David Lynch was born in Missoula, Montana and moved around quite a bit growing up, living in Idaho, Washington, North Carolina, and Virginia.
Lynch was raised Presbyterian, but doesn't consider himself a part of that faith any longer.[1] He still believes in God, he just thinks He takes a more abstract form. When asked to define God, he said,
The kingdom of heaven, God the almighty merciful father, is that totality. It's that level. It's the almighty merciful father, and the divine mother, the kingdom of heaven, the absolute, divine being, bliss consciousness, creative intelligence. These are all names, but it is that.[2]
Perhaps his devotion to transcendental meditation, which began in his thirties and which he views as a practice rather than a theology,[3] has broadened his definition of God. But regardless, he says that transcendental meditation brings deeper insight into one's religion, whatever that may be. And which religion a person practices seems to be of no concern for Lynch. He said,
I sort of think that the great religions are like rivers. Each one is beautiful and they all flow into one ocean.[4]
But whether as a supplement to religion, or just a spiritual way of life, Lynch is an outspoken advocate for his brand of meditation. He started the David Lynch Foundation for Consciousness-Based Education and World Peace in order to encourage middle and high school students to practice transcendental meditation,[5] and he tours college campuses to promote the practice.[6]
It might not be as hip as when the Beatles went to India to practice meditation with the Maharishi, but he's certainly passionate and trying to spread the word.
Cigarettes, Reagan, and R Money
It might not come as a surprise to you that Lynch is a Democrat. Describing his political affiliation he said,
I'm a Democrat now. And I've always been a Democrat, really. But I don't like the Democrats a lot, either, because I'm a smoker, and I think a lot of the Democrats have come up with these rules for non-smoking. And I don't think that that's necessarily so bad, but they have to give the smokers a place.[7]
Okay. . . well, smoking issues aside, he supports Obama just like a good Democrat should. He wrote an endorsement of the president on his website in 2012 in which he wrote that if you rearrange the letters in Romney's name, it can spell R Money:
I believe Mitt Romney wants to get his Mitts on R Money. He would like to get it and divide it up with his friends, the Big Money Bunch.[8]
But despite all his talk about being a Democrat, Lynch is a fan of Ronald Reagan. He said he liked Reagan's whole cowboy, "old Hollywood" image, and that he felt like the two-term president unified the country.[9]
So, I guess we won't call him a liberal Democrat, but a Democrat just the same.
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