A sermon by the Rev. Daniel Charles Davis

for the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Winston-Salem

January 29, 2006

The journey of unity. The journey of devotion. The journey of works. The journey of harmony. These are the paths described by Peter Tufts Richardson in his book Four Spiritualities. [1] The objects of worship may vary, yet within all religions there are four spiritual paths. These pathways are based on the human personality rather than on divine doctrine.

Richardson's thesis is based upon Jungian psychology and the Myers-Briggs Personality Profile. This is a test that measures people along four continuums. The first continuum is extroversion and introversion. This describes how people view the world. The extrovert tends to look outside the self and the introvert tends to look inward. This continuum is about where one looks for truth.

The next continuum is between sensing and intuition. It is not about where one looks but about how one looks. A sensing person will notice the details. An intuitive person will look at the big picture.

A sensing person looking at Georges Seurat’s famous pointillistic painting known as "A Sunday on La Grande Jatte (1884)"* will get up close and marvel how all the little points of paint combine to make a picture. An intuitive person will step back and think, My! These people seem completely stiff and too overdressed to be enjoying the park. In another wing of the same museum another artist, Matisse, has a single colored silhouette of a person. The intuitive will say she is dancing. The sensing person will say, How do you know it’s a she? There is no hair or makeup. The artist did not even draw a face. How do you know she’s dancing? There’s no band, not even a dance floor. The artist forgot to draw the background. That is just a crude, blue cutout floating in empty space.

For those of you who do not spend your weekends at museums, here is a football analogy. The play-by-play guy is intuitive: “The quarterback drops back . . . throws . . . complete . . . and he’s down at the 30-yard line.”

Then the replay comes on, and the sensing analyst speaks: “You can see here that the quarterback steps up into the pocket. The halfback helps by picking up the safety blitz. The receiver runs to the center where the safety usually is. The quarterback freezes the cornerback with a pump fake to the outside so he cannot get to the receiver in time to disrupt the pass. But he makes a great tackle. Otherwise, that would have been six points.”

The third continuum is the judging function, or what evidence one uses in making decisions. The thinking person makes decisions based on objective, measurable facts. The feeling person makes decisions based on subjective emotions. I hear them debate every canvass season: The thinking person says, We have 300 members a $300,000 budget; therefore each member should give $1,000 dollars. I’ve done the math; it is quite simple.

Then the feeling person speaks up and says, But we do not want to exclude anyone who has less money. Surely those who are able to give more will find it in their hearts to give more and make this a more inclusive fellowship. Which is why each year we send out a statistical chart with income analysis and suggested giving levels – and a person who says, Do your best to support the fellowship you love.

The fourth continuum is not about how people make decisions but about whether people make decisions. Judging people are very decisive. Perceiving people are waiting for more information.

The danger of each type is found in this proverb: A plan without action is just a dream; action without a plan becomes a nightmare.

Perceiving people run the risk of over-analysis and under-accomplishment. They just think about it. Judging people run the risk of acting impulsively. They just do it even if it is not a good idea.

Overly judging people save time by prejudging. They are prejudiced; they have the same answer no matter what the question is.

On the other hand – which happens to be the favorite phrase of perceivers – one can be so open-minded that their brain falls out of their ears.

When approaching spirituality, Richardson focuses on the middle two functions: sensing to intuition, and thinking to feeling.

He defines the four spiritualities as follows: The journey of unity consists of intuitive thinkers. The journey of devotion consists of sensing feelers. The journey of works consists of sensing thinkers. The journey of harmony consists of intuitive feeler.

The intuitive thinker is the person who sees the big picture and thinks logically, seeks what unifies the religions. They are the people of one big theory – Einstein’s relativity, Freud’s psychoanalysis, Buddha’s idea of non-attachment.

Horace Mann, a Unitarian who advocated the first public school in America, did so out of a unified sense of science and religion.

Get knowledge then my young friends, get wisdom and with all thy gettings, Get understanding. Get science (which is nothing but understanding of God’s laws) as a religious duty. Before you can obey, you must know. Knowledge then is essential for Rational Piety. [2]

“Rational Piety” – the phrase itself sounds like an oxymoron.

The scientist has a devotion to what can be measured. Some scientists argue that if it can’t be measured it does not exist. On the other hand, Buddhists say that there is no observer and observed and that all perceived dualism is just illusion.

Though these two world views might be opposite, they share the same temperament. In fact, they share the same word: Enlightenment. The 18th century with its scientific deism is called the Age of Enlightenment. Enlightenment for Buddhists is when one awakens from the world of illusion.

The second journey is the journey of devotion. This is the journey of sensing feeling people. Being helpful is the hallmark of this type. They tend to please authority. They give their whole heart. These are the people who prepare the altar in traditional religions, with their loving attention to detail. The pilgrimage is part of this spirituality, going to Mecca, Jerusalem or Rome, to walk where the great ones walked.

Their sensing function leads them to help in tangible ways. They seek to make themselves and others feel good. They bring food to the sick. They tend to be devoted to God in human forms, whether it is devotion to Hindu avatars, to Jesus or to Mary. They are more likely to have statues to make these figures more real.

Richardson writes, “Service to others is service to God in many traditions,” [3]

He quotes Mother Theresa: “Love cannot remain by itself – it has no meaning. Love has to be put into action and that action is service. Whatever form we are, able or disabled, rich or poor, it is not how much we do, but how much love we put into the doing; a lifelong sharing of love with others.” [4]

Richardson cites Mohammed and St. Francis as archetypes of this type: being moved by devotion, meditation, prayer, fasting, and alms giving.

This type of devotion is not found as much among UUs. Our service of the living tradition has the ritual of lighting candle. Our Kitchen Committee does a fine job, but I doubt that they pray before they clean and dedicate their service to Clara Barton, emulating the work she did with the Sanitary Commission during the Civil War.

What are we devoted to? I know some of you are thinking justice, freedom, reason. You people are intuitive feelers. I’ll talk about you later.

The sensing feelers have objects of devotion, whether it is the soup they lovingly prepare for the poor or a candle with the Virgin of Guadalupe on it.

We do not have the same devotion to our chalice. We do not have the hymns that move our souls. We do not have a scripture we know by heart.

Sensing Feeling types are about 38% of the population at large. They may visit our service and are likely to walk away feeling empty. How does our congregation serve this type of person? Is there such a thing as a devotee of Unitarian Universalism?

In any church they are the people who get things done: the worker bees. Our denomination’s strength is leaders with great ideas. Are we attracting followers with a deep sense of devotion?

The possible manifestation of the sensing feeling type in this congregation is in the area of hospitality. I have seen parties where there is incredible attention to detail, committee meetings with special treats. Perhaps radical welcoming could be our devotion

The third style Richardson describes is the journey of works. These are the sensing thinkers. Unlike the intuitive thinkers, they do not see the oneness of all things. They create a system of laws, an imposed order of do this and don’t do that. Unlike the sensing feelers, who follow the law as a means to a higher purpose, sensing thinkers follow the law for its own sake.

The Beatitudes in the Book of Matthew appeal to the sensing feelers: “Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth.” The sensing thinker emphasizes the Ten Commandments – Honor your mother and father, period – not honor your mother and father so that you inherit their property. Sensing thinkers have a sense of duty whereas sensing feelers have devotion. Richardson lists Moses and Confucius as mentors for this way. They are the great lawgivers.

Gandhi said work is worship. [5]

Going down to the sea to make salt and spinning his own cloth – he did these political acts. Tangible, practical. Sensing thinking people do the work to build and maintain institutions, seek order in the universe for themselves and others.

I think it would be difficult for an ST to be an agnostic. They are either theists following the Commandments or atheists following ethical standards. They do not embrace the Mystery. They figure out what is right and then do it.

The fourth type Richardson describes is the intuitive feeler, on the journey of harmony. While intuitive feelers account for only 12% of the population, they make up 44% of the clergy. [6] – and I am one of them – seeking to bring harmony and inspiration. Idealism is the hallmark of this type. They approach this type of analysis with hope and wonder, saying it takes all kinds to make this world.

As different as we all are, we are connected by some transcendent reality. Unlike the intuitive thinker, we do not try to build some unifying theory; we simply believe that it is out there in some mystical way, as if wishing for it will make it happen.

In the words of Thoreau, “If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.” [7]

I know I am not alone in this congregation. I see your letters to the editor. They reveal your ideals. We come to this fellowship because it is a place to gather and dream about the world that could be if everyone’s worth and dignity were respected. We come to feel a part of the interconnected web of all existence.

Unlike sensing feelers, intuitive feelers do not submerge themselves in the tasks of individual acts of charity. They are more likely to seek policy change. Instead of feeding the poor, intuitive feelers will advocate the elimination of poverty. Both are needed and neither should think themselves more righteous that others.

Intuitive feelers have the least in common with sensing thinkers, but they need each other. All types need each other. Intuitive feelers are not going to get around to the detailed work of putting foundations under the castles in the sky.

The intuitive thinker will be the architect, drawing up the plans. The sensitive thinker will engineer the project, making sure the plans follow the laws of physics. The sensing feeler will focus on the plan and make it happen.

Each of us should look at ourselves and ask, What type of spirituality am I most comfortable with? How do I react to people with a different style? Sometimes I get along well with people of different faiths. Might we have a similar style underlying our different beliefs?

Am I a mixture of styles? How can I access a different way of doing things when I need to?

How can I honor who I am? How can I honor who you are? How can we become more whole?

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* “Un dimanche après-midi à l'Ile de la Grande Jatte” is on exhibit in The Art Institute of Chicago.

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 1. Richardson, Peter Tufts, Four Spiritualities: Expressions of Self, Expressions of Spirit, Davies-Black Publishing, Palo Alto, CA, 1996

2. in Richardson, p.50

3. ibid. p. 84

4. ibid p. 84

5. p. 125

6. p. 145

7. Thoreau, Henry David, Walden, 1854