Interior Spiritual Life 101 - Week four - "Walking with Love."

Week four

As we have been described the interior spiritual life begins with “the dawning” which leads to “the turning” which initiates “the search.” Where does the search take people?

Often the searching takes people back to the religion of their family of origin and onto “new age” ideas and self help.

Sometimes, if the symptoms are severe enough they will seek psychotherapy. Often psychotherapy is not sought until the seeker has exhausted the exploration of obtaining meaning from romantic relationships and/or friendships.

Sometimes the seeker will jump wholeheartedly into some avocational interest or get involved in becoming a diehard fan of a sports team or athletic figure or entertainment celebrity.

Sometimes, the seeker takes solace in chemicals such as alcohol or cannabis or some sort of compulsive activity like gambling, pornography, or video gaming.

All of these worldly activities and solutions provide only temporary respite to the deeper hunger and spiritual longing.

Sooner or later the seeker will become intrigued with a mystical path. The mystical path involves the eschewing of the ego and the involvement with cosmic consciousness.

There is no one mystical path that is best. There are hundreds if not thousands which have been taken over the centuries. Asceticism, meditation, tantra, yoga, fasting, repetitive praying, whirling, chanting, singing, snake handling, baptisms of all sorts, altar calls, hallucinogenic drugs, scripture study, and alms giving all have been tried.

What all these methods come down to in the last analysis is a change of heart and mind. Jesus tells us very simply that the way to the kingdom is to “love as I have loved.”

The mystical path is the answer to the question, “What would Love have me do, think, say, believe?

The search takes us, ultimately, to Love. It says in the introduction to A Course in Miracles, “The course does not aim at teaching the meaning of love, for that is beyond what can be taught. It does aim, however, at removing the blocks to the awareness of love’s presence, which is your natural inheritance. The opposite of love is fear, but what is all-encompassing can have no opposite.”

The mystical path takes us on a journey of miracles, a miracle meaning, simply, a change of heart and mind. The change is from the path of the ego to the path of the spirit. The ego will die but the spirit lasts forever.

This stage of spiritual development is called “walking with Love.”

UU AWOL weekly report 03/04/18 - 03/10/18

Stats

1.    During the week of 03/04/18 – 03/10/18  UUAWOL received 864 views up 22 from the previous week of 842.

2.    The heaviest viewing day was Sunday, 03/04/18 with 259 views.

3.    The average number of views per day was 123 while the average number of views the preceding week was 120.

4.    The number of views is up slightly probably because of the addition of the quizzes and The Holy Fool humor column which seem popular.

Highlights

1.    A new column has been introduced which provides material for an online course on the Interior Spiritual Life. It is intended that this course will run 16 weeks. Quizes have been added to reinforce key concepts described in the course.

2.    The column on Lent continued.

Plans - Short term

1.    Continue with a daily post about the spiritual life.

2.    Continue with posts from the course on the Interior Spiritual Life 101.

3.    Continue a series of weekly reflections on the meaning of Lent.

4.    A weekly article on prophetic voices and events will be maintained.

5.    Continue with at least a weekly article on humor.

6.    Continue with quizzes to reinforce key concepts from the Interior Spiritual Life 101 course.

Plans - long term

1.    Build a model of UU theology

2.    Create a dictionary of UU terms

3.    Further develop an articulation of the values that comprise a good life.

4.    Describe and encourage deliberate practice of an interior spiritual life.

What is a teacher of God?

Unitarian Universalists covenant together to affirm and promote seven principles. What all these principles have in common is the belief in the Love for one another.

The slogan is "One for all and all for one."

Another way of putting it is, "We are all in this thing called Life together."

John Lennon, the great contemporary prophet, sang, "Imagine."

Who is a teacher of God?

The teacher of God it is written in A Course In Miracles is the person who "...has made a deliberate choice in which he did not see his interests as part from someone else's. Once he has done that, his road is established and his direction is sure."

When a person wants the best for another person because (s)he understands that that is what is best for everyone, an important step has been taken for the salvation of the world. An important step has been taken toward the Atonement, At-one-ment, when every body loves every body all the time.

The wanting what is best for another person is called Love. The opposite of Love is fear and fear is based on the belief in scarcity. The belief in scarcity leads to a belief in "me before you" or "me instead of you" and "give to get."

The teacher of God operates on different principles and beliefs. The teacher of God believes in the abundance of God's Love, and "give to have" and "your well being is my well being," and "one for all and all for one."

Fourth week of Lent. "If God is with me who can be against me?"

It is written in Luke 4:

4 And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness 2 for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And he ate nothing during those days. And when they were ended, he was hungry. 3 The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.” 4 And Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone.’” 5 And the devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time,6 and said to him, “To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will. 7 If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.” 8 And Jesus answered him, “It is written,

“‘You shall worship the Lord your God,
    and him only shall you serve.’”

9 And he took him to Jerusalem and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, 10 for it is written,

“‘He will command his angels concerning you,
    to guard you,’

11 and

“‘On their hands they will bear you up,
    lest you strike your foot against a stone.’”

12 And Jesus answered him, “It is said, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’” 13 And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time.

Here we are in the fourth week of Lent and as we are purifying our hearts and minds we consider the temptations that Jesus was challenged by.

Jesus was hungry and the devil mocks Him and tells him to turn the stones in bread. And Jesus, to be blunt, tells the devil to fuck off. As Jesus tells the devil to fuck off he laughs kind heartedly and says, "You dumb bastard, don't you know that there are more important things in life than food? Whoppers, Big Macs, a Dave's special mushroom, swiss, bacon burger don't do it for me. I am hungering after bigger and better things."

So the devil says, "Make a YouTube video and I will see to it that it goes viral and you will have all the fame and fortune of Donald Trump." And Jesus says to the devil, " I don't give a shit about the fame and fortune of Donald Trump. In order to achieve that I would have to lie, and cheat, and steal, and fill people with fears of each other and even if I could become President of the United States and be known all over the world, I would not sell my soul to you to have such a thing. It would be my idea of hell to be caught in such a web of surveillance and political expectations.

So the devil says to Jesus, "Why don't you do something really stupid like jump off the Golden Gate bridge at noon and instead of killing yourself, you will fly like a bird and people will be utterly amazed at your Super Power abilities and they will make comic books, and movies, and toys depicting you for children to play with for 7 generations." And Jesus says to the devil, "You're kidding me, right? I know that God loves me unconditionally and when God is with me and I am with God who can be against me? Bringing my will into alignment with God's will for me gives me all the super powers I, or anyone, will ever need."

And the devil gave up on tempting Jesus. The devil could see that Jesus no longer was walking on the path of the ego, but had embarked on the path of the spirit and that was a road the devil didn't want to go down.

Quiz - What is the third stage of spiritual development?

The second stage of spiritual development called “the turning” leads to the third stage which is called:

1. The search
2. Confirmation
3. Born again
4. Enlightenment

Brockport man leaves church meeting mad

Brockport, NY - A man at a church committee meeting Wednesday night shouted at a fellow committee member, "You're a fucking asshole! I've had enough of this shit!" and stormed out of the meeting.

According to witnesses, the committee members were discussing what term should be used in church liturgy to refer to the Higher Power. Frank advocated for use of the term, "God" but Barbara preferred "Spirit of Life." When Al stated that he preferred "interdependent web" all hell broke lose. Frank called Al a "fucking asshole," stated he'd had enough of this shit and stormed out of the room and left the building.

Barbara who has known Frank for years tried to console Al for the attack saying that Frank, "can be a bit of a hot head."

Pastor Beverly stated simply "I don't care what word you want me to use, but I hope you can make a decision and let me know, and not let his issue further divide the congregation."

Al said, "I still feel strongly about 'interdependent web.'"

Barb sighed and looked like she was about to cry. "I doubt," she said, "we will see Frank at church on Sunday."

What are you teaching?

Unitarian Universalists covenant together to affirm and promote the acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth. However, you can't give what you don't have, can't share that which is not yours to begin with.

So, the first thing for Unitarian Universalists to consider is their own state of spiritual well being. Are you walking the path of the ego or the path of the spirit? What is it that you believe about yourself and others fundamentally?

You teach what you believe you are and what you believe others are to you. It is not so much about what you say but how you say it. It is not so much about what you say as what you believe to be true about yourself and others.

It is written in A Course In Miracles, "The self-deceiving must deceive, for they teach deception. And what else is hell?"

When I encounter the self-deceiving I either laugh or cry. What else is there?

Sometimes with a gentle laugh I will say, "You know that thing that you do?" or "You know that thing that always seems to happen to you.?"

For most people, self-deception is unconscious. They are not aware of the habitual patterns of behavior, fueled by false beliefs, reinforced by misperceptions and faulty generalizations that have trapped them into a hell which they think will provide them with happiness.

Along comes a teacher of God who suggests to them that there might be a better way. There is a better way to think, and a better way to behave. With this better way there is a feeling of peace and not just happiness but joy and bliss.

The teacher of God often has no idea what (s)he has said or done to nudge the person onto a better path. The teacher of God has no control over the outcome. The teacher of God just does what (s)he does and turns the consequences over to their Higher Power.

All the teacher of God has done is make a choice to leave the path of the ego and journey on the path of the Spirit. This choice generates forgiveness and in forgiving themselves and others for their previous mistaken choices, gratitude for Love's presence in their lives wells up and exudes a fragrance as beautiful and lovely as one has ever experienced. This experience of God's Love is contagious.

Walking the path of the ego, people teach hell, and walking the path of the spirit people teach heaven. What are you teaching? What do you wish to learn?

As Stephen Gaskin taught, in the last analysis all we have to offer another is our own state of being. What state is your state of being in? What path are you walking?