Joss Whedon’s Inspirational Wesleyan University Commencement Speech

I don't know about you, but I enjoy listening to Joss Whedon talk about stuff. The guy has a way with words. He was recently invited back to Wesleyan University, from which he graduated in 1987. He received an honorary doctorate, and also had the privilege of offering the commencement address for the Class of 2013.

He starts the speech off with telling the hopeful, bright-eyed graduates that, "you are all going to die." He may have started in a dark place but by the end of the speech he brings everyone into the light. It's a very inspirational and entertaining speech, and if you're a fan of Whedon's style, film/TV work, and sense of humor, then you're going to enjoy this. 

I've included a video of the speech below, and Whedon comes in around the 2:30 mark. Sometimes it's hard to hear due to the wind, but Wesleyan has the full transcript available on their website. Below the video I've included one of my favorite parts from the speech. I think you'll like Whedon even more after listening to this. 

 Here's a couple excerpts that I enjoyed: 

Let’s just say, hypothetically, that two roads diverged in the woods and you took the path less traveled. Part of you is just going, “Look at that path! Over there, it’s much better. Everyone is traveling on it. It’s paved, and there’s like a Starbucks every 40 yards. This is wrong. In this one, there’s nettles and Robert Frost’s body—somebody should have moved that—it just feels weird. And not only does your mind tell you this, it is on that other path, it is behaving as though it is on that path. It is doing the opposite of what you are doing. And for your entire life, you will be doing, on some level, the opposite—not only of what you were doing—but of what you think you are. That is just going to go on. What you do with all your heart, you will do the opposite of. And what you need to do is to honor that, to understand it, to unearth it, to listen to this other voice.

You have, which is a rare thing, that ability and the responsibility to listen to the dissent in yourself, to at least give it the floor, because it is the key—not only to consciousness-but to real growth. To accept duality is to earn identity. And identity is something that you are constantly earning. It is not just who you are. It is a process that you must be active in. It’s not just parroting your parents or the thoughts of your learned teachers. It is now more than ever about understanding yourself so you can become yourself.

I talk about this contradiction, and this tension, there’s two things I want to say about it. One, it never goes away. And if you think that achieving something, if you think that solving something, if you think a career or a relationship will quiet that voice, it will not. If you think that happiness means total peace, you will never be happy. Peace comes from the acceptance of the part of you that can never be at peace. It will always be in conflict. If you accept that, everything gets a lot better.

He concluded with the following, 

Don’t just live. Be that other thing connected to death. Be life. Live all of your life. Understand it, see it, appreciate it. And have fun.

Amen!