Sunday, March 1, 2020
Saturday, February 29, 2020
Virtue Development - Gratitude and joy
Chapter Five - Gratitude and joy
Part one- Gratitude is a choice; it is a way of living one’s life that fuels a sense of joy.
When one has faith in what really matters to the person, and the person is honest about it, there comes kindness as one extends that faith honesty with others and this brings a gratitude and joy which is ever present.
The virtue of gratitude does not spontaneously arise but comes from a decision making that chooses optimism over pessimism and is grounded in the experience that one is unconditionally loved by God, the Ground of Being.
A person can’t give what a person does not possess. A person can’t authentically love if the person doesn’t feel loved themselves. When one feels loved, fear is not possible and without fear, why would one attack, why would one operate on a principle of scarcity, why would one project guilt onto another for their unhappiness because they don’t experience unhappiness?
Kind people do not suffer and experience psychological and spiritual pain. They experience life from a position of gratitude and this gratitude fuels a sense of joy and well being.
What are you grateful for and how does this gratitude generate a sense of well being and joy? When a person practices gratitude and they experience the resulting joy other people sense this and the experience multiplies.
Climate Justice - What is the story we are telling ourselves about climate change?
Chapter Nineteen
What is the story we are telling ourselves about climate change?
What does it mean to be entertained by a fictional apocalypse as we stare down the possibility of a real one? One job of pop culture is always to serve stories that distract even as they appear to engage—to deliver sublimation and diversion. In a time of cascading climate change, Hollywood is also trying to make sense of our changing relationship to nature, which we have long regarded from at least an arm’s length—but which, amid this change, has returned as a chaotic force we nevertheless understand, on some level, as our fault. The adjudication of that guilt is another thing entertainment can do, when law and public policy fail, though our culture, like our politics, specializes in assigning the blame to others—in projecting rather than accepting guilt. A form of emotional prophylaxis is also at work: in fictional stories of climate catastrophe we may also be looking for catharsis, and collectively trying to persuade ourselves we might survive it.
Wallace-Wells, David. The Uninhabitable Earth (p. 144). Crown/Archetype. Kindle Edition.
In this time of climate warming due to carbon emissions and the resulting climate change, what are the stories that we are telling ourselves about what is happening?
If you look at the movies where the box office hits are based on comic book superheroes and horror films based on robots and space aliens, an observer might wonder what are these projections that the public finds so entertaining that they will spend money and time to watch these scenarios portrayed and told for entertainment and distraction from the unconscious eco-anxiety which has infected the public conscious and unconscious?
David Wallace-Wells suggests that this entertainment is the unconscious projection of guilt, but another hypothesis is that it is a sublimation of fear. Heroes and villains are depicted and creative narrative tension is created which is diverting as we sit in darkened air conditioned theaters eating our buttered popcorn and sipping our sugary soft drinks.
The band is playing and the fiddles are fiddled as Rome is burning. Are there any realistic stories about climate change that help us deal with the moral issues of stewardship for the eco-systems which we inhabit? Flying off to Mars and inhabiting space stations as a substitute for life on planet earth seems childishly fanciful and an abdication of responsibility.
If you are interested in learning more about novels and films that deal with climate change use the search phrase, “cli-fi.”
Religious Literacy - The problem of religious illiteracy
Chapter Ten
The problem of religious illiteracy.
Unfortunately, US citizens today lack this religious literacy. As a result, they are too easily swayed by demagogues on the left or the right. Few Americans are able to challenge claims made by politicians or pundits about Islam’s place in the war on terrorism or what the Bible says about homosexuality. This ignorance imperils our public life, putting citizens in the thrall of talking heads and effectively transferring power from the third estate (the people) to the fourth (the press).
Prothero, Stephen. Religious Literacy (p. 10). HarperOne. Kindle Edition.
Religious illiteracy and lack of memory about the development of religious institutions have imperiled the ability of Americans to be effective participants in their democracy and play a viable role as global citizens.
Some might argue that “ignorance is bliss,” that Americans don’t need to educate themselves about the religious traditions of the world. What good is knowledge about religious traditions? And then they find themselves waging war in Middle Eastern countries having been told they are ripe for democracy only to find that identification with religious thought systems have a greater hold on the hearts and minds of these populations than some, for them, irrelevant dream of Western democracy.
How stupid are the American people and their leaders? Really stupid. And what is the price of their stupidity?
If Americans can’t count on their governmental leaders for a sound foreign policy because they are ignorant of underlying cultural dynamics fueled by religious belief who is to hold America’s governmental leaders accountable? In a democracy it is “we, the people,” but if “we the people” are ignorant too, we have the blind leading the blind and disaster awaits this war business.
Unitarian Universalists identify “wisdom from the world’s religions” as the third of six sources of their “living tradition” which sounds good in theory, but in practice leaves a lot to be desired for there is no evidence that UUs, in spite of their profession of faith, are any more religiously literate than the rest of their fellow citizens.
To what can one attribute this ignorance? Might the lack of congregational leadership and UUA leadership be a contributing factor? If UUs were to commit themselves to enhancing their religious literacy where might they begin? A good place to begin is in making UUs aware of their own ignorance so that they request more religious literacy services.
Lenten Reflections, Day Four, Saturday after Ash Wednesday, Giving up flaming and attack
Day Four, Saturday after Ash Wednesday
Giving up flaming and attack for dignity and respect.
27 After these things He went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, “Follow Me.” 28 So he left all, rose up, and followed Him.
29 Then Levi gave Him a great feast in his own house. And there were a great number of tax collectors and others who sat down with them. 30 [d]And their scribes and the Pharisees [e]complained against His disciples, saying, “Why do You eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”
31 Jesus answered and said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 32 I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”
Who should I love? Should I love only the people who love me? Should I love the people I consider my enemies who not only don’t love me but I don’t feel like I love them either because we disagree and have nothing in common when it comes to the values with which we identify?
In this time of significant political polarization fueled by the reactivity and triggering of social media, it is difficult to find common ground and join rather than fan the flames of separation and further divide.
During this season of Lent, even though we are called to do this all through the year, we are reminded to set aside our differences and love our enemies. We are called upon during this season of Lent to renounce our identification with the values and beliefs of the ego which separate us and turn to the inherent worth and dignity of every person which resides beneath the illusory attributes which we hate and disdain.
Jesus joined with the perceived enemies of Israel of the time and was seen as a traitor to the cause of the righteous and rebuked them saying that He was not going to fuel the flames of further division and polarization, but to find common cause with all people. Jesus was there to love not to hate, to join, not separate, to include not exclude.
Today, I will set my resentments and grievances aside. I will focus on what I have in common with people I dislike rather than focus on our differences. Can I maintain my dignity and those of others by looking past what upsets me to the good that is deep down within? Like Jesus can I seek to heal rather than harm? Lent is about giving up my reactivity and flaming others and practicing understanding and respect.
Friday, February 28, 2020
Religioius literacy - Who is Isaiah?
Who is Isaiah?
In today’s lenten reflection there is a reference to passages from the book of Isaiah in the Old Testament of the bible. Who was Isaiah?
Isaiah was an 8th century BC prophet who warned people about hypocrisy and called people to justice. The writings of Isaiah are referenced over ten times in the New Testament and they are important also in Islam, Judaism, and interestingly in the Book of Mormon.
A brief overview of the importance of the prophet Isaiah can be found by clicking here.
Should Unitarian Universalists know who Isaiah is? Absolutely, if they take seriously their third source for the living tradition of UU, "Wisdom from the world's religions which inspires us in our ethical and spiritual life." Isaiah is an important figure in several of the world's religions and without knowing a little something about Isaiah, UUs are left in ignorance and darkness.
Further, for UUs, Isaiah is a major figure who affirms and promotes the second UU principle of justice, equity, and compassion in human relations.
I have never heard Isaiah referenced in a UU sermon in almost two decades of involvment in the UU denomination. If anyone knows of a sermon referencing Isaiah please leave the information in the comments.
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