Are you a lover, a meditator, or still in the ego?

Osho says, "These are the two paths from the valley leading to the peak. One path is of awareness, meditation: the path of Zen we have been talking about these days. And the other is the path of love, the path of the devotees, the bhaktas, the Sufis. These two paths are separate when you start the journey; you have to choose. Whichever one you choose is going to lead to the same peak. As you come closer to the peak you will be surprised: the travelers on the path are coming closer to you. Slowly, slowly, the paths start merging into each other. By the time you have reached the ultimate, you are one." p.213, "Ah, This!"

We could also say that the path of mediation is the path of the Buddhists, and the path of Love is the path of Christians. Jesus said that the way to the kingdom is to "love as I have loved."

Unitarian Universalists describe what they all their "living tradition" as emanating from six sources, what has also been called the "perennial philosophy" which is what all the religions have in common which is the journey to the top of the peak.

Osho's point seems to be that if you are to journey to the peak you must choose a path. You can't walk them all at once. How can you be in two places at one time? Which route will you choose? Which route is best for you?

It's not that we can't sample them all. Indeed we can, but muddling on them all will not get us to the peak and takes a lot of time and energy.

It seems to me that walking the path of Love takes a certain amount of mindfulness and as one nears the top of the peak, as Osho points out, they become one. Lovers are meditators, and meditators become lovers.

At the very least get off the path of the ego and onto the path of the spirit.

Weekly report from the publisher, 06/10/18

It has been quite a week here on UU A Way Of Life.

We remembered Fred Rogers and his message that we all our neighbors. In the time of Trump many of us have forgotten or never realized that we are all in this thing called "Life" together and none of us gets our alive.

Camille Dunghy, in her interview in the Sun Magazine, describes how she and her husband decided to consciously and intentionally bring a child into this world as a sign of their faith and hope in our collective future. Being a victim of racism her whole life, Dr. Dunghy's decision and action is very admirable and inspiring for those of us privileged to witness them.

The work of the non profit, For Freedoms, is also inspiring and needs our help in joining artistic work and creation with the betterment of society. I hope you will make a small contribution of only $10.00.

Many of the articles this week describe the journey on the spiritual path the key to which is  identifying a Master. There aren't many Masters, if any, in the history of Unitarian Universalism and that's a shame. No one, with the exception possibly of the transcendentalists, have been able to build a spirit life on the basis of the Perennial philosophy which Unitarian Universalism espouses. Osho says that the function of the Master is to help us remember our Divine nature, and to validate it when we find it.

People who leave the path of the ego and embark on the path of the spirit appear crazy to the secular world if not threatening, Ridicule, ostracism, and assassination are the risks the spiritual seeker takes on.

Please make a donation to support the work of UU A Way of Life. You can do it through PayPal in the right hand column. Jesus said, "Give unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's." UU A Way Of Life is God's work and your support, emotional, moral, psychological, and financial is appreciated. The work here is to remind people of their Divine nature which is their natural inheritance.

God is too big for any one religion

There are many roads to Rome, many ways to skin a cat. There are many ways to enlightenment, to remembering your Divine nature which is your natural inheritance.

Various religions offer different rituals, practices, worship experiences, sacraments. No one size fits all as the existence of all the world's religions attest, but they all aim to the same result, remembering the Divine.

Unitarian Univeralism has recognized this phenomenon and only asks the affirmation and promotion of the free and responsible search for Truth and meaning. This search is first for Truth, secondly for cosmic consciousness, and third for bliss.

Like most religions, Unitarian Universalism dawdles and muddles with the mundane. There are few spiritual Masters to be found among their leaders. As with most religions, religious leadership is perceived, and all too often understood, as political. UUs believe in democratic governance which is fine for the religious organizational management, but spiritual leadership is not based on democratic votes. Spiritual leadership is based on experience of the Truth and Love of the Divine and this experience is intensely personal. It is written in A Course In Miracles, “Revelation is intensely personal and cannot be meaningfully translated. That is why any attempt to describe it in words is impossible. Revelation induces only experience.” T-1.II.2:1-3

Religions, to flourish and achieve their mission, must leave the organizational management to the administrators. Administrators can be elected, but spiritual leaders cannot. Spiritual leadership is manifested by a person who has been there, who has achieved oneness with the All, who has dropped the ego, and who has embarked on the walk with Love on the path of the spiritual. These people are rare and even more rarely recognized, but if the student is ready the Master appears and a mutual Love relationship begins and is nurtured and flourishes.

It is rare to find spiritual Masters among religious people. If spiritual Masters are recognized, they often are perceived as a threat to the existing political structure of the religious organization and will be shunned, exiled, excommunicated, or even, as the case with Jesus, killed. Religious organizations, paradoxically from what one might expect, can be hostile territory for spiritual Masters to appear and abide. Spiritual Masters, if they are to survive, often move outside the organization which has not only no longer been a source of nurturance and validation, but antagonistic and hostile.

If you are looking for a Spiritual Master, you will not find him/her within the walls of organized religion but rather on the periphery, if at all connected. The spiritual Master no longer identifies with a religion because the God the Master has found is too big for any one religion.

ForFreedoms - Justice, equity, and compassion in human relations

Unitarian Universalists covenant together to affirm and promote justice, equity, and compassion in human relations. How about helping artists communicate these pro-social messages? Only $10.00.

From the New York Times on June 3, 2018

This fall, thousands of billboard and lawn signs will be erected all over the country in advance of the midterms, bearing names of politicians up for election. But a new campaign by the organization For Freedoms aims to use those tools not to promote specific candidates but to galvanize debate and political participation through art. The organization has enlisted artists like Sam Durant, Theaster Gates and Marilyn Minter to create public artwork and lead town halls as part of a $1.5 million-dollar campaign.

“We are hoping to bring art to the center of public life in the lead-up to the midterms, which is where we think art should belong,” Eric Gottesman, one of the organization’s founders, said in a phone interview.

A central aspect of the effort, called the 50 State Initiative, will be a fund-raising campaign to put up billboards across the country starting in September. Fifty-two Kickstarter campaigns will seek to raise $3,000 per state plus Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico.

Editor's note:

This is a great Kickstarter campaign and I have supported the billboard in New York. Will you consider supporting a billboard in a state of your choice?

Prophetic women and men - Fred Rogers

One of the six sources for the living tradition of Unitarian Universalism is the words and deeds of prophetic women and men which challenge us to confront powers and structures of evil with justice, compassion, and the transforming power of love.

That was Fred Rogers.

Enlightenment loves company

Unitarian Universalists covenant together to affirm and promote the acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth, and yet there don't seem to be any spiritual Masters among us. Without spiritual Masters, how can a group aspire to facilitate actualization of spiritual potential?

Unitarian Univeralists draw from six sources. To find a spiritual teacher, the seeker must leave UU and go deeper into one of the other religious traditions. The seeker winds up leaving Unitarian Universlism because the seeker failed to find the help desired for further spiritual growth. This is a shame but a few Unitarian Univeralists have come here and together we can facilitate our growth and find our way and validate each other's efforts, desires, and achievements.

Osho says that the Master has two functions: facilitate a person's awakening, and to confirm it when it occurs.

People are like onions with layer on layer on layer on layer. These layers are circles of privacy. At the heart of a person is the unconscious. Most people have not discovered what their unconscious consists of. Most people don't pursue it because they are afraid of it.

Deep down people are afraid that they are inadequate or defective in some way. Hell knows they have experienced this and been told this often enough. This Hell is the work of the ego. The ego tells us that nobody is ever good enough, has enough, is doing enough. The ego operates on the law of scarcity and deprivation.

The Master tells us that the Law of scarcity and deprivation is not true. People are not defective and inadequate. In fact, they are already perfect as creations of God and loved unconditionally. The Master asks us to remember what we were before our social conditioning and to experience this innocence, this heaven again. You'll know it when it fills your heart with gratitude and abundant Love.

When we experience this gratitude, love, and innocence, we are confused and wonder what this experience is and the Master affirms and validates the experience and says to us, "Yes, that's it. You've found it." For most of us, it seems unbelievable. We need to share the experience and have it validated by someone who knows, who has been there and is there too. They say, "Misery loves company" and it is more true that enlightenment loves company as well.

Quote of the day - Camille Dungy

I made a decision to have a child, and it’s not a decision my husband and I would have made if we couldn’t have faith that our child — and children like her — could enjoy the freedom to achieve her full potential. Every day I work to make this world worthy of the risk I took. 
Camille Dungy, The Sun Magazine, June, 2018, p.5

Editor's note:
The U.S. census has reported that the fertility rate in 2017 in the U.S. is 1.8 which is below the 2.1 replacement rate necessary to maintain the population. 

The suicide rate is again up from previous years.

These social indicators may mean that Trumpian policies have contributed to Americans having less hope in their own lives and the future.

Can Unitarian Universalism help restore faith in our own well being?