Don't worry. Be happy

Unitarian Universalists would be the happiest people in the world if they took their faith seriously. The Universalists teach us that God loves us unconditionally and yet most of the world and even UUs don't really believe this and live their lives accordingly. If they did, they would be happier and their happiness would exude a fragrance that would be noticeable around their communities and the world.

In the early Christian church, it was said that outsiders would remark about Christians in amazement, "Look how they love another." That kind of love radiates in waves and people should be warmed by it. In most UU churches there is a coolness that is chilling. That coolness comes from UUs not knowing enthusiastically and passionately who they are. They are a tentative and skeptical bunch who will lapse into argument at the drop of a hat so often jokes are made about it. They form committees to study their issues which are deadly. When did love ever come from a committee? Did you ever feel loved by a committee? No?

UUs are haunted by their past and disaffection for the faith, or lack of faith, of their childhoods. They are looking for that something they have been longing for and can't name. They have their baggage they are hopping to jettison and connect with something more satisfying and fulfilling in exploring UU.

The third principle asks UUs to covenant together to affirm and promote the acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual grown, but to fully accept one another we must know who we are and the skepticism and ambivalence of most UUs are such huge barriers and obstacles to the implementation of the third principle that the UUA is shrinking not growing.

Some people live in their past. Even more of a concern, some people are haunted by their past.

For some people their past is hard to get past. Their past holds them down, torments them, and will not let them go.

What's the answer for managing the demons that haunt us?

Forgiveness.

Forgiveness brings us to the present moment, the Holy Instant, the here and now. The Holy Instant is a dropping of all the ego illusions and a surrender, a joining with the Oneness. This is best done with awe and a laugh. It is a realization that every person is better than their worst act(s).

Our fears of future hurts keep us trapped, but if God is with you who can be against you? They can kill your body, your reputation, take your belongings and resources, take your loved ones and the people and things to which you are attached, and in the last analysis, so what? Some day you have to give them up any way. Can't take them with you as they say. You can't live in the past or the future. You can only live in the now. In Alcoholic Anonymous they say, "One day at a time." Sometimes its one hour at a time or one moment at a time.

So as Bobby McFerrin sings, "Don't worry. Be happy."

Prophetic voices and events - Prosperity now

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Check it out by clicking here.

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

Spiritual practice of the day #17- Examine your conscience at least once per day.

As a Catholic child I was taught to examine my conscience before going to confession. The tenth step of Alcoholics Anonymous the first of twelve step programs is to continually take a personal moral inventory and when we are wrong to promptly admit it. It is a good spiritual practice to examine our conscience at least once a day. Keep track of what you are doing right as well as what you are doing wrong. What you are doing right is far more important.

Question of the day - Are you a soul with a body or a body with a soul?

Are you a body with a soul or a soul with a body? 

This is not a cute question. It is a serious question. Think deeply about it. Your answer makes a big difference in how you understand yourself and the world you are living in.

Forgiveness is necessary on the path of the spirit.

The Universalists got it right. God loves us unconditionally. The Universalists preached this message to the world and it has been drowned out. It is rarely heard any more. It has been drowned out by the idolization of the individual, and the meme of personal responsibility. In our materialistic, capitalistic society, there is no room for mercy, for compassion, for forgiveness because it is bad for business. We justify our greed, our exclusionary practices, our subjugation and oppression as "just doing business." The Universalist message is drowned out in cacophony of our "me too," and "me only" culture.

As a society we operate on the basis or "me," "mine," and "ours." We want to make America great again, an America build economically on genocide and slavery. Genocide and slavery are our roots, the deepest and sturdiest roots of the tree of American democracy, and we act surprised when a Trump gets elected and forget that his vision of America and his values have millions of supporters many of whom control vast resources of wealth.

Rev. Dr. William Barber, II, has observed that America is in a moral crisis. The moral dysfunction runs very deep in our history and in our souls. We either choose to forgive or continue to condemn erroneously justifying our condemnation as God's will and intention. The Universalist message has been dwindling and what will help our nation rectify the sinful path it is on is the recognition and acknowledgement of the Universalist insight. That recognition and acknowledgement begins with the naming of our errors and forgiving ourselves and others and sharing the grace of God's Unconditional Love.

It is written in A Course In Miracles, "Forgiveness is the world's equivalent of Heaven's justice." T-26.IV.1:1

That's an awesome idea. If God is Unconditional Love, forgiveness shouldn't even be necessary for what would there be to forgive? What difference would sin make on such a path?

If God is Unconditional Love there would be no judgment, no punishment, no hell. Judgment, punishment, and hell is the creation of the path of the ego. We humans, in separating ourselves from God's Oneness, have created our own hell. The ego loves the hell we have created because it involves drama which keeps us from being aware of the choice we could make to leave the path of the ego and embark on the path of the spirit.

If Heaven, the At-one-ment, Salvation is when everybody loves everybody all the time because this loving everyone all the time is an extension of God's Unconditional Love, then forgiveness of our own and our brother's egotistical beliefs, intentions, and behaviors is the correction required by the path of the spirit to move humanity closer to God's intentions for us on earth as it is in heaven.

UUs need to proselytize. We need to act as missionaries in our own country and around the world teaching and spreading our good news. In many places it will not be welcome. Jesus told His disciples not to waste their time in such places but to move on to places where the good news would be more welcome or at least listened to.

Standing on the side of love requires more than just standing. Solidarity can be a wonderful thing. Just standing though will get you no where. We must move - move out in greater and greater circles of love. We must teach, minister, share, nurture, uplift the idea that everyone is loved, not just loved, but loved unconditionally. That is their birthright, and when they are not loved something has gone wrong, terribly wrong. Recognizing this fact and acting on it is Heaven's justice.

Prophetic voices and events

The bail system in the U.S. is a travesty of justice. Poverty is not a crime.