Director's Remarks , cont.
Martin D. Jean
There are moments when I myself wonder: what are we doing here? Why were we founded as an Institute as opposed to carrying out our various activities solely in our constituent schools? And then I see you working together in Colloquium and engaging in heated discussions afterwards. I sing and pray with you in Chapel. I hear stories of how you interact in the classroom, opening worlds for each other. And then we travel abroad together and I am convinced there is no greater institution on earth than the one we are blessed with here.
Of course, we at the ISM have much work to do on ourselves. There are more ways our pedagogy and creative work can better intertwine. We can think more strategically for how to prepare our students for work in the world.
For now, though, our hope is that you will take some small piece of what you have learned in this place forward with you. And at the very least, we hope that this will be a desire to learn more, and that you will maintain the realization that indeed this is what you must do. For, as with all our lenses and learning, we must come to the conclusion that what we perceive and what we know is ultimately incomplete. How can it be otherwise? No work of art, no philosophy, no text can ever say all, especially when it concerns that which humans call divine. Our glimpse is just that, a glimpse. And if it stands alone, it will always be impoverished.
We now award these certificates to you, dear graduates, with every bit of seriousness that degrees are awarded. Let them be a charge to you to continue the collaborative work and nurture the friendships you have begun here at Yale.
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