What is atheism?

One might simply say, "God is a verb."

Neale Donald Walsh wrote that if you don't like the word "God" substitute the word "life."

Life is the Ground Of Being emanating from a Transcendent Source manifesting in Truth, Goodness, and Beauty which is continually evolving from a dualistic consciousness to Oneness which the Buddhists call "Nothing."

A person's view of God depends on their level of spiritual intelligence. The belief that god is a man up in the sky is anthropomorphic egocentrism. To believe that god is Oneness, and a Force is post integral.

People who say they don't believe in the man in the sky sometimes call themselves "atheists" but they doesn't mean that they don't recognize and acknowledge the Force of Life.

Would we have sickness or healing?

To heal is the only kind of thinking in this world that resembles the Thought of God, and because of the elements they share, can transfer easily to it. When a brother perceives himself as sick, he is perceiving himself as not whole, and therefore in need. If you, too, see him this way, you are seeing him as if he were absent from the Kingdom or separated from it, thus making the Kingdom itself obscure to both of you. Sickness and separation are not of God, but the Kingdom is. If you obscure the Kingdom, you are perceiving what is not of God. T-7.II.1:1-5

A Course in Miracles (pp. 245-246). Foundation for Inner Peace. Kindle Edition. 

Sometimes the way language is used in the Course makes comprehension difficult. The passage above seems clumsily expressed. The idea being communicated is that healing, becoming whole, is of the Kingdom of God. Anything else, based on separation and division is not: separation and division are things of the world of the ego. Sickness is based on separation and division and if these separations and divisions are what is focused on you are missing the peace and bliss that is of the Kingdom.

In Unitarian Universalism some of us join together to affirm and promote a love for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.

Today it is suggested that we be mindful about what we focus on: the Oneness of God or the separation and divisions of the ego. Would we have sickness or healing?

Giving up our attachments to the things of the ego.

God does not take steps, because His accomplishments are not gradual. He does not teach, because His creations are changeless. He does nothing last, because He created first and for always. T-7.I.7:1-3

A Course in Miracles (p. 245). Foundation for Inner Peace. Kindle Edition. 

God is One and steps and incrementalism is a construct of the ego based on separation and division. Space and time are a construction which allows the ego to measure based on separation and division. However beneath these constructions of the ego is the Ground of Being, the Force, the Transcendent Source. Being enamored with space and time we forget from where we have come and to what we are returning. The return requires giving up the things of the ego.

In Unitarian Universalism some of us join together to affirm and promote a respect for the interdependent web of all existence which, in the last analysis, doesn’t exist in the Kingdom of God. The drops merge back into the ocean which is the basis of the web.

Today it is suggested that we remind ourselves that we are one with everything and to merge into peace and bliss must give up our attachments to the things of the ego.

Merging into the Oneness of peace and bliss.

To think like God is to share His certainty of what you are, and to create like Him is to share the perfect Love He shares with you. To this the Holy Spirit leads you, that your joy may be complete because the Kingdom of God is whole. I have said that the last step in the reawakening of knowledge is taken by God. This is true, but it is hard to explain in words because words are symbols, and nothing that is true need be explained. However, the Holy Spirit has the task of translating the useless into the useful, the meaningless into the meaningful, and the temporary into the timeless. He can therefore tell you something about this last step. T-7.I.6:1-6

A Course in Miracles (pp. 244-245). Foundation for Inner Peace. Kindle Edition. 

When we turn our will over to the Holy Spirit our consciousness is raised all the way to heaven’s door. Entrance is up to God but entrance could not occur were we not to arrive at the door.

In Unitarian Universalism we join together to affirm and promote the free and responsible search for truth and meaning. This search is best untaken with the Holy Spirit as our guide.

Today bring your will into alignment with God’s will by asking the Holy Spirit to guide you in this alignment until you merge into the Oneness of peace and bliss.

Dispelling the ego’s grip on humanity.

I gave only love to the Kingdom because I believed that was what I was. What you believe you are determines your gifts, and if God created you by extending Himself as you, you can only extend yourself as He did. Only joy increases forever, since joy and eternity are inseparable. God extends outward beyond limits and beyond time, and you who are co-creator with Him extend His Kingdom forever and beyond limit. Eternity is the indelible stamp of creation. The eternal are in peace and joy forever. T-7.I.5:1-6

A Course in Miracles (p. 244). Foundation for Inner Peace. Kindle Edition. 

The “I” in the passage above is the Jesus of A Course In Miracles. Jesus said that he extended the unconditional love of God because that is who he believed he was. Jesus tells us that we can do the same thing as he did and it brings great peace and joy.

In Unitarian Universalism we join together to affirm and promote the acceptance of one another and the encouragement to spiritual growth. This spiritual growth involves nurturing our souls into the eternal where there is no time and space and only peace and joy forever. This is our faith and the faith of our Universalist forebearers.

Today it is suggested that we remind ourselves who we are and why we are here. We are here to extend the unconditional love of God into the world of the ego to dispel the ego’s grip on humanity so we can shift our focus on the Wholeness from which we have emerged and to which we return.

Should I love conditionally or unconditionally?

The ego, on the other hand, always demands reciprocal rights, because it is competitive rather than loving. It is always willing to strike a bargain, but it cannot understand that to be like another means that no bargains are possible. To gain you must give, not bargain. To bargain is to limit giving, and this is not God’s Will. To will with God is to create like Him. God does not limit His gifts in any way. You are His gifts, and so your gifts must be like His. Your gifts to the Kingdom must be like His gifts to you. T-7.I.4:1-8

A Course in Miracles (p. 244). Foundation for Inner Peace. Kindle Edition. 

The world of the ego believes only in conditional love. The Kingdom Of God is based on unconditional love. In the world of the ego people give to get. In the Kingdom of God people give because it gives them joy to do so.

In Unitarian Universalism some of us join together to affirm and promote justice, equity, and compassion in human relations. The Universalists believed in and promoted the unconditional love of the Transcendent Source of Creation.

Today it is suggested that we consider whether we will love unconditionally or conditionally. To love conditionally is necessary sometimes in the world of the ego and to love unconditionally is to extend the creative power of our Transcendent Source.

The choice for unconditional love can be a no brainer.

The third step, then, is a statement of what you want to believe, and entails a willingness to relinquish everything else. The Holy Spirit will enable you to take this step, if you follow Him. Your vigilance is the sign that you want Him to guide you. Vigilance does require effort, but only until you learn that effort itself is unnecessary. You have exerted great effort to preserve what you made because it was not true. Therefore, you must now turn your effort against it. Only this can cancel out the need for effort, and call upon the being which you both have and are. This recognition is wholly without effort since it is already true and needs no protection. It is in the perfect safety of God. Therefore, inclusion is total and creation is without limit. T-6.V.C.10:1-10

A Course in Miracles (p. 242). Foundation for Inner Peace. Kindle Edition. 

The third step which the Holy Spirit encourages is “Be vigilant only for God and His Kingdom '' which means to eschew the world of the ego and conditional love for the world of God which is unconditional love. We have created the world of the ego and have been socialized and conditioned by it forgetting the world of God from which we have come and to which we will return. This turning from the world of the ego to the world of God requires that first we become conscious that we have a choice and secondly that we, if we so choose, turn from the world of the ego to the world of God. This is a choice we make many, many times and if we persist the choice for the world of God becomes natural. The choice for unconditional love is a no brainer.

In Unitarian Universalism some of us join together to affirm and promote the free and responsible search for truth and meaning and this search will take us to the world of God which the Universalists told us is unconditional love of our Transcendent Source.

Today it is suggested that we reflect on the choice we have between the world of the ego and the world of God. The Holy Spirit suggests that we be vigilant only for God and His Kingdom. In making this choice we experience peace and bliss.