The New York Times published a new profile of Jim Carrey today to promote his upcoming Showtime series Kidding, and if you’re in the mood for some high-quality bong-rip enlightenment quotes, boy does it deliver. Reporter Dave Itzkoff did us all a solid by including plenty of bits of trademark Carrey wisdom throughout the piece. “When he talked about himself it was often at a distance, using a tangled vocabulary of self-actualization metaphors,†Itzkoff writes. “In these moments, he would speak with a straight face and in an even tone; I would nod as if I grasped what he meant. And when I later listened to his words, I realized I didn’t understand him at all.â€
Here’s the thing: Carrey has had a long, fascinating, and unparalleled career in Hollywood, and he very much knows it. Mere plebeians like you, I, and New York Times reporters might not always have the mental capacity to fully absorb just how deep Carrey’s spiritual awakening goes, but that doesn’t mean we can’t appreciate a few good quotes that just scratch the surface of his philosophical mastery. So with that, here are the most mind-melting quotes from Carrey’s new New York Times interview:
On Poland:
“Poland was a rainy place with a lot of crows, man, and it was beautiful.â€
On whether or not he’s having an existential crisis:
“I don’t have a crisis anymore. I know I don’t exist.â€
On solitude:
“I love being in the midst of people, and I also abso-[expletive]-lutely love to be alone in my life. I love my empty [expletive] halls that I walk down, and talking to myself and whatever it is I want to do.â€
One of his “self-actualization metaphorsâ€:
“I see what is presented to me on a little screen. That works within the boundaries of that proscenium. I’m the whole thing, man. I’m the theater, not the proscenium. So when I remember that, I’m free.â€
On creative people:
“We’re magical, we create magic. And yet, at the same time, so much of it is born out of this desperate need to find peace. To get to that place where everything’s going to be all right. We’re addicted to unfinished-ness.â€
On Kidding:
“It says exactly what I want to say to the world: ‘Good luck escaping the pain — you’re not going to.’ But that’s beautiful. Even that’s going to turn into something glorious if you stick with it.â€
On the philosophy of spiritual guru Jeff Foster:
“He said what you should do is change the meaning of the word ‘depressed’ to ‘deep rest.’ Because depression is your body finally deciding it’s had it with the person you’re trying to play in the world.â€
On his political cartoons revealing his angry side:
“Any human being you’ve ever seen in your life, including Gandhi, has been angry.â€
On nervous breakdowns:
“I don’t believe in nervous breakdowns. I believe in nervous breakthroughs. You don’t get to the next level without having a breakthrough. And it’s usually the eruption of honesty.â€
On some of the “incredibly unjust and unfair things†that have happened to him:
“There’s no one I can’t sit with now, after what I’ve been through, and say, ‘What’s your thing — what’s your pain?’ And what an incredible place to be as an artist.â€