中英文稿

我希望今天可以談?wù)剟?chuàng)意。?很多人真的很吝于 給自己機會?發(fā)揮創(chuàng)意。?這情有可原。?我們多多少少都會 懷疑自己的才華。?記得在我二十歲出頭時 偶然發(fā)現(xiàn)了一個故事，?對當(dāng)時的我意義重大。

我當(dāng)時很迷艾倫·金斯伯格 （Allen Ginsberg），?正在讀他的詩作，?我正在讀—— 他參與了許多訪談——?那時候，小威廉· F ·巴克利 有個電視節(jié)目?叫《射擊線》。?金斯伯格在那個節(jié)目中 一邊吹著口琴，?一邊吟唱著奎師那 （Hare Krishn）的頌歌。?回到紐約后，?身旁的知識分子朋友 全都告訴他：?“你知不知道大家都覺得 你看起來像個白癡？?全國的人都在嘲笑你。”?他說：“那是我的工作。?我是詩人，我要扮演傻子。?大部分的人整天都在工作，?他們回到家，和另一半吵架，?吃東西，打開老舊的電視機，?電視上有人試著推銷東西給他們，?而我把那些都擾亂了。?我在節(jié)目上吟唱奎師那頌歌，?他們則坐在床上，說： ‘那個傻了吧唧的詩人是誰？’?然后就無法入睡了，對吧？”?那就是他身為詩人的工作。

這個故事讓我感到了解脫，?因為我認為大部分人都希望?提供給世界高質(zhì)量的東西，?世人認為不錯或重要的東西。?那真的是大敵，?因為我們所作所為的好與壞 并非由我們來決定；?如果我們從歷史中學(xué)到了點什么，?那就是，世人的批評極不可靠，?對吧？

所以，你得自問：?人類的創(chuàng)造力有意義嗎？?怎么說呢，?大部分的人不會花很多時間 去思考詩歌創(chuàng)作，對吧？?他們要過日子，?沒有那么關(guān)心艾倫·金斯伯格?或任何人的詩作，?直到他們的父親過世，?要出席葬禮，?或者你失去了自己的孩子，?或者你心碎了， 別人不愛你了，?于是突然間，?你拼命想在 這樣的人生中理出頭緒：?“曾經(jīng)有人感覺這么糟糕嗎？?他們是怎么走出陰霾的？”

或者反過來，很棒的事情發(fā)生了。?你遇到某人，心花怒放。?你深愛著他們， 甚至被蒙蔽了雙眼。?你被愛沖昏了頭：?“以前有人有這種感覺嗎？ 我這是怎么了？”?此時，藝術(shù)就不再是奢侈品， 而是一種食糧，?我們需要它。

好的，那它究竟是什么呢？?人類的創(chuàng)意就是大自然 在我們體內(nèi)呈現(xiàn)出來的形式。?當(dāng)我們看到，比如說——?北極光，對吧？?我年輕時候出演過 電影《雪地黃金犬》，?拍攝地在阿拉斯加，?我們晚上走到外面，?天空蕩漾著紫色、 粉紅色、白色的漣漪，?那是我見過最美麗的東西。?仿佛天空在刷什么小把戲，?美極了。?日落時分的大峽谷，?也非常美。?我們知道那些都很美。?但墮入愛河呢？?你的愛人相當(dāng)美。?我有四個孩子。?看他們玩耍，?看他們假扮成蝴蝶，?或在房子旁跑來跑去， 做各種各樣的事，?那畫面真的很美。

我相信我們存在于 太空中的這顆行星上，?是要來幫助彼此的，對吧？?首先，我們要生存，?接著我們要茁壯成長。?茁壯成長， 是為了去表達我們自己。?那么問題來了： 我們需要了解自己。?你喜愛什么？?如果你能接近你所愛的，?便能揭示出 “你是誰”，?然后再擴展出去。

對我來說，這非常容易。?我十二歲時就第一次 參與職業(yè)戲劇演出，?出演的戲劇是 蕭伯納的《圣女貞德》，?地點在麥卡特劇院，?然后，砰！我“戀愛”了。?我的世界瞬間開闊起來。?那份職業(yè)—— 我現(xiàn)在快五十歲了——?那份職業(yè)從未曾 停止回饋給我，?且回饋得越來越多，?奇怪的是，?大部分都是透過 我演出的角色來回饋的。

我演過警察，演過罪犯，?我演過牧師，演過罪人。?這一生，這三十多年的魔法，?在于你會開始了解，?我的經(jīng)歷，我，伊森，?并沒有我想象的那么獨特。?我和這些角色有很多共同點，?他們都和我有某些共同點。?于是你會開始意識到， 我們彼此的連結(jié)多么緊密。

我的曾祖母，戴拉·霍爾·沃克·葛林 （Della Hall Walker Green），?臨終前?在醫(yī)院中寫下了一本小自傳，?長度大概只有三十六頁，?她花了大約五頁描寫?有次她為一出戲劇 制作戲服的經(jīng)歷。?她首任丈夫只占了 一個段落的篇幅而已，?她種棉花種了五十年， 也只是稍微提到而已，?卻有整整五頁內(nèi)容 是關(guān)于制作戲服。?而當(dāng)我看到——我媽媽給了我 一條曾祖母做的被子，?能感覺得到，?她在表達自己，?其中蘊含著一種真實的力量。?我記得和我的繼兄/弟 在《捍衛(wèi)戰(zhàn)士》上映的那一年?去電影院看這部電影，?我記得我們走出購物中心， 外面非常熱，?我看著他，?我們都覺得那部電影 就像是神的召喚——?怎么形容呢，應(yīng)該說?我們的感受其實截然不同。?我想要成為演員，?想要創(chuàng)造讓人有共鳴的東西，?我就是想要參與。?而他想從軍。?我們那時玩的就是扮演 聯(lián)邦調(diào)查局、軍人、騎士，?我拿著劍擺姿勢，?而他打造了能用的十字弓，?朝樹木射箭。?所以，他入伍了。?他才剛以上校的身分 從特種部隊退役，?是個得過許多勛章的退伍軍人， 參與過阿富汗和伊拉克的實戰(zhàn)，?現(xiàn)在執(zhí)教于為陣亡將士子弟 所辦的航海營。?他的一生都在追隨他的熱情。?他的創(chuàng)造力是領(lǐng)導(dǎo)能力，?領(lǐng)導(dǎo)他人，?以他的勇氣去幫助他人。?他覺得那是他的天職，?這份工作也回饋了他。?我們都知道，人生很短，?我們要如何利用好這短暫的人生？?我們有把時間花在 對我們來說最重要的地方嗎？?大部分人并沒有。?我的意思是，那很難。?習(xí)慣的拉力非常大，?那就是為什么孩子相當(dāng)有創(chuàng)造力，?因為他們尚未建立任何習(xí)慣，?他們也不在意自己做得好不好。?他們在堆沙堡時并不會說：?“我認為我將來會成為 很棒的沙堡建造者?！?他們就只是單純投入到 面前的事情當(dāng)中 ——?舞蹈、繪畫、?建造某樣?xùn)|西，?只要他們有機會，?他們的個體性就會讓你印象深刻。?那很美。?每當(dāng)談到創(chuàng)造力時， 我有時會擔(dān)心這一點，?因為它會有一種很好的感覺，?讓人覺得很溫暖或很愉悅。?其實不然。?它是必要的，?是我們療愈彼此的方式。?借由唱出我們的歌，?說出我們的故事，?邀請你，說：?“嘿，聽我說，我也會聽你說，”?此時我們才開啟了對話。?你這么做，療愈就開始了。?我們會走出自己的角落，?開始見證彼此共同的人性，?開始維護它。?當(dāng)我們這么做時，好事就會發(fā)生。

?因此，如果你想要協(xié)助 你的族群、家人，?如果你想要協(xié)助你的朋友，?你就得表達自己。?若要表達自己，就得認識自己。?那其實超級簡單，?你只要追隨所愛。?我們面前原本沒有路，?你得要邁開步伐，才會走出一條路，?而你必須愿意扮傻子。?別去讀你 “該” 讀的書，?去讀你 “要” 讀的書。?別聽你習(xí)慣聽的那些音樂，?花點時間聽一些新的音樂。?花點時間，和你平常 不互動的人交談。?我保證，如果你這么做，?你就會覺得自己很蠢。?而那恰恰就是重點：?扮演一個傻子。?（彈吉他）?（唱歌）我想要去奧斯汀， 我想要待在家。?邀請我們的朋友過來， 但仍然孤獨一人。?不畏艱險，?冷靜面對。?讓大家都尊重 那個扮演傻子的我。

I was hoping today to talk a little bit about creativity.?You know, a lot of people really struggle?to give themselves permission to be creative.?And reasonably so.?I mean, we're all a little suspect of our own talent.?And I remember a story I came across in my early 20s?that kind of meant a lot to me.

I was really into Allen Ginsberg,?and I was reading his poetry,?and I was reading -- he did a lot of interviews --?and one time, William F. Buckley had this television program?called "Firing Line,"?and Ginsberg went on there and sang a Hare Krishna song?while playing the harmonium.?And he got back to New York to all his intelligentsia friends,?and they all told him,?"Don't you know that everybody thinks you're an idiot,?and the whole country's making fun of you?"?And he said, "That's my job.?I'm a poet, and I'm going to play the fool.?Most people have to go to work all day long,?and they come home and they fight with their spouse,?and they eat, and they turn on the old boob tube,?and somebody tries to sell them something,?and I just screwed all that up.?I went on and I sang about Krishna,?and now they're sitting in bed and going, 'Who is this stupid poet?'?And they can't fall asleep, right?"?And that's his job as a poet.

And so, I find that very liberating,?because I think that most of us really want to offer the world?something of quality,?something that the world will consider good or important.?And that's really the enemy,?because it's not up to us whether what we do is any good,?and if history has taught us anything,?the world is an extremely unreliable critic.?Right?

So you have to ask yourself:?Do you think human creativity matters??Well, hmm.?Most people don't spend a lot of time thinking about poetry. Right??They have a life to live,?and they're not really that concerned with Allen Ginsberg's poems?or anybody's poems,?until their father dies,?they go to a funeral,?you lose a child,?somebody breaks your heart, they don't love you anymore,?and all of a sudden,?you're desperate for making sense out of this life,?and, "Has anybody ever felt this bad before??How did they come out of this cloud?"

Or the inverse -- something great.?You meet somebody and your heart explodes.?You love them so much, you can't even see straight.?You know, you're dizzy.?"Did anybody feel like this before? What is happening to me?"?And that's when art's not a luxury, it's actually sustenance.?We need it.

OK. Well, what is it??Human creativity is nature manifest in us.?We look at the, oh ...?the aurora borealis. Right??I did this movie called "White Fang" when I was a kid,?and we shot up in Alaska,?and you go out at night?and the sky was like rippling with purple and pink and white,?and it's the most beautiful thing I ever saw.?It really looked like the sky was playing.?Beautiful.?You go to Grand Canyon at sundown.?It's beautiful.?We know that's beautiful.?But fall in love??Your lover's pretty beautiful.?I have four kids.?Watching them play??Watching them pretend to be a butterfly?or run around the house and doing anything,?it's so beautiful.

And I believe that we are here on this star in space?to try to help one another. Right??And first we have to survive,?and then we have to thrive.?And to thrive, to express ourselves,?alright, well, here's the rub: we have to know ourselves.?What do you love??And if you get close to what you love,?who you are is revealed to you,?and it expands.

For me, it was really easy.?I did my first professional play. I was 12 years old.?I was in a play called "Saint Joan" by George Bernard Shaw?at the McCarter Theatre,?and -- boom! -- I was in love.?My world just expanded.?And that profession -- I'm almost 50 now --?that profession has never stopped giving back to me,?and it gives back more and more,?mostly, strangely,?through the characters that I've played.

I've played cops, I've played criminals,?I've played priests, I've played sinners,?and the magic of this over a lifetime, over 30 years of doing this,?is that you start to see that my experiences,?me, Ethan, is not nearly as unique?as I thought.?I have so much in common with all these people.?And so they have something in common with me.?You start to see how connected we all are.

My great-grandmother, Della Hall Walker Green,?on her deathbed,?she wrote this little biography in the hospital,?and it was only about 36 pages long,?and she spent about five pages?on the one time she did costumes for a play.?Her first husband got, like, a paragraph.?Cotton farming, of which she did for 50 years, gets a mention.?Five pages on doing these costumes.?And I look -- my mom gave me one of her quilts that she made,?and you can feel it.?She was expressing herself,?and it has a power that's real.

I remember my stepbrother and I went to go see "Top Gun,"?whatever year that came out.?And I remember we walked out of the mall, it was, like, blazing hot,?I just looked at him,?and we both felt that movie just like a calling from God.?You know? Just ...?But completely differently.?Like, I wanted to be an actor.?I was like, I've got to make something that makes people feel.?I just want to be a part of that.?And he wanted to be in the military.?That's all we ever did was play FBI, play army man,?play knights, you know, and I'd like, pose with my sword,?and he would build a working crossbow?that you could shoot an arrow into a tree.?So he joins the army.?Well, he just retired a colonel in the Green Berets.?He's a multidecorated combat veteran of Afghanistan and Iraq.?He now teaches a sail camp for children of fallen soldiers.?He gave his life to his passion.?His creativity was leadership,?leading others,?his bravery, to help others.?That was something he felt called to do,?and it gave back to him.

We know this -- the time of our life is so short,?and how we spend it --?are we spending it doing what's important to us??Most of us not.?I mean, it's hard.?The pull of habit is so huge,?and that's what makes kids so beautifully creative,?is that they don't have any habits,?and they don't care if they're any good or not, right??They're not building a sandcastle going,?"I think I'm going to be a really good sandcastle builder."?They just throw themselves at whatever project you put in front of them --?dancing, doing a painting,?building something:?any opportunity they have,?they try to use it to impress upon you their individuality.?It's so beautiful.

It's a thing that worries me sometimes whenever you talk about creativity,?because it can have this kind of feel that it's just nice,?you know, or it's warm or it's something pleasant.?It's not.?It's vital.?It's the way we heal each other.?In singing our song,?in telling our story,?in inviting you to say,?"Hey, listen to me, and I'll listen to you,"?we're starting a dialogue.?And when you do that, this healing happens,?and we come out of our corners,?and we start to witness each other's common humanity.?We start to assert it.?And when we do that, really good things happen.

So, if you want to help your community, if you want to help your family,?if you want to help your friends,?you have to express yourself.?And to express yourself, you have to know yourself.?It's actually super easy.?You just have to follow your love.?There is no path.?There's no path till you walk it,?and you have to be willing to play the fool.?So don't read the book that you should read,?read the book you want to read.?Don't listen to the music that you used to like.?Take some time to listen to some new music.?Take some time to talk to somebody that you don't normally talk to.?I guarantee, if you do that,?you will feel foolish.?That's the point.?Play the fool.

(Plays guitar)

(Sings) Well, I want to go Austin, and I wanna stay home.?Invite our friends over but still be alone.?Live for danger.?Play it cool.?Have everyone respect me for being a fool.

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