religious concepts of TWIN PEAKS incl. FWWM

[nemo]

Honestly speaking my decision to create this topic was very much inspired by Joel's post on twitter concerning an attempt to draw a parallel between TWIN PEAKS and TWIN PEAKS: FIRE WALK WITH ME and some certain aspects of Hindu teachings which originate in Upanishad.
My supposition is that FWWM contains more Christian-related concepts, allusions and a view of life and reality in general.

Since this topic, being too complex, certainly doesn't fit into the twitter format (which I really hate sometimes) I thought it would be more reasonable to leave this discussion to dugpas.

I have no idea how fruitful this topic is going to be. Nevertheless it would be exciting for me being academically involved in Religious Studies to take part in this discussion practicing my English by the way:)

First of all speaking about TWIN PEAKS universe which in my mind constitutes an natural conceptual unity with the film I wouldn't like to make an attempt to embed the artistic beauty of TP into dogmatic limitations.

But still no matter how we'd like to go away from religion our return to it is inevitable. Maybe this standpoint sounds in some degree partial since I personally strongly believe that the religion probably represents the highest form of spirituality because of the selfless absence of individualistic nature in the sphere of perception and activity which is arguably the prime goal of most religious ethical systems while an artistic individual mind can indulge too much in its self-expression being blinded by karmic impulses which come up as a result of "avidya" (a fundamental delusion about our self-nature consisting in a false reasoning that "I am" exists, it's our cause for material existence) speaking in Hindu terms.
But back to Twin Peaks...while I think, that David Lynch's later films like Lost Highway, Mulholland Drive and Inland Empire can be considered either as influenced or intuitively adopting some of the Hindu ideas - and that apparent influence it would be my pleasure to trace in some other threads applying the Sanskrit apparatus of Indian religious tradition - I personally believe, that TWIN PEAKS still is rooted first and foremost in the Christianity due to many reasons.
I'm absolutely aware, that some of the arguments I'm going to put forward won't look undeniably credible, but this is the way I see things...

1. What seems to be striking in the series and FWWM as opposed to the films mentioned above is the way how TWIN PEAKS treats the nature of our material and spiritual world. I don't know how about you, but watching TP I have not a slightest doubt that the earthly realm and the realm of the Lodge/Red Room REALLY exist having an objective anthological status. By saying this I mean, that space and time (I'm not talking about dreams where your mind can be carried away to other worlds) that the characters experience and in which limits they are located is SHARED by the other characters. Thus normally you don't have to doubt that ALL characters (even the most dream-like ones) and proceedings are real and don't represent a projection of somebody's desires, passions, fears etc. This statement can be easily refuted of course as some people still think, that BOB is a projection of human fears or the convenience store is a place which can be visited only in dreams. Talking about myself I totally believe in a material existence of both since we know from Laura about BOB that "He is real" and Jeffries' account of his encounter with "them" sounds terrifically real being an "EYE-witness" account of a "dream-like real occurence". In this respect TP represents an opposition to Lost Highway where the space-time continuum and a model of characters is warped and fractured as a result of the perception of reality in a form of projection of ONESELF - in case of Fred Maddison - of his passions and desires and inability to overcome them including the consequences of his evil deeds. In a strict religious sense Frank, BOB and Fred can be viewed as people or entities who haven't attained enlightment or awakening which is a more common term in the Indian philosophy. Thus they are blinded by vijnyana which isn't a true knowledge or a true gnosis ("vi" in English means "apart"). It means that these characters are deceived too much by their ego and eagerness to differentiate themselves from other beings accumulating more and more desires, affects (klesha) and emotions and they can't step over them. Thus BOB wants to gain as much garmonbozia as possible while Mike saw the face of God and was purified. In this respect TP does demonstrate an affinity with the Indian philosophy.
But still Christianity never doubted the presence of the objective world which isn't a result of common karmic activity of sentient beings but an objective non-cyclic reality which isn't caused or shaped by our mental activity (like in Lost Highway, Mulholland Drive and INLAND EMPIRE) but granted by the almighty presence and will of God. So in Christinily our reality isn't plastic, frail, fluid or protean, but objective, independent of its perception and thus susceptible to analysis (it is one of the reasons why science couldn't be born in India, but was born in the Western civilization). In my view TP sticks to that kind of perception if we speak about the town or even about the mystical part including dreams and scenes in the Red Room. I know, it also represents the state of mind of people and souls who visit it. It can reflect fear or awaken love. But it doesn't make TP more Hindu-oriented because, as we know from Gospels, Heaven and Hell (I don't even remember this word in the text, instead of which the eloquently metaphoric Hebrew word "gehinnom" is used which was a place behind the city wall of Jerusalem where slops were thrown out) represent two different states of a person's mind too.

Besides even if we talk about dreams, we all know, that many of them don't represent any subjective sensual emotional state of a TP character, but refer to the actual events which REALLY took place like the meeting of Laura with Cooper or Laura's dream in FWWM. What I take as a turning point in FWWM which bridges it with Lost Highway and later works is that juxtaposition or overlapping of Laura's spiritual reality where she just appeares in the Lodge and Cooper's reality related to the later development of the story (it's like Fred meeting Rene or himself at the end of the film).
Thus the future meets the past at one point.

To put it shortly the world of TP demonstrates an objectiveness of our linear material and non-linear ethereal world indicating their dualism in their boundaries since they normally don't melt into each other in an uncontrolled flux like in INLAND EMPIRE or even in Lost Highway and Mulholland Drive where the characters are lost indulging in a dreamy "maya" and reconstructing their mental scenarios.

I would agree with Joel like probably all TP fans that if we appeal to concrete references in the series we will find many masonic motifs leading to Theosophy of Helena Blavatsky. The distinction of the White and Black Lodge is theosophical and belongs to Mark's ideas. Actually I don't remember, that Lynch even mentioned these terms. BUT they are part of TP reality and so they appear in FWWM. Of course the film demonstrates a more or less different approach to the Red Room making it as Robert Engels said a metaphysical place which would explain the true nature of reality. But as I understand all these aspects were already elaborated by Lynch in the last episode of the series where the waiting room concept was introduced and where we don't see any distinct differences between white and black in terms of place. There is one space with no limitations inhabited by different spirits where you must know yourself meeting your shadow-self on your path to perfection.

2. The other more important reason why I think TP has much more in common with Christianity than with dharmic religions ("Buddhism" and "Hinduism" are European terms) is LOVE...which is the central concept and goal of Christianity. Buddhism operates the term "compassion" or karuna and avoids the word "love" finding it too affectionate and disturbing the mind because every affect brings the wheel of life into motion (Fred Maddison's case LOL). BTW compasion is considered to be only "upaya" or artful means by which an adept can bring you to jnyana or an absolute wisdom where you start realising the absence of any distinctions between you and the universe reflecting all phenomena like a mirror surface becoming capable to enter "nirvana" which itself means "extinction" (of a wind).
In my opinion in the world of TP the word "love" is pivotal: the relationships between lovers are a heavenly bliss, the loss of the one we love is a mournful purification, a challenge, a way to understand oneself more deeply akin to the Greek catharsis. If we look at FWWM we will realise with how much love and purifying grief this film is saturated.
I personally don't see Laura as a person blinded by her passions, desires or her emotional experience in general who struggles with herself to reach enlightment. The key dramatic conflict here is different. She was corrupted at the very young age. She knew that her life was ruined as soon as she met BOB and probably she already knew that she would be destined to make a fatal choice. With time she tried to persuade herself that she is hopelessly corrupt to be able to sustain her abuse and that was destroying her soul, but eventually she decided to die for LOVE as a song says. This heroic act is typically Christian since it is based on self-sacrifice, sacrifice for LOVE, not for an enlightment as a way to go beyond all affections to be merged into a total tranquility of the ocean of nirvana.
Besides the motif of temptation by invisible evil forces itself is characteristic of Christianity. In the Indian tradition any misery is explained under the prism of karma and total determination. Thus Christianity explaines less (the book of Job is a perfect example of that), but puts an emphasis on enduring grief and pain and lets a human being more freedom. The view of life as a struggle between light and darkness is a typical Christian concept and plays a key role in FWWM. From the Indian (Hindu & Buddhist perspective) such notions as light and darkness are illusive distinctions caused by our mind and karmic activity. The true nature of Brahman is "nirguna" which means "absence of qualities". It is beyond good and evil and a human's goal is to reunite with it dissolving an ego in its nature. Certainly this dogma was subsequently modified but it's the core of every dharmic religion I think.

3. The final scene of the film allows more a Christian interpretation than a Hindu one. Even if we refrain from the image of an angel. The very end of the film is devoted to a hymn of love, not enlightment or awakening in an Hindu sense. Please don't believe the people who tell you that it is the same in the religions of Dharma. It's not! Just an attempt to perform PR. At least on a serious level concerning the original teachings how they were written. And it's a very dangerous misconception, but I'll tell you about it later.
So the last scene which always served as a the crucial scene in the whole TP universe (since the series was so abruptly cancelled) manifests rather the salvation of Laura and her redemption - concepts unknown to the Indian tradition where DIY principle prevails. In that scene we can see the hand of an angel reaching out for her in a gesture of fulfilled hope which itself is one of the leading Christian concepts too. In dharmic religions hope is automatically substituted by karma whose law is inviolable.
I love how that final scene evolves: frame by frame. She's looking at Cooper confused and uncertain. But suddenly everything changes. And that possibility of rapid change resonates with the spirit of Christianity. We know, the Bible is full of such moments of sudden bliss.

Besides the fact, that Laura will be present as a personality in the new TWIN PEAKS - I'm sure about it - speaks for itself. There is no personal self-indentification after death in dharmic religions - either you enter nirvana or moksha (Hindu term) or you go through the cycle of avidya anew having no consciousness. developing the karmic impulses (samskara's) and preparing for your rebirth.

These are only minor things which have come to my mind. But it wasn't my intention to sum up all aspects which is hardly possible.

I think, Joel drew an interesting comparison between 4 states of mind formulated in Upanishad and of Laura on his twitter. But basically I believe, that they can be applied assuming at least some certain level of abstraction. I will try to return to that discussion a bit later for I need to revise some material.
And it would be interesting to make some discoveries and fill in my gaps in knowledges.

At the end of this post I'd like to tell about one evidence more which speaks for Christianity. A couple of years ago during my study I was absolutely absorbed by the Indian philosophy, its concepts, logic and rigid elaboration. Buddhism penetrated deep into my mind, but on my own experience I realized how dangerous any meditative practices can be, if they involve any religious context being more than a simple relaxation or physical exercise. Practicing them your personality can fall apart month by month, all things you associate yourself with can disappear VERY quickly. That was my case including my interest in David Lynch's works. Out of sudden when I was about to convert to Buddhism I lost ALL my former interests including TP completely. They seemed naive, not corresponding to the "real nature of reality" etc. Very dark period was that. But I hope, everything is over now. As soon as I started to resurrect my interest in Christianity all things including Twin Peaks returned to my life. Now I keep studying Sanskrit and Tibetan including texts, so nothing prevents me from doing it but one should always learn to keep a distance and take a middle course as Buddha Gautama tought.

Everything I've said about a connection between TP and a religion refers to some similarities, crossing points of intuitive and abstract character ONLY.

[Odnetnin]

I would be way out of my depth if I were to attempt to enter this discussion in any tangible way, so I'll just say that your post is beautiful and filled with insight. I have noticed Christian concepts in David Lynch's work, which is fascinating to me as he only ever seems to talk about TM (his quote about a Bible verse providing inspiration for the big fish/eye of the duck/whatever of Eraserhead excepted). The idea of love plays such an essential role in Twin Peaks, you're right, and the angels and self-sacrifice in FWWM serve to hammer this point home. Plus you can interpret the entire arc of the series (owl in dream notwithstanding) as being about a love that transcends life and death--Cooper and Laura Palmer.

P.S. Woefully off-topic, but Christopher Nolan could learn a thing or two about communicating this theme from TP; his film Interstellar (which coincidentally also features a protagonist named Cooper) has Anne Hathaway's character literally say, "Love is the one thing we're capable of perceiving that transcends time and space," ineloquently making its subtext its text. Points for subtlety, Mr. Lynch.

[LostInTheMovies]

Absolutely fantastic post. I wish I had more to say at the moment, and I think I will in the future but I'll refrain for the moment because a) it's late and I have a flight to catch in the morning, b) I am nowhere NEAR as well-versed in religious concepts so I'll have to read rather lightly and speculatively, and c) I want to digest and mull over a lot of this before going in-depth. Oh, and d) I am semi-trying to take a bit of a break from Twin Peaks (as I've been saying on these board for going on six months now, lol) so I may have more to say on these subjects the closer we get to season 3 and the more deeply I engage with the show once again. (EDIT: I wrote this thinking I'd only have a few thoughts to share but this ended up being one of my longest posts on dugpa, tomorrow's flight be damned! )

That said, without being able to get too much into the intricacies of the various theological differences, I think it's interesting that you talk about "Twin Peaks" being more Christian than Hindu. I think there's something to it, though I may (hopefully not too problematically) generalize that a bit more to say that Twin Peaks is more Western than Eastern.

But the interesting thing about Fire Walk With Me is that it is in many distinct from, or at the very least has a complicated relationship, with the show (which in itself is very divided and convoluted). I think the Western aspects of Fire Walk With Me are very much inherited from the show (even though the film admittedly adds some very specifically Christian stuff like the angels) whereas the Eastern aspects are more or less overlaid on top of that, as Lynch moved toward the part of his career that - as you note - feels much closer to the "dharmic religions."

I have recently written a letter to the podcast Sparkwood & 21 which deals with this tangled nature of FWWM as it relates to the concept of evil through the character Leland/Bob. Suffice to say, I think the film is very much divided between Lynch's conception of evil in his first set of films - in which it is a force that emerges from outside the hero, and which they must battle against as an external factor - and in his second set of films - in which it is located inside the individual, deeply intertwined with their personality, and in which denial of this fact invites the presence of nearly abstracted evil forces like the Mystery Man and the Creature Behind the Devil, who seem to exacerbate rather than expunge the protagonist's responsibility.

That's not a religious point so much (especially since Christianity's emphasis on sin usually points to individual responsiblity) but more to outline the ways in which I think Fire Walk With Me straddles the line between Lynch's early and later work. Because of its overt ties to Twin Peaks, I think it too often gets seen (exclusively, in fact, at the time of its release) as belonging with Lynch's earlier work when at the very least it is transitional and I'm even inclined to place it more with the later films. At the very least I think it makes them possible. And I would argue this is probably true of the religious aspect as much as any other. So then, compared to Lost Highway and Mulholland Drive, yes it still conveys a more dualistic/Western/Christian worldview. But I tend to think that viewpoint is crumbling throughout the film, that it's a bit like a chrysallis which has outworn its use and which is mostly disposed off, though maybe one of the butterfly's wings still remains inside.

Hm, this ended up being not so brief after all haha - though I'm not sure I've said all that much in several paragraphs! I'll just end by responding to your general points with the idea that I think almost all of the film's plot points which align with Christianity are holdovers from the series, probably due more to Mark Frost whose thinking is far more Western in orientation than Lynch's, though of course as pointed above Lynch's own early work also seemed more in line with Christian thinking than dharmic (at least compared to his later films). I fear this will stray a bit from the religious topic, but hopefully it illuminates it indirectly at least.

1. The literalness of the "other world." I think this is an area where Lynch was exploring something essentially new to his work in Twin Peaks. Eraserhead is a completely abstract dreamscape, with no need to form a relation with everday life, while Dune presents a fantastical universe very much in line with conventional genre presentations of the supernatural. The Elephant Man and Blue Velvet are entirely realistic in their depiction of physical reality, and Wild at Heart does feature some otherworldly touches - most notably the appearance of the Good Witch at the end - but the film is so playful and over-the-top that neither the viewer nor Lynch really needs to explain this realm's relationship to "reality." But on Twin Peaks Lynch began to open the door to another plane of reality, one which - on an otherwise realistic (however exaggerated) show - had to explain its presence.

That's where Frost came in. Lynch shot the Little Man and Red Room as a non sequitur ending to the pilot, and called Frost up to say "there's a giant in Cooper's room" without explaining what he was doing there. But Frost, keeping in mind that they had a story to tell and, as a serialized mystery it had to come to a definite conclusion, used his own interest in the occult (filtered through Western perceptions, and therefore at least indirectly/negatively shaped by Christianity). Considering Lynch's lack of writing credits after episode 2 (only "story by" in episode and Peyton's and other anecdotes about his generally hands-off approach to the writer's room or the conventional process of series plotting I get the sense that he really didn't play much role in shaping season 2's narrative. It seems reasonable to surmise it was Frost's decision to pin down Bob and Mike as "inhabiting spirits" and we not for certain that it was his decision to embody these warring forces in the Black/White Lodge of the show's second half. As you note, Lynch himself avoids this terminology.

Sometimes - and I've probably been guilty of this - people seem to believe that Lynch was opposed to all of this literalization of the supernatural, the - as you put it - objectivity of "another place," and that it wasn't simply a projection of "real" fears and desires. But honestly I suspect Lynch was at the least ambivalent about this approach, and quite probably actually fascinated by it (even if the Peyton/Engels-penned Lodge lore was too on-the-nose for his tastes, although he did of course hire Engels to co-write FWWM). I think it was too new for him to actually know HOW he wanted to deal with it, and that the finale and FWWM are in part his attempts to get a grip on it. Later we will see films which, one could argue (as Martha Nochimson convincingly does) present objectively fractured/warped worlds in line with the quantum view of the universe, but which nonetheless readily lend themselves to purely psychological/allegorical readings. It's interesting to note that viewers who come to FWWM without the benefit of the show often have a similar view of it, seeing Bob as a projection and, I suppose, ignoring or rationalizing the film's many nods to an objectively warped/supernatural reality (most notably in the Philadelphia scenes).

Especially listening to Engels' anecdotes about the madcap writing of the film, but also observing Lynch's approach to the finale (in which, while changing so much of the depiction he does nothing to dispel the idea that the Lodge REALLY exists in space/time), I think it's fair to say going into the movie that Lynch was very inclined toward a "supernatural realm existing independently of human perception" take. Here's the thing, though: the way he actually depicts these events in the film, particularly given what he cut and some subtle things he changed, is far more ambiguous. Repeatedly, the appearance of the spirits and spiritually-charged objects (like the ring) is intimately linked with subconscious emotions of the characters. The Tremonds are conjured when Laura needs a way to escape Bob after the loss of her diary (as well as to discover his identity), Mike emerges in traffic to accost Leland just after he has a traumatizing flashback to his daughter's prostitution (linked to his own murder of her friend), and Bob's actions are spurred. What emerges from Fire Walk With Me, and remains consistent with his later work even if people choose to focus only on the psychological aspect, is that for Lynch there must be a balance: events must occur which can't simply be rationalized as dreams or madness or projections, but these events must nonetheless be at least partially rooted. This is his way, I think, of digesting what Frost brought to Twin Peaks, so different his own usual approach and yet still so intriguing to him.

One last thing: it's worth pointing out that a fundamental difference between FWWM and later films like Lost Highway and Mulholland Drive is that they are more individually-rooted. Despite emphasizing Laura's perspective almost exclusively for much of the film (which was NOT part of the original plan), Lynch still retains a lengthy 45-minute prologue which is fairly independent of her story. This may be linked to the film's chronological place in his canon, but I think it also has to do with its ties to the 30-episode television series with which the show was originally intended to link up even more. What this means in terms of the objectivity of the supernatural is that because we aren't seeing everything through one person's eyes it's much more difficult to explain away as a psychological projection. Had Mulholland Drive remained a TV show, this would probably be true of it as well, but when Lynch reinvented it as standalone cinema, his 45-minute coda essentially reverses the effect of FWWM's 45-minute prologue, focusing everything through a single character's perspective so that the strange events of the first part (the Creature Behind the Diner, the Cowboy) can be explained as part of her dream world. All of this is to say that there may be more in common between FWWM, Lost Highway, and Mulholland Drive than would be immediately apparent to someone looking at FWWM through the prism of Twin Peaks.

To bring this back to the religious subject and way, way oversimplify (usefully perhaps) it's as if Lynch wrote a Christian film and then directed a Hindu one.

2. Your point about love is well-taken. All the more so since I have a reading of FWWM which interprets the angel as Laura's (probably subconscious, but borne from compassion) gift to Ronette to free her and save her life. Again, I think this is an area where Twin Peaks' inherently Christian/Western aspect, ingrained in the very narrative of the show, is to a certain extent reconciled/combined with a more Hindu view. I would argue that FWWM is BOTH about Laura's embrace of love AND her attainment of enlightenment. In fact, I see the film as essentially placing her in 3 arcs. Parenthetically, I've mused on the philosophical/historical roots/correspondences of these arcs, something I've honestly never considered until writing this right now in response to the points you've raised:

- Arc 1: The push back against her father's denial, the desire to find out the truth of her situation, however painful and break out of the painful but numb illusion of her life. (strength/resistance, which maybe comes from a more stoic and/or rationalistic/inquisitive side of Western civilization, both very modern and very pre-Christian; related to the emergence of psychoanalysis as well and, on the other hand, corresponding to the escape from maya although - and you could help me much more with this - I feel like it's far more Western/Christian than Eastern/dharmic to emphasize the pain/disorientation of this process, however necessary)

- Arc 2: The discovery of other realms beyond both the fragmented surface reality, which Laura has long ago learned to disbelieve, and the ugly reality of Bob, which she has long assumed to be the baseline of reality. This is demonstrated by her dream and the picture on her wall and climaxes with the appearances of the angels. (transcendence/awakening, which I think is the part of the film that most closely aligns with Hinduism/dharmic religions/Eastern thought - interestingly this is also the part of the film which owes the most to Lynch's on-set inventions since the angels and the ring's train car appearance were not in the script; so this is another suggestion that this is what Lynch was moving "towards" while making FWWM, even if he wasn't quite all the way there yet)

- Arc 3: The victory of Laura's compassion over her cruelty, demonstrated by her concern for James, her despair over her own condition despite the years of hardening/coarsening, and action to save Donna in the Pink Room which is reflected in several overt ways by the angel's appearance to save Ronette, suggesting that she is responsible for that too. (love, and as you say this is the most overtly Christian aspect of the film and, I think, the most dramatically necessary to make Laura's story feel redemptive rather than solely tragic; although I think the angels correspond in many ways to the Arc 2/dharmic line the signification of their appearance, and its timing - at moments when 2 characters are connected in love/compassion - can't be ignored, suggesting I think that Lynch was attempting to join the Eastern and Western significances of Laura's journey; btw, I'm not remotely saying he did any of this on a conscious level!!)

One more thing to note before moving on to #3: you mention Laura's self-sacrifice and it's worth mentioning, in line with my response to your #1 point, that this is another aspect very much inherited from the terms of the series. Laura has to self-sacrifice, to become a martyr, rather than attain enlightenment in a more purely positive way because her entire existence as a character in Twin Peaks is predicated upon her death. In many ways, the whole notion of the "dead girl" as this pure-looking figure somehow corrupted by (and implicated in) her own death is a TV trope with very deep roots in Western/Christian (maybe specifically Catholic) thinking, with the dual idea of women as Eve and Mary - either way as the symbolic "other." Lynch's later films, while delving into female characters who are certainly torn between extremes, tend to narrate this experience from the confused woman's own perspective, a trend that begins with Fire Walk With Me (although it has precedent in a few scenes from Wild at Heart and, on a very, very removed level, Blue Velvet). So I think, though it may be a bit of a stretch, one could see this as another way in which Lynch is taking something with a definite Christian/Western premise and attempting, or at least inadvertently finding himself, bending it to fit his own increasingly dharmic/Eastern perspective.

3. Your third point is related to #2, so maybe there's not too much for me to say here, but actually your description of Laura & Cooper's moment makes me think how interesting it is that Lynch is in many ways an Eastern/dharmic thinker who nonetheless speaks in almost exclusively Western/Christian terms (Christian rather indirectly, if we are operating on the assumption that Western culture is deeply and inexctricably, if not exclusively, linked to Christianity). Not just the images, which tend toward American 20th-century motifs to demonstrate ancient and/or timeless ideas, but the operation of the narrative. The Lady in the Radiator is another example of a character who reaches out to the protagonist, offering some sort of grace from beyond which isn't merely motivated by the individual's desire and/or karmic law (if I'm not bastardizing that concept here). And of course the Good Witch in Wild at Heart. And yet here is another way in which Lynch's work evolves more toward the East because Fred's, Diane's, and Nikki's paths - and Alvin Straight's!! - all seem to be fundamentally determined by their own decisions and impulses rather than an outside, transcendent force reaching toward them.

And here yet again, to sound like a broken record (in the Palmer househould), is an area where I think FWWM straddles the line.

All of this leaves me really, really curious as to where Lynch is going to take his stand in 2016/17. Will his return to Twin Peaks draw him back toward old habits/thinking? Or will he drag Twin Peaks into his second-stage mentality? Will we get yet another fusion, this time working backward rather than forward, or something else entirely?

To put my own cards on the table, I do tend to favor Lynch's later works, finding them more resonant on a deeper level. Which is odd in a way, as I grew up Catholic and am in many ways still quite deeply Western in my own thinking and approach to day-to-day life, and have no practice with meditation or other non-Christian practice (your own anecdote is fascinating for me in that regard, since whatever my curiosity about losing ego and experiencing other realms of consciousness, when I have even tiptoed into those realms it has been very jarring/discomforting for me).

Yet for whatever reason, the dharmic modes of thought/feeling, in my extremely limited understanding of them (and especially as they feature in the work of Lynch and other artist), strikes a stronger chord for me. Perhaps if Lynch touches on both strands again in his upcoming work, it will help me to see more of value in the traditions from my own past.

Thanks so much for posting this. This has got to be one of my all-time favorite discussions I've had online. I started writing this thinking I would just offer a few scattered thoughts and I discovered so much about so many things in the past hour of writing this. The past HOUR?! Good God, I've got to go to bed now...

[nemo]

I'm so pleased to hear from you Joel, that this topic awakened new thoughts and feelings undiscovered before and I'm glad to see that the topic managed to touch our nerves kindling on our passionate interest in TP. Since the world of TP is complex thanks to the genius of Lynch and Frost, it certainly allows a multi-faceted interpretation (depending on the viewer) both Christian and Hindu which isn't surprising at all, because Christianity and Hinduism as well as the other religious traditions are called at the very least the greatest ancient teachings of human kind not by chance.

I believe, that I formulated my conviction strong enough. Maybe it could be said in a Pontius Pilate way: "Quod scripsi, scripsi" ("What I have written, I have written.") All other attempts to develop my discourse would include only additional references to the Christian and Hindu ontology and gnosiology, what in fact I already did in my first post in a little bit scrappy, unsystematic but at least concise way which in my view enabled me to come to the kernel of the problem - it certainly wasn't my intention to write another thesis on this subject.

I think, I have only to say, that one should be at least very cautious directly correlating works of art with dharmic teachings themselves and not their Western interpretation which very often takes place. Otherwise an attribution of such kind would inevitably involve a far-reaching radicality contradicting the watching experience. These teachings exist for thousands of years and all have their own strict elaborated model of terminological means of description of the nature of "reality" and person which shouldn't be played with. If we stick to them dwelling on the texts as they were conceived, my personal answer about attributing TP's main concepts and imagery resulting from them to any brahminical Hindu school or "sampradaya" or Buddhism and Jainism would be probably "no".

I think, the shortest and quickest way to realise the differences between the Hindu and Christian way of thinking is to listen let's say to the Bach's music for example his organ works (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRpFScfi_wc) or BWV 847 (which is compared with the Passions of Christ: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvmCUx7NdLg) and the evening raga by Ravi Shankar (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Su0BB6cEcww). That's probably the quintessence of these boundaries. Listening to Bach you experience a purifying grief, sorrow for Christ and elevate in this tragedy above yourself in a personal struggle towards light. It's a WEEPING JOY.

Listening to Ravi Shankar I can virtually envision the dancing figure or mind of Shiva emanating and measuring the cycles of life out of a pure tranquil motionless consciousness and emptiness of qualities to which each jiva is supposed to return becoming one with Brahman.

On the textual level I'd advise everybody to reread one of the Gospels and for example the prajna paramita hridaya sutra or the Heart Sutra which is probably the essence of Buddhism and the Indian thought (but it would possibly require some background in Buddhism which many Western people simply don't have).

At the end I'd like to say, that despite my deepest professional interest and love of the Indian thought, logic, its practices and images, being absolutely frank I can say, that up till this moment I've been able to experience the feeling of "weeping joy" only on the biblical pages and texts related to that tradition, no matter if it's the story of Yitshak's sacrifice, the story of Moshe and the burning bush or the prophetic accounts, not to mention the Gospels and Letters. ONLY in the Christian tradition the hymn to love by Paul in his Letter To The Corinthians was even conceivable. I just know based on my personal experience, that I can read these books with the same feeling for the sake of which Lynch created that last scene or TWIN PEAKS in general.

In my case it took time to rediscover these magical things. I think, it was sort of challenge everybody is destined to face.