Daily Reflections, Day Sixty six, Liberated from the prison of the ego

Day Sixty six

Liberated from the prison of the ego

“All learning was already in His Mind, accomplished and complete. He recognized all that time holds, and gave it to all minds that each one might determine, from a point where time was ended, when it is released to revelation and eternity. We have repeated several times before that you but make a journey that is done.” W-169.8:1-3

What is heaven like? What is the world of the Spirit? It always was, is now, and ever shall be. Eternity, after all, is eternity. It’s a hard idea for our little minds to grasp.

And yet this passage from A Course In Miracles, it tells us that God is…….. Always was……….Always will be. God is “accomplished and complete.” God has no need for time and time means nothing to God. With the revelation time for us is ended and “released to revelation and eternity” where time stands still and is no more. Time has no meaning in revelation. There is no time. There is no time like the present and there is nothing else.

Life is like a hologram according to A Course In Miracles which teaches that what seems to be each part encompasses the whole. And so, we, in the world of the ego seem to make a journey which is already done. We are here to become conscious of the world of the Spirit which has always existed and continues to exist even as we ignore it and forget it.

These metaphysical ideas are very hard for the mind to grasp and yet we sense their truth.

Today, I will take several moments and surrender my ego to God. I will willingly turn my will over to my Higher Power. I will “let go and let God” as they say in Alcoholic Anonymous. In this surrender to the Will of God comes great freedom to be who we are created to be, no longer captured and constrained by the chains and prison of the ego. We are liberated at last to rest in joy and bliss of the revelation.

Virtue development - faith

In what does one put their faith? Is it in the path of the ego or the path of the spirit? Does one put their faith in the things of this ego world or in the things of the spirit in other places? Does a person believe in wisdom and love or in the idols of the world: money, power, sex, sensual pleasure to bring one happiness?

We have been conditioned and socialized by the world of the ego to believe that the things of the ego will bring one happiness. However, to anyone with eyes to see, and ears to hear, and hands to touch, we come to realize that the things of the ego are illusory in being able to provide us with true joy and bliss. It is in this dawning that the things of the ego will not make us happy that we begin to search for something deeper, more substantive, more fulfilling and this search takes faith in searching for the things of the spirit, for things unseen.

This search takes courage, and resolve, and what is called “a leap of faith.” This first step in developing the virtue of faith takes a letting go of the things of the world. We withdraw our attention and start looking elsewhere. This step of letting go often involves finding a guide whether a person or a teaching to assist in the undoing of our conditioning and socialization. This often begins with questioning and growing skepticism that what we have been told by the representatives and marketers of the things of the ego aren’t true. We come to realize that the things we have been told by society are what Holden Caufield, in the Catcher In The Rye, called “the Big Lie.”

This first stage of virtue development of faith sometimes sparks a feeling of “dis-ease.” There is a period of skepticism and anxiety. We aren’t sure how to proceed or where to look and we come to realize that we need help. Who are the helpers and where are they to be found?

Unitarian Univeralists covenant together to affirm and promote the responsible search for truth and meaning. In this covenant to affirm and promote this principle is the support for faith to be found.

To be continued

Climate justice - What are you doing to work for climate justice?

For centuries we have looked to nature as a mirror onto which to first project, then observe, ourselves. But what is the moral? 

There is nothing to learn from global warming, because we do not have the time, or the distance, to contemplate its lessons; we are after all not merely telling the story but living it. That is, trying to; the threat is immense. 

How immense? 

One 2018 paper sketches the math in horrifying detail. In the journal Nature Climate Change, a team led by Drew Shindell tried to quantify the suffering that would be avoided if warming was kept to 1.5 degrees, rather than 2 degrees—in other words, how much additional suffering would result from just that additional half-degree of warming. 

Their answer: 150 million more people would die from air pollution alone in a 2-degree warmer world than in a 1.5-degree warmer one. Later that year, the IPCC raised the stakes further: in the gap between 1.5 degrees and 2, it said, hundreds of millions of lives were at stake.

Wallace-Wells, David. The Uninhabitable Earth (p. 28). Crown/Archetype. Kindle Edition.

Unitarian Univeralists covenant together to affirm and promote justice, equity, and compassion in human relations, but the immense threat of global warming due to carbon emissions is ignored because the consequences of our current policies and practices are so immense that we engage in denial and minimization in order to continue to function in our daily lives.

We have yet to be able to get the enormity of the consequences of these climate changes into perspective. We have things to do and other things to occupy our attention like political scandals, sports, internet social media, etc.

UUs as a people of faith can be the salt of the earth and the light of the world. We can educate ourselves and others and advocate for policies and practices that mitigate the immense consequences of what we have done.

How important an issue is climate justice when you make a decision to vote for policy makers at all levels of government? How much of your time and energy have you invested in organizing others to advocate for a change in climate justice policies? How do you affirm and promote our seventh principle, the respect for the interdependent web?

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.