When you list your favorite directors, authors, painters or musicians, you are not commenting on them and their skills – you are commenting on yourself and your taste. Just to get this out of the way, David Lynch is not my favorite director, but I feel like he has taught me the most.
Much more important than being someone’s favorite, the man has influenced literally every person I’ve ever loved – whether they love it or hate it, my people are rarely neutral to his body of work. We’ve shared so many memories of Twin Peaks alone – as a child, taking a scary and forbidden peek through the keyhole while my parents were watching; and as a growing and/or grown person, with close friends in a little cozy bar that for a time we could call our own. When I was reading Cooper’s diary and my dog ate it, but gently enough so that I could finish it.
When he passed, I felt his loss deeply, and I believe this to be true for a lot of other people. I’ve been thinking of him almost every day. To reminiscence and appreciate him, here’s a list of the most important lessons he’s given me in the style of a LinkedIn motivational post.
1 you don’t need to understand art to appreciate it
Right after I first saw Mulholland Dr, I had to look up what it meant – and I couldn’t find a single absolute interpretation. Lynch himself refuses to give one. And then I kept rewatching it and it has become one of the films I appreciate the most.
2 you can eat the same thing every day
This one is taken from one of his many idiosyncratic interviews and it sounds a bit wild at first, but think about it: if you’re busy or want to get creative in your field, this is one daily mental and physical task that you can easily offload. Probably doesn’t work for everyone – but why not try it for a week?
3 you can fail big and be great again
In 1984, Dune was released – a big mess of a movie that failed to tell a coherent story despite its distinct visual style. He felt that it was his biggest failure; he disowned it and he came back in force with Blue Velvet just two years later, and Twin Peaks in 89.
4 it’s okay to have some stuff *as long as it’s cool and you use it
Just look at some of the stuff from his house auction. It feels great, calming and humanizing to know that we’ve shared love for the same paperback books, the same records, the same films; that we’ve used similar machines to grind and make our coffee, and similar power tools to do similar work around the house, and held similar cameras in our similar hands.
5 always be your most authentic self
A lesson that David Lynch has given us timeless times through all of his art and life and interviews and his being – that you should always be yourself, as long as your heart is in the right place.
And if your heart is not in the right place:
6 FIX YOUR HEARTS OR DIE
7 losing an idea can make you want to kill yourself
Take notes! Journal! Keep tabs of your dreams, trips, wishes, unfinished tweets – write everything down or you will regret it!
8 growing old can be good and cool
Just take one look at the man and his work.