""I brought you a treat," Ben Sinclair says as we settle onto a bench in a shady grove within the gates of the Self-Realization Fellowship Lake Shrine on a balmy January afternoon in Los Angeles. Once a hilltop hotel, the estate and its gardens were converted in 1950 into a spiritual center by the yogi Paramahansa Yogananda. Today, monks in ocher robes stroll the sprawling, verdant grounds. Sinclair hands me two kishu mandarins and a Fuji-apple Spindrift, a "rare flavor" he orders online."
"These days, he lives with his girlfriend, chef and cookbook author Jess Damuck, in L.A., where he's trying out a new form of enlightened navel-gazing: Substack. Sinclair launched his Low Maintenance newsletter in December to narrate his attempts to quit smoking weed; he compares the drug's hold on him to the intense pull of "a new savory flavor of Chex Mix." He tells me he recently tried to resist the Buffalo-sandwich variety. "I'm like, Oh, maybe I'm not going to do it today," he says."
Ben Sinclair visits the Self-Realization Fellowship Lake Shrine and shares small offerings while monks patrol the grounds. His spiritual exploration continued after the end of High Maintenance and has included time with Hare Krishna temples, Ram Dass followers, and the Rajneesh movement. He lives in Los Angeles with his girlfriend, Jess Damuck, and has launched a Substack called Low Maintenance to chronicle efforts to quit smoking weed. He compares the drug's pull to craving a new savory snack flavor, admits recent lapses, and acknowledges a likely return to cannabis despite trying to resist.
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