The fraternity house in which I lived in 1996 caught on fire that same year and never reopened until this past fall. I took a trip back with a good friend and it had me thinking about some of the things I did without thinking back then. One of those things was to recite the creed of our fraternity. The full creed is located here.

The short version we recited was this:

To believe in the life of Love,

To walk in the way of Honor,

To serve in the light of Truth.

At the time, those words were just that, words. Something I had to memorize and recite without mistake. The content and value of those words has taken a long time to set in. I’m just now discovering what they might mean and more, what they might mean to me. I’ll take a series of blog posts to unpack and discuss each line.

At the onset of this series, let me say that I am not religious, but it’s clear that this creed was written from a strong Judeo-Christian viewpoint. Much of what I’ll discuss touches on these themes, but for me, these themes are much more universal than the variations or similarities between religions of the world. I see them as core to the human condition and will examine them in this way.

To Believe

The verb form of “belief” shares many of the powerful connotations of the noun form. Belief implies a faith that thrives without external proof and sometimes in spite of proof to the contrary. In the face of all that seeks otherwise, belief entreaties us to continue, to press on with that which we hold dear or without reproach. The act of believing is a selfless act which requires us to put that very belief at risk each time we profess it. We put that belief out into the world and hope that it comes back stronger each time.

I’m not religious at all, but I understand the power and draw of believing in something. Whether it’s believing in the person next you, or believing in yourself, the act of faith inherent in believing is beautiful. Much has been written about the mystery of faith, but I contend that believing in anything connects us as humans. Be that a god of your choosing or simply the god in the web of interactivity we create each day as we pass through life, belief that that thing makes you better is powerful and moving.

A Life of Love

This construction uses the word life to mean the living of a life. That is, the work of an entire life and the moments within that life are dedicated to object of the prepositional phrase that follows. Each action and each word services “love.” This is a high call for most of us and we’re clearly not talking about romantic love here. The creed asks us to love everything we encounter in life. We are to embrace, support, and champion all that we encounter. In that way, it sees love as the antidote for any evil we might experience. We need only share that love and the life that brought us to it with any and all that we face. The force of that open and honest life might just tear down that which seeks to block our path.

Love ’s only value is not in the passive example it might set. It also needs to be an active event that shows its value by impressing upon those who experience it the breadth and depth of connectedness that love creates. That is, within the loving moment, pathways to the rest of humanity are opened that provide insight, comfort, ingenuity, and contentedness. Love, then, can be that impetus for creativity and joy, breakthrough and collaboration.

Add the power of belief to this life dedicated to love and the result is a guiding tenet that prescribes an accepting and transformative approach to the world.

Coming to the second part, we’ll examine the phrase, “To walk in the way of honor.”