Thursday, October 19, 2006

Freedom, Reason, Tolerance, and ...

Recently I've been trying to write something about the common beliefs and values shared by UU's. And so, of course, I went back to the well-known triumvirate of Freedom, Reason, and Tolerance. And it hit me like a ton of bricks that those three aren't enough. There's got to be more.

Why? Because none of the three will get you out of bed in the morning. Freedom opens up all kinds of possibilities for the people who do decide to get out bed. Reason tells you how you might achieve your goals, if only you had some goals. And Tolerance will keep you from wasting your energy trying to kill people who have different goals. All three are valuable, assuming that there is already some motive force in your life.

When we talk about Freedom, Reason, and Tolerance being the core our faith, we must be taking something else for granted. What could it be?