I’m posting this Unitarian Universalist Poetry Sunday talk where I read a small excerpt from my novel The Unicorn, The Mystery which was published in late 2020 by Adelaide Books.
The YouTube video of my talk is below. The text of my talk is below that. The service took place at the Unitarian Universalist Church of the Restoration on Stenton Ave. in Philadelphia.
There are many types of love. I explore the many types of love in the novel that I just completed The Unicorn, The Mystery which I am going to read from briefly:
“The point I was going to make is that romantic love is far from the most important type of love,” said the Priest with his usual authority. “Christians believe that pure love—the kind of love that is selfless and creates goodness—is the way that God loves us. This is why the saying, ‘love you neighbor’ is so important. There are numerous references to this in the Bible. But the most important is from the Gospel According to Mark in which he says ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than this.
“This kind of love is called ‘agape,’” continued the priest. “Agape is the highest form of pure, selfless love. It is the kind of love that God has for us—and the kind of love that we strive to have for our fellow man.”
“I recognize the word,” I replied. “It’s Ancient Greek, from the time of Homer.”
The Priest narrowed his eyes.
…..
The priest in my novel has a point. Romantic love can have its limitations. But love is love – regardless of what it is called. And love can lead to goodness.
Namaste
To learn more about my recently published novel — The Unicorn, The Mystery, click here:
I was just thinking that I haven’t been told that I’m going to hell in a while. For a moment I consider that maybe people have evolved. Often they do. But then it happened again. Not only did someone point out that I’m going to hell, but he told me that it’s written in the Bible that all LGBTQ people are condemned to hell. And then this man quoted an anti-gay Bible passage.
When my novel THEY, a biblical tale of secret genders was published by Adelaide Books, I realized that I might be told this once or twice. But I had no idea of the barrage that was coming my way. Because this was just one more incidence, I was tempted to ignore it. But then I remembered that I have a responsibility to all LGBTQ people who have been told they are going to hell or worse.
I was raised secular and eventually found my way to a Unitarian Universalist church (the Unitarian Universalist Church of the Restoration in Philadelphia) so I probably have fewer “hell hooks” in me than most people. For a long time, I didn’t take words like “hell” and “sin” seriously because of my upbringing. And then I stumbled into a religion (Unitarian Universalist) that doesn’t believe in hell and does believe that all people go to heaven.
In the interest of not throwing out the baby with the bath water, I maintain that certain segments of the Bible need to be rewritten or ignored. After all, we’re talking about a book that was written more than 2,000 years ago. I also maintain that there are some excellent sections of the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament.
In my mind — as with many others — there are two types of religion: religion that brings out the best in people and religion that brings out the worst. I subscribe to the former because it works for me. In this type of religion THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH BEING LGBTQ.
In fact, there might be a lot right with it. Whoever you are, it’s important to be your most authentic self.
In the most recent issue of QSpirit, a LGBTQ positive Christian e-newsletter published by Kittredge Cherry an article appears about “David Kato: Ugandan LGBTQ rights activist and martyr.” Kato was murdered in 2011 in his native country of Uganda where severe anti-LGBTQ laws have been strongly influenced by white, U.S.-based conservative Christians.
In the words of a pro-LGBTQ Ugandan minister at his funeral: “God created you. God is on your side.”
To learn more about my recently published novel — The Unicorn, The Mystery, click here:
(This morning I participated in a UU service with several other lay leaders on the topic of Buddhism. It was truly an enjoyable experience and I learned a lot. My reflection is on the YouTube video above and is printed below.)
Good morning
A Unitarian and a Buddhist?! This is a question that I am asked a lot – especially when my credibility is being challenged. I guess the problem is that people don’t understand how you can be two things at once.
So, I take a breath and sometimes I explain. But always I take a breath — even when I don’t explain. When I decide to respond, I explain that you can be more than one thing at once. This fits for me because, like Walt Whitman, “I am large. I contain multitudes.” As a writer this is particularly true. When filling out the occasional Unitarian Universalist form, I always check Buddhism as my root religion. I was raised secular and Buddhism feels the most natural to me. I take a breath. But I am also a Unitarian Universalist. I have chosen a faith that includes everyone. That is important to me, especially as a Buddhist.
I embrace the moment. Some would say that the moment is all we have. I don’t try to run away from it, as many do – often using food, drugs or alcohol among other things. I take a breath and inhabit the moment even when it is an extremely difficult one – or a complicated moment like this one. Some might say that it is intersectional – when things fall apart and come together. As a writer I often record the moment – because we have so much to learn from history even, or especially, when it’s happening in the present moment.
I’ve written that these are difficult times to be a Buddhist. It’s true that I cannot wish everyone well. So instead, I wish for peace and for the highest good to emerge. Can doing nothing change the world?
Please take a breath with me. Take a deep inhalation for a count of three and exhale for a count of four.
Buddhism is energy. It is breath. And I would say it can change the world. These are difficult times – to be Buddhist or to be anything. But we are also in a time of change. For me, it is a necessary time to be a Buddhist – because as I breathe in and out, I realize that the Buddhism I practice is a way of taking care of myself. If I didn’t practice it, I would have been reacting to things for much of my life instead of observing.
One of my mantras, Nam Myoho Renge Kyo, is a phrase that translates loosely to “I devote myself to the Mystic Law of the Lotus Sutra.”
This mantra aligns my energy with the universe. It is also called the Law of Attraction, the Mystic Law or God, among other things. We are all connected to a force of goodness that is larger than ourselves.
–Namaste
To learn more about my novel THEY, a biblical tale of secret genders, click here:
I’m reposting a talk I gave at a Unitarian Universalist Memorial Day service on the topic of forgiveness that includes a segment from my latest novel The Unicorn, The Mystery. The YouTube video of my part of the service is below. The complete text of my talk is below that. The service took place at the Unitarian Universalist Church of the Restoration on Stenton Ave. in Philadelphia.
For me, forgiveness is a thorny issue. I suspect I’m not alone. I may forgive – but I do it on my own terms and this means taking the time that I need to understand the deeper reasons of why I was offended by someone’s actions. So, for me, learning to be more forgiving is wrapped up with protecting myself and having good boundaries.
As a practicing Buddhist, I understand that forgiving others is a way of forgiving yourself. But as I did research on forgiveness, there were so many conflicting theories, that really the only thing that ultimately made coherent sense to me was this quote from Oscar Wilde:
“Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much.”
A few years ago, I was leafing through a slim book on Christianity and was surprised to read that forgiveness is expected in the Christian tradition. As a tenet, this one is not so bad. But it did occur to me that a reason why traditional religion has never appealed to me is that, on principal, I would never believe what someone tells me I should believe.
So when it comes to forgiveness, I process things the way that I usually do – in my writing. The novel I am currently writing The Unicorn, The Mystery, is set in the late Middle Ages and addresses some religious themes. I am going to read you a short excerpt of a monk talking with his Latin teacher, also a Priest:
“One of the things that Augustine is known for is his ‘doctrine of love.’ He wrote about forgiveness – which of course is related to love. In addition to forgiving others, it’s important to forgive ourselves. In fact, some argue that you cannot forgive another without first forgiving yourself,” said my teacher
I smiled and nodded. This all made sense. No words were necessary from me.
“He also was the first to write about loving your neighbor as yourself. In saying this, he infers that it is first necessary to love yourself. When you truly love yourself, then you can love your neighbor and you can love God unconditionally,” he stated.
The Priest was silent – and so was I for a moment.
My curiosity got the best of me and I asked, “What if you are ashamed of yourself – how can you find it in your heart to forgive yourself? And if you can’t, how can you ever love your neighbor and how can you love God?”
The Priest looked at me oddly.
“That’s a good question,” he replied finally. “I do not know the answer. Perhaps I am not the best person to talk about love. I take the Christian writings seriously. I try to follow them. I follow my heart and each time it is a disaster. I love teaching and I love my students. But each term, things go too far, and I have my heart broken again,” he cried.
I looked at him with sadness. He had his reasons for hating himself. Perhaps that’s why he was snippy at times. How could he forgive himself, when the church told him he should be ashamed of himself?
This time I cleared my throat. I looked at him with tears in my eyes, and said, “Father – it is true that you know how to love and it is true that you are worthy of love – from others, from God. I came to your office that night after vespers a few months ago. I saw you bent over the desk with Gregory – I saw the love that surrounded you.”
The Priest looked at me as if he had seen a ghost.
I attended the Episcopal Church until I was about five — when my mother became a card-carrying atheist. It’s a long story. I remember reciting the Lord’s Prayer. When I think about forgiveness, I think about the lines:
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive them that trespass against us;
As I did my research, I was fascinated to learn that in the “Book of Matthew,” chapter 6, of the New Testament, the line after the Lord’s Prayer says:
“For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.”
Of course, in my Unitarian Universalist interpretation, God the Father could be the Universe, the Great Spirit, or the Mother/ Father God or God the Father. It depends on what day it is.
If I’ve offended anyone, please forgive me.
Namaste.
The Unicorn, The Mystery is available online where books are sold. You can also find it at your local library (just ask the librarian to order it if the don’t already have it), through your local bookstore or directly from the publisher, Adelaide Books.
To learn more about my recently published novel — The Unicorn, The Mystery, click here:
Janet Mason, author 