Bahnsen’s Creed

            It seems important to me to state the essence of what I believe and think I represent so that I might better be honest with myself, as well as with you who may read this. While I know that when I fail to live up to this creed, I may expect to be criticized, I sincerely hope that the most severe and constructive criticism will be my own. Each life has potential meaning and I have laid out the meaning of life to me..

            It believe that, to a reasonably competent man, the concepts of honorable conduct and of physical survival of the individual and his family are not incompatible, and that he must sincerely attempt to bring integrity to his survival, or he will exist without the self-knowledge of honor that makes survival enjoyable, desirable, and worthwhile.

            I believe in a slow but inexorable progress of the human race that requires me to try to start each day working towards some contribution, however small, to the progress of man. I believe that a sense of urgency in attempting to make my contribution is the only way to prevent slipping into the slothful nature that each of us. and I in particular, are heir to. I am painfully aware that the progress of mankind has been obtained by ordinary men of abilities much like my own, and that my belief in progress demands my attempt to contribute likewise.

            I believe in the inherent mixture of and capability for both good and evil in mankind, and that the good requires encouragement, while the evil may require my opposition to the ultimate consequences. While believing this, I am aware that one must choose to fight one injustice at a time.

            I believe that co-existence with. and even encouragement of people who share faults equal, greater, or lesser than my own is essential to progress, and that the only unforgivable flaws upon which no foundation for cooperation can exist are repeated dishonesty, reckless squandering of a potential for progress, and a complete and continued disregard for the feelings and needs of others.

            I believe he who pretends to leadership must endeavor to embody the virtues above, but must maintain the awful capacity to inflict carefully considered corrective pain for the good of the whole.

            I believe that the most important affirmation of an individual is strong belief rooted in experience, yet capable of transformation. I believe; I care, and will dare to do that which I think will make mankind more godlike and my presence on this earth more meaningful.

            For you. the casual reader of this creed, my wildest hope is that you might somehow in the reading become an ally, or at the very least, gain understanding into that for which I strive.

                                                                                                                                                          Peter F. Bahnsen