Ever since I reported on Russell Brand’s self help videos he’s been coming up in my suggested videos on YouTube. He’s so interesting! There’s the argument that he’s full of sh-t, but most of what he says comes across as genuine and like he’s learned some things and wants to talk about them. I especially liked what he said about prayer in a recent video. That’s above and here are the highlights.
We’ve been taught to think of prayer as a kind of dumb recycler, an empty incantation, but prayer can be a way of accessing latent aspects of yourself. Aspects of your own consciousness, your own being that lie dormant because you live in a culture that only interacts with a limited aspect of you, that only sees you as a passive consumer and a worker. Through prayer we can nurture parts of ourselves that would otherwise be neglected. Who are you? Who do you want to be? Do you want to be a man in a brown hat talking to a screen?
I pray every morning. I do use some old fashioned prayers such as Christian ones. How I interpret them is a kind of personal universalism. What do these words truthfully mean to me? “Our father,” all of us are children, brothers and sisters.
I don’t see the transcendent deity that governs all beingness as having a particular sex of sex organs or traits, merely as being a powerful parenthetic force holding me in great power within and without. I suppose even deeply committed atheists understand that the limits of human knowledge are not the limits of all potential knowledge because human knowledge is continually changing and altering. The potential for us to communicate with different types of being, inner and outer, does exist potentially. I want my will to be in alignment with these forces. What is the deepest me? Who am I really? What is beingness itself? Can I possibly commune with that? I actually believe I can through meditative techniques and even the recurring memories of psychedelic experiences… There are different “me”s ready to be realized.
The power of prayer is to commune with some untainted and essential self that lies beneath all possibility waiting to be realized. You can control, govern, nurture and influence the way you’re going through prayer and make yourself a nicer person.
[From Russell Brand on YouTube]
That was so cute how he started and ended talking about his hat! (I didn’t transcribe that part.) He’s a charming guy, he’s worked on himself and thought about these things and a lot of what he said resonated with me. I identify as a humanist and don’t believe in a deity but I sort-of pray. I’ve been meditating for about a year and the benefits really blow me away. It definitely changed my outlook and has given me an entirely new perspective on prayer and on faith. I just meditate through YouTube guided videos and some of them talk about manifesting. That stuff has worked for me. It probably works by inspiring me to take action on specific things and convincing me that I can do it, but it works either way. So while I still don’t consider myself a believer, I understand and appreciate prayer and faith in a different way now. I also like how Brand is conceptualizing Christian prayers in a more general way.
Here are the highlights in a quicker video:
I am Muslim and in Islam prayer is an essential tenet. I am admit that I am not always the best at being saying all of my prayers-but I strive to be. And prayer is one of the few things that when I feel disconnected or out of sorts brings me back to myself. And by that I mean my essential self that is apart from this world. The spiritual self.
My addict abusive cheating ex boyfriend became obsessed with Russell Brand at the end of our relationship. He was still an abusive liar with drinking/drug problem but he loved to repost Russell Brand videos on social media for attention and to make it look like he was going through an awakening. Behind closed doors, I knew he was still the same terrible person he always was though. It was so gross.
@ Tonya : Yeah, the fakers are everywhere. But don’t lose heart. When I was in middle school, I was bullied by some of the “cool” kids and I would tell myself that in time, they would get what they deserved but, sadly, I might not be there to witness it. It did make me feel better and I hope doing this makes you feel better too 🙂
P.S. : In high school, I did actually see one of the middle school princesses fall from grace and it wasn’t pretty. Once people saw she was a fake, she had nothing left except one third rate groupie. Your cheating druggie ex will likely end up the same, hanging out with low life druggies because they are the only ones he can impress. Hope I’m not oversharing.
Yeah he has sunk down low where he is now associating with the lowest of the lowlifes. I left him in the right hands – he is surrounded by a bunch of people as shallow and messed up as him! I may not witness the karma but I think you’re right, it will happen.
I think Russell Brand has a good message but I just think sometimes people regurgitate self help to appear enlightened when they actually havent done the inner work.
I do need to meditate more, I tend to just… wander off, tbh. I will go and listen to a few of his videos. Cheers for sharing.
I pray. And it is odd, I don’t attend church. I don’t study the bible .. I haven’t found a church I love that I felt would embrace any human who walks through the door. However …my prayers get answered. It is so, so, so odd. Have any of you read the book E Squared? Celebitchy you would LOVE it. It talks about The Universe. How it wants us to be happy. There are experiments in there. They will blow your mind. Gosh, I love Russell. Russell in his neat, little hat.
I have read E Squared, and the Abraham Hicks books, and so on. While I believe it is helpful to “go out in the world with a positive attitude to draw good things to you,” I also really dislike how they say that when you don’t get that job/house/spouse/pile of money you just didn’t vibrate right, or didn’t wish for these things the right way, that you are blocking the good somehow. It can lead to self-hatred, horrid feeling of failure, “I can’t even “dream” the right way!”
Also, why do truly awful things I never thought of, come to my life? Because on some level I “vibrated and drew them to me” they say. Okay. But I just don’t get it.
Esther/Abraham Hicks is on Youtube. She’s very interesting and witty. I don’t know what to think, really.
Harryg I know what you are saying. I am not sure why such hardship exists in the world. I do think a positive outlook can work magic though. I try not to think too hard about “the why”. I think it can drive you crazy and the honest truth is we might never know.
I just like feeling that the Universe wants to give you what you want. That’s the part I try to focus on. I pick and choose my life advice to suit my needs. That perhaps isn’t the proper way to do it … but it is what I do.
Yeah I get you, completely. And yes it’s better to try to focus on the positive only.
I can get behind this. I was raised Catholic, am no longer one, and dislike organized religion, but I still pray on occasion. Admittedly, my faith in God has greatly diminished (not completely), but the way Russell describes this, is close to how I feel now about prayer and a higher being. I don’t believe in a vengeful God that we must fear, but in my mind, it’s an all loving, all accepting force/being. I’ve always wanted to learn to meditate so @Celebitchy, if you can post a favorite YouTube vid or two, I’d really appreciate it.
I really like The Honest Guys on YouTube also this video helped me a lot. Maybe it just helped me focus on what I wanted and take action but I like how relaxing it is:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kC6so_Z5mGg
Thanks for this! I feel like everyone in the world recommends meditating and for some reason I’ve been obstinately refusing to do it even though I really should. I will try this one.
@kate – if you do bedtime meditation your subconscious can still register it while you sleep so it’s possible (under the right conditions and with the right audio file) to passively meditate. Not to the point where you’ll make intellectual breakthroughs/learn a language in ur sleep 🤣 but you can still derive some subconscious benefit
Thank you very much! The last three weeks have been intense, so I want to try this out.
I was raised catholic but attend another church now after a long time away from any church. I pray the rosary as I fall asleep at night and I find it incredibly calming. To me, that is meditation and it has helped me a lot especially when I have suffered from anxiety.
I’ve been listening to his podcasts and I think he is really earnest about making changes in his life and sharing that with other people. I found out about the Headspace app in his interview with the founder, and yeah, a year of meditation has changed my life (and I’m an atheist!). I’m embarrassed to say this, but Russell Brand has been a positive force in my life, LOL!!
I’m in recovery and as I was waking up to my issues with alcohol Russell Brand, Dax Shephard and others in recovery were really helpful and hopeful to me. His conversation with Brene Brown on his podcast was one of the best conversations I’ve heard. That and Gabor Mate. He’s gone on Luminary and money is tight so I’m not buying non-essentials but I truly miss hearing his podcast. May have to recycle through some of his old ones! As I am on Step 3 in my recovery I find this video to be particularly helpful!
I pray nightly, I always have. It helps me focus on what’s going on in my life, what my thoughts are, what scares me or upsets me briefly so I can let it go for a few hours and sleep. It is a form of meditation and introspection.
I have tried meditation. I go in and out of phases with it, just like diet and exercise. I prefer ones that deal with relaxation and focus and breathing. When I’m doing it regularly, I find I’m more capable of keeping up with diet and exercise and accomplishing necessary tasks that I would usually push off. I find my blood pressure is in a better range when I meditate.
Many times I’ve prayed. Basically taking to god and the answer I’ve needed presents itself. Your brain admits what you need to do, basically articulating what you are maybe suppressing surfaces. Prayer is a cleansing of the mind and heart. Revealing your feelings to a person sometimes backfires, revealing your feelings to a deity is much safer. Getting out those feelings, whatever they are is heathy.
I’m not a religious person (spiritual, but not interested in organized religion or going to a place of worship). But I’ve recently realized that prayer — to God, angels, the Universe, people I love who have passed on — really helps me from time to time. I have anxiety and find that sometimes trusting in a higher power that things will be okay is incredibly comforting. Sometimes my prayers are nothing but just giving thanks for the blessings I have. It’s a nice part of my day.
I went to 14 yrs of Catholic school and church on Sundays every wk for at 17 years. Praying was so helpful for me bc of a rough childhood. Then the priest sex abuse scandal hit and it rocked my world. Recently I have gotten into Nichiren Buddhism where the main tenant is being grateful and appreciative for what you currently have and chant for the things you wants (amongst world peace for all). The chanting is a form of mediation where you clear your mind and really visualize that you want. I cannot tell you how invaluable this practice is. In November 2017 I decided to move out my boyfriends apt after 8 yrs together. I didnt know where I would be able to find a reasonably priced apt in NYC and was devastated at the demise of my relationship. The last 8 yrs was spent focused on my boyfriend and his mothers’ drama. I quite frankly languished and made no advancements. Not one of my lifegoals was worked on or achieved. Tired of being in limbo for 8 years I began chanting to clear my mind and to mentally focus on my goals. A few apts fell through but I kept on chanting and found a one bedroom in a quite Desi neighborhood. Granted my commute is longer but I am happier than I have been in last 10 years.
@borg queen
This was me like 2017…. i was at my wits ends with my lackluster bf at the time and his weird immature parenting skills (i was in a step parenting role and observing his what i call teenage parenting skills horrified me into never wanting to have kids with him)…i bought a house and broke up with him weeks later. I was devastated because i wanted the best for us…i prayed, crystals and manifestations/universal-ism, consulted tarots cards (which is witchcraft kinda), meditating, agnosticism, you name it….and finally gave it to God and much thanks for looking out as I truck along i guess… and about 7 months later met my now husband and life’s continued to be LIT…