Thursday, July 06, 2006

"anything you need to control you have a problem with."
robert downey junior on oprah

a friend sent me this quote, i kinda like it, it makes me think and question everything, and that's a good thing, healthy and possibly the only cure against complacency. i'd like to know about the context in which it was said, what oprah said in response ect, its a point which could stimulate a very interesting discussion. i mean although i agree with it and the philosophy behind it, i also think that there's nothing wrong with having a problem, i mean if you didn't try to fill your fridge with milk you would have nothing to pour over your cereal, that's a problem. if one the other hand he's referring to some sort of quasi mystical concept then he's on a pretty interesting path. the idea of giving up control has only been attempted by the very foolish or the very brave, and its only the halfway point of a process, i'd be interested to know peoples personal experiences of this, for example one that springs to mind was working with a young aggressive sex offender who attacked me with a carving knife, he just stormed out from the kitchen towards me with the knife raised at my chest, he was screaming and filled with rage, i am not sure how or why but i just went straight into the death posture, head up, arms out and smiled, i felt like the sun and the knife stopped an inch above my chest, possibly less and the young man just fell down upon his knees sobbing. there are plenty of moments i have surrendered, some spontaneously some planned, some last seconds, some years. Maybe Downey's just stating the fact. In which case, who says, 'drugs are bad for you?'

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

the context was downey on the oprah show being asked the usual mundane paparazzi-style chewing gum questions oprah tends to ask (she is just a star-turned-paparazzi).
downey, being who is, went off all about his substance habits and started making the middle-aged oprah audience uncomfortable.
in a successful attempt to bring it all back to middle oprah asked him something to the effect of about how it changed his life (get him off the heavy details) and thats what he said.
oprah didnt pick up on it too much as its something way beyond the confines of her show.
downey jr said it all in that 'been to hell and back' kind of way of someones who's really been there. he never expected to go into it or make a thing of it, just said it as a matter of his experience.