Sermons

READING:  from Hamlet Act III Scene 1

To be, or not to be, that is the question,
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep;
No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep;
To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub;
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause: there's the respect
That makes calamity of so long life;
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,
The pangs of despised love, the law's delay,
The insolence of office and the spurns
That patient merit of the unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin? who would fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscover'd country from whose bourn
No traveller returns, puzzles the will
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all;
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought,
And enterprises of great pith and moment
With this regard their currents turn awry,
And lose the name of action.--Soft you now!
The fair Ophelia! Nymph, in thy orisons
Be all my sins remember'd.

COMMENT 

Shakespeare has Hamlet think about ending his life because of all the fardels he has to bear in his life. Let me admit that I began working on this service because I loved the sound of the word “Fardels” which means burdens. Still a funny sounding word.

Just another little aside: one of these fardels is “the law’s delay” If you ever have been troubled by this, remember that this was an issue at least way back in the year 1600. “The law’s delay,” annoying in the 16^th Century and still annoying today.

Back to the Soliloquy: The reasons Hamlet says he will go on living, are his fear of what comes after death; especially the dreams that may come. Are these the reasons to choose to stay alive?

As a Psychiatrist, I often worked with people who wished to end their lives, and in my 40 years of practice I cannot recall many who said that the fear of the afterlife was the thing that kept them alive. The major exception were a few who feared Hell and Damnation, but for most, that was not the issue.

No, while this famous speech is great drama and quite poetic, Hamlet’s fear is not the factor that keeps us alive despite all that we might be suffering. Instead, it is the meaning and purpose of our lives, our “raison d'être”, that drives us to persevere.

Social scientists have done studies that show that individuals who have strong purpose to their lives do in fact live longer and they have better and heathier lives and even have more wealth that those who cannot say name the purpose of their lives.

SERMON 

There are many answers to the question of the meaning and purpose of one’s life. I will explore some of them.

When I was in my 20’s and like many of my age, thought I knew the answer to everything, I would say that: “The meaning of life is a pepperoni pizza.”  Actually, that means that the purpose of life is to experience the sensations of all of it: The painful and the pleasant, the beautiful and the ugly, all life has to offer. To experience the pizza is to risk the pain of biting it when it is too hot from the oven, the aroma of the pie, the spiciness of the pepperoni, the comforting taste of the cheese, the crunch or chewiness of the crust, the good and the bad: all the sensations that are there.

Eleanor Roosevelt said it better than I. She was quoted as saying:

“The purpose of life is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience.”

Here, surrounded by all this natural beauty, as well as the chance to eat a lobster or two, it is easy to agree that this is indeed the meaning and purpose of life. If this is your answer to the question of purpose, that is great.  However, as my body offers me the pain of getting older and my senses and capacities diminish, I find it hard to accept that physical experiences can be my life’s purpose. What then is the purpose of living?

Some of our lives’ purposes involve setting achievable goals. These change with time, like finishing our education, then moving into an occupation and vocation and advancing in those. One may set a financial goal, like making enough to fund our retirement. One set of goals begins with finding a life partner, establishing a family and even a goal of raising happy and successful children. You may have artistic goals like writing a book or learning how to paint or to master a musical instrument.

Focusing on these external goals may be enough for us but at times I look for something deeper and more meaningful than that.

Unitarian hero Ralph Waldo Emerson has another answer.  He said:

“The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.”

I would like to strive to make the world a better place.  That surely is a fine purpose for life.  Many UU’s work for social justice, for racial equality, to feed those who are hungry or even to strive politically to elect those who share our values.  We may act to reduce our carbon footprints or lower the amount of trash we produce.  All these are great and noble goals and perhaps should be at least a part of what we call our life’s purpose.

However, again part of me says “But.” I may strive to make the world better, but the world seems to insist on getting worse. The climate is getting hotter causing severe storms and natural disasters.  The oceans are polluted with plastic. Women’s reproductive freedom is under attack. Some states are passing laws which restrict what can be taught in school. Wars and injustice continue. We do what we can and should, but it seems to have little impact on the course of history. I wish for a purpose that I can achieve.

Jackie Robinson may have a suggestion for us. He said:

“A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives.”

One achievable goal is to try to make each person whose life touches ours a little happier and their lives in some small way, better. Sometimes you can do that just with a smile or by sharing a joke. Other times it requires a great deal of time and effort.  The key is to be aware of other’s needs and of our impact on their lives and to make the conscious choice to be helpful.  I can try to do that, and it gives my life a purpose and meaning. How about you? Can you devote at least a portion of your life to being a help to other’s happiness? Can you reduce the fardels that others bear? I believe that is a purpose of life which surely can give it meaning.

Regardless of what purpose you choose for your life, the important takeaway from this morning is that it will help you to decide what purpose your life has. Think about it and go in peace.

Amen.  And blessed be.