Spiritual Advice and Guidance Blog: Urantia Book

Q: How to cope with big disappointments in life and related pain and sorrow? Is there an experience here on earth that I must absolutely do because I will not be able to do it after my physical death?

A: You are not alone in asking this question regarding pain and sorrow - these kinds of experiences are part of the human condition, and affect all of us at one time or another. Sometimes, the pain is great, and we wonder "why," or, "why me?" Well, we might also ask "why?" when we are blessed with good experiences...and I am sure you have had those, also. Of course, the pain really gets our attention...

The Urantia Book provides a wonderful perspective on the inevitable changes that we humans go through in this life. Among the nine points of sage advice given, is this:

Is pleasure-the satisfaction of happiness-desirable? Then must man live in a world where the alternative of pain and the likelihood of suffering are ever-present experiential possibilities.(3:5.14)

And there is this:

The greatest affliction of the cosmos is never to have been afflicted. Mortals only learn wisdom by experiencing tribulation.(48:7.14)
You cannot perceive spiritual truth until you feelingly experience it, and many truths are not really felt except in adversity.(48:7.18)

This is taken from a section of The Urantia Book listing "twenty-eight statements of human philosophy" that are used in teaching new arrivals to the Mansion Worlds. You will find many of these very comforting and illuminating.

Sorrowful experiences can make us or break us. On a world that is filled with free-willed beings, error and its resulting pain and sorrow are simply a part of life. At the same time, as free-willed beings, we have the opportunity to use these experiences for our growth, rather than a reason to just give up. It is important to remember that nothing stays the same in this life. All is subject to change. Only God is changeless. It is our job to learn to establish and nurture a relationship with God so that when the hard times come, we are able to weather the changes, knowing that no matter what, we are assured of inevitable victory over all matters of the world on which we live through our free-will identification with our highest Self. The Urantia Book reveals to us a loving heavenly Father, a good God who knows all about our sorrows and pain because he experiences all of it with us. We have an intimate and ever-present friend in the Father. His Spirit actually dwells within our minds. Take heart:

It is literally true: "in all your afflictions he is afflicted." "In all your triumphs he triumphs in and with you."(1:5.16)

A study of the life of Jesus is quite helpful in hard times as well, as Jesus experienced just about the worst times that ever were heaped onto a human being. He emerged victorious over many of the sorrowful times in his life, and even over death, and he showed us how we can do the same, no matter our lot in life.

The experience that we have must have here in our earthly lives is the experience of life itself, and its associated joys, sorrows, spiritual progress and growth. Once we are translated into our next life - our eternal life - we will experience a whole different kind of existence - one in which the earthly kinds of experiences will no longer be possible. There's nothing we experience here that can't be augmented or improved upon in the mansion world experience but nevertheless, the angels are envious of the mortal lives we live so there's a quality to this life that's hard if not impossible to compensate for. While we are here, we have important work to do:

From The Urantia Book:

Very important is the work of preparation for the next higher sphere, but nothing equals the importance of the work of the world in which you are actually living. (48:6.26)

Your short sojourn on Urantia, on this sphere of mortal infancy, is only a single link, the very first in the long chain that is to stretch across universes and through the eternal ages. It is not so much what you learn in this first life; it is the experience of living this life that is important. Even the work of this world, paramount though it is, is not nearly so important as the way in which you do this work. There is no material reward for righteous living, but there is profound satisfaction - consciousness of achievement - and this transcends any conceivable material reward.(39:4.13)

The overcoming of adversity can be seen as a certain source of this "profound satisfaction."

Jesus taught:

"It is the Father's will that mortal man should work persistently and consistently toward the betterment of his estate on earth. Intelligent application would enable man to overcome much of his earthly misery." (148:5.3)

I do hope that this reply has been of some help and comfort to you.

Labels: affliction, disappointment, experience, Jesus, life, pain, Sorrow, The Urantia Book

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Friday, October 17, 2008

Why Do Children Die?

Q: Why do children die? Is it for the sins of the parents, or is their mission on earth completed?

A: It is always a sadness when a child dies. It touches our hearts so deeply that we feel there must be an explanation, and we ask "Why?" It is such a difficult thing to understand that we feel there has to be a good reason, known only to God. It is hard to realize that an innocent child is denied the chance to live a long life, when so many not-so-innocent folks live to a ripe old age.

The Urantia Book teaches us that affliction - any kind of affliction - is never a judgment from God. On a planet such as ours, many things happen which seem heartless and cruel, but this does not mean that we are being punished by God, or that our children are bearing divine retribution for our sins.

The phenomenon of death is occurring all over the planet at every moment. People are born and people die all the time. Death is not a curse, but an inevitability. None of us is guaranteed a long life on this earth, but we are all guaranteed to die in one way or another. In our attempts to fathom some reason in a child's death, we may grasp at the explanation that it was due to some sin that the parents committed - a sin against God, and so God claimed the life of this innocent in retribution...but this is just not the case. The sins of the fathers are not visited on subsequent generations in the form of a death curse. Death simply comes due to disease and the accidents of time - sometimes through violence or war - but the fact of death is simply a part of life, and will ever be so. Death is an equal-opportunity event, whether early or late. This is not to say that it is easy to accept the untimely passing of a child. No matter how they meet death, it is an especially sorrowful thing to bear the loss of a young person, and I can understand why it seems to need an explanation. But the fact is that our lives here are transient, and none of us will avoid death.

The Urantia Book reveals and enlarges the concept of a loving, fatherly God. Our Heavenly Father loves all of his children as individual members of the universal family, and his love encompasses even the smallest and the weakest of lives. With God, no life is ever lost. Even if a child should unfortunately lose its life before it is able to choose an eternity with God, it is saved, and kept safe. The child is raised in one of the many stopping-places in the Father's universe and is ultimately given a chance to enjoy an eternal existence just as is the oldest, most experienced survivor of this earth life. So, even if their earth life may be cut short, they still have the potential of an eternal life in the Father's care.

God is not an angry, vengeful tyrant who demands harsh payments for our transgressions. The Heavenly Father is incapable of wrath and anger. He is so great and good that he has no need for such base emotional reactions. In our attempts to make sense of the seemingly insensible, we have to be careful not to place upon God our most disagreeable human traits.

As for a "life-mission," I cannot presume to say that there is a pre-determined purpose for anyone's life. Our lives are shaped by our free-will decisions. I suppose that many of us feel that we do have a life-mission, but this is usually arrived at after some life experience and is predicated on one's interests and desires and goals for the future.

Labels: affliction, children, death, God, purpose of life, The Urantia Book

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Thursday, January 12, 2006

Surviving childhood abuse

Q: I am looking for information on how to deal with surviving childhood abuse

A: On a personal level, the only suggestion I can offer is that you simply learn to deal with it â€“ the likelihood that anyone lives a full life and departs without having been afflicted in some manner is about zero so we all are faced with two choices in how to deal with our predicaments: either to ruminate on them or to get over them. In the end it's all up to you; no one can do much more than offer advice.

From Urantia Book teachings there are several quotes that may help you get a different perspective and they are:

5. Difficulties may challenge mediocrity and defeat the fearful, but they only stimulate the true children of the Most Highs.
8. Effort does not always produce joy, but there is no happiness without intelligent effort.
12. The greatest affliction of the cosmos is never to have been afflicted. Mortals only learn wisdom by experiencing tribulation.
16. You cannot perceive spiritual truth until you feelingly experience it, and many truths are not really felt except in adversity.
18. Impatience is a spirit poison; anger is like a stone hurled into a hornet's nest.
22. The evolving soul is not made divine by what it does, but by what it strives to do.

The Urantia Book has this to say about Jesus as a child:

Perhaps his most unusual and outstanding trait was his unwillingness to fight for his rights. Since he was such a well developed lad for his age, it seemed strange to his playfellows that he was disinclined to defend himself even from injustice or when subjected to personal abuse.

Jesus said:

Throughout the vicissitudes of life, remember always to love one another. Do not strive with men, even with unbelievers. Show mercy even to those who despitefully abuse you. Show yourselves to be loyal citizens, upright artisans, praiseworthy neighbors, devoted kinsmen, understanding parents, and sincere believers in the brotherhood of the Father's kingdom. And my spirit shall be upon you, now and even to the end of the world.

One final quote:

The uncertainties of life and the vicissitudes of existence do not in any manner contradict the concept of the universal sovereignty of God. All evolutionary creature life is beset by certain inevitabilities. Consider the following:

1. Is courage â€“ strength of character â€“ desirable? Then must man be reared in an environment which necessitates grappling with hardships and reacting to disappointments.
2. Is altruism â€“ service of one's fellows â€“ desirable? Then must life experience provide for encountering situations of social inequality.
3. Is hope â€“ the grandeur of trust â€“ desirable? Then human existence must constantly be confronted with insecurities and recurrent uncertainties.
4. Is faith â€“ the supreme assertion of human thought â€“ desirable? Then must the mind of man find itself in that troublesome predicament where it ever knows less than it can believe.
5. Is the love of truth and the willingness to go wherever it leads, desirable? Then must man grow up in a world where error is present and falsehood always possible.
6. Is idealism â€“ the approaching concept of the divine â€“ desirable? Then must man struggle in an environment of relative goodness and beauty, surroundings stimulative of the irrepressible reach for better things.
9. Is pleasure â€“ the satisfaction of happiness â€“ desirable? Then must man live in a world where the alternative of pain and the likelihood of suffering are ever present experiential possibilities.

Labels: abuse, adversity, affliction, childhood, Jesus, love, The Urantia Book

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