Remembering David Lynch — Producer's Cut

Summary

Wild Card with Rachel Martin: Remembering David Lynch — Producer's Cut

Release Date: January 16, 2025

Introduction

In this poignant episode of Wild Card with Rachel Martin, host Rachel Martin engages in a deeply personal and revealing conversation with the late filmmaker David Lynch. Recorded in June of the previous year, this producer's cut offers fans an intimate glimpse into Lynch's thoughts, creative processes, and philosophical musings, capturing the essence of his unique perspective on life and art.

Opening Reflections

Rachel Martin opens the episode with a heartfelt reflection on David Lynch's passing. She recounts a conversation with a friend just hours before learning of his death, highlighting Lynch's unpredictable and original nature. Martin emphasizes the significance of his final year's conversations, stating:

"His memories, observations about the human condition, all of it takes on heightened significance now. And of course, that voice, right? He wasn't just an original artist, he was an original human being."
(00:17)

She introduces the episode by referencing their interview from June, setting the stage for an exploration of Lynch's inner world and creative genius.

Exploring Creativity and New Musical Ventures

David Lynch delves into his creative philosophy, describing ideas as "fish" he aims to catch. When asked about his approach to selecting and nurturing these ideas, he eloquently states:

"Love drives the boat. Many ideas come, thousands, but some come that are very special, and we fall in love with those ideas."
(04:10)

Lynch discusses his latest musical collaboration, "Cellophane Memories," emphasizing his passion for experimenting with sound. He reveals how initial dissonance gave way to beauty over multiple listens:

"This is not first hearing it total bullshit. Second hearing a little bit less. Third hearing beauty. It just clicked as being like a friend."
(06:01)

The Card Game: Memories, Insights, Beliefs

A signature segment of Wild Card involves drawing cards to navigate the conversation through Memories, Insights, and Beliefs. Lynch engages enthusiastically, ready to delve into personal anecdotes and profound insights.

Round One: Memories

1. Choosing a Different Path
   Lynch recounts a transformative moment in his youth that set him on a divergent path from his parents:

   "I wanted to be a painter, only that. And so my father being a research scientist... I never really wanted to be that either."
   (08:03)

   He reflects on parental dissuasion, attributing his success to unwavering passion and fate:

   "You can't dissuade someone from, you know, a thing like that. So they... some people get red lights and some people get green lights."
   (10:05)

2. Teenage Rebellion
   Lynch shares how he managed multiple facets of his life, leading to psychosomatic symptoms that inadvertently kept him out of the Vietnam draft:

   "I lived three lives... I developed spasms of the intestines... it was a psychosomatic disease."
   (10:53)

   This revelation underscores his dedication to art and the lengths he went to preserve his creative sanctuary.

Round Two: Insights

1. Expression of Love
   Lynch identifies a personal growth area:

   "I'm trying to get better at putting yourself in the shoes of others."
   (16:34)

   He elaborates on the importance of empathy in fostering genuine connections.

2. Taking Less Seriously
   In a profound statement, Lynch encapsulates his life philosophy:

   "Everything. I've learned that life is such a gift and can be enjoyed. And it's all okay. It's all okay. Everything is beautiful."
   (17:36)

   He ties this perspective to his lifelong practice of Transcendental Meditation, advocating for inner happiness as a remedy to suffering:

   "Deep, deep within every human being is this unbounded ocean of consciousness... Happy people just a bubble of happiness. If it's so intense, the happiness, it won't allow you to suffer."
   (18:17)

Round Three: Beliefs

1. Premonitions
   Lynch shares an uncanny premonition related to his work on The Elephant Man:

   "I saw this thing and it was over. Then I came out and I said, oh. And they looked at me and I said, the makeup is going to fail."
   (24:56)

   This story highlights his intuitive connection to his craft.

2. Experiencing Awe
   Describing a transcendent moment during his first meditation session, Lynch conveys the profound bliss he felt:

   "Bliss, the bliss that make you cry. So beautiful, so powerful... Transcendental meditation is garbage going out, gold coming in."
   (27:16)

   He passionately advocates for Transcendental Meditation, emphasizing its transformative power.

3. Beliefs About Afterlife
   Extending the conversation beyond the original interview, Lynch shares his beliefs about consciousness and the afterlife:

   "Consciousness lives on. The body is like a car, and the driver is the soul or... the soul... the consciousness... it's eternal."
   (33:49)

   He describes consciousness as the fundamental essence of life, eternal and divine in nature.

Final Reflections and Conclusion

As the conversation draws to a close, Lynch reflects on a particularly blissful memory that epitomizes his quest for inner peace:

"I saw I was balloon filled with bliss. I was filled with so much bliss."
(30:04)

Rachel Martin shares her appreciation for Lynch's insights, underscoring the depth and sincerity of their dialogue. Lynch reiterates the importance of meditation in his life, inviting listeners to explore Transcendental Meditation as a pathway to personal bliss and creativity.

Notable Quotes

• On Life's Beauty:
  "Everything. I've learned that life is such a gift and can be enjoyed. And it's all okay. It's all okay. Everything is beautiful."
  (17:36)

• On Creativity:
  "Love drives the boat. Many ideas come, thousands, but some come that are very special, and we fall in love with those ideas."
  (04:10)

• On Meditation:
  "Transcendental meditation is garbage going out, gold coming in. I always say we are living, like, in a suffocating rubber clown suit of negativity."
  (27:31)

Conclusion

This Wild Card episode serves as a heartfelt homage to David Lynch, unraveling the layers of his creative mind and philosophical beliefs. Through memorable anecdotes and profound reflections, Lynch offers listeners a rare glimpse into the man behind iconic works like Twin Peaks and Mulholland Drive. His emphasis on inner happiness, the power of meditation, and the eternal nature of consciousness provides both inspiration and introspection. Rachel Martin's skillful interviewing ensures that Lynch's legacy of originality and depth continues to resonate.

Transcript

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[Rachael Martin]

Just a couple hours before I heard that filmmaker David lynch had died. I was thinking about him, talking about him. I was having coffee with a friend. She was asking about how the show was going. And she said, you know, I still need to go back and listen to your interview, David Lynch. I said, definitely she should. But I also suggested that she should listen with an open mind. Don't try to follow along with what he's saying. I told her. Just let it wash over you and see what sticks. I think David lynch would approve of that. To be linear is so very predictable. And of course, he was anything but. I feel really lucky to have been able to spend that time with him in what would turn out to be the last year of his life. His memories, observations about the human condition, all of it takes on heightened significance now. And of course, that voice, right? He wasn't just an original artist, he was an original human being. And I still can't believe I was able to listen to him think out loud about life's biggest questions. Here's our episode with David lynch, recorded in June of last year. And stay tuned till the end for an extra question about the afterlife that originally only ran in a Wildcard plus segment. What have you learned to take less seriously?

[David Lynch]

Everything. I've learned that life is such a gift and can be enjoyed. And it's all okay. It's all okay. Everything is beautiful.

[Rachael Martin]

I'm Rachael Martin, and this is Wild Card, the game where cards control the conversation. Each week, my guest chooses questions at random from a deck of cards. Pick a card 1 through 3. Questions about the memories, insights and beliefs that have shaped their lives.

[David Lynch]

So I sat and closed my eyes, and boom.

[Rachael Martin]

My guest today is filmmaker David Lynch.

[David Lynch]

It was as if I was in an elevator and someone snipped the cables within.

[Rachael Martin]

I went that idea right there about the elevator being cut loose. That's about the first time David lynch tried transcendental meditation. Down he plunged into his own subconscious. And that's also what it feels like to absorb David Lynch's work. Whether it's the TV show Twin Peaks or the movie Mulholland Drive or the music that he's currently making with the artist Christabel. It feels like you're plunging into a dark, surreal part of the human psyche. And it's totally confusing at times, but it is also thrilling. And frankly, that feeling of being in the elevator in free fall is a little like what talking to him feels like. We start off with some lovely memories of his childhood, and then the elevator drops and suddenly we are way deeper inside David Lynch's mind than I expected to go, and we're all just along for the ride. And the thing you learn about David lynch is that he's got a ton of ideas moving around in his brain and he just needs to get them out in the world. Thus his new album. It's called Cellophane Memories and it comes out in a couple months. Lynch calls his ideas fish. And he talks about creativity as the ability to catch the big ones, the big fish. And just a heads up, although he told me he doesn't actually fish, he does in fact, swear like a sailor. David lynch, welcome to Wildcard.

[David Lynch]

Very good to be here. Thanks a lot for having me.

[Rachael Martin]

When you're fishing for big creative ideas, how do you know which ones to catch and which ones to throw back?

[David Lynch]

Love. Love drives the boat. Many ideas come, thousands, but some come that are very special, and we fall in love with those ideas. And I always say that I fall in love for two reasons. One, the idea. And the second is what one medium or another could do with that idea. So you could get an idea, say, that you love, and then you say, oh, cinema would be such a beautiful medium to say this idea. And so it's like a double beautiful whammy.

[Rachael Martin]

Yeah. So what did you fall in love with to generate this new musical collaboration at this point in your life?

[David Lynch]

Well, I love experimenting with many different things, but I like experimenting with sound. And since the beginning of working on films, I always thought sound was at least 50% of the whole experience. In other words, it's picture and sound, I always say, flowing together in time, and that's cinema. So I was experimenting with sound and I came upon this thing at a point when Christabel came here and she sang into this experiment. And she is perfect for this. And in ways I can't really explain. So it takes two or three times to hear it before it becomes beautiful.

[Rachael Martin]

So the first go out, you're like, this is dissonant.

[David Lynch]

This is not first hearing it total bullshit. Second hearing a little bit less. Third hearing beauty. It just clicked as being like a friend. And it conjures memories. That's how come the title came in. Listening to this, all these way distant memories started bubbling up. Something about this Music, conjured memories.

[Rachael Martin]

What memories came to the fore for you through that project?

[David Lynch]

Well, each song does a different thing, but memories from way, way back and childhood memories started coming up. You know, the pictures from long ago became. In front of me and Bright, we're.

[Rachael Martin]

Going to play the game. Okay, I've got a deck of cards in front of me, David. Each one has a question on it, okay?

[David Lynch]

Uh huh.

[Rachael Martin]

I'm going to hold up three cards at a time and you're going to choose one at random to answer.

[David Lynch]

Okay?

[Rachael Martin]

There are two rules. You get one skip. If you use your skip, I'll just swap in another question from the deck. Rule number two, you get one flip. You can put me on the spot and I'll answer the question before you do. We're breaking it up into three rounds. Okay? The first round is Memories, then insights, and lastly beliefs with a few questions in each round.

[David Lynch]

Shoot. Go ahead. Go. Go for it, go for it.

[Rachael Martin]

You're like, this is it.

[David Lynch]

Okay?

[Rachael Martin]

There's a prize at the end. I just want you to know that. So there is an added incentive. Okay?

[David Lynch]

Okay.

[Rachael Martin]

All right, let's go. Let's just do it. Round one, Memories. One, two, three. Which one?

[David Lynch]

I'll take number one.

[Rachael Martin]

Number one. What's a moment from your childhood when you realized you wanted to make different choices than your parents?

[David Lynch]

Well, I was on the front lawn of my girlfriend's house in the ninth grade and I was meeting a fellow named Toby Keeler who didn't go to my high school, he went to a private school. And he was telling me that his father was a painter. And I thought at first his father was a house painter, but he said no, a fine art painter. And a bomb went off in my head, a bomb that changed my life in a millisecond. Completely changed my life. And from that moment on I wanted to be a painter, only that. And so my father being a research scientist for the Department of Agriculture, I never really wanted to be that either. But wanting to be a painter, an artist, just made it for sure I wasn't going to follow in my father's footsteps.

[Rachael Martin]

I mean, your mother, I think was a homemaker, was she not?

[David Lynch]

Yes, she taught English, but she was a homemaker. Yeah.

[Rachael Martin]

So this is sort of a mainstream, normal, quote unquote life. And that's a real different path than that of an artist. Did they ever try to dissuade you?

[David Lynch]

Yes, they did actually, you know, but you can't dissuade someone from, you know, a thing like that. So they I think we're very thankful that things seemed to work out for me. Many, many people have a great talent and they just can't get arrested. I always say they can't get arrested and they got this talent. And I always say fate plays such a huge role in our life. You know, it's like some people get red lights and some people get green lights.

[Rachael Martin]

Where do you think? Because it. You had to have a high threshold for risk to pursue that path or delusion, Some might say, where do you think that instinct came from, given that those weren't things that were manifest in your parents life necessarily.

[David Lynch]

When you love something, there's no problem. There's no problem. You're in love and you take it. Whatever comes along, you're in love.

[Rachael Martin]

Yeah. Yeah. Okay, Three more cards. Okay.

[David Lynch]

Okay.

[Rachael Martin]

Still in memories. Three more cards. One, two or three?

[David Lynch]

Two, two.

[Rachael Martin]

What was your form of rebelling as a teenager?

[David Lynch]

Okay. Well, I lived three lives. I lived a home life. I lived as kind of a school life where I say with my sweetheart, my girlfriend and the studio art life. So I had a studio during high school in downtown Alexandria with my friend Jack Fisk. So after school I'd go to the studio and then, you know, also was a bit of a party animal. So I had these three lives and I didn't want any of them to mix really. So I developed spasms of the intestines.

[Rachael Martin]

You developed a condition so you created it for yourself? It was psychosomatic.

[David Lynch]

I was a psychosomatic disease. Yeah.

[Rachael Martin]

And what did it do for you?

[David Lynch]

I shit my pants. That's what happened. It was a horrible thing. But however, I'll tell you a good side of this, okay. The Vietnam war was cooking up around this time, right. And my father took me to a doctor because this spasms in the intestines, I got a intestinal. You know, one of these things where they look at your.

[Rachael Martin]

Like a colonoscopy kind of thing.

[David Lynch]

Yeah, colon osty and whatever.

[Rachael Martin]

Yeah.

[David Lynch]

And the guy was a great doctor and he pretended that as he was watching that it was a racetrack. And he said, here they go around this corner, they're going around there. Such and such. Number seven is in the lead. And they're going around this corner in your colon following the colon ostomy, you know, as he was telling me about my intestines. Anyway, he said, you have spasms of the intestines. And he said, by the way, I see on the X rays you have a vertebrae out of place. And if you ever called for the army I can give you these X rays and you probably won't be called if you want to get out. So spasms, intestines led to a doctor that helped me get out and I didn't have to go to Vietnam.

[Rachael Martin]

We started at what was your form of rebellion? And then we went to you compartmentalizing your life into three lives. And I think the threat is because you worked so hard to keep those lives separate. You developed a stomach disorder and then you went to a doctor who happened to diagnose something not related that kept you out of Vietnam. Is that right?

[David Lynch]

Exactly. Wow. And let me live the art life, you know, in peace. And that was so beautiful. I can't tell you how lucky I've been in my life, how fortunate and lucky I've been.

[Rachael Martin]

What were you rebelling against?

[David Lynch]

All part of life is a certain point. Children are supposed to rebel. It's part of getting prepared to leave the nest. And it's a healthy thing. It's just some rebel more than others. And I cause a lot of sadness and worry for my parents. I know I did. I had a great relationship with him. But I put them through a lot of trouble.

[Rachael Martin]

When we come back, David lynch says finding bliss isn't as hard as it may seem.

[David Lynch]

Transcending, transcending, transcending. Easy, effortless. It works first time, every time.

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[Rachael Martin]

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[Rachael Martin]

Round two.

[David Lynch]

Okay, round two. I thought we were done.

[Rachael Martin]

No.

[David Lynch]

Okay, come on.

[Rachael Martin]

You need some provision.

[David Lynch]

Hit me with the best shot. Come.

[Rachael Martin]

Okay, round two. These are insights, okay? Things you're working on now or have learned now. 1, 2 or 3?

[David Lynch]

1.

[Rachael Martin]

What's an expression of love you're trying to get better at?

[David Lynch]

What's an expression of love? I'm trying to get better at.

[Rachael Martin]

Yes.

[David Lynch]

To put yourself in the shoes of others.

[Rachael Martin]

Why do you think that's important?

[David Lynch]

You asked me that one question, now you're asking me another.

[Rachael Martin]

We'll leave it. We'll leave it. That's the expression of love you're trying to get better at.

[David Lynch]

It's important to really try to feel what others might be feeling and put that in the hopper to think about. What's the next?

[Rachael Martin]

One, Two. Three.

[David Lynch]

Two. I think I've worked my way to two now.

[Rachael Martin]

What have you learned to take less seriously?

[David Lynch]

Everything. I've learned that, you know, life is such a gift and can be enjoyed. And it's all okay. It's all okay. Everything is beautiful. It's all okay. Nothing to worry about. Really. Nothing to worry about.

[Rachael Martin]

How do you represent that in the face of suffering, in the face of real suffering? How do you tell that to people who have suffered the unimaginable?

[David Lynch]

Okay, first of all, everyone suffers to some degree or another. And the way to stop suffering is to exchange this suffering for happiness. Where is this happiness? It's within. Deep, deep within every human being is this unbounded ocean of consciousness. That field of consciousness has qualities. And one of those qualities is bliss. Unbounded happiness. Happy people do not suffer. Happy people just a bubble of happiness. If it's so intense, the happiness, it won't allow you to suffer.

[Rachael Martin]

But, you know, bad things happen to happy people. Like very, very bad things.

[David Lynch]

Okay, if this is true, if this is true, what you say, and I'm sure it's true for some, I always say if you're filled with happiness, the events of our lives may stay the same, but how we go through them will certainly change. If you have this more and more happiness. So the bad things, they won't be as bad, and the good things will be appreciated more.

[Rachael Martin]

Yeah, I get that.

[David Lynch]

So the secret is to get more and more consciousness. And if that doesn't ring a bell with you, or if you Think that's baloney? Fine. But you know, to me it's as true as the nose on our face. It's true. In my life, I've been meditating for 50, almost 51 years. I've never missed a meditation. Twice a day.

[Rachael Martin]

Wow.

[David Lynch]

And this happiness within has saved me. It was the thing for me.

[Rachael Martin]

Huh? I've definitely. I've heard that. I've meditated off and on.

[David Lynch]

Only with Transcendental Meditation.

[Rachael Martin]

No, I haven't tried that yet. If.

[David Lynch]

Okay, so here's the thing. There's many, many, many forms of meditation. Many forms. And they've all been tested on the EEG machine. The key is transcending contemplation, no transcending concentration, forms of meditation, no transcending even a lot of the mantra forms. There wasn't any. Transcending. Transcendental Meditation. Transcending, transcending, transcending. Easy, effortless. It works first time, every time. What? Get this technique. Get this technique. You'll see the difference, I'm telling you.

[Rachael Martin]

I mean, if David lynch is telling me to get into Transcendental Meditation, I probably should at least check it out. You just told me it was easy and I was going to transcend the first time.

[David Lynch]

You know, everybody thinks. Well, not everybody, but a lot of people think the spiritual path is hard work. You got to meditate hours and hours and hours. We're human beings. We're blessed with a certain type of nervous system that's built to transcend. We're supposed to be able to unfold our full potential. We're supposed to get along with one another. One big world, happy family, peace. We're supposed to be at peace. We're supposed to be like little dogs with our tail just wagging and being happy. Little smiles on our face all day long. This is the way it's supposed to be. It's not that way now. It's a hellhole. But it can change.

[Rachael Martin]

Wow. Last one.

[David Lynch]

Three.

[Rachael Martin]

Three. What? Failure. Have you learned the most from Dune.

[David Lynch]

My film Dune, which I knew already. One should have Final Cut before signing on to do a film. But for some reason I thought everything would be okay. And I didn't put Final Cut in my contract. And as it turned out, Dune wasn't the film I wanted to make because I didn't have the final say. So that's a lesson I knew even before. But now there's no way. Why would anyone make a film work for three years on. On something that wasn't yours? Why? Why do that? Why? I died to death. And it was all my fault for not knowing to do that. Put that in the contract.

[Rachael Martin]

So what did you learn from that?

[David Lynch]

Always have final cut. That's my lesson. Always creative control. Final cut.

[Rachael Martin]

In a moment. The beliefs round and David Lynch's trip in our memory Time Machine Foreign.

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[Rachael Martin]

This is the beliefs round one.

[David Lynch]

Number one, two, or three okay.

[Rachael Martin]

Have you ever had a premonition about something that came true?

[David Lynch]

Yes. Would you share it on the Elephant Man? I was going to be building the makeup for the Elephant man and my mother happened to be visiting and my wife Mary was there and we were standing in the dining room around a dark wood dining room table. I was on one side and they were on the other, and all of a sudden I got a deja vu. And in the deja vu, this past thing came roaring up, which is like a deja vu, right? Something from the past. But then it roared up. But then it started going into the future and I saw this thing and it was over. Then I came out and I said, oh. And they looked at me and I said, the makeup is going to fail. The makeup is a failure. It's going to fail. And it did.

[Rachael Martin]

What was the thing, may I ask?

[David Lynch]

What was the memory that came, the deja vu? I don't remember what it was from the past.

[Rachael Martin]

Yeah.

[David Lynch]

It was just. It went into the future, so I saw it that it wasn't working. And in the future.

[Rachael Martin]

Okay, that makes sense to me that that would happen to you because I view you as a person who kind of lives on the temporal continuum in the past, in the present, and in the future.

[David Lynch]

Beautiful. Beautiful. It all is a continuum. You're right.

[Rachael Martin]

Yeah. Okay, last question.

[David Lynch]

What was I on? What was my first. Was it a one or a two? I think it was a one. Go pick the two, then.

[Rachael Martin]

Okay. Where have you experienced awe?

[David Lynch]

Where have I experienced awe? Awe.

[Rachael Martin]

Where have you experienced awe?

[David Lynch]

Well, many times, but for sure, my first meditation. I could say, let's put it that way, my first meditation.

[Rachael Martin]

Where were you? What place were you in?

[David Lynch]

Well, I was at the TM center, and I'd just been taught, and I was taken to a little room, a little place, and my teacher said, sit here. Close the eyes. Sit here and start your meditation. I'll be back in 20 minutes. So I sat and closed my eyes and started what I just learned, and boom. And I say, it was as if I was in an elevator and someone snipped the cables within. I went, whoa. Bliss, the bliss that make you cry. So beautiful, so powerful. Transcendental meditation is garbage going out, gold coming in. I always say we are living, like, in a suffocating rubber clown suit of negativity. We don't want to be clowns. We don't want to have this heavy, stinking rubber all around us of negativity. You start transcending every day. The rubber starts disintegrating, evaporating, and freedom comes. Bliss starts coming. It just happens automatically. It's so beautiful. Why isn't everybody and his little brother meditating? I don't know. Go figure.

[Rachael Martin]

I mean, I have to say, you seem to truly have, I mean, found some level of contentment that I don't think a lot of people have found.

[David Lynch]

It's all there within. If it, you know, it can happen to me, it can happen to anybody, and it's a great trip we're all on. It just makes it greater when you're transcending every day. Money in the bank, 20 minutes in the morning, 20 minutes in the afternoon. And go about your business the rest of the time.

[Rachael Martin]

Okay, David lynch, you made it to the end. The prize is a trip in our memory time machine to revisit one moment from your past. This is a moment you wouldn't change anything about. You would just like to spend a little more time there. Which moment are you going to choose?

[David Lynch]

Okay. So I was. I heard about this show at the LA County Art Museum. All these things from India were coming over from the Far East. Great giant sandstone carvings. So I went with my second wife, Mary, and my daughter Jennifer. We went over to see the show and we got separated. They went one place and I went another on my own. And I was going along this white wall and I turned around the corner and I realized it was part of a wall that was used to create a long corridor. So when I walked around the end of the white wall, I turned and I saw I was looking down a long corridor. And my eyes went down the long corridor and there at the end of the long corridor was a pedestal. And on top of the pedestal there was the head of Buddha. And my eyes went up the pedestal and landed on the head of Buddha. And boom, white light shot out of the head of Buddha and shot into me. And I was balloon filled with bliss. I was filled with so much bliss. I had it for hours, this bliss in me from the head of Buddha.

[Rachael Martin]

Wow, that beats, you know, sitting on the grass in my front yard with my mom and some sun tea, which is usually the memory that I go to.

[David Lynch]

That's a beautiful memory you've got there. That's a beautiful thing. That's beautiful. Are you kidding me?

[Rachael Martin]

No, I know it's beautiful.

[David Lynch]

And look at the happiness you had there in that. In that moment. It's all about this happiness and a good feeling, a feeling of peace and happiness. This is what every human being really wants where they see another thing is this thing of being an artist. A lot of artists and I had this same fucking thing. Excuse my French. We want to. We want to be our own, you know, guru. We want to be our own. We want to make up our own meditations. Thank you very much. I don't want to join any club. And you know, this is bullshit. I don't want to join up. Whatever you're doing, fine, do it. But luckily I was smart enough to say, you know, maybe I should swallow whatever, you know, this problem I have with pride or whatever, and take this and see if it's right for me. And so that's what I did. And I so thankful I Did.

[Rachael Martin]

David Lynch. I'm so glad to have had this conversation with you and I appreciate that you took so much time to do it and gave such thoughtful answers. Thank you.

[David Lynch]

You better believe it. Now remember, ladies and gentlemen, Cellophane Memories comes out August 2, 2024. That's right, on Sacred Bones Records. And you will find music that'll bring back memories and find memories that will bring so much beauty and happiness into your life. Beauty is so tender. It's a tender music, but tender as in beautiful.

[Rachael Martin]

Thank you, David.

[David Lynch]

Thank you very much.

[Rachael Martin]

That's where our original interview ended. But here's one more question that only ran in a Wild Card plus episode. Do you think there's any part of us that lives on after we die?

[David Lynch]

Are you kidding me? Sure. Consciousness lives on. The body is like a car, and the driver is the soul or, you know, spirit, or, you know, the. The. You know, the bit of consciousness that atma or the. What do you call it? I don't know. Anyway, the soul, you could say. And so the car gets old and rusted and falls apart and the driver gets out and continues on. And it's like we continue on as.

[Rachael Martin]

And have you seen evidence of that? I understand that that's a belief, but have you seen that?

[David Lynch]

No.

[Rachael Martin]

You've seen evidence of that?

[David Lynch]

It's difficult to prove any of this. It's like, this is just what I believe. Yeah, and.

[Rachael Martin]

And that's enough for you.

[David Lynch]

But I've heard stories. Now, also, there's a thing we all have, what they call intuition. And so what it does is like we hear things and we put it into the machine of intuition, and it spits out an answer, true or false. And so we hear things. I hear things and I. Enough things I've heard that it makes sense to me that life is a continuum. And it has everything to do with consciousness. Consciousness, they say, alone is. We can only say I am because of consciousness, which is awareness of being alive. Consciousness is life. Consciousness is that thing, that thing that goes on and on and on. It never dies. It's always been, it always will be. It never, ever will end. It's eternal. So is consciousness.

[Rachael Martin]

God, is consciousness divine? Does that word resonate with you?

[David Lynch]

Yes, you could say it's divine. Absolutely. Absolutely. It is the one and only. It is everything. It is its totality. It alone is. And it's. But there's many, many things to it. It's so beautiful and it's. It's. It's so immense and so incredible and. And we want to get to know that more and more and more. And the secret, as always, it lies within. Unfold what's there within. And what wonders will come from that? Forget it. We're. We're, you know, in a. In a small, dark world right now. But waiting for us is. Whoa. They say it's this beyond the beyond.

[Rachael Martin]

This episode was produced by Lee Hale and edited by Dave Blanchard. It was fact checked by Barclay Walsh and mastered by Robert Rodriguez. Wildcard's executive producer is Beth Donovan. Our theme music is by Ramtin Arablouei. You can reach out to [e-mail] we'll shuffle the deck and be back with more next week.

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