Comments on: From “Me” to “We” and Back Again http://www.lookingforfaith.org/blog/2008/from-me-to-we-and-back-again Religion and spirituality from a Unitarian Universalist perspective Fri, 05 Dec 2008 11:47:26 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3.3 By: Shelby Meyerhoff http://www.lookingforfaith.org/blog/2008/from-me-to-we-and-back-again#comment-9939 Shelby Meyerhoff Thu, 31 Jan 2008 17:48:54 +0000 http://www.lookingforfaith.org/blog/2008/from-me-to-we-and-back-again#comment-9939 Hi UUMomma! Your point about how service work actually enhances our spiritual well-being, and how our spiritual health makes us more effective in our service work, is well-taken. It is not something I addressed directly in the piece, but I do agree with you very much. Hi Jacqueline, Thank you for commenting. It's funny how we are seeing two sides of the same spectrum; I notice much more when UU's are too focused on service at the expense of introspection, and you are noticing just the opposite. There are both types in our denomination, as well as many people who've established some balance. Hi Terri, Yes, we need to be careful about the EITHER/OR labelling, especially when it is used to divide congregants or their interests into "camps." I like how you wrote: "I think a well-developed spirituality is BOTH. It is contemplative activism, and finds God/sacredness/fullness of Life in connections with the deepest self, AND connections with the world, the greater good." Hi UUMomma! Your point about how service work actually enhances our spiritual well-being, and how our spiritual health makes us more effective in our service work, is well-taken. It is not something I addressed directly in the piece, but I do agree with you very much.

Hi Jacqueline, Thank you for commenting. It’s funny how we are seeing two sides of the same spectrum; I notice much more when UU’s are too focused on service at the expense of introspection, and you are noticing just the opposite. There are both types in our denomination, as well as many people who’ve established some balance.

Hi Terri, Yes, we need to be careful about the EITHER/OR labelling, especially when it is used to divide congregants or their interests into “camps.” I like how you wrote: “I think a well-developed spirituality is BOTH. It is contemplative activism, and finds God/sacredness/fullness of Life in connections with the deepest self, AND connections with the world, the greater good.”

]]> By: Terri Pahucki http://www.lookingforfaith.org/blog/2008/from-me-to-we-and-back-again#comment-9903 Terri Pahucki Wed, 30 Jan 2008 21:09:49 +0000 http://www.lookingforfaith.org/blog/2008/from-me-to-we-and-back-again#comment-9903 Wonderful post! I think too often we tend to see the inward and outward paths as separate. I have heard too many in congregations label things as EITHER "spiritual" OR "activist", and leaning toward a particular camp. I think a well-developed spirituality is BOTH. It is contemplative activism, and finds God/sacredness/fullness of Life in connections with the deepest self, AND connections with the world, the greater good. Wonderful post! I think too often we tend to see the inward and outward paths as separate. I have heard too many in congregations label things as EITHER “spiritual” OR “activist”, and leaning toward a particular camp. I think a well-developed spirituality is BOTH. It is contemplative activism, and finds God/sacredness/fullness of Life in connections with the deepest self, AND connections with the world, the greater good.

]]> By: jacqueline http://www.lookingforfaith.org/blog/2008/from-me-to-we-and-back-again#comment-9897 jacqueline Wed, 30 Jan 2008 17:55:29 +0000 http://www.lookingforfaith.org/blog/2008/from-me-to-we-and-back-again#comment-9897 I think there is a tendency for UU's to spend a great amount of time on the path of spirituality without really going anywhere. That naval gazing isn't necessarily productive (at least from the outside). AND it can seem a little self indulgent in a time when many do not have the opportunity to traipse around some spiritual path. I agree thought, that it is both things that create a full person. A time to pray, a time to serve... a balance. I think there is a tendency for UU’s to spend a great amount of time on the path of spirituality without really going anywhere. That naval gazing isn’t necessarily productive (at least from the outside). AND it can seem a little self indulgent in a time when many do not have the opportunity to traipse around some spiritual path.

I agree thought, that it is both things that create a full person. A time to pray, a time to serve… a balance.

]]> By: uuMomma http://www.lookingforfaith.org/blog/2008/from-me-to-we-and-back-again#comment-9893 uuMomma Wed, 30 Jan 2008 16:09:09 +0000 http://www.lookingforfaith.org/blog/2008/from-me-to-we-and-back-again#comment-9893 Like you, I look at it as not one or the other, but each aspect serves the other. In other words, doing the soup kitchen is looking out that is also a part of the looking in, and the looking in allows one to be able to serve in the soup kitchen with deeper understanding and compassion. Wherever you have community that helps direct inner work with outer work (and vice versa), you have spirit work going on, too. I'm not sure if it is a "dynamic" process so much as a symbiotic one. One feeds the other, repeatedly. Or, did I just repeat what you just said? Like you, I look at it as not one or the other, but each aspect serves the other. In other words, doing the soup kitchen is looking out that is also a part of the looking in, and the looking in allows one to be able to serve in the soup kitchen with deeper understanding and compassion. Wherever you have community that helps direct inner work with outer work (and vice versa), you have spirit work going on, too. I’m not sure if it is a “dynamic” process so much as a symbiotic one. One feeds the other, repeatedly. Or, did I just repeat what you just said?

]]>