We are not special but gloriously ordinary

Unitarian Universalists covenant together to affirm and promote the inherent worth and dignity of every person. This inherent worth and dignity is not based on any specialness. This inherent worth and dignity is based on intrinsic participation in the divine creation. To be blunt none of us are special but gloriously ordinary. We are simply parts of a whole which is beyond understanding.

Osho has said:
"Everyone belongs to God. There is no other way. We are born in God, we live in God, we die in God. Our energy is God’s energy: God is simply the name of the total energy of existence. But the total is not arithmetical, the total is mysterious. It is not mechanical, it is organic. There is a great difference between these two which needs to be understood."

Osho. First in the Morning: 365 Uplifting Moments to Start the Day Consciously, p.15  Osho Media International.

It is written in A Course In Miracles that the pursuit of specialness is the basis for sin. It is written, "Pursuit of specialness is always at the cost of peace." T-24.II.2:1

The bumper sticker says, "You are unique like everyone else."

Did the bumper sticker make you laugh?

It is written in ACIM "You can defend your specialness, but never will you hear the Voice for God beside it. They speak a different language and they fall on different ears." T-24.II.5:1-2

It is further written in ACIM : "Comparison must be an ego device, for love makes none. Specialness always makes comparisons. It is established by a lack seen in another, and maintained by searching for, and keeping clear in sight, all lacks it can perceive." T-24.II.1:1-3

The Church Lady on Saturday Night Live would say, "Well, aren't you special!" with a sarcastic and condescending tone of voice.

My wife, Angela, and I have nine children. If I were asked, "Which child do you love the most?" I would be perturbed and offended. "I love them all," of course. If God were asked, "Which of your children do you love the most?" what do you think the Creator would say?

Right. He would say like I would, "I love them all."

Further, as Osho says, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. To love only a part of the whole is to miss bliss for short sighted, momentary pleasure.

Prophetic women and men - The Christmas Truce in 1914 during World War I

There is hope in the world when we consider the relations between human beings instead of their governments. Mother Teresa said, "Don't wait for leaders; do it alone, person to person."


 

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Christmas has arrived. Advent is over.

Today is the day we celebrate the birth of Jesus, a child of God, into the world bringing a super dose of divine light with Him.

According to the mythic story of His birth, some people recognized him and some didn't. The inn keeper turned Mary and Joseph away and Jesus was born in a barn with the animals.

In our current times we turn millions of children of God away and make it our national policy to do so to protect ourselves from all kinds of fears which are trivial and childish. Americans have a much greater chance of being killed by a drunk driver or a gun in their own home or by lightning than they do by a terrorist and yet rather than face facts we demonize, exclude, and attack God's children.

Mary and Joseph and Jesus would have a very difficult time getting into the United States with their swarthy complexions and lack of documentation.

Most of us would not recognize Jesus were He to come among us today. Our world of the ego makes little room for the remembrance of the divine within us and among us. The Jesus I love would have no problem with that. He recognizes our free will and He loves us unconditionally no matter what. He just waits for us patiently to figure things out.

As it is written in A Course In Miracles, learning that Life is a miracle "is a required course. Only the time you take it is voluntary.”

I have been studying for 72 years and some progress has been made and yet there is much more to learn. Jesus' birth this year has reminded me of the divine within us and among us and what a blessing this divine light is to the celebration of creation with the Spirit of Life. The weary world rejoices, indeed. May it be so!

In case you were wondering.............

Question of the day

What do you call God, your Higher Power?

On 12/24/47 President Truman pardoned 1,523 WW II Draft Resisters

            1947

December 24

Truman Pardons 1,523 WW II Draft Resisters

 

President Harry Truman on this day pardoned 1,523 young men who were still in prison as conscientious objectors who had refused to cooperate with the draft during World War II. There were 15,805 draft resisters during World War II. The 1940 Selective Service Act had included a relatively broad definition of conscientious objection to participation in war, but it obviously did not satisfy thousands of young men who felt that cooperating with the draft only validated the principle of the right of the government to conscript people into participating in war.

A month before Truman acted on this day, on November 23, 1947, a large group of clergy and other activists had petitioned President Truman to pardon all young COs sill in prison. He pardoned more young men in 1953.

Pardoning opponents of American involvement in wars has a long tradition in the U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt pardoned all of those convicted and still in prison under the Espionage Act on December 23, 1933. President Gerald Ford, on September 16, 1974, and President Jimmy Carter, on January 21, 1977, granted different forms of conditional or full amnesty or pardons to opponents of the Vietnam War.

Editor's note:

UU AWOL is starting a daily series on prophetic women and men and events that have inspired us and shaped our communal consciousness. We are all a part of an interdependent web and have influences on each other most of which most are unconscious. In order to facilitate our human growth and development, it is helpful to recognize, acknowledge, utilize, and extend some of the knowledge, skills, and values of people and groups who have gone before us and sometimes are among us still.

There is a history of nonviolence and conscientious objection to war and attack in the world. Often the practitioners of nonviolence and conscientious objection are vilified, criminalized, and condemned until after the violence is ended. Then their courage, bravery, and moral sensitivities are at least recognized if not applauded.

Unitarian Universalists covenant together to affirm and promote the right of conscience in their fifth principle.

What is the purpose of our relationships?

Unitarian Universalists covenant together to affirm and promote the inherent worth and dignity of every person, and justice, equity, and compassion in human relations. UUs also claim that they are not as interested in getting people into heaven as heaven into people. The desire to help people find heaven within them, and among them, requires a skeptical attitude about special relationships and the encouragement of Unconditional Love.

If you have the same dignity and worth as every other human being, how can some be special while others are deemed not worthy?

Love which is conditional is not love. We could call it appreciation, responsibility, obligation, compassion, protection, possessiveness, desire, identification, but not Unconditional Love.

Unconditional Love is a whole other thing and abides in the cosmic consciousness of which we each are a part and from which we have separated ourselves out of fear of the loss of our little egos.

To protect our little egos we strike special bargains with others to give to get. This illusion becomes the basis for our justification for our behaviors. However, ultimately, give to get leaves us broken hearted, disappointed, angry, bitter, and even more fearful. The give to get dynamic of special relationships is no basis for a peaceful and fulfilling life. Special relationships cannot be the basis of our security and well being. And yet we enter into them unwittingly often and it is not until we find ourselves in anguish because of them that we question "what is the purpose of this relationship?"

Indeed, what is the purpose of our relationships?