The Spiritual Life - Rising above the ego on the path of unconditional love.

Topic Thirty four

Rising above the ego on the path of unconditional love.

“Love gives you glimpses of meditation, reflections of the moon in the lake - although they are reflections, not the moon itself. So love can never satisfy you. In fact, love will make you more and more dissatisfied, discontented. Love will make your more and more aware of what is possible, but it will not deliver the goods…..The person who loves is bound to become religious sooner or later. P.78

Osho. Maturity: The Responsibility of Being Oneself (Osho Insights for a New Way of Living) . St. Martin's Press.

Love is the path but not the destination. What we are after is enlightenment, to become one with the All. Jesus told us this when His disciple asked Him how they could find HIm and get to where He was going, and Jesus said, “Love as I have loved.”

Love is the way but enlightenment, Oneness is the destination, to return to that from which we have separated ourselves when we were born.

This way of love, though, means that we have to give up the things of the ego. We can’t cling to the idols which we have attached ourselves to which society has told us will make us happy. Money, power, status, special relationships may give us pleasure and temporary happiness, but never abiding joy and bliss.

Embarking on the path of love to enlightenment requires a purification, a renunciation, a liberation from the things of the ego. The spiritual path is paved by the purposeful and deliberate intention to free ourselves from the things of the ego world which encumber us. To love unconditionally is to cut any strings of attachment and to achieve joy and bliss within ourselves.

In what do you put your faith? Is it in the world of the ego or the world of the Spirit? Do you believe in feeding the ego or in rising above it to transcendent majesty?

The Moral Unitarian Univeralist - The sin of being anti-science

Topic Six

The sin of being anti science.

There are cigarettes causes cancer deniers, climate change deniers, anti-vaxers, holocaust deniers, conspiracy theorists, racists, xenophobes, homophobes, mysogynists, white supremacists, flat earthers, and god knows what other kinds of quacks, cranks, eccentrics, and psychotics. And what is a Unitarian Universalist or any sane, mentally healthy person to do when confronted by manipulative, psychopathic, and delusional people, groups, and beliefs?

The first question that might be asked is “Are they mad or bad?” meaning are they crazy or morally culpable or maybe some of both? If they are merely crazy they require compassion, pity, understanding and treatment. If they are bad, they require accountability, censure, and restitution for damages.

The sin of anti-science is the sin of pride. The arrogance that compels a person to insist on being right even when the evidence indicates otherwise is evil. This kind of “pig headedness” is born out of an insecurity where the need to be right based on the ego demands of one’s pride and saving face trumps truth and cooperation with one’s fellow human beings and the well being of the planet.

Allegiance to one’s ideology is unconsciously believed to be the source of one’s security and happieness even when it wreaks destruction, suffering, and hell on earth. Unitarian Universalists covenant together to affirm and promote the free and responsible search for truth and meaning with the emphasis on “responsible.”

What is a “responsible” search for truth and meaning as compared to its opposite an “irresponsible” search for truth and meaning? Who is to say what is “responsible” and “irresponsible?” In answering this question two factors become relevant: science and a moral code based on natural law.

Science answers the question “Is it right?” meaning is the finding valid and reliable, and the moral code answers the question “Does it work?” meaning does it accomplish its intended purpose in a just, equitable, and compassionate way?

Ideology which is anti-science and unfair and hurtful is evil even if it provides benefits to special interests. Belief systems have consequences. The bumper sticker reads, “Don’t believe everything you think” and another bumper sticker reads, “If you don’t believe in something, you will fall for anything.”

Unitarian Universalists are children of the enlightenment and the transcendentalists. As such they have put their faith in science and natural law. They eschew and condemn arrogant ideology and beliefs based on loyalties to identity groups. When we consider various ideologies and belief systems the mindful UU always asks, “Is it moral?”

The Spiritual Life, Topic Thirty three, The mirror of holiness

Topic Thirty three

The mirror of holiness

“Just as you have to look into the mirror to see your physical face, you have to look in the mirror of love to see your spiritual face. Love is a spiritual mirror. It nourishes you, it integrates you, it makes you ready for the inner journey, it minds you of your original face.” p. 77

Osho. Maturity: The Responsibility of Being Oneself (Osho Insights for a New Way of Living) . St. Martin's Press.

In an ideal ego world, Osho is correct, and the attachment psychologists would agree that the mirror neurons are the gateway to the soul. However, this experience is rare and occurs when one is loved unconditionally.

Conditional love is not the gateway to the soul and does not reflect one’s original face. Conditional love is counterfeit and what is called “fool’s gold.” Conditional love creates hell on earth and is not the narrow gate to heaven which Osho describes in this passage.

The “love” which Osho is describing is unconditional love and is a rare experience but when it does occur is the gateway to heaven. Have you ever been unconditionally loved? Have you ever unconditionally loved another? Unconditional love requires a maturity that fewer people have achieved. This level of maturity is achieved when a person has achieved a level of satisfaction, fulfillment, and joy in their life that is unshakable. This level of satisfaction, fulfillment, and joy is constant and stable and is based on one’s peace of mind and not external events.

How does one achieve this level of maturity? It is based on a practice of forgiveness where the person decides to no longer make others responsible for their own unhappiness. The person gives up the victim role and chooses agency which is the willingness to be responsible for one’s own responses to the external circumstances that impact one’s  consciousness. It is in taking responsibility for one’s own functioning regardless of external circumstances that one becomes mature.

The love that radiates from such a soul is precious and rare, and is a mirror that anyone who perceives it is immediately aware of their own holiness which they see reflected back to them. Do you know such a person or people? It is in this kind of maturity that we can put our faith.

It is the mission of UU A Way Of Life to help people become aware of their own holiness. We aspire to become that mirror for our audience.

The Spiritual Life, Topic Thirty two, Forgiveness in parent child relationships.

The Spiritual Life, Topic Thirty two

Forgiveness creates miraculous healing in parent child relationships.

“The love relationship starts with the parents and it also ends with them. It comes full circle….One feels tremendously happy when one can communicate with one’s own parents. That is the most difficult thing in the world to do because the gap is so big….And man is like a tree, which needs both the earth and the sky.” p.76-77

Osho. Maturity: The Responsibility of Being Oneself (Osho Insights for a New Way of Living) . St. Martin's Press.



The most important classroom during one’s stay on earth is the relationship between the parent and the child. It is what A Course In Miracles calls a “special relationship.” The “special relationship” is formed usually in the world of the ego and not in the world of the Spirit.

Do parents facilitate the spiritual growth of the child or hinder it? In 95% of cases they hinder it because they create relationships based on conditional love and these conditional love relationships operate in both directions, between the parent and the child, and between the child and the parent.

Both parents and children feel victimized by each other. “I could be happy, I would be happy, if only you would………” This “give to get” isn’t love, is a transaction. Resentments, grievances, anger, fear, guilt are endemic in parent child relationships. Not until both get out of the victim role can there be Unconditional love which is the blossoming of both parent and child.

Immature adult children whose parental relationships are based on conditional love and a sense of victimhood will go on to repeat the scenario with their own children. This may be why Osho teaches that it is so important for one to come to terms with one’s own parents. The “full circle” Osho refers to may be the leaving victimhood and entering into the realm of Unconditional Love which is heaven on earth.

This move to Unconditional Love does not require both parties. Only one party has to exercise forgiveness to move out of the victim role. With forgiveness at least one party of the relationship is miraculously healed..

The Spiritual Life, Topic Thirty One, Seeking is the best religion of all.

The Spiritual Life, Topic Thirty One

Seeking is the best religion of all

A child who is not conditioned is in many ways embarrassing to the parents. But if they love, they will be ready to do anything. Even if it brings embarrassment, there is no harm. Their child is growing into a unique being. They will help him to remain free, to remain open, to remain available to the unknown future. 

They will help him be a seeker, not a believer. They will not make him a Christian, or a Jew, or a Hindu, or a Mohammedan, because all these religions have done so much harm—it is more than enough. It is time for all the religions to disappear from the planet. Unconditioned children can make that miracle happen because tomorrow they will be young people, mature, and they will not be Christians and Hindus and Mohammedans. They will be just seekers; seeking will be their religion. That’s my definition of a sannyasin: searching, seeking, inquiring is his religion. Beliefs stop all inquiry.

Osho. Maturity: The Responsibility of Being Oneself (Osho Insights for a New Way of Living) . St. Martin's Press. P. 73

Many religions have their creeds. They have their beliefs. There is no need to be curious and to search further because their texts, their clergy, will give you the answers. Unitarian Universalism is a unique religious tradition because it encourages seekers with their curiosity to explore ideas that can give their faith and lives meaning.

Francis David, the Unitarian pioneer back in the 16th century, said that we need not think alike to love alike.

The fourth principle of Unitarian Universalism affirms and promotes the free and responsible search for truth and meaning. And so we socialize our children and grandchildren differently in the UU faith tradition than in other religious organizations.

Osho never identified with Unitarian Universalism and may not have known what the faith tradition involved but Osho taught one of the fundamental principles of Unitarian Universalism which is to question, to seek, and that this curiosity is foundational for a spiritual life.

Seeking implies a religious literacy among Unitarian Universalists which may or may not exist. It is incumbent on UUs to educate themselves about the beliefs, traditions, vocabulary, practices, and values of major world religions. Ignorance does not indicate spiritual maturity, but rather an awareness of  multiple religious ideas and practices, and a discernment leading to a faith one can call their own.

The Moral Unitarian Univeralist - What is the bedrock of our UU faith?

Topic Five

What is the bedrock of our UU faith?

The insightful slogan “Garbage in, garbage out,” refers to honesty and accuracy of data. Are our lives based on truth or lies, on authenticity or pretense?

Unitarian Universalists covenant together to affirm and promote the free and responsible search for truth and meaning. What is it that UUs are looking for when they embark on this search? Is it happiness, truth, goodness, beauty, pleasure, power, status, money, validation, love, all of these things, some of these things, none of these things?

If a philosopher suggested that the answer to the question of what it is we are searching for were morality, what would you think? What is the moral life? What is morality anyway? Perhaps the best answer is one of the  eight principles of Buddhism which is “right action.” Unitarian Universalism has no similar principle other than the second principle which is to affirm and promote justice, equity, and compassion in human relations.

Morality, drawn from the six sources which Unitarian Universalism identifies as foundational and relevant to its living tradition, would include the Ten Commandments of the Judeo-Christian tradition, as well as the values of humanism, the reverence for the interdependent web drawn from the Earth centered traditions, the wisdom of prophetic women and men, and,of course, most importantly, one’s own experience of the transcendent wisdom which informs one’s own conscience.

Human beings, though, are conditioned and socialized into an ego based society which teaches, pressures, and rewards behavior in compliance with perverse norms and attitudes which are destructive and dysfunctional to the individual’s well being and those with whom the individual is in relationship with.

There are many ideas lying around about what will achieve the good life. Some ideas are good and some are bad. The question is always which to choose? This awareness of choice leads to the idea of discernment. How do we discern what is right, good, honest, beautiful? There are two answers: having made a choice, how is that working for you?, and what would love have me do?

If we always acted in a loving way there would be no need for a moral code. A moral code would be moot. And so, the moral Unitarian Universalist aspires to always act in a loving way. This intention is the bedrock of our faith.

Rev. Dr. Otis Moss III | The Cross and the Lynching Tree: A Requiem for Ahmaud Arbery

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