We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
Little Gidding V
Four Quartets
T.S. Eliot (1943)
Eliot’s Four Quartets, from which this excerpt is taken, explores a transcendental interpretation of time. For the purposes of the Sigma Chi Fraternity, a transcendental interpretation of time may initially seem to be of little if any value to our organization. The beauty of the written word however, is that it can be excerpted from its original work and interpreted on entirely different terms. Perhaps this quote, excerpted from T.S. Eliot’s exploration of transcendental time provides an eloquent description of the nature of the Sigma Chi Fraternity, both in terms of an international fraternity, and as the Iota Sigma Chapter.
In 1855, seven college students, dissatisfied with the organizations by which they were surrounded, began searching for something that brought with it the promise of constant improvement. On June 28, 1855, in a small room, the seven, after having decided on the white cross as the symbol of the ideals realized by a new fraternity, declared, "This badge requires more of me than the world expects of other men." Through their collegiate interactions, Ritual, and their lives after college, the Founders used the ideals they had set forth as a foundation for the Sigma Chi Fraternity to continually explore, constantly striving to better themselves and those around them.
Isaac M. Jordan, in a speech in 1884, delineated the Jordan Standard, the minimum requirement for membership in Sigma Chi. Among the qualifying characteristics was a dedication to ambitious purposes. In other words, Jordan recognized the importance of the ambition to continue exploring the self and the world, both during and after college. The dedication to exploration makes Sigma Chi a lifelong commitment. Exploration does not end with college, but rather, as Eliot said, "we shall not cease from exploring."
In like manner, the Founders of the Iota Sigma Chapter of Sigma Chi dedicated themselves to continual exploration. Dissatisfied with the organizations by which they were surrounded, Iota Sigma’s founding members founded a chapter based on continual improvement and pursuit of ideals. After researching virtually every national and international fraternity available, the Founders set their sights on the Sigma Chi Fraternity, an organization dedicated to exploration and realization of ideals. Following in the footsteps of its founders, members of the Iota Sigma Chapter of Sigma Chi continue exploring and challenging social norms, in pursuit of bettering themselves and the chapter. As a chapter, "we shall not cease from exploring," for only through exploration can we further seek to better ourselves throughout life, and promote the chapter as a whole.
But, Eliot goes on, "at the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started." For 145 years, members of the Sigma Chi Fraternity have dedicated themselves to exploring, using the ideals delineated by the Founders as a guide for those explorations. After 145 years, or at the end of all our exploring, we arrive back where we started: with the ideals we use to model our lives. The realization of these ideals simply becomes a catalyst for a new wave of exploration. We continue exploration, equipped with and arriving again at the ideals with which we started. In so doing, we equip ourselves with those guiding principles set forth by our Founders and venture forth to explore the world around us.
Likewise, the Iota Sigma Chapter of the Sigma Chi Fraternity continues to arrive where we started both as an international fraternity, and as an individual chapter. Our chapter’s Founders set forth ideals and goals upon which this chapter was founded. With our eyes fixed on the future, our explorations lead us to those ideals first realized by those who came before us. We use the ideals to challenge existing norms and to move with hope toward the future. Yet, regardless of progress, we continually arrive where we started: with the ideals set forth at the beginning by the international fraternity and by our own chapter.
Perhaps the most important piece of the excerpt from Eliot’s writings is the last line. "And at the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started, and know the place for the first time." To know a place for the very first time is to stand in awe of it, to contemplate the future, with a simple memory of and respect for the past. To know a place for the very first time is to look at it through the eyes of a child, not quite understanding, but maintaining a reverence for its meaning. To know a place for the first time is to look to the future with hope, being optimistic rather than pessimistic. To know a place for the first time is to begin exploration. For the Sigma Chi Fraternity, that place from which we started is the realization of the ideals set forth by the Founders of our international fraternity, and the brotherhood around which those ideals formed. To know a place for the first time is, in the words of George Ade, to endeavor to retain the Spirit of Youth.
Only ten years old, the Iota Sigma chapter of the Sigma Chi Fraternity has dedicated itself to knowing that place from which we came for the very first time. Throughout our history, we have challenged the social norm. We have explored better options, and raised the bar, both for ourselves and for those around us. What follows in this section is that place from which we started, and to which we have returned, and have known for the very first time.
At Iota Sigma, we end our exploring each day with an arrival at the ideals with which we started. Each member continues individual exploration, armed with the ideals set forth by our founders. We do not stray from these ideals as guidelines for life. We use these ideals to better ourselves and to better those around us. At the end of each day, we realize again the congruence between our own ideals, and the ideals set forth by those who came before us. Such congruence indicates that our journey leads us to our beginnings, and that we have known the place for the very first time.
Albert Einstein once said, "The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed." Although we will never perfectly realize the ideals upon which we were founded, we stand rapt in awe, giving reverence to their meaning, continually exploring, and constantly pursuing their objectives. Our eyes are open. We are alive and growing. In the words of John Lubbock, "What we see depends mainly on what we look for." What we seek are ideals. The following documents are statements that reveal those ideals that our chapter’s Founding Fathers sought. The result has been ten years of exploration, expansion, dedication to principle, constant improvement, and the pursuit of noble ideals.