University Unitarian Universalist Society
Our Mission
To provide a liberal community with the intellectual freedom to explore religious alternatives, common values and the interdependence of the world's environment in order to promote the worth and inner peace of individuals and families.
We will proceed with love, understanding and
dignity, together with a sense of trust, service, intellectual stimulation, and mutual
support to arrive at this place where "religion fits the individual."
University UU Society Congregation, 1993
The purpose of this society is to promote and sustain liberal religious worship, study, service, and fellowship, as expressed in the Seven Principles of Unitarian Universalism.
What is the Basic Unitarian Universalist Principle?
It is freedom of belief. Unlike most other religious movements, Unitarian Universalism does not require assent to any creed or statement of belief. Instead, it does something significantly different: It maintains that each person has an obligation to seek truth, as best they understand, and to follow that truth wherever it may lead them. For the free conceives of truth, not as a fixed and final thing, but as an ever-growing and evolving reality which can lead humankind to increasingly higher levels of thought and action.
A widely used statement declares: Unitarian Universalist churches are dedicated to human betterment "through religion, in accordance with the advancing knowledge and the growing vision of humankind. Bound by this common purpose and committed to freedom of belief, we hold in unity of spirit a diversity of convictions."
Marta Flanagan's article, We are Unitarian Universalists, sums up basic Unitarian Universalist values.
THE SCULPTURE
BY EDWARD J. KIMBALL
This cut-metal sculpture, created by Edward J. Kimball, displays seven religious symbols of different faiths from all over the world. It is composed of 14 panels in all, and each panel implies a door-like rectangle. These rectangles are unified by an array of cutouts, forming each symbol. The symbols bridge one panel into the next in a succession of images invoking a call for religious space and unity in a diverse world of religious outlook.
The panels on the far left show the Christian Cross, canted the angle needed to carry it.
Next is Judaism’s six-pointed Star of David, seen from slightly above and angled to the rear. The star’s face penetrates into the horizon.
After that, Kimball distills the Hindu hands-in-prayer gesture into a bold geometric form-a play between figurative form and pure form. In Hindu dancing, hand gestures known as mudras are used in narrative and non-narrative ways. The hands-in-prayer expression conveys a respectful salute to the divinity present in everyone. This gesture is known as Namaste.
In the center is the Buddhist Wheel of Dharma, balanced and circular, designating natural laws.
Then comes the Unitarian Chalice and the Eternal Flame, also canted off the vertical.
The sixth panel shows the Muslim Crescent and Star.
The last panel is a stylized representation of the Tree of Life, a concept found in many religions and mythologies.
As the eye moves across the sculpture, one perceives that the forms seem to extend beyond the confines of flat surfaces and to penetrate into deeper space, creating a new tension and shape to the work. Some of the forms overlap into adjacent panels. The converging (vanishing point) perspective of the sharp angles in the Cross, the Star of David, the Chalice and the Tree of Life, provide a sense of the infinite. The forms all pierce the door-like panels, which can be thought of as opening into a deeper universe. It is possible to relate the 14 doors to the Stations of the Cross, but the number of doors, like the order of the panels, is not meant as a hierarchical statement, but instead, is an intuitive response to the circularity of forms and ideas.
