In 2020, we are celebrating 38 years of liberal, dogma-free religion

in the Netherlands.

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About NUUF

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Our services take place every first Sunday of the month and give us time in the middle of our busy lives, time to reflect and enjoy the peaceful warmth of community. They start with a sharing of joys and concerns and generally include a sermon, readings, songs and music, opportunities for people to participate and discuss, as well as time for contemplation. We enjoy celebrating the cycles of life together, whether it is through seasonal festivals, meditations on the meaning of growth and change, or how to live in the moment, as well as UU specific celebrations like Chalica. Topics are varied, from lectures on liberal Islam, to meditation workshops, Druidic rituals, storytelling sessions, and discussions on peacemaking, cultural appropriation and the spiritual repercussions of climate change. Beside our monthly services, we also organize a variety of social events.

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About Unitarian Universalism

Unitarian Universalism includes people of many beliefs who share the same values of peace, love and understanding. UUs believe more than one thing, we think for ourselves and reflect together about important questions, and are unified by the search for religious growth and a sense of community.

Unitarian Universalists nowadays take inspiration from a variety of beliefs and backgrounds: Atheist/Agnostic, Humanist, Jewish, Muslim, Pagan, Buddhist, Christian, and more.

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Next Service 

The Wisdom of the Tao - Effortless Living

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For more than a thousand years the phrase “The Three Teachings” has been an expression in China, meaning what we call Confucianism Taoism, and Buddhism. Of the 3, Buddhism is the most recent having been introduced into China only in the 1st century of our Christian era.  Both of the others are indigenous to the country and are traceable to a much greater antiquity. Confucianism’s origins could go back as far as 2300 B.C. It is impossible to know precise timelines, but Taoism, whose founder is universally acknowledged to be Lao Tze,  (604 B.C - ??) is according to some scholars, of primeval origins and the Tao was conceived in the most primitive minds.  It can be called nature wisdom, that which indigenous peoples on all continents have embraced and practised.

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The texts of Taoism are contained in the Tao te Ching of Lao Tzu and the writings of Chuang Tzu.  These are the sacred books of China.
It begins:
The Tao that can be trodden is not the enduring and unchanging Tao. The name that can be named is not the enduring and unchanging name.
Conceived of as having no name, it is the Originator of heaven and earth; (conceived of as) having a name, it is the Mother of all things.
Unlike many of the great religions of India and the East, the Taoists never felt that the Tao could be called a conscious god.
“How can the Creator have a conscious mind? It spontaneously takes place but seems mysterious. The breath and matter collect together, coagulate and become shape: constant with transformation it continues on and on. It never ceases”.
The concept of Nothingness is central to the Tao. The Great Void is the beginning of everything.
Man is in nature, he is part of nature. He was not placed here by an Almighty ruler to dominate and control all other forms of life or to farm and divide the earth.
One of the most famous quotes from Lao Tzu:

“Close your mouth,
block off your senses,
blunt your sharpness,
untie your knots,
soften your glare,
settle your dust.
This is the primal identity.”
― Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching