With the newest Star Wars movie installment, "Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith," breaking records at the box office, President Jeffrey S. Lehman turned to the "dark side" on May 29 in warning graduating students of the pitfalls along the way to reaching their potential. 

Addressing the Class of 2005 in Schoellkopf Stadium at Cornell's 137th Commencement, Lehman accomplished a remarkable filmic and literary counterpoint by joining the popular "Star Wars" movies to two works by reclusive author Thomas Pynchon, Cornell Class of 1959, in cautioning graduates against getting sidetracked by negative influences and in staying true to their best selves for doing "good in the world." 

His initial references to the "Star Wars" movies brought laughter from the crowd, but as he moved to the works of Pynchon, a more serious tone pervaded. But soberness turned back to delight when Lehman played two audio excerpts from a Jan. 25, 2004, episode of the TV show, "The Simpsons," for which Pynchon recorded the voice-over for a character. "A self-deprecating sense of humor will take you far indeed, perhaps all the way to 'The Simpsons,'" Lehman added.

At the ceremony, diplomas were granted to a graduating class of 5,600 before an audience of about 40,000. At the start of his speech, Lehman asked those wearing caps and gowns to stand and honor the audience members filling the stands -- parents, grandparents, spouses, partners, siblings and friends -- who have "provided the emotional, intellectual and financial support that was necessary to make their education possible." The request drew boisterous cheers and claps from the graduates. 

Lehman's rhetorical "dark side" was, perhaps, more subtle and realistic than the one portrayed in the movies. Said Lehman, "These traps might not be so serious as to put you on the road to becoming Sith lords, but they might nonetheless make it harder for you to realize your full potential." 

Lehman said, "Think of it not as evil, but as good people run amok. Yielding to a certain kind of wholly understandable temptation, in a way that ends up being counterproductive for the individual or damaging to the larger community." 

In a lecture that hinged on the necessity for graduates to learn to recognize and act on a morality that leads to good acts in the world, Lehman broadened his message by pointing to works by Pynchon. 

He told of how the author, in his last semester at Cornell University in the spring of 1959, had a story, "Mortality and Mercy in Vienna," published in the Cornell literary journal Epoch. A quarter-century later, Pynchon commented in a letter that the publication encouraged him to become a professional writer. 

Lehman pointed out how the story's main character seeks a greater good, but in doing so manipulates another character to commit mass murder. Lehman noted that these kinds of acts reflect those of fanatics, for whom "even murder feels warranted … they are so obsessed with achieving their objective." 

In defining attitudes that lead to a real-world "dark side," Lehman pointed out that fanatical thinking may lead to a kind of moral tunnel vision. 

"People afflicted with moral tunnel vision recognize a good, something that carries a positive benefit to the world. They see a path to that good. And they become so committed to pursuing that path that they lose sight of the costs to other values that might be associated with going down that path. These are the kinds of blind spots that can undermine communal life and collective progress." 

In another example, he pointed to Pynchon's 1965 novel "The Crying of Lot 49," in which the main character, Oedipa Maas, gets drawn into a world of conspiracies. Ultimately, it appears as if the circumstances that led Maas into the conspiracy movement may not have been what they seemed, causing the character to question her motives for getting involved. Lehman used the reference to point to a larger implication of the book -- rushing to judgment. 

"This is the temptation to see a pattern emerging too quickly, to infer an organizing principle too soon, and then to become unable to assimilate contrary evidence into your worldview." 

Lehman added, "After you leave Cornell, you will have the opportunity to take positions of authority and responsibility. These will be wonderful opportunities for you to do good in the world. They will invite you to draw on your very best qualities -- your compassion, your intelligence, your intuition." 

But he also cautioned, that these will also be moments when temptations wrought by pressures, incomplete information or a closed mind could lead a person to judge poorly and make mistakes. 

Given the pitfalls of "moral tunnel vision" or a "rush to judgment," Lehman returned to the "Star Wars" theme, as he left his listeners with five strategies for staying true to their best selves: "Think of them, if you will, as the five virtues of a Jedi Master: a love of complexity, a patient spirit, a will to communicate, a sense of humor and an optimistic heart." 

Closing his speech, Lehman offered the requisite, "May the force be with you."