Showing posts with label Sanctification. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sanctification. Show all posts

Monday, December 24, 2018

What is the UU: A Way Of Life's mission?


To do the work of sanctifying the world we must be bold but not ruthless.
To do the work of sanctifying the world we must share but not control.

To do the work of sanctifying the world we must be patient or we would exhaust ourselves.
To do the work of sanctifying the world we must be frugal so we can be generous.

To do the work of sanctifying the world we must be humble so we can lead.
To do the work of sanctifying the world we must be compassionate lest we be cruel.

Unitarian Univeralism: A Way Of Life ministries' mission is to sanctify the world by helping people become holy.

We at UU A Way Of Life ministires are the helpers. Aspiring to be helpers we value being trustworthy, honest, tolerant, gentle, joyful, defenseless, generous, patient, faithful, and mindful. We engage in the covenant to affirm and promote the seven principles. We support one another so that we can serve the world.

Tuesday, August 14, 2018

Do you know how to get to the promised land?

One of the problems with Unitarian Univeralism which hinders its growth and acceptance in a society to which it hopes to sanctify is a misunderstanding of the fourth principle which is the free and responsible search for truth and meaning. This is often interpreted as meaning that Unitarian Universalism is a creedless religion, that there is no doctrine, and that the seeker can seek whatever he/she wants. Not really. This is anarchy and nihilism which does not contribute to the creation of a cohesive covenant.

Francis David, the Unitarian pioneer in the sixteenth century famously said that we need not think alike to love alike and in his famous, and often quoted maxim, Francis David reframes the spiritual search from a cognitive activity to an experiential one.

As human beings we have a head and a heart. A well integrated personality uses both in alignment. The head and heart are working together in harmonious cooperation. There is no imbalance. Some people spend too much time in their head and not enough in their heart, and some people spend too much time in their heart and not enough in their head. Spiritual and psychological peace is realized when head and heart are in balance, what psychologists call "congruence."

In our search for sainthood, holiness, awakening, enlightenment, buddahood we are mis-served by the idea that anything goes and its every person for him/her self. The Unitarian Universalist church asks us to covenant together to affirm and promote seven principles. It is this covenant and these principles that provide the path to sainthood. The belief that this covenant and these principles will facilitate our spiritual growth is the basis of our faith. It is of concern that this faith in the covenant and principles is so often out of focus, disregarded, marginalized, ignored in our Sunday morning worship. The covenant and principles are rarely the topic of sermons and other elements of UU liturgies and therefore the people are mystified, oblivious to the key to the teachings of their purported faith.

If Unitarian Univeralism is to survive and grow it needs to be rejuvenated and revived. It has been on death support now for some time. It is time to uplift the path for the free and responsible search for truth and meaning which is the covenant  to affirm and promote the seven principles. This path is journeyed with both our heads and hearts and it is a path that will take us to the promised land. As W. Edwards Deming said, "If you don't know where you're going any road will take you there."



Friday, August 3, 2018

Why is the "Living Tradition" of UU dying?

Unitarian Universalism has it backwards, the "it" being its relationship with the world.

Does UU attempt to sanctify the world or allow the world to contaminate the "Living Tradition?"

The obvious answer to the question is the later, Unitarian Universalism allows the world to contaminate its "Living Tradition."

Unitarian Universalism is passive when its faith is attacked. The old saying is that if you don't stand for something, you will fall for anything. UUs covenant together to affirm and promote seven principles and most UUs don't even know what the seven principles are that they covenant together to affirm and promote, and even if they did, they have no guidance from the church on how to stand up to the assault on them from the world.

In the era of Trumpism, the principles of the UU Living Tradition are trashed on a daily basis with 80% of Republicans supporting this trashing. Does UU accommodate this assault on its principles or does it cry foul and impose penalties? Unfortunately, it does the former rather than the later because of its poor organizational cohesiveness. The "Living Tradition" is left for the individual congregations to promote and affirm even though there is an attempt at coherence at the periodic general assemblies.

The failure of Unitarian Universalism to achieve more cohesiveness contributes to its failure to thrive as a "Living Tradition" as a church. Its stagnant and somewhat dwindling membership demonstrates not only its inability to survive as a voice to sanctify the world, but also demonstrates that it has sold its soul to a secular philosophy of relativism and accomodation.

The ineffectiveness of Unitarian Univeralism to sanctify the world is a shame because it has much to offer but it doesn't know what it is and how to share its faith with the world in a coherent way.


Sunday, May 6, 2018

Becoming human

Unitarian Universalists covenant together to affirm and promote the inherent dignity and worth of every person. The mystics tell us that most people are sleep walking through life based on their instincts and conditioning. In this sleep walking, there is little dignity and worth for they have not yet realized their potential.

The hallmark of worth and dignity is freedom. Freedom is an inside job not just the eradication of external constraints. True freedom is making choices about our experience. This freedom requires self knowledge and awareness, something most people haven't achieved. If UUs are serious about their first covenantal principle, they would provide more assistance in facilitating the nurturing and cultivating of an interior spiritual life. It is this interior spiritual life which makes us truly human and manifests our true worth and dignity.

The thoughts we have bring either peace or war; either love or fear. Which do you want? Can you tell the difference?

It is taught in A Course In Miracles, in the workbook in lesson 16, that "I have no neutral thoughts." We either walk on the path of the ego or the path of the spirit. Upon the dawning, we must decide which path we want to proceed on. One path takes us to war and fear, and the other to peace and love.

The tolerance for pain in human beings is very high and sometimes, it's not until they hit bottom, that they realize there is a better way. They realize that their thoughts are not an external factor over which they have no control. They come to realize that they can control their thoughts and this control means they have a choice.

This choice over one's thoughts is the beginning of freedom, the beginning of liberation. It is the first step away from being merely an animal to becoming human.


Wednesday, February 7, 2018

Sanctification of the world

The third principle of seven of Unitarian Universalism is to covenant together to affirm and promote the acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations (and I like to add, the world.)

It is taught in A Course In Miracles that the opposite of love is fear. Fear is manifested in many ways, most often as anger, and/or guilt. Most of us do not manage our fears well.

Anxiety disorders are the most prevalent psychiatric diagnoses in the United States and the ones for which the most psychotropic medications are prescribed, and other chemicals are used to manage fears by individuals who choose to do so through self medication.

Fears are what trouble us and provide the most anguish and suffering. And the spiritual antidote for our fears is so simple, but rarely taught and recognized, let alone used.

The antidote for fear is forgiveness. It is written in A Course In Miracles, "You share no evil dreams if you forgive the dreamer, and perceive that he is not the dream he made. And so he can not be a part of yours, from which you both are free. Forgiveness separates the dreamer from the evil dream, and thus releases him." T-28.V.3:1-3

The simple formula for healing and health is, "I forgive you. I hope you can forgive me. Thank you, I love you."

It takes a big person to rise to this level of awareness and action. Most of us, stuck in our egos, are not willing and able, but there are a few who have achieved a presence of mind at this miraculous level. Seek them out. Learn from them. Emulate them. Join them in their work to sanctify the world.
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