Friday, March 23, 2018

Generosity is a basic virtue which UUs covenant together to enact.

Unitarian Universalists covenant together to affirm and promote the acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth. This principle assumes generosity. Generosity is a virtue, in Buddhism a paramita, and is a behavior admired and yet raises great anxiety when generosity is called for.

On the path of the ego, generosity means to give away and the giver will have less. On the path of the spirit, generosity means to share with others and the giver will have more. It is like singing in a chorus. Does the generous singer have less in sharing his/her song with the group or does (s)he gain something by sharing her song with others? The same gain occurs in telling a joke or engaging in a conversation. We gain by giving.

A woman with nine children was asked how she divided her love between all her children. The woman replied, "You have your math wrong, honey, you don't divide, you multiply."

On the path of the ego, giving implies giving up something and having less. On the path of the spirit, giving implies the opposite, we get what we give and it is only in giving that we fulfill humanity of which we are a part.

Generosity is the sharing of Unconditional Love and is a sign of  advanced spiritual development. It is a basic principle upon which UUs pledge to guide their lives.

1 comment:

  1. Man who gave his house to a homeless family thought to be in a manic psychotic episode according to his family and friends.

    ReplyDelete

Print Friendly and PDF