Friday, September 29, 2017

What is it you are looking for? The 4th principle of UU

The fourth principle of Unitarian Universalism asks us to covenant together to affirm and promote a free and responsible search for truth and meaning and what is this truth and meaning that we are searching for?

It is written in A Course In Miracles in lesson 182, "This world you seem to live in is not home to you. And somewhere in your mind you know that this is true. A memory of home keeps haunting you, as if there were a place that called you to return, although you do not recognize the voice, nor what it is the voice reminds you of."

We all are on a mythic journey, a quest, to find the holy grail. And until we look within we never really find it. We make the mistake of looking out there when we should be looking within our own hearts.

Having married at 20 my wife and I moved 16 times in the first 11 years of our marriage. Half of these moves were for practical reasons and the other half I never understood, she just was restless and wanted to move because some sort of novelty attracted her. Then we stayed in one place for 12 years, and then moved 7 more times in the remaining 12 years before our divorce after 35 years of marriage. And did she ever find what she was looking for?


3 comments:

  1. Reading your post and listening to U2s song I smiled bemused. Were we married? You just described my life. I finally recognized my fool's errand and it changed my life.

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  2. Whether we are aware of it or not we all yearn to be back home. Home is where the heart is which is at one with creation. As Randy Scruggs used to sing, "Everyone wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die." And yet we must step outside our bodies to join with our spirits.

    Thanks for your wonderful posts which help me understand and think about our UU faith in a depth I never thought possible.

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  3. As a psychotherapist I see many patients complaining of anxiety and panic attacks. A lot of these people see me after their doctors have prescribed psychotropic medications for them. In discussing the situations these people are dealing with very often it appears that the base of their anxiety is existential concerns which they have inadequate ways of recognizing, naming and managing. Paul Pearsall, a psychoneuroimmunlogist, said one time that no therapist can help a client until the therapist understands who the client would answer three questions: why was I born, what is the purpose of my life, what happens when I die?

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