- 5,466
- 12,476
Also known as Ultima's descent into madness, or the last Tier 1 thread I'll make, i think.
Yeah, I am tackling this again, although those are quite different from the previous mess.
The (Potential) Upgrades
So I did a thing, gonna link it here for easier comprehensio, hopefully.
Anyways, to form the basis of this proposal, we first need to do an overview of the basic cosmology of Twin Peaks:
In essence, the entirety of the setting of Twin Peaks is defined upon the framework of a story, most often described as a dream, that encompasses the "All" and is the narrative in which all of existence (and nonexistence) is run.
This underlying concept has some metafictional implications and depictions that go as far back as the beginning of the series, where it seemed to treat itself as being akin to a literal play (Alluded to in the third except up above), and its movie, which often uses effects of Television Static and interference in the film's recording in scenes where reality starts to break down due to the influence of higher forces. The latter imagery is especially prominent, so much that the metaphysical substance which forms the basis of the series' universe is always portrayed as being electricity, and pretty much all reality warping in it is signalled by crackling electrical noises or sputterings of white noise.
Now, what exactly does the dream encompass? Well, Twin Peaks' setting is most specifically comprised of two realities:
However, there are realms that exist outside of the dream as well. For instance, The Firema and Senorita Dido live within a massive palace with a cinema screen where they can observe the unfolding of the narrative itself from outside, with David Lynch himself alluding to them existing "outside of the movie" and being able to insert things from their realm and into it.
Their palace is itself located within the Mauve Zone, an endless purple ocean described as being "nonexistence", which seemingly stands at the basis of the setting, beneath both the physical and spiritual worlds, as it can be accessed by individuals who "descend" in some way, either by burying through increasingly smaller partitions of matter (physically), or falling through an endless starry space that is described as a "huge, deep, infinity of water" (metaphysically) in behind-the-scenes material.
Aside from the bit about standing outside of the story / film itself, further elaboration on this realm in particular standing outside of the dream entirely can be found in the blog post which I've linked up above (more specifically in this sectio), but another interesting piece of evidence for this can be found in this scene, where the main protagonist of the series, Dale Cooper, realizes that he is a character within a dream, and his face is superimposed over the screen as a result (Presumably to indicate an ascendance, or an initiation of sorts)
You may notice that in this particular scene, there is a kind of humming sound playing in the background, which is extremely noteworthy, as this sound only plays during scenes taking place within the Fireman's Palace, or that involve the entities inhabiting it in some way. The official album for Twin Peaks' ambient music calls this sound "Interior Home by the Sea", which suggests a connection between this specific location and Cooper's epiphany.
Elaborating on it, the scene itself is a reference to a tidbit of information from the original run of the series, where it is explained that, in order to ascend into the White Lodge (the realm where the spirits that rule over men and nature reside, itself heavily associated with the Fireman's Home throughout the series) and achieve spiritual perfection, all souls must first confront their own shadow-self, an entity which mirrors all of their negative traits and qualities, known as "The Dweller on the Threshold".
And this is essentially what happened in the lead up to this scene: Cooper confronted both BOB and his own Shadow-Self with perfect courage (or at least that's how the series treats it), and thus achieved spiritual perfection, with his soul becoming attuned to the White Lodge, hence a metaphysical simile of his face becoming superimposed over the screen, staring at the audience and saying "We live inside a dream" in a distorted voice.
The Mauve Zone standing outside of the dream has noteworthy implications within the context of the series. For instance, take a look at the excerpts below, from the tie-in book The Secret History of Twin Peaks:
Basically, outside of the dream of existence, there is just a state of pure silence that is beyond words and explanations, a genuine mystery that is incapable of being fully expressed or solved, whose essence will always remain out of the reach of any kind of categorization that attempts to frame it in a way which can be comprehended. The meaning of the dream is derived from somewhere that is beyond meaning to begin with, and is thus impenetrable to any kind of description whatsoever.
All of that may certainly call to mind the theological concept of the Via Negativa, which is a philosophy that adopts the notion that God is fully unmanifest and unknowable, and beyond any form of truth and conception entirely, and thus cannot be "defined" by positive statements which ascertain what it is, only those which ascertain that which it is not.
This is a central theme of The Secret History of Twin Peaks, in fact: The notion that mystery and incomprehensibility are inexorably tied to the nature of existence, and are what define the entirety of it in the first place, standing in an unknowable point that will always be greater than anything that can be known or conceptualized.
In front of such a thing, words are just meaningless sounds that only serve to reduce something: make it smaller and trap it into a specific framework where they apply.
As a side-note, it should also be clarified that this is a philosophy that actually applies to all of David Lynch's work, not only Twin Peaks; art is separate from any kind of language, and thus cannot be expressed through them, because the heart of it will always be lost in translation or reduced into some pale form. To define and name something is to deprive it of it's beauty and greatness, in a sense.
I think you all know where I am getting with all of this. Namely, I believe that the Mauve Zone (as well as the Spirits which inhabit it) is perfectly capable of qualifying for High 1-A: In the context of Twin Peaks, it is an unknowable, incomprehensible reality that embodies a state of pure mystery which can't be conveyed or expressed by any words or descriptions, and will always remain impenetrable and just out of reach to any category or explanation which one may attempt to apply to it, outside of the framework of conceptualization entirely (Which would be the dream, in this case)
Now, I should clarify that I only believe they should be at this specific tier because the dream is already shown to contain 1-A realms, and thus, the rating isn't too far-fetched and is a nicely-defined point to quantify such a vaguely-defined "feat": The Mauve Zone is completely unreachable and cannot be conveyed or expressed in any way in relation to an Outerversal framework (Thus bypassing the need for infinite layers), and hence it is High 1-A. If it contrasted against lesser structures, then it'd be just 1-A.
Twin Peaks gets me all verbose, I guess
I should further add that the series also heavily implies that there are things beyond even the Mauve Zone: For instance, it is a relatively common motif for Spirits to remove their own faces in order to reveal something behind their "physical" forms, with Laura Palmer revealing a formless mass of light behind hers, and the entity possessing Sarah Palmer removing its face to reveal a dark background with a smile growing inside.
Likewise, the Fireman is strongly hinted to have something behind his own form as well, as seen when he creates Laura's spiritual form by unleashing a constellation of golden light from behind his face.
Furthermore, a testimony given again in The Secret History of Twin Peaks has a character describing a meeting with a benevolent, abstract force that instinctively protects him against a group of spirits with malevolent intentions. He then identifies the entity as a "God Energy", although such a descriptor is noted to be completely inadequate:
All of this would suggest that the Fireman, too, has some overarching essence which resides on a level that is more profound than the one in which the (seemingly) physical persona he assumes operates on, especially given how each succeeding level of "masks" is heavily implied (and indeed, shown) to be more metaphysical and abstract than the preceding one.
However, I would personally rate those meta-abstract forces beyond the Mauve Zone as Unknow, considering that we know very little about them, other than how they seem to operate through the archetypal forms shown in nonexistence in a manner that's akin to metaphysical entities acting through lesser, "physical" forms representative of them. They are similar to the Majestic Presence, in this regard.
TL;DR: The dream / film in which the setting of Twin Peaks is contained and defined is a layered structure which contains several 1-A realms, described as metaphysical, "nonexistent" locales outside of space-time entirely in relation to a fractal reality of infinite higher layers, each representing a "higher vibrational quality" completely beyond the comprehension of lower beings, with said realms perceiving all of those layers as fictional or as part of an illusory "membrane" which they transcend entirely.
All of the above is completely trivialized by the Mauve Zone, an unknowable reality that resides in a state of pure silence which will always remain out of reach to any conceptualization, outside of words, labels and categories altogether. Given that it is completely unreachable and beyond conception in relation to an 1-A framework, it would be High 1-A in this context.
Yeah, I am tackling this again, although those are quite different from the previous mess.
The (Potential) Upgrades
So I did a thing, gonna link it here for easier comprehensio, hopefully.
Anyways, to form the basis of this proposal, we first need to do an overview of the basic cosmology of Twin Peaks:
Welcome to Twin Peaks. My name is Margaret Lanterman. I live in Twin Peaks. I am known as the Log Lady. There is a story behind that. There are many stories in Twin Peaks. Some of them are sad, some funny. Some of them are stories of madness, of violence. Some are ordinary. Yet they all have about them a sense of mystery ― the mystery of life. Sometimes, the mystery of death. The mystery of the woods. The woods surrounding Twin Peaks. To introduce this story, let me just say it encompasses the all ― it is beyond the "fire", though few would know that meaning. It is a story of many, but begins with one ― and I knew her. The one leading to the many is Laura Palmer. Laura is the one. |
The stars turn, and a time presents itself. Hawk, electricity is humming. You hear it in the mountains and rivers. You see it dance among the seas and stars, and glowing around the moon. But in these days, the glow is dying. What will be in the darkness that remains? The Truman brothers are both 'true men'. They are your brothers, and the others, the good ones who have been with you. Now the circle is almost complete. Watch and listen to the dream of time and space. It all comes out now, flowing like a river. That which is and is not. Hawk, Laura is the one. |
Look at all that's happened here. One town. The commonplace, familiar, and ordinary—everything we think we know, until you sense the deep, unsettling strangeness informing all of it. How easy it is to quit, give up, lower our eyes. Look at what happens to anyone here who lost the fight, many of whose stories we both now know so well. How recklessly, stupidly we toss away this one chance we have, simply squander it, money down the drain, a thousand different ways. We're holding the coin of the realm in our hands the whole time and we can't even see it. What I've learned from this place and about these people terrifies me, I'll frankly admit that. How much of what I know, what I've been culturally attuned to believe, feels like the set of a play on a strange stage I've wandered onto without knowing why I'm here. I don't know the lines, I don't know what part I'm playing, I don't even know what the play's about or what it's called. I'm just here onstage, stuck in a dream, lights shining in my eyes. Is anyone out there watching? The play stumbles ahead, feels like artifice, mistakes, frippery, an endless series of false starts, bad assumptions, all the while shadowed with the constant horror that something unforeseen could drop down on me from above or lurch in from the wings at any moment, that the floor could open beneath me and instantly erase even this small, pitiful existence, put out the lights for good. |
This underlying concept has some metafictional implications and depictions that go as far back as the beginning of the series, where it seemed to treat itself as being akin to a literal play (Alluded to in the third except up above), and its movie, which often uses effects of Television Static and interference in the film's recording in scenes where reality starts to break down due to the influence of higher forces. The latter imagery is especially prominent, so much that the metaphysical substance which forms the basis of the series' universe is always portrayed as being electricity, and pretty much all reality warping in it is signalled by crackling electrical noises or sputterings of white noise.
Now, what exactly does the dream encompass? Well, Twin Peaks' setting is most specifically comprised of two realities:
- The physical universe (called "the playground of the gods" by Mark Frost), comprised of the everyday reality inhabited by human beings and the like, as well as an infinite number of higher layers of reality, which are described as "higher vibrational qualities" completely beyond the comprehension of dwellers of lower qualities, with our universe being only the 3rd level in an endless stack. The universe is also compared to a fractal made up of infinite parts more than once, and the existence of greater beings which contain all planets and stars as their sub-atomic particles is also briefly suggested in the original series.
- The spiritual world (Mainly identified by two planes of existence, the Black Lodge and the White Lodge), which is a vaster, more fundamental universe that runs deeper than our own, outside of its linear time and from which it is perceived as being an "illusion", with the reality collectively perceived by all humans being stated to be just a membrane that conceals what stands beyond. This world is where the fundamental electrical energy that comprises the dream is most directly present, and its inhabitants are explicitly referred as being literal ideas, as well as the archetypes from which all beliefs are derived, existing in the deepest parts of the unconscious.
- It also is itself comprised of different layers, following the same process as the physical world to some extent, where one travels to higher and lower planes of existence through electrical frequencies, adjusting the quality of their own existence to greater levels.
However, there are realms that exist outside of the dream as well. For instance, The Firema and Senorita Dido live within a massive palace with a cinema screen where they can observe the unfolding of the narrative itself from outside, with David Lynch himself alluding to them existing "outside of the movie" and being able to insert things from their realm and into it.
Their palace is itself located within the Mauve Zone, an endless purple ocean described as being "nonexistence", which seemingly stands at the basis of the setting, beneath both the physical and spiritual worlds, as it can be accessed by individuals who "descend" in some way, either by burying through increasingly smaller partitions of matter (physically), or falling through an endless starry space that is described as a "huge, deep, infinity of water" (metaphysically) in behind-the-scenes material.
Aside from the bit about standing outside of the story / film itself, further elaboration on this realm in particular standing outside of the dream entirely can be found in the blog post which I've linked up above (more specifically in this sectio), but another interesting piece of evidence for this can be found in this scene, where the main protagonist of the series, Dale Cooper, realizes that he is a character within a dream, and his face is superimposed over the screen as a result (Presumably to indicate an ascendance, or an initiation of sorts)
You may notice that in this particular scene, there is a kind of humming sound playing in the background, which is extremely noteworthy, as this sound only plays during scenes taking place within the Fireman's Palace, or that involve the entities inhabiting it in some way. The official album for Twin Peaks' ambient music calls this sound "Interior Home by the Sea", which suggests a connection between this specific location and Cooper's epiphany.
Elaborating on it, the scene itself is a reference to a tidbit of information from the original run of the series, where it is explained that, in order to ascend into the White Lodge (the realm where the spirits that rule over men and nature reside, itself heavily associated with the Fireman's Home throughout the series) and achieve spiritual perfection, all souls must first confront their own shadow-self, an entity which mirrors all of their negative traits and qualities, known as "The Dweller on the Threshold".
And this is essentially what happened in the lead up to this scene: Cooper confronted both BOB and his own Shadow-Self with perfect courage (or at least that's how the series treats it), and thus achieved spiritual perfection, with his soul becoming attuned to the White Lodge, hence a metaphysical simile of his face becoming superimposed over the screen, staring at the audience and saying "We live inside a dream" in a distorted voice.
The Mauve Zone standing outside of the dream has noteworthy implications within the context of the series. For instance, take a look at the excerpts below, from the tie-in book The Secret History of Twin Peaks:
| Life is but a dream from which we seem able to only rarely awaken. Whatever it means is beyond words. Words lose their meaning when you look at them too long. "God." "Science." "Meaning." Everything melts into silence. | ||
~ The Secret History of Twin Peaks |
| I believe all these phenomena that our putted-up egos and busy ant minds persist in trying to label, categorize, penetrate and comprehend, all spring from this same uncanny source. This is the mother of all "others", and were we ever able to set our eyes on its ultimate nature we would find it as foreign, incomprehensible and indifferent to us as ours would be to bacterial microbes swimming in a drop of water. | ||
~ The Secret History of Twin Peaks |
| "Why am I telling you this?" he went on. "A secret's only a secret as long as you keep it. Once you tell someone it loses all its power--for good or ill--like that, it's just another piece of information. But a real mystery can't be solved, not completely. It's always just out of reach, like a light around the corner; you might catch a glimpse of what it reveals, feel its warmth, but you can't know the heart of it, not really. That's what gives it value: It can't be cracked, it's bigger than you and me, bigger than everything we know. Those tight-ass suits can keep their secrets, they don't add up to anything. This deep in the game, pal, I'll take mystery every time. Ask your second question." | ||
~ The Secret History of Twin Peaks |
Mysteries abound. This continent, this country, our own earthly origins are all laden with them, underlying our existence, pre-dating all our childish notions of "history." MILFORD: Their real value lies in their ability to create within us wonder and curiosity. That, and only that, spurs us to seek understanding of the ultimate truths. BRIGGS: I disagree. I see mysteries as the truth itself; that they're the essence of our existence, and aren't necessarily meant to be fully apprehended. MILFORD: So we're consigned to ignorance, is that it? BRIGGS: No. But that final barrier can be breached only by faith. MILFORD: (laughs) That's just your Catholic slip showing, Briggs. |
All of that may certainly call to mind the theological concept of the Via Negativa, which is a philosophy that adopts the notion that God is fully unmanifest and unknowable, and beyond any form of truth and conception entirely, and thus cannot be "defined" by positive statements which ascertain what it is, only those which ascertain that which it is not.
This is a central theme of The Secret History of Twin Peaks, in fact: The notion that mystery and incomprehensibility are inexorably tied to the nature of existence, and are what define the entirety of it in the first place, standing in an unknowable point that will always be greater than anything that can be known or conceptualized.
In front of such a thing, words are just meaningless sounds that only serve to reduce something: make it smaller and trap it into a specific framework where they apply.
As a side-note, it should also be clarified that this is a philosophy that actually applies to all of David Lynch's work, not only Twin Peaks; art is separate from any kind of language, and thus cannot be expressed through them, because the heart of it will always be lost in translation or reduced into some pale form. To define and name something is to deprive it of it's beauty and greatness, in a sense.
I think you all know where I am getting with all of this. Namely, I believe that the Mauve Zone (as well as the Spirits which inhabit it) is perfectly capable of qualifying for High 1-A: In the context of Twin Peaks, it is an unknowable, incomprehensible reality that embodies a state of pure mystery which can't be conveyed or expressed by any words or descriptions, and will always remain impenetrable and just out of reach to any category or explanation which one may attempt to apply to it, outside of the framework of conceptualization entirely (Which would be the dream, in this case)
Now, I should clarify that I only believe they should be at this specific tier because the dream is already shown to contain 1-A realms, and thus, the rating isn't too far-fetched and is a nicely-defined point to quantify such a vaguely-defined "feat": The Mauve Zone is completely unreachable and cannot be conveyed or expressed in any way in relation to an Outerversal framework (Thus bypassing the need for infinite layers), and hence it is High 1-A. If it contrasted against lesser structures, then it'd be just 1-A.
I should further add that the series also heavily implies that there are things beyond even the Mauve Zone: For instance, it is a relatively common motif for Spirits to remove their own faces in order to reveal something behind their "physical" forms, with Laura Palmer revealing a formless mass of light behind hers, and the entity possessing Sarah Palmer removing its face to reveal a dark background with a smile growing inside.
Likewise, the Fireman is strongly hinted to have something behind his own form as well, as seen when he creates Laura's spiritual form by unleashing a constellation of golden light from behind his face.
Furthermore, a testimony given again in The Secret History of Twin Peaks has a character describing a meeting with a benevolent, abstract force that instinctively protects him against a group of spirits with malevolent intentions. He then identifies the entity as a "God Energy", although such a descriptor is noted to be completely inadequate:
| A shining figure, much taller than the others, suddenly appeared in their midst and it gave off a violet light so bright and powerful it washed away everything else in my field of vision, nearly "blinding" me. I cannot honestly remember anything else about its appearance, which may or may not have been humanoid—my memory holds it closer in shape to a sphere that emanated a powerful impression of "beauty," but in an almost purely abstract sense. The other figures seemed to either defer to this figure or recoil from it in fear; it occurred to me that the figure might have been drawn to me by some protective instinct. As the other figures withdrew or receded, the new figure moved closer, and as it neared, all my own fears subsided and I felt a benevolent calm wash over me, an energetically soothing rush of peace and then a sense of joy that swelled up in my chest until I thought it might burst. A wholly inadequate phrase arose in my mind at that precise moment to fully describe this experience, and it was this: I am in the presence of "god" energy. |
However, I would personally rate those meta-abstract forces beyond the Mauve Zone as Unknow, considering that we know very little about them, other than how they seem to operate through the archetypal forms shown in nonexistence in a manner that's akin to metaphysical entities acting through lesser, "physical" forms representative of them. They are similar to the Majestic Presence, in this regard.
TL;DR: The dream / film in which the setting of Twin Peaks is contained and defined is a layered structure which contains several 1-A realms, described as metaphysical, "nonexistent" locales outside of space-time entirely in relation to a fractal reality of infinite higher layers, each representing a "higher vibrational quality" completely beyond the comprehension of lower beings, with said realms perceiving all of those layers as fictional or as part of an illusory "membrane" which they transcend entirely.
All of the above is completely trivialized by the Mauve Zone, an unknowable reality that resides in a state of pure silence which will always remain out of reach to any conceptualization, outside of words, labels and categories altogether. Given that it is completely unreachable and beyond conception in relation to an 1-A framework, it would be High 1-A in this context.
