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From: TEDtalksDirector
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  • Whats said here is a matter human nature and applies to any society. While letting her words in I get inspired. I know friends can share this. Partners can share this. Collegues and bosses can share this. Obvioulsy xP

  • love her

  • Cool talk.

    For academic writing on the self check out American Sociologist/Antropologist Erving Goffman- the presentation of self and also face work

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  • Thandie Newton has to be one of the most beautiful women alive.

  • Go Thandie!! Some one needs tell more people about this xx

  • This video went viral on Oman

  • HI JEN! YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL

  • "the cracks has shown in our constructed world.." oh my...

  • "i am earth by myself..." wow...

  • AMAZING and MINDBLOWING speech, changed my whole worldview!

  • I thought this was a beautiful speech!

  • I don't know what to say. As far as this stage of my life is concerned, she has spoken a revelation. Bless her!

  • stop bullshitin us mam u cant be 40

  • SEKONDA DIAMOND CUFFLINKS sekonda‑mens‑watch‑ANOTHER MAN?

  • When she dances she loses herself and enjoys the experience, who is experiencing this?

    She advocates simple awareness with each breath, an unquestionably powerful practice, but then asks us to imagine the difference it would make? If we are to be more aware, why make up a fantasy future?!

    Awareness is now.

  • i could listen to this voice for hours

  • @pac4show Surprised there are not more comments about her voice!

  • @qleyo i know, i use to love listening to every small part she played in gridlock'd

  • @DishrackDarwin You've really only got one trick, don't you?

  • I love how she speaks.

  • Outstanding speaker. Wonderful video.

    The EXPERIENCE of No-Self can be quite life-changing. Some call it 'Awakening'. If you would like to experience it, go to:

    NO-SELF.com (It's free)

    “I was so astonished by what had happened. I was one with everything…” -Comment from Ken V.

    Love to All............

  • Very wise and profound words from Thandie.I started crying around 10:30.

  • Come on people - "grounded in my earthiness". What kind of pedantic psychobabble is that? Another smug, navel gazing Tedster who thinks the world revolves around them.

  • @ickrayaymay1914

    .

    .

    I find extremely pathetic that you would try to derail something you obviously do not understand and henceforth erase the reality of millions of others just to reaffirm YOUR extremely limited view of the world

    .

    You can now go back to watching some reality TV!

    .

    .

  • Thandie Newton greatest talk from an actror on ted talks! period!

  •  awesome!

  • Anyone who's had to cope with the 'double consiousness' phenomenon will come to appreciate this video.

  • This is probably one of the most profound videos I have ever seen. She is like me and is likely like you too if you cared to listen.

  • What in my self makes such a thing feel right or wrong to me.

    What makes me want to or not believe the speaker?

    1) She said there're no genetic or biological differences between races - I disagree!

    2) I don't want to worry about Africa because it's a bungled mess and would cost me too much money and time - I'm saving my a**!

    3) She stated a lot of personal opinion with no supporting, empirical evidence - I doubt her!

    4) She isn't going to take my ipod away!

    Those four things come to mind.

  • @gukonni Are you a geneticist? Have you studied genetics or read about it at all? You can disagree with whatever statement you want. However, when it comes to issues of science, one can not replace facts and scientific data with opinions and ideology. For the record, there is no genetic and/or biological basis for racial classification, it is based primarily on physical appearance. Thandie's father is white and they share the same genetic material despite the difference in skin color.

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  • I do know one thing. If there's a failing student in your class, no matter whether it's his low intelligence or his lack of responsibility or his avoidant personality or his inability to find work or his wrong choice of clothes or his physical disability or his illusion of self or his lack of concentration or whatever else there might be to pin the blame on, one thing is certain: there's a student in your class and he's not doing well. If nothing is done, he'll steadily fall behind.

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  • To me, it's obvious there're differences that're genetic and cultural and regional and so on. Some of them work in our favor and some don't. People wonder why Africa is in such a miserable state and often mistakenly attribute it to their culture or their genetics or their religion or their region or their exploitation by foreigners.

    People often wonder why I'm such a failure in life. There're a million theories. People pick and choose which differences they'll use to explain my life history.

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  • I'm not sure what she's saying. Is she saying we're not different on cultural and genetic levels? Is she saying that the illusion of difference creatres the self or that the illusion of self creates the difference?

    I have to watch this again. Remember, her thoughts have been mulled around in her head for many years. I can't understand in a couple minutes!

  • She is fine as fuck *thumbs up*

  • wow! I'm amazed by her humble and wonderful speech! I really like it starting from 12:00

  • she speaks what is in her heart and I really felt it.

  • FANTASTIC , ONE OF THE FEW TED TALKS WITH RAW EMOTION AND LOGIC

  • My god could she get anymore beautiful???

  • her face alone would make me watch this whole video

  • @NazAndOmi thx for a great comment!

  • she started good but ended in the idealistic gutter

  • If human race is an illusion, then so is dog breed. They are not illusions: I've asked a biology professor, I've aced some tough bio courses, I've seen people, I've seen dogs, there is this thing called variety & that variety when classified by various qualities including but not limited to color, be it of skin or of fur, is race... it is breed... it is descriptive classification as meaningful as music genre or food group. Anthropology seems to be very confused, unfortunately.

  • What?

    I don't understand. I'm me, and my I has been since neurons started firing in my modest fat and protein based brain. And that when I die all my memories and thoughts will stop. Is that self she's talking about some kind of schizophrenia ? Since she said it died and she got new self's. Then what observed her self dying ?

    Sounds like a load of pretty sounding herp derp.

  • @mg03nma Most of these are sociological ideas that have been around for years.

    The ideal of "self" isn't physical, it's your consciousness of the world around you. She doesn't mean physically dying, she more or less means the death of an identity.

  • @aStaircase

    Hahaha! what an amusing concept.

    You are only you.

  • was touched.

  • Ok no jokes! This is quite good.

  • I love myself soo much. Too bad I got arrested.

  • Great speech! I've always been a fan of Thandie Newton. However, I have to disagree with her saying race is an "illegitimate concept". In anthropology, yes it is true about mitochondrial Eve. Science however, race is and always will be biological and genetic. Think of even diseases in medicine which are related to race or an ethnicity i.e. Sickle Cell Disease, Tay-Sach Disease, Gaucher disease.........

  • I embrace her words.

  • I almost closed this video but then this happened - 02:49

    When i really started to listen to what she is really saying !

    ** Please don't make the same mistake i almost did,

    Thumbs up so others can see it !

  • I met her very briefly, years ago. I'd love to meet her again.

  • 152 are idiots , just that simple, they will get to the goal hopefully soon

  • 152 are idiots , just that simple, they will get to the goal hopefully soon:)

  • She is beautifull, she speaks beautifull, the theme is beautifull, a vise man would say that the small self (which is bound with limited intelligence, energy,power) is diying ,disapeering and mearging in to the big Self which is unbounded , infinite bliss intelligence harmony silence energy. This is called EVOLUTION which is growing with increased speed if the person practise Transcendental Meditation. God Bless you

  • i don't believe in everything she says, but her voice is just so wonderful to listen to....

  • Just wonderful...

  • @PoweredByMagnets I liked it a lot. You didn't. Why did we have such different reactions? What is in our hearts/subjective experiences that evokes these feelings and reactions? I like to learn from these things because I hope it guides me to a more meaningful life. I hope it does the same for you.

  • @kyosh11 I found no artistic value in it. The live/die metaphor was middle school material and the entire concept is poorly ripped from Eckhart Tolle. Even the racial spin was unsupported; she didn't give a single example of why she felt like she didn't fit in.

    Inaccuracies aren't trivial either. We're living in an age of media warfare and demagoguery. She's hypocritically preaching about tolerance, while assuming everything in the process. She's a cog in the machine to me, not an intellectual.

  • @PoweredByMagnets She made many subjective statements which is what I refer to. The harsh responses were likewise subjective experiences. I too made a subjective comment....I don't purport scientific objectivity. The talk is not to make a scientific argument either. I can see why you'd be dissatisfied if that's what you were expecting. She did make a few statements that may or may not have been scientifically accurate.

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  • I embrace myself every day with lotion.

  • Brilliant speech. I have new found respect for Thandie as an individual and an intellectual

  • When watching such a thing one should not ask "Why it is false or true?" But "What in my self makes such a thing feel right or wrong to me." What makes me want to or not believe the speaker?

    The question is most powerful when you are not judging others but when you are judging what u can control and that is oneself.

    Finding your own strength within the social score of opinion does not make one just, only more trapped. The question isn't who likes or dislikes this it is what do I feel?

  • So, 152 people are confused about their-selves being rejected.

  • Wow, this has got to be the worst TED talk I've seen.

    It's not that what she's saying is wrong, but it's just so shallow and mundane all covered up in a pre-orchestrated speech that she reads like a good actor.

    Sure, for prime-time TV this might be a nice change, a good influence on the dumb viewers and teenagers, but on TED?

    I am disappoint :(

  • @solidoxx I couldn't expressed that better than you have. So unfortunately true! :( Gracias !!!

  • @solidoxx Just because she has great public speaking skills should not mean everything she's saying is shallow and mundane. Would you rather her stumble and mess up on words? Do you not realize a good speech should be practiced so you know what you're talking about and so you don't mess up so you can properly communicate with the audience? Have you ever had a speech class before?

  • @stopthemovie no, the fact that she has public speaking skills doesn't make everything she sais shallow and mundane. Just like her public speaking skills don't make her speech a deep and thoughtful one. They are two separate things, and she tries to use one to cover-up the other. The fact remains, I applaud her charisma, but I hate the fact that she uses it to mask regurgitated, shallow and boring concepts.

  • @solidoxx Whoever said that just because she has great public speaking skills make her speech a deep and thoughtful one? What did she say to make you think her speech was only about the public speaking aspect?

  • hearing her talk is unbelievably soothing...

  • I actually HATE to be like anyone else, I like to be unique in my own way! :)

  • I think those that are critical of this talk really have not understood her premise and conclusions from her insight. I would recommend that they read some Eckhart Tolle to give them a deeper understanding of what she is talking about. This insight is not something that can be grasped by mere intellectual stipulation or argument. It is rather the profound understanding that comes from transformative practice, experience and realization. Also see what the Buddha has said in relation to this.

  • Oh what a happy discovery to stumble upon these short and pithy lectures by TedtalksDirector. Thank you YouTube for sponsoring this material that will ameliorate the collective consciousness for all those interested in listening to these programs.

  • We underestimate our worth as humans on a daily basis by latching on to force-fed social dogma in an attempt to "gain" individual contentment. We are being misled by those who profit from our vulnerability.... Why do we find ourselves so easily offended and defensive over trivial issues (road rage, for example) while at the same moment we deny our OWN behavior as overtly judgmental? We each think everyone else should think and act as WE do.. well that is our dysfunction. Grow up everyone, soon.

  • Amazing... Rather than focus entirely on her career as an actress or attempt to judge her as an egotistical person like some of these guys, I decided to actually listen to her words... This is ironic, because those who criticize her are committing the same acts of separateness that she speaks of... Perhaps everyone should watch it twice and leave the predispositions behind...

  • @cmadodge You're "committing the same acts" that we dislike about her speech: you're completely vague, your comment has no content or originality, you're pretending this vacuous bullshit is profound, and you assume we didn't listen to her dysfunctional rhetoric. In short: you're a fucking idiot.

  • @PoweredByMagnets Oh, why thank you for that.... you see, by calling me a "fucking idiot", you are reducing my value while elevating your own...  you're creating a gap between the two of us (you and me), which is an example of the "separateness" that she speaks of... This kind of negativity which you're exhibiting is what is currently handicapping our human development as a collective. Not insulting you, just trying to point this out for others who are interested in learning...

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  • @cmadodge SHE HAS A DEEPLY PROFOUND MESSAGE AND ONLY PEOPLE WHO AGREE WITH ME UNDERSTAND IT. PEOPLE WHO DO NOT AGREE ARE NEGATIVE AND HANDICAP HUMAN DEVELOPMENT!

    You have nothing to teach. You're just a pretentious jackass who thinks he knows everything and nobody else gets it. You're absolutely fucked in the head if you think what you're doing could be seen as anything but "separateness". Do you happen to be a creationist? You'd get along great with the Westboro Baptist.

  • @PoweredByMagnets Very well...

  • I felt like she kind of had something with this; but towards the end it kind of seemed artificial to me, almost as if she was acting and just throwing nonsensical strings of metaphor at us with no real meaning.

  • @holliebadollie I agree completely even towards the end I started to feel as thought she was attempting to say that she was above the common "self", saying things like " I wondered why I could feel others pain more than most" ( well along that line). That's when I started loosing respect for the talk and sight of the real message.

  • sorry but this was just like another 'performance', she is a master of facial expressions, and I agree with the below comments there wasn't actually much substance in it. She should have just tried to be 'herSELF' - unfortunately I don't think she still knows the answer to that.

  • skip, skip, skip, Close Tab

  • Brilliant speech. Absolutely brilliant.

  • What an unexpected speech.

  • I completely feel and relate to everything she is saying, but in a way that is hardly acknowledged by society or in social 'otherness'. I was a white child in an all brown world, defined by my unusual skin, my unusual hair. i have all these same self issues, but the problem is larger, because it goes beyond this- it is always assumed i -and people like me- dont have these issues BECAUSE we are white. so the problem in a way becomes squared... a paradox my identity is trapped in. now that's fun:\

  • When I'm content I notice things I like. When I'm discontent I notice things I dislike. As if the world magically transforms to reflect me. Of course, it is my self that is changing.

  • Pods, pads, and bling.

  • She should have said: "Embracing otherness, embracing myself. Because I'm worth it."

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  • so.....Who am I?

  • AWESOME !!!!!!! Thank you

    Beauty inside and outside ;-)

  • Um yeah. Why was this person asked to speak?

  • T. Newton is a very likable and admirable person. I tried to like this talk. But I experienced the talk as a bunch of pretentious New Age baloney. The sad fact is that being a very gifted actress does not automatically make anyone knowledgeable about anything. Self and otherness are deep questions. Everyone has the right to and should ask those questions but not everyone knows enough about them to talk for 14 minutes on the subject. Ms. New ton does not.

  • @hempartist420 congrats!

  • When I first became aware of myself. I experienced everything She spoke of. To this day I am Still trying on different selves. trying unvail my true self. and It always seems to collapse. I too have feelings and wants of Dissapearing. But with the desire to Rise above and be seen. bit contradictory. Instead search for the moments that I can lose myself in my passions. when I dont have to be anything. Something I will continue to do.

  • I love this talk and what she says: the "Source of Shame is a source of Enlightenment."

    She ties so many issues into this talk

    Truely enlightening!

    Thank you so much!

  • this was beautiful O.o

    you can tell she's an actress, she expresses so much through her gesture and voice

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  • Very good!

  • uhh I know what she mean xD , I´m a blonde guy on mexico... some people use to bully me for that!!! xD man ,this is so inspiring

  • She depress me for the night, i'm almost crying. I like her!

  • Hawt.

  • Thandie is beautifully expressing what are essentially spiritual & yogic truths. These subtle viewpoints have nothing to do with stereotypical pop psychology or self help ideas. The ideas of self are difficult to talk about & to grasp because they are removed from our everyday awareness. Just the simple question: Who Am I?, when deeply & honestly repeated give an entry point into challenging & discovering our conditioned sense of self identity. Keep trying that & you'll see for your (ahem) self.

  • Have you really found yourself..... Or are you pretending for attention to confirm your sense of self ?

  • @TheSdove22 Apparently there is no "self" so how can one find it?

    I think some of us are still searching for it now and ever... The self doesn't exist yet it does, it has it's own needs, that sometimes can get very hard to let aside.

  • Just another stage.... Great job acting like a Ted presenter. That's talent

  • The search and conscience of oneness dealt with by Thandie is a common experience in human history. Tao Te King speaks of Tao; Hindus talk of illumination or liberation; Buddha speaks of Nirvana; John of the Cross talks of Divine Union. Abraham Maslow describes the mystical experience. These names are given to states of conscience in which the person can grasp the oneness, overcoming the limits of the ego. Apparently that state of conscience is natural and can be reached by everyone.

  • "Appreciate the privilege of life and marvel at what comes next...Simple awareness is where it begins..." Thandie, thanks for not bringing god into it....

  • @netinaut funny enough... your statement just brought god into it.

  • @kisuke17 Yes, how silly of me :(

  • @netinaut yeah you silly dumbo

  • Thandie found herself what thinkers of India, Buddha, Jesus, and mystics taught us: Transcend the ego to find the light. To reach illumination our ego must disappear in the Universal Ego like a drop of water in the ocean. Jesus Christ asks his disciples to deny themselves to let God live in them. It is amazing how persons who call themselves “Christians” can reject another person, in which they must see Christ. Some people have the map, but don’t know the place. Thanks, Thandie, for your wisdom.

  • @robertoruizbaez08

    "Jesus Christ asks his disciples to deny themselves to let God live in them"

    If this is the same Jesus who cursed whole towns for not caring for his preaching (Matthew 11:21-24), then he likely meant it more in the vein of "Do as I tell you or my sky-daddy will kick your butt".

  • What a great speech, I think this helps a lot of people to think differently about themselves.

    Thank you very much :-)

  • nice job girl. the infinite explores itself through each of our individual consciousnesses.

  • The one time I tried to embrace myself, I wound up straining my back pretty badly.

  • Seems to me like she is just using difficullt terminology?

  • Sophia Lamb. 

  • @SonakoMakeric hahaha thats what I was thinking

  • This is the most eyeroll-inducing TED talk yet. Shut up already you silly hippie.

  • @ChrisCapel1998 Thank you for sharing your wisdom with us. We all are so much better for it.

  • @ChrisCapel1998

    "This is the most eyeroll-inducing TED talk yet. Shut up already you silly hippie."

    I agree. This kind of vapid, (quasi-) religious, new-agery jabbering has no place at TED . I kept wishing for that big, crooked hook to come up to pull her offstage.

  • @MomoTheBellyDancer Isn't TED about sharing ideas? Is TED only to share certain ideas and not others? Thandie Newton is sharing her ideas and perspective. I think these kinds of talks are great. They challenge a listener to consider another way of perceiving reality and human existence. The point of the talk is get the listener to think, not to change their beliefs. Sometimes, seeing the world from someone else's perspective enhances our own understanding of it.

  • @Lovebug8779

    "Isn't TED about sharing ideas?"

    Regurgitating self-help jargon does NOT qualify as having "ideas".

    "Thandie Newton is sharing her ideas and perspective."

    Which are useless, childish, inane and vapid. TED should be about ideas that actually have a purpose and use.

    "They challenge a listener to "

    ... try to see how far they get without reaching for a bucket.

  • @MomoTheBellyDancer Obviously, the people at TED feel differently about what Thandie Newton has to say or they would not have asked her to speak. It is okay for people to have differing opinions on a certain topic . Life would be predictable and unbearably boring if we all had the same thoughts and opinions. And who knows, you might really enjoy TED's next video.

  • @MomoTheBellyDancer I invite you to read some Sam Harris.

  • @MomoTheBellyDancer What would you use your fifteen minutes to talk about.....I don't I'd bother to come given your previous comments history...but I am curious what YOU would present.

  • @CityzenJane

    "What would you use your fifteen minutes to talk about"

    Maybe the evolutionary basis of storytelling elements, e.g. a hypothesis why certain elements in stories always pop up in cultures everywhere and always have the same effect, based on the evolution of the human race.

  • @MomoTheBellyDancer Here's to hoping you get to do that someday! (I still think there's lots of room on the TED stage and very much enjoyed Ms. Newton talk...) Get thee to a TEDx and DO IT! It does sound fascinating.

  • She used the term self repeatedly because she was, in this talk, redefining its function, so even if hearing it repeated over and over became tedious at times, it had a valid purpose.

  • i'll bang her

  • @DjhushaTV you will? grammar fail or meme fail?

  • Thandie - Thank you. This was amazing, spreading this awareness is what the world needs.

    Peace

  • Can she stop saying 'Self' please ....ugh this is annoying.

  • Hmm...I think she's has an interesting point, but it seems confused by a bevy of terminology that gives off a "new age" kind of feel. It makes it come across as self help.

  • gosh shes simply beautiful

  • Wow, even her! Even her!!! Cool, we are getting there!

  • The problem with this whole talk is that only the self is capable of being humanitarian... So it kind of defeats the purpose.

  • @ChickityChoice I think she is talking about the focus on one's ego. In which we are focused primarily on our own feelings, desires, fears and needs. This kind of focus would actually be a hindrance to humanitarianism.

  • @Lovebug8779 But isn't humanitarianism really worrying about the egos of others? If someone has been badly beaten, my empathy comes through my self... feeling for their self. Without the self involved, there is no need for humanitarianism, because it does not matter. Life is not precious without the self.

  • @ChickityChoice You make a good argument and ideally the self would and/or should allow a person to empathize with others. However, the self is prone to be self-centered from time to time or most of the time depending on the individual. I don't think Thandie Newton is saying that the self is not important. I agree that it is crucial to human existence and social interaction. I think Thandie Newton says this as well. I think she is warning against the negative/harmful aspects of the self.

  • Bravo! Well said. I had no idea she was good at public speaking. Very interesting video.

  • Hmmm.... I guess she's more than just a pretty face.

    I think people get wrapped up in idealism and worries about self definition. "Am I gay or straight? Am I Black, Brown, White, etc.? Am I Jewish, Hindu, Christian?" Labels may point to trends but never to actuality. There is no "Supposed to Be."

  • Shes very pretty!

  • I would embrace her any time...now putting that aside, she's a great actress. I didn't read the video's description & the first thing that hit me when I saw her was how familiar her face was. Then I realized where I'd recognized here from..."Rock n' Rolla"! What a brilliant film that was and Guy Ritchie still has not made a sequel! He made a sequel to Sherlock Holmes already but not that film. I hope it doesn't end up being like the MIB series where it takes 7 years to make each subsequent film.

  • Childhood abuse creates a badly formed sense of self. Wisdom such as shown in this speech, allows this to been seen as a blessing, not a curse!

  • Brilliant lady. She knows the art of talking.

  • @Shamsuzzohan She's an actress :(

  • i smell spice

  • I think she is just complicating what was put so eloquently in Matt 6:33 he that lose his life for my sake shall find it. ie, in serving and loving our fellow man, by trying to make things a little better verses spending so much time and energy on trying to figure our own problems out we and others will be happier and feel fulfilled. That isn't to say everything will be lollipops and rainbows all the time, but it will be progressive rather than stagnant, or going in circles like how she was tal

  • Bravo

    peace and light

  • I got to about the 3 min mark and couldn't take much more of this self absorbed twaddle.

  • Thandie's talk was very moving. It helped me transcend self partially as i listened and realized how her experience and mine are the same in essence. I was struck by all of the negativity (anger and fear primarily) in some people's comments. Not too surprising though given the message about the self as a function of the mind that too often creates suffering. To accept such a thought does indeed provoke fear and anger for anyone so invested in maintaining this delusion.

  • @kyosh11 Why do you attempt to discredit opposing viewpoints with cliches of fear and anger? What comments are you referring to?

  • @PoweredByMagnets No intention to discredit. Just my observation. Unfortunately fear and anger, as cliche as they may be, often do motivate such behavior. E.g., this comment: "What a pile a vacuous pseudo intellectual freudian blame the parents horse shit. Self this and self that. She's been indoctrinated with sadness and a victim mentality the poor woman. Nothing enlightening here at all. You would read similar crap in a £5 book from Waterstones..."

  • @kyosh11

    "Unfortunately fear and anger, as cliche as they may be, often do motivate such behavior. "

    People are increasingly becoming bored with this new age nonsense. This woman has nothing to complain about, yet wallows in self-pity. All she ever needed when she was young was a swift kick in the rear.