I have a question regarding world peace: What do you think about war sometimes being a necessity for social mobility?

This thing about world peace: I’ve heard that Maharishi had a technology to amplify, enliven, so much unity through a peace-creating group that it could bring harmony and coherence—real peace—to the world. And real peace is not just the absence of war. Real peace is the absence

I have a question about story. When you’re in meditation, the process of story—does it come to you visually? When I watch your films, they are like a meditation to me. And you use colors, and you use rhythm, and you use timing, and you also—your stories are surprising and always revealing. And I wonder how your meditation influences you in that way, and how you convey that on the set to the

Can you explain about consciousness?

The field of consciousness, the field of pure consciousness, as explained by Dr. John Hagelin, is also known as the Unified Field—the Unified Field found at the base of all matter. And it’s found at the base of all mind, at the source of thought. And this Unified Field is also beyond space and time. It’s unbounded and eternal; it’s beyond duality. It’s

Have you ever used hallucinogenic drugs for inspiration, or have you done it entirely through meditation?

I have smoked marijuana. But I don’t smoke it any more. And I was pretty lucky—and it’s a true thing. You know, I went to art school in the ’60s. So you can imagine what was going on. And yet my friends were the ones: they said, “No, no, no, David: don’t you take those drugs.”

Now here’s

How do you find your ideas, and how do you form them into a script?

That’s a beautiful question. I think a desire for an idea is like a bait. And I say it’s like fishing. You desire an idea. And when you go fishing, you know you have to have patience. And you bait your hook, and then you just kind of wait. But the desire is that bait that pulls those fish in—those ideas. And the beautiful

Can you explain how you use music to transform consciousness within your story?

But it doesn’t expand—music doesn’t expand consciousness. The only thing that expands consciousness… You know, they have these so-called “consciousness raising” groups. What they’re doing is sharing information, or giving information. It doesn’t raise consciousness. Consciousness can be raised only by experiencing

How can you just so fully commit to the violent, dark nature of life—mostly in Twin Peaks, I think, and all of them—how can you be so committed to that darkness without being harmed by it? And how does meditation help you with that? 

In a way—this is a strange thing, but it’s a true thing in my experience–bliss is like a flack jacket. Bliss is like a protecting thing. If you have so much bliss,

Could you share your technique for being able to meditate twice a day while you’re shooting your films?

Yes. I wanted this meditation. And I think that the key is this desire for it. And where it came from, you know, I don’t know for sure, but I wanted it. And so I have never missed a meditation in those 32 years, twice a day, morning and afternoon. You wake up, you do your meditation, and

Have you been enlightened?

I’m not enlightened, I have to tell you. But on the way to enlightenment, the good news is: every day gets better. When you experience this consciousness, this ocean of consciousness has qualities. And those qualities are bliss. They call it sometimes “bliss consciousness.” And you can dive in and get wet with this bliss consciousness. And it expands. Inner happiness

How has your meditation evolved over the years—from a different experience each time, or gone back to the same thing?

 With Transcendental Meditation, it’s been my experience, and talking to others their experience as well, you’re an expert from your first meditation.

And we could start talking about consciousness. Consciousness is this quite abstract thing. And it’s—yet the number one