What do we truly need in our lives? Mathias Lefebvre at TEDxQueenstown
In his talk at TEDxQueenstown 2014: Sense of Place "Piano Man" Mathias Lefebvre, the ultimate lifestyle designer, talks about how he got to the place where he lives his life on his own terms.
Every day Mathias tells his story with music on the grand piano he pulls around the streets of Queenstown but today he shares it in words and asks us to think hard about what we really need in our lives and how we can cooperate for a better future for all.
In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)
To the people who call him naive: I think we are just used to our overcomplicated way of thinking, confused by all the supposed "needs" that are just unnecessary desires and addictions
This guy is ridiculously charismatic
food, shelter, and love. How true! loved this man who truly understands life.
In a lot of poor/developing countries, people may have physical fences but they dont have the boundaries you find in the West. They already practice a lot of what is said here but I totally understand where the speaker is coming from. In the West we have a lot to learn. We got good at getting stuff but we forgot the invisible stuff that really matters. I left London a few months ago because I got tired of living among zombies who had forgotten what really matters, I feel sorry for them. I've moved to Jordan (in the middle east) where I live a very simple life, where the standard greeting from strangers is "fadhal" meaning "welcome to my home" and they mean it.
i completely understand his point, and i agree with it mostly, I travel instead of buying a car and I try not to be held up by materials etc. However, I think it is also important to note that many of people were born with responsibilities of others thrusted upon them, as in, if one has a sick family member, it is not so easy to drop the work we find stressful and just do our own things.
I'd like a follow up interview when he is is in his 40's or 50's, and see how comfortable he is with this lifestyle
Socrates life is not about comfort it's about struggles
The world needs more people like this guy!
Then start by being one of them rather than just demand
I wonder if I can...
lyubgan you can
Nads508 I'm trying.Thanks!
lyubgan me too!
I wish I didn't have to work! So I quit a full time job, to contract and earn more money, so I can take a month or two off here and there. I'm a lot happier now. We all need to do more to make our lives happier. I'm growing my own veggies and making my own compost. It's great.
cindy chan Good on you man ! Growing your own food is such a great thing to do, so healthy, so cheap, so rewarding, so fresh !!
cindy chan his story was better
Sounds idiotic to me. 😀 I had a very stressful Sales job with stressed aggressive people. j resigned and found a less stressful job but on a lot less pay. I am miles happier BUT I would really like to earn more. Can't have your cake, eat it and make love to the baker it seems.
Sarah Lovell i understand...stick in there...am sure you will find a way. it took me a while of contracting before i started to earn more.
Cindy I am sorry I meant to type idilic NOT idiotic! You are so right, you cannot rush these things..especially considered directional career progression. It would be easy just to take the next job that paid more, which is where I went so badly wrong 2.5 years previous! :)
This address acts as a brain tonic. Loved . Full of wisdom and content. Worth listening to several times and pay close attention.
A wonderful personal story, authentically offered to all of us in the true spirit of love ... after some fabulous piano playing! Great one, Mathias.
And it is all offered for free. Maybe that is how you find freedom, and that is to give what you have away? !
think the same way. really really happy.
I agree with him. It is so crazy to pay taxes on the land and even on the houses people build with their own money. In addition to this, every person who has land, even just a garden, knows that it is impossible to eat all that the plants produce by oneself. For ex. one single tree produces so many apples. It is impossible to eat them all. It is really like a sign that we have to share. And the vegetables, they can also be so much! In nature, all is multiplied. From one seed you get a plant that produces much more. And this goes on and on towards wealth. This is one of the Earth's principles. There are already some communities where all is shared but they are still only few of them...
+katherine sell Thanks. I always love the moment when people have so much in the garden and start to share with others. Usually it is also all natural and and you can see it by the funny shapes fruits and vegetable have ;)
+Sandra Carli im appreciate your comment
+Sandra Carli You would have to have good neighbors to do this. And if you each grew a garden with different plants, it would be a wonderful thing to share once a week on the street.
Mathias, what an outstanding pathway, so singular. From Tournai, 20 years ago, to this little street in Ubud, in 2010, i learnt from you that peaceful, but determined discovery of yourself. Thank you for that, you're the man !
one of the most humble and wise things I ever heard
Food, shelter, love.
And?
@@pontiacmon What else could a person need? :)
exactly. Thanks for your reply. I just watched the video again, and it is even more inspiring to me now, it makes me want to make some changes.
I just found a great video that you mite like.' Paper Hats - with Mathias Piano Man's 'Erlinda' (Music Film)'. I really like it, hope that you do to.
@@coreycox2345.. He said: "I don't need much".. But, he only mentioned 3 needs.. He said you can grow your food. Then, he said: "I Googled... how to grow food... and it's easy" This implies that in order to be able to grow your food, you need to Google how to do it. To Google anything, you need a phone or laptop, electricity and internet. Therefore, we also need electricity, internet, and a laptop. To live in a home, you are going to need to pay for some bills unless you are planning to live without A/C, light, fridge, and stove which consumes gas. He thinks he knows it all. I know better. He also needed a camera and a stage to deliver his commonist message. He does not accept that making money is a need. And, spending money is a need. He wants to get in your home to sleep. Then, wake up and play with your wife. Then, move to someone else.
Excellent speech. Loved the part about the world being fenced in. Cooperation eliminates endless competition. Awesome.
that is the flaw of Capitalism, constant competition, not enough cooperation.
danpt2000 capitalism itself is a flaw, set up by the elite to keep us divided and competing against eachother for their benefit.
danpt2000 its the flaw of our minds, reflecting in the world. whatever we see in the world is a manifestation of whats in our mind.
sue she Jup in a sense. In another one its for the increase of the standard living, increase of knowledge, technological growth.
To everyone here who has complained about capitalism: why don't you start sharing right now. E.g. open up your house/apartment to others who need a place to stay/live. List your place on airbnb.com (but put the price of $0) or Craig's List. Soon, I am sure, you will abandon your naive concepts of "right" and "wrong" and return to your regularly fenced place.
Beautiful message. Truly what we need is Shelter, Food and Love. But it is also true that that these are the three we stand for till today. Mostly competition what we mean as process to grow over each other is growing as we see towards love as something to depend upon and more interestingly we all fight for food and shelter not only as they our need, but also because we we have the feeling of finding love only if we have shelter and food. The term cooperation said is something very important to be thought about. Because love, shelter and food three of them gets cultivated from that. So they are not our dependability, that is we don't depend on three of them. We depend on the betterment of the cultivation. Lastly coming to competition, it is not unhealthy. Because competition is not actually the game of pulling each other back and always trying out become the first. Competition is the process of making the vision of the need more clearer for all who are involved in the process. So being our own competitor is the best techniques to grow individually. Lastly individuality is something which can't be ignored and cannot be prime concern too. Because if it is ignored people doing so may starve in many respects. Making it the prime concern can make the world as a battle ground. So at least I feel what we truly need is cooperation which will bring mutual respects in all respect and cultivate food, shelter and love for all.
I'm sad and happy simultaneously that I've watched a video that explains my thoughts and needs in 100% correct way. My surrounding just seems not to get right, sadly.
It's interesting when you look at the word 'compete'. Today's interpretation you may think of athletes vying against each other. In the business world you may think of two professionals vying against each other to achieve a promotion. There's a sense of two forces working against each other. The origins of the word 'compete' is 'com' (latin), meaning together and 'petere' meaning aim at, seek. The words today is pretty much the antithesis of it's origins. From the origins you get a sense of two forces moving towards something together. (parallel instead of collision course) Sign of the times?
The question at the end of speech is definitely worth giving a serious thought for anyone who live on this planet. We can only do this TOGETHER. But, I am afraid there are many people who want to live in fear and competition because that's all they know about this life. And plus, we can't overlook people's greed.
I don't think the audience really understood his message... they just laughed at every revealing point he made.
it's a Ted talk, it's generally rich/middle class people who see these talks. They benefit greatly from Capitalism, of course they laugh and don't see the true message he is sharing. There are members of the proletariat who will never see the exploitation they are under. They will willingly accept it knowing 'it could be worse' a simple, yet scary way of dealing with the problem we have. cognitive dissonance allows them to acknowledge (I.e. laugh at each point he makes) but still disregard it, it's easier to deal with that way
I felt the same. They kept laughing when he was serious about it. Made me cringe a little.
I thought that also.
Every moment of this is beautiful. Thank you.
This put a smile on my face ! Daisaku Ikeda wrote, 'The age of war is dead. The age of economy his waning. Now is the dawn of the Age of Culture.' Thank you Mathias, you have your finger on the pulse ! Paradigm shifts take time, they also require courage as you testify. Courageous faith is the path of no regret and is what is sorely needed at this present juncture of human history. Humanism must win. Humanism will win when decisions are people centred - decisions based on the happiness and welfare of others. When we revolutionise our own life our outer wold will reflect this, one of transforming from hard power to soft power; respect for the dignity of life, the power of creating value, humanitarian competition, education and realising the inextricable interconnectedness of all life etc. ! (Yes, words are easy!)
A true yogi! Co-operation is truly the key-word. At present this looks like a distant possibility. Competition and fences are making us insecure.
Dinesh Kumar Takyar Would you walk your talk by, say, sharing your home for free? List it on Craigs List, for example.
This cannot be DONE!!!! because.... Oh wait.. yes it can! If we want it, we can make it. Great talk
+Michelle Hall > It can be done. Join your local "Ubuntu Party"?
Lovely. What a great way to see the world. Beautiful daughter !!
We all have always something to say. Let's just be still for a moment. Forget your names, nationalities, race, genders, jobs, wealth as your core isn't identified with them... let's be human beings and shine our light; no judgement, but acceptance in love.
food, shelter and love! yeah
I would go beyond and say that it is worth working toward human fulfillment as in Maslow's hierarchy. To have the luxury of self-defined personal achievement is at the top.
i love this man. Everything about him.
This guy is a visionary.
sweet, nice way to put it...its great to question ourselves! "I dont need much" :)
Simple yet, amazing
I just loved listening to this guy. Informative and enjoyable.
Mathias you are the man! i agree with you! i miss queemstown and i miss you!
Life without music and arts is unimaginable. Life itself is an art of living.
Food,Shelter,Love we dont need much and everything else is unneccessary
We need to live like farmers, I like it.
I'm completely serious, just so you know. I've always wanted to move to the countryside-away from the big city. Just so llong as I have wifi and a good dog.
*long
YES
Lets share. What do you have? What do i need? What do i have? What do you need?
+Ritesh Man Tamrakar > that is the way. Like socialism but without the tyranny and without dictators :-)
This man is the truth. All the people laughing because they don't know how to take his point of view, it goes against what they've been programmed to think and believe. I've been trying to build wealth to achieve this exact goal, total freedom. This speech just changed my view on how to acquire that though. Damn good pianist too.
Yes.
This was one of the simply most important videos of Ted ever
Amazingly Beautiful and educational presentation!
I like the idea of not working, who doesn't? I also like the idea of just being free to do your thing and just be with the people you want to be. However, if someday we return to the past, we will just loop to our current state again. Which is why we need to be able to reconclile both worlds, technology and nature, it's the only way to truely find some balance. Obviously materialism is something that is essentially meaningless when you buy things just to show-off or to feel part of an in-crowd but we can't discard the potential advantages that technology gives. For one the speaker wouldn't have been able to google how to make a garden or build a house. I guess it's not that necesary because there is always word of mouth but problems arise when you have a group who's access to information is essentially closed, you get fools and you get charlatans. Even in an age of information you still have a lot of people that get duped on the daily basis, imagine if somehow people reverted to a prior stage in social evolution. In conclusion, i like the idea but within the context of harmonizing technology and nature so as to evade future turmoil. I mean, it sounds nice, but since we can't control future generations, we have to think ahead and also look back at history to figure out why things had to change. There are no final frontiers, change is the law by which we live.
And he on lives in one of the most expensive places in New Zealand Queenstown is a tourist town not cheap to live there, so good for him
its easy to say when u have nothing to lose. lots of people wont give up on the things they got by working hard . thus we will never get such a world he is speaking about .we need extra planet for this)
So glad that someone else has a similar ideal lifestyle with me too. Just dont know how to carry it out..
+MsSHE4eva > It can be done. Join your local "Ubuntu Party"?
Awesome talk. Very well delivered with excellent flow of personal experiences with a great message. Very much enjoyed.
An eloquent description of our digression from tribal cultures, through the agricultural beginnings to our current condition. He describes how humans only need three things and each of them can be gained from belonging to a tribe; the norm for the vast majority of our past.
That is something I was hoping and I am happy to see that the way you conveyed the message is awesome. I realize the importance of life now.
Thank you, so true!!
This has to be millions views!
Lovely. Simple.
Creating lifestyle from abundant resources others ignore, Mathias sets the bar well above where most would care to reach. He suggests "Less can be more" in an insecure world if passions can simplify complexities, and lifestyle can follow suit. Mathias knows. He is living the dream convincingly, in Queenstown.
Very true, loved it
lovely talk, hes very right. I am off to play my piano for more inspiration
Brilliant!
I recommend that everyone save this post, watch it again, and share it with at least one other person.
Wow! The song got me.
Love it!!!!
love this speech! if only it would become a reality someday
It would become, if you do something for it. Not just wishful thinking.
Incredible truth
great talk
Awesome!
Bravo!
What he's talking about is community living, which is essentially connected to our very souls and deeper longing to feel a sense of belonging and connectedness. It's it's deeply profound in our psychology to live communal lives which we have lost our barring a of in our western consumer societies creating an unnatural way of being.
Good talk, Mathias. Hopefully our 'insane' culture and society will devolve and simplify a bit as you point to. "It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a sick society" -Krishnamurti
Mathias, this was such a great presentation. Food, Shelter, Love! all the way. But now you need to understand how you contribute to those you love is what gives you value. and in the present world, your Value = Money, to buy you that piece of land or whatever it is you need. That's just how the world works, there's no escaping that! eliminate the word slavery from your vocabulary, that's just your mind telling you lies. Can't you see you are free?
H Debbesie No I can't see I am free. Because I not allowed to sleep on the beach (not even in my van), to build my house on a empty patch of land, to get access to any ressources. I am being shafted from the planet I live on, and it's the same for everyone, we all try to gain access to the planet while it should be a given.
mathiaspianoman: _"we all try to gain access to the planet while it should be a given."_ Why? Even animals compete for resources.
Nice talk.. and the song is just epic!
Li MIT o pool on okio8 I ouy7iyo9 I 6try 6l I oòi8 on you, t 7 u y
inspiring stuff :)
GREAT!
Wauw.. Now I really understand why I am so depressed... cus I am having everything but, those 3 things I really need... All I want is just to live freely on a mountain in South Korea.. I'm not asking for diamonds, just for a small space for myself and Why is that so hard...ㅜㅜ
This is what I was looking for...
reminds me of the book and 8 hr course by joe demingus and viki robbins.." Your money or your life". I would add to the mix clothing especially if not in subtropical climate.
Of course i am against this way of life and the madness of consumism, but we still need to work and be usefull to one another. And that means that sometimes, you have to spend time doing something you dont love in order to keep the weels turning.
they’re laughing but it’s the truth, all we need to do is simplify our current lives, i think the internet is very contradicting to this ideal, however it is a beautiful source of information. So it is just one of the things we would have to simplify to keep in our lives; say we run websites on solar and put up with blackouts when it’s rainy. We would need to solve like this for problems like healthcare also.
Love this.............:)
What this speaker is talking about, living without fences, was the norm for humans many millennia ago, and still goes on today within indigenous communities whom all live together as a tribe/family. But it doesn't only exist within tribal communities, in various parts of the world, most usually in the "less developed" parts (although it does exist in small non-urbanish towns in the developed world), people within their small villages or towns have a much greater sense of community and belonging to one another. Yes there still may be fences in the literal sense, however all neighbours either are or feel very much like family and they lead quite simple lives. I am born in the UK, however my parents are from Eritrea (in East Africa), and grew up in small villages, and I can very much imagine the relationship between members of the area, as well as nearby villages and towns, who are very much family. What people forget is, in particular if we consider people residing in countries of their heritage, that everyone around you is actually related to you. If you go back hundreds of years it is likely that you share many common ancestors/grandfather/grandmothers with people in your town, city and even country. If you think about it, once we get to our third cousins we start to lose awareness with who actually is related to us. I can safely say I know almost up to all my second cousins, at least within the UK, but past that; like one and that was by accident. Go back thousands and thousands of years, and even people across the globe from each other have ties. You see, we are all family. We are all humanoids, it makes pretty darn sense. Does it matter? Just because hundreds or thousands of years ago our ancestors were brothers what bearing does it have now? It's a debatable topic, and your conclusions will be based on your own personal philosophies, however the next time you feel hostile to a complete stranger, or someone you see on the news, or those "bloody immigrants in our country", maybe you'll pause and realise that the only thing truly separating us is our environment and education. I also just want to add that what has led to what is common place in developed countries and urban cities, this reality of competition and lack of closeness between neighbours, is due to Capitalism; a system where there are always going to be a divide between rich and poor. Why can't everyone or mostly everyone just be in the middle ground and live great lives?
? How is it that
Which part in particular do you want me to explain?
*****: " ...is due to Capitalism; a system where there are always going to be a divide between rich and poor. Why can't everyone or mostly everyone just be in the middle ground and live great lives? " Because there are always those who are unable and/or unwilling to be as useful to the society as some others. Look up thugs who wear their pants at their knees' level.
humanyoda These aren't just things which naturally just arise out of nature, black people in America for instance were all, unless I'm mistaken, talking like Martin Luther until whenever that kind of speech stopped. This mentality and style of thought if you look closely is just popularised and personalised aggressiveness, which as can be obviously seen stems from feeling like being the undermined of society. You don't get such behaviour naturally occurring, unless it's been imported from the West now, hopefully not, in Africa. Anyway, point is such self-destructive behaviour doesn't arise naturally out of nature. I easily could have turned out a thug, just give me a crack mother for a mum, and useless father, neighbours selling drugs, and bad personal mental habits. I add the latter because individuals process things differently to and extent, which I believe comes down to personality and character, which is also influenced from environment. Anyway I mention all that because your statement is from an enlightened perspective useless. Those people are the most damaged of society, let's forget about those for the moment for the sake of argument. Close community even remedies these issues naturally, as you can see in the positive primitive communities of the Amazon and elsewhere. I can't be bothered to say anymore, but just give people a break.
***** I would give them a break, but they are everywhere here. It's like a zoo.
what's the song called in the beginning and where can i find it :)
very nice man
Yes.
hey guys was he playing somthing spesific symphony or something it was really good
Does anyone know what the beautiful piece is called and if there is piano sheet music available?
A mixture of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs ( 11:05 ) with a criticism to land ownership (and consequent competition) as described by Marxism (13:55 ).
14:06 , damm true , this is where all it started
can anybody share with me the title of this song which played at the beginning? or a link maybe? thanks in advance:)
This is a really good piece, what annoys me is that the timing feels off at multiple times
Well said, simple and to the point! 100% agreee. =)
i think the whole world is moving towards it may be after a 500 years we ll all be as educated as he now..................
Love
If we could just realize that we have it all... ( at least I think most of all have those three essential points in their lives)
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This guy has really lived his life.Yes it is very tough to follow whatever you say in this competitive world and a world where most people follow rat race chasing an unrealistic dream.If everybody will follow their passion instead of chasing an unrealistic dream and following rat race,world will be a very beautiful place.
Let the music talk for him!
The early Hawaiians, before their contact with the west, shared the land and its bounty without land ownership.
thinking outside the wall
I already know the answer: be happy. Do not even want to waste 18 minutes watching this.
yes i agree with you. when we think we exist. like in sleep what happens we don,t know. but others can study or observe me so he can tell. so i alone can,t know everything.we want to know what we don,t know. this very idea is what. so one can be noble like neutron like in atom which we know because of our scientist but still there is curiosity to know what is inside it like what can be the smallest particle. it exists because we think . then logical or which is also a notion of our mind came into existence when we shared our experiences. just like we are defined by name and our living and non living(but what is not living it is made up of same electron proton and neutron and their arrangement),so what is true because no one can know everything because not everyone are connected to one other so one cannot say what other thinks.even we don't know what thought can come in our mind.the thought may be the result of our experience but the notion of future how did this come or change is life.
Trying to get there. Lost my family to things. Broken Heart....
Hello everyone!What’s the melody?
I'm wondering how working at the job of your choice is a form of slavery? In his world of cooperation, how does he get the materials to build the house, grow the food, clothe his family? The barter system works until you don't have something I want to barter with. I think that's mostly how money came into being. I think money is a form of barter. How does cooperation work when I live 20 miles from the nearest source of water? Do you help pipe the water to me our of kindness? I agree that most of us have far more than we need and a simpler lifestyle is preferable, but I don't think money is the root of all evil, perhaps the love of it is.
I think he addressed that problem. You should do what you love AND what adds value to the life of others... else "if it doesnt work out you are screwed" 16:10 ;)
+Debbie Mullis I think Eddie veder's song "society" answers your question. and the answer is "human greed". until people will not stop being greedy the sustainable happy state can not be achieved. learn to share, not be full of fear, stop watching TV and stop buying the next version of things. build a self sustainable system. if you think after all these years of progress, knowledge and development we can not help each other then I don't know what to say. stop taking loans. And its not like we have developed all bad things in all these years some things are really really good for eg. Health care(in case you get sick), internet(for entertainment and sharing knowledge), clean water systems. you know things like that. MAKE THEM FREE FOR ALL. Now there are some natural things that we are buying these days instead of just doing it... > Sex : people should fuck as much as possible i means whats the downside? just fuck in the name of lord whenever you think you are having the feeling of getting fucked. do not rape. mutually do that. gay straight whatever. > physical, mind games : that does not need lots of gear. > sleep : its a good good thing. > talk : with friends and family that this guy already said. > weed: free, grows wild and you can share it with other people. best thing you can smoke and can feel really really good without any problems and moderation is the key. > old music movies etc.
Well done! .... it is the "Ubuntu Party" way!
After all this .. We really need to Work