Now that Russell Brand’s BBC interview has gone viral and perhaps even ignited the revolution he’s sure is coming, let’s look back to the 2012 meeting of this most irreverent and fearless of young men with the revered Dalai Lama. What particularly struck me about their conversation are Brand’s unusual deference laced with characteristic humor, the Dalai Lama’s laughing appreciation of Brand’s electric, out-there authenticity, and especially, the response the Dalai Lama gave to a written question about whether he had ever regretted the singular path that he was shown when still a small child.
Be aware: it’s difficult to slow down enough to actually listen to what he says here, since the Dalai Lama speaks slowly in halting English, and he stopped a number of times to have his interpreter tell him how to say something; difficult for me, anyhow, because my fiery personality is filled with the “impatience” and “frustration” that he mentions as signs that one is not at one with one’s own path . . .
So, please, do listen to what he says, and how it applies to our lives, that new challenges activate ever deeper levels of our own unique, but limitless natures. That, in other words, without new challenges, we would not be called forth to discover who we really are! So, he says, in this way he learned to be grateful for each new challenge.
