The Online
Mirriam Dictionary defines being broadly as something that exists, or even is
thought to exist. In this context, being, for some, includes everything in the
universe, including stars, rivers, mountains, rocks, plants, trees, fungi,
bacteria and animals. Being may also refer to only things that are alive, and
for some, this would include plants, bacteria, and fungi. Further refinement of being for some means
only those species that are sentient. This
raises the question, what do we mean by sentient? This too has variable meanings, but mostly
refers to the ability to perceive or feel things, such as being able to feel,
see, hear, smell, or taste. Sentience also
means being aware.
We
Unitarian Universalists are not alone in grappling with the understanding of
being. Wikipedia, for example,
says:
"Being is an extremely
broad concept encompassing objective and subjective features
of reality and existence. Anything that partakes in being is also called a
"being", though often this use is limited to entities that have
subjectivity (as in the expression "human being"). So broad a notion has inevitably been
elusive and controversial in the history of philosophy, beginning in western
philosophy with attempts among the pre-Socratics to
deploy it intelligibly."
How are we
then to use "being" intelligibly when we speak of the First
Principle? How can we as Unitarian
Universalists have shared meanings when the word being refers more to poetry and metaphor than to scientific
understanding or philosophic exactitude?
Let me offer some insights that might develop and deepen our use of the
word.
1.
Language of reverence and religion is indeed like metaphor and poetry. Words
only point to how we make meaning from our experiences of reality and we use
them broadly in connecting to one another in themes that are beyond words. By leaving "being" open to
interpretation, much as we would the word "God" we allow spaciousness
for individual discernment in making meaning and determining action in life.
2. Currently the First Principle uses the word,
"person," which is also open to interpretation. In Wikipedia, a person
"is a being, such as a human, that has certain capacities or attributes constituting personhood, which in turn is defined differently by
different authors in different disciplines, and by different cultures in
different times and places."
Person in ethics also denotes those
individuals that merit moral consideration, including nonhuman species. In most common usage, however, person refers
to Homo sapiens and for this reason
replacing being with person will be more inclusive for the
multiple species for which we humans have moral concern.
3.
We could replace person in the
First Principle with individual instead
of being. This has possibilities in
that individual can refer to humans
and nonhumans, yet does seem to explicitly exclude non living entities (which
would be a relief to some, and problematic for others). Karl Marx writes of individuality:
"It
depends not on consciousness , but on being ;
not on thought, but on life; it depends on the individual's empirical
development and manifestation of life, which in turn depends on the conditions
existing in the world."
In both instances #2
and #3 above, the terms person and individual loop back to meaning being, with being suggesting the most broadly inclusive of species other than
humans, at least in popular vernacular. For this reason, I suggest the use of being above all others as we have centuries
of social constructs to deconstruct and need the most ample terms as possible
to lead us away from drawing a firm line where worth and dignity and moral
concern begin and end. Being compels our
minds to wander, and our hearts to wonder, both a noble pursuit for Unitarian
Universalists.
Regardless of how each
defines "being" the goal is to grow our circle of compassion for
individuals, including ourselves, as we grow our own sense of belonging to and
interconnecting with all of existence.
Rev. LoraKim Joyner, DVM
First Principle Project Facilitator
Newsflash! The Unitarian Universalist BuddhistFellowship will dedicate an entire edition of their newsletter to the First
Principle and the meaning of being. Thanks to them for endorsing this project and
the revision to the First Principle!
