#earthboundtedd

being a quaker uu, to me, is about having a real, personal experience with the Inner Light or the Divine or God that is within me, and within every person, while also being committed to the uu values of pluralism, inclusivity, social justice, and respecting everyone's own search for where the Spirit is guiding them. i also really adore the uu idea of "love at the centre," because i think that really resonates with my own view of God. God loves us, is within us, and is compelling us to love one another. as quakers, we call ourselves Friends because that is what we try our hardest to be - Friends to God, and Friends to His children.

while neither quakers nor uus are creedal faiths, i do allow the quaker testimonies known as S.P.I.C.E.S to guide me, and try to follow them to the best of my ability:

i try to live simply, focus on prayer and necessities... but of course, even i'm not perfect haha. we all have cravings and wants. i simply try to temper them as best i can. i'm 4 months sober, and my faith has helped me so much.

i try to live peacefully. i used to have a lot of anger and hate in me for those i felt had wronged me. this is something i still wrestle with. but the more i breathe out this anger and try to exemplify this ideal, the better i feel. it isn't always easy to temper my words and thoughts, but all we can do is try.

i try to live with integrity, by treating others with kindness, acknowledging that we all have Light within us, and letting my actions speak for me. i do my best to avoid even the smallest of white lies - but again, i'm not always as good at this as i would like to be.

i value community. in every group i am a part of - be that Meeting, work, my college classes - i try to bring my best, most authentic self to it and empower everyone else to do the same. i try to remind myself that we are all interconnected and we're all trying to do our best in this life - even the people i can't stand or disagree with. sometimes that's way easier said than done!

i value equality. we have differences in culture, religion, skin colour, identity, and more, but we are all human and equal to God. i consider it a principle of faith to not only be committed to activism in social justice where i am speaking, but also centering and listening to other voices who have experiences that i have not. i try to listen to and respect positions that i do not and never will agree with, so long as those positions do not harm or invalidate others. again, this is easier said than done.

finally, i value stewardship. we only have one earth, and to respect it is to respect one another. i can't say i'm, like, a vegan hippie or anything, as cool as they are, but i do my best to live as sustainably as i can.

as i've tried to reiterate, i am not always the best at following these. i do my best to honour and affirm the Light that is in everyone and hope that they will show me the same grace, but after all, we're all only human :)

if you're interested in more Quaker resources, I cannot recommend enough QuakerSpeak on Youtube and Thee Quaker Podcast. as for UU, i'm canadian so i usually rely on the Canadian Unitarian Council for info on them, but the UUA is larger and probably has more US and international resources :)