Spiritual Advice and Guidance Blog: Urantia Book: May 2008

Q: If Jesus fused with his Adjuster, why did he not go up in flames? Is it possible to fuse and remain on Earth?

A: I was happy to answer your question, and I can see why there might still be some confusion. We learn in The Urantia Book that mortals who fuse with their Adjusters while still on the planet go up in a flash of fire. Obviously, Jesus did not experience this.

I did some searches of The Urantia Book, and I was not able to find a definitive answer to this question, but maybe we can reason it out (being mindful that it may not be something that can be entirely understood.)

What occurs to me right away is the obvious problem that would have developed if he had fused...at the time of Jesus' baptism, his ministry was at its very beginning stages; to have him disappear from Earth at this stage would certainly have been counter-productive to his completing his mission of revealing the Father and establishing the Kingdom.

The passage that I cited above has this statement:

"He stood in the Jordan that day a perfected mortal of the evolutionary worlds of time and space. Perfect synchrony and full communication had become established between the mortal mind of Jesus and the indwelling spirit Adjuster, the divine gift of his Father in Paradise."

And: "This ceremony was the final act of his purely human life on Urantia..."

Since Jesus was also Divine - already of the Father himself - there likely was no need for him to fuse with his Adjuster as other humans do. Instead he was given the vision of himself as he really was:

"...the Son of Man saw the vision, presented by the now Personalized Adjuster, of himself as a Son of God as he was before he came to earth in the likeness of mortal flesh, and as he would be when the incarnated life should be finished. This heavenly vision was seen only by Jesus. "

"Throughout the remainder of Jesus' earth life this Personalized Adjuster was associated with him in all his labors; Jesus was in constant communion with this exalted Adjuster."

Jesus, while human, also was God. This makes him a totally unique person. It seems to me to have been unnecessary for him to fuse in the usual way, as the partnership of his mortal self with his Adjuster was already perfected that day in the Jordan. As well, as noted above, his mission would have been effectively ended had he disappeared in the flash of fire. Since he now knew of a certainty who he really was, he was then able to partner quite effectively with his Personalized Adjuster for the remainder of his earth life.

Did this Adjuster indwell the mind of Jesus, as is true of us? It sounds as if it did not, but remained somewhat separate from him, but "associated" and in "constant communion" nonetheless.

As to the second part of your question:

I can think of no good reason for a person to remain, even if s/he could, once fusion has occurred. But aside from that, we read that: "...fusion during physical life instantly consumes the material body..." (p1212:3 (110:7.2) ), so there would be no body left in any event. And once fusion has taken place, the entire purpose for a mortal life has been fulfilled, so no reason to go further in that state of being.

I hope that this reply has been useful to you. Thanks for writing back, and please feel free to write again, anytime...

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If Jesus fused, why didn't he go up in flames? Can people fuse and still remain on Earth?

Q: If Jesus was fused with his adjuster, why did he not go up in flames, so to speak? Is it possible that many human beings have fused with their adjusters and still live on earth?

A: I was happy to answer your question, and I can see why there might still be some confusion. We learn in The Urantia Book that mortals who fuse with their Adjusters while still on the planet go up in a flash of fire. Obviously, Jesus did not experience this.

I did some searches of The Urantia Book, and I was not able to find a definitive answer to this question, but maybe we can reason it out (being mindful that it may not be something that can be entirely understood.)

What occurs to me right away is the obvious problem that would have developed if he had fused...at the time of Jesus' baptism, his ministry was at its very beginning stages; to have him disappear from Earth at this stage would certainly have been counter-productive to his completing his mission of revealing the Father and establishing the Kingdom.

The passage that I cited above has this statement:

"He stood in the Jordan that day a perfected mortal of the evolutionary worlds of time and space. Perfect synchrony and full communication had become established between the mortal mind of Jesus and the indwelling spirit Adjuster, the divine gift of his Father in Paradise."

And: "This ceremony was the final act of his purely human life on Urantia..."

Since Jesus was also Divine - already of the Father himself - there likely was no need for him to fuse with his Adjuster as other humans do. Instead he was given the vision of himself as he really was:

"...the Son of Man saw the vision, presented by the now Personalized Adjuster, of himself as a Son of God as he was before he came to earth in the likeness of mortal flesh, and as he would be when the incarnated life should be finished. This heavenly vision was seen only by Jesus. "

"Throughout the remainder of Jesus' earth life this Personalized Adjuster was associated with him in all his labors; Jesus was in constant communion with this exalted Adjuster."

Jesus, while human, also was God. This makes him a totally unique person. It seems to me to have been unnecessary for him to fuse in the usual way, as the partnership of his mortal self with his Adjuster was already perfected that day in the Jordan. As well, as noted above, his mission would have been effectively ended had he disappeared in the flash of fire. Since he now knew of a certainty who he really was, he was then able to partner quite effectively with his Personalized Adjuster for the remainder of his earth life.

Did this Adjuster indwell the mind of Jesus, as is true of us? It sounds as if it did not, but remained somewhat separate from him, but "associated" and in "constant communion" nonetheless.

As to the second part of your question:
I can think of no good reason for a person to remain, even if s/he could, once fusion has occurred. But aside from that, we read that: "...fusion during physical life instantly consumes the material body..." (p1212:3), so there would be no body left in any event. And once fusion has taken place, the entire purpose for a mortal life has been fulfilled, so no reason to go further in that state of being.

I hope that this reply has been useful to you. Thanks for writing back, and please feel free to write again, anytime...

Labels: fusion, gospel of Jesus, The Urantia Book, Thought Adjuster

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Did Jesus fuse with his Adjuster while on Earth?

Thank you for this question. Obviously, Jesus was a very special human being, and the events of his baptism in the Jordan culminated in a very special union of human and divine - a unique kind of union with a very special Adjuster. In this following section you will read about the events of that day, including the special kind of fusion that occurred with the human Jesus that day in the Jordan. (I have bolded the pertinent paragraphs pertaining to your question)

p1510:4 ((136:2.1)) Jesus was baptized at the very height of John's preaching when Palestine was aflame with the expectancy of his messageâ€”"the kingdom of God is at hand"â€”when all Jewry was engaged in serious and solemn self-examination. The Jewish sense of racial solidarity was very profound. The Jews not only believed that the sins of the father might afflict his children, but they firmly believed that the sin of one individual might curse the nation. Accordingly, not all who submitted to John's baptism regarded themselves as being guilty of the specific sins which John denounced. Many devout souls were baptized by John for the good of Israel. They feared lest some sin of ignorance on their part might delay the coming of the Messiah. They felt themselves to belong to a guilty and sin-cursed nation, and they presented themselves for baptism that they might by so doing manifest fruits of race penitence. It is therefore evident that Jesus in no sense received John's baptism as a rite of repentance or for the remission of sins. In accepting baptism at the hands of John, Jesus was only following the example of many pious Israelites.

When Jesus of Nazareth went down into the Jordan to be baptized, he was a mortal of the realm who had attained the pinnacle of human evolutionary ascension in all matters related to the conquest of mind and to self-identification with the spirit. He stood in the Jordan that day a perfected mortal of the evolutionary worlds of time and space. Perfect synchrony and full communication had become established between the mortal mind of Jesus and the indwelling spirit Adjuster, the divine gift of his Father in Paradise. And just such an Adjuster indwells all normal beings living on Urantia since the ascension of Michael to the headship of his universe, except that Jesus' Adjuster had been previously prepared for this special mission by similarly indwelling another superhuman incarnated in the likeness of mortal flesh, Machiventa Melchizedek.

Ordinarily, when a mortal of the realm attains such high levels of personality perfection, there occur those preliminary phenomena of spiritual elevation which terminate in eventual fusion of the matured soul of the mortal with its associated divine Adjuster. And such a change was apparently due to take place in the personality experience of Jesus of Nazareth on that very day when he went down into the Jordan with his two brothers to be baptized by John. This ceremony was the final act of his purely human life on Urantia, and many superhuman observers expected to witness the fusion of the Adjuster with its indwelt mind, but they were all destined to suffer disappointment. Something new and even greater occurred. As John laid his hands upon Jesus to baptize him, the indwelling Adjuster took final leave of the perfected human soul of Joshua ben Joseph. And in a few moments this divine entity returned from Divinington as a Personalized Adjuster and chief of his kind throughout the entire local universe of Nebadon. Thus did Jesus observe his own former divine spirit descending on its return to him in personalized form. And he heard this same spirit of Paradise origin now speak, saying, "This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased." And John, with Jesus' two brothers, also heard these words. John's disciples, standing by the water's edge, did not hear these words, neither did they see the apparition of the Personalized Adjuster. Only the eyes of Jesus beheld the Personalized Adjuster.

When the returned and now exalted Personalized Adjuster had thus spoken, all was silence. And while the four of them tarried in the water, Jesus, looking up to the near-by Adjuster, prayed: "My Father who reigns in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come! Your will be done on earth, even as it is in heaven." When he had prayed, the "heavens were opened," and the Son of Man saw the vision, presented by the now Personalized Adjuster, of himself as a Son of God as he was before he came to earth in the likeness of mortal flesh, and as he would be when the incarnated life should be finished. This heavenly vision was seen only by Jesus.

It was the voice of the Personalized Adjuster that John and Jesus heard, speaking in behalf of the Universal Father, for the Adjuster is of, and as, the Paradise Father. Throughout the remainder of Jesus' earth life this Personalized Adjuster was associated with him in all his labors; Jesus was in constant communion with this exalted Adjuster.

Labels: baptism, fusion, gospel of Jesus, Jordan River, The Urantia Book, Thought Adjuster

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Friday, May 23, 2008

Ingredients for Spiritual Health

Dawn Obrecht M.D.

One dictionary gave me 14 different definitions for â€œspirit.â€�
The base word is from the Latin spirare, â€œto breathe.â€� Common
uses of spirit and spiritual include â€œpertaining to the
sacred,â€� â€œvital, supernatural being or essence,â€� â€œthe
immaterial intelligent or sentient part of a person,â€� and several
others.

There is more than one route to spiritual healthâ€¦ many doors to
the same room... different perspectives, different ways of saying
the same thing. Here is one door, a simple triad of ingredients:
Donâ€™t Judge, Donâ€™t Compare, and Donâ€™t Have a Need to Know Why.
The End.

If you can do this, no need to read further. You are living on a
spiritual basis.

For those who want a little more discussion, letâ€™s look at
â€œDonâ€™t Judge.â€� As human beings, we are not in charge of the
Universe. Try saying this, â€œThere is a God and itâ€™s not me.â€�
If you find the word â€œGodâ€� objectionable, use â€œForce of the
Universeâ€� or â€œNatureâ€� or something else you want to replace
that three letter word, â€œGod.â€� The sun rises and sets and you
are not in charge of it. The same applies to everything else. The
only things we are in charge of are our own behavior, our thoughts,
and sometimes our feelings.

If we want to judge a situation, another person, anything at all,
we are trying to play God. If we can let God do the judging, we
find we can be more open-minded. We can see what people do as just
behavior, often obnoxious, but just what they are doing, not doing
TO US. If we can be open-minded, and not judge, we can often be of
service and help someone instead of buying into negativity. This
allows others to be more real, to just be human, and allows us to
be the best person we can be. By not judging, we can treat all
people equally and fairly, not see ourselves as victims, and let
God be in charge. When we practice this, we find we are living on a
spiritual basis. This is by no means a suggestion to tolerate
abuse; more on that in a future column. The point is, donâ€™t get
caught up in anotherâ€™s behavior; donâ€™t judge it, donâ€™t be a
victim, just detach from the God job and do your own job of being
the best human being you can be regardless of what the world has in
store for you.

â€œDonâ€™t Compare.â€� Right. When we compare, we either see
ourselves as better than (richer, better looking, smarter, etc.) or
as not as good as (poorer, fatter, balder, shorter, less education,
worse job, dumber, etc.) another. Either way, we cut ourselves off
from others. We are using a psychological maneuver to stay distant
from others, to stay dissatisfied, with ourselves and/or others. As
with many other personality traits, this comes from not being
comfortable with whom and what we are, from low self-esteem. We
find ways to avoid closeness and acceptanceâ€¦ of others and of
ourselves. We isolate, emotionally if not physically. We find
ourselves alone, even in a crowd. Stop it. See what happens if you
just stop comparing yourself to others and simply start being who
you are. Try seeing yourself and everyone else as Godâ€™s kids,
playing down here in His sandbox, chopping wood and hauling water,
doing the best we can with what we have to work with. Accept
yourself, and others, for just who we are, nothing less, nothing
more, and donâ€™t compare!

â€œDonâ€™t Have a Need to Know Why.â€� Many of us operate out of
FEAR, fearing tomorrow, regretting yesterday. Obviously, if we know
what is going to happen, and why, we would beâ€¦ that three letter
word againâ€¦ God. If we know all things, then life might be easier,
(you think?); but we would be kicking God out of His job again.
Living on a spiritual basis requires us to trust, trust that God
has a plan and we donâ€™t get to know what it is until it happens.
We are just players, not directors, of this life thing. If we play
the best we can, being responsible, reliable, honest, kind,
accepting and all those other spiritually healthy things, we get to
have joy and peace, knowing we are being the best person we can be.
Try it. It really works.

Living a spiritual life means living a life of trust. It means
breathing deeply and asking for help in dealing with whatever life
throws at us, trusting God will give us the spiritual strength and
capacity to get through, maybe even to find joy and peace. In fact,
just trusting can be joyful and peaceful!

Dr. Dawn Obrecht is the only MD addiction medicine specialist on
the western slope of Colorado. She is a Fellow of the American
Society of Addiction Medicine and her office is in Steamboat
Springs. She can be reached at 970-846-8479 or docdawn@hotmail.com.

Labels: comparisons, Dawn Obrecht M.D., fear, God, judgment, spiritual health

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Sunday, May 18, 2008

Campaign for Love and Forgiveness

Please cut and paste this flash movie into your browser, and enjoy.

http://www.loveandforgive.org/popup_video.php?flv=http://www.ikshare.com/1.00.02/flv/love_and_forgiveness.flv&jpg=&bgcolor=bfc689&autoplay=true

And after you do that, cut and paste this address into your browser so that you can visit The Campaign for Love and Forgiveness.

http://www.loveandforgive.org/

You'll be inspired and cheered by these positive happenings in our seemingly hopelessly violent world.

I wanted to embed the movie. I could not do it, but the information is worth the trouble to cut and paste.

Labels: Campaign for Love and Forgiveness, Fetzer Institute, forgiveness, love

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Saturday, May 17, 2008

Amazing Grace - Just the Black Notes...

Did you know of the pentatonic scale (5 notes) and the history of Amazing Grace?
I knew of the scale and the lyricist but not of the piano black keys as the basic notes of Negro spirituals. Enjoy, this is so BEAUTIFUL!!
It is part of a service conducted by Wintley Phipps. This is truly inspiring...

AMAZING GRACE - JUST THE BLACK NOTES!

Labels: Amazing Grace, history, inspirational, music, video, Wintley Phipps

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Friday, May 16, 2008

The "Law of Attraction"

Q: Does the "law of attraction" actually exist or somthing like it ?( i.e what we set our minds on to our wants and needs can be attainable even if it seems impossilbe to get or reach)

A: The "law of attraction" does function on material matter because of material gravity and on spirit substance because of spirit gravity; those are the only two real laws of attraction, but that's not what you're asking about. You want to know if you want and wish for things focused and strongly enough if they'll be granted to you, a popular new age concept along similar lines to karma, and the answer to that is no; magic does not uphold reality even as much as we may desire that would be the case.

It is always to our benefit to entertain a positive outlook even in the face of disappointment and struggle, to believe that the best is available to us if we do our best, to set goals and strive to achieve them, to direct our lives along positive lines. If that's our life's outlook then the seemingly impossible can and sometimes does become our reality. Remember the concept that "God is no respecter of persons." This means that God (or fate) does not show favoritism to those who set their minds on wants and needs as opposed to those who have no such focus. Life on an experimental evolutionary world always poses rewards and defeats -- it's your attitude toward these vicissitudes that makes the overall difference in the quality of your life.

Labels: God, law of attraction, needs, positive thinking, wants

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Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Does God Forgive Adultery?

Q: Does God forgive adultery? I was truly in love with this man, still am, although I am no longer in the relationaship. I know it was wrong, regardless of my love for him, and am profoundly sorry and overwhelmingly ashamed and terribly guilt ridden.

A: Let me put your mind at rest, if I can. God forgives ANYTHING, from what I understand of his loving and merciful nature. God has forgiven you even before you know you need forgiveness. What a great Dad he is!!!

I am not going to presume that your experiences with adultery constitute sin - it sounds as if you might have already made that judgment upon yourself. But adultery is certainly a violation of accepted mores. You say that you felt great affection for this man, and those feelings seemingly justified your, and his, actions. Even though you may have known that it was wrong, you did it anyway because it felt so right to love as you did. Of course, there are far-reaching consequences to such actions, and maybe you also experienced some of those, or saw them in the other people whose lives were affected by your decisions.

Love in its purest sense is the desire to do good to others - but real love must encompass all of our brothers and sisters, not just a special one here or there. Real, honest love will never be consciously selfish or hurtful to another - and that includes the spouse and family of the married man.

Maybe you'll be comforted by this quote of Jesus from The Urantia Book:

p1861:5(170:2.19) "Jesus taught that sin is not the child of a defective nature but rather the offspring of a knowing mind dominated by an unsubmissive will. Regarding sin, he taught that God has forgiven; that we make such forgiveness personally available by the act of forgiving our fellows. When you forgive your brother in the flesh, you thereby create the capacity in your own soul for the reception of the reality of God's forgiveness of your own misdeeds."

In order for you to feel forgiven you must now proceed with the business of forgiving all of those in your life who may have wronged YOU. This is no small task for most people, but it can be easily accomplished with the right frame of mind. It may include forgiving your former partner, as well.

Learn to look for God's will in all of this, and try to see a bigger picture. Get your mind off of yourself, and try to see in others the same kinds of personality foibles that created your own misdeeds, be they pride, greed, arrogance, or selfishness. Remember how easy it was for you to fall prey to these, and it may be much easier to see how another could err in the same way you did - maybe not by doing what you did, but in other ways. Then, forgiveness becomes easier. Eventually, you will find God's forgiveness in your own heart, if you open that heart to real sympathy with others and the trials they experience. Set everyone free from your own judgment.

The fact that you are remorseful is a good sign that you may now think more carefully about it if you are ever again faced with such a possibility. You know by its consequences in your, and other's lives, that what you did was not good, not Godly, and you can amend your life in accordance with that knowledge - and also, maybe help others who may be tempted to fall into the same trap. And I think you'll agree that it was a big trap.

We all make mistakes, and we all fall short of our highest ideals. It is the human condition. But the important thing to remember is that in every moment, we can make a new start, and we can change our ways of looking at things so that we don't repeat those mistakes again. The consciousness of guilt and remorse is the way we know we have done the wrong thing, and it speaks well of you that you are taking that to heart, rather than continuing to justify your actions.

But also I would add that you must forgive yourself. Stop dwelling on those feelings of regret, stop beating up on yourself, wipe the slate clean and start fresh with your life. This might be a good time to re-assess what love really means to you...? With God's help, fearlessly address the personal shortcomings that created the mental atmosphere in you in which you felt justified to proceed with your acts, and ask him for healing in those areas. It may not happen ovenight, but it will happen if you remain sincere of heart.

Most importantly, remember you are a beloved child of God - stand firmly on that solid truth - and he will never forsake you when you ask him for his help and mercy.

Labels: adultery, forgiveness, Jesus, love, remorse, The Urantia Book

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Thursday, May 01, 2008

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.

Labels: ascension scheme, casting pearls, survival, The Urantia Book

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