Spiritual Advice and Guidance Blog: Urantia Book

Q: Towards the bottom of page 1811 in part 4, the text reads:

"There was, throughout all these regions, a lingering belief in reincarnation. The older Jewish teachers, together with Plato, Philo, and many of the Essenes, tolerated the theory that men may reap in one incarnation what they have sown in a previous existence; thus in one life they were believed to be expiating the sins committed in preceding lives. The Master (Jesus) found it difficult to make men believe that their souls had not had previous existences."

Is the Midway author of this text saying that there is no reincarnation? I'd very much like to know how others who have studied the Urantia papers interpret this passage. Thank you very much.A: There are a number of teachings in The Urantia Book that many readers find difficult to first accept at face value and the reincarnation issue is one over which many stumble.

A: Everyone comes to The Urantia Book with predisposed baggage â€” spiritual, religious, psychological, intellectual. We all have beliefs and prejudices and opinions that we rely on to help us answer life's toughest questions to our own satisfaction and to make sense of the world around us. The Urantia Book is a phenomenon from outside the flow of human events or the personal realities we've managed to concoct and for some its teachings are just too challenging and they dismiss it, usually without taking the time or making the effort to have actually begun to understand it â€” they just see that it doesn't agree with their preconceptions so assume it, and not they, are mistaken.

So, some readers say they believe The Urantia Book but they still cling to beliefs that run counter to its teachings; others accept TUB and allow the new wine to fill new wineskins â€” there's a natural tension between ego and humility that must at some time be resolved.

The teachings of reincarnation that originated in eastern philosophy may well be remnants of the teachings of the planetary prince from over 500,000 years ago. In a sense they're reflections of the actual "reincarnation" we experience on the mansion worlds as we progress through them but rather than understanding this as a journey that transpires after we leave here it became a belief associated with mortal existence. For reincarnation to occur, a pre-existent soul left over from the previous past life, has to exist so that it can be inserted into a new body and start the cycle all over again; The Urantia Book clearly explains that the soul is born in this, the first and only life in the flesh, when the first moral decision is made. The evolving soul is the vehicle that carries individuality at death to the mansion worlds so that you begin over there where you left off here. The soul does not linger on earth, does not reincarnate.

Eastern philosophies are inspired as well as being of evolutionary origin â€” they contain truths and legends and myths mixed in with superstition and fear, ghosts and psychic upwellings, just like the Western philosophies do. These philosophies help make sense of why the human condition is so confused but they add another layer of confusion in the process.

The Urantia Book teachings are more consistent, more logical, more elevating, more exciting than anything that the theory of reincarnation has to offer â€” it's just a matter of deciding for one over the other.

Thanks for the question.

Larry Watkins
Truthbook.com

Labels: eastern philosophy, Jesus, reincarnation, The Urantia Book