The Pursuit of Happiness
Sermon given at TheBrookfield Unitarian Universalist Church
December 3, 2017
by The Rev. Craig M. Nowak
In a piece entitled, “Despair Is a Lie We Tell Ourselves”, playwright Tony Kushner recalls something a Chicago cab driver once told him, “If there’s a supernova sixty light-years from here, the world will be totally wiped out. We don’t stand a chance.” Kushner goes on to reflect that life, “each individual life and our collective life on the planet, is a teleological game.” Similarly, Robbie Walsh reminds us in our second reading this morning, “as long as there is life in the world, the story of the world is still being told…nothing is settled…everything matters.”
Both Kushner and Walsh know that life is not infinite. Individuals die, species go extinct, and one day all we know will no longer exist. It’s a pretty sobering realization. And one we are slow to accept. Leading the Buddha to observe then teach grasping at the ephemeral as cause of suffering and Jesus to proclaim the Kingdom of God here and now, setting the threshold at egoic, rather than physical, death.
Far from being grim kill-joys, Kushner, Walsh and spiritual leaders like the Buddha and Jesus seek to awaken joy. Indeed their observations and teachings, in the midst of impermanence, point us toward, not away, from the pursuit of happiness.
Still, a good many Buddhists and Christians - and the rest of us for that matter- spend a lot of time engaged in the pursuit not of happiness, but despair. Planting, feeding and tending- like dedicated gardeners- regrets, rage, resentments and worry, cultivating within us a deep sense of powerlessness. And as our garden of despair grows our spirit can wither and be overtaken by the invasive weed of cynicism.
At which point the Buddha might further remind us, “Whatever a monk keeps pursuing with his thinking and pondering, that becomes the inclination of his awareness.” Or Jesus might deliver this verbal kick in the pants, “…can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life?”
Again the underlying message…Stop growing what does not feed you. Pursue happiness!
Ah, but always, our responsive reading this morning reminded us, “it is easier to pay homage to prophets than to heed the direction of their vision.”
It’s almost like we kind of like what they say, but we’re somehow convinced we or our life situation is one of the rare exceptions for which their insights and teachings don’t apply or are simply too unworkable to be worth the effort. Yet, to borrow from Tony Kushner, the exception argument is a lie we tell ourselves.
The Buddha, Jesus, Tony Kushner, Robbie Walsh… and indeed we all know there’s a lot of things in this world that we don’t have much, if any say in, including our finitude. Concerning these, prophets past and present tell us, “don’t worry.”
But they also remind us that we do in fact have a say in something rather extraordinary. Namely, what the meaning of our lives will be. As Robbie Walsh reminds us, “The meaning of your life is not contained within one act, or one day, or one year. As long as you are alive the story of your life is still being told, and the meaning is still open.”
So what are you going to do?
Stop worrying and pursue happiness!
I realize as I stand here saying this, anyone who watches, reads or listens to the news, even by accident, knows that what is going on in the world outside these walls, in public and private lives is often frightening, disturbing, unjust and some of it assuredly immoral and evil. And so some of you may be wondering how can I stand here and say to you, “Don’t worry. Pursue happiness.”
First, let me assure you I’m not pitching some Unitarian Universalist version of the prosperity gospel to you.
The wisdom of a saying credited simply to the Talmud from the Jewish tradition instructs, “Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world's grief. Do justly, now. Love mercy, now. Walk humbly, now. You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it.”
The thing is, “Don’t worry” doesn’t mean, “Don’t care.” It doesn’t mean ignore injustice or other offenses to human dignity, the life we share this planet with or the planet itself, our common home. Don’t worry simply means release any fear of your inadequacy or unworthiness. In other words, be secure in your wholeness, your beloved-ness, your enough-ness, even if you can’t always see it. That is part of what it means to have faith.
And the pursuit of happiness…what does that mean?
Does it, as some (perhaps many) today believe, mean a license to do whatever we can afford to that makes us subjectively happy, whether legally permissible or not?
That is one understanding. But I don’t see Jesus, the Buddha or any venerable spiritual teacher or tradition promoting such a thin understanding. The ancient Greeks didn’t see it so narrowly either. Nor did the founders of this nation, who claimed the unalienable right to the pursuit of happiness, in the Declaration of Independence. All of whom understood human beings as social beings; individuals and interconnected.
The late theologian Howard Thurman said, “Don't ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”
Thurman’s words capture an awareness of our individuality and interconnectedness and how these are reconciled in the pursuit of happiness. Indeed, Thurman’s insight closely aligns with that of the Hindu sage Ramana Maharshi, “Your own Self-realization is the greatest service you can render the world.”
Tony Kushner offers us a contemporary view. He imagines being able to greet the supernova his cabbie talked about and to say, “Hello supernova, we have been expecting you, we know all about you, because in our schools we teach science and not creationism…And we would like to say, supernova, in the moment before we are returned by your protean fire to our previous inchoate state…we’d like to declare that we have tried our best and worked hard to make a good and just and free and peaceful world, a world that is better for our having been there…”
I wonder… is Kushner’s declaration one humanity could honestly make if faced with a supernova today, tomorrow, or the day after that?
I don’t know.
What I do know is that I’d like to be able to honestly make such a declaration even if humanity as a whole can’t. And I know I’m not alone, indeed…we…are not alone.
I say we, because together as Unitarian Universalists, we are part of a long history of religious people who have chosen, “a road less traveled.” Seeking to discern and live lives that when our life has reached its end, we could say honestly, “that we have tried our best and worked hard to make a good and just and free and peaceful world, a world that is better for our having been there.”
For this we, and others who have similarly chosen to dissent from conventional or officially sanctioned views or doctrines, have been declared heretics. A label and frequent criminal offense that was often accompanied by execution, persecution, imprisonment, banishment, and censorship. Today the label heretic is something of a badge of honor among some Unitarian Universalists. It is even alluded to when we describe Unitarian Universalism as a “chosen faith.” For the word heretic comes from the Greek meaning, “able to choose.”
Of course, Unitarian Universalists aren’t history’s only heretics. And religion is not the only context in which heresy arises. The founding of the United States is rooted in political heresy. With the the Declaration of Independence, mentioned earlier, the colonists sought not simply to separate from England, they, chose to venture down a different path and in so doing to author with their lives a new chapter in their own individual lives and the larger narrative of the world, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
The pursuit of happiness is a story ever waiting to be told and retold through the lives of those who would take the road less traveled. It is a heretical story. A story of people living into the fullness of their humanity to the benefit of self and the common good. It is a story that runs counter to the ways of the world and therefore a story which is chosen, not given. It is a story we choose by our thoughts, words and actions as people faith, family members and friends, strangers, local and global citizens.
And it is a story thickened here through participation in religious community and religious observances, such as Advent, in which we prepare ourselves for the indwelling of hope, love, peace and joy. And through spiritual practices such as the loving kindness meditation we sang as our second hymn, and which helps us cultivate and practice compassion for ourselves and others.
In these anxious times in American and global political and social life and this expectant season of light for Christians, Jews and pagans alike, the voices of the prophets can be heard echoing in the silence of our hearts and minds. Reminding us once again, so long as we are alive, the story of our lives- and the world- is still being told. Nothing is settled, everything matters. Calling us to the road not taken that when our lives are done and we meet our maker, face a supernova, look into the eyes of our loves ones or gaze into our own in the mirror one last time, we can say, honestly we did our best and rest peacefully knowing the world is indeed better for our having been in it… in the pursuit of happiness. May it be so.
Amen and Blessed Be
Sermon given at TheBrookfield Unitarian Universalist Church
December 3, 2017
by The Rev. Craig M. Nowak
In a piece entitled, “Despair Is a Lie We Tell Ourselves”, playwright Tony Kushner recalls something a Chicago cab driver once told him, “If there’s a supernova sixty light-years from here, the world will be totally wiped out. We don’t stand a chance.” Kushner goes on to reflect that life, “each individual life and our collective life on the planet, is a teleological game.” Similarly, Robbie Walsh reminds us in our second reading this morning, “as long as there is life in the world, the story of the world is still being told…nothing is settled…everything matters.”
Both Kushner and Walsh know that life is not infinite. Individuals die, species go extinct, and one day all we know will no longer exist. It’s a pretty sobering realization. And one we are slow to accept. Leading the Buddha to observe then teach grasping at the ephemeral as cause of suffering and Jesus to proclaim the Kingdom of God here and now, setting the threshold at egoic, rather than physical, death.
Far from being grim kill-joys, Kushner, Walsh and spiritual leaders like the Buddha and Jesus seek to awaken joy. Indeed their observations and teachings, in the midst of impermanence, point us toward, not away, from the pursuit of happiness.
Still, a good many Buddhists and Christians - and the rest of us for that matter- spend a lot of time engaged in the pursuit not of happiness, but despair. Planting, feeding and tending- like dedicated gardeners- regrets, rage, resentments and worry, cultivating within us a deep sense of powerlessness. And as our garden of despair grows our spirit can wither and be overtaken by the invasive weed of cynicism.
At which point the Buddha might further remind us, “Whatever a monk keeps pursuing with his thinking and pondering, that becomes the inclination of his awareness.” Or Jesus might deliver this verbal kick in the pants, “…can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life?”
Again the underlying message…Stop growing what does not feed you. Pursue happiness!
Ah, but always, our responsive reading this morning reminded us, “it is easier to pay homage to prophets than to heed the direction of their vision.”
It’s almost like we kind of like what they say, but we’re somehow convinced we or our life situation is one of the rare exceptions for which their insights and teachings don’t apply or are simply too unworkable to be worth the effort. Yet, to borrow from Tony Kushner, the exception argument is a lie we tell ourselves.
The Buddha, Jesus, Tony Kushner, Robbie Walsh… and indeed we all know there’s a lot of things in this world that we don’t have much, if any say in, including our finitude. Concerning these, prophets past and present tell us, “don’t worry.”
But they also remind us that we do in fact have a say in something rather extraordinary. Namely, what the meaning of our lives will be. As Robbie Walsh reminds us, “The meaning of your life is not contained within one act, or one day, or one year. As long as you are alive the story of your life is still being told, and the meaning is still open.”
So what are you going to do?
Stop worrying and pursue happiness!
I realize as I stand here saying this, anyone who watches, reads or listens to the news, even by accident, knows that what is going on in the world outside these walls, in public and private lives is often frightening, disturbing, unjust and some of it assuredly immoral and evil. And so some of you may be wondering how can I stand here and say to you, “Don’t worry. Pursue happiness.”
First, let me assure you I’m not pitching some Unitarian Universalist version of the prosperity gospel to you.
The wisdom of a saying credited simply to the Talmud from the Jewish tradition instructs, “Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world's grief. Do justly, now. Love mercy, now. Walk humbly, now. You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it.”
The thing is, “Don’t worry” doesn’t mean, “Don’t care.” It doesn’t mean ignore injustice or other offenses to human dignity, the life we share this planet with or the planet itself, our common home. Don’t worry simply means release any fear of your inadequacy or unworthiness. In other words, be secure in your wholeness, your beloved-ness, your enough-ness, even if you can’t always see it. That is part of what it means to have faith.
And the pursuit of happiness…what does that mean?
Does it, as some (perhaps many) today believe, mean a license to do whatever we can afford to that makes us subjectively happy, whether legally permissible or not?
That is one understanding. But I don’t see Jesus, the Buddha or any venerable spiritual teacher or tradition promoting such a thin understanding. The ancient Greeks didn’t see it so narrowly either. Nor did the founders of this nation, who claimed the unalienable right to the pursuit of happiness, in the Declaration of Independence. All of whom understood human beings as social beings; individuals and interconnected.
The late theologian Howard Thurman said, “Don't ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”
Thurman’s words capture an awareness of our individuality and interconnectedness and how these are reconciled in the pursuit of happiness. Indeed, Thurman’s insight closely aligns with that of the Hindu sage Ramana Maharshi, “Your own Self-realization is the greatest service you can render the world.”
Tony Kushner offers us a contemporary view. He imagines being able to greet the supernova his cabbie talked about and to say, “Hello supernova, we have been expecting you, we know all about you, because in our schools we teach science and not creationism…And we would like to say, supernova, in the moment before we are returned by your protean fire to our previous inchoate state…we’d like to declare that we have tried our best and worked hard to make a good and just and free and peaceful world, a world that is better for our having been there…”
I wonder… is Kushner’s declaration one humanity could honestly make if faced with a supernova today, tomorrow, or the day after that?
I don’t know.
What I do know is that I’d like to be able to honestly make such a declaration even if humanity as a whole can’t. And I know I’m not alone, indeed…we…are not alone.
I say we, because together as Unitarian Universalists, we are part of a long history of religious people who have chosen, “a road less traveled.” Seeking to discern and live lives that when our life has reached its end, we could say honestly, “that we have tried our best and worked hard to make a good and just and free and peaceful world, a world that is better for our having been there.”
For this we, and others who have similarly chosen to dissent from conventional or officially sanctioned views or doctrines, have been declared heretics. A label and frequent criminal offense that was often accompanied by execution, persecution, imprisonment, banishment, and censorship. Today the label heretic is something of a badge of honor among some Unitarian Universalists. It is even alluded to when we describe Unitarian Universalism as a “chosen faith.” For the word heretic comes from the Greek meaning, “able to choose.”
Of course, Unitarian Universalists aren’t history’s only heretics. And religion is not the only context in which heresy arises. The founding of the United States is rooted in political heresy. With the the Declaration of Independence, mentioned earlier, the colonists sought not simply to separate from England, they, chose to venture down a different path and in so doing to author with their lives a new chapter in their own individual lives and the larger narrative of the world, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
The pursuit of happiness is a story ever waiting to be told and retold through the lives of those who would take the road less traveled. It is a heretical story. A story of people living into the fullness of their humanity to the benefit of self and the common good. It is a story that runs counter to the ways of the world and therefore a story which is chosen, not given. It is a story we choose by our thoughts, words and actions as people faith, family members and friends, strangers, local and global citizens.
And it is a story thickened here through participation in religious community and religious observances, such as Advent, in which we prepare ourselves for the indwelling of hope, love, peace and joy. And through spiritual practices such as the loving kindness meditation we sang as our second hymn, and which helps us cultivate and practice compassion for ourselves and others.
In these anxious times in American and global political and social life and this expectant season of light for Christians, Jews and pagans alike, the voices of the prophets can be heard echoing in the silence of our hearts and minds. Reminding us once again, so long as we are alive, the story of our lives- and the world- is still being told. Nothing is settled, everything matters. Calling us to the road not taken that when our lives are done and we meet our maker, face a supernova, look into the eyes of our loves ones or gaze into our own in the mirror one last time, we can say, honestly we did our best and rest peacefully knowing the world is indeed better for our having been in it… in the pursuit of happiness. May it be so.
Amen and Blessed Be
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