So you are here and I am here, spending our time as we must.
[Sound of heartbeats, in the background.]
I am trying not to spend this time as I spend most of my time,
trying to get you to like me.
[Laughter.]
Trying to control your thoughts, to use my voodoo
at the speed of light, the speed of sound, at the speed of thought.
It is an ancient pattern of time usage for me
and I am trying to move deeper, hoping to be helpful.
This pattern of time usage paints over an ancient wound
and paints it with bright colours.
It's a sleight of hand, a distraction,
so to attempt to change the pattern, let me expose the wound.
I do know that it is old.
I do know that it is a hole in my being.
I do know it is tender.
I do believe that it is unknowable, or at least, inarticulable.
I do believe you have a wound, too.
I do believe it is both specific to you
and common to everyone.
I do believe it is the thing about you that must be hidden and protected.
It is the thing that is tap-danced over, five shows a day.
It is the thing that won't be interesting to other people if revealed.
It is the thing that makes you weak and pathetic.
It is the thing that truly, truly, truly makes loving you impossible.
It is your secret, even from yourself,
but it is the thing that wants to live.
It is the thing from which your art, your painting, your dance,
your composition, your philosophical treatise, your screenplay, is born.
People all over the world spend countless hours
of their lives every week being fed entertainment
in the forms of movies, TV shows, newspapers, YouTube videos, the internet
and it's ludicrous to believe this stuff doesn't alter our brains.
And it's also equally ludicrous to believe that, at the very least,
this mass distraction and manipulation is not convenient for the people who are in charge.
People are starving.
They may not know it, because they are being fed mass-produced garbage.
The packaging is colourful and it's loud,
but it's being produced in the same factories that make Pop Tarts and iPads,
by people sitting around thinking, "What can we do to get people to buy more of these?"
And they're very good at their jobs, but that's what it is you're getting,
because that's what they're making.
They're selling you something.
And the world is built on this, now.
Politics and government are built on this.
Corporations are built on this.
Interpersonal relationships are built on this.
And we're starving, all of us, and we're killing each other, and we're hating each other,
and we're calling each other liars and evil,
because it's all become marketing and we want to win,
because we're lonely and empty and scared and we're led to believe winning will change all that.
[Sounds of fight announcer, crowd, from television]
The world is very scary now.
It always has been, but something grotesque and specific to our time is blanketing us.
We need to see that it is not reality.
It is a choice we are making,
or allowing other people to make for us.
Don't allow yourself to be tricked into thinking
that the way things are is the way the world must work.
[Heartbeats begin again.]
What I'd like to express is the notion that by being honest, thoughtful, and aware of the existence of other living beings,
a change can begin to happen in how we think of ourselves and the world,
and ourselves in the world.
We are not the passive audience for this big, messed up power play.
We don't have to be.
We can say who we are.
We can assert our right to existence.
We can say to the bullies and con men,
the people who try to shame us and embarrass us, flatter us,
to the people who have no compunction about lying to us to get our money and our allegience,
that we are thinking, really thinking, about who we are
and we will express ourselves and with this, other people won't feel so alone.
I want to tell you that I have a hope that there is another way to be in this world
and that I believe with courage and vulnerability and honesty,
that the stuff we put into the world can serve a better purpose.
What I have to offer is me.
What you have to offer is you.
[Crowd sounds, cheering.]