Articulation Of Christianity

David Lynch is not frequently mentioned in the same sentence as Saint Paul the Apostle. But both Lynch and St. Paul end up earnestly articulating the message of Jesus in a way their audiences can understand and embrace. While Paul preached around the Roman empire, Lynch spoke to viewers of prime-time TV. He gives us what’s arguably the best articulation of Christianity ever to air on CBS. Watch what would certainly be St. Paul’s favorite scene from town of Twin Peaks here. See what I mean? And this from the guy who, in Blue Velvet, puts together one of creepiest opening montages in film history. (If you haven’t seen Blue Velvet, or even if you have, Siskel & Ebert’s must-watch synopsis and review can be found here. Blue Velvet’s plot begins in a manicured suburban neighborhood where an all-American teenager stumbles upon an ant-infested ear . Lynch starts the film there, because, more than anything, he wants to show us the startling and unexpected parts of peoples’ lives.

Link (here) to read the post by Perry Petrich, S.J. entitled David Lynch the Apostle at the multi-Jesuit authored blog The Jesuit Post

Some Blogger Notes

Saint Ignatius in his "Rules for Thinking with the Church"  states in Rule #12

"It is a thing to be blamed and avoided to compare men who are living on the earth (however worthy of praise) with the Saints and Blessed..." 

You can read this rule and the other seventeen (here)

David Lynch is a practitioner of neo-Hinduism and is a student and follower Maharishi Mahesh Yogi the originator of Transcendental Meditation and an early advocate of yoga in the West.

David Lynch, who grew up in a Presbyterian family, discusses his practice of transcendental meditation as a way of connecting to the divine. He says of the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the religious figure who influenced the Beatles in the 1970s, "I think he's a holy man, and I owe him the discovery that the possibility for happiness dwells within us." Mr. Monda reflects his personal beliefs in the question that he shoots back to Mr. Lynch, "What about that is different from St. Augustine's 'Noli foras ire, in te ipsum redi, in interiore homine habitat veritas ('Go not about, retire within: Truth dwells in the inner man.')?" Mr. Lynch replies, "Transcendental meditation is a mental technique that I practice twice a day; it allows each human being to dive into his own ego and reach pure consciousness and pure happiness. In St. Augustine, on the other hand, it's all closely tied to Christian revelation."
Link (here) to the article originally found in the National Catholic Reporter

One can not help connecting Lynch's cynicical mockery of Christianity by exploring Lynch's characters. In Erasurehead a character is called "the Lady in the Radiator" in the movie the she sings a satirical hymn entitled "In Heaven" Lynch's clasped hands and blue lighting compare to the holy imagery of "Our Blessed Mother" and the infamous character in Twin Peaks' "Log Lady" with images of "Our Lady and the Christ Child"  or how about Erasureheads swaddled reptilian? (here) to the Nativity? (here)

The Vatican specifically criticized Eastern meditative practices such as yoga, Transcendental Meditation and Zen in a 23-page document released Thursday. It was the closest Rome has come to admitting the attraction some Catholics have for Eastern religions. The director of a local meditation center said that Catholics are very involved in TM. "I've instructed mainstream Catholic priests, nuns and leading Catholic lay people," said Bruce Beal, coordinator of Houston's Transcendental Meditation Center at 2110 Lexington. "Out of the 1,500 people in Houston that we know practice Transcendental Meditation, a strong percentage are Catholic.' However TM, as well as yoga and Zen, are unacceptable for Catholics, said the "Letter tothe Bishops of the Catholic Church on Some Aspects of ChristianMeditation." It was released by the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the pope's guardian of orthodoxy.
Link (here) to the full article at The Houston Chronicle