’re a person trying to make a thing. The experts call this the flow state. And while James’ commitment and body of work appear dreamy and enviable, he assures me that he struggles with finishing things, and that he procrastinates, just like the best of us. These days, focus has become a little easier. And to make it even easier, James just set up a silent, body-doubling work container every day from 10AM to 3PM EST. Hit up a flow stat