The fourth tenet of our Congregational Covenant is: Be willing to be changed.
In keeping with most of our covenantal promises, the 4th tenet may be easier said than done. Whether we’re looking at changing our point of view, reconfiguring our attitudes, or modifying our beliefs, changing one’s mind can sometimes be challenging and even scary. ‘Change’ is defined as “the act or instance of making or becoming different.” While it is sometimes said that change is the only absolute truth, individuals often pride themselves on their inner convictions, and will go to great lengths to defend their personal viewpoint and biases. After all, one’s Weltanschauung, or worldview, wasn’t built in a day.
But personal change, or change in general, should not be feared. Twenty-five hundred years ago, Heraclitus of Ephesus wrote, “The only thing that is constant is Change.” Change is all around us, and personal growth and social progress always require changes in attitude and behavior. Albert Einstein once remarked, “We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.” Indeed, change can be a positive force and a necessary correlate to achieving our goals. For me, our fourth tenet refers to our capacity to change our views and suppositions in response to what we learn from and about others.
Our covenantal tenets, I believe, are organically intertwined – that is, the practice of any one tenet necessarily influences our ability to do the others. The previous Wednesday Newsletter reflections by Covenant Tenders, Mike, Jen, and Elizabeth, remind us that our Covenant emphasizes the importance of acting, listening, and speaking with sincerity. In turn, the fourth tenet depends directly on our ability to act with good will, to listen deeply, and to speak with kindness.
“Be willing to be changed” is a maxim for me on a personal level. Currently, my three children are attending college. Interestingly, the world of higher education thrives both on the willingness of students to be changed and on academic programs that inspire change. As much as my wife and I love our kids as they are, we are paying a lot of money to change them! And so far each child appears to be thriving amidst the change (and receiving college credit). One brief example: my oldest, Zach, is working on his master’s thesis at the Human-Aware Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at RIT, Rochester, NY. His colleagues are researchers from various computer engineering fields (e.g., neural networking, deep learning, machine learning) who are working on the next generation of ‘brain-inspired’ computing systems modeled after the brain’s information processing capability. Researchers are intent on determining how the human brain’s capacity for learning can be applied to machines. What is fascinating here with respect to our 4th tenet is the notion that the human brain’s capacity for change, for learning from its environment and re imagining its reality, is exactly what higher education demands of successful students, not to mention successful robots!
In my opinion, we humans should applaud our god-like capacity to create new understandings and new realities, and new Weltanschauungs. Living our Covenant provides ongoing opportunities to improve our communal insights, congregational culture, and interpersonal realities. Change is inevitable and to care for one another, to speak, listen, and act with sincerity, requires our willingness to embrace the world before us and, in turn, to change ourselves.
Paul Carmichael, Covenant Tenders Committee