• Life is not a journey to the grave with the intentions of arriving safely in a pretty, well-preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out and loudly proclaiming . . . Wow! What a ride. [variously attributed]
• To finish the moment, to find the journey’s end in every step of the road, to live the greatest number of good hours, is wisdom. [Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Experience“]
• The longest journey is the journey inward. [Dag Hammarskjöld]
• The journey is the reward. [Chinese proverb]
• Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing. [attributed to Helen Keller]

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We can choose how to look at life, to a point. One way is to see life as a journey. We first recall being on this road at a young age, with no idea how we got here. Decades later, we may still be asking that question. However, sometimes – most of the time – the better strategy is just to take the ride, as opposed to trying to figure out how we got here. Give any answer you like, if you’re in New Jersey, then you’re in New Jersey.

This does not mean that we should take the ride passively. I could leave Jersey by choice. Sometimes we may take the wheel or get under the hood to repair the engine; other times, in some ways, we may let others drive. Sometimes others will drive whether we give consent or not. Whatever happens, we can choose – to a point, depending on our circumstances – how to respond to life as it unfolds. We can plan, take action and shape our lives and the lives of others. We can choose. That is the essence of ethics and morality, all debates about whether we truly have free will aside.

Who are we? How did we get here? Why are we here? Where are we going? These questions are far beyond us to answer, so let us take another approach:

Who are we? How did we get here (a legitimate question that we need not necessarily answer)? What can we make out of it? What will our journey, and the journey of others be like? What will be the quality of our lives? How shall we act in relation to others, and within ourselves? Can we humans sustain the lives that we have in large measure created? How can we shape the world, and will we have the wisdom, compassion and courage to do it? Will we live truly on a foundation of Love for all of humanity, extending into the future for as far as we can see; or for that matter for the Love of all living beings? Perhaps these are life’s greatest and most meaningful questions. The more conventional questions are interesting but we cannot answer them in any meaningful way; we can only guess. The focus of this model is on what we can do, in keeping with Reinhold Niebuhr’s brilliant prayer, paraphrased as: live with the serenity to accept the things we cannot change, the courage to change the things we can, and the wisdom to know the difference. It is all founded on a core commitment to honoring the intrinsic worth of all people, and eliciting the best in them, thereby enhancing dignity and nurturing its expressions, both in others and in self. We can make this the essence of our journey.

If you can think of life an extended invitation to a dance, then you are poised for a life in the spirit.

This week on our liturgical calendar is about an attitude, an approach to and a way of seeing life. Having just explored the idea of choice and personal freedom, the natural next step is to decide what kinds of choices we will make. We Humanists recognize that in the main life is dynamic, not static. We seek to open ourselves to its possibilities as fully as we can.

Today we focus on seeing life as a journey. Most of our narratives could be placed under this heading but because we are setting a tone for what is to come, this theme is best expressed through art, music and literature.