Pluralism

by Rev. Heather Janules

Like many people, I love to travel. Just leaving home for a weekend brings a sense of renewal and, upon return, helps me appreciate the place I call home. 

I believe some of this renewal – if you travel far enough – is simply being exposed to different ways to be human. When I am in Hinsdale, I am regularly fascinated by how different this small, rural New Hampshire community seems in comparison to its neighbor across the Connecticut River, Brattleboro, Vermont, a town that late night host Stephen Colbert might describe as “West Hemp Ponchotown.” There are certainly more pickup trucks in Hinsdale than ponchos. And both places are great places to be!

Besides a few car trips across the Canadian border, my first international trip was when I was in my thirties, making a pilgrimage to Transylvania with members of the Cedar Lane UU Congregation. Our inbound flight landed in Berlin in the middle of the night for a layover. It was exciting, being around the bustling travelers, the sound of many languages I didn’t understand around me. 

This was the beginning of a ten-day period of being in environments where the lessons I learned about how the world works became less relevant. Once our delegation connected with our Partner Church, it soon became clear how different Unitarianism – not Unitarian Universalism – is practiced there. One example: in the sanctuary of that church, there is a large structure hanging from that church ceiling that appears to be made of dried straw. When I asked, I learned that it was part of their Thanksgiving celebration, which they hold in September. We here at WUS celebrate Thanksgiving in November. There are no structures made of straw hanging from the ceiling (but there is ample consumption of pie). 

That first trip to Europe clarified for me the almost countless differences between people. Someone once observed to me that cultural differences are often framed as “flags and food and fun!” when in actuality differences are much less obvious. I remember visiting the restroom of the minister’s home in Transylvania, a large bathroom that also included their laundry machine. The machine had buttons that didn’t make a lot of sense, and it took awhile for me to figure out that what seemed to be an ace bandage by the toilet was really a roll of toilet paper. There are likely endless ways to construct a machine to wash clothes and different people make different engineering choices. 

Our theme for May is “Pluralism,” also one of the proposed values for a revised Article II of the Unitarian Universalist Association (what we usually refer to as the Seven or Eight Principles). The proposed text to accompany this value is “We celebrate that we are all sacred beings diverse in culture, experience, and theology. We covenant to learn from one another in our free and responsible search for truth and meaning. We embrace our differences and commonalities with love, curiosity, and respect.” To me, this value recognizes the profound differences between people and encourages us to see these differences as valuable opportunities to learn and grow, whether it is considering life’s biggest questions or the best way to get clothes clean. (This is sometimes easier said than done so it is helpful to have reminders of the beauty of diversity, such as the banners of different religious traditions hanging in the WUS Symmes Room.)

I believe living into the potential of pluralism takes practice. Not everyone can travel so embracing pluralism might be something we do closer to home. If you are stopped at a red light and the car next to you is playing music you don’t recognize, could you ask them who the artist is? Could you ask them to turn up the volume? What if you spent a year reading books by authors from a culture with which you are unfamiliar? Some of us can learn about different cultures by respectfully asking questions of those who are older than us. Or younger. New wisdom is available to the curious!