Home | Find An Ethical Society | Become A Member | Contact | Donate
facebook
twitter
youtube



  • Who We Are
    • Mission & Vision
    • Ethical Humanism
    • History
    • Member Societies
    • Meet Our Leaders
    • Staff, Board & Committees
  • What We Do
    • Connections Forum & Calendar
    • Sunday Platform Talks
    • Ethical Action
      • Ethical Action News
    • Ethical Education
    • Conferences
      • AEU 105th Assembly on Zoom
    • Awards
  • Ceremonies
    • Seasonal Festivals
    • Weddings
    • Baby Namings
    • Coming of Age
    • Memorials
  • Our Community
    • Become an Individual Member of the AEU
    • Find an Ethical Society
    • Ethical Community
    • Children’s Programming
    • Youth of Ethical Societies (YES)
    • Future of Ethical Societies (FES)
    • National Ethical Service
    • Allied Organizations
  • Events & News
    • Events
    • News
    • Bart’s Blog
    • In the Media – AEU
    • In the Media – Societies
    • Press Kit
    • Ethical Action News
  • Resources
    • Articles
    • Books
    • Ethical Action Reports
    • Ethical Culture Journal
    • Archived Newsletters
    • Platform Talks
    • Resolutions
    • Statements
  • Contact
    • Support the AEU

Blog Post

off

Vulnerability and Growth: Personal reflections from the National Leaders Council

03 Jan 2020
Emily
News

Hugh Taft-Morales, President of the National Leaders Council (NLC) of the Ethical Humanist Movement, shares some personal reflections about a moment at a recent fall gathering of his clergy colleagues.

I don’t think that I’ve cried at any work meetings before now, but I have noticed that I’ve become more prone to tear up as I’ve grown older. Nowadays, if I go to an emotional film, I bring tissues. Indie folk music with that delicious mix of joy and sadness turns on my tear ducts. And if I start speaking about my children during a Sunday morning talk, well, I never know what will happen!

In most of these cases, while the tears are real, they are not aching tears of grief. I’ve been lucky and privileged. I’ve been spared deep trauma and I’ve not been victimized by grave injustice. But my tears are full of deep feeling—joy, yearning, exhaustion, and love. And they come more frequently these days.

Nevertheless, I was surprised at October’s National Leaders Council meeting in Lanoka Harbor, New Jersey, when, at the start of the personal sharing evening portion of our gathering, surrounded by a dozen colleagues, I suddenly found myself in tears. Granted, maybe I should have expected it. I was speaking about my children—two far away in California, all healthy and engaged in life, which stirred up profound gratitude. Thanks to my clergy colleagues well versed in pastoral support, I felt safe enough to be vulnerable. (And, perhaps, the glass of wine at dinner played a role.)

I can’t point to any single, concrete reason for my tears. They seemed to swell up from a confluence of contradictory currents in our Movement and in the world that I felt inside me. Undergirding our meeting, and most of our lives these days, was fear for our country and our world. Democracy is being tested and the planet is heating up. As Ethical Culture Leaders, we are called on to lead, but political, economic, and environmental solutions are elusive. We feel squeezed between responsibility and powerlessness.

Such heightened emotions are evident in Ethical Humanism. Ethical Societies—which offer some congregational refuge from the storm—struggle to build social justice while struggling to repair our buildings. We appeal to our elected representatives while scrambling to grow our membership. And, in our ministerial roles, we are tasked to do this work while processing the hopes, fears, frustrations, and dreams of our communities.

Of course, Ethical Culture Leaders are people too. Like many of those we serve, we must deal with the shared fragility of our bodies, our families, and our friends. National Leaders Council meetings provide time for peer support—together we grieve, mourn, renew, and replenish. I suppose it was at this meeting that I felt deep responsibility to make space for such heart work, while working to advance Ethical Culture and also trying to heal a broken world. Ever felt weighed down by so many levels of responsibility? Then you may understand that my tears might have been a response to this weight.

While feeling responsible for change in the NLC, in our Movement, and in the world, I did not know the way forward. This uncertainty and fear, while partly hidden by my optimistic exterior, contributed to my cry for help. Thankfully, some of that help was embodied at our NLC meeting by a new generation of Leaders. The four Leaders-in-Training (out of a current group of six) who were able to attend brought energy, wisdom, and calls for change. Our Movement has long stood on the foundation of proud history and tradition. But this foundation, like all foundations, developed cracks over time. Our younger Leaders see this more clearly. Whatever renovation is required to put our house in order, it must be guided, at least in part, by the future generation.

A week after this NLC meeting, at the “Decolonizing Ethical Humanism” workshop at the Riverdale-Yonkers Society for Ethical Culture, I experienced some similar emotions when asked to identify feelings in my body. (See my article about this workshop on the American Ethical Union website.) Our future Leaders urged us to express our humanism in a more embodied fashion—let’s sing more, move more, and feel more in our chest and in our gut. They urged us to reexamine our vocabulary and habits of thought so as to open up new ways of living Ethical Culture. This is part of what “decolonizing” means—challenging old patterns, such as remnants of patriarchy, and making Ethical Humanism more inclusive.

Moving into uncharted territory to grow our Movement while saving the world can move many of us to tears, even when we don’t expect them. So many of you in Ethical Humanism know that uncertainty, full of risk and opportunity, is what makes change so hard. While continuing to honor our commitment to reason, deeper emotional strength is required for real change. As challenges rise, so must we. It will require us, at least sometimes, to be more in our hearts than in our heads. The seeds for change have been planted—perhaps my tears were just an attempt to water them.

Sign up for emails from AEU

Select list(s) to subscribe to


By submitting this form, you are consenting to receive marketing emails from: American Ethical Union, 2 West 64th Street, New York, NY, 10023, https://www.aeu.org. You can revoke your consent to receive emails at any time by using the SafeUnsubscribe® link, found at the bottom of every email. Emails are serviced by Constant Contact

Recent Posts

  • Seeking Program and Communications Coordinator
  • Week of 9/14/2020
  • Week of 8/17/2020

Upcoming Events

All Ethical Societies Platform “Replacing Magical Thinking with Rational Discourse: How can freethinkers help restore democracy?”

31 Jan 2021 | 11:00 am

Youth of Ethical Societies 2021 Conference

05 Mar 2021 | 07:00 pm

Facebook Feed

American Ethical Union
American Ethical Union
The American Ethical Union calls for nontheist participation in National Inaugural Interfaith Service.On Thursday January 21st, the Washington National Cathedral will host a virtual presidential inaugural interfaith service to mark the inauguration of Joe Biden as president. While presented as an opportunity to bring the whole nation together, and while part of the “America United” inaugural activities, one large community will not be represented at all: atheists, agnostics, humanists, and the nonreligious. Millions of Americans today make meaning and express their personal and civic values without reference to a god or traditional religious beliefs. These Americans deserve a voice, and should be included in formal interfaith programming like the Inaugural Service. Read our full statement here: aeu.org/resource/aeu-calls-for-nontheist-participation-in-national-inaugural-interfaith-service/ ... See MoreSee Less

23  ·  

Photo

View on Facebook
· Share

Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email

American Ethical Union
American Ethical Union
Today, as the nation continues to recover from an attempted white supremacist insurrection at our capitol, we are reflecting upon this quote from the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. #MLK #MLKDay #MLK2021 #king #martinlutherkingjr #today #EthicalCulture #ethics #2021 ... See MoreSee Less

3  ·  

Photo

View on Facebook
· Share

Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email

American Ethical Union
American Ethical Union
AEU Statement Regarding the Events of January 6thYesterday, we watched in shock and horror as a violent mob attacked the US Capitol, forcing their way inside and occupying areas of the building for hours in an attempt to disrupt the certification of electoral votes submitted by the states. By the end of the day, 4 people were dead, 52 members of the seditious mob were arrested, and 14 police officers were injured. It took the assistance of many additional federal law enforcement personnel and the National Guard to remove the attackers from the Capitol and clear the way for the Joint Congress to resume its work.Fortunately, the Joint Congress was resolute and refused to let the interruption derail our democracy, working through the night to certify the electoral vote counts for all of the states. However, this episode was an attack on democracy itself, instigated by a sitting president whose actions have severely undermined respect for and trust in the very system that put him in office. Mr. Trump has shown only contempt for the democratic process and is a danger to our country. People who are in a position to remove Mr. Trump from office ought to proceed in haste as this president has repeatedly shown readiness to incite violence and mayhem, and also continues to demonstrate an obsession with the electoral results to the seeming exclusion of other national concerns. Our democratic system of government must be protected from his influence.As Ethical Humanists, we are called upon to repudiate the anti-democratic tendencies that have gained an unwelcome foothold in public life. Our country will need us to elicit the best from one another and ourselves in the months and years to come.#Jan6 #ethicalhumanism ow.ly/uxes50D2Gzn ... See MoreSee Less

2  ·  

Photo

View on Facebook
· Share

Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email

American Ethical Union
American Ethical Union
Share your voice! The AEU is seeking volunteers to contribute to our World Human Rights Day Project. Learn more here: ow.ly/YGDC50CYYPL ... See MoreSee Less

2  ·  

Photo

View on Facebook
· Share

Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email

Twitter Feed

Tweets by @EthicalUnion

Instagram Feed

ethicalunion

The American Ethical Union calls for nontheist par The American Ethical Union calls for nontheist participation in National Inaugural Interfaith Service.

On Thursday January 21st, the Washington National Cathedral will host a virtual presidential inaugural interfaith service to mark the inauguration of Joe Biden as president. While presented as an opportunity to bring the whole nation together, and while part of the “America United” inaugural activities, one large community will not be represented at all: atheists, agnostics, humanists, and the nonreligious. 

Millions of Americans today make meaning and express their personal and civic values without reference to a god or traditional religious beliefs. These Americans deserve a voice, and should be included in formal interfaith programming like the Inaugural Service.
Today, as the nation continues to recover from an Today, as the nation continues to recover from an attempted white supremacist insurrection at our capitol, we are reflecting upon this quote from the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. 

#MLK #MLKDay #MLK2021 #King #MartinLutherKingJr #Today #EthicalCulture #Ethics #2021
Load More... Follow on Instagram

Sign up for emails from AEU

Select list(s) to subscribe to


By submitting this form, you are consenting to receive marketing emails from: American Ethical Union, 2 West 64th Street, New York, NY, 10023, https://www.aeu.org. You can revoke your consent to receive emails at any time by using the SafeUnsubscribe® link, found at the bottom of every email. Emails are serviced by Constant Contact

BtnDonate

American Ethical Union | 2 West 64th Street, New York, NY 10023 | Phone: (212) 873-6500 | office@aeu.org