Tolerance for pain may be high but it is not without limit

What is the purpose of life?

According to the Dali Lama the purpose of life is happiness.

What will make me happy?

Ultimately, according to A Course In Miracles, what will make, you, me, and everybody happy is the acceptance of the Atonement. The Course points out that our tolerance for pain is very high, but short of death, it is not without limit. In crisis, if not before, we recognize that there must be a better way. We recognize as they say in the first step of Alcoholic Anonymous that our life is unmanageable. We have defiled our soul and that things need to be repaired and protected. It is written in the Course that whenever we are anxious something is wrong. You have been deceived.

How do I get back on the right track?

That's what religion and philosophy is for to help you find your way back to the right track. There are may roads to the Atonement. Which is best for you depends on many things. For the spiritually mature, Unitarian Universalism may be a way because it is open to the teachings of the six sources. Unitarian Universalists covenant together to affirm and promote the free and responsible search for truth and meaning. The authentic search is within and the recognition that we are one with everything which is what the Course calls the Atonement.

How's lent going?

How is lent going? It's been a week, right?

Yes, Lent started last Wednesday which is a week ago today. It's on my mind every day, but I can't say that I've come up with a good way to celebrate it every day. I think of the interdependent web and how I can enhance it and I do do many things like feed the feral cats that live under my barn. They seem to appreciate it because they come running when I put the food and water out, but I notice one is pregnant again and I am left wondering if I am helping or just enabling a bad situation.

Feeding the cats is silly isn't it? Hardly what one might consider a spiritual practice, but then again I gave twenty bucks a piece to two college students who spent 15 minutes helping me get my car unstuck from the snow. They tried to beg off saying "you don't have to give us anything" but when I insisted they took it without any further resistance. I was a college student once, and twenty bucks might go a long way for these two good Samaritans.

I suppose there are other things too if I were pressed that I have done over the week, but I would do them anyway Lent or not.

Any way it continues to be on mind. I am mindful which is all the rage now.

What's going on for you?

Tuesday night class #10 - Tolerance for pain is high, but not without limit.

I, as damaged goods, being a former Roman Catholic, have found a home in Unitarian Universalism

Rev. Richard Trudeau in his book Universalism 101 describes how he dealt with this anger at his former church when he converted to Unitarian Universalism. He describes how he divided the psychological legacy of his former church into four piles:

1. The stuff that was toxic.
2. The stuff that was silly.
3. The stuff that made sense.
4. The stuff that didn't make sense but felt good.

As a former Roman Catholic, I was taught a lot of stuff that was toxic then and is toxic still. Pope Francis seems to be on the right track trying to fix some of this stuff, but I am sure he will not get it all done. The biggest things that are toxic is the church's stance on the sexual aspect of the human body especially reproductive health, and the church's patriarchial and misogynistic beliefs and practices.

Second there is a lot of stuff that is just silly like the virgin birth and Mary's bodily assumption into heaven.

Third, there is a lot that makes sense the foremost being that God is love and that the way to the kingdom is, as Jesus taught, "to love as I have loved."

Fourth, I do like the sacraments and liturgy. I miss that in Unitarian Universalism. Some of the ceremonies and  rituals are very moving, comforting, and uplifting. The Catholics know how to worship when they do it right. I miss communion at every service.

So, I want to thank Rev. Trudean. His four part sorting mechanism is helpful. It helps me separate the grain from the chaf. Rev. Trudeau writes, "...I have come to think that our congregations should be not so much 'decontamination chambers' where people wash away their former religions, but rather workshops where they confront them." p. 7

I think our UU congregations have to be far more than toxic waste dumps for people recovering from religious abuse;  they need to be a place to facilitate the process of recovery and spiritual growth. Our congregations need to be strength based and not focused on deficits and problems.

I call myself a Roman Catholic Unitarian Universalist and not a Unitarian Universalist Roman Catholic. The first works well because the UUs gladly welcome me, while the RCs would consider me a heretic and excommunicate me. I, as damaged goods, have found a loving and welcoming home as have many others. Praise be to God!

What does Universalism have to offer the world?

In Richard Trudeau's book, Universalism 101, he writes, "In 1960-1961, when the Unitarian and Universalist denominations combined, the Universalists - less prosperous, less educated, less confident, and outnumbered five to one - were afraid of being swallowed up.". p.3

Rev. Trudeau titles this section of the book, "You become what you eat" which implies that while the Unitarian side of the newly made family is five times the size of the Universalist side, the Unitarian side will become more Universalist because of its ingestion of Universalism values, beliefs, and practices.

What is the evidence for this idea that Unitarianism will become more Universalist? I don't see it, do you? It is interesting that Rev. Trudeau stops referring to the consolidated entity as a "denomination" and instead, like many people, refers to it as "a movement" which I have never understood. Is UU a religion or an ideology? With its social justice focus it has become more of a social activist movement for liberal causes rather than a religion focused on the spiritual life of its members.

As a result of this loss of spiritual focus, Unitarian Universalism, both dying denominations to begin with, and thus their collaborative consolidation, has been further atrophying. It's slow demise might be accounted for because of its loss of purpose, focus, and mission. Social justice advocacy does not a religion make. If there is hope for future viability for Unitarian Universalism it will be because the Universalist impulse and intuitive wisdom and insight that God is  Love ignites a renewal of spiritual fervor.

The Universalist insight that God so loves God's creation that God's love assures universal salvation and God's creatures no longer have to fear hell so God's creatures will do the good because it is a more satisfying and fulfilling way to live life than to just indulge one's one's momentary sensory desires is compelling and vital. This idea of the good life is not unique to Universalism but to the Stoic philosophers of antiquity.

Unitarians do not just become what they eat but in turn are also, hopefully, eaten by a broader society that finds Unitarian Universalism an attractive and tasty morsel. The challenge becomes for Unitarian Universalism to present itself as an attractive and aesthetically pleasing delight to nourish the broader society. What is more attractive and pleasing to the human experience than Love? As it is written in A Course In Miracles, "The course does not aim at teaching the meaning of love, for that is beyond what can be taught. It does aim, however, at removing the blocks to the awareness of love's presence, which is your natural inheritance. The opposite of love is fear, but what is all-encompassing can have no opposite."

Universalism's mission is to help people remove the blocks to the awareness of Love's presence and rise above their fears. In order to carry out this mission to facilitate this experience of Love's presence,  Universalism must provide what ACIM calls "miracles" which is a change in perception from the ego plane to the sacred. This shift in perception and understanding naturally leads to a change in behavior for the good. Universalism's miraculous understanding of God's Love is the yeast in the dough which activates a wonderful rise, uplift, in the social dough of society in which it is embedded. To become aware of Love's presence we have to eschew the way of the ego and the world. We do this, especially at this Lenten season, by making small sacrifices to benefit the interdependent web. What will you do today to push aside the demands of the world so that you can relax into an awareness of Love's peace?

People on planet become political pawn in fight on immigration

From PBS on 02/17/15

President Obama’s executive actions on immigration have been delayed after a federal judge in Texas ruled it didn't follow proper legal procedure. Alan Gomez of USA Today and Stephen Legomsky of Washington University Law School join Judy Woodruff to discuss what may happen in the courts and how it affects the millions of people who were supposed to be shielded from deportation.



Editor's note:

Pax Christi USA has chosen immigration as its lenten study and action topic. Joseph, Mary, and Jesus were immigrants in Egypt where Joseph took Jesus so he wouldn't be killed by Herod. As Unitarian Universalists we should be speaking up for immigrants whose lives are being manipulated.

Would we welcome the baby, Jesus, into our community?

Pax Christi USA has developed a tool kit to be used during lent on immigration reform. For those of us with a Christian backround we are well aware that Jesus and his father, Joseph, and his mother, Mary, were immigrants who fled from Israel to Egypt.

Herod, in his paranoia, had all the 2 year old children in the region under his domain killed. The United States has faced its own dilemma recently with what to do with immigrant children. There was a proposal in my own home town, Brockport, NY, to develop a former Walmart Store for residential care for these immigrant children which would be funded by the Federal government, but many local people opposed it, including our Congressman Chris Collins, and these children were sent away as they were not welcome in our town. Brockporters would have sent Jesus away and that is very sad. We have forgotten that we are one family under God. May we remember this Lent, repent, and change our attitudes and ways.

Matthew 2:13-23

When they had departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise,
take the child and his mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you. Herod is going to search
for the child to destroy him.” Joseph rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed for
Egypt. He stayed there until the death of Herod, that what the Lord had said through the prophet
might be fulfilled, “Out of Egypt I called my son.”

When Herod realized that he had been deceived by the magi, he became furious. He ordered the
massacre of all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity two years old and under, in accordance with the
time he had ascertained from the magi. Then was fulfilled what had been said through Jeremiah the
prophet:

“A voice was heard in Ramah,
sobbing and loud lamentation;
Rachel weeping for her children,
and she would not be consoled,
since they were no more.”

When Herod had died, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and
said, “Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the child’s
life are dead.” He rose, took the child and his mother, and went to the land of Israel. But when he
heard that Archelaus was ruling over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go back
there. And because he had been warned in a dream, he departed for the region of Galilee. He went
and dwelt in a town called Nazareth, so that what had been spoken through the prophets might be
fulfilled, “He shall be called a Nazorean.”