Join the spiritual book discussion group

 Spiritualbookdiscussion@groups.io

This group is for the discussion of spiritual books which are interfaith in orientation. 

One of the spiritual practices helpful to nurture spiritual growth is to do at least 15 minutes of spiritual reading a day. This group will explore a wide ranging group of books from religious classics in the Christian, Buddhist, Muslim, Native American, humanist, philosophical traditions. A new book will be suggested every month, but if the discussions are substantial and merit more time they may be extended beyond a month.

Subscribe to our group

View Archives

Being loved and loving unconditionally.

The protection of God then dawns upon it (the mind), assuring it that it is perfectly safe forever. The perfectly safe are wholly benign. They bless because they know that they are blessed. Without anxiety the mind is wholly kind, and because it extends beneficence it is beneficent. Safety is the complete relinquishment of attack. No compromise is possible in this. Teach attack in any form and you have learned it, and it will hurt you. Yet this learning is not immortal, and you can unlearn it by not teaching it. T-6.111.3:3-10

A Course in Miracles . Foundation for Inner Peace. Kindle Edition. 

When a person knows that they are loved unconditionally by God they feel safe forever. There is nothing to fear and therefore nothing to attack. By loving others unconditionally we enhance our own experience of being loved unconditionally by our Transcendent Source.

In Unitarian Universalism some of us join together to affirm and promote the inherent worth and dignity of every person. In applying this principle we look for the perfect in ourselves and in every other person. Having looked for it we will find it and when we find it peace and joy arise.

Today it is suggested that we reflect and acknowledge the unconditional love of God in ourselves and others and when we experience it to give thanks.

Maya or veil of tears

 

Do you believe this?

Perhaps the world is a humongous hallucination and we are simply watching the shadows on Plato's cave walls. This raises the philosophical epistemological question of how do we know what we know? Our physical senses lie to us all the time. Can we trust them? The bumper sticker is "Don't believe everything you think."

The mystics teach that the only truth is the non dual Oneness of God. Everything else is an illusion, what the Buddhists call "maya." St. Paul wrote that we look through the glass darkly. Christians have called the hallucination, or illusion if you prefer, this "veil of tears."

Do you experience the unconditional love of God?

The only safety lies in extending the Holy Spirit, because as you see His gentleness in others your own mind perceives itself as totally harmless. Once it can accept this fully, it sees no need to protect itself. T-6.III.3:1-2

A Course in Miracles . Foundation for Inner Peace. Kindle Edition. 

The Holy Spirit is the unconditional love of God. When we extend this unconditional love to others we experience it  in ourselves. And when we experience the unconditional love of God in ourselves we no longer fear anything and we drop our defenses which includes the desire to attack others.

The Universalists, in a Calvinistic time, were the first to preach the unconditional love of God. At the time it was very counter cultural and unfortunately even in our modern times still is. In Unitarian Universalism some of us join together to affirm and promote the inherent worth and dignity of every person.

Today it is suggested that we reflect on being loved unconditionally by our Transcendent Source from Whom we are created and extend this unconditional love to everyone with whom we interact today.

Knocking on the door of the Holy Spirit

That is why you must teach only one lesson. If you are to be conflict-free yourself, you must learn only from the Holy Spirit and teach only by Him. You are only love, but when you deny this, you make what you are something you must learn to remember. I said before that the message of the crucifixion was, “Teach only love, for that is what you are.” This is the one lesson that is perfectly unified, because it is the only lesson that is one. Only by teaching it can you learn it. “As you teach so will you learn.” If that is true, and it is true indeed, do not forget that what you teach is teaching you. And what you project or extend you believe.T-6.III.2:1-9

A Course in Miracles . Foundation for Inner Peace. Kindle Edition. 

The primary teaching of A Course In Miracles is to ask on a regular basis “what would Love have me do?” We alone often don’t know the answer so we ask the Holy Spirit to help us. Jesus said, “Seek and you will find. Knock and the door will be open to you.”  So, instead of thinking we already know the answer we should seek, and instead of shutting the door we need to knock and ask that it be opened for us.

In Unitarian Universalism some of us join together to affirm and promote the free and responsible search for truth and meaning. This free and responsible search requires that we humbly ask our Higher Power for help.

Today it is suggested that we ask for the Holy Spirit’s guidance throughout the day by asking “What would Love have me do?”

Rosh Hashana beings tonight 09/25/22

 

This video comes from the Calm In The Chaos Interfaith Center.

Join the Spiritual Reading Book Club

 There is a new book club forming on Amazon Book Clubs called the "Spiritual Reading Book Club". The first book we are reading is The Twenty One Skills of Spiritual Intelligence by Cindy Wigglesworth. We will be discussing this book through October 31, 2022.

The club is also looking for suggestions to read in future months.

You can explore the club and join if you wish by going here.

Thank you for your interest,

David Markham