You’ve heard we used to be apes. Mammals. Reptiles, and fish… a while back. With our big brains with their amazing inventions and ideas, it seems we’ve forgotten that we are still mammals. The triune brain (see graphic), which science and many psychological theorists and therapy practitioners accept as reality, lets us know that we humans very much retain our instincts. These instincts include emotional defensive and aggressive responses to threat. While our many technologies may have kept us away from most physical threats, our big brains and social realities provide us different types of threat. Examples: fear of failure, “hurt feelings,” thoughts of potential future dangers, chronic isolation, triggering stimuli.
Many people are often quite uncomfortable with these more difficult “instinctual” emotions and can be at a loss what to do as well as how to communicate about them. This discomfort and uncertainty can lead individuals to repress these emotions until they build to a point of explosion Or to seek a release valve through triangulation through back room murmuring and complaint Or to, sadly, disconnect completely. This is true both in families And in communities/ congregations like ours.
The path of direct clear communication with those most directly involved can seem impossibly awkward .. even frightening and best avoided.
On Sunday October 30 UUCUC member David Wolf and our interim lead minister Reverend Karen Bush will invite us to reflect on how this human challenge impacts us both personally and in our congregational life together as we consider more healthy and effective alternatives. We hope you will join us!
Kids age birth-18 will start upstairs in the Sanctuary before being invited to participate in Religious Exploration and Engagement downstairs with their age-mates.