Principle two - affirm and promote justice, equity, and compassion in human relations.

There are plenty of examples of evil in America. Injustice is rampant in our hyper-capitalist society. The way we treat the poor, the sick, the young, the old, people of minority races, offenders, is legendary. While all of these are important, perhaps one of the most egregious examples of evil is wrongful convictions and the infliction of unjust criminal justice penalties on the wrongfully proclaimed guilty.

The second principle of Untarian Universalism is that we covenant together to affirm and promote justice, equity, and compassion in human relations. This affirmation and promotion is badly needed in our contemporary society when poor people who can't mount a robust defense against false accusations are oppressed and subjugated by dysfunctional prosecutors and judges who see the administration of criminal justice as a game played in a competitive playing field based on adversarial rules of play which often are misused, abused, and corrupt.

All of this is why I support the Innocence Project which is an organization which tries to correct and rectify the injustice of our criminal justice system.

The Innocence Project has been in existence for 26 years and during that time they have accomplished many significant and wonderful things. For example, to date, 367 people in the United States have been exonerated by DNA testing, including 21 who served time on death row.

For more click here.

Ask Alexa - How does becoming a child again help me enter heaven?

Alexa: How does becoming a child again help me enter heaven?

Maturity is a spiritual rebirth when in humility and wonder, we experience awe in becoming aware of  the interdependent web of all existence.

Alexa: Did you hear about the person who went to a dietitian to learn safe eating habits?

Yes, the dietitian told the person to always use condiments.

Daily reflections, Day eleven, Finding peace

Day eleven

Finding peace

“Miracles are everyone’s right, but purification is necessary first.”

What needs to be purified is not the body but our thoughts. Are we wrong-minded or right-minded? Wrong-minded is when we believe the separation is real as are the things of the ego which really are all illusions. We are dreaming and in our dreams projecting our conditioning onto what we think we see which are all illusions. Right-mined is when we become aware of the Oneness and join in Love with Creation.

Everyone is capable of miracles not just special people. All that is necessary is that a person eschew the things of the ego, purify the mind, and join the Oneness, Love, which is our natural inheritance.

When you become aware of fear, anger, resentment, guilt, give up making other people and things responsible for your unhappiness. This giving up of making other people and things responsible for your unhappiness is what the Course calls “forgiveness.” You can give up your victimhood and recognize that you are the beloved extension of Divine Grace into the world of the ego to help the world and everything in it become aware of its holiness.

Unitarian Universalists covenant together to affirm and promote the free and responsible search for truth and meaning and where can this search take them? It can take them to the world of miracles if they first purify their thinking from believing that things offered by the ego will make them happy. Already having covenanted together to affirm and promote the inherent worth and dignity of every person, they have taken huge steps to salvation where everybody loves everybody all the time.

Today, be aware of your fears, anger, guilt, resentments, and choose Love instead and give up making other people and things responsible for your unhappiness. It is in giving up making others responsible for your unhappiness that you purify your mind and are able to become aware of Love’s presence in your life. This awareness of Love’s presence is the miracle which bestows a sense of peace..

UU priniples can be a help in this time of political turmoil on the United States.

The impeachment of Donald Trump is long overdue. As Unitarian Universalists we convenant together to affirm and promote justice, equity, and compassion in human relations. Donald Trump's behavior does not fit the definition of just, equitable, and compassionate. What is a good Unitarian Universalist to do?

Campaign and vote for  elected officials who enact our values and principles. We also covenant together to affirm and promote the inherent worth and dignity of every person, but often good people do bad things and benefit from being held accountable by the group of which they are a part.

Accountability is an important part of this second principle asking us to affirm and promote justice, equity, and compassion in human relations. How do your elected officials behave when their behavior is evaluated against our UU standards? If it meets with our standards, their behavior warrants acknowledgement and gratitude, if not, then the problem needs to be identified, described, and rectified.

As Unitarian Univerasalists we also covenant together to affirm and promote the right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at large. In this time of political turmoil and discord we have a lot of opporunities to manifest our principles by holding people accountable to the standards set forth in our principles which we covenant together to affirm and promote..

Ask Alexa - How can I regain my childhood innocence?

Alexa: How can I regain my childhood innocence and wonder?

Meditation

Alexa: What is Dijon vu?

The same mustard as before.

Daily reflections, Day ten, Forgiveness is the path to peace

Day ten

Forgiveness is the path to peace

“Miracles are natural. When they do not occur something has gone wrong.” T-1.1.6:1-2

The most natural thing is to be at peace and at one with God because that is our natural inheritance. When we do not experience this something has gone wrong.

In Unitarian Universalism we covenant together to affirm and promote the inherent worth and dignity of every person. This affirmation and promotion is the most natural thing in the world. When this affirmation and promotion of the inherent worth and dignity of every person is not apparent and does not exist something has gone wrong.

When we feel angry, frustrated, resentful, fearful, like a victim, we become aware of a forgiveness opportunity and we are able to choose to give up making other people and things unhappy for our unhappiness.

If we are feeling unhappy something has gone wrong and it is not with external events, it is with our choice in how we are responding to those external events. When we are unhappy, it is a good time to pray that the Spirit help us give up making the things of the ego world responsible for our unhappiness. In this giving up of making other people people and things responsible for our unhappiness we no longer are choosing to be a victim and we become aware of the peace that comes with our awareness of being One with God.

Remember today, that you are never upset for the reason you think and that peace and joy arise when we realize that there is a better way.

"I don't hate anybody so don't mess with me with words like that." Nancy Pelosi