“I had insecurities and fears, like everybody does,and I got over it. But I was interested in the parts of me that struggled with those things.” ~ Philip Seymour Hoffman
For creatives, our mind can be our greatest asset – or our worst enemy. Philip Seymour Hoffman succumbed to his fears and insecurities today. He was perhaps the greatest actor of his generation. His ability to step into a character’s skin, and to transform into their personas was uncanny; his gift was as immense as his deeply vulnerable heart.
As creatives, we’re asked to open ourselves up to the world, to stand naked, to bare all of our secrets. This emotional accessibility is what makes a great artist, and yet, it is also what makes so many of us fall prey to one form of addiction or another. It’s painful to feel so much all of the time, and for some, this pain is so great that they desperately try to numb themselves, in order to be free from its grasp. They seek respite in the form of drugs, alcohol, and sex.
Hoffman’s death comes as a great shock to us all. We believed he had conquered his fears, and that his days of addiction were long past. He was very candid about his struggle with sobriety; and yet, the story seemed a long-closed chapter of his early life.
We were fooled… because we wanted to be. It’s a difficult truth, to discover that what you most love about a person ultimately leads to their undoing.
Good night, sweet prince,
and flights of angels guide thee to thy rest.
RIP Philip Seymour Hoffman 1967 – 2014
Princess Scribe's Blog 
It is a cruel, heartless, insidious and unrelenting disease. Your insights into some of the reasons are very accurate. The more sensitive the person, the more acutely they feel the pain of this world, and are more easily seduced by a quick simple way to numb that pain. Such a senseless waste. So many lives wasted.
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Such a tragedy. My only hope is that better conversations about the illness of addiction can be generated. xo
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I am enormously sad
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I think we all are heartbroken.
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“We were fooled because we wanted to be. It’s a difficult truth, to discover that what you most love about a person leads to their undoing…”
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as always, insightful and sensitively put lady princess. I am in turns shocked and then just really angry that this waste of such a caustically clever actor has happened. The addiction had him – by the throat. Compassion at all times. RIP PSH
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“Compassion at all times.” Indeed. Thank you, Yvonne.
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Very touching.
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I’ve been silent since this; the loss of this talent – and others – has left me in a sort of bell jar, surrounded by the ethers of what could have been. I promise myself to lift the jar. Soon. I think many feel this way.
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