Levels of difficulty in comprehending article content.

The article on the UU A Way Of Life blog can be classified by levels of difficulty. The levels used here are beginner, intermediate, advanced, pro. The classification of levels are rated by two main criteria: metaphysical knowledge, and religious literacy.

Many of the articles here require a higher level of metaphysical knowledge and religious literacy to be understandable to the reader. Without the appropriate mental models there is not enough understanding of context to comprehend the ideas in their thoroughness.

It is hoped there is something here for everyone interested in a spiritual life and yet some of the articles may challenge the reader's understanding. Readers are encouraged to continue visiting the blog and reading its content and it is hoped that as they grow in understanding, the visits and reading will become more satisfying and understandable.

From now on, articles will be tagged along with their topic, their level of difficulty: "beginner," "intermediate," and "advanced," "pro." By clicking on the level of difficulty tag, all the articles in that category can be accessed.

This system of categorization is not perfect and there is often overlap. It is hoped that this categorization system though will help the reader access content which is more satisfying.

Virtue Development, Faith, part five, The paradox of finding faith in losing our faith,

After a period of relief when we have found what we have been looking for, there comes a period of disturbance. St. John of the Cross called it the dark night of the soul. We become depressed and despair that we have lost our faith.

What happened in the previous stage of relief in thinking we had found what we were looking for was merely recognizing what we did not want. We came to the dawning that there must be a better way and we began our search and thought that we had found what we were looking for but what we found was merely the absence of what we decided we didn’t want. In this emptiness, in this vacuum, a deep depression sets in and we learn again that our lives are unmanageable and that we really, deep down, don’t know what we want. We lose our faith.

The paradox is that in losing our faith we find it by letting go of our search, our desiring, our hope for security in latching on to something we can control and be assured will be there to meet our ego needs. It is in turning over this desire for security to a power greater than ourselves, that we come to know true faith. True faith is faith in the unseen and the unknown and that which is beyond ourself in the Oneness.

Climate justice - To have a child or raise a child?

I’ve also often been asked whether it’s moral to reproduce in this climate, whether it’s responsible to have children, whether it is fair to the planet or, perhaps more important, to the children.

Wallace-Wells, David. The Uninhabitable Earth (p. 31). Crown/Archetype. Kindle Edition.

The birth rate in first world countries is falling. Caucasions in the United States are not replacing themselves; their death rate is higher than their birth rate. Ten states in the United States lost population in 2018.

Eco-anxiety seems to be affecting the birth rate. Some people argue that this is a good thing. But without more consumers, the GDP may drop and the economy will weaken if not go into a recession. The focus rather than economic expansion will change to sustainability. Perhaps then our values will change as well and we will re-evaluate the value of wealth to include other things than money and goods. Perhaps happiness will not longer be equated with acquiring things.

Money, as the Beatles sang, can't buy you love.

And so the question is whether to bring children into a world with the apocolypic scenario of climate warming and all the consequences it entails? It depends on whether they will be children to grow up to help homo sapiens adapt to a just and harmonious relationship with the interdependent web or being or will they act in ego justified ways to further separation and divisiveness? The question is not whether to have a child or not, but rather do you want to raise a good and just child for the world of tomorrow?

Daily Reflections, Day Sixty nine, Renewing faith in the kingdom of the Spirit.

Day Sixty nine

Renewing faith in the kingdom of the Spirit.

 “Be grateful to return, as you were glad to go an instant, and accept the gifts that grace provided you. You carry them back to yourself. And revelation stands not far behind. Its coming is ensured. We ask for grace, and for experience that comes from grace. We welcome the release it offers everyone..” ACIM.W-169.14:1-6

Every now and then, if we are alert to it, we get a glimpse of the transcendent. We intuit that there is something beyond. In A Course In Miracles such glimpses are called “Holy Instants.”

When we experience a Holy Instant we are touched by grace and we feel blessed. The peace and bliss may be momentary or several seconds or perhaps even a few minutes. When we experience this grace, we know what lies beyond and our life begins to change. A mature innocence begins to emerge and as Jesus said, unless you become as little children you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven.

Today, I will take some time to reflect on my experience of Holy Instants I have experienced. I will express gratitude for the awareness they have provided that there is something more and a better way than what the path of the ego has to offer. I will renew my faith in the kingdom of the Spirit.

UU A Way Of Life is not on Facebook due to deliberate choice.

Have you noticed that UU A Way of Life is not on Facebook? This is a deliberate choice not an oversight or lack of computer saavy.

What might be the reasons that UUAWOL is not on Facebook? Can you guess what they might be?

Virute Development, Faith, part four, Faith is not something to brag about.

Faith is not something to brag about.

There is a period in faith virtue development when we become more clear, more confident, more at peace that we have found what it is we want to put our faith in and what we want to dismiss, ignore, and side step. This focus is refreshing and ends the previous period of confusion, flailing round, feeling perplexed and anxious. We have found out what matters to us and what doesn’t and in this discovery and decision we can settle down.

The danger in this period is thinking we have the answer and we are right while others are wrong. It is a danger to become cocky, full of oneself, and a “know it all” The tendency to proselytize can be very strong. This “teaching” can be an egotistical activity rather than a genuine nonjudgmental sharing.

We must be careful at this stage of faith development to seek for and ask for help in discerning how to pursue what matters to us and sustain our interest and efforts. Over confidence can be a danger sign while humility and reservation can be a strength. If we know, truly know, we no longer have a need to talk so much about what he have experienced and know. Those that know don’t have a need to talk about it, and those who don’t know talk about it incessantly.

Keep your own counsel unless asked or an appropriate opportunity arises to share. As Jesus said we should be careful not to throw pearls before swine for the swine will simply trample the pearls underfoot. We should take people where they are at not where we think they should be. As they say in Alcoholic Anonymous, "Take your own inventory; don't be taking everyone else's."

Climate justice - Taking responsibility for human behavior causing climate change

That we know global warming is our doing should be a comfort, not a cause for despair, however incomprehensively large and complicated we find the processes that have brought it into being; that we know we are, ourselves, responsible for all of its punishing effects should be empowering, and not just perversely. Global warming is, after all, a human invention. And the flip side of our real-time guilt is that we remain in command. No matter how out-of-control the climate system seems—with its roiling typhoons, unprecedented famines and heat waves, refugee crises and climate conflicts—we are all its authors. And still writing.
Wallace-Wells, David. The Uninhabitable Earth (p. 30). Crown/Archetype. Kindle Edition.

Denial is not a river in Egypt. It is the default position for many humans who like the three monkeys, see no evil, hear no evil, and do not talk about evil.

As human beings we are being called to take responsibility and rather than deny that we have any, we would be better off and more honest to admit that we not only have responsibility but that we should take it.

Unitarian Universalists covenant together to affirm and promote respect for the interdependent web. This is the seventh UU principle and yet it is often nor fully understood and marginalized in favor of other social justice causes and concerns. While other social justice concerns may be worthwhile and legitimate, without a healthy, livable climate, nothing else much matters. Other issues become moot.

If we are to deal with first things first, climate justice should be at the top of everyone's social justice priority list. Climate justice has huge ramifications not just for the eco-systems of our planet but for other social justice issues as well which pale in comparison.

If we are to take more responsibility for climate justice what might we do?

1. Advocate for viable policies impacting carbon emissions.
2. Identify groups and populations who will be inequitably affected by climate change with fewer resources to deal with the negative consequences.
3. Collaborate with groups and organizations of others in solidarity to mitigate the problems caused by climate change.
4. Vote responsibly for governmental leaders who take climate justice seriously and knowledgeably in leading us to resolving the problems which climate change causes.
5. Boycott and strike against irresponsible practices making carbon emissions greater rather than lesser.