Ask Alexa - Where will UU be in 20 years?

Alexa: Where will Unitarian Universalism be in 20 years?

Unless they  get off their social justice track and focus on their covenant to affirm and promote their seven principles they will continue to dissipate and die.

Alexa: How do people climb the world's tallest mountain?

They must keep climbing and they mustn't ever rest.

A Course In Miracles and Unitarian Universalism - Keep the faith!

From A Course In Miracles:

T-21.III.3. Why is it strange to you that faith can move mountains? 

This is indeed a little feat for such a power. For faith can keep the Son of God in chains as long as he believes he is in chains. And when he is released from them it will be simply because he no longer believes in them, withdrawing faith that they can hold him, and placing it in his freedom instead.

It is impossible to place equal faith in opposite directions. What faith you give to sin you take away from holiness. And what you offer holiness has been removed from sin.

A Course in Miracles . Foundation for Inner Peace. p. 451-452

Comment:

Back in the 60s there was a common expression when one was saying good-bye which was "Keep the faith!"

I loved this expression but always wondered what it meant. What is the "faith" that one is keeping? If one UU was to say this to another UU what could this expression mean? What would "the faith" refer to which one is encouraged to keep?

In the passage above, the "faith" appears to be in freedom as compared to sin. "Sin" in A Course In Miracles refers to separation from the Oneness with God so we can pursue our own will in the world of the ego.

Freedom refers then, counter-intuitively, to doing the will of God and eschewing the ways of the ego, the ways of the world.

Unitarian Universalists practice this "faith" by living their covenant with each other to affirm and promote seven principles, the third of which is to accept one another and encourage each other's spiritual growth. It is the faith in the freeing power of the path of the Spirit (Unconditional Love) as compared to the path of the ego which is the foundation of the Unitarian Universalist faith.

"Keep the faith," in Unitarian Universalism means eschewing the ways of the world and the ego, and supporting the turning things over to the life of the Spirit and the will of God. Another way of saying this, is to become one with the Tao and go with the flow and accept the integration of the Ying and the Yang. This "going with flow" requires forgiveness which is the giving up of resentments, judgments, and grievances.

Jesus says as He is being crucified, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."

This kind of faith in the foundational Love of the Universe is awesome and beyond human understanding and thus requires "faith."

Ask Alexa: What do you put your faith in?

Alexa: Which is better to put your faith in: fear or love?

It is better to put your faith in love but the opposite of love is not hate as most people believe but indifference.

Alexa: Did you hear about the guy who worked 24 hours straight?

Yes, and when he quit he called it a day.

Where do you stand: center or edge?

"I want to stay as close to the edge as I can without going over.  Out on the edge you see all kinds of things you can't see from the center."

—Kurt Vonnegut

As we are into campaign season with the PR roll-outs of the Democratic candidates for President of the U.S., there is some sort of moral in Kurt Vonnegut's observation. Some people have claimed that Vonnegut was UU, but from what I can find out, he identified more closely with the Humanist philosophy.

Would it be accurate to say that UUs stand more to the edge than in the center?

A Course In Miracles and Unitarian Universalism - Unconditional love

From A Course In Miracles:

T-21.III.1. All special relationships have sin as their goal. For they are bargains with reality, toward which the seeming union is adjusted. 

Forget not this; to bargain is to set a limit, and any brother with whom you have a limited relationship, you hate. 

You may attempt to keep the bargain in the name of “fairness,” sometimes demanding payment of yourself, perhaps more often of the other. Thus in the “fairness” you attempt to ease the guilt that comes from the accepted purpose of the relationship. 

And that is why the Holy Spirit must change its purpose to make it useful to Him and harmless to you.

Schucman, Dr. Helen. A Course in Miracles (p. 451). Foundation for Inner Peace.

Comment:

Unitarian Universalists covenant together to affirm and promote, in their third principal, the acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth.

The Universalist faith is based on the faith in unconditional love. Therefore, UU is an inclusive religion and exludes no one nor condemns them to hell.

Condtional relationships based on exclusivity and specialness separate and divide in which the ego rejoices, but God is the Tao, the Oneness of which we are all a part and from which we came and to which we will return.

The Spirit Of Life loves all of creation unconditionally. In this experience there is much peace.

May you experience the peace which is your natural inheritance.

Ask Alexa - Which is better: conditional love or unconditional love?

Alexa: Which is better, conditional love or unconditional love?

Depends on the purpose of the relationship and what you want to get out of it. Conditional love, though, is always problematic.

Alexa: Did you hear about the person who told his psychiatrist, "Doc, I have this funny feeling that I'm a teepee and then a wigwam. What's wrong with me?"

Yes, and I heard the psychiatrist told him to relax because he was too tents.

Is this what they meant when they chanted, "Make America Great Again?"

What can Unitarian Universalists do?

Matthew 25:40-45 New International Version (NIV)

40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me,you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’

44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’

45 “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’