Actor Bill Murray’s Dharma talk: “What’s it like to be you?” [Audio]

Call it a Dharma talk, a guided meditation, existential philosophy, or just a bit of calm and sanity in our too-often superficial sound bite driven world. Whatever it is, it’s something worth hearing and reflecting upon. As On Being’s Trent Gillis notes, this was recorded last August after a screening of Murray’s recent film, St. Vincent.

When asked by the interviewer, “What’s it like to be you?” – a question that could easily go in any number of directions – Murray avoids a quick or flippant response and turns the question over to the audience:

“Let’s all ask ourselves that question right now: What does it feel like to be you? What does it feel like to be you? Yeah. It feels good to be you, doesn’t it? It feels good, because there’s one thing that you are — you’re the only one that’s you, right?

Murray then directs us toward mindfulness of the body, suggesting we, “Think about how much each person here weighs and try to feel that weight in your seat right now, in your bottom right now. Parts in your feet and parts in your bum. Just try to feel your own weight, in your own seat, in your own feet. Okay? So if you can feel that weight in your body, if you can come back into the most personal identification, a very personal identification, which is: I am. This is me now. Here I am, right now. This is me now.”

The meditation (or answer to the question) concludes:

So, what’s it like to be me? You can ask yourself, “What’s it like to be me?” You know, the only way we’ll ever know what it’s like to be you is if you work your best at being you as often as you can, and keep reminding yourself: That’s where home is.”

To try some of your own body scan meditations, try:

Secular Buddhism Association – a guided body-scan meditation by Mark Knickelbine

Two meditations by Tara Brach:

• Meditation: Body Scan – Living Presence (11 minutes)
• Meditation: Body Scan – Living Presence

Some body scan resources via Sharon Salzberg’s website.