Hello everyone! Semi recently rewatched Twin Peaks.
So to begin with I want to declare that this is just my personal thoughts and I don't intend to ride roughshod over anyone else's interpretation and pretend like mine is any more valid. After all, we're not given many intended answers and that's what makes Twin Peaks so haunting.
I am very into mysticism and the occult, and to me these themes pop up all over Twin Peaks. Not to anyone's surprise considering Mark's and David's interests and beliefs. So let's dive right into that.
There are many times the season (and 1 and 2 too) addresses the path toward enlightenment into Brahman, and to overcome the ego anti-soul, and the destructiveness of the ego. In very classic mystic terms too, mind you. I think Cooper must in order to face Judy, end his phenomenal self and ascend from the dream. This is classically referred to as going home, or piercing the veil, or letting go. Going home is not only coming up repeatedly in season 3, it is emphasized almost every time. A curtain-fall to me, and Glastonbury Grove in general, except being a nod to surrealism, further symbolizes the threading through the veil and exiting the dream. But the one thing that stands above all other in this is the Log Lady and what she says throughout Twin Peaks.
So there are two distinct deaths in many schools of mysticism, the first is the body death, symbolized by sickness and decay, and eventually material death, which is considered to be merely a change of state. Then there is the second death, or the death of the ego, which is necessary in order to end the dream and find eternal peace. Margaret says “You know about death — that it’s just a change, not an end.” and she even drops “There's some fear in letting go.”
Furthermore, in Season 2 she says “There are clues everywhere, all around us. But the puzzle maker is clever. The clues, although surrounding us, are somehow mistaken for something else. And the something else, the wrong interpretation of the clues, we call our world. Our world is a magical smoke screen. How should we interpret the happy song of the meadowlark or the robust flavor of a wild strawberry?”
This is the ancient idea of the screen world, also called the dream, in which we are separated from reality by our egos. Our apparent world is built by false interpretations because it relates to our phenomenal self, our senses, our separation from the universe. We try to decide what things are, in vain, because then we only further separate ourselves. But clues in the dream may lead us toward enlightenment.
It is not a dream in the common sense. And I don't think the dreamer is a specific character in Twin Peaks, or at least it's not the Cooper we know. In the ancient idea of the dreamer who dreams the dream, the dreamer is our external true self, our spirit force, and we live in the dream where things appear material and relating to the ego.
“The beautiful thing about treasure is that it exists. It exists to be found. How beautiful it is to find treasure. Where is the treasure, that when found, leaves one eternally happy? I think we all know it exists. Some say it is inside us--inside us one and all. That would be strange. It would be so near. Then why is it so hard to find, and so difficult to attain?” Margaret says.
Well, because the ego fights back, and can separate itself so far from love and true self it's difficult to turn the tide. It's fueled by pain and sorrow and drives us to despair and hate.
Margaret says “As above, so below. The human being finds himself, or herself, in the middle. There is as much space outside the human, proportionately, as inside.
Stars, moons, and planets remind us of protons, neutrons, and electrons. Is there a bigger being walking with all the stars within? Does our thinking affect what goes on outside us, and what goes on inside us? I think it does.
Where does creamed corn figure into the workings of the universe? What really is creamed corn? Is it a symbol for something else?”
BOB might be a physical incarnation of Leland's repressed personal demons, and then Cooper's. Judy may symbolize the total depression of the soul, the complete unhindered fury of the ego, that by the progressing sickness of the world went as far as nuclear bombs and serial killers.
So I see Twin Peaks somewhat of a spiritual odyssey (Odessa? hehe), I read somewhere that Mark Frost said the ending was intended to be like a Greek tragedy hubris kind of ending.
Right when Cooper is about to solve the mystery and defeat Judy, the earthly tethers and complications sets him back to starting positions again, like it has, time and time again. This is in Hinduism called neti neti, which translates to "not this, not that" and refers to all steps toward Brahman, that are not the Atman — the essential self. All worldly experiences on the path are neti neti. And when you're at what seems like the end of the road, and you think you've figured it all out, neti neti, not there yet.
Margaret says “Complications set in--yes, complications. How many times have we heard: 'it's simple'. Nothing is simple. We live in a world where nothing is simple. Each day, just when we think we have a handle on things, suddenly some new element is introduced and everything is complicated once again.
What is the secret? What is the secret to simplicity, to the pure and simple life? Are our appetites, our desires undermining us? Is the cart in front of the horse?”
WOW! Hell of a write up. Think I'm going to have to go back and read that again.
Thanks for sharing!
I've been thinking about this and it bubbled up inside and had to come out all at once, thanks for reading 🙂
Brilliant post! I've been thinking on these lines for a while and haven't known how to articulate it, I'm just not well researched enough outside of basic layman's concepts, so I'm really glad you've written this ?
Would you say then that a large part of the problem is one of perception? How we perceive the world to how it actually is? Is what we are seeing throughout The Return what Coop, and maybe other characters, perceive the world to be? I.e. the ego controls how we understand what it is we see and we in turn put our print on it in a unending feedback loop. Is Part 18 an attempt at an objective view of the world as it really 'is', just for this perception to be as false as the rest?
Hello everyone! Semi recently rewatched Twin Peaks.
So to begin with I want to declare that this is just my personal thoughts and I don't intend to ride roughshod over anyone else's interpretation and pretend like mine is any more valid. After all, we're not given many intended answers and that's what makes Twin Peaks so haunting.I am very into mysticism and the occult, and to me these themes pop up all over Twin Peaks. Not to anyone's surprise considering Mark's and David's interests and beliefs. So let's dive right into that.
There are many times the season (and 1 and 2 too) addresses the path toward enlightenment into Brahman, and to overcome the ego anti-soul, and the destructiveness of the ego. In very classic mystic terms too, mind you. I think Cooper must in order to face Judy, end his phenomenal self and ascend from the dream. This is classically referred to as going home, or piercing the veil, or letting go. Going home is not only coming up repeatedly in season 3, it is emphasized almost every time. A curtain-fall to me, and Glastonbury Grove in general, except being a nod to surrealism, further symbolizes the threading through the veil and exiting the dream. But the one thing that stands above all other in this is the Log Lady and what she says throughout Twin Peaks.
So there are two distinct deaths in many schools of mysticism, the first is the body death, symbolized by sickness and decay, and eventually material death, which is considered to be merely a change of state. Then there is the second death, or the death of the ego, which is necessary in order to end the dream and find eternal peace. Margaret says “You know about death — that it’s just a change, not an end.” and she even drops “There's some fear in letting go.”
Furthermore, in Season 2 she says “There are clues everywhere, all around us. But the puzzle maker is clever. The clues, although surrounding us, are somehow mistaken for something else. And the something else, the wrong interpretation of the clues, we call our world. Our world is a magical smoke screen. How should we interpret the happy song of the meadowlark or the robust flavor of a wild strawberry?”
This is the ancient idea of the screen world, also called the dream, in which we are separated from reality by our egos. Our apparent world is built by false interpretations because it relates to our phenomenal self, our senses, our separation from the universe. We try to decide what things are, in vain, because then we only further separate ourselves. But clues in the dream may lead us toward enlightenment.
It is not a dream in the common sense. And I don't think the dreamer is a specific character in Twin Peaks, or at least it's not the Cooper we know. In the ancient idea of the dreamer who dreams the dream, the dreamer is our external true self, our spirit force, and we live in the dream where things appear material and relating to the ego.
“The beautiful thing about treasure is that it exists. It exists to be found. How beautiful it is to find treasure. Where is the treasure, that when found, leaves one eternally happy? I think we all know it exists. Some say it is inside us--inside us one and all. That would be strange. It would be so near. Then why is it so hard to find, and so difficult to attain?” Margaret says.
Well, because the ego fights back, and can separate itself so far from love and true self it's difficult to turn the tide. It's fueled by pain and sorrow and drives us to despair and hate.
Margaret says “As above, so below. The human being finds himself, or herself, in the middle. There is as much space outside the human, proportionately, as inside.Stars, moons, and planets remind us of protons, neutrons, and electrons. Is there a bigger being walking with all the stars within? Does our thinking affect what goes on outside us, and what goes on inside us? I think it does.
Where does creamed corn figure into the workings of the universe? What really is creamed corn? Is it a symbol for something else?”
BOB might be a physical incarnation of Leland's repressed personal demons, and then Cooper's. Judy may symbolize the total depression of the soul, the complete unhindered fury of the ego, that by the progressing sickness of the world went as far as nuclear bombs and serial killers.So I see Twin Peaks somewhat of a spiritual odyssey (Odessa? hehe), I read somewhere that Mark Frost said the ending was intended to be like a Greek tragedy hubris kind of ending.
Right when Cooper is about to solve the mystery and defeat Judy, the earthly tethers and complications sets him back to starting positions again, like it has, time and time again. This is in Hinduism called neti neti, which translates to "not this, not that" and refers to all steps toward Brahman, that are not the Atman — the essential self. All worldly experiences on the path are neti neti. And when you're at what seems like the end of the road, and you think you've figured it all out, neti neti, not there yet.
Margaret says “Complications set in--yes, complications. How many times have we heard: 'it's simple'. Nothing is simple. We live in a world where nothing is simple. Each day, just when we think we have a handle on things, suddenly some new element is introduced and everything is complicated once again.
What is the secret? What is the secret to simplicity, to the pure and simple life? Are our appetites, our desires undermining us? Is the cart in front of the horse?”
Well done! I like it a kit ☺
Ditto what Chris Flackett said, though! ?
Well worth reading, and thanks for your insight. I think perception would play a huge role in exactly how this all plays out, and multiple views or interpretations would not necessarily preclude certain conclusions. A spiritual and physical odyssey, linked in ways that might be almost impossible to comprehend, let alone explain.
Point of view and intent could also be factors, once you got into this well, you truly get a feeling for just how deep it is!
Fire walk with