To vanquish death we must move from the path of the ego to the path of the spirit

Unitarian Universalists covenant together to affirm and promote the free and responsible search for truth and meaning.

Where does this search take us? There are plenty of paths to hell we can go down. Which path will take us to Truth?

We eventually learn that all the paths we go down in this life lead to death. We can't escape it no matter what we do.

All the idols we worship, all the world has to offer, leads to one place. We avoid facing this fact as long as we can. We are encouraged to fight death right up to the end even though death always wins.

So, the Latin expression, "carpe diem," seize the day, becomes the ego's modus operanti. We are encouraged by the ego to enjoy the trip as the boat on which we are riding goes down. The band played on as the Titanic sunk.

What would you do if you knew today was the last day of your life? Will money help you? What would winning the lottery do for you then?

We come to the point when we realize that all the idol worship we engage in in this world does not change our fate. The idols of the ego do not offer us true salvation. There is nothing on the path of the ego which in the last analysis has any lasting value for us, that can help us defeat death.

The dissolution of death comes in the awareness that we are not an ego. What we think of as our self is not real but a social construction. The animating energy of this social construction does not change but continues to exist forever. This animating energy is part of the All, the total package of which we just a minuscule manifestation. This manifestation will change, but it will not die.

We become aware that we are One with our brothers and sisters and that this Oneness is experienced by us during our current manifestation as Love. We come to understand, along with the Beatles, that Love is all we need. We don't need idols. Idols are counterfeit salvation. They lead us down a dark alley to disappointment and futility. No idol is ever enough to satisfy our longing for completeness.

And so the questions that guide the purpose of our lives are not "How do I acquire more money, more power, more fame, more sex, more worldly pride," but rather "What would Love have me do?"

Before we can get to the question, "What would Love have me do?" we must first forgive ourselves and others for our mistaken efforts of worshiping and obeying the idols which seduced us from our authentic path of the spirit. After forgiveness we can move to Love which is on the path of the spirit a whole new ball game.

Born again on the path of the spirit

It is interesting how Unitarian Universalists get all steamed up about social justice issues. The question of what makes social justice issues so attractive to UUs leads one to the shadow side  of the UU denomination. We tend to get upset with things about others that we find distasteful and upsetting in ourselves.

People take their own self accusations and project them onto external objects. I hate in others what I find most abhorrent in myself.

It's interesting how we project our own problems and concerns on to other people. If we are worried, afraid, disgusted, or happy, amused, enchanted, we assume ( which makes an ass out of you and me) that other people must think the same, feel the same, behave the same.

We become upset and confused when we learn that the other person onto whom we have projected our thoughts, feelings, intentions, and behavior don't live up to our expectations.

This failure to meet our expectations generates all kinds of feelings of blame, accusation, disappointment, anger, fear, and sadness.

Our projections, misperceptions, misunderstandings, faulty generalizations are easily blamed on the other person who we further misperceive as having failed us, thwarted us, refused to love us the way we want to be loved by them.

We, in our ego mind, are very reluctant, or even refuse, to take responsibility for any of this. It is much easier initially to avoid responsibility by attacking the other for their failure to satisfy us.

Our inappropriate expectations that others should meet our expectations fills us first with fear and then with fury, and with rising of fear and fury, hell is created.

As lesson five in A Course In Miracles teaches us, "I'm never upset for the reason I think."

The reason I am upset is that I have identified with the ego and have engaged in its expectations and once again the ego has brought me anguish and suffering.

At this point we ask, "What's wrong with me!?"

At the spiritual level the answer is, "There is nothing wrong with you. You are the beloved creation of the Divine, loved unconditionally, and perfect in every way."

At the ego level the answer is, "You are unaware of what you are. You don't understand who you are, why you are here, and what you should be doing with yourself. You have been tricked into believing in idols and thinking they are real, you have made your life a hell."

The better question is not "What's wrong with me!?" but "What's the better way for me to live my life?"

To which Jesus, the Holy Spirit, God, your Higher Power, the Spirit of Life answers, "Do not give dogs what is holy; do not throw your pearls before swine. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and then turn and tear you to pieces. 7Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. Mathew 7:7

It is this dawning that there must be a better way that precipitates our seeking. It is in deciding to seek with a joyful curiosity that we are reborn.

Forgiveness is the first step on the path of the spirit

Forgiveness means pursuing a better way

Unitarian Universalists, in their living tradition, have missed the boat, because they have failed to understand and teach the importance of forgiveness.

Perhaps, because of their root in Universalism which believed in God's unconditional love, the idea of forgiveness does not fit with their theology.

The Universalists didn't understand that it's not God's forgiveness we humans seek, for a God of unconditional love knows nothing of forgiveness, but it is our own human forgiveness that is necessary, first for ourselves for our stupidity and ignorance, and then for one another because there is plenty of human stupidity and ignorance to go around.

Can you forgive " a little bit?" Are there degrees of forgiveness? Some people say, "Forgive but don't forget" and this means forgiveness is not complete. It is not freely given. We say we forgive but we hold on to some resentment, some sense of grievance, some little fear that we can be hurt and attacked again.

True forgiveness is a complete letting go and a shift, a re-routing, from the path of the ego to the path of the spirit. On the path of the spirit there is no attack, no resentment, no grievance, no guilt, no fear. On the path of the spirit is only peace and bliss.

On the path of the ego shit happens. Even more, mega shit happens. And like Jesus, as He was being crucified on the cross, we think, "Forgive them for they know not what they do." And with this awareness comes what M. Scott Peck, the author of Road Less Traveled, calls a "therapeutic depression."

When Buddha achieved enlightenment, so the story goes, he was able to leave the earth plane for nirvana, but he decided to say on the earth plane a while longer so he could help other human beings reach enlightenment as well. Because of his decision, the Buddha was nicknamed, "The compassionate Buddha."

When we forgive we want to help others leave the path of the ego and embark on the path of the spirit with us. It is this awareness that there is a better way that Jesus and his apostles called "the good news."

During this Lenten season, as all through the year, we are prompted to remember which path we tread. The most important step we take in shifting from the path of the ego to the path of the spirit is forgiveness because we become aware that we ourselves, along with our brothers and sisters, have been treading the wrong path and in this journey we have created hell when we could, with a shift in awareness and a better decision, walk the right path of peace and bliss.

Forgiveness is the first step on the road less taken and it can make all the difference.

Without forgiveness we have nothing

Unitarian Universalists covenant together to affirm and promote the acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth..." This acceptance is based on forgiveness. Forgiveness comes before acceptance. Without forgiveness, acceptance is not possible and illusory.

Forgiveness is the giving up of the path of the ego for the path of the spirit.

Forgiveness is turning from idols to Love.

Forgiveness brings gratitude and gratitude brings peace, what some might call contentment. We are happy at last at what is.

Based on the ego's law of scarcity we always want more. We are constantly grasping and clinging and thereby create our own hell.

We need to give it up. We need to forgetaboutit and be grateful for today, Today is a gift, given for free.

Friend to me, "How are you doin?"

Me to friend, "Happy to be here."

Friend to me, "And I'm happy and better now that you're here."

The right decision in the end

Unitarian Universalists covenant together to affirm and promote a free and responsible search for truth and meaning. UU encourages the search but offers little guidance, other than its naming six sources for its "living tradition", in where to look. Like Moses and the Israelites, UUs have wound up wandering in the wilderness for 57 years since its merger in 1961. If UU is to thrive it must clarify its spiritual mission and provide more useful guidance for the spiritual journey.

When I was a child, about the age of 10, it dawned on me that "It's not a bad life if you know how to live it." Where this aphorism came from, I have no idea. I don't remember anybody telling me this. I just seemed to understand this from my intuitive mind. The aphorism arose from my "inner well." It seemed a right understanding then and it still does at age 72 all these years later.

Now, after all these years, I have a better understanding of what this aphorism means. According to A Course In Miracles, I can live my life on the path of the ego or the path of the spirit. I have tried, since age 14, to live according to the path of the spirit, and have learned how to do this reflecting on my experience.

Experience has been a great teacher. Socrates said, "An unexamined life is not worth living." I have tried to live an examined life. To live an examined life, the person has to admit that (s)he doesn't know. Knowing that you don't know is the first step on the path of the spirit. Knowing that you don't know, and that other people don't either, leads one to no longer trust the path of the ego to provide the satisfaction and fulfillment of the good life.

Throughout my life I have been well aware that bull shit abounds. Bull shit is abundant and we live our lives sinking deeper and deeper into it until we, sometimes desperately, become aware that there must be a better way. With this awareness, what I call, "the dawning," we initiate a search. We become a seeker for what that better way might be. I call this initiation of the search, "the turning." "The turning" is the turn from the path of the ego to the path of the spirit.

"The turning" is easier and ultimately must involve our asking our "Higher Power" for guidance. There are many formula's human beings have created for this requesting. One of my favorites is "What would Love have me do?" or more simply, "What is the loving thing?"

In the Christian prayer, the Our Father, we say in part, "...Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." Bringing my will into alignment with what I think is God's will brings peace and joy and the "good life" which I have been seeking.

Sometimes my ego objects to my doing God's will. Doing God's will can fill me with fear sometimes and yet I have found that to move ahead in faith, in spite of the ego's objections, has always been the right decision in the end.

The path to peace

The Universalist side of Unitarian Universalism believes in the unconditional love of God. The Universalists believe as they pray the Our Father that "thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." That faith is not in "my will" but in "Thy will."

In leading the spiritual life there are some practices that guide us on the path of the spirit.

The first practice is one of intention. When you wake up in the morning simply ask yourself what kind of a day do you wish to have. Will it be one of love, compassion, forgiveness and peace or a day of anger, judgment, attack, and rancor?

If you decide for a day of love, compassion, forgiveness, and peace ask for the help of the Spirit so that you do not make decisions yourself based on the ego but rather ask the Spirit what would Love have me do?

This action, at first, will fill you with fear especially if the response is not what your ego expected and desired. However, trust the Spirit, and continue in faith that Love is the most powerful path of all. This is the path to peace.

Looking for Love in all the wrong places

Unitarian Universalists covenant together to affirm and promote the free and responsible search for truth and meaning. Where should we search? Where does that search take us? The mystics suggest that we look within, within ourselves and within others. Unfortunately, we waste a lot of time and effort looking for truth and meaning in all the wrong places. We are, after all, on a spiritual quest not a worldly one. The pearls and diamonds of great worth will be found on the path of the spirit not on the path of the ego.

There are times when we are quiet and still that we sense there is something more deep in us and in other people.That something more is the glimmer of the divine. We want it desperately and we search for it usually in all the wrong places.

Johnny Lee's great song "Looking for love in all the wrong places" sums up the problem succinctly in an entertaining way.

That "something more" is not to found on the path of the ego. It is not external to us where all we find is counterfeit. What we find is "fool's gold." What we find may be temporarily pleasurable but then becomes boring once we are satiated. We come to realize that pleasure is not the same thing as joy and while joy is better, joy is not the same thing as bliss and bliss is what we seek and is to be found in the union with the Beloved.

A Course In Miracles teaches that bliss is to be found in the miracle and the miracle is simply a choice to perceive at the level of spirit rather than ego. The level of spirit is Love. We simply ask "What would Love have me do?" "What would Love have me see?" "What is the Loving thing deep in myself and in my brothers and sisters?"

As the Beatles say, "Love is all you need." However, we have to be on the path of spirit to see it within which means we have to turn back from looking for love in all the wrong places.

 

If we are to be happy we must be born again

In our contemporary times, Unitarian Universalists would probably never say that they are born again and yet they covenant together to affirm and promote seven principles the fourth of which is the free and responsible search for truth and meaning. Consciously, intentionally embarking on this search with integrity requires that they become born again and turn from the path of the ego to the path of the spirit.

I could be happy if only you would do what I think you should do and if you don't, you are holding out on me because you could do what I want you to do if only you would but you won't because you don't love me. This is how we create hell.

We assign roles to people and expect them to do certain things and when they don't do them we get angry and attack them and get sad, resentful, full of grievance and recrimination. They, of course, are not doing anything to us, we, in fact, have done it to ourselves.

We are playing the game of "give to get." And then we play, "one or the other." These games litter the path of the ego. From these games great drama is created, emotions aroused, pain and suffering inflicted up to and including death.

We come to a point when we realize we don't want to play these games any more. They aren't worth it to us and we say to ourselves "there must be a better way." This slight glimmer of awareness is called, "The Dawning." It starts to dawn on us that we deserve to be happy and have a high quality life full of peace and bliss.

Recognizing that we are meant to be happy and have a high quality life, we begin to search. We become seekers and it is this turning from the path of the ego to something else that marks the beginning of a new life. It's like we're born again and like babies have to learn how to live in this world as spirits and no longer egos.

Changing course

Unitarian Universalism has been attractive for their coffee hours. It is not a very spiritually deep religion. Outside of the transcendentalist roots, there isn't much of a mystical tradition. Some might say that UUs in general don't take the interior spiritual life very seriously, and therefore does not have much to offer the serious spiritual seeker. If Unitarian Universalism is to survive as a denomination it needs to change course and provide a more detailed map of the interior spiritual life.

This pursuit of a deeper more interior spiritual life is not for everyone and yet for the few who chose it, they become the yeast in the dough, the salt of the earth. There are glimmers of such activity and it needs recognition, acknowledgement, and resonant attention.

The saying goes, "Be careful what you wish for because you will probably get it."

Do we really know what we want?

Most people asked what they wish for, the most common answer given is "To win millions of dollars in the lottery."

And if asked, "What would you do with your millions?" they have silly answers.

Observing this phenomenon in our materialistic world leaves me feeling sad.

We dream silly dreams. Our values, what matters to us, don't run very deep or true. And in our anguish when we see such suffering in the world, we wonder what's gone wrong.

What went wrong is our dreams. We dream silly dreams and when we get what we thought we wanted, we are miserable because the dreams we dreamt were misguided.

The dreams we dreamt were misguided because our minds are sick. Our minds have been sickened by the path of the ego which is contaminated and toxic. It does not lead us to health and happiness but to sickness and grief. You would think our societies, our cultures, our educational systems, our religions would have taught us this by now, at this point in human history. These societies, cultures, educational systems, religions either have failed us or if they, in part, tried to teach us better, we ignored those lessons and failed in our studies.

If we recognize the failure of our choice in pursuing the path of the ego, we can then consider deciding to embark on the path of the spirit. In order to set off on this path of the spirit, we have to let go off our bull shit and that scares the hell out of us. The thought of it makes us tremble. Anxiety disorders are the most prevalent psychiatric diagnoses in the United States in our times. Anxiety medications the most commonly prescribed.

However, with guidance and support, embarking on the path of the spirit is not only possible, but, once over our stage fright, fabulously satisfying, and fulfilling. We come to realize that our former lives on the path of the ego were unmanageable, and changing course to the path of the spirit makes all the difference.

"Ain't it awful" or "Isn't it beautiful" - Which path through life?

Unitarian Universalists covenant together to affirm and promote the inherent worth and dignity of every person.

This is a very significant covenant which, if applied, can significantly change lives.

It is fears that lead us to play the victim and see attackers all around us. These perceptions of attack and victimization allow us to play the game of "Ain't it awful."

"Ain't it awful" fuels the media, gossip, our lives, and confirms our misguided belief that we are victims and the world is full of attackers and so can't be trusted. With this belief system we have created hell on earth.

This hell on earth appeases our fears somewhat because it identifies our attackers which identification makes counter attack possible and justifies vengeance which appeases our unconscious guilt for conjuring up such an explanation for our lives to begin with. This explanation is the basis for the path of the ego which we take not knowing we have a choice.

The choice we have is the path of the spirit instead of the ego. The path of the spirit begins with our recognition of, acknowledgement of, and decision to take responsibility for, our own shit. We come to see that in treading the path of the ego we have made this hell up, a hell based on illusions. We understand that we have contributed to the hell of the path of the ego by agreeing to play "Ain't it awful," and we can choose not to play.

The path of the spirit allows us to tread a path of blessings and precious gifts which can delight us and give us peace when we choose to see them in the hearts of our brothers and sisters. We decide to perceive and appreciate the inherent worth and dignity of every person, the "divine spark" which Peace Pilgrim talks about. The divine spark, the inherent worth and dignity is always there in our brothers and sisters, our fears have just blocked our willingness to see what was right there in front of us all the time.

We see what we want to see and we choose the path we want to walk: the path of the ego or the path of the spirit. We can play "Ain't it awful" or " Isn't it beautiful." The path of the ego brings death, and the path of the spirit brings everlasting life.

The road less taken is the one to heaven

Of all of the seven principles of Unitarian Universalism the one with the hook, the one that seems to distinguish this denomination from others is their affirmation and promotion of a free and responsible search for truth and meaning. It is on the basis of this principle that all people even atheists are welcomed to their fellowship. The deeper concern in acting upon this principle is whether this free and responsible search takes one down the path of the ego or the path of the spirit? That choice portends a life of hell or a life of heaven on earth.

There is a difference between pain and suffering. Some people have great pain and suffer little. Other people have little pain and suffer much. What's the difference?

Pain is frightening for some. Experiencing pain they become alarmed and their alarm heightens the intensity of the pain and a vicious cycle is created where pain causes alarm and alarm intensifies the pain which intensifies the alarm.

Others have pain and do not become alarmed. They calmly observe it. They know they are not the pain any more than they are physical pleasure. Pain and pleasure are the same thing. They reside in the body and some people make them important in their lives when they are ephemeral experiences which rise and subside and in the end are not any more real than the importance and significance we attach to them.

As people become miracle minded on the path of the spirit, they take pain and pleasure less seriously and learn how to rise above it. This is the Resurrection which Christians make such a celebration of which Jesus accomplished as his body was being crucified. Jesus' example demonstrates that the body means little while the spirit is paramount and on the path of the spirit death is meaningless for the spirit lives on in the Oneness from which it emerged in the first place.

The concern, when focused correctly, is whether we choose to walk the path of the ego or the path of the spirit. The path of the ego is a path of pain and suffering which we sometimes name "hell." The path of the spirit is a path of peace and joy which we sometimes name "heaven."

As Robert Frost has written in his poem, "The Road Not Taken."

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

Make the right choice

Most Unitarian Universalists, like most of humanity, have control issues. They reject most forms of governance. They want to make up their own minds and manage their own small congregations. One of the reasons that  Unitarian Universalism has remained such a small denomination is its failure of its local churches to give up control. All of this willfulness is hidden behind the meme of the "democratic process" which gets carried to such an extent that UUs are mocked for their desire to talk things to death in committees because they cannot resolve their disagreements and conflicts for the greater good.

The schisms and infighting in UU congregations are legendary and has consequences the biggest of which is the failure to engage in UUs mission because there is too much infighting for control. Self righteous egos block any kind of movement toward cooperative obedience. Cooperative obedience is anathema to UUs and so they languish in the hell of their own making.

In the last analysis we have only one choice to make: whether we follow the path of the ego or the path of the spirit.

The path of the ego is constantly calling us. In the great Christian prayer, the Our Father, in Latin the Pater Noster, we pray, "...and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil." The path of the ego is the "temptation" of which the prayer speaks.

The path of the ego is a path of comparison, specialness, the power of attack, hurt and harm, vengeance and punishment, condemnation and judgment, contempt and disdain, criticism and subjugation, exclusion and ostracism, sacrifice and death, sickness and deprivation. This is the hell which we create on the path of the ego full of drama and excitement at our neighbors expense and suffering and anguish.

The path of spirit offers us happiness and joy, bliss and peace, contentment and fulfillment, love and abundance.

Why wouldn't a person choose the path of the spirit? Because the path of the spirit requires giving up control. The path of the spirit asks us to align our wills with the Will of God. This surrender of our control and willfulness is the stumbling block and most humans would rather create and live in hell than give up their own will for the Will of God.

Multiple times a day we are offered the choice of the path of the ego or the path of the spirit. As they say in Alcoholics Anonymous, "Let it go." We have to admit that our lives our unmanageable and surrender to our Higher Power whatever we conceive that Higher Power to be. We all must do this when we die and everyday we live many small deaths experiencing loses and having to let things go. We can do this with anger, fear, suffering and thinking and feeling like a victim or we can do this recognizing that our navels are not the center of the universe and our will is not in charge.

Jesus says, "Seek and you will find. Knock on the door and it will be opened to you."

You are already seeking or you wouldn't be reading this. This lesson is that you have to knock. This lesson encourages you to make that choice.