Candid 2013 video shows Lee Kuan Yew meditating, talking about how meditation has helped him

This is perhaps one of the last videos of him speaking publicly about himself.

Belmont Lay| April 01, 12:22 AM

This following YouTube video uploaded on March 30, 2015, provides a fascinating glimpse into what Lee Kuan Yew had to say about how meditation had helped him with making decisions as a leader and even shows him meditating towards the end of the 17-minute long clip.

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Put up one week after his passing, the video shows Lee having a conversation with Laurence Freeman OSB (Order of Saint Benedict), replying not only lucidly to questions but also supplementing them with candid remarks. The video was reportedly recorded on Aug. 21, 2013, which means he was 89 years old then before his birthday in September.

Lee speaks about when he would meditate, for example, when a problem is irritating him in the day but he gets distracted in the mornings with his emails and government issues and he even wondered out loud if things would have been different if Adolf Hitler meditated (at 4mins 30 sec mark).

Here's an example of one of his answers about how meditation helped his leadership:

"Well, my own experience is, when I'm stressed to make a decision, I stop and meditate. And at the end of the meditation, if I'm still of the view that I should proceed, then I proceed. In other words, I still the mind for 20 minutes, in so far as I can still the mind, but the question is still going around in my own mind."

"After the meditation, after I get out of it, I make up my mind."

 

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