Pen Cap Chew
Carbonite Member
Nice interview (and very long!). He talks about the internet, DV, etc.
ST: What was the experience of shooting Inland Empire in DV like?
Lynch: I'm telling you Scott, it's a new world. The quality is pretty terrible, but I like that. It reminds me of the early days of 35 mm, when there wasn't so much information in the frame or emulsion. But the human being is a beautiful creature; you act and react, and the medium starts talking to you. So I love working in digital video. High-def is a little bit too information to me.
I also found it interesting that Lynch meditates every day. He has a lot to say about consciousness and tapping into the higher portions of yourself:
ST: OK, let's talk about your foundation for transcendental meditation. Why did you decide to start it?
Lynch: Scott, because I know what it's done for me. I meditate every day, and I have for 32 years. And it's a long topic, but there's a thing called consciousness, and though consciousness is pretty abstract, it is also the ability to understand. It's awareness, it's wakefulness and it's bliss. Extreme happiness. It's intelligence, creativity, love and peace.
Consciousness is the "I am"-ness, the self. Of course, everybody has consciousness; we know we exist. But everyone doesn't know that you can achieve more consciousness. There's an unbounded, infinite ocean of it within every human being. You just need the technique to dive within and get wet with it.
When you really and truly experience pure consciousness, when you transcend and experience the ultimate reality, it starts to grow. Then you've got more happiness, creativity and ability to understand the complexities of life. It's very important for a filmmaker, it's very important for a human being. But nobody really knows about it; we're not taught about it in schools. And people are in trouble: They're filled with fear, anxiety and stress. And this clears it all up. When you ramp up the light of consciousness, just like darkness clearing the way for sunlight, negativity starts to recede. Fear and pressures begin to lift, and you're free to do your work, to get more enjoyment out of it. It's beautiful, that's how come I do it. When you expand your consciousness, you can catch ideas at a deeper level, and understand them more.
ST: Your work has always seemed to be open to consciousness, as far as I can tell. You seem to have more trust in your ideas, no matter what shape they may take, than other artists out there. Has meditation helped you build that trust?
Lynch: Absolutely, Scott. The ocean of pure consciousness is an ocean of all-knowingess. Think about it. It's the home of total knowledge, and it's right there. Modern science calls it the unified field. And now modern science like Vedic science says that every thing that is a thing emerges from this field, which is unmanifest, yet manifestation comes from it. So the unmanifest unified field of pure consciousness gives rise to every single thing that is a thing. Think about the intelligence that's there, and the creativity that's always been there, and you can dip into that. Now you start growing in intuition in an ocean of solutions, so you can see your way into making a thing feel correct. Like I keep saying, it's money in the bank!
ST: (Laughs) One of those solutions seems to be that you develop an appreciation for things outside of yourself, which this War-on-Terrorized world could use a bit more of these days.
Lynch: Yeah, you start loving things and people, and appreciating their differences. It doesn't happen overnight, but it happens, and some things happen right away. The anger that I had when I first started meditating in 1974 lifted in two weeks. It kinda just went away. It was weird. I didn't wish it away or imagine it away; it just went. And so I set up this foundation to raise money to give this to mainly students at first. We're trying to raise enough money to give transcendental meditation to any student that wants it, so they can dive within, start expanding that consciousness, start expanding that bliss, and get on the big, fast train to enjoying life.
ST: Well, it makes more sense to have kids meditate in class on the things in the world around them rather than have them pray to some monotheistic entity.
Lynch: Well, people from all religions meditate. It's not a religion; it's a technique to take you to that ocean which is unbounded, infinite and eternal. It'll take you right there! And it's the only experience -- where you transcend into pure consciousness -- that lights up the full brain on the EEG machine. It's called a holistic experience. All avenues of life start getting better. So instead of taking Ritalin, Prozac or any of those other drugs, you just sit and meditate for 20 minutes in the morning and afternoon, go about your business, and watch things get better and better. For the kids that have done it, it has changed their lives.
Here's the complete interview:
http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,72391-0.html?tw=wn_culture_3
ST: What was the experience of shooting Inland Empire in DV like?
Lynch: I'm telling you Scott, it's a new world. The quality is pretty terrible, but I like that. It reminds me of the early days of 35 mm, when there wasn't so much information in the frame or emulsion. But the human being is a beautiful creature; you act and react, and the medium starts talking to you. So I love working in digital video. High-def is a little bit too information to me.
I also found it interesting that Lynch meditates every day. He has a lot to say about consciousness and tapping into the higher portions of yourself:
ST: OK, let's talk about your foundation for transcendental meditation. Why did you decide to start it?
Lynch: Scott, because I know what it's done for me. I meditate every day, and I have for 32 years. And it's a long topic, but there's a thing called consciousness, and though consciousness is pretty abstract, it is also the ability to understand. It's awareness, it's wakefulness and it's bliss. Extreme happiness. It's intelligence, creativity, love and peace.
Consciousness is the "I am"-ness, the self. Of course, everybody has consciousness; we know we exist. But everyone doesn't know that you can achieve more consciousness. There's an unbounded, infinite ocean of it within every human being. You just need the technique to dive within and get wet with it.
When you really and truly experience pure consciousness, when you transcend and experience the ultimate reality, it starts to grow. Then you've got more happiness, creativity and ability to understand the complexities of life. It's very important for a filmmaker, it's very important for a human being. But nobody really knows about it; we're not taught about it in schools. And people are in trouble: They're filled with fear, anxiety and stress. And this clears it all up. When you ramp up the light of consciousness, just like darkness clearing the way for sunlight, negativity starts to recede. Fear and pressures begin to lift, and you're free to do your work, to get more enjoyment out of it. It's beautiful, that's how come I do it. When you expand your consciousness, you can catch ideas at a deeper level, and understand them more.
ST: Your work has always seemed to be open to consciousness, as far as I can tell. You seem to have more trust in your ideas, no matter what shape they may take, than other artists out there. Has meditation helped you build that trust?
Lynch: Absolutely, Scott. The ocean of pure consciousness is an ocean of all-knowingess. Think about it. It's the home of total knowledge, and it's right there. Modern science calls it the unified field. And now modern science like Vedic science says that every thing that is a thing emerges from this field, which is unmanifest, yet manifestation comes from it. So the unmanifest unified field of pure consciousness gives rise to every single thing that is a thing. Think about the intelligence that's there, and the creativity that's always been there, and you can dip into that. Now you start growing in intuition in an ocean of solutions, so you can see your way into making a thing feel correct. Like I keep saying, it's money in the bank!
ST: (Laughs) One of those solutions seems to be that you develop an appreciation for things outside of yourself, which this War-on-Terrorized world could use a bit more of these days.
Lynch: Yeah, you start loving things and people, and appreciating their differences. It doesn't happen overnight, but it happens, and some things happen right away. The anger that I had when I first started meditating in 1974 lifted in two weeks. It kinda just went away. It was weird. I didn't wish it away or imagine it away; it just went. And so I set up this foundation to raise money to give this to mainly students at first. We're trying to raise enough money to give transcendental meditation to any student that wants it, so they can dive within, start expanding that consciousness, start expanding that bliss, and get on the big, fast train to enjoying life.
ST: Well, it makes more sense to have kids meditate in class on the things in the world around them rather than have them pray to some monotheistic entity.
Lynch: Well, people from all religions meditate. It's not a religion; it's a technique to take you to that ocean which is unbounded, infinite and eternal. It'll take you right there! And it's the only experience -- where you transcend into pure consciousness -- that lights up the full brain on the EEG machine. It's called a holistic experience. All avenues of life start getting better. So instead of taking Ritalin, Prozac or any of those other drugs, you just sit and meditate for 20 minutes in the morning and afternoon, go about your business, and watch things get better and better. For the kids that have done it, it has changed their lives.
Here's the complete interview:
http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,72391-0.html?tw=wn_culture_3
