10:16:37 Welcome, everybody.
10:16:39 Pilgrim House is a welcoming congregation, a place of joyful play and work.
10:16:45 where individuals can explore, develop, and apply their beliefs with acceptance and encouragement of friends of all ages.
10:16:53 And we welcome the spirits of those to whom this land was once a homeland.
10:16:58 The last of which were the Dakota.
10:17:00 We recognize your claim and hope that we are using it to a purpose that you
10:17:05 can consider appropriate.
10:17:08 Our first congregate song is in your hymn book.
10:17:10 Number 18, what wondrous love is this?
10:17:17 I'm going to assume that everybody got a book on your way in.
10:17:22 Or didn't put up your hand. You will need them today because…
10:17:26 They have all SLT songs and…
10:17:30 At least one of them, not this one, but one of them has…
10:17:34 Lots of lyrics and no music, so you're going to need the SLT.
10:17:41 I'll do a little intro here.
10:17:52 Thank you.
10:18:03 What wondrous love is this? Oh, my soul, oh my soul.
10:18:11 All mindless love is this, O my soul.
10:18:19 Where it takes away the pain of my soul, of my soul.
10:18:41 When I was thinking.
10:18:46 When I was singing.
10:19:03 Friends whom he covered.
10:19:07 Oh my soul, O my soul, pray.
10:19:11 Omega.
10:19:15 Oh my soul.
10:19:24 I will sing, I will sing to love and all my friends, I will
10:19:45 I will sing, I will sing.
10:19:50 sing with thanks unto the end.
10:19:53 I will sing.
10:20:12 This morning I have a meeting that I grabbed
10:20:20 May we light this chalice this morning to remind us of the power and beauty of balance and contrast.
10:20:26 It is darkness that can make the flame of a single candle so powerful.
10:20:31 and light that deepens those shadows in turn.
10:20:34 A chalice flame is the meeting point, the union of refuge.
10:20:38 safety and incredible beauty of darkness.
10:20:40 And the warmth, the assurance, and the joy of light.
10:20:44 May this act of lighting our chalice this morning remind us that we are stronger together
10:20:49 in all the complexities and disagreements of relationship.
10:20:53 Because we are different and because we are one.
10:21:10 Aima adds it.
10:21:12 One of the people that facilitate regularly.
10:32:49 I have a meditation that kind of plays into our whole
10:32:54 theme of human
10:32:56 human being a human.
10:33:00 It's by Julianne Lepp.
10:33:02 The richness of our differences.
10:33:04 We seek our place in the world and the answers to our heart's deep questions.
10:33:10 As we seek, may our hearts be open to unexpected answers.
10:33:14 May we be reminded that all beings are whole, sacred, and worthy.
10:33:19 Let our hearts be welcoming of multiple truths.
10:33:22 Not holding hard or fast to closed-mindedness or judgmental thinking.
10:33:27 What can we learn from each other in the richness of our differences?
10:33:31 May the heart of compassion help us recognize the sacred in each other and bridge differences in these challenging times.
10:33:39 May each of us be held in relationship, accountability, and the power of beloved community.
10:35:42 Thank you.
10:36:27 Thank you, Bill.
10:36:29 Well, our presenter today is Reverend Leslie Mills, who has
10:36:36 I've been a frequent presenter for us.
10:36:40 She is going to talk, this is the second in a series of four programs that
10:36:46 talks where we have a talk
10:36:48 a conversation about what it means to be human.
10:36:50 and the different ways we can
10:36:54 you know, assign significance to different parts of being human.
10:36:58 And just a reminder that we
10:37:01 We can think about it once in a while.
10:37:03 Reverend Leslie.
10:37:05 Thank you, Myna.
10:37:12 Well, good morning.
10:37:16 So today's program is going to be a little different than what I've usually done with you before because there's a lot of multimedia today.
10:37:24 So I wanted to open
10:37:27 with a short animated video with words that are spoken by Ellen Watts.
10:37:32 He was a British philosopher who brought Eastern religion to a Western audience in the mid-1900s.
10:37:38 And he would often record these popular lectures
10:37:41 which are now widely available for free online. And it's one of those lectures
10:37:46 that is in this particular clip.
10:37:48 So he's going to be inviting us to take a look at the nature of the universe.
10:37:53 and how a shift in our perspective of our relationship to nature itself
10:37:58 might change our understanding of how we want to live our lives as a human part of that universe.
10:38:19 So you think you know Wix, but do you really?
10:38:23 First up, we've got Shake Video.
10:38:37 that existence.
10:38:38 physical universe is basically playful.
10:38:42 There is no necessity for it whatsoever.
10:38:46 It isn't going anywhere.
10:38:49 That is to say, it doesn't
10:38:52 Have some destination that it ought to arrive at.
10:38:56 But that it is best understood by analogy with music.
10:39:04 Because music, as an art form
10:39:07 is essentially playful. We say you play the piano.
10:39:10 work the piano.
10:39:14 Why? Music differs from, say, travel.
10:39:18 When you travel, you are trying to get somewhere.
10:39:24 One doesn't make the end of a composition.
10:39:29 The point of the composition
10:39:34 Okay.
10:39:31 If that was so, the best conductors would be those who played fastest.
10:39:39 And there would be composers who wrote only finales.
10:39:44 People go to concert.
10:39:45 Just to hear one crashing chord, because that's the end.
10:39:50 So when dancing. You don't aim at a particular spot in the room.
10:39:53 That's where you should arrive. The whole point of the dancing is the dance.
10:40:00 Now, but we don't see that.
10:40:03 as something brought by our education into our everyday conduct.
10:40:09 We've got a system.
10:40:12 of schooling, which gives a completely different impression.
10:40:15 It's all graded.
10:40:18 And what we do is we put the child into the corridor
10:40:22 of this grade system with a kind of, come on, kitty, kitty, kitty.
10:40:26 And yeah, you go to kindergarten, you know, and that's a great thing because
10:40:29 When you finish that, you'll get into first grade.
10:40:32 And then come on, first grade leads the second grade, and so on, and then you get out of grade school, and you've got high school.
10:40:37 And it's revving up. The thing is coming.
10:40:39 Then you're going to go to college, and by joven you get into graduate school
10:40:43 And when you're through with graduate school, you go out to join the world.
10:40:47 And then you get into some racket where you're selling insurance.
10:40:52 And they've got that quota to make.
10:40:54 And you're going to make that. And all the time, the thing is coming.
10:40:57 It's coming. It's coming. That great thing, the success you're working for.
10:41:01 Then when you wake up one day about 40 years old.
10:41:04 who say, my God, I've arrived.
10:41:07 I'm there.
10:41:08 And you don't feel very different from what you always felt.
10:41:12 By expectation, look at the people who live
10:41:15 to retire and put those savings away.
10:41:18 And then when they're 65, they don't have any energy left. They're more or less impot
10:41:25 And they go and rotten in an old people's senior citizens community.
10:41:33 Because we've simply cheated ourselves the whole way down the line.
10:41:40 We thought of life by analogy with a journey.
10:41:43 with a pilgrimage which had a serious purpose at the end. And the thing was to get to that end.
10:41:48 success or whatever it is, or maybe heaven
10:41:50 After you're dead.
10:41:54 But we missed the point the whole way along.
10:41:57 It was a musical thing, and you were supposed to sing or to dance while the music was being played.
10:42:18 So that's just starting us off.
10:42:21 In October, we began our year-long exploration of what it means to be human, and I shared a few ideas with you as a starting point.
10:42:29 And I mentioned at the time
10:42:31 that my goal is to give you lots of viewpoints
10:42:35 So that you can wrestle with this topic yourself.
10:42:37 And while it's never my goal to offend, I do hope that I'll present some ideas that you disagree with
10:42:44 sprinkled in for flavor.
10:42:46 And if you find yourself resisting or disagreeing with some part of my talk, that's
10:42:51 Great. It means we're getting somewhere.
10:42:54 So my intent is not to get us all to form one consensus, one definition, and wrap it all up with a bow.
10:43:01 I want to inspire us all to take this question seriously.
10:43:05 And see how our answers shape our lives and our relationships.
10:43:10 Now, I didn't want to spoil anything for you last time.
10:43:14 But today might be the day where I need to admit that I don't agree with everything I presented last month.
10:43:21 Surprise! So one piece that we explored last month was an old theory from psychology called the triune brain.
10:43:29 Which suggested that humans have three significant layers of the brain.
10:43:32 The reptilian brain responsible for our involuntary reactions.
10:43:36 The limbic brain, shared with all mammals that allows for emotional and social connection.
10:43:41 and the neocortex, which is responsible for more complex problem solving and theoretical thinking.
10:43:47 And it's a really cool theory.
10:43:50 It's also really outdated.
10:43:52 And you may have noticed that in preparing my presentations, I draw on a lot of different sources for examples and inspiration.
10:44:00 And I hope you know I can't be expected to be a professional expert in every topic that I reference.
10:44:07 But I do try to avoid sharing actual misinformation.
10:44:12 by gathering my examples from reputable sources.
10:44:15 And I did the same for the example of the triune brain, but was informed between then and now by an even more reputable source
10:44:23 that the theory has been debunked for many years now. So please don't take that.
10:44:29 As modern science.
10:44:30 So I wanted to make sure to report back on that so that you could also learn from the feedback that I received.
10:44:37 Still, the reason that got shared as an example last month was mainly to help us wrestle with the biological aspect
10:44:45 of what sets humans apart in a definitive way.
10:44:49 from other species of animals.
10:44:51 Not necessarily in a hierarchical way. It's not to say this is what makes humans better.
10:44:56 But to dig into the question of what defines us at a species level.
10:45:00 And we may not be defined by an actual triune brain.
10:45:06 But there are traits that set us apart from dolphins and from grizzly bears and from
10:45:11 house cats and from elephants and from
10:45:13 pocket gophers. And yet, of course, there are many traits that we may indeed share with other members of the animal kingdom.
10:45:21 And so it can be very difficult to be able to
10:45:24 zero in on what might qualify as a defining trait of humans.
10:45:30 And last month, I also shared an article from National Geographic that talked about the birth of religion.
10:45:36 Proposing the theory that the human capacity for wonder and awe at the world around us
10:45:41 And the desire to share that profound experience with one another.
10:45:46 is actually what gave rise to agriculture and thus
10:45:49 beginnings of civilization as we know it.
10:45:52 And we also explored the idea that humans, as far as we can tell, are the only creatures who are able to dream of a future
10:45:59 Where we're able to be in right relationship with our neighbors and our communities
10:46:04 where peace exists among nations.
10:46:07 where no one is left to starve.
10:46:09 where diseases have cures, where all people have inalienable rights.
10:46:14 In short, humans are able to dream of justice.
10:46:18 We're able to adapt and make plans to work together to make this world a just place.
10:46:24 And even so, I wonder.
10:46:27 If an argument could be made that there are animals besides humans who are capable of those things as well.
10:46:33 I don't know. So I hope this begins to illuminate the complexity of the question.
10:46:39 And why we will need to take a multifaceted approach to exploring what it means
10:46:43 to be human.
10:46:46 Sometimes the way we find our own answer
10:46:48 is by first bumping up against a lot of answers that aren't quite right.
10:46:53 The pushback helps us articulate what doesn't work.
10:46:57 And in doing so, we begin to find the language for the answers that feel right to us.
10:47:02 So we will continue in our explorations today by jumping into the question of how we culturally perceive ourselves
10:47:09 in relation to the world around us.
10:47:11 And how that understanding shapes our societies
10:47:14 and our sense of responsibility and connection.
10:47:17 So we're going to spend the first segment of our time exploring two core concepts.
10:47:22 From an academic text by Thomas P. Kasoulis.
10:47:26 titled Intimacy or Integrity, Philosophy and Cultural Difference.
10:47:30 And we can give our tech folks here a chance to get the slideshow up and running while I keep talking for a couple minutes.
10:47:38 In this book, Kasoulis draws upon his deep knowledge of both American and Japanese philosophies
10:47:46 to paint with broad strokes the portraits of two cultural worldviews.
10:47:50 One he calls integrity and the other intimacy.
10:47:54 And I'll be paraphrasing his writing
10:47:56 during the slideshow. He tells us one of the most basic questions we can ask
10:48:02 is how things are related.
10:48:04 What does this have to do with that?
10:48:08 When exploring this question through the lens of cultural differences.
10:48:13 The real disparity lies in what aspect of our humanness
10:48:18 a cultural tradition tends to emphasize.
10:48:21 To put it simply, different cultures
10:48:24 tend to notice different things.
10:48:26 to pick out different aspects of a situation as the part that is the most worthy of our attention.
10:48:33 Japanese culture can be broadly characterized as highlighting a fundamental orientation toward intimacy
10:48:40 with internal approaches to relating.
10:48:43 And in contrast, we might characterize contemporary American culture with the name integrity.
10:48:49 with external approaches to relating.
10:48:53 And now we're going to see if my clicker works.
10:48:58 Does my clicker work?
10:49:01 clicker. It is not doing a thing.
10:49:03 The side? Oh, look at that.
10:49:06 Okay, it works. Fantastic.
10:49:09 So the significant difference between the two cultures that we're going to explore today is the way we relate to one another and the world around us.
10:49:18 This slide shows the American viewpoint of integrity, in which there is a public external way of relating.
10:49:24 Up at the top, we've got two unconnected circles, A and B, showing no relation to one another.
10:49:32 In the middle of the image, you can see lines connecting the circles labeled R,
10:49:38 for a relationship. In this model, the two circles exist independently of one another.
10:49:43 And the relationship is the external link between these otherwise separate entities.
10:49:50 And then at the bottom of the image.
10:49:52 The relationship has been broken and disappeared.
10:49:55 But A and B look the same as they did in the beginning.
10:49:59 before the relationship was formed.
10:50:01 When looking at relationships in the integrity model.
10:50:05 Kosoulas writes, if the relation is broken or dissolved.
10:50:09 A is still A and B is still B.
10:50:12 In other words, if A and B enter into a relation.
10:50:16 A and B are essentially unchanged.
10:50:20 The relation is something A and B possess.
10:50:23 The relationship is something external
10:50:26 that belongs to them.
10:50:29 Kasoula says, with the termination of an external relationship.
10:50:34 The two parts maintain their integrity
10:50:36 and exist as unbroken, independent units.
10:50:43 In the Japanese worldview of intimacy.
10:50:46 The relationship is personal and internal.
10:50:49 We can see here that the circles, when they form a relationship in the middle of the image.
10:50:55 overlap like a Venn diagram.
10:50:57 And the shaded area labeled R is the relationship between them.
10:51:02 Kasoula says, intimacy is not merely personal, but personal in a special way.
10:51:08 When in the locus of intimacy one feels they belong there.
10:51:13 Among those persons, places, and things with which I am in intimate relation.
10:51:18 I am comfortable. I feel at home and at peace.
10:51:23 He says, it is part of the essential nature
10:51:26 of A and B, that they are connected as they are.
10:51:30 They are interdependent.
10:51:32 not independent entities.
10:51:35 the internal relation
10:51:37 is part of both things.
10:51:40 And as we can see at the bottom of the image.
10:51:43 to dissolve an internal relationship would not merely disconnect them. It would actually transform an aspect of themselves.
10:51:51 So if I were to lose anything with which I am in intimate relation.
10:51:56 my family, close friends, my home.
10:51:59 Even my dog-eared reference books.
10:52:02 I would lose more than something I have.
10:52:05 I would be losing part of myself.
10:52:09 terminating an internal relationship results in both parties losing a part of their identity.
10:52:15 The A and B become less themselves.
10:52:19 or at least less of what they had been.
10:52:22 So let's begin applying these ideas to how we might perceive the self.
10:52:28 It follows logically that the people understand themselves differently in the two cultural orientations.
10:52:34 So now we're going to return to the external model of relating.
10:52:40 So here we see the self in the central circle.
10:52:44 labeled A. And it is connected through a series of lines indicating all these external relationships
10:52:51 in this person's life.
10:52:53 In an external orientation to relating.
10:52:57 My identity corresponds to the fixed boundaries of the ego.
10:53:01 or the perceived self.
10:53:03 And although I see myself as connected to many other things, none of these things is literally
10:53:09 part of me. In this context
10:53:13 to find myself
10:53:15 means to discover who I am
10:53:18 dependent of these external factors.
10:53:20 And this may lead to a strong sense of autonomy.
10:53:24 My relationships are not what I am.
10:53:27 But that to which I have independently chosen to be connected.
10:53:32 Relationships in this sense
10:53:35 are almost a voluntary collection that we own.
10:53:39 And we'll take a look at a contrast here.
10:53:43 Here we have the Japanese understanding of self.
10:53:46 Where the self is that white area in the center labeled A.
10:53:51 Because this orientation is defined by connection with others.
10:53:55 My identity in this internal way of relating necessarily overlaps
10:54:01 with everything that is outside my perceived self.
10:54:05 Rather than the independence of the external model.
10:54:09 This internal model favors interdependence.
10:54:12 And with this, to find myself
10:54:16 means that I see how I am interconnected with and interdependent with many other entities.
10:54:23 my self-discovery
10:54:25 discovers the interdependence defining my life.
10:54:30 So let's take this to the society level.
10:54:35 Here's how we might diagram Western American culture.
10:54:39 If a culture emphasizes the external relation.
10:54:43 Then within those relationships, it makes sense to understand the whole in terms of its individual parts.
10:54:50 That is, the whole consists only of the parts and their external relationships.
10:54:56 Thus, one might try to understand the political state in terms of individuals who have entered into an external relationship with their constituents.
10:55:07 Or we might understand language.
10:55:09 In terms of sentences or words tied together externally in some way.
10:55:15 Nature could be understood as flora, fauna, weather, topography, geology.
10:55:21 and their external connections to one another.
10:55:24 Or we might think of ethics in terms of individuals
10:55:27 that are related externally through rights and responsibilities.
10:55:32 And as we saw in the first slide, if any of these external relationships are removed.
10:55:38 And each of the parts make up the system
10:55:41 They'll continue to exist without being significantly impacted by the loss of the other parts. They can be discreetly pulled separate.
10:55:50 But now we're going to take a look at how a culture might be diagrammed if it understands relationships to be internal.
10:55:59 So, by contrast.
10:56:02 within this internal orientation, we cannot discuss the relations among the parts.
10:56:07 as something separate from the parts.
10:56:10 The relation is in the overlap.
10:56:13 In a culture with an internal way of relating.
10:56:16 Each part can only be understood to be reflective of the whole.
10:56:22 The part contains the whole.
10:56:24 As much as the hole contains the part.
10:56:27 The whole and the part are in an intimate internal relationship.
10:56:32 One cannot be understood without the other.
10:56:36 In the previous diagram.
10:56:38 with a bunch of external relationships making up a whole as parts diagram.
10:56:44 That whole concept is totally foreign.
10:56:48 to this way of being oriented internally.
10:56:51 in which each part can only be understood as reflective of the whole.
10:56:55 Another way of saying this is that in this internally oriented society.
10:57:01 An individual person sees themselves
10:57:04 as a condensed version of all of society.
10:57:07 And they see all of society reflected as a whole.
10:57:11 within themselves.
10:57:13 So let's wrap up this exploration of Kasoulis's work.
10:57:19 So to summarize.
10:57:21 Integrity on the left tends to think of the world as something external to be managed through knowledge.
10:57:28 This model understands knowledge as being able to capture something out there through concepts and principles and words.
10:57:36 Knowledge connects a person
10:57:39 to the world. It is an external relation between the knower
10:57:44 and the known.
10:57:46 Intimacy on the right.
10:57:48 tends to see the self and the world as interlinking through internal relationships.
10:57:54 The goal being to develop a sense of belonging with the world, feeling at home in it.
10:58:00 This model understands knowledge to reside in the interface between self and world.
10:58:05 It is embodied in persons embedded within their intimate community.
10:58:11 Studying the world entails studying oneself as well.
10:58:16 In this model, knowledge occurs where world and self intersect.
10:58:23 Kosoulas ends by saying.
10:58:25 In sum, it seems that the best alternative as individuals and groups
10:58:29 is to make ourselves culturally bi-orientational.
10:58:34 Similar to the way people can be bilingual.
10:58:37 That is, if we acculturate ourselves to both
10:58:41 orientations. We would be able to move fluidly between them depending on whom we are with.
10:58:47 the better we can adjust the way we analyze and communicate.
10:58:51 The more successful we will be at establishing fruitful, pragmatic.
10:58:55 and effective relationships.
10:58:57 with a diversity of others.
10:59:01 So I'm going to give you just a moment to breathe after all of that.
10:59:07 And believe it or not, I edited most of the academic jargon out of that reading.
10:59:13 So you don't have to read the book yourself.
10:59:17 So just go ahead and take a moment to just
10:59:20 sit with that for a moment and just notice what thoughts are arising
10:59:25 What reflections come alive for you after hearing about these two different
10:59:29 orientations towards perceiving yourself
10:59:32 and the way you relate to the world around you.
10:59:35 and what implications you're noticing as a result.
10:59:38 I'll give you just a moment.
10:59:53 We can pause the slideshow for a little while.
10:59:59 We'll continue with a poem by Laura Foley.
11:00:02 titled To See It.
11:00:05 We need to separate
11:00:07 to see the life we've made.
11:00:10 to leave our house where someone waits patiently warm beneath the sheets.
11:00:15 to don layers of armor, sweater, coat, mittens, scarf, to stride.
11:00:19 down the frozen road, putting distance between us.
11:00:24 this cold winter morning.
11:00:26 to look back and see on the hilltop.
11:00:30 Our life lit from the inside.
11:00:36 When I was in seminary, I had the opportunity to go to Chiapas, Mexico on a global justice trip.
11:00:42 with my professor and a few classmates to learn about the issues facing the communities down there.
11:00:48 Indigenous villages of farmers and artisans, including the Zapatistas.
11:00:53 and international justice organizations.
11:00:57 Before I left on that trip to Mexico.
11:00:59 My grandpa asked me why I needed to travel so far away to learn about those things.
11:01:05 When there were plenty of people in need of justice right here at home.
11:01:10 Reasonable question.
11:01:13 That trip was the first real experience I had as an adult of putting myself into a situation where I was truly an outsider.
11:01:22 I couldn't speak the language.
11:01:24 And I visibly didn't belong.
11:01:26 So many of my unexamined assumptions got challenged.
11:01:29 And I had my own whiteness held up in front of me like a mirror no matter where I went.
11:01:35 I returned from that trip humbled.
11:01:38 odd and broken open.
11:01:40 with an embodied experience of interconnection that I never would have understood if I had simply stayed home and read books.
11:01:48 Even knowing intellectually about the various justice issues that we have here at home.
11:01:53 It took leaving my country.
11:01:55 to be able to see it more clearly.
11:01:58 both its beauty and its brokenness
11:02:01 Our capacity for both compassion and cruelty.
11:02:06 So why did I need to go so far away to learn about justice issues when there are plenty of people in need of justice right here?
11:02:13 Upon returning, I might have answered my grandfather's question with the eloquent words of Laura Foley.
11:02:19 We need to separate to see the life we've made.
11:02:23 to look back and see on the hilltop our life
11:02:26 Lit from the inside.
11:02:29 Because of the deep interconnection that I experienced on that trip, I later went on similar trips both in the United States and abroad.
11:02:37 And each time I came home to see the life I'd made lit from the inside.
11:02:42 I began to see myself as belonging to something bigger, stretching in all directions through history.
11:02:49 Despite the fact that I had not personally committed any of the atrocities I'd learned about, I nonetheless felt complicit in my government's participation.
11:02:58 And I began to see what Emma Lazarus and Martin Luther King Jr. and Nelson Mandela meant
11:03:05 When they said that until all of us are free, none of us are free.
11:03:10 It was a movement from an understanding of my humanity as an essentially independent thing
11:03:16 to an essentially interdependent thing.
11:03:19 A movement from perceiving relationships as external
11:03:23 towards realizing they were truly internal.
11:03:27 And I've wondered often since then what it really means to be human.
11:03:32 In spite of all of our differences.
11:03:35 And why some of us are so ready to negate that humanity in another person.
11:03:43 As we have encounters with people and places we think of as the other.
11:03:47 Those experiences challenge our assumptions about what separates us and makes us different.
11:03:53 And we might begin to see how much we have in common.
11:03:56 and how truly interconnected we are.
11:04:00 Especially in this increasingly polarized and politicized world that we find ourselves in.
11:04:06 We always have opportunities to choose how we engage in encounters with someone with a different life experience and worldview.
11:04:13 And we get to choose how we experience their humanity.
11:04:18 and how we let it affect us.
11:04:21 I believe it is essential to our human nature to want to come together.
11:04:26 For connection, for celebration.
11:04:29 for solace.
11:04:31 The introduction of COVID into our world has only made that more tragically obvious.
11:04:36 We want to tell stories of who we are and how we came to be here to learn and grow, to laugh and sing and dance
11:04:44 to play, we want to touch and be touched.
11:04:48 Heal and be healed.
11:04:50 forgive and be forgiven.
11:04:53 And we want to explore the mysteries of the world.
11:04:57 to dream of something beyond today and to have the courage to step toward the source of reverence, awe, and wonder.
11:05:04 And to come back and share what we've seen.
11:05:07 We bring our experiences to the shared altar of our lives and we piece them together into stories of meaning and power until they come alive in us like a lit chalice.
11:05:19 We were built for this. It is central to our humanity.
11:05:24 The pandemic lockdown
11:05:26 truly highlighted that for all of us and continues to highlight it for those who still need to isolate.
11:05:32 We may be able to survive alone.
11:05:34 In the most basic sense of survival.
11:05:37 to get by with only a minimum of interaction with other people and with the world around us.
11:05:44 And we can continue to exist.
11:05:47 without being able to gather. And in the context of a global pandemic, we learned that in that specific context.
11:05:54 to stay apart for a while was the most loving act of care.
11:05:59 we could express.
11:06:01 But I think these past five years.
11:06:04 have demonstrated that humans were not built to thrive this way.
11:06:08 Indeed, the only thing that got us to stop gathering was the threat of dying.
11:06:14 And even as many restrictions have been lifted and many of us can choose to gather once again, evidence abounds.
11:06:22 that we as individuals and as a society are still healing
11:06:27 from the impact of prolonged isolation.
11:06:31 We need one another.
11:06:33 in the most fundamental and radical way.
11:06:37 And when we forget that.
11:06:40 We become capable of abdicating our responsibility to one another as human beings.
11:06:46 and instead hoard wealth and resources.
11:06:49 dominate and subjugate others.
11:06:52 and seek to do things like
11:06:54 take over a country for the express purpose of destroying the environment and erasing human rights.
11:07:00 Here in the United States, in mainstream culture, we tend to believe that
11:07:06 We are born a person.
11:07:08 fully human, right from the beginning.
11:07:11 But in Japanese Zen Buddhism.
11:07:14 one becomes a human.
11:07:16 honing ourselves with a lifetime of practice.
11:07:20 And so we're going to have a few more slides coming up here.
11:07:24 to help illustrate how this idea shows up even in the way words are written.
11:07:30 We can explore the question of what a human being is
11:07:34 Compared to being a person or an individual.
11:07:37 By taking a look at the stylized Japanese calligraphy called kanji.
11:07:43 historically derived from Chinese.
11:07:45 So here we go.
11:07:54 There we go. So this first image is of the basic kanji for person or
11:08:01 Hito. You might imagine that this is a very simplified stick person, like walking along.
11:08:08 The hito is the person one perceives in everyday affairs. We might say hito in the same way that we would say, who's that person over there?
11:08:16 Or what kind of person are they?
11:08:18 As in, what kind of character do they have?
11:08:21 It also signifies the discrete sense of self, as we might have an understanding of the ego.
11:08:28 Of me, of you, of them.
11:08:30 There's a distinction between this hito and that hito.
11:08:35 But this kanji can be used in combination with other kanji to form more complex ideas.
11:08:42 So let's take a look at the Japanese word for individual or kojin.
11:08:46 So first, let's take a look at the printed kanji underneath the English words.
11:08:53 You will recognize the kanji for Hito on the right side of the pairing.
11:08:56 Looking like that walking stick figure.
11:08:59 So we know that whatever this kanji is, it's related to person.
11:09:04 And if you look at the left side.
11:09:06 You might guess that those two lines to the side of the box that look a bit like a slanted tee
11:09:13 are a more stylized version of Hito.
11:09:15 So right here we have a kanji that says.
11:09:19 Person, something, person.
11:09:22 The placement of that stylized hito
11:09:25 Next to a box surrounding another character.
11:09:29 suggests that this person is separated from whatever is in that box.
11:09:35 So that tells us we have
11:09:38 persons separated from something person.
11:09:42 The character inside the box
11:09:44 represents the world.
11:09:47 So on the next slide, I've parsed it out.
11:09:51 So an individual, kojin in Japanese, is a person separated from the world person.
11:09:59 It describes someone who is isolated.
11:10:01 extracted from their context.
11:10:04 Cogen is not used to talk about people as humans, but as items to be counted.
11:10:09 Their identities removed.
11:10:12 Given our understanding of the Japanese culture of intimacy.
11:10:16 how our sense of self is defined by our relationships in the world around us.
11:10:22 The very concept of kojin as an isolated individual is painful.
11:10:28 And very nearly useless in the context of understanding humanity.
11:10:33 It's a very lonely expression.
11:10:36 Persons separated from the world person.
11:10:40 And it has very little to do with what we mean by human.
11:10:45 But if we proceed in the other direction.
11:10:48 to add a character to put Hito in context.
11:10:52 We arrive at the kanji for ningen.
11:10:55 human being.
11:10:57 With Ningen, you can see in the print form that the character Hito is to the left of the second character.
11:11:03 And in the more stylized calligraphy, Hito is above the second character.
11:11:10 And that second character has two parts.
11:11:12 Essentially, there are the two boxes on top of what could be poles.
11:11:16 And then there's the single box underneath in between the two poles.
11:11:21 The two boxes on top of the poles are the kanji Fort door.
11:11:26 And my teacher tells me that we can imagine they're like the swinging doors in an old western saloon.
11:11:31 Right? So you can all imagine that, these doors.
11:11:35 And then the smaller box below the doors
11:11:38 is a celestial body.
11:11:40 Like a sun, shining a bright light.
11:11:44 So I've parsed it out on this next slide.
11:11:49 So what does this kanji tell us about what it means to be human?
11:11:53 If the doors are shut.
11:11:56 completely shut, and you turn all the lights off.
11:11:59 And on the other side of the door, you shine a bright light.
11:12:03 Like a sun. You'll see light coming through the cracks.
11:12:08 Wherever it can, wherever there's an opening between the doors.
11:12:13 In the words of Leonard Cohen.
11:12:14 Ring the bells that still can ring.
11:12:18 Forget your perfect offering. There's a crack.
11:12:21 in everything. That's how the light gets in.
11:12:25 There's no containing the radiance of a celestial body.
11:12:29 You can never entirely block the sun.
11:12:32 Light gets through the cracks.
11:12:34 And because the doors are closed.
11:12:36 The light exists between them.
11:12:39 in the cracks.
11:12:40 And so that light coming through the cracks in the door means
11:12:45 between. Ningen is a person between.
11:12:49 A person who sees themselves primarily as a between
11:12:54 is a description of what it means to be human.
11:12:56 to be connected.
11:12:59 To be kojin, an individual.
11:13:00 to be a person separate from the world person, isolated and out of context.
11:13:06 is to be something other than human.
11:13:10 To the Japanese, the betweenness is what defines a human being.
11:13:14 The interconnected context that gives Hito a full identity in relationship to everything around them
11:13:21 and allows us to become ningen.
11:13:24 A human being.
11:13:26 So we'll end the slideshow here.
11:13:31 Our beloved Minnesotan UU singer-songwriter Peter Mayer.
11:13:36 has many songs about being human.
11:13:38 In particular, he wrote a song titled, What If Love?
11:13:41 that explores the question of what the universe was made out of before the Big Bang
11:13:48 created matter as we know it.
11:13:49 He points out that it could be anybody's guess.
11:13:53 So would it be crazy to suggest
11:13:57 What if love is all it was?
11:13:59 And what if that love still sings?
11:14:03 is still alive in everything, moving through the whole universe.
11:14:07 Rising in the light and dark.
11:14:09 Hiding in the smallest part.
11:14:12 burning like a flame that always burns.
11:14:15 Like the atoms, like the air.
11:14:18 invisible, but everywhere.
11:14:20 What if love
11:14:23 were the organizing force by which the beauty of the world emerged.
11:14:27 that joined the particles into molecules and living cells and redwood trees and bees and birds.
11:14:33 And what if, to act on love's behalf.
11:14:36 to practice kindness.
11:14:39 is the most natural thing of all.
11:14:43 In Japan, there's a common interpretation for the basic kanji for person, hito. And you get to join me for this part. It's interactive. You get to use your hands.
11:14:53 So take your left hand. I'm mirroring here. So this one's your left hand. You take it and then you support it against your right hand.
11:15:00 Take a look at that. You just made the congee fajito. So when you take a look at your hands, just like that.
11:15:07 That's the kanji right there.
11:15:08 So now you can reference it whenever you want.
11:15:11 And according to a popular Japanese children's TV show in the 1980s.
11:15:16 They would use this hand gesture
11:15:17 They would say the kanji for Hito looks like this.
11:15:22 One person holding up and sustaining another person.
11:15:26 In other words, it is a person precisely because a
11:15:30 person and another person are supporting each other.
11:15:34 A person gets support from other people and their community, and through that support.
11:15:39 grows and develops as a human.
11:15:43 Now, that's not an accurate or scholarly deconstruction of the kanji faito.
11:15:48 But since you now understand this cultural orientation toward intimacy and relationships and worldviews.
11:15:56 You can understand why this interpretation
11:15:58 would have broad public appeal in Japan.
11:16:02 Particularly in a children's show where they are wanting to instill good values in the next generation.
11:16:08 And regardless of its technical accuracy.
11:16:11 It points us in the direction of Ningen.
11:16:14 of a full human being existing in the betweenness
11:16:18 of relationship.
11:16:21 just love that image of the celestial light shining through the cracks
11:16:26 between the doors or maybe between the cracks in our hearts.
11:16:31 or in our lives, a light which, according to Peter Mayer, could just be love.
11:16:36 still alive in everything since the beginning of time.
11:16:40 And I can't help but link it in my own mind
11:16:44 to the idea that to become human is to cultivate ourselves, to allow the light of the celestial bodies
11:16:51 The original love that existed back before the Great Big Bang, our own inherent natural kindness.
11:16:58 to shine through us.
11:17:00 out through our hidden cracks.
11:17:01 Until we are radiant.
11:17:03 and beautiful. And even with our broken parts, no one seeing us could say we were anything less than whole.
11:17:12 What wondrous love is this?
11:17:15 In the words of Peter Mayer.
11:17:18 Then when we feel undone.
11:17:21 or sick because we've been spun around on the wheel of despair
11:17:26 We can just breathe it in.
11:17:27 Reach out for that source again.
11:17:30 reach out to what's already there.
11:17:33 The mystery from whence we came.
11:17:35 Just for a song, let's give it a name.
11:17:38 What if love is all it was?
11:17:41 It can be hard sometimes to see the light in ourselves.
11:17:45 to trust that it's there, shining in the cracks of our betweenness.
11:17:50 Calling others to join us in this human experience we call life.
11:17:55 We may need to separate to see the life we've made.
11:17:59 to leave our house, to look back and see on the hilltop
11:18:03 Our life lit from the inside.
11:18:06 Like the light of a celestial body.
11:18:08 gleaming through the cracks in the door.
11:18:12 And so as we bring our service to a close today.
11:18:17 remember your connection to the world.
11:18:20 Hold it against your bones knowing that it is what makes you human.
11:18:24 a person between in relationship to all things.
11:18:28 As you go on your way this afternoon, remember that to act on love's behalf
11:18:33 to practice kindness.
11:18:35 is the most natural thing of all.
11:18:38 Because after all.
11:18:40 Love is a musical thing.
11:18:42 And you're supposed to sing.
11:18:44 or to dance while the music is being played.
11:18:48 May it be so, and amen.
11:19:22 Thank you.
11:19:28 Thank you.
11:19:32 Science has revealed at last. What happened in the distant past?
11:19:38 Back in the beginning of time
11:19:43 But from all the cosmos came
11:19:46 back before the great big bang Spine and more hard to describe.
11:19:53 Bye.
11:20:00 Oh, no, I didn't.
11:20:03 This is what happens when I mess with the tech.
11:20:14 Thank you.
11:20:19 Thank you.
11:20:22 Science has revealed at last what happened in the distant past?
11:20:28 Back in the beginning of time
11:20:34 But from what the cosmos came
11:20:37 It's finding more hard to describe.
11:20:43 Bye.
11:20:49 Okay.
11:20:50 So is it crazy to suggest?
11:20:55 What if love? What if love
11:21:01 What if love is only for?
11:21:06 What if love
11:21:09 Okay.
11:21:09 What if love
11:21:12 Whatever love is all in one.
11:21:20 What about love still sings?
11:21:21 Still alive and everything Moving through the whole universe.
11:21:29 Rising in the light and dark
11:21:32 Hiding in the smallest part.
11:21:35 Burning like a flame that always burns.
11:21:42 Like the air.
11:21:45 Invisible.
11:21:50 What if love
11:21:53 What if love
11:21:56 Whatever love is all in one
11:22:04 What if love.
11:22:06 Whatever
11:22:09 all in one.
11:22:14 organizing force by which the beauty
11:22:17 of the world emerge.
11:22:20 and the molecules of living cells and redwood trees and bees and birds.
11:22:27 To practice kindness is the most natural thing of all.
11:22:36 And when we feel unknown, we're sick because we've been spawned
11:22:41 Down on the wheel of despair.
11:22:47 You could just breathe it in.
11:22:49 Reach for that source again. Reach out to what's already there
11:22:58 Mystery From whence we came.
11:23:02 Yes.
11:23:04 songs.
11:23:06 Give it a name. What if love What if love
11:23:18 Morning, love.
11:23:22 What in love.
11:23:26 of love is all over the world.
11:23:29 Oh, no.
11:23:47 The love is all.
11:23:51 Bye.
11:23:53 Thank you.
11:24:07 Thank you.
11:24:31 Well, why don't we think?
11:24:35 Reverend Mills for our
11:24:37 talk today.
11:24:46 We can have time for like maybe two or three questions. If anybody wants to have a question they want to ask or talk about or an observation.
11:24:56 Does anyone want to…
11:24:58 There's one. Okay.
11:25:01 I have to do this. I have to do this. Okay
11:25:04 We have the people in life. Hi, everybody. So, yeah.
11:25:09 So always sending all Americans to Japan now. We'll bring them over here.
11:25:17 If we talk about love and all these wonderful things here, are we changing society?
11:25:22 I did joke too. But at a time.
11:25:25 I did joke to a friend recently that maybe the solution to all of our problems is just to have like
11:25:30 mandatory number of years in a Buddhist monastery before you're allowed to hold elective office or something.
11:25:40 It could be accomplished in a lot of different ways.
11:25:45 Well, in this particular
11:25:47 in a comparison between Buddhism, or I'm not going to say between
11:25:50 Buddhism, but the…
11:25:53 Well, I'm supposed to be…
11:25:55 Speaking into my mic, I have two mics. I have two mics. Here we go. Okay.
11:26:00 So we have a cultural view from
11:26:03 of Japan and the US.
11:26:06 can spin out kind of more universal
11:26:10 cultural entities, but it did make me wonder about the big world, about what it'd be like if I
11:26:16 was growing up in Chile or if I was growing up in
11:26:21 China or Russia, you know, it's just like you're going to have to expand the whole vision of humanity to all these different nuances to
11:26:29 That's more of an observation.
11:26:33 Does anybody else want to…
11:26:35 have otherwise
11:26:36 It's been great to have a nice group on the Zoom today, and we'll be releasing the
11:26:45 The recording of the talk will come out sometime in the next couple days if you want to watch it again.
11:26:50 So thanks a lot, everybody. I'm going to
11:26:54 Read the…
11:26:55 I'm going to get rid of one of my microphones.
11:26:59 There we go.
11:27:03 are…
11:27:06 Closing song is…
11:27:09 SLT354, we laugh, we cry.
11:27:16 This is number 354 in the SLT.
11:27:21 I'm always…
11:27:24 amazed by Leslie and
11:27:27 her thinking and her presentation skills and
11:27:30 her skills on…
11:27:33 really making us think too.
11:27:36 But one of the skills that she has is
11:27:41 selecting music that really dovetails
11:27:44 with the message. And this is wonderful. We've only done this once before.
11:27:49 So pay attention.
11:27:53 We do have the
11:27:56 a lyric slide again here.
11:27:59 I was able to fit all these lyrics onto one slide, but this is really for
11:28:04 More for the folks that are
11:28:07 a remote. We have quite a few today.
11:28:10 So I really recommend that you use your SLT.
11:28:17 I'll do just a short.
11:28:20 Bye.
11:28:22 Thank you.
11:28:31 We dance, we sing, we song. We need to feel there something.
11:29:21 Let's do give.
11:29:39 A child is born alone.
11:29:46 We see times endless dreams.
11:30:04 I dedicate our minds and hearts to the spirit of this child.
11:30:12 Believe me.
11:30:14 And in
11:30:18 And we have
11:30:26 And we
11:30:29 Praise the Lord.
11:30:47 Our time is dead.
11:31:15 And we believe in
11:31:27 And we have
11:31:30 It's no place.
11:31:37 We have the right to
11:31:41 We have a gift.
11:31:56 Bless the ones of this life.
11:32:04 We're so full.
11:32:18 Please survive.
11:32:43 Amen.
11:32:50 Holy Spirit.
11:33:00 And we believe their love and
11:33:15 Hello.
11:33:24 Amen.
11:33:33 Okay.
11:33:39 We extinguish the chalice.
11:33:42 We extinguish this flame.
11:33:44 but not the light of truth, the warmth of community.
11:33:48 or the fire of commitment.
11:33:50 These we carry the hearts.
11:33:53 Until we are together again.
11:33:56 Next week's program, our Thanksgiving celebration, we've talked about in the announcements.
11:34:01 I'd like to thank today our
11:34:04 Volunteers, including
11:34:07 Bill Rohde.
11:34:10 at LL and Shelton and Carol with the music, our tech support with Wayne LeBlanc.
11:34:15 And Adam Andarude. The greeter was Bill France and Stephanie Lysa.
11:34:20 helped set up our coffee and treats today. So thanks, everybody.
11:34:25 See you again soon.
11:34:27 Thank you.
11:34:54 Thank you.
11:35:26 Thank you.