Possible venues and formats for

"Spiritual Paths in Unitarian Universalism"


Here are 9 possible ways in which the Spiritual Paths Project might be manifest:

1. Sunday morning series

    Once several different presenters have been identified,
their names and brief descriptions of their spiritual paths will be made
available to UU congregations that might want to have a series of speakers
presenting some of the diversity of UU thinking and spiritual practice.

2. Religious Education programs

    Some of these presenters could participate in religious education programs
in our congregations, especially for youth, who may wish to meet
living representatives of spiritual options within Unitarian Universalism.

    An organized curriculum could be created in some format,
which would allow representatives of various spiritual paths
to present their beliefs in forms that could be understood by children
or by adults if the program was created for adult discussion.

3. Campus Ministry and other Young Adult programs

    Young UUs are always interested in exploring spiritual options.
A young adult conference could be devoted to Spiritual Paths in Unitarian Universalism.
Or a curriculum could be created specifically for college students and other young adults.

4. Adult Education programs

    A series of evening meetings could feature one presenter per week.
This would give adult UUs ample opportunity
to question living representatives of these spiritual traditions.

5. Adult Education curriculum

    Some of the presenters could create a series
of discussion-guides that could be used wherever UUs gather for discussion.
Such a curriculum could include contributors from anywhere in the world.

6. Magazine articles

    Those spiritual traditions that lend themselves well to expression in words
could be presented in a magazine article or series of articles,
possibly with responses to each presentation
from others who were included in the series.
The UU World—the quarterly magazine of our movement—
might be interested in such a series.
An electronic magazine could be created for UUs 'on line'.
Philosophical-theological diversity has been a perennial theme in UU circles.
And such a series could help readers to identify just where they stand
in the array of the various spiritual traditions within Unitarian Universalism.

7. Panel discussions

    Perhaps at the conclusion of a series of sermons
or adult education meetings,
all the presenters could be gathered for a panel,
in which they would interact with one another,
exploring their similarities and differences.
This would work best if local representatives of each spiritual path could be identified.
Then expensive travel-costs could be omitted.
The participants in the panel discussion
would not necessarily be the world leaders of each particular spiritual path.
Or perhaps a panel discussion could be organized using electronic means,
so that panel members and audiences
could be gathered in several different places at the same time.
Also a panel discussion could be presented in written form,
which would free it from the necessity of being at just one time.

8. A book

    If the other forms of presentation work well,
some of the representatives could be asked to write chapters for a book.
And the production of a book called Spiritual Paths in Unitarian Universalism
could be a background purpose for all of the other formats.
After such a book has been published in some format,
it could be used for several future manifestations of the Spiritual Paths Project.
For example, if there were already such a book available,
it would be a logical choice for discussion in an adult education class.

9. A website

    This website could include an outline
of the introductory presentation of each specific spiritual path
and an organized bibliography of the best books for each spiritual path.
If this website achieves wide inclusiveness and high quality,
it could be linked from the UUA website.
We need a simple way to introduce our spiritual diversity for explorers of UUism.

    Here are two of the UUA-affiliated organizations that already have web-sites:
Covenant of Unitarian Universalist Pagans:
http://www.cuups.org

Unitarian Universalist Buddhist Fellowship:
http://www.uua.org/uubf/

    Other formats and venues might be suggested
as the more obvious ones are achieved: debates, public access TV,
audio or video series of the best presenters, radio panel discussions, etc.

    Spiritual Paths in Unitarian Universalism
should become an on-going project,
with various manifestations each year
in different places and thru different media.
The list of participants will be open and fluid.
The organizers of each series of sermons,
adult education programs, magazine articles, book chapters, etc.
will be responsible for selecting participants for that particular series.

    And as Unitarian Universalism grows,
brand new spiritual paths might emerge,
forms of asking spiritual questions
that were not even imagined when the project began.

Created August 12, 2000; Revised 11-18-2009; 4-12-2012; 2-11-2015;

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