In this video, Oprah says that sitting down with Nobel Prize-winner, human rights activist and author Elie Wiesel was the "privilege of a lifetime." During a taping for the "Super Soul Sunday" episode (set to air on OWN December 9), Elie opened up to Oprah about his emergency heart surgery. "We get an opportunity to talk about those moments of him being on the operating table and his thoughts about who he was and all the things he had left to do," says Oprah. "[It] was really surprising to know that at 82 years old, he still felt like he had so much undone."
While reflecting on the greatest offering he has to give to his Boston University students, Elie says he has a two-step formula. "Whatever you're doing in life, think higher and feel deeper," he says. "You cannot be bad if you do that."
Oprah says that's only one of the moments from the converstion that resonated with her. "Also what struck me so deeply is understanding that the depth of our humanity and breadth of our humanity really starts with each individual," she says.
Elie told Oprah that he was once invited to address the United Nations General Assembly. "I called my lecture 'Will the World Ever Learn?'" he says. "And I answered, "Actually, it will not because it hasn't. How is one to explain Rwanda? How is one to explain that racists are on the planet? How is one to explain the violence?"
So will the human species ever learn? "As a species, I don't know. We are dealing with hundreds of thousands of years," he says. "Will the individual learn? Every single human being is a unique human being. And therefore it is so criminal to do something to that human being because he or she represents humanity."
Just then, Oprah says she had an aha! moment. She tells him, "As you were speaking, I was thinking the better question is, 'Will you evolve? How will you open your heart?'"
"Super Soul Sunday" airs Sundays at 11 a.m. ET on OWN.