Life Shrinks and Expands in Proportion to One's Courage

10 April 2005

First UU Church of Austin

4700 Grover Ave., Austin, TX 78756

www.austinuu.org

Listen to the sermon by clicking the play button.

Prayer

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn’t serve the world. There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We were born to manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.

Nelson Mandela, 1994 Inaugural Speech – words taken from Marianne Williamson

HOMILY: Life Shrinks and Expands in Proportion to One’s Courage

A thousand sermons have been written on the sentiment in that saying from Anais Nin, that “Life shrinks and expands in proportion to one’s courage.” And one of our most persistent dreams in life is finding the right kind of courage needed to help our life expand in the right ways. It isn’t easy.

There are a couple Buddhist stories about this. In one, there was once a mouse who went to God to ask for a favor. “What is it?” asked God. “I am only a mouse,” came the answer, and I live in constant fear of cats. Can’t you do something about my fear?”

There was a loud “Poof!,” a puff of smoke, and the mouse was turned into a cat. For awhile, this sufficed, but before long the cat was back to ask another favor of God. “And now what?” asked the Almighty.

“I’m still afraid,” came the answer. “Perhaps I’m still not big enough. Maybe if I were a very large dog . . .”

Again the “Poof!” and the cloud of smoke, and the cat had become something that looked like a cross between an Irish Wolfhound and a Saint Bernard, weighing in at 250 pounds.

In a week, the dog was scratching at God’s door.

“Now what?” said God – who, though he had infinite power, did not have infinite patience.

“I’m still afraid. Perhaps if I were an elephant,” said the dog. “Or a lion. Yes, that’s it, a lion, the king of the jungle! Let’s try that.”

A loud “Poof!” and a cloud of smoke. And when the smoke cleared, there stood, again, a mouse – who, realizing that it was again a mouse, began squealing for God.

“It is no use,” said God, “there is nothing I can do for you, for you have the heart of a mouse, and as long as you have the heart of a mouse, you might as well be a mouse.”

I’ve been thinking about this subject because courage is in right now, as you know. Arnold Schwarzenegger has informed us that men who would rather talk, negotiate and understand than take premature action are “girly men.” By this measure, some of history’s great girly men would include Jesus and the Buddha, Martin Luther King Jr. and Nelson Mandela. Our invasion of Iraq, whatever else you say about it, involves some kind of courage. We have killed over 100,000 Iraqis, and more than 1,500 of our soldiers have died there so far, plus another 20,000 or so who have been wounded. That is some kind of courage.

But there are different kinds of courage, and not all of them are admirable. It depends on where the courage is coming from, what it is serving.

That word “courage” comes from an old French word for “heart.” You could say that life shrinks and expands in proportion to one’s heart. I would define courage as a heart’s effort to make the world in its image. So if it is a good heart, the courage can serve good ends. And if it is a bad heart, the courage – no less courageous – is likely to serve bad ends. It takes courage, after all, to strap a bomb under your shirt, board a crowded bus and kill yourself along with as many others as you can. But a heart that reduces innocent people to pawns in your own deadly chess game – that’s a bad heart, no matter how courageous.

One of the confusing things today is that some of the worst hearts, some of the voices calling for the worst kind of courage, are coming from the fundamentalist versions of our major religions. Some Israelis say God gave them their land, and reclaiming it is doing God’s will, no matter how many Arabs they kill.

Fundamentalist Muslims give their religion a bad name by urging them to kill Americans in the name of Allah. And in this country, far too many conservative ministers have preached war and justified violence, even if they haven’t gone as far as Jerry Falwell’s saying we should hunt down terrorists and blow them away in the name of the Lord. These are voices pleading for courage. But they are pleading from bad hearts, so the courage serves bad ends. And when you serve a bad heart, life expands in unhealthy, deadly ways, like a cancer.

In your own life, you can think of stands you have taken that served both good places and selfish places, can’t you? And you can remember the effects that taking those stands had – on you and your relationships. But sometimes it’s easier to see these patterns in areas where we can paint with broader strokes. So you can also tell the quality of our heart by looking at the form life is taking in our society.

Last week, I read an article by a local man, an editor at the Austin Chronicle named Michael Ventura. I know Michael; he’s spoken here at least once. I want to read you a little from the picture of America he paints. And remember, we reap what we sow; bad effects come from actions serving a bad heart. So listen to these things – some of which you probably know – and ask what kind of a heart our country seems to be serving, and if it is the kind of heart you want. All of these conditions are the direct result of the priorities we are serving. And our priorities come from the active heart of our society:

The United States is 49th in the world in literacy (the New York Times, Dec. 12, 2004).

“The U.S. and South Africa are the only two developed countries in the world that do not provide health care for all their citizens” (The European Dream, p.80). Excuse me, but since when is South Africa a “developed” country? Anyway, that’s the company we’re keeping.

Lack of health insurance coverage causes 18,000 unnecessary American deaths a year. (That’s six times the number of people killed on 9/11.) (NYT, Jan. 12, 2005.)

“U.S. childhood poverty now ranks 22nd, or second to last, among the developed nations. Only Mexico scores lower” (The European Dream, p.81). Been to Mexico lately? Does it look “developed” to you? Yet it’s the only “developed” country to score lower in childhood poverty.

Women are 70 percent more likely to die in childbirth in America than in Europe (NYT, Jan. 12, 2005).

The leading cause of death of pregnant women in this country is murder (CNN, Dec. 14, 2004).

“Of the 20 most developed countries in the world, the U.S. was dead last in the growth rate of total compensation to its workforce in the [past 25 years] (The European Dream, p.39). Yet Americans work longer hours per year than any other industrialized country, and get less vacation time.

“In a recent survey of the world’s 50 best companies, conducted by Global Finance, all but one were European” (The European Dream, p.69).

Three million six hundred thousand Americans ran out of unemployment insurance last year; (NYT, Jan. 9, 2005).

One-third of all U.S. children are born out of wedlock. One-half of all U.S. children will live in a one-parent house (CNN, Dec. 10, 2004).

“Americans are now spending more money on gambling than on movies, videos, DVDs, music, and books combined” (The European Dream, p.28). It’s the only hope many see of ever realizing the American Dream.

Forty-three percent of Americans think torture is sometimes justified, according to a PEW Poll (Associated Press, Aug. 19, 2004).

“Nearly 900,000 children were abused or neglected in 2002, the last year for which such data are available” (USA Today, Dec. 21, 2004).

http://www.austinchronicle.com/issues/dispatch/2005-01-21/cols_ventura.html

The bold actions that produced these figures took courage, skill, determination and a kind of leadership. But behind the courage, I believe that we have been serving a bad heart. We could add to the sorrow of figures like these by going down a similar list showing the number of killed, wounded and reduced to poverty in the more than one hundred countries where our country has soldiers stationed.

But I would rather tell you the second Buddhist story about courage. It’s one some of you have heard before here, because it is one of my favorites.

A notorious bandit came to the Buddha one day and informed him that he was the most fierce and brave bandit in all the world, and was going to demonstrate it by killing the Buddha. “Ah,” said the Buddha. “If you are that powerful, you can grant me two wishes before I die.”

“All right,” said the bandit, “but be quick. Time is short, and I have many more people to kill.”

The Buddha pointed to a young sapling tree growing nearby, and said “Cut off the smallest branch on that young tree.” The bandit laughed, and with one quick swipe of his sword, it was done and the tiny branch fell to the ground. The Buddha picked it up.

“Now, old fool,” said the bandit, “what is your final wish?”

The Buddha handed the tiny branch to the bandit, pointed to the tree, and said, “Now put it back on.”

Legend has it that the bandit achieved enlightenment in that instant.