Prepared Text of Commencement Address by Vartan Gregorian at University of
Notre Dame (May 16, 2005)
President Malloy, Chairman Patrick McCartan, Father John Jenkins,
distinguished faculty, proud parents, wonderful students, ladies and
gentlemen: I am happy to be here today to pay tribute to Notre Dame, an
extraordinary university. I am not here to extol the power of Notre Dame but
to praise its virtues: its great faculty and remarkable body of students. I
have come to thank Notre Dame for giving our nation exemplary academic
leaders who have become role models. I am speaking, of course, of the
legendary and courageous Father Ted Hesburgh and of Father Edward `Monk’
Malloy. Both Fathers Hesburgh and Malloy have stood for academic excellence
and integrity. They have been champions of equal opportunity, social and
economic justice, of civil rights, of the right to a better life for the
poor and the downtrodden. They have been active in mobilizing the volunteer
spirit of our youth. They have stood for the best traditions and values that
have shaped both our nation and the Catholic Church.
Since I am at a Catholic institution, let me make a confession. I have
given many speeches – only God knows how many! Having looked at the list of
previous Notre Dame Commencement speakers, this is the only speech I have
ever approached with trepidation. After all, I am not famous for being
famous. I’m not a politician in search of votes or in need of yet another
platform to `clarify,’ once again, my previous positions. I am here as an
academic, to witness this solemn day of your Commencement, your new
beginning that marks the sacrifice of your parents, the dedication of your
professors and, most importantly, your own sustained hard work,
determination and accomplishments.
Here is an afterthought: perhaps I was chosen to be your Commencement
speaker because the `fighting Irish’ needed a lucky charm as a parting gift
from Monk Malloy since the last time an Armenian American stood before you
it was the legendary Ara Parseghian and Notre Dame had an unbeatable
football team. I’m sure my appearance here today is going to herald the
resumption of that tradition.
Commencement speeches mark a rite of passage. While I am honored to be part
of your celebration today, I have no illusion about my role because hardly
anyone remembers the speech given at their own commencement, or even who
gave it, unless it was the celebrity du jour, like Bruce Willis, Orlando
Bloom or Oprah Winfrey.
I checked to see what have been the most memorable Commencement speeches
ever given so that I would not be off the mark. Looking back half a
century, I was astonished to find that, according to The Washington Post,
one of the most unforgettable commencement addresses ever was given in 1997,
by a friend, the writer Kurt Vonnegut. Reading it, I found myself somewhat
amazed by the message, which began with a famous line of advice: `Ladies and
gentlemen of the class of ’97: Wear sunscreen.’ Other helpful hints
included injunctions to `floss,’ `sing,’ `stretch’ and `don’t mess too much
with your hair.’ My favorite line was, `Remember compliments you receive.
Forget the insults. If you succeed in doing this, tell me how.’
The `Vonnegut speech’ seemed to raise the bar on commencement addresses.
Happily, I can breathe easy today knowing, as many of you do, that the
speech turned out to be an Internet hoax that continues to be e-mailed
around the world.
But paying tribute to you at Commencement is a serious business and I’m here
to attend to that. I thought I might draw upon a momentous event that
occurred in 1605 when Francis Bacon published The Advancement of Learning.
With this book and his other works, Bacon became a `prophet and protector of
the dawning scientific revolution,’ and the first writer to set out the
modern idea of progress, in the sense of a steady, cumulative advance in
scientific knowledge. For Bacon, science and knowledge were power, and
progress had a moral dimension. It provided real benefits for humanity.
Speaking of science and progress, recently, while reading the correspondence
of two legendary scientists, Max Born and Albert Einstein, I was astonished
to find that Einstein, in his inimitable fashion, went right to the heart of
the matter, asserting that materialists try to explain all phenomena by
cause and effect. But, Einstein says, `This way of looking at things always
answers only the question `Why?’ but never the question, `To what end?’ No
utility principle and no natural selection will make us get over that
[question].'[1] In a famous essay published in 1940, and which created
quite a stir at the time, Einstein even suggested that it is the `grandeur
of reason incarnate in existence’ which `appears to be religious in the
highest sense of the word.'[2]
>From Bacon to Einstein and on, scientists, philosophers and theologians have
been cognizant of a `twin’ issue, the place of faith and religion and their
relationship to science and to reason. Over the centuries, while there has
been a continuous and rigorous pursuit of scientific research and concurrent
breakthroughs in science and technology, many have felt compelled to ask the
question that progress always poses: To what end? Is existence solely about
the welfare of humanity in the here and now or is there some transcendent
purpose to life beyond mere utility and earthly comfort? Are we accidental
objects or part of some great design? These questions have been with us for
millennia and will probably never go away. They have captured the
imagination of poets, writers, scientists, educators, artists, and
clergymen, as well as ordinary citizens.
When I was a student, I read the work of the 17th century French scientist
and religious philosopher – and inventor of the first calculating
machine – Blaise Pascal. For me, he summed up, in a poetic way, the question
Einstein and others have posed: To what end? Let me paraphrase what Pascal
wrote: I know not who put me into the world, nor what the world is, nor what
I myself am. I am in terrible ignorance of everything. I find myself tied to
one corner of this vast expanse of the universe without knowing why I am put
in this place rather than in another, or why the short time I have to live
is given to me now rather than at any other time in the whole of eternity. I
see nothing but infinities on all sides, which surround me as an atom and as
a shadow that endures only for an instant and returns no more. The eternal
silence of these infinite spaces frightens me .[3]
Since Pascal wrote those words, science and its reasoned progress have
opened up many of the secrets of the natural world to us, from the DNA of
our cells to the depths of the oceans to the vastness of outer space.
Still, nothing we have learned has displaced faith and religion, which
strive to give meaning to the billions of people who continue to search out
answers to Pascal and Einstein’s ultimate question, To what end?
Down through the centuries, there has been a dialectical relationship
between faith and reason, between doctrine and science, between orthodoxy
and heterodoxy. Conflicts have often arisen, along with periods of
conciliation, reconciliation and even synthesis. But while conflicts have
been and will continue to be endemic, one thing is clear: reason is not
always antithetical to faith, nor faith to reason, nor religion to science.
For example, in the 1950s, Pope Pius XII[4] accepted the Big Bang theory
because it seemed to validate the Book of Genesis, in particular, the lines
`And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of
the deep.’ After all, that’s what the Big Bang means: first there was
nothing, then there was everything. Incidentally, it’s interesting to note
that Pope Pius was actually more than a decade ahead of the scientific
community, which took much longer to accept the Big Bang as a normative
theory for the beginning of the universe.
The late Pope John Paul II also took the position that scientific
discoveries in no way diminish the status of God or the place of religion in
our lives. In 1998 he declared, `Christianity possesses the source of its
justification within itself and does not expect science to constitute its
primary apologetic.'[5] He also said, `Faith and reason are like two wings
on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of truth; and God has
placed in the human heart a desire to know the truth – in a word, to know
himself [or herself].'[6]
The stance of both popes is rooted in the tradition inaugurated by St.
Thomas Aquinas in the 13th century. He, too, was concerned about the
relationship between faith and reason. While he had no doubt about faith
being revealed through the divine, he also held that it was possible – and in
some instances, perhaps even desirable – to achieve a deep and genuine
knowledge about God and faith through the rigorous application of human
reason. After all, he said, reason was a God-given gift, so `to disparage
the dictate of reason is equivalent to [negating] the command of God.'[7]
St. Thomas believed that since both the light of reason and the light of
faith come from God, there could not be a contradiction between them. And
because of this, he saw no problem with including in his arguments for the
synthesis of faith and reason, `classical Greek and medieval Jewish and
Islamic philosophers, as well as…Christian thinkers.'[8]
In modern times, numerous scientists have attempted to keep the Aquinan
tradition of maintaining an equilibrium between faith and reason and
occasionally have even sought a synthesis of the two. In this quest they
were encouraged by a number of religious leaders including such interesting
thinkers as the French Jesuit scientist Teilhard de Chardin[9] who noted,
`To outward appearance, the modern world was born of an anti-religious
movement; man becoming self-sufficient and reason supplanting belief. [We]
have heard little but talk of the conflict between science and faith…But,
as the tension is prolonged, the conflict visibly seems to need to be
resolved…not in elimination, nor duality, but in synthesis.'[10] Chardin
summed up these ideas in a simple description of the human condition. He
said, `We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are
spiritual beings having a human experience.'[11]
And he’s right. Fifty years later, it’s not surprising that in our complex,
modern world, the search for a deeper understanding of life is on the agenda
of young people. A recent study[12] of over 100,000 college freshmen of many
different religious denominations reports that 83 percent believe in the
sacredness of life; 80 percent have an interest in spirituality; 79 percent
believe in God; and 76 percent are concerned with the search for meaning in
life.
Perhaps some of you have come here with these same ideals. If so, this is
the right place to seek an education infused with faith, science and reason.
Not only that, you are lucky that Notre Dame, while being a Catholic
institution, has welcomed members of all religious traditions, not just from
the United States but also from around the globe, which gives you the
opportunity to learn for yourselves that throughout the world, almost all
forms of worship emphasize study and earning as a way of deepening knowledge
about God and His universe. As the Old Testament, as well as the texts of
many other faiths tell us, `the Lord is a God of knowledge'[13] and
ignorance is perceived as a curse of God.
Since we are on the subject of God, let me note that while Notre Dame has
always focused on intellectual rigor and academic excellence, it has also
attempted to hold fast to the ideal of honoring the majesty of God and the
dignity of religion, this at a time when instead of remaining the epitome of
the highest love, aspirations and devotion of believers, God has been been
politicized, commercialized, vulgarized, trivialized, consumerized and
commoditized. He has been turned into more of an occasional visitor in our
lives than an integral part of our being. He has become an arbiter of games
of fortune or even athletics. In a sense, nowadays, `religiosity’ has been
confused with religion, with all its obligations as well as its rewards.
Those who are using God to back up political slogans seem to have forgotten
the Second Commandment – Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord, thy God, in
vain. But you who are students of Notre Dame are lucky, because you have
been educated at an institution at which neither the sacred nor the profane
are ever taken for granted.
This year, Notre Dame is celebrating the 160th anniversary of its rich
history. This is an occasion to take note of how fortunate we are to live
in a nation whose founders also understood – and fought for – not only the
freedom to practice their own religion, but for all people to follow the
faith of their choosing. The founding fathers promulgated the idea of a
pluralistic democracy that should not be dominated by one church or one
religion. James Madison, a signatory to the Declaration of Independence and
the fourth president of the United States[14] even took the position, during
debates about the Bill of Rights, that “declaring that religion should be
secure” was unnecessary. Because of the presence of what Madison called a
“multiplicity of sects,” Americans had freedom of religion, and that was
“the best and only security for religious liberty in any society.'[15]
Madison’s prediction has stood the test of history. America has become a
microcosm of humanity, where religious and more recently, ethnic diversity,
have added much to the strength of our democracy. Yes, there has been
discrimination, on an individual, institutional and at times, even national
level – against immigrants, against women and different minorities, ethnic
groups, nationalities and followers of various religions. I refer not only
to African Americans, Native Americans, and Asians but to Catholics, Jews
and many others as well. Nevertheless, throughout all these troubled times,
our Constitution has remained the bedrock of our nation and its resiliency
has provided for the elimination of barrier after barrier to full
participation in our national life. One of the core principles of the
Constitution is expressed in the First Amendment, which declares, Congress
shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting
the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the
press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the
government for a redress of grievances. Those are the words that ensure the
right of universities with a religious affiliation to freely flourish, they
ensure the right of Notre Dame to exist as a Catholic institution – and the
right of secular institutions such as Ivy League schools, the Big 10 and
countless other colleges and universities, both large and small, to exist
without a religious affiliation – as well as the right of all of you to freely
debate your ideas and convictions on campus and off, to agree or disagree
with your school, your professors and your government. It also protects the
academic freedom that allows your teachers to range far and wide in their
discussion of ideas in the classroom that may be popular or unpopular with
you, with their deans, their provosts, even the presidents of their
universities.
These rights have allowed not only for the autonomy of our universities but
also for academic freedom to be an integral part of the mission of our
institutions of higher education. Freedom of speech, freedom of the press
and freedom of assembly, all specifically protected by the First Amendment,
ensure that American universities have provided, and will continue to
provide, a public forum for free inquiry and speech for generations of
Americans. Academic freedom can be challenged, but we cannot curb it without
crippling free inquiry, free thought and the right to criticize. Clearly,
the authority of the faculty and the importance of academic freedom have
become a foundational component of the depth, strength and vitality of
American higher education, the most enriching, rewarding and challenging
education in the world. This has been affirmed and reaffirmed by the
Supreme Court and its Justices. As early as 1952, Supreme Court Justice
William O. Douglas stated that `The strong society is one that sanctions and
encourages freedom of thought and expression… When there is that freedom,
a nation has resiliency and adaptability. When freedom of expression is
supreme, a nation will keep its balance and stability.'[16] In 1957 the
Supreme Court itself ruled that: `To impose any strait jacket upon the
intellectual leaders in our colleges and universities would imperil the
future of our nation… Teachers and students must always remain free to
inquire, to study, and to evaluate, to gain maturity and understanding;
otherwise our civilization will stagnate and die.’ [17] And ten years later,
the Court called academic freedom `of transcendent value to all of us,’ and
described the classroom as the `marketplace of ideas.'[18]
By now I think that I have praised Notre Dame enough. So let me get back to
you, the students, because this is your day.
I began this speech with the questions of Einstein and Max Born: Why? and To
what end? Both questions, of course, deal with matters of science and of
faith. I’m sure you have learned by now that the quest for knowledge and
understanding in both realms is not easy. It is hard work. It demands
effort, constant study and questioning. It requires that you undergo the
fatigue of lifelong learning because – I am sorry to tell you – there are no
Cliffs Notes for life, or for faith, and not everyone is up to the task.
When I was president of Brown University, I used to welcome and bid farewell
to students by reminding them of a wise saying, namely, `The number of those
who undergo the fatigue of judging for themselves is very small indeed!'[19]
As you confront the challenges of life, remember that Notre Dame has
equipped you to be one of that select number. After all, it has given you
the tools – and the obligation – to think critically and analytically, to
exercise your creativity, to explore ideas and to search out the depths of
your heart and the limitless horizons of your mind – and to do all this in
order to find, for yourselves, the eternal truths that every generation has
to discover and rediscover for itself. Indeed, that is the purpose for which
we, as a society – and as a civilization – created universities: not to
inculcate students with packaged truths, but to give you the resources and
the teachers, as well as the confidence, the curiosity and the faith to
allow you to seek out and acquire the truth for yourselves.
When I was a young instructor at San Francisco State University in the
1960s – which for many of you may well be ancient America – I remember that one
of the gurus of that time, counter-culture philosopher Timothy Leary
famously called upon his contemporaries to `Turn on, tune in, drop out.’
Thank God many who followed his advice ended up dropping back in again
because their quest for the truth about life and faith took them not further
away from society and its obligations but back to the core values of being
human, such as those articulated in the Sermon on the Mount, which have come
to be known the world over as the Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would
have them do unto you. This ideal is not confined to Christianity alone; it
is echoed by other religions, as well. Among them, Buddhism instructs us,
`Hurt not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful.’ [20] Islam
teaches, `None of you [truly] believes until he wishes for his brother what
he wishes for himself.”[21] Confucianism says, “Do not do to others what
you do not want them to do to you.”[22]
I know that these are the values that your education at Notre Dame has
imbued you with. And I know the university has done everything it can to
ensure that you will not go out into the world as professional cynics, or
posing as nihilists, or as lazy skeptics uncaring about the needs of mankind
and unaware of the wonder and mystery of the universe. Not at all: I know
you will always strive to enrich and improve the lives of your fellow men
and women because you have been taught and you know that you are, indeed,
your brothers’ and sisters’ keepers.
And as you – and your brothers and sisters assembled here today – go out into
the world, I hope you will remember that it is important not only to be
open, always, to new ideas, to welcome new concepts and challenges, but also
to have the courage to make public declarations of your commitments and
convictions – and the confidence to translate these into words and deeds.
After all, let me remind you that your education was not meant to be an end
unto itself. It is a means to action. It is your blueprint for engaging
with the future. It is the key to living a life of achievement,
participation, and even joy. As a great American jurist once remarked, `A
life is action and passion. It is required of a man [and a woman] that
[they] should share the passion and action of [their] time at peril of being
judged as not to have lived.'[23]
And here is my passionate plea: be aware of those forces in society that
will attempt to reduce you to mere socioeconomic or entertainment units,
born and destined to be relentless consumers. Remind yourselves that you
are, instead, rational, social and spiritual beings. Each one of you is
unique. And you are all embarking on a lifelong journey of discovery. I’m
sure that your years at this university have prepared you to deal with
whatever challenges you encounter along the way, because here, you have
enfolded into yourselves a deep respect for intellectual richness,
tolerance, cultural diversity and spiritual enlightenment, all based on an
unshakable foundation of strong ethical and moral values. Therefore, I am
confident that you will never fall victim to the fate that a poet[24] once
warned us of: “Born originals, how comes it to pass we die as copies?” I am
confident that none of you will ever be copies unless you choose the easy
way out! In the spirit of Pascal, think of it this way: in all of human
history, there has not existed, nor will there ever exist, a single other
man or woman who was, or is, exactly like you. But with this uniqueness
comes the obligation to use your special gifts – your mind, your ideas, your
skills, your abilities, your time and your life in a way that will help you
to decide if you are to be of any consequence to our society, to humanity,
or not.
Finally, let me remind all of us that it is easy to cope with success.
Anybody can do that. But it is my hope that your education has given you
the strength, wisdom, faith and compassion to help you deal not only with
your triumphs but also with the difficulties, adversities and even tragedies
you will face in your life. As one of my favorite authors, the late Isaac
Bashevis Singer has pointed out, `Shoulders are from God, and burdens,
too.'[25]
Let me remind you also that much of life is about the routine, not the
extraordinary, but do not let the routine distract you from your pursuit of
the exceptional. Throughout history, artists, poets, theologians and
philosophers have borne witness to the fact that the routine and the
ordinary can all too often capture your attention and draw your eye – and your
heart – away from the big picture. So don’t forget to keep focused on that
big picture, on what role you want to play in the great human drama.
Remember that you are not mere actualities. You were born as
potentialities. Dare to be and dare to know. Good luck and Godspeed. Our
nation and humanity are waiting for you. GO!
Thank you.
[1] The Born-Einstein Letters 1916-1955 (MacMillan Press Ltd. 1971; 2005).
[2] Victory and Vexation in Science, by Gerald Holton (Harvard University
Press, 2005).
[3] Blaise Pascal, 1623-1662, writing in Les Pensées.
[4] 1876-1958.
[5] Letter of Pope John Paul II To the Reverend George V. Coyne, S.J.
Director of the Vatican Observatory, 1988.
[6] Encyclical Letter of 1998.
[7] St. Thomas Aquinas: Philosophical Texts (Oxford University Press 1951).
[8] Religion and Theology, by Mortimer J. Adler and Seymour Cain
(Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc., 1961). See also The Summa Theologica, St.
Thomas Aquinas.
[9] 1881-1955
[10] The Phenomenon of Man (Harper, 1959).
[11] Attributed.
[12] University of California, Los Angeles; Higher Education Research
Institute, 2004
[13] 1 Samuel 2:3.
[14] 1809-1817
[15] Papers of James Madison, vol. 11, p. 130.
[16] `The Black Silence of Fear,’ New York Times Magazine, January 13, 1952.
[17] United States Supreme Court, Sweezy V. New Hampshire, 354 U.S. 234
(1957).
[18] United States Supreme Court, Keyishian V. Board of Regents of the State
University of New York, 385 U.S. 589 (1967).
[19] From The Critic, by Richard Sheridan, a play, first produced in 1779.
[20] Udanavarga, Sanskrit Buddhist.
[21] Number 13 of Imam Al-Nawawi’s Forty Hadiths, part of the body of laws,
legends and stories about Muhammad’s life.
[22] The Analects of Confucius.
[23] Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., 1841-1935.
[24] Edward Young, 1683-1765.
[25] From Gimpel the Fool, first published in Yiddish as Gimpl tan, 1945.
Translated by Saul Bellow and published in Partisan Review, 1953.