When you believe in deeds, not creeds, then the power of change begins with you.
The most recent Leader of the Ethical Society of Los Angeles was Dr. Gerald A. Larue, Professor Emeritus of Biblical History and Archaeology at the University of Southern California, Adjunct Professor of Gerontology at U.S.C., and Chairman of the Committee for the Scientific Examination of Religion at the Center for Inquiry. Larue was also recognized as the 1989 Humanist of the Year by the American Humanist Association.
The following passage is from a Platform address delivered on December 20th, 1987, and released in his book “The Way of Ethical Humanism”.
But the starting point is the self. And it is on the self that I want to focus for a few minutes. As I said, there are those who would use this period of the year to complete the year’s work and who begin anew to create better lives for themselves.
The first issue is concerned with hope: What may I hope for in 1988? One thing I do not hope for, despite the prophetic Christian voices, is the immediate return of Jesus to set up the idealistic Kingdom of God for Christians only. Nor do I hope for the coming of the Jewish Messiah. I am like the rabbi in the Hassidic story. This particular Rabbi went to live in Jerusalem so that he would be right on the spot in case the Messiah arrived. On one particular morning he heard the sound of a trumpet from the Mount of Olives – which, according to Jewish mythology, is the sound announcing the arrival of the Messiah. What had happened was a prankster decided to fool the old man, and he had gone to the mountain and in the still of the pre-automobile morning had blown the trumpet. The rabbi rushed to the window, opened it so that he might look out on the redeemed world. But what did he see? A driver beating a donkey. He said this: “I don’t need to see anything else. So long as men still beat donkeys, the world is unredeemed”.
As the solstice passes, we will see no dramatic changes. The world will continue to spin on its axis. Christians will clean up the Christmas rubbish. Jews will put the Hanukkah menorah back in a box until the next Hanukkah rolls around. All will go on as before – poverty, war, abuse, indifference. Men will still beat donkeys. I can hope for no change – unless I begin the change.
What can I do to lift the world?
I am no Atlas.
I cannot carry the world on my shoulders.
What can I do? I can begin with me.
Where there is anger, let me bring peace – starting in myself. Where there is impatience, let me bring patience, starting with me. Where there is misunderstanding, let me bring understanding, beginning with me. Men will still beat donkeys. But peace will begin in me and I will be at peace with myself. I can change any aspect of my life, because I am in charge.
I do not need the Messiah or the returning Jesus or the Holy Spirit. I am in charge of my own life and I can and I will make changes. I will not try, I will do. For as a Humanist and member of the Ethical Culture society, I believe in deeds, not creeds, and deeds start with me.
The hope of change, the hope for peace and understanding is a real hope, and I will help to bring it about by beginning with me.
Some of you may remember the occasion when I brought an 8th century B.C.E. lamp to the platform. We lighted it and from it lit our individual candles to carry out into the world to light the darkness. The darkness is still there – but so are the lights, and because of them changes will come, just as changes have come in the past. Changes begin with individuals. Your light is the light of hope for the future. Without it […] darkness will take over and the world will become cold and lifeless.