“We think we can experience this world only through out perceptions. We think we see reality, but what we see is our own bubble of perception, filtered through all of our associations and desires, through language and conditioning. As the saying goes, we don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are. Yet, awareness is our nature, without bounds, without solidity. We create this bounded world of phenomena in order to survive and make sense of things.... Read more

(Thank you, Kyogen!) Read more

I took the “If You Were a Poet…“ quiz on gURL.com I am…Sylvia PlathDo your feelings come pouring to the surface no matter what? Is writing or speaking your mind a matter of life and death for you? If so, you may identify with Sylvia Plath’s confessional style of poetry. Plath is perhaps one of the most famous poets of the 20th century. Read more… Which poet are you? Read more

I just received a note from my old friend Ken Arnold. He had just discovered that wonderful test at Beliefnet called Belief-O-Matic. It is a hoot. I recall some years ago posting the link for it to a Zen teacher’s listserv and being informed by a noted Soto Zen priest “Damn, James. Turns out I’m one hundred percent Unitarian Universalist!” Actually she used a scatological term rather than “damn,” but I consider this a family-friendly blog. (Which I suspect opens... Read more

Tell a joke and disappear! If you want to help out, you can go here. (Thank you, Worst Horse) Read more

Well, it’s Monday morning as I write this. And last night the Red Sox swept the World Series. As one commentator observed the last time was an exorcism, this was an exclamation point. Even though I am a new comer to baseball fandom, I find myself feeling really good about this. Hurrah for Red Sox nation! Many people seem to be dragging themselves around this morning. I suspect there’s a lot of sleep deprivation going on. Me, these last games... Read more

NOT KNOWING IS MOST INTIMATE: Reflecting on Bowing as a Way of Life A Sermon byJames Ishmael Ford 28 October 2007First Unitarian SocietyWest Newton, Massachusetts Text Dizang asked Fayen, “Where are you going?” Fayen replied, “I am wandering about aimlessly.” Dizang asked, “So, what do you think of this wandering about?” Fayan said, “I don’t know.” Dizang replied, “Not knowing is most intimate.” Case Twenty, The Book of Serenity I don’t know about you with certainty, but most of the... Read more

According to my trusty calendar of events relevant to Unitarians and Universalists, Frank Schulman’s This Day in Unitarian Universalist History, on this day in 1553, Michael Servetus was executed at a place called Champel, near Geneva in Switzerland. I find Servetus one of those singularly interesting people, someone I’m almost certain I would not like as an individual, but who stands as a fierce advocate for freedom of thought. A Spaniard who worked as a lawyer, he was also a... Read more

It appears the first recorded usage of the term “unitarian” in the West was published on this day in 1600, at the Diet of Leczfalva, in Transylvania. I think it certainly a date worth marking… I gather that at the time it was used as an adjective rather than as a noun, modifying the word “Christian.” Also at the time and for some considerable time following it pointed to a view of god as having a singular characteristic, a divine... Read more

Today is the traditional feast day of the Archangel Raphael. I find him interesting as in the Christian tradition he is a protector of travelers and more importantly, of children. Sort of the Christian Jizo. (The Japanese pronunciation of Ksitigarbha.) While my tastebuds go more for Jizo (or, I’m trying to retrain myself, Ksitigarbha), in these hard times I think invoking all the archetypes of care and concern for our children something important to do. Go Raph! Go! Read more