With the recent passing of David Lynch, I felt it necessary to explore his works in totality in tribute to the loss of a brilliant artist. This is a journey that I have not yet completed, but it has been a tremendous self-actualizing experience.
I am not alone in this journey. Last week, I watched Blue Velvet for the first time. Not long after I finished the film, analysis videos appeared on my Tiktok feed. It was a fine video and a sound analysis of the film, but not long after I felt as though I had been mentally visited by David Lynch's ghost; shaking his head in disappointment at me. For many years I had been happy to listen to reviews, video essays, other people's analyses, etc., sometimes even before coming to my own conclusions about them. I think the point of David Lynch's works — and indeed art, media, etc., broadly — is to keep asking questions about them. The second you come to a conclusion at all, you stop thinking about the work, and that magic of exploration is lost.
David Lynch believed that within every human being is a vast ocean of consciousness, a creative force within us all or — in a word — magic. When you sit, think, ask questions, and catch your own unique ideas, this is a scrap of magic from that creative ocean within you. It's what makes you human.
So please, put down your phone and log off of your computer a while. Go to a museum and stare at a painting that catches your fancy for a long, long time. Watch a weird artsy film and then take a walk in a park and argue with yourself. And never stop doing that. You are beautiful and capable of making ideas that no one else has had before. And that is magical and should be celebrated.
Thank you for reading this kind of rambling post. I hope you have a nice evening. RIP David Lynch.
