RIDDLE AND MYSTERY
A Tapestry of Faith Program for Children
SESSION 10: TO TELL THE TRUTH
BY RICHARD S. KIMBALL
© Copyright 2010 Unitarian Universalist Association.
Published to the Web on 11/8/2014 8:29:33 AM PST.
This program and additional resources are available on the UUA.org web site at
www.uua.org/religiouseducation/curricula/tapestryfaith.
SESSION OVERVIEW
INTRODUCTION
I am not afraid of the pen, or the scaffold, or the sword. I will tell the truth wherever I please. — Mother Jones in Linda Atkinson's book, Mother Jones (1978)
You never find yourself until you face the truth. — Pearl Bailey, The Raw Pearl (1968)
You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free. — Christian scripture, John 8:32
Big Question: What is truth?
"Always tell the truth" and "Never tell a lie" are often the first moral imperatives a child learns. But adults do not always set good examples. We lie, and children know. Sometimes we excuse our prevarications as choices we make to "protect" people from the truth or otherwise to do good. Small wonder if youth are confused about what truth is and why it is important.
This session asks youth to search for deep truths in the morals of fables and in their interactions with peers. The story lifts up Mahatma Gandhi's view of truth and his commitment to it, while WCUU explores different ideas of spiritual truth found within Unitarian Universalism.
GOALS
This session will:
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Participants will:
SESSION-AT-A-GLANCE
Activity | Minutes |
Opening | 5 |
Activity 1: Truth in Fiction | 20 |
Activity 2: Story — Gandhi's Truth | 7 |
Activity 3: WIT Time — Gossip Control | 10 |
Activity 4: WCUU — Spiritual Truths | 15 |
Faith in Action: News of Injustice | 25 |
Closing | 3 |
Alternate Activity 1: Notable Thoughts | 5 |
Alternate Activity 2: Song — Light of Ages and of Nations | 5 |
Alternate Activity 3: Challenge Question | 5 |
Alternate Activity 4: Truth and Photography | 20 |
SPIRITUAL PREPARATION
Carve out a meditative moment for yourself. Relax. Take several deep breaths. Consider the term "spiritual truths." What are your own spiritual truths? Do they help you answer the big questions sixth graders are considering? Do you feel the youth are developing their own spiritual truths, as you move together through Riddle and Mystery? Smile in the knowledge that simply joining youth in their search through life's mysteries is good and rewarding.
SESSION PLAN
OPENING (5 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Greet youth as they enter. If new youth join this session, add their names on card stock to the Kid for the Day bag or box.
Sound the bell or tingsha chimes to call for silence.
Reach into the Kid for the Day bag or box and select a name without looking. Announce the name and place the card back in the bag or box. If a Kid for the Day seems reluctant, let them pass. Draw another name or have the participant select one. Invite the Kid for the Day to light the chalice while you lead the group in reciting "May this chalice light show the way as we search for answers to our biggest questions and seek to understand life's deepest mysteries."
Invite the group to share a moment of silence. End the silence by sounding the bell or tingshas.
If new participants have joined the group, invite all, in turn, to introduce themselves. You can do more of a check-in, but keep it focused.
You may wish to ask if anyone did any Taking It Home activities from the previous session and would like to briefly share what they did.
Announce that it is time to hear the Big Question of the day. Hand the Kid for the Day a copy of Handout 1. Write the question—What is truth?—on the newsprint under the "Today's Big Question" sign.
Ask the Kid for the Day to extinguish the chalice.
Including All Participants
If the group includes youth who have difficulty reading, routinely allow the Kid for the Day to pass.
ACTIVITY 1: TRUTH IN FICTION (20 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
This activity explores how truth can be found through fiction. Begin with a brief, full group discussion. Ask participants if they have ever discovered a truth from fiction in a book, a movie, a play, a television show, a comic strip or a video game. Remind them that fiction is a made-up story. Invite responses and ask what truth the story revealed to them.
Form groups of three or four at work tables. Give each small group a slip of paper with a fable from Leader Resource 1. Distribute paper, pencils and art supplies. Give the following instruction:
Read your fable, write a moral or truth to sum up the fable, and illustrate the fable with the art supplies [or, plan a performance of your fable for the rest of the group]. You will have eight minutes to work. Then, each group can present their fable, their truth and their art work.
After eight minutes, gather the large group for presentations. Groups should read their fables aloud and share their illustrations (or act out their fables). After each presentation, engage first the small group and then the entire group to suggest what truth the story illustrates. Here are possible morals for each of the fables:
1. The Golden Eggs: Greed destroys wealth. Think before you act. Wanting too much can cost you everything.
2. The Wagon Driver: The gods help those who help themselves. If you help yourself, more help will come.
3. The Fox and the Grapes: It is easy to dislike what you cannot have.
4. The Miser and the Gold: Wealth you do not use has as much value as a hole in the ground.
5. The Fox and the Crow: Never trust a flatterer.
6. The Shepherd Boy: Known liars are not believed, even when they tell the truth.
Tell the group that these fables are attributed to Aesop, an ancient Greek storyteller. Aesop's Fables belong to a larger category of stories called wisdom tales. Wisdom tales are a part of the human oral tradition. Before we had books, people passed their wisdom to the next generations by telling stories like these. Sometimes we tell wisdom tales in religious education and in worship services—see if the youth can think of any. Discuss the relationship between wisdom tales and the truth, with these questions:
ACTIVITY 2: STORY — GANDHI'S TRUTH (7 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Read the story aloud. Then start a conversation about what Gandhi's life can teach us about truth. Use these questions:
ACTIVITY 3: WIT TIME — GOSSIP CONTROL (10 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
This activity offers youth ways to control the telling and spreading of gossip about peers.
Acknowledge that it is not always easy to stand up for the truth. Yet, we can start small, by helping to spread the truth in our lives and the lives of those around us.
Ask for volunteers to explain the terms "gossip" and "rumors." Then ask if they know someone who has been the victim of gossip and rumors. Invite youth to share stories briefly, without mentioning names.
Ask what they can do to avoid such problems in the future. Point out, if youth do not, that the problem would go away if people always told only what they knew to be true about other people. It would also help if people followed the old saying: "If you cannot say anything nice, do not say anything at all."
Ask why so many people are willing to spread gossip and rumors about other people, even people they think of as friends. (To be part of an "in group," perhaps, to get attention, or to feel or appear somehow better than the people they are talking about.)
Now pose the challenge: What can we, as a group, do about this right now? Youth could promise to not spread rumors or gossip in this group. Another possibility is creating a "truth code" that participants sign, promising not to spread gossip and rumors about people. The code might also say to avoid spreading true, but hurtful, information about people unless there is a good reason to do so. (If you are certain someone has stolen something, it may be important to say so.)
If participants wish to create a truth code, divide them into small groups to write initial drafts. Then, bring them together to combine their efforts into a final document.
Invite everyone, including co-leaders, to sign the document. Post it in the meeting space. Be open, and flexible; the youth may suggest other approaches to controlling gossip and rumors.
ACTIVITY 4: WCUU — SPIRITUAL TRUTHS (15 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Participants present a WCUU show involving nine On-Air People—Co-Anchor 1, Co-Anchor 2, a NUUs Analyst and seven UUs: Buddhist UU, Christian UU, Hindu UU, Humanist UU, Judaist UU, Muslim UU, and Pagan/Earth-centered UU.
Assign roles, using volunteers for On-Air People and Studio Crew. You might invite the Kid for the Day to be a Co-Anchor or the NUUs Analyst. Tell the On-Air People that all except the NUUs Analyst will need to improvise some of their on-air dialogue. Distribute the truth notes (Leader Resource 3) to youth who will role-play the various UUs. Invite them to read their notes carefully so that, on the broadcast, they can say the ideas in their own words. Tell them they need not say everything on the notes, just a few key points.
Give participants who will follow the script a moment to look it over. Review the script with the youth if any have limited reading skills.
Tell the group when the show should end to keep the session on schedule; assign a Studio Crew member (director or floor director) to watch the time.
Begin the broadcast.
After the broadcast, ask participants how it went. Ask them to summarize how Unitarian Universalists with different religious beliefs might respond to today's Big Question: "What is truth?" You may wish to tell the group more about the belief perspectives represented in the broadcast. Some groups, like UUs with Muslim or Hindu backgrounds and beliefs, are very small. The Humanist group is quite large; at least half of all Unitarian Universalists say they have humanist beliefs. Say, in your own words:
More important than the numbers is the fact that the Unitarian Universalist denomination welcomes people with many different backgrounds, many different ideas, many different spiritual truths.
Define spiritual truth as the truth we find in our own, personal answers to the big questions.
CLOSING (3 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Briefly summarize the day's session with words like these:
Today's Big Question asks "What is truth?" which we explored in several ways. We began by looking at the truth of wisdom tales. Our story was about Mahatma Gandhi and truth. In WCUU we heard Unitarian Universalist ideas about truth, and in WIT Time we talked about not spreading gossip as a way to dedicate ourselves to Truth.
Distribute the Taking It Home handout. Invite participants to use the activities to continue exploring the themes of today's session.
Relight the chalice. Ask the group to say these closing words with you:
May this light shine on in each of us as we search for the answers to our own biggest questions.
Extinguish the chalice (or ask the Kid for the Day to do it). Sound the bell or tingshas to end the session.
FAITH IN ACTION: NEWS OF INJUSTICE (25 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
If the group has chosen an ongoing Faith in Action project, continue to work on it.
Or, do this short-term Faith in Action activity:
News of Injustice. Invite youth to find signs of economic injustice in newspapers and write letters to the editor suggesting ideas for change. Introduce the subject with these thoughts:
Ask participants to look thorough local newspapers and find signs of economic injustice, then write letters to the publications' editors asking government officials or other people in power to correct the injustice. Divide youth into groups of three, give each group a few newspaper and/or magazine pages plus markers, and ask them to circle anything they think suggests economic injustice. Say that they have five minutes to do this, so they will need to work rapidly. They need not read everything on their pages, but they should check at least some articles and some ads. They may be able to find some issues by glancing at the headlines.
If youth have difficulty finding material, offer some ideas to assist:
The articles will not necessarily talk directly about economic injustice. Look for clues that things are not fair; you might have to think a bit to know that injustice exists. You might find an article about a musician or an athlete who is making many millions of dollars while other people eat at soup kitchens. You may find ads for luxury items that only super rich people can afford.
When some groups have found promising material, ask them to share their discoveries with the full group. Do all participants agree that injustice exists? If youth have discovered an injustice they wish to do something about, distribute letter-writing materials and ask each group to write to the editor of your local paper. Say that the letters should begin, "Dear Editor." They should briefly explain what the problem is, identify who should solve it and suggest what might be done. The letters should be brief, polite and signed. Alternately, the group could compose one letter together and sign it as a group.
If the group does not identify an injustice that engages them, suggest a topic, such as establishing a minimal level of economic welfare for everyone, so no one is homeless. Your community may already be involved in a living wage campaign.
LEADER REFLECTION AND PLANNING
Meet with your co-leaders after the session. How was the mix of discussion and action? Are you continuing to find ways to involve all youth fully in sessions despite any limitations they might have? Does the group have new behavioral issues you need to address?
Have you helped participants get comfortable with an understanding of "truth" in this session?
Note that the Big Question for Session 11 asks, "How am I connected with everything else?" Plan to reflect on your own answers in the days ahead if you will be leading Session 11.
TAKING IT HOME
I am not afraid of the pen, or the scaffold, or the sword. I will tell the truth wherever I please. — Mother Jones in Linda Atkinson, Mother Jones (1978)
You never find yourself until you face the truth. — Pearl Bailey, The Raw Pearl (1968)
You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free. — Christian scripture, John 8:32
Talk about the quotes. What do you think they mean? Can you think of an example when knowing the truth could help you be free?
WHAT WE DID TODAY
Today's Big Question asks, "What is truth?" We explored this concept, and saw that there are different types of truth, including spiritual truth, which refers to our own inner ideas, our own personal answers to big questions like "Does God exist?" We talked about the messages—the morals—of stories like Aesop's fables and how these statements are truths. Our story was about Mahatma Gandhi and truth. Our WCUU broadcast showed a variety of spiritual truths found within Unitarian Universalism—not all the same, but all true, for those who believe them. In Wit Time, we committed to honor truth by refusing to spread untrue or harmful rumors.
TALK ABOUT LYING
Talk about lying in your family. Does everybody try to tell the truth all the time? Is it ever okay to say something you do not mean? What if somebody is dressed for a party and wearing clothes that you think do not look very good? Should you say so? If you say, "You look great!" is that a lie, a so-called "white lie"? Is it ever okay to lie about anything?
SHARED SEARCH
Take a short trip to a place in your community where truth is especially important. Is it a courthouse? A school? A congregation? Should truth be more important in some places than in others? Or should it always be equally important?
PHOTO CHALLENGE
Take a photograph that shows an important truth. Maybe it will show that you can find beauty in unexpected places. Maybe it will show something bad or good that people are doing to the environment. Maybe it will show how everybody is connected to other people all around the world.
FAMILY FAITH IN ACTION — SUPPORTING TRUTH
Get involved in local politics. Find out about elections coming up. Should youth leave such decisions to adults? Remember, whoever is elected can pass laws and make budgets that affect kids as well as adults. Do some research to identify the most honest and truthful candidates. Try FactCheck (at www.factcheck.org) or the St. Petersburg Times' PolitiFact (at www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/) pages. If you find a candidate you like and trust, sign up to help the campaign. Maybe you can hand out campaign literature, put up some posters or make phone calls. Remember, good politicians can do great things. But they cannot do much of anything if nobody will help them.
ALTERNATE ACTIVITY 1: NOTABLE THOUGHTS (5 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Description of Activity
Notable Thoughts is the first Alternate Activity in each session of Riddle and Mystery. Remind participants that this is a time for them to record their own ideas about today's Big Question. Distribute participants' notebooks and pencils or pens. Provide new participants with notebooks. Say that the notebooks are private; you will keep them between sessions but not read them.
Tell the youth they will have about five minutes to respond to today's Big Question: "What is truth?" Say they can write about anything they want. If they have nothing to record, they are free to doodle or relax.
Give them a few minutes to work quietly in their notebooks. When time is up, tell them they may seal their notebooks with masking tape before handing them in.
ALTERNATE ACTIVITY 2: SONG — LIGHT OF AGES AND OF NATIONS (5 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Tell the group that Unitarian Universalists often express our ideas in hymns. Introduce "Light of Ages and of Nations" in the way you have planned, being sure that the group hears the words to at least the first verse.
Ask what participants think "thy truth sublime" means. ("Light of ages" probably refers to God or "the word of God," so "thy truth" would mean "God's truth.") Do participants believe there is such a thing as "God's truth"? Do they like the hymn?
Use the words of this hymn to spark a discussion about the connection between "light" and "truth." Remind the group that WCUU broadcasts in this session and Session 4 have both talked about "The blinding light of truth." Say that "the light of truth" is a common expression. If you search for it on the Internet, you get almost half a million hits. The light of truth is usually thought of as a good thing. In fact, we often show good things as light, white or bright, and we often show bad things as dark or black. Ask if the group thinks this division might have a bad effect on how we subconsciously feel about the color of people. Might this way of using language create or reinforce racism?
ALTERNATE ACTIVITY 3: CHALLENGE QUESTION (5 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Challenge questions guide a deeper inquiry for especially thoughtful individuals and groups. For this session, ask:
Is it okay to tell a lie in order to avoid hurting somebody's feelings?
Extend discussion with these additional questions:
Ask the group why "good" lies are referred to as "white lies?" Are they really "good?" Do you think people would feel as happy to tell "white lies" if they were called "black lies?" What other examples of this cultural bias of things "white" as being good and "black" as being bad can youth add?
ALTERNATE ACTIVITY 4: TRUTH AND PHOTOGRAPHY (20 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Ask youth to analyze photographs to see how truthful they are.
If you have the time and equipment, this activity will be most effective if participants themselves create photographs that are misleading ("untruthful") in some way. Form groups of three or four. Give each group a digital camera or camera phone. Invite them to make several photographs that appear to be truthful, but are not. Explain:
It might be possible to make it look like one person has three hands. Or, make someone look like they are standing somewhere they are not. A close-up photograph can look like many things that it isn't.
Allow groups to make photos for a few minutes and bring their devices to the large group to share. Invite participants to speculate what has been photographed; ask what is truthful and what is untruthful about each photograph. Then invite the photographer(s) to explain what they photographed.
Conclude, in your own words:
It is not very hard to take a picture that is not truthful. Actually, no picture is totally truthful. Real people and objects have three dimensions. Most photographs have only two. Every time you take a picture you photograph just part of what you see. Because you cut out everything else around it, the viewer will see less than you saw—and only what you chose for them to see.
Variation
If you do not have the equipment for youth to make their own photographs, distribute photographs from magazines, newspapers or the Internet. Invite youth to analyze them to see what they show and do not show about their subjects. How might they be misleading? Can they still be "truthful?" How?
Including All Participants
Youth with sight limitations can participate meaningfully in this activity. Have a co-leader or another youth describe photos—not what they are of, but what they look like—to a youth who cannot see them.
RIDDLE AND MYSTERY: SESSION 10:
STORY: GANDHI'S TRUTH
By Greta Anderson.
You have probably seen pictures of the man from India known as "Gandhi:" a skinny, bald-headed man with wire-rimmed glasses, a white cloth wrapped around him. Gandhi made history by practicing nonviolence as a way to confront power. Nonviolent "civil disobedience" is a way for oppressed people to defy their oppressors—and not lose their integrity in the process. It sends the following message to the world: "Look at our truth. We are human beings with dignity and worth. Our oppressors may use violence, but we will not sink to that level."
Mohandas Gandhi was not always that man dressed simply in white cloth. As a law student in London and as a lawyer with a successful practice in South Africa, he dressed up in European clothes because he thought it would improve his status, and the status of all Indians. He encouraged Indians to fight for Britain in World War I for the same reason. At the time, India and South Africa were part of the British Empire. Indians in those countries were ruled by a white colonial government, and had very few rights.
So, who was the true Gandhi? The man in the suit and tie, who promoted military service or the avatar of nonviolence who wore hand-woven cloth and sandals—even when meeting with high officials in foreign lands? Gandhi would have a ready answer. He once wrote, "What I am concerned with is my readiness to obey the call of truth, my god, from moment to moment, no matter how inconsistent it may appear. My commitment is to truth, not to consistency." But he had to experiment to know what Truth was for him—at each moment of his life. In fact, his autobiography is titled The Story of My Experiments with Truth.
Here is an example of Gandhi's "experiments," from his childhood. He was raised to be a vegetarian; it was part of his parents' Hindu religion. However, a friend suggested that eating meat would make him strong—and to get strong that way was patriotic. His friend argued that India would never be independent of colonial rule if its people didn't eat meat. Gandhi saw merit in the argument and tried meat. But he felt shame when he returned home. He saw that the truth of his loyalty to his parents was stronger than his friend's truth. Young Gandhi swore to never eat meat again, as long as his parents lived.
Later, he found another truth: the principle of ahimsa that motivated his parents' Hindu practice. This principle rejects any kind of violence to any other living thing. Vegetarianism became Gandhi's own moral choice.
Gandhi was an endless seeker after truth, and approached the task humbly. When Christians sought to convert him, he did not dismiss them; instead he listened and learned about Jesus. He read the Gospels. He monitored his impressions throughout, using his inner light to sort Truth from mere religion. He read about Buddha and Muhammad as well as Jesus. When he began to investigate Hinduism through books, Gandhi began to more deeply appreciate parts of his native religion. However, some aspects appalled him, such as the slaughter of lambs he witnessed at a temple of the Hindu goddess Kali.
Other books affected him deeply. Unto This Last, a book by the British author John Ruskin, led Gandhi down the path of simplicity. He saw the practical virtue of simplicity for his people. For instance, if Indians learned how to weave their own cloth, they would not have to buy British factory-made clothes. They could increase their economic independence by making the cloth themselves.
The important thing to Gandhi was not just to hold a truth as if it were a possession. It was to put truths into practice, literally "try them on" for size. Not only did he wear homemade cloth, he took a spinning wheel with him wherever he went so that he himself could practice what he preached. He embodied the message of nonviolence to such a degree that riots would stop wherever he showed up—no small thing in a country that was both struggling for independence from Britain and painfully divided between Hindus and Muslims.
Throughout his life, Gandhi influenced millions of oppressed people to stand up for their rights. In South Africa, he united Indians in struggles against racist laws intended to keep them subordinate to whites. In India, he won independence from Britain—without having to fight a war! Gandhi's strength lay in the power of his example—an example of commitment to finding and practicing Truth.
RIDDLE AND MYSTERY: SESSION 10:
HANDOUT 1: TODAY'S BIG QUESTION
To the Kid for the Day:
You have two jobs. The first is getting your group excited about hearing today's Big Question. The second is announcing the question.
1. Say to the group, "Give me a drum roll!" Then wait for a minute while the drum roll builds. (Here is how to do a drum roll: Everybody slaps their thighs, one leg first, then the other, back and forth, beginning gently and getting louder and louder.)
2. When the drum roll is good and loud, hold up your hands to signal "Stop!" Then read today's Big Question. Here it is:
What is truth?
RIDDLE AND MYSTERY: SESSION 10:
LEADER RESOURCE 1: FABLES
1. The Golden Eggs
A farmer and his wife had a goose that laid golden eggs.
The first time it happened, they were angry. The egg was metal, not good to eat.
Then the farmer and his wife said, "Hey, this looks like gold. Real gold." They took it to a jeweler and found that it was real gold. They sold it for a lot of money.
Every day after that, they found another golden egg in the goose's nest. They were getting richer and richer, happier and happier. Until one day, they decided that they wanted more, and they wanted it right now.
"Let's kill the goose and get all the eggs out now," they said. So they did. But guess what? There were no more eggs inside. That was the end of the gold.
The moral or truth of this story is _____.
2. The Wagon Driver
One rainy day, a wagon driver and his horses were trying to move a heavy wagon through the mud.
The more the driver whipped the horses and the harder the horses pulled the wagon, the deeper the wheels sank into the mud.
The driver gave up. He sank down on his knees into the mud and he prayed to Hercules, the ancient god of Strength.
Suddenly Hercules appeared next to the wagon. "Help me, help me," the driver said.
But Hercules looked at him and said. "Hey, man. Get up off the ground and push that thing. Then maybe I'll lend a hand."
The moral or truth of this story is _____.
3. The Fox and the Grapes
A hungry fox was wandering along looking for food when he saw some beautiful grapes hanging from a vine on a very high tree.
"Just for me," said the fox. He shook the tree to make the grapes fall off but the tree did not move. He climbed up the tree but the trunk was too smooth and he fell back down. He jumped into the air and grabbed for the grapes but they were too high and he fell back again.
The fox was angry and disgusted. "Who wants those grapes?" he said. "I am sure they are sour anyway." And off he went, still looking for food.
The moral or truth of this story is _____.
4. The Miser and the Gold
A miser dug a hole and hid his gold there.
He loved his gold, so every week after that he went to open the hole and look at the gold to feel good about it.
One day a robber saw what the miser was doing. When the miser went away, the robber opened the hole and helped himself.
When the miser found the empty hole he shouted and yelled until a neighbor came running to see what was wrong.
When the miser told his story, the neighbor asked why the miser kept coming back to look at his gold.
"It made me feel good," said the miser.
"Then tomorrow come look at the hole," said the neighbor. "That should make you feel just as good."
The moral or truth of this story is _____.
5. The Fox and the Crow
A fox was walking through the forest one day when a crow flew by with a piece of cheese in its beak.
"That's for me," said the fox settled onto a branch.
"Hey there," called the fox. 'Aren't you the most beautiful bird in the world?"
The crow was startled, but the fox did not stop with that.
"You have the most beautiful feathers," he called up, "and your eye has the brightest gleam. I'll just bet that you have the most beautiful song in the world. Won't you please, please let me hear it?"
The crow was more than pleased. She opened her beak to sing — and in the process, she dropped her cheese.
"Thank you!" said the fox. He snapped up the cheese and walked happily away.
"Hey!" said the crow, but she was too late.
The moral or truth of this story is _____.
6. The Shepherd Boy
The shepherd boy had a job tending the sheep high on a lonely hill. "This is boring," the boy said. "Boring, boring, BORING."
So he put a little excitement into his life. "WOLF!" he yelled. "WOLF! WOLF! WOLF!"
There was no wolf around, but most of the village came rushing to help and the boy had company for an hour or two.
The next day was a repeat of the first. "This is BORING!" said the boy. "WOLF! WOLF! WOLF!" Again, the villagers rushed to the rescue and again the boy was happy.
The third day started the same way. The boy was stuck with sheep for company, and he was very bored. Until he looked across the field and saw a wolf running into the flock. "Oh no!" he shouted. Then, "WOLF! WOLF! WOLF!"
But this time, the villagers stayed where they were. "Fool us once," they seemed to be saying. "Fool us twice. But not three times."
The boy was not very happy. But the wolf was. He dined very well that day.
The moral or truth of this story is _____.
RIDDLE AND MYSTERY: SESSION 10:
LEADER RESOURCE 2: WCUU SCRIPT — SPIRITUAL TRUTHS
To the Co-Anchors:
Today's WCUU program talks about some different spiritual truths one might find under the Unitarian Universalist tent at an International Camp of Faith. Your job is to follow the script, read your parts, and otherwise keep things going. When the broadcast begins, you are together with NUUs Analyst on camera under the tent, standing in front of a microphone.
[Director: Cue the station break.]
[Director: Cue the Anchor.]
Co-Anchor 1: This is WCUU, Wisdom of the Community of Unitarian Universalists, on the air.
[Director: Cue the theme music.]
Co-Anchor 2: Good morning. I am [give your real or stage name].
Co-Anchor 1: And I am [give your real or stage name]. This morning's broadcast comes to you live from the International Camp of Faith. As our regular viewers know, we have recently made a series of visits to tents erected by all of the world's great religions—the most unusual tents in all the world. In our last report from the International Camp of Faith, we said these religious tents help ward off the weather and the bad things that happen and even the blinding light of all truth, a light so hot and powerful that it might frazzle anybody who looked directly at it.
Co-Anchor 2: Yes we did. Which makes today's visit quite remarkable, because today we want to look at that blinding light of truth. We are going to find out what our Unitarian Universalist friends have to say about truth. Fortunately, we ourselves won't be blinded, because this UU tent is equipped with skylights through which people can look and search for truth without being blinded.
Co-Anchor 1: That's a funny idea anyway, [Co-Anchor 2's real or stage name], the idea of being blinded by truth. Maybe NUUs Analyst has something to say about that.
NUUs Analyst: The idea of the blinding light of truth is a traditional religious idea that if you could really see God, the sight would be so brilliant and dazzling that you would be blinded. Most UUs do not worry about that. They think truth is a wonderful thing, no matter how they can get it.
Co-Anchor 2: And what do most UUs say truth is?
NUUs Analyst: UUs talk about different kinds of truth. There is scientific truth, for example. That is something that you can prove with experiments. But the kind of truth that concerns us today is spiritual truth. That is what you feel and know deep down inside you about the answers to the big questions, like whether there is a God and other great mysteries of the universe.
Co-Anchor 1: Thank you, NUUs Analyst. Now, [Co-Anchor 2's real or stage name], let's get started. Let's ask some UUs what truth is.
[Director: Cue NUUs Analyst to step aside. Cue UU Christian to join Co-Anchors.]
Co-Anchor 2: Here's one now. Hi, there, UU Christian.
UU Christian: Well hi, to you, too, Co-Anchors.
UU Christian: Sure. Truth is the core of my spiritual beliefs. It is the center of what I feel about God.
Co-Anchor 2: And where do you get your truth?
[Christian UU responds briefly.]
[Director: Cue Christian UU to step aside. Cue Buddhist UU, Judaist UU, Humanist UU, Pagan/Earth-centered UU, Hindu UU, and Muslim UU in turn, to join Co-Anchors. As Co-Anchors will interview each UU and they will respond with information from Leader Resource 3, Truth Notes. When interviews are done, cue Co-Anchors.]
Co-Anchor 1: Thanks to all the UUs who talked with us about truth. Wasn't that rich, [Co-Anchor 2's real or stage name]?
Co-Anchor 2: It sure was, [Co-Anchor 1's real or stage name]. We had better ask our NUUs Analyst to sum it all up.
[Director: Cue NUUs Analyst to walk on camera.]
NUUs Analyst: I'm delighted to do that, Co-Anchors. Delighted, that's what I am. Here's what I have to say. You have discovered your own truth today, Co-Anchors. Call it a religious truth. You have discovered a truth about Unitarian Universalists. The truth is, they think spiritual truth is very important but it can be a different truth for each of them. UUs find their own spiritual truths, with the help of their UU community and using ideas from a variety of Sources. Some UUs find one Source has truth for them, while other UUs find truth in another Source. Some look in Hebrew or Christian scripture, some choose other sacred writings, some follow their own direct experience of mystery and awe. Some find the most truth in science and reason. Yet, they do all agree on a whole bunch of spiritual truths—like that it's important to respect one another, everybody else in the world and everybody's different spiritual truths, as long as those spiritual truths don't lead to actions that hurt other people.
Co-Anchor 1: Wow again, NUUs Analyst.
Co-Anchor 2: That was very helpful. Thank you.
NUUs Analyst: No problem. As I said before, I am delighted to help, just delighted. Want to know how delighted I am? I'm as delighted as a kangaroo in a patch of fresh grass. I'm as delighted as a mosquito at a swimming beach on a hot summer day. I'm as delighted as . . .
Co-Anchor 1: Enough, NUUs Analyst, that's enough!
Co-Anchor 2: Theme music! Theme music, please!
[Director: Cue the theme music.]
[Director: Cue the station break.]
Co-Anchor 1: This is [your real or stage name] signing off for WCUU.
Co-Anchor 2: That is W-C-U-U for Wisdom of the Community of Unitarian
Universalists. And this is [your real or stage name] signing off, too.
RIDDLE AND MYSTERY: SESSION 10:
LEADER RESOURCE 3: TRUTH NOTES
Christian UU — You find spiritual truth in the UU Principles and many UU Sources. One of the most important sources of truth for you is teachings attributed to Jesus, found in Christian scripture. You believe Jesus was one of the most important teachers of truth who ever lived.
Buddhist UU — You find spiritual truth in the UU Principles and many UU Sources. Some of the most important sources of truth for you are Buddhist stories, perspectives and practices, such as meditation. You believe you can find your spiritual truth within yourself—answers to questions such as "What is the universe?" and "Why are we here?" One Buddhist belief that feels right to you is also a UU belief—that individuals must seek their own spiritual truths.
Judaist UU — You find spiritual truth in the UU Principles and many UU Sources. One of the most important sources of truth for you is the Jewish perspective that we humans are responsible to heal the world; if you believe in God, you may believe we humans have a covenant with God to make things better in the world. Stories in Hebrew scripture and Jewish writings about the big questions may shape your spiritual truth. A spiritual truth that is both UU and Jewish is that justice and how we treat one another are more important than being sure we have the right answers to big questions.
Humanist UU — You find spiritual truth in the UU Principles and many UU Sources. One of the most important Sources for you is humanist teachings. You believe it is a spiritual act to use our sense of reason and the tools of science to seek answers. You believe humans must take responsibility for our own lives and actions and should work to make the world more just. You believe our power to affect our individual and collective future is one of the most important spiritual truths.
Hindu UU — You find spiritual truth in the UU Principles and many UU Sources. One of the most important sources for you is wisdom from the religion of Hinduism. You particularly like two ideas shared by many other UUs: that all things are connected, and that individuals should personally search for truth.
Muslim UU — You find spiritual truth in the UU Principles and many UU Sources. One important source for you is the Koran, the religious book of the Muslim faith. You find that the words and lessons of the Koran are truths that inspire you to try to lead a good life.
Pagan/Earth-centered UU — You find spiritual truth in the UU Principles and many UU Sources, yet find your deepest truth in the divinity of the natural world. You believe that the Earth, humanity, and the natural cycle of life are inherently scared, and interconnected. You live your truth by seeking harmony with nature, in all your words and deeds.
FIND OUT MORE
Gandhi and Truth
Mahatma Gandhi wrote that Truth was his real religion. He also wrote, "My Hindu instinct tells me that all religions are more or less true." On the Mani Bhavan informational website (at www.gandhi-manibhavan.org/gandhiphilosophy/philosophy_truth.htm), read some of Gandhi's thoughts on Truth (at www.gandhi-manibhavan.org/gandhiphilosophy/philosophy_truth.htm), excerpted from his writings.
The UUA's Beacon Press offers the only authorized American edition of Mohandas Gandhi's autobiography, The Story of My Experiments in Truth, with an introduction by Sissela Bok.
Social Lying
A Child and Youth Health website (at www.cyh.com/SubDefault.aspx?p=255) of the government of South Australia helps school-age children navigate the complex expectations of parents, society and conscience with regard to lying. See the topic page, Telling Lies (at www.cyh.com/HealthTopics/HealthTopicDetailsKids.aspx?p=335&np=287&id=1485).
A 2007 paper in the International Journal of Behavioral Development, "White lie-telling in children for politeness purposes" (at www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=2581483), reports on a study of when and how children learn to tell social lies.