Last weekend, comedian and actor Russell Brand shared on social media that he decided to get baptized. In a brief video, Brand explained to his followers that his decision was “very intimate and personal.”
“The truth is this: As a person that has in the past taken many, many substances and always been disappointed with the inability to deliver the kind of tranquility and peace and even transcendence that I’ve always felt I’ve been looking for, something occurred in the process of baptism that was incredible, overwhelming,” he said.
Now, Brand has opened up further about why he felt like he needed to be baptized, and why he doesn’t think he’s the only one.
“I’ve reached a point where the figure, the personage, the presence of Christ has become overwhelming, unavoidable, and welcome, even necessary,” Russell Brand said in a new YouTube video.
He sees his experience as part of a larger movement toward faith.
“It’s not just me that’s experiencing a spiritual awakening — there appears to be a return to religion,” Brand said.
He then details that, despite everything happening in the world and the messages we hear daily, young people are “recognizing that the material world that I sought to find solace and comfort in, is no longer serving that function for many of them.”
He continues:
“Sometimes the material world and human relationships are not enough. We report on this stuff every single day – corruption, institutional corruption, violence, unnecessary wars, the refusal of the powerful to participate in peaceful solutions, the corruption of powerful groups, the desire of powerful interests to hide malevolent intent behind beneficial measures. “We’re doing this to help you,” they say, “it’s for your safety and convenience.” My whole life long, I’ve felt a calling, mistranslated at time after time as various forms of addiction: substance misuse, drinking too much, and an overwhelming urge to lose myself in concupiscence, continually looking for love in all the wrong places.
Isn’t it extraordinary for any of you that have experienced this already to get baptized? Do you feel like how can this ceremony have any real import? How can the gentle or actually, in my case, quite radical immersion beneath water, and in my case, a live river, make any real difference? How can the sins of the past be washed away? How can you be born again? How can you awaken anew? To answer that question, you have to inquire of what you consider the self to be, whether you’re made up just of impulses, urges, and memories, or whether you believe there is a ghost in the machine, or more likely, the Holy Spirit, if you’re willing to invite it into your life.
For me, I’ve reached a point in my life where, for a long while, in fact, I’ve known that the material world was not enough, and more than that, as many of you are surely already mouthing, it’s not even about you. This, I’ve learned as an addict in recovery — the pursuit of my own goals on my own agenda always leaves me cold, empty, and wanting more. You can never have enough of what you don’t really want.”
Brand shared the 14-minute long video on his YouTube channel, which has over 6.79 million subscribers.
