Why is the "Living Tradition" of UU dying?

Unitarian Universalism has it backwards, the "it" being its relationship with the world.

Does UU attempt to sanctify the world or allow the world to contaminate the "Living Tradition?"

The obvious answer to the question is the later, Unitarian Universalism allows the world to contaminate its "Living Tradition."

Unitarian Universalism is passive when its faith is attacked. The old saying is that if you don't stand for something, you will fall for anything. UUs covenant together to affirm and promote seven principles and most UUs don't even know what the seven principles are that they covenant together to affirm and promote, and even if they did, they have no guidance from the church on how to stand up to the assault on them from the world.

In the era of Trumpism, the principles of the UU Living Tradition are trashed on a daily basis with 80% of Republicans supporting this trashing. Does UU accommodate this assault on its principles or does it cry foul and impose penalties? Unfortunately, it does the former rather than the later because of its poor organizational cohesiveness. The "Living Tradition" is left for the individual congregations to promote and affirm even though there is an attempt at coherence at the periodic general assemblies.

The failure of Unitarian Universalism to achieve more cohesiveness contributes to its failure to thrive as a "Living Tradition" as a church. Its stagnant and somewhat dwindling membership demonstrates not only its inability to survive as a voice to sanctify the world, but also demonstrates that it has sold its soul to a secular philosophy of relativism and accomodation.

The ineffectiveness of Unitarian Univeralism to sanctify the world is a shame because it has much to offer but it doesn't know what it is and how to share its faith with the world in a coherent way.

How many cat sermons can you listen to?

One of the interesting observations about people who attend Unitarian Universalist congregations is that they know very little about their faith.

It is hard, if not impossible, to share one's faith with others if one knows nothing about the faith oneself. If you asked most people at a UU church what the seven principles are that they covenant together to affirm and promote, 90% can't tell you. Could they even name two of the seven?

Try it. Go to a UU church next Sunday, any Sunday, and ask the people in the congregations if they can name two of the seven principles they supposedly covenant together to affirm and promote.

The ministers don't help either because they rarely preach on the foundations of the faith. It's a shame really. This coming Sunday in a local church , the sermon is entitled, "My thirteen years with Mary Beth." The description states that "Mary Beth" is the preachers cat and the sermon will be about what we can learn from our relationships with our pets.

Really?

I could get this on YouTube and it probably would be more enjoyable.

I wonder if the preacher will be sharing pictures as one preacher did at a sermon I walked out of when she started passing around pictures from the National Geographic.

Something is wrong with the living tradition of Unitarian Universalism when it focuses on pop psychology and pop culture. Are we that desperate to fill the pews on Sunday mornings? A community not well grounded in the basic understanding of their faith is a dying community.  It is written in Proverbs 29:18, "Where there is no vision, the people perish."

Unitarian Univeralism is perishing because the people have lost touch with the vision of the faith.

Are you ready for the Truth?

Unitarian Universalists covenant together to affirm and promote the free and responsible search for truth and meaning. The question for UUs is that the truth with a small t or a capital T?

We are all called to be teachers of God. Whether we are aware of it or not, we are all constantly teaching by how we behave not by what we say. Stephen Gaskin said that, in the last analysis, all we have to offer another human being is our own state of being. So what state of being is your being in?

The Truth with a capital T will set us free. We are so easily enamored with our truths, small T, that we often don't become aware of the Truth with a capital T. For those of us who are aware of the Truth with a capital T, it is incumbent on us to share it. As Pope John Paul II said, "Never impose, always propose."

And so it is up to us, the Truth tellers, to propose the Truth with enthusiasm, energy, and joy. The Truth of Existence is always fun, enlightening, invigorating, and generous.

It is up to Truth to change the world, not the world to change the Truth. Many small truths don't make things right. Truth is found in right mindedness and truths are found in wrong mindedness.

Often, my truth is not the same as the Truth. The Truth is to be found on the path of the spirit which means we have to leave the path of the ego. Jesus tells the rich young man that if he would enter the Kingdom he would need to sell all his possessions, give the money to the poor, and come follow Him. It was too  much for the young man. He became sad and walked away. He, unfortunately, was not yet ready for the Truth.

Truth which is everything and when we are in our right mind costs us nothing. It is free for the asking and taking. However in our wrong mind, the Truth appears to be very, very costly.

The Truth does not change or disappear. It is always there waiting for us to recognize it and accept it. When will be the time for you?

Has secular noise overwhelmed the silence of sanity?

Unitarian Universalists covenant together to affirm and promote the free and responsible search for truth and meaning. Unfortunately, they focus all too often on the truth with a small t instead of the Truth with a capital T.

Robert Barron says, "The secular establishment always prefers Christians who are vacillating, unsure, divided, and altogether eager to privatize their religion. That's the kind of Christianity the regular culture likes:utterly privatized, hidden away, harmless." p.107, To Light A Fire On The Earth.

In our contemporary culture, postmodernist philosophy teaches that truth is a social construction. Truth, small t, is a social construction, relative, situational, a figment of human beings creations on the path of the ego. However, Truth, capital T is about spiritual laws and this Truth is absolute and not of the making of human beings. One truth is found on the path of wrong-mindedness, and the Truth is found on the path of right mindedness.

In our secular world, no distinction is made between truth and Truth. This distinction requires a level of wisdom and understanding that most modern people don't understand. This lack of understanding generates much anxiety and fear. It is written in A Course In Miracles, "You have every reason to feel afraid as you perceive yourself. This is why you cannot escape from fear until you realize that you did not and could not create yourself." T-3.IV.3:8-9

The spiritual path is not about intelligence, knowledge, creeds, belief systems, etc. Spirituality is not cognitive. In order to ascend on the spiritual path one must "lose one's mind." As St. Paul writes, we have to become "fools" for Christ. True spirituality is a return to child-like innocence wondering at the Oneness of existence.

People on the  path of the ego don't want to hear about the Truth. It scares them. It means they would have to detach from the things that they think will make them happy. This is too much. The young man asks Jesus how to get to the kingdom and Jesus tells him to sell all he has, give the money to the poor, and come follow me, and the young man walks away sad.

People on the path of the ego who worship all kinds of idols don't want to hear about the Truth, they just want the Truth tellers to go away, shut their mouths, and keep their understandings to themselves. Unfortunately, they has happened more and more as the secular noise overwhelms the silence of sanity.

Agape or eros?

Unlike other religions, Unitarian Universalism does not hammer its members about sexual morality. UUs see sexual behavior as a part of higher values like dignity, respect, and love. Unitarian Universalism has one of the healthiest attitudes towards sexual behavior  of all the religions in the world.

What does sex have to do with spirituality? Very little. Jesus and Buddha teach very little about it. Since we are not bodies with a spirit, we are spirits with a body, bodily functions are not a focus of healthy spirituality.

Unfortunately, sex is a pre-occupation, though, with religions. Probably because it is a powerful bodily drive like eating and drinking, defecating and urinating. Sexual behavior is something that religions can attempt to control people with.

Religions have made sex an idol. It is placed before their teaching about the love of the Divine. If religions can control the bodies of their members, they can subjugate and oppress millions of people and keep them captive to their control.

The spiritually mature have come to realize that the religious focus and control of sexual behavior is nonsense. Moral condemnation is further attempts to judge and separate not accept and join. With the focus on sexual behavior the Atonement is delayed and thwarted.

Sexual morality is a side show for religious circuses. Religions showcase sexual behavior that is titillating and tempting and focuses on  the very behaviors it is condemning.

Avoid the sideshow and stay focused on the importance of forgiveness, compassion, and agape.

At the end of the day, spirituality is about agape not eros.

What are you?

Unitarian Universalists covenant together to affirm and promote the inherent worth and dignity of every person. This presumes that UUs understand what a person is.

You are not a body. The body changes over your life span. How could you be it? Look at your baby pictures; you are no longer a baby.

If we are not our body, what are we?

We are not a body with a spirit, we are a spirit with a body.

Same is true of other people. They are not bodies either. They are spirits within bodies.

Watch what one body does to another in war, in bullying, in physical abuse and assault. What is going on?

Bodies come in different colors, different shapes, different weights and heights. Some we judge to be beautiful, some mediocre, and some ugly.

Some bodies kill other bodies. In the U.S.A. black and brown bodies are assaulted, attacked, and killed by white bodies.

President Trump says that because he is a celebrity he can kiss, fondle, and grope bodies as he prefers. He says, "They let me do it." This has become our national standard. If you are rich and powerful your body can do what it wants to obtain pleasure.

However, the spirit becomes sad and is dispirited. The energy is very low and leaden. The spirit becomes demoralized when people are treated as bodies and not as spirits.

We recognize that something is wrong. Our minds have been lead down a mistaken path. We have become wrong minded instead of right minded. We have been robbed of our peace and joy. In this recognition it dawns on us that there is a better way and we begin our search for the better way to live our lives and engage with others who are called to a similar search. We come to understand that the person's inherent worth and dignity comes from the spirit not from the body.

Do you want to be happy? Do you know what it takes?

Unitarian Universalists covenant together to affirm and promote seven principles. Applying these principles are thought to bring its adherents to bliss. Has Unitarian Universalism nurtured and facilitated the development of many saints? If one were to aspire to sainthood, to holiness, would adherence to the seven principles help? Are there wise ones among the fellowship to help us on the path?

The Dali Lama has said that the purpose of life is happiness. The big question is, "What will make me happy?" The answer is to live a moral life full of virtue. People respond, "You can't tell me what to do!" And the answer is, "Of course not, it is not my intention to deprive you of your freedom. It is my intention to help you figure out what will make you happy."

Becoming happy is the outcome of implementing certain skills. As with any skill, a person could exercise it any old way he/she wants to, but will this willy nilly approach get the same results? We pay big money for tutors, for teachers to help us improve our skills because we have grasped that accomplishment takes deliberate practice. If you are to play the piano well, it must be practiced on a regular basis and a piano teacher can help.

If you are to live life well it takes a lot of practice and a certain amount of intention and reflection and a good teacher can help as well.

Many things on the path of the ego create obstacles and block our progress to happiness. Are we even aware of what thoughts and behavior will lead to happiness?

Osho makes an important distinction between pleasure, happiness, joy, and bliss. People seek sensory pleasure, but this doesn't contribute to longer term happiness let alone joy and bliss. The Universe calls us to bliss and few people know how to attain it. Sometimes the achievement of bliss requires the forgoing of pleasure. Feeling good and doing good can be two different things.

Achieving happiness and bliss requires discipline and awareness. In achieving a degree of happiness and bliss, wisdom accrues. Seek out and learn from the wise ones.