Turn the Principles Upside Down
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One night before going to bed a farmer was standing a few steps in front of his house, meditating over the many troubles that had beset his livestock. “I cannot imagine why the cattle do not get better,” said he out loud to himself. “I will tell you,” said a squeaky little voice close by him. The farmer turned in the direction of the sound and saw a tiny little man, looking very angrily at him. “It is,” continued the wee man, “because your family keeps on annoying mine so much.” “How is that?” asked the farmer, surprised and puzzled. “You are always throwing the slops from your house down the chimney of my house,” said the little man.
How It Happens
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After presenting my first workshop at the 2011 General Assembly of the Unitarian Universalist Association, I decided to reward myself by purchasing a gold chalice necklace, which I’ve been wanting for a while. I went to the exhibit hall to one of the jewelry vendors, where the artist kindly walked me through the dazzling display of options. I found a small, delicate gold pendant on a beautiful chain, and when she fastened it around my neck and I looked in the mirror, I fell in love.
I decided to buy it, even though it was three times what I’d originally been planning to spend. As she prepared to take my credit card, I added the cost of the pendant and the chain and asked for confirmation of the total. She, clearly impressed with my mental arithmetic abilities, responded, “That’s right. I don’t want to stereotype, but you’re some kind of Asian, right? So, math is, like, in your DNA?”
I was rendered temporarily speechless.
Welcome to Cell No. 9
One Today – Poem by Richard Blanco
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One sun rose on us today, kindled over our shores,
peeking over the Smokies, greeting the faces
of the Great Lakes, spreading a simple truth
across the Great Plains, then charging across the Rockies.
One light, waking up rooftops, under each one, a story
told by our silent gestures moving behind windows.
From Your Minister – July 2014
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I love acknowledgments pages, and award acceptance speeches, and other public expressions of gratitude where people spell out how their individual success is interconnected with the gifts of other people. And it occurs to me that, rather than going through all of the struggle of writing a book or making a film or performing a song, I can use this column right now for my own acceptance speech, to offer thanks.
For what? You ask. For my life!
REsources for Living
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One of the most exciting things about growing up is that you can do more and more things by yourself.
Babies are totally dependent on others. (There’s not much that a person who hasn’t yet learned how to locate their hands can do on their own.) But before long babies generally learn to roll themselves over, and sit up, and crawl and walk and run and before you know it they have grown into people who can ride a bike or make their own dinner or get a job.
The Sun Shines Not On Us…
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The sun shines not on us but in us. The rivers flow not past, but through us. Thrilling, tingling, vibrating every fiber and cell of the substance of our bodies, making them glide and sing. The trees wave and the flowers bloom in our bodies as well as our souls, and every bird song, wind song, and tremendous storm song of the rocks in the heart of the mountains is our song, our very own, and sings our love.
By John Muir (1838-1914), from his journals
The Faith of a Trapeze Artist
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The word “faith” doesn’t occupy the same place of prominence in Unitarian Universalism that it does in some religious traditions. For many of us, faith has become synonymous with blind acceptance of particular religious beliefs, as in: Jesus died for my sins; God created the world in six days; Noah survived a flood in an ark; a talking snake hoodwinked Adam and Eve.
For most Unitarian Universalists, indeed for most people who live in the modern world and think with modern understandings, such beliefs are neither intellectually tenable nor morally acceptable. Faith defined as religious belief is what Mark Twain was getting at when he said, “Faith is believing what you know ain’t so.”
Embracing the Dangerous and Sacred (Excerpt)
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I have a favorite tree that I like to sit in. Going there is a form of meditation for me. I like to climb up into the branches and look out over the Bay. It is one of my favorite places to sit sipping a cup of coffee while I watch the sun set. The birds fly around me and my cares just melt away. I feel like I am in a sacred and safe world. I love it.
