Atlanta Unitarian

Here's my question of the day: As a person of faith and compassion, how should I deal with the people who bore, disappoint, an ger, and frustrate me? I think there is a valid role for aversion here. It's generally a good idea to avoid people who have bad behaviors, or even just behaviors that push you to your edge, and it's a good idea to spend time with people you enjoy and admire. But there are some situations where you have to deal with people who you don't like. I wish I could say that I always look for the best in people. I wish I could say that I am good at finding commonalities - after all that *is* my faith, that what is common to humans is greater than what distinguishes us. But in practice, I'm a pretty good elitist. But I think there is spirit in this too. The deepest spiritual connections form between people who see each other as peers, who feel a mutual resonance in each other's perspectives. This type of companionship can provide depth, and...

My philosophical heritage is rationalistic and scientific. I place a great value on reason and empiricism as means of inquiry to investigate truth. I also acknowledge the great price that humankind has paid due to irrational and superstitious beliefs. At the same time, I think the role of reason in self-understanding and knowledge of the soul is greatly limited and even has the potential to be destructive. Reason is an excellent tool for understanding the physical world. Reason and empiricism have proven their success multiple times over he course of history, and we have all benefited greatly from the discoveries of science and medicine in particular. But for understanding the psyche, for understanding our internal world of meaning, reason is inadequate. Every reason-led person I have ever met distinguished between right and wrong, and cared about the events in the world far from themselves. But reason alone can never tell us right from wrong. Our desire to see right realized in ...

President Bush has said that the United States does not torture. But we do. In Guantanamo, in Abu Graib, in other prisons around the world, the evidence keeps coming forward. The facts are clear: the United States does practice torture. But why? Looking beyond President Bush's executive power grab, beyond his refusal to be bound to the international law, what we see at the core is a deeply flawed understanding of humanity and human dignity. At the core of President Bush's torture policy is the belief that those who commit terrorist acts are not fully human and not deserving of human dignity. The belief at the center of these and other religious right policies is that there are two categories of people: good people and bad people. The good people we protect, and the bad people we destroy. The good people are people like us, and the bad people are people are something else, something less than human. This is a deeply flawed understanding of both humanity and of evil. Th...

This blog was supposed to be about issues and beliefs, not personal experience. But I guess it is inevitable that the one should influence the other. Sometimes in the course of the day or the week I lose myself. In the practice of saying things I do not mean and doing things I do not think are important, I lose my integrity. Or perhaps it is more accurate to say I cover my integrity up, like a fresh wound becomes hidden behind a scab. When I say I lose my integrity, I do not mean that I manipulate others to my advantage. Quite the opposite. What I find myself doing is manipulating myself for other's convenience. I become what others need, demand, or expect, because I believe it for the time being to be necessary or expedient. And in those manipulations of myself, my integrity is lost, and eventually I myself become lost. My definition of the good life is one in which every action and word flows from the center of my being, and nothing is extraneous. To be myself completely;...

My second spiritual practice is to re-connect to my inherent gratitude. It is human nature to notice that which changes, and to ignore that which stays the same. But we are so immersed in great blessing, that we scarcely take the time to notice it. We always think of the margin, the edge, how things could get better. Rarely do we think how good things are, or simply what is right with ourselves and our lives. I think practicing gratitude, it's very easy and very gratifying. And also I think it is something that gets easier with time - it is something that is worth practicing. It's very simple. Just ask yourself, what is it in my life that I am glad for? Something will come up of its own. The key is sincerity. You cannot be grateful for something because you *should* be. Gratitude springs from the heart. Practicing gratitute means taking the time to slow down and listen to the sweet music of gratefulness in the heart. Even if it is small, even if it's just for on...

Sincerity, or self-honesty, is the life-blood of the spirit. Where sincerity flows, the spirit is refreshed and nourished. Where sincerity does not flow, the spirit must wither. The spiritual life is the one side of life where truth to yourself is paramount. In our social lives, appearances rule - we are judged and estimated by what we appear to be. In our spiritual lives, we can be nothing other than what we are. We see ourselves naked, without cover. Every person when they look inside sees a microcosm of the entire universe. Love and hate, anger and forebearance, fear and courage, and all the other kinds of struggles lie within. This muddle within turns out to be of great value. First, it connects us with every other living creature - their struggles, their paths, we identify with even if we never experience that path first hand. Second, the muddle within indicates that our true selves are hidden, that we must seek to find the hidden unity underneath. The key to sincerity, s...

At this point in my life, I have held a number of jobs and spent a considerable amount of time in school. I think I can say that without qualification, every occupation I have ever had left me physically and emotionally exhausted at the end of most days. This is not to say that there has not been excitement and inspiration. But whereas excitement and inspiration have been occasional visitors, exhaustion has been a constant companion. This leads to a number of questions- Is our culture's attitude towards work inhumanely demanding or otherwise dehumanizing? Is it something in me that makes work exhausting, something in my attitude or constitution? Is there a right occupation out there for me, that if I found it, my exhaustion would be combatted by an equally constant inspiration? In other words, is it a matter of finding the right fit for my skills and interests, that is somehow still elusive after all these years of trials and errors? Is it the human condition that work should a...