Daily Reflections, Day Sixty five, Harmony with all that is.

Day Sixty five

Harmony with all that is.

        “Grace is not learned. The final step must go beyond all learning. Grace is not the goal this course aspires to attain. Yet we prepare for grace in that an open mind can hear the Call to waken. It is not shut tight against God’s Voice. It has become aware that there are things it does not know, and this is ready to accept a state completely different from experience with which it is familiarly at home.
We have perhaps appeared to contradict our statement that the revelation of the Father and the Son as one has been already set. But we have also said the mind determines when that time will be, and has determined it. And yet we urge you to bear witness to the Word of God to hasten the experience of truth, and speed its advent into every mind that recognizes truth’s effects on you.” ACIM.W-169:3:1-6.41-3

Are we ready to learn? Are we open to hearing the Voice of God? Neale Donald Walsch, in his Conversations With God books, tells us that God is talking to us all the time. It is us who are not listening.

When we do listen and we hear God’s voice we experience grace. We describe a “grace filled moment” when our hearts and minds are touched by a transcendent experience which is unfathomable and unspeakable. This grace sometimes brings tears of joys and peace to our eyes and we feel ourselves resonate with something so much greater than ourselves.

Can we force grace? Is it a commodity that we can buy or an experience that can be produced upon demand? No, grace is not a commodity that can be possessed. It is an experience that comes from surrender to the greatness of God’s creation. This experience has been described in the hymn, “Amazing grace.”

Today, I will be open to listening for God’s voice. In order to do this, I must clear my mind and heart from the clutter of the ego. I must go within and wait patiently and listen quietly for the hum of the cosmic vibration that engenders harmony with All that Is. You, too, can hear God’s music if you tune in to the right frequency.

Climate change - The story of disrespect told in the U.S. Senate

Just how completely the world below our feet will become unknown to us is not yet clear, and how we register its transformation remains an open question. One legacy of the environmentalist creed that long prized the natural world as an otherworldly retreat is that we see its degradation as a sequestered story, unfolding separately from our own modern lives—so separately that the degradation acquires the comfortable contours of parable, like pages from Aesop, aestheticized even when we know the losses as tragedy.

Wallace-Wells, David. The Uninhabitable Earth (p. 25). Crown/Archetype. Kindle Edition.

David Wallace-Wells calls the story of climate change a "sequestered story." The story of climate change, even if we acknowledge it, we can't quite accept. It's like the U.S. Senator, James Inhofe, who brought a snow ball into the Senate chamber in February, 2015, mocking the science of human influenced global warming.

What are we, as Unitarian Universalists, to do in the face of such disrepect for the interdependent web of existence which have convenanted together to affirm and promote? What is our duty or duties in the face of this sequestered story and misinformation?

There are several duties.

First, set the record straight and educate people to the facts.
Two, vote and elect people to make our national policies which correspond to the facts.
Three, organize like minded people to strike and boycott climate damaging activities.
Four, engage and support in activities to change our ways of life to be in harmony with nature and not exploit nature for profit.

What other duties and actions might you add?

Daily Reflections, Day Sixty four, Remembering Love's presence

Day Sixty four

Remembering Love’s presence

“It matters not when revelation comes, for that is not of time.” ACIM.W-158.11:1

Revelation, of course, is not of time. Time stands still. Revelation is timeless. Becoming one with the All is not bound by time.

Time is an illusion which we project onto our experience and allow it to constrain us, restrain us, and stress us. Time is a major tool of the ego to keep us under its spell. The revelation of God knows nothing of time and is not bound by it in any way and, in fact, knows nothing of it. Time does not exist in the Oneness.

And so, revelation, when we experience it knows nothing of time and is not influenced by it nor constrained by it in any way. Revelation can occur when it will. The Buddhists say, “It is what it is.” God tells Moses, “I am that I am.”

The best we can do as human beings is to be open to revelation and accepting of it by sheding the things of the ego. When we remove the barriers and blocks to our awareness of Love’s presence, love’s presence appears to us with a glorious experience of peace and bliss.

Today, I will continue to spot and disregard the things of the ego: fear, guilt, resentment, grievance, and instead focus on love, forgiveness, compassion, and sharing. I will remember the presence of God in my life and not allow myself to get distracted by the idols of the world.

Sunday Sermon - You are the salt of the earth and the light of the world

Matthew 5: 13-16

Salt and Light

13 “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.

14 “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

As a Roman Catholic Unitarian Universalist I take Jesus' words as reported in Matthew 5 seriously, maybe more seriously than other UUs.

UUs don't like to proselytize. They don't put an emphasis on sharing their faith the way other more evangelical denominations do. Why they prefer to keep their faith to themselves and not make an effort to share it, seems a bit of a puzzle.

One of the primary reasons, perhaps, for the lack of evangelization by UUs is that they don't understand their faith, themselves. Most UUs seem to be in a muddle. They have little conceptual understanding of their faith and so they have difficulty sharing it in a coherent way with others.

Part of this muddle is the result of the lack of training in the basic principles of Unitarian Universalism and an understanding of the six sources. UUs seem more interested in coffee and donuts and social action than a deeper spiritual understanding of their faith.

The salt of Unitarian Universalism has lost its saltiness and so what is it good for other than to be thrown out and trampled under foot? UUs are too worried about being politically correct and not offending anyone that they have  become conflict avoidant until the pressure of disagreement becomes so great that schism occurs. UUs would rather leave the denomination than rectify the errors which often confound and beleagure it. 

Due to the muddle of Unitarian Universalism, there is little light to share among the nations. Occasionally there is a glimmer, but it is quickly extinguished and overcome by darkness. From what can the light of the faith emanate when the faith itself is so murky?

And so, perhaps, it is time for a revitalization of the UU faith when a sense of mission and vision and values are rejuvenated and a fire is created to warm humanity in its glow. Perhaps Unitarian Universalism needs to return to its foundational principles and teach its members what they are and how to share them with the world. Unitarian Universalists believe in the Unconditional Love of God and its inclusion of all humankind and all of life on this planet. UUs need to be more vigorous in sharing their principles with the world.

If the understanding of your faith is clear to you, go forth and share it, and salt the earth, and beam the light.

Daily Reflections, Day Sixty three, Are you ready to accept Oneness?

Day Sixty three

Are you ready to accept Oneness?

“The revelation that the Father and the Son are one will come in time to every mind. Yet is that time determined by the mind itself, not taught.” ACIM.W-158.2:8-9

Nonduality is a hard concept for the Western mind to understand. We are raised to see the world in terms of separation or subject/object duality. We understand, on the path of the ego, through the mechanism of comparison and contrast, the ying and yang, which we take for granted in our perceiving and miss the whole.

A Course In Miracles assures us that awareness of the Oneness will come to every mind and in this awareness lies the belief among the Universalists that everyone is saved in the end and will be in heaven. This awareness is achieved through acceptance and need not be taught or learned. The question becomes when will the mind be ready?

Readiness is a matter of choice. Do we choose the path of the ego or the path of the spirit? Do we choose the path of fear and guilt and attack, or the path of love, forgiveness, and peace? Once we know we have a choice, we are in control of our destiny.

Today, I will remind myself several times that I am a part of a transcendent mystery. I will accept that other people and other things are not responsible for my unhappiness. The responsibility for my happiness is mine alone. In this understanding, the path to peace and bliss reside.

Climate justice - Can UUs create a compelling mythic story to save homo sapiens on planet Earth?

My file of stories grew daily, but very few of the clips, even those drawn from new research published in the most pedigreed scientific journals, seemed to appear in the coverage about climate change the country watched on television and read in its newspapers. In those places, climate change was reported, of course, and even with some tinge of alarm. But the discussion of possible effects was misleadingly narrow, limited almost invariably to the matter of sea-level rise. Just as worrisome, the coverage was sanguine, all things considered.

Wallace-Wells, David. The Uninhabitable Earth (pp. 8-9). Crown/Archetype. Kindle Edition.

The story of the anthropocene, human influenced climate change, is so enormous that the story tellers among us have yet to find a narrative that resonates with a frightened audience.

The climate change narrative will have to ascend to mythic proportions to have an effect on the planet's population motivating change to rectify the conditions we have created.

Is there an eco theological story emanating from Unitaran Univeralist theologians which has resounded with the participants in the denomination? The UU "living tradtion" draws from its six sources, and with its seven principles, one might expect that some guiding light, some beacon of hope, could emerge from a denomination which covenants together to affirm and promote a responsible search for truth and meaning.

Up until now, no compelling narrative has emerged which one can hope for. The recognition that a respect for the interdependent web of existence of which we are  part is a good start. What does this principle mean and how can we enact it for the benefit of the earth?

Daily Reflections, Day Sixty two, Choosing the path of the ego or the path of the spirit?

Day Sixty two

Choosing the path of the ego or the path of the spirit?

“Only the healed mind can experience revelation with lasting effect, because revelation is an experience of pure joy. If you do not choose to be wholly joyous, your mind cannot have what it does not choose to be. Remember that spirit knows no difference between having and being.” ACIM.T-5.I.1:3-4

Which do you choose: the path of the ego or the path of the spirit? The path of the ego brings fear, guilt, and grievance, and the path of the spirit brings love, forgiveness, and joy. When put in stark terms, it seems like an easy choice for the spirit but our conditioning and socialization into the world of the ego makes it hard for us to remember the world of the spirit from which we came and to which we can return.

The key to whether we experience fear or love is innocence. The innocence we experienced with our birth is an innocence born from naivete. Being babies, toddlers, and young children we have to be taught what evil is, born from the ego. As we go through life we lose our innocence of childhood and must regain it by remembering our birth right which is love. Jesus said that unless we become like little children we can’t enter the kingdom of heaven. It is this innocence of maturity that he is describing.

Revelation, becoming one with God again, is a choice, a choice many people have forgotten they have. When we join with others to remember our Oneness with God, a healing occurs which is experienced as great joy which can also be called bliss. The key point here is that people have a choice. Do we choose the path of the ego or the path of the spirit? When we choose spirit, peace and joy is experienced. This peace and joy is not about what we do, but who we are.

Today, I will remind myself that I have a choice between the path of the ego and the path of the spirit. The path of the ego will bring me fear and guilt, and the path of the spirit will bring me love and forgiveness and peace. At any given moment which do I choose?