Spiritual Advice and Guidance Blog: Urantia Book

Q: Is it possible for a human being to become a witch or a wizard?
What is the relationship between dreams and spirituality?
What have dreams got to do with spiritual growth?

A: It's natural to wish we could change our environment with our thoughts alone but what we truly have control over are our own thoughts and our own actions. Harry Potter has stirred the desires for a magic world of sorcerers, witches and magicians but that's the stuff of folklore. There are always a few exceptional people capable of doing things that the rest of us can't do, but as the Hindu mystic once said, why spend years learning how to walk on water when I can easily take the ferry across instead?

Dreams are similar -- occasionally we do have profound, life altering dreams but most of them are the result of an active subconscious mind and while they may be interesting they have little if any spiritual value. Sometimes we can turn a problem over to our subconscious to work on, such as a spiritual growth decision, and it will provide an answer in our dreams. For the most part though, spiritual growth is a natural phenomenon and unless we work to inhibit it it will occur without effort.

I hope these answers are helpful. May I recommend that if you're not already signed up that you consider subscribing to the Quote of the Day. It's a free service from our site that offers a daily quote from the incomparable teachings of the marvelous Urantia Book with an audio clip and a beautiful and inspiring image, a great way to start one's day as well as to begin to understand the teachings of the book. To subscribe go to the upper right corner of our home page, click on Quote of the Day and follow the instructions.

Best wishes,

Larry Watkins
Truthbook.Com

Labels: dreams, Larry Watkins, spiritual growth, The Urantia Book, witches, wizards

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Friday, November 17, 2006

Dreams And Visions Of The Departed

Q: My Grandmother of 91 years old finaly passed on Nov. 5th 2006
My Grandfather passed away last year on August 1st. 2005.
Ever since then my grandma was never the same. She always would tell
us that shes tired and that she wants to go be with "Daddy" that was
what she use to call my grandfather when was alive. A few days before
she passed my mom told me that she had visions of her mother and of her
husband my grandpa and that he was standing in a bright light with his
arms wide open singing their favorite song "Because of You."

The nurse from hospice that was taking care of my grandmother did mention that
this sort of thing happens a lot of times when a person is very close
to passing on. What is your opinion on that sort of thing?

I guess its sort of soothing or comforting to me especialy in
this time of grief losing my grandparents back to back. My grandparents
raised my brother and myself from birth and its so hard to part from
them. Thanks again for your time.

A: I hope you received the newsletter announcing the "After you die"
presentation -- if not, it and several others are available from the home
page of our site from links on the upper left side.

Yes, I'll be happy to give you my opinion based upon my understanding
of the teachings of The Urantia Book. Every one of us has opinions on
all aspects of life, death, and everything in between and we base those
opinions on what we've read, what we've learned in school, from TV or
radio, from superstition, from friends and neighbors and family and from
what we learn through our own meditations and prayers. So it's not too
strange for someone to say they're basing their opinion on teachings
they've acquired through study of a particular book, especially after
having studied that book you've come to believe that this one is exactly
what it claims to be, a divine revelation given to us by angels. I don't
expect anyone else to believe that unless they've actually read the
book and decided for themselves too so this can be considered just my own
personal opinion. Still, The Urantia Book is very specific about what
happens to us at death and after -- that's one of the reasons we have it
today, to help us understand why we're here, why we die, where we go
afterwards, what our destiny is.

I guess the technical explanation would be that at conception we're
connected to a mind circuit -- this is an energy pattern that our brains,
once they're developed, use to gather and express thoughts and ideas as
well as through which personalities are expressed. When we die our
personality disconnects from this circuit to be given a different, more
encompassing one for our continued existence on the mansion worlds. It is
possible for those of us who are left behind to connect with what has
been left in this energy circuit which can be very real to us and we can
continue to experience the presence of our loved ones even though
they're no longer here.

The Urantia Book makes it clear that this is our first and only life
here -- that we go on to better things when we leave. That means the
departed do not come back even though it can appear that they do. Ghosts
and apparitions don't exist in the real sense; we are not destined to
hang around here for any reason after we die -- we go on over there just
where we left off here and we don't hang around waiting for loved ones.
But that doesn't mean that those who are left behind can't still feel
as though the departed are near or might meet with them in dreams
because the mind connection can still be experienced.

When we die we do reunite with the loved ones who have gone on before
us -- your grandparents are enjoying reassociating with their parents,
siblings, and other loved ones now just as you will enjoy reuniting with
them once you've depart here.

So, yes, I believe it's quite possible to have visions of and hear the
voices of departed loved ones -- visions and voices that can be as good
as real but which in actuality aren't because the loved one really
isn't hanging around in a spirit world attempting to communicate with us
here. They're off in a new existence but looking forward to reuniting
with those they've left behind.

I hope that answer is comforting as well as informative. Best wishes
and feel free to write any time.

Larry Watkins
Truthbook.com

Labels: death, destiny, dreams, Larry Watkins, the departed, The Urantia Book, visions