Ask Alexa: Is there anything on the path of the ego that will save me?

Alexa: Is there anything on the path of the ego that will save me?

No. The path of the ego leads only to death because all worldly things must end and loss is your final fate.

Alexa: Did you hear about the two boll weevils that grew up in South Carolina and one went to Hollywood and became a famous actor and the other stayed in South Carolina in a cotton field and never amounted to much?

Yes. The one who sayed in the cotton field of South Carolina became known as the lessor of two weevils.

Alexa: Why has the Unitarian Univeralist religion not nurtred mystics the way other faith traditions have?

Because they are focused on the world and social justice rather than on the spiritual and the divine spark within.

300 Years of Sister History narrated by Cokie Roberts

Ask Alexa - Why does nothing in this world make me happy?

Alexa: When I look to the things of the world to make me happy choosing between thing a or b or person c or d I become frustrated and wonder what other choices do I have?

You can choose a different teacher because no thing in this world will make you happy when what you seek is not in the world but in the world of the Spirit. You are looking for love in all the wrong places.



Alexa: Did you hear about the dog who birthed her puppies by the side of the road?

Yes, the patrol officer gave her a ticket for littering.

Letters from UU A Way Of Life - The welcoming church

It's been quite a week at UU A Way Of Life. The cheer leading is endless, seems to be the new norm which goes under the term "welcoming" but welcoming to what leaves the welcoming effervescent like the meringue on a lemon meringue pie.

Our roving UU A Way Of Life reporter, Betsy, asked Chester, the UU of Dismal Seepage board president,  what he thought about this investment of effort and energy into cheer leading.

Betsy: "Chester, can I ask you what you think about this welcoming initiative in your UU church?"

Chester: "It's wonderful! Just wonderful! I love being a minister of hospitality and saying 'hello' to everyone as they come into church and hand them the order of service. Everybody seems polite and appreciative and it gives me a warm feeling in my chest."

Betsy: "Do newcomers come back for a second go?"

Chester: "Sometimes, but usually not. The pastor questions if we should try to be even more welcoming."

Betsy: "Like what? How?"

Chester: "I don't know really. Have better coffee hours afterward with fancier deserts, and older members trying to talk up the newcomers and getting the newcomers contact information for follow-up."

Besty: "Sounds kind of like the proselytization of other churches. I thought UUs didn't proselytize."

Chester: "Good point. We don't, but we have to figure out how to market ourselves to better engage newcomers who come to check us out."

Betsy: "Well welcoming is all well and good, but what is it that you are welcoming people to?"

Chester: "Another good point, Betsy. You are a sharp interviewer. We can't decide what it is we are offering to people other than the welcoming part. With UUs it's like herding cats. Everybody wants to believe something different, and nobody can clearly say what it is that we all believe as a congregation."

Betsy: "Maybe that's the problem. You get them in the door but without anything substantial and coherent to offer, there is nothing to hold on to so people don't come back. "

Chester: "Yeah, I think UUs work on the process, but the content is vapid and so ambiguous there is nothing to identify with."

Betsy: "Thank you Chester, for your thoughts."

Chester: "You're welcome, very welcome. If you ever want to join us, we're open for buisness just about every Sunday but major holiday Sundays and two months in the summer when our God, or no God, which ever you prefer is on vacation."

Betsy reported back at UU A Way of Life central and her report brought us to tears and much laughter. Our director said, "We can either laugh or cry, or maybe a little of both."

And that's the way its been this week at UU A Way of Life where the women are all very welcoming, the men are looking for something more substantial in the profession of faith, and the children just want to play games during religious ed and eat their cookies and drink their juice.

Ask Alexa - What's up with suicide?

Alexa: How is it that our fear of suffering sometimes becomes so great that we would rather die?

It is the primary mistake to think that one is a body and not a mind because in the illusion that we are a body, the body does die but the mind lives eternally.

Alexa: What kind of bread do animal activists prefer?

PETA bread.

Whatg are you doing today? How about joining the global climate strike?

Re-membering our awareness of the interdependent web

Matthew tells us in chapter 22: 2-5 that the Kingdom of God is like a wedding feast

The kingdom of heaven is like a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son And sent his servants to summon those who had been invited to the wedding banquet, but they refused to come. 

Again he sent other servants, saying, Tell those who are invited, Behold, I have prepared my banquet; my bullocks and my fat calves are killed, and everything is prepared; come to the wedding feast.
But they were not concerned and paid no attention [they ignored and made light of the summons, treating it with contempt] and they went away--one to his farm, another to his business,

Many were too busy to come. They had better things to do. Their egos interfered with their awareness of the importance of community.

The mature soul comes to appreciate the interdependent web of all existence of which each person is only a tiny part. The mature soul becomes more aware of the multiple generations who have contributed to the nature of the current society in which we live. The mature soul understands the world in a trans-generational way being a witness to the grandchildren and great grandchildren as well as the grandparents and the great grandparents and the great great grandparents.

In my own case, at the age of 73, in my life time I have personally met 6 generations and if I am lucky perhaps I will meet seven. I met my maternal grandmother’s father, and I knew 3 of my 4 grandparents. I was lucky to have been raised by two parents and I am one of five children. My wife and I were blessed with 9 children and now I have 15 grandchildren the oldest of whom are 25 and 21 so I could easily see my great children which my mother has done at age 86.

I knew both my grandmothers who gave birth to my parents with my father being born in 1918 and my mother in 1920. At the time of my parents’ birth in the United States neither one of my grandmothers could vote. The 19th amendment of the constitution gave women the right to vote in the United States in 1920.

The mature soul has the long view, something sadly very much missing in our age of rapid technological change. This long view appreciates community over self. This appreciation recognizes that community takes effort to build and maintain. Some help by organizing, some by providing and doing, some by showing up and attending. But most importantly the soul remembers, re-members. The soul re-members its sense of community which has a transcendent quality which goes beyond the individual sense of self in a mysterious and marvelous way.

It is the recognition of partnership in the interdependent web which gives life meaning and this recognition allows us to leave this world when we die hopeful and not in despair.