Sunday, March 1, 2015

Do UU ministers manifest an awareness of the inner altar?

Richard Trudeau writes in his book, Universalism 101, "I call on my fellow UU ministers - and, recognizing that it can be hard for old dogs to learn new tricks, I especially call on UU seminarians - to recommit themselves to their role of teachers. Teachers shape tastes and do not merely accommodate to them." p.16

Unitarian Universalism does not need more teachers. What would they teach? You cannot teach what you do not know. Unitarian Universalism needs more holy men and women who have a personal experience of the divine, the sacred, the spiritual. Where are the holy men and women of Unitarian Universalism? Where are they formed and upon what is their spiritual practice based? You cannot find, and do not achieve a spiritual life from books and from teaching. Books and teaching can point to the holy and divine, but they are fingers pointing at the moon, they are not the moon.

Holiness, sacredness comes from an experience of the authentic wholeness of which we are apart. It comes from sincere and genuine inner exploration. It comes from what has been called prayer and meditation and the development of cosmic consciousness and enlightenment. Most of UU "teaching" is too distracting. It focuses on the world. Trying to change it and fix it a fool's errand based on hubris and resentments and this is not holy work nor does it manifest a positive example of where holiness resides which is on the inner altar of our being.

Would that UU ministers were able to access this inner altar and manifest this awareness. As Steven Gaskin said one time, in the last analysis all we have to offer is our own state of being. UU ministers need to look within and share what they find with others by their presence not by their teaching in the usual sense of that word. Their lives and manifestation of their awareness of the inner altar is what is nourishing, edifying, and facilitative of spiritual growth in others.

We all should be accessing our inner altars and in the process becoming more genuine, sincere, authentic and aware of the All. We need ministers who can facilitate this process because they have been there themselves and they manifest these qualities of authenticity, genuineness, sincerity, and cosmic consciousness to the world. Leave the teaching to Fox News and Pat Robertson.

Knock, knock.

Who's there?

Doris.

Doris who?

Doris locked - that's why I'm knocking!

Matthew 7:7 "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.

There are many searchers knocking, but UU ministers are not opening the door. Perhaps it's because they don't hear the knocking, or they don't know where the door is. UU seminaries should be helping students find the door.

1 comment:

  1. I was flabbergasted to read this article. While I agree with a lot of it, there seems to be some cheap shots at UU ministers who are doing the best they can. Perhaps they are not has "holy" and wise as the author of the article would like them to be, but he or she needs to cut them a break.

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