Personal Credo

write an Individual Credo (from the Latin for I believe) describing the central elements of what you really and deeply believe and how and why you came to believe them. For example “I believe this world is all there is.” Or “I believe that God is made manifest in the physical world.” Or “I believe that I have a duty to be compassionate.” Or “I believe we are here to learn.” Or whatever other statements of belief you want to include in your personal credo.It should be written as simply and as truly as possible, and involve scholarly support from your textbook (or another scholarly source if you have the time). It is a testament between you and you, but it should also be presentable to the class. The paper should be roughly between five and seven pages, double-spaced with one-inch margins.
•This credo should express some of the most fundamental basics of what you believe and why.
•It should not be flippant or casual, but should be an expression of what you sincerely hold to be most important and true. You should support your beliefs with ideas garnered from the textbook (or other scholarly sources if you have time—NO Wikipedia, or suchlike).
•You should draw from some of the main ideas of the humanities that we have discussed in class; that is, how do you interpret your own humanity in light of the larger questions and issues?
•It should contain your “Personal Mission,” your “Personal Objective” and your “Personal Credo” that is detailed in a narrative paper.
•Your cover sheet for the project should include the Personal Mission, Personal Life Objective and a bullet point list of your main credos.

Assignment ideas:
•What have your primary caregivers (parents, other important adults) taught or conveyed to you, through word and through action, about what matters most in life? (Try to think of three to five things.) Are these things also important to you?
•What do you believe is the purpose of life?
•What helps you experience a sense of purpose and meaning? When do you feel most happy and fulfilled?
•What generates in you a sense of wonder and awe about life and the universe?
•What are some basic beliefs, positive or negative, that you hold about human nature?
•List some (up to 10) basic core beliefs or simple truths that you live by. Core beliefs are those that represent your deepest beliefs about life, or principles by which you live.
•What qualities do you most appreciate in the following people?
◦Your parents or primary caregivers.
◦Your ideal life partner.
◦The friends you most admire.
◦The public figure or role model you most admire.
◦The religious leader you most admire.
◦The historical figure you most admire.
•What core beliefs or values have the most meaning to you, from your own faith tradition? What about other faith traditions that you admire?

For this project to work well, you must make it wholly your own. This Project isn’t all you believe; it’s simply a way to introduce others (and perhaps yourself) to what you value and why. Your credo need not be religious; you may decide to focus on commitments to family, service, political action, or the arts. As you look for a focus, try to choose concrete language and to find something that helps others understand your past, present, and future choices.

Start with the words “I believe in…….
Examples:
I believe in stories. Stories that live and breathe. Stories that are fruitful and multiply. That create stories within stories. Bring into being stories of my own. I want stories that provoke a powerful response be it tears, laughter, or thought. I desire a story to have a gravity of its own. If it’s not worth telling more than once, it’s not worth telling. It should continue to pull me back again and again . . .

I believe that music is a force that stands and beckons the souls of humans to step out of their secret places. I have seen the power of a guitar’s voice as it draws out the souls of strangers in a crowd from under their superficiality and holds them spellbound as one. I have felt an overwhelming sense of unity fall over a huge crowd of people when the insightful artist reveals his sorrow, his frustration, or his overwhelming joy with a melody.