A Course In Miracles Workbook Lesson #83, Review of lessons 65 and 66.

 Lesson #83

Review of Lessons 65 and 66

65 - My only function is the one God gave me.

66 - My happiness and my function are one.

A Course In Miracles teaches that our function here, in life, is forgiveness. Forgiveness as defined by A Course In Miracles is the decision to not make the things on the path of the ego real. The idols of the ego: money, power, romance, status, prestige, possessions are false promises of happiness. The path of the Spirit requires that we unload our baggage. We need to shed our conditioning, our socialization, all the nonsense which society has taught us will make us happy, 

God gives us Unconditional love and wants us to spread it to others. This is our function: to spread the sugar, the sweetness, the peace, the bliss which is our natural inheritance.

In Alcoholics Anonymous we are encouraged, in step nine, to make amends to people we have harmed pursuing the idols of the ego. First, we have to make amends to ourselves for our stupidity and mistakes, and being healed ourselves, then we share what we have found.

In Unitarian Universalism we are encouraged to covenant together to affirm and promote seven principles, the first of which is the inherent worth and dignity of every person. It is this affirmation and promotion of the inherent worth and dignity that is the function that God has given us. In order to engage in this affirmation and promotion we have to forgive a great deal of mistakes and nonsense which has gone on in the world of the ego. It is helpful to think of this sometimes as a rising above and an overlooking of the mistakes, sins, which have imprisoned us and kept us captive in a hell on earth.

Today, we are asked to take 10 - 15 minutes twice, and as often as we are tempted by resentments and grievances to reflect on the fact that my only function is the one that God has given me, and that my happiness and function are one. It is in forgiving the insanity and nonsense that we set ourselves free and experience the peace and bliss which is our natural inheritance.

Spiritual Book Discussion, Scripture Unbound - Fundamentalist or open minded when it comes to scripture?

“IT’S IN THE BIBLE!” 

This statement is often used to justify a claim or argue a point by those who see scripture as a stable and reliable source of values in a time when social mores in the wider culture are shifting rapidly. On the other hand, many of those who are hostile to the idea of scripture say that it has been used as a weapon against their beliefs or identities. 

It’s easy to assume that scripture inherently requires its adherents to believe that there is only one possible truth and that this truth is known. But even a general overview of how scripture evolved in some traditions shows that some communities encourage a flexibility of interpretation.

Johnstone, Jonalu. Scripture Unbound: A Unitarian Universalist Approach (p. 13). Skinner House Books. Kindle Edition. 

People called “fundamentalists” in any religion usually regard their scripture as to be taken literally at a very concrete level. The text is considered to be the revealed and authoritative words of their god.

Others take a cafeteria or buffet approach to scripture and like panning for gold they look for nuggets of wisdom to confirm their biases and to enlighten their perspectives. Scripture is open to interpretation and one person’s interpretation may be taken as good as any others. 

Many people regard religious texts, even those they regard reverently as sacred, as being symbolic, metaphorical, and laden with many meanings from the superficial gloss to the deeper and more hidden meanings.

There probably is no such thing as a fundamentalist Unitarian Universalist. We believe in the free and responsible search for truth and meaning which can easily be different things to different people. There are many roads to Rome and many ways to skin a cat. As Francis David said, the Unitarian Founder back in the sixteenth century we need not think alike to love alike.

Jesus says in Matthew 11:15 - “He that has ears let him hear.”

In the East there is a saying that when the disciple is ready, the Master appears.

Unitarian Universalism is a religion for only mature people who are secure in their spiritual development. The God of Unitarian Universalism is too big for any one religion and so UUs seek and they will find, when they are ready, the message that the Universe is sending to them.

1. How does scripture, if it does, speak to you? Which scriptures, when, and how?
2. Is fundamentalism a stage that people pass through during their religious journey or is it a permanent position that people hold over time?

Religion in the public square - When Evangelical Christianity sold its soul to the devil for access to political power.

From Sojourners 11/03/20. A Faustian Bargain and a Corruption of the Soul, Rev. Jim Wallis interviews Rev. Rob Schenck.

 Politics in Washington, D.C., is often antithetical to the teachings of Jesus. Rev. Jim Wallis and Rev. Rob Schenck, the president of the Dietrich Bonhoffer Institute, discuss the spiritual cost of placing access to power above the gospel.

Schenck recalled, "I was present sitting at a table when it happened in Cleveland, during the Republican National Convention. I was at the table and a colleague, a very well-known evangelical leader who had run for president himself, turned to me and said, 'Look, we'll plug our noses. We'll cast our vote for Donald Trump. And then we'll go and puke if we have to.' And that was the deal. It was a corruption of the soul. It would give us access and ability to manipulate the levers of power, but it would exact a huge price from us."  

Gandhi said one time he would convert to Christianity if he ever found a church that actually followed the teachings of Jesus.

Another wit said, "Christianity is not a bad idea if anyone actually applied it."

The closest thing to Christianity I have ever found in my free and responsible search is Unitarian Universalism. UU is a dull religion, very intellectualized, lacking in resonating spirit, but morally right on target. Jesus would be a good UU covenanting to affirm and promote its seven principles which His teachings and life manifested.

It is hard to understand what the Evangelicals ever saw in such a corrupt leader as Donald Trump. After perpetrating violence for a photo op in front of church holding a bible backwards and upside down, you might think Evangelicals would question their judgment if indeed they really believe what they state they stand for.

UUs on the other hand have stood firm on their principles of affirming and promoting the inherent worth and dignity of every person and justice, equity, and compassion in human relations.

A Course In Miracles Workbook Lesson #82, Review of lessons 63 and 64.

 Lesson #82

Review of lessons 63 and 64.

63 - The light of the world brings peace to every mind through my forgiveness.

64 - Let me not forget my function.

Forgiveness as described in A Course In Miracles is the willingness to give up making others responsible for my unhappiness. We make a conscious decision to no longer play the blame game, take on the role of the victim, and instead embrace the Unconditonal Love of the Universe which is the ground of my being.

In Alcoholics Anonymous, in step three, we decide to turn our will, our ego, over to the care of Love. We decide to entertain what a wonderful world it can be.

In Unitarian Universalism, we covenant together to affirm and promote the acceptance of one another encouragement to spiritual growth.

As Rumi wrote: Our purpose here on earth: to manifest the very nature of our spirit, which is touched by the spirit of God.

Today we are asked to take 10 - 15 minutes twice, and whenever anger, resentment, fear, and guilt creep up to remind ourselves that our function is to forgive the world of the ego for obstructing our awareness and experience of the peace of God.

My kind of church music

Imagine covered by Cold Play

How religion and the concept of sin came to be.

The emergence of the first large settlements triggered a seismic shift in religious life. Seeking to explain the catastrophes suddenly befalling us, we began to believe in vengeful and omnipotent beings, in gods who were enraged because of something we’d done.

 

A whole clerical class was put in charge of figuring out why the gods were so angry. Had we eaten something forbidden? Said something wrong? Had an illicit thought?37 For the first time in history, we developed a notion of sin. And we began looking to priests to prescribe how we should do penance. Sometimes it was enough to pray or complete a strict set of rituals, but often we had to sacrifice cherished possessions–food or animals or even people.

 

Bregman, Rutger. Humankind (p. 105). Little, Brown and Company. Kindle Edition.

 

If I understand Bregman’s idea correctly, he states that nomadic people had a cosmology but no religion as we know it today.

 

Religion, he states, arose when homo sapiens began to settle down and possess property. It was the possession of property by individuals that gave rise to inequality and created conflicts which called for some adjudication process.

 

The first adjudication process created was religious in nature with imaginary gods as the sovereign who judged, and rewarded or penalized. The sovereign was manifested in the bodies and roles of a clerical class. These clerics became the intermediaries between the gods and human beings which imbued the clerics with a tremendous authority up to making decisions about life and death.

 

This belief and surrender of authority to sovereign gods by human beings is a form of social control which rather than nurture spiritual development actually hinders it. It seems almost an oxymoron to say that religion is antithetical to spirituality, but it appears that this is often the case.

 

Osho has taught that the first step onto a spiritual path is to rebel against one’s religious training and participation.

 

 In Unitarian Universalism, members covenant together to affirm and promote seven principles the  fourth of which is the free and responsible search for truth and meaning. Francis David, one of the Unitarian founders in the sixteenth century, taught that we need not think alike to love alike. And it is Unconditional Love which is the fundamental belief of Unitarian Universalism. This belief in the Universality of the Transcendent seems closer to the cosmology of the nomadic peoples than the subsequent capitalistic peoples.

 

1. To what extent do you think religion has been a positive influence or a negative influence on human well being?
2. To what extent have you found that religious beliefs have interfered with spiritual development?

The Spiritual Child, How Adolescent deveopment is influenced by an interior spiritual life.

 A SPIRITUAL CORE SHAPES DEVELOPMENT: MEANING, PURPOSE, CALLING, AND CONNECTION

Miller, Dr. Lisa. The Spiritual Child (p. 246). St. Martin's Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. 

The chart below fleshes out the adolescent's developmental task and how an interior spiritual life influences the task achievement. Each task should be considered deliberately and can be used for discussion and reflection and action.

A Course In Miracles Workbook Lesson #81, Review of lessons 61 and 62

 Lesson #81

Review of lessons 61 and 62

61 I am the light of the world.

62 Forgiveness is my function as the light of the world.

The ideas for review today are just wonderful. Awesome. As we consider these ideas we realize that we have forgotten who we really are. We, like onions, have layers and layers of conditioning and socialization which has covered and buried our essence.

In the sixth step of Alcoholics Anonymous we are asked to declare that we are ready for God to remove all our defects of character. We ask our Higher Power to come into our lives and give us the willingness and ability to forgive ourselves, others, and circumstances which we think we are victimized by.

In Unitarian Universalism we covenant together to affirm and promote the inherent worth and dignity of every person beginning with ourselves. As we recognize and acknowledge and accept our inherent worth and dignity the light comes on and we realize that we are not only no longer victims but the agent of our divine source dispensing forgiveness as we go.

Today, take 2 10 - 15 minute periods to dwell in the light and activate the forgiveness which proceeds from it. Sing the old spiritual, “This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine.”