Showing posts with label sainthood. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sainthood. Show all posts

Tuesday, August 14, 2018

Do you know how to get to the promised land?

One of the problems with Unitarian Univeralism which hinders its growth and acceptance in a society to which it hopes to sanctify is a misunderstanding of the fourth principle which is the free and responsible search for truth and meaning. This is often interpreted as meaning that Unitarian Universalism is a creedless religion, that there is no doctrine, and that the seeker can seek whatever he/she wants. Not really. This is anarchy and nihilism which does not contribute to the creation of a cohesive covenant.

Francis David, the Unitarian pioneer in the sixteenth century famously said that we need not think alike to love alike and in his famous, and often quoted maxim, Francis David reframes the spiritual search from a cognitive activity to an experiential one.

As human beings we have a head and a heart. A well integrated personality uses both in alignment. The head and heart are working together in harmonious cooperation. There is no imbalance. Some people spend too much time in their head and not enough in their heart, and some people spend too much time in their heart and not enough in their head. Spiritual and psychological peace is realized when head and heart are in balance, what psychologists call "congruence."

In our search for sainthood, holiness, awakening, enlightenment, buddahood we are mis-served by the idea that anything goes and its every person for him/her self. The Unitarian Universalist church asks us to covenant together to affirm and promote seven principles. It is this covenant and these principles that provide the path to sainthood. The belief that this covenant and these principles will facilitate our spiritual growth is the basis of our faith. It is of concern that this faith in the covenant and principles is so often out of focus, disregarded, marginalized, ignored in our Sunday morning worship. The covenant and principles are rarely the topic of sermons and other elements of UU liturgies and therefore the people are mystified, oblivious to the key to the teachings of their purported faith.

If Unitarian Univeralism is to survive and grow it needs to be rejuvenated and revived. It has been on death support now for some time. It is time to uplift the path for the free and responsible search for truth and meaning which is the covenant  to affirm and promote the seven principles. This path is journeyed with both our heads and hearts and it is a path that will take us to the promised land. As W. Edwards Deming said, "If you don't know where you're going any road will take you there."



Saturday, August 11, 2018

What is the mission of Unitarian Univeralism: A Way Of Life ministries?

The mission of Unitarian Universalism: A Way Of Life ministries is to sanctify the world by facilitating the development of sainthood among its members through engagement in a covenantal relationship based on UU's seven principles.
Sainthood is holiness. Sainthood has many components of holiness. The components of sainthood are honesty, empathy (sometimes called compassion), kindness, awareness, peace, and joy. The overriding component of sainthood is the abiding faith in Spirit and the eradication of the ego.
Sainthood is a state of being described as "awakened" or some use the word "enlightened". The saint has tuned into their innate divinity which is experienced as Oneness with the All. The saint has removed the blocks and obstacles to their awareness of Love's presence which is our natural inheritance. The saint is realized, no longer sleep walking through the ego plane.
Unitarian Univeralism helps people achieve sainthood by providing an opportunity for participation in a covenant to affirm and promote seven basic principles the most important of which is the love of the interdependent web in which we all exist and participate sometimes with awareness and most often without awareness because we think our separation as egos from the interdependent web is real. Unitarian Universalism encourages us to covenant together to reflect on the error of our belief in the separation and to remind us of our dependence on the ground of our being.
The calling of embarking on a life as a participant in, and contributor to UUAWOL ministries, is challenging. All are called but few listen and respond. How about you? Will you join the UUAWOL ministry?

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.
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