HISTORIES OF THE ZEN MISSION TO THE AMERICAS AND THE WEST What follows is a review of Richard McDaniel’s Zen Conversations. However it is much more than that. It’s a review of the histories of Zen’s mission to the West, focused on North America. I read it and found it an invaluable resource. […]

From November 6-18, seven UUSC partners will attend the 27th annual Conference of Parties (COP) in Egypt to discuss approaches to mitigating and responding to climate change.

Yesterday with my Kindergarten students (our Rainbow Group) we began making Froebel block sets. Lots of sawing was involved. I started with a lesson on the use of a square to mark straight lines across wood, and as is usual, getting the kids to understand that the body of the square has to be tight to the wood in order for the blade of the wood to be square and the line being drawn to be "square," was a challenge. Fortunately the project will be forgiving, of both poorly marked lines and off-square cuts. Each time a student would finish a cut they would proclaim, "I did it!" or they would tell the number, like, "I've cut five!" Mastery of the saw requires mastery of your own body... Developing a smooth arm motion as well as developing a ...

Your feelings are windows to your soul.  They are valuable teachers with lessons if we acknowledge and make friends with them.   They make themselves known so that we may know ourselves  and pay attention to parts of ourselves that need to be … Continue reading →

Over the past few years I have found myself living in remote places and moving around quite a bit. Community is hard to find when living on the road or living rurally. I have been able to feel connected, loved, and held by keeping in touch with friends and family through technology, and I feel … Continue reading On the Road

  Photo by Bannon Morrissy on Unsplash Sunday, November 13,  10:30 a.m. When Life Gives You Lemons (and You Don’t Want Lemonade) With Rev. Alice Anacheka-Nasemann A John Gorka lyric states, “Life is full of disappointment, yes and I am full of life.” Join us this Sunday, November 13, as Rev. Alice shares about her summer sabbatical   [ … ] The post Sunday, November 13 ~ When Life Gives You Lemons . . . appeared first on Unitarian Church of Marlborough and Hudson.

In order to achieve climate justice, we need significant policy shifts supported by powerful grassroots organizing. We must pressure governments for meaningful climate action, while advancing climate solutions in our communities to ensure that all people can thrive.  We also need time to regroup, unlearn, and learn anew.  With all of this in mind, we invite you to engage in one or all of the exciting climate justice opportunities this month.  You could start by joining the final workshop in our Climate Resilience through Disaster Response and Community Care series on Tuesday, November 15 at 7 ET, or zoom in to get the latest updates on COP 27 Activities with the UUMFE Daily Discussions on COP27 with Doris Marlin and Dr. Bill McPherson...

Thank you so much for signing up for the “Mobilizing for Action,” the second workshop in our series on “Climate Resilience through Disaster Response & Community Care”.  Whether you were able to attend in real-time or plan to watch the recording later, we are grateful for your commitment to building communities of care in the face of climate disasters.    Next steps:   Make sure you RSVP for the third and final workshop in this series: Community Conversations on November 15.  We encourage you to invite 1 or 2 more people from your congregation to attend, so we can continue to grow our community of support! Check out the  Climate Disaster Response for UUs Guide .  This guide is chock full of tools and resources to help ind...

UUA President Rev. Susan Frederick-Gray reflects on the ways that organizing around elections is grounded in Unitarian Universalist theology. Continue reading "Unitarian Universalists Remain Committed to Democracy"

TWH spoke with Denny Sargent about the animistic practice of "Werewolf Magic." Continue reading Werewolf Magic, a new Pagan tradition at The Wild Hunt.

Erika A. Hewitt Of all the things "faith" can mean, to me it means believing in us. Continue reading "Our Struggle and Our Power"

On this day after the Election, I want to invite us to reflect on the state of our democracy. Democracy, after all, is a valuable method for governance, but it’s not a guarantee of good outcomes (Gershberg and Illing, Paradox of Democracy, 2). In a democracy, the people are free to choose, and sometimes their […]

I read Heather Cox Richardson's Letters from an American daily to put current events into a historic context. There are always changes afoot, but not all things under the sun are new. Human nature changes at a geologic pace. Today in her post she noted the large number of young persons mobilized to vote. "If there is an obvious story from today with results still unknown, it is this: a new generation is picking up the torch of our democracy." It's a very good thing. One in which I find consolation. You can find her initial comments on the election here: https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/november-8-2022 Make, fix and create. Assist others in learning likewise.

My daughter is going to start going to Gwinnett Tech in January. It’s a three year program for sonography. I’m so happy that she is going to be starting a new chapter in her life.  She will meet new people. … Continue reading →

“Without community, there is no liberation…but community must not mean a shedding of our differences, nor the pathetic pretense that these differences do not exist.” -Audre Lorde How have you honored differences to create authentic community? “Sin comunidad no hay liberación… pero comunidad no debe significar un desprendimiento de nuestras diferencias, ni la patética pretensión … Continue reading Differences

                  Do you make time to listen for that still small voice inside you?  The voice that invites you to be make a change, to strive a little more; the voice that urges you to more authenticity, that invites you into transformation?  I believe we all have such inner stirrings—that give voice to the seeds of change wanting to burst forth and grow in and through us.  I asked you during the meditation to draw or write about that inner voice, considering when you hear it, how you hear it, how you respond to it.  Is it a voice that calls you to an evolution, to a revolution of the way you live and move and have your being on this earth?  Does it ask you to say “yes” to life, to truth, to love?  What’s yo...

An extraordinary find of 24 bronzes in the Italian town of San Casciano dei Bagni, Tuscany, promises to rewrite history. Continue reading “Exceptional” discovery of ancient bronzes in Italy at The Wild Hunt.

I’ve been looking for a better social media outlet for a while now. I stopped using Twitter years ago because it got too nasty. I’ve stayed on Facebook mostly because I have a lot of friends from Sacred Harp singing there — but Facebook is mostly an ugly place, and I don’t like the way … Continue reading "Mastodon"

My sister Mary's first father-in-law had retired from working for Fruehauf, and though I'd only met Mr. Lange a couple times, it was obvious that he had been proud of his work. And why not? You could not drive the interstate highways in the US without following a few. Fruehauf moved its manufacturing overseas, closing the Omaha production facility which was then taken over by another company, so the tradition of building trailers for the trucking industry continues, and later Fruehauf returned to manufacturing in the US. But that's a long story. And not one that diminishes the pride my sister's father-in-law felt about his work. Can you get it? The labors of hand and the labors of mind are essential to each other, and whichever ways we t...

I woke at 3 a.m. and saw the bright full moon through my window. I woke again at 5:30 a.m., but could not see the eclipsed red moon because it was hiding low in the sky behind the many trees and buildings around our house. Still, I dreamt about the lunar eclipse all through the […]

This symbol of the Civil Works Administration seven month pilot program was placed on, many of the brick and mortar public works projects built. On November 8, 1933 President Franklin Delano Roosevelt announced plans to create the new Civil Works Administration which, he said, would provide up to 4 million jobs for the unemployed while doing important work building roads, bridges, sewer lines, and other infrastructure.  In a 5 month run over the winter of 1933-34 over a billion dollars was spent putting people to work. The basic idea was improved and expandedupon as the Works Progress Administration (WPA) funded by Congress in the Emergency Relief Appropriation Act of 1935.  The WPA was on its way to becoming the single biggest progra...

 

Election day is an important day in the life of a democracy. For the last few weeks in most US states, people have been engaging in early voting, showing up at polls and casting their ballots. Journalists, pollsters, and politicos … Continue reading →

On this day around the world, our Sikh siblings are celebrating the birth of the first Sikh Guru. It is a day of rituals and learning, and of celebrating the teachings of Sikhism. May spend the day engaged in selfless service to others, known as seva, one of the most important practices of their faith. … Continue reading Guru Nanak Jayanti

I have an article in this month's Quercus Magazine from the UK and I received a copy in today's mail. The article is about students from Clear Spring School having built a survival structure from bamboo and discusses the group work that takes place under such circumstances. Subscribers should receive copies this week. Make, fix and create. Assist others in learning likewise.

In this week's Pagan Community Notes: Wiccan church denied building permit, The Witches awards have been announced, Remembering Alder MoonOak, and more news. Continue reading Pagan Community Notes: Week of November 7, 2022 at The Wild Hunt.

Jeff Milchen The Legacy Fellowship program builds leadership capacity to advance democracy in 2020 and beyond.

The United Nations’ annual climate change conference begins this week, and several UUSC partners are making the long journey to attend.

The holiday season has arrived! Make plans to engage in your favorite holiday traditions at All Souls, or try something new this year. Here’s what’s coming up: November Events Fall Art MarketSaturday, November 19 & Sunday, November 20 | 10 am to 3 pmShop for handmade, home made arts and crafts from vendors from our community. Proceeds benefit All Souls Youth.  Laying of the LabyrinthSaturday, November 19 | 10 am to 3 pmIt’s all hands on deck as we lay out the hundreds of lights that will create our beautiful labyrinth, to be lit on December 4. Thanksgiving Festival SundaySunday, November 20 […] The post Holidays at All Souls appeared first on BeyondBelief.

Carefully constructed Soviet mythology made the October Revolution in Russia all about Vladimir Lenin. November 7 and 8 represent one of the most important events of the 20th Centuryand arguably a fulcrum point history—before this, things were this way, after quite another.  That presents a significant challenge for a blogger who trades in history.  On one hand the October or Bolshevik Revolution on November 7, 1917—October 25 under the old Orthodox calendar—is too big to ignore.  On the other the tale is so epic and complex that a wordy son-of-a-bitch like me with a tendency to digress and go off on tangents to explain every detail couldn’t confine myself to a manageable post. That a problem because Americans in general know ...

I got a nice note this morning from a PhD student in the UK thanking me for my book The Wisdom of Our Hands. He said the following. "I hope you do not mind me emailing you, but I am writing to you to firstly say hello and also thank you!  You see, I have recently finished a paper on the philosophy of work, trying to unite what I see as the opposing view of 'manual' (such as the trades) vs 'intellectual' forms of work that sadly I see as common in society. both here and in the U.S. I wish to try and increase understanding between different professions and to fight stereotypes. Your work, especially your recent book 'The Wisdom of Our Hands' really helped and I have quoted and referenced the book in the paper. It really was a great read ...

Change is stressful, full stop. Even positive changes in our lives can bring anxiety and stress, and yet, change is unavoidable. Change surrounds us particularly at this time of the year when the air cools and colorful leaves fall from … Continue reading →

“It is not more bigness that should be our goal. We must attempt, rather, to bring people back to the warmth of community, to the worth of individual effort and responsibility, and of individuals working together as a community, to better their lives and their children’s future.” – Robert F. Kennedy When and how have … Continue reading Warmth

I’ve been searching online for depictions of Pangu, a creator deity in Chinese folk religion. So far, I’ve found lots of video game and anime and cartoon depictions of Pangu, which appear to be more or less commercial, and generally from an outsider perspective. But I’ve found few depictions done by religio-cultural insiders. This is … Continue reading "Depictions of Pangu"

I am almost ready to publish a book that I’ve been working on for many years. We’re putting the final touches on the layout and then it will be good to go. I’m trying to come up with a blurb for the back of the book. I would be interested in your feedback. Does this […]

Alan D.D. reviews Ritual: An Essential Grimoire, by Damien Echols and Lorri Davis. Continue reading Review: “Ritual: An Essential Grimoire” at The Wild Hunt.

In the past couple of years there has been a resurgence of interest in the connections between racism, religion, and imperialism. But these connections have been a topic of conversation for over half a century. Today, were more likely to talk about colonialism, but the connections are the same. Here’s theologian Benjamin E. May in … Continue reading "Race, religion, and imperialism"

The last few weeks have been full of ordinary tasks around the house and yard. Sometimes we forget to be grateful for these very ordinary things. I think about people whose lives have been disrupted by war, by floods, by fire, by despots. Margy and I are able to do our ordinary tasks and ordinary […]

A sermon for the Sunday before Election Day. Today, we lift up our 5th Principle, "The right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at large."

    I’ve only been to King’s Chapel in Boston twice. They are a delightful anachronism. Arguably the oldest Episcopal church in the United States, they became Unitarian in the years following the Revolution. They’ve kept a version of the Book of Common Prayer which is the basis of their corporate and individual worship. The […]

At last week’s conference we spent several days of the topic of “Mindful Dying.” The reflections were deep and important and one of our conversations was a wondering about what happens to our spirits, our souls after we die. Different religious traditions have different answers to that question, but Unitarian Universalists do not have a […]

I'm home from Minneapolis and earned a bad cold in my travels. The stress of travel can take a toll. The ISACS conference was great. I got great feedback from several who attended my three presentations. To be with thousands of dedicated teachers is a remarkable experience. And yet, education in America seems in a state of disarray. I explained to those in my presentations that as a beginning teacher, I knew very little of what I was doing, and was lucky enough to seek help. I did so by attending the first organizational meeting of the New England Association of Woodworking Teachers in the fall of 2001.  While on my trip to New England, I visited North Benet St. School in Boston, and Buckingham, Brown and Nichols School in Cambridge. At...

                                                  Lord Dunmore in Highland regalia. John Murray , Earl of Dunmore, Royal Governor of the Colony of Virginia was in deep trouble the fall of 1775.  Even though the main theater of the damnable armed rebellion against King and Parliament was far to the north around besieged Boston and along the frontier with Canada, angry Virginians had driven him out of his capital at Williamsburg and he had been forced to seek refuge the frigate  HMS   Fowey  at Yorktown on June 8, 1775.  With British forces tied up elsewhere the Governor Dunmore had about 300 men—Royal Marines, sailors, and a small loyal Guard with which to harass the local r...

I grew up in a small town that consisted of mostly families and the breadwinners either commuted elsewhere for work or worked in some capacity supporting our community.  I’d say the common goal for the majority of my town’s residents was to create and maintain a place that was safe and conducive to the enrichment … Continue reading Small Town

What do you do when you find yourself clinging to a familiarity that has become mediocre, unwilling to step out into a new possibility that is promising but uncertain? It begins with accepting reality, and remembering that we have the power to create change.

Each of us bears the symbol of life's progress and transition through the scars we bear on our physical bodies, as well as the scars that dot our emotional, spiritual, and mental beings. Continue reading Column: The Scars of November at The Wild Hunt.

The University is also committed to free expression. Speech not specifically directed against individuals in a harassing way may be protected by traditional safeguards of free speech, even though the comments may cause considerable discomfort or concern to others in the community. (Source: University's Non-Discrimination, Harassment, and Retaliation Policy available at www.sewanee.edu/media/provost/Non-Discrimination-Policy.pdf) http://www.discoveruu.com/images/logo.png

Please join us this Sunday (6 November 2022) at 11:00 AM for “Slave State” featuring special guest speaker Curtis Ray Davis II. Wrongly imprisoned for 25 years in Angola, Curtis Davis got a firsthand look at what it means to be the property of the State of Louisiana. He has worked tirelessly ever since to … Continue reading "All-Ages Worship (6 November 2022)"

For 6 November 2022, the PreK- 5th Grade class will have a regular classroom session. PreK – 5th Grade will continue Toolbox of Faith exploring humor which is represented by sandpaper. Middle and High School will remain in the sanctuary to hear Curtis Davis.

Please join us on Sunday (6 November 2022) as we resume our adult religious education class at 9:00 AM for “WhUU Dat” via Zoom and facilitated by Susan Caldwell and Barbara Deger continuing our discussion of the Unitarian Universalist Pocket Guide. This week’s readings continue in the section entitled “Our Faith” and include “Not the … Continue reading "Online Adult Religious Education — 6 November 2022"

Each month we dedicate all of our non-pledge income to an organization doing the work that best embodies our Unitarian Universalist principles and values. For the month of November 2022, we choose the The Food Bank of Northwest Louisiana. The Food Bank is the primary resource for fighting hunger in Northwest Louisiana. The Highland Blessing … Continue reading "The Food Bank of Northwest Louisiana — November 2022 Give-Away-The-Plate Recipient"

Please join us next Tuesday (8 November 2022) at 12 noon for our weekly Zoom lunch. Bring your lunch and meet up with your All Souls friends, have lunch, and just catch up.

On November 5, 1968 a slender and bespectacled early childhood educator became the first Black woman elected to the United States Congress.  It would not be the last of Shirley Chisholm’s political firsts. Shirley Anita St . Hill was born in Brooklyn, New York, on November 30, 1924 the oldest of four daughters to immigrant parents Charles St.Hill, a factory worker from Guyana, and Ruby Seale St. Hill, a seamstress from Barbados.  When her mother struggled to raise her children while working, Shirley and two sisters were sent to live with their grandmother in Barbados in 1921.  They lived on her grandmother’s farm in the Vauxhall village in Christ Church where they attended a one room school.  She later wrote of the experience: Ye...

The front page of the Cambridge Unitarian Church website A short  “ thought for the day” offered to the Cambridge Unitarian Church as part of the Sunday Service of Mindful   Meditation (Click on this link to hear a recorded version of the following piece) —o0o— Thanks to three key nineteenth-century Hindu thinkers, Rāja Rammohan Roy (1772-1833), Pratap Chundra Mozoomdar (1840-1905) and Svāmī Vivekānanda (1868-1902) — the first two of whom were very, very closely connected to the Unitarian movement — we here in the west came to know about the four religious or spiritual tendencies (saṃskāras), paths (mārgas) or disciplines (yogas) often referred to in the Hindu tradition. They are:            1) the intellectu...

I’m not a good cook at all, so I’m always thrilled when friends and/or family join me in the kitchen. I love that they know where I keep my spatula, and where the pans are located. I love the slow build of chaos, while distracted with conversation and another sip of wine. -Beth Murray (CLF) … Continue reading In the Kitchen

A decade ago, a small software company called XtraNormal allowed you to make free animated videos online. You’d choose a character, input some text, pick a few gestures, and the software would do the rest, posting the final video on Youtube. I thought this was a great idea. I started out with a video of … Continue reading "Robot tells the story of the Rich Young Man"

Please join us on Saturday (5 November 2022) at 10:30 AM for our weekly meditation group with Larry Androes. This is a sitting Buddhist meditation including a brief introduction to mindfulness meditation, 20 minutes of sitting, and followed by a weekly teaching. The group is free and open to all. For more information, contact Larry … Continue reading "Meditation with Larry Androes (5 November 2022)"

"Many people think of Paganism as belonging to the past," says Magnús Jenssen, architect of the still in construction Ásatrú temple in Reykjavík. "But this is wrong. Paganism is not the past, Paganism is the present.” Continue reading Freeing Paganism from the past: a talk with Magnús Jensson, architect of Iceland’s heathen temple at The Wild Hunt.

Four out of five tsunamis occur in the Pacific Ocean. As small island nations continue to have their communities destroyed, we need to understand the full context and impact of climate change.

Susan Frederick-Gray Unitarian Universalists commit to defend voting rights as sacred.

Five Indigenous tribes in Louisiana and Alaska partnered with UUSC and EarthRights International to highlight U.S. government mistreatment and neglect in the face of climate disaster.

The IWW circulated this "silent agitator" sticker throughout the Pacific Northwest timber industry country in the wake of the ambush an murder.  A version was also used as a special assessment stamp to raise money for the Wobblies held on murder charges. On November 5, 1916 two boatloads of Wobbly militants approached the dock of a Washington State lumber town.  They were coming to support a bitter strike by another and competing labor union.  For the IWW militants singing on the decksolidarity with fellow workers was more important than the union card in the overalls or dues button on a cap.  Before they could tie up, they were met by a hail of gun fire.  At least five were killed—others fell overboard and were never found—and ...

Prayer for the Week of November 7, 2022 - A Prayer for Elections Lover of Justice and Equity, Compassion and Care invite us to conduct free and fair, equitable and just elections. May we put aside bullying and threats of violence, pause and cease plans to allow people to vote,...

This Covid thing.  It has rearranged our human landscape in life and death terms. It has rattled our formal and informal ways of being together. It has required “business as usual” in all forms of human business to rethink itself … Continue reading →

Community is an opportunity to deepen our capacity for love. We come together with our traumas and pain, and when we are in loving community, we are held while we heal through it. That collective healing knits us together and reminds us we are never alone. -JeKaren Olaoya (CLF) What has deepened your capacity for … Continue reading Capacity for Love

I first noticed the doll leaning up against a child’s grave back in August. The doll was a bit faded and weather-beaten even then, so it has been standing at the grave for some time now. The child died in 1862, so the doll could not have been left by someone who knew her. I … Continue reading "Cohasset Central Cemetery"

You are a teacher for a time like this— you who claim more than one home, navigating each season by the compass of yearning planted within your DNA You know your destinations, no stranger —I have heard it said—you return always to the very sedges from which you depart. You are a teacher for a […]

Amid rising dangers of extremism and Christian Nationalism, a new PEW Research Center survey shows nearly half of Americans in favor of U.S. being a Christian nation. Continue reading With rising dangers of Christian nationalism, 45% of Americans polled believe U.S. should be a Christian nation at The Wild Hunt.

The Burmese military’s recent act of mass murder highlights the pressing need for international sanctions.

“No clear impressions, either from above or from without, can be received by a mind turbid with excitement and agitated by a crowd of distractions. The stillness needed for the clear shining of light within is incompatible with hurry.” ~ Caroline Stephen Sunday, November 6, 10:30 a.m. Weathering the Winds of Change Quaker-Style Worship Sharing with    [ … ] The post Sunday, November 6 ~ Weathering the Winds of Change ~ 10:30 a.m. appeared first on Unitarian Church of Marlborough and Hudson.

A congregant said to me recently, “Many of us would like to love our neighbors without exception, but we know there are people who regularly deal in bad faith.” And with election denial continuing as Election Day rapidly approaches on Tuesday, November 8, it can be especially consequential when anti-democratic, authoritarian politicians act in bad […]

I leave this afternoon for Minneapolis/St. Paul where I'll present at the ISACS annual conference and then fly home tomorrow night. It's a quick trip as on Saturday afternoon I'll be selling my work at a show at Suzanne Reed's studio/gallery. I'm a bit less nervous about my trip, realizing that time passes and that I'll be glad that I went. Join me at Suzanne's. You'll find original glasswork by Suzanne, photography by Megan Kirk and pottery by Pat Sullivan in addition to my boxes and books. It will be a lovely afternoon event. Make, fix and create.... Assist others in learning likewise.

Congressional elections are almost upon us. What should human rights-conscious voters be looking for?

There are patterns in chaos. These patterns are fractals, which repeat endlessly like the roots and branches of trees, blood vessels, branching rivers, lightning, seashells, hurricanes, and galaxies!  Most of us,  through the random events of our lives, perceive emotional … Continue reading →

  Fouier-Major Augustin de La Balme of the Gendarmerie de France, a personal Guard Regiment of the King, was decorated and respected cavalry officer despite his low birth. Col. Augustin de La Balme was a French cavalry officer who came to the American shores as an early volunteer with the Continental Army in 1777.   The veteran officer had dreams of glory and advancement that were not realized.   Three years later he died in a desperate fightafter being ambushed and besieged in a makeshift mud fort on the banks of an obscure creek in what is now Indiana.   How he got there and just what the hell he thought he was going to accomplish are matters of some considerable mystery and dispute. He was born as Augustin Mottin on August 28, 17...

Languages are the heart of community. Indigenous languages are being taught and reclaimed in order to preserve the cultures they describe. Sign language knits together the deaf community in ways that hearing people cannot understand. The ways in which we describe relationships are grounded in the language(s) of our hearts. How have the languages you … Continue reading Language

Although I haven’t been writing much this year, I couldn’t let All Souls Day pass unrecognized. I thought to look at the All Souls’ Day service in the 1878 Order of Services for the Days of the Christian Year: Specially Observed by the Universalist Church of the extinct Church of the Redeemer, Chelsea, Massachusetts. Much … Continue reading "Reading for All Souls Day service"

The Adocentyn Research Library is on track to open before the end of 2022 with new additions and an expanded space. Continue reading The Adocentyn Research Library to open by end of 2022 at The Wild Hunt.

  Today is All Soul’s day. In the Western Christian calendar its the conclusion of Allhallowtide. It is a day to pray for the dead. For Christians its usually for the Christian dead. The Roman Catholic church has a developed theory of the afterlife and speaks of a place between death and paradise for believers […]

So we're lowering the starting bids on several.

Elaine McArdle Congresswoman Judy Chu on climate change, being a UU, and more

Melissa Jeter Love is reaching through the generations with expectations that I live through challenging times. Continue reading "Called to Heal"

presented at the Unitarian Church of Quincy, Illinois October 30, 2022 Opening words “We no longer claim that a genuinely religious government can be democratic, but that it cannot be otherwise.” - Abdolkarim Soroush Responsive reading  #594 “Principles and Purposes for All of Us” Readings I thought I’d start by reading you some criticisms of democracy and party politics from other times and places. The first known usage of the phrase “Vox populi, vox dei” (The voice of the people is the voice of God.) comes from a letter the Saxon scholar Alcuin of York wrote to the Emperor Charlemagne in 800 AD, “And those people should not be listened to who keep saying the voice of the people is the voice of God, since the tumult of ...

Change is coming. Do I let it in?  I don’t know. Change is coming.  Do I hide? Maybe, I will. Change is coming.  Do I fear it? Sometimes, I do. Change is coming.  Will it be bad? I hope it … Continue reading →

  Cheer leading was already a well established tradition at Yale when this 1916 photo was taken before a game with rival Princeton.  The World Series is still going on , the holiest and most important of all American sports championships—shut up and sit down, it’s my Blog and I won’t put up with silly pleas for other contests.   Although we baseball purists may be bereft until Spring Training, the average sports fan is still as happy as a pig in shit.   College football is going full force and still dominates Saturdays.   Basketball and hockey are in the early throws of their interminable seasons.   The NFL owns Sundays and has staked claimto some weeknights for good measure. A sports fanatic ’ s wet dream come true.   Tha...

Brendan Myers’ new book is the philosophy of climate change: the thinking that got us here, why the thinking that many expected to correct the problem failed (thinking many still advocate today), and the kind of thinking required to heal the Circle of Life.

Community is understood differently in different cultural contexts. In my Italian-American upbringing, who was and was not a member of our “family” had little to do with genetics, and everything to do with generosity, reciprocity, and love. Hawai’ians speak of ohana as the center of community. -Rev. Dr. Michael Tino (CLF) How does your culture … Continue reading Culture

Taken with a Fujifilm X100V Just click on the photo to enlarge it    This photo is straight out of camera using the  Acros Dark   recipe by Marcel Fraij I took this photo on a day when the temperature was closer to that of a normal summer’s day than one at the end of the third week in October (the 22nd, to be exact). So, although this photo looks like an everyday, picture postcard, view of Cambridge, it feels uncanny to me.  This feeling served to remind me that at the end of August there appeared in The Guardian newspaper a thoughtful editorial which reflected on the uncanny beauty of this summer’s “false autumn,” one that was “mysteriously suggestive of evil or danger” and also, perhaps, “an assertion of moral fail...

  WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE? GLEANINGS FROM THE OCTOBER COFFEE KLATCHES   It’s been interesting to compile my notes of the September and October coffee klatches, the discussions, the complaints, even a few mild warnings about losing people because of the intensity level of our conversations about trauma and how it might affect PUUF’s ability to thrive because of the trauma that is endemic in our 21 st century world. I have done a lot of thinking about this.  I understand our resistance to hearing more and more about trauma; it was difficult for me to hear about the many traumatic experiences that folks in our Fellowship have endured and are still enduring.  We all are still enduring the trauma of the pandemic, its limitations, the...

Help Get Out The Vote for the November 8th election! Please join our 4 textbanks set up for next week! We have two on Wednesday, 11/2 from noon to 1pm or later that day from 7-8pm, one on Thursday, 11/3 from 7-8pm and one on Friday ... read more . The post UU the VOTE textbank opportunities! appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

The American Psychological Association says, “Resilience is the process and outcome of successfully adapting to difficult or challenging life experiences, especially through mental, emotional, and behavioral flexibility and adjustment to external and internal demands.” How resilient we feel is impacted by how connected we are ... read more . The post November Theme: Resilience appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

We write this on the cusp of October into November… with our monthly themes of Democracy and Interdependence tumbling into Resilience. On this day, we encourage you to participate in Sunday’s Open Question conversations, to share your ideas and perspective, and maybe even more importantly, to ... read more . The post Co-Ministers’ Colloquy – Nov. 1st appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.