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.

Unitarian book group in Ringwood to relaunch in May 2016

After our success in running an informal book group in early 2015, we are now looking to repeat the exercise in May this year, at a coffee shop in Ringwood.

The book we will be dipping into and discussing together will be Something Understood, a collection of poetry and prose edited by Mark Tully of the BBC, based on his Radio 4 series inviting contributions on the spiritual dimension.

For more details or to express an interest in taking part, email lucyunbox.ringwood@btinternet.com

Study Course on Spiritual Health starting in January

Join us, starting early in January on an open course of exploration titled “Twelve Steps to Spiritual Health”.  Over twelve weeks we are going to work our way through the book by David Usher, as shown on the "books" tab on this website.  The course will take the form of individual book study supported by group discussion.  We’ll meet as a group at the Ringwood Meeting House and History Centre, Meeting House Lane, on Wednesday lunchtimes.

The course does not assume you hold any formal belief system or religious affiliation, although it does draw inspiration from a wide range of world faiths.

The author of the book, David Usher, is a Unitarian minister who after some years serving UK congregations is now serving in the USA.  David has said that spiritual life is about being fully alive, and his book is a practical manual for anyone seeking life measured by quality and intensity, not quantity.

If you are interested, you should be willing to be led out of your familiar comfort zone at some point, in order to become open to life’s possibilities and to become able to withstand its disappointments.

You will need to buy your own copy of the book and to pay the usual admission to the Meeting House for each one of the group meetings you are able to come to.  Although it is encouraged, you might not have to commit to the full twelve week course.

For further details and to register an interest in the course, telephone Lucy on 07899 730181 (answerphone available).

 

 

October meeting

Our October meeting supported the intent for all UK Unitarian congregations to hold a service for peace on or near the 3rd Sunday in October, as an interfaith service.

We also noted that the "Hunger for Justice" campaign led by Christian Aid is being marked on the third weekend in October this year.  UK Unitarians sponsor Christian Aid as our strategic partner for delivery of aid towards justice.

 

 

 

Peace and justice were seen as being inextricable, peace not even being possible unless first there is justice.  We had a reading from the old Chinese tradition of Taoism, suggesting that personal and disciplined acts of peace within each life are necessary for peace to become a reality for nations.  We had a reading from the Jesus tradition where Jesus said that before you can have peace you must have justice, and that justice hurts, and breaks both things and assumptions, and stirs things up.  How working for peace will break relationships that we might not want broken, and how it will cost us personally if we get serious in our search for peace.  There is nothing easy about it and we are in danger of turning away from the task.

Our prayers were taken from the Pagan, Anglican, Hindu and Jewish traditions.  And we heard a vivid poem about how the clearing up really gets done after a war – and after the media circus has left town.  We heard and joined in with some wonderful pre-recorded hymns sung by the Unitarian Music Society, and discussed the deeply thoughtful lyrics.

We lit candles for our own concerns about peace.  We meditated on our own confusion about how our own actions can really make a difference, and what we can do if we want peace but the person we are dealing with just doesn’t want peace but revels in discord and power struggles.

Of course, we found no simple answers; but we each went away feeling the time together had been precious.