美国国家公共电台 NPR--Rainn Wilson urges a spiritual revolution in his new book 'Soul Boom'

Rainn Wilson urges a spiritual revolution in his new book 'Soul Boom'

Transcript¹

"Why the hell would the guy who played Dwight on The Office be writing a book about spirituality?"

Emmy-nominated actor Rainn Wilson says he knows that's the question people ask when hearing about his new book Soul Boom: Why We Need a Spiritual Revolution.

In an interview for Morning Edition, Wilson tells NPR's Rachel Martin about a spiritual odyssey² that began as a child, growing up in the Baha'i faith of his family. Later, he began rejecting "everything to do with religion and faith and spirituality."

Then he says, in his 20s, when he was struggling to make it as an actor in New York and suffering from acute anxiety, depression and addiction³ — he began looking for answers.

That set him on a journey. "The very first question that I pondered as I was on this journey was, is there a God? ... I would ask my friends, 'Hey, do you believe in God?' "

It's not easy being the "God guy"

"It's so not cool to be religious," Wilson says. "And it's so funny because I've always identified as being a dork and a misfit and an outsider. Maybe that's why I played Dwight so effectively, apparently⁴."

He says the answers from those around him helped ignite his "spiritual quest."

Wilson, who is also a podcaster and cofounder of the media company SoulPancake, says he has now resolved any personal uncertainty⁵ about a higher power. "I know there's a God. It's not a faith thing. God is as real to me as my body is – as my rapidly decaying body," he said.

"How do I know? I know that I love. I know that I love my wife. I know that I love my son. I know that I love my father who passed away a few years back," Wilson says, tearing up.

Seeking the sacred in everyday life

While he insists he doesn't have all the answers to the big questions in life — "just a lot of questions" — Wilson does offer suggestions in his book, including an entire section dedicated⁶ to a proposal for a new religion. "We need to strive to go back to so many indigenous⁷ faiths [where] art, nature and faith were interconnected and not divergent," he says.

When talking about his own search for the spiritual, he notes a "transformative" encounter with his onetime acting⁸ teacher André Gregory, the director, writer, and actor who plays a version of himself in the 1981 film My Dinner with Andre.

"I had tea with him once and he said, 'How are you doing, Rainn?' And I said, 'You know, André, I'm just feeling so cynical⁹. I'm feeling pessimistic.' He grabbed my arm like a vise, and he looked into my eyes and he said, 'Stop it, don't do it. Don't be cynical. If you're cynical, they win.' "

"I realized that fostering hope and joy in others is maybe our highest spiritual calling," he said. "And that is a key pillar to this spiritual revolution."

An extended version of the interview about Soul Boom: Why We Need a Spiritual Revolution is airing on Weekend All Things Considered in early May. Wilson hosts a travel series that debuts¹⁰ on Peacock on May 18, Rainn Wilson and the Geography of Bliss¹¹.

The interview has been lightly edited for clarity and length.

I rejected anything and everything to do with religion and faith and spirituality when I was in my twenties. And well, then things just started to break down for me and it led me back on a spiritual quest where I was like, you know, maybe I lost something by getting rid of anything and everything to do with spirituality. Maybe, maybe there's some answer there.

On seeking answers about God

Almost to a person, my artist friends would say, "Well, I certainly don't believe in an old man on a cloud, you know, with an agenda scowling¹² down at us. But I believe that there's something more out there. There's some kind of energy." And I was with them on that, but that wasn't enough for me. I was like, wait a second. So there either is a God or there's not.

On the certainty of his own belief

The first step in knowing that there is a creative force in the universe is I know that there is love. I also know that there is beauty. I also know that there is art and there is music. And all of these things that are ineffable¹³ and transcendent are footprints. They're handholds on the path to finding the great mystery.

On finding the sacred

There has been a profound loss of the sacred in contemporary Western civilization. Nothing is sacred anymore. And I think sacredness and holiness is part of the conversation that we need to have collectively. We can certainly experience it in nature. And for religious people, we can experience it in holy sites. But how can we nurture¹⁴ the sacred as a condition in our hearts that we can carry with us so that a conversation like we're having can be sacred?

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 odyssey   

n.长途冒险旅行；一连串的冒险

参考例句：

• The march to Travnik was the final stretch of a 16-hour odyssey.去特拉夫尼克的这段路是长达16小时艰险旅行的最后一程。
• His odyssey of passion, friendship,love,and revenge was now finished.他的热情、友谊、爱情和复仇的漫长历程，到此结束了。

3 addiction   

n.上瘾入迷，嗜好

参考例句：

• He stole money from his parents to feed his addiction.他从父母那儿偷钱以满足自己的嗜好。
• Areas of drug dealing are hellholes of addiction,poverty and murder.贩卖毒品的地区往往是吸毒上瘾、贫困和发生谋杀的地方。

4 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

5 uncertainty   

n.易变，靠不住，不确知，不确定的事物

参考例句：

• Her comments will add to the uncertainty of the situation.她的批评将会使局势更加不稳定。
• After six weeks of uncertainty,the strain was beginning to take its toll.6个星期的忐忑不安后，压力开始产生影响了。

6 dedicated   

adj.一心一意的；献身的；热诚的

参考例句：

• He dedicated his life to the cause of education.他献身于教育事业。
• His whole energies are dedicated to improve the design.他的全部精力都放在改进这项设计上了。

7 indigenous   

adj.土产的，土生土长的，本地的

参考例句：

• Each country has its own indigenous cultural tradition.每个国家都有自己本土的文化传统。
• Indians were the indigenous inhabitants of America.印第安人是美洲的土著居民。

8 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

9 cynical   

adj.(对人性或动机)怀疑的，不信世道向善的

参考例句：

• The enormous difficulty makes him cynical about the feasibility of the idea.由于困难很大，他对这个主意是否可行持怀疑态度。
• He was cynical that any good could come of democracy.他不相信民主会带来什么好处。

10 debuts   

演员首次演出( debut的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• He never really debuts the idea of taking money from his parents any longer. 他从此就再也没有认真起过向父母要钱的念头。
• This young soprano debuts next month at the metropolitan opera. 这位年轻的女高音歌唱家下个月将在纽约大都会歌剧院举行首演。

11 bliss   

n.狂喜，福佑，天赐的福

参考例句：

• It's sheer bliss to be able to spend the day in bed.整天都可以躺在床上真是幸福。
• He's in bliss that he's won the Nobel Prize.他非常高兴，因为获得了诺贝尔奖金。

12 scowling   

怒视，生气地皱眉( scowl的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• There she was, grey-suited, sweet-faced, demure, but scowling. 她就在那里，穿着灰色的衣服，漂亮的脸上显得严肃而忧郁。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹
• Scowling, Chueh-hui bit his lips. 他马上把眉毛竖起来。 来自汉英文学 - 家（1-26） - 家（1-26）

13 ineffable   

adj.无法表达的，不可言喻的

参考例句：

• The beauty of a sunset is ineffable.日落的美是难以形容的。
• She sighed a sigh of ineffable satisfaction,as if her cup of happiness were now full.她发出了一声说不出多么满意的叹息，仿佛她的幸福之杯已经斟满了。

14 nurture   

n.养育，照顾，教育；滋养，营养品；vt.养育，给与营养物，教养，扶持

参考例句：

• The tree grows well in his nurture.在他的培育下这棵树长得很好。
• The two sisters had received very different nurture.这俩个姊妹接受过极不同的教育。