>>Male Presenter: Good afternoon everyone,
again, thank you very much for attending this
screening of "I AM."
I will actually cut right to the chase.
Today with us we have the director of the
film, Tom Shadyac, who really is an ordinary
guy who has led a really exciting and interesting
journey in life.
So, from his early days of directing films
to some life changing experiences that he
under, underwent, he now created the film
that you now see.
So we're very pleased to have him join us
today and he will answer any questions that
you may have and without further ado, here's
Tom.
>>Tom Shadyac: Thank you my brother, Cliff.
Could we have a hand for Cliff?
[Applause]
>>Tom Shadyac: I call Cliff, now, Saint Peter
because he just toured me around heaven.
[Laughter]
>>Tom Shadyac: Uh, it's a little overwhelming
to come here and see so many incredible things.
So much creative energy, so much, it's a look
into how things can be, it's a look into how
things can be and I'd love to talk today about
why things aren't that way.
Why is it that we come to Google and wow,
I can't walk thirty feet without finding a
carb?
There's a kitchen with carbohydrates, there's
fruit here and I have to pee, oh it's right
here.
I can't move without all the necessities of
life taken care of.
Oh, and there's dogs and babies, it's phenomenal,
right?
You're well fed, you're well taken care of,
you have insurance, you don't have to worry
about medical, why doesn't the world work
this way?
So, I'd love to talk about that cause I sense
such an incredible spirit here.
That that's what you're about is somehow opening
up this world; somehow our collective energy
has created you, created this amazing place
not just as an example, but as a source and
a starting point for what can be.
I don't think you're here by accident so talk
to me.
What do ya got?
By the way, Yahoo was filled with questions,
that's all I'm gonna say.
[Laughter]
>>male #1: How's it going [inaudible] today?
>>Tom Shadyac: Thank you, brother.
>>male #1: I guess my question is
>>Tom Shadyac: What is your name?
>>male #1: My name's Jeff.
>>Tom Shadyac: Hello, Jeff.
>>male #1: Nice to meet you.
>>Tom Shadyac: Good to meet you.
What do you do here, Jeff?
What do you do?
They have people that do everything.
That person makes sure the grass is parallel.
Okay, good, the grass is parallel, very nice.
[Laughter]
>>Tom Shadyac: What do you do?
>>male #1: You know, I try to get user feedback
on the products.
So if you have any feedback on Google products,
now's the time.
>>Tom Shadyac: Yeah, I am such a lame and
my feedback is awesome.
[Laughter]
>>Tom Shadyac: So I use you every day.
It's actually an amazing writing tool.
As a writer we used to clear our minds by
going to picture books or, do you guys have
ever heard this word, encyclopedia?
Okay, we would go to books to get other ideas
to free our minds now we just go on Google
and you just, you get filled with info that
can turn your creative thought somewhere,
so.
>>male #1: Cool, I think, I mean, we all love
working here, we love Google.
But my question is, really, I think companies
like Google are great and they're rare, but
I think they come about because of this entrepreneurial
spirit.
So how do you kind of, how can you get that
spirit and keep those, keep kind of the innovation
alive?
At the same time have companies focus on the
community?
It seems like there's kind of two things at
odds and I wonder how we can kind of get both.
>>Tom Shadyac: Yeah, I find that that is a
cultural, part of the cultural malaise, if
you will, Jeff, that these things are at odds.
So how do we create the entrepreneurial spirit
and still have a focus on the community?
Anybody have a thought?
Okay, so, let's ask ourselves why those things
are mutually exclusive?
What is it that you value most in your life?
Our culture teaches us that money is the motivator,
right?
If you don't have the incentive of money you
won't start anything, right?
So that calls into question some people that
were really inspirational to me.
Buddha, for example, walked away from his
money, created something beautiful, as Meng,
one of your spiritual counselors here knows,
created mindfulness, created awareness, created
peace.
His motivation was to create, to spread love,
ideas, truth.
Jesus, Gandhi , so we have all these moral
leaders who are not motivated by money and
they, we all know, are the most powerful figures
in our lives.
Then we look at institutions.
My family runs St. Jude Children's Research
Hospital; they help found it with Danny Thomas,
not a thought about money, not a thought,
but the entrepreneurial spirit alive.
90 percent of the kids, when this hospital
started, died when they were diagnosed with
cancer, 90 percent mortality rate.
Darn near 90 percent if I'm, plus or minus
one or two percent.
Now it's completely inverted.
It's near 90 percent kids live and there wasn't
a thought about how much money can we make,
it's how can we serve?
Because those things you go to your graves
and your death beds with are going to be,
not how much money did I make, it's gonna
be how much did I serve that I give back?
How creative was I?
How was I able to spread and add a value?
And yet we have this poison in our culture
that says without that money, without that
money it all goes away.
It's a lie.
And we know it through our experience it's
a lie but we don't quite recognize it and
walk it.
That's why we go to church every Sunday to
be reminded, hey it's all about love but Monday
we close that door, as my father said, and
we become about something else.
This is the poison, it's compartmentalization,
it's separation.
Emerson said, "You must, integrity means to
unify your life so that any drawer I open
you'll see exactly who a person is."
So what we need to see in the future is when
we open our business drawers I just see love
and compassion and creativity.
That's what I see.
Just the way you spread information here,
we need to spread love.
What I really think Google is about is love.
That's all I get when I get around here, people
love what they do, the love of food, the love
of health, the love of community, the love
of family, the love of information freely
accessible to the world.
How beautiful?
And there may be another drawer we can open
where love can spread.
And that's up to you.
I'm gonna throw out something very radical,
insanely radical.
And there may be a laser beam that kills me
for saying it.
But I'm simply going to quote a poet that
challenges all of us, his name is Wendell
Berry, some of you may know him he's one of
the most well regarded poets, "Intellectual
property names the deed in which the mind
is bought and sold and the world enslaved."
Cliff and I were talking about that, "Intellectual
property names the deed by which the mind
is bought and sold and the world enslaved."
Hey, that's my idea.
Ace Ventura is my idea, give it to me.
That was my idea.
And yet I know there's no such thing as my
idea.
I rest on the backs of all the creativity
before me.
I'm inspired, meaning I am in spirit, and
somehow an idea comes to you and to claim
ownership of these things is the poison.
To say, "Wow, I am serving this idea and I
offer it to the world" is beautiful and that's
the turn, I think, the human species, I think
we're starting to make here.
So much you offer to the world freely.
Where's the laser beam?
[pause]
>>male #2: I believe, for a couple of years,
that there is actually nothing wrong with
the world.
And everything that is happening is supposed
to happen.
We live perfectly in balance.
Now I understand that had I, you know, had
I been fighting in Africa all my life, my
beliefs might have been different but, you
know, not having to struggle for food every
day, kind of gives me a different set.
I might be wrong, but this is what I believe
correctly.
My question is, if we are so connected to
the animal and the insects and if we are a
part of nature then why are we so different?
And if we do embrace the philosophy that we
should only take what we need and not go out
and invent things for the reason of money,
how are we going to acknowledge that what's
happening to us is not, in fact, evolution
and it's not, in fact, a, you know, for the
reason of the greater and the longest survival
of the human species and the life on the planet,
for not just, you know, reasons I mean, not
defending only against things that are happening,
like hunger and disease but bigger calamities
that could happen to this planet, how are
we not to say that we're not here to protect
the planet by inventing things against bigger
planetary things like meteoroids or
>>Tom Shadyac: Yeah, let me ask you a question
was there, by the way I'm supposed to repeat
this for the internet, the question was, what's
the meaning of life
[Laughter]
>>Tom Shadyac: It was a big question cause
you said a lot of things that are profound
that I can and may respond to but may not
get to.
You said things like you believe that world
is just as it ought to be, right?
And you're coming from a place being well
fed; you might feel differently if you were
not well fed.
That's a huge thing we could talk about.
But now you're saying are we not to use, potentially,
our technologies that is maybe a protector
of the planet?
And is there something in this film that told
you that we ought to not do that?
That we ought to not be creative, that we
ought to not expand in terms of, I love the
colors of these seats, I love the color of
the human fabric, I love that each of you
is a different experiential model that adds
another piece to the mosaic.
Who wants a monochromatic world?
I don't think that whatever created us wants
a monochromatic world because he made so many
different creative people, right?
So, I don't think this film is about that.
I think this film is about what happens when
you create?
What do you do with that creativity?
What is that?
Do we claim ownership of it?
Do we share it freely with all that we are?
So that love, the most important thing to
all us, love, love, love can be spread and
community can be spread.
And goodness and the Google campus can be
spread.
What do we do when we create?
I could have easily done everything, I stand
by every film I've made, as imperfect as they
are, they had ideas and energy I wanted to
put into the world.
I still stand by that.
But I didn't have to stand on top and say,
"Pay me more, I'm worth more."
I, as an artist, can serve freely, take what
I need and serve.
The greatest story I will ever tell, the most
powerful story I will ever tell is the one
I will tell of my life.
Not the one you'll see up there.
So what story am I telling with my own life?
That's the question that I have.
[Inaudible] did this in any way address one
of your
>>male #2: Um, yeah, I mean, while watching
the movie it did challenge a few of my beliefs
like I always questioned why is war wrong?
You know, why does everyone say that war should
not happen and, yet, war is happening at all
times.
Bacteria, we're fighting with bacteria and
viruses at all times, in fact, there are hand
sanitizers which we are using to kill bacteria
at all times.
It's happening at every single level but only
>>Tom Shadyac: Can I just, uh, I don't mean
to jump in but I wanna, cause they can't actually
hear you so are you getting him at all?
I have to repeat what you say so I kind of
have to remember.
Anyway, about the wars that are going on with
bacteria, so that's actually not true.
I mean, it's true, the human species, for
example, there are less wars.
We are evolving into a less violent species.
If you read Jeremy Rifkin's "Empathic Civilization"
there is this moral progression, Rumi talks
about it in his poetry.
But the history of biology is not that.
Yes, there are, there are, quote, wars and
aggression going on all the time but the history
of biology is this, read Elisabet Sahtouris,
Elisabet Sahtouris is an evolutionary biologist,
she said let's look at life cause life has
had 4 billion years, 13 billion if you wanna
go back to the beginning of the universe,
4 billion years to show us its mandates and
dictates.
And what you found was this pattern, single
cell life is the first life to emerge, very,
as you said, war like, angry, aggressive,
anger that's actually a human term, but aggressive,
right?
It realizes this isn't working through whatever
communication it has, it begins talking amongst
itself, single cells, and they start cooperating,
they get creative.
They create nucleated cells, nucleated cells
are young, they do the same thing, feisty,
aggressive, competitive for nutrients, etcetera.
Nucleated cells begin communicating with each
other, get creative and then create multi
cell creatures which is us.
We are now young, we are 175 thousand year
old species based on 4 billion years.
Incredibly young we are now through places
like Google, talking to each other and realizing
hey this doesn't work.
We can behave this way but does it help us
thrive?
Which way must we tend as a society?
And that's why instantly when a war happens
nobody goes, "Great!
More war!"
They go, "How does this end?
How does this end?
How does my child come home safe?
How does this end?
Why are we in another war?"
Because we are hardwired, we are hardwired
to thrive in cooperation.
So, it's how we tend, everything you say does
exist but it is more than exception than the
rule because life would not go if it was just
one big battle.
You know, the simplest example is the lion.
It can eat every gazelle, it can take all
the gazelles, it can take them down.
It eats one it's full and everything can live
in peace around it, it's gotten what it needed.
>>Presenter: Alright, so we have one question
here.
>>male #3: Better.
Thanks for coming to visit us, I'm David.
Much of what you had to say in your documentary
resonated with me that we should, that we're
social creatures, we should, we should have
community and be connected with one another
and love each other and that'll give us a
greater sense of presence and happiness.
So that all, like I said, resonates with me,
towards the end of the movie you were talking
about, also the part about how the endless
treadmill of wealth accumulation can distract
us from enjoying what it is that we should
enjoy about life, towards the end you seem
to be contending that if we redistribute the
wealth that we're accumulating to the homeless
that that'll solve the problem.
And it's probably putting too much on you
to try and solve a problem that's never been
solved in thousands of years but I'm not persuaded
that the whole root of the issue with the
homeless is that we're not redistributing
enough resources to them.
I feel like resources are available and caring
people are available and yet the problem persists.
Is there more to it that I've missed?
Do you have any more prescriptions for how
we can fix that problem?
>>Tom Shadyac: Let me get to the meaning of
life before I end homelessness.
[Laughter]
>>Tom Shadyac: So, just to be clear, can you
give him the mic back, your name again was?
>>male #3: David.
>>Tom Shadyac: David.
David, you did not see what, you did not see
what exactly about homelessness that I was
not, I was too simplistic in my approach to
ending homelessness?
Yeah.
I think it's really simple.
I just think it's incredibly simple.
I think it's incredibly simple.
It's not simple that there issues, the alcoholism
excreta which is from a culture that I believe
is mentally ill.
I wasn't kidding when I called myself mentally
ill.
A mentally ill person does not operate in
reality, does not see things as they are.
So I don't believe I was seeing things as
they are when I took so much, much more than
I needed.
So I find the solution to, you know, the law
of the province can be summed up in two ways.
One will be a sort of religious sounding thing,
love God or whatever that source is, whatever
the gift is of life and the other is love
each other.
And, so, it's really simple but the manifestation
of that might be challenging.
But if we made a decision today would it not
end?
If we as a society made a decision, there
is not homelessness in native culture, it
doesn't exist because the tribe, even the
crazy guy in the tribe, is kind of enjoyed
and laughed at but he's a part of the tribe,
he's fed, he's given a hut.
It didn't exist in native cultures.
Inflation doesn't exist in native cultures.
Price increases don't exist in native cultures.
It's a mentally that allows me to ignore there's
someone I'm related to within 2000 generations
we know that we all come from the same tribe
in Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, someone I'm
actually related to has somehow fallen on
hard times, didn't, the number one reason
for homelessness, I have a homeless shelter
in Charlottesville Virginia that's why I know
about these things, and the number one reason
why people are homeless is because they don't
have the support system that you may have.
So they don't have a parent to turn to and
go, "Jeez, I had a bad year.
I couldn't get a job out of school or I made
a mistake or I have an addiction problem"
and they get stuck.
They're out.
So I see these things as intensely simple
and then the fun starts.
Once we agree to take care of each other.
>>male #4: Hi, I'm Mark.
Thank you for sharing your movie with us.
I understand why you made your point is if
people understood how everything is connected
and we are connected then they would work
with one another better and care for one another.
I've seen, so you've shown a few examples
like the yogurt and so forth, and I think
I've seen a few in a movie called "What the
bleep do you know?"
do we know, like 10 years ago, I'm sure you've
heard of it or have seen it.
And at the same time I watch a lot of science
shows, I learned a lot about science and very
few such examples are given.
At least I don't hear or see of many.
>>Tom Shadyac: Examples of what given?
>>male #4: Oh, of everything being connected
and my belief, especially after seeing this
is if there were more and we'd hear about
more that people would be more willing to
believe and act on that and realize that yes,
everything they do does impact other people.
Um, do you know why there aren't more and
is it difficult
>>Tom Shadyac: Yes, well, there are.
They're everywhere.
You can't look at something and not say there's
connection.
But when you're raised in a culture that says
that's not true that you separate.
The basic ideology that you heard in this
film is the ideology that you've been taught
in this culture.
That you are separate and yet science, we
know, if you look there's no ending of me
and beginning of you.
Everything is intermixed.
We all agree that there's such a thing called
the butterfly effect.
We all look at the movie "Back to the Future"
and go, "yeah, that's true.
Michael J. Fox goes back in time, he does
one thing different, he's nice to someone
or mean to someone, 20 years later everything
is different in the future."
We already know this, right?
But we don't want you to see it cause with
that comes an incredible exigency.
The exigency of love is intense.
Much more so than the law of separation, just
take care of yourself, after you take care
of yourself, this is the poison, take care
of yourself, get yourself set up then you
can reach out to the world.
There's a mystic named Irwin Kula who says
something very cool, "Everything is God in
drag" right?
"Everything is God in drag."
Another divine, beautiful walking manifestation,
another, another, that, there's stuff going
on inside of that that is insane.
That same stuff that's going on, rotating,
spinning, that same spinning goes on in the
Sufi Mystic.
It's all connected and when we get that we'll
understand and we'll behave differently.
Desmond Tutu said something to me and I'm
writing a chapter of it in the book, I've
got a book deal with a group, not easy writing
a book, Desmond Tutu talked about, when you
talk about something, he's a religious person
but he doesn't speak about it in a religious
way.
I said, "Desmond, what's wrong?
What's wrong with the world?"
He said, "Tom" and he uses the word God, "God
gives us instructions on the box of human
being and we are not operating according to
the instructions on the box."
And those instructions are the same instructions
that you see in nature.
Connected, that's why Emerson wrote the essay
"Compensation."
Everything is a compensation.
That's why there's a full tide here, you know
the saying, that was the saying I wanted to
remember, Harold.
A tide rises, a tide rises all boats, no it
doesn't.
What about the tide across the sea?
Those boats are receding, right?
There is always ebb and flow, everything,
we take from here something gets richer, something
gets less, we invent the car, we lose the
use of our feet.
The only thing with no compensation is love.
Only love multiplies, Emerson says, I agree
because love is how things work.
It's the operating manual that Desmond Tutu
was talking about.
And until we get that, now we already know
that you know it deep in your DNA cause every
time you share something at Google, we were
talking about China and how you want that
to be more open and the dialogue there and
the information to be more open, that's love
and you know it.
So you applaud when your leaders, Larry and
Sergey come and say, "We wanna be more open"
and you feel it cause it's so deeply in you.
Your operating manual is in you.
>>male #4: Hi, I'm Johnny.
Um, no, so, you talk about Google here and
where everything is, there's lack of scarcity
and we're kind of in a bubble of the world
and you, likewise, in Hollywood where it's
kind of in the bubble and I would even argue
that the US, the worst situation in the US
is far better than a lot of other situations
outside the country.
Now, with the amount, the lack of scarcity
in all the environments, right, how do you
differentiate between that and people that
are actually struggling to survive and basically
pushing the message of collaboration when
there's just not enough to go around in that
society or in that group?
>>Tom Shadyac: Be a little bit more clear
about your question cause I'm not quite clear
on what you wanna address.
>>male #4: No, I think that what I'm saying
is at Google it's very easy to say we should
all collaborate.
There's no competition in terms of food, we
walk a hundred feet there's food.
We walk, you know, ten feet and there's something
else.
And likewise, in the US, we, you know, there's
grocery stores and there's availability of
>>Tom Shadyac: So we have a relative abundance
here in the US and
>>male #4: And how do you
>>Tom Shadyac: What do you mean by differentiate?
>>male #4: Well how do you push the message
of collaboration to people that don't have
the abundance of
>>Tom Shadyac: The same way you push every
message which is to be the thing that you
wish to see in the world.
That's the whole simple message that Gandhi
preached.
It's what I hope, I, I, impart here, be it.
I just heard Warren Buffet did a great thing
cause I've spoken of it as a bit of an insane
thing.
Warren Buffet stood on, in the press recently
and said, "I have all this extra resources,
I wanna help.
Why doesn't the government tax me more?"
And I thought that's insane.
Why don't you just help?
Why are you waiting for the government to
tell you to be good?
Be good.
As Aristotle said, "Follow the action of good
and happiness is the right outcome."
So be good.
I heard he just did that, I gotta find out
if it's true.
I think I'll Google it.
[Laughter]
>>Tom Shadyac: But I heard he just did that
which is wonderful.
That's extraordinary.
He felt that he had something to share, he
didn't wait for somebody to make him share
it and he shared it.
So he is becoming the message he wishes to
see in the world.
So if you want a more collaborative world,
a more equitable world, that's why I want
to disassemble, I am a very imperfect work
in progress, I believe the principles that
animate me are perfect.
I hope that I am in touch with the principles
that have animated others.
I hope that they animate me.
That's my hope.
But, so, you can look at my life and see imperfection
but I am whittling away my resources because
I wanna be more equitable.
I wanna be more equitable so I must be more
equitable in my dealings.
Yes?
I'm sorry, someone else has the mic, we'll
go to the back.
>>male #5: Hi, I'm Joe.
So, in my limited experience when you're trying
to change people's perspectives and aware,
increase awareness there's really nothing
that can substitute direct experience.
Like, if you, if they experience that tragedy
themselves and that's your story as well.
Do you ever look, like take a step back and
be like why did it take me to have so much
taken away to finally be aware of what, something
is wrong?
And did you take that approach when you started
filming and kind of understand that?
For many of us that don't experience such
tragedies to kind of put that, put life into
perspective it's, you can only tell someone
so much before they actually go through it
and then they realize, like, it's true.
>>Tom Shadyac: Let me be clear about something.
The accident and facing my own death did not
in any way shift my life in terms of my view
on resources and the generosity I wanted or
didn't want to inhabit me.
I had been on that path for years.
After I did 'Liar, Liar' in 1995 or 6, I sat
down with a dear friend and said, "This doesn't
feel right."
That's when the money started coming and I
said, "There's something not good about this.
It doesn't feel right.
I feel like it should flow back."
"No, no, no, keep it.
Keep it."
And I bought into it.
But I began to shift very early.
What the concussion did and facing my own
death did was give me the courage to talk
about it.
So for ten years, I was already in the mobile
home park which is a beautiful place, the
message is not, for me, necessarily austerity
for austerity sake but a reasonable life.
What's enough for you?
I love to surf, I'm near the beach.
I love the mountains, they're right behind
me.
I want everyone to have what they love and
are passionate about.
I think that's how we beam.
So, yes, you're right when we experience something
personally, of course, we are more compelled
and propelled into action.
However, we do have a connective relationship
with others and we do look to others to say,
"Hey, what do you know?
What do you know?"
So others and through their energy offer their
experience and their stories and that can
shift us as well.
We don't all have to have a concussion and
a near death experience.
>>Presenter: We have a functioning mic now.
>>male #6: My name is Mario.
Thank you for coming.
In [inaudible] I remember I grew up in Mexico
and I grew up in a Protestant family and never
really got it but one day I prayed, I say,
"God, I have hard heart, why don't you give
me a way that I can hear?" and somehow I went
to the bathroom and I thought, Oh, I think
that must have arrived like coming to Google
and hear you just kind of predisposed me to
really hear and make a change.
But, so I just wanted to share that testimony
and the question is I wondered if because
of [inaudible]
>>Tom Shadyac: I'm sorry you're going out
there.
Because of?
We need to get some tech people down here.
>>male #6: Somehow I'm not happy because I'm
not loving enough and maybe it's because of
achievement [inaudible] that I'm not loving
enough, that I'm not doing enough so the message
I took from [inaudible] it only takes what
it needs, so I got that part, but when it
comes to give I wonder whether, what's your
view on this, should we just give until we've,
like, I don't know how much I need to give
and under which criteria and I somehow feel
I need to give a lot in order to be happy
or I need to sacrifice myself, you know?
I don't know [inaudible] amount of giving.
And I wonder [inaudible]
>>Tom Shadyac: My comment on that is first,
thank you, brother.
You've already given to me with your journey
and your beautiful spirit that seeks to be
of service.
My view on giving is that you follow the beauty.
And that, is this still on?
Yeah, and that, I heard you, you were raise
Protestant?
Is that what you said?
I was raised Catholic and there's a Catholic
mentality that I'm always working to rid myself,
to shed, and that is the feeling of guilt.
I don't think were to feel this feeling and
that I should, the nuns say don't should on
yourself, right?
So if you should on yourself you create energy,
"Oh I should have been better, I should have
been more loving.
I should have been more generous."
That creates and energy attention of lack
that can actually prevent you from being more
loving.
Just follow your heart.
So, just give a little.
Wow, that felt great.
I gave a bike to a kid once and that felt
fantastic.
One of my crew members, and then I did a crazy
thing, I said, cause she couldn't afford a
bike and I said, "Well, I wonder if any of
my other crew members would like a bike?"
and by the way if I give money, it's so not
about money, if you give in a moment you give
in a moment of grace, so it's not about money.
I have money to give.
So I asked my other crew members, "Who else
would like a bike?"
I thought maybe 20 would pipe up.
400 crew members out of 400 crew members said,
"Me!"
[Laughter]
>>Tom Shadyac: So I gave away 400 bikes and
the feeling was beautiful because I saw people
on the weekends enjoying nature getting out
into the beautiful countryside.
We're from L.A., we were in Virginia at the
time, I saw this elevation and I felt so blessed
to be a part of it.
So now I give my class bikes.
I teach a class at Pepperdine and I give them
a bike not to be Oprah.
It's not like, "Today's a refrigerator!
We're going to Australia!"
[Laughter]
>>Tom Shadyac: "Oh my God!"
No, I give them a bike because I want to remind
that what you already know so well as to remain
child-like even though the world is saying
get serious with your life, if you do not
remain child-like as some of the mystic have
said, "You shall not enter the kingdom of
heaven."
So I followed that joy and now I give bikes,
we give them to inner city kids.
I once freed a slave, what?
Freed a slave, there's 27 million slaves in
the world today.
What?
We ended slavery in 1865, aha, we didn't because
we didn't end the mentality that creates slavery.
Which is the commoditization of everything,
that intellectual property that I talked about,
this is what creates slavery.
Hey, if I can commoditize the human body which
is a little operation from the best guy should
cost a hundred thousand, from a not so good
guy ten thousand, commoditization, why not
commoditize the whole human body?
It's the same mentality gone askew but it
comes from the same mentality.
Does that make sense to you?
So give and then follow the beauty.
So, anyway, I freed a slave and I wanted to
say that now I've freed others with Harold
and our foundation we've been able to free
a village, I believe it was in, the village
was in Southern India and we've, I don't know,
we've freed a couple hundred people.
There's a program that goes in and they pull
them out of slavery and trafficking and they
reeducate them, they reintroduce them to their
families and there are people walking free
and it's because of all of us, because whatever
resources come to us we spit back, we share
back with the world and so we followed that
bliss.
I've met these people; I've seen the pictures
of the kids being driven away.
There's not a product in the world that I
would wanna buy more than seeing the face
of that child who's driving away, free, for
the first time since he was three years old
and captured.
So I follow that.
So I encourage you to follow that.
Whatever makes your heart open and expand
and feel, you'll feel a tear and a smile,
you know, it's not just oh the joy we freed
a child, it's the tear that others may be
suffering and how do I do what I can to connect?
>>female #1: My name's Vina, it was a great
[inaudible] and thanks for coming.
Um, I just want, I actually have a lot of
questions but [inaudible] off the question
that was just asked, in my day to day life
I wonder at what point do I stop giving and
I hope I'm not repeating the same question
but [inaudible] on the other side that it's
not as appreciated or valued or even acknowledged,
somewhere in me it burns.
>>Tom Shadyac: What burns, that you're not
acknowledged?
>> female #1: It burns that I'm able to, I
want to remove the boundary of this is mine
and [inaudible] and I'm able to step outside
of the boundary and [inaudible] and there's
not even an eye blinking at that thought,
right, like no need for thanks, no need for
re, re, coming back with the same action but
at least just the thought that, "Oh, she did
this" [inaudible] and I continue to do what
I do but I question myself like I should not
feel this way, I'm not gonna have the thankfulness
or the thoughtfulness and that's okay, but
intrinsically do you believe it's a human
behavior that when on the other side it's
not appreciated or acknowledged and is that
okay?
>>Tom Shadyac: Well, I think that there's
something that's actually natural because
what I really think your reaching for is you
don't necessarily want to be thanked, I don't
think it's that you wanna be, correct me if
I'm wrong, but you don't want someone to go,
"Oh, you're such a wonderful person!"
You wanna know that the gift, the giving reached
it source.
To see the child's eyes light up, he didn't
need to thank me, the thanks was in the eyes.
I think that's what you're reaching for that
there is some understanding that this moment
has had a connection.
>>female #1: That's right.
At a child, it's different because the other
end is not able to do it on their own so you're
doing it but in cases where it's colleagues
or friends or roommates or spouses, you, they
are equally capable of giving back.
But at the same time you see that they are
not even thinking about it.
>>Tom Shadyac: Yes, well, this is a challenge
for all of us.
But we are called to continue to be giving.
You said you don't know when to stop giving,
you don't ever stop giving.
Even when you're giving to yourself cause
you need rest, you need perspective, you need
a moment, you never stop giving.
It's all a gift and you don't give to change
people.
That's what I think your tension may be.
You give and then that roommate doesn't get
it or that parent doesn't get it.
No, that's giving to change.
You give, you share and what gets in gets
in.
And you never know, you guys have this amazing
thing where the world, there's beams of light
coming out wherever Google is being searched,
I think that's gonna be our human story that
you have no idea what beams of light you sent
out that you never were aware of.
How many people may have seen this film that
I'm not aware of?
How many people may be touched by an act that
you were not necessarily thanked for but you
affected somebody, you weren't aware it got
in, and they effected somebody else?
That's that beam of light and I think they're
happening all around us.
So you give in faith.
You give because, as Aristotle said, "Follow
the good"
>>female #2: Hi, my name is Lynn and I loved
the movie.
I thought it was wonderful.
I'm super excited, I'm gonna spread it, it's
gonna happen.
>>Tom Shadyac: Fantastic.
>>female #2: yeah.
>>Tom Shadyac: This is Google, spread the
frickin' thing!
>>female #2: Yeah!
[Laughter]
>>Tom Shadyac: Can we not spread it?
>>female #2: Absolutely.
>>Tom Shadyac: All the proceeds are going
to causes so spread.
>>female #2: What I thought was most interesting
about it was it's not like the concept of
loving people and having that, that's not
new.
That's been around, everyone's talked about
that before, what I think is new and interesting
is the way that you're talking about it and
the communication and the language, the narrative
that you're using to describe that.
And I think you are in a unique position as
someone who created characters in a narrative
such as like, Ace Ventura, that maybe it's
more approachable to maybe a more of a mass
audience because they're like, "Well, he thought
Jim Carrey was funny, I think Jim Carrey is
funny."
I don't know.
[Laughter]
>>female #2: But what my question is, is more
about when you use these different communication
styles I would certainly expect some people
to completely dismiss a lot of what you might
say sometimes when they think it's too out
there or almost hurt by the kind of hippy
dippy movement where they think, "Oh, he must
be just hallucinating something rather than
actually speaking truth."
So you use science, you use humor, you used
film to communicate this message and do you
ever find yourself tailoring your message
or tailoring your language to audiences in
order to make more of an impact, in order
to really grab onto that, the main concept
which is love?
>>Tom Shadyac: Yes all the time.
But I don't see that as a downside.
Emerson said, "If you find nothing but the
commonality that the rain, it rains on both
you and your adversary, find that commonality."
So I need to find out what it is that grabs
you.
I'm an entertainer, right?
I knew when we did "Bruce Almighty", a lot
of ideas about spirituality, prayer, the energy
we put out, love, but I knew that if it wasn't
insanely funny nobody would see it.
So I know that humor is hardwired in us, it's
a trait that's evolved so I like to reach
into that trait.
It's, you know what a belly laugh is?
It literally makes you vulnerable because
you get hit in the gut.
When you get hit in the gut you get vulnerable
and then you can drop a seed.
So I do it all the time.
We're, Harold and I, are pitching a talk show
to MTV, I've been with Oprah for a long time
but I think we may not be on the Oprah Winfrey
Network and we may actually go on MTV, they
wanna do talk now.
So the conversation is now exactly what you
said.
How do ideas like this get in to a youth culture
that's addicted to the Jersey Shore?
To Teen Mom 2?
And we find the commonality and then we get
in.
So we make them laugh, we do something that's
visually exciting to them.
But we say there's a principle behind this,
guys, there's a reason that we put this on.
You see that silly stunt you love in "Jackass"
that made you go, "Oooh!"
That's actually your vagus nerves firing because
you are hardwired to connect to someone.
You actually felt that kick in the nuts.
You felt it in your own and if you don't have
them, you felt it somewhere down there.
[Laughter]
>>Tom Shadyac: So we can use that to connect
and say that there's a larger story that you're
not being taught, that you are connected,
that you're not to be separate but it's in
your biology.
So we'll, you're very perceptive.
Join us on our talk show, please.
How we doing on the time, Harold, we good?
A couple more minutes and we're done and then
you're back to, it's been, what?
45 minutes since you've eaten?
[Laughter]
>>Tom Shadyac: I mean my goodness.
[Sigh]
>>Tom Shadyac: By the way, so smart, there's
so many things so smart at this company it
just is, I encourage you to expand that wisdom.
Expand it.
It's so smart when you look at the food and
you're saying like eat different, rotate your
diet and eat organic and you were saying,
Cliff, how you're actually going to places
now and asking them to use organic products
and it's fantastic.
>>female #3: Hey, hi, um, my name is Clarissa,
how are you doing today?
Thanks so much for coming.
>>Tom Shadyac: Thank you very much, Clarissa,
I'm doing very well, how are you?
Take care, bye, bye then.
[Laughter]
>>female #3: Sorry about that.
My question is what do you think the tipping
point is to effect change on a large scale
level and if we look at food as an example,
you know, there's a huge organic movement
here in California but, you know, if I wanna
eat an organic mango it's gonna cost 5 dollars
or if I wanna help someone, it's gonna cost
me 5 dollars to give, to buy an organic mango
and give it to somebody.
And what do we do to counter other external
forces of the use of pesticides and different
farming practices that are not organic and
related to this also is, you know, maybe this
is a function of me being from New York, I
have a fear of if I help someone that I don't
know I might get robbed or killed or raped
or what do I do to, as an individual, to counter
these external and internal forces, if this
makes sense?
>>Tom Shadyac: Wow
[Laughter]
>>Tom Shadyac: Jeez Where am I?
At Google?
First of all let me answer you, there's a
couple questions in there and I'm tempted
to give the shortest answer that I can give.
You said what is the tipping point for these
changes and I think the tipping point is you.
You, very specifically, you, you.
Do you know what I mean by that?
Yes, so you wanna eat more organic so you
can't go somewhere and get a reasonably priced
organic smoothie or apple from the store,
what does a person do when they're faced with
that?
They can blog about it, talk about it, talk
to the produce manager, look online, Google
where can I find something and when enough
of you do that a revolution happens.
We all know the word love is buried inside
revolution but you have to turn it around.
So when you do that and then you add, and
you and I, Egypt happens.
You already have the recipe here.
You've cooked it.
You've helped the world in revolution.
Look at the principle and be the principle.
I don't even know what your second question
was.
I forgot.
[Laughter]
>>Tom Shadyac: I know it was something but
that, there's enough to chew on there.
>>Presenter: So we have time for one final
question.
>>Tom Shadyac: We have time for one final
question.
>>female #4: And I win that privilege.
I'm Jennifer.
>>Tom Shadyac: Hi Jennifer.
>>female #4: I wanted to make a couple comments
about the film.
First of all I thought the little pictogram
about the Indian village and the hunter was
so, just amazing.
I mean, it was just very simple but something
that we could show to elementary school kids,
just amazing.
And it's something people can walk away with
and really stick in your gut in terms of understanding
that kind of idea.
>>Tom Shadyac: Before you go on can I ask
you about that?
>>female #4: Sure.
>>Tom Shadyac: So, does everyone remember
what she's talking about?
In the movie there's a hunter that said, "Wait
a second, I'm the best hunter."
Do you see how I am also that hunter?
Do you see how many of us are also that hunter?
I'm the best comedy director, like of the
'90s anyway, quote, unquote, cause of the
grosses.
I deserve more.
Okay, I wanna make sure that it's relatable
because that really wasn't a tribe about a
native culture that was a tribe about us and
me.
Okay.
>>female #4: And that's why I said elementary
school kids should watch that.
My second comment about the film was how you
in there interspersed commentary about economy
and how we've really kind of taken the idea
of using economy to serve the greater good
to now it becoming some, you know, money play
and people fighting to be on top which kind
of connects to that tribe example.
My question to you is, so given your success
in Hollywood and how that has really kind
of given you this opportunity to spread this
word about love and sharing and all these
great things, what's your philosophy about
Hollywood and how do you balance that very
fine line because it sounds like you're still
somewhat involved in media and talking about
the MTV thing, how do you get that balance
right so that you're adding value and bringing
good media to the world but also not getting
sucked kind of into that glitzy, money, Hollywood
vortex?
>>Tom Shadyac: Well, I happen to love my friends
in Hollywood even though they're crazy.
I love them and I'm in dialogue with them
and I don't try to change them.
Many have responded to this film.
I don't mind naming names; Courtney Cox is
a dear friend, flipped over the movie.
Brian Grazer is not producing the Academy
Awards, he's Ron Howard's partner, flipped
over the movie.
And they're just like you and I.
They're artists, they're creators, they were
raised in the same culture I'm raised in and
something got stirred up.
So I just dialogue with them and live and
don't say, "Why do you live in this big house?"
Some people think I think, "Well, you shouldn't
live in that big house, that's what the movie's
about!"
No it's not.
It's what's true for you.
What does your heart tell you?
There may be artistry, community, something
about the place where you're living, I was
a single guy, I didn't need what I need, what
I had and I moved from it.
What's true for you?
So I judge none of them.
I share with all of them.
And as far as what I wanna put out I'm only
gonna put out what I wanna put out.
And if that means starvation, I will starve.
I would much rather feed my soul than my body.
My body's had enough.
I'll feed the soul.
So I'm simply gonna put out what I, everybody
thinks I'm nuts, I mean, I was the first one
to move into a quote, unquote, trailer park,
this is an expensive trailer park, I wanna
be very clear because the headlines are "Moves
to trailer park" if you came to where we lived
you'd go, "Jeez, I'd live here."
It's beautiful but it was out of the paradigm,
right?
I was looking at 20 million dollar homes and
these were 1 and under 1 to 2 hundred thousand,
what?
Is he crazy?
You don't even own the land and you have to
live with normal people.
[Laughter]
>>Tom Shadyac: Or it's retired police officers
and teachers, what?
That's why we put up walls and fences to not
see them, right?
And I found such beauty there that many of
my friends in show business, there's a an
agent there, a huge director who I won't name,
has moved in.
We have a community of 6 or 8 families that
have moved in because they see the beauty
of what this is.
So I just continue to live what, to me, as
I said to you, feels expansive.
And so I encourage all of you, I think you're
all here for a reason besides a nap.
I saw the napping pods; you don't have to
come here to nap.
I think you're here for a reason.
So whatever this film, however it touched
you and moved you, I hope it at least has
opened you up to the idea that maybe there's
more conversation to be had at Google to how
Google can actually break down whatever walls,
the bubble, we've created here or whatever
bubble exists and spread this.
Again, not just the information but I kept
digging into Cliff, what's the philosophy?
And your founders have so, they're onto something.
And I think we just need to look in every
drawer and say, "Ah, is it in that drawer?
Is it in that drawer?
Wait a second, here's a drawer that doesn't
look like it's in.
How do we get it in there?"
You guys are a glimpse at our future.
You're a glimpse at our future but while we
sit on the cushion of advantage let's not
fall asleep, right?
Let's always be looking to see how can we
expand this so that others can share in the
bounty?
Cause there's absolutely, Gandhi said it,
so many of our leaders, there's plenty for
the need, there's not enough for the greed.
>>Presenter: On that note, Tom, thank you
very much for speaking at Google and for showing
us what's right in the world.
>>Tom Shadyac: Thank you, brother.
Thank you, Cliff.
Thanks for having us.
[Applause]
