Unitarian Fellowship of Huntington, 619 6th Avenue, Huntington, WV 25701-2103

Member of the Unitarian Universalist Association �� Newsletter Number 2010:5

President: Bob Williams �� Vice President/Programs Director: Randy Miller �� Treasurer: Jim Maphet

Newsletter Editor: Jack Wilkinson III (304-521-9201)

The Free Seeker

The Voice of Liberal Religion in the Tri‐State

FEBRUARY 10, 2010

EVENTS OF SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2010

11:00 A.M. PROGRAM with the U. U. Fellowship:

Claire Horton on "The Secrets of the Sahara Desert."

After I gave background information on Bhutan as an introduction to the subject,

I was strictly admonished not to do the same for this upcoming topic. Indeed, it has

attracted attention in the past. Jorge Luis Borges wrote a short story about it, and

naturalist movie makers Alan and Joan Root did a piece on it for The BBC. However, in

regard to the specifics, my lips are sealed. I don't care: you can put bamboo strips

under my fingernails, you can give me the Chinese water torture, you can subject me

to the death by a thousand cuts, or you can even water‐board me. I shall not divulge.

Therefore, you will have to show up and see for yourselves.

FUTURE PROGRAMS

February 21st "Autobiography" with Randy Miller

February 28th Bill Patton on “the Recent History of Afghanistan.”

March 7th "Open Discussion”

March 14th Jack Wilkinson on "The Jewish Enigma"

CUUPS meets Thursdays 6:00 to 8:00 PM and the Tri‐State Meditation Group will be

meeting in April.

A RETROSPECTIVE OF LAST SUNDAY'S PROGRAM: OPEN DISCUSSION

I (Jack Wilkinson) passed out a fact sheet based on an article by George Will on

health care costs, and it turned out to be a springboard for the entire hour. Here are

some of the pertinent facts about survivability and medical costs.

Whereas infants (ages 0‐3, I assume) in 1900 represented 33% of total human

deaths, today their share of the death toll is less than 2%. As for the 65 plus group,

whereas in 1900 it accounted for 18% of total deaths, today their share is 75%. Does

this require clarification? A century ago infant mortality was a norm. For example,

poet Robert Frost and his wife had six children, two of whom died in infancy. That's

33%. Modern medicine, it seems, has given children a relatively safe passage. As for

Unitarian Fellowship of Huntington, 619 6th Avenue, Huntington, WV 25701-2103

Member of the Unitarian Universalist Association �� Newsletter Number 2010:5

President: Bob Williams �� Vice President/Programs Director: Randy Miller �� Treasurer: Jim Maphet

Newsletter Editor: Jack Wilkinson III (304-521-9201)

the 65 plus group, a century ago the bulk of people did not used to grow into old age.

The iconic age for a full life was 70 to 72 (three score and ten, we used to say), but

many died long before that. Now, it seems, three quarters of us glide gracefully into

ossified decrepitude.

The foregoing statistics invite speculation about shortening people's time on

social security. In the discussion views on this went from the extreme of working until

you die to that of extending retirement for humanitarian reasons. It seems to be that

human consciousness for everyone is evolving toward a more and more graceful style

of living while at the same time the engine for such is getting smaller and smaller, and

I'm afraid the group failed to identify the ideal tipping point.

Another of George Will's statistics addresses cost specifically. The medical

expenses of the last two years of one's life are equal to 40% of the medical costs of

one's entire life. In other words, if one lives until age 90, for the first 88 years life is a

beach, but for the last two it's a bitch. The final two years sound like hospice years to

me. On my fact sheet I suggested that everybody go into hospice mode at age 85, but

Claire, inasmuch she was already seven years past that age, took exception. People

pretty much agreed that nowadays we were delaying old age by some 15 to 20 years.

80 or 85 is the new 65. Therefore, it seemed to most that the retirement age should

be extended.

It's too bad that money is such a consideration. Otherwise, the traditional Code

of Manu in India might seem to be an attractive option. It consists of four stages.

Stage 1 (0‐18) The Student,

Stage 2 (18‐36) The Householder,

Stage 3 (36‐54) The Hermit,

Stage 4 (54‐72) The Sannyasin (Mendicant, Holy Person).

This model could be modified for increased longevity.

HOMILY BY THE REVEREND JACK WILKINSON: "PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGION"

Inasmuch as both of these pursuits, Philosophy and Religion, seem to pique the

interests of our members, I feel impelled to explore their differences. The object of

Philosophy is Truth; the object of Religion is Transformation. If we are to be strictly

logical we have to admit that before we can properly practice Philosophy we have to

practice Religion first. Of course, we may not call our preparation for Philosophy by

the name of Religion, but it is my contention that that is what it truly is.

From a physiological standpoint Religion brings blood to the head. To put it

another way, Religion widens the circle of our Being, hence of our caring. It opens us

up to a wider world. Energy, heretofore trapped in tiny pools of petty obsessions,

begins to flow. This flow of energy takes us beyond mere perceiving into the realm of

Unitarian Fellowship of Huntington, 619 6th Avenue, Huntington, WV 25701-2103

Member of the Unitarian Universalist Association �� Newsletter Number 2010:5

President: Bob Williams �� Vice President/Programs Director: Randy Miller �� Treasurer: Jim Maphet

Newsletter Editor: Jack Wilkinson III (304-521-9201)

knowing. and we find ourselves at Philosophy's threshold. Knowing is beyond bare

fact. It is an invocation of life and sensibility in Nature and a smile on the face of a

child. Then, once awakened by this religious stimulus, Philosophy may now settle upon

us like a heavenly mantle.

Philosophy designates entities and explores their relationships. It also

designates and explores categories of Being. It embraces all religions, which is to say it

embraces all approaches to the summit. It has left off worshiping and has begun to

reflect. Then it pours its own Being into the reflection, and, like the God of Moses, it

says, I AM.

A SLICE OF HISTORY

I call your attention to Benjamin Rush (1745‐1813), a signer of the Declaration of

Independence, a prominent physician, and a Universalist.

Perhaps it has become evident by now that the power and influence of the

Unitarians and Universalists during the 18th and 19th centuries was stupendous

compared with what it is today. Since then we have been radically diluted by other

sects, which have shown a remarkable ability to grow.

But back to Benjamin Rush. Born of a Quaker family on a farm near Philadelphia,

he became a physician and a medical educator at the College of New Jersey, later to

become Princeton University, a member of the Continental Congress, hence a signer of

the Declaration of Independence, the first man in America to treat diseases of the

mind, the founder of the Sunday School Association, a leader of prison reform,

abstinence from strong drink, universal education, and the abolition of slavery. At his

funeral John Adams said, "As a man of science, letters, taste, sense, philosophy,

patriotism, religion, morality, merit, usefulness taken all together, Rush had not left his

equal in America."

However, there is one thing this early Universalist did that is in danger of

escaping our attention and has recently become more relevant as our denomination

has begun the discussion of whether or not we are a peace church. Dr. Benjamin Rush

put forward a proposal for the creation of a new cabinet position to be called

'Secretary of Peace.' The statements of his Plan for Peace were seven in number. Here

they are severely boiled down:

I. Let a Secretary of Peace be appointed to preside in this office free of

governmental restraints;

II. Let said Secretary be given power to establish and maintain free schools

across the land responsible for the talents, principles and morals of all his school

masters.

III. Let every family in the United States be furnished with an American Bible.

Unitarian Fellowship of Huntington, 619 6th Avenue, Huntington, WV 25701-2103

Member of the Unitarian Universalist Association �� Newsletter Number 2010:5

President: Bob Williams �� Vice President/Programs Director: Randy Miller �� Treasurer: Jim Maphet

Newsletter Editor: Jack Wilkinson III (304-521-9201)

IV. Let the following be inscribed over the doors of every court house in the

land: "The Son of Man came into the world not to destroy men's lives but to save

them."

V. Reform our code of penal jurisprudence by repealing the death penalty.

VI. Subdue the passion for war by repealing the militia laws and prohibiting

military parades.

VII. Let there be a gallery of art adjoining the federal hall with paintings

symbolizing peace, as, for example, a lion eating straw with an ox.

Needless to say, this secretaryship has yet to be created.

A final note. Early Universalists often had a large amount of piety, and Rush was

no exception to this tendency. Those of us who might tend to gag at such gushing

would do well to remember that it was precisely this piety that pushed them to the

forefront of social action.

References include Encyclopedia Britannica, 1961, These Live Tomorrow by Clinton Lee Scott, Beacon

Street, Boston 1964, and Universalism in America by Ernst Cassara, Skinner House, Boston, 1971.