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Every human in
our world experiences moments of self-reflection, doubt and skepticism.
We search for answers that help us define God's role in our lives and
our relevance to the universe and beyond. These are not new questions.
The Urantia Book can be a valuable source of enlightenment and comfort
when a soul is faced with Life's Toughest Questions. Click on a question
you've struggled with and discover The Urantia Book's perspective on
some of life's most difficult and frequently-asked questions.
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What I hear in your short sentence is a question regarding the voice of
God, and how to hear that Voice within yourself.
Many of us have been instructed that God is within us, and The Urantia
Book expands and enlarges this concept beautifully. We learn in its
teachings that this spark of Divinity within is called the Thought
Adjuster, and that it is an actual fragment of the Father himself:
(148:6.10)
...the Father...speaks within the human
heart as a still, small voice, saying, `This is the way; walk therein.'
Do you not comprehend that God dwells within you, that he has become
what you are that he may make you what he is!"
Here is another quote regarding the voice of God-within:
(110:7.9)
While the voice of the Adjuster is ever within you,
most of you will hear it seldom during a lifetime. Human beings below
the third and second circles of attainment rarely hear the Adjuster's
direct voice except in moments of supreme desire, in a supreme
situation, and consequent upon a supreme decision.
And this:
(101:1.2)
The Thought Adjuster has no special mechanism through
which to gain self-expression; there is no mystic religious faculty for
the reception or expression of religious emotions. These experiences
are made available through the naturally ordained mechanism of mortal
mind. And therein lies one explanation of the Adjuster's difficulty in
engaging in direct communication with the material mind of its constant
indwelling.
The divine spirit makes contact with mortal man, not by
feelings or emotions, but in the realm of the highest and most
spiritualized thinking. It is your thoughts, not your feelings, that
lead you Godward. The divine nature may be perceived only with the eyes
of the mind. But the mind that really discerns God, hears the
indwelling Adjuster, is the pure mind. "Without holiness no man may see
the Lord." All such inner and spiritual communion is termed spiritual
insight. Such religious experiences result from the impress made upon
the mind of man by the combined operations of the Adjuster and the
Spirit of Truth as they function amid and upon the ideas, ideals,
insights, and spirit strivings of the evolving sons of God.
We see by these quotes that the best way to find this voice within is
through our highest thinking, as that is where the combined Spirit of
God (the Thought Adjuster) and the Spirit of Truth (Jesus) work
together for our highest good.
Even though it may seem difficult from the above quotes to actually
experience the hearing of God's voice, we are not left only with
difficulty. A very practical way that The Urantia Book helps us to find
and hear
the Divine voice, is through the prayerful practice of conversing with
our "alter ego." Consider this quote:
(91:3.7)
Enlightened prayer must recognize not only an external
and personal God but also an internal and impersonal Divinity, the
indwelling Adjuster. It is altogether fitting that man, when he prays,
should strive to grasp the concept of the Universal Father on Paradise;
but the more effective technique for most practical purposes will be to
revert to the concept of a near-by alter ego, just as the primitive
mind was wont to do, and then to recognize that the idea of this alter
ego has evolved from a mere fiction to the truth of God's indwelling
mortal man in the factual presence of the Adjuster so that man can talk
face to face, as it were, with a real and genuine and divine alter ego
that indwells him and is the very presence and essence of the living
God, the Universal Father.
Basically, we can "talk to ourselves," a practice that we all naturally
learn to
do as children, when we have inner conversations with an imaginary
companion. As we grow, and as we desire closer communication with God,
we may ennoble that concept to become the reality of a
conversation with God-within.
Please click here
for the entire section on Prayer and the Alter-Ego.
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