There’s Nothing To Do But Let Go - Jim Carrey On Depression

I'm a Buddhist I'm a Muslim I'm a Christian I'm whatever you want me to be it all comes down to the same thing you're in a loving place or you're in an unloving place I just want to be myself if I lose a few French people who can't deal with the fact that there's other forces in the world that's okay with me the meaning of life you want to know what it is love yourself Jim Carrey is loved by many known for his rules in Dumb and Dumber The Mask Ace Ventura and many more he's

made a name as one of the funniest people on Earth although for decades there has been a spiritual sighted gem that is often overlooked or misinterpreted in 2009 he told a story about a mystical experience he had which pushed him down a path of Spiritual Awakening a few months ago after knowing Eckhart Tolle for a while and studying the books I woke up and I suddenly got it I understood suddenly how thought was just an illusory thing uh and how thought is responsible for if not all most of the suffering we experience [Music] and then

I suddenly felt like I was looking at these thoughts from another perspective and I wondered who is it that's aware that I'm thinking and suddenly I was thrown into this expansive amazing feeling of freedom from myself from my problems I saw that I was bigger than what I do I was bigger than my body I was everything and everyone I was no longer a fragment of the Universe I was the universe and ever since that day I've been trying to get back there it's like riding a wave times I'm on sometimes I'm off but at

least I know where I want to go and that I want to take as many people with me as I possibly can because the feeling is amazing you know it's Our intention Our intention is everything nothing happens on this planet without it not one single thing has ever been accomplished without intention so I started thinking about my life and I started thinking about this conference and what we're about and and I looked back and I thought well I was two people my whole life I was in the living room entertaining people being a monkey you

know doing my thing for the company and and trying to relieve my mother who was suffering she had rheumatoid arthritis and Colitis and everything everything under the sun that was nagging at her and she was depressed and I wanted her to be free and I wanted her to realize that her life was worth something because she gave birth to someone who's worth something yeah and then I would go into my room and I would sit with a legal pad I was a little kid I would sit there and I would try to figure out what

it meant what it was all about why are we here what is this Jim describes that he once read from Buddha that all spirituality is relieving from suffering similarly the Buddha summarized of the reality of suffering and the four truths one our lives are pervaded by suffering both obvious and subtle two there is an identifiable cause of our suffering three because we know its cause we can free ourselves from suffering and four there is a specific path we can follow to end suffering which consists of meditation wisdom and ethical living Buddhist teachings on suffering resonated

with Jim as he realized that he was trying to relieve his mother from suffering all along one day I read something from Buddha that said that all spirituality is about relieving suffering and I suddenly realized that's what I'm doing in the other room and and I'm aligned you know this my purpose is aligned with this so I felt incredibly lucky I lose sight of that all the time I get caught up in different concerns and ego concerns but I'm so lucky to be a part of this community and to to to do something that is

of value and he's relieved more than just his mother from suffering with countless Timeless performances there's something for everyone to find escape from their own life strife one of which being his portrayal of Andy Kaufman in the 1999 film man on the moon following the film he had another Awakening experience where he saw through his ego it was a definitely an important moment in the process where I found myself subjugating Jim Carrey for Andy Kaufman and Tony Clifton and then uh and then at the end of it looking for Jim Carrey again and having trouble

finding him and at a certain point I I realized hey wait a second you know if it's so easy to lose Jim Carrey who the hell is Jim Carrey where I was kind of watching from another place and there's been a series of kind of Awakenings I've had in my life and uh you know people chalk it up to depression and all that stuff I think that you know grief and sadness and all those things are are the the ticket home uh to nothing I think that that was a part of the process there's been

several other Awakenings and and and yet still I I have a lot of egoic attachments that that uh that pull my attention and Focus this experience suggests that the distinction between Jim Carrey and his iconic roles can become blurred however Jim has an interesting perspective on this notion you said you've kind of disassociated yourself with with Jim Carrey but does you know everyone we see your face there's so many iconic roles and so many of our favorite movies from Eternal Sunshine family dumber and everything that has nothing to do with Jim Carrey that's just that's

just what happened and uh and it was it is wonderful and uh there's insane gratitude around it and uh Wonder around it how did it happen and and uh fulfillment from it and uh it's I look back at it and and I I see something beautiful that that grows out of nothing and happened for no one you know it just it just was like it was almost like every six months to a year we saw this like huge Jim Carrey comedy do you miss that no I honestly there's nothing but this you're my universe you

know what I mean so I'm not looking forward and I'm Not Looking Backward and I'm not you know the the aspect of this that's backward to me is like a contemporary thing what's what's good about this movie it's not a look back it's it's a temporary concept it's what's happening right now inside everybody is they're going who am I and they're depressed you know a lot of people because they're trying to hold up an image in the world and that's what depression is you know people go like oh Jim's been depressed and stuff well yeah

I was depressed when I was trying to uh be The Wizard of Oz instead of the sweaty guy behind the curtain uh but now I know that Oz is the character you know and uh and you know I think everybody deals with that everybody walks around and they go like why am I depressed well it's because you're trying to be something for the world you know and as soon as you let that go better things happen because they're just happening but it's not uh you know now it's the sadness you know sadness comes happiness comes

it's the weather that flies by the sky it doesn't sit on you long enough to drown you you know and as mentioned Jim has struggled with depression he previously mentioned depression as his body needing deep rest from putting on an act here he takes us further into that Journey I've read a couple of places where you said you've had a new struggle with depression from time to time some Prozac for a long time yep it was on Prozac for for a long time and I I'm not sure it may have helped me out of a

jam for a little bit but people stay on it forever you know I had to get off at a certain point because I realized that you know everything's just okay no peeks and vows there are Peaks there are valleys but they're all kind of carved and smoothed out and it feels like a low level of Despair you live in are you not getting any answers but you're living okay and you can smile at the office you know but it's a low level of Despair and you don't take any of them and you don't take anything

there nothing I don't take anything I rarely drink coffee I'm very serious about no alcohol no drugs I just life is too beautiful after talking to you for a couple of hours I mean I just I get to say you are you are a big bundle of conflicting emotions really that you you get that sense for me well I think you're very emotional about a lot of things it's all very close to the serpent yeah it is but I've decided to be there I only act in the movies and his level of authenticity is apparent

in these interviews perhaps it's because he's able to detach from his psyche and see a bigger picture I think that we're all you know we're all trying to uh add things to ourselves so that we can finally Define our Define ourselves and then everybody will get us and they'll go okay that this is what you are and then if you actually get there uh you will find it so empty that you'll realize that's really not what it's about it's it's about not only you know just going with the flow but it's about not taking it

personal you know it's like the difference between how a house and my house is a world of difference and it's the my that's the problem you know so you can do all this without the my involved you know you can do it uh in a way that it's not life isn't happening to you it's happening for yeah you know for the good of everyone it's just a it's like a it's a play it's a it's a it's a giant you know field of Consciousness dancing for itself and you're here to make me happy and you're

to kind of it's making itself happy you know it's like one Soul that's how I feel I feel like you know people say well I have a soul you don't have a soul there's no you but I I feel like there is a soul and it includes everything yeah and when you wake up in the morning and you feel like I'm the universe you don't have to reach for the stars you know you can just let life happen yeah and walk through the doors [Music] foreign