People Don't See It - Anthony Hopkins On The Illusion Of Life

I had one moment when I decided to change my life. When I was a little boy, I dreamed of where I am now, and I remember saying to my father, "One day I'll show you." Certain moments in our life we get little signals, little flashes. I may have had a vision; I don't know. Well, I was told I would be a failure. I was told I would amount to nothing, didn't have much hope, but everything happened for me. Now, maybe at that moment, I'll show you. Maybe that set a spark off; I don't know, maybe something Divine went off in me. I don't know how that happens, but that's happened to me.

And from that spark, Anthony Hopkins has created one of the most iconic careers in cinematic history. Since his career began 74 years ago, he's accumulated two Academy Awards, four BAFTA Awards, two Prime Time Emmy Awards, and a Lawrence Olivier Award across his vast film, theater, and television career. There's something that everyone can resonate with: he's lived a life only one can dream of, which is suitable considering his profound philosophy that life is an illusion.

Whether you're Christian, a believer, Catholic, Protestant, Muslim, or Hindu, it's all the same; life is a dream. This is beyond religion or spirituality; this is all an illusion—Maya. Because my life has been such, now I'm not sure where the reality is. But when you look at our own lives, we don't know what reality is; we don't know what life is; we don't know what time is. We could be dreaming in this at this moment. We don't. The self is a kind of fiction. None of it makes any logical left-brain sense to me. There have been books written about it—Yung WR—that there's something in us that we deeply understand. That's how asleep the human race is. So our whole history has been one of a slumber. All that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream. It's a dream within the dream, to quote Ed Gallmo.

They are not long, the days of win and roses, that of a misty dream. A path emerges for a while and closes. Within the dream, in this dream within a dream that we call life, Hopkins credits something within ourselves that stretches far beyond all religions, something that is always inside all of us but is still so easily overlooked. I think there's a superior consciousness in all of us that we touch into sometimes. I don't know if I believe in anything—I mean, a deity—but I believe whatever that thing is that we talk about for centuries, I think it's just within us.

I read someone; I can't remember if it was in the Old Testament or I think it was a shaman, maybe Carlos Castaneda, but the shaman said it was a drought, cattle were dying, people were dying in a desert, and the shaman said, "Build the ditches, dig the ditches for the rain." They said, "There is no rain, dig the ditches, and the rain will come." Remarkable things have happened in my life by just wishing or asking for something, for a bit of help. Yes, can. And I don't believe; I'm not a—I’m an agnostic, I guess. Is there any way you can help me or whatever? And there's something inside us that will respond. I believe—I really believe that we have to make our lives because life is tough. We have to believe in the power of life.

Now, you non-believers may say, "Oh, that's nonsense." Well, believe what you want; that's the rational mind. I don't think the rational mind is working too well at the moment. It's the irrational mind; the subconscious is a tool we can use for our benefit and is certainly one of the great mysteries of life. However, Hopkins takes this a step further in expressing everyday existence as one profound miraculous mystery. All I know is that there's a bigger mystery in my life than I can even comprehend. I don't know what I am. I am. I don't know where I came from; I don't know where I'm going. I have no idea what made me—from my father, my mother, my grandfather. But, Jerry, I don't know what I consist of. I have no idea, but I believe that something underneath it is miraculous.

I feel, every day as I get older anyway, is that it's all a miracle. I mean, my heart beats, lungs breathe; that is an extraordinary phenomenon all these years. Late 82, my heart is still beating. Mhm. My body is functioning as far as I know. I feel relatively sane, but what I do know is that I know nothing. Now I am completely clueless, because I've lived to such an age that I realize that my knowledge is meaningless of myself. I am nothing. That we are not special. Once you begin to believe in, you know, terminal uniqueness, absolute specialness, then your life is not worth living. Because we're not special; we're just ashes at the end. That is the great freedom for me.

To quote T.S. Eliot or Oden, "I have seen the moment of my greatness flicker, and I have seen the Eternal Footman hold my coat and snicker." And in short, I was afraid. That's the wonderful thing—oh, my, you know, there was a door to which I had no key. There was a veil through which I could not see. Some little talk a while of thee and me, and then no more of thee and me. That's the greatest spiritual ethic of all: know nothing. If you have certainty, you're dead. Certainty destroys people. Hitler destroyed 40 million people because he was certain. Stalin destroyed millions of his own people; certainty because he knew. No one knows.

Perhaps, then, it is because Hopkins has no certainty in life that he is able to live such an extraordinary one. Through this methodology of uncertainty, he grows by living in the present moment. When we stop reminiscing on the past or looking for the future for happiness, we are able to fully embrace where we are now. Believe in the Life Force. My philosophy is get on with it, enjoy it. I just take it easy and think, well, what's to be will be. I've got one thing that helps me through. I say today is that tomorrow—I was so worried about yesterday. Tomorrow doesn't exist; next hour does not exist. It's all potential.

I know people who live in the past; they just live there all the time, talking about something that happened to them 30 years ago. Then, like zombies, I can't hang out with those people. I know them, but I can't spend more than 5 minutes with them because I feel so guilty about being happy when they're so miserable. Because it's a, you know, life's in session. For many years, I thought life was a big rehearsal for a big event, and somebody in Los Angeles said, "Tony, this is the big event; life is in session." You know, we spend so much time thinking it's a rehearsal for the big event—the big red carpet in the sky—and it's not.

And it's no secret; Hopkins' life has been one massive event indeed. Recently, he's accepted the 2024 Lifetime Achievement Award at the Joy Awards for his immense success in the film industry. Despite his undeniable success, he's cautious to not let his ego get the best of him. During his lifetime achievement speech, he said, "At this time of my life, I'm just happy to wake up in the morning and realize I'm still here."

So how do you explain the fact that you reached the pinnacle of your craft? I have no idea. As I say, I cannot take credit for anything. You see, the ego is the most dangerous part of us; ego is the enemy. You have to have a little bit of it to keep moving, but you let that get out of control, then you have the power freak. You see them in the papers every day— the corruptness of corporations, the greed, the power, the belief that they're gods. I know of people who cannot communicate; they have bodyguards around them, you know, and they have an entourage, and nobody's allowed to talk to them. Well, okay, if that's what they want, but it's a terrible life.

I think you can't function. You cannot function, and it's all about the ego. The most powerful force is the ego, and it's a killer. You need it; it's the burr under the saddle that keeps you moving, but you have to be in control of it and constantly on guard against it. You know, and not make demands but make requests and be respectful. I think that's all. And if I'm cruel or disrespectful to someone, I'm going to pay the price for it. So I've learned over the years, slowly—and I'm a sinner like everyone else. I've learned over the years to respect people, to be kind, and if I'm angry about something, fine, I'm angry—that's I'm only human.

And one remarkable human he is; he's proven to be not only a successful actor but also a profound source of wisdom. There's something we can all learn from the immense intellect of Sir Anthony Hopkins.