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.
Showing posts with label holiness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label holiness. Show all posts
Saturday, July 20, 2019
What is the most important choice we ever make?
The most important question in life is whether we want to become aware of our holiness or not?
All people are holy but they have forgotten it. Society has beaten it out of them and taught them to deny their holiness and aggrandize the ego. People even think that they are their ego. This is a silly idea that has taken over their lives. The first step on the road of spirituality is when the person can laugh at the very idea of his/her ego.
To attain an awareness of holiness a person has to give up the ego. The ego has promised happiness if the person feeds it with all kinds of things like money, special relationships, power, social status, physical pleasure, etc.
In case you haven't noticed, the ego lies.
People who have pursued the fulfillment of the ego's desires have become people of the lie. And deep down within, the small voice of sanity calls to them and offers them a choice: continue to seek fulfillment of ego desires, or go home to the holiness of Oneness with the source of our creation.
The trip home is done by forgiveness. We forgive ourselves and others for our mistaken belief that fullfilment of our egos could ever make us happy.
Thursday, November 1, 2018
All Saints Day, November 1, 2018
Today, November 1, is All Saints Day. It is a day celebrated in the Catholic church since the seventh century. It is one of those holy days which is celebrated here at UU A Way Of Life of Ministries where our mission is to santify the world by helping people become holy. There are many holy people who have gone before us and who are here with us now.
People who have achieved holiness are people who have awakened and who have walked, or are walking, on the path of the spirit instead of the ego. These people radiate joy and peace and empathy for others.
Who are the holy people in your life you have learned from and benefited from knowing?
The holiest person I have known is Rev. Edward J. Lintz, the pastor at the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Roman Catholic Church in Brockport, NY in the 60s and 70s.
People with holiness function with integrity. They are authentic, genuine, honest, fair, and nonjudgmental. These people give us love and hope and a sense of reassurance that there is goodness in the world.
The third principle of our Unitarian Univeralist covenant is the acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth which is something we aspire to do every day at UU A Way of Life ministries where our UU covenant based on our seven principles is not just pious words but a way of life. It is in daily living this life that we intend to become holy.
People who have achieved holiness are people who have awakened and who have walked, or are walking, on the path of the spirit instead of the ego. These people radiate joy and peace and empathy for others.
Who are the holy people in your life you have learned from and benefited from knowing?
The holiest person I have known is Rev. Edward J. Lintz, the pastor at the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Roman Catholic Church in Brockport, NY in the 60s and 70s.
People with holiness function with integrity. They are authentic, genuine, honest, fair, and nonjudgmental. These people give us love and hope and a sense of reassurance that there is goodness in the world.
The third principle of our Unitarian Univeralist covenant is the acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth which is something we aspire to do every day at UU A Way of Life ministries where our UU covenant based on our seven principles is not just pious words but a way of life. It is in daily living this life that we intend to become holy.
Saturday, September 15, 2018
What will provide me with a sense of peace?
Awakening is manifested in changes in a person's perception, emotions, thoughts, and behavior. Over the next few articles we will be discussing these manifestations in each of these categories.
In the area of emotion, awakening involves an inner quietness, and inner imperturbability. In addition there is a sense of connection and a transcendence of separation. With this comes an enhanced empathy and compassion and a heightened sense of well-being. This results in an absence of the fear of death because the ego has been shedded and is no longer as much of a barrier to the awareness of Love's presence.
In modern day parlance, the awakened person is happy, but happiness seems too small a word. The person is joyful and even further, blissful. This bliss is a fulfillment, an actualization of one's evolutionary potential.
While everyday chores, and ups and downs, must be dealt with, these are experienced as the course of things and do not upset the experience of inner equilibrium which the person has achieved. The equilibrium is experienced by others as the person "having his/her shit together." They manifest what the psychologists call a "well integrated personality."
In spiritual terms, an awakened person seems holy and his/her holiness sanctifies the world by imbuing it with Divine Love.
This spiritual sense of holiness is not well articulated in any Unitarian Univeralist ideas about aspirations appropriate for adherents to the tradition until now. UUAWOL ministries calls Unitatian Univeralists to holiness by covenanting together to implement and uphold the seven principles. The seven principles become not just a values statement, but a way of life. Involving oneself in this way of life brings the adherent great peace, happiness, and fulfillment.
In the area of emotion, awakening involves an inner quietness, and inner imperturbability. In addition there is a sense of connection and a transcendence of separation. With this comes an enhanced empathy and compassion and a heightened sense of well-being. This results in an absence of the fear of death because the ego has been shedded and is no longer as much of a barrier to the awareness of Love's presence.
In modern day parlance, the awakened person is happy, but happiness seems too small a word. The person is joyful and even further, blissful. This bliss is a fulfillment, an actualization of one's evolutionary potential.
While everyday chores, and ups and downs, must be dealt with, these are experienced as the course of things and do not upset the experience of inner equilibrium which the person has achieved. The equilibrium is experienced by others as the person "having his/her shit together." They manifest what the psychologists call a "well integrated personality."
In spiritual terms, an awakened person seems holy and his/her holiness sanctifies the world by imbuing it with Divine Love.
This spiritual sense of holiness is not well articulated in any Unitarian Univeralist ideas about aspirations appropriate for adherents to the tradition until now. UUAWOL ministries calls Unitatian Univeralists to holiness by covenanting together to implement and uphold the seven principles. The seven principles become not just a values statement, but a way of life. Involving oneself in this way of life brings the adherent great peace, happiness, and fulfillment.
Monday, July 23, 2018
Do you want to be happy? Do you know what it takes?
Unitarian Universalists covenant together to affirm and promote seven principles. Applying these principles are thought to bring its adherents to bliss. Has Unitarian Universalism nurtured and facilitated the development of many saints? If one were to aspire to sainthood, to holiness, would adherence to the seven principles help? Are there wise ones among the fellowship to help us on the path?
The Dali Lama has said that the purpose of life is happiness. The big question is, "What will make me happy?" The answer is to live a moral life full of virtue. People respond, "You can't tell me what to do!" And the answer is, "Of course not, it is not my intention to deprive you of your freedom. It is my intention to help you figure out what will make you happy."
Becoming happy is the outcome of implementing certain skills. As with any skill, a person could exercise it any old way he/she wants to, but will this willy nilly approach get the same results? We pay big money for tutors, for teachers to help us improve our skills because we have grasped that accomplishment takes deliberate practice. If you are to play the piano well, it must be practiced on a regular basis and a piano teacher can help.
If you are to live life well it takes a lot of practice and a certain amount of intention and reflection and a good teacher can help as well.
Many things on the path of the ego create obstacles and block our progress to happiness. Are we even aware of what thoughts and behavior will lead to happiness?
Osho makes an important distinction between pleasure, happiness, joy, and bliss. People seek sensory pleasure, but this doesn't contribute to longer term happiness let alone joy and bliss. The Universe calls us to bliss and few people know how to attain it. Sometimes the achievement of bliss requires the forgoing of pleasure. Feeling good and doing good can be two different things.
Achieving happiness and bliss requires discipline and awareness. In achieving a degree of happiness and bliss, wisdom accrues. Seek out and learn from the wise ones.
The Dali Lama has said that the purpose of life is happiness. The big question is, "What will make me happy?" The answer is to live a moral life full of virtue. People respond, "You can't tell me what to do!" And the answer is, "Of course not, it is not my intention to deprive you of your freedom. It is my intention to help you figure out what will make you happy."
Becoming happy is the outcome of implementing certain skills. As with any skill, a person could exercise it any old way he/she wants to, but will this willy nilly approach get the same results? We pay big money for tutors, for teachers to help us improve our skills because we have grasped that accomplishment takes deliberate practice. If you are to play the piano well, it must be practiced on a regular basis and a piano teacher can help.
If you are to live life well it takes a lot of practice and a certain amount of intention and reflection and a good teacher can help as well.
Many things on the path of the ego create obstacles and block our progress to happiness. Are we even aware of what thoughts and behavior will lead to happiness?
Osho makes an important distinction between pleasure, happiness, joy, and bliss. People seek sensory pleasure, but this doesn't contribute to longer term happiness let alone joy and bliss. The Universe calls us to bliss and few people know how to attain it. Sometimes the achievement of bliss requires the forgoing of pleasure. Feeling good and doing good can be two different things.
Achieving happiness and bliss requires discipline and awareness. In achieving a degree of happiness and bliss, wisdom accrues. Seek out and learn from the wise ones.
Labels:
holiness,
sainthood,
Seven principles,
wisdom
Monday, July 16, 2018
Know any saints?
Some people say that the function of the church is to produce saints. The function of the church is to help people to become holy. Are there saints among us? Have there been in recent times?
Has Unitarian Univeralism produced any saints, any holy people? They have produced martyrs over the centuries most recently in 1965 when James Reeb and Viola Liuzzo were killed by segregationists in the South during the work for civil rights.
Dorothy Day has been proclaimed a "servant of God" which is a step toward canonization in the Roman Catholic church. Pope Francis has mentioned Dorothy Day along with Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Thomas Merton as "exemplary Americans."
Do you have your own names of holy people in your life? I think of Father Edward Lintz, the pastor of Nativity of Blessed Virgin Mary in Brockport, NY as a very holy man. He was a quiet saint, a servant of the people.
There are people in the world committed to goodness. They aspire to goodness as the best way to live their lives and be in the world.
The indicator of goodness, of holiness, of sainthood, is being awake. Recognizing one's existence as part of the Oneness, of the All. It is written in A Course In Miracles that "the sole responsibility of the miracle worker is to accept the Atonement for himself." T-2.V.5:1
If a person accepts the Atonement for oneself, (s)he cannot help but to be loving and Jesus tells us that the way to the Kingdom, the way to holiness, is to "love as I have loved."
Has your church produced any saints? If yes, how? If no, why not?
Has Unitarian Univeralism produced any saints, any holy people? They have produced martyrs over the centuries most recently in 1965 when James Reeb and Viola Liuzzo were killed by segregationists in the South during the work for civil rights.
Dorothy Day has been proclaimed a "servant of God" which is a step toward canonization in the Roman Catholic church. Pope Francis has mentioned Dorothy Day along with Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Thomas Merton as "exemplary Americans."
Do you have your own names of holy people in your life? I think of Father Edward Lintz, the pastor of Nativity of Blessed Virgin Mary in Brockport, NY as a very holy man. He was a quiet saint, a servant of the people.
There are people in the world committed to goodness. They aspire to goodness as the best way to live their lives and be in the world.
The indicator of goodness, of holiness, of sainthood, is being awake. Recognizing one's existence as part of the Oneness, of the All. It is written in A Course In Miracles that "the sole responsibility of the miracle worker is to accept the Atonement for himself." T-2.V.5:1
If a person accepts the Atonement for oneself, (s)he cannot help but to be loving and Jesus tells us that the way to the Kingdom, the way to holiness, is to "love as I have loved."
Has your church produced any saints? If yes, how? If no, why not?
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