Subscribe, re-subscribe, to email notifications of new UU A Way Of Life content.

Somehow I think the email subscriptions to the UU A Way Of Life has been disrupted. If you would like to subcribe to a daily email reminder of new blog content please re-subscribe or subcribe for the first time. You should receive one email per day between 7:00 - 9:00 PM Eastern time if new articles were posted that day.

Thanks for your interest in UU A Way Of Life.

Integrity Takes Courage - Beware of wolves in sheeps' clothing

I often think of the slogan, "The proof of the pudding is in the eating." or as it says in the Gospel of Matthew in Chapter 7, verse 20, by their fruits you will know them.

Matthew 7:14 - 20

But the gate is narrow (contracted [k]by pressure) and the way is straitened and compressed that leads away to life, and few are those who find it.

Beware of false prophets, who come to you dressed as sheep, but inside they are devouring wolves.

You will [l]fully recognize them by their fruits. Do people pick grapes from thorns, or figs from thistles?

Even so, every healthy (sound) tree bears good fruit [[m]worthy of admiration], but the sickly (decaying, worthless) tree bears bad (worthless) fruit.

A good (healthy) tree cannot bear bad (worthless) fruit, nor can a bad (diseased) tree bear [n]excellent fruit [worthy of admiration].

Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and cast into the fire.

Therefore, you will fully know them by their fruits.

And I think at this election time of the fruits of the Republican administration: devastating war in Iraq, increased negativity and nastiness in our civil discourse, loss of respect around the world, more poor people in poverty while the rich have gotten richer, no health care for 47 million Americans, the devastation of New Orleans and the lack of governmental response, and yet all the God talk and God bless America in political speeches to get votes from naive evangelicals who aren't aware of how they are being manipulated by the "false prophets" who are dressed as sheep but inside are devouring wolves.

We are bombarded with all kinds of opinions from pundits, preachers, politicians, celebrities, and experts. What is the ordinary person to think, to do? Listen with your head and your heart and act with integrity. Integrity comes from wisdom, courage, timing, perserverance, and a willingness to suffer in an open hearted way for justice and truth. This way is narrow and unfortunately there are few who find it. I pray that you and I be ones who do.

Bruce Cockburn - Let the bad air out. Song lasts 5:50 and well worth listening to.



Editor's note:

I published this article on the Chalicefire blog on 05/29/08. After 11 years not much has changed. If anything, some might argue that things have gotten worse. However, Trumpism is not so much the problem as the symptom of the disease, the disease being lack of integrity.

Integrity is one of those words we don't use much any more. Do you know anyone, perhaps even yourself, who this word could be used to describe?

Integrity takes a muturity, a pesence of mind, what we called back in the 60s, "having your shit together." It seems to me that in this day and age it is rare to find people who have their shit together and when you do, it is a grand blessing.

Ask Alexa - What's the difference between a mistake and a sin?

Alexa: What's the difference between mistakes and sins?

Mistakes can be corrected and brought to truth while sins fill us with guilt that needs punishment.

Alexa:Did you hear about the person who burned their hands taking the pan of hash brownies out of the oven?

Yes, the person needs to use potholders.

The new trinity: not knowing, bearing witness, taking action

"In our work we have three basic tenets that come right out of Buddhist training. First, when we enter into the political world, we enter from a standpoint of not knowing. We don't enter with a solution in mind, we enter with a deep listening and an open space. The second tenet is bearing witness, fully knowing the situation we are in. And the third tenet is taking action."

Bernie Glassman, Mindful Politics, p. 78

Bernie Glassman is a Buddhist Roshi and from his Buddhist tradition he also describes the UU approach to community life.

UUs also encourage a not knowing stance when we encourage a free and responsible search for truth and meaning, the acceptance of one another and encouragement of spiritual growth in our congregations, and the right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at large.

Further, Glassman's second tenet is bearing witness, and UUs believe in the inherent worth and dignity of every person, and justice, equity, and compassion in human relations.

Thirdly, Glassman says that after listening with an attitude of not knowing, and bearing witness, people have to take action, and UUs work toward the goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all, and respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.

Even though UUs have rejected trinitarian theology when it comes to the conception of God, I like Glassman's suggestion of a trinity when it comes to not knowing, bearing witness, and taking action.

In the Christian tradition it was James who said that faith without works is dead. An interior life must give rise to an external life. Any person who says that he loves God but hates his brother is a liar. Any person who has all the answers and can't listen to his brother and sister is full of pride and arrogance. Any person who can't face reality because he/she is so caught up in ideology so that they live in denial and ignorance, is doomed to hell on earth.

The Unitarian Universalist faith like Buddhism does not turn away from suffering but acknowledges that it is part of human life. Unitarian Universalism acknowledges that the way out of suffering is detachment from credal beliefs and love for one another. Unitarian Universalism encourages certain practices the greatest of which is love for our fellow human beings and for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.

Pope Benedict XVI subverts the Universalist message

Humanity's team gives a univeralist message at a time when Pope Benedict XVI claims exclusive path to God through the Roman Catholic Church. Video lasts 2:31.

Ask Alexa - Are people sinners?

Alexa: Are people sinners?

No but they make a lot of mistakes and believe insane ideas which need to be brought to Truth.

Alexa: Did you hear about the person who joined an origami class?

Yes, and I hear that the person really enjoyed it until the attendance dwindled and it finally folded.

My Kind of Church Music - Makeba by Jain

From Krista Tippett's interview with Maira Kalman originally released on 09/07/17:

Ms. Kalman:

The way that we move through space is really interesting to me, and I am conscious of the fact that we are moving and dancing, in our way, all day long. It’s funny, because Nietzsche said that a day that doesn’t have a dance in it is a lost day, which you wouldn’t expect from somebody like Nietzsche, who was crazy.

Ms. Tippett:

And intense.

Ms. Kalman:

And intense and had such a giant mustache, as I write about. But the fact is that we really are all moving and dancing all day long. And the older you get, the more dangerous it is. And you can trip. I tripped on the sidewalk and broke my arm, and I thought, “Well, how did this happen? This is absurd.” So my heart goes out to everybody — that’s it. My heart goes out to everybody.