To what extent are you at peace belonging to yourself?

 To whom do you belong? To what extent do you belong to yourself?

The place we belong is in heaven.

According to A Course In Miracles the problems for humanity began when humans separated themselves from the Oneness of God at their incarnation. This separation, when the drops separated themselves from the Oceanic Oneness, gave rise to the ego which vainly thinks it is the author of itself and dissociates itself from the Transcendent Source and the other drops to maintain its illusion of its separate existence.

Have separated themselves from the Transcendent Source, the ego, unconsciously, feels guilty and lives in fear that it will be punished. This guilt gets projected onto everyone and everything else as anger, condemnation and judgment, and contributes to attacks, overt and covert.

Deep down, though, there is a yearning to return home to our Transcendent Source and when it dawns on us that the world of the ego is not our real home this recognition precipitates a search for what Unitarian Universalists call in their fourth principle “truth and meaning.” Others sometimes call it “goodness, truth, and beauty.” Jesus called it the Kingdom of God and  in contemporary times people call it “heaven.” In the metaphysics of A Course In Miracles it is called “Atonement” which is simply the healing of the separation.

Heaven is our true home. The question might be “how does one get to heaven?” How does the Atonement occur?

UUs believe that “heaven” is not in the hereafter where we go when we die,  but here on earth, and Jesus and many spiritual masters do as well. The Atonement occurs through loving forgiveness.

What do you think? Is there a heaven? Can it be on earth as well as in the after world? How does one go there? What’s it like when one arrives?

What makes belonging important?

 What makes belonging important?

1. It’s fun.

2. Facilitates spiritual growth.

3. Safety

4. Status

The correct answer is B. Facilitates spiritual growth.

Protecting ourselves from our own insecurities.

Projection and attack are inevitably related, because projection is always a means of justifying attack. Anger without projection is impossible. The ego uses projection only to destroy your perception of both yourself and your brothers. The process begins by excluding something that exists in you but which you do not want, and leads directly to excluding you from your brothers. T-6.I.3:5-8

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

“I might be bad but I’m not as bad as them.” When we say this we feel better. However, our altered better mood is based on separation and exclusion which is based on an illusion which is false and at a deep seated, often unconscious level, causes guilt. The guilt contributes to our acting out even further against ourselves and others.

In Unitarian Universalism some of us covenant together to affirm and promote the acceptance of one another and the encouragement to spiritual growth. The application of this principle requires that we give up our judgemental attitudes.

Today it is suggested that we catch ourselves before we criticize others and put them down or push them away so that we can protect ourselves from our own insecurities.

Have you found what you are looking for?

 Have you found what you are looking for or are you still searching?

In Unitarian Universalism some people covenant together to affirm and promote the free and responsible search for truth and meaning. What is it that they are looking for? They might not put the goal in quite these words, but they are trying to find their way back to God. They want to heal the separation so they can reunite with their Transcendent Source. This is the ultimate form of belonging.

U2 sing about this in their song "I still haven't found what I am looking for."

This is our kind of church music at UU A Way Of Life.

To whom do I belong? Where do I belong?

During September, 2022, the theme of the month is belonging. There will be several posts for the rest of the month on this theme. A new post will occur almost every day. Comments are welcome.

Belonging is the third need on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs after food and water at level one, and safety and protection from harm at level two. At the third level a human being needs belonging and love.

The basic questions addressing belonging are “To whom do I belong?” and “And where do I belong?” 

These questions are answered in different ways at different stages of development. These stages have been described in many ways. 

One of the simplest models of worldviews are egocentric, ethnocentric, worldcentric, cosmocentric. 

Individuals, groups and societies develop through these stages of world view. Unitarian Universalism, unlike other religions, is stuck at world centric although adherents to Unitarian Universalism can be at any stage of development. Likewise UU congregations can experience their center of gravity on one of these stages. The level of conscious development is heavily dependent on its ministerial leadership along with the board of directors who work with the minister.

The questions for discussion might be: “At what stage of development of worldview is your congregation and at what stage are you? Do you belong in your congregation? Is there alignment or misalignment?

What is it that we fear in others?

Yet projection will always hurt you. It reinforces your belief in your own split mind, and its only purpose is to keep the separation going. It is solely a device of the ego to make you feel different from your brothers and separated from them. The ego justifies this on the grounds that it makes you seem “better” than they are, thus obscuring your equality with them still further. 

T-6.II.3:1-4

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

We see things in others that are problematic for ourselves. Jesus said “Why do you see a speck in your brother’s eye when there is a log in your own?” The ego wants us to feel superior to others to enhance and maintain its own status. We are different from them. We think to ourselves, “I might be bad but I am not as bad as they are.” When we are accused our first defense we used as children is “What about them?”

In Unitarian Universalism some of us covenant together to affirm and promote the acceptance of each other and the encouragement to spiritual growth. UUs make a big deal, usually, of everybody being welcome. Francis David said, “We need not think alike to love alike.”

Today it is suggested that we think about the people we dislike and ask ourselves why? What are the factors that engender disgust, annoyance, hatred? What is it that we are afraid of?