Using Our Own Reason

The 18th century German philosopher, Immanuel Kant, once wrote, "Enlightenment is man's release from his self-incurred tutelage. Tutelage is the inability to make use of his understanding without direction from another." And it continues, "Have courage to use your own reason - that is the motto of enlightenment."

Of course, we do need to have "direction from another" in the early stages of our quest for truth and meaning in life, but I completely agree that at a certain point along the way, it is up to each of us to examine and evaluate what we know or believe, and then choose our own path, in the light of our own reason, conscience, and lived experience. Rather than blindly accepting what someone else has told us is true.

Which is a great part of what I love about being a Unitarian. Of course, if your desire is for answers, set down in black and white without contradiction, Unitarianism is not the place for you. I know that some may find the lack of a creed, a denomination-wide accepted set of beliefs, daunting. Not me - I *love* the fact that Unitarians do not claim to have all the answers, and accept that there is room for questioning and doubt. We are all on the same journey, supporting each other along the way, and sharing our discoveries and spiritual breakthroughs, in our worship, and in our lives.

We are held together by a shared attitude to religion and spirituality. All of us believe profoundly in the necessity of person freedom of religious belief (with the proviso that those beliefs do not harm anyone else) - the freedom to grow, and to act in accordance with our beliefs, to work out our own answers, using our reason on the path to our own personal enlightenment. We share a devotion to spiritual freedom and find that the insights of others can enrich our own beliefs. 

At the same time, we appreciate that humankind must accept responsibility for their choices and their acts. Every time we encounter a new person or situation or way of thinking, we find that some are better and others worse, by trial and error, by measurements of happiness and welfare, by comparison and reflection. This is how we cultivate responsible behaviour - by using reason as our guide.

Yet of course, there are irrational elements in our experience of ourselves and our universe - mysteries that are beyond reason. But how else can we comprehend or respond to them, at least in part, unless by using our reason? The process works like this: find out what commends itself to your reason as truth and then accept that as your authority. If we work at it faithfully, our whole lives long, with help from fellow pilgrims along the way, we might become better, wiser, and more loving human beings. And if we then put our better, wiser, more loving beliefs into action, who knows? It might even lead to a better, wiser, more loving world.

 

Learning through Experience

The French Renaissance philosopher, Michel de Montaigne, was a man after my own heart. He had important ideas about the education of children and once wrote, "It may be that we become more learned through the knowledge of others. We become wise only through ourselves."

I found the child education section of the Wikipedia article about him fascinating, as it chimes so well with Unitarian thought. Here's what it says: 

"He believe that a tutor should be in dialogue with the student, letting the student speak first... such a dialogue was intended to create an environment in which students would teach themselves. They would be able to realize their mistakes and make corrections to them as necessary.

    Individualized learning was integral to his theory of child education. He argued that the student combines information already known with what is learned and forms a unique perspective on the newly learned information. Montaigne also thought that tutors should encourage the natural curiosity of students and allow them to question things. He postulated that successful students were those who were encouraged to question new information and study it for themselves, rather than simply accepting what they had heard from authorities on any given topic.... 

    Experience also was a key element to learning for Montaigne. Tutors needed to teach students through experience rather than through the mere memorization of information often practised in book learning. He argued that students would become passive adults, blindly obeying and lacking the ability to think on their own.... He believed that learning through experience was superior to learning through the use of books. For this reason, he encouraged tutors to education their students through practice, travel, and human interaction."

What is not to like about that? Montaigne was far ahead of his time. Even when I was a child, in the 1960s, much emphasis was placed on rote memorization of dates and facts, although we were also (thankfully) encouraged to find out things for ourselves. 

I'm also a great believer in lifelong learning. I hope to *never* stop learning new things, and believe with Montaigne that experience is absolutely the best teacher of wisdom. Although, I also think that the reading of books and the acquisition of new knowledge and ideas is vital too. I have written on here before about the huge impact which books and the new ideas they have brought me, have had on my life. 

In our Unitarian communities, we encourage our attenders and members to bring their whole selves to the process of "Living Unitarianly" to quote Unitarian minister, Michael Dadson. Which includes not only what we have previously learned (from whatever source) but also our life experiences. And asking questions, rather than blindly accepting what others tell us. And applying it all to our current lives. Unitarianism urges us to be open to new ideas, new ways of being in the world, so that we may change and grow into our wisest and best selves, respecting and supporting the life journeys of our fellow travellers along the way.

    

Living Consciously

 The French-born American novelist and short story writer, Anaïs Nin, once wrote, "One's own life, lived consciously, carries one beyond the personal."

Which is an interesting way of looking at it. I have recently (a couple of weeks ago) started the practice known as Morning Pages, outlined by Julia Margaret Cameron in her brilliant book, The Artist's Way. I had tried to do it years ago, but the habit didn't stick. What prompted me to try again was an interview with Cameron in this month's Writing Magazine. She explained that "they are written through the heart and hand - as the pages are written by hand. Because when we do that, we are much more connected to our authentic selves. ... The morning pages are done first thing in the morning and are done longhand.... So they're an effective form of prayer and meditation."

I have realised that they are also a good tool to help us live consciously, authentically. These days we are so used to writing everything (except shopping lists and to-do lists in my case) on the computer rather than longhand. Using pen and paper is a far more meditative practice (or so I have found). I write very much more quickly on a computer and writing by hand forces me to slow down, to be with the process in a more conscious way. 

And I'm so glad I started when I did, so I have been able to record the wonderful experience of being at this year's Unitarian General Assembly meetings - our first meeting in person since 2019. It was fabulous to be back in the company of so many Unitarians - listening together, learning together, worshipping together, making decisions together. After so many months of comparative isolation, it was marvellous to be back in community.

And in my morning pages, I have a permanent record of my impressions, thoughts and feelings, which will help to ground me in the days and months ahead, as I step up to the role of GA President - such a huge honour.

The Spectrum of Belief

 The French novelist, poet and dramatist Victor Hugo (most famous outside France for The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Les Miserables) grew up Catholic. But in later years, according to Wikipedia, he "settled into a rationalist deism similar to that espoused by Voltaire. A census taker asked Hugo in 1872 if he was a Catholic, and he replied, "No. A Freethinker."

I would guess that this week's quotation came from the free thinking stage of his life: "To believe is difficult. To believe nothing is impossible."

Which sentiment I guess would be shared by many Unitarians, although not all.  We too are free thinkers, and proudly espouse freedom of belief as one of our three tenets. We call ourselves "A Faith without a Creed". Unitarians form a religious and spiritual community in which each person can explore what gives their life meaning and purpose. Each congregation, each society, and the movement nationally is a faith community made up of individuals on a spiritual journey who have come together because they share an open and inclusie attitude to religion and spirituality.

Unitarians affirm for each individual the right of private judgement in matters of religion and spirituality: no-one should be under any pressure to sign up to particular beliefs. In practice, many Unitarians do hold many beliefs in common; but this is not a prerequisite for being a member of the Unitarian community. Each Unitarian is free to treat new ideas, new beliefs, critically, and to take from them what speaks to their own reason and conscience, and what makes sense in the context of their own life experience, in order to live their life in the best and truest way they can. The sole proviso is that any belief that excludes, harms, or belittles another person or group will not be endorsed by a Unitarian community.

Unitarian beliefs change over time. Unlike most mainstream Christian denominations, Unitarians recognise that, as people have new experiences and encounter new ideas, their beliefs may change. The beliefs of most long-term Unitarians will evolve over the years, according to what they see and hear and learn and experience and take to heaert. We find this liberating. So Unitarianism is a continually evolving faith.

But I, personally, am with Victor Hugo, when he stated "To believe nothing is impossible." I think it is a deep instinct of human beings to seek purpose and meaning in their lives, and therefore come to believe in *something*. That something may be a personal deity, Nature, or humankind or any one or several of a thousand thousand philosophies. Even atheism is a form of belief - a belief that any form of supernatural being does not exist. 

Truly, "to believe nothing is impossible."

Nurturing the Roots

"The wise person nurtures the root, because if it thrives well, virtue will grow from it." This week's quotation by Lao Tse could be interpreted in so many ways, on so many levels...

First of all, literally, in terms of nurturing trees. Every tree that grows takes in carbon dioxide, thus removing it from the atmosphere, which helps to combat climate change. The environmentalist pressure group, Friends of the Earth, currently has a campaign to double the amount of tree cover in the United Kingdom, currently languishing at 13%, in comparison to a European Union average of 35%. They say on their website that "we believe one of the best solutions to protect our environment and achieve net zero emissions (removing as many emissions as we produce) is to double UK forest."

But of course the idea of nurturing roots can also be applied to individual human beings, and to groups of human beings who come together to form communities.

Individuals need solid roots (a safe and happy home, a loving family and a solid moral and ethical grounding) if they are to grow into wise, virtuous human beings. If one or more of these elements is missing, it will be that much harder for the person to grow up grounded and able to nurture others in their turn. Of course, it is far from impossible, many people overcome all kinds of deprivation and thrive in spite of them, but those growing up with solid roots will, perhaps paradoxically, find it easier to step out on their own as grounded adults.

image: flickr

When an individual joins a Unitarian congregation, they are becoming a member of a wider beloved community, that of the Unitarian movement. At their best, Unitarian congregations provide a safe haven for individuals wanting to explore what gives their lives purpose and meaning.

I know that my next statement will be controversial: I believe that if Unitarian congregations wish to provide such a safe haven, they need to work out some basic statement of how they intend to "be in community" - a covenant statement, perhaps. , like that of the Unitarian Universalist Association. One of the pages of their Tapestry of Faith learning scheme says: 

"The free church tradition of which we are a part does not offer up a creed, a certain set of beliefs, that everyone must accept in order to belong to the community. Instead, the boundaries of our community are determined by commitment and participation. Our central question is not 'What do we believe?' but rather 'What values will we uphold and how will we do this together?' Our covenant, the promises we make to each other in regarding how we will be a community of faith, is at the heart of what it means to be Unitarian Universalist."

Maybe British Unitarians should do the same, so that our members and prospective members have some place to root their belonging, and thrive....

Free Connection

I'm not sure whether the author of this week's quotation had Unitarians in mind when she wrote it, but it is so appropriate for us: "To be connected without being bound - that is the art of living." Karin E. Leiter.

Because for me, the ability to be connected to my Unitarian community without being bound by a doctrinal creed is what makes it special. We share the values of respecting freedom of belief, based on an individual's reason, conscience and lived experience, and do our level best to not only tolerate, but also accept and respect, the beliefs of others. even when we do not share them (so long as they do not harm any person or living thing).

The majority of faith traditions require their members to sign up to a particular set of beliefs. Unitarians (and Quakers) are different.

For example, Quaker Advice number 5 says (in part): "While respecting the experiences and opinions of others, do not be afraid to say what you have found and what you value. Appreciate that doubt and questioning can also lead to spiritual growth and to a greater awareness of the Light that is in us all."

But my favourite advice about connection without binding is number 17:

"Do you respect that of God in everyone though it may be expressed in unfamiliar ways or be difficult to discern? Each of us has a particular experience of God and each must find the way to be true to it. When words are strange or disturbing to you, try to sense where they come from and what has nourished the lives of others. Listen patiently and seek the truth which other people's opinions may contain for you. Avoid hurtful criticism and provocative language. Do not allow the strength of your convictions to betray you into making statements or allegations that are unfair or untrue. Think it possible that you may be mistaken."

For me, this is a very civilised approach to living. It is about respect, patience and empathy. Which is how we connect with one another on a deep level.

Kahlil Gibran also has some wise advice about how to connect without binding, when the Prophet speaks of marriage:

"Let there be spaces in your togetherness.
And let the winds of the heavens dance between you.
Love one another, but make not a bond of love.
Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.
Fill each other's cup but drink not from one cup.
Give one another of your bread but eat not from the same loaf.
Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let each one of you be alone.
Even as the strings of a lute are alone though they quiver with the same music.
Give your hearts, but not into each other's keeping.
for only the hand of Life can contain your hearts.
And stand together yet not too near together:
for the pillars of the temple stand apart,
and the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other's shadow."

The power of dreams

This week's quotation is by Transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau, above a beautiful photo of Neuschwanstein Castle. It reads "Wenn wir von unseren Träumen leiten lassen, wird der Erfolg all unsere Erwartungen übertreffen."

Which being translated, means: "If we let our dreams guide us, success will surpass all our expectations."

I have a dream.

At the 2015 General Assembly meetings, all ldelegates were given a 48-page document entitled Vision for Our Future produced by the Executive Committee, which also went out to all congregations. It was followed by another, entitled The Next Steps.

In the Vision for Our Future document, there were a series of headings, the first of which read, "We want to be a faith that matters." Well, our faith does matter - it matters enormously, both to current Unitarians, and to potential Unitarians, who are out there, desperately seeking somewhere they can call home, somewhere they can find like-hearted (not necessarily like-minded) folk to accompany them on their own spiritual / religious journeys.

BUT, unless those seekers (and current Unitarians) clearly understand who we are and what we're about, we aren't going to attract new people through our doors.

We Unitarians have always been so hot and strong about being the "faith without a creed" and about the pre-eminence of freedom of belief. And that is right and good. BUT I'm afraid it is now becoming a disadvantage in some ways, as only too often we find it difficult to articulate our faith, except in negative terms. For example, there was a photo of a particular congregation's noticeboard on Facebook a while back - five sheets of paper with statements that started "We don't".

We need to find easy-to-articulate, POSITIVE answers to "What do Unitarians believe?" and "What are Unitarians?" Which is why I carried out my survey in 2017, which resulted in the book Unitarians: Together in Diversity. Which is chock-full of positive statements about what Unitarians believe, and how we come together in community.

But I have come to believe that the statement the Executive Committee made in Vision for Our Future, about needing to "re-establish an identity, a unique spiritual position" is key to our future as a denomination, as a movement. As James Barry so acutely pointed out in his contribution, "We don't have the advantage of the UUA, who have their seven principles defined."

I believe that the most vital task for British Unitarians today is to adopt a widely agreed statement such as the UUA's Seven Principles (or why not just adopt them wholesale? - they work for me!). I believe that one of the main reasons why the Quakers are so much more successful than we are, is that other people understand what they believe in and stand for.

We could even produce our own versions of Advices and Queries, the Quaker touchstones, and of Quaker Faith and Practice, their comprehensive book about Quaker beliefs and practices. Why not?

Digging Deep

When I turned the page of my calendar, and looked at this week's picture, I felt simple pleasure. I have always loved waterfalls - especially walking alongside them, and glorying in their beauty. This dates from early childhood holidays in mid-Wales, which always included a visit to Dolgoch Falls. My father used to spend many happy hours re-arranging the course of the stream, by building dams out of stones and slate, enthusiastically helped (or hindered) by my sister and me.

When I translated the text, I had to laugh, because it was exactly what I needed to hear, this week. The words are by Mark Aurel: "Blick in dich! Innern ist eine Quelle, die nie versiegt, wenn du nur zu graben verstehst."

Which being translated, means: "Look inside you! Inside there is a spring that never dries up, if only you know how to dig."

And I have had to dig, in recent weeks. Perhaps I am secretary of too many Unitarian bodies: the Warwickshire & Neighbouring Counties Monthly Meeting of Protestant Dissenting Ministers (our local ministers' meeting), the Midland Unitarian Association, the Unitarian Ministerial Fellowship, Northampton Unitarians, the Unitarian Peace Fellowship, and the Worship Studies Course Group. And they've ALL had meetings in the last three weeks. And there's another one to come, next Wednesday. It has meant a lot of travelling, and a lot of minute typing.

But I am not complaining. It has been my choice to put my hand up for these roles, because I know I am good at doing the secretary thing, and it is my way of contributing to the wider Unitarian community. And so I choose to dig deep, churn out the minutes, and follow up with the actions.

How do you dig deep for Unitarianism?

Sharing our Scriptures

Yesterday, I spent a wonderful day at Holland House, a Christian retreat centre in Worcestershire, with the Worcestershire Inter Faith Forum. Representatives from various faiths - Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, Baha'i and myself as a Unitarian - were invited to engage with their own scriptures, and to share them with each other and the audience. This included explaining what scripture meant to us as people of faith, how our sacred texts (as physical objects) are handled, and then sharing and reflecting on a piece from our own scriptures about welcoming the stranger.

It was such a rich day. I found it particularly moving to hear how much (despite our differences) everyone was on the same page, especially about welcoming the stranger. And it was very special to hear part of the Book of Genesis being read in Hebrew, a passage from the New Testament in Greek, the Qur'an in Arabic, and a Buddhist Pure Land chant.

But of course Unitarians do not have a single sacred text of their own. So I had some explaining to do. I said:

"This is a difficult question for a Unitarian to answer, because we do not officially 'have' a sacred text which is unique to us. Unitarianism grew out of Christianity, and before World War II, most worship services would include a reading from the Christian or Hebrew Bibles. Some of our congregations, who regard themselves as Free Christians, still do this. But in the last 50 years or so, the majority of Unitarians have moved to a more pluralist viewpoint, espousing freedom of religious belief, based on individual reason and conscience. So I can only answer as an individual Unitarian, with my own particular beliefs and viewpoint, rather than on behalf of the denomination as a whole.

These days, Unitarian worship leaders are able to create our own "living scripture" of readings that speak to our condition and that of our hearers. There might still be a reading from the Bible, but equally, there might be a poem by Rumi or Hafiz or Mary Oliver or Rainer Maria Rilke, or a chapter from the Tao Te Ching, one of the Quaker Advices and Queries, or a passage from the work of a contemporary theologian or spiritual leader, such as Richard Rohr, Karen Armstrong, the Dalai Lama, or Marcus Borg, to name but a few. Or of course by other Unitarians, past and present. To quote one of our ministers, Stephen Lingwood:

'We can pay attention to a cloud of witnesses from many different countries around the world and many different times in history. We can delve deep into the traditions of our spiritual ancestors and listen to their voices. In doing so, we can create a 'living scripture': a loose, dynamic collection of texts which brings together essential insights from the past and present of our movement.'

But if the question means 'To what scripture do you turn in times of trouble?' the answer will be similarly diverse. In my own case, I will turn to the Psalms, from the Hebrew Bible, and also the poetry of John O'Donohue. For advice, I turn to Quaker Advices and Queries, which I always carry with me."

It was a rich time of listening and sharing, and I felt very blessed to be a part of it.

The Flame of Hope

Recently I came across a poem called Four Candles by that great poet, Anonymous, the last two lines of which read: "With Hope, no matter how bad things look and are, / Peace, Faith, and Love can shine brightly in our lives. Yes.

In her wonderful book, The Gifts of Imperfection, Brené Brown shares her research about how we can practice what she calls wholehearted living. One of her ten guideposts for wholehearted living is "Cultivating a resilient spirit: letting go of numbing and powerlessness." Which is where hope comes in.

If we go back to the legend of Pandora and her box, Hope was the only virtue left to humankind when she had let all the others escape. And my dictionary defines hope as "expectation and desire combined; feeling of trust", which I guess is how most people think of it. Brené Brown, who is an accomplished sociological researcher, thought so too, and was shocked to find that "hope is not an emotion; it's a way of thinking or a cognitive process." In other words, it is a way of being that can be learned!

I'd like to share what she says about how hope happens; it is when: "We have the ability to set realistic goals (I know where I want to go). We are able to figure out how to achieve these goals, including the ability to stay flexible and develop alternative routes (I know how to get there, I'm persistent, and I can tolerate disappointment and try again). and We believe in ourselves (I can do this!)."

She also grounds the ability to be hopeful in a foundation of spirituality, which she defines as "the belief in connection, a power greater than self, and interconnections grounded in love and compassion." I would also argue that it is much easier to find hope, to be hopeful, and resilient, when we have a belief in something greater than ourselves. This might be a higher power, which some of us might name God or Spirit of Life and Love; or it might be a belief in the worth of working towards a lofty goal, such as world peace, an end to poverty, the spread of compassion - whatever.

It has been an eventful year, in our own lives, in the life of Unitarian congregations, and in the wider world. Some of us have faced bereavement and grief, others have faced life-threatening or less scary but still serious health issues, and all of us have watched the wider world seemingly going to hell in a hand-basket. At the beginning of this year, we came together, shocked by the attack on the Charlie Hebdo offices in Paris, at this end of the year, our thoughts are once more in Paris, in Beirut, in Iraq, with the refugees huddling in inadequate camps all over Europe and the Middle East, and in all the other places where violence and deprivation seem to be holding sway. Yet in between most congregations have continued to meet regularly in worship, to support various charities, and to try to make the phrase "beloved community" a reality. That is having hope.

May Peace, Faith, and Love shine brightly in all our lives, fuelled by Hope.

Foundations of Faith

The other day, a Unitarian friend commented: "A religion or a faith (any faith, or any philosophy for that matter) that needs to be defended with aggression or arrogance is not a faith or religion that I recognise as true and it is not a 'strong' faith with a good foundation but a weak one that seeks to cover up its own shakiness."

In the light of recent terrorist activities around the globe, this really rang true with me. Although I would not describe the DAESH / ISIL terrorists as representing anything but their own extremist insecurities - they are certainly not representing Muslims. Practically every post I have seen on Facebook since the bombings in Paris and Beirut have sought to express the outrage that ordinary Muslims feel about these attacks, which are being perpetrated against everything they believe in.

But I think these words also have wisdom for my own Unitarian context. While Unitarians on different parts of the belief spectrum are not likely to descend to actual bodily violence against each other, there can be some pretty fierce altercations on Unitarian pages on Facebook.

Which I find very ironic, since, in the words of the founding father of Unitarianism in Transylvania, Francis David: "We need not think alike to love alike." Cliff Reed, Minister Emeritus at Ipswich, puts it this way;

" The Unitarians are a community of people who take their religion, or their spirituality, liberally. That is to say, we hold that all people have the right to believe what their own life-experience tells them is true; what the promptings of their own conscience tells them is right. We say that each person's spiritual or intuitive experience deserves respect; that everyone's deep reflection and reasoning on religious and ethical questions should be taken seriously.

Unitarians form a movement that tries to put these affirmations into practice. Our local religious communities offer a setting where people can worship, explore, and share faith together in an atmosphere of freedom and mutual respect."

A few years ago, I would have said that I agreed with Cliff's statement completely. But I now believe that while people have the right to *believe* what their life experience and conscience tells them to be true, it is *essential* that these ideas pass the Pagan test of "so long as they don't harm anyone else."

In other words, if anyone feels the need to defend their beliefs with aggression or arrogance, as my friend said, then perhaps they need to go back to the Golden Rule, and consider whether what they are writing or saying is likely to upset or offend others. This is not to say that people should not stand up for their beliefs, but that they should do so in a respectful manner.

We are all human beings - surely we can at least try to live together in peace?

Unitarianism - Philosophy or Religion?

I have just enrolled on a fascinating online course, entitled Humanity and Nature in Chinese Thought, which is about the various schools of philosophy in classical China. The lecturer, from Hong Kong University, is Professor Chad Hansen, and in the first lecture he made an interesting distinction between what is a religion and what is a philosophy:

"[One] way of making the distinction, if we don't look at logic, ... is that what marks a kind of philosophy as religious is that it has some sort of reliance on authority. The obvious one would be a supernatural god. If you depend on God to be the determiner of truth and falsity, rather than argument and logic, then that's a form of religion. It would also be a form of religion even if there were no God. If you depended on a text, a particular text, or on a particular tradition, if you insisted ... whatever is true comes by a kind of unverifiable experience, a revelation, or a vision, or some mystical experience that cannot be evaluated, criticized, or studied by science, then I would call that religious.

And what I would call philosophy, is anytime the content of thought is the result of discussion, and exchange, and contending, if the schools are disagreeing and as a result they make intellectual progress; that is they move from less adequate to progressively better theories, because the arguments make them reconsider and re-evaluate and make progress. Then I would want to call that philosophy rather than religion because it's free from authority, and it makes progress through discussion."

I'm not sure I agree with him. Unitarians would seem to fall between his definitions. Unitarians today believe that although we may develop spiritually within a particular faith tradition, "such development is greatest when the believer is in active and critical dialogue with it." (Cliff Reed) This is the antithesis of the traditional view of authority, which requires unthinking submission to a particular creed or set of beliefs. It means that Unitarians can be open to inspiration from whatever source it comes - in the natural world, in the sciences and arts, in our work and friendships, in our sorrows as well as in our joys.

Our view of authority has modified over the centuries, from a dual belief in reason and scripture, to our current position that "each person is his or her own final authority in matters of faith." (Cliff Reed) The authority of individual reason and conscience is held to be supreme, but it is important to be a member of a religious / spiritual community to which you can bring your questions and your doubts, in the sure knowledge that they will be met with a broad, questioning tolerance. The interplay of individuals' beliefs is one of the great strengths of a Unitarian congregation - the bouncing of ideas off each other means that we can never be complacent about what we believe. It is stimulating to belong to such a community, but can be very hard work. Nothing is set in stone, and each individual is responsible for keeping his or her mind open to new ideas, so that our faith can grow.

So is Unitarianism are philosophy or a religion? I think it is both/and, rather than either/or, and stronger for that.

 

 

A Vision for Our Future

This year's GA meetings were the usual rich mix of plenary meetings, fringe meetings and workshops, and wonderful worship. They are a time for catching up with old friends, for meeting new ones, and for gaining new insights into the way our denomination survives and thrives.

 Generally, (I have to confess) I find the Plenary (or business) meetings fairly tedious. As a minister and voting member of the Assembly, I attend them all, but listening to reports from various worthy Unitarian bodies is not my idea of fun or even interesting, most of the time. I know they are necessary, and vital parts of the General Assembly's work as a democratic body, and I don't see any other way of doing it, but, it's not generally riveting listening.

But this year, in the packs we had been given on arrival, was a 48-page document called A Vision for Our Future. There had been a Vision Day at Cross Street Unitarian Chapel back in September 2014, which I had attended, and which had produced some exciting ideas. Robert Ince, who is Convenor of the Executive Committee, presented this document to the Assembly, as part of the Executive Committee's Annual Report.

And it is really, really rich. The ideas of the Vision Day participants have been collated under three headings: "We want to be ....", "We must ....", and "To do this, we need to ....". They are included below. And then the EC has commissioned nineteen articles, by various Unitarian luminaries, both ministerial and lay, giving their "takes" on these ideas. Many of these have already been published, in either The Inquirer or The Unitarian. But seeing them altogether in one place really adds to their impact, in my opinion. Each one of them is inspirational. Together, they are a clarion call for action.

"We want to be ......

• A faith that matters
• A reflection of the world's complexity, bound together by our many different views
• A spiritual feast for each person to bring and share ideas and experience
• A promoter of social justice for all, listening and responding to the needs of others
• There for everyone

We must ......

• Tell the world we're here
• Be understood by the public
• Connect to people everywhere
• Serve our communities
• Develop personal leadership
• Be religiously literate
• Provide Ministry that enables ministry
• Prepare for our children's future

To do this, we need to ......

• Harness our energy
• Use our resources to the full
• Embrace new technology
• Acknowledge contribution and success
• Empower individuals
• Make change happen"

In the introduction to the document, Robert Ince writes: "This vision, though created with a view to the Unitarian Movement nationally, applies just as easily to Districts and congregations. ... it can become a uniting factor in our search for a better future. We all hope that it will serve to inspire those many individuals who love our Movement so deeply to join together in serving by whatever means they are able."

Let us, in the District Associations and the congregations, resolve to not just read this document and nod our heads approvingly, and then do nothing. Let us Do Something about this. Read the articles, discuss them amongst ourselves, and then decide what we can do to make the ideas in them a reality.

Finding Things In Common

It is fashionable in Unitarian circles to put the emphasis on our individuality as Unitarians. Each of us, we are told, is on his or her own unique spiritual and religious journey, following the dictates of his or her individual conscience. Even the title of my very favourite Unitarian book emphasises this individuality.

And that is good. And I wouldn't have it any other way.

BUT

Sometimes, just sometimes, when a stranger asks me the question "What do Unitarians believe?", it would be *so nice* not to have to use endless disclaimers, and to just boldly proclaim: "Unitarians believe x, y, and z."

No qualification, just statements. This is what Unitarians believe / stand for. Full Stop.

Which got me wondering - *are* there things which we can unite around? Stephen Lingwood, on his Reignite blog a few weeks ago (July 17th to be precise) , and later in The Inquirer, listed eleven theological commitments, about which he believes that Unitarians could agree. And I, for one, would agree with them, and with him.

I wonder whether we could start a conversation going, perhaps on Facebook, perhaps elsewhere, discussing all the propositions / beliefs / standards which Unitarians have in common, or at least are prepared to concede as valid viewpoints, even if they do not personally share them. We could even formulate our own 95 theses, as Matthew Fox did a few years ago.

Here are five to start us off:

1. The right of the individual to freedom of belief is sacrosanct, so long as that belief does not harm anyone.
2. Being alive is a process of continuous and continuing revelation, so the mind and heart should be open to new ideas.
3. Every individual has the right to seek truth and meaning for themselves.
4. The best tools to do this are an inquiring mind and one's own reason and conscience.
5. It is the responsibility of Unitarian communities to provide and hold a sacred space in which religious and spiritual exploration can take place.

Taking the Longer View

A few days ago, the first public meeting of a newish (they were founded in September 2013) Unitarian group, the Fellowship of Non-Subscribing Christians, was announced. The meeting will be held at Stalybridge Unitarian Church in a couple of weeks' time.

Some Unitarians (sadly) have rushed to condemn this new group, fearing that its influence on our General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches will be divisive. This knee-jerk reaction, condemning the new group 'sight unseen', worries me. It does not seem very Unitarian to me, that we should not be more like the Quakers "open to new Light, from whatever source it may come." Surely it is this openness to new ideas that is the hallmark of our much-vaunted Unitarian tolerance?

Or it should be. As I have written elsewhere: " This openness to a process of continuous and continuing revelation is what has kept Unitarianism green and growing down the centuries."

In J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, when Frodo first learns that through Gollum, Sauron has discovered that the Ring is now in the Shire, he exclaims: "What a pity that Bilbo did not stab that vile creature when he had a chance!" Gandalf responds: "Pity? It was Pity that stayed his hand. Pity, and Mercy: not to strike without need." Frodo retorts that he does not feel any pity for Gollum, and Gandalf again advocates a more compassionate view: "Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgement. For even the very wise cannot see all ends."

There is so much truth and wisdom in this advice. He is saying that we shouldn't judge new things too quickly, because they might just turn out to be a force for good. So I agree with a colleague who is counselling a more charitable, open, considered approach, and who suggests that we simply wait and see what happens.

What's in the Temple?

In his poem What's in the Temple?, Tom Barrett poses three questions: 

If you had a temple in the secret spaces of your heart, what would you worship there? 
What would you bring to sacrifice? and 
What would be behind the curtain in the holy of holies?" 

I think that the first question, "what would you worship there?" is quite a challenging one for Unitarians, as we do not presume to define God / the Sacred Divine for others, and some of us do not believe in an external divine other at all. Our Unitarianism these days is a wonderful “free faith based on the inner authority of the enlightened conscience.” And our consciences are enlightened by not only what we think and believe with our heads. Intuition and feeling are also considered important, thanks initially to James Martineau, the great 19th century Unitarian theologian. And our beliefs may change over time, as part of a process of continuous and continuing revelation.


So my answer to the first question might be: I would worship the God I believe in, whom I have come to believe in through exercising my reason and conscience, and through bouncing ideas off other Unitarians. And that the God I believe in is a personal God, who exists both "out there" as well as "in here", and whose divine principle is Love. But that is just my answer, as a unique Unitarian, and this belief might change over time.