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.
You have not failed to increase the inheritance of the Sons of God, and thus have not failed to secure it for yourself. Since it was the Will of God to give it to you, He gave it forever. Since it was His Will that you have it forever, He gave you the means for keeping it. And you have done so. Disobeying God’s Will is meaningful only to the insane. In truth it is impossible. Your Self-fullness is as boundless as God’s. Like His, It extends forever and in perfect peace. Its radiance is so intense that It creates in perfect joy, and only the whole can be born of Its Wholeness. T-7.IX.6:1-9
A Course in Miracles (pp. 271-272). Foundation for Inner Peace. Kindle Edition.
Life is the inheritance of the Sons of God. Since you have it because God gave it to you, the Course says you will have it forever. However its form will change. Being a part of Life, being a part of the Whole, you are boundless and extend forever.
In Unitarian Universalism some of us join together to affirm and promote the awareness of the interdependent web of existence of which we are a part. This interdependent web of existence is Life and as we move beyond our ego we become aware that we are one with everything.
Today it is suggested that we consider what we really are and from whom we came and to which we will return after our localized form of existence dissolves back into the Whole.
Have you found what you are looking for or are you still searching?
In Unitarian Universalism some people covenant together to affirm and promote the free and responsible search for truth and meaning. What is it that they are looking for? They might not put the goal in quite these words, but they are trying to find their way back to God. They want to heal the separation so they can reunite with their Transcendent Source. This is the ultimate form of belonging.
U2 sing about this in their song "I still haven't found what I am looking for."
This is our kind of church music at UU A Way Of Life.
While reading today’s lesson I am reminded of James Taylor’s great song, You’ve Got A Friend. “When you call out my name, I’ll come running to see you again.” God is not only our creator, God is our best friend ever.
In Alcoholic Anonymous it is suggested, in step eleven, that we improve our conscious contact with God through prayer and meditation. How about that?
In Unitarian Universalism we covenant together to affirm and promote a free and responsible search for truth and meaning which comes down to calling to our Transcendent Source.
Today, it is suggested that we remind ourselves that the world of Love is our natural inheritance and is always there for us. What we need to do is clear away all the clutter from the ego world and get in touch with that which has always been there, within.
The choice is ours between fear and love in how we spend our day. Could it be that simple? Is it easier said than done? Is today’s lesson merely wishful thinking that does not correspond to reality?
We cannot control the external circumstances of our lives but we can always control our response to them. In that distinction there lies the awareness of our choice. Can we decide to make the best of a bad situation? Can we get things in perspective and find a more positive view?
In Alcoholic Anonymous it is suggested, in step eleven, that we seek to improve our conscious contact with God through prayer and meditation. How about trying that?
In Unitarian Universalism we covenant together to affirm and promote the free and responsible search for truth and meaning and where are we to find this truth and meaning: in fear or in Love? The Universalists are clear in their answer, in Love.
Today, it is suggested that we repeat this mantra often, “In fearlessness and love I spend today.” Say it especially when fear, anger, resentment, guilt starts to arise into our awareness. At that point we can make a choice. Which will I choose? The Beatles said it best when they sang, “Love, love, love, love is all there is.”
Remember there are two worlds we experience during our incarnation: the world of the ego full of fear and grievance, and the world of Spirit full of peace and Love. Which would we choose?
In Alcoholics Anonymous it is suggested, in step eleven, that we improve our conscious contact with God through prayer and mediation. It also takes forgiveness which is the dropping of judgment.
In Unitarian Universalism, we support each other in our affirmation and promotion of the inherent worth and dignity of every person who has been created by Divine Love.
Today, it is suggested that we look upon the light which dissolves darkness. Light and darkness cannot co-exist. Instead of continuing to wander in the dark we can turn on the lights. The choice is ours and is what the Course calls a “miracle.”
What do we want: hell or heaven, fear or love, war or peace, attack or compassion? It’s our choice. In order to become aware of this choice which we have, we need to develop perspective. We need to rise above the nonsense in the world of the ego. This rising above the ego world is what A Course In Miracles calls “forgiveness.”
In Alcoholic Anonymous it is suggested, in step three, that we decide to turn our willfulness over to the will of God. “Let go and let God” the slogan reads.
In Unitarian Universalism we join together to affirm and promote a respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part and in this awareness we experience stillness and peace. All is one. Ohmmmmmmmmmmmmm.
Today, it is suggested that we let the shit go. As Bobby McFerin sang, “Don’t worry. Be happy.” Hum the tune along with me. What if the whole word were to sing this song together in one magnanimous chorus?
Winston Churchill said, “When you’re in hell, keep going.” Churchill seemed to be saying that we will get through hell and arrive at peace and joy, what some simply call “happiness.”
In Alcoholic Anonymous, it is suggested in step eleven that through prayer and meditation we improve our conscious contact with God which is Love. As the Beatles sang, “Love, love, love, love is all there is.” Today’s lesson could use this Beatles song as its theme song.
In Unitarian Universalism we join together to affirm and promote the free and responsible search for truth and meaning and this truth and meaning we are searching for is found, guess where? In love which, if we choose, can be all we see.
Today, it is suggested we be mindful of what we choose to focus on. Will it be hell or heaven, the world of the ego or the world of Spirit (Love)?
Two major existential questions all humans are challenged by is “Who am I? What am I?” Am I the product of the ego manufactured by social conditioning and socialization?
People are like onions with layer upon layer which can be thought of as circles of privacy. Deep down, at the heart of the onion, what resides? A brilliant diamond sparkling with lustrous beauty.
In Alcoholic Anonymous it is suggested in step eleven that we seek to improve our conscious contact with our Transcendent Source through prayer and meditation and when we do, looking within, what do we find there?
In Unitarian Universalism it is suggested that we affirm and promote the inherent worth and dignity of every person and from where does this inherent worth and dignity arise?
Today, it is suggested that we begin and end the day, and many times in between, consider the idea that I am as God created me: perfect, unconditionally loved, a blessed part of the whole. With this awareness we rest in joy and peace.
Do you feel at home in the world of the ego? We keep trying to believe that the idols of the ego will make us happy. We are told this hundreds of times per day in advertisements of all sorts. We are conditioned to think that our happiness lies in acquiring things in the external world. This world is full of fear based on the ego’s law of scarcity. The ego tells us there isn’t enough for everyone. There isn’t enough to go around so get yours as quick as you can and protect it before the threats of the ego world take it from you.
Fear is the atmosphere of the world of the ego. It is what we breath, and ingest, and eliminate constantly.
And then it finally dawns on us that the promises of the ego world are a lie and that peace and joy does not come from the things in the external world of empty promises. Rather peace and joy comes from the Unconditional Love of our Creator in Whose embrace we can dwell if we so choose.
The question is simple: “Now, knowing you have choice, will you choose hell or heaven?” We can decide that our home is in the Oneness of our Transcendent Source where fear is a stranger because we have chosen to dwell in perfection.
In Alcoholic Anonymous it is suggested in the eleventh step to improve our conscious contact with God through prayer and meditation. AA instructs us to stop taking other people’s inventory and to focus on our own. How about that? Is that a good idea or what?
In Unitarian Universalism, we are encouraged to covenant together to affirm and promote the inherent worth and dignity of every person. This inherent worth and dignity is nothing to be earned, to be deserved, to be obtained and acquired, it is our intrinsic nature. It is not what we do but who we are. In this realization we are at home and fear is a stranger because scarcity is not part of the picture. If that isn’t nice, what is?
Today, it is suggested that we begin and end the day, and many times in between, we remind ourselves of our choice: to become aware of our intrinsic nature and dwell there or to be consumed with fear that we are not good enough, don’t have enough, won’t get enough. This fear of scarcity is a stranger in the world of the Spirit. And so it goes…..
You can’t give what you don’t possess. You can’t share what you don’t have. Do you realize that you have the Unconditional Love of God and that things in the spiritual world are already perfect? Only in the world of the ego is there scarcity and separation and the law of “one or the other,” the so called “zero sum game,” where there must be a loser if there is a winner. Both being winners is not considered smart nor even possible.
In Alcoholics Anonymous, it is suggested in step twelve, that we give our recovery away, that we share it with others, that we extend what we have learned and achieved. In this sharing, our well being is reinforced and amplified. In this gift economy we receive what we give. The ego thinks this is crazy when the opposite is true: it is in giving that we receive.
In Unitarian Universalism, we are taught that it is a covenantal religion, one in which there is strength in sharing and being there for each other. UUs affirm and promote the acceptance of one another and the nurturing of spiritual growth. UUs know that in sharing they receive and that many are stronger and healthier than one. The UU motto is “all for one and one for all.” And so it goes. Isn’t this nice?
Today, it is suggested that we begin and end the day, and many times in between, rejoicing in giving the miracles we have received. The meaning of “miracles” in this statement is “love.” We can say, “I give the love I have received.” Love, in the vocabulary of the Course, is the miracle. The meaning of life is to love one another which at times is damn hard.
If we believe we are the beloved child of the Universe loved Unconditionally and things all work out in the end after the ego world dissolves, we realize we have nothing to defend. We are all okay. Always have been, are now, forever will be. The nonsense of the ego world is but a nightmare.
In Alcoholics Anonymous, in the first three steps, we came to realize that our belief and trust in the world of the ego is unmanageable and that there must be a better way. With this realization, we decided to turn our will and lives over to our Transcendent Source from which we emerged and to which we will return.
In Unitarian Universalism, we covenant together to affirm and promote the inherent worth and dignity of every person which is intrinsic and needs no defense. It is the essence of our being. How is perfection to be defended when it doesn’t require any defense in the first place?
Today, it is suggested that we take 5, 10 , 15, 30 minutes at the beginning and end of the day and any time in between to remind ourselves that we are the perfect creations of the Transcendent Source and that our inherent worth and dignity requires no defense whatsoever. In this awareness we experience great peace and bliss.
Today’s lesson is as blunt and straightforward as it gets. We have the power to choose the world of the ego or the Kingdom of God.
The lesson teaches that Truth is true and can have no opposite. The world we see on the ego plain is illusory, impermanent, and figment of our imaginations which we arrogantly make up and pretend to be true, but the lesson today teaches that this illusory world of the ego is not only nothing of God but God doesn’t even know it exists since it isn’t real but merely our insane dream.
In Alcoholic Anonymous, in the eleventh step, it is suggested that we seek to improve our conscious contact with God and give up the illusions we have created in the world of the ego which have made our lives unmanageable. In other words, set aside the bull shit and focus on the Truth.
In Unitarian Universalism we covenant together to affirm and promote the free and responsible search for truth and meaning. This search takes us from the world of the ego to the Kingdom of our Transcendent Source.
Today, it is suggested that we take five minutes every hour and remind ourselves that the power of decision is our own. We can choose the world of the ego or the Kingdom of God. One is false and the other is Truth. Pretty simple, really, this choice, and by recognizing and acknowledging it we become aware of our power which is not ours alone but belongs to the whole community of saints whether they know it or not. Today we acknowledge that we know it when we remind ourselves that the power of decision is my own.
The street sign of the church read at Christmas time, “You, too, can hear the angel’s song if you tune into the right frequency.”
Neale Donald Walsh opens his Conversations With God books with the idea that God is talking to us all the time but we don’t hear God because we are not listening. We are not tuned in. Today’s Course lesson reminds us to listen for God’s Voice. The lesson teaches that in order to do this we have to stop listening to the ego to make room for the Voice of God.
In Alcoholics Anonymous, in the eleventh step, we are advised to seek through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God. We already decided in the first three steps that our lives in the ego world were unmanageable, and that there was a power greater than our egos, and that we can decide to turn our willfulness over to our Transcendent Source..When we turn things over we start to hear the Voice of God.
In Unitarian Universalism we affirm and promote the free and responsible search for truth and meaning and in this search we find that to hear the Voice of our Transcendent Source we have to set the voices of our egos aside.
Today, it is suggested that we take fifteen minutes at the beginning and end of the day, and many times in between, to set the chatter of our ego aside and listen to the Voice of God. God whispers and rarely shouts in our ear. To hear the Voice of God we must set the voices of the ego aside so they don’t drown the Voice of God out.
I love the Christmas Carol - “Do you hear what I hear?”
“Atonement”, as taught in A Course In Miracles, is the healing of our separation of our ego selves from the Oneness of God. We are the drops returning to the ocean. We, once again, become One with the All. It is this “re-membering” which is our salvation and that is the only cure for what ails us.
In Alcoholics Anonymous, it is suggested in step eleven that we improve our conscious contact with God which is the same thing which the Course calls Atonement.
In Unitarian Universalism, we covenant together to affirm and promote the free and responsible search for truth and meaning and this search takes us back to re-membering the Oneness from which we have separated ourselves. This is the mystic vision of the Universalists which is celebrated by the Transcendentalists.
Today, it is suggested that we take a few minutes at the beginning and end of our day and many times in between to remember from whence we have come and to which we will return, and accept this healing from the separation for ourselves. In this acceptance we experience great peace and joy and our existential anxiety is cured.
My Kind Of Church Music
Jesus Loves Me/He's Got The Whole World In His Hands, Whitney Houston
131- No one can fail who seeks to reach the truth.
132 - I loose the world from all that I thought it was.
The mystics teach that most human beings are sleepwalking through life in a dream with its many illusions. For some, they come to a point in their life where it becomes apparent that what they have thought was true isn’t true and that there must be a better way. This revelation is what is called “the dawning.” The dawning initiates a search for the Truth but before the Truth can be found a purification is necessary, a purging of all the misperception, faulty generalizations, and mistaken beliefs.
In Alcoholics Anonymous, this dawning occurs in the first three steps when we recognized that our lives, as we have lived them in the ego world, are unmanageable and that there is a power greater than our ego and that we would be better off if we would turn our will and our lives over to that Transcendent power. Let go and let God the slogan says.
In Unitarian Universalism, we affirm and promote the free and responsible search for Truth and meaning which we come to understand does not reside in the world of the ego but is to be found within and between. In the cracks, as Leonard Cohen sings, is where the light gets in.
Today, it is suggested that we begin and end our day, and several times in between, to take a few minutes or maybe just a moment or two and remind ourselves that no one can fail who seeks the Truth if we are willing to give up the idols of the world of the ego.
Why is heaven the decision we must make? Because it is the Truth. The Truth cannot be learned. It must be recognized. “Heaven” is the Oneness from which we have separated ourselves at our incarnation from the world of the Spirit to the world of the ego.
When we entered this world, we became socialized and conditioned to believe in the illusions of the ego world. We forgot what it was like in heaven. We forgot the bliss of Oneness and came to believe in the separation which the Course calls “a tiny mad idea.” In today’s lesson, we are encouraged to remember and recognize the Truth about the Oneness (heaven) from which we have separated.
In Alcoholics Anonymous, it suggested in step eleven, that we seek to improve our conscious contact with God, as we understand God, praying only for knowledge of God’s will for us. In other words, step eleven is reminding us of the decision which we should make, the decision for heaven and not the conditioning of the ego plane.
In Unitarian Universalism, we covenant together to affirm and promote a respect for the interdependent web of existence of which we are a part. It is suggested in this seventh principle that the awareness of this Oneness is something we can decide to remember.
Today it is suggested that we take five minutes upon awakening and before sleep to remind ourselves of the decision for heaven that we must inevitably make because it is the Truth. It is also helpful to remind ourselves of this throughout the day.
We are all in this thing called “life” together. “No person is an island,” writes the poet. The expression, “One for all, and all for one,” says it all.
In Alcoholics Anonymous, it is suggested in the twelfth step, that whatever we have gotten out of the program we share with others. We intuitively understand the paradoxical observation that we learn what we teach, we get what we give, and we are as we would see others to be.
In Unitarian Universalism, we covenant together to affirm and promote the love for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part. We come to recognize and acknowledge that it isn’t every person for themself but we all live downstream from one another.
Today, it is recommended that we take ten minutes at the beginning and end of the day, and remember at the beginning of the hour, and that we are all in this together, and that when I am healed from my sense of separation, I am not healed alone.