Monthly musings post.
Learn and obey the rules very well, so you will know how to break them properly. … Dalai Lama What will call the promise of living meaningful lives into this new year? What will bring us into wider dimensions of spiritual authenticity? The willingness to expand beyond the strictures and structures of the way we … Continue reading The promise of living meaningful lives
Cut loose, without devotion, a man becomes a comic. His antics are passed around the family table and mimicked so well, years later the family still laughs. Without devotion, any life becomes a stranger’s story … Marie Howe, in her poem Without Devotion, explores the emptiness that results from having nothing to believe in; lacking … Continue reading Pluralism
Grateful for the pluralism which enriches and ennobles our faith, we are inspired to deepen our understanding and our vision. This sentence found at the beginning of our hymnal, Singing the Living Tradition begins the last paragraph of the covenant Unitarian Universalists agree to promote. I love the linkage between deepening one’s understanding and the … Continue reading Pluralism
Vacation and study leave give me the freedom to hurry less. I can read a book of poetry a couple of times, allowing the rhythm of the words to fully enter so that the images and their meaning have stunning power. “The Kingdom of Ordinary Time” by Marie Howe, continues to grip me. As the … Continue reading HURRY….
Unitarian, John Adams, the second president of the United States, labored for religious liberty until his death at ninety. His home state of Massachusetts prohibited Jews or Catholics from running for elective office until 1833. Religious bigotry and ignorance dominate the civic conversation of this country. The progressive and conservative divide and its dogma obstruct … Continue reading OUR HIGHEST ASPIRATIONS
Clivia seen through old glass changes what I see. It is no longer just the clivia in the entry way, it sings a song that calls me to see it from the outside in. This reminds me of how much of what I see is because of the … Continue reading Windows of Perception
“No more critical challenge faces each of us, and all of us together, than how to live together in a world of differences. So much depends on our ability to handle our conflicts peacefully – our happiness at home, our performance at work, the livability of our communities, and, in this age of mass destruction, … Continue reading WHAT TO DO IN A WORLD OF DIFFERENCE
Fellowship members Melissa and David McKee share some thoughts on things that have worked in various UU congregations they have been a part of around the country. Highlights of their commentary were printed in the February 2012 edition of The UUFM Voice. Melissa and David’s full text appears here: We aren’t quite lifetime UU’s, but … Continue reading Things UU Churches Do Right, January 19, 2012
The hens, who provide us with gardener’s gold and brown eggs, find this warm weather to their liking. If you feel solemn, a bit darkened by the Holiday flash, take some time to hang out with chickens. They always have something to say. They’re grateful for almost all scraps. They push aside the clementine peels, but adore … Continue reading Winter Hens…
Janus holds the number 365 in his hand. As the gatekeeper of time this Roman God’s power spanned the mundane and cosmic. The juxtaposition of the infinite in the hands of the finite puts one in the orbit of the earth round the sun. As I gladly pay for my late fees at the public … Continue reading MICHAEL’S MUSINGS – DECEMBER 15, 2012
