This library is organized into six subject areas:
S—Spirituality 
R—Religion
LS—Love, Sex, & Relationships
PG—Personal Growth & Life-Choices
MD—Medical Ethics & Death
P—Peace

    Each feature article is summarized below,
with a link to the whole article (often updated)
for those who wish to read 3 or 4 pages on that subject.

    These articles are also presented in historical order in another file.

S—Spirituality 

    If we do not believe in any 'spirits' beyond ourselves,
can we still have a spiritual life?
We will explore six capacities of inwardness which are beyond
our physical, emotional-psychological,
and intellectual dimensions of being:

(1) self-transcendence, self-criticism, & altruism;

(2) freedom—transcending our enculturation and choosing for ourselves;

(3) creativity—our capacity to make something out of nothing;

(4) love—which enables us to encounter others as Thou;

(5) anxiety—disclosing our underlying Existential Predicament;

(6) glimpses of joy and fulfillment—living beyond angst and despair.

    This cyber-sermon was selected by the subscribers for Fall 1999:
Spirituality for Humanists:
Six Capacities of Our Human Spirits .

    Have you felt an aching void in the center of your being?
Deeper than interpersonal loneliness
the loneliness of spirit is a hollow, haunting sound
sweeping thru our depths, chilling our bones, and causing us to shiver.
It often disguises itself as longing for a specific person
or pretends to be yearning for contact with anyone,
but this deeper lack or emptiness-of-being
is not really a kind of loneliness at all.
Being together with other people, even people we intensely love,
does not overcome this deep incompleteness of being.
This inner default of selfhood has never been solved by love,
no matter how good and close and warm that love might be.

    This cyber-sermon was selected by the subscribers for Spring 1999:
Loneliness of Spirit:
Deeper than the Reach of Love .

SYNOPSIS:

    This exploration of our inner spaces
will contrast two forms of depression:
(1) psychological or situational depression and
(2) existential or spiritual depression.
Psychological depression is always linked
with specific life-situations:
We get depressed when college is boring,
when we have family or financial problems,
when love lets us down, etc.

    But the other kind of depression
cannot be directly traced to a cause.
We are quietly haunted by a vague sense or dark mood.
Thru the hollow depths of our being sounds a low, moaning tone,
which breaks into consciousness
when our daily preoccupations fall away.
Attempting to understand this deeper depression
will be the main thrust of this article.

OUTLINE:

I. TWO KINDS OF DEPRESSION

    A. Psychological Depression
        —From Disappointments and Failures.

    B. Existential Depression—Uncaused, Irrational, Pervasive.

    C. Differentiating Psychological and Existential Depression.

II. THE DYNAMICS OF EXISTENTIAL DEPRESSION

    A. The Collapse of Comforting Life-Illusions.

    B. Capturing Existential Depression in Descriptive Words.

    C. Attempting to Cope with Existential Depression.

III. FREEDOM FROM EXISTENTIAL DEPRESSION
—EXISTENTIAL JOY

    This cyber-sermon was selected by the subscribers for Winter 2001:
Being Depressed in Spirit:
Deeper than Psychological Depression

Existential Guilt:

Deeper than the Pangs of Conscience

V. SUMMARY: FIVE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN
MORAL CONSCIENCE & EXISTENTIAL GUILT

    This cyber-sermon was selected by the subscribers for Spring 2003:
Existential Guilt:
Deeper than the Pangs of Conscience

    If we want to organize and focus our inner lives,
we need some practical methods of cultivating our deeper dimensions,
so that our inner sensibilities will put down deep roots and flourish
rather than, once sprouted, wither and die away.

    Solitude is the precondition of any life of the spirit.
We should not expect to be busily engaged every moment of the day
and still hope to have some inward depth.

    If we want to become sensitive to our inward spirits,
we must find a time and place
away from the distractions of people and events.

    Besides solitude to recollect ourselves,
we need some actual activities to help us to deepen our lives.

    This cyber-sermon describes 6 ways to expand our spirits:

A. Written Meditation—A Journal of Spirit.

B. Spirit-Stimulating Books.

C. Small Groups of People Discussing the Life of the Spirit.

D. Letters about Matters of Spirit.

E. Individual Conversation and Sharing with other Persons of Spirit.

F. Internet Groups of Seekers.

    This cyber-sermon was chosen by the HMS subscribers for Fall 2000:
WHAT IS SPIRITUALITY?
Ways to Expand Our Spirits

SYNOPSIS:

    If we have become persons of spirit ourselves,
this might empower us to notice manifestations of spirit in others.
When both persons become fully present, an I-Thou encounter can occur.  
However, we need to distinguish I-Thou encounter
from other experiences, such as romantic love.  
And developing our human spirits
might enable us to create communities of persons of spirit.
Unfortunately, no matter how wonderful it is to encounter others as spirit,
every I-Thou meeting is destined to come to an end.

OUTLINE:

A.  I-THOU ENCOUNTER IS NOT ROMANTIC LOVE.

B.  IN OUR SPIRITS WE CAN BECOME UNIQUE. 

C.  WE CAN CREATE COMMUNITIES OF PERSONS OF SPIRIT.

D.  BUT EVERY THOU WILL BECOME AN IT AGAIN.

  This cyber-sermon was chosen by the HMS subscribers for Spring 2008:
WHAT IS SPIRITUALITY?
Love: The I-Thou Encounter,
Discovering other Persons of Spirit

INTRODUCING EXISTENTIAL SPIRITUALITY

R—Religion

    Unitarian Universalism is a religious movement
even tho in some ways it does not look like a religion.
For example, most UUs do not believe in any of the traditional Gods.  
We are a creed-free collection of thinkers.
And this category contains some of our thoughts about religious matters
—the traditions, beliefs, & pactices of religious organizations. 

SYNOPSIS:

    The history of Unitarian interest in Buddhism
stretches back more than two centuries.
But it is only in recent decades that Buddhism has come to be
a visible force within UU circles,
with the creation of the Unitarian-Universalist Buddhist Fellowship
and the phenomenal growth
of UU meditation groups across North America.
Now Buddhist texts appear in our hymnal
and it is common to hear Zen aphorisms quoted in the pulpit.
What exactly is the attraction that Buddhism holds for UUs?
What can we learn from Buddhism,
and what can Buddhism learn from UUism?
What does UU Buddhist practice look like?

OUTLINE:

1. Whispers From the East

2. Understanding the Attraction of Buddhism

3. Learning From Buddhism

4. The Wisdom of the West

5. The Practice of UU Buddhism

6. Conclusion

    This cyber-sermon was selected by the HMS subscribers for Winter 2002:
Buddhism and Unitarian-Universalism:
Two Traditions Learning From Each Other

SYNOPSIS:

    About 90% of adult members of UU congregations
were raised in other religious denominations
(or grew up without any religious background).
This means we have CHOSEN to become Unitarian Universalists.
Each such joiner has his or her own reasons.
This article sets forth the reasons of one UU:

I. UUism allows me freedom of belief,
without the necessity of basing each belief in a given tradition.

II. UUism looks FORWARD more than it looks BACK. 

III. UUism attracts other intelligent people. 

    This cyber-sermons was selected by HMS subscribers for Fall 2002:
Why I Am A Unitarian Universalist .

OF SPIRITUAL PROGRESS:

The Future of Unitarian Universalism

SYNOPSIS:

1)         Are science and religion necessarily at odds?
2)     Does the advance of modern science
3)     cause the retreat of religion?
4)     Is is possible to be a person of spirit
5)     and still believe in the wholly-natural origin of the universe?
6)     Does giving up pre-scientific world-views
7)     necessarily mean giving up all forms of spirituality?

OUTLINE:

I. WHY IT IS NO LONGER POSSIBLE
—NOW AND IN THE FUTURE—
TO BELIEVE IN ANY CREATOR-GODS.

II. WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS OF
LOSING FAITH IN A CREATOR-GOD?

III. THE WORLD AS DESCRIBED BY FOLK TALES.

IV. THE UNIVERSE AS DESCRIBED BY MODERN SCIENCE.

V. RELIGIONS FUNDAMENTALLY BASED
IN PRE-SCIENTIFIC WORLD-VIEWS ARE DOOMED.

    This cyber-sermons was selected by HMS subscribers for Winter 2003:
WHICH GODS DO NOT EXIST?
No Gods Created the Universe .

    This cyber-sermons was selected by HMS subscribers for Fall 2004:
WHICH GODS DO NOT EXIST?
No Gods Wrote Holy Books

OUTLINE:

I. DOES THE FEAR OF DEATH GIVE RISE TO RELIGION? 

II. THE MOST COMMON FORMS OF BELIEF IN LIFE AFTER DEATH

        A. Immortality.
        B. Resurrection.
        C. Reincarnation.

III. DO THESE BELIEFS HAVE ANY FOUNDATIONS?

IV. SCIENTIFIC AND PHILOSOPHICAL QUESTIONS
ABOUT LIFE AFTER DEATH

        A. Sense Perception—Can We See without Eyes?
        B. Consciousness—Can We Think without Brains?
        C. Memory—Can We Remember
                    without a Place to Keep Our Memories?
        D. Communicating and Relating—Can We Interact without Bodies?
        E. Conclusion: If We Lack Experience, Awareness, Memory, &  Action,
                How Does 'Life After Death' Differ from Death?

V. NEVERTHELESS, CONFRONTING OUR DEATHS
CAN MAKE OUR LIVES REMARKABLY BETTER

    This cyber-sermons was selected by HMS subscribers for Fall 2007:
WHICH GODS DO NOT EXIST?
No Gods Can Save Us from Death

LS—Love, Sex, & Relationships

    Movies, television, popular songs, & novels
all train our feelings into the wonderful delusion of romance.
We have been taught what emotions to expect
and we attempt to re-create them.
Once we recognize that romantic love is an invention of culture
rather than a natural phenomenon,
we can abandon these fantasy feelings
and build our relationships on real knowledge and respect.

    This cyber-sermon was selected by the subscribers for Winter 2000:
"Romantic Love is a Hoax !
Emotional Programming to 'Fall in Love' ".

SYNOPSIS:

     Paula Jones said, "No!"
Monica Lewinsky said, "Yes!"
What would you have said?
What we offer sexually and how we respond to others
might best be explained by our sexual imprinting.

    Our sexual responses often seem mysterious even to ourselves.
Do we feel that our 'sex-drives' possess us rather than we possessing them?
This article outlines a new hypothesis
which might be one step toward a comprehensive theory of human sexuality.
Older theories have tried to explain our sexual responses
either in terms of our biological heritage—animal sexuality—
or in terms of social learning—the way we develop most behaviors.

     But the sex-script hypothesis presents a third possible explanation:
Our internal sexual responses might have been imprinted into us at an early age.
During certain critical periods in our psycho-sexual development,
particular images, stories, & sexual responses—our "sex-scripts"—
were imprinted in our brains more or less at random.
And these sexual fantasies remain in us for the rest of our lives.

     A basic analogy that may help us understand sexual imprinting
is the phenomenon of acquiring a native language.
When we were infants, we quickly and permanently acquired our first language.
It seems that the "language-file" is open for such imprinting
only during the first few months of life.

     We do not know just when the human 'sex-file' is open for imprinting,
but we might be able to identify specific events
which have a remarkably-permanent impact on our sexual responses.
Much more research is needed to explore the possible connection between
adult sexual responses and sexually-imprinting events in childhood

OUTLINE:

I.     INTRODUCING THE SEX-SCRIPT HYPOTHESIS

II.    THE EVOLUTIONARY BACKGROUND OF HUMAN SEX-SCRIPTS

III.   SEXUAL IMPRINTING AT CRITICAL PERIODS
            IN PSYCHO-SEXUAL DEVELOPMENT

IV.   THREE LEVELS OF SEX-SCRIPTS

V.    VARIETIES OF SEX-SCRIPTS

VI.   IDENTIFYING OUR OWN SEX-SCRIPTS

VII.  HOMOSEXUAL SEX-SCRIPTS

VIII. THE IMPACT OF SEX-SCRIPTS ON OUR RELATIONSHIPS

IX.   TRANSCENDING OUR SEX-SCRIPTS

   This cyber-sermon was chosen by the subscribers of Heart, Mind, & Spirit
for the Spring 2002 issue:
Sources of Sexual Fantasies

SYNOPSIS:

    Jealousy arises in 'loving' relationships because of three factors:
comparison, competition, & the fear of being replaced.
If we become more autonomous and self-creating,
these three features of relationships become less significant
and hence the passion of jealousy becomes less likely.

    However, within ordinary, possessive relationships, jealousy is normal:
If we find ourselves replaced, supplanted, traded-in for a better model,
we naturally feel a tremendous sense of loss, anger, grief, & betrayal.

    This bitter feeling of hurt and hostility called "jealousy"
can become one of the most powerful obsessions of human life.
And yet, this emotion is a social product—with deep cultural roots.
If we have learned how to feel jealous, can we unlearn this response?

    If we are loved for the unique persons we are becoming,
then comparison with rivals diminishes.
And when we are no longer in competition with other women or men,
we become less vulnerable to feeling jealous.
If we become irreplaceable in our relationships, then jealousy disappears.

    Thus, the basic way to prevent jealousy
is to become unique and irreplaceable persons.
And becoming more Authentic may be the best way
to transcend the threat of being replaced by potential rivals.

OUTLINE:

I. THE DYNAMICS OF JEALOUSY

A. Which Long-Distance Service Will He Use?

B. The Comparison Game.

A. Replaceability—Being Better Means Being the Same.

B. How We Might Become Singular and Irreplaceable.

IV. WHAT TO DO ABOUT JEALOUSY

V. SUMMARY

    This feature article was selected by the subscribers for Fall 2001:
ROMANTIC JEALOUSY:
Cause and Prevention .

    This cyber-sermon was selected by the subscribers for Spring 2005:
Separating Lust and Love

SYNOPSIS:
 
    First we will outline 25 rights and privileges
that are automatically available to married couples
that could be extended to same-sex couples
if they were recognized and registered in some way.

     Then we will project four possible ways
in which laws might be changed in the 21st century
to enable same-sex couples to have the same rights and privileges
now enjoyed by traditional different-sex married couples.

     The Unitarian Universalist Association
already recognizes same-sex couples.
And many UU ministers conduct commitment or holy union ceremonies
to solemnize these committed relationships.

OUTLINE:

     The next steps will be achieved thru some combination
of judicial and legislative action by the individual states.
This presentation will outline four possible ways
the right to marry will be won for same-sex couples:

1. Courts will overturn laws preventing same-sex marriage.

2. Legislators will repeal state laws
requiring marriage partners to be of different sexes.

3. Legislators will create new state laws
permitting domestic partnership alongside traditional marriage.

4. Legislators will repeal all marriage laws;
allowing relationships to be private and unregistered.

    This cyber-sermon was selected by the HMS subscribers for Spring 2004:
Four Ways to Achieve Same-Sex Marriage

PG—Personal Growth & Life-Choices

Becoming More Authentic:

    Authenticity means creating our own
comprehensive life-meanings
—our "Authentic projects-of-being".
When we re-center and re-integrate our lives
around our freely-chosen purposes,
we become more focused, unified, & decisive.
We gain greater autonomy and increase our capacity
to resist and transcend enculturation.
This approach to life was developed
by such existential philosophers and psychologists as:
Camus, Sartre, Heidegger, Kierkegaard, & Maslow.
But only we individually can decide what content
to put within this structure of Authentic Existence.

    This cyber-sermon was chosen by the HMS subscribers for Spring 2000
Becoming More Authentic:
The Positive Side of Existentialism .

SYNOPSIS:

    When we seek to make our own lives "meaningful",
we may be struggling with two different sorts of meaninglessness.
We can create many forms of relative meanings
within the assumed areas of meaningful life:
money, achievement, love, marriage, children, enjoyment, & religion.
But even when we have fulfilled such meanings,
we may still feel an ultimate hollowness,
a spiritual or existential meaninglessness.
This deeper meaninglessness is not overcome
by any of the relative meanings we are able to create or achieve.
Ultimate meaning comes only as a gift
—independent of whatever relative meanings we can achieve.

OUTLINE:

I. MY EARLY QUEST FOR MEANING

II. NO HELP FROM ACADEMIC PSYCHOLOGY AND PHILOSOPHY

III. RELATIVE MEANINGLESSNESS & EXISTENTIAL MEANINGLESSNESS

IV. THE COLLAPSE OF 'MEANINGS' AND ILLUSIONS

V. BEYOND EXISTENTIAL MEANINGLESSNESS

    This article was selected by the HMS subscribers to be featured in Spring 2001:
Looking for the Meaning of Life

MD—Medical Ethics & Death

P—PEACE

The views and opinions expressed in this page are strictly those of the page author.
The contents of this page have not been reviewed or approved by the University of Minnesota.