Subject: Re: RS: Another Stone
From: barb@zurich.ai.mit.edu (Barb Miller)
Date: 1991-04-20, 16:10
Newsgroups: alt.tv.twin-peaks
Reply-to: barb@zurich.ai.mit.edu

In article <1991Apr19.141439.1@si194b.llnl.gov> brinkman@si194b.llnl.gov writes:
  [some acknowledgements of some other fine postings]


> >      In Buddhism (as I understand it) the major question is not good vs. 
> >   evil, but harmony vs. dissonance.  The final ideal is to reach a state 
> >   of internal and external balance and to embrace opposites as necessary 
> >   components of the whole.  Within this framework one would tend to treat 
> >   "evil" as an absence of inner balance and "good" as a presence of the same.
> >   In other words, in may prove useful when treating the TP mythos to 
> >   redefine the concepts of good and evil to be synonyms of harmony and
> >   dissonance.

Yes, this interpretation appeals to me too.  Back when Hawk first
mentioned the White Lodge and said something to the effect that the
legend said that in order to reach the White Lodge one had to first go
through the Black Lodge immediately brought to my mind the Jungian
concept of the Shadow.  According to Jung, in our psychological makeup
we all carry around with us a set of traits that we try very hard to
suppress, because we think of them as so terribly evil that we cannot
face the idea that we might have them inside us.  For different people
these are different characteristics.  For instance, someone who puts a
very high value on fidelity may be suppressing a libertine inside.
This can lead to a great distortion of values, and a need to identify
the traits one denies in oneself with someone else.  It also ties up a
tremendous amount of energy that could be used creatively.

Ultimately, in order to grow, it is necessary to confront this shadow
inside, become conscious of it, and accept the fact that it can not be
destroyed through suppression.  There's a lot more I could say about
this, but basically it seems to me that, if to enter the White Lodge
is to achieve one's full creative power, to sit with the gods, as it
were, then that can only come about by first confronting the Shadow
inside.  The Black Lodge can not go away, because it is the gate to
the White Lodge, and it seems to me to work better to think of the
concepts of balance and wholeness vs unbalance and self-deceit, than
to think in terms of pure Good and Evil.

This would also lend credence to the idea of the Black and White
Lodges being in the same geographical location.

> >      Let's start by looking at some of the symbols and people in TP that
> >   have been commonly assigned as either good or evil see if this idea holds 
> >   water...

   ************************************************************************

> >   GOOD SYMBOL:

> >   Trees:  Trees are traditional symbols of nature and harmony. Thus, they
> >   represent good.

The Tree of Life is a very ancient symbol of wholeness.  It exists
simultaneously in three worlds: the roots in the Underworld, the trunk
in the regular earthly environment, and the upper branches in the sky.
It is probably notable that the whole purpose of the sawmill that we
see in the opening sequence (right after the bird) is to cut up trees
and transform them into products that can be used in society.  This
provides a necessary livelihood for the town, but when the Bookhouse
Boys talk of the Evil that Lurks in the Woods, I have to wonder
whether society here is trying to suppress what it sees as dangerously
amoral possibilities inherent in an uncontrolled nature.  The woods
are often taken as a symbol of the unconscious mind, where these
shadow characteristics would necessarily lurk.

> >   EVIL SYMBOLS:

> >   Fire:  A major distinction between Western and Eastern philosophies is 
> >   the role of rationality within them.  Western philosophies
> >   place primary emphasis on rationality, while Eastern philosphies 
> >   seek balance between rational and irrational components.  Thus, 
> >   fire, a traditional symbol of rationality (e.g. the Prometheus 
> >   myth), represents evil (i.e. dissonance).

Fire is another destroyer of wood (and other things), with tremendous
potential for damage when uncontrolled.  And yet its controlled use is
seen as one of the earliest milestones in the development of the human
race.  The frequent images of fires in the fireplaces of the Great
Northern in particular (although I seem to remember some in the
Packard house) suggests a containment of this element within a wooden
framework (i.e., the building, not a wooden fireplace).  I believe Ben
Horne was looking into the fireplace (in which there was no fire) just
before turning around and seeing Whatever It Was in our last view of
him.  In the moments between Audrey's exit and that turning around, I
remember that my attention was focussed on that great expanse of
wooden wall behind him and thinking of Mike's statement that BOB has
lived for 40 years in a place that had much wood and many rooms (the
exact words were posted here recently by someone else).  Overall, the
Great Northern seems like a place of tremendous power, and not all
bad.  If I were looking for a symbol of the unity of the various White
and Black Lodge elements, I would look for them here.

> > Owls: Once again a symbol of rationality.  See the fire
> > discussion above.

The owls are a fascinating symbol, living as they do in the woods,
having such an air of rationality to them, and being emphasized so
many times as not being what they seem.  For some reason I am inclined
to associate them with the traditional "wise" figures in society,
whose wisdom would be carried on in the books in the Bookhouse.
Perhaps "the Owls are not what they seem" is telling Cooper that he
cannot rely upon the traditional wisdom of western society to understand what
is going on in Twin Peaks.

> >   GOOD PERSON:

> > Cooper: Cooper's personality can almost be defined by the word
> >"balance".
> >    An outward sign of this is his investigational style which is a 
> >    composite of the rational and the irrational ("...working hand-in-
> >    hand with the highest levels of intuition..."), and thus Cooper
> >    represents good.

Cooper certainly does emerge as an unusually balanced character.  But,
up until now, there has been his resistance to falling in love, which
is understandable after the experience with Caroline.  So this
infatuation with Annie is probably highly necessary for him to uncover
the parts of himself that he is still suppressing.  Now whether she's
good or evil is probably irrelevant.  What's important is that his
feelings about her are causing the disruption in his psyche 
leading to a sense of tremendous possibility that he had not sensed
before.  This will make him highly vulnerable to being fooled, misled,
or even destroyed, unless the guides that he relies upon can steer him
right.

> >   EVIL PEOPLE:

> >   WE:The character of Windom Earle has to be of the most unbalanced
> >   personas ever to grace American television.  The comparison
> >   between diamond and WE's mind (i.e. cold, hard, and brilliant)
> >   create a picture of extreme rationality (albeit insane extreme 
> >   rationality).  Thus, WE represents evil.

I certainly see WE as Cooper's Shadow.  And he can give us clues about
what Cooper might most fear in himself and need to face before
reaching the White Lodge.  I suspect that his biggest fear is that by
falling in love with someone he will come to be as possessive and
potentially destructive as Windom Earle was.  He also told Audrey that
by falling in love with Caroline he became blind to the danger that
she was in.  Certainly that seems to be happening with Annie. So by
opening himself to the joys of loving someone, he runs the risk of
losing access to a fundamental part of himself: the protector, a role
which is closely tied up with his social role as law enforcement
agent.

Leo Johnson has been the most notable pre-Windom Earle exemplar of
destructive possessiveness vis-a-vis a woman.  It seems fitting that
Leo should now be acting as the helpless servant of Windom Earle.

> >   BOB: The fact that Leland had no idea what he had done when possessed 
> >   by BOB (e.g. he did not know he killed Laura) indicates that
> >   BOB is not a unifying force, but a divisive one.  In short, BOB
> >   is the logical end result of disunity and dissonance, and therefore
> >   BOB represents EVIL, EVIL, EVIL.
 
Actually, BOB could be a Trickster figure, a character who sows
discord just for the sake of doing that.  Tricksters tend to be
outside conventional morality and stir things up just because society
is too boring for them.  Granted, BOB is a particularly dark and
sinister such figure.  Incidentally, in many Native American myths of
how fire was brought to people, it is a Trickster (Coyote, Raven,
etc.) who steals it and brings it to them.  Not to play down the truly
gruesome nature of BOB's manifestations, perhaps his actions are an
attempt to gain the attention of the society that has spurned him and
remind it that, much as it would like to settle into a quiet,
law-abiding existence, the actions of energetic, creative but amoral figures in
society's past have enabled it to grow.

Thinking of "energetic, creative, and amoral" brings Ben Horne to
mind.  The "horney" play on his name that popped up in another posting
fits this characterization, since he does seem to have sown his wild
oats rather widely in Twin Peaks, leading to the creation of Audrey
and [we assume] Donna.  I also think of the "horns" of the devil,
Lucifer, who in another mythology I believe brought fire to earth for
the use of humans.  But he seems to be out for his own interests,
following his own nature, not caring whether he hurts anyone, whereas
BOB seems to be able to express himself only by killing.  Ben can
clearly go either way in this struggle.  Putting him in the middle of
this very powerful place the Great Northern makes him very interesting
to me.

The important thing about seeing BOB as a Trickster is that it
reinforces your sense of a different dichotomy at work than simply
good and evil, I believe you spoke of opposites as necessary
components of the whole.  If this is truly the case, then harmony and
dissonance are also necessary components of the whole, so even the
terribly dark forces personified by BOB are necessary.  It was BOB's
emergence that brought Cooper to Twin Peaks, and if in fact this
adventure gives rise to any kind of enlightenment that could have
meaning beyond the confines of the town, then BOB could in fact be
seen as a bringer of fire, fire being an amoral element with both
destructive and useful potential.

   [more analysis, Explanation and interesting Unification deleted for brevity]

> >   PREDICTION:

> >      Annie will eventually be proven to be a proponent of evil.  Her rapid
> >   shift between the spiritual world (i.e. the convent) and the physical
> >   world (i.e. Twin Peaks) demonstrate a lack of balance in her life, and 
> >   portend an ominous future role for her character.

> >   ***The fact that Annie has disturbed Cooper's equilibrium (she keeps
> >  popping up in Cooper's mind when there is serious work to be done) also 
> >   supports this prediction.  That would make the Giant's "No!" a warning to 
> >   Cooper that he was getting involved with evil.***

Ah, yes, Annie.  Well, as I said above, I don't think of her as good
or evil.  It seems to me the question may be whether she is strong or
weak, because that will have a lot to do with whether Cooper can
really grow through this relationship.  It strikes me that up until
now he has seen his role with women as one of protector.  The tragedy
of his relationship with Caroline was that he couldn't protect her.
He essentially saw Audrey as someone that he had to protect, and he
refused to endanger that role.  In a sense, he is thinking of himself
as someone who can protect Annie from the hurts of life in society by
caring for her.  So if Windom Earle does succeed in killing her, it
will be a tragic reinforcement of Cooper's fear of love.

But assume for a moment that Annie was in fact tormented by BOB,
attempted suicide to escape him (as Laura allowed herself to die), but
realized that wasn't the answer, and went to the convent to get away
from him.  She has regained strength, perhaps picked up some spiritual
knowledge and realized that she has to come back to face something
that she fears in herself so that she can continue to grow and live.

She has an intriguing persona.  All the young (and some of the less
young) women in Twin Peaks seem to be desperately seeking something,
giving them a restlessness and desire to operate outside authority,
and causing them to make mistakes (I think of Shelly's and Norma's
marriages as mistakes).  And yet they don't seem to have the knowledge
that they need to really stand up to the forces they're dealing with.
They stay alive because men show up, often by coincidence and just in
time, to keep disaster from happening (I think of Harry's arrival at
Leland's house just before BOB is beginning to take over Leland as
Donna flaunts her knowledge at him).

But Annie doesn't seem to be as impulsive.  She may have been, five
years ago, but there seems to be an inner strength to her, a sense of
knowing who she is and who she is not, that makes her unusual.  She is
anxious to experience the life she has missed during her retreat, but
it seems that she is going to build her new experiences on top of her
inner self, rather than having to define herself by those experiences.
Donna seems to be DRIVEN by her desire to know the truth about Laura's
death and about her own birth, as was Audrey to know about One Eyed
Jack's, to the point where both have been blind to very great danger.
I have the feeling with Annie that she has, up until now, been more
inclined to hold back than to act, and there is something inside her
that is well aware of the evil possibilities of life, so it is an act
of courage to go back into it and face it.  This is what makes her
seem to me to be such a worthy partner for Cooper.  She may not need
his protection as much as he thinks she does, and she may in fact have
some knowledge that he needs.  Thus his greatest fear, that love will
blind him to danger, could be faced as he passes through the Black
Lodge in the maelstrom of horrible Revels that are about to be visited
upon Twin Peaks, and he could emerge, more whole and more wise, in the
White Lodge.

> >   **************************************************************************

> >      Oh well, like I said this is a stone not the path.  I throw this out
> >   in the hope that someone will use this idea to further their own work on
> >   the nature of the TP reality.  Any and all comments would be greatly
> >   appreciated.

> >   Matt BrinkmanInternet: BRINKMAN@EDSEQ1.LLNL.GOV

As you can see, your ideas gave me a lot to work with.  In reading
this over, I realized that I may have diverged from your path rather
drastically in some spots, but I hope you find my comments as
interesting as I found yours.

Barb Miller