\nJohn Beckett
\nFirst Unitarian Universalist Church of Winnipeg
\nFebruary 27, 2022<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Who do you trust?<\/p>\n
I love to travel. I used to travel for business a fair amount, although that ended long before Covid killed business travel. So, on a few occasions, I found myself sitting in an exit row. If you\u2019ve ever been in an exit row or close to one, you know what happens. The flight attendant comes around and asks everyone \u201cin the case of an emergency are you willing and able to open the emergency exit door?\u201d I always give them the verbal \u201cyes\u201d they\u2019re required to get. But then, either out loud or in my head, I always add \u201cif that door has to be opened, I trust myself to do it a lot more than I trust someone I don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now, I\u2019ve never opened an emergency exit door. I don\u2019t know for sure that I can do it. But neither have any other passengers on that plane, and I trust myself to figure it out a lot more than I trust any of them.<\/p>\n
Who do you trust?<\/p>\n
When famous evangelist Billy Graham was a young man, he struggled with what he was told he had to believe \u2013 even though he was already preaching it. I think all of us who grew up in a conservative church can relate to that. He thought about his doubts for a while, but then he told a friend<\/a> that \u201che didn\u2019t have a good enough mind to settle deep theological questions.\u201d And so he put his trust in what he had been told growing up and he ignored his own thoughts.<\/p>\n Who do you trust?<\/p>\n From a young age, we\u2019re taught not to trust ourselves. Some of that makes sense. Children don\u2019t have the knowledge to identify risks and to assess mitigation strategies. More than that, the part of the brain that assesses risk doesn\u2019t completely mature until adulthood. Teenagers do risky things because they aren\u2019t fully capable of identifying what\u2019s dangerous and what\u2019s not.<\/p>\n But the message we\u2019re given when we\u2019re six years old is never really reversed. And there are plenty of people who are happy to keep it that way. Because if we don\u2019t trust ourselves, then we\u2019re left trusting someone else, someone who not only doesn\u2019t have our best interests at heart, but who doesn\u2019t share our values.<\/p>\n It is good to trust each other. It is good to trust in people whose character and expertise demonstrate that they\u2019re worth of your trust. This sermon, this service, isn\u2019t about figuring out who we shouldn\u2019t trust. It\u2019s about learning to trust ourselves.<\/p>\n A quote attributed to Plato says that the only people qualified for public office are those who don\u2019t want it. We\u2019re not just afraid of exercising power ourselves \u2013 we don\u2019t trust those who want power\u2026 often with good reason.<\/p>\n But the need and the opportunity for someone to exercise power is always there. Someone has to make a decision \u2013 even if it\u2019s just to decide what to have for dinner tonight.<\/p>\n Once a decision is made, someone has to implement it. Someone has to make sure everything that needs to get done does get done. And someone has to set and enforce standards: this we will do and this we will not do.<\/p>\n If you don\u2019t do it, someone else will.<\/p>\n Another quote attributed to Plato says that the penalty for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors. In the United States, voter turnout is typically under 60% in Presidential elections and lower than that in mid-term elections. In Canada, the average is only slightly higher. And that\u2019s just for voting \u2013 it says nothing about actually running for office.<\/p>\n When we abandon our power, it doesn\u2019t go away. It\u2019s always picked up by someone \u2013 someone who may use it in ways we would prefer they not.<\/p>\n Power is more than elections, whether for Parliament or Congress, or for the local church board. Power is also how we live our lives day to day, how we make choices that are either in the best interests of ourselves and our communities and in alignment with our values, or not.<\/p>\n We\u2019ve been taught all our lives to give up our power, to not trust ourselves. We can\u2019t change that with the flip of a switch. I occasionally see people post pretty pictures on social media with text that says \u201cI call all of my power back to me now.\u201d That can be a good start, but in and of itself it doesn\u2019t accomplish much.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve found six steps that use the power we already have \u2013 that we still have \u2013 to reclaim our power and to learn to trust ourselves.<\/p>\n The first is the power to observe<\/strong>. Before we do anything, we stop, and look, and listen. What do we see? What do we hear? What\u2019s really there?<\/p>\n As a Pagan, I often deal with things many UUs find incredible, or at least, unlikely. I tell people \u2013 and myself \u2013 that our experiences are always real, and we shouldn\u2019t let other people tell us we didn\u2019t really see and hear and do what we know we saw and heard and did. At the same time, our interpretations of those experiences may be more accurate or less accurate, more helpful or less helpful. The key is to separate the experience from the interpretation.<\/p>\n We begin to reclaim our power by finding the facts and by separating them from our ideas about what those facts mean \u2013 and especially from other people\u2019s ideas about what they mean.<\/p>\n The second is the power to reason<\/strong>. Once we observe something, we have to figure out what it means \u2013 if it means anything.<\/p>\n At its core, reason is the proper attribution of cause and effect. But too often we confuse correlation with causation. We make logical inferences that sound reasonable and perhaps are reasonable, but that don\u2019t hold up under testing. And even when our logic is sound, we have an evolutionary urge for simplicity. We\u2019re looking for the<\/em> cause or the<\/em> effect. In reality, life is far more complicated than that \u2013 a single outcome usually has many contributing causes.<\/p>\n Using the power to reason means refusing to settle for simple answers and digging for better answers.<\/p>\n The third is the power to reject other people\u2019s stories<\/strong>. As important as facts and reason are, they rarely win arguments. Stories win arguments. Stories win elections. But when we examine the stories some people tell us, we find that they don\u2019t match up with reality, or that they\u2019re not in alignment with our values. We can reject these stories.<\/p>\n When people tell us stories about who they are and the challenges they face in life, compassion demands that we listen, and listen closely. But when those in power tell us stories designed to frighten us into giving them even more power, integrity demands that we evaluate their stories very carefully.<\/p>\n We can reject unhelpful stories from the world of politics. We can reject unhelpful stories from the world of advertising. We can reject unhelpful stories from the world of religion.<\/p>\n We have the power to reject other people\u2019s stories.<\/p>\n The fourth is the power to choose<\/strong>. Rejecting someone else\u2019s story is only one step. If we don\u2019t fill that vacuum, old ways of thinking will creep back in. We need better stories, better ideas, better ways of thinking.<\/p>\n There are many stories. There are many approaches to the Big Questions of Life. There are many ways to live in community with other people and other species. Pick one.<\/p>\n No, it\u2019s not that simple. These are questions to be approached with deep reflection and consideration. But for every religious, political, or cultural issue, there are many possible approaches. You have the power to choose which one seems most right to you and best for you and your community.<\/p>\n The fifth is the power to begin<\/strong>. It\u2019s hard to accept the responsibilities of power. It\u2019s hard to convince ourselves that we\u2019re better off trusting ourselves after a lifetime of being told to just follow along. But we don\u2019t have to get there all at once. We just have to begin.<\/p>\n Start with one thing. Read one book. Pick up one new spiritual practice. Just ending something from your old ways isn\u2019t going to be enough \u2013 you have to fill the vacuum with something better.<\/p>\n Changing your life takes work and it takes time. But you have the power to take baby steps in that direction\u2026 and before long, baby steps become adult steps.<\/p>\n The sixth is the power to persevere<\/strong>. A quote of uncertain origins says that half of life is just showing up. But the other half is sticking with things long enough for them to pay off. It\u2019s not quitting when things get hard or unpleasant, or when unexpected obstacles arise. It\u2019s remembering why you started a journey in the first place, and what you expect to find when you get there.<\/p>\n We have the power to keep going.<\/p>\n Truly reclaiming our power \u2013 not through pleasant words but through action \u2013 is a good and necessary thing. But when we try to exercise that power in the wider world, we soon find that our power has limits. We are single individuals, and we often find ourselves opposed by parties, governments, corporations, and other collectives that are far more powerful than we can ever hope to be by ourselves.<\/p>\n The good news is that power is additive. Who\u2019s on your side? Perhaps more importantly, who\u2019s at your side? Who\u2019s standing with you, walking with you, as you reclaim your power, and as you oppose those who are using power unethically and ineffectively?<\/p>\n And also, who are you standing beside? Who are you supporting, at a personal level, at a community level, at the level of all of humanity?<\/p>\n As a Pagan, I would be remiss if I didn\u2019t point out that our ancestors are usually our most accessible allies. They lived through wars, famines, and plagues. If they hadn\u2019t made it through, you quite literally wouldn\u2019t be here. They live on in you. You carry their genes, and you carry their stories. Your continuation is their continuation. Your success is their success. Whether you believe they\u2019re spirits who can intercede on our behalf, or if you believe they\u2019re memories that can inspire and strengthen us \u2013 or both \u2013 if you\u2019re feeling weak, go talk to your ancestors. And then listen.<\/p>\n Reclaiming your power is a good thing. Exercising power is a good thing. Still, we remember Lord Acton\u2019s words \u201cpower corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely\u201d \u2013 and we see evidence he was right. How can we avoid falling into that trap?<\/p>\n One way is to stay connected to our core values and virtues, and the best way to do that is through regular spiritual practice. Prayer, meditation, and offerings. Reading and study. I\u2019m a UU and a Pagan \u2013 both sides of that identity love books. When we read and contemplate what we read, we remember why we wanted to exercise power in the first place \u2013 to make the world a better place, or at least, our little corner of it.<\/p>\n Another way is to make sure you\u2019ve got at least one friend, one colleague, who won\u2019t put up with any garbage from you. Someone who shares your values and wants to be sure you stay committed to them. Someone who can ask \u201care you sure you want to do that?\u201d Or when necessary, someone who can tell you \u201cno\u201d \u2013 and who you trust enough to believe them when they say it.<\/p>\n We all need someone who can tell us \u201cno.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/243\/2022\/02\/crow-in-tree-12.11.21-01.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nThe nature of power in human societies<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nReclaiming power as individuals<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nPower is additive \u2013 who\u2019s on your side?<\/h2>\n
Keeping yourself from being corrupted<\/h2>\n