Actor and comedian Jim Carrey, gave an inspiring speech about the purpose of life at the Maharishi University of Management graduation in 2014. The commencement speech given was both moving and funny at the same time. Carrey is known for his humorous personality, and often acts in comedy films. Therefore, the enlightenment of his speech was unexpected. Jim’s words were very motivational, encouraging the students to follow what they love, rather than giving into fear. It is revealed that his father, who has passed, is a huge impact on his journey. Emotion was greatly expressed. Jim Carrey shines light on life, fear, and the future through his “Commencement Speech at 2014 MUM Graduation”.
Born on January 17, 1962 in Newmarket, Canada, Jim Carrey came from a lower class, religious family. His name is short for James Eugene Carrey. Jim had a big family with four siblings and both parents but always stayed close to his father, Percy Joseph Carrey. Schooling was always Catholic, even when the family moved to Burlington. Due to financial crisis, Jim was forced to drop out of school and help his parents with expenses.Trying and failing at different jobs around the area proved pointless. Carrey was besides himself and had no alternative to assist his family. During this time, he came to the realization that he wanted to become a comedian, and follow his dreams regardless of their financial situation. (Hibbert).
Carrey’s father also wanted to pursue a career as a comedian but took the safe route and got a job to take care of his family. There was no room for the man of the house to pursue a risky comedian’s career with four siblings. The Carrey’s always filled their time with laughter. Jim mentions in his commencement speech, “People would come over to my house and be greeted by a seven year old throwing himself down a large flight of stairs.” He jokingly says that they had a very strange household (Editors, Biography.com). His father is a huge impact on his life and the career he has today. “I watched the affect my father’s love and humor had on the world around me, and I thought, ‘That’s something to do, that’s something worth my time.”(Carrey) This quote shows a point of view from Carrey himself, following the dreams his father could not. That may be a large part of why Jim Carrey is so successful.
As a teenager, Carrey took part in stand-up comedy acts and being the class clown once he went back to school. After finishing high school, Jim began performing at “Yuk Yuk’s Comedy Club”, in Toronto, Canada. From this comedy club, Jim Carrey got little to no recognition. Unlike others, though, he took this as motivation to work harder and nearly eliminate his family’s financial problems. Therefore, Jim had the ability to focus on his dream more. He was beginning to earn a living off his comedic acts. The goal was to become an actor starred in movies and on television. In 1980, he tried out for the upcoming season of “Saturday Night Live”.
Unfortunately, Jim was rejected for the season try-out. Hollywood Studios took to his attention soon after. Within the next year, “An Evening at the Improv” aired on television which he was a star on. Opportunities followed one after another. Eventually Jim Carrey was a movie star. His first two movies were “Copper Mountain” and “Rubberface”. The actor was starred on NBC’s “The Tonight Show” in the same year. Jim continued is path playing roles in many films. The film “Ace Ventura: Pet Detective” made the star a big shot. At the Golden Globe Award show in 1998, he was nominated and awarded for “Best Actor”. Jim continued and still receives Golden Globe awards year after year for all of his movie roles. (Editors, Biography.com)
Carrey intended to motivate the students to follow their dreams at MUM Graduation when giving the commencement speech. The words, “You can fail at what you don’t want, so you might as well take a chance on doing what you love”, brought much attention to this speech. This speech went viral all over the internet because of the spiritual inspiration. Jim Carrey talks about the purpose of life. He explains how many people do not meet success within their dreams because they give into fear. Also, he encourages the students to keep working hard, they are already halfway to success. To keep the audience interested, Jim brings humor into the speech and shows off his artwork. “High Visibility”, the name of his art pieces symbolizes self-acceptance. The light in the painting represents you “daring to be seen”, no matter all the negativity that is brought to you in the process of life.
Furthermore, Jim Carrey takes a religious step in his speech. He speaks about faith and enlightenment. Though brought up in Catholic household, much of his speech was based off of a more spiritual religion, focusing on existence and the appreciation of life. This was obvious and he did not try to hide it in any way. He is proud of his enlightenment and has been proud of it because he has referenced it in previous interviews. When Jim brings up faith and hope he mentions “asking” the universe for things you desire. “It’s just about letting the universe know what you want and working toward it while letting go of how it might come to pass”, Carrey explains. He repeatedly tells the audience that “life doesn’t happen to you, it happens for you.” Jim pushes them to consider taking a chance on faith and to not believe in hope. Metaphorically, he says hope is a beggar, meaning hope destroys dreams because of the doubt.
Based on a societal outlook, Carrey shows that most of the world choses fear in a path of love or fear. He says, “..but many never learn that distinction and spend a great deal of their lives living in fight or flight response.” Jim also explains that there are so many opportunities in the world by saying life is a “vast ocean of possibilities”. This shows how open-minded Jim Carrey is. Coming from a very rough childhood, he was taught to appreciate life and everything in it as it can be very easily taken away; something he has experienced multiple times before in his upbringing.
Although the commencement speech was just for a graduation, it had a huge impact on many people. It brought forth a great amount of spiritual inspiration. Not only did it impact the minds of the students, but the whole world. Once the video of Jim Carrey’s speech was uploaded to the internet, thousands of people from all over viewed it. The commencement speech for some was much more than a graduation speech. After a long time in school, many of the attendees may not have the strength to push forward into the even higher education they want to pursue. They also may not have the strength to push into their career after schooling. This speech gave them that strength, letting them know that everything they want to accomplish is achievable.
In Conclusion, movie star Jim Carrey’s legacy will go down in history through movies, and television shows. Coming from a rough family, rough neighborhood, with four siblings, his dream seemed too far out of reach. He managed to push through, and show everyone how possible it is to follow your dreams when you put your mind, and soul into that passion. He gave a moving commencement speech to inspire the students at Maharishi University. He told the story of how he followed and achieved his dreams, to inspire the audience. Needless to say, it worked, being that the speech was viewed over 10 million times. There is no denying that Jim Carrey’s life was not easy, but he overcame the obstacles in his life, and became a huge success.
