Where this series of posts began – Unitarians Face A New Age by the Commission of Appraisal, published 25 Beacon St. Boston Mass – 1936 Page 33
There were several other rewrites before Attempt #6
Attempt #6
We Unitarian Universalists seek to:
- —discover the orderly nature of the Universe so we may be in greater harmony with what it offers us.
- —minimize all suffering and to enhance human health and abundance.
- —create and maintain a well-balanced society so everyone may live within a sustainable world.
- —acknowledge that we as individuals are too removed from our own invisible thinking processes to ever fully understand our own convictions and reasons.
- —acknowledge that we as a group of involved, informed people with conflicting views are more likely to find solutions to conflicts than an isolated individual.
- —make a deliberate effort to strengthen every individual’s understanding of the highest values of which they can become aware of and make real.
Attempt #7 is written in a final form
We Unitarian Universalists seek to:
- —discover the orderly nature of the Universe, so we may be in a more sustainable harmony with the options it offers to us.
- —minimize all suffering and to enhance human happiness, health, and wisdom.
- —create and maintain a well-balanced society so everyone may live within an appealing and sustainable world.
- —acknowledge our personal limitations and choose to develop our positive responses to other beings’ needs.
- —acknowledge that we as an interacting group of people with different views are more likely to discover mutually beneficial opportunities than we will find as solitary individuals.
- —make a deliberate effort to strengthen every person’s moral personality and help it to become a part of their daily lives.
Attempt #8 is written in a final form
We Unitarian Universalists seek to:
- —discover the orderly nature of the Universe, so we may be in a beautiful relationship with all of the beautiful options it offers us.
- —minimize the suffering of all living things and to enable human wisdom, health, and happiness.
- —create and maintain a perfectly balanced society so everyone may live within a delightful and sustainable world.
- —recognize our unique personal abilities and choose to use them to help others live healthier and happier lives.
- —acknowledge that we as a group of individuals expressing positive but diverse views are more likely to discover mutually beneficial opportunities than we will find as solitary individuals.
- —make a voluntary decision to help each of us to grow in understanding and affection for one another.
This attempt #9 is written in an exploratory form based on synonyms
We Unitarian Universalists seek to:
- —discover (find, create, see, learn, notice) the orderly (clean, tidy, neat, arranged) nature (life energy generation creation strength) of the Universe (cosmos, creation, world, heavens, everything), so we (I, you) may (might) be (live, inhabit, dwell, subsist, exist, survive, live out, continue, experience, dwell, occupy, abide, inhabit, persist, get along, thrive) in a beautiful (lovely, pretty, handsome, comely, fair) relationship (connection, link, linkage) with (accompanying, affecting) all (every one) of the beautiful (lovely, pretty, handsome, comely, fair) options (alternatives, possibilities, choices, freedoms) it offers us.
- —minimize (decrease lessen reduce prevent) the suffering (pain agony woe distress hurt) of all (every, each, each and every) living (extant alive active breathing) things and to enable (allow permit facilitate empower entitle) human (mortal fallible imperfect frail compassionate kindly) wisdom,(depth profoundness reasonableness goodness) health, (wellbeing fitness vigour) and happiness.(bliss contentment pleasure wellbeing gladness beatitude )
- —create (produce distill derive establish generate originate initiate start actualize establish develop design breed establish) and maintain (preserve conserve preserve keep uphold sustain prolong nurture perpetuate) a perfectly (absolutely completely entirely fully totally utterly wholly ) balanced (just fair equal open-minded equitable unprejudiced prudent rational sane sensible wise) society (group, civilization culture structure fraternity fellowship companionship relationship social order people union league company) so (thusly thus, and so, and then, then, hence) everyone (everybody, each person, every person, one and all) may (might can could, be able to) live (live on, survive, last, endure, subsist, exist, live out, experience, dwell, occupy, abide, inhabit reside, lead, exist, survive, thrive, abide) within (inside, in) a delightful (charming pleasant refreshing pleasing, engaging, heavenly, enjoyable, gratifying, agreeable) and sustainable (steady, livable, unruined) world. (natural order, nature, domain, experience, globe, earth, land, period, time, era, creation, )
- —recognize (acknowledge, know recognise, know, discern, recognise, call up, retrieve, identify, welcome, receive, acknowledge, recognise, appreciate, honor, reward, notice, allow, admit, grant, concede, perceive) our (we) unique (special, unrivaled, peculiar, exclusive) personal (mental, social, human, technological) abilities (aptitude, adaptability, sensitivity, competence, magic, penetration, language, skills,talent, know-how, gift, competence, energy, aptitude, cleverness, potential, capacity, craft, skill) and choose to use (pick, prefer, select designate, desire, wish) them to help (aid, back, support, encourage, assist, succor, heal, cure, facilitate, ) others (children, family, friend, strangers, foreigner, alien, cyborg, bionic man, machine) live () healthier and (wholesome, sound, hale, robust, well, strong) happier (content, glad, blessed, blest, cheerful, gratified, joyous, joyful, fortunate, appropriate, apt) lives. (being, state, presence, possibility, existence).
- —acknowledge (state, answer, announce, declare, vocalize, submit, proffer, accept, support, confirm, recognize, approve) that () we () as a () group (collection, accumulation assortment organization, association, fellowship, assemblage, people) of individuals (personalities, selves, adventurers, seekers, searchers, inhabitants, lovers, beings, loan, discrete distinct ordinary units, characters) expressing (showing, conveying, asserting, venting, displaying, revealing, actualizing, proving, exposing,) positive (optimistic, confident, hopeful, buoyant, useful, practical, progressive, enthusiastic, supportive, affirmative, definite, explicit, affirmative) but () diverse (various, diversified, different, contrasting, distinct, discrete, separate, variant) views (opinion, perspective, sight, persuasion, sentiment, judgement belief) are more () likely (probable, potentialy credibly prone, liable apt, expected plausible, feasible hopefully) to discover (detect, notice, observe, find, see, ascertain, conceive, reveal) mutually (reciprocally, inversely) beneficial (useful, profitable, advantageous, productive, rewarding, worthwhilem serviceable) opportunities (possibleties, openings, moments, windows) than we () will (wish, desire, want, choose) find (notice, spot, locate, observe, discover, breakthrough, detect) as solitary (single, alone, isolated, lonely, lonesome, sole, asocial, exclusive) individuals.(mortal, soul, personality, appointee, experimenter, expert, individualist, native, intellect, lover, observer, )
- —make (give, present, deliver, secure, obtain cause, initiate) a voluntary (intended, willing, conscious,deliberate, planned, studied, purposed unenforced, uncompelled, free, honorary, spontaneous, volitional, deliberate) decision (selection, choice, pick, resolution, conclusion, determination, judgment, resolution) to help (assist, aid, facilitate, lift, boost, succor, support, maintain, promote, avail) each () of us () to grow (advance, progress, improve, transform, recover, step-up) in understanding (comprehension, self-knowledge, appreciation, insight, realization, judgment, awareness, appreciation, insight, sympathy, sensitivity, love, concern goodwill, kindness, considerateness, helpfulness, assisting, aid, facilitate, succor, serve, work, represent) and affection (protectiveness, regard, respect, care, ) for one another.(reciprocate, reflexive helping)
This is getting better to my way of thinking, but what will tomorrow bring?
Suggestions are welcome…
[ Below is another rewrite. The method used this time was to take each word and check through that word’s synonyms searching for a more subtle nuance to the basic ideas.]
Attempt #9 for comparison to the document above
We Unitarian Universalists seek to:
- —discover the orderly nature of the Universe, so we may be in a beautiful relationship with all the beautiful options it offers us.
- —minimize the suffering of all living things and to enable human wisdom, health, and happiness.
- —create and maintain a perfectly balanced society so everyone may live within a delightful and sustainable world.
- —recognize our unique personal abilities and choose to use them to help others live healthier and happier lives.
- —acknowledge that we as a group of individuals expressing positive but diverse views are more likely to discover mutually beneficial opportunities than we will find as solitary individuals.
- —make a voluntary decision to help each of us to grow in understanding and affection for one another.
Version #10
We Unitarian Universalists seek to:
- —discover the orderly nature of our Universe, so we may be in a better relationship with all that it offers us.
- —create and maintain an ideally balanced human society, so every individual may flourish within a meaningful and sustainable world.
- —enable our human life, wisdom, and vitality to help us minimize the suffering of all living beings.
- —help each other recognize our unique personal abilities and use them to help all beings live healthier and more contented lives.
- —acknowledge that we as a group of individuals expressing diverse views are more likely to discover beneficial opportunities than we will find as solitary individuals.
- —make habitual our kind actions that help all of us grow in understanding and affection for one another and for our Universe.
Version #11
We Unitarian Universalists seek to:
- —discover the orderly nature of our Universe, so we may be in a better relationship with all that it offers.
- —create and maintain an ideally balanced human society, so every individual may flourish within a meaningful and sustainable world.
- —dedicate our lives and wisdom to minimizing the suffering of all living beings.
- —help one another recognize and use our unique abilities to maximize the physical and mental health of all beings.
- —acknowledge that we as a fellowship of people expressing diverse views are more likely to discover beneficial possibilities than we can as individuals.
- —make habitual the kind actions that help all of us grow in understanding and affection for one another and for our Universe.
Version #12 with more enthusiasm.
We Unitarian Universalists are:
- —discovering the orderly nature of our Universe, so we can help it and ourselves benefit from everything that is possible.
- —creating an ideally balanced human society, so you and I and everyone else can have a meaningful life.
- —dedicating our wisdom and energy to the great tradition of minimizing the suffering of all living beings.
- —helping one another recognize and use our personal abilities to maximize our health and others’ well-being.
- —appreciating that we as a fellowship of people expressing diverse views are discovering wonderful new ways of living.
- —making a habit of doing kind things that help us love one another and our Universe.
Version #13 with more hope, enthusiasm, brevity, and Universality.
We Unitarian Universalists are giving kindness and finding hope by:
- —discovering the orderly nature of our Universe, so we can help ourselves and others benefit from all that is possible.
- —creating an ideally balanced human society, so you and I and everyone else can have a meaningful life.
- —dedicating our wisdom to the great tradition of alleviating the suffering of all living beings.
- —helping one another use our abilities for our own and others’ well-being.
- —appreciating that we as a fellowship of people expressing diverse views are discovering wonderful new ways of living.
- —making a habit of doing kind things that help us love one another and our Universe.
This post shows the evolution of an idea with the intent of delving deeper into things that we might do to help our human species make a positive difference.
