By Michaela Gordoni
INTERSTELLAR star Matthew McConaughey opened up about some struggles he’s had with his faith lately.
“I started feeling myself having more doubts than I was comfortable with,” he reflected.
But he chose not to listen to that voice — and looked for a way to channel his thoughts.
“When that disease of cynicism comes around — and it comes for all of us — you stave it off,” McConaughey said. “That’s an early death. Don’t go there.”
Instead, he jotted down his thoughts.
“At the end of the proverbial day, what I was writing were the poems and the prayers,” he said. “It was a relief from the arduous practical dealing with the day. I wasn’t ready to just raise the white flag and say, ‘this is how it is — everyone lying, cheating, stealing.’”
Those turned into his book, Poems and Prayers, a collection of honest, soul-searching thoughts.
Related: Matthew McConaughey Opens Up About His Faith Journey and Spiritual Habits
“I’m a repeat offender,” McConaughey said. “And I’m having trouble asking for forgiveness if I’m pretty sure I’ll do it again next week.”
His prayers don’t have any kind of strictness. For him, a prayer can be anything.
Of his poems, he said, “Each conversation about them is a prayer in itself.”
“Hope doesn’t really have a pathway,” he explained. “If you get what you hope for, you got lucky. But belief is different because belief is the engine.”
“That’s why I call it the original dream. When you believe in something, you see it and you see a path to it. Hope floats. Belief drives.”
In his book, McConaughey details poems that he wrote as an 18-year-old on his gap year in Australia.
“I was asking similar questions then as I am now. What are we calling success? What are we rewarding people and ourselves for in this life?” he said.
“And this is before I had any money and fame. I was already questioning that. Character and integrity meant a lot to me then,” he continued.
The journey that led to his book predated it by a few years.
McConaughey explained, “I found myself looking at the world around me and not finding evidence of things I want to believe in. I didn’t want to quit believing, but I was looking at how we’re treating each other, the low barometer of trust, and there seemed to be a sense of win at any cost.”
He continued, “It doesn’t matter how you did it, just win. I became a little cynical.”
If you want to pull a thesis from Poems and Prayers, it’s belief.
McConaughey said, “We have to admit the evil and the doubt that’s in the world… and then choose to believe in something better.”
Read Next: Matthew McConaughey Says This Is Why Young Men Are Turning to Faith
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