Published September, 2009
DAVID LYNCH (Page 2 of 3) 
Going back to this fear thing for a second… You make it sound so simple, but a scary scene in one of your movies is way more than just the sum of its parts. Maybe you can tell me something that scares you.
I’m not any different from anybody else. The fear of death is the biggest fear. Everything else kind of falls away from that.
Are there specific ways that you’re afraid you’re going to die?
[ laughs] It’s like, you don’t want to sit around and start thinking about that. But sometimes ideas come that involve death and fear—fear of the unknown—and not knowing where this path is leading.
Maybe part of the enjoyment in watching really scary stuff is that it’s a safe way of experiencing that fear of death on a tiny scale.
See, that’s the number-one key. I always say, “Have the suffering on the screen. Not in your life.” The artist doesn’t have to suffer to show suffering. I could be a happy, happy camper shooting a death scene because it will have nothing to do with what’s inside me. I’ll just be translating ideas. And people can have a scary experience in the theater, and then leave it and go into a world that’s really a good world. Although a lot of times these days, people leave the theater and go into a world that’s far worse than the horrific things they’re seeing on the screen.
That’s interesting, because a thing that gets said about you and your work a lot—especially since you’ve started talking so much in the press about meditation—is this question: “If this guy is so into the pursuit of bliss and enlightenment, why are his films so dark?” I think that’s kind of a dumb way to look at it.
But it is a legitimate question.
I think what you say about putting suffering on the screen rather than in your life pretty much answers it. What would you say to my friend who is too much of a wimp to finish that Winkie’s scene?
A film is like reading a book. You can read a book, and it can be a really frightening, horrendous story, and you can be really gripped by it. But you can stop reading at any moment and go get a cup of coffee and sit outside or whatever, you know? You choose to go into the world of that book.
Cinema can be much more immersive than a book, though.
But books are great too.
Oh sure, of course. Now, you might think this is goofy, but I’ve always wanted to ask you if you believe in the supernatural to any degree.
Well, this makes me think of my friend John Hagelin, who is one of the world’s greatest quantum physicists. We know now that there are ten dimensions of space and one dimension of time. There are worlds upon worlds upon worlds, and there are all kinds of things going on. But a person can get lost in there—for a long time. You want to go beyond all that and experience the transcendent. That’s where all the power is that runs the whole universe and universes. Like Maharishi says, “Capture the fort first and then all the territories are yours.”
That’s a good analogy. You mentioned beauty a minute ago. What’s a beautiful image you’ve seen in real life recently?
Pretty much everything! Here’s another expression, and this one is Vedic: “The world is as you are.” It’s a secret. The world is as you are. If you want to see a better and better world, start expanding your consciousness. All of it’s there inside every human being. The world starts looking brighter and more beautiful and people start looking more familiar and beautiful too. Everything starts getting really, really beautiful! An analogy is that if you’re wearing filthy dark green glasses, then that’s the world you see. But if you start cleaning those, and pumping in rose and gold, then that is the world you see.
I think that a lot of people fear that adjusting their attitude will take more sheer willpower than it actually does.
This is a natural process. It’s not about trying. In TM, the word “trying” doesn’t exist. It’s effortless—easy. A ten-year-old child can do it.
I was just looking at your photo series of female nudes draped in smoke. That got me thinking about your female characters and how they are usually mysterious and dangerous, or at least the keepers of big secrets. Do you think that men are capable of really understanding women?
We’re capable of understanding totality. But most of us don’t understand women. [ laughs] And they don’t understand us. It’s kind of an interesting thing. They are mysterious, and they are extremely beautiful. You could take photographs of women till the cows come home, and you’ll always find something new.
It really never gets old.
It’s just magic.
So you think that women don’t understand men either?
Yeah. We don’t understand one another, really, but you get more understanding when you start expanding your consciousness. Enlightenment is infinite understanding!
Maybe some people have a different idea of what “understanding” means. To me it’s not about solving everything like a math problem. It’s more about learning to coexist with whatever needs to be understood, and to sort of embody it, maybe.
It’s knowingness.
Right. But it isn’t about trying to reach the end of an equation.
Well, there’s objective science and there’s subjective science. And now the two are coming together. In other words, intellectual understanding alone will never get you there. It needs to be intellectual understanding coupled with the experience. The experience is what’s missing in life.
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| lydia, on Jun 16, 2010 wrote:
very interesting topic! i won’t slam | |
| tammy faye, on Oct 14, 2009 wrote:
remember when you had the audio to go along with the article? fiction i think? you should have done that for lynch. his voice is just too good. | | Anonymous, on Oct 13, 2009 wrote:
amateur interviewer? you have no idea what you’re talking about. do your research.
the whiny cunts who post comments like that are what is wrong with the internet. what the fuck have YOU ever done? | | Anonymous, on Oct 8, 2009 wrote:
It’s always interesting to hear David Lynch talk, but this is kind of a missed opportunity having sent such an amateur interviewer.
Example: He asks, "If this guy is so into the pursuit of bliss and enlightenment, why are his films so dark?”
Then ends his own question by saying, "I think that’s kind of a dumb way to look at it."
So the only thing you get from Lynch is: "But it is a legitimate question."
Yeah. It’s a legitimate question we aren’t going to have answered because of Vice’s nervous fanboy interviewer.
"That’s true." | | Anonymous, on Oct 8, 2009 wrote:
Lost Highway has its moments, but I’ll be damned if anyone in the Arquette family ever learned to act. | | Anonymous, on Oct 7, 2009 wrote:
idea box, eh? not a bad idea. | | Anonymous, on Oct 7, 2009 wrote:
Lost Highway is one of his best | | Anonymous, on Oct 5, 2009 wrote:
The interviewers name is Jesse Pearson? Anyone with a name like that deserves to be abducted and never seen from again. | | Anonymous, on Oct 2, 2009 wrote:
i’m teaching my grandson magic. | | Anonymous, on Sep 30, 2009 wrote:
let’s rock. | | Anonymous, on Sep 30, 2009 wrote:
i hope his head doesn’t explode from all that nice german methamphetamine. | |
| | | Anonymous, on Sep 29, 2009 wrote:
heineken really is for pussies. | |
| tanger, on Sep 28, 2009 wrote:
the shit at the end of blue velvet when the dead dude is still standing is one of my favorite scenes of all time. | | Anonymous, on Sep 26, 2009 wrote:
It is terrible how many sick person live in this world. They spread their ivo mind like a virus killing ideas that make the world much better. How many of the wow! they are daing, but their poison continue spread all around. | | Anonymous, on Sep 26, 2009 wrote:
yeah whatever but this dude sucks as an interviewer fuck you whoever you are because i dont want to scroll up and read your shitty name | | Anonymous, on Sep 26, 2009 wrote:
meditation is fucking simple. imagine something. scan it onto your forehead like a television screen. realize the image. then de-scan it the same way. (cigarettes not included.) | | Anonymous, on Sep 26, 2009 wrote:
good point, cosi, perhaps you can get as much out of a walk in the woods as a zen monk can get out of years of deep meditation. but i think you may have low expectations for what meditation can accomplish. the vedic tradition, buddhism, and all the great traditions of meditation prescribe practices and techniques that aim at going beyond ordinary waking consciousness, to experience "enlightenment," a higher state of consciousness where one’s awareness is unbounded, fully awakened, the state of maximum human comprehension. EEG research shows that TM creates alpha coherence and synchrony throughout all parts of the brain, corresponding with the state of "pure consciousness." it’s very different from the state one is usually in during a walk in the woods, which is ordinary waking state. the NIH has given $24 million for scientists to research the effects of TM on cardiovascular health and brain functioning. so many studies show the health benefits of TM, including lowering high blood pressure more significantly than any other mind-body practice. if your granny gets high blood pressure and doesn’t want to take a second medication (with it’s negative side effects), i suggest you look at the TM research before telling her to just take a walk in the woods. | |
| cosi, on Sep 26, 2009 wrote:
there’s a simpler way to practice the meditation without spending thousands on a mantra. just take your mind for a walk, imagine a place that you find peaceful and take yourself there for 20 minutes. as with everything, it’s all in the head, not the bank balance.
however the ’mantra’ thing does interest me & if i had that kind of money to throw around I’d like to find out what mine is, though I’m pretty sure you can just come up with one yourself. | | Anonymous, on Sep 26, 2009 wrote:
To "Hemlocksociety" below, who asks, "how to enter the [TM] program cheap without qualifying as a student," I suggest that you talk to a TM center about that. There are grants and scholarships available for people who can’t afford the full course fee. There are also low-interest student loans (even for non-students) from CitiBank.
If a person is willing to pay the course fee, it means they appreciate TM and will more likely commit themselves to actually practicing it twice a day and following through, and thereby enjoy the full benefit.
TM is non-profit, but there has to be a course fee to make the organization sustainable.
My wife teaches TM (I practice it, too), and they always tell people that anyone who wants to learn should be able to learn and not be prevented by finances, so they will work with you to help you learn.
There’s no other practice like it (I’ve tried them all.) It’s the real deal.
If you can pay the full fee, it’s great, because all the money goes to help others learn. No one has ever made money off of TM. Ralph Nader said TM is one of the very few true non-profits in the U.S.
Best of luck,
Mac | | Anonymous, on Sep 26, 2009 wrote:
’Glory Dog’ here. i appreciate lynch, TM, and the above interviewer’s unassuming, straightforward style.
the ALL CAPS commenter below raised the assertion that TM teachers make you pay "thousands for a mantra" or for "a single therapy session." i might wonder about that too, if either statement were true. first, when you learn TM, you’re not just "buying a mantra." you’re taking a comprehensive course to learn effective meditation. the initial training averages 15 hours, if you take advantage of all the meetings and support (a seven-step course, and a few personal and follow-up meetings that are optional but recommended). the standard course fee is $1500, which comes to about $100 per hour (half that for students). but you also get free personal, one-on-one support and ongoing classes for the rest of your life in any TM center anywhere in the world. you think that’s expensive? it’s the best deal in the universe, especially considering what you get: a technique you will benefit from for the rest of your life. it’s not a "single therapy session" as ALL CAPS claims. and it’s way better than therapy, because the technique takes you to that place in yourself where you don’t need therapy -- your true, unbounded inner Self. and the longer you practice, the more you live that reality of freedom, creativity, and bliss in your daily life.
TM is not like mindfulness, watching your breath or any other practice called meditation, and the scientific research on it distinguishes it’s effectiveness. it’s not a religion. anybody can do it because it’s easy and natural. it’s something i’ve found in my life that there’s absolutely NOTHING wrong with. no down side. all positive. | | Anonymous, on Sep 26, 2009 wrote:
a comb, a toothbrush, a picture of jesus. | | Anonymous, on Sep 26, 2009 wrote:
Why does everyone discredit The Straight Story thats one of the best films hes done? | |
| hemlocksociety, on Sep 25, 2009 wrote:
I saw Lynch and his group of scientists explain the TM process when I was in college and was really into the idea. Now that I’ve graduated I’m a bit lost on how to enter a program for cheap without qualifying as a student. | | Anonymous, on Sep 25, 2009 wrote:
hey, capsy mccapserson, lay off on the fucking screaming | | Anonymous, on Sep 25, 2009 wrote:
When I see anything David Lynch-related all I can think of is that youtube video where he puts a fan’s panties in his mouth and then gets excited because they are still warm. | | Anonymous, on Sep 25, 2009 wrote:
OK MAYBE TM INSTRUCTORS DONT HAVE TO WORK FOR FREE BUT I WOULD ALSO ASSUME A FEW THOUSAND FOR A SINGLE THERAPY SESSION TO BE OUTRAGEOUSLY OVERPRICED AS WELL. FURTHERMORE, A PORTION OF THE FEE GOES TO THE ORGANIZATION WHICH IS CHARACTERIZED BY ITS FOLLOWERS AS ALTRUISTIC IN NATURE. IT STILL DOESNT ADD UP. ALL CAPS ARE FUN | | Anonymous, on Sep 25, 2009 wrote:
israel is a nation full of 3-year-old whiners. lots of ethnicities have been fucked over just as hard as the jews. there’s a time and place--this definitely isn’t it. shut the fuck up, please. | | Anonymous, on Sep 25, 2009 wrote:
you’re really going to use this as a platform to piss and moan about israel? take it elsewhere you whiny misinformed idiot. you only make your cause look irritating and creepy by pushing it in discussions where it isn’t wanted. | | Anonymous, on Sep 25, 2009 wrote:
Lynch is a typical shallow thinking left winger.
What unites those of his ilk is that they don’t go into the history of anything, but simply take a situation as it is and say, "we need to fix it".
Commendable but next to useless, and often worse.
I just thought of Jane Fonda sitting next to gunners in Vietnam.
Lynch looks and sees suffering Palestinians and says, "Israelis are causing the suffering, so we must help the Palestinians".
He doesn’t for example, look at or care about statements that were made by Palestinian groups today, following Bibi’s speech to the UN yesterday.
> "Netanyahu spoke of the Holocaust but Israel committed the largest massacre of the century".
>
> "Netanyahu’s demand that the Palestinians recognize Israel as a Jewish state is unacceptable"
>
> "Palestine has never been Jewish land".
The above comments are in line with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s denial of the Holocaust, and display an ignorance that is brought about by blinkered fanaticism.
Who is Bibi supposed to talk to, and about what?
How does Lynch want to help them?
In short, he is a terrible advertisement for meditation.
Mike | | | Next 30 comments > |
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