Our most important choice is acknowledgement of Oneness or persistence in our separation

Unitarian Univeralists acknowledge in their seven principles that people need one another when they covenant together to affirm and promote their third principle which is the acceptance of another and encouragement to spiritual growth.

At a deep level people have a choice between the drama of the ego world or the peace and joy of Oneness with creation. Hopefully, people come to a point where they are aware of this choice because often they are unaware and feel trapped in vicious cycles and assume the role of victim of circumstances they perceive as beyond their control. While people cannot always control the circumstances which they perceive, they can, with awareness and intention, control their response and management of those circumstances. When people become aware that they have a choice, the further question, then, is what will they choose?

When people become aware of their errors and mistakes, these errors and mistakes call for correction and repair. This correction and repair cannot be done in isolation and on one's own but requires joining with others. This joining usually requires a request for help. It is not only okay to ask for help, it is necessary for in the requesting and obtaining help two and more become joined in improving their mutual welfare and in doing so the ripple effect blesses the whole world in ways beyond our comprehension.

The person and his/her brother/sister are joined together in the work of salvation which is a theological term meaning liberation from the bonds of error and mistakes to a place of peace and joy and well being.

It is written in A Course In Miracles, "You are your brother's savior. He is yours." T-21.VI.9:1-2

There is a powerful paragraph in ACIM which states, "God is not mocked; no more His Son can be imprisoned save by his own desire. And it is by his own desire that he is freed. Such is his strength, and not his weakness. He is at his own mercy. And where he chooses to be merciful, there is he free. But where he chooses to condemn instead, there is he held a prisoner, waiting in chains his pardon on himself to set him free." T-21.VI.11:5-10

And so another sign of spiritual maturity is the awareness that one has a choice and God is not mocked meaning that God's love for us is constant, universal, and our natural inheritance and what is required of us is simply the choice of acknowledgement instead of denial.

Question of the day

As a child growing up, how did the people in your family handle and manage anger? Have you continued with the same practices or changed them? How?

Whose side are you on - the greedy or the needy?

I went to church yesterday at Spiritus Christi in Rochester, NY and heard a wonderful sermon by Father James Callan. At one point he asked, "Who needs you support more the greedy or the needy? I think the greedy could get by with a little less and the needy with a little more." His comment seems to fit with the Unitarian Universalist second principle of "justice, equity, and compassion in human relations."

Encouragement to get on the right frequency - third principle

The third principle of Unitarian Universalism encourages us to covenant together to affirm and promote the acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth. Spiritual growth requires that we get on the right frequency. This requires a purification of ego driven drama from our perceptions and an intention to shift to reality.

As Geraldine, a character that comedian Flip Wilson created and acted, used to say, "What you see is what you get!" In A Course In Miracles it is written, "Perception selects, and makes the world you see."T-21.V.1:1

The ego creates the drama in our lives. It is written further in A Course In Miracles, "Listen to what the ego says, and see what it directs you to see, and it is sure that you will see yourself as tiny, vulnerable and afraid. You will experience depression, a sense of worthlessness, and feelings of impermanence and unreality. You will believe that you are helpless prey to forces far beyond your own control, and far more powerful than you. And you will think the world you made directs your destiny. For this is your faith." T-21.V.2:1-7

ACIM goes on to explain that this scenario the ego has constructed for us, based on our bidding, is not true. It is only a drama of our own making.

Most of us love gossip and the juicier the better. We are aroused to fear and disgust every day by the constant bombardment of the media. The sensational and emotionally arousing stories get our attention. We gloat initially that these things have happened to other people and we have escaped. The bumper sticker, "Reality is when it happens to you," is the ultimate in the ego's cynicism and sadism.

God's love is always there but we fail to see it because we overlook it as it gets drowned out by the insanity of the ego's world. We see what we have put our faith in. We see what we have been conditioned and trained to believe in. And this unreal world of pain, misery, sorrow, and separation becomes, for us, our own reality.

At this Christmas time of year I saw a church sign board on which was written, "You too can hear the angel's song if you tune in on the right frequency." If you would have peace, joy, and happiness, practice tuning in on the right frequency. Spending more of your life and making decisions on that frequency is a sign of spiritual maturity.

Question of the day

What are the ten most significant things that have happened in your life that have made you the person you are today and the way you view the world?

Editor's note - I first heard this question from Irvin Yalom.

Question of the day

How do I encourage uplift, nurturance, correction of mistakes, repair of harm done to promote restoration of broken relationships?

Editor's note:

I highly recommend Krista Tippett's "Civil conversations project." This project is based on 6 grounding virtues: Words that matter, Generous listening, Adventurous civility, Humility, Patience, and Hospitality."

Question of the day

Where does it hurt? What is bothering you the most?

Editor's note:
Ruby Sales was interviewed on On Being on 09/15/16. This is where I first became aware of the importance of this question. For more click here.