Sermon by Roe McBurnett at Unitarian Church, Utica, NY, 1959-03-08
Reading:
"At every crossway on the road that leads to the future, each progressive spirit is opposed by a thousand men appointed to guard the past. Let us have no fear lest the fair towers of former days be sufficiently defended. The least that the most timid among us can do is not to add to the immense dead weight which nature drags along.Let us not say to ourselves that the best truth always lies in moderation, in the decent average. This would perhaps be so if the majority of men did not think on a much lower plane than is needful. That is why it behooves others to think and hope on a higher plane than seems reasonable. The average, the decent moderation of today, will be the least human of things tomorrow. At the time of the Spanish Inquisition, the opinion of good sense and of the other good medium was certainly that people ought not to burn too large a number of heretics; extreme and unreasonable opinion obviously demanded that they should burn none at all.
Let us think of the great invisible ship that carries our human destinies upon eternity. Like the vessels of our confined oceans, she has her sails and her ballast. The fear that she may pitch or roll on leaving the roadstead is no reason for increasing the weight of the ballast by stowing the fair white sails in the depths of the hold. Sails were not woven to molder side by side with cobblestones in the dark. Ballast exists everywhere; all the pebbles of the harbor, all the sand of the beach, will serve for that. But sails are rare and precious things; their place is not in the murk of the well, but amid the light of the tall masts, where they will collect the winds of space."
Count Maurice Maeterlinck (1862-1949 Belgium poet, dramatist, essayist - Nobel Prize winner for literature 1911): Our Social Duty
It is generally true that a lawyer never feels completely prepared to try a case - even five minutes before court convenes. I can assure you that I do not feel completely prepared for this opportunity to talk with you today. Nevertheless, I am pleased to offer these thoughts as a pinch hitter for Rev. Simonetti.
I have chosen the subject: " THERE IS POWER IN POSITIVE THINKING". Norman Vincent Peale's message in his book of 'The Power of Positive thinking' has always struck a responsive chord in my make-up - the challenge of his message appealed to me years ago when I was a member of an orthodox Protestant church down South, and it still appeals to me in my current search for satisfaction in a liberal church.
Mind you, I do not agree with all that Dr. Peale has to say in his book. However, I am persuaded that there is indeed power in positive thinking and in a positive approach to religion, be it orthodox or liberal.
And I am somewhat sensitive to the criticism aimed at the liberal church by outsiders, and even some insiders, that we are essentially negative. I do not agree that we are negative, but if we are, then I believe that we need not be negative and should not be negative in our approach to life, and to religion, and to man and his gods.
Why have I chosen to talk about Positive Thinking? One reason is that I am sold on the concepts presented in my first reading this morning. I think that progressive or positive thought is too frequently held back by the dead weight or ballast of negative thought. The history of creative effort in the world has demonstrated that the Louis Pasteurs and the Einsteins have broken through the ballast of negative thought only after dogged persistence and a strong positive approach. Who can say today that the potential Pasteurs and Einsteins are not being slowed down by the weight of negative thought.
In my work with inventions and inventors, I find all too frequently that a potential new insight or discovery is delayed or smothered because the timid lonely innovator is confronted with a host of negative comments from his associates. Thus in the field of technology, it seems that there is always a need for positive and progressive thinking.
Similarly in the fields of politics and government, our handful of revolutionary forefathers achieved their goal of founding a free nation in spite of immense ballast in the form of negative thinking. As heirs to the political and religious freedom made possible by positive thinkers, I believe we owe it to ourselves, and to posterity, "not to add to the immense dead weight that nature drags along".
As we must have a positive approach in the fields of science and politics, so we must have such an approach in religion. So we must ensure the presence of a religious climate in which man is free to seek out new truths and new approaches in his quest for self-fulfillment, for peace of mind, for satisfaction of his innermost drives and needs.
It is not enough that we criticize the Roman Catholic hierarchy or the Anglican church concept, or the Buddhist approach, or the orthodox Protestant approach. It is not enough that we say these or other religions do not provide truths and approaches compatible with the 20th Century knowledge and insights.
We might think of a member of an orthodox religion, or an unchurched person, as in a boat tied to the dock which offers security, safety and salvation. Let us not cut the line to cast the boat adrift without providing at least a rudder, and a sail, and an approach that will help him decide on a course to follow, and help him recognize an occasional landmark.
Indeed, we may as well face facts, we have not cut the lines to very many orthodox boats. The total membership of Universalists and Unitarians in the United States is, I believe, less than 200,000. This is less than .5 0f 1% of this country's population. It has been suggested that we will not sell the liberal approach to larger numbers unless we are able to present, in a positive fashion, the essence of this approach.
The challenge then appears clear if we are to increase our influence and power. How can we develop a positive presentation of the liberal religious approach?
One important facet of this approach would seem t o me to be that we strive to maintain a continuously open and inquiring mind.
We must seek out, from all the world's great religions, the concepts or approaches that are positive and progressive and which appear applicable to the 20th century.
The liberal ferrets out from the scientists, and philosophers, and the psychologists, their concepts or approaches concerning man's mind and his needs and potential - those approaches which appear applicable in the 20th century.
The liberal seeks, from the whole world's magnificent sources of plays, books, poem, and art, those approaches, or concepts, which apply to us in the 20th century.
As we find the concepts and approaches, we sift them, we study them, to arrive at a place from where we can continue our look at ourselves and our lives. We use the scientist's approach. We must avoid the ever present trap imposed by creeds and dogmas.
Wendell Berge, who was Assistant Attorney General or the United States from 1940-1946, has described Unitarianism in a statement, and I have no indication that this statement does not equally apply to Universalists. He says:
"Unitarianism offers the opportunity for a positive and buoyant faith in the possibilities of MAN to create a richer, fuller life for himself and his fellows, for this and succeeding generations. It offers a challenge to assure and immortality here on earth for man and his works. The opportunity is for man and the challenge is to him. Thus religion for the Unitarian is a dynamic force that elevates life to a place of greater dignity. Because it does not require rejection of an demonstrable data, and indeed invites inquiry and adventure, the Unitarian way of life presents no inner conflicts between religion and the known facts of life."
There are innumerable positive statements and approaches which each of us knows or can find in his library. One such statement from the book "The Great Religions By Which Men Live" is of interest. This is from the Hindu teachings:
"Some very wonderful things happen when a person succeeds in knowing what is basic and essential in himself. He learns that the everyday affairs, which may formerly have bothered him very much, are not really so important. This is because he has learned that the real center of his life is not affected by them. He learns to take a longer view of his experiences. He has perspective on life. He becomes unprejudiced and less emotional. He is able to make choices and to judge events maturely because he is not blinded by his emotions and attitudes. Hindus say that he has taken the most important step toward the most important human attribute - wisdom."
Another teaching from Hinduism:
" There is a universal law which operates throughout all life. Whatever is sown must be reaped sometime and somewhere. This is the law: every action, every intention to act, every attitude bears its own fruit. 'A man becomes good by good deeds and bad by bad deeds' says one of the Hindu sacred writings. This means that each person is really responsible for his own condition, whether he is confused, and mixed-up, and unhappy - or happy."
A Buddhist approach is provided in this sale book on the world's religions:
"To find the Middle Way to harmonious living, the Buddha declared, each person must search thoughtfully - not spend his time in worldly arguments. "Each person must explore and experiment. 'Happiness he who seeks may win, if he practice the seeking' said the Buddha."
The thought of argument reminds me of a story of the two Hollywood children, of oft-married, oft-divorced parents, who got into an argument. Finally one of the children said belligerently, "My father can lick your father!" . "Are you kidding?' queried the other, "Your father IS my father!" Arguments frequently vanish when we get the facts straight.
The Chinese philosopher Confucius has provided this answer to the question, "What does life ask of me?":
"It asks kind attitudes and conduct. It asks that you live with the interests of your fellow men uppermost in your concerns. In so living with others, you will gain the greatest good - you will find your place in the world. You will find yourself."
And from Judaism comes this insight:
"Once someone offered a challenge to the famous Rabbi Hillel, who lived and taught at about the same time as Jesus. The challenger asked the rabbi to tell everything important about Judaism in the space of time in which a man could stand on one foot. Rabbi Hillel declared: 'That which is hurtful to thee, do not to thy neighbor. This is the whole doctrine. The rest is commentary. Now go forth and learn.'"
Jesus, of course, has emphasized the same thought in the Golden Rule.
From the Islamic teachings we have this thought:
"The measure of a man's goodness is the way he acts toward his brothers. All a man believes can be told from what he does, as this Muslim proverb shows: 'No one of you is a believer until he loves for his brother what he loves for himself.'"
It seems reasonable to me that we can add to the facets of a positive liberal's approach that of respect for the rights and dignity of every man.
Another facet is that man is responsible for his own plight and for the plight of the world in which he lives. Man makes his own heaven or hell right here on the planet Earth
In our search for a positive 20th Century approach to religion, we may benefit from examination of some Humanist teachings. The American humanist Association states its position thusly:
HUMANISM is a new approach to living, critical and creative using education as its chief method of growth.
G. Brock Chisholm, noted Canadian psychiatrist, who has recently been honored as Humanist of the Year, makes this statement:
"Humanists are people who have committed themselves to depending on their own thinking and appropriate action in coping with all of life's problems and opportunities. They have abandoned or have never used the ancient methods of appeals to gods, saints, devils or ancestors through worship, prayer, incantation, sacrifice, baptisms, promise of good behavior or other magic or ritual, and they are left with only human resources."
I am indebted to Rev. H. F. Westwood, a Unitarian minister, for some additional material concerning Humanism:
"Humanism appears to be as old as the sensitive spirits who have thought deeply about life, and I think we are all humanists to a degree. There is a touch of humanism in the Psalms, in the Book of Job, in the writings of Ecclesiastes.. "All is vanity, let us eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die"... A Humanist is a sensitive person with his nerve ends exposed to the sufferings and evils and injustices of the world."
Bertrand Russell, for example, describes human life as a brief voyage on a raft...
"We see, surrounding the narrow raft, illuminated by the flickering light of human comradeship, the dark ocean on whose rolling waves we toss for a refuge. All the loneliness of humanity amid the hostile forces is concentrated upon the individual soul, which must struggle alone with what courage it can command against the whole weight of a universe that cares nothing for its hopes and fears"
Another Humanist is struck with the mysteries of life. He writes:
"Here I sit at a writing desk, in a warm study, with a wood fire purring in the fireplace and the winter night frozen in the silence outside my windows. If I turn my head, I can see the stars shining in the sky. But where am I? Mystery! Where is the desk, the fire, the room? More mysteries. Then he recalls the saying of a famous scientist… 'With all our telescopes and microscopes and new tools of knowledge, man is as ignorant of his universe as a fly on the ceiling of a closed room!'"
To describe Humanism, Dr. Jacob Trapp of the Unitarian Church uses Stephen Crane's story "The Open Boat". Here a captain, a cook, an oiler and a correspondent become accidentally acquainted because of a catastrophe. In the face of a towering and menacing sea, they learn to live with each other.
Against the "cosmic chill" men crawl close together to keep warm. There is strength in relatedness... "If there is no help outside, than let us help each other." ... "If from different skies there comes no answering voice, then let us address ourselves to our brother man." This is no new feeling, this humanism. "You see," says Dr. A.E. Haydon, the historian, "We have each other." ... "If man loses his sense of the good outside himself, then he finds it again inside himself."
A humanist tries to find the goodness in man.. "I have known good men who believe in God," says John Lovejoy Elliot, "and good men who didn't, but I've never known a good man who didn't believe in people."
"The qualities we call divine - love, mercy, justice, goodness.." says Dr. Trapp, "were first discovered in human experience and then ascribed or attributed to deity. Religion begins with reverence for what I would call the human quality."
Philosophically a humanist builds his faith on three principals. These are described for us in a sermon by Curtis W. Reese, who, incidentally, has paid a high price for his humanism. He might have been president of the American Unitarian Association or president of Meadville Theological School, if he hadn't been a humanist. His is a faith, well thought out, held onto despite disheartening opposition.
In the first place, says Dr. Reese, Humanism has a faith in the trustworthiness of the scientific spirit and method. That is, freedom of inquiry and the controlled experiment. Humanism says that, while science may give us inadequate knowledge, it gives us all we have and we must make the most of it. Upon science, and the legitimate inferences from its established facts, we are dependent for our knowledge of the nature of the universe, of the evolution of life, and of man's prowess and possibilities.
Dr. Reese sees in man what Aristotle called "the inner perfecting principle", what Lamarck called "the slow wishing of the animals", what Darwin called "natural selection". In man is the fruitage of age-long mother love, parental care and communal life.
Secondly, a Humanist has a faith in man's capacity to know more and more about himself and the universe in which he lives. And, he adds, however inadequate this capacity to understand is, there is no other vessel save man…. No oracle, nor revelation, no short cut to wisdom. Man, through his science alone must unravel the skein of wisdom to save the fabric of knowledge..
Finally, a Humanist believes that as man increases his psychological, physical and sociological knowledge of the universe, he makes the universe a co-worker with him. He makes the powers once thought to dwell among the clouds, his own. He mines the earth and makes its substance do his bidding. He learns natural laws, or rather he discovers facts and integrates them so that he may predict results.
Studying man and nature, Humanism makes life neither individualistic nor socialistic, but mutualistic. Humanism, says Dr. Reese, must preach a gospel that will help to balance personal and social impulses to the end that individual man shall experience within himself the harmony of his impulses, and mankind must be organized for the harmonious development of all the races of the world. Humanism is bringing into the light of day a religion of, by, and for the whole man and the whole world.
I haven't come yet to the point where I can completely embrace all the thoughts of the Humanists, yet I feel there's food for thought in their approach. At any rate Humanists seem to be developing a positive approach. In fact, it appears that important leaders of all religions have had a positive approach.
In summary, the facets of the liberal approach which we have explored today include:
The open-minded, inquiring attitude toward truth.
The high value placed on respecting your neighbor's rights, his needs and his development..
The importance of man recognizing that he is responsible for his own status and the conditions of his church, his community and his world. And
A strong basic conviction that man can grow - that through self development, and self reliance, and positive thinking, man CAN tap more of the almost infinite potential for growth toward greater satisfaction, richer human relations and a better world.
Finally let us accept the challenge to seek a positive approach for our own religious development and for presentation of the liberal approach to our friends and associates. Perhaps we should join with the poet Tennyson in our message.
"Come my friends, 'tis not too late to seek a newer world.
Push off, and sitting well in order, smite the sounding furrows...
For my purpose hold to sail beyond the sunset 'til I die."
For you and me, the quest may be considered as our search for maximum realization of individual potential through the power of "positive thinking".