Around the dinner table, the conversation was lively. Thank you but for now, the forum has been archived.
Maybe the whole atomic age thing in Part 8 is a big clue to this, and perhaps all of these spiritual beings/lodges, etc. didn't exist before then, but....
Seriously, if they were around before Edison/Tesla, what did the lodges do? We've seen people come and go through electrical outlets, Naido pulling a lever that led to electric shocks, the Fireman's crib with a record player and movie screen. A lot of the lodges' worlds seem to run on electricity.
I'm just imagining the lodges being upgraded over the years. Some handyman comes through, does some work for a few days, then as he's getting ready to leave chirpily says, "Electricity's all installed! You should be able to use one of them fancy gramophones now, and pop back & forth to Earth with no problem!"
Maybe the whole atomic age thing in Part 8 is a big clue to this, and perhaps all of these spiritual beings/lodges, etc. didn't exist before then, but....
Seriously, if they were around before Edison/Tesla, what did the lodges do? We've seen people come and go through electrical outlets, Naido pulling a lever that led to electric shocks, the Fireman's crib with a record player and movie screen. A lot of the lodges' worlds seem to run on electricity.
I'm just imagining the lodges being upgraded over the years. Some handyman comes through, does some work for a few days, then as he's getting ready to leave chirpily says, "Electricity's all installed! You should be able to use one of them fancy gramophones now, and pop back & forth to Earth with no problem!"
Static electricity ( e.g. lightning ) is what I imagine is implied by Hawk's map ... Lightning, to my knowledge, is how forests were regenerated via wildfire before humans were around to start fires.
I don't think Lynch is implying that "history" or "modernity" as such began with the Trinity test. Rather, I think he is identifying it the impetus for a radical acceleration in chaos (and, clearly, evil) in the world. This is in keeping with scientific/philosophical consensus about the "anthropocene" epoch of geological time-- the era in which the earth's material composition was decisively shaped by the presence of humans.
I'll repeat what I've said elsewhere on the forum: beware all who are inclined to take Part 8 as gospel... I think it is more of a poetic expression of the TP "origin story" than a literal account of where this all began--
This, I hope, will help folks anticipate a lack of explicit resolution/explanation, if that's what's in store for us. At least, that's what I anticipate, FWIW.
Ok, Part 8 aside, what about the electrical digs of the black and white lodges? Lamps, gramophones, movie screens, etc.?
There was always electricity. Lightning and static, as mentioned. The lodges have their own rules and metaphors (there are no giant outlets in our world either). But keeep in mind, the lodges also operate outside of TIME. So "before" isn't really a thing there.
Ok, Part 8 aside, what about the electrical digs of the black and white lodges? Lamps, gramophones, movie screens, etc.?
Sorry, Matthew-- I may have not understood your original question. or perhaps we are otherwise talking past each other.
If it is all a poetic/mythological expression of "modernity" -- or the acceleration thereof in the past 150 years-- then it makes sense to me that its metaphorical vocabulary should use artifacts of the technologies that have marked out the distance of our present from previous eras in human history.
I wouldn't be surprised if we don't see a typewriter soon, one of Lynch's favorite technological fetish objects.
[Edit: wait, we already did, in Part 8 when Abe Lincoln enters the Radio Station and the poor secretary.... ]
There was always electricity. Lightning and static, as mentioned. The lodges have their own rules and metaphors (there are no giant outlets in our world either). But keeep in mind, the lodges also operate outside of TIME. So "before" isn't really a thing there.
You beat me to the punch, MJ. Thanks
There was always electricity. Lightning and static, as mentioned. The lodges have their own rules and metaphors (there are no giant outlets in our world either). But keeep in mind, the lodges also operate outside of TIME. So "before" isn't really a thing there.
You beat me to the punch, MJ. Thanks
I am sure you would have been incisive and articulate! Sorry...(-;
There was always electricity. Lightning and static, as mentioned. The lodges have their own rules and metaphors (there are no giant outlets in our world either). But keeep in mind, the lodges also operate outside of TIME. So "before" isn't really a thing there.
You beat me to the punch, MJ. Thanks
I am sure you would have been incisive and articulate! Sorry...(-;
... if often verbose and stream-of-consciousness-ish!
Matthew - consider those things as a human attempt to impose their own cultural referents on things that cannot be named or understood.
Years ago, people used to believe they were tormented by demons at night. Nowadays, in Western cultures, it's more likely they think they were kidnapped by aliens. What were once angels streaming across the sky are now UFOs.
We see everything in terms of what we understand and, confronted with something completely different, beyond our understanding, we impose our own cultural backgrounds as explanation. Evolution teaches that a wrong guess is usually better than a slow one.
Matthew - consider those things as a human attempt to impose their own cultural referents on things that cannot be named or understood.
Years ago, people used to believe they were tormented by demons at night. Nowadays, in Western cultures, it's more likely they think they were kidnapped by aliens. What were once angels streaming across the sky are now UFOs.
We see everything in terms of what we understand and, confronted with something completely different, beyond our understanding, we impose our own cultural backgrounds as explanation. Evolution teaches that a wrong guess is usually better than a slow one.
Well-said.
In the old days people communed with the Lodges through pyramids and ark of the covenant type stuff. Probably mushrooms and frog-licking, too.
In the old days people communed with the Lodges through pyramids and ark of the covenant type stuff. Probably mushrooms and frog-licking, too.
One of my cats ate a frog. Don't know if he communed with a Lodge but a little while after, he was down by the bushes, hurling up his guts.
Never ate another one.
In the old days people communed with the Lodges through pyramids and ark of the covenant type stuff. Probably mushrooms and frog-licking, too.
Frog-moth-licking it's not a good idea IMHO.
In the old days people communed with the Lodges through pyramids and ark of the covenant type stuff. Probably mushrooms and frog-licking, too.
Frog-moth-licking it's not a good idea IMHO.
But eating mushrooms off of a cow patty is, IMO. Or maybe it was a llama patty
Fire walk with 
