Week 1

Once a week until further notice, this weblog will take a new, even more personal direction. Today, yours truly attended a service at the local Unitarian Universalists congregation. It is my intention to write about my experiences at this church, aiming to give my readers an impression of the sort of place it is, and the sort of people one could expect to encounter there.

In this post you'll firstly find some background information about the structure of the church, it's foundations and current global presence. Then I'll share in no uncertain terms my own degrees of belief in the metaphysical philosophies, and world religions as they have been revealed to me at this point in my life through study and meditation. I'll finish by describing the specifics of this local chapter and my predictions for how a newcomer would fit in.

From the information that is publicly available about Universalists, they're mantra is "we're all on our own journey, together." To put it in a little more detail, the purpose of attending congregation is not dissemination of belief, but simply education about religions, historic and present. During the service, The intension of the minister is to try and keep as even a ground as can be had when you have a small number speaking before a larger group. This is in order to acknowledge the wide variety of deists, atheists and other non-deists, and those with beliefs that are less easy to categorize, such as Buddhists.

The especially exciting, and important part is the after-words. The opportunities offered to allow for a open discussion of whatever beliefs an individual wishes to share, or ask about on completely equal ground in a slightly less exposed but still public way.

Sources
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unitarian_Universalism
www.uua.org

A succinct version of my own beliefs is neccesary in order to demonstrate the shape of the piece my form will take within the puzzle.

There is room for the belief in many things in a single mind. Even some things which on the surface may seem contradictory. In a human brain, it will seem there are ten thousand voices. There is the old woman. There is the small boy. There is the working man. There is the wandering girl. There is a hero and there is a jester. There is the villain, and many, many more. They each see the world in a different way and offer some thought that is then spoken with a single voice. Such is the nature of my understanding, and belief.
The mind can speak as a single voice, but it thinks as every individual experienced or imagined by that mind. This is directly observable in the way that children learn and repeat spoken languages, and emulate and impersonate the behavior of others.
Belief is what we do above and in-between what we perceive as facts. Not nearly opinions, beliefs run deeper and must be disproved to be changed in the heart of the individual.
Where the heart lies in the human mind, or even for certain that it exists, cannot be told. The spiritual foundation for consciousness is evidenced only self-perception, and to a certain degree, intelligence. That leaves room in the Great Unknown for non-human consciousness, however which beings are conscious other than the majority of humans, also cannot be told.
The Universe is big. Really really, authentically massive in every conceivable dimension and sense. It may even be infinite (although there is a fair amount of evidence to suggest otherwise.) Still the truly immense size of All That Is, Has Been, and Ever Will be, leaves a lot of room for discovery, and we've only just begun the journey.

To step back into the immediate reality for a moment, and touch on how I think all of this is going to come together over the next score of Sundays. The people that I encountered today are open, informed, and some I would even describe as some of them as truly friendly. They seemed to welcome me without expectation of anything. They had no greater desire than to know my name and welcome me to the group. I look forward to sharing my journey with them, and with you, my dear readers, as I continue looking outward for the answers to my inner questions. Taking one more step down the path to enlightenment.

Namaste.