This is the text of a sermon I delivered at the Olympic Unitarian Universalist Fellowship on Sunday, March 2nd, 2025. Here’s a link to the video version on YouTube. Audio/podcast version in process.

Intro

Hello again! Thank you so much for inviting me back. I feel truly honored and appreciated, and I hope I can provide the right mix of entertainment in inspiration in these very troubling times.

Yesterday I went up to my favorite mountains for a hike and ended up totally rewriting this sermon.

The new title is: Faith, It’s What’s For Dinner.

My goal is to explain an idea I have been tending for a long time, which I call Spiritual Pragmatic or Pragmatic Spirituality. The whole idea is encapsulated in a single question, which is:

“What do I need to believe to take the actions that would make me proud?”

Another way of looking at the question is:

“Why don’t we just give up and embrace nihilism?”

My goal today is not only to answer those questions, for myself, but to answer them in a way that could help you answer them for yourselves as well.

But first, a joke about pragmatism and spiritual knowledge.

Joke

If you know it, please entertain yourself by spotting the unimportant details that I’ve changed.

Once upon a time there was a ship crossing from India to Australia. It met with unforeseen and unfortunate mechanical issues, and everyone aboard — crew and passengers — were forced to evacuate on little orange rafts.

One such raft held a learned Brahmin, who was a 1st class passenger on the ship, two young cooks, and a sailor.

The Brahmin had spent his entire life studying and was very proud of his knowledge. To pass the time and edify his companions, he shared his wisdom ceaselessly for the days and nights they floated in the wide ocean.

Since he was a humble fellow and didn’t want to presuppose any superiority over his companions, he always sought to establish it explicitly by asking what they knew.

The first day, he spoke of Vedic Astrology.

“Excuse me, but have any of you made a deep study of Vedic Astrology, of how your very fates are influenced by the position of the heavenly bodies as the precise minute of your birth?”

(Umm, no…)

“Aah then my friends, you really have not lived. It is as if half your life was wasted! Never mind, I will enlighten you.”

The second day, he spoke of Ayurvedic Medicine.

“Excuse me, but have any of you made a deep study of Ayurvedic Medicine, the true science of life, how every imbalance in your body can be treated with the right combination of plant remedies with no side effects?”

(Umm, no…)

“Aah then my friends, you really have not lived. It is as if half your life was wasted! Never mind, I will enlighten you.”

The third day, he was preparing to hold forth on Vedic Mathematics.

“Excuse me, but have any of you made a deep study of Vedic Mathematics, the secret to performing exquisitely complex mental calculations in the blink of an eye?”

But just as the crew was about to give the now ritual answer of “Ummm, no”, two extraordinary events occurred.

• The fog lifted and a small island could be seen a mere 100 yards away.
• The raft snagged on a sharp rock just beneath the surface and popped.

The cooks immediately dove overboard and started swimming towards landing, leaving a little doubt as to whether they were more excited to get to land or away from their self-appointed teacher.

(splash)
(splash)

But the sailor had an eye for irony and tarried a bit.

“Excuse me, learned Brahmin, but have you made even a modest study of swimming?”

(Ummmm, no)

“Aah then my friend, you might not live. It is as if the whole of your life was wasted!”

(splash)

Definition

So there’s clearly different kinds of pragmatic knowledge for the spirit. What I’m talking about today — and I’m talking about it because this theory is being tested quite frequently at the moment — is:

“What must I believe to take the actions that make me proud?”

It’s pragmatic because it makes a concrete, immediate, and positive difference in my life, and I’m going to try to convince you, in the lives of others.

It’s spiritual because we’re talking about beliefs. A thought who existence and frequency I can control, and whose veracity I can neither prove nor disprove.

I’m using the term belief interchangeable with the idea of faith here. So another way of stating today’s question — the question of Spiritual Pragmatism — is:

“In what must I have faith to take the actions that make me proud?”

Basically, we’re looking for a theory of motivation.

Here’s an example from the wonderful world of parenting.

I have a 7 year old daughter. Her name is Jasmine. I love Jasmine. She might be my favorite person on the planet.

And I’m going to be honest, parenting is also a real pain in the ass.

The amount of repetitions that I have put into extremely simple pieces of information or behavior, like our address, or when to close the front door, or where to put a jacket, or what a month is, is really shocking. Sometimes with zero indication of progress.

In order to continue what is, on the face of it, absurd and insane behavior, I have to have a set of beliefs.

I have to believe:

• Knowing these simple facts and practicing these simple behaviors will lead to greater safety and happiness for my child
• There is a non-infinite number of repetitions that will lead to learning
• It’s somehow important for my future relationship with Jasmine for ME be involved in this process

If I didn’t believe that knowing our address would contribute to her safety, there’s no reason to do it.

If I didn’t believe that learning was possible, I wouldn’t be doing any of this.

And if I thought I could have as good a relationship with her without being involved, I would definitely save myself the trouble and not be involved.

But I believe all 3 of those things, apparently. So I continue parenting.

That’s the parenting example.

Now let’s turn to something that’s perhaps even worse than parenting for some of us: The current political situation.

It’s February of 2025. We elected a guy who promised to shake things up and punish people he doesn’t like. And he is coming through on his promises in a major way, with a whole crew of very-well organized and well-funded homies who are hell bent on dismantling and defunding the Federal Government that everyone is always complaining about.

And if you can’t relate to complaining about the current political Regime, just imagine another one that you enjoyed complaining about.

The Onslaught

The onslaught in the news about what Trump and Musk and Putin is quite intense. You might experience it as “discouraging” or “depressing”. You may have heard or used or felt the word “despair”.

You might wonder what happens after the civil rights of your loved ones are repealed or denied.
Or what will happen to Olympic National Park if the park service is Defunded and the parks are privatized.
You might wonder how the international order will adapt to us selling arms to Russia.
You might be imagining the last act in the genocide of the Palestinians, the deportation of stragglers to Guantanamo, and the surveyors marking out parking lots and pools for the Gaza Hotel Boom.

What is the effect of tuning into all of those possibilities? Those possible, or probable, worlds?

Follow the question. What is the effect of tuning in?

When I follow the question, I see 2 battlefields.

There’s the practical political reality, which sucks (from where I’m sitting). There were many, many outcomes I would have preferred to this one. My tuning in doesn’t affect this reality at all.

And then there’s the battle for your energy, your will to participate, your ability to act, your gumption, your soul.

And this onslaught is as much about the latter as it is about the former. It’s as much on the energetic level as the practical political level.

Prediction 1: Much of what Trump does in this first sprint will be blocked or repealed by the court system.

Prediction 2: Your nervous system registers the onslaught more than it does the incremental victories of the courts.

And, to the extent your experience despair, you’re losing.

Not only are you not acting constructively, but you’re not enjoying your life as much. You’re not as alive. That’s the nature of despair.

And when you lose, I lose. When you lose, we all lose.

That’s true If — and only if — you’re who I think you are and you’re capable of what I think you’re capable of.

The Gita

This dual battlefield thing is not new. Nothing is. It’s actually the prime metaphor in the Bhagavad Gita, which is the story of a God convincing a Prince to go out and kill 99 of his cousins on a giant battlefield. I know, it doesn’t sound great when I put it that way. But it’s a metaphor.

And the main message I got out of the Gita — there are several, so you may have gotten a different one — is that we should act without attachment to the results of our actions. The fruits.

The key to happiness is acting without attachment to the fruits of our action.

And here I thought the key to happiness was low expectations!

Actually, I do think the low expectations thing is true. It’s just not validated by Krishna.

So okay, I think we’re making a little progress. Our initial question was

“In what must I have faith to take the actions that make me proud?”

And now I’ve hopefully illustrated that NOW is precisely a good time to answer that question, because NOW is a really good time to take the actions that make you proud.

And I’ve hinted that your taking actions NOW is not just important to you, but to all of us, the greater whole.

And, we have this hint that taking actions without attachment to their fruits is an important part of the mix.

Sports, Papi, Gambler

I’m going to give you 3 examples of what I’m talking about. The first is Ted Lasso and the second is my father in law, Papi, and the third is The Gambler.

So, Ted Lasso. Ted Lasso is a TV character. He coaches a sport he has no idea how to play, he’s very sincere and positive, and he really cares. He understands this thing about actions and the fruits. He is always encouraging his players to do their best, at every moment, and then forget the moment once it’s over.

His line is “Be a Goldfish” because of the Goldfish’s famously poor memory.

If you were following Ted Lasso’s philosophy, you would kick the ball or shoot the basket or whatever sports people do, and then you would immediately go to the next productive action you could take to support your team (in our case, humanity) without looking to see if your action succeeded or failed.

That’s what Krishna is talking about. The question is, what belief allows you to do that?

Example #2: My father-in-law, whom we call Papi. Papi is a human rights activist. He grew up under a dictatorship in Tunisia, emigrated to France, and has spent his entire adult life fighting for democracy and human rights. Day after day, protest after protest, rally after rally. It never ends.

Finally, after 30 years in exile, the Tunisian dictatorship gave way to democracy in 2011, and Papi returned as a hero. Then, 10 years later, a candidate running for president advertised how he would dismantle democracy and become the sole authoritarian ruler. He was voted in, did exactly what he said he would, and now Tunisia is basically a dictatorship again.

What did Papi do? Did he complain? Did he succumb to despair? No! He just kept on organizing. Meetings, protests, rallies.

That’s because the fight never ended for Papi, and his actions never changed. He is full of losing causes. He fights bigots in France who persecute Muslims and Arabs. He fights bigots in Tunisia who persecute Jews and Black Africans. He is going to 10 person rallies for causes you and I have never heard of, on a bridge in the corner of Paris, in the rain. And sometimes he’s on national television. It makes absolutely no difference whether he wins or loses.

That’s what Krishna is talking about. The question is, what belief allows you to do that?

My third example is the song The Gambler by Don Schlitz. It was the first song I learned how to play on guitar. You probably all know the chorus. My favorite line is:

“You never count your money while you’re sitting at the table /
There’ll be time enough for counting when the dealing’s done.”

And when is the dealing done, according to Ted Lasso and Papi?

Never. Those guys are always sitting at the table.

What do I need to believe?

All right, Ank, enough stories. Let me cut to the chase here.

What do I need to believe to keep going?
What do I need to believe to keep acting without concern for the fruits of my actions?

• I need to know my path makes a contribution towards the world I want to create.
• I need to get some joy out of my actions.
• I need to believe it’s all going to work out in the end

The first two are empirically verifiable. They’re not beliefs for me.

I serve as a writer, facilitator, conflict mediator, and minister. Every time I do those activities, I get feedback that my work is making a contribution towards the world I want to create. CHECK.

Every time I marry someone, run a baby shower, take a bunch of men on a hike in the woods, mediate a divorce, or speak at a funeral, I feel great. I get joy. CHECK.

The third is a belief. I have no idea what’s going to happen in the end.

Martin Luther King put it beautifully, as he often does:

The moral arc of the universe is long, but it bends towards justice.

How did he know that?

He knew that because he believed in a living, personal, Christian god who spoke to him regularly.

I am so happy for MLK. I am so happy he believed what he did, because it allowed him to do what he did for all of us.

And I don’t believe in his version of God!

I wish I could establish it empirically, that

The moral arc of the universe is long, but it bends towards justice.

But I can’t. In some ways it’s definitely true. Our circle of concern has grown enormously over the past 10,000 years, as I spoke about the last time I was here. We have never been so advanced.

I was at a school meeting the other day with 10 highly educated professionals all deeply concerned about how a special-ed student was going to get the best possible public education and peer relationships he could, in a class with his peers, without feeling like an outcast or pariah. Just that 4 hour meeting probably cost the district between $5,000, and it was worth it to them. I’ve never witnessed inclusion and concern that was so advanced.

And, in other ways, we have never been so close to destruction. Climate catastrophes, rogue AI, disinformation, intentional deadly pandemics, nuclear holocaust, all of it.

So, I don’t believe in the personal God.
I don’t have proper empirical justification.

But I need to believe that everything is going to be okay, because what will happen if I don’t?

It’s totally self-defeating.

If I didn’t believe it was all going to work out in the end, then I wouldn’t act.

I would have missed my shot at meaning.
I would have thrown away purpose and potential.

So that’s the real, practical, pragmatic reason I have faith that

The moral arc of the universe is long, but it bends towards justice.

It’s pure pragmatism. I believe what I believe because it allows me to do what I want to do. For me, and for all of us.

Thank you.