Beginning Now

Come As You Are…

What you believe, bring with you as you come. If you have doubts, bring them with you also. Come as you are, and inescapably must come, if you would be yourself. Be unashamed even, of your shame, at least within yourself. Of others, ask no more- or less. Let us be what we are as best as we can.

No one is perfect. No one is better or worse than another, for no one has lived the life of the other. All are seekers, no matter what they have found. All are proud, no matter how humble they wish to appear.

Let belief doubts, shame, pride, humility, and the inescapablity of self sit aside by side in mutual and self respect until there comes the feeling that, in the depth of understanding and feeling, we are one.

Keep Your Dreams

Itzah Perlman is one of the greatest violinists in the world today. As he tells it, before he was four years old, two things happened to him that has shaped the rest of his life. First, he was crippled by polio, and the second, he heard a recording of the famed violinist Jascha Heifetz.
Perlman explained that though polio had taken away the use of his legs, Heifetz’s had given him wings. It gave him a great dream that set him on the road towards musical greatness.

Former president, Woodrow Wilson observed this: That we grow by listening to our dreams. Henry David Thoreau said, that we are to listen to our dreams, and follow them. For it is our life’s task to place a livable foundation under them. Today’ theme is this: Don’t let anyone discourage you or anything steal your dreams, and do not be afraid to endure challenges in order to build your life on them!

Spiritual Dreams

Jesus, Ghandi, and King, among other great reformers and visionaries realized the importance of their guiding dreams and the essential need to have others understand, promote, and affirm those dreams and then be willing to support those outcomes.

They chose to act in a way that would transform their lives, their values, and they would risk their sense of security, personal comfort, and even bring the possibility of danger into their lives in order to achieve the rightness, the truth of their dream.

Every leader, every reform movement, every person requires a spiritual vision and then needs their community’s support. Whenever we risk sharing a dream, a joy, or a sorrow, we are sincerely asking others to hear us, really hear us, and then respond from their hearts– knowing that as a larger community of sisters and brothers, we need each other in times of sorrow, and that we also need each other in times of rejoicing… That we need to hear each other to survive, and that we to listen to each other to truly thrive…

The Dream Of The Heart

The dream of the heart is the outlet. It is one with the living water welling up from the very springs of Being, nourishing and sustaining all of life. Where there is no dream, life becomes a swamp, a dreary, dead place…
The dream enables us to ride out the storms of churning experience. It is the exciting whisper moving through the aisles of spirit, answering the monotony of limitless days of dull routine. It is the ever-reocurring melody in the midst of the harsh discords of human conflict.
The dream is no outward thing. It does not take its rise from the environment. It lives in the inward parts; it is deep within, where the issues of life and death are ultimately determined.
Keep alive the dream, for as long as we have a dream in our hearts, we cannot lose the significance of living.
Howard Thurman

In the opening words of poetess and therapist, Anne Hillman, we are given the vision of a community as our best personal vehicle for the sacred journey of life when she writes:

We are all on a journey together… To the center of the universe….
look deep into yourself, into one another … It is looking to the center which is everywhere. That is the holy journey…
First you need only look; notice and honor the radiance of everything and everyone about you….
Play in this universe. Tend to all the shining things around you; the smallest plant, the creatures, and all the objects in your care.
Be gentle and nurture. Listen…
As we experience and accept all that we really are… we grow in care.
We begin to embrace others as ourselves…
and learn to live as one among many…..
Anne Hillman

In the second quote, abbess, poet, and physician Hildegard of Bingen sees the life of the soul as a greening or a ripening of the spirit. She exclaims:

“Good People! Most royal greening verdancy! Rooted in the sun, you shine with radiant light. In the this circle of our earthly existence, you shine so finely.
It surpasses understanding. God hugs you. You are encircled by the arms of the mystery of God.”
Hildegard of Bingen

Closing Words: # 700 & 701 (adapted) For all who see God, may God go with you. For all who embrace life, may life return the affection. For all who seek a right path, may a way be found…
For we receive but fragments of holiness, glimpses of eternity, brief moments of insight. Let us gather them up for one another and be renewed by their grace, and move boldly into the unknown of each new day.

Children’s Presentation: What One Thing We Need …. How we gain awareness
According to an ancient Indian fable, there once was a mouse who always was always afraid… One day, the mouse, because of his fear, went to a wizard and complained, ” I am afraid of cats- please turn me into a cat…” The wizard with a wave of his hand, then transformed the mouse into a cat! A short amount of time went by, and the mouse who is now a cat came back to the wizard and exclaimed, ‘ I am so afraid of dogs… Can you turn me into a dog? The wizard quickly complied and with another wave of his hand, turned mouse who was a cat into a dog! A short time later, the wizard received another knock on his door… it was mouse who became a cat who is now a dog. Now he asked the wizard to turn him into a panther, because as a dog he feared that he would be eaten! The wizard stopped for a moment, thought, and then reluctantly waved his hand, and now mouse who was a cat who was a dog, became a panther!
After a short time, panther showed up at the wizard’s door… this time complaining that now that he was a panther, hunters were after him!!! Could the wizard please turn him into a hunter!!!
The wizard hearing all this, quickly waved his hand over the panther, and immediately the panther became a mouse again!!! The wizard then told the startled mouse, ” I can do nothing for you, nor can I help because you still have the heart of a mouse!
Q: What do you think the meaning of this story might be???
Q: How or why is it that people try to change their outsides, without also trying to change what’s inside? Q: How important is it to put your heart into whatever change you want to make in your life?
Adult Story: Listening With One’s Heart…

A legend from the Sahel of Africa tells us this story about the wisdom of the desert and the ears we need to hear it…

One day, a traveler was taking a long journey across the desert. Along the way, his car stalled, and he could not get it to go any further. He had to get out a walk… Becoming hot and very uncomfortable, he began to worry about ever being found, about ever finding any water so that he would not die in the heat. He struggled up one hill and down another each time desperating looking for any sign that water was near… He started walking in every direction, frantically searching…. As he staggered around, he did not see a long low branch of a dead tree sticking out, and he tripped over it and landed flat on the ground… with no energy left he began to give up any hope that he would find the water he needed.
As he lay there, feeling helpless and dejected, he suddenly became aware of the silence of the desert. Once he stopped his own cries, he felt a mysterious, majestic stillness around him- a quiet undisturbed by a single sound… As he lay there his mind quieted down, and with just a wisp of a wind, he suddenly raised his head and felt that he had heard something… something so faint, that only the sharpest ear and the quietest mind could detect it…
With a renewed hope and restored energy, he followed that sound,
and kept moving until over another hill, there was an oasis, a place of cool, refreshing water….

Q: What are the themes of this story? How could they relate to your life? In what ways are you like the man in the desert? How easily can you quiet your mind ? How well do you listen?

Pastoral Meditation: The Treasure That We Are

Jesus once said, “[ That the realm of God is like a treasure, buried in a field. The person who finds it becomes overjoyed, and rushes back into town, sells everything they have, and goes out and buys that field.]”

Relax now, get as comfortable as you can, breathe slowly and deeply … and take a visual exploration with me to identify your treasure ….

I have a treasure, the thing that I value most in my life, and I identify it to myself now… then, I relive some of the events and experiences that led me to discover it…

I think back on the history of my life and from time to time, I thought that I had found this treasure earlier in my life, but for some reasons known and unknown, it was not what was most valuable to me…

In affirmation of the treasure that is or the treasure that is soon to be,
I present a symbol of it , and place it on the altar of my highest sense of love, trust, caring, truth… I say to this treasure, ” Of all the things I have or have had, you are the greatest…”

I then think to myself how much would I give, how much would I gladly do in order to preserve and protect this treasure….

If you feel that you do not already have such a treasure, then acknowledge with that with sadness — and hope for the day that you shall find this supreme gift… a treasure that you would give up everything for…

Now, centering on your own heart beat, and emptying yourself of all other sounds and thoughts, … listen… listen with your heart to these words

“You are a treasure… Someday, somewhere, and in someway, you will be discovered for what you truly are- you will be found and claimed… claimed with all heart, and mind, and soul…. If you had not discovered your value yet, trust that you will be found …

That you are a multifaceted treasure. There are so many jewels of my inner nature that are kept and concealed in me… I joyfully review each of these and gratefully remember any person who acknowledge me, and the value I contain… and I hear a whisper of the Divine, and to my delight,
The Holy that I hear from deep within me tells me that I have always been a treasure, always valued and will be kept secure and sacred with its heart …

“Living An Enchanted Life”
The Reverend Peter Edward Lanzillotta, Ph.D.

When you hear the word, enchantment, what comes to mind?
A fairy tale, maybe a favorite production from Disney, or a magical spell … or could it be that enchantment refers to something inner, deeper… an often unexpressed delight- a feeling that invites you to linger and to savor, to long for, and to wistfully wonder… maybe enchantment is the word we can use to describe what it means to recapture that sense of truly living, living a more soulful, & in that sense, magical life…
Now to be sure, it might be considered bizarre and strange in and of itself for a Unitarian-Universalist to wax poetic and ponder mystical and magical terms such as enchantment…. but a case can be made for how it can be approached and understood…
I have come across this powerful entrancing concept of enchantment at various times during my own spiritual and personal quest. This spellbinding word seems to have tracked along my personal journeys through psychology, philosophy. spirituality and metaphysics. As I understand it, let me state it clearly, enchantment or the capacity to become enchanted IS an answer for the seeking heart. …
In recent memory, the enticing concept of being or becoming enchanted relates to many of the questions and connections we humans seem to need or desire. In trying to summarize the many ways this is possible, I will choose three from my life’s soulful excursions that span from the universal and global to those that are profoundly personal and intimate.
As Thomas More, Jungian analyst, musician and former monk writes in his book on The Re-Enchantement Of Life, “our souls have a distinct need for regular excursions into enchantment. What food is for the body, what thought is for the mind, enchantment is for our souls.”
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Brian Swimme is a cosmologist whose scientific and inspirational writings focus on the origins of the universe.
He has been most closely connected to the international movement called Creation Spirituality. In explaining the physics of deep space, he naturally leads us into the consideration of the vastness of our own possibilities- moving from physics to metaphysics, pondering the laws and the causes of the Cosmos, he directs our questions toward an expanded, inclusive sense of the Divine, where the universe abides by its own self-sustaining holy laws- Laws that some of us would deem to be part of the grand and elegant design of an all wise, all compassionate Creator/Creatrix God whose laws and principles operate both within and beyond ordinary human comprehension.
In and through the process that Thomas More recommends as a necessary translation of science into awe and wonder, Brian Swimme introduces us to our capacity for enchantment with the larger world of nature and the life under the heavens.
In his first book, The Universe Is A Green Dragon, and in his preface to the more complete Universe Story, Swimme moves from a scholarly treatise to an emphasis on our human need for enchantment as a way to revitalize our vigilance for ecological justice, and to graciously accept our place in the universe as a treasure- as a gift that advocates and strengthens our human need for enchantment- to fall in love with the universe, the earth, with life! This feeling, that we are cared for and connected to the universe is a timeless way humanity can and has expressed the awe and wonder of life.
Q: Have you ever thought of it in that way?

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The next time you have an opportunity to go out at night, look up into that starry sky and take a few moments to look around at the majesty, the mystery and the meaning of all that vast, inspiring beauty that you can see …
Q: Ask yourself, when were you last enchanted by a star?
When was it that you gave thanks for your place in the Cosmos?

Knowing that the universe is the largest scale of life we can grasp or even try to understand, when was it that you first realized that all the elements, all the air, dust, liquid, and space that makes up the galaxies is also a part of you- that you, too are made of star stuff???
Furthermore, when was it that you first knew that there was some kind of connection here, that both you and the universe are a marvel and a wonder, a moral lesson, and can be a heartfelt comfort for one another– That both you and the universe are a part of a cosmic design where the ultimate and the intimate are reflected and connected- and that we are privileged to partake in the grace of it all– that’s enchantment!

Another encounter with the word and the ideal of enchantment came to me from my studies in depth psychology. From those insights, I came to realize the importance of stories and dreams, the value found from awakening the imagination and from the contemplative consideration of the mythopoetic dimensions of our lives.
In what has now become a classic text, the psychoanalyst Bruno Bettleheim described the importance of myths, legends, folk stories and dreams in his book, The Uses Of Enchantment.
In those pages, he describes how humanity’s myths, can be used to unlock and reveal the workings of our own human nature.
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Through his discourse, Bettleheim points to how myths and metaphors from the world’s great literature, Scripture, and
poetry, are the best way we humans have for approximating the truth– for truth is not necessarily factual nor is it logical- Instead, the truths of our being, and the realities of humankind contain within them a faith-filled, trusting dimension- a depth which has a romantic and transcendent quality within them that enchants us- that lures, tricks, inspires, and cajoles us into the truth and the soulful lesson its story line might contain.
Life is a mystery. Myths, legends and our dreams hold within themselves a key that unlocks the hidden and the previously unknown. This process of how a myth is told, how it engages you, how it grabs your attention and focuses in on its possibilities, can dynamically touch our emotions. This touch, when we embrace it, makes our enchantment with the characters, the tradition, and the lessons, an important part of our path toward greater self- discovery and toward a more complete sense of healing and wholeness. That is one of the principal reasons why I have reinvested in the stories associated with the larger, more mystical and inclusive Judeo-Christian-Islamic heritage; the Myths of Arthur, the stories in Shakespeare, inspirational poetry… these have helped me to learn, discover, understand and grow… both personally and professionally…
A third way the idea and the ideal of enchantment comes to us in our appraisal of human motivations and desires. How we decide to do anything, how we focus our wills, and develop sufficient motivation, can all tie into our understanding of enchantment.

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For this approach, we are advised by Thomas More that “[the goal of life is becoming a person who is deeply and securely grounded in their delight; for one who possesses a rich imagination may be more desirable than another who is being more politically savvy, or well informed. ...
That living with a sense of passion and vision, or becoming a person who possessing a zest for life, despite all its various imbalances, idiosyncrasies and inconsistencies, might be better off than limiting or constraining your sense of self to being a high functioning, well-organized robot.]”

In my delvings into spiritual teachings, I will briefly extract a short portion from a complete theory of consciousness that centers on Sufi and Tibetan teachings. This theory contains some insights on the nature of enchantment. It states that enchantment as a kind of holy curiousity, is necessary to trap the human ego into growth and change. Enchantment is an excellent motivator for any needed or necessary transformation; that enchantment can be seen as the positive, sincere expression of interest or desire in someone, something, some ideal or higher principle.
In that way, it operates as a balance point or polar dynamic opposite of addiction, because of how it invites growth and engagement- the enlargement of one’s world, one’s heart, and the courage to pursue involvement with others. When we are enchanted, by someone, something, an ideal or a transcendent hope, we invest ourselves in them; dedicating time, energy, focus and interest towards the ideal or the goal it or they represent. Such a state could be called infatuation, but that is just the short-lived expression of the earnest of a heart-centered caring that you wish to cultivate or express.

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We can be sure that it is only infatuation when the demands and the difficulties of intimacy threaten it and easily compromise its ardor or intensity.
This points toward another principle of consciousness that states that time and love are connected- the capacity to give time to someone or something is a measure of its importance, affection, and value to us. Time and love are intimately linked; if one cannot give sufficient time to a person, a cause or an ideal, the passion for it erodes or become frustrated. Similarly, enchantment lives in a person’s heart and mind when there is a willingness to dedicate or devote time and energy, affection and support to whatever is beloved…
Enchantment deliciously invites us to the feast of life- it implores us to take the time to drink it all in, and to open one’s awareness to deliciously savor the wonders and blessings of being alive.
When we are enchanted, we live and love magically– we can easily lose track of time, and flow freely from our hearts.
When our lives can become too routine, mundane, and we can become trapped by efficiency and responsibility- we can negate or devalue that part of us that needs to soar- to be free- to wonder, imagine, to lift and to love… To the degree that we exclude the soul’s need to be inspired, enchanted, we are inviting a premature death or an inertia for our spirits. Instead of locking down, gritting it out, offer yourself the opportunity to become re-enchanted, as a gift… as a confirmation of the treasure you hold within and of the value that can be found in sharing it and expressing it. Then, as I have seen and felt it, life will have a restored and expanded sense of connection and meaning for you. May you and I, may we all learn to live more soulfully- Learn to live in a more enchanted world! Amen: So Be It! Blessed Be!

Sailing To Byzantium

That is no country for old men. The young, in one another’s arms,
Birds in the trees, -Those dying generations- at their song,
The salmon-falls, the mackerel-crowded seas, Fish, flesh, or fowl,
Commend all summer long, Whatever is begotten, born, and dies,
Caught in that sensual music, all neglect,
Monuments of unaging intellect.

An aged man is but a paltry thing, a tattered coat upon a stick, unless Soul clap its hands and sing, and louder sing
For every tatter in its mortal dress, Nor is there singing school, but studying monuments of its own magnificence;
And therefore I have sailed the seas, and come
To the holy city of Byzantium.

O sages standing in God’s holy fire, As in the gold mosaic of a wall,
Come from the holy fire, perne in a gyre,
And be the singing-masters of my soul.
Consume my heart away; sick with desire,
And fastened to a dying animal -It knows not what it is;
and gather me Into the artifice of eternity.

Once out of nature I shall never take
My bodily form from any natural thing,
But such a form as Grecian goldsmiths make, Of hammered gold and gold enameling, To keep a drowsy Emperor awake;
Or set upon a golden bough to sing To lords and ladies of Byzantium
Of what is past, or passing, or to come. William Butler Yeats 1927

A short personal reflection- On Introducing W. B. Yeats

In my ongoing search for understanding myself and the world, ” I had not taken up these things willfully, nor through a love of strangeness… But because of the unaccountable things happened in my childhood, and because of my ungovernable craving” for an awareness of hidden mysteries, spiritual realities and secret inner worlds not taught by schools, or generally accepted by polite society….

Knowing that Yeats would enthusiastically approve, I would like to take a few moments to welcome and befriend any readers who are metaphysical searchers; all mystical poets; those of you who possess the gracious gift of imagination or whose thirst for justice makes them reach within and beyond themselves…

William Butler Yeats was a persistent lifelong seeker after truth; but it was an unsettling search that stirred his soul- it challenged him and his readers to the core of their realities because his sources for life’s truth and understanding were outside the norm, and he had only the security of his soul’s quest to sustain him.
Yeat’s greatest sources of inspiration were found in the esoteric Western tradition, usually hidden behind Jewish and Christian orthodoxy. As a leading member of the Theosophical Society and a prominent member of the highly ritualistic, magical Order of the Golden Dawn, he became well versed in secret teachings of the Kabbalah, the Tarot, Alchemy and Astrology. Only later in life, did his studies take him into the safer realms of mythology, fairy tales, philosophy and finally, poetry.
He sought to embrace mystery and become reverent and familiar with it;
to correspond with the eternities, and speak freely with the soul and leave the ego behind. He sought out his earnest answers in a way that risks much disapproval, yet his restless heart, and dynamic spirit pressed on…. And we have his writings as our legacy, our guide for our own soul’s journey.

In our lives, there is a similar demand for truth and inspiration, and like Yeats, each of us contains deep questions. We, too, are curious, seeking, risking and searching for a sense of meaning and purpose that will guide our decisions, satisfy our questions and fill up our empty places.
Sometimes our seeking brings us joy, and sometimes concern;
It is then, in either celebration or commiseration, we look to our sisters and brothers for their stories, their poems, their prayers and can reap the rich results of their wisdom- which, its its gracious twists and turns, will assist us in searching for our own answers…
For the sincere and heartfelt search for the spiritual and personal, the ethical and the just, comes to us from searching… And from listening… through the years and experiences of our lives, and it finds its best expression when it comes from the heartfelt sharing among friends or within a spiritually based community….

A Prayer for Autumn Days

God of the seasons, there is a time for everything; there is a time for dying and a time for rising. We need courage to enter into the transformation process.

God of autumn, the trees are saying goodbye to their green, letting go of what has been. We, too, have our moments of surrender, with all their insecurity and risk. Help us to let go when we need to do so.

God of fallen leaves lying in colored patterns on the ground, our lives have their own patterns. As we see the patterns of our own growth, may we learn from them.

God of misty days and harvest moon nights, there is always the dimension of mystery and wonder in our lives. We always need to recognize your power-filled presence. May we gain strength from this.

God of harvest wagons and fields of ripened grain, many gifts of growth lie within the season of our surrender. We must wait for harvest in faith and hope. Grant us patience when we do not see the blessings.

God of geese going south for another season, your wisdom enables us to know what needs to be left behind and what needs to be carried into the future. We yearn for insight and vision.

God of flowers touched with frost and windows wearing white designs, may your love keep our hearts from growing cold in the empty seasons.

God of life, you believe in us, you enrich us, you entrust us with the freedom to choose life. For all this, we are grateful.

- Author Unknown
Appropriate for many faiths