The question

What do you need to believe in order to get through the day?

Originally asked

Vox, to writers and thinkers, 9 Questions, 2017

Vox used this exact prompt throughout its named 9 Questions series on intellectual habits.

You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.

David Lynch

Film director, screenwriter and painter

Recorded said elsewhere, not written here
Transcendental Meditation, it’s obviously the most important thing to do day in and day out. Transcending is the key to a better and better life, and this idea is catching on more and more in the world.

Asaad Saad, Maharishi University of Management commencement Q&A, TIME, 27 June 2016 source ↗

Others on this question

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Richard Ford Novelist and short-story writer
I guess you’ve just got to take each day at a time
Recorded Rachel Cooke, Interview, The Guardian, 10 June 2023 source ↗
Henry Marsh Neurosurgeon and writer
For the last few weeks, I've been completely happy. I've got my next PSA in three weeks' time. It may well show my PSA is starting to go up, and the cancer's coming back. Totally to my surprise, I've acquired this sort of Buddhist Zen outlook. Well, the future doesn't exist. I'm well. I'm happy at the moment. I've had a wonderful, exciting life. I've made lots of mistakes. I've trampled on people - yak, yak, yak, as I discuss in my books. But at the moment, today, the sun is shining. I'm very well. It's not that I'm in denial, but I think, well, all right. It may be bad news in three weeks' time, but that's three weeks away. At the moment, I'm well.
Recorded Scott Simon, Weekend Edition Saturday, NPR, 21 January 2023 source ↗
Leon Panetta Attorney and politician; Director of the Office of Management and Budget, White House Chief of Staff, Director of the CIA and Secretary of Defense
I’ve always found Hail Marys to be a great refuge when you’re facing tough decisions and crises of one kind or another.
Recorded Leadership in War and Peace, Academy of Achievement, 14 September 2017 source ↗
Albie Sachs Anti-apartheid lawyer; Justice of the Constitutional Court of South Africa
The one is, to me, the question of conscience is number one. It comes before food. You can survive on almost anything, but your dignity depends on your conscience.
Recorded Interview, Cape Town, South Africa, American Academy of Achievement, 3 July 2009 source ↗

More from David Lynch

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Question When were you happiest? Time & hindsight
Let's see. Well, kind of every day. Like I said, it doesn't go away - this is a sort of a thing you carry around with you. I like isolation. I've been isolated, you know, for six months or seven months now, however long it's been. At the same time, you can be happy inside and still worried about the world. I'm worried about the world as it is right now, so many people suffering and so much negativity.
Recorded Chris Heath, GQ, 21 January 2025 source ↗
Question What is one of the best or most worthwhile investments you have ever made — of money, time, or energy? Money & investment
Absolutely. My friend Charlie Lutes said the most we can do for ourselves is to take that dive within twice a day, bringing out more and more of that consciousness within and that consciousness has qualities, qualities of intelligence, creativity, happiness, love, energy, power, peace. All these things you’re gonna get more and more of. You cannot lose.
Recorded Etan Ilfeld, The Etan Ilfeld Podcast / Watkins Magazine, Watkins MIND BODY SPIRIT Magazine, 28 January 2025 source ↗
Question What role should instinct play in major decisions? Craft & work
Intuition? They say intuition is sort of feeling and intellect going at the same time. It’s a knowingness. As I always say, it’s knowing when something isn’t quite correct and then knowing a way to make it correct. And intuition is, I always say, the number one tool for the artist, I think the number one tool for people in business, perhaps the number one tool for human beings. Knowing how to do something, how to make it feel correct for you.
Recorded Meya Bekele, Maharishi University of Management commencement Q&A, TIME, 27 June 2016 source ↗

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