Bob Govar’s Credo
I believe:
That there exists within the universe a creative a
force which is the source of all life, whether the life form is
carbon-based or otherwise.
This creative force or source has no human attributes
and is therefore incapable of judgment or condemnation.
The power of the creative force or source includes
the power to destroy, not as a judgment or condemnation, but as a prelude
or precursor to further creation. Continuing creation explains the
phenomenon of an ever-expanding universe.
The creative force or source does not require
worship, the singing of hymns or any other form of exaltation. It does,
however, like Rock ‘n’ roll.
The power of the creative force or source exists in
all things and, ultimately, transforms and reunites with the source from
which it emanated. Thus, while our physical bodies may die, the creative
power of the source within each of us remains.
The purpose of my life is to serve the needs of
others, to seek the truth, to provide justice and equity for all, to
acquire knowledge, to remain always curious, to examine new thoughts and
ideas and experience new things. I also like to fish.
That every person should be treated with dignity and
respect . . . even Republicans.
That words have power, the power to comfort, the
power to heal and the power to inflict pain and sorrow. We should
therefore exercise care with our words and keep them soft and easy.
I believe that important questions of the day can be
discussed and debated without vilifying those who have a different or
opposite view. That there is a discernable lack of civility in our current
civil discourse.
I believe, as Dr. King said, “Tthe arc of history,
while long, bends toward justice” . . .
and freedom.
That all religions were created to satisfy the
narcissistic needs of humans and the baser need for power and control,
usually exercised through instilling fear and/or guilt.
The primary purposes of all religions are
self-perpetuation and self-preservation.
We should love and care for the earth we love and
care for our children and grandchildren. After all, the greatest gifts we
can give our children and grandchildren are our love, our time, clean air,
clean water and a clean environment. All of the rest of it will take care
of itself.
We are not alone and never have been, not even on
this planet. There are thousands, even tens of thousands, of other life
forms and civilizations. Some of these civilizations are so far advanced
that their knowledge of science and technology would be incomprehensible
to even our most brilliant minds.
Finally, I believe that people who are pro-life
shouldn’t eat eggs.
Carole McCracken
I am a potter. Like
you, I am an artist. I am not
an artist because I am a potter. I
am an artist because, like you, I look at
the world of confusion surrounding me
and I try to make some sense of it.
That’s
what artists do. We try to
create order and meaning. We
do this using all the tools we have: our hands, our intellect, our senses,
our imagination, our compassion.
I believe that we are capable of fashioning our own
meaningful life here on earth. That
if we permit ourselves, we are all wise enough, sensitive enough to
determine our life’s work without heaven and hell.
Paintings, novels, symphonies, often grow out of a
tradition and we are judged sometimes by how much we perpetuate or reject
an established pattern.
In deciding this, we have to be careful.
Personally, I find that I have to be very wary
of “the experts”. Otherwise
I am dancing the role of citizen or human according to somebody else’s
choreography and music. It
is in those moments I most risk being, as Samuel Beckett put it, “out of
CHOON” with myself. In
constructing art or a life, integrity
comes from an imaginative way of seeing the old, or constructing something
entirely new that is free of
hearsay or plagiarism. And
it’s an act of courage: one
has to be willing to pay the price of ridicule or exile.
Art, like most things in our modern world, is
often valued by how much I pay for the goods. As
a creator, it sometimes costs me more
than I think I can bear to
make something coherent out of the sticks and stones of my own experience.
Could that be the function of
suffering? To provide the raw
materials, the wet clay bones that we begin with?
Because suffering affects the shape and size, the
texture and color of what our lives mean to us and to others.
Yet I
believe there is a creative force that
set this universe in motion. I don’t know the shape of it.
When my imagination is wild and rowdy, I envision the hands of an
Inter-Gallactic visitor. A few short centuries ago one would have laughed
at the notion of moon landings and Picasso so I reason that if I lock my
mind, I imprison myself. But when my imagination is serene in its soaring,
I see Nature, the whole of which no artist on earth could ever have
imagined.
I believe there is something of us that is separate
from our bodies and our consciousness. Call it what you will --- soul or
spirit or something else. But
I’m utterly certain it is there. It
speaks to me in dreams, or when I am in crisis. When I‘ve glimpsed
fragments of this other self, I’ve noticed it is wiser and calmer than I
am.
I believe that there is much art in
this world that is unacknowledged and undervalued.
There are works of genius in the impermanent
things of life: the unrequited kindness, the good listener, the
dinner that nourishes, the sympathetic bridge, the soft hand.
But I also believe there are people in the world who
actively embrace extremes of anguish and conflict.
Here is where I have trouble. Here
is where I feel not so much an artist creating order out of chaos as an
incompetent cosmic cleaning lady knocking
over a lamp. In my
longing for balance, I struggle here to believe that this form of
suffering may also be useful. I
remind myself that I, too, have moments when I am off-center.
I tell myself that grace can also come from the asymmetrical.
I believe
that the thing we call a meaningful life --- the damp clay we use to shape
ourselves --- may be altered by the environment or time or a careless
elbow but it is nevertheless a
valuable gift to ourselves and to our community.
It is, I believe, our imperfect, temporal masterpiece.
Duncan A. Harkin
WHO AM I?
I
am an individual, but also a member of various levels of community.
The work I do, or roles I have lived, say little of interest as to
WHO I AM. The values I hold
and live by are more important than name, occupation, memberships,
ethnicity.
VALUES
In
September, 1999, eastern North Carolina was hit by hurricane Floyd. Its
winds were significant, but the flooding was disastrous. On the day after
the storm there was scheduled a ground breaking for a Habitat for Humanity
house. Our part time UU consulting minister, Rev. Robert Murphy, was
scheduled to take part in the ceremony. But he was stuck in Greenville,
unable to get to New Bern because of the flooding. So it fell to me, as
president of UUFNB at that time, to take his place. The day was bright and
hot, as it usually is following a hurricane. I went dressed for the
weather,, shorts and T shirt.
The other dignitaries were dressed in suits with ties. Powell Osteen,
minister of Garber United Methodist, handed me a bible with the place
marked which I was to read. I have since considered it as one of life’s
significant synchronicities because it was Jesus’ sermon on the mount,
and this spoke of the concerns that motivated my three years of work on
agricultural land reform in the Philippines and teaching in India in the
1970’s and ’80’s. Indeed, it has been a dominant concern ever since.
I
believe that is my responsibility to make some contribution toward a
better world. For me, this is done by working for structures and
institutions to advance the cause of economic and social justice.
For others, it would be to contribute their particular talents, and
following what inspires and fulfills them.
I
see humanity evolving through time. A million years ago the
evolution was primarily Darwinian organic evolution. In recent millenia
the evolution has primarily been social/cultural evolution.
As participants, I believe we should all strive to guide that
evolution in constructive, positive directions. Would in not be a shame,
shameful, a disgrace, if humanity failed in this great experiment of
evolution.
The
foregoing implies much work to do. However, I want to live a life of
balance, among work and play, contemplation and being “at home” in
nature.
WHO AM I, WHOSE AM I?
The
question, “Who am I?”, suggests the further question, “whose am
I?” To whom is my life important? For
me, the answer to this question suggests a metaphor of a very small pebble
being dropped into a placid pond, making ripples that move out in circles.
The largest ripples are my family; smaller ripples are the near
communities that my presence affects (foremost UUFNB and my downtown
neighborhood and friends that I keep in touch with),
the ripples that I may have created in students that I taught many
years ago are infinitesimal, but you never know.
Such
thoughts relate to the notions of immortality. These ripples are the only
immortality that I believe in.
Rose Govar
I believe in human rights, regardless of race,
gender, sexual orientation or religion. I also believe in animal rights
and preserving our natural resources.
I believe in treating everyone justly, fairly and
honestly. However, I cannot say that everyone deserves to be treated with
kindness, affection and compassion. I find myself without these attributes
when it comes to extremely selfish, greedy and cruel people. On the other
hand, I won’t hesitate to extend a helping hand even to a total
stranger. Because unless I have knowledge to the contrary, I have to
assume that people I run into are good.
I live my life the way I do because of the way I was
raised and my conscience.
When it comes to matters of spirituality and
questions such as “Why are we here:” or “What happens when we
die?” the short answer is, “I do not know.”
However, I would like to believe that we’re all a
very small part of the “whole,” “the all,” “the source” or
whatever one wants to call it. That’s why I feel that everything in the
universe is connected. I believe we have individuality and identity while
we are on this earth, but we lose all that when we die and go back to
where we came from and rejoin “the
all.” Not unlike a little rain drop that falls on earth, losing its
identity but not disappearing, simply going back to where it came from.
And the cycle continues into eternity.
Sue
Gill
I am committed to being an instrument for change and
I hope change for the better. The world is/will be different because I
have been here.
“I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do
everything but still I can do something; and because I cannot do
everything, I will not refuse to do the something that I can do. “
Keller and EE Hale
“I shall pass through this world but once. Any good
therefore that I can do or any kindness that I can show to any human
being, let me do it now. Let me not defer or neglect it, for I shall not
pass this way again.” Ghandhi Gullet
Ultimately I don’t know if what I do, say, or act
on will change things for the better. All I can do is make decisions based
on what I think is best at the time with the information I have.
Everything I do has an effect…like a river
flowing… and I hope that effect is to relieve suffering, bring happiness
and smooth the way for others
I have a responsibility to use my resources to ease
the way for other beings.
TERRY KOSTIUK
My formative years were spent as a result of IQ
testing in classrooms with like minded “nerds”.
Growing up in “nerdsville” preteen years resulted
in a strong desire to research & define a philosophy appropriate to
the formation of my morals, principles, & values. My both parents were
free thinkers who never inflicted their views or concepts on others. Free
and open discussion was always encouraged & respected. One & one
was never seen as two; three was the expected outcome. Differences of
opinion were highly valued & viewed as a great way to grow, along with
reading anything & everything. One’s opinion differing from another
NEVER resulted in argument, only in brainstorming possible third
solutions. Laughter &
humor were incorporated in all discussions.
I walk on an everchanging PATH experiencing being an
individual; utilizing reason; & seeking happiness thru CHOICE. I
observe that there are principles that appear to govern human
effectiveness that are just as real & unchanging as laws such as
gravity in the physics dimension. I refer to principles as deep
fundamental truths that have universal application.
Principles (truths) are not values; groups can share values but if
they are in violation of fundamental principles then they violate all.
Evil cannot be scientifically defined. It’s an
illusionary moral concept that does not exist in nature; it’s been
linked to religion an mythology.
Everything that happens to us
good/bad is part of us; WE GET TO DECIDE.
You cannot plan to do good works they unfold
naturally.
Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.
Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than exposure.
I choose to live a life of adventure consisting of
challenges & conflicts that encompasses puzzles, obstacles, &
entanglements; which I can revise, reevaluate, & review.
My goal is happiness which I consider a how (state or
condition).
If my work benefits others that’s OK; but it’s
not my primary purpose. I do not owe anyone anything but respect.
No one is entitled to one moment of my time or money
unless I choose to give it. With
all the FUN I’m having I know that I will live and die with no regret.
The truly religious man does not embrace a religion;
& he who embraces one has no religion.
Kahlil Gibran
My Credo:
PT Barnum, near the end of the 19th
century, explained why he was a Universalist.
He said: “To the Universalist, heaven in its
essential nature is not a locality, but a moral and spiritual status, and
salvation is not securing one place and avoiding another, but salvation is
finding eternal life. Eternal
life has primarily no reference to time or place, but to a quality.”
I believe in what he describes as eternal life, that
force of life that I see demonstrated every day:
1.
The tiny blades of grass forcing their way up through the
crack in the concrete on a city sidewalk.
2.
The trapped
animal that will overcome its natural aversion to pain and gnaw off a leg
to escape and survive.
3.
The teeming life that fills this earth -
from the depths of the ocean floor where myriad beings survive on
the heat from volcanic vents to the frozen poles where life awaits the sun
each year to burst forth yet again.
I do not believe in the eternal life of any
individual, but I do believe life will go on for a long, long time, and
perhaps even outside of time. Wherever,
whenever there is a universe, there will be life, potential life, past
life. It is as close to the
idea of eternity as my understanding goes.
I’m part of this life that consumes itself and
renews itself again and again. I
do not know how it started, nor do I need to know.
I have faith that it will go on long after my small part in it is
over, and that this is as it should be.
Although there is much suffering, offset by much joy
and pleasure, in all of this teeming life I see, it seems only humans are
evil and cruel. I think it’s
because they are lonely or afraid, because they forget for a time that
they are a tiny part of the long procession of life.
I will
not forget.
I chose
good behavior over evil when I was small, probably because of the example
and teaching of my parents. I
still try to choose good. I
will try to help others remember the vastness and wonder that is as much a
part of them as they are a part of it, and in the small ways of which I am
capable, I will try to mitigate evil and cruelty with love and acceptance.
I will try to be kind – to think of some way, every
day, to be kind to someone I know and to someone I do not know.
I will be kind to myself. I will try to have the courage to accept
all people all the time and whenever I think it would be helpful to share
my thoughts with others, I will try to do so. I will try to accept with
grace and gratitude all the kindnesses that I am lucky enough to receive.
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