What will make us happy?

The ego thinks it is an advantage not to commit itself to anything that is eternal, because the eternal must come from God. Eternalness is the one function the ego has tried to develop, but has systematically failed to achieve. The ego compromises with the issue of the eternal, just as it does with all issues touching on the real question in any way. By becoming involved with tangential issues, it hopes to hide the real question and keep it out of mind. The ego’s characteristic busyness with nonessentials is for precisely that purpose. Preoccupations with problems set up to be incapable of solution are favorite ego devices for impeding learning progress. In all these diversionary tactics, however, the one question that is never asked by those who pursue them is, “What for?” This is the question that you must learn to ask in connection with everything. What is the purpose? Whatever it is, it will direct your efforts automatically. When you make a decision of purpose, then, you have made a decision about your future effort; a decision that will remain in effect unless you change your mind. T-4.V.6: 1 - 11

A Course in Miracles . Foundation for Inner Peace. Kindle Edition. 

The ego loves to keep us distracted and always looking for the next big thing. It seems there is always something. If we would like to be more centered and focus on what really matters, we should ask ourselves before deciding on anything, “What is this for? What is its purpose?”

Unitarian Universalism encourages us to affirm and promote the free and responsible search for truth and meaning but doesn’t help us much if we were to ask what is this search for truth and meaning for? 

As the Cindy Lauper song said, “Girls just want to have fun.” When people are asked what they want out of life for themselves and their loved ones, they most likely say, “To be happy.” If you ask “What will make you and them happy?” they pause and often seem somewhat perplexed.

Today, it is suggested that what will make us happy is unconditional love. And the question is where can this unconditional love be found? It is not in the world of the ego, but rather in the world of the soul.

Where have all the members gone? UU is shrinking.

Doubling concerns, according to its last census in 2020, UU membership was at its lowest in twenty-three years. Despite the country’s population increasing seventy-five percent, UU’s membership is nineteen percent smaller than when it was formed in 1961 and has shrunk since introducing radical anti-racism initiatives starting in the last twenty-five years. (UUA 2020) (Loehr 2005) (Halsted 2019) (UUA 1997)

Cycleback, David, "Why The UUA Is Doomed To Fail," UUMUAC Newsletter, May, 2022

Where have all the UUs gone? The denomination is shrinking despite so much that it has to offer the world.

UU got distracted by a social justice agenda rather than its true mission which is to facilitate the growth of spiritual intelligence. UU needs to enter into a time of renewal to rethink its mission and where best to invest its knowledge, skills, and values.

What is it you are seeking and hoping to find?

This is the question that must be asked: “Where can I go for protection?” “Seek and ye shall find” does not mean that you should seek blindly and desperately for something you would not recognize. Meaningful seeking is consciously undertaken, consciously organized and consciously directed. The goal must be formulated clearly and kept in mind. Learning and wanting to learn are inseparable. You learn best when you believe what you are trying to learn is of value to you. T-4.V.5: 1 - 6

A Course in Miracles . Foundation for Inner Peace. Kindle Edition. 

The fourth principle of Unitarian Universalism is the affirmation and promotion of the free and responsible search for truth and meaning. Often that search is engaged in at the instigation of the ego rather than the soul. In such situations, the search is dissatisfying.

Search and you will find refers to the activity of the soul. This activity can be guided by many maps one of which is A Course In Miracles which is a course in mind training. There are many key tools suggested by ACIM such as atonement, forgiveness, and joining with purpose.

Today, it is suggested that we reflect on whether our searching is instigated by the ego or by the soul, This institigation is fueled by the value that we are seeking and hoping to find.

The body or the soul?

A major source of the ego’s off-balanced state is its lack of discrimination between the body and the Thoughts of God. Thoughts of God are unacceptable to the ego, because they clearly point to the nonexistence of the ego itself. The ego therefore either distorts them or refuses to accept them. It cannot, however, make them cease to be. T-4.V.2: 1 - 4

A Course in Miracles . Foundation for Inner Peace. Kindle Edition. 

Are you a body with a soul or a soul with the body? The correct answer is a soul with a body. And what happens when the body is dead? The soul disperses back into the Universal Oneness. The ego resists this idea. It identifies with the body and knows that with the death of the body, the ego also dies if not before. The purpose of A Course In Miracles is to train your mind to detach from the ego and recognize, acknowledge, and nurture the soul.

In Unitarian Universalism we join together to affirm and promote the inherent worth and dignity of every person. This inherent worth and dignity comes not from the body but from the soul. It is this recognition of the primacy of the soul over the body that indicates that UU theology serves best those at higher levels of spiritual intelligence.

Today, it is suggested that we eschew thoughts and judgments about the body and focus instead on the virtues and character of the soul.

What has gotten into the UUA?

Unitarian Universalism (UU) is a tiny, eccentric, politically far left and predominantly white church with dwindling membership. It is far whiter than the United States population and than most Christian and conservative churches, including the Catholics, Jehovah’s Witnesses, the Anglican Church and Mormons. While UU has advanced from its heterosexual patriarchal roots, the lack of racial diversity has been a source of angst to many UUs who see themselves as social justice vanguards. (UUA 2010) (Braestrup 2017)

"Why The UUA Is Doomed To Fail" by David Cycleback in the UUMUAC newsletter, May, 2022

The UUA has banned UUMUAC, the Unitarian Universalist Multiracial Unity Action Council, from purchasing a display booth at the General Assembly saying that the UUMUAC's mission is not compatible with that of the UUA. 

Here is the mission statement of the UUMUAC:

 "It is the mission of the Unitarian Universalist Multiracial Unity Action Caucus to carry out and foster anti-racist and multiracial unity activities both within and outside the Unitarian Universalist Association through education, bearing witness and other actions, and expansion of our membership both within and outside the walls of our congregations.

We also seek to defend our UU Principles against those who seek to undermine them."

Spiritual intelligence: the stages

What are the stages of spiritual intelligence? There are many models. For our use on UU A Way Of Life the description of the stages of spiritual intelligence involves five:

Concrete, literal

Magical and superstitious

Conceptual and reasonable

Holistic and integral

Mystical, nondual, energizing.

People grow through these stages as well as organizations like churches and cultures. People, socialized in a religious tradition, can be at different stages of spiritual intelligence as well. Some religions and churches do a better job of nurturing and facilitating this growth than others. Many churches have a center of gravity in one of these stages and attract membership with participants being primarily at one of these stages. Often as growth occurs and spiritual intelligence develops, schism can occur or some people have grown beyond the bulk of the congregation and will move on seeking support from a new group of people who share their level of SQ.

One indicator of a vibrant religion and church is one that can serve the needs of people at different levels of spiritual intelligence. These religions and churches can be described as “resilient” as compared to rigid and even brittle. 

Spirituality is different from religion. Some people are spiritual but not religious and some people are religious but not spiritual and sometimes people are both religious and spiritual. At UU A Way of Life we are spiritual, but not religious. The kind of Unitarian Universalism that UU A Way Of Life attempts to share and incubate is not organizational or institutionally  based. The kind of Unitarian Universalism that UU A Way Of Life describes, acknowledges, and facilitates is a way of life not merely a social club which one might attend on Sundays to have coffee and cake and socialize.

The mission of the church is to facilitate the spiritual evolution of individuals and cultures and all of humanity and sentient beings. The mission of UU A Way Of Life is to help people experience the good, the true, and the beautiful and become aware of the presence of the infinite in the finite. 

You, your family, your community, your nation, the whole world is invited to join us. What is most beautiful, true, and good in your life? Leave a comment.

Where does Truth lie?

The ego is thrown further off balance because it keeps its primary motivation from your awareness, and raises control rather than sanity to predominance. The ego has every reason to do this, according to the thought system which gave rise to it and which it serves. Sane judgment would inevitably judge against the ego, and must be obliterated by the ego in the interest of its self-preservation. T-4.V.1: 4 - 6

A Course in Miracles . Foundation for Inner Peace. Kindle Edition. 

Would you rather be right or be happy? Unfortunately, most people side with the ego and would rather be right. Control is the motivation not knowing the truth. In these cases, ego is the most important thing up to and including the death of the body. Some call this “honor” and “glory” and “loyalty.” It is attachment and willfulness.

In Unitarian Universalism people join together to affirm and promote the free and responsible search for truth and meaning. This search will take them, eventually, away from the ego and to what the passage above calls “sane judgment.” Sane judgment is Truth with a capital T.

Today, it is suggested that rather than insist that our beliefs are right we ask ourselves “What would love have me do?”