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PSI Symposium Annual Journal 2005-6
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| The first three selections in this year’s issue of the Psi Symposium Annual Journal have to do with spiritual practice and formation for Unitarian Universalists and others. I am sure you will enjoy all of them and may even be moved to take up a spiritual practice or discipline for yourself if you have not already done so. At least we hope that is the result. We were pleased indeed to have the Rev. Dr. Laurel E. Hallman as our Psi Symposium lecturer at the UUA General Assembly in Houston, Texas. Laurel has been minister of The First Unitarian Church of Dallas, Texas since 1987. The title of her presentation was “Spiritual Practice for Unitarian Universalists.”* She speaks to us out of years of experience as a meditation and spiritual guidance teacher with training at the Shalem Institute for Spiritual Formation, an Ecumenical center in Washington, D.C. (with Eastern religious leanings), with a mentoring relationship focusing on spiritual practice with the late Rev. Harry Scholefield in San Francisco, and spiritual guidance from the Rev. Carl Scovel, then minister of Kings Chapel in Boston, and some Buddhist meditation practice at Plum Village. The focus of her talk was on the need and importance of a private spiritual practice for Unitarian Universalists. Those who attended her lecture were well rewarded as we are sure our readers will be equally so. Peter T. Richardson, retired U.U. minister living in Rockland, Maine, is author of a comparative religions text entitled Four Spiritualities: Expression of Self, Expression of Spirit—A Psychology of Contemporary Spiritual Choice (1966), a book that has been used in many college and theological school courses. In a sermon on “Four Spiritualities”* Peter gives us a brief overview of four main spiritual journeys—Unity, Devotion, Works and Harmony—which, of course, are covered in much greater detail and depth in his book. Peter has served UU churches in Needham, Mass., Kennebunk, Maine, and Andover, Mass. among others. If you wish to communicate with Peter about his book or related matters you may contact him directly via email: PTEMR@aol.com. Our third contributor to our Annual Journal is no stranger to the Psi Symposium. The Rev. Dr. Peter E. Lanzillotta, a past President of the UUPS, is also a graduate of the Shalem Institute for Spiritual Formation in Washington, D.C., and has served UU churches in Beverly, MA., Manchester, CT., and currently as Interim Minister of the UU Church of Minnetonka, in Wayzata, MN. Peter gets around and loves to share his deep commitment and interest in spiritual formation and practice. The title of his article says it all and then some: “Paths of Self Discovery—A Journey to God? An Overview of the Journey and Sacred Traveling.” Take the journey with him and discover your own spiritual path. The Rev. Aaron R. Payson, minister of the UU Church of Worcester, MA since 1999, has developed a deep interest in one of the leading figures of the Spiritualist movement from the 19th Century, Andrew Jackson Davis. The interesting thing about Davis is that his view of Spiritualism was based on the idea of “religious naturalism” rather than supernaturalism. Davis was a philosopher, a healer, and a medium, who at times disagreed with the direction of the spiritualist movement and tried to change it. He sought to ground his spiritualist philosophy in what he called “nature’s principles” a point of view that could harmonize to some degree with the religious naturalism of many Unitarian Universalists. Fortunately Davis was a voluminous writer which has enabled Aaron Payson to cull out the spiritual treasures to be found therein and to share them with our Psi Symposium readers. Aaron’s later father, Robert Payson, was also a UU minister, and a past President of the UUPS. His mother serves on the PSI Board. Welcome to the pages of the Psi Symposium Journal, Aaron. We hope to hear more from you in the future. Aaron, incidentally, has agreed to be our Psi Symposium speaker at the 2006 UUA General Assembly in St. Louis. He will share more about his interest in Andrew Jackson Davis. The concluding two articles are in a lighter vein—on religious humor—the first by Robert Valet, was given as a lay sermon this past June at the UU Church of Fresno, California. His sermon was adapted from his book, Spiritual Guides to Holistic Health and Happiness, available from Barnes and Nobel. Those wishing to contact the author may contact him via email: robertv@csufresno.edu. The second piece on religious humor is by your editor, Richard M. Fewkes, from a sermon preached at the First Parish in Norwell, Mass. in February 1994, “The Church Where People Laugh.” We hope you will get at least a few laughs from these attempts to inject some humor into our Psi Journal. Enjoy! Richard M. Fewkes Editor, UU Psi Symposium Annual Journal *You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view this document.
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