Where do you stand: center or edge?

"I want to stay as close to the edge as I can without going over.  Out on the edge you see all kinds of things you can't see from the center."

—Kurt Vonnegut

As we are into campaign season with the PR roll-outs of the Democratic candidates for President of the U.S., there is some sort of moral in Kurt Vonnegut's observation. Some people have claimed that Vonnegut was UU, but from what I can find out, he identified more closely with the Humanist philosophy.

Would it be accurate to say that UUs stand more to the edge than in the center?

A Course In Miracles and Unitarian Universalism - Unconditional love

From A Course In Miracles:

T-21.III.1. All special relationships have sin as their goal. For they are bargains with reality, toward which the seeming union is adjusted. 

Forget not this; to bargain is to set a limit, and any brother with whom you have a limited relationship, you hate. 

You may attempt to keep the bargain in the name of “fairness,” sometimes demanding payment of yourself, perhaps more often of the other. Thus in the “fairness” you attempt to ease the guilt that comes from the accepted purpose of the relationship. 

And that is why the Holy Spirit must change its purpose to make it useful to Him and harmless to you.

Schucman, Dr. Helen. A Course in Miracles (p. 451). Foundation for Inner Peace.

Comment:

Unitarian Universalists covenant together to affirm and promote, in their third principal, the acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth.

The Universalist faith is based on the faith in unconditional love. Therefore, UU is an inclusive religion and exludes no one nor condemns them to hell.

Condtional relationships based on exclusivity and specialness separate and divide in which the ego rejoices, but God is the Tao, the Oneness of which we are all a part and from which we came and to which we will return.

The Spirit Of Life loves all of creation unconditionally. In this experience there is much peace.

May you experience the peace which is your natural inheritance.

Ask Alexa - Which is better: conditional love or unconditional love?

Alexa: Which is better, conditional love or unconditional love?

Depends on the purpose of the relationship and what you want to get out of it. Conditional love, though, is always problematic.

Alexa: Did you hear about the person who told his psychiatrist, "Doc, I have this funny feeling that I'm a teepee and then a wigwam. What's wrong with me?"

Yes, and I heard the psychiatrist told him to relax because he was too tents.

Is this what they meant when they chanted, "Make America Great Again?"

What can Unitarian Universalists do?

Matthew 25:40-45 New International Version (NIV)

40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me,you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’

44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’

45 “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’

A Course In Miracles and Unitarian Universalism - In what do you place your faith?

From A Course In Miracles:

T-21.II.9. We have already said that wishful thinking is how the ego deals with what it wants, to make it so.

There is no better demonstration of the power of wanting, and therefore of faith, to make its goals seem real and possible.

Faith in the unreal leads to adjustments of reality to make it fit the goal of madness.

The goal of sin induces the perception of a fearful world to justify its purpose. What you desire, you will see. And if its reality is false, you will uphold it by not realizing all the adjustments you have introduced to make it so.

Schucman, Dr. Helen. A Course in Miracles (p. 450). Foundation for Inner Peace.

Comment:

How we wish for things. We have our hearts set on what we think must be so, ought to be so, should be so.

The old saying is, "Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it." We wish for all kinds of things which the world of the ego has told us will make us happier, safer, more attractice to others, more loved, smarter, more successful, etc.

When things don't seem to be working out we become frustrated, angry, resentful, afraid, embarassed, depressed, anxious, and we start treating these symptoms with chemicals like alcohol, drugs, medications, sex, gambling, video games, Facebook, religion, work, sex, food.

Sin is the separation from God, from the Oneness, and this induces guilt because unconsciously we think God will punish us for our separation and desire to be the boss of ourselves and our own lives. Our Universalist faith teaches us that God loves us uncondtionally and just laughs at our wilful insanity like a parent might laugh at a child engaged in childish activity.

Addiction is defined as "doing the same thing over and over hoping for a different result." And the Course asks us, "Would you rather be right or be happy."

Unfortunately, most of us would rather be right and we defend the misguided beliefs, values, practices that we hold dear.

What is called for is placement of our faith in the path of the spirit and not in the path of the ego. This means we look within and "get right with ourselves." This means being honest, being genuine, authentic, sincere, once again innocent.

Jesus has told us that unless we become as little children we cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. What Jesus is talking about is a remembering our innocense before the world of the ego corrupted us misleading us to put our faith in things that could never make us happy. The belief in the power of immaginary things to provide us with a deep seated fulfillment and satisfaction is barkinig up the wrong tree. We have put our faith in the wrong things and the wrong place.

The third principle of Unitarian Universalism asks us to affirm and promote the free and responsible search for truth and meaning. Are you looking in the right place?.

Ask Alexa - Who created me?

Alexa: Who created me and how did I come to be?

That's two different questions and at a deep level, even in your unconscious, you are aware that you did not create yourself, and you have come to be because it was God's (Life's, Mother Nature's, Higher Power's, Spirit of Life's) will that you came to be as an incarnation of the Oneness which some call the "ground of being."

Alexa:Did you hear about the person who slipped further and further into debt?

Yes, and no matter what the person did, the person didn't seem to be able to budge it.

You might think it's okay to treat immigrant children like dogs in a kennel, but I don't think it's okay.

Trumpists and Republican Senators and Congresspeople might think its okay to treat immigrant children like dogs in a kennel in US ICE border facilities, but I don't think it's okay because it violates the norms of human decency and compassion and Unitarian Universalism's first and second principles..


 

Segment about kids treated like dogs in US Border Facility begins at 02:40


You might think that President Trump, Senate Leader Mitch McConnell, and Vice President Pence, are great leaders of the United States and what they do to immigrants is okay, but I don't think it's okay and it's UnAmerican in their treatment of our fellow human beings, and professed Christian Mike Pence's response that tooth brushes, and soap, and diapers for children being detained is not in the US budget is not only not okay but insanity from a devil in disguise .