Open your heart to the joy of God.

Like any good teacher, the Holy Spirit knows more than you do now, but He teaches only to make you equal with Him. You had already taught yourself wrongly, having believed what was not true. You did not believe in your own perfection. Would God teach you that you had made a split mind, when He knows your mind only as whole? What God does know is that His communication channels are not open to Him, so that He cannot impart His joy and know that His children are wholly joyous. Giving His joy is an ongoing process, not in time but in eternity. God’s extending outward, though not His completeness, is blocked when the Sonship does not communicate with Him as one. So He thought, “My children sleep and must be awakened.” T-6.V.1: 1-8

A Course in Miracles (p. 231). Foundation for Inner Peace. Kindle Edition. 

What happens when a person is open to communication but other people avoid them? Perhaps the other people don’t know what they don’t know and so see no need to communicate or perhaps there is guilt which engenders fear of punishment and so they lay low as they say. There can be many reasons why a person blocks the ability of other people to communicate. This blocking can be defensive and protective and enables the lack of mutuality which deprives the people of happiness. People do the same thing with God. They block God’s communications.

In Unitarian Universalism some of us covenant together to affirm and promote the free and responsible search for truth and meaning. The application of this principle involves an openness of heart to the communications of others even when distressing.

Today it is suggested that we drop our guard and listen to others even if it scares us and we feel vulnerable.

Where can our awareness abide?

God does not teach. To teach is to imply a lack, which God knows is not there. God is not conflicted. Teaching aims at change, but God created only the changeless. The separation was not a loss of perfection, but a failure in communication. A harsh and strident form of communication arose as the ego’s voice. It could not shatter the peace of God, but it could shatter yours. God did not blot it out, because to eradicate it would be to attack it. Being questioned, He did not question. He merely gave the Answer. His Answer is your Teacher. T-6.IV.12: 1-11

A Course in Miracles (p. 231). Foundation for Inner Peace. Kindle Edition. 

Oh my goodness, what a passage. God does not teach. There is no need. We are already perfect but don’t know it. What we have here is a failure in communication. We have cut ourselves off from the peace and joy which we call “God” or as we prefer here our “Transcendent Source.”

In Unitarian Universalism some of us covenant together to affirm and promote the inherent worth and dignity of every person which flows from our Source. If we are to be happy we can remember from whence we came, to what we belong, and to whom we will return.

Today it is suggested that we take a few minutes several times during the day to  rise above the ego world and consider what we really are and where our awareness can abide..

We are blessed to be a part of God.

To command is to assume inequality, which the Holy Spirit demonstrates does not exist. Fidelity to premises is a law of mind, and everything God created is faithful to His laws. Fidelity to other laws is also possible, however, not because the laws are true, but because you made them. What would be gained if God proved to you that you have thought insanely? Can God lose His Own certainty? I have frequently said that what you teach you are. Would you have God teach you that you have sinned? If He confronted the self you made with the truth He created for you, what could you be but afraid? You would doubt your right mind, which is the only place where you can find the sanity He gave you. T-6.IV.11:2-10

A Course in Miracles (pp. 230-231). Foundation for Inner Peace. Kindle Edition. 

The passage above is another convoluted one that requires unpacking. What is being described is the equality of God’s creations with God. We are the drops of the ocean. We are part of God but have forgotten that, thinking that we have made ourselves and exist apart from God. If God made us aware of what we have thought we created apart from the Oneness, we would fear punishment for something we didn’t actually pull off although we thought we did. This insane thought fills us with fear of losing that which we think we made in favor of recognizing and accepting the truth of our being a part of the Oneness all along.

In Unitarian Universalism some of us covenant together to affirm and promote the inherent worth and dignity of every person which is based on the recognition and acknowledgement of the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.

Today it is suggested that we remind ourselves several times during the day that we are a part of God and are blessed to be so.

Beyond the world of the ego.

You are in an impossible situation only because you think it is possible to be in one. You would be in an impossible situation if God showed you your perfection, and proved to you that you were wrong. This would demonstrate that the perfect are inadequate to bring themselves to the awareness of their perfection, and thus side with the belief that those who have everything need help and are therefore helpless. This is the kind of “reasoning” in which the ego engages. God, Who knows that His creations are perfect, does not affront them. This would be as impossible as the ego’s notion that it has affronted Him. T-6.IV.10:1-8

A Course in Miracles (p. 230). Foundation for Inner Peace. Kindle Edition. 

The above passage needs some unpacking. The idea presented is that God has created you perfect, the ego has told you otherwise, and so God’s creation has proven the ego wrong. The ego wants you, who are perfect, to believe you are imperfect and need the ego’s help to attain perfection which you already are. God does not challenge the ego’s false teaching but allows you to come to the awareness of your own perfection and the lies of the ego. It is a choice that you have about what to believe: in God’s perfect creation or in the ego’s lie of imperfection. Unfortunately, we are conditioned and socialized to believe in the ego’s lies. It requires consciousness raising to move beyond the conditioning of the ego.

In Unitarian Universalism some of us covenant together to affirm and promote the free and responsible search for the truth and meaning of the inherent worth and dignity of every person. UU would have people believe in the perfection of God’s creation which the ego has mucked up.

Today it is suggested that we set the conditioning of the ego aside and abide in the experience of God’s perfect creation which always resides beyond the world of the ego.

Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Abilities must be developed before you can use them. This is not true of anything that God created, but it is the kindest solution possible for what you made. In an impossible situation, you can develop your abilities to the point where they can get you out of it. You have a Guide to how to develop them, but you have no commander except yourself. This leaves you in charge of the Kingdom, with both a Guide to find it and a means to keep it. You have a model to follow who will strengthen your command, and never detract from it in any way. You therefore retain the central place in your imagined enslavement, which in itself demonstrates that you are not enslaved. T-6.IV.9:1-7

A Course in Miracles (pp. 229-230). Foundation for Inner Peace. Kindle Edition. 

If the reader understands the metaphysics of A Course In Miracles the passage above makes the reader laugh. In the Kingdom of God abilities were not only not necessary, they have no meaning. Abilities are only relevant after the separation from the non dual Oneness. However, recognizing our separated state and our yearning to return to the Oneness, we search for a Guide to show us the way back. The Guide has taught us that the way back is unconditional love, but we find this path very challenging in the world of the ego which teaches the opposite: that happiness is found in conditional love and transactional manipulation of what we perceive to be the other.

In Unitarian Universalism some of us covenant together to affirm and promote the free and responsible search for truth and meaning. “Free and responsible” means beyond our social conditioning. To engage profitably in this free and responsible search we need a Guide with a map to assist us in our search. The Guide is the Holy Spirit and the map is gnosis which is wise intuitive knowing bringing our will into alignment with God’s will for us.

Today it is suggested that we pray the Christian prayer, Our Father, sincerely, when we say “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

“Secret teachings” of spiritual development.

Some people have asked about the purpose of the UU A Way Of Life blog is. As it is written in the masthead, the mission of UU A Way Of Life is to nurture the spiritual development of people around the world. Nurturing spiritual development implies that there are stages of spiritual development and that there are milestones of spiritual growth. Given this model of spiritual development, it is understandable that UU A Way Of Life is not for everyone. Its purpose is to nurture the spiritual development of people at intermediate and advanced stages of spiritual growth.

In the gnostic literature some of the teachings of Jesus are called “secret.” Jesus would sometimes take one of two of his disciples aside and discuss spiritual matters which were not meant for the majority of people. These teachings were not “secret” in the sense that they were hidden from anyone, but in the sense that they were over the heads of people not capable of understanding them because they had not mastered the prerequisite knowledge. A good teacher does not give 8th grade material to 3rd graders. The 8th grade material is not secret in the sense of hidden but in the sense that it is not appropriate given the level of understanding of the students.

If we conceived of the level of spiritual development as beginner, intermediate, advanced, post graduate, the UU A Way of Life blog is not meant for beginners but for people at the intermediate, advanced and postgraduate levels.

In our current society in the United States the level of spiritual development of the population is very low. 50% of the population have not even begun a spiritual journey. They are still asleep as the spiritual literature describes. Maybe 30% have started seeking for spiritual truth and meaning and are at beginner level.15% may be at an intermediate level, and 5% are at advanced and post graduate level.

What are the stages of spiritual development? One model will be described in our next post. In the meantime, if you are reading this most likely you have embarked on your spiritual journey seeking truth and meaning beyond any one religious tradition. It is helpful in this journey to have a map otherwise the traveler can just wander and get lost.

To be continued

Seeking perfection.

The introduction of abilities into being was the beginning of uncertainty, because abilities are potentials, not accomplishments. Your abilities are useless in the presence of God’s accomplishments, and also of yours. Accomplishments are results that have been achieved. When they are perfect, abilities are meaningless. It is curious that the perfect must now be perfected. In fact, it is impossible. Remember, however, that when you put yourself in an impossible situation you believe that the impossible is possible.T-6.IV.8:1-7

A Course in Miracles (p. 229). Foundation for Inner Peace. Kindle Edition. 

One of the biggest curses to mental health is perfectionism. Sometimes perfectionism is called “unrelenting standards.” We strive for a perfection which cannot be attained by our ego. Perfection already exists in the non dual Oneness but we have forgotten. We foolishly think that our ego can replicate the perfection of God. The first step in Alcoholics Anonymous is to admit that our lives are unmanageable by our ego alone.

In Unitarian Universalism some of us covenant together to affirm and promote justice, equity, and compassion in human relations. The application of this step begins with the recognition that the lives our egos have constructed aren’t working and that there must be a better way. This recognition leads to the further recognition that we need help and with this recognition we begin our search for truth and meaning beyond our own egos.

Today it is suggested that we take some time to ask the Holy Spirit for guidance and to admit that we alone cannot achieve perfection.