As they sat down, the preacher began his sermon. He spoke of the sinful state of man and the troubles of worldly ways. The preacher raised his voice as he spoke of the coming of Jesus to liberate us and give us salvation. The preacher began to dance around the pulpit as he celebrated the good news of God's forgiveness. The congregation was electrified and started shouting, stomping their feet and waving their arms.
One of the travelers watched in rapt attention engaged by the emotion of the congregation. As the collection plate was passed after the sermon, he put in it a generous donation. When the altar call came, he ran down the aisle for a blessing.
The other traveler yawned a couple of times, put his head on his arm and fell asleep.
After the service was over, the excited traveler said to the other as they were leaving, "Wasn't that the most inspirational service you have ever attended? I know the love of the Lord has awoken in my heart." The other traveler replied, "Yes, that minister really separated the sheep from the goats all right. And you got fleeced!"
There is a certain amount of hubris in positing a universal religious journey. In our age of globalization, the more widely some of the beliefs, rites, and practices of each faith is known, the more similarities surface suggesting that at heart all religions are aiming at the same thing. Of course one can read with a different eye and see the vast differences between the world's religions. I believe if we get past the particulars and the cultural variations to look at the process of spiritual development rather than the goal, we will find the outline of a universal religious journey.
This reminds me of a Buddhist monk and a Christian theologian who were in an intense discussion. They could not resolve a contentious theological point. The Christian theologian finally said amiably, "We may not be able to agree intellectually about this but in our hearts we know we agree." The Buddhist monk replied, "I do not know ultimately if we can agree or not, but I do know we get lost in the same territory."
People are going to find different answers to their religious questions, but the desire to begin the religious journey and the places we get lost have many commonalities around the globe. Some will pursue an end to rebirth; some will seek heaven; some will desire union with God; some will seek freedom from suffering. Some will try to perfect their dependence on God. Some will try to prove themselves to God by their independence. Whatever direction their religious journey takes, all of them will struggle with their human nature and its resistance to following the holy straight and narrow path.
And not everyone will be interested in this religious journey. Like the two travelers, some will be attracted to taking this journey and others will not. And the two will have a very hard time understanding each other. So I invite the goats among us this morning to be spectators as I speak with the sheep about this universal religious journey. By the end of the service, I hope you will know which one you are.
For many the religious journey begins with dissatisfaction. Suddenly, the fortunate budding spiritual seeker realizes that the satisfaction of desire and the avoidance of suffering does not end the unpleasant experience of longing for what one doesn't have and resisting what one does have. Getting that prestigious job, Savoring the payoff of a business deal, purchasing that dream home, enjoying that elegant vacation are high points of living but they don't bring an end to one's craving and hatred. Most people don't think twice about the fact that craving and hatred don't seem to end. They yoke themselves up to pull the wagon even harder to get the carrot or avoid the stick. It is only old age they realize that their life has been used up and that carrot is still just out of reach. Or the carrot has been gotten and another one appeared just ahead of it that looks even tastier. The achievements and successes are wonderful--while they last. But the aging process eventually robs us of everything: our wealth, our health, our minds, our vitality, our senses, our self control and finally our life.
Others begin the religious journey after an experience that doesn't seem to fit with their understanding of reality. For me this was an intense awareness of feeling love for all beings after playing a game of chess when I was 23. Nothing in my upbringing had prepared me for this experience of love which was unlike any experience of love I'd ever had before. Religious experiences invite the receivers of this grace to begin the religious journey to discover what happened to them and how to respond to a forever changed awareness of living.
And a few grow up with a strong religious faith which is wide enough to allow them to grow into their beliefs. For them the religious journey is a process of allowing their faith to carry them through their doubt as the secular world and sometimes the religious world challenges their beliefs. Ritual, theology and catechism cannot fully convey the greatness of what is true. Believers must always guard against doubt undermining their faith as it is tested by their experience. The believer's faith may be shaken by both dissatisfaction and new transforming experiences which put their feet on a new spiritual path.
Most in our culture call this journey, the search for God. For those goats who reject the word God, I invite you to consider the word not as a supernatural being but rather as an immanent reality. For many, to search for God is to search for what is true, what is good, what is beautiful, was is. For some God is a placeholder for what appears to be missing in life as it is. For these journeyers, God is a riddle that they are driven to answer. How can God create a world like this and still be good and worthy of praise?
What is desired by the religious journeyer is a sense of peace, acceptance, personal value and satisfaction even the experience of union. Where the journey begins is just the opposite, with longing, disharmony, abandonment, insignificance and dissatisfaction.
Knowing what is wrong or what is desired, the religious journeyer imagines many solutions and many ways to solve their dilemma. Many religious organizations and traditions are more than happy to supply their universal solution to humanities' spiritual aches and pains. Christianity promises eternal salvation. Buddhism promises release from suffering. Islam promises heavenly bliss. Each religious group promises if you have faith in their beliefs and practices and commit yourselves fully to their system, you will be rewarded. If you take one step toward Allah, Allah takes ten steps toward you. Every prayer is answered. Just say this mantra, sing this devotional song, follow these rules, eat these foods, wear these clothes, read and understand these books, do these exercises, develop these mental skills, do it all, juggle it all, and presto chango, you will know God, attain enlightenment, experience nirvana, and either earn or be given eternal significance and salvation.
Many people spend their entire life working one of the countless formulas while following their religious journey. This is hard work and usually takes a great deal of dedication. Often the mind is less that compliant with these spiritual good works and the gap between theory and practice creates great suffering among the true believers who beat themselves harder and harder to do better. In every religion there is the split between those who think attainment of the religious goal comes through hard work and those who believe it comes through the good fortune of gaining the favor of a divine intercessor.
While all this striving or currying favor may be quite helpful in the human growth and development of the seeker, it eventually must fail because it is built on a false assumption. It assumes something is absent and must be gotten or attained before we can find peace, acceptance and satisfaction. At some point the religious journeyer discovers that this is an error. What is needed isn't something in the outer world that must be different than it is, but rather a change in the inner world is what is the problem.
And there are another whole set of religious organizations more than willing to help us discover our inner world. Try this biofeedback helmet, sit silently on this cushion, read and understand these books, regress yourself back to early childhood, re-parent yourself, analyze your problems and seek counseling, watch your thoughts, feelings and emotions arise and pass away and continue doing all the things you were doing before. These techniques are very helpful in the process of one's spiritual growth and development. I recommend it to everyone and practice it myself.
And it is not the final answer either. That is because inner peace and satisfaction cannot be won by striving or non-striving. And here is one of the larger paradoxes of the spiritual journey.
In reality we are what we seek. In other words, God is already within; God dwells in us as us; we already have Buddha-nature but just don't realize it; or "I am That!" Allah's mercy and compassion are limitless and unconditional. We are one with God while at the same moment being separate from God. These are words which point at the beautiful terrifying ecstatic wonder of existence. Reality is irreducibly simple yet infinitely complex. Neither striving nor non-striving can bring one to this experience of reality. Neither faith nor unbelief can be guaranteed to secure this peace. Neither knowledge nor ignorance can figure out the way to acceptance and unity. The end of the religious journey is found when the proper paradoxical balance is discovered and the rugged barrier between self and non-self, between humanity and what is beyond humanity becomes transparent.
And hearing these words is likely to stimulate sheepish curiosity. Some will hear these words and feel a inner flame kindled. Others will hear my words and be ready to take a nap perhaps to dream of happier sermons or pleasantness outside this room. Yet others may even wish to rail against the heterodox nature of my remarks. All are acceptable responses. While the religious journey may have universal components, it doesn't have universal appeal. And yet that flame may leap up at any moment as the winds of fortune and accident blow our way.
Unitarian Universalism tries to stretch across the gap between the believer and the unbeliever, the sheep and the goats who appreciate the width and diversity of the religious journey. Each of us is unique in our circumstances and religious needs. There is no one-size-fits-all way to progress on the religious journey. Some will respond to music as an aide and others will not. Some will respond to ritual and others will resist it. Some will want to read about various spiritual practices and others would rather do them and learn through experience. Some will respond to devotional prayer and others will reject it. Some will want to meditate and investigate their inner life and others will not. And each of us may have different responses depending on our experience, age and maturity. I know that devotional prayer was meaningless to me until I spent a week doing it in the Northern California redwoods with the American Sufis. I had no interest in meditation while I was growing up and now I'd love to spend three months doing nothing but meditating. I still am not a big fan of ritual but I'm sure that is because I haven't experienced enough really good ones. I need to feel it in my body as well as know it in my mind before I fully appreciate rituals.
In Unitarian Universalism, we believe the best way to progress religiously is to allow people to pursue what they believe to be the best way to travel their religious journey. Many times this work is done outside our congregations. I couldn't do the kind of Buddhist meditation that works best for me within Unitarian Universalism right now. And that is okay. We make no bones about trying to satisfy everyone's spiritual needs. What we can do very well is create a friendly, safe environment for fellow religious journeyers to form a supportive community, raise our children, learn from each other, care for each other, appreciate each other and grow together.
Because under all the diversity, all the different ways to live out our religious journeys is one universal that surpasses them all. This one universal, if fully appreciated, makes all the other journeys redundant. Love is the supreme doctrine of this religious tradition and service is it's sacrament. To love and to serve are the greatest values in life. All the great adepts and spiritual masters throughout time conclude their spiritual quests loving and serving humanity. Whether we are doing it to get to heaven, escape suffering, love God, love Allah, love Mithra or Eros or Pan or any other God or Goddess, the question of supreme value is: "How do I love and serve?"
A Unitarian Universalist congregation is a wonderful place to learn to love and serve that appreciates the unique way each person will do it. Not only do we encourage everyone's unique religious journey, we also encourage respect for the variety of religious journeys especially those unlike our own. We believe that respect for diversity, rather than dividing us, expands our capacity for love and service. Rather than judging each other, it is far better to help each other. For all of us delude ourselves and are confused as we travel along our religious paths. We need the honesty and caring of others since we all get lost in the same territory. Even though we do not share the same religious journey, we share many of the same mistakes and missteps.
It's rather simple really. Whether we are sheep or goats, religious or non-religious, we are all growing--at the very least growing older. We all share this same journey defined by our biology. May this growing process for all of us be one that expands our ability to love and serve.
If we love and serve during our lives, we will not die in vain and need not worry what lies beyond the grave.
Copyright (c) 1998 by Rev. Samuel A. Trumbore. All rights reserved.