2017-01-09
1 小时 7 分钟We went away for, like, a long weekend up out of the city and with our neighbors.
And when we came back, my dad had just left a note and $50 and was like, I went to California, bye.
And, you know, I think my mom probably saw it coming, but couldn't quite believe it was like that.
And we got the eviction notice the next day.
Imagine waking up one day about five years into life, living in an apartment with your mom and dad and brother in the Upper west side of New York City, only to find that your dad has not come home, and shortly after you, your mom and brother are whisked into the middle of Iowa to become a part of a large spiritual community.
And all that goes along with that community.
That's the story of today's guest, Claire Hoffman.
She shares her journey of moving into the transcendental meditation community in its very early stage stages in the United States.
And we get deep into what unfolded as she moved to a place called Utopia park.
In fact, it's all detailed in a book called Greetings from Utopia park.
This is not a judgment about transcendental meditation or the community, but we do talk about a lot of touchy topics and conversations, everything from what transcendental meditation is, what the community was about, what some of the promises were around it, and how she responded to it and her family responded to it.
She eventually left that community, went out into mainstream american life for a long time, and more recently in her adult life, came back to it because there was a story that needed to be closed, there was a loop that needed to be closed.
And we go into this.
Really excited to share this conversation with you.
I'm Jonathan Fields.
This is good Life project.
We're hanging on the Upper west side right now, which, if I'm right, this was where you kind of life kind of started.
It's definitely where memories started.
Yeah.
Were you far from here?