+++
title = "Free and Responsible"
author = ["Colin"]
date = 2017-09-28T00:00:00-04:00
tags = ["religion", "uu"]
categories = ["thoughts"]
draft = false
+++

The way I was raised, certain people were simply wrong. If they didn't share the
same enthusiasm for science, they were incorrect. If they believed in a
benevolent (or even malevolent) Christian god, they were wrong. There was very
little gray in many of the positions that were espoused to me. One of the great
aspects of humanity is that we are given the opportunity to raise our children
with our values and beliefs. But, of course, there are responsibilities there
too.

It almost seems absurd to say this, but I don't think I was always responsibly
educated. Absurd, because that's a high bar and I'm not sure anyone can ever
claim to have been educated under the perfect paradigm. But to the extent that
it took me many years to understand what it means to pursue a free and
responsible search for truth and meaning, I think there could have been more
openess to what I was exposed to. The Christian Bible is an amazing book. The
Bhagavad Gita is absolutely beautiful. Darwin had his doubts about the extent to
which evolution allows us to understand life. Newton was downright crazy half
the time.

The source of responsibility in our lives is humbleness. When we say we are
responsible for our children, that does not mean if we fail to teach them the
right things we have failed. It means if we fail to listen to them, and discern
what they need based on what we understand about them and what they tell us, we
have failed them. There is no test for responsible parenthood, just as there is
no test of responsible searching for meaning in our lives. When we have the
freedom to search for truth and meaning, we must use discernment and listening
as our foundation for responsibility. Listen first, think second, act last.
