Why #Unitarians say we do not all have to think alike to live kindly in the world

By Jarek Tuszyński
 / CC-BY-SA-3.0 & GDFL, CC BY-SA 3.0,
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4428255

Our gathering for reverence on 14 July was, as usual, a mixture of thoughts and experiences.  On a lovely summer’s morning, the activities we were invited to experience included:

• remembering why we had been brought to the gathering
• hymn singing to pre-recorded congregational singing
• listening to recorded instrumental music
• hearing and considering some quotes from key philosophers
• passing in turn a flame, a feather fan, a plate of oaten biscuits, and a jug of water around the circle of people
• listening to readings
• discussing the meaning of the readings to us
• hearing and/or participating privately in words of prayer or contemplation
• holding seven minutes of silence for personal meditation
• speaking thanks for special circumstances
• voicing concerns for people known to us or wider world issues
• lighting tea light candles
• recognising children’s activities in the gathering

It’s amazing what variety can be fitted into the ‘heart and soul’ style of meeting that we have now adopted.

The topic that had been selected for the day was a comparison of two different ways of thinking or believing, each of which, if acted upon, will lead to compassionate behaviour.  The take home thought was that not all belief systems are the same and it is sloppy thinking to imagine that in general all religions and belief systems say the same thing; nonetheless the belief systems can all lead to the same outward signs and that these outward signs are what we should look for.

Understanding that it is the outward behaviour that matters most can be very helpful when dealing with and living amongst people who hold very different beliefs. 

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If you’re interested in what the readings were, which drew out this contrast, they were as follows.

The first was a children’s story from the Hindu tradition, which tells of the elephant-headed god Ganesha as a child, learning that if he hurt one creature he hurt all creatures and all creation, including himself; and this because his mother Parvati the Mother Goddess of the universe, lives in all creation.

The second reading came from the Northern Pagan tradition and it was a re-run of the reading from last month, about the tradition of wergild.  On a cosmic level the spiritual concept of wergild is that there is balance in the universe; so if one person wins, another loses, meaning that payment in compensation is due. “There are many ways to pay wergild, but you’ll know the right way.  It will resound in your soul, perhaps even in a way that makes your stomach sink.” (Northern Tradition for the Solitary Practitioner, Krasskova and Kaldera).

wergild was originally
payment made in gold coin

We were delighted that, without prior notice, a visitor from Oxford Unitarians joined us for this gathering.  And although, as it turns out, there were no children with us, should any have come, they would have been invited to show us their colouring-in of pictures of Ganesha in all his elephant-headed and pot-bellied glory.



As a last point, as nearby in Bournemouth this weekend was the gay pride celebration "Bourne Free", we decked the entrance to the Meeting House in the rainbow flag of Pride.