Showing posts with label faith milestones. Show all posts
Showing posts with label faith milestones. Show all posts

Monday, March 26, 2018

Open-mindedness, open-heartedness is a milestone in spiritual development

Unitarian Universalists covenant together to affirm and promote the acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth. This accepting and encouraging presumes an open-mindedness which presumes forgiveness.

Unlike other religious traditions, forgiveness is not often discussed in UU circles which may account for its low membership. Without forgiveness, which is a fundamental need of all humans who have walked the path of the ego, the journey on the path of the spirit cannot occur.

Human beings make mistakes. That's how we learn. When mistakes are made, they need to be recognized, acknowledged, corrected, and any harm done, repaired. With this forgiveness, Love's presence emerges into our awareness and with our open heartedness, open mindedness, we are born again.

Another milestone on the path of the spirit is open-mindedness or open-heartedness. We give up judgment. We come to understand and experience that all of God's creations deserve our Love because God created and loves them. This is part of our Universalist heritage.

Open-hearted people walk with Love on the path of the spirit. Open-minded people are in Love with everybody all the time. This takes forgiveness.

We come to understand that anyone who walks on the path of the ego needs our forgiveness "for they know not what they do."

Mistaking the path of the ego as the road to happiness is a sad choice and the traveler on the path of the spirit gently reminds them to chose again. Mistakes are merely mistakes and the growth in consciousness is inevitable as we all proceed to the At-one-ment when everybody loves everybody all the time.

Ultimately, the open-minded, open-hearted milestone is experienced when forgiveness and Love becomes our experience and who we are. We have unlearned the ways of the path of the ego and pursued the walk with Love on the path of the spirit and this turning brings us peace, and bliss, and Oneness with the All.

Sunday, March 25, 2018

To what are Unitarian Universalists faithful?

Unitarian Universalism has a theology which is fuzzy. Its principles and sources contribute to ambiguity. In its respect for, and attempt to affirm and promote a free and responsible search for truth and meaning, it provides too little guidance and assistance.

As W. Edwards Deming, the teacher of Total Quality Management, said one time, "If you don't know where you'
re going, any road will take you there."

UUAWOL's mission is to provide a map, a cognitive model of the stages of the spiritual life. Currently we are describing the Walk With Love on the path of the spirit. We have been describing some of the milestones on the path of the spirit and one of them is faithfulness.

At present, we can ask, "How faithful are you in affirming and promoting the seven principles?" The question seems overwhelming and unwieldy. It might be easier to ask, "When you make decisions about choices you have in front of you, to what extent do you ask yourself, 'What would Love have me do?'" Are you faithful to this practice?

Faithfulness is another milestone on the spiritual path. Faithfulness implies an understanding and acceptance of who one is (a creation of the Divine) and the desire to walk with Love on the path of the spirit.

Faithfulness means giving up the path of the ego and all the idols that are placed on that path. We no longer crave money, power, status, sex, control and all the things that the path of the ego tells us are necessary for us to acquire if we are to be happy.

We have recognized the lies that the idols on the path of the ego have told us, and we have committed ourselves to finding a better way to live our lives, but sometimes that commitment is half-hearted. Sometimes that commitment applies to some things and not others. Sometimes that commitment is intense in times of desperation and stress, but less so when we are less desperate and the stress has been reduced.

We may see the benefit and desirability of walking the path of the spirit but we still are ambivalent. Matthew tells the story in Chapter 19:16-22:

16 And behold, a man came up to him, saying, “Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?” 

17 And he said to him, “Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. If you would enter life, keep the commandments.” 

18 He said to him, “Which ones?” And Jesus said, “You shall not murder, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness, 19 Honor your father and mother, and, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 

20 The young man said to him, “All these I have kept. What do I still lack?” 

21 Jesus said to him, “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” 

22 When the young man heard this he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.

The rich young man lacked faith. His faith was still in his possessions. He seemed to desire to leave the path of the ego and turn onto the path of the spirit but he was not ready and it made him sorrowful.

At the early stages of our spiritual development, after the dawning and the turning and beginning the search, we still are ambivalent. There is part of us that does not want to leave the path of the ego or we wish we could have our cake and eat it too. Our faithfulness is weak. Over time, though, and with increased practice, we become more faithful to the path of the spirit and we walk it with more confidence with increased peace, bliss, and generosity of spirit.

Saturday, March 24, 2018

UUs on a spiritual path manifest patience

Some Unitarian Universalists have chosen to walk on the path of the spirit. They have left the path of the ego. How can you recognize UUs who are walking the path of the spirit? They manifest certain signs, one of which is patience.

This patience is not the same thing as denial or avoidance or passivity or ignorance. This spiritual patience is based on trust and faith in the ultimate outcome of salvation, the At-One-Ment, what some might call "cosmic consciousness" or "God consciousness."

Another milestone on the the path of the spirit is patience. "Patience is a virtue" is an old cliche which people like to quote because it is so hard, at times, to practice.

Once on the path of the spirit, the outcome is known. The outcome of human evolution is the At-one-ment. The Atonement is when everybody loves everybody all the time. It may seem like a long way off but the trust and faith in its ultimate achievement can help a person practice what seems like infinite patience. The goal is assured. It is only a matter of time. Some people are slower learners than others. Not everyone learns at the same pace.

It says in the introduction to A Course In Miracles, "It is a required course. Only the time you take it is voluntary. Free will does not mean that you can establish the curriculum. It means only that you can elect what you want to take at a given time."

We are all in this thing called Life together. Life provides us with a series of lessons if we are to survive in our present incarnation. The lessons about our physical functioning are the easiest to learn when we are small children. The lessons about our emotional functioning are more difficult to learn and can take a whole life time. The lessons about our spiritual functioning for many are never learned but for some, who are willing to examine their lives, lessons can be learned culminating in enlightenment.

One of the milestones on the path of the spirit is the learning of patience. There is no need to hurry. Learning cannot be forced. People cannot be pressured into learning their lessons. The person has to choose when they will learn and even if they will learn. Some people learn quickly the lessons Life is teaching and others don't seem to pay attention and learn much at all, and continue to make the same mistakes over and over again.

The spiritually advanced soul is patient, gentle, defenseless, nonjudgmental, joyful, honest, and trusting. It is the trust born out of faith in the eventual certainty of the Atonement that generates patience. In traveling the path of the spirit, the traveler finds peace and this peace is imbued with patience.

Thursday, March 22, 2018

Are you sure you have worth and dignity?

A benefit of traveling on the path of the spirit instead of the path of the ego is that one comes to understand who one is. Unitarian Universalists covenant together to affirm and promote the inherent worth and dignity of every person, but are often confused about what it is about a person that provides this worth and dignity.

If a person is asked, "What makes you tick?" most people immediately become defensive and begin to stammer. The ego is being attacked. The person questioned is confused, anxious, and maybe even embarrassed that they are having difficulty answering the question.

If you don't know what makes you tick, how can you say with any confidence that you have worth and dignity?

There comes a point on the path of the spirit, what we have been calling "milestones," where the traveler becomes defenselessness. Having come to the truth of who one is, an unconditionally loved creation of God, one realizes that there is nothing to defend, defenses are not only not needed but irrelevant.

Defenses are given up as the person is imbued with peace, security, comfort, and joy. Having become one with God how could defenses have any meaning?

It is written in Matthew 27:11-14

"11 Meanwhile Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?”
“You have said so,” Jesus replied.
12 When he was accused by the chief priests and the elders, he gave no answer. 13 Then Pilate asked him, “Don’t you hear the testimony they are bringing against you?” 14 But Jesus made no reply, not even to a single charge—to the great amazement of the governor."
The simple response to accusations, blaming, attacks is "Whatever." "You have said it, I have no response." "You attack me, but there is nothing to defend. It is of no concern to me."
The person being attacked is no longer walking on the path of the ego. (S)he is traveling on the path of the spirit. (S)he is in this world but no longer of this world.

Tuesday, March 20, 2018

Walking with Love on the path of the spirit brings great joy

Unitarian Universalists are a joyous people and their mission is to share joy throughout the land and the world. They covenant together to affirm and promote seven principles the sixth of which is the goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all. For my purpose here, in this post, I am adding joy to this triad so we have a quadruplet: peace, liberty, justice, and joy.

Another milestone on the walk with Love on the path of the spirit is joy.

St. Paul says in his letter to the Corinthians, "If God is with you who can be against you?"

You and God are a dynamic duo. Walking with Love is the same thing as walking with God or the Divine.

Aligning your will with the Divine's will for you brings great joy and peace. You will become aware of this joy and peace when gratitude for existence wells up in you to the extent that you can no longer contain it.

It is a great thing to be alive!

 

Sunday, March 18, 2018

Gentleness is a milestone on the path of the spirit

Unitarian Universalists covenant together to affirm and promote justice, equity, and compassion in human relations. In this principle, the most important part of the triad affirmed and promoted is compassion because without compassion justice and equity cannot exist and with compassion justice and equity become not only possible but probable.

Compassion requires gentleness.

Another milestone on the walk of Love on the path of the spirit is gentleness. The metaphors of "warrior" and "war" are dropped. They no longer seem appropriate and helpful to one with a nonjudgmental attitude whose life is now based on the faith and trust in Divine Love.

The opposite of gentleness is attack and harm. The desire to harm another is not part of the journey on the path of the spirit. When the Roman soldiers came to arrest Jesus, Jesus told Peter to put away his sword. In Matthew 26: 51 it is written "At this, one of Jesus’ companions drew his sword and struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his ear. 52“Put your sword back in itplace, Jesus said to him. “For all who draw the sword will die by the sword. 53Are you not aware that I can call on My Father, and He will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels?

Gentleness, then, becomes an important milestone on the walk with Love on the path of the spirit for it is a very quality of experience which manifests Love itself. The Dali Lama tells us simply that the path of the spirit is one of kindness. Kindness and harm are opposites.

The measure of a person's life when the person takes stock of his/her life is kindness and a quality of kindness is gentleness.

Friday, March 16, 2018

Honesty is the best policy

Unitarian Universalists covenant together to affirm and promote seven principles and none of them mention the importance of honesty. This oversight has caused great problems for the denomination and contributes to its low and dwindling membership.

In it's efforts to be open minded and accepting and compassionate it has marginalized a key indicator of virtue. Without honesty one cannot know who one is nor who other people truly are to him/her. The bedrock of loving human relations has been overlooked in a misguided effort to be open minded and tolerant.

The second milestone on the walk of Love on the path of the spirit is honesty.

Honesty is credibility. Do you mean what you say and say what you mean? Do you do what you say, and say what you do?

Along with honesty and credibility comes dependability and reliance.

People who value honesty know who they are. They do not pretend.

People who are honest are authentic, genuine, sincere. In this, there is great peace.

An indicator of whether a person is walking the way of Love is his/her honesty. This is the bedrock on which the good life and heaven rests.

Those that deceive, create a hell. Self-deception is the worst hell, for nothing in the person's awareness is authentic and genuine. To pretend to yourself and others that you are other than you really are, and things are not the way they seem, is to create an insanity that corrupts any experience of peace and bliss.

False prophets are numerous in the world as are false promises and false pretenses. The path of the ego is littered with the false, the counterfeit, the dishonest, the empty deception which while in the short term may glitter, and gleam, and shinily attract, wind up contaminating our awareness with rot and decay resulting in anguish and suffering.

Honesty is the best policy even when it seems to hurt.

Thursday, March 15, 2018

What do you trust?

When Unitarian Universalists are asked in what they trust, what do they believe, what is their faith, they stumble, babble, and all too often become embarrassed.

UUs covenant together to affirm and promote seven principles. In these seven principles is there a common theme or thread? Can the seven principles be summed up in a few words or in a simple sentence?

If asked what is the mission of the Unitarian Universalist church and what is its vision, usually what one hears, if anything, is psychobabble that is somewhat incoherent.

The UUA's vision statement is "We Unitarian Universalists (UUs) envision a life filled with compassion for all, shared in beloved community, and lived in a just world."

It is the teaching of UUAWOL that  the vision for human kind is to achieve the At-One-Ment when everybody loves everybody all the time. The mission of UUAWOL is facilitate the achievement of this vision by facilitating the development of an interior spiritual life for every individual in which they are pursing the path of the spirit by walking with Love.

What are the milestones on the path of the spirit?

The stages of spiritual development have begun with the dawning which has triggered the turning which has triggered the search. The search has necessitated the awareness of the witness which reflects on one's spiritual progress and functioning.

After multiple attempts to identify a way, a method, which facilitates spiritual growth, the individual finally discovers the walk of love. The person learns to ask the Holy Spirit, Jesus, God, Mother Nature, whatever one conceives one's Higher Power to be, "what would love have me do?"

The person comes to learn that the first milestone walking in Love is trust. Some might call it faith. Love cannot be defined. Love is too big to be fathomable. The opposite of Love we are told in A Course In Miracles is fear. Fear makes us chose between attack and forgiveness.

The seeker who is walking in Love learns that forgiveness is essential, and forgiveness takes trust and faith that the laws of Love are the right way to proceed. Forgiveness is the undoing of the beliefs of the path of the ego.

In order to proceed in trust the individual must go through the turning away from the path of the ego to the path of the spirit. This turning away from the path of the ego to the path of the spirit takes a period of "sorting out" of choices. Do I chose Love or money? Do I chose fame and status or integrity? Do I chose judgment or compassion and acceptance? Do I chose punishment and revenge or forgiveness and healing?

As the individual gets practice in making these decisions between the ego or the spirit there is a period of relinquishment. Idols are not important any more. The seeker gives up stuff and gets rid of shit. Some call this, instead of relinquishment, a purification and a liberation.

The fourth step after relinquishment comes a settling down. The seeker is more aware and confident in choosing what is really important.

This settling down can lead to a sense of disillusionment and depression. There is a sense of depression that comes with an awareness of how dysfunctional the ego's beliefs about the world are and the extent to which people have chosen mistakenly and had gone astray. A Course in Miracles calls this stage "a period of unsettling."

Lastly, the seeker comes to trust that (s)he has chosen wisely to leave the path of the ego and embark on the path of the spirit. There is a sense of peace, and bliss and gratitude for this achievement of getting on a better track.

The first milestone on the walk of Love is called trust in the path of the spirit. This trust in the path of the spirit is what we can confidently entrust our faith.

As the jokester says, "In God We Trust. All others pay cash."
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