First Reading
For our first reading today, I have a story that was told by Rama-Krishna, a nineteenth century Hindu mystic (from our Building Your Own Theology Curriculum).
Tapoban, the master, had a disciple who served him with irreproachable diligence. He served his master well. It was solely because of this diligence and the services that he rendered that Tapoban kept him, for he found the disciple was not very smart at all. One day the rumor spread throughout the whole region that Tapobana’s disciple – this servant – had walked on water; that he had been seen crossing the river as one crosses the street. Tapobana called his disciple and questioned him, “Is what people are saying about you possible? Is it really true that you crossed the river walking on the water?”
“What could be more natural?” answered his follower. “It is thanks to you, oh blessed one, that I walked on water. At every step I repeated your saintly name and that is what upheld me.”
And Tapoban thought to himself, if the disciple can walk on water, what can the master not do? If it is in my name that the miracle takes place, I must possess power I did not suspect and holiness of which I have not bee sufficiently aware. After all, I have never tried to cross the river as if I were crossing the street. And without more ado, he ran to the river bank. Without hesitation he set his foot on the water, and with unshakable faith repeated, “me, me, me” …. And he sank.
For our 2nd more contemporary reading about human nature – I have a song written by Michael Jackson called – Human Nature. And if ever there was a study in the paradoxes about Human Nature – it could be represented by Michael Jackson. So much was good – and so much went awry. I wish he that he didn’t have to die. Fortunately he’s left something of himself with us. So let’s listen to a bit of Michael Jackson LIVE singing “Human Nature.” (click link).
Moment of silence to contemplate these things, breathe, and prepare for our message.
I’ve spent a lot of my life wading these waters, sometimes swimming, sometimes diving deep – and sometimes feeling like I may be drowning – and sometimes I probably climbed up on those pipes I was supposed to stay off of. In any case, I’ve gotten really wet with this subject. I used to teach a class at Georgia Southern University called, “Human Growth and Development.” We looked at physical development, cognitive development, social development, moral development, etc. etc. And in every part of this the same question would come up. What has made me who I am? Is our growth and development determined by Nature or Nuture. In other words – did we come with the instructions built in regarding how we would turn out – or were we like clay – ready for our environments including our parents and teachers to mold us.
There are famous folks on both sides of the debate. John Locke, a 17th century philosopher said that at birth, the mind was a blank slate (or we would say a blank whiteboard) ready for the environment to write upon. He also said: “We are like chameleons, taking our hue and the color of our moral character, from those who are around us.” (brainyquotes.com)
And there are many others on team Nurture.
And then there is E.O. Wilson. He’s probably best known as a Naturalist and has studied more about ants than anyone in the world. But he’s also the Father of sociobiology – and would be one of the captains of Team Nature in this debate. He has stated that ”Nature holds the key to our aesthetic, intellectual, cognitive, and even spiritual satisfaction.”
In his book – ON HUMAN NATURE - Wilson argues that the human mind is shaped as much by genetic inheritance as it is by culture (if not more). There are limits on just how much influence social and environmental factors can have in altering human behavior. So he and others on Team Nature would emphasize how we have evolved and our genetic makeup in explaining how we came to be like we are. Here’s another famous person that would be on Team Nature.
That debate still goes on of course, but we have discovered quite a bit about this through our scientific studies. We do know now through twin studies and other genetic research that much of who we are is coded into us within our genes. And we also know that evolution is so very important in explaining how we have come to be who we are.
And some of this is common sense too. There are some old sayings that some of us grandmas and grandpas say that were passed on to us from our parents. Sometimes my Daddy would try to teach me to do something that was easy for him – and I would really try – but I couldn’t do it very well. And he would say – “Well – you can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear.” But - What did my daddy mean? He meant that I just didn’t have the talent to do that well with that particular activity. And that was okay – because I could do other things. I found out something while I was working on this sermon though. And that is that in 1921 some chemists in Cambridge Massachusetts worked really hard to make silk from pork by-products and were actually ABLE to make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear. Here it is!
But that doesn’t take away from the fact that we are born with differing gifts and talents and some of us have to work harder on some things than others. However we have also learned that this genotype that we inherit for various attributes and abilities has a wide range and we can perform at the top of it or the bottom of it depending on perhaps how we have been nurtured in this area – and our efforts. So while I’ll probably never play basketball well enough to play professionally, if I practiced a lot and got in better shape, I could probably play on a seniors women’s church league team.
So this nature-nurture debate goes on to some degree – but I and many others contend the answer can be found with the Certs solution. Are you old enough to remember this?
Certs Commercial
I used to use the Certs commercial to illustrate this idea in my Human Growth and Development class but they got too young to know what it was (or I got too old) and I had to switch to the “Tastes Great – Less Filling” beer commercial. They wouldn’t know that now either.
Now Nature vs. Nurture is not the only thing folks might disagree on in regards to Human Nature. There are also disagreements about whether or not we are inherently bad – that whole doctrine of Original Sin; or inherently good – what Matthew Fox refers to as Original Blessings – and what we Unitarian Universalists refer to in our First Principle.
Are we born bad – needing correction and/or grace? Or are we born good – but perhaps become bad sometimes because of what happens in our lives or the choices we make? Hmmmmm.
Here’s are some famous teachers, writers, philosophers, psychologists and other thinkers that are quoted in our “Building Your Own Theology” curriculum in the section about Human Nature.
- John Dewey said “The child is born with a natural desire to give out, to do, to serve.
- Urie Bronfenbrenner said “There are no bad people; only bad institutions….Given sun, soil, air, and water, a plant does not need to be told how to grow.
- Eric Fromm said: “We are what we do.”
- Ovid said: “I see the right, and I approve it too, condemn the wrong, and yet the wrong pursue.”
- Unitarian Transcendentalist Margaret Fuller said: “He that falls into sin is a man; that grieves at it may be saint; that boasteth of it is a devil.”
- The Apostle Paul said: “For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do.”
- Mark Train said: “Bein’ good is so much trouble, while bein’ bad ain’t no trouble at all.”
- Homer said: (Humans are) “the saddest of all the beasts of the field.”
- And Unitarian Ralph Waldo Emerson said: “A man is a god in ruin.”
Indeed, throughout much of human history, we have bought into this idea that good and bad or dueling and that bad has the upper hand – so much so that folks have to make sacrifices or accept specific religious doctrine in order to not be punished for all eternity for their inherent evilness.
Now we Unitarian Universalists don’t buy into this, do we? In fact, our FIRST principle says that we affirm and promote the inherent worth and dignity of every person. UU minister and humorist Meg Barnhouse shared how difficult this was for her when she first came to UU. I’ll try to allow her spirit to embody me and tell you what she says about this.
“My experience of the Principles is that they are deeply demanding. The first one asks me to affirm and promote the inherent worth and dignity of every person, which means that I can no longer subscribe to the cheerful Calvinist doctrine of the total depravity of human nature. It sounds grim, but really, if you are in fact starting with a totally depraved nature, the opportunities for self-congratulation abound: “Hey, I didn’t knock over a 7-Eleven this afternoon, even though money’s pretty tight. I’m doing well!
Now I have to struggle with the worth and dignity of people who do unspeakably awful things, whereas the doctrine of total depravity made that one a no-brainer.”
I agree totally with you Meg.
So why do we have that as our principle? Are our eyes closed to the evil in people – including ourselves? NO—we know it’s there. Now some would say that EVIL is not born in us. That we evolved (or we given by God) goodness and empathy toward others, for the survival of the human race. These folks say that goodness is the default – the natural way to be. And it’s only when our psyches or our souls are broken in some ways – through perhaps childhood trauma, etc. or something in their environment that breaks them (like facing death) that we see folks “breaking bad.”
British Psychologist Steve Taylor, author of Out of the Darkness and Back to Sanity: Healing the Madness of the Human Mind, explains it this way. "‘Good’ means a lack of self-centeredness. It means the ability to empathise with other people, to feel compassion for them, and to put their needs before your own. It means, if necessary, sacrificing your own well-being for the sake of others’. It means benevolence, altruism and selflessness, and self-sacrifice towards a greater cause - all qualities which stem from a sense of empathy. It means being able to see beyond the superficial difference of race, gender or nationality and relate to a common human essence beneath them. (In contrast) …‘Evil’ people are those who are unable to empathise with others. As a result, their own needs and desires are of paramount importance. They are selfish, self-absorbed and narcissistic."
Those two descriptions both fit my penpal Jacob – who is serving a life sentence in one of those overcrowded prisons in California. The good description is him now – practically a saint. And the evil description is Jacob before prison and before he was on antipsychotic medication.
Most of us don’t need antipsychotics – but we do need Connection! I don’t know a lot – but I do know that CONNECTION with others helps to keep us whole—and when we lose connection, we sometimes lose our ability to empathize. And sometimes it’s because we never MAKE the connection.
The manager of Rum Runners in Statesboro has probably never really connected with folks outside his on “Southern Heritage” culture. So he doesn’t feel the hurt that many students feel when they walk by his establishment and see the big Plantation Room sign with rebel flags and cannons, or the signs that through coded language like “No Urban Wear” – say, in effect, “Whites Only.” I’ve tried to connect with HIM and ask to meet with him through a FaceBook message – but he hasn’t responded. (Since I initially wrote this sermon, a group of concerned folks had conversations with the owner in Savannah and the sign has been removed.)
And then others realize the complexity of labeling our actions in such dualistic terms anyway. What some see as bad, others may see as good – or even godly. The folks at my former church have thrown out their boy scout troup that has been a part of that church for generations. After the boy scouts finally entered this century and changed their rules to become more inclusive, some churches saw them as ungodly – and have decided to sponsor a Christian scouting organization instead. First Baptist pastor John Waters said (quote from WTOC article): "This wasn’t a knee jerk reaction. It wasn't something that we hastily decided. But with prayer and thoughtful guidance, we made the decision that there would be a better way." He also said that the new Christian organization – Trail Life - "will fit the culture of our church and the families of this community." I guess he doesn't recognize many of our families as part of this community.
Now – am I calling out Rum Runners manager Devon Bradford and Pastor John Waters as evil men? NO! I think they think they are doing the right thing. It just shows how much work we have to do in this community.
But WE are guilty too of thinking we are right when we are wrong. In our own lives, we take actions we think to HELP someone – then find that we have HURT someone with our actions. I know I’m not the only one who has done this folks – right? Yet, we KNOW some things are more caring, more loving, and that is why we have committed ourselves to these principles!
We WILL stand on the side of LOVE! Like the grandfather in our story for all ages advises, we will feed that good wolf in ourselves and in our community.
Thankfully -- Some of those that study good and evil – say that we actually choose good more than evil. In his article in UU World, Patrick O’Neill says: “People are almost equally capable of both good and evil, but most of the time—say, three times out of five—people choose the good. The seesaw tilts just a few degrees toward the good in this tentative world, but those few degrees are the difference between peace and Armageddon. The job of the church is to put the few stubborn ounces of our weight on the side of goodness, and press down for all we’re worth.”
That is what we strive to do here.
Oh, may it be so!
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