The heart of Unitarian Universalist shared values is Love. I agree that Love lies at the heart of values, while I also see Love within the deepest center of the Universe. The UU holds interdependence as one of the shared values. I agree that our interdependence with life and it's many forms is important. I also see that not only are we interconnected by interdependence, but we share a common life through it. It is this common life that makes it valuable and worth protecting. For the sake of protecting it, we are inspired to advocate for justice. Through discrimination* we perceive an unequal playing field and that due to historical and present day injustices, some need more help than others in this immediate moment in order to bring everyone to the table. Thus, equality and equity define the parameters of justice. We are inspired to give equal love to all and make sure everyone receives it because we sense the common life within all things.
This common life is our shared purpose and our source of inspiration. I see this as the ever-burning flame of the chalice, to me a divine light from which everything is born and by which everything is sustained. We give generously because we see the same life that burns within ourselves, burning within others. Where the purpose of a neighbor is intertwined with our own. This common life is what motivates our sharing. To me, we share a common life and purpose to the extent that we are One together in this burning flame.
I think the UU community can help us see the greater community to which we belong, the greater Oneness of which we are apart. I see this flame of life burning in all things, holding all things together and continually advocating, silently within, for it to be recognized by those who have the power to see it. To be seen so that it can be nurtured and spread out until it fills everything with a blazing light. This is the justice we are looking for, the restoration of both our individual lives and of the greater community of which we are apart.
We may look for this wide and far, yet it stands before us always. It is the light of the chalice burning during the service and always within our own hearts.
We are permitted and encouraged to seek the Truth however we may so long as we do so responsibly. This recognizes the fundamental right of each individual to have the freedom of thought and autonomy in their own spiritual expression. The right to conscience. This is a noble ideal, that when put into practice by an organizing body, empowers its constituents with the authority to govern themselves in this domain. This act recognizes the truth that is our right of conscience that already stands, and in recognizing this as principle, restores the rights and autonomy to people who have been historically oppressed: denied their, our, fundamental rights.
What power does a community have when it gives this power to its members? This community has the power to discover what is true and to be liberated by it. Where other communities are oppressed by compulsive obedience to dogma selected by a chosen few, democratic societies are liberated by the trust they place in each other. By giving each person the right and the responsibility to discover for themselves what is true, it trusts that people can govern themselves and will choose for themselves collectively what is good. It gives that body a society which is free, and from this freedom, the truth may be pursued, and from this truth humanity will be freed from the oppressive darkness of ignorance. Only in faith of the common good, and by the collective will of the people to pursue it, may we overcome all injustices and create a society that is wholly free.
Our nation is an experiment in this democratic philosophy, this democratic ideal which is the pursuit of truth, liberty, and justice, by truth, liberty, and justice. Unitarian Universalism springs up from the inception of this adventure and paves its way alongside the growing tide of Democracy year by year over the last two and a half centuries. I see this fellowship as an embodiment of the ideals which lead our nation, and itself as it's own unique expression of what is the rational pursuit of enlightenment. I see great value in the freedoms we uphold, and in the principles by which we organize ourselves. In protecting the flame of the chalice, we safeguard the flame of liberty by which reason and the democratic process are sustained.
Democracy is not by America for America, nor by Americans for Americans. Democracy is by human beings who wish to create a society that has no boundary which may lead to the oppression of any human being. Liberty, Democracy, and Reason shed light on our common humanity that underlies race, religion, class, gender, sexual orientation, and all social divisions. By seeing what we share, we are freed from the fear that leads to hatred and violent oppression and intolerance. By having a voice, we may be heard so that we can speak out against injustice, and further our collective understanding of who we all are as human beings with a common humanity and a common, sacred, and inviolable purpose.
Our community may be small, but the fire burning at it's heart is great. This light that I see in the people I am getting to know. I believe in the mission of Unitarian Universalism and it's part in the bigger picture of paving the way towards the progress of humankind. I also believe in our congregation, and it's ability to endure, to burn brightly, and even to grow.
In my own eyes, I see that God is the answer. In my own eyes, I see no difference between what is God, and what is Love.
*In the sense of mentally discriminating between one thing and another.
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