Atlanta Unitarian

We can only pursue sustainability if we feel connected to something larger than ourselves .   Contemporary values are completely disordered - they treat the Earth as something disposable, and the individual as the ultimate end, whose desires are to be fulfilled regardless of the cost.  In reality we are mortal beings small parts of a much larger system of life.  Our lives are only meaningful when they are in order with the larger system.  The Earth is the source of all life, and we owe all of our whole lives, every bit of joy and suffering we can squeeze out of our finite span, to the benevolence and generosity of creation.  Our ultimate goal in life must be oriented towards the preservation of all the diversity of life on Earth.  This is a spiritual but also a practical and moral task to which we all owe our allegiance. How is it possible for the individual to be saved?  Only by being connection to something larger than himself.  If the ...

I've been thinking about modern life and how as an unintentional result of modern convenience we lose our vital connections with the earth and its cycles. I've been reading Michael Pollan's Omnivore's Dilemma , which reveals how thoroughly we've lost touch with the source of our food as a culture. We have little or no understanding of the places, processes, and full price of the sources of our food. Pollan particularly dwells upon the denial that is required for the current system of industrial processing of animals to be acceptable in our culture. He essential says that if we knew where our meat came from, we wouldn't eat it. On another front, the political front, I've increasingly come across the dilemma that many local governments are facing. They are running out of revenues to perform the services their constituents demand, but there is increasing resistance to any type of tax increase. It seems we have lost ourselves in our own political rhetoric -...