UUHoulton Support  PageJanuary 23, 2022

This week we are continuing our eight-part series on “The Book of Hope” co-authored by Jane Goodall and Douglas Abrams. We are looking at Jane’s second reason for hope and hopefulness in our changing and challenging world, the resiliency of nature.

We also have supplemental material in this week’s support page from session two on “The Amazing Human Intellect.”  

A few years ago Travis Humphrey recorded an album of blues, folk and gospel music titled “The Roadside Gospel Hour” and he has agreed to re-record videos of several of the songs for our series on hope in hard times. This week he shares one of his original compositions, “Waiting for the Sun to Shine.” 

The service will be available at 10AM on our YouTube Channel followed by Zoom check-in and coffee hour at 11AM. You’ll find the links listed below.  

Have a good week-end.
In Ministry,

Dave

HERE IS THE SERVICE LINK FOR THIS WEEK’S SERVICE(Please note it won’t be active until 10AM on Sunday morning) 
https://youtu.be/olbhhT13PCw

HERE IS THE ZOOM LINK FOR SUNDAY:
David Hutchinson is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: UUHoulton coffee hour and check-inTime: Jan 23, 2022 11:00 AM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Join Zoom Meeting

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/83783793362?pwd=U2hiK0VsYm5qRjNQbStGVWhyYnFLQT09
Meeting ID: 837 8379 3362 Passcode: 198275

Virtual Offering Plate

If you would like to send in your pledge or donation simply drop an envelope in the mail. The address is listed below.  You can also send your donation electronically with our new payment system on the church website.  Simply go to uuhoulton.org  and click “Donate” on the menu and it will explain how the system works. You can set up a regular monthly payment plan or donate in single transactions.  Thank you for your generous support!  

UU Church of Houlton

61 Military Street

Houlton, ME  04730

Recommended Viewing: This is the film that Linda & I watched about Jane Goodall as we prepped for the current book series.

Jane (2017)National Geographic film rental from Amazon Prime Video $3.99

Jane

“Set to an almost overwhelmingly emotional original score by Philip Glass, this is a wondrous and moving account of a remarkable life that puts us right there with Goodall.”

“JANE may be neither the first nor the last film on the pioneering British primatologist, but it will likely stand as the definitive portrait.”

“She’s an inspiring subject, honored here in a truly stirring legacy portrait.”

Wondrous!

DAVID ROONEY, THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

Drawing from over 100 hours of never-before-seen footage that has been tucked away in the National Geographic archives for over 50 years, award-winning director Brett Morgen tells the story of JANE, a woman whose chimpanzee research challenged the male-dominated scientific consensus of her time and revolutionized our understanding of the natural world. Set to a rich orchestral score from legendary composer Philip Glass, the film offers an unprecedented, intimate portrait of Jane Goodall — a trailblazer who defied the odds to become one of the world’s most admired conservationists. 

Rated: PG
Release Date: November 24, 2017

Session Two Supplemental Material
The Book of Hope  (part 2)The Amazing Human Intellect  

Today in part two of our series we look at the first point in Jane’s four point outline of why she is hopeful for the current and future state of the human race on our earth-planet home. As we have already seen, this is not an easy case to make; there are very real concerns to contend with and the odds (especially if you look at the current headlines and statistics of hard science) the odds do not look like they are in our favor. And yet, Jane is convinced we have a shot (a hopeful shot) at making it. 

Her first reason for hope is “the amazing human intellect.”
We’re going to start off with a couple of Q&As. Here is the first one…

Question: Why is the human intellect one of your reasons for hope?

Answer:  Well, it is what makes us most different from chimpanzees and other animals, the explosive development of our intellect, the part of our brain that reason and solves problems.

It was Jane’s research itself that expanded our knowledge of animal intelligence. As recently as the early 1960s Western Science still believed that only humans possessed intelligence capable of performing certain tasks or complex communication.

Humans were defined as “Man the toolmaker.” After Jane documented chimpanzees in the wild making tools going about their business, the textbooks had to be changed and our relationship to the natural world was redefined. 
Yet, even with the amazing intellectual capabilities of the chimpanzee, Jane notes the wide gap between chimp and human. Jane comments,
Even though chimpanzees, our closest living relatives, can perform well at all kinds of intelligence tests, even the brightest chimpanzee could not design that rocket from which crept a robot that was programmed to crawl around the surface of the Red Planet – Mars taking photos for scientists on Earth to study. Humans have done such incredible things…(and she goes on to list some of our impressive achievements over human history.) 

Question #2
Question: But if we’re so much more intelligent than other animals how come we do so many stupid things?
Answer: Ah, said Jane. That’s why I say ‘intellectual’ rather than ‘intelligent.’ An intelligent animal wold not destroy its only home – which is what we’ve been doing for a very long time. Of course, some people are highly intelligent, but so many are not. We labeled ourselves Home Sapiens, the “wise man,” but unfortunately there is not enough wisdom in the world today…So our intellect in itself is neither good nor bad – it depends on how we humans choose to use it – to make the world better or to destroy it. That’s where our intellect and our use of words and language makes us different than other animals. We are both worse and better, because we have the ability to choose. (Jane smiles and says) We’re half sinner and half saint.

then Doug asks…
So in the end, which wins out – the evil or the good? Are we fifty-one percent good or fifty-one percent evil?
Jane: Well, there’s plenty of evidence for both sides of this debate, but I think we’re still split down the middle. Humans are incredibly adaptive and will do whatever is required to survive in their environment. The environment we create will determine what prevails. In other words, what we nurture and encourage wins.

Doug’s observation (comment)
What I had been calling good and evil were simply the qualities of kindness and cruelty, generosity and selfishness, tenderness and aggression that we had evolved to survive in different environments and under different circumstances. And as Jane had said, we will do whatever it takes to survive in the world. If we live in a society with a reasonable standards of living and some degreee of social justice, the generous and peaceful aspects of our nature are likely to prevail; while in a society fractal discrimination and economic injustice, violence will thrive.  

So personally this is one of my greatest concerns right now. As living conditions and quality of life continue to deteriorate in our society and on our planet, now and in the coming years, can we as a highly evolved species handle the stressors that are introduced and respond and adapt in a creative manner or will we succumb to our baser instincts and behave poorly? As it is often said, a crisis can bring out the best in our human capabilities or it can bring out the worst.

Doug shares that In Jane’s life from the Holocaust in Europe, to personal tragedy and violence in Africa to being in New York on 9/11 when terrorists flew planes into the Twin towers Jane has stared int the face of evil – she understands only too well the dark side of our human nature. But Jane being Jane is always quick to see the wider perspective.
“Still,” she said, as if addressing her own dark thoughts, “even though there is a lot of violence and evil in the world, from a historical perspective we can see a lot of change for the good…over the couple of million years that we have been humans, I do think we have increasingly become more caring and compassionate. And although there is much cruelty and injustice everywhere there is general agreement that these behaviors are wrong. And more people understand what is going on thanks to the media. And when all’s said and done I do honestly believe that a far greater percentage of people are basically decent and kind.

So what needs to happen? Doug asks. How do we evolve into better, more compassionate more peaceful creatures?
Doug had brought her a gift from New York a bottle of  Green Label Johnnie Walker whisky.  Jane and her mother, who went along with her to Gombe, Africa on her first assignment had an evening ritual of having a wee dram of whisky every night. After she left they continued the nightly custom of raising a glass to each other at 7PM each night no matter where they might be in the world. 
Jane poured the wee drams as she considered my question.
We need a new universal moral code. Jane suddenly laughed. (she realizes it’s already been done.) I’ve just thought – every single major religion gives lip service to the golden Rule – Do unto others as you have them do unto you. So it’s easy. there is the universal code. We just have to find a way to persuade people to honor it! It does seem impossible, doesn’t it, given all our human failings. Greed. Selfishness. Lust for power and wealth.

Doug: Yes, I said – and then, tongue in cheek, said, after all, we’re only human!
Jane took a sip.

She laughed, then added. But I do honestly think we’re moving in the right direction.
I think maybe it takes a lot of time in our evolution for us to realize that we can never attain our full human potential unless our head and our heart work together…A great deal of our onslaught on Mother Nature is not really lack of intelligence but a lack of compassion for future generations and the health of the planet: sheer selfish greed for short-term benefits to increase the wealth and power of individuals, corporations and governments. The rest is due to thoughtlessness lack of education, and poverty. In other words there seems to be a disconnect between our clever brain and our compassionate heart. True wisdom requires both thinking with our head and understanding with our heart… Without head and heart working together, without cleverness and compassion, the future is very grim. but hope is essential, for without it, we become apathetic, and well will continue to destroy our children’s future. Hope is essential.

Closing hope quote:
“Each time a person stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.” 
― Robert F. Kennedy

New York Times  article from January 21, 2022By Amanda Gorman

Amanda Gorman is a poet and the author of “The Hill We Climb” and “Call Us What We Carry.”

It’s told like this: Amanda Gorman performed at the inauguration and the rest is history.

The truth is I almost declined to be the inaugural poet. Why?

I was terrified.

I was scared of failing my people, my poetry. But I was also terrified on a physical level. Covid was still raging, and my age group couldn’t get vaccinated yet. Just a few weeks before, domestic terrorists assaulted the U.S. Capitol, the very steps where I would recite. I didn’t know then that I’d become famous, but I did know at the inauguration I was going to become highly visible — which is a very dangerous thing to be in America, especially if you’re Black and outspoken and have no Secret Service.

It didn’t help that I was getting DMs from friends telling me not-so-jokingly to buy a bulletproof vest. My mom had us crouch in our living room so that she could practice shielding my body from bullets. A loved one warned me to “be ready to die” if I went to the Capitol building, telling me, “It’s just not worth it.” I had insomnia and nightmares, barely ate or drank for days. I finally wrote to some close friends and family, telling them that I was most likely going to pull out of the ceremony.I got some texts praising the Lord. I got called pathologically insane. But I knew only I could answer the question for myself: Was this poem worth it?

The night before I was to give the Inaugural Committee my final decision felt like the longest of my life. My neighborhood was eerily quiet in that early morning dark, though I strained my ears for noise to distract me from the choice that lay ahead. It felt like my little world stood still. And then it struck me: Maybe being brave enough doesn’t mean lessening my fear, but listening to it. I closed my eyes in bed and let myself utter all the leviathans that scared me, both monstrous and minuscule. What stood out most of all was the worry that I’d spend the rest of my life wondering what this poem could have achieved. There was only one way to find out.

By the time the sun rose I knew one thing for sure: I was going to be the 2021 inaugural poet. I can’t say I was completely confident in my choice, but I was completely committed to it.

I’m a firm believer that often terror is trying to tell us of a force far greater than despair. In this way, I look at fear not as cowardice, but as a call forward, a summons to fight for what we hold dear. And now more than ever, we have every right to be affected, afflicted, affronted. If you’re alive, you’re afraid. If you’re not afraid, then you’re not paying attention. The only thing we have to fear is having no fear itself — having no feeling on behalf of whom and what we’ve lost, whom and what we love.On the morning of Inauguration Day, I went through the motions of getting ready on autopilot, mindless and mechanical, doing my hair and make up even as I anxiously practiced my poem. On the way to the Capitol building I recited the mantra I say before any performance: I am the daughter of Black writers. We’re descended from freedom fighters who broke their chains and they changed the world. They call me.Though I spent the next hour shivering in my seat from nerves and the unforgiving January cold, as I stepped up to the dais to recite, I felt warm, like the words waiting in my mouth were aflame. It seemed that the world stood still. I looked out and spoke to it. I haven’t looked back.

On that Jan. 20, what I found waiting beyond my fear was every person who searched beyond their own fears to find space for hope in their lives, who welcomed the impact of a poem into protests, hospitals, classrooms, conversations, living rooms, offices, art and all manner of moments. I may have worked on the words, but it was other people who put those words to work. What we’ve seen isn’t just the power of a poem. It’s the power of the people.

Yet while the inauguration might have seemed like a ray of light, this past year for many has felt like a return to the same old gloom. Our nation is still haunted by disease, inequality and environmental crises. But though our fears may be the same, we are not. If nothing else, this must be known: Even as we’ve grieved, we’ve grown; even fatigued we’ve found that this hill we climb is one we must mount together. We are battered, but bolder; worn, but wiser. I’m not telling you to not be tired or afraid. If anything, the very fact that we’re weary means we are, by definition, changed; we are brave enough to listen to, and learn from, our fear. This time will be different because this time we’ll be different. We already are.

And yes, I still am terrified every day. Yet fear can be love trying its best in the dark. So do not fear your fear. Own it. Free it. This isn’t a liberation that I or anyone can give you — it’s a power you must look for, learn, love, lead and locate for yourself.

Why? The truth is, hope isn’t a promise we give. It’s a promise we live. Tell it like this, and we, like our words, will not rest.And the rest is history.

Joys & Concerns
When one of us is blessed we are all blessed.

When one of us experiences sorrow we all feel the pain.

Vietnamese Buddhist monk Thich Naht Han died early today (Saturday) at the age of 95. We’ll light a candle for him in next week’s service .

Please send in joys and concerns during the week to dave@backwoodsblog.com and I will post them on the Support Page.

Prayer List
For those recovering from COVID-19 in the state of Maine

Local emergency personnel and hospital staff

For our state and national leaders as they respond to the current coronavirus crisisFor those working for social justice and societal change 

Pray for peaceful action and democratic process in our nation

Prayers for refugees in Eastern Europe, Central America and for those along our southern border

Concerns regarding the new covid variant Omicron 

Prayers for those who have lost their homes in the recent Colorado fires Prayers for those who died in the apartment fire in the Bronx and their grieving families

The Four Limitless Ones Prayer
May all sentient beings enjoy happiness and the root of happiness.

May we be free from suffering and the root of suffering.

May we not be separated from the great happiness devoid of suffering.

May we dwell in the great equanimity free from anger, aggression and exclusion.