First Parish Unitarian UniversalistFinding and Making Meaning
Rev. Cricket Potter
May 23, 2010
First Parish Unitarian Universalist – Canton
“What is the meaning of life?”
That is what one of you asked a few months ago when we had a “Question Box” time here in place of a sermon one Sunday.
At the time, I said that I couldn’t possibly give a worthy response in the two minutes I had left, so I promised that I would respond in an upcoming sermon.
I was gently reminded of that promise just last week.
Two images came to mind as I sat down to reflect and write this past week.
The first is of carton - an eye chart with the usual big letters at the top and the letters becoming smaller and eventually indecipherable as you look down the chart.
In the top few rows, one reads quite easily the letters that spell out “THE MEANING.”
Then as you get to the middle rows of the chart, the letters get increasingly smaller, but you can still read “OF LIFE IS.”
Then down another line, if you squint, you can just barely read “QUITE SIMPLY TO.”
But then on the last few lines, the letters are too small and fuzzy – impossible to read.
The second image is from Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life.
At the end of the film, we see the inimitable Michael Palin being handed an envelope. He opens it, and – ta-dah - provides the viewers with “the meaning of life,” introducing it by saying "Well, it's nothing very special."
He then goes on:
“Uh, try to be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try to live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations.”
And there you have it, “The Gospel According to Monty Python”!
Pretty darned good advice if you ask me.
But, I figured I needed to do more than draw from Monty Python if I were to do the question justice.
The theology wonk that I am, I immediately dove into my stacks of books at home.
You name it – philosophy, theology, psychology, meditation manuals, and books of inspiration.
My dining table was covered with material on the topic of life’s meaning.
“Where to begin?” became the daunting question for me.
There are the early Greek philosophers like Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle who, in the simplest of terms, claimed that the meaning of life is in attaining knowledge and living a life of virtue.
By their understanding, there is an intrinsic Good that we as humans are duty-bound to pursue, and only in that pursuit is there meaning.
There are religious perspectives across the millennia.
The theist traditions all focus on serving God and aspiring to ultimate communion with God by following a specific set of teachings and practices that also deepen our relationship with our fellow human beings.
Christianity, for one, focuses on the teachings of Jesus Christ, as presented in the New Testament, and on the eternal life we are given through the sacrifice of his life on the cross.
From my Presbyterian heritage, I remember quite vividly how purpose and meaning were to be found in living up to that sacrifice.
Accepting Christ as my Lord and Savior called me to honor that sacrifice, share my faith with others, and embody God’s love for all whom I encountered.
Nontheist religions find their meaning in humankind’s shedding away the layers of falsity and either returning to, or discovering for the first time, a path of truth and harmony with all creation.
Buddhism, for one, centers on opening our eyes to the realities of life – getting us to wake up and face into all that is true, all that we often try to deny or change.
These truths include: life’s impermanence, our human proclivity to want things and want to control them although very little in life can be controlled, and the subsequent suffering we cause ourselves as we struggle with our desires and our fear of change.
Buddhist practice, known as the Eightfold Path, centers on developing awareness, compassion, acceptance, and a way of living that does no harm to others.
Through devoted practice, one can progress toward enlightenment and move past all desires and suffering, the ultimate purpose in Buddhist belief.
Respecting the sources that we Unitarian Universalists draw from for our learning, I also want to mention humanism.
Humanism focuses on human agency, not divine agency, and seeks to affirm the dignity, concerns, and capabilities of humankind.
Drawing from the Humanist Manifestos I, II and III written over the time period from 1933 to 2003, it is the fulfillment of each individual’s personality that is the purpose of one’s life, and one must live that out for the greater good of all humanity.
From the Humanist Manifesto III:
"Humanism affirms our ability, and responsibility, to lead ethical lives of personal fulfillment that aspire to the greater good of humanity."
Thus, the well-being of the individual is inextricably linked to the well-being of humanity as a whole.
And finally, given all the time and money spent on therapy, I can’t ignore the modern psycho-therapeutic view of life’s meaning.
From this vantage point, the question “What is the meaning of life?” becomes “What is the meaning of my life?”
The door is thrown wide open from there to explore one’s own inner roadblocks, fears, hopes, and passions.
Clearly, there is no shortage of paths to choose in the search for meaning.
As writer Catherine Bateson observes, “Human beings construct meaning as spiders make webs. This is how we survive, our primary evolutionary business.”
And as Jungian psychologist Alice O. Howell explains,
“We can only see half of anything. The other half is the meaning we give to what we see.”
For us Unitarian Universalists, the joy and the challenge is that we can weave our web of meaning almost any way we choose because we are not bound by any creeds in our search for meaning.
We draw wisdom and truth from many sources including: the different world religions, humanist teachings, the words and deeds of respected leaders across the generations, and our own direct experience of the transcending mystery of life.
This freedom can be overwhelming.
And to be honest, I felt that way as I contemplated what to say today.
This topic of meaning is so timeless and universal and yet so deeply personal.
It is the stuff of expansive philosophies.
Yet ultimately, we each have to discern and live out our own unique answer.
So, what I offer you today are only intimations of something beautiful and at times terrifying, profound and yet intimately woven into the every day of our lives.
Let me begin by saying that I don’t equate meaning with happiness.
Fulfillment – yes, but not happiness.
Meaning is deeper and lasting.
It can sustain us through the inevitable struggles and losses in life whereas happiness can be fleeting.
I immediately think of people who work a great deal with pain and loss. People like Dr. Rachel Naomi Remen, someone I have quoted before in my sermons here.
Remen has spent most of her professional life counseling those with chronic and terminal illness.
Her wonderful books are all about finding strength, hope, and meaning amidst life’s challenges.
This passage from her book My Grandfather’s Blessings has always been a guiding light for me:
“I’ve spent many years learning how to fix life, only to discover at the end of the day that life is not broken. There is a hidden seed of greater wholeness in everyone and everything. We serve life best when we water it and befriend it. When we listen before we act.
In befriending life, we do not make things happen according to our own design. We uncover something that is already happening in us and around us and create conditions that enable it. Everything is moving toward its place of wholeness. Befriending life requires that we listen for the potential which is trying to actualize itself over time. It is always struggling against odds.”
Befriending life – I love that image.
As Remen goes on to explain, befriending life is about a kind of wisdom that comes from listening attentively to oneself and others.
It is listening without needing to control or negate.
Such listening, in Remen’s words, “(comes) from the place in us that is connected to the wholeness around us.”
In other words, it can’t come from a place of judgment or cynicism, a place that leaves us separate from any larger wholeness.
Remen goes on to conclude:
“Everything has a deep dream of itself.”
Each one of us, everything in life, has a deep dream of its fulfillment and its place in the larger unfolding of life.
Bringing that dream to life is our greatest calling.
Remen’s reflections lead me naturally to the Quaker writer, teacher, and activist Parker Palmer.
Being a Quaker, Palmer believes that each one of us contains the spark of the divine within us.
So, he suggests that we begin with the question,
“What is the life that wants to live in me?”
What is that goodness - that part of the sacred - that wants to be embodied in how I live my life?
Our pilgrimage toward that answer is where our meaning and fulfillment are to be found, asserts Palmer.
Note that I say pilgrimage, for it takes many years and countless hard lessons learned along the way.
However, not embarking on this pilgrimage will leave us living a fretful, divided life that denies the very essence of our soul.
May Sarton shares this journey best in her poem “Now I Become Myself”:
“Now I become myself. It's taken
Time, many years and places;
I have been dissolved and shaken,
Worn other people's faces,
Run madly….”
But the reward, as Sarton shares with her poetic grace:
Now to stand still, to be here,
Feel my own weight and density!....
From wish to action, word to silence,
My work, my love, my time, my face…
There is a coming into her own, a sense of groundedness, a vision of how all her life is connected.
Please don’t think that this journey to self is an end in itself.
Rather, it is meant to bring us into deeper communion with others as we realize our profound connectedness and the power of being and striving in community.
All the great philosophies and world religions, in their own way, share this oneness as ultimate purpose.
I think of the Apostle Paul’s words to the Corinthians in the same chapter that he offers his much used passage on the way of love.
Speaking of the understanding we will all receive through the Holy Spirit, he writes, “Now we see through the glass darkly; then we will see clearly.” (I Cor. 13:12)
In my Unitarian Universalist interpretation, I take this to mean that we as humans tend to see each other in a clouded way, whether out of fear or ego.
We tend to see barriers between one another instead of seeing all that we share.
With time, intention, and care, we can come to see clearly our shared humanity.
We move from asking, “Who am I?” to asking, “Whose am I?”
The answer to that question leads us to a new sense of awareness of our place in the larger world.
From this, we find even greater meaning and fulfillment as we reach out to others as our neighbor, friend, and kindred spirit on the journey.
Here we are today, sharing in two joyful rituals that give life to our shared humanity and the sustenance we can find in one another.
We welcomed little Jason into the First Parish community, and we covenanted to nurture and support him and his parents Maria and Roman in the years ahead.
May he always know that the bonds are strong and that he is loved here.
We also welcomed Maria and Roman along with Willow, John, Michelle, Richard, and Mary into our midst as members of First Parish.
We covenanted to, “Walk with (them) in paths of truth and affection.”
May they also feel that healing and enduring power of community as we work together to build the world we want for all people.
As we strive and learn together, we cannot promise a journey free of sorrow or pain.
We cannot say that our faith won’t be tested as we each and together explore the life that wants to live in us and in the larger world.
Thinking back over all that I read describing that indescribable place of meaning, these words keep coming back to me:
possibility, authenticity, direction, communion, light, peace, attentiveness, fulfillment, wholeness, oneness, connection, healing, and beauty.
So, thinking back to that eye chart I mentioned earlier, if you were hoping for a succinct ending to “The meaning of life quite simply is,” I’m afraid that I will have disappointed you today.
It is more about an intention of authenticity and connection that we each have to commit to even as we don’t know where exactly it will take us in life.
What we do know is that we are not alone.
We can gather to support one another through it all.
Jason will learn that as he grows here.
Our new members already know that, and so they have come to a new level of commitment to this community.
And for those who have been members here 10, 20, 30 years – clearly you have found sustenance here.
“May we dwell together in peace,” we pledged to our new members.
“May we seek the truth in love, and help one another that together we might grow in spirit and service and do our part to build the common good.”
That’s as good a start as any for finding and making meaning.
Let us engage in that together and embody it in all that we do.
May it be so.
Amen.