The Real

Mark Wilkens is a UUFSD member, writer, and poet. A graduate of Arizona State University, he lives in Poway with his partner Leslie, son Miles, two cats, and three geese. His debut collection of poetry, "You Can't Discover What Was Always There" is available wherever books can be ordered, and his writing can also be found on his Substack, "Forgotten Candles."

Attached here is the sermon "The Real." This sermon began as thoughts about the usage of AI in a spiritual context, and my desire to have some aspect of my life be an escape from the encroaching reach of tech and the oligarchs responsible for it. It became a series of meditations on the incompatibility of said technology with UU principles, and how a spiritual, independent life requires a degree of isolation from it.