Listen:
OPENING READING: "The Right Path"
People who have a religion should be glad, for not everyone has the gift of believing in heavenly things. You don't necessarily even have to be afraid of punishment after death; hell and heaven are things that a lot of people can't accept, but still a religion, it doesn't matter which, keeps a person on the right path. It isn't the fear of God but the upholding of one's own honor and conscience.
-- Anne Frank
MEDITATION READING: "Something of God"
I hear and behold God in every object, yet understand God not in the least,
Nor do I understand who could be more wonderful than myself,
Why should I wish to see God better than this day?
I see something of God each hour of the twenty-four, and each moment then,
In the faces of men and women I see God, and in my own face in the glass,
I find letters from God dropped in the street, and every one is signed by God's name.
And I leave them where they are, for I know that wheresoe'er I go
Others will punctually come forever and ever.
-- Walt Whitman
SERMON: "Why I Am a Unitarian Universalist Humanist"
As we continue this sermon series on diverse belief systems within the Unitarian Universalist construct, let's begin by considering some stereotypes - as illustrated by a couple of insects.
The ants are having a conversation about ultimate purpose, which is a very typical thing for bugs to do, of course. Now, one of them is a theist; the other a humanist -so they are not agreeing.
Says the theist: "It is wonderful to be alive, to exist! Oh, what magnificent purpose has put me here?"
Says the humanist: "You are here because you are anteater food!"
Now, can't you just see such a conversation among Unitarian Universalist humans? The wonder¬¬-filled theist believing in a raison d'être that lies beyond mortal understanding versus the classic pragmatist humanist believing in the necessary continuation of nature, even if nature needs to gobble itself up on occasion!
Well, in a previous sermon we explored how one could actually be less boxed in by such stereotypical belief systems when it comes to understanding that one can be both a theist (specifically a mystic) and a humanist.
This was getting to where I want us to go today, as we seek to expand the category of Unitarian Universalism called "humanism."
Know that if we are to strictly define "theism" and "humanism" by comparing them, we come to the realization that the former accepts the concept of a deity and the latter does not.
But to limit it to this is to not be appreciative of the vastness of interpretation of what "deity" means. Discussing all this is not something within our purview today, but what is within our vision today is the hope that beliefs do not divide us, but merely make all of us more interesting, each to the other.
At the outset, then, note that about two-thirds of all Unitarian Universalists who have signed on the dotted line of membership contentedly acknowledge some compliance to their being plopped within a humanist framework.
So, let us see how we Venetian heretics plop ourselves, remembering that the word "heretic" comes from the Greek word meaning "to choose."
Please raise your hand if you apply the word "humanist" in any way to your belief system.
This is all very interesting, but please note that it is not what we say so much as what we do that determines who we really are. We know this intuitively about ourselves and others, do we not?
So let us not get too hung by words - in regard to most anything, not just a belief system.
Still, words make a sermon and therefore we shall persevere.
Therefore, let us expand the definition of "humanism" by considering the thought of Edwin Wilson, who was a director of the American Humanist Association and founder of the Fellowship of Religious Humanists:
Broadly viewed, Humanism is a cultural movement with meanings and utcroppings not entirely expressed by the adjectives that have been applied to it.... Humanism courses through many institutions... It permeates society as a cultural happening wherever there are readers or thinkers. It is present in many activist thrusts, without conscious formulation. It centers in the faith that (we) can live a good life this side of the grave. It expresses the believe that (we) have potentially the intelligence, good will and co-operative skills to... provide an opportunity for growth, adventure, meaning and fulfillment...It is the faith that however short (our) days, beauty and joy may fill them.
Adding to Wilson's broad-based definition, we can say that the word "humanism" is a noun, before which a plethora of adjectives can be applied.
Ones like "classical," "ethical," "scientific," "religious," "rationalist" and any front-line or less-than-known spiritual perspective.
Why? Because the very concept of what it means to be "human" is a panoply of pleasures as well as pains.
Nevertheless, there are some salient features of a broad-based humanism we need to decipher.
Back to Edwin Wilson.
When he uses the terms "intelligence," "explore," "adventure," "meaning," and "fulfillment" he is stating humanism's questing point of view.
When he uses the terms "good life," "good will," "co-operative skills," "beauty," and "joy," he is stressing the positive tone of humanism.
In summary then, a humanist is attempting to find out who s/he is and what s/he believes and how s/he should respond to life - but who does so with an affirmative attitude.
No matter what adjective before that word "humanist" a humanist might apply to him/herself, this general summary statement holds up.
What it implies is an understanding that we humans are works in progress; that there is ever-new truth to discover and that our methodology, our approach, to getting on with getting on should be of a positive and hopeful tone.
Nor should there be hesitance in moving on to the next stage of our development. In truth, none of us is immune to change, even if we would hold on to our petty expectations. The writer Ortega y Gasset tells us this:
Life is fired at us point blank. We cannot say: "Hold it! I am not quite ready. Wait until I have sorted things out."
This sense that we are forever in process is a hallmark, indeed, of Unitarian Universalism. We have always stated the belief in the progressive nature of humanity - in our inherent need to explore life in all its diversity. We are not a stuck people - not that we become unglued, but that we are forever free, forever liberated to seek and to find the fullness of life. This we have inherited from our Renaissance forbears if not back to the very moment when the first caveperson looked up into the fierceness of a lightning storm and said "What next?"
Consider these various passages that illustrate this point.
From our hymnbook comes that marvelous song "A Fierce Unrest" (#304). Here is illustrated that urgent need - that human necessity - to discover ultimate meaning and purpose, even if we have to go through hell to get it (despite our attempt to live in hopeful pursuit). The last line of that hymn speaks eloquently of this need:
Sing we no governed firmament, cold, ordered, regular; we sing the stinging discontent that leaps from star to star.
Now, that's quite a task for anyone to take on - the challenging of preconceived notions about the very heavens, but we humanists take up the gauntlet, knowing that we are often in the minority and might just be thought of as reprobates, disestablishmentarians, the faithless, the curmudgeons!
Just bring it on! Bring it on!
Yes, we are feisty!
Any of you resemble that remark in your everyday world outside of Unitarian Universalism?
Still, may we not be absorbed into negativity in our search for what is true and meaningful for us. Therein lies the rub that some humanists do experience.
I very much appreciate Karl Menninger's helpful words on the subject:
Unrest of spirit is a mark of life; one problem after another presents itself and in the solving of them we can find our greatest pleasure. The continuous encounter with continually changing conditions is the very substance of living. From an acute awareness of the surging effort we have the periodic relief of seeing one task finished and another begun...A search for a premature permanent "peace" seems to me a thinly disguised wish to die.
I think what Menninger is saying is that we must live life with awareness, with engagement, not to close off from it, to shun it. And in this zest for involvement - including the necessity of facing what problems we have comes a fulfilling existence.
There is a true story about a minister (not this minister), who during the early days of his calling, served a church on the coast of Maine. Among his compatriots were seasoned ship captains - what you would call old "sea dogs." Sailing in all kinds of weather and conditions, they could be called the wise men of the sea. On the other hand, our young minister was a hugger of the shore. So, he assumed all kinds of incorrect things about the ocean - for example that in a storm you should head to shore as a place of safety. His oceanic betters all disagreed affirming that such a measure would destroy the ship on the rocks and reefs. The way to save the ship and yourself, they affirmed, is to head into deep water and open sea and thereby ride out the storm.
That minister (and this one by application given the storms I have experienced within the ministry and without), understand that it is exactly when times are tough that you are given the opportunity for a big adventure - whether or not you like it!
Then it is time to go out into deep water - if not out on a limb - and face what lies before you, not merely to be buffeted by life's winds and be dashed on to the rocks.
My friends, this humanism, and by extension this Unitarian Universalism was never meant to be a quietistic, non-involving way of believing and acting in the world.
Nor was it meant to be a negative approach. Wilson's stress on the good qualities of humanism comes back to us.
Humanism states that "yes" we can have a better life in the here and now - and "yes" we can help create it for others. And "yes" we can do all this with a spirit of joy, not cynicism.
A prime component of this belief is the trust we have in knowledge and reason.
Thomas Jefferson had this faith that each of us could reach such a prosperous place:
Fix reason firmly in her seat, and call to her tribunal every fact, every opinion. Question with boldness even the existence of a god; because if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason than that of blindfolded fear.
This desire to know ever more is certainly illustrated in our desire as a free-faith people to have what has historically been called a "learned clergy" and a "learned people." This is that strong humanist need to expect a decent conversation with others - even if it is a cocktail party!
I love the image of that French essayist Montaigne who spent the first forty years of his life in a decided quest to discover the truth - the whole truth - before he was forty. He was just so very earnest about it.
But he gave up that expectation when he saw that well, life is just so complex isn't it? And so he put a medal around his neck that read: "What do I know?" Now rather than this being a negative statement for him, it was one of hope and excitement. It meant for him that the quest for understanding and meaning and purpose never ends- and that is a grand and positive thing!
This brings me to my own personal statement of theology. I discovered a wonderful word that I have borrowed from the Catholics - or at least from Latin which the Catholics use on occasion. The word is "fideism" and it helps me articulate what I believe when it comes to my embracing humanism. Here is a very short selection from this very weighty statement of mine:
My agnosticism tells me that I do not know anything about ultimate reality and am allowed, therefore, to ask questions in an effort to discover possible answers. My fideism supports my desire to be unsatisfied with mere questions and affirms my wish to have faith that ultimate reality might not be a chimera, even if I don't have verifiable answers. Being an agnostic fideist means that I am a doubter with hope - a person of questions and faith.
My humanism tells me...of the intricacies of being human...(it) moves me beyond generalizations, creeds, and pronouncements...
My universalism suggests that despite the parochialisms of place and time, humankind has often stood in mystery, awe, and wonder at the unknowable...
Indeed, my faith, my fideism is my haven place. Here is where I find my theological refuge.
Saying all this, I repeat that having come to these conclusions about what I believe I am in a very affirmative place. It is not that life is always peaceful, free of conflict, free of negative things, but that my wish is to act in a positive spirit, with one of hope - even if there does not seem to be any hope.
What all this is grounded on is that staunch humanistic attitude that says, heck, it's a fact that we are here in the first place and is it not a wonder; and should we refuse the good things that come our way?
Stay positive, despite it all. Don't let your critical intelligence get in the way of having a satisfying life. Don't be absorbed in your cynicism - don't let Nietzsche's "Everlasting No" be your particular motto.
Heed the words of that funny man, movie director Mel Brooks who when asked what he thought of critics replied: "They're very noisy at night. You can't sleep in the country because of them."
His interviewer politely corrected him: "I said critics, not crickets."
"Oh, critics!" replied Brooks. "What good are they? They can't make music with their hind legs."
So might we not go to the dark side of life but seek the light no matter our circumstance; may we make music with our hind legs!
So might we follow the advice from one of the greatest tragedies ever written - "Antigone" by Sophocles. Despite all the horrors of that story, the playwright can still affirm:
Many are the wonders of the world/and none so wonderful as Man.
So might we heed Shakespeare who has his Hamlet, that quintessential tragic hero, affirm:
What a piece of work is man! How noble in reason! How infinite in faculty! In form and moving, how express and admirable! In action how like an angel! In apprehension, how like a god! The beauty of the world, the paragon of animals!
Indeed, it is all about a positive attitude - despite the tragedies that beset us. There is joie de vivre, love of being alive in the first place.
The French writer Colette says it well upon her election to the Belgian Academy in 1936:
I became a writer without noticing the fact and without anyone else's suspecting it...You must not pity me because my sixtieth year finds me still astonished. To be astonished is one of the surest ways of not growing old too quickly.
So, why I am a Unitarian Universalist humanist is because like the rest of you who are, I am seeking to find meaning and purpose in my life and I attempt, to the best of my ability, to do so within a framework of astonishment.
And although our bodies are growing older with each passing instant, I trust our minds are forever young, forever hopeful.
CLOSING READING: "Steady Radiance"
God does not die on the day when we cease to believe in a personal deity, but we die on the day when our lives cease to be illumined by the steady radiance, renewed daily, of a wonder, the source of which is beyond all reason.
-- Dag Hammarskjold