Religious Education Update: May 18, 2008
Grasping the Tao
Our children and youth share a moving affirmation each Sunday in which they state that that we UU’s have “open minds, warm hearts and welcoming hands.” I cherish their affirmation, as it presents Unitarian Universalism in a positive, accessible way.
However, I recently had an experience in which I had to re-evaluate my own capacity to be open-minded. I was sitting in my Comparative Religion class at Santa Rosa Junior College, and our guest speaker was an ordained Taoist priest, raised in America. He is a rare person who has an intimate understanding of both Western and Eastern thought. He spoke of the importance of clarity and certainty for native speakers of English and German. Those of us who first learn to speak in these languages may have a harder time accepting the inherent ambiguity of Chinese religions.
He used the example of a beautifully arranged flower bouquet. On the one hand, the bouquet is artistic and esthetically pleasing. On the other hand, it is composed of flowers which have been cut off from their roots and will soon wither and die. Is the arranger an artist or a “flower assassin”? Both answers are equally true and valid: the yin and yang of flower arranging. Someone brought up in a Chinese religion is likely more accustomed to holding the two opposites in mind, considering both to be true. As a Westerner, I’m more likely to declare that something is true or false, right or wrong, and then to pronounce my judgment in a clear, non-ambiguous statement.
The Taoist priest continued his discussion, talking about reincarnation without the existence of individual souls, our existence in the Stream of Life, in which we manifest ourselves as part of the “immortal body”, and our functioning in the world without a true self. These concepts are challenging to someone like myself, raised with Western concepts of the importance of the individual and clear, moral judgments.
I failed to grasp the Tao this week, but knew that whatever part I could understand is not the Tao. I left class knowing that my brain hurt, and that having a “open mind” can be really difficult.
Marlene Abel
Director of Religious Education
Our children and youth share a moving affirmation each Sunday in which they state that that we UU’s have “open minds, warm hearts and welcoming hands.” I cherish their affirmation, as it presents Unitarian Universalism in a positive, accessible way.
However, I recently had an experience in which I had to re-evaluate my own capacity to be open-minded. I was sitting in my Comparative Religion class at Santa Rosa Junior College, and our guest speaker was an ordained Taoist priest, raised in America. He is a rare person who has an intimate understanding of both Western and Eastern thought. He spoke of the importance of clarity and certainty for native speakers of English and German. Those of us who first learn to speak in these languages may have a harder time accepting the inherent ambiguity of Chinese religions.
He used the example of a beautifully arranged flower bouquet. On the one hand, the bouquet is artistic and esthetically pleasing. On the other hand, it is composed of flowers which have been cut off from their roots and will soon wither and die. Is the arranger an artist or a “flower assassin”? Both answers are equally true and valid: the yin and yang of flower arranging. Someone brought up in a Chinese religion is likely more accustomed to holding the two opposites in mind, considering both to be true. As a Westerner, I’m more likely to declare that something is true or false, right or wrong, and then to pronounce my judgment in a clear, non-ambiguous statement.
The Taoist priest continued his discussion, talking about reincarnation without the existence of individual souls, our existence in the Stream of Life, in which we manifest ourselves as part of the “immortal body”, and our functioning in the world without a true self. These concepts are challenging to someone like myself, raised with Western concepts of the importance of the individual and clear, moral judgments.
I failed to grasp the Tao this week, but knew that whatever part I could understand is not the Tao. I left class knowing that my brain hurt, and that having a “open mind” can be really difficult.
Marlene Abel
Director of Religious Education
posted by Unitarian Universalists of Petaluma @ 5:54 PM
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