Getting a soaking in oneness and what's the point in going to church - #Unitarians gather in Ringwood on 10 February at the start of their sixth year

Today the president for the day used Hindu and Buddhist scriptures, along with some contemporary non-aligned thoughts, as the readings for the gathering.   This was to counterbalance the decidedly Christian sources that had been used in the past couple of gatherings during the Christmas season.

We lit the chalice with words which are being used worldwide by Unitarians during February:

Words written by Jean-Claude Barbier of the Assemblée Fraternelle des Chrétiens Unitariens (AFCU) Hallelujah for the chalice which contains the wine, which contains our lives; Hallelujah for the flame which rises with our prayers, with our hopes; Let us give thanks to God, to the divine Breath, to the Matrix that is the source of the life. Let us give thanks for this Creation given and received. Thanks to rabbi and teacher Jesus of Nazareth and all the wise ones of our Humanity, of all the religions, all wisdoms, all philosophies. Thanks to all the people of our History who built this world, That we are present, by mutual agreement, together at the meeting-point of our worship. That we are present, listening to each other, helping each other, at the meeting-point of our worship.

After our usual ritual to welcome our circle, we had our first reading from the Taittiriya Upanishad, part III, being the story of Bhrigu and Varuna.  The translation chosen is by Eknath Easwaran.

https://www.bookdepository.com/The-Upanishads/9781586380212

Bhrigu repeatedly asks his father for instruction on the nature of the Brahman, and by following the instruction to meditate, Bhrigu discovers that Brahman includes all the following:  food, life, mind, wisdom, joy.  In short, whatever it is that creatures come from, whatever it is that they seek, whatever it is that they live by, and whatever it is that they return to:  that is Brahman.  

https://www.spiritoftherainbow.org/shop/we-are-one-book

For our second reading we heard an extract from We Are One: a manifesto for humanity by Simenon Honoré, pub 2010, Spirit of the Rainbow.  In the extract chosen, the writer says: “If we go yet more deeply into our own being we will discover our natural state of joy…..In awakening to this inner truth we take an important step in setting our hearts free to create a new world, within and without.”

The president mused on these two readings in the light of other assertions recently made at Unitarian and Anglican services she had been in.  Summing up, she suggested that:

1. the task of a church is to serve the needs of people: the need to feel loved, the need
   
   to connect with people, the need to connect with ideas that come through people and through being with people, the need to find purpose through belonging.
2. for herself, the ultimate aim of going to church is not to find mending on a personal level, welcome though that may be.  The ultimate aim of going into a church is to come out of church again, to re-enter the world changed, and hence to bring change to the world.  This grandiose idea is actually very humble and is rooted in what we heard in the readings: that there is connected spiritual oneness in all existence, so, by changing personally, one also changes the world.
3. there is a state of joy, clarity, bliss, enlightenment, awakening, oblivion, awareness, union; a state that we cannot in any way earn, but neither can we be dispossessed of it; a state that - as the Buddha said - “lies behind the desires and worldly passions which the mind entertains” (from The Teaching of Buddha, pub 1966, Bukkyō Dendō Kyōkai)

We also had our candles of concern and as we start out on our sixth year together, we heard the Buddha’s advice for a successful fellowship (or Sangha).

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Teaching-Buddha-Bukkyo-Dendo-Kyokai/dp/4892372145/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1549820547&sr=1-5

Unmaking the World - a conversation about how we respond to the ecological crisis #unitarians #inclusiveunitarians

We did not know, when we booked the evening for a talk on environmental ethics, that the England football team would be playing Colombia for a place in the World Cup quarter-finals on that same evening.  Fortunately, owing to the big screen in the pub garden across the alley, the people who had come to the talk were able to - more or less - keep track of the match as well as the talk!

So not surprisingly we were a small group of people meeting together to hear Dr Claire Foster-Gilbert, but that had the advantage that we were able to have a proper conversation rather than a formal lecture and Q&A session afterwards.

Claire started with the 20th century philosopher, Heidegger, who had identified that the mindset that views everything in our surroundings to be ‘stuff we can take and use’, is probably one of the root causes of the ecological difficulties we find ourselves in today.  Claire reminded us that humans had probably always had that mindset, which had of course led to much good, when viewed from our human standpoint; not least in medicine and dentistry and extension of human life.  Our difficulty is not that we have changed, but rather that we have become so numerous.  Whereas we could get away with treating the Earth as a treasure storehouse when there were fewer of us, we cannot behave like that any more.  The Earth is showing signs now of the change that we have caused, and humans are now suffering along with it.  We need to find a new way of seeing, because when we see differently we will think differently and act differently.

In particular, Claire contends, we have lost connection.  We view ourselves as tenants, stewards or even masters of the Earth, rather than small but integral elements within the entire eco-system.  We fail to recognise that the reason we feel so much better when we go out of doors and do what we call reconnecting with nature, is that we have evolved in it, as part of it, suffused by the dynamic interrelationships that is the only realistic way of defining ecology.  Of course being out there makes us feel better: out there we shed our skewed perception that puts us at the centre of a set of ‘things’ we imagine we can control.

As we have lost connection, we march along the road of technological progress making judgments that, with hindsight, do little but penalise the ecosystem - and hence ourselves along with it.  Only when we have changed our way of seeing will we be able to act in concert with our environment, and thus protect our dwelling place in the long term.

To help us see a practical way of changing the way we see, Claire led a guided meditation through the five spheres of the Earth: the atmosphere, the hydrosphere, the lithosphere, the pedosphere and the biosphere.  We were invited to take several images away with us, to bring to mind in our daily activities; images that will change our perspective on our activities on a domestic and intimate level.

We noted that while it is possible for us to act at a distance to help other humans who now suffer from ecological impacts, it may in the end be more effective to act locally in tune with the five spheres, then trust the five spheres to help our fellow humans at a distance.  After all, as one participant pointed out: when we think we need to feed our plants, we are wrong, and actually, we can’t, because that happens at a cellular level.  What we need to do is to feed and tend the soil, and the soil will feed the plants.

[The lithosphere and pedosphere

The lithosphere is the outer crust of the earth, some 120 km thick, rock floating on molten rock.  The pedosphere is the soil that lies on top of the lithosphere like skin on flesh, about half a metre thick, made of sand, clay, silt and organic matter.  It acts like a cleansing and protecting membrane between the lithosphere and the atmosphere. 

The biosphere

The biosphere is the sum of all the habitats in which species live. ]

Atmosphere:

When you next find yourself walking, feel the air on your face, become aware of your breathing, and realise the total and automatic dependence of the life of your body on the atmosphere.  Gain a sense of ‘being breathed’ rather than the other way around.  See how the air is one thing: wind, breath, invisibly supporting, moving and enlivening all things.

Become aware that this same atmosphere is warming up and that for some living things, human, animal and plant, the 21st century will see the final destruction of their habitats and their livelihoods.

Hydrosphere:

When you next do something involving water, such as drinking a glass of it, watering a plant, or taking a shower, become aware of the cycle of water through the universe.  Become aware of it travelling to where it is needed, for nourishment, growth or cleansing.  Think of the water of baptism, by which you affirm your responsibility to the whole community.  Think of water as embodying the possibility of rebirth, empowerment, and the hope of a renewed creation.  

In the rainfall, in rivers and oceans, in watersheds, in your drinking, your washing and your tears, water cleanses, nourishes and heals.

Polluted water transforms nourishment into poison.  Absence of water kills very quickly, but not quickly enough for the terrible suffering of thirsty people and land.  

Become aware that today, 2 billion people live without safe water supplies.

Lithosphere & Pedosphere:

When you are next in a garden, crumble some soil in your bare hands and smell its rich aromas.  Think of the life growing in the soil, the way the soil nurtures and sustains new life, holds the seeds and shelters the roots, becomes the foundation from which the plant grows.  If you are weeding, notice how the earth holds on to her own as you gently dislodge roots from the soil.  Notice how the actions of your hands affect the soil well or badly.  Become aware of the cycle of life and death, of how we kill what we do not know, carelessly, uncaringly; and how the mending of the world that is to be done is beyond our power to do.

Biosphere:

Bring to mind the glorious, unimaginably numerous diversity of all living things.  There are not even two blades of grass that are the same.  Think of this biological diversity as a web of interrelationship that sustains all life on the planet, including your own.  You are not a tenant of the earth, you do not exist on its surface or despite its terrain.  You evolved with every bit of it, and that shared history is deep within you.  That is why the natural world has the power to restore you.  

December meeting for reverence

Our meeting on 13 December was led by Lewis Connolly who came from quite a distance to be with us.  It was lovely to meet him and his wife, who played the keyboard for us so that we were able to sing together.

Lewis picked a theme around authenticity and the yearning for real meaning in life.  He took a reading from J.D. Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye and spoke aloud his insights centred on that novel.  In his homily Lewis said,

“Pictures and film of what’s “really happening” stream into our homes twenty-four hours a day. And yet this hyper-reality ... plays into a false narrative which perpetually keeps us sedated in an illusion of the unreal ... as we orientate ourselves in favour or against ... narrowly defined narratives of convenience... of good versus evil. But when we strip away these illusions of allegiance, which we so often define ourselves by, the sheer weight of our isolated aloneness becomes all the more apparent.”

When punctuated by the singing of “We shall not be moved”, among other things, it made for a very moving meeting and the conversation carried on over refreshments afterwards.

You can read Lewis’ whole text on his blog at his website http://www.lewisconnolly.com/blog/2015/12/6/searching-in-the-rye

 

Looking for action 2015

We have been reading various posts on social media about how younger people today with a religious outlook firstly won't commit long-term to anything and secondly are looking for signs that churches and religious groups are doing something meaningful to change the world, rather than just voicing their concerns.

When you are a very small group it is hard to discern the actions to take that will make a difference around you.  In Ringwood we think we have spotted one.  We are forming a group of all sorts of people who next January will do something new for Ringwood.  This group will be standing up in the street on a cold winter's day saying that we here in Ringwood remember the millions of people killed in the Holocaust, Nazi Persecution and in subsequent genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia, and Darfur.  We honour the survivors of these regimes of hatred and challenge ourselves to use the lessons of their experience to inform our lives today.

27 January marks the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest Nazi death camp, and is now designated as Holocaust Memorial Day.  HMD is a time when we seek to learn the lessons of the past and to recognise that genocide does not just take place on its own.  Genocide is a steady process which can begin if discrimination, racism and hatred are not checked and prevented. We’re fortunate here in the UK; we are not at risk of genocide. However, discrimination has not ended, nor has the use of the language of hatred or exclusion. There is still much to do to create a safer future.

Perhaps the group of people in Ringwood who will stand together on 27 January will succeed only in reminding others about the ghastly possibilities in humanity - let's face it, we won't be able to mend it.  But the biblical story in the book of Genesis - the story of Adam, Eve and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil - though a legend, reminds us that once you know about right and wrong, it changes everything for you.  We know now about the Holocaust, and others may be reminded about it through us.  So that will change something in the world.

If you want to join us in Ringwood in January email us at lucyunbox.ringwood@btinternet.com

March 2015 meeting

Our March meeting for reverence and worship took the theme TRANSFORMING OURSELVES IN FAITH THAT BY DOING SO THE WORLD IS CHANGED TOO

We lit the chalice today with the words:

At any moment I could choose to be a better person.

But which moment should I choose?

We had our usual ritual of sharing bread, water, light, and fire.  Our only formal prayer for the day came from the Nadder Valley Inclusive Worship Service http://www.lulu.com/shop/lucy-harris/the-nadder-valley-inclusive-worship-service/ebook/product-17386813.html

Unseen Power and Pattern,

We live this life through You.

By Your laws and Your grace we meet in You here today

With our hearts, our minds, our bodies.

May this holy inspiration keep us in awareness of You in all times and all places.

We then carried out an exercise in which we set down on paper, privately, a list of people who had angered or irritated us recently.  At various stages in the service we came back to this list and reviewed it in the light of the readings we had been listening to.

Our scriptural reading today was not actually from sacred texts but was an accessible form of Buddhist instruction on evoking compassion, including words by the Dalai Lama.  This came from The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying, by Sogyal Rinpoche  http://www.bookdepository.com/Tibetan-Book-Living-Dying-Sogyal-Rinpoche/9781846041051  .  Our secular reading was from a book by Dan Millman, The Laws of Spirit  http://www.bookdepository.com/Laws-Spirit-Dan-Millman/9780915811939 and it focused on choosing the perspective we wish to take - and how that affects how we see ourselves as either separate or as part of a unified, one consciousness.

Both the readings we heard were about changing the way we look at people; about transforming the way we look at people.  This is primarily to help ourselves to be happier; because if we change the way we look at people we are able to let go of many destructive attachments we have.  We begin to learn to let go of hate, revulsion, anger and violence, all of which destroy our own balance, clarity of vision, and well-being. 

 We also heard these sayings:

 By an unknown Tibetan Buddhist master :

“Give all profit and gain to others.

Take all loss and defeat on yourself.”

And by the Jewish teacher Jesus who, like all his people, was steeped in the Jewish tradition that there can be no justice without love, and no love without justice:

“Love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you.”

It was suggested that if we properly followed either this Buddhist or this Jewish teaching, we as persons would be radically transformed.

We lit candles of joys and concerns and had our habitual 7 minutes’ of silence for prayer or meditation, according to personal practice.

We closed with these words by the internationally renowned physicist, David Bohm:

 “A change of meaning is necessary to change this world politically, economically and socially.  But that change must begin with the individual; it must change for him or her .... If meaning is a key part of reality, then once society, the individual and relationships are seen to mean something different, then a fundamental change has taken place.”

In the service we also sang hymns 172 and 35 from the green hymn book, in which we welcomed all people and remembered that there are many paths to God.