Personal Creed

The challenge was put before me by the Toll Collector to define the starting point for my intellectual inquiry. Admittedly, I'm a little afraid to go down that road, for fear of where it will take me. Suppose, like Descarte, I find that I cannot prove anything to begin with? Where do I go from there?

It appears, at first glance anyway, that my starting point may very well have to be a labor of faith rather than of rationalism. That is to say, maybe the best I can do is to begin page one, not by saying 'this is what I know to be true,' but rather, 'this is what I BELIEVE to be true.' In other words, I'd have to begin with my personal creed. In such a statement, I'd have to answer things like - Do I believe that man is fundmentally good or evil? Do I believe in God? Do I believe in predestination? Do I believe that Truth can be grasped by human understanding? Do I believe that love is real? These kinds of things...

Of course, the nature of these questions is that the 'answer' cannot be proven. We must, instead, say, 'ok, given these beliefs, what then?' In a word, I'm laying out my assumptions. Or, in another way, to be more precise, I'm building, as Kant did, a groundwork for a metaphysics of morals.

I ran a google search to see if it's a common practice for random people to write their own personal creeds. (No, it's not, apparently.) Most stuff I found was modeled on the Nicene Creed and dealt with one's religious beliefs. I'm aiming at something more secular in nature. It will take me some time to put together an actual creed, but in the meantime, here's the closest thing I could find to what I'm envisioning. It was written by John D. Rockefeller, Jr. and can be found on a brass plaque on the famed Rockefeller Building in New York City...

I believe in the supreme worth of the individual and in his right to
life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

I believe that every right implies a responsibility; every
opportunity, an obligation; every possession, a duty.

I believe that the law was made for man and not man for the law; that
government is the servant of the people and not their master.

I believe in the dignity of labor, whether with head or hand; that the
world owes no man a living but that it owes every man an opportunity
to make a living.

I believe that thrift is essential to well ordered living and that
economy is a prime requisite of a sound financial structure, whether
in government, business or personal affairs.

I believe that truth and justice are fundamental to an enduring social
order.

I believe in the sacredness of a promise, that a man’s word should be
as good as his bond; that character -- not wealth or power or position
-- is of supreme worth.

I believe that the rendering of useful service is the common duty of
mankind and that only in the purifying fire of sacrifice is the dross
of selfishness consumed and the greatness of the human soul set free.

I believe in an all-wise and all-loving God, named by whatever name,
and that the individual’s highest fulfillment, greatest happiness, and
widest usefulness are to be found in living in harmony with His will.

I believe that love is the greatest thing in the world; that it alone
can overcome hate; that right can and will triumph over might.