Twin Peaks - Dale Cooper and the Eight Circuit Model of Consciousness - A Cautionary Tale
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 23 ม.ค. 2023
- Dale Cooper, our beloved seemingly self-actualized hero, found himself in over his head due to his experiences in Twin Peaks. This video tracks Cooper's journey through the Eight Circuit Model of Consciousness, with a Jungian twist. I then discuss where I think Cooper went wrong.
This video serves as a shadow-side counterpart to my series on Everything Everywhere All at Once starring Michelle Yeoh: • Understanding Everythi...
States of Water and Mysticism video referenced:
• States of Water and My...
Mentions of:
David Lynch and Mark Frost
Carl Gustav Jung (C.G. Jung)
Marie-Louise von Franz
Archetypes
Tim Leary
Robert Anton Wilson
4 dimensional Klein bottle
Tree of Life
Anima
Shadow
Tao
Richard Wilhelm
Eight Circuit Yoga is a framework we can use to transform the mundane Status Quo into something transcendent. We can root our personalities in something deeper within.
Check out the full Eight Circuit Yoga talk:
• Eight Circuit Yoga - F...
Check out Eight Circuit Yoga Core Ideas Clips:
• Eight Circuit Yoga - C...
Visit the website
sitwithit.net
Check out the Sit With It eBook Summary
www.sitwithit.net/sit-with-it...
Check out the Free Resources
www.sitwithit.net/resources
Watch Bite Sized Sit With It Videos
www.sitwithit.net/videos
Music Credits:
Purrple Cat | purrplecat.com Music promoted by www.free-stock-music.com Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported creativecommons.org/licenses/...
Sexy Sax by Alex-Productions | onsound.eu/
Music promoted by www.free-stock-music.com
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License
Red Curtains - Music by www.free-stock-music.com
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.
Mood by Alex-Productions | onsound.eu/
Music promoted by www.free-stock-music.com
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License
creativecommons.org/licenses/...
DISCLAIMER:
Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing.
"Looking at the world with love"...and what was Major Briggs 'Biggest Fear'?...."That love is NOT enough!!"...
You need wisdom too. The union of compassion and wisdom, as Buddhism says.
And you need critical thought to be able to cultivate them, and get to the point where the intellect is no longer necessary anymore. (Not necessary for you. Necessary for you to communicate with others.)
"Reality is not solid, it's malleable like a metal that can be bent and shaped by the application of heat."
This is one of the best explanations for magic I've ever read.
Your presentation of the 8 Circuit Model is refreshing. Your story of the taxi driver on the dream led me to several minutes of wonder.
Thank you.
heat is love
It's not explanation, though - it's a (mismatched) analogy.
Cooper _dies_ in "Beyond Life and Death" due to imperfect courage while attempting to 'save Annie" (hence the joke "How's Annie?"). The notion that the show and characters are 'still alive' during Season 3 and going through human emotions or 'stages of being' is the basic error. The entire "plot" is revisiting a vehicle through an inverted, dysfunctional dream that was already established in the S02 finale.
_BLaD_ is not a coherent plot; characters that are 'already gone' appear and several behave counter to established persona (Norma and Ed, Sarah, Garland etc) .
Very beautiful work. I think very plausible that the 8 circuits model was integrated into the creative process. As a TM practitioner Lynch must have been aware of the fringe/new age consciousness research and psychedelia, Esalen, Leary & co. And Jacoby's looks (and fondness for Hawaï) is certainly based on Terence McKenna, psychonaut extraordinaire. Wouldn't be surprised Frost and Lynch dwelved into the Leary/RAW model.
Truth is: not necessarily. In thesis the 8CM touches deep realms of human experience, one that would be equally touched by all manifested psychonauts, and independent of their grammar.
Good eye, although it's simpler and more evident (via interviews) that Lynch is pushing an assortment of vocabularies (Jungian, Eastern, pre-Socratic western philos etc) through a less-common Vedic lens, expressed in the language of dreams / surrealist film media. Putting some 8-cycle process in there is not feasible. Here's why:
Lynch felt creatively constrained pretty heavily soon after the pilot aired and the business of shooting S01 was going. For a prime-time 'Soap Opera Murder Mystery' series to explore occult symbols and phases of mind so pervasively while fighting it's own general trajectory (audience and network execs: 'solve the case, already!') - is about as far as it went.
This is one of the best interpretations of the show I've seen.
I'm glad that I found your channel. I feel we have similar views about the world with similar goals to bring light to the shadows. I'm looking forward to the rest of the series and checking out the rest of your channel.
I feel like this is exactly the type of analysis that would be nearly impossible to argue with, considering how well it gels with any other theory I’ve ever heard. The ideas in Twin Peaks are so inviting of interpretation and intuitive to each viewer and their own knowledge of life’s mechanics (waking or not) that even though I’ve never thought about the show in these terms, it seems like we felt and experienced the same show in a pure and exciting way. The way you describe the 8 circuits is not unlike Lynch describing the unified field.
Best analysis of Twin Peaks I’ve seen yet! Can’t wait for the next one. So glad to have discovered your channel
Thanks for the kind words!
This is the closest an interpretation to an explanation of Twin Peaks that i have ever come across & I’ve just about seen most of them & read most of them as well. I’ve been into Twin Peaks since before the 3rd season was a thought. I agree with your explanation as much as i do, due to the fact that David Lynch’s personal beliefs that i have read about are very similar to that which you have explained here & he certainly incorporates that into his works.
Fantastic! Amazing! I see all your previous clips and follow you from now and on!
Very good! I've always imagined Laura as Dale's "Anima" and Dale as Laura's "Animus".
Thanks! That is certainly one interpretation of the term "Twin Peaks" that I'm partial to. Likely touching on that in part 2
@@sitwithit I will certainly watch it! I love so much the "infinite depths" that his works seems to have. So many angles to start an analysis. Philosopy, Psychanalysis, just on the metanarrative level one can write entire books about it. Not to mention all the connections with his previous works that you've pointed out, from Eraserhead to the most crucial scenes of the series set on the stage of Mulholland Drive's "Club Silencio".
I believe Dougie (pre-integration with repressed Cooper) is a portion of his shadow representing the trappings of materialism that, while not as malevolent as the actions of the other portion of his shadow, can be equally debilitating on the path toward integration. As a plot element he was created by the shadow to trap and then destroy repressed Cooper.
Stretching a bit further I believe that both repressed Cooper and shadow Cooper are actually both trying to accomplish the same thing (finding/understanding Judy) through different means, but both fail. Its not until Bob (the evil men do/the regrets of repressed Cooper's life) is destroyed, and Cooper's shadow is purified and integrated that he is ready to begin his final journey toward understanding and conquering the root of human suffering. Continuing down this path, I assume Cooper's confusion in the final scene may stem from the delusion that his goal is to destroy Judy, but redemption is likely the true end.
Thanks a lot for the comment, you raise very interesting ideas.
You bring to mind that the concept of the Jungian shadow - a figure embodying repressed traits - doesn't necessarily have to be "evil" or "negative." For example, it could be a benevolent figure/collection of traits repressed by someone deeply engrained in criminal behavior in their day to day lives. Though in Cooper's case specifically, I don't personally see Dougie-Cooper as a shadow figure exactly, to me he's more like a hyper-intuitive Taoist sage, Zen master, or Hindu Sat-guru figure - a hyper-representation of Cooper's pure intuitive mind.
I'll be sharing my thoughts on Judy and redemption in part 2. If you watch, I hope you find it stimulating!
@@sitwithit Your welcome, I enjoyed your video!
From my perspective I see the majority of season 3 as shadow work. I think it is important to distinguish between the Dougie consciousness and the "Dougie/Cooper" consciousness we see for most of season. When we meet Dougie he was skipping his sons birthday party to sleep with a prostitute. He had seemingly insurmountable gambling debt and was acting fraudulently in his occupation. He was abusing all of his relationships for selfish indulgence. The repressed Cooper consciousness (the one we came to know in the original series) has to confront and remedy all of these issues before he can awaken from his Zombie like existence. The Tulpa Dougie was created from shadow consciousness which had already existed during the events of the original series so any intuitive aspect of Dougie/repressed Cooper would probably be an aspect of the repressed Cooper consciousness rather than the Dougie consciousness because repressed Cooper values this quality.
Oh, this might be confusing. I am naming 3 consciousnesses. The Cooper from the original series I am calling repressed Cooper. Then we have his shadow which takes control at the end of that series and creates the Dougie consciousness from itself before The Return. Then of course the repressed Cooper consciousness' evolution through integration with first Dougie and then the remainder of his shadow. Pay attention to Kyle MacLachlan's portrayal of the character at each point. I find his acting decisions, especially in Odessa, can be revealing.
Looking forward to part 2!
That was absolutely fantastic, thank you very much for this video. Can't wait for part 2 !
I feel very glad to see people using and expanding the 8 circuits model. Although it can be a very useful map, I see it as only the skeleton of something much bigger, so the more perspectives on it the better.
Hilaritas!
This is one of the most original analysis’s of Twin Peaks, and Cooper’s journey that I have ever watched and heard. A great interpretation of everything in Twin Peaks with regard to Cooper’s fate explained. Thank you.
I'm really looking forward to your follow up video to this, your perspective on life really speaks to me on a personal level and I want more.
Thanks for watching and the comment! Good to know I'm not just ranting out into the void
@@sitwithit Definitely not, currently working through your playlists and learning a lot, thank you.
Looking forward to part 2 yerv very much
SUPERB
3:20, Barry Pullman, not Bill Pullman. Bill Pullman is the actor in Lost Highway ^-^
Fantastic analysis! I think the first scene of the TP the Return when Cooper and the Fireman are sitting in the b/w space is the true ending of Coopers story. He no longer is wearing the FBI pin that pins him to circuits 1-4. He has finally ascended into the astral realms or Circuit 8. He has become an ascended master. It is a happy ending.
Thanks for the comment and kind words. There are definitely many interpretations! I go into more detail on my view of what happens with Return Cooper and Laura in the next video.
Great job!
How have you got less than 2k subs my man? Incredible content here!
Wow, man, I know it's cliché, but I can't believe you have fewer than a thousand subscribers, the quality is astonishing and the themes are fascinating! I'll surely check out your other work soon and I wish you all the best!
Thanks for watching and feel free to share around and amplify the message!
Very great interpretation, although I would add one caveat: I don't think Cooper is necessarily unified after defeating his shadow-self. For all of The Return, there are at least two Coopers operating in parallel, which I take is also the case through to the end. "Dougie Jones" returns to his family in the finale, and I think that's as close to a unified Cooper as we can glean. It really is a happy ending in some sense. But the narrative dwells on the ongoing spiritual journey Cooper must nevertheless undertake, and that has no clean resolution. Drawing direct parallels to real experience might be too boorish for some explicators' tastes, but I nevertheless think this is a vivid portrayal of the ceaseless psychic perturbance even the most put-together family man must endure. Tolerating the cosmic mystery, even allowing oneself to get overwhelmed by it, is necessary to maintain stability for one's self and one's family.
Holy Lord, what a brilliant, brilliant video.
Around 19 minutes in I had a panic attack. I have had nightmares within nightmares within nightmares within one night. It's so bad I need to drink myself to sleep every night so I don't dream.
Oh man...
Can't believe I was lucky enough to stumble on your channel- it's exceptional. Cooper's immersion in the One, Infinite Nothing is a stark reminder of the way that allows someone to engage with a land that does not tolerate humanity and also allows them to come back to it. You can't be too attached to your humanity, like the point that you make in this video- trying to harness the source of being without being able to let go of subjectivity is rather like the fire thief in Campbell's monomyth, and you're struck down by trying to contain the absolute in subject-object terms. The answer to Jung's question of 'if there's something beyond subject-object, who's there to see it' is the individual with psychosis, who has a being like a bucket with a hole in it. If the links between mystical experience and psychosis is ever something that catches your intrigue, Wouter Kusters has a book that is nothing short of incredible.
But engaging with an ego that is too small or limited can be disastrous too. It's been a while since I watched twin peaks- I'm rewatching the series now- but a clinging to an ego can easily be seen as a weak or unfocused ego too- observing the splitting of his own psyche into his bad parts is really another step along the journey of rescue that should see him overpower his shadow and see the form of the Goddess in the anima. As you said, he instead runs away. A subjectivity that's structured by fear doesn't know when to go away. Dougie is hyperintuitive, then, and also almost completely unable to participate in the world- his subjectivity went 'bing' and shattered- which does not make him less spiritual, arguably moreso, but means he cannot return. Interestingly, out of the two ways to become lost in the sacred, Dougie gets the light side, instead of the darker side that leads into psychosis. I wonder, then, if the final confrontation of Cooper with his shadow in those final forms sees him become lost at sea.
Thanks for the kind words and sharing your insight. Will take a look at Kusters.
Cool! I was sure from the beginning that Twin Peaks has to do with similar things considering the life of David Lynch. Prometheus Rising is a cool book!! Well-done!
As a big critic/skeptic especially of yt essays, (geo)physicist (taken enough math to know the language of the universe), and TM-er; I have to say very well done. I only wish you could've elaborated more.
"Where there is no board, there is no game to play."
Nice.
This framework is very compelling, when we reached Dougie/Mr.C it clicked "oh my god Dougie is circuit 5-8 and Mr.C 1-4"
I had already read a lot of interesting framework for Twin Peaks, but this one is hiiigh tier
i love this. Kind of embarrassing but i did cry bc of your beautiful storytelling. I wish to be in harmony one fay :)
This was incredible. Thank you! Any estimate on releasing part 2?
Thanks! Progress on the next one has been slow but steady!
I haven't experienced a dream in well over 20 years, at this point.
I know they say we all do, whether we can recall it to active memory afterwards or not... but to me, that distinction matters very little in the end.
This presentation is very well done and obviously quite complex. One question: Are David Lynch and Mark Frost really this knowledgeable of consciousness that they could possibly have all of this built into the concept and script of Twin Peaks? And that many years ago (addressing that David Lynch has become rather outspoken on TM in that last number of years - the original idea of Twin Peaks being developed in the late 1980's)? And if so, one would have to think that only people who study the subject at the depth explained here could even begin to get a deeper meaning from the show.
Thx for the comment. In the later Redemption of Soul series, I touch on your question. In short, I think both Lynch and Frost were consciously aware of much of what they’re doing (that’s necessary for film/tv production for sure) but I also think they’re pulling from the unconscious depths via their own channels (like TM + accessing internal images for Lynch, Jungian thought for Frost). I believe that Twin Peaks somehow tapped into and channeled the same depths that have inspired esoteric/prophetic wisdom through the ages.
One thing that is fascinating about Twin Peaks, and much of Lynch’s work is that those who haven’t studied these esoteric topics can clearly feel that something special is at work. The depths call us in through their images, whether we consciously recognize them or not.
Aka David Lynch had to find a way to deny us the happy ending that we wanted.
So...ummm...Cooper has not integrated all eight circuits? Yes. Perfect.
I think you may find it interesting to read The Hero by Lord Raglan. It is a book devoted to the reading of the myth of the Hero in history, whose meta-typification is described throughout history. This early and influential study was formative in Campbells writings. I studied it in relation to Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man, who also drew from it.
What is most significant about this elder image of the hero is that he eventually dies at the end after partially succeeding, and partially failing his quest. In every retailing, the hero dies as a lonely king atop a hill. This is similar to how Ellison ends his story, which was taught to me as a hermetic document filled with hidden images and tropes for the informed mind, like Twin Peaks. Ellison’s narrator goes underground, and escapes from ordinary time, planning his emergence. It is said to be based on Dostoevsky’s The Underground Man.
Is Cooper the Post Modern Underground Man? That’s fascinating in its implications, too.
Cooper portrays Raglan’s version of the archetype of the hero, in his brash early success and later faltering, complete with its alone failed ending. His shadow, Mr C, seems to demand Kingship, with his ‘death card.’
Is Twin Peaks about the dual image of the hero in the human mind, one with no shadow drawn from film and the other hero, a tragic figure, drawn from literature? It’s a battle of archetypes, with no resolution.
This may relate to the concept that the hero is an incomplete warrior, who masters himself instead of others. Mr C is the higher purpose Cooper cannot understand, trapped in a system of drives which is partially blind. The two cannot blend, and Cooper is blasted by the conflict into many multiples. Any unity that cannot comprehend Mr C is doomed to fail, just as the end of ep 18 represents the tragedy of blindness that typifies the classical tragic hero whose fatal flaw is shared with the body politic, leading to ‘Catharsis.’
I think that fatal flaw we all share is to know everything, but the inability to do anything.
David Lynch originally was asked to direct Return of the Jedi. It’s title at that time was Revenge of the Jedi. I ask you, if you watch Mr C as a Revenging Jedi, with his Millennium Falcon and his hairy sidekicks, trying to defeat evil, but trapped in a shadow realm which is evil, does that make better sense of his arch? Especially as he has the purpose Cooper lacks, and both falter where the other seems to ‘succeed.’ Hmm!
Thanks, this series is very interesting!
In this telling, based on Raglan’s type system, Mr C is Coop’s father in the world of dream, and his mother is Audrey. The hero is born of a King, and a Royal Virgin. The circumstances of his birth are mysterious.
The channel Doc Sloan’s Science Fiction has an episode on Lord Raglan and Frank Herbert’s Dune that is relevant. A very interesting hermetic perspective!
Also can you tell me which video starts your 8 circuit series? Many thanks :)
Thanks for your interest. Here’s a link to the full talk playlist on this channel, there is also a playlist for core idea clips as well.
th-cam.com/play/PLffhizQfqcpTiy12gAxP0ewTpWwGV7Pc4.html&si=_H5jkVOkOWfgNPmT
Thank you so much @@sitwithit
for those doubtful, then think of the mini-brain.. and part 18.. 23.:00 and 55.:00.. sparklers!
Easiest like comment and subscribe of 2024
👍
You can change you core persona but you must experience a death before death that fractures you persona.
Dream logic as well
It's the journey, not the destination.
I think your ideas are very enlightening. I disagree with one detail, though. I believe sexuality (and its development) begins before puberty.
Thanks for commenting and sharing a kind word.
Psychology (going all the way back to Freud) and other fields of study have documented what you describe.
The key point made here is that it’s generally understood that puberty is the time when human bodies begin a transformation into sexual beings with full reproductive capabilities. This greatly affects one’s relationship to the world of experience and certainly impacts the creation of one’s role/persona/social mask within society.
Lastly, the eight circuit model is a map, a metaphor, not hard science. So with that we can conceptualize each circuit as always on to some extent, it’s just a matter of degree. At certain times within the body’s development, certain circuits are imprinted and activated in ways it was not possible before. Puberty is such a time for the 4th circuit.
Hmmm.....well, sort of. But naw.
There's not enough evidence to prove your hypothesis. However, there is no incorrect interpretation and your opinion is no less or more valid than any other.
Thanks for the comment and for watching
Agent Cooper, Dale Copper=AC/DC (circuit)
I was interested until you mention episode 11 from season 2, totally one of the worst episodes, the whole thing serial killer is so boring I threw away those 8-10 episode tapes to the trash like 20 years ago I didn't even remembered they existed.
I actually refer to issues with the second half of season 2 just a few more minutes into the video…though it must be said that sometimes treasure can be found where others see discarded trash…
@@sitwithit I didn't say I stopped watching, but I wanted to go back to where I lost interest but maybe it was kind of rude, I remembered that every time I rewatched TP I skipped those episodes. That's all