Recently, I participated in a service on the topic of secular humanism at the Unitarian Universalists of Mt. Airy in Philadelphia. The YouTube video of my part of the service is immediately below and the text is under that.
Since becoming a Unitarian Universalist, I’ve learned there is a theological name for what I am: a secular humanist. But in my book, this doesn’t mean there is no mystery in my life. In fact, I live in the mystery.
As a writer, I live in a world where people become other people in my mind. I call them characters. History often comes alive. And increasingly, especially since I’ve become vegan, talking animals come to me and tell me their stories. I live in a world where stories take on life and often become puzzles. For every beginning, there is an ending, and I usually don’t know that ending until I get there.
I did this with my novel THEY, a biblical tale of secret genders when I was in a group here called “The New UU” some years back when I first joined. Since I was raised secular, I wasn’t only new to being a Unitarian Universalist, but to religion in general. I decided to read the Bible, which wasn’t required, but I wanted to be thorough. Besides, I had always wanted to read the Bible since the tenth grade when my English teacher described it as the best work of fiction ever written.
When I began reading the Bible, I started wondering what if? I wondered what if there were strong women? And what if some of those women loved other women? What about gay men? What if there were transgendered people? How did they survive? What if some people did not fit the binary? What if some people were gender-fluid? How did they manage to survive in the harsh desert culture?
So, in some ways, I am a believer. I’m a believer in stories and I’m a believer in re-inventing those stories. Like many writers, I’m a believer in myth and in inhabiting that myth and rewriting it until it suits me. Often that is my entry point to myth. I read the reinterpretation and then I read the myth it is based on.
I’m a believer in change and knowing why that change is necessary.
And I believe in the inquisitive mind, including my own. Maybe it took a long time for me to believe in myself. Sometimes it feels that way and sometimes it doesn’t. But I did have to invent myself, in a culture where I am different in many ways. And I am proud of that difference.
I am a deeply intuitive person, so I don’t always know how things happen. But I know that they do happen. And I know that being part of this congregation has deepened my belief, particularly my belief in myself. So, I profoundly appreciate being here with you, as we invent our moment.
–Namaste
For information on my most recently published novel Loving Artemis click here
Janet Mason, author 