What would Love have me do? Unitarian Universalist fourth principle

Dear George:

On the phone yesterday as you told me about your break-up with Judy, you cried and said you didn't know what to do. I said, "Yes, you do. What do you think?" And you told me, and it became apparent that you knew the answer all along. You were just too upset to recognize it.

We often know deep down what is in our best interests and others. Some people call this "intuitive wisdom" and this intuitive wisdom seems to be more readily available to some people than to others. In other words, some people have learned how to turn within and listen. Others look for external answers and fill their lives with screens, social media, and all kinds of external distractions. This behavior reminds me of the song, "Looking for love in all the wrong places." I will change the word "love" to "wisdom." Looking for wisdom in all the wrong places.

There is a couple of sentences in A Course In Miracles that point to this idea of intuitive wisdom. It is written, "This is a course in how to know yourself. You have taught what you are, but have not let what you are teach you." We all probably will admit that we don't know ourselves very well and very few of us knows what makes us tick. This deep level of self understanding is very rare. If you want to bring a conversation to an abrupt halt ask the person you are talking with, "Tell me, what makes you tick?" The question almost seems impertinent, doesn't it? We teach who we think we are and often our teaching is delusional at best, and harmful at worst. And yet if we deeply listen to the whisperings of the Spirit, we learn who we really are and then we begin to teach that and our lives and those of others improve.

I have shared with you before, George, my interest in Unitarian Universalism and the fourth princple of UU is to affirm and promote the free and responsible search for truth and meaning. This search, if we are serious about it, will take us inward not outward, we will search the internal not the external. And so, you knew, all along what you needed to do about your relationship with Judy, and you said to me, "Give her, her space." We agreed that giving her her space seemed to be the loving thing.

The test, George, of your decision about what to do about your relationship with Judy is whether it brings you peace and joy in the end. Breaking up is hard to do as Neil Sedaka sang, and yet possessivness, control, domination, guilt induction, retribution, are not the answer even though the ego often wants us to engage in these tactics. The answer to most of our problems is "What would Love have me do?"

Peace be unto you,

Uncle David

How does the fourth principle of Unitarian Universalism apply to children?

UU A Way Of Life monthly book discussion.

The UU A Way Of Life will begin a book club this fall beginning on September 1, 2017. We will read one fiction and one non fiction book per month. UU A Way Of Life blog readers are welcomed to read along and post comments on the blog articles which discuss these books. Guest articles are encouraged and should be sent to davidgmarkham@gmail.com.

The books for September, 2017 are:

Fiction - Heroes Of The New Frontier by Dave Eggers.
Non fiction - Here If You Need Me by Kate Braestrup.

We look forward to your comments throughout the month of September. Suggestions for upcoming books are welcome in the comments and to me by email at davidgmarkham@gmail.com.

 

What are you afraid of?

Be careful and mindful of what you fear. Your fears have consequences especially the unreal which are far more worse than the real.

Of course, at the spiritual level, as Universalists know and teach, there is nothing to fear but, as Frankin Delano Roosevelt said, fear itself.

Q & A about UU and mysticism

This Q & A about UU and mysticism can be used for your own reflection and/or in a small group discussion group.
 

Do UUs believe in mysticism?

George you asked about mysticism and whether it is real? It seems that you doubt that there are people who have tuned in to a higher frequency. The question is not only whether people have tuned into that frequency but whether there is such a frequency.

We Unitarian Universalists recognize and acknowledge such a frequency in our seventh principle which is a respect for the interdependent web of all existence. What do you suppose that interdependent web of all existence is? No one can say because it is undefinable and yet we can intuit it from time to time and there are witnesses to it which can enhance our appreciation of it.

Some might say that we experience the interdependent web when we join our minds with others and seem to rise above the everyday drama of the ego plane. This happens sometimes when we have an aesthetic experience stimulated by a work of art or at worship or in being of service to others in such a way that we are moved with them to something greater than just our immediate circumstnaces. I sometimes have these experiences in talking with people about intimate experiences and there is a deep rapport where we communicate beyond the words. It is rare, George, but it happens and I feel that we are loved by existence beyond our understanding. In A Course In Miracles this experience is called a miracle, and we are taught that it is our natural inheritance.

When a miracle occurs we need to turn it over for the use of the Spirit Of Life and who knows where it is going? It is like throwing a rock in a pond and watching the ripples, or nowadays the popular metaphor is a butterfly flapping its wings in South America generating a hurricane in North America or a cyclone in Asia. Can our science account for such things, George, or is it something beyond our understanding as we stand in awe of the mysterious workings of Mother Nature and the universe?

One year, a local church in Brockport, NY at Christmas time had a saying on its sign in front of the church which read, "You, too, can hear the angels sing if you tune into the right frequency." No need to limit this tuning in and listening to just Christmas time. Mystics do it all year around and we all are called to be mystics and share in these mystical experiences if we are open to them.

Have a mystical day,

Uncle David

One way of living the sixth principle

One way of living the 6th principle of achieving the goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all.