This page is curated by Steven Mead, Program Ministry staff and our Lifespan Religious Educator. We come in all "religious flavors," and regardless of your perspective, use the wide-ranging sources on this page to inspire, challenge and create a life of sacred purpose for yourself and enrich the lives of those around you. ​[To reveal more of the content on this web page​―open the accordion files below.]
​

On Your Own Time | Adult Lifelong Learning Resources​

Soul Food for you

​"No whining on the yacht."―Tim Duncan
​As the Spanish poet Antonio Machado wrote, "No hay camino, se hace camino al andar." ("There is no road, the road is made by walking.")

​WISDOM CONTENT FROM THE DIGITAL WONDERLAND

The content below changes monthly (more or less). Visit regularly! The opinions expressed in these articles do not necessarily reflect the views of UU Santa Fe. July content below posted June 28. *NEW* are posted even more recently.

Compassion

Books
  • Against Empathy: The Case for Rational Compassion, Pal Bloom
  • The Compassion Book: Teachings for Awakening the Heart, Pema Chödrön 
  • Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life, Karen Armstrong
  • The Inner Work of Racial Justice, Rhonda V. Magee
  • Real Love, Sharon Salzberg
  • Self-Compassion: The Proven Power of Being Kind to Yourself, Kristin Neff
Meditate Your Way into Compassion
For many, meditation and compassion go hand in hand. The Buddhist practice of metta meditation (also known as loving-kindness meditation) is a particularly powerful way of directing compassion toward yourself, others close to you and all beings everywhere. Compassion is also a central theme in the prayer and meditation practices of all religious traditions. Common to them all is the idea that bringing others to mind in a compassionate way and with kind intent makes a difference. Just the intention, even without any direct interaction. One can debate whether it makes a difference for others or just ourselves, but as any committed meditation practitioner will tell you, once you’ve been changed, you change the way you treat others. Once your internal mental frame for others change, so do your outward actions.
 
So this exercise invites you to give it a try this month: Use a compassion-related meditation practice and see what changes it brings.

Below are some resources to help you try out the Buddhist metta meditation (loving kindness meditation). But we’ve also included a song and video to support some self-care meditation/reflection. Don’t overthink it or pressure yourself to do meditation “the right way.” Just set aside some time each day for at least a week and monitor the impact it has on your living and loving.
 
Metta Meditation Resources 
Musical Meditation on Grief and Self-Care - Loosen, Loosen by Aly Halpert
https://soundcloud.com/aly-halpert/loosen-loosen?fbclid=IwAR3scFP1MPfBXTBGuIugutlRBuC1lcX6p5pxMcfhpvAV6j60jEqHFCvV6RU
Also: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5ydfADtn7Q
 
A Self-Compassion Exercise
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=89&v=-kfUE41-JFw

Content attribution:  Soul Matters Sharing Circle

More Wisdom Resources | The Accordion File of Good Stuff

Open the accordion file (+) below to reveal (lots of!) additional content.
Wisdom Resources:  Reading | Websites | Blog Sites
Reading | Contemporary Authors
It seems presumptuous to even suggest a list from among the combined wisdom of the world; but one must start somewhere. Try Goodreads 100 Best Spiritual Books of the Century. Here's a broad, short, sampler list:
​The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn.―Alvin Toffler​
​Web Sites
The following sites cover a wide range of spiritual and wisdom tradition topics. Feed your mind and soul!
Blog Sites
We spill a lot of electronic ink talking about spirituality and religion. Here are some excellent resources biased toward Unitarian Universalist voices, but including others as well: 
What, at this moment, is lacking?―Rinzai
Wisdom Resources:  Elder Spirituality | Spiritual Practice | Multimedia
 The most important thing is to find out the most important thing.―Zen master, Suzuki Roshi
Elder Spirituality
​Spiritual Practice
"And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer."―Rainer Maria Rilke
  • Spiritual but not religious? But if you are curious which faith or wisdom tradition might nourish you, try the Belief-O-Matic!
  • For centuries and across religious traditions spiritual directors have helped people along the way.  If a more intense engagement with spirituality is calling you, you might wish to connect with someone from the Unitarian Universalist Spiritual Directors Network
  • Quotes about spiritual growth from Goodreads readers
Multimedia | Film | Performance Art
"...contemporary art that roams the ground between faith and mystery. . . calls us into the imaginative life and makes us aware of the rich possibilities of being human."―Image
​Do Shag!
“The Buddhist word for attachment is “do shag” which literally translates to mean “sticky desire.” I love this translation! If you really think about how you feel when you are grasping for something that you really want, you can feel its sticky pull. And until you figure out a way to get it, you feel this longing and obsession. We have all been there with different things and at different times in our lives. In a world that entices us with constant cravings and sticky desires, we can slow ourselves down and let go of attachment to that desire for more. And surprisingly, without fail, if we let go, we will receive…”―Rev. Karon Sandberg
Wisdom Resources: UUA Common Reads | Study Issues

Unitarian Universalist Common ReadS
​Unitarian Universalist Common Read 2019-2020. The Common Read Selection Committee is pleased to announce that
Unitarian Universalist Common Read 2018-2019
  • Justice on Earth: People of Faith Working at the Intersections of Race, Class, and Environment, edited by Manish Mishra-Marzetti and Jennifer Nordstrom (Skinner House Books, 2018) is the 2018-19 Common Read selection (https://www.uua.org/books/read). The book looks at the ways in which the environmental justice, racial justice, and economic justice are intertwined, calling us to recognize that our Unitarian Universalist faith calls us to long-haul work for justice for our human kin, for the Earth and for all life.
  • Purchase Justice on Earth at inSpirit: UU Book and Gift Shop (https://www.uuabookstore.org/Justice-on-Earth-P18357.aspx)
  • The 2018-2019 UUA Common Read discussion guide is now available!
UU Faith and Spirituality Resources​
​Websites YouTube Social Media
UU Church of the Larger Fellowship  | Quest for Meaning
The Church of the Larger Fellowship is our wider movement's online virtual church-without-walls. It is one of the best resources for current Unitarian Universalist thinking and spirituality.

​"Love and Loss. Awe and wonder. Journeys and home. The events of our lives and our spiritual curiosity lead us to ponder topics close to our hearts. Through 12 curated themes, you will find a wide range of spiritual resources to expand your perspective and enrich your search for meaning."
​Unitarian Universalist Perspectives
Sometimes described as "one faith and many beliefs," Unitarian Universalism draws from a wide range of wisdom traditions, both secular and sacred.
"I am now convinced that “belief,” in the way we usually use the word, is actually the enemy of faith, religion, and spirituality. Let me say that again: belief is the enemy of faith. When we dwell on beliefs we ask all the wrong questions. My faith is much more about what I love than about what I think."―Rev Peter Morales​
​Jack Jezreel, founder of JustFaith observes, “The world cannot be changed-by-love to become just, unless we are changed by love to become whole, but we cannot be made whole without engaging in the work of making the world whole. Personal transformation and social transformation are one piece.” ​

​​​Sophia Perennis 

Religion as participation is a rediscovery of the Perennial Tradition that Plotinus, Gottfried Leibniz, Alan Watts, Aldous Huxley, and so many saints and mystics have spoken of in their own ways. It constantly recognizes that we are a part of something, more than we are observing something or “believing” in something.―Richard Rohr
​The Perennial Tradition
​by Richard Rohr
​​Sophia Perennis | Perennial Wisdom Tradition
The Perennial Tradition encompasses the recurring themes in all of the world’s religions and philosophies that continue to say:
  • There is a Reality underneath and inherent in the world of things,
  • There is in the human soul a natural capacity, similarity, and longing for this Reality, and
  • The final goal of existence is union with this Reality.
Our own UU movement, beginning with the transcendentalists, contributed to this philosophy. Explore this fascinating wisdom tradition so compatible with current Unitarian Universalist faith development through a bibliography prepared by Steven Mead, Program Ministry staff and our Lifespan Religious Educator.
021415_sophia_perennis_bibliography.docx
File Size: 19 kb
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Decisions
​Between two words, choose the quieter one.
Between word and silence, choose listening.
Between two books, choose the dustier one.
Between the earth and the sky, choose a bird.
Between two animals, choose the one who needs you more.
Between two children, choose both.
Between the lesser and greater evil, choose neither.
Between hope and despair choose hope:  it will be harder to bear.
―Boris Novak, translated by Mia Dintinjana
Picture
Kirsti L. Adkins Original work
“Inventory:
"Four be the things I am wiser to know:
Idleness, sorrow, a friend, and a foe.
Four be the things I'd been better without:
Love, curiosity, freckles, and doubt.
Three be the things I shall never attain:
Envy, content, and sufficient champagne.
Three be the things I shall have till I die:
Laughter and hope and a sock in the eye.” 
―Dorothy Parker, The Complete Poems of Dorothy Parker

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