Soul Matters
Welcome to Soul Matters!
Every month this year, we'll examine a different theme through Soul Matters, a Unitarian Universalist theme-based curriculum that encourages deep thinking about spiritual, religious, and philosophical topics. Look for opportunities in Worship, Religious Education, Sharing Groups, and on social media.
Our September theme focuses on Building Belonging. To focus on lonliness is to wonder if, maybe without us fully noticing it, our whole society has become a land of lonely belonging, where no one is allowed to live without burying at least one part of themselves. The words of Carl Jung capture this well. He wrote, “Loneliness does not come from having no people around, but from being unable to communicate the things that seem important to oneself.”
So where does this leave us. Well, perhaps it’s an invitation to understand that the work of belonging begins with developing an intimate relationship with its opposite: loneliness. And opening ourselves to the idea that loneliness may not always be just a burden, emptiness and a source of depletion, even though it can feel that way. Maybe sometimes loneliness is also a source of wisdom, arising from a caretaking part of us trying to tell us “This is not the way to live!”
