Submission 272
Azure Forte
Woodinville UU Church (Woodinville, WA) 8312
What is your suggestion or idea?
Reinstate all 7 principles with a new title: ““Unitarian Tree of Life”” or ““Unitarian Universalist Tree of Life.””
What is the reason for your amendment idea?
As was clearly defined by Erich Fromm, Love is not just a value. Love is a verb, an activity that will not achieve the desired intent without knowledge of how to love. The Article II suggestions only include Love as a value and a description of identity. The Article II focus proposes unity of all UU congregants. At present, the interpretation of ““love”” is left to the imagination of the individual. This does not comply with the intention of covenant belonging. What guidelines are in place for the RR team in an effort to bring congregants to the inclusion of covenant? The rationalization of the current proposal leaves the door wide open for individual definitions of love. Current wording weakens the potential for unity. The 7 Principles have been an important guide, carefully crafted by our ancestors with careful thought. The 7 Principles have been the magnet that brought many congregants to Unitarian Universalism. The 7 principles themselves are well written and lived. The title ““7 Principles”” is clearly the problem that the commission attempts to correct. But let us not ‘throw out the baby with the bath water,’ as the saying goes. The 7 Principles serve well as a guide to spiritual life. Let us follow the example given by our Jewish ancestors who produced the Tree of Life in the Ancient Kabbalah, still a guide to this day. Unitarian Universalism is at the threshold of life. Let us deepen the roots of this new life with a title that will attract and guide our fellow congregants to unity, The Unitarian Universalist Tree of Life.
Have you discussed this idea with your congregation or other UUs?
This has been the most frequently discussed topic with my fellow congregants. Many have expressed despair in the proposed subtraction of the 7 principles. The new proposed wording that has been formatted reduces that which has once been a guide of strength to a philosophy and/or value. This is not sufficient in an effort to bring those who have strayed back to covenant.