Jan's work schedule gave her a three-day weekend as a sort of bonus following a very long schedule for the previous month. (No actual extra days off, so only a sort of bonus.) We knew it was coming up, marked the calendar, and didn't schedule anything against it. Then, when it rolled around we flew off to New Mexico. Tons o fun! The major object of the visit was to worship at the Georgia O'Keefe memorial temple in Santa Fe. We burned our incense and marveled at her work. She is worth a column. Actually she's worth sermons. And that is kind of what I thought I'd be writing about. But, for this column, something else happened that I would like to address, instead.

Actually, it was just a bumper sticker I saw. But, you know how those things can catch the mind. And, this was one that I'd never seen before. It read "Don't believe everything you think." Now, like most bumper stickers it isn't highly nuanced. Rather than just the plain text, it capitalized that think to read "Don't believe everything you THINK." I found even with the unnecessary emphasis, it had something to say, and much to reflect upon.

Now one of my favorite hymns in our new "gray book" is number 291, Die Gedanken Sind Frei. I've been told a rough translation would be "my thoughts are free." More colloquially it sings "I think as I please!" Probably that "free" should be capitalized: My thoughts are Free! This is important stuff. It has much to do with our faith tradition, with our deep and abiding reliance upon freethinking, and deep questioning.

But, there is a cheap freethinking that happens as well. And, we need to be wary of such. It is a shadow of our path. I once had an interest in the history of modern occultism. Did lots of reading on the subject. One of my favorite anecdotes was about an early twentieth century Anglican priest who was also an alchemist. As one writer put it, this old priest "would entertain any idea, so long as it was sufficiently unlikely." How goes that warning about having a mind so open the brain is in danger of falling out?

Another bumper sticker that I find useful from time to time reads "Question Authority." Good advice. Adolescents like it. As do many grown up UUs. I'm one. But, the truth is the most dangerous authority for most of us is going to be the authority of our egos. We are inclined to like our thinking very much. Many of us tend to think if we thought it it must be sublime. (I know, some of my friends might find this all very autobiographical.) But, really, this is important. If we feel our minds are an integral part of our liberal spiritual way, we need to be careful about how we use them.

If our spiritual covenant is to not turn away, but rather investigate, challenge, and go for the truth where ever we may find it, our greatest obstacle might turn out to be our own egos. We definitely need to question what we think. What is it we're thinking? Is it mere sop for our fantasies or bruised sense of self? Is it prejudice? Is it an excuse like "I deserve it"? That's a nasty bit of advice from too many television commercials.

Ours is a path of care and responsibility. We can think as we please. We are expected to think for ourselves. However this is not license, but rather responsibility. Those old German freethinkers who gave us the hymn were challenging the status quo of governments. They were risking their very lives in their freethinking. How can we do less?

We have the opportunity to test and weigh and find the way through. Ours is a faith in our nearly infinite potential. But, we must not squander the opportunity. We have it in our hands to question right down to the bones. At such a bare moment of presence, we can find who and what we are. At such a depth we can become naked to reality, and transform ourselves into something precious and rare: beings of compassion and action.

But, we can only pull this off if we don't let ourselves off the hook any more than we would any other authority. That said, we can find the truth in those old bumper stickers: Question Authority! And, Don't believe everything you THINK! Sound advice from the backends of those mighty gas-guzzlers.

So how do we do this? Perhaps a Unitarian Universalist spiritual exercise is to memorize a logical fallacy every week or so. Clear thinking opens to a clear heart. Of this I'm sure. If we don't close our minds, but rather sharpen them, then the questions will take us to the very source. Of this I'm certain.

But don't believe it because I said it. Think for yourself.

Peace & unrest!

James