An online magazine of faith based on a free and responsible search for truth and meaning. The mission of Unitarian Universalism: A Way Of Life ministries is to provide information, teach skills, and clarify values to facilitate the evolutionary development of increasingly higher levels of spiritual development for human beings around the world.
Before you go on a trip it's helpful to have a map that charts the route of your journey. To what extent do you have a map for your spiritual journey to the Kingdom?
It is rare that a religion or any other kind of institution provides a map of the spiritual journey. Religions have spiritual practices and activities but rarely do they explain what they are for or how they fit any overall plan of a journey toward enlightenment. It's a sad state of affairs and the question is most excellent.
The first step in having a map for a spiritual journey is a vocabulary. If don't have names for things we can't even talk about them. In UU we have a tower of babel with people not agreeing on the definitions and meanings of things and not sharing a vocabulary in common. Maybe a place to start is just having a glossary of terms.
It is helpful to grow up in a religion otherwise what does one have to compare one's own beliefs with? Having a religous foundation allows a person to consider his/her own beliefs and start to tweak whatever it is that he/she has learned.
A major skill, rarely, taught, is how to discern God's will. Discernment is not a word that is a part of most people's religious and spiritual vocabulary. I don't know that UU has such a concept except the idea of being moved by the spirit. This is more thought of and talked about as a source of inspiration rather than a means to inform one's conscience.
It is rare that a religion or any other kind of institution provides a map of the spiritual journey. Religions have spiritual practices and activities but rarely do they explain what they are for or how they fit any overall plan of a journey toward enlightenment. It's a sad state of affairs and the question is most excellent.
ReplyDeleteThe first step in having a map for a spiritual journey is a vocabulary. If don't have names for things we can't even talk about them. In UU we have a tower of babel with people not agreeing on the definitions and meanings of things and not sharing a vocabulary in common. Maybe a place to start is just having a glossary of terms.
Carl,
ReplyDeleteDo you think it is a problem that UUs can't even agree on the word for the divine or even that there is a divine element in human existence?
It is helpful to grow up in a religion otherwise what does one have to compare one's own beliefs with? Having a religous foundation allows a person to consider his/her own beliefs and start to tweak whatever it is that he/she has learned.
ReplyDeleteA major skill, rarely, taught, is how to discern God's will. Discernment is not a word that is a part of most people's religious and spiritual vocabulary. I don't know that UU has such a concept except the idea of being moved by the spirit. This is more thought of and talked about as a source of inspiration rather than a means to inform one's conscience.
ReplyDelete