Less Booze, More Consciousness: David Lynch, "Transcendental Meditation," and Reflections on the Creative Process
Man, I love creating. I love the creative process. I even love being witness to it.
I got caught up watching some behind the scenes footage from the David Lynch masterpiece Mulholland Drive last night. A movie that left me feeling eerie as hell and just scratching my head in confusion after watching it for the first time. Something had impacted me very, very deeply, in a very deep place, in spite of the fact that I hadn't even understood "the plot," if, indeed there is one. The movie moved me in a a powerfully deep place. Lynch himself has stated that he doesn't like "themes" in film, because making a movie around a "theme," kills a movie. The creative work should become its own entity, on its own, once all the needed elements are present, according to the master. But, I digress.
I was watching backstage, off-camera footage of both Stanley Kubrick and Lynch directing their respective movies, and I just couldn't take my eyes off of them, off of the whole spectacle. I have always been extremely fascinated by the act of creation, by taking existing real world elements and using them in unique ways to bring forth a vision from an artist's mind. Whether it was Naomi Watts in the diner cussing because she kept fucking up her lines, or the crew trying to figure out how to create the clatter of dishes in the background and dropping them from a ladder off camera, the whole thing was so fresh. So cool. So new and alive. I just love the process.
I also found this great interview with legendary Japanese director Akira Kurosawa:
Dehydration and Meditation
I had gotten on this binge of watching directors behind the scenes and YouTube videos analyzing classic films by way of feeling like absolute shit yesterday: tired. ache-y. weak. sick. I think this was the two-day-delayed "punishment" for my night out on the town the other night. Anymore, as much as I love drinking, the next couple days are rocky, and my body just can't handle the poison the same as it once could.
In a country where binge drinking is considered "the norm" in many senses, and being someone subject to a lot of anxiety and stress if I am not careful, and as such, easily partaking in the "stress relief culture" here, I think it may be time for a new drug, man. And one that doesn't include massive headaches from dehydration and extreme fatigue. The cycle just isn't working for me anymore. I need to meditate. Find a new way to dissipate stress, and one that doesn't make me feel like shit afterward. :)
Tying this all together for me last night, and piquing my interest, was hearing David Lynch talk about TM, or transcendental meditation. That, and watching videos on headache relief telling me to drink more water.
Check this out:
Two things that bother me:
If so many celebrities and famous individuals are doing this, and they are becoming so conscious and aware, why aren't they calling out the powers that be for their mass murder? Maybe they are, and I am just unaware. As usual, I remain skeptically hopeful.
The other thing is, why must the TM method be learned from a "certified instructor"? Sounds 100% like a bullshit, cultish scam, even though the philosophy behind the whole thing sounds great. If it is so great, why isn't it shared for free? Does anyone here do TM? Can you explain it to me?
How did John and Yoko feel about the whole thing???
Anyway, all that said. It's time for something new. Regardless of any conclusions I may arrive upon regarding TM, the inspiration of watching masters at work remains, and the advice about drinking more water is dead-on solid. Looking to flip things around here now. This is a kind of spiritual reset, it would seem.
Peace!
~KafkA
Graham Smith is a Voluntaryist activist, creator, and peaceful parent residing in Niigata City, Japan. Graham runs the "Voluntary Japan" online initiative with a presence here on Steem, as well as DLive and Twitter. (Hit me up so I can stop talking about myself in the third person!)
What! Less booze!
I’m always sceptical of everything that comes out of Hollywood/celebrities/famous individuals. I have no doubt some are awake just look at Roger Waters slagging the white hats last week however most are narcissistic show offs who’ll latch onto to anything that gets them noticed.
It’s the ones who turn up dead prematurely/unusually that are most likely awake, there is no room in an industry designed to propagandise for truth tellers see Stanley Kubrick
Haha! Love the Spock GIF. Yeah man. I think Lynch is a fucking genius that just got sucked in. Heart of a child, perhaps, and hell, maybe it works for him because of that. TM is basically a money-making cult though. Too bad, because Lynch's films are pretty badass. Either that or it is a epic and elaborate performance art troll.
As one of those morons who fails to drink enough water and someone ends up getting nasty fucking headaches every few days, this post was a good reminder...brb, ahhh, delicious glass of water. No headache tomorrow for this MF.
Not big on gurus, certified instructors, experts or any of that type of shit. I think the better way to learn is by wandering far and wide, exploring a vast number of people who are knowledgeable in an area. In doing so, you can discover the "inbetweens" those little places of cognition and experience that may lie in the middle between one "experts" perception and another "experts" perception. We don't all live on the same wavelength and don't necessarily experience reality in the same manner. No one individual is going to be able to speak some sort of perfect truth to you for your reality. Many instructors, many advisers, many experiences in order to arrive at yours.
Agree 100%. And should know better by now. I think there may indeed be something to quieting the mind with a noice, vibration, or mantra, but it’s bullshit anytime anyone says “you need” something outside yourself. Especially when the group providing the service for cash is adamant that “it’s all within!”
Sadly it seems like the mega creative and thus (somewhat “gullible”) Lynch has been roped into all this.
I hear you on the noise, vibration, etc. I tend to gravitate toward some sort of audible focal point because (at least for me) it helps me to mute some chatter and sharpen my focus leading into a meditation.
We all have blinders on (whether we think we do and whether we like it or not) and a limited amount of time so no one is immune to being caught off-guard or suckered into a false practice or a reality in a tiny, cordoned-off space.
Lynch is an "interesting" character here. A very capitalist TM...didn't realize (until now) that he has his own brand of special organic coffee blends available on his website and at Amazon's Whole Foods...looks like his brain is very enlightened in the realm of marketing the piss out of some coffee beans. We all need some bucks and some caffeine, no judging on this end ;)
btw, couldn't listen to it all, but this transistor radio podcast is pretty good (the portion I listened to)
I think TM is meditation with a layer of infomercial. There’s hardly anything different between it and most common meditation initiations- be still and focus on a mantra. I’m writing about a few distinctly different types of meditation, feel free to check it out if moving meditations and introspective practice appeals for a new buzz. Thanks for a couple great videos!
“meditation with a layer of infomercial..”
😂
Seems pretty apt. Thank you for the heads up on your writings. I’ll check them out.
not exactly sure why TM isn't shared for free as i've never been to one of the events or tried it! there are some other ones that are though. like vipassana meditation which holds free (donation based, but no obligation to donate) retreats all over the world. i've been to quite a few and helped serve at some and they're really awesome! vipassana was created by this guy called goenka who basically just is in a long line of meditating people in india. it's not a new technique, but they way they're sharing it is. highly recommend if you wanna get into it!
I've been experimenting with diet changes and some meditation dabbling myself thanks to Sam Harris' passionate opinions about its benefits. I don't EVEN qualify as a beginner on the subject but I can, I think, confirm its usefulness for my well being already. Now if only I could stop drinking....
For some balance:
(I do like their stance on encouraging greater consciousness in military personnel)
I define a 'good person' as somebody who is fully conscious of their own limitations. They know their strengths, but they also know their 'shadow' - they know their weaknesses. In other words, they understand that there is no good without bad. Good and evil are really one, but we have broken them up in our consciousness. We polarize them.