From 600+ conversations with the world’s leading thinkers.
Each person is trapped in their own world and assume that the rest of humanity sees the world the same way that they do. That assumption is incorrect. You see the world differently to me, and that's true for every situation in which we find ourselves. It's a side-effect of how we're built!
To me, success is balancing your personal life and your work life. It's also being content and satisfied with what you accomplished so you can let it go and move forward.
I genuinely believe that if music comes from your heart and soul, that people will hear that and will be able to connect with the truth of it. For a musician, that's really important- you have to be true to yourself and to the feelings you have when you make music.
On a personal level, the best defense against materialism and greed is to give money away. You need to be charitable, engage in philanthropy.
Images are mediations between the world and human beings. Human beings 'ex-ist,' i.e. the world is not immediately accessible to them and therefore images are needed to make it comprehensible.
When people talk about getting there… there's no there to get to. The problem is the eternal search for there. There is no there, you are searching for something that doesn't exist.
Read a lot. Never accept current standards. Always improve yourself. And remember, you always meet twice in life.
I began a conversation with my future wife in January 1983 and 38 years later, that conversation ended when she drew her last breath at 7.30 in the evening on the 2nd of September 2021. To be truly and completely seen, understood and loved by another Human Being, was her greatest gift to me.
There has never been a time at which Enlightenment values predominated in any culture. They have always faced pushback from forces that are embedded in human nature – tribalism, deference to authority, magical thinking, vulnerability to cognitive illusions and biases.
We have learned that the things that matter are not the physical, and material things. What matters in life is hope. Tomorrow is not a given, and we must be happy about small things and we must seize the day.
charity and philanthropy are the same. Charity giving is more aligned with money and not so much individual time. Philanthropy is more of a practice and way of being
I think it's always good to find a film which is a question and an answer. It's hard to do – and often, when you've already decided the answer before you make the film, you'll find the film is less successful. In a funny way- if you can frame your question accurately as something that you don't know the answer to- and use the film as a way of finding the answer- you'll get a more complex and engaging film.