Magnanimous

We will be describing generosity as a paramita this week and this old short postcast seemed to address the topic well.

UUAWOL podcast, episdoe 3, The turning

UUAWOL Podcast, Episode #2, First stage of spiritual development.

UUAWOL Podcast, Episode #2, First stage of spiritual development.

 

How ya doin? Happy to be here!

Fifth week of Lent, the season of generosity

As we begin the fifth week of Lent, we reflect again on the meaning of the tradition.

Lent has been a time of penitence, of giving things up to make one more aware of our love of idols and our need to focus with intention on the path of the spirit.

Lent, is a season of remembrance of Jesus' forty days in the desert where He went in retreat to spend time with God prior to His trial and execution where He would demonstrate for all the world to see for thousands of years that the path of the spirit is to be valued above the path of the ego.

Jesus, after all, refused to sell His soul to the devil. What a guy! A true Super Hero who conquered His ego for the benefit of humanity.

What stands out as a possible lesson from this story is the tremendous generosity manifested by Jesus.

Lama Surya Das in his book, "Buddha Is As Buddha Does" describes the ten paramitas or tranformational practices of the Bodhisattva or seeker. The first paramitas that Lama Surya Das describes is generosity. Here is what Surya Das writes, "True generosity is giving everything you have to the moment, and is the way of nonattachment."

The core of the celebration of Lent is not deprivation and sacrifice but rather generosity which is a liberation from our attachments. It is a cleansing, a purification, which brings the joy of liberation and often a feeling of tremendous peace and joy.

The hallmark of a Lent, well celebrated, is the opening up of the heart and mind with the spirit of generosity, and generosity requires sharing and giving of what one has: time, talent, and treasure to the benefit of the world.

UUAWOL weekly report 03/11/18 - 03/17/18

Weekly report from UUAWOL 03/11/18 – 03/17/18

Stats

1.    During the week of 03/11/18 – 03/17/18  UUAWOL received 701 views down 153 from the previous week of 864.

2.    The heaviest viewing day was Sunday, 03/11/18 with 145 views.

3.    The average number of views per day was 100 while the average number of views the preceding week was 123.

4.    The number of views is down probably because of the views of extraneous (off topic) posted material did not gather so many hits.

Highlights

1.    Quizes to reinforce acquisition of understanding of key words and concepts have been popular.

2.    The column on Lent continued.

3.    A new feature, the UUAWOL podcast has been added.

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.

Gentleness is a milestone on the path of the spirit

Unitarian Universalists covenant together to affirm and promote justice, equity, and compassion in human relations. In this principle, the most important part of the triad affirmed and promoted is compassion because without compassion justice and equity cannot exist and with compassion justice and equity become not only possible but probable.

Compassion requires gentleness.

Another milestone on the walk of Love on the path of the spirit is gentleness. The metaphors of "warrior" and "war" are dropped. They no longer seem appropriate and helpful to one with a nonjudgmental attitude whose life is now based on the faith and trust in Divine Love.

The opposite of gentleness is attack and harm. The desire to harm another is not part of the journey on the path of the spirit. When the Roman soldiers came to arrest Jesus, Jesus told Peter to put away his sword. In Matthew 26: 51 it is written "At this, one of Jesus’ companions drew his sword and struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his ear. 52“Put your sword back in its place, Jesus said to him. “For all who draw the sword will die by the sword. 53Are you not aware that I can call on My Father, and He will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels?

Gentleness, then, becomes an important milestone on the walk with Love on the path of the spirit for it is a very quality of experience which manifests Love itself. The Dali Lama tells us simply that the path of the spirit is one of kindness. Kindness and harm are opposites.

The measure of a person's life when the person takes stock of his/her life is kindness and a quality of kindness is gentleness.