If you have the heart of an entrepreneur and dreams of starting your own business, then you too must lean into the idea of failing forward. It’s a fact that I do more stuff than most people, I take more right-sized risks than most people, and because of that I fail more than most people. So much so that my wife gets tired of hearing me say that I make more mistakes before noon than most people will make this month…but it’s true so I keep saying it. To learn more about what we believe, please look at Our Beliefs.I’m a big fan of the concept of failing forward. Adult Religious Education classes are one way we supplement, spiritual practice is another, and we of course encourage folks to explore on their own as well through reading, discussion and reflection. We explore our faith in a variety of ways – whether it’s Sunday morning worship, adult classes, spiritual practices, and more! The Sunday morning service is the primary focus of exploring faith, of course, but we also don’t expect that to meet all of one’s spiritual and ethical developmental needs. We keep asking questions, and keep trying to answer them to the best of our abilities, for as long as we shall live. Thus while we value deeply the truths and answers we have arrived at in any given moment, we also hold those truths lightly, knowing that they may change at any point as we are informed by new experiences, insights and information. We Unitarian Universalists expect that our beliefs, our ethics, our theologies, our faith will change and evolve over time, as we as human beings change and evolve. Indeed, our time together is enriched as much by our differences as by what we hold in common.Įxploring our faith also calls us to love questions, in some ways more than answers. New thoughts, ideas and perspectives shared between us help each of us to deeper understanding. Similarly, while acknowledgment of and respect for each individual’s beliefs is of high importance to us, we also recognize and value the power and importance of religious community. We don’t view faith and reason as opposites, but instead consider them as complementing and supporting one another. Unitarian minister Ralph Waldo Emerson said of preaching that a minister should share of his life – “life passed through the fire of thought.” The same can be said of the Unitarian Universalist journey as whole ours is an examined faith, one that includes many doubts and questions and a commitment to growth and learning on the journey.
#Ever forward meaning free
We embrace the use of reason on our free and responsible search for truth and meaning. As we continue ever forward on our spiritual, ethical and religious journeys, the Sources ask us to examine the wisdom of the world religions, results of science, personal experience of life’s mystery, and the words and deeds of those who exemplify compassion, justice, and the transforming power of love. Our fourth principle calls us to “a free and responsible search for truth and meaning,” and we intentionally draw upon a diverse body of wisdom, as we explore our Six Sources. We define faith as the process of finding and making meaning out of our lives and the world, understanding that we all find and make meaning in different ways.