Exhibit of Sept. 11, 1893, speech on tolerance returns to Art Institute of Chicago
CHICAGO (CBS) -- The words of a landmark speech about tolerance delivered on Sept. 11, more than 100 years before the infamous terror attacks in 2001, are the focus of an exhibit at the Art Institute of Chicago that has returned for the first time in more than a decade.
Swami Vivekananda, an Indian Hindu monk, delivered his speech at the 1893 World's Parliament of Religions – as part of the World Columbian Exposition in Chicago – at the Permanent Memorial Art Palace, what is now the Art Institute.
The Women's Board Grand Staircase at the Art Institute is now an exhibit itself, bearing the words of Vivekananda's speech.
"As you walk up the stairs, you're basically reading the speech as it unfolds," said curator Madhuvanti Ghose. "The speech is about, basically, brotherhood between different people. It's about tolerance between people."
The speech was delivered on those very steps on Sept. 11, 1893, at what was the first organized gathering of representatives of Eastern and Western spiritual traditions.
"It was extremely well received. In fact, he had a standing ovation just after he said the first words, 'Sisters and brothers of America,'" Ghose said.
Of course, now, that date – Sept. 11 – is known for the horrific terror attacks in New York, Washington D.C., and Pennsylvania in 2001.
In 2010, Indian artist Jitish Kallat first connected the two by writing Vivekananda's words in the colors of the Homeland Security Advisory System, created in the wake of the Sept. 11 terror attacks.
"He was struck by the fact that this speech about universal tolerations happens 108 years before 9/11," Ghose said.
The exhibit left the Art Institute in 2011, but it returned for the first time since then in September.
Ghose feels its message is still important, even more than 100 years after Vivekananda's words were first spoken.
"It almost now has a life beyond September 11th. I think it's … while that was the inspiration for the artist, I think the fact is that this speech seems relevant no matter what," Ghose said.
The exhibit, Public Notice 3, will be on display through Sept. 10.
The full text of Vivekananda's speech is below:
Sisters and Brothers of America,
It fills my heart with joy unspeakable to rise in response to the warm and cordial welcome which you have given us. I thank you in the name of the most ancient order of monks in the world, I thank you in the name of the mother of religions, and I thank you in the name of millions and millions of Hindu people of all classes and sects.
My thanks, also, to some of the speakers on this platform who, referring to the delegates from the Orient, have told you that these men from far-off nations may well claim the honor of bearing to different lands the idea of toleration. I am proud to belong to a religion which has taught the world both tolerance and universal acceptance. We believe not only in universal toleration, but we accept all religions as true. I am proud to belong to a nation which has sheltered the persecuted and the refugees of all religions and all nations of the earth. I am proud to tell you that we have gathered in our bosom the purest remnant of the Israelites, who came to Southern India and took refuge with us in the very year in which their holy temple was shattered to pieces by Roman tyranny. I am proud to belong to the religion which has sheltered and is still fostering the remnant of the grand Zoroastrian nation. I will quote to you, brethren, a few lines from a hymn which I remember to have repeated from my earliest boyhood, which is every day repeated by millions of human beings: "As the different streams having their sources in different paths which men take through different tendencies, various though they appear, crooked or straight, all lead to Thee."
The present convention, which is one of the most august assemblies ever held, is in itself a vindication, a declaration to the world of the wonderful doctrine preached in the Gita: "Whosoever comes to Me, through whatsoever form, I reach him; all men are struggling through paths which in the end lead to me." Sectarianism, bigotry, and its horrible descendant, fanaticism, have long possessed this beautiful earth. They have filled the earth with violence, drenched it often and often with human blood, destroyed civilization and sent whole nations to despair. Had it not been for these horrible demons, human society would be far more advanced than it is now. But their time is come; and I fervently hope that the bell that tolled this morning in honor of this convention may be the death-knell of all fanaticism, of all persecutions with the sword or with the pen, and of all uncharitable feelings between persons wending their way to the same goal.
