American Unitarian Conference Forum

Hello all,

The past few weeks have been a time of turbulent change and readjustment in my life. A relationship of 7 months has ended and I have been adjusting to this end, the return to being single, and trying to solve a series of rapid changes in work and school that all seem to be occurring simultaneously. As it is however I do not give up easily, and while I have been between the proverbial darkness and dawn for some time, I now see the sun peering over the horizon on the distance. Indeed I can nearly feel its rays.

I have accepted the call to pursue my career in healthcare management/hospital administration and will hopefully soon be accepted into a master's program (M.S. in Medical Management) at the Simon School at the University of Rochester, after which I hope to pursue my MHA from Cornell University and pursue a career beginning with a fellowship at a large teaching hospital. I have a passion for healthcare and modern medicine, and believe this is my destiny. At work I have received a promotion to begin scheduling ED radiology patients on overnights, and have had an interview for a supervisor's position that may yet bear fruit. I have spent much time with family and friends, taken time to reflect and to rediscover aspects of myself I thought I had forgotten.

I am feeling a wave of happiness and contentment that I haven't felt in some time...from what exactly, I do not know. But I feel comfortable again, ready to take on the world, ready to achieve dreams and goals as never before. There has been a sense of clarity to many things...including my religious beliefs. I have left the Episcopal Church and returned (for the time being) to Spiritus Christi, the exiled Catholic community I called home. But I have been drawn back once again to Unitarianism and Universalism, the anchors of my faith, both in their liberal Christian forms and as a sort of general theism that transcends religious labels. The AUC and CUA feel like home once again, and will give me the much needed nourishment for my soul as I try to rekindle the spiritual engine I thought had died.

In short I hope to return, I hope to contribute once again, and I look forward, eagerly as always, to the journey of life, wherever it may lead. With God's help, all things are possible.

With every blessing,

Logan Geen

It's a cliche, but I have been in your shoes. You sound like you are dealing (even if by wrestling) with it all very well. Best wishes, go easy on yourself, and if I may recommend something-try some contemplative exercises. You may find the depth of your spiritual well, so to speak, more easily.

Best wishes.

Hi Logan,

Welcome back. Your posts and views are always appreciated. I, for one, have missed your enthusiasm and insights. Each experience in life can teach us many valuable lessons.

With love,

Rev Dorris

Hi Logan,

I wish you much success in your career / educational goals.
If it is not too personal, maybe you could comment sometime on what led you away from the Episcopal church.

Best wishes

Thank you all for your kind words.

I left the Episcopal Church for a few reasons...for one, it was something my girlfriend and I were doing together, that I didn't feel comfortable doing afterwards.  For another I found myself questioning certain aspects of the church, such as its obsession with the prayer book.  Although this was a welcome unifier over a creed I still found myself disappointed in having to recite a creed that I couldn't fully support, etc.

In the end it came down to the fact that at my core I am a Unitarian and Universalist in the original sense of both words-as I wrote in my article in The American Unitarian-and that my religion is a form of Christianity which mixes the original, elemental faith of Jesus (the religion OF Jesus, not the religion ABOUT Jesus) with the a few understandings of the earliest church fathers.  It is in no way orthodox Christianity.  In addition, though, my religion is post-Christianity, or, as I prefer, trans-Christianity, in that it embraces the broader Unitarian view of "One God, Many Names" and the Universalist view of "One God, Source/Destination of All".  In that sense I am somewhat of a Universal Theist beyond religious boundaries.  Somehow I am both at the same time. I'll write something about this soon.

Anyway, that said I felt my religious views weren't fully compatible with the Episcopal Church-at least the one I attended.  Spiritus is an openly creedless church and one that I felt far more comfortable in, but for the time being the church of my dreams simply doesn't exist.  At least, that is, not yet.    I am looking forward to being back with the AUC, and CUA.  One other matter is I occaisonally feel spiritual dryspells (I've had one for a few weeks now, though it seems to be ending), but I never feel like God doesn't exist...it rather feels like I'm having "flashes of deism" and Unitarianism is very compatible with that.

Anyway, hope of all that helps!  Comments welcome.

Logan:

Your views and experiences relating to the Episcopal Church, Unitarianism, Universalism, and universal theism seem to be identical to mine.

May I ask what the CUA is? My guess was Christian Unitarian--or Universalist-- Assn., but I may be way off on that.

John

Hi John,

The CUA is the Christian Universalist Association, http://www.christianuniversalist.org. It has many things in common with the AUC, and generally seems to take a liberal approach to Christian Universalism. Let me know your thoughts!

Hi Logan,

I guess I'd looked at the CUA website before, and find it encouraging that such a group has been newly formed. I have met Kalen Fristad on several occasions, and knew some of the CUA conference speakers in the UUCF.

I've personally moved away from using the word "Christian" to describe my religious orientation. I think it confuses some potential Unitarian and Universalist believers a lot, and some see it as exclusionary. I now tend to just call myself a theist or a believer. That way, I seem to have less explaining to do. Of course, there are some who mistrust those of us who don't tend to call ourselves Christian.

I always enjoy reading posts from people who don't feel that they can fully embrace any of the available churches or denominations---not the Episcopal Church, not the UCC, not quite the New Thought churches, and not the religious bodies often composed mainly of atheists and apathyists that call themselves UU. I'm grateful that we can connect with people of similar orientation online. I'm still excited about the prospect of forming U and U groups in our own communities.

John

I'd like to recommend a Quaker book called "Plain Living: A Quaker Path to Simplicity" by Catherine Whitmire. I like it because it is a collection of thoughts, succinct and clear, on various topics tied back to the Quaker idea of "plain living" (which is not wearing boots with buckles or drab clothing). It is a very good source to thumb through during those "dry spells." While simplicity is the overarching theme, it contains snippets of wisdom that transcend that one topic.

Logan:

I read that and wrote a fairly long reply, but an "internal server error" prevented it from being posted.

We really are on the same page here.

Now, let's see if I can even get this posted.

John