A Course In Miracles and Unitarian Universalism - When you perceive other bodies what do you envision?

Is a person a body with a spirit or a spirit in a body?

Does this sound like a petty and picky distinction or is it very important? In A Course In Miracles this move from seeing a brother and sister as merely a body and instead seeing their spirit is what the Course calls a "miracle."

It is written in the Course:

As they desire to look upon their brothers in holiness, the power of their belief and faith sees far beyond the body, supporting vision, not obstructing it. But first they chose to recognize how much their faith had limited their understanding of the world, desiring to place its power elsewhere should another point of view be given them. The miracles that follow this decision are also born of faith. For all who choose to look away from sin are given vision, and are led to holiness. T-21.III.8:3-6

UU A Way Of Life ministries teaches that the mission of Unitarian Universalism is to facilitate the spiritual development of all people in the world by helping them to decide to switch their focus from bodies to spirit. The Course calls this "vision." It is this "vision" of what Unitarian Universalists covenant together to affirm and promote as the inherent worth and dignity of every person that helps people become holy and sanctifies the world.

When you perceive yourself and your fellow brothers and sisters, what do you see?

A Course In Miralces and Unitarian Universalism - Do you have faith?

Faith

It is written in A Course In Miracles in Chapter 21, section III, paragraph 4 

T-21.III.4. Faith and belief and vision are the means by which the goal of holiness is reached. Through them the Holy Spirit leads you to the real world, and away from all illusions where your faith was laid. This is His direction; the only one He ever sees. And when you wander, He reminds you there is but one. His faith and His belief and vision are all for you. And when you have accepted them completely instead of yours, you will have need of them no longer. For faith and vision and belief are meaningful only before the state of certainty is reached. In Heaven they are unknown. Yet Heaven is reached through them.

Jesus said to his disciples repeatedly, “Oh you of little faith” and I imagine He would laugh gently at their silliness is believing in things in the world of the ego.

The mission of UU A Way Of Life is to help people become aware of their holiness so they can sanctify the world. The first step in carrying out this mission is simply to help them become aware that they have a choice. The choice, A Course In Miracles teaches, is between right minded thinking and wrong minded thinking. Right minded thinking is composed of the world of God and wrong minded thinking is composed of the world of the ego.

Wrong minded thinking is one of resentment, grievance, fear, victimization, and vengeance. Right minded thinking is one of forgiveness, joining, peace, agency, compassion, and love.

A Course In Miracles points out that right minded thinking is our natural inheritance while wrong minded thinking is based on fear of punishment for separating ourselves from the Unconditional Love of God in the first place.

The only question ultimately worth asking is “Which will I choose: heaven or hell?” How will I choose to live: playing the victim full of fear and resentment, or surrendering to the Oneness of God and experiencing peace and love?

In which type of thinking will I put my faith? To what extent do I believe that I have a choice? What kind of life for myself and the whole world do I envision?

A Course In Miracles and Unitarian Universalism - Keep the faith!

From A Course In Miracles:

T-21.III.3. Why is it strange to you that faith can move mountains? 

This is indeed a little feat for such a power. For faith can keep the Son of God in chains as long as he believes he is in chains. And when he is released from them it will be simply because he no longer believes in them, withdrawing faith that they can hold him, and placing it in his freedom instead.

It is impossible to place equal faith in opposite directions. What faith you give to sin you take away from holiness. And what you offer holiness has been removed from sin.

A Course in Miracles . Foundation for Inner Peace. p. 451-452

Comment:

Back in the 60s there was a common expression when one was saying good-bye which was "Keep the faith!"

I loved this expression but always wondered what it meant. What is the "faith" that one is keeping? If one UU was to say this to another UU what could this expression mean? What would "the faith" refer to which one is encouraged to keep?

In the passage above, the "faith" appears to be in freedom as compared to sin. "Sin" in A Course In Miracles refers to separation from the Oneness with God so we can pursue our own will in the world of the ego.

Freedom refers then, counter-intuitively, to doing the will of God and eschewing the ways of the ego, the ways of the world.

Unitarian Universalists practice this "faith" by living their covenant with each other to affirm and promote seven principles, the third of which is to accept one another and encourage each other's spiritual growth. It is the faith in the freeing power of the path of the Spirit (Unconditional Love) as compared to the path of the ego which is the foundation of the Unitarian Universalist faith.

"Keep the faith," in Unitarian Universalism means eschewing the ways of the world and the ego, and supporting the turning things over to the life of the Spirit and the will of God. Another way of saying this, is to become one with the Tao and go with the flow and accept the integration of the Ying and the Yang. This "going with flow" requires forgiveness which is the giving up of resentments, judgments, and grievances.

Jesus says as He is being crucified, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."

This kind of faith in the foundational Love of the Universe is awesome and beyond human understanding and thus requires "faith."

A Course In Miracles and Unitarian Universalism - Unconditional love

From A Course In Miracles:

T-21.III.1. All special relationships have sin as their goal. For they are bargains with reality, toward which the seeming union is adjusted. 

Forget not this; to bargain is to set a limit, and any brother with whom you have a limited relationship, you hate. 

You may attempt to keep the bargain in the name of “fairness,” sometimes demanding payment of yourself, perhaps more often of the other. Thus in the “fairness” you attempt to ease the guilt that comes from the accepted purpose of the relationship. 

And that is why the Holy Spirit must change its purpose to make it useful to Him and harmless to you.

Schucman, Dr. Helen. A Course in Miracles (p. 451). Foundation for Inner Peace.

Comment:

Unitarian Universalists covenant together to affirm and promote, in their third principal, the acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth.

The Universalist faith is based on the faith in unconditional love. Therefore, UU is an inclusive religion and exludes no one nor condemns them to hell.

Condtional relationships based on exclusivity and specialness separate and divide in which the ego rejoices, but God is the Tao, the Oneness of which we are all a part and from which we came and to which we will return.

The Spirit Of Life loves all of creation unconditionally. In this experience there is much peace.

May you experience the peace which is your natural inheritance.

A Course In Miracles and Unitarian Universalism - In what do you place your faith?

From A Course In Miracles:

T-21.II.9. We have already said that wishful thinking is how the ego deals with what it wants, to make it so.

There is no better demonstration of the power of wanting, and therefore of faith, to make its goals seem real and possible.

Faith in the unreal leads to adjustments of reality to make it fit the goal of madness.

The goal of sin induces the perception of a fearful world to justify its purpose. What you desire, you will see. And if its reality is false, you will uphold it by not realizing all the adjustments you have introduced to make it so.

Schucman, Dr. Helen. A Course in Miracles (p. 450). Foundation for Inner Peace.

Comment:

How we wish for things. We have our hearts set on what we think must be so, ought to be so, should be so.

The old saying is, "Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it." We wish for all kinds of things which the world of the ego has told us will make us happier, safer, more attractice to others, more loved, smarter, more successful, etc.

When things don't seem to be working out we become frustrated, angry, resentful, afraid, embarassed, depressed, anxious, and we start treating these symptoms with chemicals like alcohol, drugs, medications, sex, gambling, video games, Facebook, religion, work, sex, food.

Sin is the separation from God, from the Oneness, and this induces guilt because unconsciously we think God will punish us for our separation and desire to be the boss of ourselves and our own lives. Our Universalist faith teaches us that God loves us uncondtionally and just laughs at our wilful insanity like a parent might laugh at a child engaged in childish activity.

Addiction is defined as "doing the same thing over and over hoping for a different result." And the Course asks us, "Would you rather be right or be happy."

Unfortunately, most of us would rather be right and we defend the misguided beliefs, values, practices that we hold dear.

What is called for is placement of our faith in the path of the spirit and not in the path of the ego. This means we look within and "get right with ourselves." This means being honest, being genuine, authentic, sincere, once again innocent.

Jesus has told us that unless we become as little children we cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. What Jesus is talking about is a remembering our innocense before the world of the ego corrupted us misleading us to put our faith in things that could never make us happy. The belief in the power of immaginary things to provide us with a deep seated fulfillment and satisfaction is barkinig up the wrong tree. We have put our faith in the wrong things and the wrong place.

The third principle of Unitarian Universalism asks us to affirm and promote the free and responsible search for truth and meaning. Are you looking in the right place?.

A Course In Miracles and Unitarian Universalism - What is your utlimate concern?

From A Course In Miracles

T-21.II.8. Be willing, for an instant, to leave your altars free of what you placed upon them, and what is really there you cannot fail to see. 

The holy instant is not an instant of creation, but of recognition. For recognition comes of vision and suspended judgment. Then only it is possible to look within and see what must be there, plainly in sight, and wholly independent of inference and judgment.

Undoing is not your task, but it is up to you to welcome it or not. Faith and desire go hand in hand, for everyone believes in what he wants.

Schucman, Dr. Helen. A Course in Miracles (pp. 447-450). Foundation for Inner Peace.

Comment:

What is our "ultimate concern" as Paul Tillich called it? Money, approval, power, athletic success, a svelt body, a special relationship?

The "ulitmate concern" is what we think will make us happy and give our lives meaning and purpose.

A Course In Miracles teaches us that we make idols out of all kinds of things which prevent us from finding what would really make us happy.

The Holy Instant is when we are in the flow of the now and become one with the interdependent web of existence. It is hard to become one with existence when we cling to our idols.

A Course In Miracles teaches us that if we are to become one with existence we have to undo our clinging.

The Course tells us that this is hard and we can't and don't have to do this all on own. All we have to do is be willing to losen the ties that bind us. When our ultimate concern becomes to journey on the path of the spirit we embark on a better track.

The Course tells us that "everyone believes in what (s)he wants."

So what do you want? Deep down, what is it you yearn for?

Unitarian Universalists covenant together to affirm and promote a respect for the interdependent web. How much do you want it, that respect? (I'd rather call it "love.")

A Course In Miracles and Unitarian Universalism - Where is your responsible search for truth and meaning taking you?

From A Course In Miracles:

T-21.II.6. Perhaps you do not see the need for you to give this little offering.

 Look closer, then, at what it is. And, very simply, see in it the whole exchange of separation for salvation.

All that the ego is, is an idea that it is possible that things could happen to the Son of God without his will; and thus without the Will of his Creator, Whose Will cannot be separate from his own.

This is the Son of God’s replacement for his will, a mad revolt against what must forever be.

This is the statement that he has the power to make God powerless and so to take it for himself, and leave himself without what God has willed for him. This is the mad idea you have enshrined upon your altars, and which you worship. And anything that threatens this seems to attack your faith, for here is it invested.

Think not that you are faithless, for your belief and trust in this is strong indeed.

Schucman, Dr. Helen. A Course in Miracles (p. 449). Foundation for Inner Peace.

Comment:

This makes me laugh. We think we are God. We think we made up the world and we're right and sticking to it. And how is that working for us?

This passage tells us that all the Holy Spirit needs is our little offering of surrending to our Higher Power. Just be willing to listen!

But listening is hard. We want to be right.

There is a big difference between willfullness and willingness.

We have invested our faith in the world instead of in the kingdom of God. This investment in the world is called "a mad idea" which we have made the center of our lives. It is the mistake UUs make when they search for truth and meaning in the world of the ego. Those folks haven't realized yet that truth and meaning are not where they are searching and so they will never find it there. They are on a snipe hunt, a wild goose chase.

Any thing that questions their search for truth and meaning in the world is met with dismissal and attack. They killed Jesus, after all, because He dared question the premise of their world view. Jesus love was threatening. So much so that they tried to erradicate it by killing Him.

Our faith is strong and what we put our faith in determines our happiness and peace. Do you choose the path of the ego, or the path of the Spirit?

Unitarian Universalists covenant together to affirm and promote the person's right to a responsible and free search for truth and meaning. This is a huge responsibility. No other person can do it for you you must do it for yourself.

A Course In Miracles and Unitarian Universalism - Whose will is being done when we pursue truth and meaning?

From A Course In Miracles:

T-21.II.3. It is impossible the Son of God be merely driven by events outside of him. It is impossible that happenings that come to him were not his choice. His power of decision is the determiner of every situation in which he seems to find himself by chance or accident. No accident nor chance is possible within the universe as God created it, outside of which is nothing. 

Suffer, and you decided sin was your goal.

 Be happy, and you gave the power of decision to Him Who must decide for God for you. This is the little gift you offer to the Holy Spirit, and even this He gives to you to give yourself. For by this gift is given you the power to release your savior, that he may give salvation unto you.

Schucman, Dr. Helen. A Course in Miracles (p. 448). Foundation for Inner Peace.

Comment:

This is a very dense passage and takes some unpacking.

We, all of us together, are the "Son of God."  And the Son of God is not merely driven by external events. There is something far deeper going on which we are not consciously aware of most of the time. We are sleep walking in the world of illusions which some mystics call "the dream."

We are dreaming the dream so the happenings that appear to be coming to us are things we made up and so, at an unconscious level, are our choice. We decide what our reality is by our interpretation of the events that seem to happen to us. Our third principle in Unitarian Universalism is the "free and responsible search for truth and meaning." What is the truth and meaning that you are seeking and where do you think you will find it?

If we are seeking truth and meaning in God's universe that is one thing, but if we are seeking it in the world of ego that is another. The world of the ego is the external world while God's universe, the "kingdom" as Jesus called it, is within as Jesus told us.

"Sin" in the passage means "separation." If our goal is to separate ourselves from the kingdom of God to pursue our happiness in the world of the ego we will suffer.

If we are to be happy we must give our will to the Holy Spirit to help us find the Kingdom of God. It is this willingness to surrender to our Higher Power, to give our will to the Holy Spirit which brings us home with the Holy Spirit leading the way. It is this willingness to follow God's will for us that is our saving grace, that brings us salvation.

The search for truth and meaning, the third UU principle,involves what Twelve Step programs call "surrender." In the Christian Prayer which Jesus taught us, the Our Father, we say "Thy kindgom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." It is this willingness to even say this prayer let alone, apply it in our lives which is the source of our true happiness. We surrender and let the Holy Spirit, Jesus, the Muse, Life, Mother Nature, whatever we want to call the Higher Power to do its work and carry out its function in our lives.

A Course In Miracles and Unitarian Universalism - What is our function?

From A Course In Miracles:

T-21.II.2. This is the only thing that you need do for vision, happiness, release from pain and the complete escape from sin, all to be given you. Say only this, but mean it with no reservations, for here the power of salvation lies: I am responsible for what I see. I choose the feelings I experience, and I decide upon the goal I would achieve. And everything that seems to happen to me I ask for, and receive as I have asked.  

Deceive yourself no longer that you are helpless in the face of what is done to you. Acknowledge but that you have been mistaken, and all effects of your mistakes will disappear.

Schucman, Dr. Helen. A Course in Miracles (p. 448). Foundation for Inner Peace.

Comment:

Unitarian Universalists covenant together to affirm and promote the free and responsible search for truth and meaning. Where is this search to take us? Where is truth and meaning to be found?

The search is an inward search not an outward one. Recognize that we have the power to choose our own reality. Would we choose conditional love or unconditional love?

The Universalist tradition tells us that God loves us unconditionally and we are to extend God's love to ourselves and throughout the world.

This extension of God's unconditional love is our function as Unitarian Univeresalists and we know that as we give so we shall receive and as we teach so shall we learn.

A Course In Miracles tells us that happiness, release from pain, is achieved simply by making a choice to follow God's will which is to take responsibility for our own happiness by extending God's love to ourselves and throughout the world.

A Course In Miracles and Unitarian Universalism - Uncondtional Love and social justice

From A Course In Miracles

T-21.in.1. Projection makes perception. 

The world you see is what you gave it, nothing more than that. But though it is no more than that, it is not less. Therefore, to you it is important. 

It is the witness to your state of mind, the outside picture of an inward condition. As a man thinketh, so does he perceive. 

Therefore, seek not to change the world, but choose to change your mind about the world.

Perception is a result and not a cause. And that is why order of difficulty in miracles is meaningless. 

Everything looked upon with vision is healed and holy. Nothing perceived without it means anything. And where there is no meaning, there is chaos.

Schucman, Dr. Helen. A Course in Miracles (p. 445). Foundation for Inner Peace. 

Comment - 

Many Unitarian Universalists are interested in and concerned about social justice. In fact, this concern is part of our covenant with one another which is to affirm and promote justice, equity, and compassion in human relations. It is important to understand that we enact this principle not to make the world a better place, because what we see in the world is an illusion, but rather to forgive ourselves for our judgmental and distorted preception.

The third principle asks us to accept one another and encourage spiritual growth in our congregations. Focusing on the condition of the external world instead of focusing our own internal state of mind is a distraction and a mistake. Jesus tells us before you attempt to remove the splinter in your neighbor's eye, take the log out of your own eye first.

A Course In Miracles asks us to shift gears and look upon our brothers and sisters with unconditional love and this is the core of our Universalist faith. If we are to look upon our brothers and sisters with unconditional love what does that mean for pursing social justice?

It means that we love the sinner and hate the sin. It means, as Jesus told us, that we should love our enemies.

Jesus told us that all are called but few choose the Universalist path of Unconditional Love.

ACIM and UU - Chapter five, "The world of special relationships."

Chapter five

The world of special relationships

            As we have reflected on the thought systems of A Course in Miracles we have come to appreciate that it is based on a nondualistic metaphysics meaning that the ultimate source is the Oneness which we sometimes call “God.”
            Our human pain and suffering arises from our separation from the Oneness, what A Course in Miracles calls a “tiny mad idea,” and the concomitant guilt, fear, and grievance.  We don’t realize at first that what we call the world and what we think is our life is merely the shadows on the wall of the cave to use Plato’s metaphor. What we think of as the world is merely the illusions we have created as a result of our projections from the world of the ego.
            When we begin to awaken from the dream of this world, we realize that what we seek is the experience of Unconditional Love and not further socialization into a thought system which only perpetuates separation. At this point, we realize that we have the power to choose between the path of the ego, the way of the world, or the path of the Spirit, the Unconditional Love of the Oneness.
            As the drama plays out in our lives, we come to appreciate the tremendous role that what the Course calls “special relationships” play in our lives on the path of the ego. Special relationships take a multitude of forms and involve relationships with not only people but with things and ideas. Whatever form special relationships take, the content is always the same which is the belief that from these special relationships our happiness and salvation will be achieved. This belief always disappoints and fails us even though sometimes it takes a long time and much suffering before we realize it. In Alcoholic Anonymous, the dawning occurs when we hit bottom.
            It is written in A Course In Miracles, “Tolerance for pain may be high, but it is not without limit. Eventually everyone begins to recognize, however dimly, that there must be a better way. As this recognition becomes more firmly established, it becomes a turning point. This ultimately reawakens spiritual vision, simultaneously weakening investment in physical sight.” T-2.III.3:5-8
            As we experience this dawning, the search begins for Love, Truth, and Completion. This search first involves a recognition and acknowledgement of our wrong choices and mistaken beliefs. We can’t change what we don’t recognize. We can’t manage what we can’t name. Becoming consciously aware of the obstacles and blocks to our awareness of Love’s presence, our Natural Inheritance, is necessary for their removal. As the Course insists, it is our choice about giving up the path of the ego for the path of the Spirit, and this choice will never be forced on us. The Course tells us in the introduction that we don’t get to choose the curriculum, but we do get to choose when we want to take it.
            The recognition and acknowledgement of the obstacles and blocks to our awareness of Love’s presence is based on our appreciation and understanding of “special relationships” and the roles we have created for them in our lives.
            Unitarian Univeralism is a covenantal religion meaning that people join together to pursue a common goal which is the affirmation and promotion of seven principles. In the covenant, there is a recognition of the Unconditional Love of the Oneness which some call “God” and others call “Tao” or “Higher Power” or “Brahmin.”
            Unitarian Univeralism’s covenant, based on the affirmation and promotion of seven principles, sandwiches 5 of the principles between two that are seminal: the inherent worth and dignity of every person, the first principle, and respect for the interdependent web of all existence, the seventh principle. In these two, the awareness of Love’s presence, our Natural Inheritance, is explicitly stated.

            If the awareness of Love’s presence is our Natural Inheritance, and to experience this we must remove the obstacles and blocks to this awareness, we must recognize and acknowledge the role that special relationships play on the path of the ego to distract, dismiss, and disqualify our awareness of Love. We will turn to the topic of special relationships in more detail in our next chapter.

ACIM and UU - Chapter four, "Wrong mindedness or right mindedness?

Chapter four

Wrong mindedness or right mindedness? The choice is always ours to make.

If we understand that it is the experience of Love that is more important to spiritual development than knowledge, we come to appreciate the benefit of being right minded rather than wrong minded. What makes the difference between the two is our decision. Human beings have free will and they can decide which thought system they prefer to operate with.
            Wrong mindedness is the based on the ego and right mindedness is based on the Holy Spirit or our Higher Power however we understand it.
            The ego is based on conditional love with the dynamics of “give to get” and “one or the other.” The wrong mindedness of the ego gets enacted in what A Course In Miracles calls “special relationships” and distinguished from “holy relationships.” Society promotes and socializes people into “special relationships” which involve guilt, fear, and grievance. Choosing “holy relationships” brings peace, joy, and bliss.
            Wrong mindedness is based on the erroneous belief that we are the author of our own lives and that we can manage them alone. In Twelve Step programs such as Alcoholics Anonymous, the first step is that our lives have become unmanageable. The second step is coming to believe that there is a Power greater than ourselves which can restore us to sanity, and the third step is to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understand God.
            Right mindedness is the choice to follow God’s will for us rather than our own will. This choice is the stumbling block for most people and yet can make all the difference in our spiritual growth.
            Universalists have faith in the Unconditional Love of God. It is this faith which supports the choice to turn one’s will over to God’s will. When we bring our will into alignment with God’s will we have a power and strength that is beyond our own understanding.
            The covenant to affirm and promote seven principles is the basis of the Unitarian Universalist faith. The third principle is the “acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations.” This acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth goes, however, far beyond the boundaries of  our congregations and applies to all our brothers and sisters throughout the world.
            Jesus has told us that the way to the kingdom is “to love as I have loved.” The Universalists have taken Jesus’ suggestion seriously and say in their churches, “Love is the doctrine of this church. The quest for truth is its sacrament and service is its prayer.”
            At a metaphysical level, the key to spiritual growth lies in a simple choice: the live on the path of the ego or the path of the spirit; to operate from a thought system of wrong mindedness or right mindedness. The choice is always ours and if we choose wrongly at any given time and we do this on a regular basis we can always choose again.

"Spiritual nor religious?" "Experience not knowledge is the goal of the spiritual life.

ACIM and UU - Chapter three, "Experience, not knowledge, is the goal of spiritual development."

Chapter three

Experience, not knowledge, is the goal of spiritual development

            People, in our contemporary age, like to say, “I’m spiritual but not religious.” What does this mean?
            Religions are organizations which exist to socialize and indoctrinate people into similar values, beliefs, and behavior. Religions are a form of social control and as such they are forces for constraint not liberation.
            Spirituality is a force for expanding consciousness, growth, and development of maturity which involves an awakening from the unconscious influences of society on human awareness.
            Spirituality moves us beyond the ego to cosmic consciousness, an appreciation of the Oneness from which we have separated ourselves. This movement is one of experience of transcendence and completion – that is becoming one with the All. It is a merging of consciousness with the totality of creation which is accompanied by an experience of peace and bliss.
            The arguing over doctrine, ethical rules, liturgies and rituals, organizational authority to control and direct is antithetical to spiritual growth. It is written in A Course In Miracles in the Introduction to the Clarification of Terms: “All terms are potentially controversial, and those who seek controversy will find it. Yet those who seek clarification will find it as well. They must, however, be willing to overlook controversy, recognizing that it is a defense against the truth in a form of a delaying maneuver. Theological considerations as such are necessarily controversial, since they depend on belief and can therefore be accepted or rejected. A universal theology is impossible, but a universal experience is not only possible but necessary.”
            Unitarian Universalism is a creedless religion. It has no theology which is considered orthodox. Instead it relies on the perennial psychology of at least six sources.
            Unitarian Universalism is a covenantal religion which asks people to join together with a common purpose of affirming and promoting seven principles one of which is the “free and responsible search for truth and meaning.”
            It is in this affirmation and promotion of its seven principles based on its covenantal agreement with others that Unitarian Univeralism provides and experience of hope, faith, peace, and Love.
            A favorite prayer of Unitarian Universalists is “Love is the doctrine of this church. The quest for truth is its sacrament, and service is its prayer.”
            In Unitarian Universalism the controversy generated by arguing over terms is dispensed with so that joining with others in a common cause of becoming aware of the holiness in the world can be engaged in.
            In this engagement, the Universal experience of Love is pursued and created.

ACIM and UU - Chapter Two, "The causes of human suffering."

Chapter two

Cause of human suffering

            The Buddha taught that the cause of human suffering was attachment to people and  things and the inevitable loss and rupture of those attachments.

            A Course In Miracles teaches that, at a metaphysical level, what causes suffering is the separation from the Oneness, “the tiny mad idea,” and the consequent guilt, and fear of punishment.

            The ego teaches us that our salvation lies in special relationships to people and things which is very similar to the Buddhist idea of attachment. When our special relationships fail us, we project our fear and anger onto others and accuse and blame them for not making us happy. This anger, resentment, and grievance is the basis for human suffering.

            Special relationships are based on the two dynamics of “give to get,” “you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours,” and “one or the other,” “it’s not me, it’s you.”

            The antidote to human suffering is what the Course calls the “Atonement” which is the recognition we can change our minds about the causes of our suffering and come to understand that our suffering is not caused by the other, but by our expectations and thoughts about the other. The “miracle” is changing our mind, our decision making choice, about the causes of our suffering. No one and no thing can make me think and feel and behave any way that I don’t want to. My response to my perceptions is always up to me and the Holy Spirit.

            It is this recognition that I have a decision making mind which affords me the opportunity to forgive myself for my mistaken belief that my happiness, peace, and well being is to be found in blaming others and attempting to change them. Clearing away the obstacle created by this mistaken belief that the other is causing my unhappiness allows me to become aware of Love’s presence  within which is my natural inheritance.

            Unitarian Universalists intuit this reality when they enter into a covenant with each other to affirm and promote their seven principles. The Universalist faith is based on the idea that God loves everyone unconditionally and would send no one to hell. Hell is of our own making when we choose wrongly blaming others for our suffering.


            The first principle of Unitarian Univeralism is the affirmation and promotion of the inherent worth and dignity of every person. It is in this recognition and awareness that we become aware of our own holiness and that of others and in this consciousness the sanctification of the world is created. This awareness ends suffering as we experience what the Course calls the “Holy Instant” of Oneness.

ACIM and UU - Chapter one, "Original Sin."

Today a new feature is being introduced on UU A Way Of Life entitled, A Course In Miracles and Unitarian Univeralism. It will be replacing our Ask Alexa and Today's Lesson columns.

A Course In Miracles and Unitarian Universalism

Chapter One

Original Sin

In order to understand A Course In Miracles, the student must first comprehend its metaphysics. “Metaphysics” is the study of thought systems describing ultimate reality. ACIM is based on the idea of the Oneness of the Ultimate Reality. Human consciousness was born from what ACIM calls the “tiny mad idea” that human beings, God’s creations, could be separate from God.

            This “tiny mad idea” lead to the birth of the ego which believes that it, itself, is God, and this mistaken belief, leads to suffering.

            This egotistical belief that the self is God is manifested in many ways that are called sin, mistakes, illusions, delusions, wrong mindedness, and insanity.

            ACIM teaches that its purpose is not to teach the meaning of Love for that cannot be taught, but to make one aware of the blocks and obstacles to the awareness of Love’s presence, the beatific Oneness that we call heaven, the kingdom, Nirvana, bliss, peace, home.

            The primary vehicle which the ego uses to establish its kingdom is what ACIM calls “special relationships” which are based on guilt, fear, and wrong mindedness. This guilt, fear, and wrong-mindedness is manifested in “give to get” and “one or the other” dynamics of special relationships. This can simply be called “conditional love.” “I’ll love you if….” And “it’s all your fault, and “you made me do it.”

            Unitarian Univeralism does not believe in separation and exclusion. Unitarian Univeralism is what is called a “covenantal” religion because it is based on a covenant to affirm and promote seven principles. Unitarian Universalism is about joining with Unconditional Love rather than about separation based on differences that judge, punish, and exclude.

            The practices of Unitarian Universalism are counter-cultural. They are not based on individual ego, but on recognition, acknowledgment, and functioning based on interdependence.

            The original sin was the egotistical thought that the self was God. This thought system is alive and well in our secular and religious societies to this day. Unitarian Univeralism offers a different view and based on this a different way of life.

Today's lesson - I want to see things differently.

Lesson 28 in A Course In Miracles states, "Above all else I want to see things differently." What the lesson seems to want to teach us is to see things nonjudgmentally.

We come with our biases, our preconceptions, our histories, and based  on these we project what we think we are going to see.

The old saying about "assume" is that it makes an ass out of you and me.

So, it seems that this lesson is asking us to deliberately approach our perceptions in a nonjudgmental way with a touch of curiousity and a big helping of "not knowing" humility.

Before we can turn our certainty over to our Higher Power we have to admit our lack of knowledge and recognize our biases and preconceptions.

UUs covenant together to affirm and promote the free and responsible search for truth and meaning and at a deeper level of application this requires us to humbly and nonjudgmentally approach the things in our lives with curiosity and a desire to see things not as we have been conditioned to see them on the path of the ego, but as the Divine sees them with unconditional love.

The Lord's prayer from A Course In Miracles

Bill Thetford: The Lord's Prayer (ACIM Version) from Foundation for Inner Peace on Vimeo.

ACIM and UU - Standing on the side of love is a miracle

The eight principle of the 50 principles of miracles in A Course In Miracles is "Miracles are healing because they supply a lack; they are performed by those who temporarily have more for those who temporarily have less."

The ego doesn't allow us to know what we lack. The ego operates on the scarcity principle meaning that we always have anxiety that we are inadequate or deficient in some way and so we spend our energy trying to soothe our anxiety by getting more. However, what we lack is God. We are suffering from the separation from God and from each other. UU is on the right track when it asks us to covenant together to affirm and promote the acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our third principle. Jesus tells us as much when he tells his followers that the way to the kingdom is "to love as I have loved."

What this eight principle points to is the observation that some of us have a more loving heart than others and those with a more loving heart are called to help those who are less loving. This is a temporary phenomenon until those with less love catch up with those with more love. Do UUs have more love than other members of our society? Are we further along on the journey to At-one-ment? Our marketing campaign of Standing On The Side Of Love may be a step in the right direction if it is miracle based. Returning to the Love of God is the root of our Universalist faith which tells us that we all are heirs of God's Love without exception. It is just that some are more aware of this than others. Love is all around us. Tune in and then broadcast it as you go about your daily routine not only standing but living on the side of Love.

UU and ACIM - The Spiritual path requires the purification from bull shit

The seventh miracle principle in A Course In Miracles is: "Miracles are everyone's right, but purification is necessary first."

The purification mentioned in this principle refers to our mind not our body. The Course teaches that the body is an illusion, it merely is a conduit of our spirit. In itself it is nothing and to focus on it is to miss the point or distract us from where the effective focus should be our mind.

Our egos are so full of drama, resentments, grievances, attacks that to be miracle workers it needs purification. If we are to be more aware of Love's presence in our lives we must remove the obstacles and barriers to Love's presence. It is this removal of these barriers and obstacles to the awareness of Love's presence that the Course is referring to when it says that "purification is necessary first."

Miracles are not something only certain very holy people can do. They are everyone's birth right. In fact, for humanity to achieve its ultimate purpose all people must become miracle workers because a miracle, in the terms of the course, is simply right thinking and right awareness. We come to the place where we understand what is really important which is to love. Kenneth Wapnick in discussing this principle quotes St. Augustine who said "Love and do what you will." The ego distracts us from loving and so whatever blocks our loving awareness needs to be removed so that our awareness can be purified. In Unitarian Universalism our principles help us with this purification when we covenant "to affirm and promote the acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth" and when we support the free and responsible search for truth and meaning. A free and responsible search should involve a purification of bull shit so that we get closer to our authentic and genuine selves which involves the awareness of the inherent worth and dignity of ourselves and every person.

Here is a moral tale of purification of a prosecutor who made terrible mistakes because of ego:



It is interesting that so much of our justice system is motivated by "winning" rather than the truth.