Rev. Lori on The Importance of Curiosity
A version of this reflection was originally published in the previous week’s Friday Flyer.
Hello Good People,
Ted Lasso is a popular series on Apple TV, starring Jason Sudekis, as an amateur coach being hired to lead a British football team. Hired to set the franchise up to fail with his rudimentary skills as a coach. However this feel good series and character turns the narrative around with Ted Lasso being super positive and spinning all or most of his challenges with a mantra of “Be Curious, Not Judgmental” which in someways feels like a little toxic positivity, to be honest.
However, on the other hand, it informs us that there is always more behind what is happening in front of you. And it is really not about you at all. It is really about the person or situation that is in front of you. If you choose the loving response of being curious, and kind, you will not only help that person along their way, but also give yourself a kind of freedom. That is what faith is about in part. That is what community and right relationship is about, in part. We respect the inherent worth and dignity of all people and honoring people on their spiritual journey that is not ours. If that journey includes pain and resistance and anger and joy and gratitude and grace it doesn’t matter. Our individual call in accordance with our principles is to offer them support along their journey. That is a huge spiritual practice and that is our call in this community. Curiosity. What does this situation or person or political environment mean in our own personal lives. I believe we have to trust that on the one hand, it is not all about us.
And on the other hand, our response is a choice and our faith calls us to find the love. Our faith calls us to respond recognizing that we are all interconnected and the fate of democracy is in our hands on the micro level and the macro level. How we choose to act, hopefully in hope and good cheer, but truly in authentic ways will be supported in a community like this. Like the tree of life, so above as below. Roots and wings. We are the roots of the world in order to transform ourselves, each other and the world. That is what we can affect. We mirror that for one another. That is a responsibility. Curiosity is a spiritual tool . Kindness is a spiritual tool. gratitude is a spiritual tool.
My question(s) for you this week?
What situation have I encountered this week that might have been bettered by being curious?
What situation have I encountered this week that might have been bettered by being more kind?
What situation have I encountered this week that might have been transformed by gratitude?
With love at the center of all of our questions, everything is possible!
Peace and Blessings,
Rev Lori Whittemore
(she, her, hers)
Unitarian Universalist Church of Saco Biddeford