Worthiness has nothing to do with it. God's love is unconditional

The Universalists had a profound insight - that God's love is unconditional. Hell is something created by humans and is not of God's world.

There is one major hurtle on the spiritual path. That hurtle is the belief that some people are worthy and some are not. Some people are good and others bad. Some people deserve salvation while others are damned to hell. This belief in degrees of worthiness is the path of the ego and is not on the path of the spirit, for God loves all of God's creation unconditionally. It is humans, who have separated themselves from the love of God, who have created these levels of hell.

The correction, of course, is forgiveness and surrendering our will to the Holy Spirit of God.

It is written in A Course In Miracles that problems appear to us in many forms with different circumstances and characteristics and levels of intensity. The Holy Spirit of God cares nothing about the form for the issue is always the same, our willfulness and illusions.

Surrendering to the Love of God fills us with the fear of giving up our egos and that, most of us most of the time, are not willing to do, yet. But there comes a time when our spirits will be pried lose from our bodies and how that goes for us will depend on whether we go willingly or unwillingly. If we have matured enough to not only go willingly but to welcome the incorporation into the Oneness we will find peace and bliss. If we are still immature and our fears prevent us from surrendering, we will have to learn more before we are ready, and perhaps, if reincarnation is accurate, come back again to the school on the earth plane to continue our education.

The bottom line here is that, if anything deserves our faith, it is the Holy Spirit who can help us solve all problems. The best joke I ever heard is this, "If you want to hear God laugh, tell God your plans." That's the funniest thing I ever heard. The best question we could ever ask of God is "What do you want me to do?" Ask the Holy Spirit of God to help us surrender our ego and joyfully join in God's loving will for us.

UUAWOL weekly report 01/07/18 - 01/13/18

Weekly report from UUAWOL 01/07/18 - 01/13/18

Stats

1.    During the week of 01/07/18 - 01/13/18  UUAWOL received 1464 views down 449 from the previous week.

2.    The heaviest viewing day was Sundayy, 01/07/18, with 254 views.

3.    The average number of views per day was 209 while the average number of views the preceding week was 273.

Highlights

1.    There was a focus on the meaning of justice.

2.    The question of whether people want to live their lives based on the principle of scarcity or abundance was popular.

3.    There was a high level of interest in the article about Krista Tippett and Becoming Wise

4.    In case you were wondering continues to be popular for comedic relief.

5.    Description of upcoming Poor People’s campaign in May, 2018

Plans - Short term

1.    Continue to develop a common vocabulary

2.    Continue to develop a map for the spiritual journey describing milestones along the path.

3.    Continue to assess how viewership can be increased.

4.    Continue to solicit feedback via comments on the blog.

Plans - long term

1.    Build a model of UU theology

2.    Create a dictionary of UU terms

3.    Develop a compendium of possible practices to enhance the spiritual life

4.    Further develop an articulation of the values that comprise a good life.

Prophetic voices and events - UUA President Rev. Susan Gray pledges UUA's support for the Poor People's Campaign

On December 4, 2018, Rev. Susan Frederick Gray, UUA President, announced the UUA’s full participation in the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival at a press conference with Rev. William J. Barber, Rev. Liz Theoharis, and other faith leaders.

Suggested spiritual practice of the day #14

Some people are religious but not spiritual. Some people are spiritual but not religious. Some people are both spiritual and religious. Briefly compose your religious and spiritual autobiography so you can share the highlights with someone interested in 5 - 10 minutes.

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

Question of the day

Before you go on a trip it's helpful to have a map that charts the route of your journey. To what extent do you have a map for your spiritual journey to the Kingdom?

Loneliness and sharing

The third source articulated for the living tradition of Unitarian Universalism is "Wisdom from the world's religions which inspires us in our ethical and spiritual life." One of the most important nuggets of wisdom found in all the world's religions is some form of the golden rule - "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." The golden rule might be even further simplified to one word, "share."

R.D. Laing, the British Psychiatrist, wrote in his book, Politics of Experience, that I can experience my own experience, but I can never experience your experience. The closest I can come to you is to experience my observing you experiencing your own experience.

Read that again. Stay with it. It's profound.

According to A Course In Miracles, we humans have decided to separate from the Oneness and form our own bodies. In doing so we made a sacrifice.

Recent psychological studies report that the biggest psychological problem in the United States is loneliness.

As I was reading about this finding, it made me laugh. Really? Loneliness? What made me laugh is the naming of this as a psychological problem which, undoubtedly it is, for which one of us has not experienced loneliness even in a crowded room, even in our committed long term relationships? What made me laugh is the lack of recognition that this, at its fundamental base, is a spiritual problem. The psychological aspect is only symptomatic at the surface, but fails to get to the bottom of things.

And so the problem of loneliness is a problem of the path of the ego. Rather than take the path of the spirit we have chosen the path of the ego which has taken us down the dark dead-end road to loneliness.

The good news is that things don't have to be this way. We can change course and embark on the path of the spirit and leave the path of the ego.

What does this change of course look like? It looks like forgiveness and love instead of blame and greed. It is about sharing instead of clinging and protecting.