We are better than our worst mistake

Guilt feelings are the preservers of time. They induce fears of retaliation or abandonment, and thus ensure that the future will be like the past. This is the ego’s continuity. T-5.VI.2:1-3

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

The ego dwells in the past rather than in the present, the eternal now. Dwelling on the past engenders fears of retaliation and abandonment. These fears make the ego real for the person experiencing these fears. To eradicate the fears we must see the illusion the ego creates that attempts to make it  real.

In Unitarian Universalism we covenant together to affirm and promote the inherent worth and dignity of every person. This inherent worth and dignity is not based on the belief in the ego but rather the belief in the Divine Spark that animates every person's consciousness.

Today, it is suggested that we name the producer of our guilt and recognize and acknowledge that mistakes have been made and that we are better than our worst mistake.

Where did the time go?

 

Where does time not exist?

God in His knowledge is not waiting, but His Kingdom is bereft while you wait. All the Sons of God are waiting for your return, just as you are waiting for theirs. Delay does not matter in eternity, but it is tragic in time. You have elected to be in time rather than eternity, and therefore believe you are in time. Yet your election is both free and alterable. You do not belong in time. Your place is only in eternity, where God Himself placed you forever.T-5.VI.1:1-7

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

There are expressions inEnglish such as “Time stood still,” “Where did the time go?,” “I lost track of the time.” There is a part of our mind that knows that time is an illusion and in the Oneness there is no such thing. Time only manifested with the separation and will disappear when the separation is healed and the Atonement is achieved.

In Unitarian Universalism we covenant together to affirm and promote the free and responsible search for truth and meaning and in this search we come to understand that time is merely a device we use for our cognitive understanding in the world of the ego but does not exist in the Kingdom of God.

Today, it is suggested that we take some time to withdraw into an experience of the Oneness where time does not exist.

Our choice is between unconditional love or conditional love.

T-5.V.8. The continuing decision to remain separated is the only possible reason for continuing guilt feelings. We have said this before, but did not emphasize the destructive results of the decision. Any decision of the mind will affect both behavior and experience. What you want you expect. This is not delusional. Your mind does make your future, and it will turn it back to full creation at any minute if it accepts the Atonement first. It will also return to full creation the instant it has done so. Having given up its disordered thought, the proper ordering of thought becomes quite apparent.

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

What you want to see is often what you get. The psychologists call it “confirmation bias.” Another term often used is “self fulfilling prophecy.”

So do you want heaven or hell? Do you want unconditional love or conditional love? Do you want the world of the ego or the Kingdom of Heaven?

In Unitarian Universalism we join together to affirm and promote the acceptance of one another and the encouragement to spiritual growth. This means that UUs strive to help people become aware of their choices. It is up to the person to choose.

Today, it is suggested that we reflect on the choices we have for heaven or hell, for unconditional love or conditional love.

The choice is between the world of the ego or the Kingdom of God.

Irrational thought is disordered thought. God Himself orders your thought because your thought was created by Him. Guilt feelings are always a sign that you do not know this. They also show that you believe you can think apart from God, and want to. Every disordered thought is attended by guilt at its inception, and maintained by guilt in its continuance. Guilt is inescapable by those who believe they order their own thoughts, and must therefore obey their dictates. This makes them feel responsible for their errors without recognizing that, by accepting this responsibility, they are reacting irresponsibly. If the sole responsibility of the miracle worker is to accept the Atonement for himself, and I assure you that it is, then the responsibility for what is atoned for cannot be yours. The dilemma cannot be resolved except by accepting the solution of undoing. You would be responsible for the effects of all your wrong thinking if it could not be undone. The purpose of the Atonement is to save the past in purified form only. If you accept the remedy for disordered thought, a remedy whose efficacy is beyond doubt, how can its symptoms remain? T-5.V.7:1-12

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

When we think in terms of the world of the ego it is irrational because the world of the ego is an illusion, a world we made up. We want to believe the world of the ego is real even though it separates us from the Kingdom of God which is always there whether we are aware of it or not. The disordered thoughts of the world of the ego make us feel guilty about separating ourselves from the Kingdom of God. When things go wrong in the world of the ego we think we have made a mistake and try to correct it but this attempt at correction of something that is disordered to begin with is misguided because the correction of things in the world of the ego is not where the problem lies. The solution lies in shifting our minds from the world of the ego to the Kingdom of God, from conditional love to unconditional love. When we shift to unconditional love we have chosen the Atonement and the guilt over separated thinking, which was never real but only a dream, disappears.

In Unitarian Universalism we join together to affirm and promote the free and responsible search for truth and meaning which is to be found in the Kingdom of God not in the world of the ego.

Today, it is suggested that we refocus from the conditional love of the world of the ego to the unconditional love of the Kingdom of God.

How to enhance one’s spiritual intelligence?

What if I could name those Spiritual Intelligence skills and describe them on a spectrum from “novice” to “expert”? Could a framework of skills and levels of development help me and others know what to work on next?

Wigglesworth, Cindy. SQ21: The Twenty-One Skills of Spiritual Intelligence . SelectBooks, Inc.. Kindle Edition. 

If a person wanted to enhance their spiritual intelligence where would they start? If an organization existed whose mission it is to teach spiritual intelligence what would be the pedagogy?

A first step might be to define spiritual intelligence. Cindy Wigglesworth in her book Twenty-One Skills of Spiritual Intelligence defines spiritual intelligence as “the ability to behave with wisdom and compassion, while maintaining inner and outer peace, regardless of the situation.” p.8

There may be other key components to spiritual intelligence as well such as sincerity and genuineness and discerning God’s will.

Does religion enhance people’s spiritual intelligence? Does your church provide teachings and experiences that enhance the congregation’s level of spiritual intelligence? Does your religion and church have the competence to do so?

In Roman Catholicism there was an emphasis on “spiritual formation” and people were encouraged to focus on their “interior spiritual life.” In Unitarian Universalism these concepts are rarely mentioned, and no consistent effort is made to provide the resources necessary for the development of spiritual intelligence. The mission of UU A Way Of Life is to enhance spiritual intelligence among its members and in the society of which it is a part.

To be continued

Discerning the will of God

The Holy Spirit, like the ego, is a decision. Together they constitute all the alternatives the mind can accept and obey. The Holy Spirit and the ego are the only choices open to you. God created one, and so you cannot eradicate it. You made the other, and so you can. Only what God creates is irreversible and unchangeable. What you made can always be changed because, when you do not think like God, you are not really thinking at all. Delusional ideas are not real thoughts, although you can believe in them. But you are wrong. The function of thought comes from God and is in God. As part of His Thought, you cannot think apart from Him. T-5.V.6:6-16

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

At its most elemental level, life is very simple: you can think with the Holy Spirit or with the ego. When Christians pray the prayer that Jesus taught, the “Our Father”, they say in part “...Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven…” If we take the prayer seriously, we ask “What is God’s will for me and the world?” This question begins a search which is called “discernment.” How do we discern what is God’s will?

In Unitarian Universalism we covenant together to affirm and promote the free and responsible search for truth and meaning. The Course teaches that the world of the ego is delusional and that truth is be found in the world of the Holy Spirit.

Today, it is suggested that we discern the will of God by asking “What would Love have me do?”