Monday, August 7, 2017

The path to peace of mind.

The fifth principle of Unitarian Universalism is to covenant to affirm and promote the right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at large. The right of conscience is a key idea in the fifth principle, and it is often taught that the right of conscience is based on an "informed" conscience. The right of conscience does not refer to an unrestrained individual willfulness, but a conscience that has been informed by interaction with others. The key to an informed conscience is an open hearted willingness to listen to the Spirit of Life as it communicates with us through our lived experience and inner examination and reflection.

The Dali Lama when asked what the purpose of life is replied "happiness." Good answer but it begs the deeper question, "What will make me happy?"

A Course In Miracles gives the answer over and over again in its text. In section VIII of of chapter 15 in paragraph 2 it is written: "Hear Him gladly, and learn of Him that you have need of no special relationships at all. You seek in them what you have thrown away. And through them you will never learn the value of what you have cast aside, but still desire it with all you heart."

Jesus tells us in Matthew 22:37  "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind."

What we crave, deep down, is the oneness with God's creation of which we are a part. As is taught in 12 step problems in step one, we recognize and acknowledge that our lives are unmanageable, in step two that there is a power greater than ourselves that can restore us to sanity, and in step three we make a decision to turn our will and our lives over to our Higher Power as we understand it.


In the Christian prayer, the Our Father, we pray, "...Thy will we done on earth as it is in heaven." What do we understand God's will for us to be? This understanding is the benefit of discernment. We live our lives in open hearted ways forgiving our trespasses as we forgive others their trespasses against us. This is the path to a happiness better named joy and peace.

Bringing our will into alignment with what we believe is the will of the Spirit of Life for us is to know peace.

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