{"id":3717,"date":"2015-06-25T06:58:42","date_gmt":"2015-06-25T12:58:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/uucollective\/?p=3717"},"modified":"2015-06-25T06:58:42","modified_gmt":"2015-06-25T12:58:42","slug":"welcome-to-the-age-of-practice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/uucollective\/2015\/06\/welcome-to-the-age-of-practice\/","title":{"rendered":"Welcome To The Age of Practice"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

It\u2019s Been a While<\/strong><\/p>\n

The first person to doubt. Did she or he doubt because of oppression; because of terror or grief; or just the opposite\u2014because of some heady freedom; because of safety and joy? <\/p>\n

Was perhaps the first person to doubt also the first to believe? <\/p>\n

What is it in human consciousness that causes either? Are they intertwined, the one inevitably triggering its opposite in a perpetual dance?<\/p>\n

How does the world we experience come into being and continue to exist? This is the question that has tickled the mind of human beings for some time now. Some are satisfied with the answer \u201cunseen forces;\u201d others are not. And on it goes\u2014belief\/doubt, doubt\/belief. <\/p>\n

For those convinced that the mysteries of being and becoming most likely lie in being and becoming itself, stories are necessary but not sufficient. Stories are extrapolations from reality but do not reflect the nature of experience itself: life doesn\u2019t really have a plot, does it? Therefore, we know that all stories\u2014and myths are stories\u2014are inherently false.<\/p>\n

So, how do we find order in our lives? After all, science and reason exist in and as stories too. This can blind us to the fact that science and reason come closer to approximating the being and becoming that eludes stories. <\/p>\n

Reason is a Religion<\/strong><\/p>\n

We could say that reason is a religion. That makes some sense. The Stoic philosopher Epictetus asked, \u201cHow long are you planning to wait to demand the best of yourself?How long will you act against reason?\u201d Many thinkers have equated self-improvement and self-mastery with reason.<\/p>\n

The Twentieth Century philosopher Martin Heidegger\u2014a somewhat reasonable man\u2014 enumerated three diseases of the soul: <\/p>\n

We forget that we are alive;
\nwe forget that everything is connected;
\nwe forget that we are free to live for ourselves.<\/p>\n

How do we remember these things? The need for this remembering\u2014the need to reason concerning these matters\u2014is why we live in the Age of Practice. A sufficient number of people have realized that the endless dance of belief and doubt does very little to improve the human condition, from the way we make it through a day to the way we sustain human society. <\/p>\n

What do we mean by \u201cmeaning,\u201d and what would living a life of meaning look like? Back to Heidegger\u2019s trilogy:<\/p>\n

It is a life in which we remember that we are alive;
\na life in which we remember that everything is connected;
\na life in which we remember that we are free to live for ourselves.<\/p>\n

It is a life of both differentiation and connection; a life of learning; and a life of service.<\/p>\n

We reach this goal daily through a practice that teaches us to stop; stabilize; calm down; and notice the being and becoming that surrounds us.<\/p>\n

There is nothing of the dance of belief and doubt in this. There is only being and becoming. Only action and reflection. There is only centering and noticing and remembering that we are alive and connected and free. Yes, there are contradictions in that sequence. But not insurmountable ones. <\/p>\n

Practice Makes . . . More Practice<\/strong><\/p>\n

Confucian meditation is called Chou Won, a combination of the words \u201csit\u201d and \u201cforget.\u201d <\/p>\n

In his Meditations<\/em>\"IMG_3702\"<\/a> the Stoic philosopher Marcus Aurelius put it this way: <\/p>\n

Always keep in mind the nature of the whole and your own nature and how the one relates to the other and what being a part of the whole means. Remember that no one can stop you from doing and saying those things which are your part in the whole. (II. 9)<\/p>\n

And this:<\/p>\n

Does all the busyness distract you? Give yourself time to learn something new and good and stop being whirled around. The shallow weary themselves by doing, doing, and yet have no goal toward which to direct their movements or their thoughts. (II. 7)<\/p>\n

Good call, Confucius. Good call, Marcus. The meaning is the practice. <\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s Been a While The first person to doubt. Did she or he doubt because of oppression; because of terror or grief; or just the opposite\u2014because of some heady freedom; because of safety and joy? Was perhaps the first person to doubt also the first to believe? What is it in human consciousness that causes […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1440,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,180,9,10,187,141,115,441,240,256],"tags":[861],"class_list":["post-3717","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-faith-development","category-healing","category-prayer","category-religion","category-social-justice","category-spirituality-2","category-unitarian","category-universalist-2","category-values-2","category-world-community","tag-meditation-humanism"],"yoast_head":"\nWelcome To The Age of Practice<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"It\u2019s Been a While The first person to doubt. 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