Do you believe in second chances?

After church on Sunday, an acquaintance told me that he had broken his New Year's resolutions already.

I mentioned second chances.

Choose again.

In A Course In Miracles, Jesus tells us, "In every difficulty, all distress, and each perplexity Christ calls to you and gently says, 'My brother, choose again.'" T-31.VIII.3:2

In Unitarian Univeralism we believe in second chances and choosing again. UUs covenant together to affirm and promote the free and responsible search for truth and meaning. UUs acknowledge that there is no one right way for everybody. We affirm and promote the right of conscience. UUs acknowledge readily and freely that mistakes are made, that's how we learn, and we can always choose again.

Unitarian Univeralism is a religion of second chances.......and third, and fourth, and fifth, and as many as it takes to nurture our spiritual growth.

Why does the fourth principle generate so much fear?

Unitarian Univeralists covenant together to affirm and promote the free and responsible search for truth and meaning. This is the most fundamental of the seven principles which bind UUs together and they to the world.

People enter into a holy relationship to pursue a higher purpose and what higher prupose can there be that the search for the Truth of Love?

The question before us is very simple: do we want the ego or Love?

Love is nondualistic. Love does not divide and separate. Love is the yin and the yang together in the Tao, the Way.

The Tao cannot be found half heartedly. Finding the Tao is all or nothing because of its nondualistic nature. Part of the Tao is not the Tao just as part of the Truth is not the Whole Truth.

So the search that Unitarian Univeralists covenant together to search for cannot be half hearted. They have to surrender to it completely and it is this requirement that engenders great fear which prevents many UUs from enacting this principle for it requires that UUs admit that their lives, on the path of the ego, are unmanageable and that they should surrender their will to their Higher Power as they understand it.

Which path will you choose: the path of the ego or the path of the spirit?

We are born into a family and a society and enslaved to their values, beliefs, opinions, and practices through the practices of socialization and conditioning.

There is nothing wrong in being made a slave; it is the normal process of humanity on the path of the ego. Osho says, "There is nothing wrong in being born a slave, but it is definitely wrong to die as one. Unless you find your inner freedom, nothing in life will have any meaning or fulfillment."

Unitarian Univeralists covenant together to affirm and promote the free and responsible search for truth and meaning. UUs believe in liberation and freedom. UUs believe in liberation from the chains of desire and the unhealthy restraints of normative coercion. UUs affirm and support the ability to choose. UUs say to people, "You are free to choose again. Will it be the path of the ego or the path of the spirit?"

Are patience and persistence virtues?

What is more powerful than water which wears away rock?
What is more supple than water than can slide around any barrier.

And yet we emulate rock instead of water to get our way.
The stupid don't appreciate the paradox.

Patience and persistence are more powerful that force and domination.
Loving kindness is more powerful than tyrannical rule.

Unitarian Universalists are masters of flexibility.a
UUs affirm and promote the free and responsible search for truth and meaning.

UUs do not dictate and impose.
UUs affirm and promote justice, equity, and compassion throughout the land.

Do you know what you don't know?

Knowing what you don't know is a source of strength not ignorance.
Ignoring what you do know is denial and foolishness.

When one knows what one does not know then action can be productive.
Curiosity did not kill the cat but rather empowered the cat to attain greater wisdom.

When one finds the courage to overcome denial and foolishness, one becomes wise.
Wisdom is knowing what one knows and doesn't know.

Unitarian Universalists covenant together to affirm and promote the free and responsible search for truth and meaning. Embarking on this search requires acknowledgement of not knowing and curiosity. UUs are voyagers on a journey exploring the interior spiritual life which leads one to peace, joy, beauty, truth, and goodness.

Where is the nectar of the Divine?

After birth we are conditioned to know and believe certain things we are taught.
People who catch on to the conditioning are considered clever and successful.

Clever people often miss the truth.
Clever people have been alienated from their true nature.

Life is not what we have been told it is by those on the path of the ego.
Life is found on the path of the spirit.

When it dawns on clever people that they are not so clever there is hope.
Hope arises from knowing what is not known.

Knowing what is not known leads one on the search for the truth.
In this search there is great meaning as one enters into the mystery.

Unitarian Universalists convenant together to affirm and promote the free and responsible search for truth and meaning. In this principle is found the nectar of the Divine.

Where is Truth to be found?

Rarely is a person persuaded by argument and emotion.
People are persuaded by facts because they cannot be ignored.

What is, is, there is no use arguing about it.
Actions speak louder than words.

Reality is when it happens to you.
It can no longer be ignored.

When reality is dealt with submission is the only course.
Submission incorporates reality into one's awareness.

Awareness of the Truth is the goal of life.
When the goal of life is realized Love abides.

Unitarian Univeralists covenant together to affirm and promote the free and responsible search for truth and meaning and the key to a successful search is learning where truth and meaning are to be found.

Unitarian Univeralists covenant together to affirm and promote not only the repect for, but the love of ,the interdependent web of all existence and it is in this realization that Truth is found.

Where does the fee and responsible search for truth and meaning ultimately take you?

The Ground Of Our Being is the Mother of ten thousand things.
Knowing the Mother we are at peace.
The ten thousand things rattles our bliss and jangles our nerves.

Sometimes the less said the better.
Protect the inner core of silence and centeredness.
To engage in drama is to lose The Way.

Strength is found in Groundedness.
Truth resides there.
To this space we can return again, and again, and again because it is our true nature.

Unitarian Univeralists covenant together to affirm and promote the free and responsible search for truth and meaning. The UUs who are further along in their spiritual journey know that the Truth is found within, not without. Advanced UUs know that Truth is not found in the ten thousand things which are merely a tiny manifestation of the Ground of Being of which we are all a part. That is why, UUs also affirm and promote a respect, some say love, of the interdependent web of all existence.

Do we control the universe?

The more we learn, the higher our expectations rise.
Dropping our expectations leads to wisdom.

It's not that ignorance is bliss, it is that attachment causes suffering.
If peace is the goal, turning our expectations over to Tao is the method.

The Holy Spirit knows best and will show us the way if we ask.
Jesus said, "Ask and you will receive," but few actually believe this.
Most cling to desires that corrupt one's contentment.

Go with the flow. Whatever will be, will be. The future is not ours to see.
We don't control the universe, do we?

Unitarian Universalists covenant together to affirm and promote the free and responsible search for truth and meaning, and while searching, UUs know that Truth is not to be found in what we expect.

UUs realize that we are a part of the Interdependent Web of Existence which is beyond understanding and total control. Justice, equity, and compassion flow not from control and coercion, but from loving kindness and loving kindness is unconditional.

Where is the truth and meaning we are searching for to be found?

The problem is not out there.
The problem is in here.

We can know the whole world without traveling an inch.
We can find our treasure without traveling a foot.

The wise person does not seek outside him/herself.
The wise person goes within and discovers the cosmos.

Unitarian Universalists covenant together to affirm and promote the free and responsible search for truth and meaning. The wise among them know that this search is an inner journey.

Unitarian Univeralists covenant together to affirm and promote the respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are all a part, and this understanding provides insight into the whole world from where one is in the moment without going any where.

What is the interdependent web of all existence?

Have you notice that those who preach morality are often the most immoral?

Have you noticed that those who insist on the rule of law know all the loop holes?

Have you noticed that those who insist on justice engage in systemic injustice beneath their awareness.

Hyprocrisy is the burden of those who preach to others the good.

It is written in the Tao Te Ching that:
When Tao is lost, people want to be good.
When goodness is lost, they insist on kindness.
When kiindness is lost, they create ritual.
When ritual is lost, they rely on faith and loyalty.
When faith and loyalty are questioned, there arises confusion.
When confusion abounds, people try to predict the future.
Predicting the future descends into folly.

Folly begets crisis and trauma that may lead to a dawning.
With the dawning arises an idea that there must be a better way.
The Way is found on a search for Truth and Meaning which is beyond description.
The wise have found their way back to Tao.

Unitarian Universalists covenant together to affirm and promote seven things, the fourth of which is the free and responsible search for truth and meaning. This truth and meaning is to be found not in goodness, kindness, ritual, faith, loyalty, confusion, folly, crisis and trauma, but back at the Center, the Ground of Our Being, the Indescribible Basis of the ten thousand things which is beyond comprehension, and in which we trust, which UUs have named the "interdependent web of all existence."

How is bliss made possible?

Before things come down they must go up.
Before things fail there must have been success.
Before people become weak they have been strong.
Before things are received they must have been given.

We stand back, gain perspective, and see the complementarity of reality on the ego plane.

Why get upset because things will come full circle often after great suffering and anguish.
And then there will be joy and celebration for a while until the cylce continues on its way.

Unitarian Universalists covenant together to affirm and promote the free and responsible search for truth and meaning and this search often takes them up and down, over and back, to good times and bad, and with frustration and despair, and relaxation and hope.

Beyond the search for truth and meaning Unitarian Univeralists are aware of and affirm and promote a respect and a love for the interdependent web of existence of which they, and all things, are a part. It is in the awareness of the interdependent web of all existence that bliss is made possible.

Knowledge or wisdom?

Unitarian Univeralists covenant together to affirm and promote the responsible search for truth and meaning. Where does this responsible search take them? If it takes them down the road of more information, opinion, belief, and factoids, this leads them to what Stephen Colbert calls "truthiness."

"Truthiness" is, of course, not real Truth nor even deep meaning, if by deep meaning we mean wisdom.

There is a difference between knowledge and wisdom. In our modern internet age, Google has made knowledge available at our finger tips, but Google does not provide wisdom. Wisdom comes from another place than just the accumulation of knowledge. In the age of Google there are more and more educated idiots and fewer and fewer wise people.

Unitarian Univeralists know that knowledge does not make us wiser and holier. Unitarian Universalists covenant together to affirm and promote the respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part and it is in this respect that we approach wisdom.

Wisdom is more a matter of the heart than the head. Wisdom is an appreciation of context. Wisdom is the ability to put things in perspective, to prioritize, to paradoxically take things one thing at a time and yet to appreciate the whole. Wisdom is the awareness that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. Wisdom is not merely having knowledge, but having knowledge and knowing what to do with it.

Are you aware of the absent but implicit?

We benefit as much from what not is there as by what is there.

How can this be so? It is the space within the cup that holds our coffee. It is the holes in the wall that we use as doors and windows. It is the pause in our conversation which can intensify its meaning.

In Unitarian Univeralism we do not cling to one creed. We do not cling to sacraments and rituals. We stay open to the free and responsible search for truth and meaning which provides a fluidity and flexibility that other religions lack.

Unitarian Univeralists say, "My God is too big for any one religion" and smile at the lack of an identity. Like the Tao people, UUs say, "The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao"

Unitarian Univeralists know that the named is the mother of ten thousand things and all those things do not describe the mystery animating the kaleidescope we call our lives.

Unitarian Univeralists are alert to the absent but implicit and live lives of curiosity, peace, and joy.

Do you live a life of primal virtue?

Back in the 60s we boomers talked about whether people had "their shit together." Psychologists talk about the "well integrated personality."

In the 60s when we met someone we noticed whether we got "good vibes" or "bad vibes." The Beach Boys even had a hit song named "Good Vibrations."

Do we walk though the world, our lives, with grace?

The Tao Te Ching in chapter ten asks:

"Understanding and being open to all things,
are you able to do nothing?"

And then it follows with:

"Giving birth and nourishing,
Bearing yet not possessing,
Working yet not taking credit,
Leading yet not dominating,"

The last verse states - "This is primal virtue."

Do Unitarian Univeralists practice primal virtue? Is this ideal a part of their faith?

Unitarian Univeralists covenant together to affirm and promote the responsible search for truth and meaning which requires them, if they seriously live their faith, to proceed in their lives with immense curiosity which gives birth and nourishes 10,000 ideas and questions.

Unitarian Univeralists covenant together to affirm and promote justice, equity, and compassion in their human relations which requires them, if they seriously live their faith, to bear and not possess, and work and yet not take credit.

Unitarian Univeralists covenant together to affirm and promote the acceptance of one another and encouragement to spirital growth which requires them, if they seriously live their faith, to lead and yet not dominate.

Unitarian Univeralists who covenant together to affirm and promote their seven principles, serioulsy living their faith, continually live lives of what the Tao Te Ching calls "primal virtue." The more successful practitioners of the faith are, the more they have their shit together and exude good vibrations.

Clinging is not good for the soul.

Que sera, sera, whatever will be, will be.
The future is not ours to see.
Que sera, sera.

Kurt Vonnegut's tag line was, "And so it goes..."

Things come and things go. They come into being and go out of existence riding on the winds and waves of Tao.

The Buddhists tell us not to become attached. Attachment causes suffering, and yet we become attached any way. For some people, change is much harder than others. The clingers have it tough. Things have to be wrenched away from them. Things have to be pried lose.

Unitarian Universalists are more likely to go with the flow. They covenant together to affirm and promote the responsible search for truth and meaning knowing that truth and meaning is in flux. Unitarian Universalists know that life is about the journey not the destination. Unitarian Universalists are not interested in getting people into heaven but heaven into people.

And then, when it is all said and done, there is the Unitarian Univeralist abiding faith in the love for the interdependent web of existence of which we are just a part going along on a magic carpet ride through life attempting to balance in the center of it all.

What does permuting Oneness mean?

From whence do things come?
How do things arise?
What is the genealogy of people and things?
Unitarian Univeralists have no clear answers to these questions. They live in the mystery. They covenant together to affirm and promote the responsible search for truth and meaning.
One person's meaning is not another's.
Meanings are always changing, arising and then dissipating and disappearing.
Unitarian Univeralists are in awe of the permuting Oneness.

Who is God? What is God?

Unitarian Unversalists, of all religions, have understood that God cannot be named. Francis David, the Unitarian pioneer in the sixteenth century, said that we need not think alike to love alike. In this statement is a profound insight that what we call as God is blasphemy because God is nameless.

Osho teaches that God is a verb not a noun. God is a quality. Osho suggests that if we have to think about the Divine we think of "Godliness."

Jonathan Merritt, in his book, "Learning To Speak God From Scratch," points out that contemporary people have become put off of religion because of the misuse and abuse of language. The word, "God" sends shivers of revulsion down many people's spines because of the mental and emotional abuse that the "God" word has inflicted on them.

In the Tao Te Ching, it is taught that "God" is nameless. "God" is too big for any one religion. Unitarian Univeralists, of all religious people in America, descended from the Judeo-Christian tradition, understand this deep and fundamental spiritual principle. UUs have even articulated this understanding in their fourth principle which is to covenant together to affirm and promote the free and responsible search for truth and meaning. UUs know that "God" cannot be put in a box. God cannot be defined within containing concepts. The love of "God" is a journey not a destination.

Here at UU A Way Of Life ministries we teach that "God" is the force, the ground of our being, better referred to as "Life" and "Love". "God" is, indeed, a verb not a noun, and is the energy which generates existence. When we at UU A Way Of Life ministries talk about doing "God's" will we are talking about resting in the tao of existence by rising above the desires of our egos. We encourage people to go with the flow and to become one with God.

UUAWOL ministries - Freedom of the press

• percentage of Americans who say that freedom of the press is critical for democracy = 85%
• percentage of Republicans who say that the press is the enemy of the people = 48%
• percentage of Republicans who say the President Trump "should have the authority to close news outlets engaged in bad behavior." = 43%

Unitarian Univeralists covenant together to affirm and promote a free and responsible search for truth and meaning and the right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and within society at large.

Don't deny reality - We need the earth, the earth doesn't need us

In Rev. Dr. Marlan Lavanhar's sermon, Evolution and Love, given at All Souls Unitarian Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma on 08/26/18, he describes how we need the earth, the earth doesn't need us.