Tuesdays in the Chapel
May 10, 2016
From What We Forgot to Tell
You
By Peter Gomes
“The first thing you should
know is that you will make mistakes , and coming (to MIT) might be one of your biggest.
Neither education nor religion will make you immune to errors and mistakes, and
if you think about it, both education and religion exist on the presupposition
of the inevitability of mistakes. Education is instruction in the art of
distinguishing between truth and falsehood, right and wrong, and we need error
in education in order to discern truth. Religion is not simply the way in which
we should go, but what we should do when inevitably we don’t go that way. That
is what religion is all about; it is not a formula for the perfect but for the
imperfect.
Finally, …I would ask you to
remember because we didn’t think to tell you much about it, is that the ultimate goal of life ought not to be
victory, nor power, nor riches, nor fame,
although Harvard students get these in abundance. When you read the
Fifth Reunion report, … they all have accounts of these things heaped up in
abundance, buy the older the report and the shorter the account, the more the
emphasis is placed on things like contentment, serenity, inner peace, and
satisfaction. (p. 286-287)
Our time
together these past weeks has been focused on what we would like to see the
future look like. It has been a smorgasbord of insights and viewpoints. We have
been reminded about the denial of death and the challenge of autism; emotions
have been often raw and we have been reminded that we do not talk often
together about the challenges of our work and lives. We are after all occasional friends coming
together at random enjoying communion over coffee and donut holes.
Today we are
here to hear last words. This is the last week of classes and we meet only when
class is in session a concession to the hope that students would join us, but
that has not happened. And it is probably for the better, as these moments have
become important times for those who can make their schedules work. Whether we gather in the fall will not be my
call.
I turned to
my late friend Peter Gomes for our reading.
He reminds us of things we do not talked about. The search for meaning
is one side of a coin on which the other is the search for truth. Both embrace
the notion that we will often make mistakes. The ongoing conversation about the
Green Line extension is an unusual public discussion of mistakes made and the
effort to not let those failures stop an otherwise needed project. We have engaged in some similar conversations
these last days about our own failures in building housing for our students. But
we will still need dormitories and those willing to make commitments to the
education that occur in residence. We learn from our mistakes
As case in
point is the installation on the grounds formally occupied by Bexley Hall.
Sunday afternoon the elaborate and interesting piece blew down and I learned
from talking with those who were given the task of figuring out what happened
that they would learn far more the failure than they would have learned had all
gone well. Architects regard the learning process as shaped by learning from
miscalculations. So should we all.
And we are
most human when we let the barriers down and talk together about what we have
learned in reflection over coffee; I hope those moments continue. We need them.
Peter Gomes offers wise counsel when he talks about religious sentiment.
But the key
remains our ability to create communities of conversation where we can grow
together. It is a simple notion but of profound importance in a place where
standards are high, our efforts are flawed and we are tasked with showing the
way for the next generation.
And finally,
what is it all about? Some of us will settle for the exercise of power. We see
that in the political conversation that occupies such a public place in our
lives today. Dissatisfaction with our inability to solve problems that have
dogged human kind since our origins has boiled over into rhetoric that vents
but does not heal.
And all the
while we each go about dealing with the daily tasks of caring for the children
we bring into this world; drop Stephanie Kloos Smith a note if you have a
moment congratulating her on her first Mother’s Day. Or the children we have inherited as part of
our work together. Or the relationships we nourish in our lives beyond MIT.
You think
about those things as the clock ticks as careers wind down and you try to
measure what you have done in your work. That has been on my mind of late as I
move toward retiring. There are so many things I would have done differently so
there is comfort in talking about mistakes and reflecting on those things that
are most important.
And the satisfaction comes with knowing we
have done the best we could and that is good enough.
I am grateful
to those who have spent Tuesday mornings here. Now let’s talk over coffee!
Robert M Randolph
Chaplain to the Institute
