Showing posts with label Tao Te Ching. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tao Te Ching. Show all posts

Saturday, January 12, 2019

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.



Thursday, January 10, 2019

To what extent is Unitarian Univeralism based on paradox?


Paradox is the truth of life known as the Yin and the Yang.
Those who think they know, don't know.
Those who don't know, and know they don't know, are wise.

The wise person does not store things up but gives them away.
The more the wise person shares the greater is the abundance.
The wise person lives by the motto, "One for all and all for one."

Unitarian Universalists who live their covenant based on their seven principles are the yeast in the dough of the world. The goodness arises and among those who have eschewed their egos appreciation and gratitude abounds. Would that the covenant grow and embrace human kind throughout the world.


Wednesday, January 9, 2019

Will you choose holiness in place of the ego?


Wanting more, faster, better is no way to live.
Grasping does not engender contentment.

Love is not possible when manipulation is the way of life.
When is enough, enough?

When less is more, pacing is better than speed, and good enough is enough
Heaven will descend on earth and it will be as it is in heaven.

Unitarian Universalists know this because they relax in their covenant with each other. There is no need for speed, or to expect things from each other they cannot give, or to always expect more that what is possible. UUs after all affirm and promote the inherent worth and dignity of every person which is intrinsic and not extrinsic, and the respect for the interdependent web which is discerned in the now not in the past or the future. UUs intend to sanctify the world within which every person choses holiness in place of the ego.


Monday, January 7, 2019

How are resentment and grievance healed?


Resentments and grievances abound.
Some, self righteously exploit them and gloat.
Others, rise above and move on.

What about me?
What about you?

The Tao, full of paradox, takes it all as a harmonious whole.
The person of resentment and grievance is out of balance.
The person who goes with the flow experiences the peace of balance and harmony.

Unitarian Univeralists know this because they covenant together to affirm and promote the seventh of their seven principles, the respect for the interdependent web of all existence. UUs also affirm and promote justice, equity, and compassion in human relations. It is with these two principles that resentment and grievance are healed.


Saturday, January 5, 2019

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.


Friday, January 4, 2019

How about if we share?

Capitalism is the triumph of the ego when the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.
The real world knows that there is one for all and all for one.

Those who have more need less.
Those who have less need more.

Those who know help the ones who don't know.
Those who don't know help the ones who do know feel needed.

Oneness is known by balance and harmony.
Separation and division brings suffering and guilt.

Rise above the ego to the place of Love.
Removing the blocks to the awareness of Love's presence is the purpose of life.

Unitarian Univeralists know this because they respect the interdependent web of existence. UUs know that the inherent worth and dignity of every person comes from the recognition that they are a part of the Oneness which some call God.


Wednesday, January 2, 2019

Is it all good?


The gentle and weak live long.
The hard and stiff are brittle, fragile, and easily break.

Going with the flo is life giving.
Damning the river creates pressure and stress.

Jesus said, "The first shall be last, and the last shall be first."
He was talking about Love and domination.

The loving are patient, flexible, gentle, accomodating.
The dominant pressure, obstruct, punish, demand.

Unitarian Universalists know that their covenant requires respect, acceptance, and encouragement of others. UUs know that curiosity liberates while certainty deadens. UUs know that everything has a place in the interdependent web of existence. UUs say joyfully, "Even in pain and suffering, it's all good."


Tuesday, January 1, 2019

What will bring justice and joy to the people?


What happens when the people are lied to and manipulated?
People suffer for the benefit of the few who manipulate.

What happens when the people complain and rebel against injustice?
They are stigmatized, denigrated, silenced, sometimes killed.

What happens when those in power hold out promises of safety and bonuses?
The people scramble like pigs at a trough forgetting their innate dignity.

What will improve the well being of all?
When the governed assent to the justice and equity of the governing policies.

Unitarian Univeralists covenant together to affirm and promote seven principles the second of which is justice, equity, and compassion in human relations. When the second principle is followed and implemented there will be peace and joy in the land for there will be harmony among the people.


Monday, December 31, 2018

Do you fear punishment?


If people live in fear of punishment for doing the wrong thing, few will do it.
If a person does not fear punishment, the person is free.

Fear of punishment gives the punisher power over the punished.
Those who do not believe in punishment can live in peace.

Some people believe that it is better to be the punisher than the punished.
These people identify with the attacker and live in fear of disobedience.

Those who live by the Tao do not punish and are not punishable.
Those who live by the Tao journey on a different path, free of fear, in Love.

Unitarian Univeralists live in a covenant to affirm and promote seven principles. These principles have nothing to do with punishing  or being punished. The UU covenant takes its participants on a different path in life respecting the Tao, the interdependent web of all existence which can't be named, and affirming the inherent worth and dignity of all people.


Sunday, December 30, 2018

Have you surrendered yet?


Who knows why what happens happens?
We mistakenly think that we are in control.

"Shit happens" the bumper sticker said.
"Mega shit happens" was the follow-up.

"It is what it is," some people, wanting to appear wise, say.
"One day at a time" say those in recovery from addiction.

Humility is perhaps one of the most important virtues.
Knowing that our lives are unmanageable and we are not in charge is a devastating lesson.

Surrendering becomes the most beautiful and appropriate prayer.
"Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven" is music to the ear...and heart...and soul.

Unitarian Universalists covenant together to affirm and promote seven principles and it is in this covenant and reliance on the principles that faith and wisdom arise to help people become holy and to sanctify the world.


Saturday, December 29, 2018

Are you special?


The desire to be special is the work of the ego and the undoing of the soul.
Just be an ordinary self. That is not only good enough, in the last analysis that is all there is.

Rest, in getting in touch with who you really are.
Knowing that, peace and well being abounds.

Unitarian Univeralists, in their covenantal relationship, based on the seven principles, recognize and acknowledge that they are not special but part of the whole as they celebrate their seventh principle which is to affim and promote not only the respect, but the love, for the interdependent web of all existence.


Friday, December 28, 2018

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.


Thursday, December 27, 2018

Do we know what Love is?


If Jesus, Buddha, Lao Tse were alive today and walking among us few would recognize them.
Why? Because we are pre-occupied with our attachments to the illusions of the ego.

The truth, goodness, beauty, and love of Jesus, Buddha, and Lao Tse is always there to be seen.
Few have the eyes to see, the ears to hear, the heart to recognize, the courage to acknowledge.

Mockery and ridicule attack the holy or it is simply ignored and eschewed as having little value.
The wise ones abide in Love and wait patiently and gently for Love to be joined by those who have been lost.

Unitarian Univeralists covenant together to affirm and promote seven principles which embody truth, goodness, honesty and Love. UUs are patient and gentle and freely offer their understanding and Love to whoever has become interested.


Wednesday, December 26, 2018

Are you special?


The dichotomous ego perceives "us" and "them," "me" and "you."
This separateness is an illusion that leads to give and take.

Give and take leads to specialness which is the road to ruin.
Ordinarianess leads to peace and contentment.

When there is no "other" we are one and whole.
Being one and whole is the true nature of the ten thousand things.

Unitarian Universalists know this because they covenant together to affirm and promote the respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which they are a part.
In this affirmation and promotion great wisdom and peace arises.



Tuesday, December 25, 2018

When was anger ever an argument?


Anger can be a force for constructive action not destruction.
A good soldier is not violent but intends to rectify injustice.

A winner does not gloat and lord it over the vanquished but serves with compassion and generosity.
A good employer is fair, respectful, and appreciative.

Constructive confrontation points out contradictions so that awareness arises.
Reconfiguring so that justice, equity, and harmony occurs is the epitomy of wisdom.

Unitarian Universalists covenant together to apply seven principles based on the affirmation and promotion of the inherent worth and dignity of every person because they are part of the interdependent web which is not only respected but loved.


Monday, December 24, 2018

What is the UU: A Way Of Life's mission?


To do the work of sanctifying the world we must be bold but not ruthless.
To do the work of sanctifying the world we must share but not control.

To do the work of sanctifying the world we must be patient or we would exhaust ourselves.
To do the work of sanctifying the world we must be frugal so we can be generous.

To do the work of sanctifying the world we must be humble so we can lead.
To do the work of sanctifying the world we must be compassionate lest we be cruel.

Unitarian Univeralism: A Way Of Life ministries' mission is to sanctify the world by helping people become holy.

We at UU A Way Of Life ministires are the helpers. Aspiring to be helpers we value being trustworthy, honest, tolerant, gentle, joyful, defenseless, generous, patient, faithful, and mindful. We engage in the covenant to affirm and promote the seven principles. We support one another so that we can serve the world.

Sunday, December 23, 2018

Does your leader lead from a place of humility?


A good leader is the steward of hundreds of individual visions.
A good leader knows the expectations and requirements of the followers.

A good leader does not get too far out in front of the people.
A good leader leads with humility knowing the proper place.

Competition breeds resentment and animosity.
Collaboration breeds appreciation and harmony.

Unitarian Universalists covenant together to affirm and promote the right of conscience and the use of democratic process.
UUs know that all participants deserve a voice and input.
Final decisions are made with diplomacy and kindness.


Saturday, December 22, 2018

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.


Friday, December 21, 2018

What is the next best right thing?


"Do the next best right thing." Simple.
Nip the problem in the bud.

A stitch in time saves nine.
An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

Easy does it.
One day at a time.

Keep it simple.
Begin at the beginning and end at the end.

The wise person does not attach.
The wise person patiently watches as things unfold on their own.

The wise person does not push the river but goes with the flow.
The wise person knows and accepts that what is, is.

Unitarian Universalists covenant together to affirm and promote the goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all because this is the true nature of things.

Wednesday, December 19, 2018

How do sparks of inherent worth and dignity grow in power and might?


It's the small things that count.
The journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step.

Take things one day at a time, sometimes one hour at a time.
In the complicated, see the simple parts.

The wise person does not bite off more than can be chewed.
It is from the small accomplishment that great things arise.

The wise person does not avoid difficulties.
The wise person crosses each bridge when it is reached and not before.

Unitarian Universalists covenant together to affirm and promote  the inherent worth and dignity of every person and it is in this affirmation and promotion that small sparks become a roaring blaze.


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