Dental therapy dogs in California. Check it out.
Unitarian Universalists covenant together to affirm and promote acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth.
Saturday, September 12, 2020
Good news for 09/12/20 - Dental Therapy Dogs
Unitarian Universalists covenant together to affirm and promote acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth.
Friday, September 11, 2020
A Couse In Miracles Workbook lesson #39 - My holiness is my salvation
Lesson #39
You can’t give what you don’t have. You can’t share what you are not aware is in your possession. The first step in saving the world is to become aware of your own holiness.
The twelfth step of Alcoholics Anonymous is “Having had a spiritual awakening as a result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.”
In fact we gain an even greater awareness of our holiness when we share it with others. It's one of those paradoxes in life that we become more aware of what we have when we share it. Singing in the shower is one thing. Singing in a chorus takes the experience to a whole new level. Reading a joke in a book can generate a smile or a little laugh, but telling the joke to another person or in a group takes the humor and laughter is quite a different, more positive experience.
My holiness is my salvation
You can’t give what you don’t have. You can’t share what you are not aware is in your possession. The first step in saving the world is to become aware of your own holiness.
The twelfth step of Alcoholics Anonymous is “Having had a spiritual awakening as a result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.”
In fact we gain an even greater awareness of our holiness when we share it with others. It's one of those paradoxes in life that we become more aware of what we have when we share it. Singing in the shower is one thing. Singing in a chorus takes the experience to a whole new level. Reading a joke in a book can generate a smile or a little laugh, but telling the joke to another person or in a group takes the humor and laughter is quite a different, more positive experience.
Unitarian Universalists covenant together to affirm and promote the inherent worth and dignity of every person. In this affirmation and promotion we have to begin with ourselves and realize that my holiness is my salvation. We come to realize that we are part of God and extending this realization to others facilitates the salvation of the world.
Wednesday, September 9, 2020
A Course In Miracles Workbook lesson #38 - There is nothing my holiness cannot do.
Lesson #38
There is nothing my holiness cannot do.
Today’s lesson seems impossible and nonsensical if one is thinking of doing magic in the ego world. Being a superhero with superpowers is the stuff of comic book characters and now movies which bring them to life in cinema.
Jesus is often depicted as a superhero who can walk on water, heal the sick, raise the dead, turn water into wine and perform all kinds of magic tricks as if He were a Las Vegas nightclub performer
Manipulating the laws of nature in the ego world is not what is being alluded to here. This lesson refers to the world of the soul not the world of the ego. Once we get rid of the ego and return to the Oneness from which we have separated ourselves we come to realize that, being part of the All, there is nothing we cannot do.
This returning to an awareness of the non dualistic Oneness is what is called “enlightenment” and when we become one with the All we realize that on the spiritual plane holiness heals whatever ails us.
In step two in twelve step programs we come to realize that a Power greater than ourselves can restore us to sanity. With this realization and acceptance, we gratefully acknowledge that there is nothing than my holiness cannot do.
In Unitarian Universalism we covenant together to affirm and promote the acceptance of one another and the encouragement to spiritual growth which leads to the realization that there is nothing my holiness cannot do.
We are asked today to take 5 minutes, 4 times during the day to review our external and internal circumstances and experiences and say to ourselves, “There is nothing that my holiness cannot do.” We come to realize that healing occurs in our minds and hearts not in the ego world.
Book Review - Camino Winds by John Grisham
I have been a John Grisham fan over the years but his latest novel, Camino Winds, is a disappointment. The word that comes to mind is "schlock."
Camino Winds is a story about a hurricane destroying an east coast, outerbanks, island and during the hurricane a contract killing is committed. The man killed is a novelist who has written a novel depicting Medicare fraud by a nursing home chain operator who artificially keeps comatose patients alive to bilk Medicare for their extended care.
The main character, Bruce Cable, is a book store operator on the island who becomes the murdered novelist's literary executor and is determined to find the novelist's murderer.
The moral of the story is murky and while the reading of it is somewhat entertaining, the characters are flat and the plot leaves a lot to be desired.
Our recommendation here at UU A Way Of Life is to pass this novel up. Grisham has much better novels he has written in the past.
If anyone wants my copy send me a request with your address to davidgmarkham@gmail.com and I will send it to you.
Camino Winds is a story about a hurricane destroying an east coast, outerbanks, island and during the hurricane a contract killing is committed. The man killed is a novelist who has written a novel depicting Medicare fraud by a nursing home chain operator who artificially keeps comatose patients alive to bilk Medicare for their extended care.
The main character, Bruce Cable, is a book store operator on the island who becomes the murdered novelist's literary executor and is determined to find the novelist's murderer.
The moral of the story is murky and while the reading of it is somewhat entertaining, the characters are flat and the plot leaves a lot to be desired.
Our recommendation here at UU A Way Of Life is to pass this novel up. Grisham has much better novels he has written in the past.
If anyone wants my copy send me a request with your address to davidgmarkham@gmail.com and I will send it to you.
Good News for 09/09/20 - The moms of Portland, Oregon protest racism.
The moms of Portland Oregon stand up for justice and engage in anti-racist protest.
Unitarian Universalists covenant together to affirm and promote justice, equity, and compassion in human relations.
Tuesday, September 8, 2020
Spiritual practice #12 - Turn it over
Turn it over
The twelfth component of spiritual health is not knowing and curiosity and the cardinal sin # 12 is certainty, arrogance, and the need to be right. The spiritual practice to mitigate certainty, arrogance, and the need to be right is to regain our childlike qualities of awe, wonderment, and mystery.
Children continually ask their parents, “Why is this, mommy? Why is that, daddy?”
The little boy asked his father, “Why is it raining, Daddy?”
His father said, “It’s raining son, because God is crying.”
“Why is God crying, daddy,” said the little boy?
“I don’t know for sure, son,” said the father, “but it’s probably because of something you did.”
And we groan to hear this joke. It makes us aware of our hidden fears of our defectiveness, our inadequacies, our guilt, and our fear and expectation of punishment. And so we turn to faith that God is benevolent and loves us unconditionally.
We come to realize that it is the ego that wants us to live in fear and gives us the tools of certainty, arrogance, and authoritarian tendencies to identify with things that confirm our deeply held values and beliefs and condemn and punish people and things that threaten them.
The spiritual practice of questioning authority, admitting our ignorance, and engaging in a free and responsible search for truth and meaning gives our lives a vitality that is nourishing and provides a level of delight and wonderment which is otherwise missing.
Jesus said, “Unless you become like little children you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven.” What Jesus is teaching is that we have to give up the idols of the ego and return to a place of innocence and wonderment. We need to recognize that the universe is too vast and mysterious for us to think that we know what it all means. This practice of curiosity and wonderment should fill us with awe and gratitude rather than fear and shame.
Every day we should admit to ourselves that we don’t really know what anything is for. If we think we do, we are taking things too literally and just making stuff up. We need to let our certitude go, and ask and trust in the power of the transcendent. Doing this, our lives become much more peaceful and joyous. As they say in Alcoholics Anonymous, “Let go and let God” or simply “Turn it over.” Everytime we find ourselves fearful, angry, resentful, annoyed, full of grievance, self righteous, judgemental, we can ask the Holy Spirit, Jesus, God, Mother Nature, our Higher Power to help us give up the burdens of the certainties which seem to be burying us alive.
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