Among Unitarians it is often said that the highest praise one can pay a preacher is to describe his/her service as having been "interesting".
Modern Unitarianism is considered either as being as distinct from Protestantism as it is from Catholicism or, if it is a variant of Protestantism then it is a very odd form of this category. However the form, if not the content, of a Unitarian service usually owes a great deal to the Protestant form of service. The Word of God, as expressed in the Bible, is fundamental to Protestantism. Unitarianism in general takes a broader view as to what constitutes the Word of God. It emanates not just from Biblical sources. However the preacher, whether Protestant or Unitarian, tends to address the rational and logical part of the listener's mind.
In a previous essay I argued that even if God, an all-powerful creator, did not exist then "God", a word that, perhaps, describes the cosmic Mind quite probably does exist. This would be a source of immense wisdom rather than of infinite power.
Many Irish Unitarians remark that there is much to be learned from the Catholic tradition; that, unlike much of Irish Unitarianism, the British Unitarian movement is far too Protestant in ethos.
While Unitarian services are often described as being "interesting" by the congregation Catholics often complain that the Catholic Mass is "the same old ding-dong over and over again". However this is an essential difference between the Catholic rite and the Protestant rite. The Catholic, and not just Roman Catholic, Mass is a ritual; a stylised performance. While Protestant and most Unitarian services address the rational part of the human mind, Catholic ritual is an aid to meditation. For instance the performance of litanies such as the Rosary act as a "carrier wave" on which information is channeled to the unconscious mind. If such practices are described as hypnotic this is not necessarily to be understood as a bad thing. This meditative state opens the doors of perception and allows the grace of either God or "God" to enter. Of course, in deference to Unitarianism, and, indeed, much of Protestantism, what also matters is the information contained in the carrier wave.
As a Unitarian I hold that every sentient being in the universe carries the same status as mainstream Christians ascribe to the Second Person of the Trinity, even if in most cases this state is latent. I am God made man. I am, of course, not as good at it as such individuals as Jesus of Nazareth. But the goal of the spiritual path is the eventual achievement of this state. The assertion of Jesus that "the Father and I are one" is, I believe, identical to the Hindu doctrine that "Atman is Brahman". The knowledge that Self and Godhead are identical is experiential in nature, it is not simply a function of rationally understanding this truth.
The experience of union with God involves the stripping away of all the surface layers of the mind and experiencing the core of one's being as being identical with the core of the being of the whole universe.
The Unitarian doctrine that all reality, and therefore God, is One is a vital signpost for the spiritual path. But the path itself involves such practices as meditation and associated ritualistic methodologies. These practices are certainly not exclusive to the Catholic churches, or to Christianity. However the insistence that God is to be found through the written word of the Gospels, so central to the Reformed Churches, can often result in a faith that is utterly blind and almost devoid of meaningful content. John Kenneth Galbriath spoke of how the freedom to practice any religion becomes the right to practice none. In such a society the population would be likely to address reality in a superficial manner and experiences which would normally be regarded as evidence of the divine become considered as pathological.
The Unitarian principal of Reason is extremely important; but the irrational is not the same as the anti-rational. A Unitarian minister once suggested to me that doctrine of the Trinity seeks to express the truth that there is a limit to human understanding and that the nature of God is beyond human understanding.
Neo-Platonism, the main philosophy of the early Christian Church, holds that all reality or creation comes from the One (or the Good) and returns to the One. The goal of all men and women of good faith should be to strive towards eventual union with God; any worldly ambitions or goals or achievements may be worthy but should be considered incidental to or, at best, only contributing to our final aim of union with God.
Someone said that when Unitarians die we do not go to heaven we go to a discussion group where we discuss going to heaven. Is there a danger that the Unitarian ethos mistakes the "map" for the "territory"? ... even if the map itself is more accurate than those of our mainstream Christian rivals.
Brendan Burke MA (Phil). Cork, May 2006