Russell Brand at David Lynch Foundation's Operation Warrior Wellness

Transcript:

Hello! I’m really enjoying being at a press conference of any description, like such a worth while cause is particularly gratifying.

But firstly I’m behind a podium now and that gives me a certain degree of authority. Plus I'm part of a press conference with esteemed veterans, laudable military men, brilliant doctors, wonderful designers, and one of the world's greatest ever film makers. In a way, this sort of validates me as a human and my apparently formerly secret brilliance. Let’s get that message out there. Can't keep my light under a bushel there's not a bushel big enough! Yeah.

I’m honoured to be a part of the David Lynch TM Foundation. My personal experiences, which are really all I’m qualified to speak about and I’m enormously qualified to speak about them, and don't talk about anything else to be honest. Ah, The Resilient Warrior, which actually I was going to call Bookie Wook 3 The Resilient Warrior. Thank heavens you stepped in.

My personal experiences of Transcendental Meditation began about fourteen months ago. I was making, and indeed I am making. It's taking ages, a documentary about the pursuit of happiness in our contemporary culture, saturated as we are with consumerism and obsession with commercialism and fame, transient pleasures, superficial pleasures that provide little nutrition.

I used to be poor and now I’m not. And I didn't used to be famous. Now I am and I thought that both of these significant transitions might bring a certain amount of satisfaction. They did a bit initially.

I was a devoted drug addict for a long while. I really, really committed to that drug addiction. And in fact today on the launch of this initiative and on the day of tonight’s event which I’m honoured to be a part of, is serendipitously 8 years exactly to the day since I gave up the drugs and alcohol. Thanks!

One never likes to assume there will be applause there. But I knew I was in America and it was likely. In England there would be the roll of the eyes: Ugh! You don't get applauded for giving up drugs you might be offered tea.

I met Bob Roth, who’s been floating about the place. Not literally his meditation practice is not that good. His transcendence is still – I don’t know – it’s sort of psychological as opposed to physical. Some people think he might float in his private time and what he does is up to him who are we to judge.

So I met Bobby Roth when I wanted to learn about Transcendental Meditation due to my dissatisfaction with some of the pleasures that I talked about – drugs, the fame, the celebrity, the consumerism and the wealth – all of these things - a pledge happiness, but deliver so little of substance.

And in learning about Transcendental Meditation I found very quickly access to a deeper state of happiness which is very profound and absolute.

And in learning about Transcendental Meditation I found very quickly access to a deeper state of happiness which is very profound and absolute

See as I said I can only talk about my personal experiences What it felt to me was like dissolution of my idea of myself, like I felt like separateness evaporated. I felt this tremendous sense of oneness. I find I’m quite an erratic thinker, quite an adrenalized person.

And like through meditation, I felt this beautiful serenity and selfless connection. You know I felt my tendency of selfishness. I felt like a kind of exposed as a superficial and pointless perspective to have. I felt very relaxed, sense of oneness. I felt love!

You know of love for myself, but also love for everybody else, a constant sense of absolute love between all of us. This is for me a beautiful thing.

And like through meditation, I felt this beautiful serenity and selfless connection. You know I felt my tendency of selfishness, I felt like a kind of exposed as a superficial and pointless perspective to have. I felt very relaxed, sense of oneness, I felt love

My recovery is contingent upon a spiritual component and whilst I know the Foundation likes to necessarily focus on a practical and pragmatic aspects of this wonderful process, for me the spiritual element has been valuable.

I’m particularly happy to learn that it's applicable to people who’ve endured such phenomenal and extreme experience, as some of the military speakers that we’ve heard today, because for me they exist on a promontory of such phenomenal and terrifying experiences with such courage and bravery. It’s difficult I think to have legitimate empathy for people who’ve gone through so much.

And if there’s anything we can do to assist people, if there’s any technique that can make their suffering temporarily or permanently alleviated then this is something we have to research and learn more about. Because for me what I’ve discovered is that Transcendental Meditation is useful to me, not because of a unique set of circumstances, not because of my formerly secret brilliance. No. But because I’m a human being, and it’s applicable to all human beings and what's really good about that literally everyone in this room is one.

And in fact I believe, and David will have to confirm this, that all human beings on our planet are human and beings. So we're laughing we're in hysterics. So it’s a good thing because this technique is applicable to all human beings in all situations no matter how extreme, trivial or mundane. Someone, everyone can draw from it. It's been incredibly useful for me.

The other day I was just telling David as a matter of fact as we were just sitting on a podium and got seduced by a Clint Eastwood video, and then subsequent speakers. It made me think of a brilliant idea. I think it created a space in my mind, for I had a really wonderful moment of creativity during TM.

So it’s like, you know, there are privileges and luxuries that are accessible, also people, as we heard today, have the extreme states of suffering, can benefit from it too. So I’m very, very grateful to be involved, I’m very grateful to you, David, and to you Bob, and everyone who has spoken today, and to all of you for attending. Thank you very much. Cheers!

Change begins within!

For more information on how to learn the Transcendental Meditation technique, please visit http://www.tm.org/