0:00:15.819,0:00:19.531 So you are here and I am here, spending our time as we must. 0:00:19.531,0:00:20.431 [Sound of heartbeats, in the background.] 0:00:20.446,0:00:23.836 I am trying not to spend this time as I spend most of my time, 0:00:23.836,0:00:25.257 trying to get you to like me. 0:00:25.257,0:00:26.074 [Laughter.] 0:00:26.074,0:00:28.322 Trying to control your thoughts, to use my voodoo 0:00:28.322,0:00:31.552 at the speed of light, the speed of sound, at the speed of thought. 0:00:31.552,0:00:34.888 It is an ancient pattern of time usage for me 0:00:34.888,0:00:39.052 and I am trying to move deeper, hoping to be helpful. 0:00:40.791,0:00:43.473 This pattern of time usage paints over an ancient wound 0:00:43.473,0:00:45.138 and paints it with bright colours. 0:00:45.138,0:00:46.658 It's a sleight of hand, a distraction, 0:00:46.658,0:00:50.407 so to attempt to change the pattern, let me expose the wound. 0:00:52.022,0:00:53.922 I do know that it is old. 0:00:53.922,0:00:56.157 I do know that it is a hole in my being. 0:00:56.157,0:00:58.131 I do know it is tender. 0:00:58.131,0:01:01.883 I do believe that it is unknowable, or at least, inarticulable. 0:01:03.160,0:01:04.888 I do believe you have a wound, too. 0:01:05.088,0:01:07.254 I do believe it is both specific to you 0:01:07.254,0:01:09.788 and common to everyone. 0:01:10.342,0:01:13.301 I do believe it is the thing about you that must be hidden and protected. 0:01:13.824,0:01:17.673 It is the thing that is tap-danced over, five shows a day. 0:01:17.673,0:01:20.653 It is the thing that won't be interesting to other people if revealed. 0:01:20.653,0:01:23.157 It is the thing that makes you weak and pathetic. 0:01:23.326,0:01:29.176 It is the thing that truly, truly, truly makes loving you impossible. 0:01:32.637,0:01:35.626 It is your secret, even from yourself, 0:01:35.642,0:01:39.639 but it is the thing that wants to live. 0:01:41.777,0:01:44.598 It is the thing from which your art, your painting, your dance, 0:01:44.598,0:01:52.252 your composition, your philosophical treatise, your screenplay, is born. 0:01:57.367,0:02:00.006 People all over the world spend countless hours 0:02:00.006,0:02:02.438 of their lives every week being fed entertainment 0:02:02.438,0:02:06.368 in the forms of movies, TV shows, newspapers, YouTube videos, the internet 0:02:06.368,0:02:10.664 and it's ludicrous to believe this stuff doesn't alter our brains. 0:02:11.049,0:02:14.773 And it's also equally ludicrous to believe that, at the very least, 0:02:14.773,0:02:20.944 this mass distraction and manipulation is not convenient for the people who are in charge. 0:02:20.944,0:02:22.619 People are starving. 0:02:22.619,0:02:25.890 They may not know it, because they are being fed mass-produced garbage. 0:02:25.890,0:02:27.887 The packaging is colourful and it's loud, 0:02:28.549,0:02:32.269 but it's being produced in the same factories that make Pop Tarts and iPads, 0:02:32.577,0:02:37.169 by people sitting around thinking, "What can we do to get people to buy more of these?" 0:02:37.461,0:02:41.550 And they're very good at their jobs, but that's what it is you're getting, 0:02:41.550,0:02:43.436 because that's what they're making. 0:02:43.436,0:02:45.106 They're selling you something. 0:02:45.106,0:02:47.551 And the world is built on this, now. 0:02:47.551,0:02:50.390 Politics and government are built on this. 0:02:50.390,0:02:52.236 Corporations are built on this. 0:02:52.236,0:02:54.205 Interpersonal relationships are built on this. 0:02:54.205,0:03:00.083 And we're starving, all of us, and we're killing each other, and we're hating each other, 0:03:01.129,0:03:03.466 and we're calling each other liars and evil, 0:03:03.466,0:03:06.037 because it's all become marketing and we want to win, 0:03:06.037,0:03:10.890 because we're lonely and empty and scared and we're led to believe winning will change all that. 0:03:11.121,0:03:15.709 [Sounds of fight announcer, crowd, from television] 0:03:16.893,0:03:18.881 The world is very scary now. 0:03:19.850,0:03:24.053 It always has been, but something grotesque and specific to our time is blanketing us. 0:03:24.653,0:03:27.181 We need to see that it is not reality. 0:03:27.181,0:03:28.471 It is a choice we are making, 0:03:28.471,0:03:32.285 or allowing other people to make for us. 0:03:37.543,0:03:39.709 Don't allow yourself to be tricked into thinking 0:03:39.709,0:03:42.887 that the way things are is the way the world must work. 0:03:43.302,0:03:45.348 [Heartbeats begin again.] 0:03:45.518,0:03:51.133 What I'd like to express is the notion that by being honest, thoughtful, and aware of the existence of other living beings, 0:03:51.133,0:03:54.636 a change can begin to happen in how we think of ourselves and the world, 0:03:54.636,0:03:56.432 and ourselves in the world. 0:03:56.432,0:03:59.914 We are not the passive audience for this big, messed up power play. 0:04:00.129,0:04:01.363 We don't have to be. 0:04:01.763,0:04:03.146 We can say who we are. 0:04:03.146,0:04:05.265 We can assert our right to existence. 0:04:05.265,0:04:06.924 We can say to the bullies and con men, 0:04:06.924,0:04:10.221 the people who try to shame us and embarrass us, flatter us, 0:04:10.344,0:04:14.781 to the people who have no compunction about lying to us to get our money and our allegience, 0:04:14.919,0:04:18.380 that we are thinking, really thinking, about who we are 0:04:18.380,0:04:25.809 and we will express ourselves and with this, other people won't feel so alone. 0:04:27.632,0:04:31.441 I want to tell you that I have a hope that there is another way to be in this world 0:04:31.441,0:04:33.940 and that I believe with courage and vulnerability and honesty, 0:04:33.940,0:04:39.630 that the stuff we put into the world can serve a better purpose. 0:04:41.145,0:04:43.020 What I have to offer is me. 0:04:43.066,0:04:45.815 What you have to offer is you. 0:04:45.815,0:04:48.513 [Crowd sounds, cheering.]