Unitarian Universalism: A Way Of Life podcast. Milestone 2 on the walk with Love on the path of the spirit - honesty

All that you've got is your soul

Unitarian Universalists covenant together to affirm and promote the free and responsible search for truth and meaning. Where will this search take them: down the path of the ego or the path of the spirit?

Religion makes a big deal out of sacrifice and giving things up. There is an attraction to asceticism which, as it moves to an extreme, can become masochistically sick.

Buddhism is clear, in its teachings, about the importance of the middle path, and balance.

Giving up of the path of the ego, though, is no sacrifice, because, once properly understood, the idols of the ego would not have provided the yearned for fulfillment anyway. Pursuing the idols on the path of the ego is a wild goose chase and never comes to the desired fruition. It is barking up the wrong tree.

Where is the sacrifice, then, in giving up the idols on the path of the ego?

The things on the path of the spirit lead one to authentic fulfillment and wholeness. To pursue the things of the path of the spirit one has to leave the path of the ego. This is no sacrifice, but a turning away as the idols on the path of the ego no longer seem relevant, meaningful, desirable.

Turning from the idols on the path of the spirit is not a sacrifice but a liberation, and freedom from and thereby a freedom to.

As it is written in A Course Of Miracles, the fraudulent motto of the path of the ego is "Seek and do not find."

Jesus says in Matthew 16:25-26:

For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for My sake will find it. What will it profit a person if that person gains the whole world, yet forfeits their soul? Or what can a person give in exchange for their own soul?

As Tracy Chapman sings, All That You Got Is your Soul.

How many UUs does it take to save the world?

Unitarian Universalists covenant together to affirm and promote the acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth.

You know the old jokes about how many ____________does it take to change a light bulb?

How many psychotherapists does it take to change a light bulb?

Only one, but the bulb has to want to change. LOL

How many people does it take to save the world?

Only one, but it has to be one who has become one with the all like Jesus or Buddha.

Jesus made it simple. He said, "Love as I have loved."

How did Jesus love?

He joined His will with what He believed to be the will of His Higher Power.

He forgave those who killed Him. He loved everyone even the tax collectors, the adulterers, the prostitutes, the Samaritans.

He helped people wherever He went. He shared His love of Life with whoever would listen and even those who didn't or wouldn't listen.

Same with Buddha. Buddha said He had achieved enlightenment and was free to go to nirvana but He wanted to help His fellow human beings achieve nirvana as well and so He stayed on earth to teach people how to do what He had achieved.

Are there women too who have loved beyond measure? Billions. Their stories have not been preserved and told in a patriarchal society unless one considers Mary, the mother of Jesus, Mother Theresa, Dorothy Day and hundreds and thousands of other saints.

You can save the world when you become enlightened. In the meantime work on yourself and one soul at a time.

My will or Thy will makes all the difference

Unitarian Universalists covenant together to affirm and promote the free and responsible search for truth and meaning. Where does this search take them? The search can take them further down the path of the ego or they can turn onto the path of the spirit. Observers have noted that many UUs are confused about which path to take. The problem is that you can't take both. Eventually you have to choose. The denomination, itself, struggles with that decision and its membership dwindles because of it.

The comedian, Flip Wilson, when he performed his comedic character, Geraldine, would have her say in a sassy, sexy way, "What you see is what you get!" This line always got a laugh. It is funny. Part of the humor in the line is that it is true and we all see a little of ourselves in it.

Are you an optimist or a pessimist? Do you love yourself and the world you are living in, or don't you like yourself and the world you are living in? The way you regard yourself and the world you are living in is the lens through which you will perceive and interpret yourself and the world.

The deeper question is "how do you think God sees you and world?" If you think that maybe God sees you and the world different from the way you see yourself and the world, what are these differences?

The path of the ego involves seeing ourselves as sinful and the world as a dangerous place based on the law of scarcity. The path of the spirit involves seeing ourselves as extensions of God's love for the world and the world as a place of abundant Love and peace.

Our experience is not based on external circumstances but on the lens we are using to perceive and interpret the meaning of these circumstances.

We often insist on our own judgment rather than on the judgment of our Higher Power. We want to be the boss and in control for a whole bunch of reasons until we begin to laugh when we realize that we hear God laughing because we have told God our plans and judgments.

In our spiritual development we come to a point where we realize there must be a better way to live our lives and with this dawning realization comes a turning from the path of the ego onto the path of the spirit. This turning initiates the search for that better way and our openness to God's will for us rather than insisting on our own, makes all the difference.

Judgment is impossible

Unitarian Universalists covenant together to affirm and promote respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part. If we are to truly respect the interdependent web we must give up judgment.

One of the milestones on the walk with Love on the path of the spirit is the giving up of judgment. On what could our judgment possibly rest since we lack omniscienceness?

When we judge we delude ourselves. The bumper sticker says, "Good judgment comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgment."

The phenomenon we observe and even the perceptions we experience our multi-dimensional. How could we ever know totally? At the best, we guess and often are wrong.

As the Buddhists say, "It is what it is." With that, let it go and recognize and acknowledge that we really don't know, can't know. We learn to turn our judgment over to our Higher Power and we are grateful and experience a new found peace.

How to make decisions

Unitarian Universalists convenant together to affirm and promote the free and responsible search for truth and meaning. How does this apply to an individual's life?

People struggle to make life decisions. Should I stay married or get divorced? Should I stay in this job or look for another? Should I say here or move? Should I talk to her anymore or give up on the friendship?

The person is torn between choices and finds it hard to make a decision. The longer one ponders the more one starts to ruminate. If the rumination increases so does the consequent anxiety and depression sometimes leading to fear at disabling levels.

As it is written in A Course In Miracles, the tolerance for pain may be high but not without limit.

What should a person do?

Simple. Turn your will over to God's will for you. God's will be done. Can you bring your will into alignment with what you believe is God's will for you? The word for seeking God's will is "discernment."

How does one discern God's will?

We will make suggestions for how to discern God's will in future articles.

For now be assured that you don't need to make decisions all by yourself. Ask the Holy Spirit, Jesus, God, the Spirit of Life, the Muse, Mother Nature, the Great Spirit, your Higher Power for guidance and be open to what you sense as the answer.

Make me one with everything

Unitarian Universalists covenant together to affirm and promote respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.

To dichotomize means to distinguish one part  from another. We have deconstructed the whole into component parts but the whole is greater than the sum of the parts and so we must ask ourselves what is real?

The distinctions we make are illusionary. We think they serve a purpose and on the path of the ego they do for the ego, but on the path of the spirit they serve no purpose and interfere with our understanding of the truth.

The goal on the path of the spirit is to appreciate and understand the interconnectedness of God's creation. The path of the spirit takes us to an awareness of nonduality and with this awareness differences have no meaning.

The monk said to the hot dog vendor, "Make me one with everything." On the path of the spirit that also is our prayer.