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Book III
The Unist Religion
Inauguration
Unism is a prototype religion, containing the essential principles that a religion should feature. It is presented here on the web, offered in perpetuity to the world. It may be referred to or drawn from in any way desired, by anyone. It may also, in the future, be construed as it is given here, by anyone, under the name of Unism, as long as everything given is adhered to. If you deviate from this, you must call it something else.
Here is a parable which explains the basic ground of all religion. It is from the Lotus Sutra, a Mahayana sutra of unknown authorship, ostensibly a teaching of the Nirmanakaya Siddartha Gautama (A Nirmanakaya is one who has realized contact with his buddha-self beyond a certain degree.):
Text below quoted from Lectures on the Sutra, the Hoben and Juryo Chapters, Revised Edition, Nichiren Shoshu International Center, 1-33-11 Sendagaya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 151, Copyright © 1978, 1984 by Nichiren Shoshu International Center. All rights reserved. ISBN4-88872-017-7 C1015
“Imagine a wise and skilled physician who can compound medicines to cure any disease. He has many sons, perhaps ten, twenty, or even a hundred. He goes off to a distant land to see to some matter.
“Later, the children drink some kind of poison that makes them wild with pain, and they fall writhing to the ground. At this time the father comes back to his home and finds that his children have drunk poison. Some are out of their minds, while others are not. Seeing their father from afar, all are filled with joy and kneel down to entreat him, saying, ‘How wonderful that you have returned safely! We were stupid and by mistake drank some poison. We beg you to cure us and let us live longer.’
“The father, seeing his children suffering like this, follows various prescriptions. Gathering fine medicinal herbs that are perfect in color, fragrance and flavor, he grinds, sifts and mixes them together. Giving a dose of these to his children, he tells them, ‘This highly beneficial medicine is perfect in color, fragrance and flavor. Take it, and you will be quickly relieved of your sufferings and will be free of all distress.’
“Those children who have not lost their senses can see that the beneficial medicine is good in both color and fragrance, so they take it immediately and are completely cured of their sickness. Those who are out of their minds are equally delighted to see their father return and beg him to cure their sickness, but when they are given the medicine, they refuse to take it.
“This is because the poison has penetrated deeply, causing them to lose their true minds. Therefore they think that the medicine will not taste good in spite of its fine color and fragrance. Then the father thinks, ‘My poor children! The poison has attacked them and completely deranged their minds. Although they are happy to see me and ask me to cure them, they refuse to take this fine medicine I offer them. Now I must use some means to get them to take it.’”
These means are called “religions”. Although in reality there is only one religion, it is placed into various forms to appeal to various kinds of nut. The purest form of the medicine is a sin-free state -- every sin is a doorway to delusion, and delusion is exited through the same door, by ceasing to commit that sin.
Unism is a meta-religion. It contains all of the other religions in the world, both theistic and Buddhist. Every temple of every religion on Earth is also a Unist temple, though it may, if it wishes, decline to acknowledge the fact. The existing religions are all sisters, flowers in the one garden, laborers in the same vineyard, as one spiritual teacher put it. It is not our purpose to rule them, but only to present a fresh revelation, a new approach to the pursuit of spirituality.
In Unism there are no belief requirements whatsoever. A Unist may be anything from completely theistic to completely Buddhist, or any combination of the two he feels comfortable with. It’s OK to be agnostic, if you’re being true to scientific method.
Happiness is our natural state. Only in sin, which is inconsistency with reality, does delusion ensue, in which we seem to be unhappy. Although Unists can believe anything they want, to say you are a Unist is to say you are trying to be good, and that you are aiming for a sin-free state, the state of grace.
What will unify Unists, then, rather than belief, is morality. To be a unist is to acknowledge that you are supposed to be good. There is very little argument, world-wide, about what is moral and what is not. The assumption in Unism is that everyone wants to be good, which brings good results, and that being bad is error, which brings bad results. A good codification of the elements of morality is found here. To cease to acknowledge that you are supposed to be good is to cease to be a Unist.
All of the existing belief systems of Earth can be taught, in separate courses, and Unists are invited to adopt any of them or any part of them they wish, either on a temporary or a semi-permanent basis, or to combine principles from as many as they wish, or to construct their own personal belief system, a process which is taught, and which is recommended. I will give the instruction in the next section, below.
Belief is simply an extra-strong opinion. That’s all it is. Much damage has been done by religions who require people to get up and declare in unison that they all subscribe to some codified credo, part of which is patently false. There is a tendency among demonic, power-seeking clergy to require this, and then to turn around and say to attendant higher consciousness, “Look what I made them say. They’re mine, right?” A justification, in other words, for taking power over others, and usurping their soul-stuff.
Nothing in morality is more basic than truthfulness. Cleanliness is next to Godliness, but truthfulness is Godliness. If you compromise your truthfulness by saying that you believe something that you don’t really, you compromise your God-nature. You must never, never be untruthful.
Often people in existing religions fail to realize some of the better teachings of those religions simply because they get into the habit of putting their true opinions in a different place from what they call their “belief”. Consequently, they say they believe, but they do not reason from their belief, and hence do not develop their beliefs as they should, and so do not grow properly spiritually. Many systems of religion impart higher truths which are actually true, and may be reasoned on, and conclusions drawn of a surprising nature.
True spiritual teachings will grow with you, so that when you attain a higher level of spirituality they are still there guiding you -- it is only that you now understand them in a more evolved way. “The scriptures are like water; they fill all vessels, no matter the size or shape.”
Constructing a Belief System
Here is the way to construct a personal belief system. You start with scientific method, and what you actually do believe is true, no matter how simple. My own approach was eclectic. I surveyed spiritual teachings without regard to what tradition they represented, and after a time began to notice what was consistent about them, that I intuitively confirmed. Then I said, “Okay. Those are probably true. I’m going to tentatively assume they are true, while keeping an open mind.”
It starts in some such way. Then, down the road, when you become convinced that something is true, you declare that you believe it, and factor it in. In one year’s time, you will see that your mind has integrated the new principle into your existing belief system, and reconciled all of the other elements with it, so that your system once more emerges in a coherent and unified form.
The cosmology on Book I was evolved, through the years, by that method. Click on the blue word “cosmology” to view it.
Belief, in Unism, is a personal matter. Religions are fond of declaring that they have the only true approach, and that all of the people in other religions are going to hell in a handbasket. Yet, when you get around and start meeting folks of radically different faiths, you find them all trying to be good in the same way you are. We’re really all the same.
No one in Unism may demand that anyone else believe or disbelieve anything whatsoever. This is why the chants that we use to unify our spirits are very general, and not belief-specific. The Hare Krishna mantra is simply repetitions of names of God, and their meanings are assigned in each case by the individual. If you want to be Buddhist and not theistic, you could abstain, or personally define the names as representing aspects of reality. You may take theistic concepts as mythic representations of spiritual principles. What holds us together as a group is simply the faith that we are all trying to be good beings, each in his own way.
The same freedom of belief is of course enjoyed by the Dubist Monks. What they are all agreed upon is morality, and there is very little difference of opinion about that. Morality also unifies the Unist Religion.
Since Unism includes all of the existing religions, anyone may declare himself a Unist while continuing to practice the religion he has been using. You will receive full credit for a Unist Temple appearance if you appear in any other temple whatsoever. (Not, however, the so-called satanic churches, a phrase which is an oxymoron.) If you say you are a Unist, and claim the credit, it will be given. But mark you well -- do not make any declarations that you believe something which is indeed not your true opinion. Simply stand with the others, to be harmonious, and remain silent, to be true to your conscience. The moment you say you are a Unist, you are a Unist. The moment you say you are not a Unist, you are not a Unist, and Unism will cheerfully let go of you.
If an existing temple declares that it is also a Unist temple, Unism will willingly acknowledge it. If it declares that it is specifically not a Unist temple, Unism will immediately acknowledge its disclusion. We don’t want to take over the world, simply to act in a heuristic capacity. “Taking over the world”, by the way, is a devil’s conceit. In reality Krishna never loses exclusive control of all of the worlds for even a moment. We have the honor of being essentially His children.
Unism for Buddhists
Any legitimate religious practice may be performed under the auspices of the Unist Religion, should the practitioner so choose. For example, Buddhism. (Buddhism is an individual matter, since each individual is a product of a unique Buddha-self in Nirvana, different from anyone else's Buddha-self.) An American Buddhism suitable for practice under Unist auspices can be found here.
Unist Philosophy
Much confusion has been wrought in this world by the post-darwinist notion that we are something that evolved from below, and that by natural selection, higher and higher forms of lower animal developed, until finally man appeared, and began to evolve a better brain, which led to our intelligent sentience, and the ability to abstract.
The real truth is that our nature is divine. That we are sinful by nature is utterly false. We did not evolve from below; we became involved from above. We are not higher animals -- the lower animals are not individual as are the divine forms such as humans and angels, but are merely group-soul expressions, as are the plants and minerals.
According to Bhagavad Gita, there are twenty characteristics of our divine, or real, nature:
01. Wisdom
02. Cultivation of Spiritual Knowledge
03. Lack of Delusion
04. Non-offense-taking
05. Truthfulness
06. Self-mastery and self-discipline
07. Happiness and Peace of mind, (equanimity, serenity)
08. Non-injury
09. Fearlessness and heroism
10. Purity of heart
11. Generosity
12. Uprightness
13. Freedom from anger
14. Renunciation (not taking it all so seriously)
15. Freedom from evil-speaking of others
16. Love and compassion for all beings
17. Modesty
18. Cleanliness and chastity
19. Absence of malice
20. Freedom from the passion for honors
From this list it can easily be inferred that our nature is not base, but noble.
Unism is not a power system
The Unist religion is designed to counter the tendency of power seekers to use religion as a vehicle. Religions tend to degenerate into de facto power systems, for the reasons already given. People realize that their power systems are becoming unfair and that a large amount of everyone’s potential is being usurped by the power elite, and they say, “Shucks -- let’s let the church do it. The church is alright; it only wants our salvation and well being.”
So they give power to the churches, and the devils shrug their shoulders and gravitate on over to them for the purpose of getting and manifesting that power, and the religious systems devolve into fraudulent structures in which all of the power-wielders are demonic and religion is hand-in-glove with the devil.
This is bad. We have the potentials that we do for good reason, and a life in which we do not manifest the abilities that we are supposed to is likely to be an empty and sterile one. There is risk in this game of life, and we are meant to take that risk, that we may receive the consequences of our choices and gain wisdom from the resulting experiences.
When the state of grace is departed from and the sin state entered, the presences of God and our Buddha-selves are seemingly lost. When that happens, the soul invariably casts about itself for something to represent the higher presence which it has, in effect, lost. It usually erects some sort of God-substitute, and often religion becomes one of these substitutes, and is conceded the power which should only be given to God.
And so the necessity has arisen to construct a religion which will not be a God-substitute, and which cannot devolve into a demonic power-system. This is Unism.
Chapter Two
The Unist Temples
It is essential that Unist temples be kept inexpensive, so that the religion can proliferate easily. They should be constructed of concrete blocks, which can be made attractive either by a good simple basic paint, such as very dark grey, or by a faux-stone finish, which also looks very good. Building them on inner-city land obtained for back taxes is a good strategy, as is volunteer labor.
The temples are to be locally built and locally owned. The actual titles should be in the name of a trust, and the nature of that trust is that should it become necessary to liquidate the temple, any proceeds would revert to the original builders (or their heirs) in the proportion to which they contributed. If there is a general subscription to raise money, each subscriber should receive a receipt stating the amount that he has contributed, and the amount recorded in temple records. In the event of anonymous contribution, those amounts are not allotted a percentage.
If the temple is simply to be moved, proceeds of liquidation would go toward the new temple, and only excess would be distributed proportionally.
A Unist temple will be controlled by a steering committee, and the steering committee will be appointed by annual election. The electors will consist of those who are actually using the temple as their church, having signed in at each Sunday service. An elector will have one vote for every Sunday he has attended during the previous year, so that a perfect attender would have 52 votes, the maximum. There should be 5 to 7 members on the committee; if one of them resigns, there is an immediate election to fill the place, and the new member would finish out the term.
The actual conductor of a Unist religious service is appointed from week to week by the steering committee. After the first year, any member with 26 attendances during the previous one year may apply to take an examination to verify that he does indeed understand Unism, and if he passes it, and is thought by the committee to be sincere, he is eligible to conduct a service. There is one further requirement. To be a member, it is only requisite to acknowledge that one is supposed to be good. But to conduct religious services, he should have actually undertaken to be good, and avowed that he is being good. The conductors will not give spiritual discourses, or any speech which is preaching-like, or which assumes a specific belief.
Unist Temple Services
Elements of the Temple Service (65-75 minutes):
01. Introduction for newcomers -- 5 minutes
02. Harmonious chant(s) -- 5 minutes or so
03. Scripture reading -- 2-3 minutes
04. Harmonious hymn(s) -- 5 minutes or so
05. A spiritual discourse -- 20 minutes
06. Communion service -- 10-15 minutes
07. Collection -- 5-10 minutes
08. Announcements -- 5 minutes
09. Harmonious chant(s) -- 5 minutes or so
10. Harmonious hymn -- 5 minutes
The doors of the Unist temple will be open to all, and all will be free to attend the service as long as they do not disrupt it. Disrupters will be asked to leave, and the use of force for this purpose is countenanced if it is needed.
The Dubist monks will not officiate at the Unist Temple services. The religious discourses, however, will be provided by the monks, delivered by streaming video, and will be drawn eclectically from any source whatsoever. The discourse of a given week might be recommended religion-wide, or it might be on a specific subject requested by the steering committee of a given temple, or it might pursue a lecture-series from the video-on-file of a specific spiritual teacher.
The Dubist Order of Monks
Unism will be coordinated by the Dubist Order of Monks. This sect, ruled by its unamendable constitution, has several characteristics which set it apart from previous monastic orders. Every task in the monastery, including that of being the titular head of the order, is performed by every monk in the monastery at one time or another. Every monk who is the superior of another monk, will at some point become the subordinate of that monk, and vice-versa. Over and over and over again, until each monk is thoroughly weaned of any notion of inherent superiority or inferiority.
Tasks in the monastery are assigned by the task-assignment monk, and an effort is made to generally respect preferences, unless the monk has checked off character-building on his updated task-preference list, in which case the list is inverted. The monks engage in personal discipline relationships with each other. Those are described here.
The monks wear a dark, solid-color belted tunic with a hood. The tunic reaches to somewhat above the mid-thigh area. Trousers are conventional. Vegetarian or not; burial or cremation -- these are choices of the individual monk.
Any monk who so desires can become the task-assignment monk on a take-turn basis, and the duty is computer assisted. A visitor demanding to see the head of the order is solemnly escorted into his office by the secretary, who may well have been the titular head the previous week, the head himself having perhaps been engaged in cleaning the bathrooms.
The monks live in traditional-sized cells which are arranged around an inner circular chamber in a ray formation. They do sadhana exercises in the mornings, and chant in a body in the evenings. If a monk appears for breakfast, his body belongs to the task-assignment monk after the meal, and for the rest of the day. If something of moment is happening in his spiritual life, he simply skips breakfast, and does not take food until the following morning.
Each monk may design his own sadhana, or take a spiritual preceptor if he wishes. It is the responsibility of his personal discipliner to review his spiritual life and practices, to make sure that a monkly life is indeed being lived. The discipliner may tell him to do more, but cannot specify which practices the monk must adopt.
The monks do not and will not accept personal power from the members of the Unist religion, and upon being proffered any, will immediately refer to the Godhead. They will firmly decline to rule anybody who offers submission, explaining to that person that only the Godhead and one’s own Buddha-self in Nirvana have any business ruling, assuring him further that his prayers are always, heard, understood, and sympathized with, and that he will become more aware of that communication to the extent that he emerges from the sin-state and enters grace.
To be admitted, a candidate must be clear of debt and life-obligation (such as being the parent of a parented-age child), and must also pass anonymous blackball in the monastery to which he applies for entry. If, after being interviewed, he is presented for membership, any monk in the monastery may blackball him, in which case he is not let in. If he passes it, he is allowed to buy a cell in the monastery, which he holds for life, as long as he continues to keep the rules.
If he leaves or is expelled, his cell becomes available, and an approved candidate on the waiting list may buy in at whatever the going rate for a cell is at that time. At this writing, I would put the figure at about a hundred thousand US dollars. If he has funds over and above that, he may keep them, and he may manage and invest his money, but the amount of time he may spend on that during the week will certainly be regulated, so that his life remains spiritual to the degree that a monk’s life ought to be spiritual.
At present I do not plan to actually build a physical Dubist monastery, because I have been unable to satisfy myself that it would be financially viable as I have planned it. My original notion was that I would personally fund the land purchase and construction, and that from that point the order would suffice itself on a combination of the buy-in money from new monks, and income derived from such activities as aging cheese, weaving rugs, making root beer from roots gathered from the Black Forest, and other suchlike activities.
I would want the order to be completely free from dependency on contribution, even by members of the Unist Religion. If it cannot have this freedom, I will move the monastery to cyberspace, and will have to devise a method of superintending the distribution of the spiritual discourse videos.
It is simply the enormous potential expense of assuming lifetime responsibility for twenty-plus monks, in terms of feeding, clothing, medical and dental care, heating, personal expenses, etc. that give me pause for consideration before launching such a monastery. If the finances ever failed, the monks would be in a very awkward and uncomfortable position.
However, I include the original intent as a way of conveying the spirit in which the Unist Religion is to be governed.
If anyone in the future is able to solve these financial problems, the monastery may be built and operated as I have outlined, and the Dubist Order of Monks would then have an actual existence.
The rule of the order is constitutional, and every monk will be honor-bound to adhere to the spirit of that constitution. Pending the drafting of an actual document, the constitution will consist of everything I have written about it.
Monastic chanting in the evenings will produce a group-soul consciousness, to address the needs and concerns of the Unist Religion, and the discipline of each and every monk, which is administered in personal relationships. For one season a monk will be disciplined by another of his own choice, for a second he will discipline another monk. For the other half-year, he is free to engage or not in discipline relationships, as he wishes.
Any monk found to be taking personal power for himself the way demons do in degenerate religions, will receive appropriate punishment and correction, being made to stop doing that in accordance with an agreement he makes on becoming a Dubist monk. If he does not cease it, he will be expelled.
Morality is the order’s discipline. The monks will not need gurus, since they will be maintaining the grace state. They may, however, use gurus if they wish. Every monk is willing, and consents to, being made to be a good boy, as part of the agreement he enters into on becoming a monk.
The agreements are not binding. Any monk may leave the order if he wishes, and will then be cheerfully released from all of his obedience agreements. His place in the monastery would be forfeit, and the money he paid for his cell is non-refundable.
The ideals of the order are the moral code given earlier.
Counseling
Members of the Unist Religion who declare that Unism is their primary religion, may obtain anonymous counseling from the Dubist monks by email. If they are found to be “clingy” or “whiney”, or too superficial, they may be required to obtain the self-applied paddling equipment found in Book I, and to use it as directed by the counseling monk. Non-primary members may be referred to volunteer primary members for counseling.
Any monk may record a discourse or a series of discourses as a spiritual teacher, and all of these will be kept on file and provided with abstracts, as well as bearing a number of stars indicating degree of approval of the order. The taking of actual followers is prohibited for monks, but it is expected that most if not all of them will become spiritual teachers, and will have teachings worth imparting.
Chanting tapes, with appropriate audio (drumbeats, gongs, kartols etc.) will also be available as a base of harmonious kirtan (congregational chanting), since spirituality tends to be lacking if chants are entirely laic.
The Symbol of Un
The symbol of Un (pronounced ‘yoon’) is a perfect sphere, of exquisite clarity, visible in the water of a stemmed glass drinking vessel, and it should represent to each what he personally believes to be most high. For temples it should be displayed in larger size upon a cylindrical altar in the center of the devotional area.
For the theistic person, Un is the eternal Godhead. For the non-theistic person it is the highest universal construct he acknowledges, or perhaps his personal link to the Buddha-level. Devotions are general, and may consist of Unist chants, or, if none object, some of the traditional classics (mantras such as the Hare Krishna, or the Klim Krishnaya, or Om Mani Padme Hum, or Nam Myoho Renge Kyo (the theistic form of which is ‘Om Myoho Renge Kyo’), or simply Om. The Unist feels that the other devotionals are in the long run the same as he is, and so enjoys a commonality at religious services.
Tantric chants are good to use, since they are not belief-specific, and since tantric sounds are reputed to have powers that are beneficial.
Unist Communion
Upon entering the temple, the member picks up a small scoop, and scoops a quarter-cup or so of grains from a large can and puts them into a pot. After the service starts, these grains are milled into flour, mixed with water, and rolled out into loaf, which is placed into an oven and baked during the service. At the communion, it is brought out, the presence of Un is supplicated and invoked by the entire attendance in unison (each participant meaning something perfectly consistent with his own truest opinion) to enter it, then each participant breaks off a small piece and consumes it.
The Marriage Ceremony of the Unist Religion
Warning: This marriage can only be ended by death. It cannot be terminated by mutual agreement, because it is not simply an agreement between two people -- it is a covenant also with Un, and with every sentient being in the cosmos, each of whom is promised that he may count on this joining as a fact, and that neither will have another as spouse while the other still lives. You cannot break this without damaging yourself, and that damage can extend to other lifetimes.
We are gathered together in the presence of Un and of all that is holy in the universe, to bind this couple indissolubly in marriage for as long as they both shall live. Cleaving to each other they shall become as one, and what the Most High has joined, let no man put asunder.
By the giving of our word we are honored, both during life and from life to life, and by that word these two will pledge their troth, that while the other yet lives they will have no other in a marriage relationship. Separation may be permitted, but there can be no divorce.
Every being in the universe, in all of the worlds, may count upon this covenant as a fact and plan upon it. By the taking of this word a boy becomes a man, and a girl becomes a woman.
If either of these two has been married before to a partner who still draws breath, this ceremony cannot be availed, and the pair must seek sanction elsewhere.
Do you (boy’s name), take this girl (girl’s name) to be your lawful wedded wife, to have and to hold, to cherish and to love, in sickness and in health, for richer or for poorer, for better or for worse, until death do you part?
I do.
Do you (girl’s name), take this man (man’s name) to be your lawful wedded husband, to have and to hold, to cherish and to love, in sickness and in health, for richer or for poorer, for better or for worse, until death do you part?
I do.
Then by the authority of the Most High Un and in the name of the Unist Religion, I now pronounce you husband and wife, man and woman, for as long as you both shall live in this life.
_____________________________________________________________
Any addition or embellishment desired by the wedded couple, such as a ring ceremony, may certainly be performed -- bridesmaids, best men, flower girls, girl being given away by her father, what have you. It is up to the preference of the principals. All of these and any others are of course permitted, but it is only by the giving of the word that the two are bound. Given sufficient honor on the part of the principals, a boy and girl could wed each other without witnesses or officiators, and that marriage would be completely honored throughout the universe. A child subsequently conceived by them would absolutely be conceived in wedlock.
Additionally, an already-married couple who desires the security of the heavier binding, or the added authority that it brings, may certainly avail itself of the ceremony.
An unwed couple eligible for Unist marriage who wishes to marry immediately in this way should use the following form:
Warning: This marriage can only be ended by death. It cannot be terminated by mutual agreement, because it is not simply an agreement between two people -- it is a covenant also with Un, and with every sentient being in the cosmos, each of whom is promised that he may count on this joining as a fact, and that neither will have another as spouse while the other still lives. You cannot break this without damaging yourself, and that damage can extend to other lifetimes.
Boy: “By the giving of our word we are honored, both during life and from life to life. By that word we two will pledge our troth, that while the other yet lives we will have no other in a marriage relationship. Separation may be permitted, but there can be no divorce.
Every being in the universe, in all of the worlds, may count upon this covenant as fact and plan upon it. By the taking of this word a boy becomes a man, and a girl a woman.
Neither of us has been married before to a partner who still draws breath.
Do you (girl’s name), take me to be your lawful wedded husband, to have and to hold, to cherish and to love, in sickness and in health, for richer or for poorer, for better or for worse, until death do we part?”
Girl: “I do.”
Woman: “Do you (boy’s name), take me to be your lawful wedded wife, to have and to hold, to cherish and to love, in sickness and in health, for richer or for poorer, for better or for worse, until death do we part?”
Boy: “I do.
Man and woman together in unison: “By the authority of the Most High Un and in the name of the Unist Religion, we now pronounce us husband and wife, man and woman.”
_________________________________________________________________________
An already married couple who wish to deepen their vow by this ceremony should use the following form:
Warning: This marriage can only be ended by death. It cannot be terminated by mutual agreement, because it is not simply an agreement between two people -- it is a covenant also with Un, and with every sentient being in the cosmos, each of whom is promised that he may count on this joining as a fact, and that neither will have another as spouse while the other still lives. You cannot break this without damaging yourself, and that damage can extend to other lifetimes.
Man: “By the giving of our word we are honored, both during life and from life to life. By that word we two will pledge our troth, that while the other yet lives we will have no other in a marriage relationship. Separation may be permitted, but there can be no divorce.
Every being in the universe, in all of the worlds, may count upon this covenant as fact and plan upon it. By the taking of this word a boy becomes a man, and a girl a woman.
Neither of us has been married before to another partner than this who still draws breath.
Do you (woman’s name), take me to be your lawful wedded husband, to have and to hold, to cherish and to love, in sickness and in health, for richer or for poorer, for better or for worse, until death do we part?”
Woman: “I do.”
Woman: “Do you (man’s name), take me to be your lawful wedded wife, to have and to hold, to cherish and to love, in sickness and in health, for richer or for poorer, for better or for worse, until death do we part?”
Man: “I do.”
Man and woman together in unison: “By the authority of the Most High Un and in the name of the Unist Religion, we now pronounce us husband and wife, man and woman.”
For theistic believers, a bow to the Godhead would be appropriate here.
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