I wouldn't say that I've had a tough life by any stretch of the imagination.

I actually think sadness and darkness can be very beautiful and healing.

Lately I've been a workaholic. I'm in the studio all the time and I've helped to produce a couple of artists

My second record was all about big ideas - I was trying to make big statements about the culture, about life. I think in a certain way, I was a 27 year old kid with a guitar

I try to make sure that the Buddhism is more or less implicit in the music rather than explicit

Things come to me pretty regularly. There is never a shortage or a backlog

But I can't really say there is too much modern music that I'm blown away by at this moment

I certainly wouldn't say that my life is a disaster, but there have been moments where I've felt like that

My first two records were more energetic; Phantom Moon is subtle, quiet; so these various reactions are just something I expected

But really important, perhaps most important is the craft; how you make your record, the creation of these sonic worlds you want your listener to hear.

So I started chanting when I was nineteen, which was about twelve years ago, and it really had a huge impact on my outlook, happiness, and general creativity.

I hate that I had to pull out my wallet and buy respect.

A world without braves is a world without heroes, but a world without wisdom is a world of animals.

How do the stems connect to the roots?' 'Where is the mist coming from?' 'Why does one tree seem darker than another?' These questions are implicitly asked and answered in the process of sketching.

Advent: the time to listen for footsteps - you can't hear footsteps when you're running yourself.

Childhood knows unhappiness through men. In solitude, it can relax its aches. When the human world leaves him in peace, the child feels like the son of the cosmos.

Hypotheses are what we lack the least.

Social reform is the desperate decision to remove corns from a person suffering from cancer.

Three principles of prayer: 1. Keep it honest. 2. Keep it simple. 3. Keep it up.

If you have to ask what it symbolizes, it didn't.

I would sooner be prime minister of the moon than run another marathon. I've been really lucky. I didn't have any toenails fall off or anything disgusting like that. I still have all three nipples.