Delivered on October 22, 2000
Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Harford County
Story: Hospital Room -- Two Men in for long term care. One by a window used to describe various scenes from the window. Other grew envious, then jealous of the other's view. One night roommate was struggling to contact the nurse, other was awake but did not help by calling the nurse. Roommate died. Other moved to the spot with the window -- the view was a brick wall.
There are so many different factors involved in our seeing and believing. Factors that we cannot fully read in each other, and, more often than not, factors that we have not taken the proper time, energy and focus to read in ourselves.
Today, I offer another brush stroke in the creating of our spiritual landscapes with the perspective of frames and filters. Nothing that will be rendered today is an absolute. I simply offer some tools or guideposts available for your journey toward wholeness. What is invigorating and, I feel, healing about our faith is that we acknowledge out loud -- we even make it a part of our faith system -- that each persons journey is unique and can inform our understanding of the greater whole.
When I talk of frames, the classic modern illustration given parents in learning how to listen to our children comes to mind. You know the one....The seven year old asks, "Mom, where did I come from?" and the mother embarks on an earnest, gentle description of egg fertilization and birth; to which the child responds, "Joey says he's from Toledo, Ohio, is that where this happens?"
The frame, in building terms, is the constructional system that gives shape or strength to the form; it is the underlying structure or skeleton. In terms of faith development, the frame is where you stand -- what you bring to the moment from your history, your context (the events and situations and choices that mold your life) and what you've learned from and in life. That's the frame from which you ask: where did I come from, and where am I going?
"The most important thing you can do to improve your photography," begins a quote from a photography manual which I ask you to hear in the context of seeing...in other words..."The most important thing you can do to improve your seeing...is to take the time to train your eye. We all see images everyday that attract our attention, "the book continues, "But have you ever stopped to ask yourself why a particular scene causes you to pause?....The success of your photograph will be measured by what you decide to include as well as what you eliminate."
Our spiritual filters influence our perspective, they do not change what can be seen. Filters have to do with how we see, our priorities in our seeing: what we admire and what we avoid.
So today Richard Schroeder and I offer a series of reflection in word and music to invite you to ponder your own frames and filters. The frame for today's approach is constructed from the book entitled, Four Spiritualities, by Unitarian Universalist minister Peter Tufts Richardson. "Spirituality is the heart of life coming into being," Rev. Richardson states in his introduction, "It makes a difference in the world that we deepen our lives."
The most integrated person would have aspects of each of the journeys Richardson describes, but most of us gravitate more toward one way of knowing than another. So let's enjoy this morning together...give yourselves permission...to ponder aspects of your spiritual frames and filters.
Do you find yourself yearning regularly for a quiet place or designated time of solitude to put your thoughts together? Do you tend to look for a unifying concept in issues and situations, something that brings all theories together? Do you measure the health of humankind by its progress in global justice? Then your primary path may be the journey of unity.
In Hinduism, this journey is most like Jnana Yoga, known as the path of knowledge toward the goal of arriving at the bliss of identification in Unity. The Buddhist form of this journey manifests in Zen meditation. In philosophy, it can be either realists or idealists.
Socrates illustrates: "True knowledge is concerned not with the physical world of the senses but with the qualities, the realities, that are inherent in the everyday world -- with Beauty, not with beautiful sounds and colours....the unchanging world of realities is the object of true knowledge and wisdom."
Einstein would describe the journey of unity as a quest for the cosmic religious sense of existence.
The primary considerations of this journey are principle, truth, justice, clarity and freedom. Folk who tend toward this journey dominate comparative religion departments throughout the world because of the quest and sensitivity to unifying principles.
Mentors for this way of life can be Buddha, named "the one who is awake" and Buckminster Fuller, 19th century architect and engineer. From the Unitarian Universalist tradition, theologians Margaret Fuller and William Ellery Channing described aspects of this journey.
The primary way to develop this journey is to create what Joseph Campbell described as a "Bliss station"....a place that you can consistently visit to center your thoughts and calm distractions to sense that unity, more often than not in silence. Another practice could be to train your eye, intuition and analytical skills toward detecting the similarities in co-existing phenomenon, put the pieces together, allow the trust in a larger unifying principle to influence your way of knowing.
Words to ponder by Margaret Fuller: "Truth is the nursing mother of genius. No one can be absolutely true to oneself...without becoming original, for there is in every creature a fountain of life which, if not choked back...will create a fresh atmosphere, and bring to life fresh beauty...the spirit of truth, purely worshiped, shall turn our acts and forbearance alike to profit, informing them with oracles which the latest time shall bless."
Do you find yourself yearning for tangible ways to express your beliefs? Do you look for structure and seek to understand the steps involved in a process? Do you measure the health of humankind by the effectiveness of its institutions to serve human needs? Then your primary path may be the journey of devotion.
Love is the key to knowledge within this spirituality. Hands-on, direct devotional life sits well with people who tend toward this path. More often than not, those on this journey are the culture bearers. They are practical and cooperative, they love story and lessons from heroic lives.
In Hinduism, the practice most resembles Bhakti Yoga, a meditation on the constancy of love to bring about true transformation. In any tradition the hallmark of this journey is the central theme of giving one's faith flesh -- having one's faith manifest in one's life.
Mentors suggested for this path are Mohammed and Francis of Assisi. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Mother Teresa also speak deeply to the journey of devotion and love's power to transform. Feminine imagery of the divine commonly intensify the connection as well.
To enhance this journey, this style of knowing, a place that is well cared for, tended and respected should be present in the person's life, whether it be a garden plot or an altar of some sort. The journey is enhanced as well by experiential discipleship, getting one's hands dirty, so to speak, walking the talk. Spiritual guidance also helps this journey of devotion and, if possible, apprenticeship with someone your heart knows can teach you.
A reading from the Bhagavad Gita, in the style of bhakti devotion (p.87):
A leaf, a flower, a fruit (a little) water, whatever one offers to Me with devotion, that love-offering of the striving-soul I taste and enjoy.
Whatever thou doest, whatever thou enjoyest, whatever thou sacrificest, whatever thou givest, whatever energy of tapasya, of the soul's will or effort thou puttest forth, make it O Kaunteya, an offering unto Me.
Do you find yourself yearning for a clear sense of purpose to your days? Do you look for the why's and the how's of a situation that is only fully understood or believed if you see it yourself? Do you measure the health of humankind by its integrity? Then your primary path may be the journey of works.
Folk who tend toward this path find themselves uttering from time to time "get on with it" or "get real." Clear, tested identity is the hallmark of this spirituality and a sense of righteousness, grounded in the basic ethical principles of one's culture, such as The Golden Rule or The Great Commandment. Work is life's aim and so many on this journey find themselves administrating stewardship. They are often the proprietors and caretakers of an institution's health and effectiveness.
Karma Yoga is the Hindu equivalent to this journey. To live is to act. A quote: "For no one ever, even for a moment, remains without doing action; everyone is made to do action, through the constituents of Nature."
Dorothy Day, Moses, Ghandi, Confucius and Zoroaster are life examples of the journey of works.
To strengthen one's spiritual center in this context would call for situations of clear expectations that can be fulfilled. In the process of understanding, logical, consistent reasoning from a core belief will open one's heart and mind. Readings, meditations, journals that are accessible can help maintain the clarity of vision, with reminders of where one has arrived from in thought.
There is a danger in this style of journeying particularly, but possible in any stance, of a self righteousness that stagnates growth. It is important for folk in this journey of works to allow for difference of opinion and knowledge to enter their sphere from time to time, that is to practice and exercise acceptance of other ways of being. This is often a discipline because those on this journey tend to be leaders, team organizers, responsible administrators on behalf of life.
Let this quote from Edward Everett Hale, 19th century Unitarian minister, guide you through the next meditation.
The true allegiance of man to the Infinite Law implies and involves more than verbal truth. It is the obedience of every act, so that the man does without concealment, without pretense, without exaggeration, the thing he undertakes to do. The errand boy does not loiter on his errand. The sentinel never misses a turn of his round. The screw-maker never puts one deficient screw in the parcel. We shall gain this absolute allegiance when the kingdon of God wholly comes. To gain it, to bring it (the kingdom) in is our present hope and duty.
Do you find yourself yearning for new situations and new ways of being to deepen your understanding? Do you look for ways to enhance your resources and ways to appreciate the resources of others? Do you measure the health of humankind its willingness and energy toward hope and possibility? Then your primary path may be the journey of harmony.
People on this journey feel intuitively that there is a mystic reality underlying existence, a hidden harmony that can bring about peace in the world. Their imagination is ever active. They are insightful, enthusiastic, strive toward authenticity and thrive on pluralism. Metaphor is a powerful tool for this spirituality, often expressed in the arts or through social idealism. There is a pulse of expectancy in this way of being and often folk in this sensibility find themselves as peacemakers.
Raja Yoga is the Hindu flavor of this walk of life, which is a meditation toward self awareness and the engagement of experiments to see what provokes growth. Taoism resonates within this journey as does Starhawk, William Blake, Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Rabindranath Tagore and Jesus of Nazareth.
People on this journey are strengthened by seeking new information either in travel or by drawing people into discussion. Nurturing the intuitive side through dream work or the arts enhances this spirituality. Creating situations and meditations that focus on process rather than product creates the strength of hope that drives this sensibility.
Keeping with one practice long enough for its full impact is a challenge for this walk of life. It must be remembered that a reservoir of resources is only as good as the knowledge of their use.
Ralph Waldo Emerson gives us this next quote for meditation: (adapted)
Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string. Accept the place the divine providence has found for you, the society of your contemporaries, the connection of events. Great people have always done so, no betraying their perception that the absolutely trustworthy was seated in their heart, working through their hands, predominating in all their being. And we are now humans and must accept in the highest mind the same transcendent destiny; to be guides, redeemers and benefactors, obeying the Almighty effort.
If you seek God, may God be with you;
if you are looking for the right path, may a way be found;
if you love Life, may Life return your affection;
and if you are looking for a spiritual home, may we be your family.
Amen.