Expanding consciousness

So I watched Mulholland Drive the other night, a movie directed by David Lynch, well known for his mindboggling structured narratives. This movie is no exception. The story itself is interesting enough to keep you watching, and in the end keep you analyzing. The thing that is most interesting about it is that it provokes a superb tension Hitchcock would be proud of and what causes this tension is the provocation of curiosity. Curiosity causes a certain tension. What feeds the curiosity is the mystery. Now this curiosity is directed by Lynch in a fine balanced manner: mainly it is stretched out over a period of time without stretching it for too long. The mystery is at a certain distance, not too close and not completely out of reach. Lynch gives hints here and there but never truly unfolds the story or the mystery, and this is what makes his work so strong. Even after you finish watching you are still curious and this keeps you thinking.



Today I watched some of his interviews and he really is an inspirational person. He even talks about this bowl or sphere of consciousness while using the right hand gestures. The same sphere I wrote about in my last post. Lynch is saying that everyone has a certain size of a sphere and by making it grow it will lead you to reaching your full potential. One of the advantages is that you are able to catch ideas that lie at a deeper level. The way he goes about expanding his sphere is by Transcendental Meditation (TM), by turning and diving inwards, not outwards. He truly experiences it as a way that leads to bliss, enlightment, unity and oneness, as a connection with the ether, and believes it is a way that can lead to world peace. He even set up the David Lynch foundation for consciousness-based education and world peace with the message "change begins within".

I believe there must be other ways of by expanding your consciousness. We experience new things in our waking life every day, while some are more life changing than the other, they sure can have an impact on ourselves. Exchanging ideas for example. When two spheres touch upon eachother don't they leave their traces? I suspect it is a matter of preference between directing your consciousness inward or outward, although both are valuable. I think it is a matter of finding a balance between the two. Now art is a way of getting something out in the world. It is directed outwards, not inwards like TM is. TM seems antithetical to the outward social activism and the social movements in trying to establish peace. But as Lynch says TM is going for the root of the problem, not the level of the problem itself. I'd say they both do their part in a different way, they are all about spreading awareness. At least we now have something to think about, same goes for Mulholland Drive...