Introductory Words

I begin with these words from the pen of Camus.

I once asked the Bishop of Geneva what one must do to attain perfection. "You must love God with all your heart," he answered, "and your neighbor as yourself."

"I did not ask wherein perfection lies," I rejoined, "but how to attain it." "Charity," he said again, "that is both the means and the end, the only way by which we can reach that perfection which is, after all, but Charity itself . . . .Just as the soul is the life of the body, so charity is the life of the soul."

"I know all that," I said. "But I want to know how one is to love God with all one's heart and one's neighbor as oneself."

But again he answered, "We must love God with all our hearts, and our neighbor as ourselves."

"I am no further than I was," I replied. "Tell me how to acquire such love."

"The best way, the shortest and easiest way of loving God with all one's heart is to love God wholly and heartily!"

He would give no other answer. At last, however, the Bishop said, "There are many besides you who want me to tell them the methods and systems and secret ways of becoming perfect, and I can only tell them that the sole secret is a hearty love of God, and the only way of attaining that love is by loving. You learn to speak by speaking, to study by studying, to run by running, to work by working; and just so you learn to love God and man by loving. All those who think to learn in any other way deceive themselves. If you want to love God, go on loving God more and more. Begin as a mere apprentice, and the very power of love will lead you on to become a master in the art. Those who have made most progress will continually press on, never believing themselves to have reached their end; for charity should go on increasing until we draw our last breath."[1]

Readings

Luke 10:25-37

On one occasion a lawyer came forward to put this test question to him: "Master, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" Jesus said, "What is written in the Law? What is your reading of it?" He replied, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself." "That is the right answer," said Jesus; "do that and you will live."

But he wanted to vindicate himself so he said to Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?" Jesus replied "A man was on his way from Jerusalem down to Jericho when he fell in with robbers, who stripped him, beat him, and went off leaving him half dead. It so happened that a priest was going down by the same road; but when he saw him, he went past on the other side. So too a Levite came to the place, and when he saw him went past on the other side. But a Samaritan who was making the journey came upon him, and when he saw him was moved to pity. He went up and bandaged his wounds, bathing them with oil and wine. Then he lifted him onto his own beast, brought him to an inn, and looked after him there. Next day he produced two silver pieces and gave them to the innkeeper, and said, 'Look after him; and if you spend any more, I will repay you on my way back.' Which of these three do you think was neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?" He answered, "The one who showed him kindness." Jesus said "Go and do as he did."

Mark 14:3-9

Jesus was at Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper. As he sat at table, a woman came in carrying a small bottle of very costly perfume, pure oil of nard. She broke it open and poured the oil over his head. Some of those present said to one another angrily, "Why this waste? The perfume might have been sold for thirty pieces of silver and the money given to the poor," and they turned upon her with fury. But Jesus said, "Let her alone. Why must you make trouble for her? It is a fine thing she has done for me. You have the poor among you always, and you can help them whenever you like; but you will not always have me. She has done what lay in her power, she is beforehand with anointing my body for burial. I tell you this: wherever in all the world the Gospel is proclaimed, what she has done will be told as her memorial."

Sermon

Unitarian Universalism is ambivalent about altruism inspired by Christian charity. We have cut ourselves free from the authority of Hebrew and Christian scriptures which teach a care and concern for others such as the Good Samaritan practiced. What is interesting to note about this parable is the status of the Samaritans. They were despised by the Jews. For Jesus to tell a story that elevated the Samaritan above the Priest and Levite in loving their neighbor challenged Jewish prejudices of those times about how one should practice the second commandment. Jesus expanded the idea of loving your neighbor to all human beings, the high and the low, the clean and the unclean, the sacred and the profane. Not that Christians actually do it[2]. There seems to be little evidence that having a religious affiliation actually makes much difference when it comes to altruistic behavior. But at least the Christian knows what he or she ought to be doing.

Many Unitarian Universalists have left behind the authority of scripture and replaced it with the authority of the individual conscience. And individual conscience is often swayed by self-interest. Unitarian Universalists express a religious view that is uniquely American. When the locus of moral value becomes the individual, we lose a super-personal frame of reference to check the harmful deviations of individual weakness. We risk losing faith in our unity by elevating individual desire and aversion above the good of the whole. Yet most still value altruistic behavior.

Alexis de Tocqueville, the emissary from the French government in 1831 who wrote the classic, Democracy in America, had some interesting reflections on the connection between altruism and individualism. I encourage you to reflect on whether this is still true today.

It often happens among the most civilized nations of the globe, that a poor wretch is as friendless in the midst of a crowd as the savage in his wilds: this is hardly ever the case in the United States. The Americans, who are always cold and often coarse in their manners, seldom show insensibility; and if they do not proffer services eagerly, yet they do not refuse to render them.

All this is not in contradiction to what I have said before on the subject of individualism. The two things are so far from combating each other, that I can see how they agree. Equality of conditions, while it makes men feel their independence, shows them their own weakness: they are free, but exposed to a thousand accidents; and experience soon teaches them that although they do not habitually require the assistance of others, a time almost always comes when they cannot do without it.[3]

In a search for a balancing factor moderating our individualism, many U.U.'s look to science for direction. The moral guidance inspired by science is what can be demonstrated through experiment and verified through repetition. Scientifically-inspired understanding has been quite valuable for us as a society in rationalizing what we do in the name of justice and equality. We measure the results of our actions and use the experimental results to guide public policy, rather than a historic moral code frozen in time which defines right and wrong.

Altruism, by Webster's definition, is an "uncalculated consideration of, regard for, or devotion to another's interest, sometimes in accordance to an ethical principle." I wish to direct your attention to two parts of this definition. The first is that the root of an altruistic act is often motivated by an ethical commitment of the individual. The second part is the crucial word, uncalculated.

The most pure form of altruism can be seen in those who have not learned to calculate their actions. Scientists have demonstrated that altruism is a behavior exhibited at an early age by many children. Reflect on these real life examples:

* Thirteen-month-old Mark is eagerly devouring his supper when his weary dad returns from work and slumps into a chair. Mark shifts his attention to his tired daddy and begins feeding him the remaining food.

* Two-year-old David accidentally hits a playmate on the head. He looks stricken and immediately kisses and consoles her. "I hurt your hair," he says. "Please don't cry."

* Anne, 21 months, notices that her mother is distraught after a squabble with her husband. Anne climbs onto Mom's lap and begins to offer comfort--kissing her forehead, and saying "Hi" repeatedly until she gets a "Hi" and a smile in return.

These three episodes are among many similar ones reported by psychologists Marian Radke-Yarrow, Ph.D. and Carolyn Zahn-Wazler, Ph.D., who have studied children's altruistic behavior.

From their research at the National Institute of Mental Health in Bethesda, Maryland, they have shown that Mark, David, and Anne are neither angels descended to earth nor aberrations of human nature. Even babies as young as one year old display surprisingly generous instincts, often performing acts of genuine compassion. Contrary to both popular and professional wisdom, our young begin life not as totally selfish little creatures but with an amazingly well-developed sense of caring.[4]

"Well", my telepathy tuned to the cynics in the back row asks, "little kids come in with a lot of egoism too. Perhaps this altruism is an aberration of nature which should be stamped out before it ruins the child's effectiveness as a self-centered economic unit in our capitalistic society."

Interestingly, in my research on altruism this past week, I discovered social scientists have done some research on the evolutionary value of altruism. In animals, altruistic behavior is exhibited only towards one's kin or social unit, and often hostility is expressed towards those who are strangers. Only homo sapiens have a pan-species concept of altruism.

It is of no little moment for the human future whether people are necessarily and consistently selfish, as is sometimes argued in population genetics and economics, or whether there is a significant place for altruism in the scheme of human behavior. Do centrally important institutions like business and government depend entirely on motivating participants through their selfish interests in order to operate successfully? Is reciprocal altruism (actually a form of self-interest) the only kind that can survive[5]?

The reason altruism may not be encouraged by evolution is because attending to someone who doesn't come from one's own gene pool and putting that person's interests before one's own may compromise one's own survival. Think about the lifeboat adrift at sea, a place we often like to play altruism off against selfishness. If one cares about another and gives away one's precious food without expecting something in return, that individual's survival is potentially threatened.

But altruistic behavior often gives benefit to a large number of individuals, which supports the integrity of the society. An individual's self-sacrifice to build a dam can increase the production of food through irrigation for an entire community. The teachers who spread learning to many students rather than hoarding their knowledge for personal gain increases the fitness of the whole. Even on the lifeboat, the cooperative behavior of those in the boat increases everyone's survival potential.

Altruistic behavior, the uncalculated consideration of, regard for or devotion to other's interest is at the root of most scientific discovery. The great scientific pioneers didn't sit in their labs with adding machines trying to figure out their potential for personal gain before announcing their discoveries. During the Cold War, scientists fought to keep the lines of communication open so they could share the results of their research for each other's benefit.

So the gospel according to science strongly suggests that altruism promotes our survival and prosperity as a species. Yet as I listen to U.U.'s speak with each other, I hear misanthropy and suspicion of the other. How many truly believe in human inherent worth and dignity? I suspect we aren't much different from the general population. And as I hear pessimism, negativity and hostility toward strangers, I often recognize the wounds accumulated over a lifetime of disappointment, disillusionment and regret.

We have all witnessed so much pain and suffering. If one's heart were truly open, one hour of watching the evening news would probably cause a person to lapse into hysteria. Who can take in the enormity of the suffering in Bosnia or Rwanda or South Africa? How many can face the suffering of a beggar coming to the door for food? How many will pick up a hitchhiker, a simple act of generosity, for fear of being robbed, attacked or killed?

We are hardened by the suffering which overwhelms us and we turn away. Every retreat from altruistic behavior lessens the likelihood we will engage in it again. We armor our hearts. Each "no" reinforces the last. And the more need we are confronted with, the more we resist until resisting becomes a habit and the habit becomes a poison.

Overpopulation, environmental destruction, proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and competition for scarce resources such as food, fresh water, shelter and energy threaten the viability of our species. Because of the magnitude of these problems, it is difficult to see how the actions of one person make much difference. So we retreat into our homes, lock the doors, hire more police to subdue the rabble, sit behind the television set or open a novel, pull the cork on a bottle of booze, light up a cigarette and wait patiently for death to open the escape hatch from this planet of misery.

The key mistake that poisons one's altruism is the attempt to calculate beforehand the decision of whether to act or not. The basic problem is that there is no way to figure out, for each of our acts, their ultimate outcome. How can we calculate the value of the decision to have a child to the well-being of the world? How can the decision to help an elder across the street be measured? How can the offer of food to a hungry child be evaluated over the span of that child's life? Any attempt will bring a flawed answer because of our limited understanding of the workings of the universe. Perhaps one's child will be a world leader who will end hunger and overpopulation. Perhaps the elder assisted across the street will get in a car and kill someone with it. Perhaps the child fed will grow up to find a cure for cancer. We can only guess at the results of our actions, as we will not live long enough to measure the results in the seventh generation, 200 years from now.

This is one aspect of the wisdom to be gleaned from the story of Jesus' head being anointed with precious perfume. The disciples could only calculate the act's value by the price of the oil. Jesus recognized the true value of her act of altruism. Sure enough, we are still talking about her.

Altruism must come from two places: either from an immediate impulse of care for the other that motivates a small child to offer an eager hand to help, or from an ethical principle that recognizes the value to the survival of our species of putting the welfare of the whole before our own. Our socio-religious evolution has been to expand the definition of the whole from our kin to our tribe to our nation to our world. And the world becomes more interdependent each day that goes by.

Just as altruism is critical to the survival of our species, so is it critical to the health of the individual. Altruism promotes the well-being of the person practicing it. We are fundamentally social cooperative creatures, not autonomous antagonistic warriors competing for survival. A child is raised only with a tremendous amount of self-sacrifice. We would have no children without the altruistic behavior of mothers and fathers. No society can survive and propagate its culture without the commitment of many who are willing to lay down their lives to protect it.

One of the purposes of this religious community is to encourage altruistic behavior by its members and friends. This congregation is a safe place to practice altruism, to drain off the poison that closes and threatens the heart, and to witness the positive value of altruistic behavior. This congregation is a hospital for the sick of heart. A place where the poison may be removed and the patients recover their health, their wholeness and their love of life.

How do we do it? Remember the words of the Bishop. The only way to learn to love is to love. The only way to receive is to give. The benefit found in altruism for ourselves and others is found by practicing this virtue. Uncalculated acts of kindness will stimulate an ever-wider embrace until the other is fully recognized as the self, simply in a change of clothing. When we recognize that the other and the self are one, we will have perfected the love of God.

Closing Words

"Song of Life" by Charles Mackay.[6]

A traveler on a dusty road
Strewed acorns on the lea;
And one took root and sprouted up,
And grew into a tree.
Love sought its shade at evening time,
To breathe its early vows;
And Age was pleased, in heights of noon,
To bask beneath its boughs.
The dormouse loved its dangling twigs,
The birds sweet music bore-
It stood a glory in its place,
A blessing evermore.

A little spring, had lost its way
Amid the grass and fern;
A passing stranger scooped a well
Where weary men might turn.
He walled it in, and hung with care
A ladle on the brink;
He thought not of the deed he did,
But judged that Toil might drink.
He passed again; and lo! the well,
By summer never dried,
Had cooled ten thousand parched tongues,
And saved a life beside.

A nameless man, amid the crowd
That thronged the daily mart,
Let fall a word of hope and love,
Unstudied from the heart,
A whisper of the tumult thrown,
A transitory breath,
It raised a brother from the dust,
It saved a soul from death.
O germ! O fount! O word of love!
O thought at random cast!
Ye were but little at the first,
But mighty at the last.

Copyright (c) 1995 by Rev. Samuel A. Trumbore. All rights reserved.