Miller on Lynch
Such a sadness
Anyone who knows me knows how important David Lynch is to me.
As I’m writing this I have a podcast scheduled that I thought about canceling, but if I’ve learned anything from David, it’s that creation can be a balm to the sadnesses of the world and that the joy and light that one taps into when creating is perhaps the most precious thing in life.
David Lynch didn’t necessarily save my life, but pretty much.
It’s 2020, we’re in the beginning of lockdown and David Lynch has started his weather reports up again. This allowed me and so many others to keep track of the days that all began to blur together. This was the first interaction I really had with Lynch; as a YouTuber.
From there I began to watch all of his movies over the course of the year with my Friend H, then I began Twin Peaks, which is now my favorite television series.
From there I watched the documentaries about David and his approach to life and art, both of which we will now sadly be lacking moving forward.
As New York City began to open itself up again in late 2020 my then-partner decided to end our relationship despite us still living together, a DEEPLY uncomfortable situation at the best of times and this was categorically the worst of times. Consequently, I needed to get out of the house to relieve the stress I was feeling.
I don’t often talk about this publicly, because I don’t want to sound like I’m too woo-woo, but it was then that I turned to learn Transcendental Meditation through The David Lynch Foundation which teaches the technique for free if you are suffering from PTSD or other serious mental health issues. TM changed my life for the better and I’m grateful for that.
More importantly, David was such a strong advocate for the notion that one needs not suffer to be a great artist. Art is full of joy, love, and freedom. Art relieves the suffering and shouldn’t be the cause of it.
He also has the funniest two tweets to ever exist in my opinion.
There’s so much to be said about David and his work to the point of exhaustion, so I will not attempt to describe everything about him here.
I’d recommend listening to Blank Check’s recent series about him as well as Maggie Mae Fish’s podcast Lynch Pins.
Here’s a video essay I made about Lynch, his importance to me, and why he’s so compelling as a figure as well as an artist.
There’s a lot to be gained from engaging with David’s work and I hope today you take some time to do so.
Here’s another video essay about Eraserhead, the most spiritual of his films.
David’s art was often dark, but he was light, funny, and kind.
Rest easy, Dave.
Go make some art that confuses people!