Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
OGDEN — Before 3,700 graduates capped off their collegiate careers at Weber State University on Friday night, they got the chance to hear from someone many of them likely watched on TV growing up or during their college journeys — actor Rainn Wilson.
Best known for his role as Dwight Schrute in the wildly popular NBC sitcom "The Office," Wilson showered the graduates with his trademark humor and honesty.
"This isn't Dwight's speech, this is Rainn's speech," Wilson said. "You're not here to commemorate being salesman of the year or to increase paper sales or beet growth in northern Utah. You're here to give a memorable speech (to) these amazing new graduates of Weber State University."
Wilson's speech centered around the notion of rejecting cynicism, fear, materialism and ego and instead embracing love, connection, unity and hope.
Or, as he put it, "the meaning of life."
Wilson said he's personally wrestled with a number of mental health issues — many of which he said are plaguing younger generations — including depression, loneliness, addiction and anxiety.
"For the most part, I've learned how to overcome and navigate these issues," Wilson said. "So, in other words, I've gained a lot of what us oldster boomers call 'wisdom' over the years."
He encouraged the graduates to devote time to their spirit and exercise their character qualities like they would a muscle — instead of leg day, "compassion day" — and gratitude in the mornings in place of cardio.
Building these strengths and spiritual virtues, he said, can help people build a meaningful life filled with a "profound" sense of fulfillment with a larger purpose than one's own (possibly selfish) needs.
He talked about a psychological experiment where a professor had students take a happiness test to establish their baseline. Then, the professor instructed the students to take a weekend to do whatever they thought would make them the happiest and maximize their fun before reporting back.
What did the students do?
Perhaps predictably, they partied, shopped, experimented with drugs and alcohol and engaged in other behaviors of the sort. When they came back and took the same happiness test, their scores had actually gone down. The following weekend, the students were instructed to go out and be of service to someone — visiting people who were sick, volunteering their time, holding the door open for a stranger or buying coffee for them, or "watching 'The Office' with a depressed friend," Wilson said.
After that weekend of experimentation, the happiness scores went up. So, what did that study actually say?
"Basically, everything the world is telling you about finding joy is (backwards). It's all a lie — don't believe it," Wilson said. "Buying stuff, gaining social status, looking sexy, seeking distraction, partying and doing all this stuff that cool kids are doing on Instagram or on TV ads or music videos — actually takes us further away from bliss. Don't buy it for a second."
He implored graduates to walk out of the commencement ceremony being "other-centered" instead of self-centered.
Wilson used this as a launching pad for his next talking point, riffing on the harms he believes are being done through the rise of social media and smartphones, which can provide feelings of instant gratification or small dopamine hits, however fleeting they may be.
These things create an "illusion of connection" when they actually take people further and further from each other, he said.
"We share one root system. The same DNA, we are actually one. Skin color, background, race and class differences, gender and sexuality — we are all one," Wilson said. "Keep hope alive. So, as you leave this purple arena ... don't give in to the bitterness and cynicism and pessimism of these modern times. Keep hope alive, like Jesus and SpongeBob. Bring joy into your work, into your family life, into your friendships and above all, into your service for others. Trust me. If you do, you'll be greatly rewarded."
