What I’m Going To Do Next…I Think
Jim Blue
April 23, 2005
We bid you welcome, you who come with weary spirits seeking rest.
We bid you welcome, you who come with hope in your hearts.
We bid you welcome, you who are seekers of a new faith.
We bid you welcome, you who enter this hall as a homecoming.
Whoever you are,
Whatever you are,
Wherever you are on your journey,
We bid you welcome.
#442, Richard S. Gilbert, adapted
Instead of a single reading, I have several short ones. After I read each, I’ll give you a few seconds to guess the author.
This comes from an under-appreciated modern philosopher:
More than any other time in history, mankind faces a crossroads.
One path leads to despair and utter hopelessness.
The other, to total extinction.
Let us pray we have the wisdom to choose correctly.
Woody Allen
This comes from a noted author of, among other things, children’s books:
I arise in the morning torn between
a desire to improve (or save) the world and
a desire to enjoy (or savor) the world.
This makes it hard to plan the day.
E. B. White
This one you should guess from my imitation:
When choosing between two evils,
I always like to try the one
I’ve never tried before.
Mae West
And this from one who is not under-appreciated:
When making a decision of minor importance,
I have always found it advantageous to consider
all the pros and cons.
In vital matters, however, such as the choice of a mate or a profession,
the decision should come from the unconscious,
from somewhere within ourselves.
In the important decisions of personal life, we should be governed, I think,
by the deep inner needs of our nature.
Sigmund Freud
This sermon was originally scheduled for January 23rd, but was snowed out. Thanks for waiting patiently for those three months. There’s been a lot of water under the bridge since then—a new minister hired, a successful pledge drive, and a new building that actually sticks up above the ground. Is this the same as January’s sermon? No, it has the same title, but isn’t the same sermon.
I’d like to start by introducing myself a bit. I used to be a scientist: I did physics, mathematics, and computer science. Now I’m retired; you might describe my current position as being on a full-time coffee break.
My professional goals have been accomplished. Or, in the words of a former colleague, “Our success has been made possible by sufficiently reduced goals.” No Nobel Prize, no MacArthur genius award.
As a retiree, I have lots of “spare time” and lots of interests. The good part is that I have the time and freedom to do lots of things. The bad part is that, when some asks me to do something, I don’t have the excuse of not having the time.
I like to have some major project going on, and don’t have one now. I mean something like working on a sizable computer program, or writing a book, or becoming expert on a new subject in order to teach a class. I mean something accomplishable in one lifetime—not something like achieving world peace or electing a Democratic president and congress.
Why did I think of giving a sermon on making decisions? Because I haven’t been able to decide what to do next. Because I was having a hard time deciding, I got to thinking about deciding itself. I’ve often found it useful to consider a broader question than the one at hand. That tends to give one perspective. It also allows one to postpone the original decision.
So, how do you decide?
First let me list some sample decisions you might be thinking about now, or have thought about recently.
These decisions fall in different categories, from the trivial to the difficult. How do we decide?
First let’s mention some bad ways to decide.
Listen to these statements:
These are examples of not deciding. We’ve all heard “Not to decide is to decide.” In fact, “Not to decide is to decide to change nothing.” Or perhaps, “Not to decide is to let others decide for you.” Often not deciding is the right decision, but it’s not always made for the right reasons.
I’d guess that most people don’t make any serious decisions until a decision is forced. Then they make a decision too quickly, and often poorly.
Listen to these statements:
These are examples of deciding without really thinking.
Using just these two strategies, you can avoid thinking entirely. Most people do.
A few more statements:
These are examples of faulty decision making. Here near the nation’s capital, we are blessed. We can hear more examples by listening to almost any confirmation hearing, press conference, or campaign speech. And that’s not just when the Republicans are in power.
Sometimes instead of deciding for ourselves, we defer to authority. This is a lot like deciding without thinking, but not exactly. We defer to sacred texts, to living people, and even to dead people.
You’ve probably seen this bumper sticker: WWJD. [Hold up sign] “What would Jesus do?” It does seem unlikely that we could really figure that out, though there’s no shortage of people who are sure that they know. And they don‘t agree with each other. And if we could figure it out, would we really do what Jesus recommends, such as sell all our possessions and give the money to the poor?
We don’t see this bumper sticker, WWMD. [Hold up sign] “What would Muhammad do?” Or, depending on your religious background, “What would Moses do?” How about WWBD? [Hold up sign] “What would the Buddha do? “
Here’s one suitable for Unitarian Universalists, WW?D. [Hold up sign]
The answers to these questions, if we could know them, would be different for the different prophets. For example: The Buddha, if he hasn’t changed his mind in the last 2500 years, would recommend changing how you react to the world, rather than trying to change the world.
But our authorities can’t always tell us exactly what to do. The rules they prescribe may be subject to interpretation. And they may be wrong, though stated authoritatively with the greatest of confidence.
I was a scientist. I tried to do things rationally. Can we make decisions rationally?
To make good decisions rationally, what do we need? You might think of some particular decision of your own and keep it in mind as I continue.
This multi-step process is not good for choosing which shirt to wear. And you’d better think fast on the fat dress question. But for questions of some importance…
Let’s start with our values and goals.
A common goal for all of us is to feel good about our lives. If that’s not one of your goals, it’s probably a bad sign. But this goal is vague. We all have other goals, of course, which will vary from person to person, from culture to culture, and from year to year.
What do you care about? What are your values? Where do values come from?
Some come from religion. The Ten Commandments, for example. These are actually Moral Rules, not values, but they embody values. There are many others. Most of us absorb these values as children, but we may reject them later. We are allowed to. It’s okay. We are not members of a dogmatic religion.
We have our own UU principles, in the middle of the back page of the order of service. These are values. Presumably, because you are here, you go along with these. I won’t go through them; you can think about them from time to time.
Some of us were or are Boy Scouts or Girl Scouts. How many Boy Scouts? Can you repeat the Boy Scout Law along with me?
A Scout is ...
trustworthy, loyal,
helpful, friendly,
courteous, kind,
obedient, cheerful,
thrifty, brave,
clean, and reverent.
These are values.
How many Girl Scouts? Reciting this is harder for most of you former Girl Scouts, because it changed sometime in the last few years.
I will do my best to be
honest and fair,
friendly and helpful,
considerate and caring,
courageous and strong, and
responsible for what I say and do,
and to
respect myself and others,
respect authority,
use resources wisely,
make the world a better place, and
be a sister to every Girl Scout.
These are a mixture of values and moral rules. Except for the last one, these sound quite Unitarian Universalist compared to the Boy Scout Law. (Note that the Boys are supposed to be obedient and thrifty, while the Girls are responsible and respectful.)
If you look at many cultures throughout the world and throughout history, you will find a few values that are common to all. Some of these are
I’ve stated these in a somewhat cynical form, or perhaps it’s just more realistically stated. One tends to be a bit cynical here. For example, in the book of Exodus, one of God’s commandments is “Thou shalt not kill,” but he wanted Joshua to kill all the Canaanites to make room for the Israelites. Or so the text says.
Back to values. Your values are something like life goals, though vague ones, and something like priorities.
You choose your own values, whether by unthinkingly accepting those that your parents, your peers, your schools, and your religious institutions have succeeded in indoctrinating into you.
You also choose the moral rules you live by. Your moral rules are based on your values.
Oh, oh. This is getting circular. In order to make decisions, you first have to make decisions about your values and your moral rules.
Circularity is not a real problem, though. You don’t have to do all this in one fell swoop. You can start by accepting the values you have, and later you can re-evaluate them.
How do we determine our values and our moral rules, if we don’t simply accept those from our childhood? That brings us to ethics, the branch of philosophy that deals with how to generate moral rules, and how to behave when moral rules conflict.
In the last three months I’ve read a lot about Ethics, the various schools and theories of Ethics, and I can say this unequivocally: you wouldn’t want to run your life according to their theories. Some of them are interesting as a help to thinking about decisions, though. I’ll mention just two, two that you are likely to have heard of somewhere along the way. I’ll be brief and drastically over-simplify.
Immanuel Kant had a fancy name, The Categorical Imperative, for a simple idea. (Remember your mother telling you, “What would the world be like if everyone behaved the same way that you do?”) If you are contemplating some action, first generalize that action into a moral rule that everyone in the world should follow. Then consider the consequences. For example, if everybody lied whenever they felt like it, it would clearly be a bad thing for society, so it should be a moral rule not to lie. Maybe. What about the fat friend with the new dress? Maybe the rule should have provisos.
On the other hand, suppose you were considering giving only a tiny amount to the church, much less than you could afford. If everybody did that, the church would go broke. That would be bad. So it’s not moral to give far less to the church than you can afford. Or some such moral rule. The pledge drive is almost over, but it’s not too late to raise your pledge.
John Stuart Mill’s idea goes by the name of Utilitarianism. Your actions should be those that maximize happiness and minimize unhappiness for the greatest number of people. This is hard to figure out. You might accept lying on your income tax, since it would make you much happier (more money) and not make anyone else very unhappy; it’s at least arguable. But clearly you should give your vacation money to a charity instead of going on vacation.
But how about choosing between a necessary and expensive operation for your own child and giving the money for AIDS prevention in Africa?
It’s at least worth thinking about some of these ethical ideas, but you wouldn’t want to commit yourself to them in advance.
Just a few words about assessing the consequences before deciding, as there’s only so much one should say in a single sermon. You can make faulty decisions if you incorrectly assess the consequences. Remember this one, “We will be greeted as liberators.” Don’t assume that the most favorable outcome is the one that actually will happen; be ready with a Plan B.
Let’s go back to values, priorities, and goals. Assume you have some. I find that it helps to write them down. It helps to write down the possible actions and your assessment of the possible and probable consequences. It helps even more to explain this to someone. That person doesn’t have to give you any advice—it’s the explaining that’s useful to you. For potentially life-changing decisions, you might even talk to your minister.
I don’t see any shortcut here. Writing it down and thinking about it. It’s hard.
Well, this isn’t earth-shattering advice, is it. Hardly. What do you expect in twenty or twenty-five minutes, anyway?
This reminded me of a quote from the novelist Aldous Huxley:
It is a bit embarrassing
to have been concerned with the human problem all one's life
and find at the end that one has no more to offer by way of advice than
“try to be a little kinder.”
What about my own decisions? Life is what happens when you’re trying to decide what to do next.
While I was thinking about deciding, I joined the Canvass Committee to work on this year’s pledge drive. I really wanted to spend my spare time in other ways, but this church is one of my priorities.
To summarize:
Remember that, even if you make the right decisions, things may not turn out well. In times of sorrow, as well as joy, you have this beloved community to turn to.
As an aid to thinking, you might want to have a pocket-sized copy of WWJD. When in doubt, you could look at this card and ask “What Would Jim Do?” Suitable copies can be made available for a small donation to the church.
And now you may decide whether or not to join me in singing Hymn #135, “How Happy Are They.” You may also decide to stand or to remain seated. Don’t take too long to decide or the hymn will be over.
The way is long — let us go together.
The way is difficult — let us help each other.
The way is joyful — let us share it.
The way is ours — let us go in love.
The way is now — let us begin.
Anonymous (from the Internet), adapted