David Lynch

I will be very glad if I am a very good actress. 

Spent a couple of hours at Borders reading The Female Brain by Louann Brizendine because I saw Mike reading this book accidentally. Ran into Manda who was studying for an exam in the cafeteria. The book was interesting. I finished three chapters and skimmed through the rest of it. New vocabulary learned: vasopressin, oxytocin, dopamine, and amygdala. 

• You must have clarity to create. You have to be able to catch ideas. 

• So the art life means a freedom to have time for the good things to happen. There's not always a lot of time for other things. 

• And they might agree with their friends or argue with their friends-but how could they agree or argue if they don't already know? The interesting thing is, they really do know more than they think. 

• I like the saying: "The world is as you are."

• Desire
  

Desire for an idea is like bait. When you're fishing, you have to have patience. You bait your hook, and then you wait. The desire is the bait that pulls those fish in-those ideas. 

The beautiful thing is that when you catch one fish that you love, even if it's a little fish-a fragment of an idea-that fish will draw in other fish, and they'll hook onto it. Then you're on your way. Soon there are more and more and more fragments, and the whole thing emerges. But it starts with desire. 

• There's an expression: "Keep your eye on the doughnut, not on the hole." 

• Here's the thing, though. When you meditate and bliss starts coming up inside, it is not as painful. You can ride through things like this and live through it. But it has killed a lot of people. It has made them not want to make a film again. 

• It's a matter of talking and action and reaction. 

• If you're an artist, you've got to know about anger without being restricted by it. In order to create, you've got to have energy; you've got to have clarity. You've got to be able to catch ideas. You've got to be strong enough to fight unbelievable pressure and stress in this world. So it just makes sense to nurture the place where that strength and clarity and energy come from-to dive in and enliven that. It's a strange thing, but it's true in my experience: Bliss is like a flak jacket. It's a protecting thing. If you have enough bliss, it's invincibility. And when those negative things start lifting, you can catch more ideas and see them with greater understanding. You can get fired up more easily. You've got more energy, more clarity. then you can really go to work and translate those ideas into one medium or another. 

• Sleep is really important. You need to rest the physiology to be able to work well and meditate well. When I don't get enough sleep, my meditations are duller. You may even dip into sleep at the beginning of your meditation, because you're settling down. But if you're well rested, you'll have a clearer, deeper experience. 

Maybe even in a sleepy meditation you're transcending a little. But it's far better to have a very clear, clean system as you go in. And when you dive, it's very powerful, very deep. 

• I've been very lucky. Along the way, there are people who help us. I've had plenty of those people in my life who've helped me go to the next step. And you get that help because you've done something, so you have to keep doing it. 

• Softer than the flower where kindness is concerned. Stronger than the thunder where principles are at stake. - Vedic Definition of the Enlightened

• You experience that, and know it by being it. 

• Stress doesn't catch them; it's like water off a duck's back. 

• Maybe enlightenment is far away, but it's said that when you walk toward the light, with every step, things get brighter. Every day, for me, gets better and better. And I believe that enlivening unity in the world will bring peace on earth. So I say: Peace to all of you. 

• May everyone be happy. May everyone be free of disease. / May auspiciousness be seen everywhere. May suffering belong to no one. / Peace.