Why would someone choose NOT to survive? And are there really "swines" among us?
Q: I have more questions that after reading the UB has made me wonder how or why a personality would chose to NOT survive death and NOT to go on to a career in eternality. Do you know of such reasons other than genetic make-up or the self-destruction of the body so it can no longer function for thinking and reason? Additionally, are there truly "swines" out there that UB tells us to not cast pearls upon? And if so, how do we know this or when do we know when to stop casting pearls? I always have hope that a grain of sand will perhaps reach into the soul of this so-called "swine" and lodge there like such as does in an oyster. The oyster tries so hard to throw off the grain of sand and in its struggle, it develops the beautiful pearl itself.
A: Thank you for your post and for your questions. I'll answer as best I can. About choosing not to survive -- there are a number of different opinions about what transpires here because The Urantia Book is not very specific and this is a topic we're all interested in and concerned about. It is my opinion that relatively few, if any, people can actually choose not to survive death while in this life -- others disagree and think many people don't make it to the mansion worlds. In any event, we can see the results of some pretty atrocious people doing very bad things but I don't know that any of that equates to personality extinction; the angels know and understand our motives better than we do. The whole ascension scheme of surviving death to awaken on the mansion worlds, the remedial work and the 570 different levels of morontia life we experience while there, fusion with our adjuster, and the beginning of our paradise ascension career as spirit beings is so thorough and complete it doesn't seem to me to be designed for only a few ascenders. Each personality is unique -- we each will contribute to the unfolding of the Supreme -- so every personality that is extinguished leaves a void. So it's my interpretation that here on earth this non-survival concern is not something to worry about -- particularly since our world has had so much happen to knock it off course and we're experiencing the results of those abnormalities.
When the time does come to be able to make a full and informed choice about eternal personality survival only those spirit beings who no longer relate to reality would be candidates for non survival. That occurs when a being first begins to reflect upon themselves, starts to idolize their own personality, feeds their own ego, disengages spiritually from the cosmos -- as exemplified by Lucifer.
Yes, there are "swines" among us -- usually we won't recognize them but I'm sure they stood out in Jesus' eyes. Your analogy of a grain of sand is a good one and one worth striving for, even with difficult people. The world is full of difficult people who would be redeamable if the right circumstances were presented to them -- they can always have the opportunity for redemption on the mansion worlds however. Probably the best concept for what "swine" would be is that there are people who through faulty genetics or accident or bad personal choice no longer function with human will dignity -- their connection to the higher adjutant mind spirits has been cut off. They look human and talk human but are really very high grade animal beings -- they'd be sociopaths -- and there's probably little if anything any of us could do that would be of value for them; it never hurts though to try to place that grain of sand that can become a pearl.
Becoming perfect is an ideal -- good to hold before us in consciousness but unattainable on earth. The last perfect person was Jesus and before that was Eljah as far as we know. I think our Father in heaven wants us to become the best mortal being we're capable of during this life. We're not spirit beings -- we're so far from that state it's nearly incomprehensible -- we're material beings with a spirit impulse. We have this one material life to live and experience before we're off to a new level of experience that is closer to the spiritual existence but still far removed. We do well if while here not attempting to renounce our nature or to assume the cloak of being spiritual but if instead we work at being the best material being we can be, knowing that the more spiritual is our purpose.
Good that you're sticking with reading The Urantia Book -- like peeling an onion. It's a life-time journey of adventure and discovery. Yes, it certainly can be confusing, but that's not because it doesn't make sense, it's because we don't yet understand, and rereading improves comprehension and understanding. There's nothing else like it for the seeker.
There are my opinions and I hope they help provide some answers.
What's the meaning of the "mark of the beast," or the number 666?
Q: What is the meaning of the "number of man," or the "mark of the beast" called "666?"
A: The closest Urantia Book reference to that number comes from the following paragraph:
"The grand universe number of your world, Urantia, is 5,342,482,337,666. That is the registry number on Uversa and on Paradise, your number in the catalogue of the inhabited worlds. I know the physical-sphere registry number, but it is of such an extraordinary size that it is of little practical significance to the mortal mind." (15:14.8)
Perhaps this number, which ends in 666, was revealed to John and all that he recorded were the last 3 digits.
There are no magic numbers. The universe is logical, not magical. Some numbers have significance because they refer to universe realities, but numerology and the magic associated with numbers is superstition based. The "mark of the beast" is a figure of speech signifying our evolutionary animal origin. It's referred to in the following paragraph which describes the gradual spiritual purging and purification we experience as we move through the mansion worlds following death.
The experience on this sphere is the crowning achievement of the immediate postmortal career. During your sojourn here you will receive the instruction of many teachers, all of whom will co-operate in the task of preparing you for residence on Jerusem. Any discernible differences between those mortals hailing from the isolated and retarded worlds and those survivors from the more advanced and enlightened spheres are virtually obliterated during the sojourn on the seventh mansion world. Here you will be purged of all the remnants of unfortunate heredity, unwholesome environment, and unspiritual planetary tendencies. The last remnants of the "mark of the beast" are here eradicated. (47:9.1)
Q: Is there anything called soul travel as practice by eckanker or other school of thought?
A: Thank you for your question. Yes, there is something called soul travel. It's associated with confusing beliefs about souls disconnecting from the body and traveling around, observing, becoming ghosts, reincarnating -- beliefs that are ancient and based in superstition. The process is along the lines that intent, or meditation, or drugs can allow the soul to detach, that it remains attached to the body only through a thin silver cord, that it can travel great distances -- to other planets as well -- and as long as the cord is attached the soul will return to the body but if it breaks it won't return. Eckankar focuses on teaching this technique and other meditation practices promote it as well -- after all, who wouldn't want to be able to fly off and observe all manner of interesting things?
It's a mind game deception. Our minds are powerful as well as directable. We do have the ability to direct our mind and a conscious connection so that it may seem we have left our body. Mind can detect information at a distance but "you" don't leave one place and travel to another. Through practice one can strengthen the connection to the subconscious mind's psychic abilities and participate in many otherwise strange mind games. Such a practice will disengage one from reality substituting the practical to make it become impractical.
The Urantia Book warns against attempting to augment psychic abilities, offering instead a practical, inspiring, spiritually beneficent cosmology which answers life's most challenging questions and gives focus to human longings and desires in a logical, positive, and uplifting manner. There's more than enough in reality to satisfy curiosity and the desire for adventure without veering away into augmenting unreality experiences.
Another of our responders has a few words on this subject as well...
I wonder if you are familiar with The Urantia Book teaching on the soul? I find it to be one of the loveliest parts of the Revelation. And it goes like this: When a child reaches the age of reason - anywhere from 5-7 years - and makes a conscious choice for good, that is the time when God sends a fragment of himself to indwell that child's mind. The Urantia Book calls this fragment the Thought Adjuster. And, it signals the birth of the soul. Thereafter, every moral choice that the child makes results in growth of the soul. The soul is comprised on only goodness, and it is that part of us that will survive us after our material bodies have died here on earth. It grows throughout our lifetime, and will actually be our true appearance when we awaken on the Mansion Worlds of God.
I only add this because sometimes people have a fuzzy understanding of just what the soul is - I know I did, before I read about it in The Urantia Book.
Personally, I would not like to think of my soul traveling away from me. I agree that our minds, including imagination, can play tricks on us - if we are so-minded. But they also can be influenced greatly by our spiritual choices. Maybe your spiritual frame of mind wants to think that your soul can travel to other realms, perhaps, but what does that really mean? There really are only two realms - the material and the spiritual. If you want to travel to spirit realms, you have to go no further than your own mind, where that fragment of God still resides, and get to know him. That is the best spiritual realm of all, and it is in the here-and-now, and will help your soul to grow, and you'll be conscious of everything.
If you are thinking more along the lines of remote-viewing or something, I would definitely not want to send my soul somewhere less than spiritual. This seems dangerous to me, only because it really could disassociate you from reality - reality being spiritual - and this would not be beneficial for your soul's growth. I don't know the limits of the human mind, and I find remote-viewing kind of interesting, but I doubt that it has anything to do with our soul. Again, this is a confusion of mind and soul, in my opinion.
Some additional soul quotes from The Utantia Book: The material self has personality and identity, temporal identity; the prepersonal spirit Adjuster also has identity, eternal identity. This material personality and this spirit prepersonality are capable of so uniting their creative attributes as to bring into existence the surviving identity of the immortal soul.
Having thus provided for the growth of the immortal soul and having liberated man's inner self from the fetters of absolute dependence on antecedent causation, the Father stands aside. Now, man having thus been liberated from the fetters of causation response, at least as pertains to eternal destiny, and provision having been made for the growth of the immortal self, the soul, it remains for man himself to will the creation or to inhibit the creation of this surviving and eternal self which is his for the choosing. No other being, force, creator, or agency in all the wide universe of universes can interfere to any degree with the absolute sovereignty of the mortal free will, as it operates within the realms of choice, regarding the eternal destiny of the personality of the choosing mortal. As pertains to eternal survival, God has decreed the sovereignty of the material and mortal will, and that decree is absolute. p71:2 (5:6.7)
The association of actuals and potentials equals growth, the experiential realization of values. But growth is not mere progress. Progress is always meaningful, but it is relatively valueless without growth. The supreme value of human life consists in growth of values, progress in meanings, and realization of the cosmic interrelatedness of both of these experiences. And such an experience is the equivalent of God-consciousness. Such a mortal, while not supernatural, is truly becoming superhuman; an immortal soul is evolving. p1097:3 (100:3.6)
You will enjoy the new insights that Rick Warren has, with his wife now having cancer and him having "wealth" from the book sales. This is a facinating short interview with Rick Warren, "Purpose Driven Life " author and pastor of Saddleback Church in California
In the interview by Paul Bradshaw with Rick Warren, Rick said:
People ask me, What is the purpose of life? And I respond: In a nutshell, life is preparation for eternity. We were not made to last forever, and God wants us to be with Him in Heaven.
One day my heart is going to stop, and that will be the end of my body-- but not the end of me.
I may live 60 to 100 years on earth, but I am going to spend trillions of years in eternity. This is the warm-up act - the dress rehearsal. God wants us to practice on earth what we will do forever in eternity.
We were made by God and for God, and until you figure that out, life isn't going to make sense.
Life is a series of problems: Either you are in one now, you're just coming out of one, or you're getting ready to go into another one.
The reason for this is that God is more interested in your character than your comfort.
God is more interested in making your life holy than He is in making your life happy.
We can be reasonably happy here on earth, but that's not the goal of life. The goal is to grow in character, in Christ likeness.
This past year has been the greatest year of my life but also the toughest, with my wife, Kay, getting cancer.
I used to think that life was hills and valleys - you go through a dark time, then you go to the mountaintop, back and forth. I don't believe that anymore.
Rather than life being hills and valleys, I believe that it's kind of like two rails on a railroad track, and at all times you have something good and something bad in your life.
No matter how good things are in your life, there is always something bad that needs to be worked on.
And no matter how bad things are in your life, there is always something good you can thank God for.
You can focus on your purposes, or you can focus on your problems.
If you focus on your problems, you're going into self-centeredness, "which is my problem, my issues, my pain." But one of the easiest ways to get rid of pain is to get your focus off yourself and onto God and others. We discovered quickly that in spite of the prayers of hundreds of thousands of people, God was not going to heal Kay or make it easy for her.
It has been very difficult for her, and yet God has strengthened her character, given her a ministry of helping other people, given her a testimony, drawn her closer to Him and to people.
You have to learn to deal with both the good and the bad of life.
Actually, sometimes learning to deal with the good is harder. For instance, this past year, all of a sudden, when the book sold 15 million copies, it made me instantly very wealthy.
It also brought a lot of notoriety that I had never had to deal with before I don't think God gives you money or notoriety for your own ego or for you to live a life of ease.
So I began to ask God what He wanted me to do with this money, notoriety and influence. He gave me two different passages that helped me decide what to do, II Corinthians 9 and Psalm 72
First, in spite of all the money coming in, we would not change our lifestyle one bit. We made no major purchases. Second, about midway through last year, I stopped taking a salary from the church.
Third, we set up foundations to fund an initiative we call The Peace Plan to plant churches, equip leaders, assist the poor, care for the sick, and educate the next generation.
Fourth, I added up all that the church had paid me in the 24 years since I started the church, and I gave it all back. It was liberating to be able to serve God for free.
We need to ask ourselves: Am I going to live for possessions? Popularity?
Am I going to be driven by pressures? Guilt? Bitterness? Materialism? Or am I going to be driven by God's purposes (for my life)?
When I get up in the morning, I sit on the side of my bed and say, God, if I don't get anything else done today, I want to know You more and love You better. God didn't put me on earth just to fulfill a to-do list. He's more interested in what I am than what I do. That's why we're called human beings, not human doings.
Happy moments, PRAISE GOD. Difficult moments, SEEK GOD. Quiet moments, WORSHIP GOD. Painful moments, TRUST GOD. Every moment, THANK GOD.
Q: In the Urantia book 47:1.1, it is stated that the student visitors are entertained in the finaliter’s world. How do the students travel to this world? Are these students human too?
A: In answer to your question regarding student visitors, I offer the following:
Administrator Seraphim p436:1 (39:4.15) The Transporters. These are the transport seraphim who function in the local systems. In Satania, your system, they carry passengers back and forth from Jerusem and otherwise serve as interplanetary transporters. Seldom does a day pass in which a transport seraphim of Satania does not deposit some student visitor or some other traveler of spirit or semispirit nature on the shores of Urantia. These very space traversers will sometime carry you to and from the various worlds of the system headquarters group, and when you have finished the Jerusem assignment, they will carry you forward to Edentia.
Student visitors may or may not be human like us, but they are more than likely ascenders in the Father's plan as we are. Here is a description of the landing field - the sea of glass - on our system capital world:
Jerusem Receiving Field p521:6 (46:2.9) Transports arrive on the crystal field, the so-called sea of glass. Around this area are the receiving stations for the various orders of beings who traverse space by seraphic transport. Near the polar crystal receiving station for student visitors you may ascend the pearly observatory and view the immense relief map of the entire headquarters planet.
And on this subject of angelic transport, I thought you might like to read something about these transporters, and their connections with our ideas of the way angels look:
p438:5 (39:5.12) The erroneous idea that angels possess wings is not wholly due to olden notions that they must have wings to fly through the air. Human beings have sometimes been permitted to observe seraphim that were being prepared for transport service, and the traditions of these experiences have largely determined the Urantian concept of angels. In observing a transport seraphim being made ready to receive a passenger for interplanetary transit, there may be seen what are apparently double sets of wings extending from the head to the foot of the angel. In reality these wings are energy insulators—friction shields.
When celestial beings are to be enseraphimed for transfer from one world to another, they are brought to the headquarters of the sphere and, after due registry, are inducted into the transit sleep. Meantime, the transport seraphim moves into a horizontal position immediately above the universe energy pole of the planet. While the energy shields are wide open, the sleeping personality is skillfully deposited, by the officiating seraphic assistants, directly on top of the transport angel. Then both the upper and lower pairs of shields are carefully closed and adjusted.
And now, under the influence of the transformers and the transmitters, a strange metamorphosis begins as the seraphim is made ready to swing into the energy currents of the universe circuits. To outward appearance the seraphim grows pointed at both extremities and becomes so enshrouded in a queer light of amber hue that very soon it is impossible to distinguish the enseraphimed personality. When all is in readiness for departure, the chief of transport makes the proper inspection of the carriage of life, carries out the routine tests to ascertain whether or not the angel is properly encircuited, and then announces that the traveler is properly enseraphimed, that the energies are adjusted, that the angel is insulated, and that everything is in readiness for the departing flash. The mechanical controllers, two of them, next take their positions. By this time the transport seraphim has become an almost transparent, vibrating, torpedo-shaped outline of glistening luminosity. Now the transport dispatcher of the realm summons the auxiliary batteries of the living energy transmitters, usually one thousand in number; as he announces the destination of the transport, he reaches out and touches the near point of the seraphic carriage, which shoots forward with lightninglike speed, leaving a trail of celestial luminosity as far as the planetary atmospheric investment extends. In less than ten minutes the marvelous spectacle will be lost even to reinforced seraphic vision.
Q: In Matthew 27: 52-53, it is written that many bodies of the saints were raised from the dead after the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Where are these bodies now and what really happened?
A: Thanks for this question. Here are some quotes discussing sleeping survivors, and what it means to be a sleeping survivor:
p341:1 (30:4.4) Sleeping Survivors. All mortals of survival status, in the custody of personal guardians of destiny, pass through the portals of natural death and, on the third period, personalize on the mansion worlds. Those accredited beings who have, for any reason, been unable to attain that level of intelligence mastery and endowment of spirituality which would entitle them to personal guardians, cannot thus immediately and directly go to the mansion worlds. Such surviving souls must rest in unconscious sleep until the judgment day of a new epoch, a new dispensation, the coming of a Son of God to call the rolls of the age and adjudicate the realm, and this is the general practice throughout all Nebadon. It was said of Christ Michael that, when he ascended on high at the conclusion of his work on earth, "He led a great multitude of captives." And these captives were the sleeping survivors from the days of Adam to the day of the Master's resurrection on Urantia.
There have only been a few of these dispensational resurrections of the sleeping survivors, and the one following Jesus' resurrection from the dead was the last one. There will not be another one until another celestial bestowal is made on this planet, which could be hundreds, or thousands of years from now. Here is a quote describing this amazing event:
The Dispensational Resurrection p2024:3 (189:3.1) A little after half past four o'clock this Sunday morning, Gabriel summoned the archangels to his side and made ready to inaugurate the general resurrection of the termination of the Adamic dispensation on Urantia. When the vast host of the seraphim and the cherubim concerned in this great event had been marshaled in proper formation, the morontia Michael appeared before Gabriel, saying: "As my Father has life in himself, so has he given it to the Son to have life in himself. Although I have not yet fully resumed the exercise of universe jurisdiction, this self-imposed limitation does not in any manner restrict the bestowal of life upon my sleeping sons; let the roll call of the planetary resurrection begin."
The circuit of the archangels then operated for the first time from Urantia. Gabriel and the archangel hosts moved to the place of the spiritual polarity of the planet; and when Gabriel gave the signal, there flashed to the first of the system mansion worlds the voice of Gabriel, saying: "By the mandate of Michael, let the dead of a Urantia dispensation rise!" Then all the survivors of the human races of Urantia who had fallen asleep since the days of Adam, and who had not already gone on to judgment, appeared in the resurrection halls of mansonia in readiness for morontia investiture. And in an instant of time the seraphim and their associates made ready to depart for the mansion worlds. Ordinarily these seraphic guardians, onetime assigned to the group custody of these surviving mortals, would have been present at the moment of their awaking in the resurrection halls of mansonia, but they were on this world itself at this time because of the necessity of Gabriel's presence here in connection with the morontia resurrection of Jesus.
Notwithstanding that countless individuals having personal seraphic guardians and those achieving the requisite attainment of spiritual personality progress had gone on to mansonia during the ages subsequent to the times of Adam and Eve, and though there had been many special and millennial resurrections of Urantia sons, this was the third of the planetary roll calls, or complete dispensational resurrections. The first occurred at the time of the arrival of the Planetary Prince, the second during the time of Adam, and this, the third, signalized the morontia resurrection, the mortal transit, of Jesus of Nazareth.
All of these survivors who were resurrected at this, or any other dispensational resurrection, resume their ascension careers as if no time had passed at all. They are treated the same as a survivor who awakens after three days.
...long ago our ancestors knew a fundamental truth that we are only recently rediscovering: good mental health is inextricably intertwined with deep spiritual development. Transpersonal psychologists in the past several decades have produced good science that shows that people who have strong spiritual beliefs and practices are generally more resilient in the face of life crises, and tend to have an easier time recovering from some physical illnesses.
This should not be surprising. After all, the psyche — a Greek word for soul — which has come to be used for the mind or one's consciousness in modern times, is inescapably spiritual in its core nature. And so are we. This does not mean that we must return to church or temple, or become ultra religious to fulfil the promise of deep spirituality as a safeguard for mental and physical health. Let's not confuse religious belief and observance with spiritual development, which is about cultivating awareness, empathy and wisdom, being of service, and having tolerance and integrity — all virtues that can and should apply no matter what religious framework one believes in. Healing emotions often involves developing one's spirituality.
These healing and development efforts in education and therapy are about raising consciousness in order to support transformation in the learner or client. Transformation is more than just change. It occurs at such a deep level that we are truly different beings when we undergo transformation. Transformative change is essential for all of us in order to become better people, able to make a beneficial difference in the world and in our own lives. No matter where you are in your personal spiritual journey, or mental health status, it is useful to ponder these five transformative questions.
In the way you are living your life, how are you being the medicine? In teaching naturopathic medical students, the relevance of that question is obvious. But if we think about medicine as energetic spiritual power, as the First Peoples of America did and do, I think this question applies to all of us on the path of transformational consciousness. Being the medicine is about how you are living your life in such a way as to be respectfully and appropriately using the spiritual power that is innate within you. What can you further develop in order to be the medicine more fully?
What do you trust? Notice I didn't ask who. This question is asking: in what do you place your belief that all is and will be as it should be? It's always interesting to try to take this question down as deep as one can with as much honesty as one can stand. In your everyday life, are you acting in congruence with what you say you trust? If not, what needs to be surrendered, reframed, or healed in order to be in alignment with what you say you trust? What cause will you give your life?
The answer to this question is often very telling as to how congruent we are with our espoused and lived values. What we prioritise in thoughts, words, and deeds on a daily basis is what we are giving our life energy to. Many of us say we value our families, but then we work 16 hours a day, rarely eat a meal together, and put business success above interpersonal family relationships. Doing this is giving life energy to work, to stress, to something other than the family that is supposedly valued. What we're actually doing is not congruent with what we're saying we give our life to. Philosophers might say that happiness comes from not waiting until circumstances force you to choose between the cause for which you would give your life, and the life you live everyday. Are you really living a life of purpose and meaning now, and if not, what needs to change?
What you put your attention on grows. Are you growing what you want to be growing? If not, how does your attention need to shift? It really means something spiritually profound and psychologically healthy to be able to say you walk your talk. Can you say that with full integrity? If not, look at how you need to re-prioritise your choices.
At the end of your life, what will you have dared so that you can pass on with no regrets?
Daring to take risks is one of the most essential transformative energies that I know of for both spiritual development and mental health. In fact many mental health and relationship problems start from a fear of risking being fully seen as our authentic selves, fear of asserting our whole truth, fear of risking rejection and abandonment by those we love, fear of risking pride or security, and other large and small risks. Daring is a catalyst for becoming everything we are meant to be.
Q: "I find all the pictures of Jesus to be sombody's fantasy of what he would look like. He was middle eastern and they just don't look like that. I find it hard to believe that all the comments give such high ratings. I would much rather see some form that would more correctly represent the people of that time and region of the country and not some model-like depiction. This could not even be close!"
A: Thanks for taking the time to send in feedback about the QOD. I am sorry to hear that you are disappointed in the images that we choose for the quotes of the day that deal with Jesus.
Jesus was, of course, a Middle Eastern Jewish man - probably darker-complected, maybe even swarthy, with black hair. The Urantia Book tells us that he was a maginificent specimen of manhood, and I know he must have been a knockout!!! But, in this passage of The Urantia Book, we see that perhaps he could have even been a red-heard or even blonde: (122:5.5) "The families of both Joseph and Mary were well educated for their time. Joseph and Mary were educated far above the average for their day and station in life. He was a thinker; she was a planner, expert in adaptation and practical in immediate execution. Joseph was a black-eyed brunet; Mary, a brown-eyed well-nigh blond type."
Any chance that you are an artist? Or do you know a good artist who can paint portaits? You may not know this, but it is extremely difficult to find ethnically correct depictions of the Master, or even contemporary artists who attempt picturing the Master. There is a real dearth of newer materials out there from which to choose an image - And to use just any man's picture would surely not be appreciated either.
The images that we have chosen, such as the recent one from Palm Sunday, and through this Holy Week, are contemporary, fresh, not over-used, and painted by people who love Jesus. We think that shows in the image, even if the image may not be correct in all points. The attitude and demeanor of the image is what counts for us.
The image that you chose to write about is one of the beautiful flower pictures, and we often use beautiful landscape images as well. We find that these are always pretty well received - but we can't please everyone, unfortunately...
Maybe it seems foolish to you to use a painting to try and depict a man whose true image can never be known, but some find the pictures comforting and beautiful. Sorry that you do not, but I hope that won't keep you from coming back and enjoying the QOD every day.
We love putting this feature together, and we also very much appreciate the feedback. Even though we wish we could please everyone, that is also a fantasy, alas...!
Q: I have listened to many MP3s from the CD of the Urantia book. I am so grateful for what I have read so far and have been greatly blessed. However, I have run into a section that causes me great distress :"The difficulty of executing such a radical program on Urantia consists in the absence of competent judges to pass upon the biologic fitness or unfitness of the individuals of your world races. Notwithstanding this obstacle, it seems that you ought to be able to agree upon the biologic disfellowshiping of your more markedly unfit, defective, degenerate, and antisocial stocks." (Paper 51, Section 4).I can't make this read as anything other than extremely racist and (since the white race has blue ancestry) particularly white supremacist. Talking about "unfit, defective, degenerate, and antisocial "stocks" seems to totally negate the loving Fatherhood of God. I am white, by the way and I find it offensive. There is no way I could recommend this book to my black friends.
A: I understand you are a new reader and have yet to finish a first reading of The Urantia Book. There are many sections in the book that can bring consternation when considered outside the context of the full revelation, race being one of them. It's usually suggested that a first and complete reading of the book, from front to back, be undertaken as quickly as possible, without attempting to comprehend all that's being read — this provides an overall context and defines the scope of the material. Subsequent reading can then delve deeper into the terminology and meanings. It has been suggested too that rather than being written like a text book The Urantia Book is more like a symphony with themes and melodies being repeated in a myriad of variations throughout the whole — one has to listen to a symphony more than once to get a basic understanding of the composition.
Regarding race, regarding humanity in general and regarding the composition of the book — most of the first 119 out of the 196 Papers are written by highly intelligent beings who have never been human, beings of higher origin than humans, "angels." As the lowest order of free will creature in existence we humans now find ourselves reading about our origin, nature, and destiny as perceived from a higher and non-human perspective, sources not so sentimental about our shortcomings as we obviously are.
It's interesting how we're so aware of the necessity of animal husbandry to produce improved results but feel it is a human right to breed indiscriminately with no regard for the kind of offspring being produced. If I had a choice I'd want to be born into a healthy body with all my arms, legs, fingers, toes, hearing, eyesight, and normal mental capabilities as opposed simply being left to happenstance and finding myself having less than these normal endowments. That's the point these teachings of The Urantia Book make — we owe it to our offspring to provide them the best biological vehicle possible. Life on an evolutionary world is challenge enough without also being faced with confronting it in a defective body or with a defective mind.
Specifically, you've indicated that the following causes you great distress ... "The difficulty of executing such a radical program on Urantia consists in the absence of competent judges to pass upon the biologic fitness or unfitness of the individuals of your world races. Notwithstanding this obstacle, it seems that you ought to be able to agree upon the biologic disfellowshiping of your more markedly unfit, defective, degenerate, and antisocial stocks." (Paper 51, Section 4).
Why is that distressful? Those words say we humans are reluctant to impose constraints on reproduction because we lack competent judges to pass on the potential fitness of offspring. True. We are however quite scientifically competent at this time in history to predict when it's highly likely that parents will bear children with various defects or diseases. Because of our over-sentimentality we don't impose the social constraints we are now competent to impose upon these obvious problem areas, allowing anyone and everyone to do as they reproductively please when it would be a great benefit if such individuals were given incentives to go childless or to adopt rather than to bear children. How is this distressing? This makes logical sense although maybe not the emotional sense we're so used to reacting to.
You've also said ... "I can't make this read as anything other than extremely racist and (since the white race has blue ancestry) particularly white supremacist." One of the profound functions of the teachings of The Urantia Book is to provide a greater context in which to understand your life on earth and your place in the cosmos — certainly a challenge to each and every reader of the book. You've taken these particular observations and altered their context to fit a preconceived mold. The paragraph you've referred to has nothing to do with racism or white supremacy as you've interpreted. Consider that there's probably not a person alive on the planet who doesn't have some blue ancestry (as well as some of each of the other colors) in their makeup — there's nothing exclusive to the so-called white race. There is no "black" race on Urantia, just as there are no other pure races. The indigo race, a deep purple hue appeared about 500,000 years ago along with the other 5 colored races. Africans are of mixed racial heritage just like the rest of humanity, being a mixture primarily of the remnants of the indigo, orange, and green races.
There have been 9 pure-line races over the million year human history of the planet. None exist today — we're well on our way to full racial blending to fulfill the destiny of a one race world. Of the original 6 colored races can you point to one which The Urantia Book holds above the others? The answer is no. In fact The Urantia Book describes the attributes and shortcomings of each race as well as defining their superior and inferior traits. The only race to be given comparatively high marks is the red race which has nearly been obliterated.
You've written ... "Talking about unfit, defective, degenerate, and antisocial stocks seems to totally negate the loving Fatherhood of God." Is this implying that you don't recognize such detrimental strains flourishing in the gene pool? The genes with which one is endowed have no correlation to the love of the Father or the development of the individual soul. They do have immense consequence to the quality of life one lives here in the flesh.
You've concluded ... "I am white, by the way and I find it offensive. There is no way I could recommend this book to my black friends." The sensitivity to the feelings of your "black friends" is not unusual although you do a disservice by assuming that they couldn't possibly understand the truth behind the statements you've taken offense from when quite possibly their Spirit of Truth led discernment may at this time be superior to your own. Actually, your concern could appear to be an overreaction to what you consider to be shortcomings in your black friends.
Currently there are 3 documents on the races in the Urantia Book Historical Archive. One is a Wrightwood Study, an in-depth analysis of the teachings of The Urantia Book on this topic by a panel and another is a handout written by a black woman. You can access these documents at http://www.ubhistory.org/ArchiveProcessing/HTML/FrameDocTypesGD.htm
As this topic has also come up in the Truthbook.com Discussion list and is of current interest it will be posted there and if you choose you can read further comments made by other readers on this topic.
Xerpi
