Urantia Book Commentary and Articles

Sunday, November 16, 2008
Religion and Unity: Report

Last night's interfaith panel discussion on the role of religion in promoting unity at the Boston Baha'i Center appeared to be a great success. The panel included representatives from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, The Urantia Book, the United Church of Christ, and the Baha'i Faith. The representatives from the LDS church emphasized the importance of family unity as the foundation of all other kinds of unity, sharing stories about their own families and the inspiration they derive from the scriptures of their faith. The representative of the Urantia Book, which appeared to also have some relation to biblical Christianity, emphasized how the expansion of consciousness of how great God is would contribute to greater unity among religious people. Pastor Michele Bagby Allen, a long time friend and fellow Harvard Divinity School grad, argued that the example of Jesus in the Gospels as well as statements by the Apostle Paul served as evidence that Christianity can be a basis for unity among people

Labels: Baha'i, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, Interfaith, Jesus, religion, The Urantia Book, United Church of Christ, unity

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Friday, August 15, 2008

"Words of Christ II" - listen FREE at Truthbook.com

Dear Friends,

Pato Banton, internationally known Reggae artist, and devoted Urantia Book lover, has created a new sublime and inspiring CD, called The Words of Christ II. You can listen to the entire album at Truthbook.com.

Please click on "external link" at the bottom of this article to access the CD.

You may be familiar with Pato's original effort - The Words of Christ - which has been thrilling visitors to Truthbook.com for a couple of years now. Pato's soothing and unique voice narrating Jesus' words, accompanied by the amazing music of Clyde JJ Forde, combine to give the listener an incredibly inspiring new way to grasp the teachings of the Master.

In this new CD, Pato has chosen another thrilling collection of the Master's talks, discourses and sermons. As well as the matchless music and narration, the text of each selection can also be read while listening, giving you a total sight-and-sound-and-mind experience of absorbing these soul-satisfying lessons on life.

Click here to go to The Words of Christ II page at Truthbook.

We know that you will enjoy this wonderful new CD. Each selection can be emailed, so that your Christian and truth-seeking friends and family can share them with you, and we hope that you will feel free to take this opportunity to help spread the good news.

With Love and Affectionate Regard,
The Truthbook Team

Pato dedicates this lovingly produced CD with these words:

I would like to dedicate this labor of love to all genuine Truth Seekers.

For far too long people have focused their attention on the personality and appearance of Christ, when the true focus should be on his life and teachings.

What was hidden from the wise and prudent is now revealed to the babes and suckling in these words which have been taken from The Urantia Book. ~ Pato Banton

1. First Sermon In The Synagogue
2. Discourse On The Water Of Life & The Discourse On Assurance
3. Jesus' Teaching At Tyre
4. On Counting The Cost
5. The Discourse On True Religion
6. Why Do The Heathen Rage
7. The Sermon At Gerasa
8. Teaching About Accidents
9. The Talk About Angels
10. Teachings About Wealth
11. The Enquiring Greeks
12 Evil, Sin & Iniquity
13. Enmity Of The World
14. Sermon On The Good Shepherd
Pato Banton - Words of Christ II

Labels: CD, discourses, Jesus, Pato Banton, sermons, The Urantia Book

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Wednesday, April 09, 2008

"But who say you that I am?"

An address to the 1991 Intensive Summer Seminar
Lake Forest, Illinois
L. Dan Massey, Jr.
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"Even in the study of man's biologic evolution on Urantia, there are grave objections to the exclusive historic approach to his present-day status and his current problems. The true perspective of any reality problem--human or divine, terrestrial or cosmic--can be had only by the full and unprejudiced study and correlation of three phases of universe reality: origin, history, and destiny. The proper understanding of these three experiential realities affords the basis for a wise estimate of the current status." (215:3)

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The Christian Church has long focused great attention on the events surrounding Simon Peter's epochal assertion of faith, "You are the Deliverer, the Son of the living God." In Christian mythology, as understood by a layman, it is from this occasion that the origins of the church are traced, and it is from Jesus' actions in delivering the "Keys of the Kingdom" to the apostles that the supposed authority of the church derives. The momentous events in Michael's bestowal ministry which had led up to this critical moment are chronicled in the first half of Part IV of The Urantia Book.

We know from the book that Jesus had carefully prepared the Apostles for a change in the direction of his ministry after the final, fatal rejection at Capernaum, but the new direction that emerges at the time of Peter's Confession seems at first strange, surprising, and, from the viewpoint of two thousand years of hindsight, to have led the affairs of the Kingdom in some rather queer directions.

This paper examines this critical nexus in planetary affairs, reviews some of the results of this change in direction, and reinterprets the events leading up to this occasion in the light of the many things learned from all parts of The Urantia Book about the nature and purposes of Deity and the specific mission of Michael in his bestowal. This process eventuates in a substantial deconstruction of the Christian myth and opens up a more objective and truthful perspective on the recent past and the near future of religious evolution on Urantia.

One of the major problems in examining an occasion of this kind is the sense of sacredness which has grown up around the events with the passage of time. There has been a persistent human tendency to consider all matters pertaining to Michael's bestowal as having sacred significance. In fact, Jesus repeatedly warned his Apostles of the danger in treating purely secular matters as sacred.

"But as religion becomes institutionalized, its power for good is curtailed, while the possibilities for evil are greatly multiplied. The dangers of formalized religion are: fixation of beliefs and crystallization of sentiments; accumulation of vested interests with increase of secularization; tendency to standardize and fossilize truth; diversion of religion from the service of God to the service of the church; inclination of leaders to become administrators instead of ministers; tendency to form sects and competitive divisions; establishment of oppressive ecclesiastical authority; creation of the aristocratic "chosen-people" attitude; fostering of false and exaggerated ideas of sacredness; the routinizing of religion and the petrifaction of worship; tendency to venerate the past while ignoring present demands; failure to make up-to-date interpretations of religion; entanglement with functions of secular institutions; it creates the evil discrimination of religious castes; it be comes an intolerant judge of orthodoxy; it fails to hold the interest of adventurous youth and gradually loses the saving message of the gospel of eternal salvation." (1092; 3)

One of the great lessons of this sojourn at Caesarea, where Peter's confession occurred, had to do with the origin of religious traditions, with the grave danger of allowing a sense of sacredness to become attached to non-sacred things, common ideas, or everyday events. From one conference they emerged with the teaching that true religion was man's heartfelt loyalty to his highest and truest convictions.

But the greatest error of the teaching about the Scriptures is the doctrine of there being sealed books of mystery and wisdom which only the wise minds of the nation dare to interpret. The revelations of divine truth are not sealed except by human ignorance, bigotry, and narrow-minded intolerance. The light of the Scriptures is only dimmed by prejudice and darkened by superstition. A false fear of sacredness has prevented religion from being safeguarded by common sense. The fear of the authority of the sacred writings of the past effectively prevents the honest souls of today from accepting the new light of the gospel, the light which these very God-knowing men of another generation so intensely longed to see.

Even today mankind labors under these misapprehensions of sacredness. Not all matters, even those pertaining to the actions of incarnated Deity, are sacred in the human sense, and it is only by stripping away the tradition-encrusted layers of false sacredness that mankind has attached to these events that we may penetrate to the deeper significance enclosed therein.

This paper seeks to ignore the imputed sacredness of millennia of human misunderstanding and tries to explore these events from the celestial viewpoint of the Creator Son himself. In so doing, we will be guided by certain principles, the most important of which is this -- that Michael of Nebadon is at least as intelligent as the average Urantia mortal, that he had full understanding of the social, religious, and political situation into which he would incarnate, and that he commenced his bestowal with full appreciation of the likelihood of various possible outcomes, both desirable and undesirable. In addition, once incarnate as Joshua Ben Joseph, and once in full possession of his Deity mind faculties, the mortal mind of Jesus of Nazareth suffered from no superstitious illusions about the significance of his actions for the planetary cultural economy.

I believe that the Apostles had almost no comprehension of what was really going on at this time, and that the sacred myth of the origins of the church is, in fact, a product of their own egocentric interpretation of events to which they attached a false sense of sacredness. I further claim that Jesus, as both man and God, was aware that they would do this and intended this to be the result of his actions if they persisted in their materialistic view of his teachings. This result, therefore, was also intended by Jesus as the best way of dealing with a difficult, if not actually undesirable situation. When we have fully explored these events with the benefit of two thousand years of hindsight, we will, at last, be able to perceive the broad outline of a small but astoundingly clever part of the Divine plan for Urantia.

In examining Jesus' decisions and actions from the perspective of Michael of Nebadon I will set aside the more obvious concerns of the bestowal mission, such as his commitment to doing the Father's will, his need for the physical vehicle of his incarnation to survive infancy and childhood, and the events and decisions leading up to his full achievement of personality integration at the time of his baptism. These matters are not unimportant. Rather, they are matters of such importance that a natural preoccupation with them tends to cloud our ability to perceive and to analyze the more subtle features of Jesus' life work Let me simply say this--Creator Sons do not fail to achieve the purposes of their bestowal incarnations by the methods approved for their use. Even though the actual life circumstances of the incarnate son are, from the human perspective, subject to personal, spiritual, psychic, and physical risks, the celestial purposes are always addressed and always achieved.

Instead of these major factors, we must examine those areas of Michael's bestowal in which no such force of destiny provides a teleological override of the direction of finite events. We shall examine those occasions on which the fully creative potentials of Deity are expressed through free will choice, as separated from the cases in which the mortal mind of the incarnate god exercises the relatively free human will. Only in this way will we discover the actions of creative Deity disclosed in planetary history and destiny.

In viewing the planetary situation on Urantia from the Salvington perspective, Michael wished to provide the maximum uplift to human minds and spirits to prepare them to benefit from the bestowal of the Spirit of Truth, an event which would turn psychic reality on Urantia upside-down. The better the mortals of Urantia could anticipate and work with the Spirit of Truth, the more quickly the secular institutions of life could be improved and refined and the greater would be the benefit, on all levels of reality, to the greater number of Michael's mortal children.

To accomplish this, it might have been helpful for Michael to leave behind on Urantia some token of his bestowal more substantial than the Spirit of Truth to provide a path of entry for the mortal mind to more sublime realities. Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, he was prohibited from leaving behind offspring, images, writings, or other things that might become an object of superstitious veneration. In addition, since his bestowal life was to benefit not only Urantia, but planetary societies throughout all Nebadon, nothing physical could ever serve the purpose.

We can imagine Michael considering whether he might simply fix things on Urantia, so everybody would be put out of their misery. But this would never really be acceptable. Simply fixing Things would be too much like a human child playing war with tin soldiers. Creation of this order is, at best, an aid to fantasy, but ultimately boring. The very hosts of heaven would sing out, "BO-RING."

There are two problems. First, and most obvious to our limited, human insight, a broken planet must want to be fixed. This was clearly not the case with Urantia, as was proven by many events of the bestowal. Second, and more subtle, a broken planet must learn to fix itself. Otherwise, it would constantly need fixing and become an eternal dependent on divine omnificence. It is clear from The Urantia Book that personally taking care of every detail of running a universe is not the job Michael signed up for when he started his creative exercise. Even worse, other planets throughout Nebadon would be thus deprived of the opportunity to observe the mortal process of planetary recreation and maintenance. It was equally important for the other planets to observe how this is done and learn to do it for themselves.

The Spirit of Truth would, of course, provide the major motive force for planetary re-creation; however, the bestowal offered a window of opportunity in which Deity could interact directly with and directly instruct humanity in the proper way. For this, though, there would need to be a clear message that could be communicated unambiguously to a critical core of humans who would be so convinced of its truth and so motivated to its dissemination that it would spread throughout the planetary culture and provide the psychic substrate on which the Spirit of Truth could more readily activate the human will to perfection. The problem for Michael was, of course, what this teaching, this revelation, would be and how he would fix it so firmly into the thought streams of humanity that the essential saving message at its core would never be lost.

I suggest that he would have most desired to give a clear teaching of truth to all humanity. Such a teaching would be embraced by a homogeneous social institution which would be well prepared to carry forward its worldwide dissemination and application. Such would have been the course of the bestowal on a normal planet, and such a bestowal would have ended in a physically as well as spiritually dignified manner, as befits the incarnation of a Paradise Son.

We know, however, that, on Urantia, the rebellion of the original Planetary Prince and the subsequent default of Adam and Eve had made the emergence of such a worldwide institution of enlightenment impossible and had resulted in the persistence of wildly fragmented races and religious and cultural sects for tens of thousands of years, right down to the times of Michael's appearance. There was no way a single human being, even one who incarnated the person of Deity, could create such an organization in the space of a single mortal lifetime without recourse to a vast amount of superhuman intervention in planetary affairs.

The only possibility that would be open to the incarnate Michael would be to work with the existing and highly fragmented human institutions. Unfortunately, there was not even consistency or coherence of purpose among these groups. Some of the Greeks had made great progress in philosophy and refining the art of clear thinking. The Romans, as a society, had learned many of the arts of government. The Hebrews had developed a profound intellectual and literal commitment to their humanly evolved idea of righteousness. Behind it all lurked some of the ideas and teachings of Melchizedek, which had helped foster and stabilize the light of truth, but nowhere was there either a literal or a psychic basis for opening a dialogue, much less making a quick move to coherence and unification.

In the city of Memphis, near Alexandria in the Nile delta, there flickered a faint light of actual truth. Here, in the precincts of the ancient temple of the Aten, a small, almost unknown, nearly secretive group kept alive the knowledge and traditions of Egypt from the times when the young Pharaoh, Ikhnaton, under the tutelage of his mother, the Great Empress Tiye, had made bold to reform the whole of his nation to the worship of The One True God. Although Ikhnaton's vision had failed his nation, and the great city of god at Akhetaten had long since crumbled to dust, this brief but spectacular effort had deflected the course of cultural history in the Levant and made possible the persistence of the teachings of Melchizedek and the Salemite missionaries down to the times of Moses and the emergence of the Hebrew peoples.

Except for a few isolated individual visionaries scattered here and there, this group of communicants of the Aten in Memphis was the only group of humans on Urantia that possessed, at least in their traditions, a reasonably accurate understanding of the broader meaning and purpose of Michael's bestowal. Had Ikhnaton's reforms succeeded, Michael would have probably incarnated in Egypt, and Urantia would be a very different place today. But the small group of believers that actually persisted in the Aten cult was too small and inward-directed ever to make a short-term useful impact on human society. An analysis of the prospects of this devoted group of followers would show that, although they possessed an understanding of the facts of the bestowal, their destiny would be to have known the truth, to have been more cosmically aware than the rest of the planet, but to have been unable to act effectively to take advantage of this fact.

As Michael surveyed Urantia from Salvington, he must have thought that, given the limitations of the Aten cult, the next-best venue for his ministry would be the Hebrews, who held the essential truths of his teachings buried deep within their complex theology and legalistic religion. They were especially well-organized and, if they could be won in large numbers to the truth, it might be possible to reform the Jerusalem-centered ecclesiastical bureaucracy into a useful tool. On the other hand, the actual practice of their religion had degenerated into sacrificial rituals that were awesome in their embrace of materialism.

Worse yet, their concept of divine truth had degenerated into a religion of the book that focused heavily on a body of supposedly sacred texts which contained a little truth admixed with vast amounts of completely fictitious racial history. Across the centuries their scribes had dutifully copied the writings of ancient prophets, and, with each transcription, had updated the teachings to harmonize with the evolving racial and political consensus regarding the final emergence of a Jewish state with supreme authority conferred by God himself. The ethnocentric silliness of this belief was clearly not apparent to the Hebrews themselves, who found solace from the hard facts of Roman rule in such quaint fantasies.

As a result, there was virtually nothing in the pseudo-sacred texts of the Hebrews that Michael could expect to use effectively to affect the formal, organized thinking of a devout "people of the book." Aside from an appeal to the spiritual nature, the best concrete, textual reference was the prophecy of the "Son of Man" from the supposed writings of Enoch. This legend, only partly accredited, would have to be his vehicle for exerting direct leverage on the Hebrew attitudes. Then, perhaps, by illuminating the genuinely prophetic writings where fragments remained in the canon, enough spiritual pressure could be brought to bear to achieve some useful results.

The problem, of course, would be that, once the Jews found out that he was the "promised Messiah," they would want him to pay off on all the promises that had been made to the race in his name by generations of pseudo-religious social parasites who knew nothing of his real nature. That was clearly impossible. It would be a disservice to everyone on the planet, and would have worse results than just fixing up the mess by divine fiat, since the Hebrews suffered under primitive tribal standards of socialization in virtually every important respect.

Clearly, anything he did with the Jews would have to work into their organized programs in some way. Since being the wholly acceptable Messiah was definitely out, he would have to consider alternative approaches. The intensely significant and sanctified feast of the Passover might offer some possibilities for religious engineering.

I imagine the Salvington corps of bestowal analysts must have worked long and hard with Michael, sifting through the details of all branches of Urantian culture and religious thought in planning the bestowal. It must have been clear that the greatest hope for improving the planet would come from having a major, organized body of mortal culture wholeheartedly embrace his teachings. The prime candidate for such a transformation would have been the Hellenized culture of Rome, which had not only managed to grow and stabilize itself for many centuries, but had generally served to unify and harmonize (by force) the wildly divergent cultures of the Mediterranean basin. The problem, of course, was that the Greeks, who exerted substantial intellectual influence, didn't care much about real religion, and the Romans, who ultimately ran things, were even less interested than the Greeks.

I think the Salvington surveys must have turned up one additional ray of hope, besides the Hebrews, and this was among the devotees of the strange and remarkable father-god of ancient Persia, Mithra. As the tides of trade, government, and commerce had swept eastward from Greece and Rome into the Levant, so had complementary currents moved out of Egypt, India, and Persia, carrying with them the news of ancient gods and legends. These supermortal beings were no less believable in their attributes and aspects than were the happy go-lucky gods of Mount Olympus, ruled over by Zeus/Jupiter, a name which itself meant "God the Father" (dyaus p'ter) in the Indo-European root tongue. The very novelty and unfamiliarity of the new Eastern deities, and the continuing pressure of growing scientific knowledge, fostered syncretism and the emergence of new, more encompassing theologies.

Tarsus, the Roman capital of the province of Cilicia, and the birthplace of the Apostle Paul, was an ancient Hittite city which had been conquered in the ninth century B.C.E. by the Assyrians under Shalmaneser III, and in the sixth century by the Persians. The passage of Alexander in 333 B.C.E. led to cultural changes through which the city became sacred to the memory of the Greek hero and demi-god Perseus. The revised worship of Mithra, the ancient father-god of the Persians, had surely reached Tarsus, through its large Persian population, soon after the sixth century conquest. The later arriving Greeks introduced their belief in Perseus as the father of the Persian race, while laying the foundation for a major school of Stoic philosophy, and this heady mythic metaphysical brew became the formative solution for a new religion. The announcement of the discovery of the precession of the equinoxes by Hipparchus, in 128 B.C.E, may have provided the seed around which an exotic and complex secret doctrine would crystallize.

Perseus was one of the sons of Zeus by a mortal, named Danae. Apparently, in the way myths evolve, the early Hellenization of the Mithra cult resulted in the transplantation of the heroic exploits of Perseus, the son of Zeus by a mortal, onto the person of Mithras, the son of Mithra born miraculously from the Earth-mother. Meanwhile, the Stoic school at Tarsus, which had long sponsored an astral religion of personal salvation (in which Perseus seems to have functioned as the keeper of the gates on the pathway of souls to and from genesis), was shaken to its roots by the discovery of Hipparchus that the "fixed stars" were anything but "fixed" in the sky.

While the immediate effect of this discovery was to trigger an unfortunate renaissance of stoic interest in astrology, it seems that the more metaphysically minded Stoics recognized, in the precession, the hand of a deity who ultimately transcended all others recognized from antiquity, but especially the sun, moon, and planetary gods. Perhaps because of local bias and astrological considerations, this splinter group of Stoics fixed on Perseus/Mithras as this transcendent deity and began an elaborate and esoteric reification of the "old religion" along the lines of their own apocalyptic and eschatological beliefs. Because of this deep connection into the intelligensia of Cilicia, variants of these beliefs became established throughout all social strata, particularly during the reign of Mithridates VI Eupator, the king of Pontus who conquered most of Asia Minor around 88 B.C.E. By the time Mithridates was overcome by Pompey in 66 B.C.E., Mithraic rites were firmly established as the normative religion among the Cilician pirates (Mithridates' navy), and probably in his other armed forces as well.

By the time of Michael's final review of the Urantian situation, just before embarking on the bestowal, the Mithras cult had developed its own, unique character and was spreading rapidly throughout the Roman Empire. It had, in fact, become the dominant, though unofficial, religion of the Empire. The soldiers of the Roman army had adopted Mithraism from their former enemies, who entered imperial service after Pompey's victory. Their conquests became the fertile stream which carried the cult to the far corners of the empire. This situation can have hardly escaped the attention of the Salvington planners of the bestowal. Let us consider for a moment some of the beliefs of Mithraism, to the extent they may be inferred from archaeological evidence.

The origins of much of Mithraic ritual lay in conventional fertility-astrology myths. Mithras is the son of god. He is a heroic solar deity, and is associated with the Sun. According to the solar version of the heroic myth, the son (of the Sun), in his mission from heaven to earth, performs his great deed which re-fertilizes the soil for the next season of growth. Subsequently, he dies and, on the third day, arises from the dead and ascends to heaven. Therefore, the day most sacred to solar heroes is December 25th, for this is three days after the Winter Solstice, when the resurrection of the Sun from the slow death of Autumn is first apparent to the careful observer. Because Mithraism incorporates additional mythic features of deity transcendence, probably added by the Stoics, the god of the Sun is also the Son of God. Even so, he and his father are one, for his father is also the Sun.

The Salvington analysts of Urantian religions must have known of the bizarre twistings of parts of the Melchizedek teachings which had somehow migrated into this new religion of Rome. Although Mithraism had been strongly influenced by Zoroastrian teachings of a dualistic spiritual universe, the fact that, in Mithraic myth, Mithras triumphs redemptively over the universal forces of decay and death showed that good would eventually come out on top. If the supposed mythic facts concerning the sojourn of god on earth counted for anything, the Mithraic version was closer to the truth than the Hebrew concept of the Messiah, which was grounded in the primitive tribal idea that Yahweh, the volcano demon, was literally the absolute god of the universe. Although the Mithraic liturgy was somewhat unsavory in its reliance on astrological iconography, sacrificial blood, and purifying holy water, it was no more offensive than the temple services in Jerusalem.

Given this somewhat more detailed (and speculative) view of the circumstances of the bestowal than is presented in The Urantia Book, how did Michael decide to deal with his need to create for Urantia some vehicle for improving human welfare and responsiveness to the upheaval induced by the bestowal of the Spirit of Truth?

The story is familiar to us. He is born in Bethlehem as Joshua Ben Joseph. He is recognized by a few people who really have some idea of his divine purpose. Old Simeon and Anna in the temple at Jerusalem are the ones we know best for giving voice to the heartfelt longing of the Jewish people for a deliverer, although their recognition was prompted by Zacharias, the priest. The priests of Ur sought out the infant, again in response to knowledge acquired by direct revelation to one of their associates.

As we know, circumstances conspired so that the infant Jesus was taken to Alexandria. And here occurred the only direct recognition of his divinity from traditional human sources that would mark his entire life on Urantia. For here those priests of the Aten, privy to the sacred heritage of Egypt's brief golden age of the spirit, journeyed from Memphis to see Jesus and "...to some extent understood certain phases of his divine mission to Urantia." Although this visit fulfilled an ancient obligation, and allowed the communicants of the Aten to know the supreme joy of being right about otherwise unknowable matters of spiritual destiny, even when ignored by the world, there was no way Michael's purpose could be fulfilled within this community.

Most importantly, it could not be fulfilled here because it did not depend on direct access to the wealth of human commerce or the organization of human government. Rather, as a result of the well-understood religious patterns on Urantia, it depended on a successful takeover or redirection of one or more extensive, well-organized religions through affecting the hearts of its communicants. No direct assault through the powers of mind or money could achieve this in the way the Spirit of Truth could, as it activated the memory, the story of the bestowal life, the bread of life.

Jesus left Alexandria and returned with his family to Galilee, for this course had already been selected by the Salvington planners. There he grew to young manhood as Jesus of Nazareth, the child of as yet unfulfilled promise. During this time he mastered the intellectual content of the Hebrew religion and found the critical writing in the Book of Enoch which he had planned to make the starting point of his attempt to minister to the Jewish people. The liberal religious atmosphere of Galilee did not overwhelm or crush the human side of his spiritual development, so that his human mind was able to find the great truths within the scriptures and recognize the Enoch fragment when it came to him. Perhaps from an unrestrained position in Galilee he would actually be able to work his spiritual lever on the establishment at Jerusalem and shift the establishment onto a more productive path.

Eventually, he was able to travel from home, to see the civilized world, and even go to Rome. And here he made the second great connection of the mortal mind with the deity inevitability as he became fully acquainted with all the religions of the world, but most especially with the religion of destiny, Mithraism. Already Jesus had met with a Mithraic priest of Persian extraction at Carthage, and had delivered his memorable discourse on time and space. A central element of this discourse is an exposition of the difference between the human concepts of time and space and the perceptions of these realities held by lower (animal) and higher forms of consciousness. The focus of the discourse is on the nature and mechanism of conscious immortality, and the level of discussion is the most cosmologically advanced of any of Jesus' discourses reported in The Urantia Book. The ideas presented deal with Ultimacy as a reality apart both from the Absolute and the Finite, and mark this as an extraordinary revelation, considering the time and place. But more remarkable discussions were yet to occur.

With Nabon, the Greek Jew who served as a high priest of Mithras in Rome, Jesus held many meetings, of which the most significant was the discussion of truth and faith, presented on pages 1459 - 60 of The Urantia Book. Jesus' discourse went far beyond contemporary human understanding of these realities and permanently influenced Nabon's way of thinking about these things and their relationship to the attainment of personal immortality. Since the attainment of salvation was a major concern of the mystery cult, these discussions did much to uplift Nabon's concept of the truth embodied in the myths of Mithras. We are told, "These truths continued to burn within his heart, and he was of great assistance to the later arriving preachers of Jesus' gospel." And indeed he was.

In each of his encounters on the trip to Rome and the return to Nazareth, Jesus was selecting and preparing individual human truth seekers in many different schools of philosophy and theology to understand and to appreciate aspects of his revelation that would be particularly relevant and inspiring to the unique view point of their faith. Once this work was completed, once the fuel was laid for the religious conflagration that would sweep the Roman Empire, Jesus returned home to strike the match and ignite the kindling to start the process of religious transformation. After a period of personal preparation, he visited John and was baptized, completed the perfect and permanent alignment of his will with the will of the Father, and retired to Mount Hermon for forty days to complete the "cross-check" for his mission. It was during this time that the mortal and divine minds could fully intercommunicate and final decisions concerning the plans laid long ago on Salvington could be affirmed by the mortal mind based on the mortal life experience and acquired knowledge of life on Urantia.

Once he had fully affirmed and fine-tuned his plans, he returned from the mountain and began to select and to train the Apostles. He taught them, and the later evangelists, all the truth that they could bear, and then made them practice telling this truth to others. Appearing now among men as the Son of Man, Michael gradually extended his sphere of influence to bring his revelation of truth to hungry souls throughout Judea, Samaria, and the Decapolis, never competing with, but always complementing the work of John and his disciples. Finally, on January 13, 28 AD., three days after the death of John, Jesus arrived at Capernaum, in Galilee, to begin the next major phase of his public ministry. Up to this time he had taught the Apostles of truth and spiritual realities, but they had comprehended little. As always, they could not bring themselves fully to discard the racial delusions of the Jewish concept of the Messiah as a temporal ruler.

This obsession with the Messianic myth was so powerful that it kept Jesus from imparting a fuller understanding of his mission and purpose to the disciples and prevented them from properly understanding and acting on what he told them. Without the healing, helping ministry of the Spirit of Truth, the Apostles were unable to discriminate between their long, dearly held Messianic delusions and the cosmic truth which was exhibited daily before their eyes. At best, Jesus could hope that the teachings and the experiences would fill their minds with information consistent with cosmic truth, and inconsistent with their fondly held delusions, so that the eventual activation of these memories by the Spirit of Truth would enable them to begin to function on higher levels of faith. One senses, in reading this part of the book, the repeated disappointment which Jesus felt at the continuing incapacity of the Apostles to grasp and work with higher spiritual truths. In spite of this, the teaching work did make progress, and when, after the death of John, Jesus began not merely to teach but also to heal the sick and infirm, the news of his actions spread rapidly and attracted much attention.

It is clear that Jesus had made a conscious choice for the Son of Man to enter into a more demonstrative relationship towards the multitudes after John's death. He surely had planned to capitalize on the work done by John in preparing the way for his supposed Messianic role, and to accept that role to the extent it could be made to fit reality and to the extent the Jews would accept him in that role. It was unimportant that he could never really fulfill the total Jewish vision of Messiah. He would be what he was and show those who were willing to understand how his life and ministry transcended their highest ideals of Messiah. In addition, helping and healing people was both gratifying to his own deepest merciful impulses and evocative of increasing levels of popular attention and support for his ministry.

Unfortunately, his increasingly miraculous and attention-grabbing ministry worked against some of the more subtle aspects of his mission. The Messiah obsession of the multitudes made it even harder for them to focus usefully on his teachings than it had the Apostles, who benefited from close everyday contact with him. But this was expected too. Surely, he had foreseen the statistics of his popular appeal, even if he could not accurately predict the outcome of individual free will choice. As much as his mercy impulse prompted him to help and heal all his unfortunate children on Urantia, he would not do so, for it was essential that humankind master these problems itself, within the scope of its evolved planetary knowledge. A necessarily temporary removal of this burden would be worse than no help at all, especially since the people were so unwilling or unable to embrace the higher motivations to truth-seeking that he taught.

For fifteen months of his public ministry, Jesus appeared as both a teacher and a healer, but the work of healing increasingly consumed his energies and gradually stirred up more and more opposition from the religious authorities in Jerusalem. As the point of diminishing returns on this phase of his ministry was reached, Jesus performed his most massively visible creative miracle, the feeding of the five thousand, and then, at the peak of his popularity as a miraculous Messianic personage, refused to be made a king, disheartening many of his followers who left that day, never to return.

The necessity for shedding any remaining semblance of the Messiah role became even more apparent when, a few days later, he confronted the religious authorities from Jerusalem at the Capernaum temple. In the epochal sermon, presented on pages 1709-11 of The Urantia Book, we see for the first time that Jesus is actually claiming his own deity, notwithstanding that the Apostles' recognition of that change in approach will be delayed another four months. Surely he did not decide to take this new and extreme position without recognizing that, at this point in his ministry, the reaction of the religious authorities would be severe and negative. And so it was. From this time forward, although the door to forgiveness and reconciliation by Jesus would remain open to the religious authorities, Jesus' ministry would focus on the individual. Any idea of his life as a fulfillment of the Jewish racial destiny would not be seriously entertained, notwithstanding that the Apostles and many of his closest followers would continue to believe in it.

The great collapse in popular support, combined with the increasingly active opposition by the religious authorities, reduced Jesus' following to a minute fraction of its former size. Yet these remaining disciples were more numerous than those he had at the beginning of his work, and they had survived the disappointment of his first major break with the Jewish Messianic delusion. The result was the accomplishment of what had been Michael's purpose from the beginning of his public work as Jesus. He had managed to assemble a following of liberal-minded Jews who, by virtue of their experience of living and working with him for over two years, were totally loyal to his vision and trusting of his life purpose, even though they did not at all grasp its import. In short, their loyalty was increasingly fixed on Jesus as a person and less and less dependent on their confusions about his presumed Messianic role.

Yet even after this, there were many among his followers who remained because their Messianic delusion was so strong as to override the clear evidence of error which Jesus had provided. During the ensuing four months, he tried his remaining followers sorely, forcing them to face the near total rejection of his apparent mission by the general populace, and affording them few opportunities to experience acceptance of their teaching. Through out all this time he continued to teach, placing ever greater emphasis on the new revelation "of the spirit of the living God who dwells in the minds of men." And in conjunction with the emergence of this new and expanded view he increasingly disclosed his deity both to the religious authorities and to the Apostles.

He had carefully prepared the Apostles to achieve closure on the new revelation of his person and had laid the plans to achieve this closure which would bring about, at last, the ignition of planetary religious redevelopment, the irrevocable launch of the final eight month phase of his mortal life. It is appropriate to close this paper with an examination of this pivotal moment when the plans of Salvington, matured and refined through the mortal life, were set into final motion, since the outcome of this moment will move Michael's bestowal mission forward to its accepted, if not planned, conclusion.

What exactly had happened as a result of the final rejection of Jesus by the Jewish religious authorities which caused him to take this new direction? Two previous approaches to a coherent life mission appeared to have failed. The Son of Man, as a teacher, achieved only limited success. The Son of Man, as a teacher-healer, while apparently successful in attracting attention, created a confusing image by reinforcing the Messianic longings of the Jews, which he could never fulfill. Now, however, a new objective appears on the scene. For the final phase of his bestowal, Michael will structure the external, visible, material part of his life in such a way as to mesh with the salvation myth of Mithraism, which is, in material if not in spiritual content, much closer to the facts than the myth of the Jewish Messiah. And this is the final stage which must have been planned from the beginning on Salvington. No wonder the mortal mind of Jesus seemed to have its doubts.

In adopting this approach, or, rather, in accepting this final plan as a model for his earth life, the human Jesus was required to accept certain extraordinary corollary requirements. He would not try to be, nor would he want to be, a prophet or savior to the Mithraic cult. His experience with the Jews showed the problems in that approach. Rather, the story of his life, especially these last eight months, would become a vehicle by which his later apostles and followers would, without even meaning to, successfully take over the structure of the widespread Mithraic cult and infuse it with their Galilean ideals of liberalized Judaism, from which could then flower, under the influence of the Spirit of Truth, a religion of adequate power to preserve the ideals, if not the realities, of Jesus' religion to the time of a new, more tolerant, and spiritually conscious world order.

In order for this to happen, Jesus would have to become known as the Son of God, and would have to be fully accepted as such by a critical mass of Galilean Jews. This acceptance would have to be a matter of total personal faith, and not simply a matter of instruction. They would have to know the truth to the very core of their beings. It would be desirable for Jesus to enact, for their edification, a true parallel to the mythic adventure of Mithras. The Apostles would have to know and understand the reality of Jesus' victory over the Lucifer rebels. They would have to witness, in part, his acceptance and confirmation as the supreme power of the universe. Most of all, they would have to experience the phenomenon of a visible resurrection, with lots of appearances in the morontia form to convince large number of believers, who had not been close to him during his life, of the veracity of the Apostles' stories.

There was definitely a down side to this plan, especially for the human Jesus. As much as the Jewish authorities had hated and despised him and his teachings when he appeared as the Son of Man, they would become positively apoplectic when he claimed deity sonship as the Son of God. It took no great insight to know that they would pursue him personally to the limits of their ability, and destroy him when they could. That would be distressing, to say the least. On the other hand, there was much advantage to continuing a Hebrew-oriented ministry, even though it would hasten the end. In particular, the rite of the Passover could be readily adapted to form the foundation of a real communion experience.

He knew that, once he had attained full co-supremacy over the local universe, he would be able to literalize his presence anywhere and anywhen, so that, if he committed to appear wherever and whenever his followers celebrated the sacrament of remembrance, all practitioners of this form of communion throughout the time and space of Urantia would at last be able to worship in the genuine deity presence and be subject to the divine influence on their minds and souls. Since the Mithraic cult had already made a communion ceremony central to the weekly celebration of their belief system, the transformation of this ritual into a literal spiritual communion would expose the Mithraic communicants to regular, high-quality spiritual contact, whether they planned it or not. The rite would lay the foundation for the spirit to accomplish the motivation of the laggard human will.

Of course, the adapted Mithraic rite would have vastly more effect on its communicants than would occur with his own Apostles (who had been taught the truth and only awaited the activation of the spirit) or on the ceremonial Jews (who would experience relatively less exposure to the deity presence, since the communion was not a formal feature of their worship). The rapid acceleration of spiritual uplift among the Mithraists, once connected to this reality, would rapidly change the Roman Empire, since Mithraism was the major religion of personal experience within the Roman Army. Because of the extreme organization of the army, as well as the organization of the Mithraic cult, the infusion of spiritual power would create a social force able to begin the reformation of planetary culture.

Although I have described this plan quite plainly, this was not a cynical exploitation of human foolishness. Rather, it was a divinely loving acceptance of the necessity forced upon the bestowal Son by mankind's unwillingness to recognize the possibility of deity as anything other than a totem god. Although Moses and the Hebrew prophets had repeatedly tried to center the developing cult of Judaism on a spiritual concept of deity, judged in terms of statistics and outcome, they had failed miserably. Yet within ceremonial Judaism there lurked a concept of the truth, and within the lay followers of Judaism there were a few who retained this concept of the truth and were able to respond to Jesus when he appeared. The opposition of the majority was necessary to fully dramatize the occasion, and this could never have occurred in a liberal, cosmopolitan community like Alexandria. Without this persecution, Michael could not have created the image of the mythic Jesus that would enable the reform of Mithraism and lay the foundations of the future.

The central problem of making this work, not just for the Mithraic cult, but for all other religionists who might someday hear the Apostles' stories, was to totally lock in their commitment to his deity. The Apostles knew Jesus on many levels. They had known him as an expert carpenter. They had experienced him as a knowledge able fisherman. They had heard him teach individuals and multitudes. And they saw him heal the sick and infirm. They saw him multiply the loaves and fishes. And, when he had at last triumphed over the emotions of the crowd and was ready to be crowned King, they saw him refuse. Now it was necessary to force these Apostles to think, to analyze and to understand the meaning of all these things. He must challenge their ideas of the Messiah forcefully, yet build on them to achieve an understanding of his true nature and to lay the foundation of the new world order.

To do this, he put the Apostles through the most trying experiences of their lives up to this time. He took them to places where nobody was interested in their message. He forced them to reconsider what they were doing and why they were doing it. And he told them repeatedly that he was the Son of God and was one in both deity and divinity with his father.

Then, at what must have been the psychological low point in their hopes up to this time, he deliberately issued the challenge to their faith and belief, knowing the intended and hoped-for result. First he asked them, "Who do men say that I am?" Then, after the Apostles had expressed a number of viewpoints, he invited them to disavow these lesser concepts of his nature with the clincher question (and note the phrasing of the idea) "But who say you that I am?" I wonder if the mortal Jesus held his breath while he waited for the answer to this one. He had focused heavily for the past four months on building the Apostles up for this moment. Would it work? What would be the result? Would it be close enough to the ideal that he would have what he needed?

In the event, Simon Peter obliged with his spontaneous outburst, "You are the Deliverer, the Son of the living God." Jesus' reply is even more remarkable, for he said, "This has been revealed to you by my Father. The hour has come when you should know the truth about me."

Obviously, he found the response satisfactory, but what did he mean by saying that it had been revealed to the Apostles by the Father? He had certainly spoken words that appear to have more or less that same message on many occasions during the past four months. What had the Father revealed? I believe that Jesus recognized in Peter's assertion a depth of acceptance of this truth that went far beyond mere intellectual assent. And it was in this that he recognized the revelatory hand of the Father, confirming the extraordinary path his divine self had planned and his human self had accepted for the remaining eight months of his bestowal life.

It was necessary for Jesus to make sure that the Apostles genuinely believed that they had discovered this truth completely independently and of their own, guided free will. He had to give them the opportunity to change their minds, so that they would be fully committed to this truth during the trying times ahead. So the following day he said to them, "Now that a full day has passed since you assented to Simon Peter's declaration regarding the identity of the Son of Man, I would ask if you still hold to your decision?" To which Simon replied, for them all, 'yes, Master, we do. We believe that you are the Son of the living God." And then Jesus took the first step on his now-certain path, when he said:

"You are my chosen ambassadors, but I know that, in the circumstances, you could not entertain the belief as a result of mere human knowledge. This is a revelation of the spirit of my Father to your inmost souls. And when, therefore, you make this confession by the insight of the spirit of my Father which dwells within you, I am led to declare that upon this foundation will I build the brotherhood of the kingdom of heaven. Upon this rock of spiritual reality will I build the living temple of spiritual fellowship in the eternal realities of my Father's kingdom. All the forces of evil and the hosts of sin shall not prevail against this human fraternity of the divine spirit. And while my Father's spirit shall ever be the divine guide and mentor of all who enter the bonds of the spirit fellowship, to you and your successors I now deliver the keys of the outward kingdom--the authority over things temporal--the social and economic features of this association of men and women as fellows of the kingdom."

So the Apostles also felt Jesus had finally decided to entrust them with a role in his Kingdom. It is doubtful that they understood what they had received, but they felt they had been given something, and that reinforced their commitment to stand by Peter's confession.

From here on in Jesus' life, he will increasingly live the life of a mythic hero. And he does this deliberately, to reinforce the myth, which is the most substantial literal thing the bestowal limitations allow him to leave to a generation of totem worshipers. He has already fully expounded his message of truth to the Apostles and to the people of Palestine. Knowing that that revelation is doomed as a social force, he now works to provide the mythic trappings, the sugar-coating which will make the awful social medicine of truth palatable.

The price the divine Michael will pay for this decision is, in its way, as great as the price the Christ myth says that Jesus paid on the cross to redeem the souls of a sinful world. The spiritual price to the human race is horrendous in the near term. And every spiritual horror which flows from this decision, and their number is beyond human calculation, is a double agony to the Creator Son because he experiences it personally through his mortal children and he knows that it is an inevitable consequence of his plan for the rapid, radical uplift of Urantia. Growth is accompanied by discomfort. Extreme growth is accompanied by extreme pain.

Let us examine some of the small change that makes up the price of Peter's confession and Jesus' acquiescence. Religious truth will be submerged on Urantia for fifty generations in the cocoon of a gross pagan myth that the incarnate deity decided to literalize in order to capture the attention of a totem-minded culture. The factualization of this myth will make it terribly difficult to uncover the truth, except through the passage of time. Those far-seeing souls who dare to penetrate the myth to secure the truth will be persecuted by Jesus' appointed managers of human affairs even more outrageously than the Master himself was persecuted by the Jewish authorities.

In time the practice of the religion of the myth will diverge so much from the inner truth that men will see the truth standing apart, an obviously divine reality unto itself. Perhaps a new revelation will be possible to sharpen the difference and accelerate the change, while making the divergence abundantly clear. But the price of further acceleration will beget more conflict for a time. In a sense, the belief system of the human race was tricked by God for two thousand years in a way which displays respect for the human mind only as a vehicle of free will choice. Man chose to require his savior and teacher to function as an object of idolatry in order to be believed. And the savior accepted this role because it was the best he could do with the resources at hand. And all the best religious engineers of Salvington had examined the problem beforehand and agreed with the diagnosis and treatment.

In the end, this was the best way to maximize the penetration into human culture of the knowledge and attitudes of heart that would be necessary to work effectively with the Spirit of Truth. The price was that the Creator Son would have to endure a lot in the short term, until the human spirit on Urantia could begin to find and harmonize with itself and with his own.

I think Michael must have carefully weighed the alternatives, not only before but after the event. What if he had not done this? What would have happened? He could have lived as King of Urantia, but that would have been bo-ring. Realistically, he might have stuck with the Son of Man image to the bitter finish. The Jews would have destroyed him one way or another, but he would have made only a very small mythic splash. The Apostles might not have kept the point so well and, since they would not have a good story for marketing purposes, they would have probably become a small school of religious philosophy, holding meetings in secret to avoid persecution. Ultimately, without the link into the Roman power structure, they would have gone the way of the Atenites, a fate superior to that of the Cynics and Stoics, but not much better than the followers of Abner achieved. We see that Jesus was the truly brilliant marketer, because he created the concepts that convinced Saul of Tarsus to accept the new religion, and Tarsus was the Mithraic cultural center.

If Jesus had not done these things, the Spirit of Truth would have been limited in its effectiveness in working with mortal minds that had no basis for understanding or appreciating its existence. Cultural progress would have been slow, hard, brutal, and barbaric. The truth-induced collapse of culture in preparation for the rebirth of civilization would have been deeper, because there would have been no literal, material institution to catch and preserve the useful pieces until they could be reassembled into a more appropriate structure. The recovery of civilization would have been slower, yet some aspects would have been improved. In the end, the time governor of progress was pressed to its limit by this plan and a universe learned the final lesson of the Lucifer rebellion.

There is a faster way towards perfection, if guided by the hand of God. But that faster way requires the mortal race to accept the transition from barbarism to light and life more rapidly, and does not bypass any of the steps along the way. The shocks come more frequently, the joy and pain more often, and only the eye of faith can sustain the mortal mind from the fear of this headlong rush into the unknown.

Urantia has been on this course for over 1,961 years, and today we are privileged to be recipients of the new revelation which will, at last, free the religion of Jesus from the myth of Jesus and launch our planet on the next stage of its flight toward future perfection.

(C) Copyright 1997, L. Dan Massey, Jr. 10818 Fawn Drive, Great Falls, VA 22066

Author's Note: Information in this paper about the historic antecedents and context of Mithraism is derived from the book, "The Origins of the Mithraic Mysteries--Cosmology and Salvation in the Ancient World" by David Ulansey (Oxford, 1989). The historical data and conjectures presented by Ulansey have been reinterpreted in light of statements in The Urantia Book about Mithraism.

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A service of
The Urantia Book Fellowship

Labels: Apostles, Christianity, Jesus, Jesus' ministry, Jr., L. Dan Massey, messiah, Mithras, Nabon, Peter's confession, Stoics, The Urantia Book

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Friday, March 14, 2008

The Missing Years of Jesus

Materials and quotes for a detailed study

Compiled & Presented by Dave Holt
Jan - Mar 1997
Unity Center of Walnut Creek (8 week course)

Part 1: Jesus Within the Jewish Tradition

Part 2: Jesus Visiting Other Cultures

Part 3: Further Travels with Ganid and Gonod

Note: In the materials below, "OE" denotes the "Original Edition" of
The Urantia Book and "NE" denotes the "New Edition."
The texts are identical with the exception of the page formatting and
minor changes in spelling and punctuation.

"You learn about God from Jesus by observing the divinity of his life, not by depending on his teachings. From the life of the Master you may each assimilate that concept of God which represents the measure of your capacity to perceive realities spiritual and divine, truths real and eternal." (The Urantia Book, Pg. 1856 OE)

This is how we plan to proceed--merely to observe his life, the unfolding of its story much as we might listen to the parables he himself loved to tell. At the same time I will highlight the issues that I have perceived emerging out of the text for group discussions. I will also try to relate what we "see" to some well-known idea (or controversy) of his later life, or one that Jesus himself worked with in his public ministry. These concepts will also be cited from the Bible.

"You can adequately comprehend the destiny of the mortals ofâ€¦a local creation only by a perusal of the narratives of the life and teachings of your Creator Son as he once lived the life of man, in the likeness of mortal flesh, on your own evolutionary world." (P. 360)

Part 1: Jesus Within the Jewish Tradition

The world in Jesus's time:

p. 1332, "Nothing like the civilization of the times of Jesus has been seen-since," also p. 1333, "Greece provided a language culture (I par.)

p. 1338, "three languages prevailed (1. par)

p. 1358, "There were few homes that could give better religious training (up to three languages.)

"The Galileans were not regarded with full favor by the Jerusalem religious leaders and rabbinical teachers. Galilee was more gentile than Jewish when Jesus was born." (p. 1334)

The Alexandrian connection:

p. 1355, "their sojourn at Alexandriaâ€¦the Greek translation of the Hebrew scripturesâ€¦"

Jesus growing up:

p. 1360, "his prayers-departure from more solemn & reverent modes" (sec 3, 5th last par.) and a par. about, "family co-operation" (2nd last par.)

p. 1362, formal schooling and "contact with the gentiles" because of which, p. 1363, "Nazareth was... more liberal," (up to "view of all Galilee")

p. 1396, "As time went on..." Jesus denied his destiny as "the deliverer of the Jewish people." (I par.)

The angel Gabriel described Jesus as, "the soul-healer of your people and the spirit liberator of all mankind (p. 1345)," in his visitation to Elizabeth (John the Baptist's mother).

The insularity of Jewish culture/ the distrust of "foreigners":

p. 1412, racial mingling... "Mary was much upset..." (1 par.)

More on the Messiah (the deliverer), p. 1334, "The Jewish people ... (1 par.) and p. 1339, 2 pars. under Jews and Gentiles.

Possible Question for discussion: Why, in spite of all the aforementioned biases and prejudices of the Jewish people, were they chosen above other groups to receive the bestowal son in their midst? Consider the idea quoted from A.N. Wilson for example:
"They [the Pharisees] taught that the Teaching (Torah) which came from Almighty God--while itself being holy and unchangeable --was of universal application. It was addressed to all mankind, to Gentiles as well as Jews..." (fr. Paul, The Mind of the Apostle, by A.N. Wilson)

Our first theme is emerging: How does Jesus coordinate obedience to his native tradition with the desire for freedom of expression?:

p. 1366-1367, the drawing episode, p. 1372, "Jesus remonstrated with his father about the Jewish custom" (to end of paper.)

p. 1370, "About the middle of May trip to Scythopolis" (to end of paper.)

Theme of Parenting/ Family Life:

The Death of Joseph Paper 126 #2 (p. 1388 OE/1215 NE.) How this "apparently cruel" event changed the course of Jesus's life. read all Sec 2.

A philosophy of non-violence:

p. 1401 OE (p. 1227 NE/Paper 127 #4), The Nineteenth Year (A.D. 13), the children learn Jesus's technique of non-violence.

Was Jesus a revolutionary? Let us consider that important question here. Some people try to fit Jesus into the role of a radical revolutionary. Was he a Zealot? Or a philosopher of "evolutionary" vs. "revolutionary" change?:

The Jewish Revolt of 70 B.C. was fomented by the Zealots and other Jewish revolutionaries many years after Jesus's death. It led to the nearly complete destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple (as he foretold.) The Jews were banned from living in or even visiting Jerusalem. "The city "was rebuilt as a Roman city named Aelia Capitolina." (Biblical Archaeology Review, Jan/Feb 1997)

Jesus refuses to be the leader of the Zealots at age 17 (Ref. p. 1396 OE/1223 NE, Paper 127 #2) and later on, just before his baptism (Ref. p. 1522 OE/1336 NE, Paper 136, #9).

p. 1404, (Paper 127, sec 6, par. 3-7) The first passover without the Paschal lamb up to "the law of Moses."

The episode with his brother Jude, p. 1415 OE/1239 NE (Paper 128, #6 3rd Par.) Read fr., "The family finances..." to end of section 6.

Jesus's philosophy of non-violence continues to be heard, for example, in the teachings of Gandhi, and Martin Luther King. Here is part of a speech Martin Luther King gave to a crowd who assembled outside his home after a stick of dynamite had been thrown onto his porch (Jan. 31, 1956):

"We are not advocating violence. We want to love our enemies. I want you to love our enemies. Be good to them. Love them and let them know you love them."

Part 11: Jesus Visiting Other Cultures

P. 1422 OE (Paper 129, Sec 2, par. 9-10) "...by apparent chance, Jesus met a wealthy traveller and his son .... Jesus agreed to make the trip."

Teaching the character of God:

At Joppa--Discourse on Jonah, (p. 1428 OE, p. 1251 NE/ Paper 130, #1)
a spirit liberator: "will deliver them from captivity," generous and forgiving: "fresh opportunities for wiser living," God is love, "his goodness is so great and real that it cannot contain... evil."

Teaching partnership with God:

At Caesarea, (same paper, #2) Anaxand and the cruel foreman, Jesus's first comments on "the indwelling and divine spirit."

What is the "will of God?" (other refs: p. 1221 OE, Paper 111 #5, p. 1068 NE)

Jesus discusses the indwelling spirit quite naturally with Gonod and Ganid as if they are already well familiar with the concept- -perhaps because of such teachings in the Indian tradition as:

"He who, dwelling in all things,/ Yet is other than all things,/ Whom all things do not know,/ Whose body all things are/ Who controls all things from within--/He is your Soul, the Inner Controller,/ the Immortal." (from Brihad-aranyaka Upanishad.)

"The Lord Supreme ... is the inmost soul of all, which like a little flame the size of a thumb is hidden in the hearts of men." (from Svetasvalara Upanishad.)

The Urantia Book expands on this idea of Jesus preserved in Luke 17:21, "The kingdom of God is within you," and his remembered saying on partnership: "with God, all things are possible." (Matthew 19:26; Mark 10:27)

p. 1438 OE (p. 1258 NE/same Paper 130 #6), The Young Man who was Afraid. Jesus's most successful case history in his role as a psychological healer. Relate this episode to Paul's description of the effect of Jesus's gospel:

"He is a new creature; his old life is over, a new life has already begun." (2 Cor 5:17, The New English Bible)

Jesus as a philosopher and a man of knowledge: Not only did "the common people hear him gladly," but also the philosophers and theologians of the ancient world.

Throughout the Urantia Book's descriptions, Jesus is less of the rabbi familiar to us from the Bible. We see him become reintegrated back into the whole matrix of the ancient world's philosophic, scientific and religious thought in the unique way that his ideas blend science, philosophy and religion to further serve human progress. Jesus was a practical idealist.

"At their inn there also lodged a merchant from Mongolia ... Jesus had several long visits with him. ...This merchant was a Taoist, and he had thereby become a strong believer in the doctrine of a universal Deity ... One God--the Supreme Ruler of Heaven." (p. 1429 OE, p. 1251 NE/ Paper 130, #2)

Every being in the universe is an expression of the Tao. It springs into existence, unconscious, perfect, free, takes on a physical body, lets circumstances complete it. That is why every being spontaneously honors the Tao.

The Tao gives birth to all beings, nourishes them, maintains them, cares for them, comforts them, protects them, takes them back to itself... (From The Tao Te Ching, #51, translated by Stephen Mitchell)

"Tao covers and supports all things. How overflowingly great!... To love people and benefit all things means humanity (jen). To identify with all without losing his own identity means greatness. To behave without purposely showing any superiority means broadness. To possess an infinite variety means richness. Therefore to adhere to virtue is called discipline. To realize virtue means strength. To be in accord with Tao means completeness." (attributed to Confucius by the Taoist philosopher, Chuang Tzu, or one of his pupils. 399-295 B.C.)

P. 1432 OE, At Alexandria, (Paper 130, #3 and #4, p. 1254 NE) Jesus's discussion of the relation between the visible and the invisible with a Platonist. -Jesus teaches on subjects such as: what is truth? What is evil (error)?

**Optional** On The Island of Crete, short section (#5) (At this point, the class needs to make a decision whether to cover the world religions teachings that Ganid and Jesus assembled while in Alexandria or move on to other events in their journey.)

The Sojourn at Rome (Paper 132, p. 1455 OE, p. 1275 NE)

Read all of Introductory section, and Section 1, science, philosophy & religion. A discussion of a balanced approach to progress on all three levels and liberating oneself from dogma/static truth in all three areas. The progressive human development emphasized in Jesus's talks conflicts dramatically with the ideas of last days, judging the people of the earth, the rapture, the end of an age, and Armageddon current in many contemporary Christian circles. These eschatological concepts originate partly from Jewish concerns with re-establishing their rule and smiting their Roman enemies. When Jesus predicted the demise of the Temple, the Jews could not imagine life continuing afterwards. Jesus could foresee the continuing evolution of human societies.

Other references to follow up for further study, par. 4 of The Cosmic Mind, "responds on three levels of universe reality" (paper 16, #6, p. 191 OE, p. 166 NE);
The Seven Psychic Circles, par. 4 on, "When the development of the intellectual nature proceeds faster Likewise, overspiritual development" (paper 110, #6, p.1209 OE, p. 1059 NE); Control and Overcontrol, par. 6, "when culture advances overfast, when material achievement outruns the evolution of worship-wisdom" (Paper 118, p. 1301, OE p. 1139 NE)

Section 3, Truth and Faith, talking with the priest of Mithraism. (paper 98, p. 1082 OE, p. 948 NE, for more on Mithraism if you need to know more.)

Section 5, Counseling the Rich Man, Section 6, and Section 7 beginning at par 3, "It was on the visit to Switzerland..." for a discussion of unbalanced approaches to God, philosophy without religion and visa-versa.

Part III: Further Travels with Ganid and Gonod

The Return From Rome (Paper 133, p. 1468 OE, p. 1287 NE) Read all of Introductory section and section 1, Mercy and Justice.

Key ideas:
justice, even in the universe, is vested in groups
having "absolute confidence in [the] heavenly Father's overcare." Recall from pg. 1326 (OE, p. 1159 just before par. 4), "the full meaning and the rich significance of that faith-trust which you so unvaryingly require all your creatures to master in the bestowal commission given to Michael (Jesus) before his incarnation.

Section 2, Embarking at Tarentum, up to end of par. 3, "...returned to India."

Section 3, At Corinth, up to end of par. 10, "...first Christian church in Corinth."

Section 4, Personal Work in Corinth, Read only par. 10, and 12.

Section 5, At Athens--Discourse on Science. Notice again the triads at the root of Urantia Book cosmology- -science, philosophy, religion; fact, meaning, value; matter (energy-mass), mind, spirit; a liberation from the trap of dualities such as we found in Plato with shadows of reality, original reality but no intervening middle ground of reality coming into being.

Section 6, At Ephesus--Discourse on the Soul, Notice this graph of stages in its evolution:

1. Self-consciousness ... is not the soul.

2. Moral self-consciousness= true human self-realization.

3. Spiritualization of the self-realization of the moral selfconsciousness ... leads to eternal survival of the soul.

Section 7. The Sojourn at Cyprus--Discourse on Mind, Read par. 5 to the end.

Section 9. In Mesopotomia. the Farewell between Joshua, Gonod and his pupil.

"Of all human knowledge, that which is of greatest value is to know the religious life of Jesus and how he lived it." (p. 2090, Paper 196, sec 1, par 3.)

A Service of
The Urantia Book Fellowship

Labels: Dave Holt, Ganid. Gonod, Jesus, Jewish, missing years, The Urantia Book

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The Real Gospel

What is the gospel?

If you asked several people, you would probably get several different answers. Some would say the word gospel means "good news", and it does, but that's just a definition. You want to know, "What is the good news, and where does it come from?"

Some will say that the gospel is the story about Jesus, as written by the New Testament writers, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. After all, these stories are often called the "Four Gospels". Others will tell you the good news is that God sent His son to earth as a sacrifice, to die, and to rise again, in order to atone for the sins of mankind. Still others say that Jesus' death on the cross was a ransom paid by God to redeem mankind from the Devil, and so on.

The New Testament says that Jesus and the apostles went from city to city, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God to the multitude.

"And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people." (Matthew 9:35)

"And it came to pass...that Jesus went throughout every city and village, preaching and showing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God: and the twelve were with him..." (Luke 8:1) (Also see Matthew 4:23, Mark 1:14, and Luke 4:43.)

>From these verses we can tell that the gospel was something that Jesus actually preached and taught. Thus, the question of where the gospel comes from is answered. It comes from Jesus.

The word gospel means "good news" and "glad tidings", but what exactly was Jesus telling the people? What was his message? And has the essence of it, the actual gospel, the teachings of Jesus, been partly lost to us today and replaced by another message, the teachings about Jesus?

On these preaching tours, Jesus gave the people very important information (the good news!), and it was a positive, powerful message, focused on a few specific ideas. The gospel that Jesus taught was that information which would satisfy our deepest spiritual hopes, needs and desires: to better know our Father in heaven and our relationship with mankind, to be of the Spirit and to show the fruits of the Spirit, and to have eternal life with God.

We can tell from his teachings that the gospel of Jesus, even what we may call the "religion of Jesus", was and still is, this: God is our loving spiritual Father and we are all His children, sons and daughters in His family. If we love God and love one another, we will have eternal life in heaven.

Have you heard the expression, "I got it straight from the horse's mouth"? When people say this, they mean they got some information right from the source, and therefore it is true. It is like a gold miner who finds the mother lode. The actual teachings of Jesus are from the true source, the mother lode, from God Himself, as personified by His son.

Here then are the high spiritual teachings of Jesus, the information that he was giving to the crowds, - the real gospel. It's all you need to know.

* * * * * * *

Jesus teaches us about doing the Father's will and entering the kingdom of heaven.

"Not every one who says to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven." (Matthew 7:21)

Doing the Father's will is the key to entering the kingdom of heaven. And what is the Father's will? It is simply loving God, and loving and serving our brothers and sisters on earth, our brothers and sisters in God's family.

* * * * * * *

Jesus tells us how we can have eternal life.

"And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tested him, saying, 'Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?' Jesus said to him, 'What is written in the law? how do you read it?' And he answered saying, 'Thou shall love God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbor as thyself.' And Jesus said to him, 'Thou has answered right: this do, and thou shall live.'" (Luke 10:25-28)

Do this and you will have eternal life! Love God, and love your neighbor. Could it be any clearer or simpler? Jesus knows that loving all of our fellow humans may not be easy for us, but he expects trend and effort.

* * * * * * *

Jesus tells us why he came to earth.

"And he said unto them, 'I must preach the kingdom of God to other cities also: for therefore was I sent.'" (Luke 4:43)

Many have differing views as to the purpose of Jesus' incarnation on earth. Here, Jesus himself tells us that he came to earth to preach the gospel, the good news of the kingdom of God.

* * * * * * *

Jesus teaches a new and very personal idea about the kingdom of God.

"And when he was asked by the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God would come, he answered them and said, 'The kingdom of God will come not with observation: Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.'" (Luke 17:21)

Imagine! The kingdom of God is within you. This is a stunning but misunderstood teaching of Jesus. There are several aspects of the kingdom of God. One is spiritual, - the kingdom is not a material realm. Another is the outward kingdom, - the Father and His angels off in heaven somewhere. And then there is the kingdom within. Jesus is talking about this inner kingdom when he says that the kingdom of God is within you, actually a part of the Father himself, sharing your life, going through your ups and downs with you, and if you desire it, guiding you like a compass back to Him. This is not a nebulous spirituality wafting through you, as might be imagined for a spirit being, and as might be the case in some situations, but rather a definite focalization of the Father, in you.

* * * * * * *

If we have become separated from God, Jesus tells us what the Father requires in order for us to come home to Him, to rejoin His family, our spiritual family.

"The Parable of the Prodigal Son." (Luke 15:11-32)

Many people do not give much thought to the parables that Jesus taught. They are often quoted but seldom explained. Parables are simple stories with a single, clear message. You don't have to be a theologian or a rocket scientist to understand them. In this parable, Jesus says that our spiritual Father will welcome us home just as soon as we sincerely want to return to Him. Even though the repentant son was still a long way off, the moment his father saw him coming down the road he ran to him to greet him in love and welcome him back into the family. This is how our Father in heaven responds to us, His children, always with an attitude of love and forgiveness. No matter how far down the road away from the Father you think you are, if you want to return home, the door is open.

* * * * * * *

Jesus tells us how we can have our sins forgiven.

"For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you." (Matthew 6:14)

Forgiving others is a difficult thing for us to do. In reality, the Father's forgiveness is always available to us. By forgiving others, we tap into that forgiveness, we open the door to it.

* * * * * * *

In a conversation with a man named Nicodemus, Jesus teaches us about being "born again".

"Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water [physical birth], and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." (John 3:5)

God is spirit. When we love God and desire to do His will, we are born again, born of the Spirit. It's that simple.

* * * * * * *

Jesus tells us to be perfect.

"Be you therefore perfect, even as your Father who is in heaven is perfect." (Matthew 5:48)

Nobody's perfect, as the saying goes. Perfection is not our condition, but it is our goal. The Father knows that we have been created with a "human nature", after all, He created us. It will take effort on our part to become more perfect, more spiritual, more like God. There's no time like the present to start. In the words of Lao-tzu, "A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step."

* * * * * * *

Jesus tells us about God's family.

Jesus says, "Our Father..." (Matthew 6:9, Luke 11:2)

When Jesus uses the term Father, he is talking about his Father and our Father. Above all else God is a loving Father and we are his children. If we know that we are sons and daughters of God, we will naturally want to act like one.

* * * * * * *

Jesus tells us that God knows what we need.

"...for your Father knows what things you have need of, before you ask him." (Matthew 6:8)

God knows our real needs. His kingdom is a spiritual one and our real needs are mostly spiritual in nature. When we pray, we should not pray overmuch for material things, but should pray for spiritual insight, pray for others, and pray for help to know and do the Father's will. When Jesus says, "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you..." (Matthew 7:7, Luke 11:9), he is talking about spiritual gifts, spiritual truths, and spiritual doors.

* * * * * * *

Jesus teaches us about tolerance, one of the fruits of the Spirit, and beyond mere tolerance, even love for other people and groups which may be different from our own.

"For if you only love those who love you, what reward have you? do not even the publicans do the same? And if you salute your brethren only, what do you do more than others? do not even the publicans do so?" (Matthew 5:46-47, Luke 6:32-33)

* * * * * * *

Jesus talks about sharing the good news, - his teachings.

"...freely you have received, freely give." (Matthew 10:8)

The good news is not something to be hidden under a rock. It should be shared with everyone in God's family.

* * * * * * *

Many religions are complex, but the real gospel of Jesus is simple: Love God your Father, and love your fellow man. If you do this you will be doing the Father's will, and you will have an eternal life of love and service with God. This real gospel of Jesus will also be acceptable to all of God's children on earth who love Him, whether they be Christian, Moslem, Jew, Buddhist, or Hindu.

* * * * * * *

And finally, as would be expected from the Son of a loving God, comforting words from Jesus to all of us.

"Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom." (Luke 12:32)

* * * * * * *

All Bible quotations excerpted or adapted from the King James Version.

Prepared by: Norm Du Val
PO Box 335
Wadena, MN 56482

Copyright c 1994 Please copy as needed. Rev. 11-96

Labels: born of the spirit, eternal life, forgiveness, Gospel of Jesus, Jesus, Kingdom of God, New Testament, Norm Du Val, The Urantia Book

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Thursday, March 06, 2008

The Dynamics of Inner Spiritual Guidance

The Dynamics of Inner Spiritual Guidance

Meredith J. Sprunger
October 1984

Contents
Basic conditions which facilitate the reception of spiritual guidance
How do we test the validity of spiritual guidance?
Questions for thought and study

I. Basic conditions which facilitate the reception of spiritual guidance.

Seeking to recognize and follow spiritual guidance is the most important aspect of human life. It is central to the teachings of Jesus and the great religious prophets of history.

A. Wanting to do the Father's will more than anything else.

1. A categorical will decision to dedicate one's life to God.
2. The source of an all-pervasive motivation for our lives.
3. Learning to discipline and master our minds--we need to control, guide, and direct our thinking as it is the key of all personality development and growth.

a. Develop a habitual spiritual frame of reference.
b. Eliminate the garbage and emotional poisons from our thinking.

B. Take short retreats for relaxation, thought clarification, and recharging the spiritual resources of our soul.

C. Engage in prayer and worship. It is important to understand the essential principles of creative prayer and worship.

1. Prayer and worship are complementary. Prayer has an element of self or creature interest and concern. Worship in the contemplation of God and is an and in itself. Prayer may lead to worship and be an aid to worship.
2. Prayer is communion with God which expands insight. It is both a sound psychological practice which augments self-realization and an effective spiritual technique to expand the soul.
3. Prayer is not a technique to escape life's difficulties but a way in which we can learn to face conflict and suffering meaningfully and courageously. Prayer does not change God's mind but it may change the person praying.
4. Primitive and immature prayer attempts to plead or bargain with God for health, wealth, power, or preference. Prayer, however, cannot be used to circumvent universe laws and the limits of time and space. The spiritual level of people is revealed by the nature of their prayers; however, the more mature should not criticize or ridi cule the naive and the immature.
5. Words are not important in prayer; God responds only to the true and sincere attitudes of the mind and soul. We should pray for divine guidance to solve human problems, not for some cosmic, miraculous solution.
6. To pray effectively we must face reality honestly and intelligently, attempt to solve problems creatively through spiritual guidance with the resources which we have, be dedicated to doing the will of God, and have living faith. Efficacious prayer should be: unselfish--not alone for oneself, believing--according to faith, sincere--honest of heart, intelligent--according to our insight and knowledge, and trustful--in submission to the Father's all-wise will.
7. Only prayers which are rooted in spiritual reality and sustained by faith are answered in the frames of reference of the petitioner. Prayers are answered in terms of true spiritual needs. We should not attempt to use prayer as a substitute for human ingenuity, and action; it cannot be used to escape reality. Some prayers because of their visionary aspirations and all-encompassing nature can only be fully answered in eternity.
8. Prayer is a vital and indispensable factor In spiritual growth, Even immature and presumptuous prayers expand the soul's potential. Prayer is a major resource for the achievement of human self-realization, effectiveness, and inner peace, Prayer also has great social repercussions and is an antidote to personality isolation.
9. Worship is spiritual communion with God; it is the part identifying with the Whole. It should not be confused with psychic or mystical experiences. God-consciousness is humanity's greatest opportunity and challenge.
10. Worship is the most creative activity of personal growth. It renews the mind, stimulates soul growth, eliminates insecurity and personality isolation, and greatly increases the total resources of the individual. Worship should alter with service; it is ancestor to the highest joys of humankind.

D. Making decisions and taking action--grappling with specific life opportunities and problems.

1. The clearest spiritual guidance comes through experience, not theoretical contemplation.
2. Spiritual guidance is especially communicated through the process of service to our fellow human beings.
3. The spirit of God can most effectively adjust, guide, and direct when we are engaged in the concrete activities of human life--when there is something tangible to guide and direct.
4. The feed-back of human experience is the most substantial and reliable channel of receiving spiritual wisdom, direction, and vision.
5. The spirit of God indwelling each of us has a plan for our lives. Our greatest adventure in life is discovering and actualizing that plan.

II. How do we test the validity of spiritual guidance?

A. First we must realize that our minds are quite capable of deceiving us. If we do not critically examine our inner leadings, it is easy to mistake our own subconscious will for the will of God (superconscious direction). Even genuine spiritual guidance can be distorted--often leading to half-truths and fanaticism.

1. Spiritual guidance is often on the unconscious level. God's leading is so benign, subtle, and unimposing, so admixed with the ordinary things of life that we often cannot be certain whether our inclinations have their source in our subconscious motivational needs or our superconscious value direction.

a. We hear naive, fundamentalistic Christians glibly declaring "God spoke to me..." or "God told me to do this or that." Even as a small boy when my parents attended one of these emotional groups I had some doubts about the 20/20 spiritual vision of some of the statements I heard.
b. The phenomena of voices heard by the mind's ear and visions seen by the mind's eye have been relatively frequent in religious experience. Such unusual events are impressive to the person experiencing them; however, we should not over-react but apply to them the same tests for validity that we give to the "inner leadings" of our every day life.

2. Who can say for certain that the coincidental circumstances which seem to focus meaning or value in our lives are of divine direction or are merely the chance happenings of experience?

a. Usually our first response to an inclination, leading, or idea is intuitive. We "feel" it is right, wrong, good, or questionable. Many of our decisions are made at this intuitive level.
b. Over the years as one observes these "meaningful coincidences" and ponders their precise timing one begins to suspect and then often believe that some kind of spiritual planning and guidance must have been involved in the production of such meaningful juxtapositions of events.
c. Since so much of our spiritual guidance seems to be associated with the common experiences of every day life, one suspects that the presence of God is a matter of using circumstantial manipulation as a communication technique.

3. Following our intuitive reaction to inner leadings, we need to use our common sense and logical thinking to evaluate our inclinations. We ought to be particularly wary of those leadings which logically could have origins in our conscious or subconscious fears and anxieties or those which reinforce our egocentric psychological needs--pride, selfishness, security, justification, importance, prestige, etc. It is dangerous to uncritically accept our own human desires and needs for divinely inspired direction. Conversely, if we have a tendency toward guilt and self-punishment, we ought not reject leading simply because they contribute to our fulfillment as sons-and daughters of God.

B. All of this subjective difficulty in evaluating and testing spiritual guidance points to the need for some objective standards by which we can assess our inner orientation.

1. We should apply objective criteria to complement our subjective evaluation.

a. Is it harmonious with the highest teachings of The Urantia Book? Is it something Jesus would approve?
b. Is it harmonious with the highest values and thinking of human religious culture?
c. Is it contrary to scientifically verified facts and the best scientific orientation?
d. What do the people whose judgment I most respect think about it? The approval of others is not of paramount importance but listening to the wisdom of others may be helpful to our discernment.
e. How does time and experience affect this leading or sense of mission? We need to "sleep on it," to allow days, weeks, and months to see how inner convictions look over a period of time.
f. After we are confident in our thinking that the idea or action contemplated is good and consistent with the highest and best that we know it is time to get experiential validation--we need to act.

2. After taking the leap of faith-in action, service, and living what does this experience reveal? How does it measure up to the following seven-fold pragmatic experiential test?

a. Does it improve one's physical health?
b. Does it improve one's mental functioning?
c. What social effects does it have -- does it promote love and unity or fear, anger, and disharmony?
d. Does it contribute to the spiritualization of one's every day life?
e. Does it enhance one's appreciation of truth, beauty, and goodness?
f. Does it conserve one's most basic and highest values?
g. Does it increase one's God-consciousness?
h. Does it help bring God to humankind and lead humankind to God?

3. The feedback of experience will give us information and wisdom which thinking and theory cannot reveal. In this testing of our "inner leadings" through thought and action, and altering our behavior on the basis of the feedback of experience we have exhausted our human evaluative capacities. We then must live in faith and inner conviction that we are following the will of God for our lives because we are living and acting on the highest and best that we know. Our lives are then enhanced by the power of the Spirit.

Questions For Thought and Study

1. Why do all people--unbelievers, evildoers, and psychotics-- seem to have "inner guidance?"
2. Is our "conscience" a reliable guide to spiritual reality or synonymous with the will of God in our lives?
3. Are strong feelings and emotions a reliable guide to the will of God?
4. In our prayers should we ask God for things which would alter universe laws for our benefit?
5. Does God have to be pleaded with or persuaded to do good things for us?
6. Do our prayers ever change God's mind or purposes?
7. Why do sincere and dedicated people come to such different views regarding the will of God on such issues as abortion, genetic engineering,euthanasia--or even about smoking, drinking, and wearing jewelry?
8. Should we give more weight to guidance if it comes through "hearing voices" or "seeing visions?"
9. Is it common or rare that we human beings mistake our will for the will of God? What are the results of such confusion?
10. Does the state of our health, wealth, or happiness have any relationship to God's love for us? Is health or wealth a sign of God's special blessing?
11. Why are we human beings often victimized by naive, simplistic views of God and his ways in our lives?
12. How important is intelligence or formal education in determining our capacity to receive spiritual guidance, develop spiritual insight and wisdom, and achieve spiritual growth?

Labels: experience, God, Inner guidance, intuition, Jesus, Meredith J. Sprunger, prayer, questions, spirituality, The Urantia Book, validity

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Friday, February 15, 2008

The Urantia Book in India: The 2008 World Book Fair

in Delhi, India - February 2-10, 2008

A Report by Paula Thompson, Director, The Urantia Book Fellowship

AFTER YEARS of dreaming and months of planning, a team of experienced and dedicated Urantia Book evangelists exhibited The Urantia Book at the World Book Fair in Delhi, India, February 2-10, 2008. I was blessed and honored to be a part of that team ably led by Buck Weimer and including Arlene Weimer, Charlene Morrow, Agustin Arellano and Mario Trevino. When I left for home on Friday, February 8, an Indian reader, Mr. Garfield Jansen, arrived several hundred miles by train to fill my place. It was a fantastic team and the joy, camaraderie and love at our booth attracted other exhibitors and attendees to us. Many came back and visited with us daily for the ten days we were there. We made many friends among the Muslims, Hindus and Christians who were there.

Months of preparation culminated and, at least for me, the adventure began at about 12:30 p.m. on Wednesday January 30, when Buck and Arlene arrived at my house. Our first mission was to fit 48 hardback Urantia Books, hundreds of brochures, thousands of spiritual vitamins, dozens of Urdu Sampler and Jesus books, UB Audio DVDs and numerous other booth outreach materials into our luggage along with our clothes. We were allowed to check only two bags, each weighing 50 pounds or less, and entitled to one carry-on bag which (as Buck reminded me) had a size limit but not a weight limit. For a little over an hour we worked in my garage wrapping each Urantia Book in bubble wrap and meticulously fitting them all into our bags. Buck is a maestro at this so Arlene and I wrapped and he loaded and re-loaded. We used an old bathroom scale to determine if we were in the ballpark but we knew we would have to do some shuffling of materials at the airport to maximize each bagâ€™s weight and avoid additional weight charges. Each Urantia Book weighs nearly 4 pounds so letâ€™s just say we got very creative. Buck reminded us all to leave out any non-essential personal objects and over the course of our time there me and my room buddy Charlene had occasion to miss and laugh about the â€œnon-essentialsâ€� several times.

Our next step can only be called the long, long schlep. We met Charlene at Denver International Airport and spent some time weighing and shuffling the content of bags. When the shuffling was done, 7 of our eight checked bags were stuffed to the hilt with books and effects and maxed out at 50 lbs. There was only one bag that contained 15 books and since the other bags were maxed out and there was nowhere else to put even one more book, we paid the $50.00 charge and counted our blessings. After all, we got 64 Urantia Books (256 lbs.) and numerous other books and literature to India for just $50.00. Having shipped these books around the world for two decades now, I can assure you, even I was amazed.

Buck personally carried on a bag that contained 11 books and weighed over 40 pounds. We all had at least three books in our carry-on bags. We had a good laugh at the airport when we saw people giving Buck a wide berth and realized that his bag, which was found in my garage and used, displayed the words, â€œBlack Belt Karate School,â€� prominently on the side. The Angels were indeed with us. After the long schlep of 8,843 miles, with one stop in Frankfurt, we arrived at the New Delhi International Airport, India at 2:30 AM on Friday the 1st of February. Buck had previously secured for us decent and reasonable accommodations at The La Sagrita Tourist Home, which he found in the book Lonely Planet â€“ India. Their driver was waiting at the airport to take us there.

We were exhausted but grateful to be in India in one piece with all of our various pieces in tact. We unpacked and got a few hours of sleep and then headed to the Pragati Maidan (a huge exhibition complex in Delhi) to set up our booth. We were not there long before all kinds of people swooped in wanting to sell us everything from personal guide service to poster hanging service to booth sweeping service to bottled water for the booth service and even Dominoâ€™s Pizza came by. Buck joked that word must have spread that, â€œthereâ€™s fresh meat at booth 11.â€� We passed on the pizza but Arlene did negotiate for a guide for us which proved invaluably helpful. Lotus and Bhawna Verma, a married couple, drove us everywhere we wanted or needed to go during the entire time we were there and took fantastic care of us for just 500 Rupees a day, which is less than $20.00.

* * *

It took the better part of the day to set up the booth, but we got it done and were ready to roll the next morning. Buck was our fearless leader, and we soon became Buck and the Buckaroos. Well, Arlene actually took on the affectionate Indian designation of â€œMrs. Buckâ€� but the rest of us gladly became the Buckaroos.

Saturday the 2nd of February was the first full day of the fair. Charlene and I decided it took us less than a day to fall totally in love with the Indian people. Their big sparkling dark eyes and beautiful smiles were only eclipsed by their sincere interest in us and our book. In a word, they melted our hearts. They have a unique head gesture, in which they swivel their heads from side to side. Itâ€™s graceful and beautiful, but it looks a lot like someone shaking their head in the negative. Since they would read the Spiritual Vitamins and then do this gesture, we weren't sure if they liked us or thought we were crazy. Agustin, being the student of world cultures that he is, learned for us that it is actually an affirmation, a sort of Indian thumbs up. So, for the rest of our time there we basked in the sweetness of their positive and lovely energy.

As sweet as the people are, the environment is deplorable and desperately polluted. The air is heavy with smog, smoke and a dust that daily coats everything. Coming from Colorado and the crisp mountain air, the air conditions there were shocking. Being a mom, and seeing barefoot 4-year-old children in the middle of crowded busy intersections begging, even at night, with no parent in sight really had an impact on me. Riding in a car in Delhi is a life altering experience. Even so, all things considered, itâ€™s nothing short of miraculous that Indiaâ€™s one billion people work and live together as well and happily as they do. Delhi, India is certainly a tribute to the indelible human spirit as well as the human ability to adapt, survive and even thrive.

Over the course of the next 10 days in Delhi, we made lifelong friends. There are so many, but a few stand out for me. Yuyutsu Sharma, a poet and bookseller from Nepal, had a booth right across from us. I can only describe him as a beautiful Asian Red Man. He came over on the first day and greeted us with warmth and friendship, glad to be our neighbor; in the course of a week we got to know him well. We learned of his family at home in Nepal and that his 12-year-old daughter is strongly drawn to Jesus. Yuyutsu encourages her to follow her heart and learn all she can about Jesus but he explained with a gleam in his eye that his wife thinks heâ€™s crazy to tell her that. Of course, we traded our magnificent story of Jesus for one of his books of poems and he sent it to his child the next day, via express mail. Imagine being 12-years-old, inexplicably drawn to Jesus and being able to read Part IV of The Urantia Book! Well, let's just say, it delights my imagination.

Yuyutsu is a very successful poet and heâ€™s coming to Boulder soon to read his poetry and promote his book. Of course, I offered him a place to stay. He hopes we Urantians will come to Nepal and be his guests. At dinner one night, he said, â€œI will take you all over the mountain trails, to all of the villages, and you can hand out your spiritual vitamins -- translated into Nepalese, of course.â€� We all smiled and replied, â€œOf course!â€�

I had an encounter with two young Muslim brothers, Fraz and Kashif Hasan Khan. Fraz was the older of the two and clearly the boss, doing most of the talking. They came in and took issue with us as they were clearly fundamentalists. However, they were much more polite than some other fundamentalists I've encountered. We had a wonderful and lively exchange and after at least an hour of intense conversation on subjects like Hell (which they did believe in) and Jesus being born of a virgin (which they do not believe in) we came to a place of mutual respect. I learned that Fraz is majoring in comparative religions at the university there and he very much wanted a copy of the UB. So I promised him that if he will read the entire UB I would read the entire Koran. He assured me that both he and his brother will read it. They took my email so that they might ask me questions and share insights and I have theirs. Such encounters are like the pinnacle of outreach for me.

Incidentally, the Muslims we talked to there all reiterated to us that they accept and recognize Jesus as a true prophet and believe that he is the one prophet that is coming back. As I spoke to these two young men, I would often preface my words with, â€œWell, as I said, Jesus is my prophet, and he teaches thatâ€¦.â€� I found it to be an effective way to engage them but it is important to note that, just as with Christians, the New Testament is their only source for his teachings.

I had an encounter with a pharmacist, Noor Ul Hussain, from Kashmir. Noor (which Agustin said means â€œriverâ€�) told me he was drawn to our booth and very much interested in Jesus, although raised a Muslim. Noor said he felt that he was led to us there and that God was guiding him and answering his prayers. He of course has the book now. He took off of work to come back to our booth and came back every day. After a few days, he was working with us and it was great to have him there to explain things to people who speak mainly Hindi. He works in Delhi and commutes home periodically to visit his family in Kashmir. He was headed there for an eight day visit at the end of the week. Noor spoke very good English, and said many times over the course of the week in his wonderful Indian accent, â€œYes, def-in-nately, it is a revelation, I am conveenced.â€�

While we were there, people who have had the book since 2000 (the last time the book was exhibited there by Urantia Foundation representatives) came into our booth. Some expressed difficulty in understanding the manner in which it is written and its concepts and we assured them that this is difficult for everyone even those for which English is their first language. Several of the publishers we spoke to said they felt it would do better in Indian markets as a trilogy of books. They felt that the size and cost could make it prohibitive for most Indians.

We originally decided to sell the book there for 300 Rupees, which is less than $12. But we soon learned that this amount is equivalent to an average dayâ€™s wage. Charleneâ€™s comment was, â€œThatâ€™s like paying $80.00 for it by US standards.â€� So we asked several people what they felt would be a fair price for such a book. The comment that stood out for me is, â€œLower the price to 150 Rupees and you start to see the books move out.â€� This we did and the books began to move.

When I called Buck on Saturday to tell him that I made it home safely, he said they had nine books left and were all but out of everything including Spiritual Vitamins (which people absolutely loved) and brochures (having had to print 1000 there for 1500total) and the busiest day, the last day, was still ahead.

Buck, Arlene and Charlene were headed to Jabalpur on Monday to visit with Dr. Chauhan, who has read the book in India for more than 25 years. He may be the first real Indian Urantia Book reader. He translated 2,000 quotes into Hindi (the Hindi Sampler) and we got it just in time to take there with us. We had just one printed copy, which Buck bound in a notebook as a booth copy. This was picked up and read so many times we couldnâ€™t begin to count. One fellow exhibitor came back every day to read it a little more. Each time he read it, his eyes would tear up. Agustin quickly started keeping a list of people who want a copy with a promise to each that one will be sent as soon as itâ€™s available.

In conclusion, I feel deeply satisfied that 64 more whole seeds of revelation have been planted in India, along with hundreds of lesser seeds in numerous other forms, including audio DVDs, Urdu Samplers, Jesus books, Life After Death Magazines, Inhabited Worlds brochures, select excerpt brochures and introductory brochures and soon the Hindi Samplers will be sent. In a word, we conducted splendid and effective outreach there. This is our work, the work of the revelation and the work of the Fellowship. I hope our efforts will only grow in this way and that such will be supported gladly and I pray that we not let another eight years go by before we go back to India and Asia in general.

I give my personal heartfelt thanks to Buck Weimer, who worked tirelessly to arrange this trip. Thanks Buck for your stalwart dedication! I also thank all of you who have supported the Fellowship and our work over the years. Without your support, efforts like these would not be possible. O

Paula Thompson is Director of The Urantia Book Fellowship

Labels: Delhi, India, Jesus, Muslims, outreach, Paula Thompson, The Urantia Book, World Book Fair

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Friday, January 18, 2008

Is it possible to be a bestowal son and not be fully aware of it yet?

Q: Is it possible to be a bestowal son and not be fully aware of it yet?

A: The Urantia Book speaks of Christ Michael as being a Bestowal Son , and also uses the term "bestowal" in other contexts, such as bestowal of personality and bestowal of the Thought Adjuster. As you likely know, a bestowal is a gift, or an honor given to another. There have been other divine bestowals on earth: Melchizedek was a Bestowal Son also, but he arrived as a fully grown, fully aware individual, so there was not a time when there was any question in him about what he was doing here. Adam and Eve were bestowals, but again, they arrived a adults. The only other divine Bestowal - Caligastia, who is our defaulted and deposed Planetary Prince - was also a fully formed individual upon his arrival.

There surely was a time in Jesus earth life when he was not fully aware of his divine nature, and the fact that he himself was a Bestowal Son - a true gift to the planet. He was after all, born as a helpless infant, as we all are, and had to reach a certain maturity of mind before he could grasp the truth. But it was at age thirteen years that he began to become fully aware of all these things, and by the time he was fourteen, he was already busy formulating his mission and how he would accomplish it. So, to answer your question, I guess you could say that it is possible to be a bestowal son and not be fully aware of it. Jesus' life proves that point. But only because of the nature of the bestowal, involving the maturation of a child into an adult.

Bestowals of divine personages upon the earth are rare, and wonderful. We have been richly blessed by the bestowals given us by God, even though some of them were failures, in part or in whole. Without them, we might be worse off than we are. Surely the greatest of these bestowals was that of Christ Michael as Jesus of Nazareth. And although there may come a time when God sees fit to bestow yet another divine son upon the earth, it seems hightly unlikely that there will ever again be a bestowal like that of Jesus - born as a baby to human parents.

Labels: awareness, bestowal, Jesus, The Urantia Book

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Thursday, January 10, 2008

Letter to a Friend: The Atonement Doctrine

Preston Thomas
From the Fall 1996 Spiritual Fellowship Journal

Dear B. J.:

At Thanksgiving our original discussion centered around the "blood of Jesus." As you know, my son and the girl he planned to marry broke up over this issue. She felt that as long as he did not believe that Jesus died for our sins they had no future. She believed this even though they shared a belief in God, Jesus, and basic Christian values. So this is an important issue and one I would like to discuss with you and make a clear presentation of my beliefs.

Historic Background

Let me begin with a short discussion of the historical beliefs and attitudes that led to the atonement doctrine. The early Hebrews believed that "without the shedding of blood there could be no remission of sin." (Heb. 9:22) They accepted the primitive idea that God could not be appeased except through blood sacrifice. Moses made a distinct advance in that he forbade human sacrifice and substituted instead the ceremonial sacrifice of animals.

This concept of ceremonial sacrifice was preserved, in principle, by the apostle Paul as the doctrine of atonement for sin through the sacrificial death of Jesus. Paul, however, went beyond Moses and the Jewish teachers in that he expounded theories of original sin, hereditary guilt, and innate evil. Paul was a great man; he more than anyone else was responsible for bringing Jesus' teachings to the world. But he also injected a number of his own ideas which were not taught by Jesus, and indeed, were at variance with the teachings of his Master.

I emphasize that human teachers such as Paul were not only fallible but made a serious blunder in promoting the atonement doctrine. I believe we need to make a fundamental distinction between the teachings of Jesus and those of the human followers of Jesus. Jesus is the Son of God as well as the Son of Man and his life and teachings are a divine revelation. Therefore, I believe that we should look to Jesus first, and judge all other teachings by their harmony with his life and teachings.

A Loving Heavenly Father

Accordingly, the first reason I would cite in defense of my belief that the atonement doctrine is in error is that it is not harmonious with Jesus' revelation of God as our loving heavenly Father. While the ancient Jews taught the necessity of sacrifice, Jesus, in his life and teachings, revealed a God of love, mercy, and forgiveness. The Old Testament prophets and the New Testament teachers recognized God but not with the insight, clarity, and perfection of Jesus. Although Jesus' God is just and righteous, it is love -- the heavenly Father's perfect love for his human children -- that is the defining characteristic of his teachings. This concept of God as our loving heavenly Father was the only concept, besides acknowledging God as a spiritual being, that Jesus ever taught. He said, "God is love," and in his teachings God's love is supreme over justice and all other divine attributes.

The ancient Jews had conceived of God as a harsh king-judge. They believed that the only approach to God was through fasting and sacrifice. They felt that racial guilt had separated them from God and that sacrifice was necessary to appease his divine wrath. Paul's atonement doctrine grew out of these beliefs.

But such a God sounds little like the God of Jesus. He taught that God's attitude toward us is that of a Fatherly affection -- he loves us as his sons and daughters. This fatherly affection is the dominant characteristic of the God revealed by Jesus. God's loving forgiveness is always open to us; we must only seek it and be forgiving of others. Jesus revealed this in the prayer he taught his apostles: "forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors." God's love is not held hostage to an inflexible justice that cannot forgive until a totally innocent Son is sacrificed in remission of sin.

This brings me to the second problem I find in the atonement doctrine. It assumes a lower conception of God than is presented by Jesus' life and teachings. Indeed, the conception of a father who will not forgive his erring children until an entirely innocent elder brother dies as a human sacrifice sounds barbaric. We would expect more even from a human father. This conception is a relic of ancient times and primitive beliefs, ideas, and practices which Jesus came to free us from. He brought a new and higher revelation of God; and in his life he sought to free believers from the Jewish system of ceremony and sacrifice.

The last argument I would advance in opposition to the atonement doctrine is that it was not taught by Jesus. Isn't it reasonable to assume that if Jesus' purpose in living his bestowal life on our world was to die on the cross for our sins, he would have emphasized this doctrine? But Jesus did not teach the necessity of sacrificing himself for man's sins; instead he consistently focused on the Kingdom of God.

There are other problems with the atonement doctrine. In particular, it tends to mask Jesus' true teachings of the kingdom of heaven. In his message, the gospel of the kingdom, Jesus taught that God is our loving heavenly Father and we are his sons and daughters. We are called to live a life of faith in our Father's love and over-care, to trust in God as Jesus trusted God, to trust Him as a little child trusts his earthly father.

Jesus' emphasis was always on the kingdom of heaven -- the rule of God in the hearts of his sons and daughters. The prayer he taught his apostles reveals this central teaching: "Your kingdom come; your will be done." He identified the kingdom of God with the will of God and taught that we enter the kingdom by the inner submission of our will to God's will. It is this teaching that Jesus held supreme; he did not teach the atonement doctrine.

The Meaning of the Cross

Paul taught the atonement doctrine to help make Jesus more acceptable to the Jews, and to try to explain the seemingly inexplicable fact that the Creator (John 1:3, Col. 1:16, Heb. 1:2) of our universe was killed by his own creatures.

Jesus' death was significant; it was the final act of a life of love and service bestowed upon mortal man. The great thing about Jesus' death was the way he died, the magnificent spirit in which he met that death. His final prayer, "Father forgive them, for they know not what they do," is Jesus' final demonstration of the love and forgiveness of our heavenly Father.

In Gethsemane Jesus sought to avoid his death if this choice would be consistent with the Father's will. He prayed, "Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me." But his purpose was to live the full human life of his earth creatures. And in a human life we cannot usually have our death avoided or taken away. So Jesus submitted himself to death on the cross, a death brought about by men -- not by God. It was God's will that Jesus finish his human bestowal, even though it included "drinking the cup" of death at the hands of his enemies.

Jesus' courage and selfless devotion to the service of man and God in his crucifixion inspires us onward. It was the final act of a life of service. "Greater love has no man than to lay down his life for his friends." Jesus lived a life of service, revealing truth to humankind, and he courageously and selflessly submitted to the death that truth teachers must often face.

After Jesus had asked if the cup might be removed, he finished the prayer with the words, "Nevertheless, not my will but yours be done." This prayer -- not the atonement of Jesus -- is the key to our salvation. We are saved not by Jesus' death on the cross but by our faith submission to God's will. This is evident from the fact that believing in "the blood of Christ" will not save someone who does not faithfully choose to live in accordance with the Father's will. And such a choice of God's will over our own personal will can be made independently of the death of Jesus.

Although I believe it is incorrect to refer to Jesus as our redeemer, he is truly our savior. For even though the way to salvation was open before Jesus lived, he, in his bestowal life, did truly make the way of salvation more clear to humanity. His life and teachings are our lighthouse, our certain and infallible guide to salvation. Certainly we may gain much from the teaching of his well-meaning followers, but we must also recognize that they were human and fallible. Jesus is divine and his teachings are perfect; they are the touchstone by which all other teachings should be judged.

B. J., in this letter I have attempted to restate and organize what I said to you at Thanksgiving. I do sincerely appreciate your good hearted and sincere effort to help me better understand the apostolic teachings concerning the "blood of Christ." I am also delighted to have the opportunity to express my beliefs to you. I hope they have found some reception in your mind and heart.

Sincerely,

Preston Thomas

Labels: atonement, God, Heavenly Father, Hebrews, Jesus, Paul, Preston Thomas, sacrifice, the cross, The Urantia Book

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How Jesus Taught

How Jesus Taught
by David Kantor

Contents of this study:
1. He received a comprehensive intellectual and spiritual education during his early life.
2. He prepared for his public ministry by engaging in personal ministry and travel.
3. Cosmic background for his career of ministry.
4. Specific techniques and approaches used by Jesus.
5. How can we particpate in Jesus' mission?

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He received a comprehensive intellectual and spiritual education during his early life

He asked questions. His parents answered his constant questions during his childhood -- "he was one continuous question mark." [123:2.3] (1358,1)

Later he continued to ask "many embarrassing questions concerning both science and religion . . ." [123:6.6] (1365,1)

He established an active prayer life. After his regular prayers he would always have "just a little talk with my Father in heaven." [123:3.6] (1360,2)

His home life was structured around an established system of parental involvement in children's education. [123:2.5] (1358,4)

He took care of plants, drew maps, studied the stars, and became fluent in three languages. [123:2.7] (1358,5)

He was exposed to many truth seekers because his family possessed a rare copy of the scriptures. [123:3.1] (1359,2)

He early learned about prudent financial management by administering the funds derived from the sale of doves. [123:4.4] (1361,4)

He later took over responsiblity for managing the family's affairs upon the death of Joseph. [126:2.2] (1388)

He received his moral and spiritual training at home, his theological and intellectual education from the Chazan at the Nazareth synagogue. [123:5.8] (1363,2)

He attended to the development of social skills. He spent a lot of time mingling with people and getting to know them. [123:5.6] (1362,7), [129:1.9] (1420,6)

He studied mathematics. [123:6.3] (1364,6)

He studied music. [123:6.5] (1364,8)

He interacted with religious leaders--the scribes and teachers in the temple.[125:4.1 through next three sections] (1381,4)

He took advanced courses in reading and was deeply involved in the intellectual and spiritual education of his younger brothers and sisters. [126:1.3] (1387,4), [126:3.3](1389,6)

He developed a variety of vocational skills. [126:1.1] (1387,2)

A good summary of the real achievements of his early education may be found at [127:6.12 through the end of the section] (1405,5 through the end of the section).

He prepared for his public ministry by engaging in personal ministry and travel
Tour of the Roman world and his personal ministry to more than 500 individuals.

[Paper 130](Page 1427) See also comments about his personal ministry during this trip. [132:4.1 through end of section] (1460, Section 4)

Caravan trip to the Caspian region and the Urmia lectures. [134:2.1 through end of section 6] (1484, Sections 2 and 3)

At Antioch, he lived for over two months, "working, observing, studying, visiting, ministering, . . . learning how man lives, how he thinks, feels and reacts to the environment of human existence." [134:7.3] (1492,4)

He spent time with God and critically evaluated his situation and opportunities. [134:7.1 through end of section] (1492, Section 7), [134:8.1 through end of section] (1492, Section 8)

Review Midwayer's comments about his perfected character, "The Acme of Religious Living." [100:7.1 through end of section] (1101, Section 7)

Cosmic background for his career of ministry

Review background of his bestowal. [120:1.1 through end of Paper 120] (1325, Section 1, through end of Paper 120)

Review the basics of the Nebadon educational system. [37:6.1 through end of section] (412,2 through end of section)

Review the basic objectives of Jesus' ministry. [140:8.18 through end of section] (1581,6 through end of section)

Review the objectives he had in training his disciples and apostles. [141:7.3 through end of section] (1593,5), also see "Four Months of Training." [137:7.1 through end of section] (1534, Section 7)

Specific techniques and approaches used by Jesus

Review Jesus' "Instructions for Teachers and Believers" -- "In teaching the gospel of the kingdom you are simply teaching friendship with God." [159:3.1 through end of section] (1765, Section 3)

His usual technique of social contact was to draw people out and into talking with him by asking questions. [132:4.2] (1460,7)

He used parables constructed around patterns and relationships in nature -- the vine and the branches, the mustard seed, the good shepherd.

He used symbols, particularly those which were associated with religious ceremonies in the minds of his hearers -- the light of the world, the living water, the bread of life.

He taught "as he passed by . . ." [171:7.1 through end of section] (1874, Section 7)

His teaching was appropriate to the context in which he found himself; he did not overteach [137:7.14] (1535,7)
Regarding overteaching, see comments about the approach used by the Prince's staff. [66:6.6] (750,1)

He built on what his listener already understood, enhancing and uplifting their ideals. See his interaction with Gadiah and the story of Jonah. [130:1.2] (1428, Section 1)

He did not attack the errors in his listener's beliefs; he was adept at enhancing the truth in scriptures or philosophies, wherever he found it. [132:0.4] (1455,4)

His teaching was "thrillingly dynamic," he "went about doing good." [141:3.6] (1590,2)

He didn't "grow weary" in his teaching; when he failed to reach the minds of all the apostles by means of one illustration, he would restate his message and attempt to use some other illustration. [141:4.3] (1590,7)

"Again and again he warned his apostles against the formulation of creeds and the establishment of traditions as a means of guiding and controlling believers..." [141:5.4] (1592,3)

First bring people into the kingdom; make sure they know God as their Father. After this it may then be appropriate to discuss matters related to the progressive advancement of the soul . [141:6.4] (1592,7)

He wasn't concerned about the association of his gospel with other teachings. When John forbade a stranger from teaching in the name of Jesus, Jesus said, "Forbid him not. . . how can you expect that all who believe this gospel will be subject to your direction?" [159:2.1] (1764, 3)

He refused to use power to manipulate situations for spiritual purposes. [136:8.8] (1521,3)

How can we participate in Jesus' mission?

By taking up his unfinished business of actualizing the kingdom of heaven in our world. Review "Christianity's Problem," and "The Future." [195:9.1 through end of Paper 195] (2082, Section 9)

Review his last words of admonition prior to departing from our world at the end of his bestowal -- ". . . you shall begin the new proclamation of the gospel of the kingdom . . . Love men with the love wherewith I have loved you and serve your fellow mortals even as I have served you . . . By the fruits of your lives impel souls to believe . . . Remember all I have taught you and the life I lived among you . . . My love overshadows you, my spirit will dwell with you, and my peace shall abide upon you . . ." [193:5.2] (2057,4)

Labels: David Kantor, Jesus, Jesus's life, mission, public ministry, teaching

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Sunday, September 02, 2007

Methods of Teaching the Urantia Book

Note: Although this article was written over 50 years ago, many of the ideas are fresh and quite applicable to our 21st century challenge to continue to spread the teachings of The Urantia Book.
______________________________

Methods of Teaching the Urantia Book
A Thesis prepared for the Seventy

Marian Rowley
March 9, 1945

After choosing the subject for this thesis, my first job seemed to be definition of terms. Just what are â€œmethods of teachingâ€�? Webster gives several definitions of â€œteachingâ€�, among them the following: â€œTo show; guide; direct; to make to know how; show how; to direct as an instructor; to guide the studies of, or to conduct through a course of studies; to impart the knowledge of.â€� These are definitions of teaching, which we all know and accept.

But the definition of â€œmethodsâ€� is a little more difficult. Webster defines â€œmethodâ€� as: â€œAn orderly procedure or process; regular way or manner of doing anything.â€� In an educational sense, method is â€œa systematic plan adopted in presenting instructional material; as, the lecture method; a method of teaching.â€� â€œMethod is commonly a special or definite system of procedure.â€�

The next step was to discover what the conventional methods of teaching are, and how they could be used in teaching The Urantia Book.

The outside sources consulted seemed to pile confusion on confusion. Each author had his own interpretation of the word â€œmethods.â€� One author recognized just two methods â€“ subject teaching, that is, arithmetic, geography, history, as separate subjects (the way most of us studied); and progressive teaching, in which the project holds the important place, and the subjects â€“ arithmetic, geography, history, etc. â€“ are acquired as a by-product in the working out of the project. Another author listed methods as inductive, deductive, expository, demonstration, etc. Still another author defined methods as tools, techniques, devices used in teaching, such as maps, models, blackboards, and so on.

With such a range of meaning, from a general â€œsystem of procedureâ€� down to the concrete tool, such as a globe, I have felt free to make my own interpretation of â€œmethodsâ€�. While my primary interest has been in the actual techniques or tools for putting a point across, I felt that a consideration of the more general aspects of teaching should form the foundation for the discussion of the specialized procedures. The definition, which most nearly fits my purpose here, was found in a book titled â€œBeginning Teachingâ€� by Joseph Emory Avent. â€œMethod is the procedure by which a goal is reached, a purpose accomplished, or a result achieved. It is how you get the thing doneâ€¦

Devices may be thought of simply as little methods, or as parts of a larger method. A device usually involves the use of concrete materials, or concrete procedures, which may be objects or ideasâ€¦A device, then, is any little method to which a teacher resorts as a temporary means of more effective focusing of attention of pupils upon the task to be done.â€�

KINDS OF TEACHING

There seems to me to be two general ways of teaching â€“ unconscious teaching and conscious teaching. By unconscious teaching, I mean showing someone else how, not by direct imparting of information, but by doing something or living in such a way that the other person observes and learns from your example. Parents are unconscious teachers to their children.

Many things, which a child learns, are obtained with no conscious instruction on the part of his elders. The child himself is often unconscious that he is learning something. On a higher level, there is an analogy in the papers, which concerns the unconscious acquiring of information. In Paper 19 we are told that Trinity Teacher Sons are devoted to conscious enlightenment. But the Inspired Trinity Spirits are believed to be teachers who operate by super-conscious techniques. â€œThere is a vast body of essential spiritual knowledge, truth indispensable to high spiritual attainment, which cannot be consciously received; self-consciousness would effectively jeopardize the certainty of reception.â€� [p. 220, 4] To a certain degree, it seems that here in our material existence the method of unconscious learning and teaching is valuable, particularly in getting across the truths of The Urantia Book.

Our method of unconsciously teaching the truths of The Urantia Book will be to live them in our daily lives â€“ to show the fruits of the spirit in such a way that people will observe, wonder, and inquire into what we have that they donâ€™t have. Already there have been instances of this very thing happening and there will be many more as we absorb more of the truths of the book and actually try to live them.

During the ordination of the twelve, Jesus said: â€œAnd it will not be so much by the words you speak as by the lives you live that men will know you have been with me and learned of the realities of the kingdom.â€� [p. 1569,4]

This method of living our beliefs is well illustrated by Jesusâ€™ life. We are told in the papers to look not so much for what he taught as for what he did. [p. 2088, 5] â€œIt is his life, and not his lessons to the twelve or his sermons to the multitudes, that will assist most in revealing the Fatherâ€™s divine character and loving personality.â€� [p. 1581, 6]

Jesusâ€™ entire life on this planet was intended to be an inspiration to us so that we can learn from what he did. Before his bestowal on this planet, Immanuel, the Union of Days on Salvington, charged Jesus to do certain things and refrain from doing other things. In this charge, Immanuel said, among other things: â€œYour earth life in the likeness of mortal flesh shall not be so lived as to constitute an example for the mortals of Urantia in the days of your earthly sojourn nor for any subsequent generation of human beings on Urantia or on any other world. Rather shall your life in the flesh on Urantia be the inspiration for all lives upon all Nebadon worlds throughout all generations in the ages to come.â€� [p. 1328, 4]

The second general manner of teaching is conscious teaching, and that is the kind with which we are primarily concerned here. Every person in the world is a teacher, even though he does not realize it. Remember the definition of teachings: to show, guide, direct; to show how. There is not a person who has not shown someone else how to do something â€“ tie a knot, set a table, hammer a nail, play a game.

Even children of four or five show children of two or three how to pull a cart, build a house with blocks, and put a doll to bed. Our particular job is teaching The Urantia Book, and although at the present time there are only three of us who are teaching more or less formally, each one of you is a teacher in an informal sense. Many of you have said that you canâ€™t teach, and yet I have heard those same older members in the group answer questions and explain some point to a newer member â€“ and what is that but teaching?

We are told in the papers that our entire future career will be devoted to teaching others. â€œAs you journey toward your Paradise goal, constantly acquiring added knowledge and enhanced skill, you are continuously afforded the opportunity to give out to others the wisdom and experience you have already accumulated; al the way in to Havona you enact the role of a pupil-teacher. You will work your way through the ascending levels of this vast experiential university by imparting to those just below you the newfound knowledge of your advancing career. In the universal regime you are not reckoned as having possessed yourself of knowledge and truth until you have demonstrated your ability and your willingness to impart this knowledge and truth to others." [p. 279, 13]

Since we know that we are going to be teachers for untold ages, and since we know that this group has been designated as the â€œteacherleadersâ€� for the dissemination of The Urantia Book, it seems logical that we start right now preparing for that career. There is a very comforting statement in the papers that we will have help in this teaching career. There is one group of the Supreme Seraphim who are called Teaching Counselors. They act as â€œsecretaries to all orders of teachers, from the Melchizedeks and the Trinity Teacher Sons down to the morontia mortals who are assigned as helpers of those of their kind who are just behind them in the scale of ascendant lifeâ€¦These ministrations extend on down to the individual worlds. Even the true and consecrated teachers of time are assisted, and often attended, by
these counselors of the supreme seraphim.â€� [p. 428, 8]

One of the most important points to remember in teaching The Urantia Book is to confine our teaching to those who are truly interested in learning, those who are confused and seeking for help, those who are hungry for truth. Jesus brought this point out very clearly in a conversation with Ganid during their trip to the Northern Italian lakes. They had met a thoughtless pagan and Ganid was surprised that Jesus had made no effort to discuss spiritual questions with him. Jesus explained his attitude as follows: â€œGanid, the man was not hungry for truth. He was not dissatisfied with himself. He was not ready to ask for help, and the eyes of his mind were not open to receive light for the soul. That man was not ripe for the harvest of salvation; he must be allowed more time for the trials and difficulties of life to prepare him for the reception of wisdom and higher learning. Or, if we could have him live with us, we might by our lives show him the Father in heaven, and thus would be become so attracted by our lives as sons of God that he would be constrained to inquire about our Father. You cannot reveal God to those who do not seek for Him; you cannot lead unwilling souls into the joys of salvation. Man must become hungry for truth as a result of the experiences of living, or he must desire to know God as the result of contact with the lives of those who area acquainted with the divine Father before another human being can act as the means of leading such a fellow mortal to the Father in heaven. If we know God, our real business on earth is so to live as to permit the Father to reveal himself in our lives, and thus will all God-seeking persons see the Father and ask for our help in finding out more about the God who in this manner finds expression in our lives.â€� [p. 1466, 2]

In addition to confining ourselves to teaching those who are truly seeking for help, a second very important point to remember is to adapt our teaching to the pupil. His personality type should play a major part in determining the kind of teaching methods to be used. His intellectual capacity also is an important factor. Do not try to put a quart of knowledge into a pint-sized mind. We should consider the backgrounds and potentials of our pupils and present the concepts of the book accordingly. Jesus used this method in teaching is apostles.

He â€œtaught these men all they could assimilate. He did not make the mistake of over-teaching them. He did not precipitate confusion by the presentation of truth too far beyond their capacity to understand.â€� [p. 1535, 6]

The Urantia Book itself is presented to us following this same principle, in my opinion. While it seems to us that some parts of it are far beyond our ability to understand, still we can almost grasp most of it with a little work, and our successors in future years will understand the concepts better. I am convinced that many questions have remained unanswered and many things left unrevealed because they really would be beyond our capacity and would tend only to confuse us.

A third point to remember in imparting new truth is not to destroy old beliefs, which a person sincerely holds unless you can substitute the new truth without detriment to him. Never tear down a building unless you are sure you can build a better, more solid structure. A good illustration of this is Jesusâ€™ handling of the whale story in talking with Gadiah. â€œJesus perceived that his young manâ€™s life had been tremendously influenced by this tradition and that its contemplation had impressed upon this youth the folly of trying to run away from duty; he therefore said nothing that would suddenly destroy the foundations of his present motivation for practical living." [p. 1428, 2]

Jesus also emphasized this point in dealing with the Persian â€œfire worshipperâ€� who resisted Simonâ€™s method of teaching, but succumbed to Jesusâ€™ method. Upon Simonâ€™s inquiry as to why he had failed, Jesus said: â€œSimon, Simon, how many times have I instructed you to refrain from all efforts to take something out of the hearts of those who seek salvation? How often have I told you to labor only to put something into those hungry souls? Lead men into the kingdom, and the great and living truths of the kingdom will presently drive out all serious error." [p. 1592, 4]

Just before the crucifixion Jesus admonished his apostles: â€œDo not forget that you are only commissioned to go forth preaching the good news. You are not to attack the old ways; you are skillfully to put the leaven of new truth in the midst of the old beliefs.â€� [p. 1932, 1]

Dr. Sadler once prescribed an anesthetic to be used in imparting new truth. It consists of three attitudes on the part of the seeker after truth:

1. Interest â€“ based on curiosity.
2. Belief in your sincerity â€“ or friendliness.
3. Familiarity â€“ That is, familiarity of the listener with the terms and examples you use.

Everyone attempting to teach The Urantia Book would do well to remember that anesthetic before operating. Otherwise the sudden injection of new truth may be exceedingly painful to the listener.

There is another admonition which we would do well to remember: â€œThe teachers of the religion of Jesus should approach other religions with the recognition of the truths which are held in common (many of which come directly or indirectly from Jesusâ€™ message) while they refrain from placing so much emphasis on the differences.â€� [p. 670, 6]

There are two methods, which may be followed, in conscious teaching of The Urantia Book. One is individual teaching or tutoring. The other is class teaching. Undoubtedly both methods will be used, but probably the majority of this group will devote themselves to individual teaching, rather than formal class work.

Both methods have a place in the educational system, which is sponsored by the celestial personalities. In the schools of the Planetary Prince about 500,000 years ago on Urantia, the instruction seems to have been by classes, although the papers do not state that individual instruction was excluded.

Since the primary purpose of the Edenic schools was socialization, it seems logical that most information should be presented to groups rather than individuals. [p. 835, 5] The exact opposite is true in the schools on a neighboring planet, though it should be remembered that those are purely human schools like our own. On that planet the entire educational system is largely individual. There are no classrooms. Each pupil studies one subject at a time. The chief object of education there is to make every pupil a self-supporting citizen. [p. 812, 7]

In the morontia schools, the Mansion World Teachers engage in individual, group, class, and mass teaching. [p. 551, 1] Both individual and group teaching seems to be carried on all through the superuniverse, with the latter probably predominating. But upon graduation from Uversa, class work is ended. In Havona, all instruction is individual.

Although we all will participate in individual teaching most of the time in the coming years, classes for teaching The Urantia Book will develop more rapidly later. A start has already been made in that direction. There are three classes in operation now. The first is this class of the Doctorâ€™s for training teachers. Though not the first in the Forum in point of time, it is the most important, and the only one recognized officially by the seraphim under whom we work, the angels of progress. The second is Billâ€™s discussion class which started many years ago and which aims to teach the fundamentals of the book, and give a broad, comprehensive view of the whole. The third is the kindergarten class which I teach and which tries to present only the primary facts of cosmography and the personalities who inhabit the universe â€“ the bare bones of the skeleton on which the rest of the book is based.

With these three classes as a beginning, it is easy to foresee other classes which will evolve as the need becomes apparent, until sometime there will be an entire school devoted to instruction in the teachings of The Urantia Book. The beginning courses of such a school will, I believe, consist of classes such as the one I am teaching. For the starting point for learning the teachings of the book is knowledge of the facts of the universe â€“ the physical geography, the personalities who inhabit it, what they do, how the universe is administered. These are definite facts to be learned, with not much chance for differing interpretations, although the door is seldom closed completely to speculation. Once having learned these facts, the way is open for advanced classes â€“ classes in theory based on known facts, exploratory classes which follow avenues only hinted at in the papers. In these classes, there is an opportunity for individual, differing interpretations.

Such teaching requires vision, imagination, ability to build a theoretical structure or concept on a foundation of fact. But always in these classes, the teacher must have a thorough knowledge of the facts of the book.

There will be many specialist classes â€“ that is, classes devoted to just one subject in the book. One intriguing subject is the story of mortal ascent from the evolutionary planet to Paradise. Another is the story of the evolution of a planet from the beginning of a nebula through the period of light and life.

The life and teachings of Jesus will undoubtedly be divided into several subjects for class instruction. The energy system of the master universe will attract some students, while prayer and worship will be the primary interest of others. There will be classes in religion, covering many aspects, for example: the evolution of religion, the practical application of religion in everyday life, and comparative religions.

In all these specialist classes, the teachers must be not only very well grounded in The Urantia Book, but also fully conversant with the general knowledge in the same field of study. That is, anyone teaching about the physical energy system of the universe should have a good background of our own physical sciences, astronomy, physics, chemistry, biology, and so on. As I have found to my embarrassment, it is difficult to explain some points in the papers without this background. In a class in religion, the teacher must be thoroughly familiar with not only the great religions of the world but also the minor ones, in order to point out agreements and disagreements, and to answer the questions which will be continually brought up.

TECHNIQUES OF TEACHING

The majority of the techniques, or little methods, of teaching, which will be discussed in the remainder of this paper, can be used either in individual teaching or in class teaching. Although devised primarily for class work, some of them have already been successfully used in private tutoring. Others are only in the future, but I am sure they will all be used sometime, and there are undoubtedly many that I have not thought of.

Some of these methods are used in the schools, which we will pass through on our assent through the universes, but the papers mention others, which are far beyond our present concepts. We are familiar with laboratories, and we now there are laboratories for scientists on Jerusem. Adam and Eve studied in the division of experimental energy as applied to living forms. They were expert anatomists before they came to Urantia. [p. 828, 3] We also know there are planetary life-planning laboratories on the Life Carrier worlds of Salvington.

Universe physicists and electrochemists serve there as technical assistants to the Life Carriers. [p. 398, 1] And we are told that the star students on Uversa work with the aid of a multitude of mechanical instruments and physical appliances, [p. 339, 1] so it is safe to assume that there are laboratories on Uversa also. We can understand laboratories. But in the classes conducted by the Masters of Philosophy on Paradise, we are told of other methods, which are far beyond our present comprehension. â€œThese Paradise philosophers teach by every possible method of instruction, including the higher graph technique of Havona and certain Paradise methods of communicating information. All of these higher techniques of imparting knowledge and conveying ideas are utterly beyond the comprehension capacity of even the most highly developed human mind. One hourâ€™s instruction on Paradise would be the equivalent of ten thousand years of the word-memory methods of Urantia. You cannot grasp such communication techniques, and there is simply nothing in mortal experience with which they may be compared, nothing to which they can be likened.â€� [p. 303, 2]

The Havona graph system is also mentioned in the discussion of the Intelligence Coordinators (a group of Tertiary Supernaphim) with the statement that it enables them to assimilate as much information in one hour of Urantia time as would require a thousand years for our most rapid telegraphic technique to record. [p. 289, 1]

Although Paradise and Havona methods are out of our reach, there are specific techniques, which can be used here and now, and among them are the following:

1. Learn by Doing â€“ One of the most important techniques of teaching is to let the pupil learn by doing. This method is being stressed in modern education for it has been discovered that this is one of the best ways for the student to make the information really his own. Several small colleges are operating on the basis of part study, part work, so that their students may apply practically, the theories, which they acquire in class. Boys are not only told how to run a farm or a business. They actually operate the farm or the business. Girls are required to run a home on a fixed budget, to care for children while theyâ€™re studying childcare, and so on. This method is not only one of the best in our present Urantia teaching. According to the papers, it is also used extensively in other, better schools than we have on Urantia today. In the schools, which were established, when the Planetary Prince first arrived on Urantia, the plan of teaching was carried out by establishing industrial schools in which the pupils learned by doing, and through which they worked their way by the daily performances of useful tasks. [p. 751, 1] This method was also followed in the schools of Eden. The elder children taught the younger â€“ another form of learning by doing. [p. 835, 1]

While Jesus was on earth, there was a school at Bethsaida for the evangelists, taught by the apostles. â€œThis school was conducted on the plan of learning and doing. What they learned during the forenoon they taught to the assembly by the seaside during the afternoon. After supper they informally discussed both the learning of the forenoon and the teaching of the afternoon.â€� [p. 1657, 6]

We are told that, in the advanced ages of an evolutionary world when education is the watchword of these ages, every child is provided an opportunity to learn by doing. [p. 577, 2] The schools on a â€œneighboring planetâ€� are described as largely consisting of individual instruction designed to make every pupil a self-supporting citizen. Books are used only to secure information that will assist in solving problems arising in school shops. At a very early age, pupils become assistant teachers, instructing those below them. [p. 812, 3]

In the discussion of the Celestial Overseers (the inspectors of the Nebadon educational system) there are several paragraphs on the system of education in general which bring out specifically the fact that we learn by doing. â€œOn the universe headquarters itself are numerous Melchizedek schools, the colleges of the Universe Sons, the seraphic universities, and the schools of the Teacher Sons and the Union of Days. Every possible provision is made to qualify the various personalities of the universe for advancing service and improving function. The entire universe is one vast school.â€�

â€œThe methods employed in many of the higher schools are beyond the human concept of the art of teaching truth, but this is the keynote of the whole educational system: Character acquired by enlightened experience. The teachers provide the enlightenment; the universe stations and the ascendersâ€™ status afford the opportunity for experience; the wise utilization of these two augments character.â€�

â€œFundamentally, the Nebadon educational system provides for your assignment to a task and then affords you opportunity to receive instruction as to the ideal and divine method of best performing that task. You are given a definite task to perform, and at the same time you are provided with teachers who are qualified to instruct you in the best method of executing your assignment. The divine plan of education provides for the intimate association of work and instruction. We teach you how best to execute the things we command you to do.â€� [p. 412, 4]

Learning by doing leads directly into the project method of teaching, which is emphasized so strongly in progressive schools. Projects promote the integration of learning. Subject matter is learned more thoroughly and in greater amounts. A project is an activity that involves planning and construction, the search for materials, and the evaluation of proposed solutions.

There is great opportunity for this method of teaching in connection with The Urantia Book. This very assignment on which we are working now is a form of project â€“ of planning and constructing, searching for materials, correlating and presenting it in a unified, coherent form. There are many subjects in The Urantia Book, which need to be learned this way, since they are not presented in compact form with all the information in one or two papers. For example, references are made to prayer and worship from the very early papers through the very last ones. The will of God is discussed in a number of places, and definitions and explanations of error, evil, sin, and iniquity are likewise scattered. The story of mortal ascent is another very good subject for project teaching.

The foregoing suggests just a few of the possibilities for using this technique of teaching â€“ that is, helping the student to learn by doing.

1. Radio â€“ It is an accepted fact that radio is now an educational tool to be reckoned with. It has been successfully used for teaching music, history, grammar, foreign languages, and Bible stories, in fact, almost everything that can be taught by the voice alone. There seems to be no reason why it cannot be used in teaching The Urantia Book. Probably of greatest interest are drama possibilities.

There are endless stories in the life of Jesus suitable for dramatization â€“ stories of His childhood and youth, His first trip to Jerusalem, the Mediterranean tour, and practically all the events of His later life. There are also possibilities for drama in Part III, for example, the story of Andon and Fonta, the early events of the Planetary Princeâ€™s regime, the sudden appearance of the six colored races, and the story of Adam and Eve.

In addition to the drama possibilities, the radio provides a splendid medium for straight reading of the papers, such as we have here on Sunday, and the discussion and development of interesting points. There will, of course, be sermons on the teachings of the papers. As a matter of fact, there have been Urantian sermons on the air for the last several years, though not labeled with that name, as Charlie Rawson can testify. Radio will probably be of the greatest value in publicizing the book, but it will also have value as an educational tool.

1. Movies â€“ This is another modern educational tool, which has proved itself immensely valuable. As a means of teaching The Urantia Book, the picture possibilities seem to lie mostly in Part IV, in the life of Jesus; although perhaps effective and fairly accurate movies could be made of early man and his struggles for existence, and of life in the Garden of Eden.

Not much could be done with Parts I and II in the movies, since these concepts are too far removed for reproduction in our physical world. However, there is a subdivision of movies, which could illustrate many situations not suitable for straight movie production. Animated cartoons â€“ Walt Disney style â€“ would prove an eminently suitable vehicle for portraying the evolution of nebulae, for example. Disney could do great things with the development of solar families and planets. This is the only present known method of showing the physical evolution of a planet and the evolution of life on a planet. By this means, the evolution of plans and animals could be shown simultaneously and the two could be brought together and made real in a way that pages and pages of text can never do.

Other fruitful subjects for animated cartoons are the rise and fall of oceans and landmasses, the movements of glaciers, and the westward drift of North and South America. This style of presentation would also be of great value in showing the evolution of early man, the spread of the six colored races, and the movements of the Andite peoples. To me, this seems one of the most spectacular and effective ways of presenting some of the Urantia teachings, particularly those of Part III.

The rest of the techniques listed are those, which can be used by any of us â€“ â€œlittle methodsâ€� which can be used in individual teaching or class teaching. Most of them have already been used in our present classes and have been proved practical and very helpful.

1. The Parallel Technique â€“ I took the name for this method from one, which is used on the mansion worlds in teaching mota. â€œThe lower planes of morontia mota join directly with the higher levels of human philosophy. On the first mansion world it is the practice to teach the less advanced students by the parallel technique; that is, in one column are presented the more simple concepts of mota meanings, and in the opposite column citation is made of analogous statements of mortal philosophy.â€� [p. 556, 1]

This method of placing the new teaching alongside the old in order to compare and get the full meaning of the new can be applied to several situations in The Urantia Book. For example, it will be helpful in learning to geological evolution of the planet to place the dates and ages of the periods beside the dates and ages, which our own scientists have postulated and thus be able to correlate the new teaching with the old. This method should also be used in studying the present day religions in relation to the new, so that the points of agreement and disagreement can be easily seen. It will also be of help in studying the evolution of man and comparing the Urantia story with the theories and facts, which our anthropologists have deduced.

This form of teaching new truth by comparison with old familiar things also covers the use of everyday, commonplace examples to illustrate points which may seem new at first reading. For example, in teaching the organization of the superuniverse and its subdivisions, a comparison with the United States and its subdivisions of sections, states, counties, townships, and villages brings out the relationship very clearly. In teaching the administration of the universe it is helpful to anyone in business to use the example of the administration charts of large corporations.

Jesus employed this method of using familiar examples to point up his teaching. He told stories of everyday occurrences â€“ parables â€“ to bring out the moral or emphasize the particular teaching he was trying to inject into his hearers. â€œJesus taught not so much from the law, as from life, by parables. And when he employed a parable for illustrating his message, he designed to utilize just one feature of the story for that purpose.â€� [p. 1672, 4]

This is a method, which can be used from the beginning of the book to the end, and will probably be used more than any other single method named.

1. Use of Models â€“ Actual models should be used for illustration whenever possible. Even though they are not 100% representations of the objects illustrated, they do help to give an approximate idea of what the objects are like. We have already made a start on accumulating models for use in teaching The Urantia Book, thanks to Mr. Pritchard. You have all seen the model of the entire cosmos in miniature, which comes apart to show the relationship of pervaded and unpervaded space. We also have a model of the Havona circuits surrounded by the dark islands, and a model of the Isle of Paradise. All these models have proved their value many times in our present classes.

Sometime in the future we may have a miniature model of the Master Universe with the space levels rotating to indicate the clockwise and counter-clockwise movements of the alternate levels. Possibly models can be made showing the stages of the physical evolution of Urantia, and I believe sufficient information is given about the Garden on Eden to enable us to produce a reasonable facsimile.

When actual models are lacking, other objects can be used as substitutes. For instance, a doughnut and two ice-cream cones serve very well to represent pervaded and unpervaded space. With a little imagination, an oval compact or a piece of bread marked off in zones becomes the Isle of Paradise. An apple cut horizontally or vertically can illustrate the cosmos and bring three dimensions to the vertical and horizontal cross-section charts, which we have.

Sometime far in the future there will be large intricate models showing the space levels and the various motions, which are described in the papers, similar to those in the planetarium showing the movements of the planets around the sun.

Since visualization is one of the most effective ways of learning, this method should be used whenever possible.

1. Use of Maps, Charts, Diagrams, and Illustrations â€“ This is another method of making teaching more effective by means of visualization. Someone has said that a picture is worth a thousand words. Maps, charts, diagrams, and pictures can impress facts on the mind far more vividly than pages of text. Whenever it is possible to illustrate a point by a drawing, it should be done.

There are many opportunities in The Urantia Book to use this graphic method of teaching. The drawing, which we now have showing pervaded and unpervaded space is of utmost value. From the comments, which have been made about it, it is evident that it has greatly clarified the concept of the relationship of pervaded and unpervaded space. Maps can be made of the Master Universe, the Grand Universe, Havona, Paradise, the architectural spheres and their satellites and sub satellites. Some of these have already been used, and others will be available in the future. In Part III maps can be made of the different stages of the physical evolution of Urantia and of the spread of the colored races and the Andite peoples over the earthâ€™s surface. In Part IV we will use maps of Palestine and the Roman
Empire to trace Jesusâ€™ travels and the beginnings of the Christian religion.

Charts and diagrams are helpful in showing relationships between parts. They can indicate lines of origin, lines of sovereignty, and lines of administration better than any other means. We are already using such charts in our classes â€“ the administration charts of the super universe and the genealogy charts, the family trees, showing origin of the personalities listed in the Uversa Personality Register. We also have a chart of the space levels of the Grand Universe and the Master Universe.

Charts and diagrams will also be useful in studying the evolution of man on Urantia. One, for example, could start with the appearance of animal life and trace the changes down to Andon and Fonta, the first true humans. Another could begin with Andon and Fonta and carry through the Andonites, the development of the six colored races, the Nodites, the injection of Adamic blood, the Andites, and the present human races. Still another chart could show the evolution of the religions of the world.

Sometimes a picture will dramatize a point when other methods will not fill the need for graphic presentation. And such pictures should by no means always be serious ones. Often, a humorous picture will do a better job than a literal, factual representation. It has been said, â€œWhen laughter is involved in the learning process, students will retain the same material about 50% better." Anyone who saw it will never forget Billâ€™s drawing of the baby with the clothesline looped above his head to illustrate the mind circuit and what happens to it when the human passes out of physical existence. Another graphic illustration was of the firehouse with three stories and a fire-pole running from top to bottom to indicate that God was on all three levels, Supreme, Ultimate, and Absolute. On the outside, a man on a ladder was
laboriously climbing to attain the first and second levels, the Supreme and Ultimate, and hanging by his toes from the roof trying to peer into the third level, the Absolute. Another good illustration, though not in the humorous vein, is the picture of a tree with a solid trunk, indicating one-fold deity, then three branches, indicating three-fold deity, and higher up, seven branches, indicating seven-fold deity, yet emphasizing that it is al one tree and all one deity.

The use of this method requires paper and pencil for individual teaching, but in classroom work a blackboard is essential. A teacher who has a little training in drawing or cartooning has a great advantage in blackboard teaching. And the teacher who can make the drawing and explain the points while doing it, has an advantage, for there is activity involved which will hold the attention of the class. Drawing is much more interesting than a drawing already on the board. The blackboard is also useful for maps, charts diagrams, lists, and so on, and is an almost indispensable part of a classroom.

1. Lists and Tables â€“ Another tool to be used in teaching The Urantia Book consists of lists and tables. These are the parts, which are uninteresting to most people, the dry-as-dust, cold, hard statistics, which are dull but necessary as a foundation. The Uversa Personality Register is a good example of this device. It is simply a list showing personalities and their classification. Another table we are using is one, which I call the basic table. It is similar to the tables of measurement, which we all learned in school, and just as basic. It starts out: 1,000 planets equal 1 system, 100 systems equal 1 constellation, etc. And there are other tables showing how many planets in the Grand Universe, how many minor sectors, and so on.

Later on, there will be still other tables to help in the study of this book. The history of our mother nebula, Andronover, of our solar system, and our planet will be put into tables. Dates and events are easier to fix in the mind in tabular form than buried in a mass of words. Some of these tables and lists will be necessary only for quick reference purposes, but others are truly basic and must be firmly fixed in the mind in order to grasp completely the other concepts in the book. And this brings us directly to the next tool to be discussed â€“ memory.

1. Memory â€“ This is a method which was used to a very large extent in acquiring learning up to the last thirty or forty years. It has fallen into disrepute under the modern or progressive method of teaching, partly because other activities take a much larger share of the time. But the best teachers acknowledge that there is still necessity for straight memorizing and some time is provided for it in the modern curriculum.

The alphabet, for example, is a series of letters without pattern or logic, and the only way to learn the alphabet is simply to memorize it, repeating it over and over until it becomes so fixed that it is automatic. Numbers are another fundamental that must be memorized. There is pattern and logic in the handling of numbers, but the multiplication tables, for example, should be memorized. The process of multiplication can be figured out, but if the tables have been drilled until they become automatic, and 7 x 8 means 56 without even thinking about it, much time is saved for the more complicated procedures that do require reasoning. Angelo Patri stated this principle very well in one of his columns in the Daily News. â€œNo teacher can teach tables. She presents them step-by-step and the child learns them, memorizes them as he learned and memorized his name. I would not bother explaining why two and two make four because I do not know why they do. They make four. Learn that and go ahead. Thorough learning of the fundamentals of arithmetic, grammar, and spelling is essential to the learning of those subjects, which are basic in school education. No matter how scientific the teaching, the learning must be thorough.â€�

Claude C. Drawford, in his book â€œHow to Teachâ€�, also covers the subject of memorizing. He points out that there are two extremes, too much and not enough, and that we should strive fore a happy medium, always questioning the selection of material to be memorized on the basis of utility. â€œSignificance of information is further increased by presenting facts in relationships instead of in isolation from each other.â€� In regard to routine lists, tables, etc., to be memorized, he says: â€œEither these items are not essential or else they are potentially interesting. Granting the value of learning a list of items, the next task is to put meaning into themâ€¦In addition to meaning, the material must have interestâ€¦A further suggestion for this type of learning is that of grouping and combining into larger patterns and configurationsâ€¦The Gestalt idea of learning in patterns and configurations is important in this present connection.â€�

Some memory work is necessary in learning the fundamentals of The Urantia Book. There are certain tables, which should be memorized, such as the table showing the units and sub-units, which make up superuniverse government. The Uversa Personality Register, which covers the principal personalities mentioned in the book, with their classifications and origins, is vital. The names of the units and their
headquarters are another set of facts which are really fundamental and the only way to learn them is to memorize them, exactly as states and their capitals have to be memorized in geography.

Some results may be acquired simply through repetition. Others are more permanent if memorized through an understanding of their relationships. This latter method has been used in great detail in teaching the Grand Universe administration chart. It has also been used in presenting the Personality Register. A brief description of each group of personalities brings out the reason for their presence in their major classification group and points out the relationship to the others of the group. With this background, the matter of memorizing the groups becomes easier and the result tends to last longer. Since most of us are inclined to forget quite easily things, which we think weâ€™ve memorized thoroughly, it becomes necessary to continue the drills over a fairly long period of time, with longer intervals between them.

Memorizing is hard and dull work for most people, so it is fortunate that there is not a great deal of it to be done in connection with The Urantia Book. But the very small part of it that is necessary should be done thoroughly as a foundation for the other concepts.

CONCLUSION

The methods discussed in the foregoing are some of those, which will be used in teaching The Urantia Book. There are others, which will be put into practice also, for example, the conversational method of questions and answers, which Jesus used so extensively in His private teaching. There is a statement in the papers as follows: â€œThough Jesusâ€™ public teaching largely consisted in parables and short discourses, He invariably taught His apostles by means of questions and answers. He would always pause to answer sincere questions during His later public discourses.â€� [p. 1546, 1]

In another paper we find the following: â€œJesusâ€™ usual technique of social contact was to draw people out and into talking with Him by asking them questions. The interview would usually begin by His asking them questions and end by their asking Him questions. He was equally adept in teaching by either asking or answering questions. As a rule, to those He taught the most, He said the least.â€� [p. 1460, 6]

But, the important thing to remember is that the method to be used should be one best adapted to the point in question and best suited to the comprehension capacity of the listener. The latter point in particular should be kept in mind â€“ that is, the attitude and receptiveness of the student.

Simple, direct methods should be employed for beginners and those who are not capable of grasping the larger concepts, and more advanced complicated techniques where the need and desires of the student are apparent. Any method or combination of methods is good which induces the student to learn and comprehend the teaching. But remember always, methods of teaching are only a means to an end â€“ the comprehension and adoption of the facts and truths of The Urantia Book throughout the whole world.

http://www.ubhistory.org/Documents/EM19450309_RowleyM_01.pdf

Labels: Dr Willam Sadler, Jesus, Marian Rowley, teachers, techniques, The Urantia Book

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Friday, August 24, 2007

Science in Jesus' Life

by Jeffrey H. Wattles
Scientific Symposium I
1988

We all want to live the integrated life, with science as part of a growing mind in a progressive personality. But how do we do it? How do we approach this great ideal?

Are we all just supposed to go out and get super-involved with science? Somehow it seems that there's more to it than that.

It's not easy.

o Modern technology can be so complex that some people just get turned off.

o There is so much poor science these days that fails to distinguish correlation from causation.

o There is so much confusing dispute between the experts.

o And there are the well-known ethical problems with science.

So how are we going to strengthen the scientific component in our lives? My two-part answer is philosophic and biographic.

I can put the philosophic part very briefly. We can begin by recognizing and affirming our God-given intuitive capacity for recognizing facts and discerning causal relationships. Some popular books today tell their readers about releasing the mystic within you or releasing the artist within you. We could equally well speak of actualizing the scientist within you. We all have capacities beyond what most of us usually use. We simply need the courage to affirm and sharpen our scientific intuition.

The biographic part of the answer is a reflection on Jesus' life.

The apostles had not been successful in their teaching. They were fleeing through northern Galilee and bewildered about what was going on. Jesus' blunt explanation to them included these words:

"Consider the Greeks, who have a science without religion, while the Jews have a reli- gion without science. And when men become thus misled into accepting a narrow and confused disintegration of truth, their only hope of salvation is to become truth-co-ordinated--converted.

"Let me emphatically state this eternal truth: If you, by truth co-ordination, learn to exemplify in your lives this beautiful wholeness of righteousness, your fellow men will then seek after you that they may gain what you have so acquired." (*1726)

We can understand this teaching by looking at Jesus' life.

First, Jesus became acquainted with nature as a child and continued his interest into adulthood. "Jesus' earliest training, aside from that of the home hearth, had to do with a reverent and sympathetic contact with nature." (*1364) He asked lots of questions concerning science. (*1365) He studied the habits of the fish on the Sea of Galilee so closely that he could predict catches that others regarded as miraculous.

Next, Jesus understood the essential truths of philosophy of science, as we see in his discourse on science. He knew the limitations of science and taught a friendly universe in which fact and value have a common cause in the Paradise Father. (*1477)

Next, Jesus got to know all kinds of people well. In order to understand how Jesus exemplified his teaching about science and the beautiful wholeness of righteousness, we need to expand the concept of science to include social science. The scientific component in his righteousness included more than a superb knowledge of weather and the habits of fish. Jesus carried out a thorough study of how men make a living. (*1371) We are told that "The real purpose of his trip around the Mediterranean Basin was to know men. He came very close to hundreds of humankind on this journey. He met and loved all manner of men, rich and poor, high and low, black and white, educated and uneducated, cultured and uncultured, animalistic and spiritual, religious and irreligious, moral and immoral." (*1424)

Next, Jesus thoroughly studied the scriptures and associated literature. One of the humanistic sciences is the science of interpreting texts. At the age of 13 Jesus began a painstaking topical study of the scriptures and associated literature in order to deal with every implication they might hold for his life work. (*1390-91) At age 26 in Capernaum,"he spent at least five evenings a week at intense study." (*1420) During the four months of intensive training with the first six apostles, Jesus explained that "they should spend three hours every evening in study and preparation for their future work." (*1533)

Jesus never wore his learning on his sleeve; his apostles were surprised to hear him discourse on a sophisticated level. But his masterful knowledge was always there when he needed it, for example, during his last week in the flesh, when he was challenged by the Sadducees who did not believe in resurrection. They were the professional specialists in the first five books of the Bible. Jesus showed that from those very scriptures a subtle inference could be drawn to overturn their skeptical doctrine: "And even your Father Moses understood this, for, in connection with his experiences at the burning bush, he heard the Father say, `I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.' " (*1900) The present tense of that verb--I am the God of Abraham, rather than I was the God of Abraham--implies that the relationship is a present one, and hence that Abraham has been resurrected. Jesus saw the implication that the specialists had missed--but he didn't go around showing off this grammatical subtlety. It was merely ready in case it was ever needed.

Next, Jesus courageously faced the hard facts. We are told that "Science is the source of facts, and mind cannot operate without facts." (*1222) My point is complementary: facts are the beginning of science. One of the reasons for Judas' downfall is that "he did not like to face facts frankly." (*2056)

We have a tendency to think that science has to do with those facts that are remote from us. We tend not to use our scientific abilities on intimate matters. But rigorous and tough-minded thinking must invade the realms of daily life. Scientific integrity begins at home.

Jesus at the age of 12 had been called by the celestial messenger to be about his Father's business; but then he found himself after Joseph's death faced with a family emergency. He faced the facts and "rightly reasoned that the watchcare of his earthly father's family must take precedence of all duties." (*1389)

Jesus told his followers about the hard facts of the social environment in which they were laboring for truth. In the Ordination Sermon he said, "In all the business of the kingdom I exhort you to show just judgment and keen wisdom. Present not that which is holy to dogs, neither cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample your gems under foot and turn to rend you. I warn you against false prophets who will come to you in sheep's clothing, while on the inside they are as ravening wolves." (*1571)

Throughout Jesus' public career he was keenly aware of the political situation, staying clear of danger early in his public career when opposition began to mount in Jerusalem; confronting challenges in the Epochal Sermon when open conflict had become inevitable; telling his followers to be realistic--to count the cost of being a disciple; warning his disciples about the downfall of Jerusalem and the enmity of the world; all the while proclaiming the primal facts of the sovereignty of God and the love of the Father for the individual.

Finally, Jesus organized his knowledge into idea-decisions. So often we collect a piece of knowledge and leave it there, sitting on the shelf of the mind. We gather information, but we don't wrestle issues to the point of judgment, decision. We become passive consumers of information in a scientistic culture. But we have an alternative: to take that piece of knowledge and to bring to actualization its contribution to decision and action.

"Revelation teaches mortal man that, to start such a magnificent and intriguing adventure, he should begin by the organization of knowledge into idea-decisions." (*1112)

Right after his baptism, Jesus prepared for his great decisions by recalling his full range of planetary knowledge. We are told, "Jesus thought over the whole span of human life on Urantia, from the days of Andon and Fonta, down through Adam's default, and on to the ministry of the Melchizedek of Salem." (*1514)

We would like to know much more than we do about Jesus the scientist. We are given very little of the data he collected empirically. But we are given, from time to time, results of his knowledge of humankind. Jesus organized his knowledge into idea-decisions--and also into instructions for his followers. Consider a few of his teachings which embody the knowledge of cause and effect, of action and result:

He had his apostles begin with personal ministry before public preaching.

He taught that sharers of truth should "not undertake to show men the beauties of the temple until you have first taken them into the temple." (*1593)

And he predicted that "The persistent preaching of this gospel of the kingdom will some day bring to all nations a new and unbelievable liberation, intellectual freedom, and religious liberty." (*1930)

And what knowledge of humanity is embedded in his new commandment: "Love one another as I have loved you."!

There is a danger for us: we have not acquired the empirical foundation for these teachings; we may fail to understand why they are important; we may act contrary to their implicit wisdom; and we may have to rediscover their truth through a harvest of unhappiness.

We have the priceless opportunity of intelligent participation in the evolution of our universe. Science is on trial before the bar of human need. Will we utilize our scientific capacities to understand and act in accord with divine teaching or will we do something else with these abilities? Science requires courage and honest adventure. And it touches upon the beliefs at the root of our actions. Will we follow the Master fully in our devotion to truth?

"If you, by truth co-ordination, learn to exemplify in your lives this beautiful wholeness of righteousness, your fellow men will then seek after you that they may gain what you have so acquired." (*1726)

* * *

We can live in a more truth-co-ordinated way by basing our lives more perfectly on what we can learn from science. (This might involve exercise, nutrition, rest, recycling, or a more intelligent approach to our work or study.) What personal growth project would you like to undertake along these lines? Write down one or more needs that you would like to work on.

For each of these needs, answer the following questions:

1. How does this need require you to become more of a scientist yourself, making observations, testing hypotheses, etc.?

2. How does this need require you to explore more of what science has already discovered?

3. How does this need require you to put into practice what you already know?

A service of
The Urantia Book Fellowship

Labels: growth, Jeffrey H. Wattles, Jesus, science, technology, The Urantia Book

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Learning to Teach

by Ken Glasziou

Sooner or later Urantia Book readers are going to need to heed the calls put out by its revelators. One such is on page 43:

"The religious challenge of this age is to those farseeing and forward-looking men and women of spiritual insight who will dare to construct a new and appealing philosophy of living out of the enlarged and exquisitely integrated modern concepts of cosmic truth, universe beauty, and divine goodness."

A high priority is assigned to bringing Christianity back from its present status of authoritarian religion to what it was always meant to be--a religion of the spirit centered on the relationship between the individual, the Spirit of Truth, and the Father Spirit within. This priority is emphasized in at least ten paragraphs in the Papers, such as:

"Christianity has indeed done a great service for this world, but what is now most needed is Jesus. The world needs to see Jesus living again on earth in the experience of spirit-born mortals who effectively reveal the Master to all menâ€¦."(2084)

Those Urantia Book readers who have already taken this task seriously have learned a lot about what is unlikely to achieve much in the way of long term success.

One historian remarked that the amazing rapidity in which Pauline Christianity spread throughout the Roman Empire was because of the incredible relief it brought to people suffering from overwhelming guilt and the fear of punishment for sin. Apparently this syndrome was endemic and particular so among the many followers of Mithraism.

Today it persists in the form of the atonement doctrine. It is held so strongly that few clergy will risk the close to hysterical reaction that they know would follow if they even cast doubt on that doctrine.

Almost all Christians who are strong on atonement make no connection between what it may say about a God who is love and a God who demands the death of his Son before he will forgive his earthly children for their sins. They live happily with the contradiction that God is perfect love and that Jesus demonstrated God's love by dying as a propitiation for our sins.

So what can Urantia Book readers do to aid Christians to recover a religion of the spirit? A good start is to take notice of what Jesus told us:

"And this was his (Jesus) method of instruction: Never once did he attack their errors or even mention the flaws in their teachings. In each case he would select the truth in what they taught and then proceed so to embellish and illuminate this truth in their minds that in a very short time this enhancement of the truth effectively crowded out the associated error; (1455)

This instruction was later repeated to the apostle Simon:

"Jesus answered: "Simon, Simon, how many times have I instructed you to refrain from all efforts to take something out of the hearts of those who seek salvation? How often have I told you to labor only to put something into these hungry souls? Lead men into the kingdom, and the great and living truths of the kingdom will presently drive out all serious error." (1592)

So telling Christians where they are wrong does not appear to find favor with Jesus and is best laid to rest for good.

Jesus gave us an alternative, "Let the Spirit of Truth do his own work." (1932)

Another failure is to approach Christians with a new revelation. Whereas it may work for a tiny minority, experience has shown it is not the way to go. There may be a multitude of reasons, prominent among them being that Christianity has been satiated with false messiahs, prophets, visionaries, and charismatic would-be leaders. And certainly the warning of dire penalties in the Book of Revelations for changing any biblical teaching does engender wariness about embracing new revelation.

So what can we do? First we must have patience, tolerance, humility, and be as wise as serpents and as harmless as doves--all these recommendations come directly from Jesus.

The switch to a religion of the spirit demands, as a first essential step, the establishment of a personal relation of the individual and the Father-Spirit within.

There are more than twenty New Testament verses that tell of our indwelling by the Spirits of the Father and the Son. Some of these are:

John 14:23...if a man loves me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our abode with him.

John 14:26. The Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father shall send in my name will teach you everything and make you remember all that I have told you.

Luke 17:21....for the kingdom of God is within you.
Matthew 10: 20. For it is not you that speaks, but the Spirit of your Father which speaks in you.

1 John 4:12. No man has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwells in us, and his love is perfected in us.

1 Cor. 3:16. Know you not that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?

Galatians 4:6. And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.

This means we do not even need to mention The Urantia Book nor the Thought Adjuster. In any case the latter term has acquired unfortunate connotations since the Papers were received because of the use of "brain washing" and "thought control" as instruments for controlling the citizens of countries with totalitarian regimes .

At this stage it would appear to be far better to follow Jesus:

"Let me emphatically state this eternal truth: If you, by truth co-ordination, learn to exemplify in your lives this beautiful wholeness of righteousness, your fellow men will then seek after you that they may gain what you have so acquired. The measure wherewith truth seekers are drawn to you represents the measure of your truth endowment, your righteousness. The extent to which you have to go with your message to the people is, in a way, the measure of your failure to live the whole or righteous life, the truth-co-ordinated life." (1726)

"Christianity has indeed done a great service for this world, but what is now most needed is Jesus. The world needs to see Jesus living again on earth in the experience of spirit-born mortals who effectively reveal the Master to all men." (2084)

Note that the emphasis is on us living the God-like life as revealed in Jesus' life and perhaps handing out a Urantia Book after truth seekers are drawn to us. Unless we at least attempt to do that, we make a mockery of the revelation if we identify ourselves as Urantia Book readers.

The phase in which our principal task is to help Christians to become aware of their indwelling may last for hundreds of years. Hence there is little reason to be anxious about what comes next. And in any case we have relevant advice from Jesus:

"You must, in all such matters, wait upon time. Time alone will ripen the green fruit upon the tree.

Season follows season and sundown follows sunrise only with the passing of time. I am now on the way to ..., and that is sufficient for today. My tomorrow is wholly in the hands of my Father in heaven." (1499)

Labels: atonement, Christians, God, Jesus, Ken Glasziou, New Testament, teachers, techniques, The Urantia Book

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Saturday, July 14, 2007

Meditate...to Concentrate: Penn Researchers Demonstrate Improved Attention With Mindfulness Training

Note from Truthbook: Although this article is not specific to The Urantia Book, it does make a very good argument for adopting Jesus' practice of meditation, covered elsewhere in this blog, and of course, in The Urantia Book.

Jordan Reese
May 09, 2007

PHILADELPHIA -- Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania say that practicing even small doses of daily meditation may improve focus and performance.

Meditation, according to Penn neuroscientist Amishi Jha and Michael Baime, director of Penn's Stress Management Program, is an active and effortful process that literally changes the way the brain works. Their study is the first to examine how meditation may modify the three subcomponents of attention, including the ability to prioritize and manage tasks and goals, the ability to voluntarily focus on specific information and the ability to stay alert to the environment.

In the Penn study, subjects were split into two categories. Those new to meditation, or "mindfulness training," took part in an eight-week course that included up to 30 minutes of daily meditation. The second group was more experienced with meditation and attended an intensive full-time, one-month retreat.

Researchers found that even for those new to the practice, meditation enhanced performance and the ability to focus attention. Performance-based measures of cognitive function demonstrated improvements in a matter of weeks. The study, to be published in the journal Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience, suggests a new, non-medical means for improving focus and cognitive ability among disparate populations and has implications for workplace performance and learning.

Participants performed tasks at a computer that measured response speeds and accuracy. At the outset, retreat participants who were experienced in meditation demonstrated better executive functioning skills, the cognitive ability to voluntarily focus, manage tasks and prioritize goals. Upon completion of the eight-week training, participants new to meditation had greater improvement in their ability to quickly and accurately move and focus attention, a process known as "orienting." After the one-month intensive retreat, participants also improved their ability to keep attention "at the ready."

The results suggest that meditation, even as little as 30 minutes daily, may improve attention and focus for those with heavy demands on their time. While practicing meditation may itself may not be relaxing or restful, the attention-performance improvements that come with practice may paradoxically allow us to be more relaxed.
The research was supported by the National Institutes of Health and the Penn Stress Management Program.

Labels: attention, Jesus, Jordan Reese, meditation, mindfulness, National Institutes of Health, Penn Stress Management Program, performance, The Urantia Book

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Friday, June 29, 2007

Living the Religion of Jesus: The Creation of Destiny

by Paul Snider6/26/76

In his Alexandrian appearance following the Crucifixion, Jesus said that we are to proclaim this gospel of love and truth by the lives which we live in the flesh. He said: "You shall love one another with a new and startling affection, even as I have loved you. You will serve mankind with a new and amazing devotion, even as I have served you. And when men see you so love them, and when they behold how fervently you serve them, they will perceive that you have become faith-fellows of the kingdom of heaven, and they will follow after the Spirit of Truth which they see in your lives, to the finding of eternal salvation." (2044:3)

Jesus was not talking about unity in this statement; he was telling us how to become really effective as believers and teachers. But there is something in what he said which seems to hold the secret of unity for all of us in the Urantia movement, and eventually for mankind as a whole. The clues are in the adjectives. Do we know what it means to love with "startling" affection? Do we know how to reach "amazing" levels of devotion? Wasn't Jesus asking us to love not in the mere ordinary sense, but rather to attain a very special quality of love? Like none the earth had ever seen?

In a spiritual sense we already have unity. All of us are seeking to find the Father in Heaven, to become more and more like him. All of us desire above all else to do the Father's will, to share our inner life with him, to seek our greatest sense of personal fulfillment in a life of service. We are united in our spiritual purpose. But there is a tremendous difference between having unity and experiencing unity. Experiencing unity means living in an ever-enlarging family relationship with our fellow man. And there is no other way to do this, no way at all, except through those extraordinary levels of love Jesus called us to achieve, and which in other teachings he described as fatherly love.

Jesus expects us, as his followers, to strive to be like God, to begin to look upon our fellow man as God looks upon his creatures, and therefore to begin to love men as God loves them, to show forth the beginnings of fatherly affection. He expects us to love each other even as he loves us.
Fatherly love is relaxed. It's a comfortable, friendly love. It always looks for the best in the other person, just as a true father always looks for the best in his child. Fatherly love means we are willing to accept other people where they are, where they're coming from, without reservations or qualifications or hidden agendas for their lives. This kind of love never insists that other people follow our will for them, only that they follow God's will according to their highest comprehension, living ever more fully as the sons and daughters of God, which they are.

And when our brothers and sisters stumble into error, as all of us do from time to time, fatherly love means we take delight in returning good for the evil that is done to us. Jesus asked us, and expects us, to reach heights of compassion, mercy, peace, and loving-kindness far beyond the range even of brotherly love. A father's love can attain levels of devotion that immeasurably transcend a brother's affection.

What Jesus wants us to do is very clear, but his message has been lost for almost 2,000 years. The Urantia revelation has brought it back to us. And I think the time has come to begin the quest, with each other, for these startling and amazing levels of love and devotion. "The time has come to affirm the transforming power of the living God who dwells within us. I think the time has come to show the world -- through the lives we live -- what mankind will look like in the golden ages to come. We are the new disciples of Jesus, the torchbearers of the Fifth Epochal Revelation. And we know with certainty that unity is our destiny.

We can help create that destiny. To the extent to which we actually live the religion of Jesus, we are assisting in the creation of the most powerful unifying influence the world has ever known.
But its unifying influence must begin with us. It must begin with the unification of believers into a true and living fellowship of the divine spirit. Before we can begin the transformation of the world, we ourselves must be transformed. We have to spend a lot of time with God.

Only twice in the entire Urantia Book are we given the words of Jesus' personal prayers. And I believe it is significant that one of those prayers included a prayer for the unity of his followers.
It was in the hours just preceding the betrayal and his arrest. A little before midnight. They had finished the last supper and returned to their camp at Gethsemane. And Jesus led the Apostles up on Olivet, a short distance above their camp. And in full view of Jerusalem, he asked them to kneel on a large flat rock in a circle about him as they had done on the day of their ordination. And then, as he stood there in the midst of them, glorified in the mellow moonlight, he lifted up his eyes toward heaven and he prayed. And part of his prayer was this (1964:4):

"And now, my Father, I would pray not only for these eleven men, but also for all others who now believe, or who may hereafter believe the gospel of the kingdom through the word of their future ministry. I want them all to be as one, even as you and I are one. You are in me and I am in you, and I desire that these believers likewise be in us; that both of our spirits indwell them. If my children are as one as we are one, and if they love one another as I have loved them, all men will then believe that I came forth from you and be willing to receive the revelation of truth and glory which I have made."

Paul Snider (6/26/76)

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A Service ofThe Urantia Book Fellowshiphttp://www.urantiabook.org/archive/readers/doc083.htm

Labels: devotion, God, Jesus, love, Paul Snider, The Urantia Book, unity

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Fear And Growth

Helena Sprague
The Urantian Journal of Urantia Brotherhood
Winter, 1977

A major component of human development is fear, both the instinctive responses coming out of the dim ages of the struggle for physical survival, and the learned reactions of our cultural endowment, particularly psychosocial, intellectual, and sometimes spiritual. The URANTIA Book teachings about fear and growth are both profound and practical. They can be considered from four viewpoints.

First, fear is a universal experience of the creatures of time and space. There are racial variations: Adamic children are not so subject to fear as the children of evolution. Personal experience confirms the universality of fear; no one has been free of it. Simple scrutiny turns it up in all arenas of human activity, among them business, politics, economics, family, the arts, recreation, international relations. In some human behavior fear may be subtle. Take elitism, for instance: it is not popular to be "elitist"; most of us react negatively to this, yet I submit some would find the array of personalities in the universe- sovereigns and princes and staffs and workers elitist. There is a simple and complete difference between mortals and supermortals in reaction to a pyramidal organization chart: their response involves no fear.

Second, certain fears are destructive. Fear girds us for fight or flight (if we are healthy), and inherent in these is the considerable chance of poor decisions. "A false fear of sacredness has prevented religion from being safeguarded by common sense. Fear of the authority of the sacred writing of the past effectively prevents the honest souls of today from accepting the new light . . . " (*1768:6)

"The Jewish leaders were increasingly blinded by fear and prejudice.... When men shut off the appeal to the spirit that dwells within them there is little that can be done to modify their attitude." (*1672:6)

About our seraphic guardians: "The only emotion actuating you which is somewhat difficult for them to comprehend is the legacy of animal fear that bulks so large in the mental life of the average inhabitant of Urantia. The angels really find it hard to understand why you will so persistently allow your higher intellectual powers, even your religious faith, to be so dominated by fear, so thoroughly demoralized by the thoughtless panic of dread and anxiety." (*1243:3)

The third viewpoint is that fear is ultimately constructive. One of the inevitabilities asks, "Is hope-the grandeur of trust- desirable? Then human existence must constantly be confronted with insecurities and recurrent uncertainties." (*51:7)

Fear was the entering wedge into man's consciousness for the development of his spiritual nature. "Ghost fear was the fountainhead of all world religion." (*961:3)

A Brilliant Evening Star tells us that ghost fear led to recognition of higher types of spirits, later to dual spiritism, (good and bad spirits), then to supermortal forces that were consistent in behavior. He emphasizes that " . . . this was one of the most momentous discoveries of truth in the entire history of the evolution of religion and in the expansion of human philosophy." (*961:7)

The same Evening Star of Nebadon writes: "Primitive religion prepared the soil of the human mind, by the powerful and awesome force of false fear, for the bestowal of a bona fide spiritual force of supernatural origin, the Thought Adjuster. And the divine Adjusters have ever since labored to transmute God-fear into God-love." (*957:3)

Fourth, the antidote for fear is faith. "The feelings of insecurity arising from the fear of personality isolation in the universe should be antidoted by faith contemplation of the Father and the attempted realization of the Supreme." (*1616:5)

Dealing with our fears which are personal, often private, sometimes lonely experiences, requires effort, overt action. "The Thought Adjusters would like to change your feelings of fear to convictions of love and confidence; but they cannot mechanically and arbitrarily do such things; that is your task." (*1192:4)

Jesus' whole mission really related to faith; his revelation of God to man a gift to make man's faith more possible for spiritually immature beings; his revelation of man to God an inspiring example of practical ways confused humans might relate to Deity.

Jesus knew no fear; he was prudent, and though fearless, he was not willing to take unproductive risks. " . . . courage was the very heart of his teachings. 'Fear not' was his watchword . . . " (*1582:2)

For us to translate this directive into action, The URANTIA Book gives practical recommendations: ". . . forthwith, will this faith vanquish fear of men by the compelling presence of that new and all-dominating love of your fellows. " (* 1438: 1)

And, "In executing those decisions which deliver you from the fetters of fear, you literally supply the psychic fulcrum on which the Adjuster may subsequently apply a spiritual lever of uplifting and advancing illumination." (*1192:4)

All decisions can be evaluated by whether they are fear or faith inspired, because fear and faith are two fundamental techniques by which we deal with reality. Both are necessary for survival.

God is the greatest human experience. He is within us disclosing all that we can absorb, and the limit of this comprehension is contingent upon the quality of our faith, that quality which is measured by our desire to comprehend.

Our Universal Father gives us all that we have, all that we are and all that we may become. He asks of us growth toward perfection, growth to be nurtured by faith and actualized in the Supreme.

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A Service of The Urantia Book Fellowship

Labels: faith, fear, God, growth, Helena Sprague, Jesus, love, The Urantia Book

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Revitalization And Transformation Within The Family

Sally Schlundt
A Presentation given at the 1981 conference of Urantia Brotherhood Snowmass, Colorado
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Introduction

I prefer the title of this talk being the revitalization and transformation within the family instead of the revitalization and transformation of the family because it places the emphasis and responsibility of improvement on the family itself. I believe that for any transformation to take place the initiative has to come from within--not as the result of outside forces. In order to adequately understand how we can revitalize and transform the family we need to understand first just what family is -- assess its function and value. Along with this we need to take a look at the current sickness that's plaguing the family and discuss the possible causes. Note that I refer to it as a sickness because that's exactly what I believe it to be--not a demise. Family is in a state of transition and we need to redefine it -- come to understand it in the light of a new era -- and answer to the challenge and responsibility required to fulfill its function in today's world.

Family, what is it? Dr. Charles Stinnette at the Graduate Seminary of Philips University in Oklahoma defines family in the following way, "It is a world of persons, a cosmos of meanings and common understanding which provides a center for unity and conflict, for meeting and withdrawal, for the shaping of identity and for the birth and nurture of our essential humanness.

The mode in which family is a whole, and yet provides for diversity is the heartbeat of healthy living. Further, the family is a social organism which is propelled, not alone by physiological function, but most importantly by inter-personal events. Here is the foundational cornerstone for adequately understanding the family."

In reinforcement of that statement, The Urantia Book describes the universe as a huge growing arena that is set up in such a way that it unerringly activates our individual growth--resulting mainly from the interaction of other beings--through the socialization process. We start small at first (we couldn't handle anything bigger) and gradually work our way up to larger and more diverse associations. Thus the smaller manageable unit-the family--is the primary social medium in our lives through which we grow and extend the learning it facilitates. On page 1776 we read, "Marriage, with its manifold relations, is best designed to draw forth those precious impulses and those higher motives which are indispensable to the development of a strong character." (*1776:1)

Growth requires encounters with people. Evidently we wouldn't grow much on our own, if at all, so we need the stimulation of continually bumping up against other people. And characteristically growth doesn't occur without conflict. And families, due to their intense degree of intimacy, provide the necessary rich soil. Contrary to how many of us feel and think, we're not here to simply get along smoothly, we're here to grow vigorously and deeply. That's God's chief objective in having us here and that doesn't occur in environmental ease (as The Urantia Book so aptly puts it). In fact The Urantia Book describes the partnership between man and woman as basically antagonistic--a pairing of opposites both complemental and necessary. It's symbolic of nature's way to capitalize on differences --to utilize and benefit from the union of diversity.

Also found in The URANTIA Book: "The enforced associations of family life stabilize personality and stimulate its growth through the compulsion of necessitous adjustment to other and diverse personalities." (*942:2)

Family Undervalued

Ironically, though, in view of all this importance and along with being the oldest and most prevalent institution in our lives, family remains a most grossly undervalued institution.

Parenting is the most important job on this planet and yet it is the least prepared for and the least appreciated profession of all. Even so, family is the most influential institution in our lives--shaping us and as a consequence, in turn, shaping through us the society in which we live. The family is our primary learning institution, where we learn about life, about the universe, and about the very nature of God. To the point: "The family is the fundamental unit of fraternity in which parents and children learn those lessons of patience, altruism, tolerance, and forbearance which are so essential to the realization of brotherhood among all men." (*841:8)

It is frightening, however, that although family is essential for the over-all benefit of individuals and society, we are witnessing what appears to be a general tide of family disintegration and with it a great deal of society's moral fiber. Why is this happening? There are many opinions but usually they only scratch the surface. For the problems of the family are not exclusive to the family but rather symptomatic of an all-pervasive cultural problem.

The single most important influence on our contemporary culture -our lives--has been the dawning of industrialization with all of its consequent effects upon every aspect of life, from science and technology through economics, education, politics, and religion. We have time to focus on only a few key factors. It has been through the advances of science and technology that the basic function of the family has been altered in its very nature, and so its stability shattered. Not only has technology provided us with the inventions making it possible to travel farther and therefore extending our sense of personal territory, but it has also given us less reason to stay and work together.

Families had largely been cohesive because they were functional and necessary for society, controlled in turn by social norms and mores. But the functions that held families together and gave them meaning are no longer pertinent in today's culture--science and technology have largely taken care of that, cutting families free from their original or traditional working responsibilities. We, as families, are not in the same symbiotic relationship with society we once were.

All this new-found freedom is of little comfort because we're losing our sense of significance, and instead of society depending upon families any more we find families and their members hopelessly dependent upon society's larger, less personal institutions. As the family has become less and less necessary for the physical well-being of the society the individual suffers. Probably the most disastrous effect industrialization has had on the individual is this diminishing sense of significance--it's one of our greatest human needs--if we don't have that, we have little reason for existing.

Although society has largely controlled the individual, it is nonetheless an invention of the individual--an extension of self-perpetuation. Society is a tool devised by the individual to assure survival; institutions were devised to fulfill certain specialized functions. In the past, all institutions, including the family, were engaged in common reciprocal serving --the family served the other institutions and the institutions, in turn, served the family. This interdependence, this healthy symbiosis, has been broken as other institutions have loomed ever larger, resulting in the family becoming irrelevant as well as powerless. Since much of the family's function has been replaced an unhealthy imbalance has been created. Rather than the individual being a necessary part of a viable institution any more (whether that be a family or a small business in the community) his chief means of contributing has been reduced to that of a consumer. He has become depersonalized as institutions have grown into depersonalized giants--his own particular selfhood and personal skills unimportant.

However, industrialization itself is not the culprit. Rather we are victims of ourselves, in how we handle the new advances. For example, one invention that has radically changed the face of the family day-to-day lifestyle is the television set. It has been blamed vehemently for interfering or replacing intimately shared family activities. Howard Steing, Clinical Professor of Medical Psychiatric Anthropology at the University of Oklahoma, considers the use of the TV a symbolic expression of American culture. He maintains that TV is as much a person in the household as any real person--a person that captures our attention so totally that it obliterates reality going on around us. This is no accident, for he asserts that we actually engage TV to replace close personal contact, to escape from the commitments and sorrows existing with real associations. TV is the optimum and ideal friend, filling the void, giving us a sense of living and personal contact, willingly giving all and asking nothing in return. He maintains that in the sense that TV actually isolates us from real contact--separating us from real socialization--it's an addiction every bit as harmful as alcoholism or drug abuse.

Since TV has become a cultural norm it offers one the luxury of having the ultimate sanctioned distraction. These norms make self-indulgence--rights without responsibility--convenient and justifiable. Sadly, the irony of it all is that TV both fills the emptiness and serves to perpetuate it; it is symptomatic of the very isolation we use it to overcome, and so symbolic of a vast range of depersonalizing influences. "TV, though," he goes on to say "doesn't create or destroy relationships--it is not the villain--it is a matter instead of how the television is used in the relationships." Instead of disrupting family intimacy, for instance, it can be used as a means for family sharing -- used as an extension or means of socializing." He notes: "Long before TV existed, there was plenty of generational segmentation, role specialization, fragmentation, and compartmentalization in the American family; TV simply was placed in the service of these tendencies, further disrupting inter-personal ties that were already fractured."

Looking more deeply, then, the problem has little to do with actual by-products of industrialization but rather its associated values. In an essay written by Dr. Peter Kountz and Rev. Douglas Peterson, entitled, Marriage, Career and Disintegration of the American Dream, the point is made: "The work/career component is the greatest danger to the American way of life--not liberation or the failure of the church to provide adequate moral guidance. With technology came a new set of values; speed and efficiency came to be valued as work was moved from home to the office and factory in order to bring workers and materials together in the most efficient way. . Because of its astonishing growth and development through technology, contemporary American society has come to value progress and upward mobility as well as efficiency, productivity, and technical expertise. Americans have in this way become almost exclusively committed to the values of the technological, work-oriented American Dream -- (ironically though) it is precisely the American Dream that continues to confuse and frustrate 20th century American culture and its primary institutions. It is a lure enticing us into the belief that its attainment will bring joy and pleasure. Like the fish that takes the bait, our frenzied pursuit of the lure turns into bitter disappointment, mistrust and frustration." And they make clear the effect this pursuit has on the stability of the family: "The value of family staying and playing together has been shattered by the dozens of individual interests that scatter the family members to the four corners of their community."

In the past, functional, economic, and social reasons provided the necessary cement that held families together, giving them meaning and justifying their existence. But today these reasons are no longer relevant and consequently family is floundering. It has been set free from its original purpose and is presently at a loss.

Today mores, values, and ethics are all designed for the maintenance and perpetuation of the industrial complex. Industrial survival is society's primary concern, leaving the individual and family expendable. So the active values in our times are personally disabling. They encourage uniformity rather than individuality, dependency rather than self-maintenance or self-motivation. Corporate institutions have values other than human values. In our increasingly depersonalized society, market values or profits come before people. We have become victims of our own Frankenstein monster.

In order to offset this direction the family must once again become a viable contributor; a balance needs to be restored so that family is serving society again and in a way that only family can. The positive side of industrialization is that in many parts of the world basic survival needs are largely being taken care of by industry, leaving the family free to contribute in a new way. The stage is now set for a higher evolutionary contribution, therefore family is at a point where it has the opportunity to find deeper reasons for existing--to be as functional as yesterday's family was to an earlier era.

But the problem and solution are a matter of values and presently we lack a viable value system -- what value systems we do have are either hopelessly out-moded, irrelevant, or corrupt. We are presently experiencing moral confusion. The fast pace of a radically changing world has given us little time to adjust and redefine our purpose. Consequently, we're at a point in history where we've gained freedom and don't know what to do with it; we've been socially regulated for so long that we don't know what to do on our own responsibly. Many of the standard moral codes have broken down.

Margaret Mead in Culture and Commitment, explains that we are suffering a crisis of faith--we have lost faith in religion, political ideology, and in science, and are therefore deprived of every kind of security. She maintains that this is a world-wide problem because of what she calls the electronic network--that combined with air travel connects everyone together finally--leaving no one in cultural isolation. Everyone is now exposed to other beliefs, other norms, and mores. We are no longer limited by our small cultural scope. Our old standards and values are undermined by the awareness of other standards and values --we don't just believe blindly anymore.

Freedom with Responsibility

Today we need a new ethic. We need an ethic centered around human values again, one to counter the dehumanizing values of an industrial era--values we've adopted that interrupt genuine human relating. An ethic, though, that moves forward to basics, not back, because it's a new world today and we need values based on a design suitable for today's world. Our boundaries have extended beyond our families, our communities, our cities, and even our nations. Carl Sagan, in his book Cosmos, points out the importance of adopting a global perspective today, that is, "of broadening the circle of those we love. . . to include the whole human community." We need to become a world community based on a stance of cooperative unity dedicated to the over-all benefit of all humanity. For instance, Virginia Satir, in her book Peoplemaking, suggests that we use power with a different aim in mind. She writes, "I need to use my power for my growth and your growth. This kind of use of power doesn't exclude human values; it enhances them." We need an ethic that enables and frees people to themselves and one another--utilizing skills for the benefit of all society--of all the world. An ethic both respectful of the needs for personal freedom while at the same time affirming each individual's responsibility to the whole.

Eric Hoffer, the well known longshoreman philosopher, understands the nature of this new ethic needed today: "As things are now, it may well be the survival of the species will depend upon the capacity to foster a boundless capacity for compassion." Family, because of its close intimate associations, is the primary institution to embody this new ethic. The family is the most competent institution capable of activating a capacity for intimacy and sensitivity which in turn provides for the rounded development of character and personality. Only family generates intimately-caring individuals; it's the only institution looking out for truly individual concerns.

Ultimately it's the family that's capable of freeing people to themselves, one another, and to God. In effect, other institutions are depersonalized. It's the only institution that can create love. To quote my husband, "institutions cannot love--only people love." The family institution is the sole exception, for when it functions as it should it alone fosters deep intimate, personal love!

I'm convinced that the main problem of the family today (and therefore our culture) is simply that the family doesn't appreciate itself--its importance--and fails to notice the enormity of its influence. According to The Urantia Book, the family is far from being insignificant; it earns the lone distinction, in fact, of being ". . man's supreme evolutionary acquirement and civilization's only hope of survival." (*943:2) Ironically, on the very institution that is least understood and appreciated rests to a very large extent the solution to the manifold problems that plague the world today. The family and its capacity for growth and change is the ultimate educator in society and finally the universe. Families are the teaching centers of real education and models for all social structures. It is the family from which we learn or don't learn individual responsibility, cooperation, love and caring, fairness, justice, compassion, forgiveness, and grace. It is from the family that we learn how to regard and finally treat our fellow man. As found in The Urantia Book, the family is absolutely essential for revealing the true character of God.

"The relationship of child and parent is fundamental to the essential concept of the Universal Father. ." (*516:3)

Jesus regarded the family so highly, in fact, that "the family occupied the very center of Jesus' philosophy of life--here and hereafter." (*1581:1) Jesus never under-estimated the value of family--he saw family as representative of the highest levels of existence --referring even to the kingdom as a divine family. Jesus said: ". . (the) Father has directed the creation of male and female, and it is the divine will that men and women should find their highest service and consequent joy in the establishment of homes for the reception and training of children, in the creation of whom these parents become copartners with the Makers of heaven and earth." (*1839:5) By what he said and how he lived Jesus elevated the union between man and woman and the subsequent family to a level far exceeding its status of that era and even today's era. He gave meaning to the statement that, "The family is man's greatest purely human achievement. . . " (*939:3)

Families are not only educational institutions for the members that comprise them but also educators of society. Families are essential as carriers of culture and instruments of change. In The Urantia Book it's emphasized how all-important this function is: "Society itself is the aggregated structure of family units. Individuals are very temporary as planetary factors--only families are continuing agencies in social evolution. The family is the channel through which the river of culture and knowledge flows from one generation to another." (*931:2) Family is basic for passing on the cultural torch, giving continuity to social evolutionary patterns. Families are the carriers of society, without which society would stagnate. In The Urantia Book it reads, "Almost everything of lasting value in civilization has its roots in the family." (*765:5)

Dr. Charles Stinnette highlights and summarizes this all-important function of family: "(Family), it is both a conservator and mediator of human value and a prophetic center which translates a cry of distress into a summons for help and change. The family is destroyed from within whenever it ignores either of these mandates. Its function as a center for prophetic change gives meaning and import to its function as the nurturing center of civilization."

Yes, far from being insignificant, the family's responsibility is indispensable. How, then, do we proceed in this vital reconstruction? Family building is at an all time low --it's becoming less and less an attractive venture for people. In their combined book Here's to the Family, Betty and Joel Wells analyze the dilemma this way: "The husband and wife who enter into familyhood--that is, have children--are offered little by way of preparatory education or professional training for what is surely one of the most complex and challenging jobs in the world. Nor are they offered the same sort of support which surrounding institutions used to provide. To get married, stay married, run a household, raise healthy, well-adjusted children to the point of incipient maturity is not the easy, automatic, natural thing it was once supposed to be. In fact, not very many people, when you take the population at large, are able to do it. Yet when they are successful, there's no Nobel or Pulitzer prize awarded; no cover story in Time to celebrate the achievement in the face of odds that grow longer each year."

Parenting, no doubt, is a thankless task today. Family is no longer regarded with unquestioned respect -- no longer considered the pace-setter and upholder of right but, instead, is blamed for everything--blamed for the ills of both the individual and society. For that matter, Aldous Huxley, in Brave New World, forecasted a world where family would be entirely obliterated due to its supposed negative and immoral influence on people. We are understandably apprehensive about entering parenthood any more. Thanks to psychology we've been made aware of the risks. We are conscientious about parenting now in a new way--having been made aware of the damage parents can inflict. We truly want to do the right thing, our intentions are right but we find ourselves so overwhelmed by the constant onslaught of diverse viewpoints on child-rearing that we end up numb by the sheer confusion and ineffective by the inevitable guilt!

To complicate matters further, parental authority is increasingly being undercut today by the intervention of other institutions. We hear today of the rising apathy among parents, that increasingly parents are shirking their responsibility. I believe there are such instances but I also believe strongly that most parents are interested, extremely interested, in their children and if anything, they feel at a loss--they doubt their own competence as parents. I feel parents have to like themselves again and, therefore, like their role. "Parent" has become a four letter word in our society and that has to change. Furthermore, no one is more fitting for the job.

Other institutions only know a portion of the child's over-all needs. It's the parents who must take their rightful place again as the chief experts in the raising of their children. In The Urantia Book we read: ". . .any attempt to shift parental responsibility to state or church will prove suicidal to the welfare and advancement of civilization." (*941:8) Moreover, on a neighboring planet, as a positive example, children are under full control of their parents.

What this means is that today, parents need to retrieve their full responsibility and authority once again, responsibility mainly as teachers. In The Urantia Book we find that teaching and child-rearing are in fact inseparable. Education today, unfortunately, is regarded as only occurring in certain specified places and by certain specified people. Actually, though, learning is no more a consequence of organized education than religion is a consequence of organized religion. Learning is a part of life--it is life, in fact.

Parenting Opportunity

Family is the arena for personal and interpersonal development. Family is a combination of elements that we require to grow. Even Jesus had to experience being both child and parent in family. We read: "No surviving mortal, midwayer, or seraphim may ascend to Paradise, attain the Father, and be mustered into the Corps of the Finality without having passed through that sublime experience of achieving parental relationship to an evolving child of the worlds or some other experience analogous and equivalent thereto. The relationship of child and parent is fundamental to the essential concept of the Universal Father and his universe children.

Therefore does such an experience become indispensable to the experiential training of all ascenders." (*516:3) We need the opportunity to parent, not just for our children's sake but for ours as well. We need the addition that children bring to an intimate association.

It's common in our society to exclude children from our adult lives, to see them as a becoming, a "future," as Maria Montessori puts it, and therefore we segregate ourselves from them.

Children, though, provide us with a necessary balance, something we wouldn't have otherwise. Children are not merely a becoming, but part of our very essential and necessary socialization process. Maria Montessori further points out that by cutting ourselves off from children as we do, we are consequently severing ourselves from a necessary part of ourselves and ultimately our society. We are only functioning and growing at half our potential capacity. She explains it as follows, "There is in us, finally, a peculiar emptiness, a blindness we have built into our spirit and our civilization. Something like a blind spot in the depths of the eye, this blind spot is in the depths of life." Dave, my husband, once said, "Children are incredibly precious because of their relative rarity in the total ascension career--but in our society they are largely cast aside. They should be our teachers; as God learns from us, so we learn from our children."

There's a beautiful book entitled: Whole Child Whole Parent, written by Polly Berends. Here is what she has to say about the education of parenthood: "It's an existential fact that most of us need our children. There are few people walking this earth who learn the arts of motherliness and fatherliness without children, and they are very wise. But most of us benefit from the big push our children give us toward the discovery of these qualities-- qualities which are absolutely necessary to our fulfillment and of more lasting value than most of the lessons of childhood. We learn them for the sake of our children, but they benefit us most of all. Once we have learned to be truly motherly and fatherly (we need of course, to become both) we will always be much happier.

The gain is not the having of children; it is the discovery of love and how to be loving. The foundation of love is the knowledge of goodness. The qualities of this love are receptivity, patience, innocence, humility, trust, gratitude, generosity, understanding, and the desire to be good for goodness' sake." The most moving insight was when I read the following statement: "Parenthood is just the world's most intensive course in love."

Not only do we disclose the true nature of our Father's love to our children as is so aptly pointed out in The Urantia Book but it's within the family that we learn love. We really don't understand the full nature of love until we've had the opportunity to parent.

A perspective of love is basic, any method (for instance in child-rearing) is secondary and inconsequential to love; if you don't have love, any method in the world won't work, and by the same token, if you do have the love any method in the world will work. This was the wonder behind Jesus as parent; it wasn't his technique per se -- his technique was love-based, love-expressed. In addition we read, " . .the entire religious experience of such a child is largely dependent on whether fear or love has dominated the parent-child relationship." (*1013:6)

The ultimate goal of parenting should be to free the individual to himself and to God; to allow him to teach himself, actually, to learn from life like we all do, through the instrument of experience; to formulate his own truth. Polly Berends added a dimension to the well-used quote by Jesus: ". . .except you become as a little child you shall never enter the kingdom." She goes on, "He wasn't talking about cute or little or helpless or ignorant: he was talking about the child's most outstanding ability, the ability to learn." It's the child's wide-eyed and open receptivity to the ongoing and ever-revealing truth that makes him a virtual sponge for truth. It's this condition of always questioning that characterizes the child so well.

I read somewhere that adults are collaborators in life with children--not experts--but fellow learners, because learning occurs always, everywhere and with everybody. Our role has to do with "...assisting the child to win the battle of life." (*941:7) Everyone in a household as equal participant, working in collaboration with one another, each empowered with his own personality and sense of responsibility is what true freedom is all about --it's the way of the universe. Jesus' family was so designed. It is true with the Father's family.

In asking ourselves how best to parent, we need only look to God as our model parent. In his silent leading he offers himself as a patiently gentle guide striking a perfect balance of involvement. Always is God present but never overwhelmingly so. And by never imposing his will he sets and nurtures the conditions for the development of true inner discipline.

In conclusion, even though this is a time of great insecurity for the individual and the family, I see this as a magnificent opportunity for all humankind. One way to view it is to see ourselves being weaned from an outer social control, to an inner greater control.

This current narcissitic period we're witnessing is not only understandable but maybe even necessary before we discover something else. It's like being weaned from the bottle and resorting to our thumb for awhile. We're in a period of self-discovery--of finding our separateness. After all, that's where God ultimately finds us--alone--he relates to individuals, not groups as such. The challenge now is greater than ever before and that's really what's scary about it; the control is no longer out there--it's up to us now--we have to find the answers and direction within ourselves.

And what does this say about family? People as single individuals functioning autonomously, acting out of personal decisions motivated by choice, are far more cohesive and advantageous for the good of the group than the old family group based on necessity alone and controlled by society. Our families and therefore society is many times more solid and effective when people are committed to each other out of choice and governed by their own set of values born out of a personal relationship to God. This is what the age offers us. The Urantia Book is a book of this new age--a vision of the idea of God-control.

"Families and societies are small and large versions of one another. Put together all the current existing families and you have society," says Virginia Satir in her book Peoplemaking. Because of this fact any changes occurring in the family have a direct influence on society. Families today have the opportunity of revitalizing with a new significance by transforming into small model communities, communities of individuals committed to growth. What a marvelous and different world we would have if everyone in it were committed to growth -- People choosing to be together--embracing involvement with one another again but for higher reasons--based on the principles of dynamic growth.

Families are being called forth to be in the business of building the kingdom right here on earth. To develop and improve human quality and to act as spawning grounds by which the world learns the essential values of the kingdom. On page 1777 we read: "And thus, if you can build up such trustworthy and effective small units of human association, when these are assembled in the aggregate, the world will behold a great and glorified social structure, the civilization of mortal maturity. Such a race might begin to realize something of your Master's ideal of 'peace on earth and good will among men.' While such a society would not be perfect or entirely free from evil, it would at least approach the stabilization of maturity." (*1777:2)

And finally, family is not an end in itself but a pattern, a fundamental pattern of human relating that needs to be realized increasingly right up through the planetary family towards universe family. Families are tiny microcosms of human relationships reflected on all universe levels--on page 369 we read of it being a reflection of the very universe structure itself. Family as pattern is the only institution that covers the entire range of evolutionary reality even to Paradise--the trinity for instance being the primary family. Its feet are in the earth but its head is in Paradise--no other institution can claim that!

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A Service of The Urantia Book Fellowship

Labels: balance, conflict, crisis, faith, family, God, growth, industrialization, Jesus, marriage, parenting, responsibility, Sally Schlundt, society, The Urantia Book, TV

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Wednesday, June 27, 2007

The Second Mile: The Challenge, The Message, The Way

By Dorothy J. Elder

The Challenge

What unifies us today is our awareness that the dawn of a new and enlightened spiritual era on Urantia is here, and we have enlisted as pilgrims of its progress. Just as the light of dawn disseminates across the horizon on a world of space, so must the dawn of a new spiritual era be disseminated across the horizon until it encompasses the whole of humankind.

Evolution and revelation are partners in this process. Revelation is evolutionary, and its mission is to sort and censor the successive religions of evolution. But if it is to exalt and upstep religion then these upsteppings of revelation must not be too far removed from the thought and reactions of the age in which they are presented. Thus must and does revelation always keep in touch with evolution. Always must the religion of revelation be limited by manâ€™s capacity of receptivity. (1007)

Herein lies the paradox:

The nature and content of this sweeping Fifth Epochal Revelation seems to contradict the statement on page 1007 regarding the progression of revelational upstepping.

The key word here is sweeping. The question is not why did we receive the revelation, buy why such an extraordinary one? It is clear to all of us why we received it. On our historically beleaguered and quarantined planet, science is rapidly advancing, evolutionary religion is stalled, and manâ€™s attempt at coordinating these two domains into a logical philosophy has failed. Revelation is needed to illuminate evolutionary religion and to aid man in constructing a new and logical philosophy whereby he can arrive at an understanding of his sure and settled place in the universe.

But why is The Urantia Book so revealing in its extent of universal truth? Why is it "out of step" in its upstepping? I believe that modern Agondonter man has been given a unique challenge, and itâ€™s not what youâ€™re thinking - live The Urantia Book teachings in our lives, disseminate the book - itâ€™s much more than that.

Letâ€™s go back for a moment to the Bestowal Commission. Remember what Immanuel said to Michael in the final words of the bestowal charge:

"Your great mission is to reveal God to man, and "....exhibit in your one short life in the flesh, as it has never before been seen in all Nebadon, the transcendent possibilities attainable by God-knowing humans during the short career of mortal existence; and make a new and illuminating interpretation of man and the vicissitudes of his planetary life to all superhuman intelligences of all Nebadon, and for all time."(1328)

On the morning of April 7, AD 30, two thousand years ago, as he stood before Pilate, Jesus did just that.

He raised us all up in the eyes of his universe. He demonstrated that man on a backward planet could champion all his vicissitudes. He validated for eternity the Fatherâ€™s ascension plan. He exhibited once and for all, that faith-children of the realms are undauntable. His life exemplified that all of humanityâ€™s transcendent possibilities are attainable when man goes in partnership with God. Two thousand years later, The Urantia Book is our wake-up call to that partnership.

And, it is Jesusâ€™ illumination of manâ€™s maximum human potential that beckons us to our task.
We are now in partnership with God in a unique and unprecedented plan for the spiritual and social reconstruction of the planet. Itâ€™s the biggest deal ever made, and we need a universe perspective to understand our partnership role.

Look at the missions of the divine sons on an average plant. The great social achievement of the Planetary Prince Age is the emergence of family life. Next, the culminating development of the following era, the Adamic Age, is universal interest in true philosophy, and the crowning achievement of this age is Social Brotherhood. Then, with brotherhood flourishing, the Magisterial Avonal Sons arrive to begin their work of spiritual uplift. Anywhere from 25 to 50 thousand years they work to bring the planet to its highest ethical standard and to a fullness of a great spiritual awakening. And when the planet is ripe for spiritualization, a Bestowal Son arrives to demonstrate "the new and living way." (Paper 52)

The established plan is always social brotherhood first; and then comes the spiritualization of humanity. On our world the plan fell into disarray and modern man is now floundering in his predicament of intellectual progress hindered by spiritual stagnation. So in our case, we are going to have to do it the other way around. On Urantia it is the upstepping of the spiritualization of humanity which will lead us to the next required evolutionary goal which is universal social brotherhood.

Thatâ€™s the purpose of our task.

The challenge, from on high, is that this tremendous task has been given to Agondonters.
Can we, the early receivers of the Urantia Revelation, collectively in the next century and progressively during the next millennium, harness our potential and successfully broadcast the new teachings for the advancement of all evolutionary religions and for the spiritual and cultural enlightenment of all mankind? Will we be the men and women who will presage the eventual flowering of a new and universal philosophy on earth? That is not to say we are to become philosophers. Our role is to be the teachers of expanded truth. "Religion needs new teachers who will dare to depend solely on Jesus and his incomparable teachings."

The quickest way to realize the brotherhood of man on Urantia is to effect the spiritual transformation of present-day humanity.(597)

"Urantia is now quivering on the very brink of one of its most amazing and enthralling epochs of social readjustments, moral quickening and spiritual enlightenment. And if Christianity continues to neglect its mission, then the spiritual renaissance will await the coming of these new teachers of Jesusâ€™ religion. And these souls will quickly supply the leadership and inspiration for the social, moral, economic and political reorganization of the world."(2082)

Weâ€™re also told that this new and oncoming social order will not settle down for a millennium, and that these progressing changes in the upstepping of social relations can result in lasting brotherhood only by the ministry of religion. (1086)

In the drama which is about to unfold, the cast of characters does not include superhuman personalities. Thousands of lead parts have been handed out, freely given to any outstretched hand. And, with confidence from unseen directors, we have been given blank scripts.

Dissemination plans were not part of the revelation. Itâ€™s up to us to chart a wise course.

Let us start out with the understanding that in the modern era we must be the evangels of new and advanced spiritual truth which will pave the way to the universal acceptance of the golden rule. Regarding the future, we canâ€™t revive primitive Christianity, but we can baptize the world with a new revelation of Jesusâ€™ life and illuminate mankind with the spiritual truths of his gospel.

We are told that it is not the first mile of compulsion, duty or convention that will transform man and his world, but rather the second mile of free service and liberty-loving devotion that betokens the Jesusonian reaching forth to grasp his brother in love and guide him toward the higher and divine goal of mortal existence.

The Message

In delivering his Epochal Sermon, Jesus concluded by stating: "I declare to you that I have come to proclaim spiritual liberty, teach eternal truth and foster living faith." On that day he inaugurated the final, spiritual phase of his gospel: Divine Sonship, Spiritual Liberty, Eternal Salvation.

Teachers of expanded truth, with leadership and inspiration, are called to carry forward the restatement of this triune message of Jesus with new meaning and power.

In preparation, we would do well to review Immanuelâ€™s Bestowal charge to Michael:(1328.5)

"Function largely as a teacher; first, give attention to the liberation and inspiration of manâ€™s spiritual nature; next, illuminate the human intellect; heal the souls of men, emancipate their minds from age old fears; set rebellion segregated man spiritually free."

These particular words of counsel should be taken to heart by the teachers of advancing spiritual truth. We are to so conduct ourselves that the effect we have will be to illuminate, liberate, and inspire all those we come in contact with.

The Way

"...with leadership and inspiration..."(2082)

We know that when religious groups form, that act of formalizing often destroys the very values for the promotion of which the group was organized. This can be significantly minimized if the religionist remains socially fragrant. A group of socially fragrant religionists working together can illuminate their objectives so long as their leadership is motivated by unselfish and loving social service.

Teachers/leaders need to consider the words of advice on page 1089: "Transition Difficulties." It points out that, for man, the difficulty is in forsaking the religions of fear without immediately grasping the revelatory religion of love. For the world, the difficulty lies in the confusion which presently exists as Urantia struggles with its many contending philosophies of religion.

The prerequisite for going forward is to start out with wise leadership, consisting of inspired and socially fragrant religionists, who understand that the way forward requires character in the face of difficulty.

These words of Jesus, issued to his apostles, must be our charge:

"Your mission to the world is founded on the fact that I lived a God-revealing life among you; the truth that you and all other men are the sons of God; and it shall consist in the life which you live among men, the actual and living experience of loving men and serving them, even as I have loved and served you." (2043)

"Go preach this salvation of sonship with God; remember that salvation is a free gift and those who have willingly received this gift will immediately show forth the fruits of the spirit in their loving service to their fellows.(2054)

With the foregoing in place, the way is truly simple:

Know the Message: Teach the new spiritual brotherhood of Jesus:

Divine Sonship
Spiritual Liberty
Eternal Salvation

Know the Goal: Planetary Social Brotherhood

Do it with spiritual fragrance, as we pass by; show forth the fruits of the spirit
Do it with inspired leadership

Armed with the message and nourished by the fruits of the spirit for the way ahead, let us take up the challenge and go forward as true soldiers of the circles towards the goal of a spiritually inspired, socially transformed human society where man loves his brother and calls a loving God his Father.

Labels: challenge, Dorothy Elder, evolution, God, humanity, Jesus, partnership, religion, Revelation, spiritual era, teachers, The Urantia Book

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Tuesday, June 26, 2007

An Introduction to The Urantia Book for Conservative Christians

Meredith J. Sprunger5/7/82

This document examines the nature of Divine revelation as related to the Bible and draws parallels to the spiritual experience of readers of The Urantia Book.

Contents:How We Got Our Bible
Recognizing New Revelation
The New Fulfills and Enhances the Old
The Human and the Divine
An Enlarged Spiritual Universe
Saviour of Mankind
On Approaching New Truth

Many devout Christians of conservative or fundamentalistic background have read sections of The Urantia Book and recognized the superb quality of its spiritual insights but have been troubled by the revelatory claim of the book or positions taken which differ from some of the literalistic doctrines of fundamentalism. These people over the years have written to ask questions, express perplexity, seek help, or challenge statements.

This paper seeks to speak with constructive understanding to these questions and spiritual anxieties. In many ways it has been the Christian fundamentalists who have maintained the vibrant spiritual emphasis of religion in America. Our intent is not to contend with fundamentalistic beliefs but, rather, to set these spiritual truths in a larger frame of reference which, hopefully, will enable those who hold to a conservative theology to more adequately understand that we subscribe to the same spiritual realities and are brothers in Christ.

Most people who accept the Bible as revelation do not do so because some one demanded obedience to this belief. They accept the Bible as the word of God because they recognize its spiritual truths. Your approach to The Urantia Book should be made the same way. Before you read The Urantia Book you should not regard it as revelation. Only after you have read it are you in a position to begin to consider whether or not it may have been inspired by God. Faith and conviction must come from honest and sincere inner leading and not from external authoritarian claim or demand.

How We Got Our Bible

In thinking about the entire question of revelation it may be helpful to know how we got our Bible. Theological schools devote entire courses to this question and dozens of books are available on the subject. But you can get a short; synoptic knowledge of the Bible's origin by going to the Public Library reference shelf and getting a copy of Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible. Look up the term "canon," which means "officially accepted standards or books" and read about how we got our Bible.

You will find the Old Testament evolved in three main stages over thousands of years of history. It was edited periodically by many scholars. The entire canon of the Old Testament was not decided until around 90 A.D. at the famous Council of Jamnia where Hebrew scholars finally determined which books should be included in the "official" scriptures of Judaism. The process and the conclusions are much more complex and extensive than this brief description might lead you to believe.

The New Testament began in the early Christian Church as a series of papers and letters written by numerous people. These papers were circulated among believers, edited, combined, and added to by many early scholars and church leaders. The names of apostles were often attached to the better papers so that they would have more authority for church members.

From around 144 A.D. to 367 A.D. various scholars and bishops drew up their own lists of books which they thought should be canonical or officially recognized books. Finally, Athanasius, bishop of Alexandria, wrote an Easter letter to the churches of his diocese in the year 367 in which he discusses the books which he considered canonical. This is the first list which includes all of the twenty-seven books of the New Testament as we now have it. His list, however, was in a different sequence than our current New Testament. At various church councils in the years that followed, Athanasius' list was widely adopted and in this way we got our New Testament.

In Athanasius' pastoral letter he wrote with all of the authority of a bishop, "let no one add to them (his list) or take away aught of them." Such authoritarian exhortations were considered necessary to protect the purity of revelatory teachings; and statements like the admonition in Rev. 22:18-19 "I warn every one who hears the words of the prophecy of this book..." were common. In the same way the revelatory commission of The Urantia Book requested that the book be published under international copyright protection so that the purity of these teachings could be safeguarded. These precautions are not meant to imply that God ceases to enlarge the revelation of himself and spiritual truth to succeeding generations. The history of the Bible shows that God does progressively reveal larger truths to a developing world. Early religious leaders used authoritarian warnings and admonitions frequently to protect the latest prophetic messages.

Once you understand how the content of the Bible was accumulated, edited, adopted, and officially approved, you realize that revelation is validated by centuries of experience. Many people recognize revelation immediately because the indwelling spirit of Got confirms what they hear or read but it takes many people over a long period of time to establish a social tradition of revelation such as the Bible. This tradition along with the authority and prestige of the institutional church results in a cultural conditioning which largely determines how the average person thinks and acts.

Recognizing New Revelation

The Urantia Book being very new must be evaluated by the indwelling spirit of God working in the mind and heart-of each individual. You should accept nothing in The Urantia Book or any other book unless it passes this inner test of truth. I am confident that a thousand years hence, we will have a solid social tradition witnessing to the revelatory quality of The Urantia Book.

Revelation is always the product of the action of God in the life of man. God has an infinite number of ways to do this. In Jesus of Nazareth he used both genetic-physical and spiritual means to bring revelation to us in the form of a person. In the writings of Paul he used spiritual inspiration in the mind of Paul to bring us revelation in the form of brief letters to churches. In John's book of Revelation he used a vision to the mind of John to bring us revelation. In The Urantia Book he used high spirit personalities to bring revelation in the form of a book. God could use an infinite number of channels and manifestations to bring revelation to his mortal children. It is God's wisdom which determines the time, place, method, and form of revelation. We might speculate on why God uses certain channels and forms but this would only be an educated guess.

The spirit of God is always active in the world and in this sense revelation is continuous - usually through inner guidance to individuals who share these prophetic insights with their society. Periodically epochal revelations occur - such as the coming of Jesus. Epochal revelations naturally have a much greater effect on our world than the continuous forms of evolutionary revelation. A study of these epochal revelations show that each succeeding one enlarges and enhances the earlier spiritual understanding.

Revelation must always be given in the language, forms of knowledge, and philosophical concepts which are meaningful to the people given this revelation at the time in which it is given. As human knowledge expands revelation uses these more advanced concepts to convey its spiritual message. This is a never ending process.

The New Fulfills and Enhances the Old

Just as the New Testament fulfills and upsteps the Old Testament, The Urantia Book confirms and enlarges the truths of the Bible. Most people have a much greater appreciation of the Bible after reading The Urantia Book. The Bible and The Urantia Book are companion volumes. Not to recognize this close supportive relationship is to repeat an ancient error. Early in the Christian Church a wealthy ship-owner by the name of Marcion headed a movement to eliminate the Old Testament from Christian literature. The church wisely rejected his views. Any reader of The Urantia Book who took this same attitude toward the Bible, in my judgment, would be making this same mistake. There are many people, in fact, who have not been interested in the Bible until after they have read The Urantia Book.

Because of the natural suspicion conservative religionists have toward any claim of new revelation, a rather common reaction which well meaning fundamentalists have toward The Urantia Book is that it could be a work of Satan. This is an understandable attitude of people who do not have a scholarly background in religion and who have been taught to zealously defend the Bible. It is also interesting to recall that this was the same possibility raised in connection with the message of Jesus. Jesus' response to this accusation, I think, is as good as can be made. He said he should be judged by the fruits of his life - "How can Satan cast out Satan?" The Urantia Book should be judged in the same way. You will find it supports the mission and message of Jesus and refutes the intentions and message of Satan. Epochal revelation will probably always meet the same reception given the message of Jesus. The leaders of traditional religious institutions are likely to oppose it; but, in time, the common people will receive it gladly.

The Human and the Divine

A careful study of the life and teachings of Jesus reveals there is no contradiction between the spiritual teachings regarding Jesus found in The Urantia Book and the Bible. Certain physical and cosmological facts or assumptions are corrected and Jesus' entire life and teachings are enlarged by The Urantia Book; but the essential spiritual truths do not change.

For instance Christian theologians generally affirm that Jesus was both a human and a divine personality but the majority of scholars in mainline churches have long recognized that the story of the immaculate conception and virgin birth were added by the early church to make his divine nature more believable for the church members of those times. An interesting observation is that today, except for the most unlettered people, this story is generally a stumbling block to belief in the authenticity of the Biblical record of the divinity of Jesus. If the virgin birth is a historical fact, the reverse argument is a much sounder philosophical position. That is, since God could have used any method he desired to incarnate his son, the fact of the divinity of Jesus makes the virgin birth a possible option of the divine plan.

The reason most mainline church theologians do not accept the virgin birth story is that only two of the four gospels record it and no where else in the New Testament is it referred to The earliest gospel, Mark, and the latest gospel, John, do not mention it. Such an important event one would expect all of the gospel writers to highlight. Secondly, there are many instances of supernatural conception and virgin birth recorded in the annals of religious history. It was the characteristic method by which ancient peoples designated the divine origin of their prophets and leaders. Paradoxically, the Biblical account traces the lineage of Jesus back to David through the ancestry of Joseph, not Mary. Finally, modern Christian scholars reject the virgin birth story because it is observed that God usually uses the natural laws of his creation to work his purposes in the world.

The spiritual truth regarding the nature of Jesus is that he was both human and divine. This The Urantia Book strongly affirms. The book does not even mention the immaculate conception and virgin birth doctrines. It is assumed that the Father could incarnate his son as a mortal on our world through the natural process of conception and birth. The ancient legend is quietly ignored while the spiritual truths regarding the nature of Jesus are substantiated and enhanced.

An Enlarged Spiritual Universe

The writers of the various books of the Bible had a comparatively simplistic universe cosmology. They visualized a flat earth in the center of creation encompassed by the vault or "firmament" of heaven. This limited astronomical knowledge naturally conditioned their interpretation of spiritual realities and personalities. Basic spiritual truth, therefore, had to be revealed to the Biblical authors in prescientific frames of reference.

The revelators of The Urantia Book present a cosmology which, while in essential agreement with our present astronomical knowledge, goes far beyond our contemporary science. They also clarify our knowledge of the Paradise Trinity, the prebestowal personality and universe status of Jesus, and the functional relationships of spiritual beings in general. Although the Bible does not speak of the Trinity per se, Christian thinkers have developed the doctrine of the Trinity and naturally assumed, without specific Biblical confirmation, that the preincarnate Christ was the second person of the Trinity. The fact that the prologue of John speaks of him as the actual creator of our universe was more or less regarded as a poetic "Logos" doctrine since theologians regarded God the Father as the creator. The authors of The Urantia Book, however, tell us this Biblical description (also stated in Col. 1:16 and Heb. 1:2) of the pre-existent Christ is literally true. He is both the creator and saviour of our universe.

Each Creator Son of a local universe is a unique creation of the Universal Father and the Eternal Son and is known as "the only begotten son" in his universe and all who go to the Father in this universe go through the ministry and means established by this Creator-Savior Son. Even though Jesus is not the second person of the Paradise Trinity, his presence and power are exactly the same as that of the Eternal Son, the second person of the Trinity, if he were acting in the place of Christ in our universe. After Jesus' bestowal on our confused planet, the Father, as recorded in Matthew, placed "all authority in heaven and earth" in his hands; and he has promised one day to return to this world of his crucifixion experience. Here, again, we see The Urantia Book, while correcting assumptions made due to our very limited universe knowledge, confirms and reinforces the basic spiritual truths of the Bible.

Saviour of Mankind

All Christians look to Jesus as the mediator between man and God and regard him as the saviour of mankind. It is in the explanation of this salvation that they differ. Theologians of mainline Christian churches see salvation as the gift of God through faith in Jesus emphasizing God's love for humanity and full acceptance of them as his mortal sons and daughters. The theologians of Christian fundamentalism regard salvation as the gift of God through faith in Jesus because he offered himself as a blood sacrifice demanded by God the Father as the price for forgiving the sins of mankind. This is known as the blood atonement doctrine in which Jesus is seen as the redeemer of humanity from the condemnation of a just and holy God.

The only Christian belief which the authors of The Urantia Book vigorously criticize is the blood atonement theory. They do so because this doctrine distorts and slanders the great love which the Universal Father has for his mortal sons and daughters. It is completely incompatible with Jesus' teachings about the nature of God the Father. God's love is not subordinate to his righteousness or holiness. Love is the Universal Father's primary attitude toward all persons. Jesus is, indeed, the saviour of mankind but not a redeemer.

The blood atonement theory has its origin in the conceptual language of Paul. Coming out of the Jewish tradition and writing with Jewish people in mind, Paul used the symbolic idea of Jesus as the "final sacrifice" in their sacrificial system as a missionary approach which made sense to those with a Jewish background. New Testament scholars today recognize that Paul did not hold a God concept which would be compatible with a literal blood atonement doctrine. He used this sacrificial language because it was the only frame of reference which would be acceptable to the Jews of his day. It was a missionary attempt to relate to the thought patterns of the Jews.

Most ministers in mainline Christian churches have long since abandoned this retributive concept of God. The Bible commentary most widely used in America today is The Interpreter's Bible published by Abingdon Press. In volume VIII, p. 510-11, the writer in commenting on John 3:16 says, "Some of the past explanations of the gospel are not overhelpful to us now. Most of us are not at home in the Jewish sacrificial system; and metaphors drawn from it can be confusing rather than illuminating. And some of the interpretations, popular in the Middle Ages, are to us incredible, and even monstrous. So do many, with the Gospels in their hands, appear to see in them a lesser God giving himself to save us from the implacable fury and resentment of the great God, slow and hard to be appeased, and demanding his pound of flesh from someone. That is hideous heresy; and the blasphemy of blasphemies. It was in the eternal plan of God the Father that Jesus Christ lived out in fact: 'God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself' (II Cor. 5:19), not standing sullenly aside, and needing himself to be reconciled.

We should recognize that most of those who still accept a literal blood atonement theory in our day probably do so out of misunderstanding and with no intent to deny the loving nature of God. To believe that God the Father cannot or will not love man until his innocent son is brutally executed is a cruel distortion of the loving nature of the Heavenly Father Jesus revealed to man. But The Urantia Book does affirm the positive spiritual values associated with the crucifixion and man's salvation which are important to fundamentalists as well as other Christians.

It was the Father's will that Jesus allow the Jewish leaders to dispose of him as they desired. God does not arbitrarily interfere with the premeditated intentions of man. Jesus' death on the cross demonstrates the profound love he and the Father have for man even when they were torturing and executing him. He refuses to use divine power to save himself or punish these misguided evil doers. This great love is the most powerful saving act the Father and the Son could bestow on self-willed man in this situation to eventually deliver him from his ignorance, evil, and sin and cause man to recognize God's transcendent love and accept sonship. Salvation is something which God in Christ makes possible for man. Finite man cannot save himself but through faith he may accept this gift of eternal life. Christ is the way by which all mortals in our universe go to the Father.

On Approaching New Truth

New truth is always challenging and often threatening to traditionalists. This is both natural and good. The tried and true values of historical experience cannot and should not be easily replaced by the new and untested. But these historic truths are periodically upstepped by prophetic vision. Such growth is usually a traumatic experience for individuals, the church, and society.

Every prophet in the history of the Old and New Testaments has met with unbelief and opposition. The priests of society have regularly stoned its prophets. Then their sons of another century build monuments to honor the prophets persecuted by their fathers. It: is good to be cautious and critical; it is helpful to doubt and carefully evaluate. But we need to be open and objective enough to allow the spirit to lead us to larger truth. Jesus told his apostles that he would send the Spirit of Truth through which he would lead them to greater truths in the future. We must be sensitive to this Spirit of Truth. We need to learn to recognize truth in its many forms and varying appearances.

You will find that The Urantia Book will stand the test of critical examination. It is rooted solidly in the traditional spiritual verities of the Christian faith which have endured for centuries. Reading and studying The Urantia Book will give you a deeper and larger vision of this saving faith and help you become a part of a spiritual renaissance which is dawning on our world.

A Service ofThe Urantia Book Fellowship

Labels: Bible, Christians, conservative, divinity, fundamental, God, humanity, Jesus, Meredith Sprunger, Revelation, The Urantia Book, tradition, truth

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The Effects Of The Lucifer Rebellion In Modern Times

http://www.urantiari.org/essays/effects_of_lucifer_rebellion_in_modern_times.htm

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Friday, June 15, 2007

Everyday Ethics

by Eileen Laurence
General Conference 1990
Snowmass, Colorado

Like most of us here in this room, I lead a varied and busy professional life. I interact with a lot of people, most of whom are not Urantia Book readers, but many of whom are actively participating in a religious life both professionally and privately. As I go about my daily chores trying to live the concepts of the book, I have begun to ask myself some basic questions:

1. Is there a difference between morality and ethics? They are often used in the same sentence such as "the mores (religious, moral, and ethical) together with property, pride, and chivalry, stabilize the institution of marriage and family." (*939)

2. If there is a difference between moral and ethical, what is it?

3. How has our conception of morality and ethics changed since the appearance of this fifth epochal revelation, The Urantia Book?

4. What is being done in our present American society to address moral and ethical questions about our evolving business organizations, the connection between government and the media, ethics and chronic illness, ethics and neonatal care? Is anyone taking the time to share thoughts on ethics in the global community?

All of these questions grow out of a personal desire to be and do my best, following the example of Jesus' life to the best of my ability. Being a parent I want to take any opportunity I have to encourage our young people to think and behave on the highest level of moral and ethical understanding. Being a teacher I know that actions speak louder than words, so I am sensitive to some degree of the responsibility I have towards my students, not only in dealing with subject matter, but in the way I associate with them as sisters and brothers.

In my work, I do not normally deal with life and death situations, although some of my students would argue that point when performance time comes. My worshipful problem solving has to do with an evenness of relationships between me and my students; i.e., not playing favorites. This is an area that I approach carefully, trying to contact the divine spirit within each of them -challenging when dealing with middle and upper school students.

Advanced technical knowledge and skill has led, however, to a need in our society for sound ethical thinking and decision making in such areas as medicine, law, science and finance. I do believe that the way an individual lives can affect the community around her or him, and I think we have to be sure that the speed of our communications does not impede our ability to seriously and deeply think about the repercussions of our actions. We really are a global village, drinking the same water and breathing the same air as everyone else on the planet.

Let's look at the possible difference between those two words, ethical and moral. Webster defines moral as "1. relating to, dealing with, or capable of making the distinction between right and wrong in conduct." Synonyms are righteous, ethical.

Ethical is defined as "1. having to do with ethics or morality; or of conforming to moral standards." Ethics are "1. the study of standards of conduct and moral judgment; moral philosophy." I don't find those definitions helpful in separating the meaning of the two words, ethical and moral. They seem almost synonymous; however, quotes from The Urantia Book do seem to differentiate.

In describing the seven developmental epochs of an average world a Secondary Lanonandek Son of the Reserve Corps said of the fifth level, the epoch of philosophy and brotherhood: "The society of this age becomes ethical, and the mortals of such an era are truly becoming moral beings. Wise moral beings are capable of establishing human brotherhood on such a progressing world. Ethical and moral beings can learn how to live in accordance with the golden rule." (*577)

In the paper on the Evolution of Local Universes, a Mighty Messenger temporarily attached to the Supreme Council of Nebadon, assigned to this mission by Gabriel of Salvington, tells us that "The Creator Son rules supreme in all matters of ethical association, the relations of any division of creatures to any other class of creatures or of two or more individuals within any given group." (*363)

In the Foundations of Religious Faith paper a Melchizedek of Nebadon, speaking of the evidences of religion, says that "The difference in the religions of various ages is wholly dependent on the difference in man's [the person's] comprehension of reality and on his[her] differing recognition of moral values, ethical relationships, and spirit realities." (*1127)

In the final paper of The Urantia Book on the Faith of Jesus, a midwayer writes, "The human mind does not create real values; human experience does not yield universe insight. Concerning insight, the recognition of moral values and the discernment of spiritual meanings, all that the human mind can do is to discover, recognize, interpret, and choose.

The moral values of the universe become intellectual possessions by the exercise of the three basic judgments, or choices, of the mortal mind:

1. Self-judgment--moral choice.
2. Social-judgment--ethical choice.
3. God-judgment--religious choice." (*2094)

To my understanding, these quotes point to the fact that, as used in The Urantia Book, the word moral refers most often to the individual and ethical relates to an association of individuals or groups.

* * *
Carol Gilligan has done a lot of research in the way women think and behave. In reading Mapping the Moral Domain, edited by Carol Gilligan, Janie Victoria Ward, and Jill McLean Taylor, Piaget was quoted as having said, "apart from our relations to other people, there can be no moral necessity."

In the same book Simone Weil is said to have defined morality as "the silence in which one can hear the unheard voices." Interesting, in light of our knowledge of the work of the Thought Adjuster.

Carol Gilligan has defined a justice perspective and a care perspective. Justice has to do with relationships organized in terms of equality, symbolized by balancing of scales. Moral concerns focus on problems of oppression, problems stemming from inequality, and the moral ideal is one of reciprocity or equal respect. This way of thinking and relating to others is living the golden rule as it was understood before Jesus' teachings, do unto others as you would have done to you.

"To treat others as you would like to be treated demands distance and objectivity." (p.74) The care perspective speaks of a relationship connoting responsiveness or engagement, a resiliency of connection that is symbolized by a network or web. Moral concerns focus on problems of detachment or disconnection or abandonment, or indifference, and the moral ideal is one of attention and response.

In my opinion that points towards ethical behavior in a situation involving two or more people based on the moral understandings of the individuals, "working out the least painful alternative for all those involved, seeing the situation in its context, working within an existential reality and ensuring that all persons are understood in their own terms." "We can appreciate the passionate clarity of a face value judgment, the generosity of a composite picture judgment that looks for the good side, and the integrity of a multiple lens judgment that recognizes that actions that satisfy one's conscience may not be truly helpful." (p.97)

In the present-day world of fast communications and vast networking, we must realize that our behavior may have broad repercussions. We need to recognize and take that into consideration when acting. Let's examine that phrase, "integrity of a multiple lens judgment."

The word integrity comes from a root meaning wholeness, soundness, entire. It is a way of looking at matters that is found most often in a woman's way of seeing matters, according to the research of Gilligan and colleagues. To act with integrity is to bring a sense of honesty, sincerity and wholeness to our thinking and decision making.

The Urantia Book says in the Real Nature of Religion paper, "In and through all the historic vicissitudes of religion there ever persists that which is indispensable to human progress and survival, the ethical conscience and the moral consciousness." (*1107)

Our spiritual teachers seem to be saying that before we can become responsible, ethical participants with our sisters and brothers, we must become aware of our private moral fiber and strive to improve it daily. I seem to remember the admonition that before we attempt to remove the splinter from our neighbor's eye, we first remove the log from our own.

We know that the Thought Adjuster arrives with the first moral choice we make somewhere between the ages of 5 and 6. That fragment of God is our very best friend and is an untiring guide working from within to nurture our evolving soul. In addition to these inner urgings we have other sources of aid in our spiritual growth such as the Seraphic Guardians of Destiny, who work from the outside in. "Seraphim are mind stimulators; they continually seek to promote circle-making decisions in human mind. They do this, not as does the Adjuster, operating from within and through the soul, but rather from the outside inward, working through the social, ethical, and moral environment of human beings." (*1245)

We often joke in the Laurence household that we should be careful in our prayers. Opportunities for spiritual growth seem to present themselves constantly without our having asked for them. We are comforted, however, by knowing that the book says, "To accept the guidance of a seraphim rarely means attaining a life of ease. In following this leading you are sure to encounter, and if you have the courage, to traverse, the rugged hills of moral choosing and spiritual progress." (*1245)

In the Planetary Mortal Epochs paper at the bottom of page 597 there is a paragraph on "Ethical Awakening." "Only ethical consciousness can unmask the immorality of human intolerance and the sinfulness of fratricidal strife. Only a moral conscience can condemn the evils of national envy and racial jealousy. Only moral beings will ever seek for that spiritual insight which is essential to living the golden rule."

Later in that same section, on page 598, we read that "The quickest way to realize the brotherhood of man on Urantia is to effect the spiritual transformation of present-day humanity. The only technique for accelerating the natural trend of social evolution is that of applying spiritual pressure from above, thus augmenting moral insight while enhancing the soul capacity of every mortal to understand and love every other mortal. Mutual understanding and fraternal love are transcendent civilizers and mighty factors in the worldwide realization of the brotherhood of man[kind]." We have help on every side.

We have but to ask for it, which leads us to look at ethical prayer.

We know that "No prayer can be ethical when the petitioner seeks for selfish advantage over his fellows [others]. Selfish and materialistic praying is incompatible with the ethical religions which are predicated on unselfish and divine loveSelfish praying transgresses the spirit of all ethics founded on living justice. Prayer must never be so prostituted as to become a substitute for action. All ethical prayer is a stimulus to action and a guide to the progressive striving for idealistic goals of superself-attainment." (*997)

We are advised to be persistent in our prayers. In the 11th chapter of Luke is recalled the story of the person who knocked on the neighbor's door asking for some food to feed another friend who had arrived unexpectedly. At first rejected because of the late hour, the neighbor finally answered the call when the surprised host continued to knock. "What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!" (Luke 11:11-13)

In Paul's letters to the Romans we are told, "Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words." (Romans 8:26)

The Chief of the Urantia Midwayers clearly states that "Words are irrelevant to prayer; they are merely the intellectual channel in which the river of spiritual supplication may chance to flow. The word value of a prayer is purely autosuggestive in private devotions and sociosuggestive in group devotions. God answers the soul's attitude, not the words." (*1002)

The Jews have a style of song called the Niggun where nonsense syllables are sung in prayer. I had two seniors approach me this past graduation with a suggestion of a song they wanted to sing at that celebration. The words were innocuous, but the music and style of singing was very touching and transmitted just the right message to the parents.

Which takes me back to my everyday world. Erickson has said, "to share true authority with the young would mean to acknowledge something which adults have learned to mistrust in themselves: a truly ethical potential." To Erickson, ethical concerns were a natural meeting ground between adults and adolescents, both rendered uncertain by the predicament of modern civilization. (Mapping the Moral Domain p. XV)

Jesus taught that the kingdom of God (the will of God) "was in itself a new standard of moral values, a new ethical yardstick wherewith to measure human conduct. It portrayed the ideal of a resultant new order of human society." (*1859) We are encouraged "to come as a little child, to receive the bestowal of sonship as a gift; to submit to the doing of the Father's will without questioning and in the full confidence and genuine trustfulness of the Father's wisdom, to come into the kingdom free from prejudice and preconception; to be open-minded and teachable like an unspoiled child." (*1861)

The young people I teach are encouraged to grow through their interpretation of the golden rule from just seeing themselves as sibling inhabitants of the same neighborhood to the recognition that this golden rule was the "positive injunction of a great moral teacher who embodied in this statement the highest concept of moral obligation as regards all fraternal [sibling] relationships." (*1950)

The Urantia Book further says that the "true cosmic meaning of this rule of universal relationship [ethics?] is revealed only in its spiritual realization, in the interpretation of the law of conduct by the spirit of the Son to the spirit of the Father that indwells the soul of mortal man[kind]. And when such spirit-led mortals realize the true meaning of this golden rule, they are filled to overflowing with the assurance of citizenship in a friendly universe, and their ideals of spirit reality are satisfied only when they love their fellows [cohabitants] as Jesus loved us all, and that is the reality of the realization of the love of God." (*1950)

As for my future relationship with present day organized religious groups, I remember the advice given Jesus when he was about to embark on his mission to our planet, "As you may see fit, you are to identify yourself with existing religious and spiritual movements as they may be found on Urantia but in every possible manner seek to avoid the formal establishment of an organized cult, a crystallized religion, or a segregated ethical grouping of mortal beings." (*1330)

I have sought to work within three major religious groups and be open to dialogue with others for whom religion is more than a passing fancy or a family tradition, but I still feel the need to gather as we do here in Snowmass to discuss religious ideas and experiences emanating from our study of the book.

Referring to the last question I asked at the beginning of this talk: What is being done in our present American society to address moral and ethical questions about our evolving business organizations, the connections between government and the media, ethics and chronic illness, ethics and neonatal care and ethics in the global community? Moral individuals are gathering in other parts of our world to discuss these issues.

In a publication of the World Business Academy, John Renesch from San Francisco describes an emergence of a new consciousness in the world of business, articulating some changes of thinking from the traditional ways to the emerging new trends; from controlling leadership to evoking leadership, from solving problems to creating opportunities, from a hierarchy of unequals to a voluntary association of equals, from management that supervises and intimidates employees to one that inspires and cares for teammates.

The Hastings Center in Briarcliff Manor, New York, exists to "confront and attempt to resolve the moral problems brought on by advances in the biomedical sciences and the professions; To educate the general public on the moral aspects of those scientific, medical, and professional issues that will inevitably change our own lives and those of our children; To take on some of the most difficult moral dilemmas of our society: AIDS, care of the dying, chronic illness, animal welfare, artificial reproduction, genetic screening, professional ethics, justice in health care, long-term care ethics."

In the spring of 1988 the Iowa division of the United Nations Association-USA presented an international colloquium to explore "the substantial moral and ethical dimensions of choices and trade-offs to be made in order to achieve a truer ethical balance between freedom and social responsibility and how these choices and trade-offs can be translated into hope and reasoned action." Their vision of the immediate future is "firmly rooted in a present awareness that political will begins with people."

Just as we are gathering here to discuss religious ideas and think about our own moral health and habits, we are advised to apply the revelatory information from The Urantia Book to present day religions. I suggest that as we hone our own moral fiber based on our understanding of the teachings in our blue book we likewise enter into groups such as the ones mentioned to add our thinking to those who are meeting to discuss such important practical communal, national and international problem solving.

"The teachings of Jesus constituted the first Urantian religion which so fully embraced a harmonious co-ordination of knowledge, wisdom, faith, truth, and love as completely and simultaneously to provide temporal tranquillity, intellectual certainty, moral enlightenment, philosophic stability, ethical sensitivity, God-consciousness, and the positive assurance of personal survival." (*1112)

We need to remember to trust that "truly ethical potential" Erickson referred to that we adults may have ceased to acknowledge. To paraphrase a quote on page 1115, true religion is that sublime and profound conviction within the soul which compellingly admonishes us that it would be wrong for us not to believe in those morontial realities which constitute our highest ethical and moral concepts, our highest interpretation of life's greatest values and the universe's deepest realities.

I believe that what we do to see the world through the lenses of ethics and morality in our professional and personal lives will make a difference.

Labels: Eileen Laurence, ethics, Jesus, morality, prayer, The Urantia Book, values

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Monday, June 04, 2007

Science in Jesus' Life

by Jeffrey H. Wattles
Scientific Symposium I 1988

We all want to live the integrated life, with science as part of a growing mind in a progressive personality. But how do we do it? How do we approach this great ideal?

Are we all just supposed to go out and get super-involved with science? Somehow it seems that there's more to it than that.

It's not easy.

o Modern technology can be so complex that some people just get turned off.

o There is so much poor science these days that fails to distinguish correlation from causation.

o There is so much confusing dispute between the experts.

o And there are the well-known ethical problems with science.

So how are we going to strengthen the scientific component in our lives? My two-part answer is philosophic and biographic.

I can put the philosophic part very briefly. We can begin by recognizing and affirming our God-given intuitive capacity for recognizing facts and discerning causal relationships. Some popular books today tell their readers about releasing the mystic within you or releasing the artist within you. We could equally well speak of actualizing the scientist within you. We all have capacities beyond what most of us usually use. We simply need the courage to affirm and sharpen our scientific intuition.

The biographic part of the answer is a reflection on Jesus' life.

The apostles had not been successful in their teaching. They were fleeing through northern Galilee and bewildered about what was going on. Jesus' blunt explanation to them included these words:

"Consider the Greeks, who have a science without religion, while the Jews have a reli- gion without science. And when men become thus misled into accepting a narrow and confused disintegration of truth, their only hope of salvation is to become truth-co-ordinated--converted.

"Let me emphatically state this eternal truth: If you, by truth co-ordination, learn to exemplify in your lives this beautiful wholeness of righteousness, your fellow men will then seek after you that they may gain what you have so acquired." (*1726)

We can understand this teaching by looking at Jesus' life.

First, Jesus became acquainted with nature as a child and continued his interest into adulthood.

"Jesus' earliest training, aside from that of the home hearth, had to do with a reverent and sympathetic contact with nature." (*1364) He asked lots of questions concerning science. (*1365) He studied the habits of the fish on the Sea of Galilee so closely that he could predict catches that others regarded as miraculous.

Next, Jesus understood the essential truths of philosophy of science, as we see in his discourse on science. He knew the limitations of science and taught a friendly universe in which fact and value have a common cause in the Paradise Father. (*1477)

Next, Jesus got to know all kinds of people well. In order to understand how Jesus exemplified his teaching about science and the beautiful wholeness of righteousness, we need to expand the concept of science to include social science. The scientific component in his righteousness included more than a superb knowledge of weather and the habits of fish. Jesus carried out a thorough study of how men make a living. (*1371) We are told that "The real purpose of his trip around the Mediterranean Basin was to know men. He came very close to hundreds of humankind on this journey. He met and loved all manner of men, rich and poor, high and low, black and white, educated and uneducated, cultured and uncultured, animalistic and spiritual, religious and irreligious, moral and immoral." (*1424)

Next, Jesus thoroughly studied the scriptures and associated literature. One of the humanistic sciences is the science of interpreting texts. At the age of 13 Jesus began a painstaking topical study of the scriptures and associated literature in order to deal with every implication they might hold for his life work. (*1390-91) At age 26 in Capernaum,"he spent at least five evenings a week at intense study." (*1420) During the four months of intensive training with the first six apostles, Jesus explained that "they should spend three hours every evening in study and preparation for their future work." (*1533)

Jesus never wore his learning on his sleeve; his apostles were surprised to hear him discourse on a sophisticated level. But his masterful knowledge was always there when he needed it, for example, during his last week in the flesh, when he was challenged by the Sadducees who did not believe in resurrection. They were the professional specialists in the first five books of the Bible. Jesus showed that from those very scriptures a subtle inference could be drawn to overturn their skeptical doctrine: "And even your Father Moses understood this, for, in connection with his experiences at the burning bush, he heard the Father say, `I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.' " (*1900) The present tense of that verb--I am the God of Abraham, rather than I was the God of Abraham--implies that the relationship is a present one, and hence that Abraham has been resurrected. Jesus saw the implication that the specialists had missed--but he didn't go around showing off this grammatical subtlety. It was merely ready in case it was ever needed.

Next, Jesus courageously faced the hard facts. We are told that "Science is the source of facts, and mind cannot operate without facts." (*1222) My point is complementary: facts are the beginning of science. One of the reasons for Judas' downfall is that "he did not like to face facts frankly." (*2056)

We have a tendency to think that science has to do with those facts that are remote from us. We tend not to use our scientific abilities on intimate matters. But rigorous and tough-minded thinking must invade the realms of daily life. Scientific integrity begins at home.

Jesus at the age of 12 had been called by the celestial messenger to be about his Father's business; but then he found himself after Joseph's death faced with a family emergency. He faced the facts and "rightly reasoned that the watchcare of his earthly father's family must take precedence of all duties." (*1389)

Jesus told his followers about the hard facts of the social environment in which they were laboring for truth. In the Ordination Sermon he said, "In all the business of the kingdom I exhort you to show just judgment and keen wisdom. Present not that which is holy to dogs, neither cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample your gems under foot and turn to rend you. I warn you against false prophets who will come to you in sheep's clothing, while on the inside they are as ravening wolves." (*1571)

Throughout Jesus' public career he was keenly aware of the political situation, staying clear of danger early in his public career when opposition began to mount in Jerusalem; confronting challenges in the Epochal Sermon when open conflict had become inevitable; telling his followers to be realistic--to count the cost of being a disciple; warning his disciples about the downfall of Jerusalem and the enmity of the world; all the while proclaiming the primal facts of the sovereignty of God and the love of the Father for the individual.

Finally, Jesus organized his knowledge into idea-decisions. So often we collect a piece of knowledge and leave it there, sitting on the shelf of the mind. We gather information, but we don't wrestle issues to the point of judgment, decision. We become passive consumers of information in a scientistic culture. But we have an alternative: to take that piece of knowledge and to bring to actualization its contribution to decision and action.

"Revelation teaches mortal man that, to start such a magnificent and intriguing adventure, he should begin by the organization of knowledge into idea-decisions." (*1112)

Right after his baptism, Jesus prepared for his great decisions by recalling his full range of planetary knowledge. We are told, "Jesus thought over the whole span of human life on Urantia, from the days of Andon and Fonta, down through Adam's default, and on to the ministry of the Melchizedek of Salem." (*1514)

We would like to know much more than we do about Jesus the scientist. We are given very little of the data he collected empirically. But we are given, from time to time, results of his knowledge of humankind. Jesus organized his knowledge into idea-decisions--and also into instructions for his followers. Consider a few of his teachings which embody the knowledge of cause and effect, of action and result:

He had his apostles begin with personal ministry before public preaching.

He taught that sharers of truth should "not undertake to show men the beauties of the temple until you have first taken them into the temple." (*1593)

And he predicted that "The persistent preaching of this gospel of the kingdom will some day bring to all nations a new and unbelievable liberation, intellectual freedom, and religious liberty." (*1930)

And what knowledge of humanity is embedded in his new commandment: "Love one another as I have loved you."!

There is a danger for us: we have not acquired the empirical foundation for these teachings; we may fail to understand why they are important; we may act contrary to their implicit wisdom; and we may have to rediscover their truth through a harvest of unhappiness.

We have the priceless opportunity of intelligent participation in the evolution of our universe. Science is on trial before the bar of human need. Will we utilize our scientific capacities to understand and act in accord with divine teaching or will we do something else with these abilities? Science requires courage and honest adventure. And it touches upon the beliefs at the root of our actions. Will we follow the Master fully in our devotion to truth?

"If you, by truth co-ordination, learn to exemplify in your lives this beautiful wholeness of righteousness, your fellow men will then seek after you that they may gain what you have so acquired." (*1726)

* * *
We can live in a more truth-co-ordinated way by basing our lives more perfectly on what we can learn from science. (This might involve exercise, nutrition, rest, recycling, or a more intelligent approach to our work or study.) What personal growth project would you like to undertake along these lines? Write down one or more needs that you would like to work on.
For each of these needs, answer the following questions:

1. How does this need require you to become more of a scientist yourself, making observations, testing hypotheses, etc.?

2. How does this need require you to explore more of what science has already discovered?

3. How does this need require you to put into practice what you already know?

Labels: cause and effect, courage, facts, Jeffrey Wattles, Jesus, Jesus's life, needs, organization, philosophy, science, social science, study

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Letter to a Friend: The Atonement Doctrine

Fall 1996 Spiritual Fellowship Journal

Dear B. J.:

At Thanksgiving our original discussion centered around the "blood of Jesus." As you know, my son and the girl he planned to marry broke up over this issue. She felt that as long as he did not believe that Jesus died for our sins they had no future. She believed this even though they shared a belief in God, Jesus, and basic Christian values. So this is an important issue and one I would like to discuss with you and make a clear presentation of my beliefs.

Historic Background

Let me begin with a short discussion of the historical beliefs and attitudes that led to the atonement doctrine. The early Hebrews believed that "without the shedding of blood there could be no remission of sin." (Heb. 9:22) They accepted the primitive idea that God could not be appeased except through blood sacrifice. Moses made a distinct advance in that he forbade human sacrifice and substituted instead the ceremonial sacrifice of animals.

This concept of ceremonial sacrifice was preserved, in principle, by the apostle Paul as the doctrine of atonement for sin through the sacrificial death of Jesus. Paul, however, went beyond Moses and the Jewish teachers in that he expounded theories of original sin, hereditary guilt, and innate evil. Paul was a great man; he more than anyone else was responsible for bringing Jesus' teachings to the world. But he also injected a number of his own ideas which were not taught by Jesus, and indeed, were at variance with the teachings of his Master.

I emphasize that human teachers such as Paul were not only fallible but made a serious blunder in promoting the atonement doctrine. I believe we need to make a fundamental distinction between the teachings of Jesus and those of the human followers of Jesus. Jesus is the Son of God as well as the Son of Man and his life and teachings are a divine revelation. Therefore, I believe that we should look to Jesus first, and judge all other teachings by their harmony with his life and teachings.

A Loving Heavenly Father

Accordingly, the first reason I would cite in defense of my belief that the atonement doctrine is in error is that it is not harmonious with Jesus' revelation of God as our loving heavenly Father. While the ancient Jews taught the necessity of sacrifice, Jesus, in his life and teachings, revealed a God of love, mercy, and forgiveness. The Old Testament prophets and the New Testament teachers recognized God but not with the insight, clarity, and perfection of Jesus. Although Jesus' God is just and righteous, it is love -- the heavenly Father's perfect love for his human children -- that is the defining characteristic of his teachings. This concept of God as our loving heavenly Father was the only concept, besides acknowledging God as a spiritual being, that Jesus ever taught. He said, "God is love," and in his teachings God's love is supreme over justice and all other divine attributes.

The ancient Jews had conceived of God as a harsh king-judge. They believed that the only approach to God was through fasting and sacrifice. They felt that racial guilt had separated them from God and that sacrifice was necessary to appease his divine wrath. Paul's atonement doctrine grew out of these beliefs.

But such a God sounds little like the God of Jesus. He taught that God's attitude toward us is that of a Fatherly affection -- he loves us as his sons and daughters. This fatherly affection is the dominant characteristic of the God revealed by Jesus. God's loving forgiveness is always open to us; we must only seek it and be forgiving of others. Jesus revealed this in the prayer he taught his apostles: "forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors." God's love is not held hostage to an inflexible justice that cannot forgive until a totally innocent Son is sacrificed in remission of sin.

This brings me to the second problem I find in the atonement doctrine. It assumes a lower conception of God than is presented by Jesus' life and teachings. Indeed, the conception of a father who will not forgive his erring children until an entirely innocent elder brother dies as a human sacrifice sounds barbaric. We would expect more even from a human father. This conception is a relic of ancient times and primitive beliefs, ideas, and practices which Jesus came to free us from. He brought a new and higher revelation of God; and in his life he sought to free believers from the Jewish system of ceremony and sacrifice.

The last argument I would advance in opposition to the atonement doctrine is that it was not taught by Jesus. Isn't it reasonable to assume that if Jesus' purpose in living his bestowal life on our world was to die on the cross for our sins, he would have emphasized this doctrine? But Jesus did not teach the necessity of sacrificing himself for man's sins; instead he consistently focused on the Kingdom of God.

There are other problems with the atonement doctrine. In particular, it tends to mask Jesus' true teachings of the kingdom of heaven. In his message, the gospel of the kingdom, Jesus taught that God is our loving heavenly Father and we are his sons and daughters. We are called to live a life of faith in our Father's love and over-care, to trust in God as Jesus trusted God, to trust Him as a little child trusts his earthly father.

Jesus' emphasis was always on the kingdom of heaven -- the rule of God in the hearts of his sons and daughters. The prayer he taught his apostles reveals this central teaching: "Your kingdom come; your will be done." He identified the kingdom of God with the will of God and taught that we enter the kingdom by the inner submission of our will to God's will. It is this teaching that Jesus held supreme; he did not teach the atonement doctrine.

The Meaning of the Cross

Paul taught the atonement doctrine to help make Jesus more acceptable to the Jews, and to try to explain the seemingly inexplicable fact that the Creator (John 1:3, Col. 1:16, Heb. 1:2) of our universe was killed by his own creatures.

Jesus' death was significant; it was the final act of a life of love and service bestowed upon mortal man. The great thing about Jesus' death was the way he died, the magnificent spirit in which he met that death. His final prayer, "Father forgive them, for they know not what they do," is Jesus' final demonstration of the love and forgiveness of our heavenly Father.

In Gethsemane Jesus sought to avoid his death if this choice would be consistent with the Father's will. He prayed, "Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me." But his purpose was to live the full human life of his earth creatures. And in a human life we cannot usually have our death avoided or taken away. So Jesus submitted himself to death on the cross, a death brought about by men -- not by God. It was God's will that Jesus finish his human bestowal, even though it included "drinking the cup" of death at the hands of his enemies.

Jesus' courage and selfless devotion to the service of man and God in his crucifixion inspires us onward. It was the final act of a life of service. "Greater love has no man than to lay down his life for his friends." Jesus lived a life of service, revealing truth to humankind, and he courageously and selflessly submitted to the death that truth teachers must often face.

After Jesus had asked if the cup might be removed, he finished the prayer with the words, "Nevertheless, not my will but yours be done." This prayer -- not the atonement of Jesus -- is the key to our salvation. We are saved not by Jesus' death on the cross but by our faith submission to God's will. This is evident from the fact that believing in "the blood of Christ" will not save someone who does not faithfully choose to live in accordance with the Father's will. And such a choice of God's will over our own personal will can be made independently of the death of Jesus.

Although I believe it is incorrect to refer to Jesus as our redeemer, he is truly our savior. For even though the way to salvation was open before Jesus lived, he, in his bestowal life, did truly make the way of salvation more clear to humanity. His life and teachings are our lighthouse, our certain and infallible guide to salvation. Certainly we may gain much from the teaching of his well-meaning followers, but we must also recognize that they were human and fallible. Jesus is divine and his teachings are perfect; they are the touchstone by which all other teachings should be judged.

B. J., in this letter I have attempted to restate and organize what I said to you at Thanksgiving. I do sincerely appreciate your good hearted and sincere effort to help me better understand the apostolic teachings concerning the "blood of Christ." I am also delighted to have the opportunity to express my beliefs to you. I hope they have found some reception in your mind and heart.

Sincerely,

Preston Thomas

Labels: atonement, God, Jesus, loving God, Paul, Preston Thomas, the cross

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Tuesday, January 30, 2007

The Urantia Book from a Jewish Perspective

By Martin Greenhut
Reader of the Urantia Book since 1970

I am a graduate of Talmudical Academy High School and of Yeshiva College in New York City. I also attended the Hebrew Teachers Institute at Yeshiva for six years. For my entire youth I was intensely active in Jewish life and was a practicing orthodox Yeshiva student until my senior year in college when I chose to give up my orthodoxy and its consequent segregation from the rest of the world. I became what is known in Israel today as "a secular Jew". It simply means that I gave up my orthodox involvements and practices and lived as an agnostic... although not hostile to religion... just not able to relate to the various sectarian doctrines. I believed that If God existed he didn't love any people on earth any better than the others and certainly wouldn't exclude anyone from eternal salvation just because they were born into the wrong religion.

As a Jew, the obstacle to relating to Christianity was my resentment for the anti-semetic confrontations that were thrust upon me by Christians. I grew up during WWII and as a teenager I saw the first filmed evidence of the Nazi Holocost that was presented as evidence at the Nuremberg trials. Whenever I heard quotations from "The New Testament" I regarded them as teachings hostile to the Jews and consequently would not read it.

I lived a life dedicated to improving the world and it brought me into contact with all kinds of people. When working with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s movement in the civil rights struggle I often found myself in churches of the blacks and that is where I was first introduced to the love of Jesus.

I was not satisfied that things were as we were taught. I always lived in hope and never left the "Kriat Shema" behind. "Hear o' Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord, your God with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your might." I just knew that He was out there, but I didn't know where.
As it turned out, my search for truth brought the Urantia Book into my hands and since that day I have been taken up with its study and in the practice of its teachings.

Getting into the Urantia Book meant that I had to be open to new truth and this process has meant an ongoing expansion of my understanding of life and of the problems that we are facing in this world. It brought me to the doors of faith which are opened as I knock.

The greatest problem that I had as a Jew were in the teachings about the Paradise Trinity but a careful reading of Book One of the Urantia Book dispelled these doubts with no problem. As for Jesus, the Urantia Book gave me an opportunity to meet him as a Gallilean Jew. I didn't ever have to become a "Christian". If anybody asks me to this day what my religion is I unhesitatingly tell them that I am a Jew.

Knowing Jesus as a jew is an unspeakable blessing. The Urantia Book reveals Jesus' Jewish upbringing, education and racial outlook in such a way as to allow me to identify with him as a Jew. He had the same kind of home and schooling as did I, went to the synagogue as did I, and lived in a jewish culture which has not significantly changed to this day. The prayers and biblical passages that he quoted were the same ones that I used, he attended seders and read from the Torah, had a Bar Mitzvah and his teacher was a chazan. His apostles were Gallilean Jews and his earliest followers were also jews.

The distortions that Pauline Christianity imposeed on the Teachings of Jesus along with the mistakes of his apostles who preached a religion about Jesus rather than the religion of Jesus compromised the Gospel Message. I find Christianity's doctrines of the virgin birth and the doctrine of atonement by the shedding of blood (the crucifixion of Jesus as a sacrificial offering for the sins of man) both alienating and degrading of the wondrous bestowal and the life of truth that Jesus lived here among us. The Revelation of God's love in the human life of the Son of Man will continue to enrich us spiritually in all eternity.

As for the rest of the Urantia Book, its revelations are both challenging and eddifying, inspiring and supreme.

In my opinion, any Jew who gets into the Urantia book will not only gain a profound understanding of our religion but also has a head start in understanding the teachings of our Lord and Creator who lived here as one of us and revealed the Father in Heaven as he lived a human life among us.

There is some especially interesting Jewish Lore that relates to the Urantia revelation which has significance to me.

Pentecost is the Jewish Festival of Shevuoth. It is the Hag HaBikkurim... The festival of the First Fruits. It is also called Z'man Ma-tahn Torateinu... the time of the giving of our Torah.

The day of Pentecost on Which Jesus poured His Spirit of Truth upon all flesh is the same day celebrated by Jews for the giving of the Torah to the world through Moses.

Labels: Christianity, civil rights, Jesus, Jewish, Jewish lore, Martin Greenhut, orthodoxy, Paradise Trinity, The Urantia Book, truth

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Friday, January 26, 2007

The Urantia Book: An Evaluation

The Urantia Book: An Evaluation
Jim Mills
1970

Introduction:

Ever since man first became conscious of himself, and of his environment, he has asked questions about both. Regardless of how the questions are worded, in general they can be reduced to a few simple queries. These are: "Why am I here?" "Where am I going?" "What is the meaning of it all?", and, "What am I?"

The answers to these questions have not been easy to obtain. Man, therefore, developed a technique of postulating answers to his questions, and then attempted to develop the means of testing these postulates under reproducible conditions consistent with his knowledge of his environment. Thus was the scientific method for the study of physical phenomena born and its success has changed the face of civilization.

No such success has accrued to the efforts of man in the areas of meanings (Philosophy) and values (Religion), for no valid method has ever been developed to test the postulates of philosophy and religion with the efficiencies available to science at the physical level of existence. The truth of meanings and values is something that must still be "felt" by the individual as a near-emotional experience. Consequently, individual judgment, with all its personal uniqueness and variety, is still a major testing procedure for new postulates in Philosophy and Religion.

However, history has taught us that many men and women who we have called "prophets" have periodically appeared with new and advanced postulates that have gained such acceptance that new religions have resulted therefrom which have had tremendous influence on the development of civilization. In this group we find Gautama Siddhartha (Buddha) in India; Lao-Tse and Confucius in China; Ikhnaton in Egypt; Zoroaster in Persia, all of whom mysteriously appeared about 2,500 years ago, almost as though by design; to be followed later by Jesus of Nazareth and Mohammed in Arabia. Scores of others, perhaps less well known, have appeared on the stage and have had their influence on the world.

The teachings of these "prophets" we have called "revelations", because each advanced a new concept of man in relation to ultimate reality â€“ they "revealed" new truths to man about himself and his relations to his environment, and in some degree, to his Creator. They have all had a strong impact because they provided contemporary answers to the questions asked above.

But no revelation, short of finding and recognizing ultimate reality, God, The Uncaused Cause, can be final. Revelation is time periodic, partial, and limited to the conceptual boundaries of manâ€™s intellectual universe of knowledge. As manâ€™s intellectual frontiers have expanded, and when the need for new revelations caused by this has grown to a point of great tensions, another revelation has always appeared.

Today our understanding of cosmology is growing with the use of the 200-inch telescope, and the radio-telescopes and receivers, aimed at space. Data already collected may not be analyzed and interpreted for many years. Men have actually walked on the Moon. Probes have gone to the planets Mars and Venus to record and return data, even photographs.

Slowly it is dawning upon us that even the physical size of the universe may be beyond our present capabilities to comprehend. So far we have been able to detect very little about physical universe organization beyond our present ideas about galaxies. We ask the questions: How are the starry heavens organized? Is there a pattern in cosmology such as we find in terrestrial nature? What is manâ€™s relation to all of this? Does he have a future out there? Are our ideas about the origin, age, and development of the universe valid? Are we being misled by our ability to observe only a small portion instead of the total phenomenon? And finally, again, why am I here? These questions contribute to a mounting tension.

In 1955, without fanfare or publicity, without preaching or promotion, there appeared in the city of Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A., a 2097 page book called The Urantia Book. Its name derives from the fact that within it our planet is called Urantia. Those who have read it seriously and in detail, and repeatedly, are generally convinced that it is the "revelation" for which contemporary society has so long been crying.

What makes this book a revelation? The true answer can only be found in reading it â€“ then studying it. However, some reasons are and can be given. Simply, because it presents a cosmology which is consistent with, and an extension of our present knowledge of cosmology. For example, it foretold Calcium 19 as being present in the sun. It was discovered there in 1964. (Time Magazine, May 29th, 1964, p. 80.) It presents a clear, understandable story about the nature and destiny of man. It teaches the religion of Jesus instead of a religion about Jesus. It recognizes the truths to be found in all religions. It recognizes evolutionary religion as separate from revelation. It stresses the importance of the individual regardless of origin and tells something about our supernal destinies. It differentiates between fact, meaning, and value: science, philosophy, and religion, and then unites them in a true integration.

The Urantia Book is divided into four parts.

Part One: Thirty-one papers. These depict the nature of deity and the reality of Paradise; discuss the cosmology of the Superuniverses, and portray some of their inhabitants by origin and function. They also discuss the organization and workings of the Central and Superuniverses.

Part Two: Twenty-five papers. These discuss the local Universe, an administrative subdivision, in terms of organization and administration complete with the personalities in authority. These papers also tell much about the career of the human personality after it terminates its stay on this planet, Urantia, by the death and dissolution of its physical carrying mechanism. They depict our first steps on new worlds and the tremendous program provided for our personal development which will sometime permit us to recognize God when we have, by our own efforts, aided by ever-present celestial help, grown and developed to that point where we have the conceptual capacity to see and recognize God. The challenge is immense and the help equal to it.

Part Three: Sixty-three papers. The history of our own planet, Urantia, from its origin in a sun (ours) thrown out by the now extinct Andronover nebula about 6,000,000,000 years ago to the present. Its geologic and life evolution (after implantation) is traced as well as the evolution of races, civilizations, customs, philosophies and religions. Many new insights found in hitherto unavailable sources are revealed. We learn much, previously forgotten and lost, about our own history and evolution. New and higher religious insights make their appearance.

Part Four: Seventy-seven papers. These record the life and teachings of that superb being known to us as Jesus of Nazareth. From hitherto unavailable sources, his pre-Urantian life is unfolded and the details of his own early existence here are told year by year. We learn details of his family life, his religious growth, the death of his father, Joseph, and much detail which was apparently withheld from his apostles. What actually happened when the so-called "miracles" were performed?

Presented in detail are the teachings of Jesus which even in the attenuated and compromised form know as Christianity have been the driving force behind Western Civilization. Reaffirmed is his great love for the individual, yet uncompromised is the high ideal of attainment he sets for everyone. Also presented is the real philosophy and religion of Jesus, and we learn how much evolutionary religion has diluted it and modified it in order to force it into the mold of passing contemporary doctrine and dogma. As presented, the religion of Jesus, and we learn how much evolutionary religion has diluted it and modified it in order to force it into the mold of passing contemporary doctrine and dogma. As presented, the religion of Jesus is dynamic, inspiring, uplifting, totally contemporary because it is timeless and worthy of lifelong study.

The writer once asked the late Sir Hubert Wilkins, who was a Urantia Book devotee even prior to publication, "What is your test of the validity of this work?" Sir Hubertâ€™s answer was a succinct classic. He said: "Its utter consistency with itself."

The writer has gained an outlook upon life and a personal philosophy solely from the study of this book that he has found in no other sources. Simply expressed, it is this. The Urantia Book has given me so many clues to the truths and realities that are to be found from the observation of life on this planet, that I desire to remain here to experience life and gain knowledge through the experience of living this life as long as my physical mechanism can be kept in working order. Knowledge distilled with experience produces wisdom, a commodity we all need. However, when my course is finally run, the day I die will be the most interesting day of my life.

J. C. Mills

Labels: cosmology, God, individual judgment, Jesus, Jim Mills, philosophy, prophets, religion, Revelation, scientific method, The Urantia Book

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Wednesday, January 10, 2007

Journey to Mt. Hermon

It is perhaps the most cosmically significant spot in the universe of Nebadon, and it happens to be right here on earth. Itâ€™s the place where the creator of our universe won his last and greatest title, gaining total and unquestioned sovereignty over the welfare and destiny of ten million worlds. It is perhaps one of the greatest moments in the life of a Creator Son and of course, is of tremendous importance and sentimental value to his countless creatures throughout his vast domain. It will be held as sacred ground for all eternity.

Mt. Hermon is not only one of the hottest places in our universe but also one of the hottest places on earth. Unfortunately, however, itâ€™s for all the wrong reasons.

In November of 2007 I began researching more intensively in order to find the exact area Jesus spent those six crucial weeks of his life. He was there several times but the â€œtemptationâ€� took place during those six weeks he spent â€œalone with Godâ€� atop Mt. Hermon. Later on he again visited the same area with his apostles, after making camp at Beit Jenn.

The Urantia Paperâ€™s reference to Beit Jenn proved to be crucial in the research, since it left little doubt about where Jesus started up the mountain and also, which way he must have traveled to reach his final destination. The UB reference to the fact that it was "sometime knows as Beit Jenn" is very interesting. Beit Jenn is an Aramaic name and means "house of Jenn." Jenn or Jinn is an Islamic name for a particular type of demon -- one which lives among humanity and is very mischievous, often very interested in the affairs of men. The Urantia Book describes Beit Jenn as the place where Jesus cast out a Midwayer from a young boy â€“ the same story that is recorded in the Bible.

The fact is that the site was not called Beit Jenn when Jesus visited the town. It was called by that name later, once it became known as the region where Jesus had performed this act, which explains why the papers state that it was "sometime" called Beit Jenn. This means that the current town of Beit Jenn at the foothills of Mt. Hermon is the very same place.

Since I was traveling to Iran in December of 2007, I had the opportunity to stop in Syria first. With the political situation being what it is today, this was a bit risky. Syria is a troubled place and right off the bat, in the Damascus airport, I could tell this was going to be a bumpy ride. I wonâ€™t go into details but letâ€™s just say that I shouldnâ€™t have told them that Iâ€™m a writer with both a US and an Iranian passport. Live and learn.

The next day I told the hotel manager that I wanted to go to Beit Jenn. He gave me the same look Iâ€™m accustomed to when I tell people the places I want to go. Theyâ€™re usually in remote locations that no tourist would ever want to go, and since people canâ€™t figure out why on earth anyone would want to go there, suspicion usually arises. Nevertheless, I arranged for a taxi to pick me up and drive me there, and stay around while I hike a bit. There are no taxis there in Beit Jenn so you need to keep the taxi around.

It took about an hour to get there and we traveled on the very roads that Jesus and the apostles did back in the day. It was the Damascus Road, where Saul received his blinding vision. In time Mt. Hermon came into view and my imagination ran wild with all the events that have transpired in this, one of the most sacred spots on earth. Mt. Hermon is very dry now but it used to be much greener, and Jesusâ€™ travels in August would have meant an idyllic and quiet time atop a grand mountain, from where he would have seen much of the surrounding lands where his destiny would soon play out.

The taxi driver had some crosses on his rear-view mirror but like almost everyone else in Syria, knew hardly a word of English. I somehow made it clear to him that I wanted to go to Beit Jenn because Jesus had once been there, but Iâ€™m not sure if he believed it. It was clear that he was a bit excited though since this was not an ordinary place for him to go and spend half his day. He asked me if I like Arabic music and played his radio loud while we got ever closer to the mountain. Google Earth had given me the ability to recognize every part of Mt. Hermon now that I was there in person, and Beit Jenn came into view slowly as we ascended the foothills. It was even more backwards than I had imagined and probably had not advanced very much since the days of Jesus, except for telephones and electricity and some better construction. The people probably still looked the same.

You could feel the antiquity of the place as we headed uphill, passing Beit Jenn along the way. It was no use stopping in the little town since no one spoke English and therefore I had no way of teasing people by asking them if they knew where their town got its name. If they only knew! Anyway most of them looked Muslim so they wouldnâ€™t know the biblical legends. My taxi driver kept looking at me, trying to decide if I was crazy or not.

One of the most amazing things about this research was the realization that the area where Jesus spent those six historic weeks rest within a ceasefire zone between Syria and Israel. The southern part of Mt. Hermon is Israeli territory, while the Beit Jenn area is Syrian land. The ceasefire area is a no-manâ€™s-land covering several miles. The fact that the hottest place on earth as well as Nebadon is a place where no man can go is mind-boggling to me. Is it coincidence? Who knows? I went as far as possible with the taxi, meandering through the valleys and dirt roads before we were finally stopped at a military check point and informed that we could go no further.

We turned around and I asked the driver to stop and rest while I began to hike up the mountain with my camera, going as high as I could without being spotted by the UN observatory atop Hermon. I couldnâ€™t really be sure exactly where the transfiguration had taken place, or where Michael had met his foes, but six weeks is a long time and knowing Jesus, he would have walked all over the area. Certainly the road from Beit Jenn up towards the heights was the same as the one that existed in Jesusâ€™ day, and there was no doubt that Jesus and Taglith, as well as the apostles, had moved precisely along the same path. In the next world I hope to know just how close I was.

Raising Michaelâ€™s flag was a momentous occasion for me, one which I will treasure forever in my heart as I remember the day I climbed the mountain where our Creator Son completed his seventh and last incarnation, winning total authority over his universe.

Labels: Behzad Sarmast, Beit Jenn, ceasefire zone, Israel, Jesus, Mt Hermon, Syria, Temptation of Jesus

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Journey to Urmia Island

Lake Urmia is located in the northwestern tip of Iran, close to the Turkish border, and in the â€œAzerbaijanâ€� region. It is inhabited mostly by Turks and Kurds and there arenâ€™t many Persians there. I spent a couple of years of my childhood in Tabriz, just to the east of Lake Urmia, when my father had a job there.

Lake Van is on the other side of the high mountains to the west of Lake Urmia, over the Turkish border. According to the Urantia Papers, Jesus traveled from the Lake Van area to Urmia, where he stayed for a few weeks, and led a caravan eastward through the southern coast of the Caspian Sea. It was on an island located in Lake Urmia that he was asked to speak at Cymboytonâ€™s school, and he gave one of his most profound lectures there.

Group of four islands in the southern end of Lake Urmia

All we know from the Urantia Papers was that the island was the largest of a group of islands in this lake, and my aim was to find this island. Satellite images of the lake have been available for years and it was quite evident that there are four islands in its southern area â€“ one of which is clearly larger than the rest. The question was how to get to it. My father had told me some years ago that the islands are not inhabited and are full of game, and that the Shah of Iran used to go hunting there. But information about the area was scarce and I realized that without traveling to the region I would never be able to find out exactly where Cymboytonâ€™s school was located.

This area of Iran is close to several borders and there are many ethnic communities who do not particularly like each other. There are also many different religious communities, including Christians. They have no idea that Christ himself was there for a good while, but they do contend that one of the first Christian churches in the world was founded there. Urmia is also the area where the prophet Zoroaster was born so it is quite historic.

Unfortunately, my trip to this region was not during the best of times. Although there are now five million Turks in Tehran alone, the Turks and Persians are different in many ways and do not have the highest regard for each other. The Kurds are likewise not fond of the Turks or the Persians, and are actively seeking to overthrow the Islamic government, at least in their turf. Just before going to this region the Persian TV station of Urmia was burned down after some derogatory reports about the Turks aired, and the whole area went on high alert. We were told in our hotel that we should probably not go out, and if we really dared to go out, we should not speak Farsi (Persian). The fact that an Iranian was warned not to go out and speak Iranian, while in Iran, should give the reader an idea of how complicated an area this is.

I only had two days there so there was no choice but to risk it. In the city of Urmia, I found virtually no one that could help me with any information about the lake. Lake Urmia is extremely salty so thereâ€™s no fishing there, and is therefore pretty much left alone. I was finally informed that there was an environmental agency that may be able to help, and that I would also need permission from this same agency to go visit the islands since they are all uninhabited and the wildlife is protected. After visiting the agency, where my motives were seriously questioned, permission was granted; however, I was informed that I would have to be taken to the main island by a ranger close to the lake.

It took about an hour to get from city of Urmia to the remote southwestern side of the lake, where the ranger was waiting by his cabin. It was a cold, windy morning, and his boat was all but inadequate. Standing by the lake and looking at the distant group of islands, I couldnâ€™t help but wonder why anyone would want to build a school in such a faraway and desolate place. It would be difficult to get there and back, especially two thousand years ago, and the islands themselves were bare and inhospitable to say the least. It just didnâ€™t seem to make much sense. The ranger checked my papers and asked why I wanted to go to the island, and my answer was that there was once a lecture amphitheatre there that was subsequently burned down. He scratched his head and said that in all his years wondering these islands, he had never come across such a thing nor could he believe that anyone would build something like that in such a remote place. When I told him that I had to go and see it for myself, he told me that regrettably, as much as he would like to take me, the wind was strong and his boat was not up to the job. He told me that in such an environment, if the boat failed or capsized, we would be in serious trouble and he was not ready to take the risk.

It had taken a lot of effort to reach this place and the disappointment must have been written all over my face, because the ranger, wanting to help out, advised me to go back to the agency and get some discs he had produced a year earlier. Those discs, he told me, had lots of pictures from the islands and they would perhaps provide me with some answers. This was good news for me and I hastily went back to Urmia by cab.

Now it just happened that on this day, the environmental agency was holding an exhibition about Lake Urmia. There were booths everywhere with various displays about the wildlife, the ecology and scientific information for Lake Urmia. To my astonishment, a large satellite picture of Lake Urmia was on display in one of the main booths, and showed a huge island in the middle of the lake that I had never seen before. But how could this be? A large island in the middle of the lake that didnâ€™t appear in any of the maps/images I had seen before? How does this happen?

While I stood there in front of the poster, gazing at it wide-eyed and in total confusion, one of the visiting scientists that just happened to be there that day for the exhibition, informed me that Lake Urmia had dried out in the last few decades, and that the water level used to be higher. The poster there showed the lake as it was twenty or thirty years ago, not now, and the large island in the middle of the lake was now joined to the mainland. No wonder that none of my maps had shown it!

I could hardly believe it. To make it even more interesting, I was informed that this island is called â€œSepeyton,â€� which is eerily similar to Cymboyton. After some research I learned that this large island, which has several villages, serves as a stepping stone to the other side of the lake. Before the Iranian revolution a stone road/bridge was being built from the western side of the lake to this island in order to allow easier access from one side of the lake to the other, but it was never finished. The revolution had disrupted its construction, but a portion of it is in use and gets you close to the island. A ferry now carries cars from the end of the road to the island. This is still a lot better than having to travel all the way around lake, and it would only make sense that in the old days, people traveling from Urmia City toward the Caspian Sea would take ferries to this same island instead of traveling all the way around the lake.

The island itself looks like a large mountain that is split right down the middle, allowing for easy passage from one side to the other, and making it an ideal stepping stone.

A road/bridge connects the mainland to the island

It occurred to me that if it hadnâ€™t been for the windy day, I would have been sailing to the southern islands and would have never learned about the real island, since I would not have come back to the agency. But this was my second and last day in the region, and there was only half a day left in my journey. The taxi driver, who by now was familiar with my quest, made a mad dash for the bridge as I had to see the island with my own eyes.

It took a couple of hours to get there and the road/bridge was busy with cars and trucks eager to reach Tabriz, a major Iranian city on the eastern side of the lake. We moved as quickly as possible on the straight road toward the large island and it finally came into view. Cymboytonâ€™s school was undoubtedly located on this island, probably somewhere near the main road which cuts through the middle of the island. In those distant days, this same road would have seen caravans and travelers from all over the world as they cut through the lake and carried goods on and around the Silk Road. One of them was the creator of our universe, a Creator Son on a grand mission, disguised as a young and friendly caravan leader that would later be known as the Son of Man â€“ Jesus Christ.

It was now the end of my journey and we had reached the end of the road â€“ literally. I took a few snapshots of the island that had captivated my imagination for so long and wondered if any remains of Cymboytonâ€™s amphitheatre could possibly still be there, waiting to be discovered. But that would have to wait for the next tripâ€¦

The bridge/road leading towards Cymboytonâ€™s island.

Labels: Behzad Sarmast, Cymboyton, Iran, Jesus, Lake Urmia, Lake Van, Persians, Sepeyton, Turks

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Monday, October 30, 2006

Brain "God"

The URANTIA Book Confirms the Findings of Science

Scientific Investigation of Religious Experiences

Most of us are aware of the human genome project, which has gone a long way in solving the DNA genetic code. But there is also lesser-known, internationally coordinated scientific research whose purpose is to map the brain, that is, to relate the content of our conscious minds, as well as the more machine-like aspects of physiological functioning, to what is happening in the organ's electro/chemical circuits. And some of the early results of this study have prompted secular humanists to claim that God has been "explained away". A part of the brain newly named the "God Module" has been found and linked to apparent religious experiences. Historical and Biblical visions are now being discounted as symptoms of a type of brain epilepsy.

Dr. Michael Persinger has been studying the relationship between brain function and religious experience since before the brain-mapping project began. And he has been able to evoke experiences of religious content similar to and possibly identical with what has heretofore been accepted as genuine spiritual experiences, all by means of strictly electro/mechanical manipulation of the brains of his experimental subjects. Other scientists are now following in his footsteps.

In spite of all this, there is nothing for real religionists to fear in this new and exciting research, because first of all, The URANTIA Book teaches that "facts never quarrel with real spiritual faith" (2078 B), and that "no matter how valid (real) religious experience is, it must be willing to subject itself to intelligent criticism" (69 D). And secondly, by a process of elimination similar to that espoused by Sir Author Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes ("When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth,") it is also true that those experiences which can never be explained or duplicated by science must be genuinely supernal in origin. In other words, as the brain-mapping study progresses, scientists will be taking certain religious experiences out of the "probably" and even the "for sure" boxes and putting them in the "unlikely" box, those which the scientific method indicates belong to the Brain "God". Identifying the activities of the Brain "God" can in no manner "explain away" God! Rather it is like clearing a forest of brush and deadwood, to allow the living trees to grow better.

The URANTIA Book confirms this idea, when it says that, "all science has done [and by implication can ever do] is to destroy the childlike illusions of the misinterpretations of life" (2076 D). For, it affirms, science "being material and wholly intellectual . . . is utterly useless in the evaluation of spiritual realities and religious experiences" (2078 C), and that "this profound experience of the reality of the divine indwelling forever transcends the crude materialistic technique of the physical sciences" (2095 A). That is, it cannot evaluate genuine "spiritual realities and religious experiences", but illusionary ones are in its admitted area of competency:

"The steady progress of science add[s] greatly to the mortality of false gods; and even though these casualties of man-made deities may momentarily befog the spiritual vision, they essentially destroy that ignorance and superstition which so long obscured the living God of eternal love" (1124 C)

When those materially originated experiences have been discarded, -- with the help of science -- that which remains . . . the spiritual . . . will shine forth with much more brilliance.

The URANTIA Book Confirms the Findings of Science

The fact is that according to the book's teachings: "the projections of the human intellect may indeed originate false gods -- god's in man's image" (2095 D), and also, that a false "god", a material Brain "God", actually resides within the human mind as a part of its evolutionary endowment. This false "god" is similar to the "fictitious alter ego" imagined and conversed with by children (996 D). And:
"As it is conceived by generations of praying mortals, the alter ego evolves up through ghosts, fetishes, and spirits to polytheistic gods and eventually to the One God, a divine being embodying the highest and loftiest aspirations of the praying ego" (997 A).

There is, apparently, a reality shift in this evolutionary product of the human imagination where it comes in contact with the actual indwelling fragment of God, the Thought Adjuster. At that point, we are told, "conversations with the fictitious symbol of the alter ego . . . become exalted to the level of communication with the spirit of the infinite and to that of bona fide consciousness of the reality of the eternal God and Paradise Father of all intelligent creatures" (997 B). So, while in our minds everything above this line or level is spiritual, everything below it, which is a part of the "dead level of consciousness" (1207 B), is material and amenable to scientific investigation.

The URANTIA Book confirms that much, if not most of what ordinarily passes for genuine religious experience is in actuality the emanations of our material minds coordinated somehow with our lingering notional experiences with our inner false god. Don't forget that the Brain "God" is made from our "highest and loftiest" desires. It also explains that "the element of human error present in human religious experience is directly proportional to the content of materialism which contaminates the spiritual concept of the Universal Father (1123 C). And these contaminated experiences not only persist far beyond the end of our mortal, and even morontial lives: "Man's prespirit progression in the universe consists in the experience of divesting himself of these erroneous ideas of the nature of God and of the reality of pure and true spirit" (1123 C); but they cover the whole normal/abnormal spectrum of mental functioning, as well.

When we pray, meditate, or otherwise seek to contact deity within us, we may direct our awareness towards the actual, supermaterial thought Adjuster or to the false god of the material mind, which we may even envision as being our "Thought Adjuster", since it embodies our "highest and loftiest aspiration". According to The URANTIA Book: "Even at the present time, in the day to day experience of the average mortal, prayer is very much a phenomenon of man's intercourse with his own subconscious" (996 C). But this is not necessarily bad, because: "prayer induces the human ego to look both ways for help: for material aid to the subconscious reservoir of mortal experience, for inspiration and guidance to the superconscious borders of the contact of the material with the spiritual, with the Mystery Monitor [Thought Adjuster]"(997 C). However we are warned of a "great danger" attendant upon prayer-life which amounts to little other than "religious day-dreaming", as well as being told that "under no circumstances" should we cultivate religious, "trancelike" meditation employing a comparatively passive, narrowly focused consciousness. This latter directs the mind "toward the subconscious rather than in the direction of the zone of spiritual contact, the superconscious." The "superconscious" is described as being a "realm of ascending intellectual activity" (1099 C) The problem is one of attitude and discernment. The danger is that the product of the Brain "God" "may be regarded as divine communications to the human mind" (1099 C). The question is, are we relating to the alter-ego embodiment of our own conscious and subconscious ideas of divinity or to divinity itself?

Real God or Brain "God"?

It can be seen that the difficulty arises when it comes time to distinguish between the outputs of these separate but NOT equal sources of spiritual-seeming content. And we are very much hampered in this discernment by the following fact: "You are quite incapable of distinguishing the product of your own material intellect from that of the conjoint activities of your soul and your [Thought] Adjuster" (1207 B). That is, we are in the position of having to distinguish between two things which subjectively appear to be identical in every way! Also, we are informed that:

"The human mind may perform in response to so-called inspiration when it is sensitive either to the uprisings of the subconscious or to the stimulus of the superconscious. In either case it appears to the individual that such augmentations of the content of consciousness are more or less foreign" (1000 C).

"Often, in beings of your order, that which you accept as the Adjuster's voice is in reality the emanation of your own intellect. (1208 D).

"Certain abrupt presentations of thoughts, conclusions, and other pictures of mind are sometimes the direct or indirect work of the [Thought] Adjuster; but far more often they are the sudden emergences into consciousness of ideas which have been grouping themselves together in the submerged mental levels, natural everyday occurrences of normal and ordinary psychic function inherent in the circuits of the animal mind" (1207 B).

"Altogether too much of the uprush of the memories of the unconscious levels of the human mind has been mistaken for divine revelations and spirit leadings" (1099 B).

"Many mystics have carried their mental dissociation to the level of abnormal mental manifestations" (1100 A).

"Altogether too frequently that which the overwrought mystic evaluates as divine inspiration is the uprisings of his own deep mind" (1000 B).

Finding the Real God

We are told that "Jesus had no subconscious delusions or superconscious illusions" (1100 B). In other words, the Brain "God" played no part in his inner life.

"He lived . . . a life of prayerful consecration to the doing of his Father's will. . . . The secret of his unparalleled religious life was [his] consciousness of the presence of God; and he attained it by intelligent prayer and sincere worship -- unbroken communion with God -- and not by leadings, voices, visions, or extraordinary religious practices" (2086 B).

We are also told that:

"The great challenge to modern man is to achieve better communication with the divine Monitor [Thought Adjuster] that dwells within the human mind. Man's greatest adventure in the flesh consists in the sane and well-balanced effort to advance the borders of self-consciousness out through the dim realms of embryonic soul-consciousness in a wholehearted effort to reach the borderland of spirit-consciousness -- contact with the divine presence" (2097 A).

From the forgoing it can be seen that great emphasis is to be placed on the words "sane and well-balanced". But it can hardly be considered sane to hold against all logic and reason (as well against as the admittedly incomplete findings of science) the illusion that an experience which has been unconsciously self-generated is actually of divine origin. That is nothing more than a form of megalomania.

And although genuine contact may indeed be made with Thought Adjusters, even then the dangers do not cease. We are told that:

"when they do find it possible to flash a gleam of new truth to the evolving mortal soul, this spiritual revelation often so blinds the creature as to precipitate a convulsion of fanaticism or to initiate some other intellectual upheaval which results disastrously" (1207 D).

That is part of the reason why the supernal revelators advise us that "a human being would do better to err in rejecting an Adjuster's expression through believing it to be a purely human experience than to blunder into exalting a reaction of the mortal mind to the sphere of divine dignity." (1208 C). That is, it is safer -- even when we are wrong -- to assume that any unusual, spiritual-seeming experiences are the work of the Brain "God". However, unfortunately, it seems that few people -- even readers of The URANTIA Book -- heed this advice. They treat it and the other cautions just as smokers do the warning label printed on the side of cigarette packs. Like teenagers who take needless risks, they seem to believe that disaster only happens to others, NOT to themselves!

Insofar as such spiritual discernment goes, we are told: "This is dangerous ground, and every human being must settle these problems for himself in accordance with his natural human wisdom and superhuman insight" (1208 D). As to the superhuman insight of others I cannot presume to speak. However the information given on page 2095 C, through 2096, paragraph 7, should be studied by everyone wishing to understand these matters.

But surely human wisdom requires that one take into consideration applicable findings of science (of what The URANTIA Book calls "the fiery furnace of genuine science" (1006 D)). The URANTIA Book says:

"Science is the source of facts, and mind cannot operate without facts. They are the building blocks in the construction of wisdom which are cemented together by life experience" (1222 C).

It also says that "only those who face facts and adjust them to ideals can achieve wisdom. Wisdom embraces both the fact and the ideal and therefore saves its devotees from both of those barren extremes of philosophy -- the man [or woman] whose idealism excludes facts and the materialist who is devoid of spiritual outlook" (1779 D)

Science, along with revelation, is to refine and ennoble man's religion. And this goes hand-in- hand with the adjuration that "in scrutinizing mental situations, safety lies only in the prompt recognition of each and every thought and experience for just what it actually and fundamentally is, disregarding entirely what it might have been" (1199 C). Because the findings of scientists like Persinger and others engaged in the brain-mapping project can go a long way in helping us recognize which of our religious thoughts and experiences are merely "figments of the imagination, illusions of the mortal mind, distortions of false-logic, and the self-deceptive idols of those who create them"(1781 D): and when these have been disregarded that which remains is more likely to be genuine contact.

Labels: contact, genome project, God Module, Jesus, Michael Persinger, religious experience, science, spiritual discernment, The Urantia Book, Thought Adjuster

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Friday, October 27, 2006

"Jesus-Style" Meditation in the Urantia Book

by Peter Holley

Words Change Their Meaning

The URANTIA Book tells us that Jesus meditated - a lot! What it doesn't say is that the word meditation has evolved away from its original meaning during the years following the revelation's final inditing in the mid 1930s. Such evolution of words was, of course, anticipated by the revelators, who tell us that the expression of religion "must be restated every time the dictionary of human language is revised" (1). Likewise the meaning of each affected teaching needs to be renewed when necessary.

The problem with changed words is that they can give us an altered picture if we aren't careful. The fact that Jesus used and taught meditation as a means to communicate with one's Thought Adjuster makes it vitally important for us to understand what is meant, if as The URANTIA Book states on the last page, the "great challenge for modern man is to achieve better communication with the divine Monitor that dwells within the human mind."

A dictionary contemporary with the reception of the finalized Urantia Papers (as later originally published in The URANTIA Book) provides the following definition of the word meditation :

"close or continued thought, the turning or revolving of a subject in the mind, serious contemplation; mental reflection; often specifically, thought devoted to religious subjects." (2)

The type of meditation often associated with Eastern religions which requires an altered state of consciousness had not yet at that time migrated into the dictionary. It became a secondary definition of meditation sometime after Yogi Paramhansa Yogananda came to the West and brought about what has been called a religious revolution with the publication of his book Autobiography of a Yogi in 1946. Yet a look at a 1955 desk dictionary shows that the more intellectually passive type of meditation had not even appeared by The URANTIA Book's publication date. Neither is it included in my 1982 "College" dictionary. Some modern dictionaries, however, now place it as the preferred definition. The following definition of the intransitive use of the verb is from an online dictionary (3):

meditate:

1. A. Buddhism & Hinduism. To train, calm, or empty the mind, often by achieving an altered state, as by focusing on a single object.

B. To engage in devotional contemplation, especially prayer.

2. To think or reflect, especially in a calm and deliberate manner.

This is not to say, however, that the Buddhism and Hinduism style of meditation was unknown in the middle thirties in the West, or that the word "meditation" was never used to denote it. It was, but it appears to have needed qualification. Apparently the Buddhism and Hinduism type is what the revelators meant when they referred to "mystic meditation" (see also "mystic trances," "mystic communications," "mystic experiences," "mystic phenomena," "mystic communion," "mystic status," and "mystical state"). The root of "mystic" is a Greek term meaning "belonging to secret rites" or "priest of mysteries," and the word itself in the middle of the 1930s referred to things which were secret or obscure. The fact is that Buddhist and Hindu meditators at that time still kept their traditional techniques as highly guarded secrets, passing them on only to followers whom they considered to be qualified to receive them. And their meditative-techniques seemed even more "mystical" because they revolved around altered consciousness and brought about - to the Western way of thinking - extraordinary experiences. Some few Europeans living in the East had, however, submitted to yogis or to Buddhist masters and applied themselves to their esoteric teachings, and then, later, brought the practices back home with them.

One instance of such early, non-dictionary-defined use is found in a then-contemporary publication that is believed to have furnished the source for much of the Rodan material in The URANTIA Book (4). This example which is found in the book, Issues of Life, by Henry Nelson Wieman (5), demonstrates a need for the word meditation to be modified in order to indicate something akin to the Buddhism- and Hinduism-style technique. Wieman speaks of "a kind of worshipful, meditative waiting, in which one quietly hearkens until the call of the world and the deepest desire of his own heart merge into a single demand. Waiting before the Highest," he writes, "fosters inarticulate aspiration." (6) Rather than simply calling it "meditation," as many might today, Wieman had to coin the term "inarticulate aspiration" and link it to "a kind of worshipful, meditative waiting."

But what is most illustrative by this example, however, is the fact that the revelators took Wieman's passive "kind of worshipful, meditative waiting" and turned it into the dynamically active, reflective type of meditation in the above definitions, that is, the style of meditation that Jesus used and taught. The midwayer author of Part IV compared such deep-thinking meditators with "high-climbing souls" who reach a "mountaintop of intellectual thought" where they can "attain consciousness of the higher currents of spirit concept and celestial communication." (7). Elsewhere The URANTIA Book laments, however, that it is "sad to record that so few persons on Urantia take delight in cultivating these qualities of courageous and independent cosmic thinking." (8)

Rodan

Rodan gives us what is perhaps the best view in The URANTIA Book of the type of meditation that Jesus both taught and practiced himself. Rodan had "become a disciple of Jesus through the teaching of one of Abner's associates who had conducted a mission at Alexandria" (9). And Abner, of all of Jesus' disciples, apparently had the best grasp on Jesus' teachings. At least we are told that "during the later years of Abner and for some time thereafter, the believers at Philadelphia held more strictly to the religion of Jesus, as he lived and taught, than any other group on earth." (10) In any event the Rodan material certainly was not placed in The URANTIA Book to mislead us.

Rodan spoke of what Jesus "so consistently practices, and which he has so faithfully taught . . . the isolation of worshipful meditation . . . this habit of Jesus' going off so frequently by himself to commune with the Father in heaven." Jesus was, Rodan said, even as he spoke "out in the hills taking in power. . . ." (11)

Rodan went on to say that the "secret of all this problem is wrapped up in spiritual communion, in worship. From the human standpoint it is a question of combined meditation and relaxation. Meditation makes the contact of mind with spirit; relaxation determines the capacity for spiritual receptivity. And this interchange of strength for weakness, courage for fear, the will of God for the mind of self, constitutes worship." (12) He observed that on "every mountaintop of intellectual thought are to be found relaxation for the mind, strength for the soul, and communion for the spirit." And he indicated how the lower, egoistic thinking is to be overcome by higher thoughts:

"From such vantage points of high living, man is able to transcend the material irritations of the lower levels of thinking - worry, jealousy, envy, revenge, and the pride of immature personality. These high-climbing souls deliver themselves from a multitude of the crosscurrent conflicts of the trifles of living, thus becoming free to attain consciousness of the higher currents of spirit concept and celestial communication." (13)

The Greek philosopher-turned-disciple added:

"When these experiences are frequently repeated, they crystallize into habits, strength-giving and worshipful habits, and such habits eventually formulate themselves into a spiritual character, and such a character is finally recognized by one's fellows as a mature personality. These practices are difficult and time-consuming at first, but when they become habitual, they are at once restful and timesaving." (14)

Notice that for Rodan the relaxation associated with Jesus' dynamic, thinking type of meditation is a result of having reached the "mountaintop of intellectual thought" and "spiritual communion" rather than being part of the means to attain it - that is, a more or less stand-alone part of the technique - as it is in Hinduism and Buddhism (and in auto-hypnosis).

Rodan's most profound statement is, "Meditation makes the contact of mind with spirit." In other words, spirit is contacted by the actively thinking mind. And this is entirely consistent with what we are taught elsewhere in The URANTIA Book about the nature of the Thought Adjusters vis a vis the mortal mind.

Thought Adjuster

We are told quite clearly and in a number of ways that the Thought Adjusters dwell and interact within "the thinking centers of the individual's mind" (15):

"If one is disposed to recognize a theoretical subconscious mind as a practical working hypothesis in the otherwise unified intellectual life, then, to be consistent, one should postulate a similar and corresponding realm of ascending intellectual activity as the superconscious level, the zone of immediate contact with the indwelling spirit entity, the Thought Adjuster."(16)

"Human consciousness rests gently upon the electrochemical mechanism below and delicately touches the spirit-morontia energy system above. Of neither of these two systems is the human being ever completely conscious in his mortal life; therefore must he work in mind, of which he is conscious."(17)

Notice how closely this idea of "ascending intellectual activity" parallels Rodan's image of meditation being intellectual mountain climbing. Notice also that it is not the lower area of consciousness which is involved, but the upper "spirit-morontia energy system."

"The chief difficulty you experience in contacting with your Adjusters consists in [your] very inherent material nature. So few mortals are real thinkers; you do not spiritually develop and discipline your minds to the point of favorable liaison with the divine Adjusters. The ear of the human mind is almost deaf to the spiritual pleas which the Adjuster translates from the manifold messages of the universal broadcasts of love proceeding from the Father of mercies. The Adjuster finds it almost impossible to register these inspiring spirit leadings in an animal mind so completely dominated by the chemical and electrical forces inherent in your physical natures."(18)

Here the assumption is that thinking both contacts and "hears" the Thought Adjuster, since nothing is being said about passive "listening." The Thought Adjusters do not speak to our minds but must use our minds to speak for them. They do this with our own thinking processes:

"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." (19)

[The Thought Adjuster] "is the higher and truly internal spiritual stimulus of thought . . . ." (20)

"The Adjuster is not trying to control your thinking, as such, but rather to spiritualize it, to eternalize it. Neither angels nor Adjusters are devoted directly to influencing human thought; that is your exclusive personality prerogative. The Adjusters are dedicated to improving, modifying, adjusting, and co-ordinating your thinking processes . . . ." (21)

The divine indwellers adjust our thinking until it speaks for them, until the content of our thoughts coincides with higher truth and their translations of the universal broadcasts from the Paradise Father. What we experience in the perfecting of Jesus-style meditation is at the same time their thinking and our own! Also, Rodan likewise spoke of the need for the mental discipline found in the frequent repetition of the practice of worshipful, dynamic-thinking-coupled-with-relaxation, that is, Jesus-style meditation, in order to develop the mind for spiritual communication.

It is plain to see that in Jesus-style meditation the "worry, jealousy, envy, revenge, and the pride of immature personality" of which Rodan spoke are to be to be harnessed and used by us rather than being emptied from the mind at the start as both the yogis and the Buddhists do. It is we who must take our thoughts - as we find them - and aim them Godward. Jesus said:

"Be not constantly overanxious about your common needs. Be not apprehensive concerning the problems of your earthly existence, but in all these things by prayer and supplication, with the spirit of sincere thanksgiving, let your needs be spread out before your Father who is in heaven." (22)

At the same time Jesus exhorted "his believers to employ prayer as a means of leading up through thanksgiving to true worship" (23). And Rodan speaking of these same things wrapped up meditation, relaxation, and spiritual communion into the same ball of wax as constituting "worship" or "worshipful meditation." So from this we see that there is really only a difference in degree between all of this God-directed thought: prayer, cosmic thinking, thanksgiving, meditation, and worship. They are like different members of a family rather than different species. For instance, in some of its aspects meditation differs little from prayer, and in others it is the same as worship. It may, likewise, be productive of great outpourings of thanksgiving.

Prayer, The URANTIA Book reveals, is the only "technique whereby every man, regardless of all other mortal accomplishments, can so effectively and immediately approach the threshold of that realm wherein he can communicate with his Maker, where the creature contacts with the reality of the Creator, with the indwelling Thought Adjuster." (24) Also, "Prayer will lead the mortals of earth up to the communion of true worship." (25) But "meditation makes the contact of mind with spirit," and the "moment the element of self-interest intrudes upon worship, that instant devotion translates from worship to prayer" (26) Ã¢â‚¬â€œ the same is no doubt true concerning the higher and lower aspects of Jesus-style meditation. Its lower aspect is commonly a quest for knowledge and understanding of a subject or problem, a factual elucidation. The higher aspect Ã¢â‚¬â€œ transcendent, worshipful meditation Ã¢â‚¬â€œ is a type of self-forgetful cosmic thinking, and it is here that knowledge and understanding, or spiritual elucidation, is likely to be found.

"Thinking surrenders to wisdom, and wisdom is lost in enlightened and reflective worship." (27) "wisdom [is] meditative and experiential thinking" (28); "worship is self-forgetting - superthinking." (29)

Or restated:

"Ordinary thinking ascends to meditative and experiential thinking, and it, in turn, transcends into enlightened and reflective worship."

And again:

"Why do you not aid the Adjuster in the task of showing you the spiritual counterpart of all these strenuous material efforts? Why do you not allow the Adjuster to strengthen you with the spiritual truths of cosmic power while you wrestle with the temporal difficulties of creature existence? Why do you not encourage the heavenly helper to cheer you with the clear vision of the eternal outlook of universal life as you gaze in perplexity at the problems of the passing hour? Why do you refuse to be enlightened and inspired by the universe viewpoint while you toil amidst the handicaps of time and flounder in the maze of uncertainties which beset your mortal life journey? Why not allow the Adjuster to spiritualize your thinking, even though your feet must tread the material paths of earthly endeavor?" (30)

It was in this sense that Jesus told Peter:

"Let experience teach you the value of meditation and the power of intelligent reflection." (31).

Also Jesus-style spiritual meditation is an essential factor of spiritual growth:

"Habits which favor religious growth embrace cultivated sensitivity to divine values, recognition of religious living in others, reflective meditation on cosmic meanings, worshipful problem solving, sharing one's spiritual life with one's fellows, avoidance of selfishness, refusal to presume on divine mercy, living as in the presence of God" (32)

Jesus Meditating

In almost every instance of examples in The URANTIA Book wherein Jesus meditated, the context clearly shows that he was engaged in thought (see list below). In those few in which it is not abundantly apparent it may be assumed that he was since nowhere is any contrary notion maintained. In fact in The URANTIA Book the meditative doctrine of "thinking nothing" (along with "seeing" and "doing" nothing), which was derived from the teaching by Lao T'su on "nonresistance and the distinction which he made between action and coercion" (and which can still be found in the teachings of Buddhism) is called "perverted" by the revelators (33). And cultivation of the "mystical state" (or "trancelike state of visionary consciousness") which is described of consisting in part of a "comparatively passive intellect"- we are warned - should be in all circumstances shunned as a means of religious experience because it "gravitates consciousness toward the subconscious rather than in the direction of the zone of spiritual contact" (34), that is, toward the lower, animal level rather than the upper, morontia-spiritual level of consciousness. Whether or not this warning speaks directly to the meditation practices of Hindus and Buddhists is problematical (but see below). In the final analysis it is up to the devotees of the more passive intellect styles of meditation to make such discernments for themselves. Personally, as a follower of Jesus, I prefer to align my meditation practices with those of my Master and Elder Brother, Jesus of Nazareth:

1. As early as his eleventh year Jesus engaged in "profound meditation and serious contemplation." The content of this mental discipline, we are told, was his "thinking about how he was to carry out his obligations to his family and at the same time be obedient to the call of his mission to the world." (35)

2. When Jesus was thirteen he visited the temple in Jerusalem for the first time. When he first saw the throngs gathered together for Passover, he "strong>meditated deeply on how these Jews had assembled here from the uttermost parts of the known world." (36) During this visit his family stayed at Bethany and he spent "much of the time alone in the garden meditating." (37) And we are told that at least some of this meditation in the garden "was concerned with the contemplation of weighty problems." (38)

3. In Jesus fourteenth year "he made frequent trips to the top of the hill to the northwest of Nazareth for prayer and meditation." During this time he "would gaze upon Megiddo and recall the story (thought) of the Egyptian army winning its first great victory in Asia; and how, later on, another such army defeated the Judean king Josiah. Not far away he could look upon Taanach, where Deborah and Barak defeated Sisera. In the distance he could view the hills of Dothan, where he had been taught Joseph's brethren sold him into Egyptian slavery. He then would shift his gaze over to Ebal and Gerizim and recount to himself (thought) the traditions of Abraham, Jacob, and Abimelech. And thus he recalled and turned over in his mind (thought) the historic and traditional events of his father Joseph's people." (39) Notice that the revelators used almost the precise mid-1930s definition of "meditation": "the turning or revolving of a subject in the mind"!

4. When Jesus was fifteen, we are told that his "profound periods of meditation, his frequent journeys to the hilltop for prayer, and the many strange ideas which Jesus advanced from time to time, thoroughly alarmed his mother." (40) And again this is directly related to his thinking, although this is not quite as clear as in some other examples:

"Jesus was learning not to speak of all his thoughts, not to present all his ideas to the world, not even to his own mother. From this year on, Jesus' disclosures about what was going on in his mind steadily diminished; that is, he talked less about those things which an average person could not grasp, and which would lead to his being regarded as peculiar or different from ordinary folks." (41)

5. At the age of twenty-five, Jesus' "seasons of deep meditation were often broken into by Ruth and her playmates." And we are informed that the content of this deep meditation was, again, the "contemplation of his future work for the world and the universe" (42)

6. Immediately after Jesus' baptism he went into the hills for forty days because "he desired to be away for a season of quiet meditation so that he could think out the plans and decide upon the procedures for the prosecution of his public labors in behalf of this world and for all other worlds in his local universe." (43) During this period of meditation he went without food for two days because "he was so engrossed with his thinking that he forgot all about eating" (44). And the "results of this momentous season of meditation demonstrated conclusively that the divine mind has triumphantly and spiritually dominated the human intellect." (45). And it should likewise be the goal of our own Jesus-style meditation to identify ourselves more and more with our "divine mind," the mind of our Thought Adjuster, accepting its spiritualized version of our thoughts as being our own!

7. Sometime later Jesus spent a whole "night of meditation" on the shore of the Sea of Galilee "thinking, thinking until the dawn of the next day" (46).

8. Whether Jesus' season of meditation was over a month in length, overnight, or compressed into a fleeting moment, he was engaged in thinking: "And when Jesus had bowed his head a moment in silent meditation, he suddenly spoke, "Return to your home; your son will live." . . . this was not a miracle of curing physical disease. It was merely a case of preknowledge concerning the course of natural law, just such knowledge as Jesus frequently resorted to subsequent to his baptism." (47) Knowledge, of course, is indivisible from the thoughts and concepts which contain and express it.

9. And later we see Jesus sitting in an old boat where he "meditated on the next move to be made in the work of extending the kingdom." (48) Again, look at the content of his "meditation." It clearly implies thought.

We can be assured that in all of these instances of meditation (at least after he was grown) Jesus was engaged in transcendent thinking in his higher mind and/or with direct or indirect communication with his Thought Adjuster, or as Rodan put it, his "consciousness of the higher currents of spirit concept and celestial communication." Jesus meditated and came away with knowledge of the Father's will. And so can we all! That is Jesus-style meditation's most obvious purpose.

Hearing God

I have pointed out that it must not be assumed that thoughtful meditation is a one-way street. We "hear" our Thought Adjuster's communication within our minds by the very higher-level thoughts with which we access the area of mind in which the Monitor indwells. God speaks to us with what to all intents and purposes are our own thoughts:

"You are quite incapable of distinguishing the product of your own material intellect from that of the conjoint activities of your soul and the Adjuster." (49)

Here is the way that Jesus' Thought Adjuster communicated with him when he was thirteen:

"It was about the middle of February that Jesus became humanly assured that he was destined to perform a mission on earth for the enlightenment of man and the revelation of God. Momentous decisions, coupled with far-reaching plans, were formulating in the mind of this youth, who was, to outward appearances, an average Jewish lad of Nazareth. The intelligent life of all Nebadon looked on with fascination and amazement as all this began to unfold in the thinking and acting of the now adolescent carpenter's son." (50)

We are also told that "worship may be compared to the act of tuning in the soul to catch the universe broadcasts of the infinite spirit of the Universal Father" (51), and worship, as we have seen from Rodan, is part of the same ball of wax as meditation. Worship is defined in one place in The URANTIA Book as "superthinking," that is, egoless or "self forgetful" thought. And again reflecting what happens on Rodan's "mountaintop of intellectual thought," it is "effortless attention, true and ideal soul rest, a form of restful spiritual exertion." (52)

What happens is that somewhere along the line during worshipful meditation (after sufficient practice and personal growth - the need for this cannot be stressed enough) our own thought-producing effort more or less ceases and that of the Adjuster mind takes over and directs our thinking, providing a spiritualized counterpart. But as we have seen above, what we perceive in our mind cannot be in any way distinguished from our own thinking. It is in fact our own thinking! There is no real difference in this sense between what happens in worshipful meditation and what takes place during worship:

"The worship experience consists in the sublime attempt of the betrothed Adjuster to communicate to the divine Father the inexpressible longings and the unutterable aspirations of the human soul Ã¢â‚¬â€œ the conjoint creation of the God-seeking mortal mind and the God-revealing immortal Adjuster. Worship is, therefore, the act of the material mind's assenting to the attempt of its spiritualizing self, under the guidance of the associated spirit, to communicate with God as a faith son of the Universal Father. The mortal mind consents to worship; the immortal soul craves and initiates worship; the divine Adjuster presence conducts such worship in behalf of the mortal mind and the evolving immortal soul. True worship, in the last analysis, becomes an experience realized on four cosmic levels: the intellectual, the morontial, the spiritual, and the personal - the consciousness of mind, soul, and spirit, and their unification in personality."(53)

The distinction between prayer, worship, and Jesus-style meditation seems to be quite fine:

"Subsequent to the baptism of Jesus and the forty days in the Perean hills, it is hardly proper to speak of these seasons of communion with his Father as prayer, nor is it consistent to speak of Jesus as worshiping, but it is altogether correct to allude to these seasons as personal communion with his Father." (54)

And that was precisely how Rodan defined the meditation which Jesus "so consistently practices, and which he has so faithfully taught . . . the isolation of worshipful meditation . . . this habit of Jesus' going off so frequently by himself to commune with the Father in heaven."

"Silent Receptivity"

It is true indeed that "Jesus taught his followers that, when they had made their prayers to the Father, they should remain for a time in silent receptivity to afford the indwelling spirit the better opportunity to speak to the listening soul." (55) But in determining its relationship to meditation we should first of all note that this concerns a communication to the soul rather than to the conscious mind; the latter which is, of course, the goal of meditation.

Next, we should look at the broader context wherein Jesus taught this to his followers. At that time they hardly knew how to pray, let alone worship or meditate. And at that time Jesus also "deplored that so little of the spirit of thanksgiving was to be found in the prayers and worship of his followers." (56) A year earlier, in January of A.D. 27, Jesus had ordained his apostles. Six months later, in June, after Jesus teachings to them on the nature of prayer and worship, we are told that "the apostles grasped only a few of his teachings"(57). And around September of that same year, his apostles were still asking him for "a model prayer which they could teach the new disciples" (58).

Three months later, in January of A.D. 28 - one year after their apostleship had begun - the group which by this time also contained twelve of John the Baptist's former disciples, set out on their first preaching tour of Galilee. When they got to Jotapata, we are told that Nathanial expressed confusion "in his mind about the Master's teachings about prayer' (59). In response to his confusion Jesus gave the long and involved teaching in which the time of silent receptivity is to be found.

Jesus' "followers" to whom these teachings were directed were comprised of both his own apostles as well as those who had been with John The Baptist, plus a number of "disciples" who had attached themselves to the group and who were being instructed at least partially by the various apostles, who, themselves, for the first time Jesus permitted "to preach without restraint" (60). The unavoidable conclusion, when looked at in its full context, is that this time of silent receptivity which was to follow prayer was strictly meant for people who did not really understand what prayer and worship (or thanksgiving) should actually be. We are told that not many of his apostles "could fully encompass his teaching" on prayer and worship at Jotapata (61), so likely the whole body of "followers" to whom the silent receptivity teaching had been directed, understood even less!

The statement in The URANTIA Book which says " . . they should remain for a time in silent receptivity to afford the indwelling spirit the better opportunity to speak to the listening soul," is followed immediately by:

"The spirit of the Father speaks best to man when the human mind is in an attitude of true worship. We worship God by the aid of the Father's indwelling spirit and by the illumination of the human mind through the ministry of truth." (62)

Thus the statement does not stand alone but must be viewed in its relationship to worship, and by extension, to worshipful, Jesus-style meditation. And since such instruction requiring silent receptivity is given nowhere else in the entirety of The URANTIA Book's teachings, it most reasonably represents merely a stop-gap measure which Jesus designed to hold his followers in place after they had either recited their prayers or made totally inadequate ones. By allowing time for the Thought Adjuster to make some sort of registration on their soul - if only of their sincere motive to pray - unconscious growth would follow and they would in this manner move forward toward the actual techniques of "ethical prayer" (63), thanksgiving, worship and worshipful meditation whereby contact with their Thought Adjuster might eventually be made. In any event there is nothing to indicate that "silent receptivity" was meant to be either a type of or a part of meditation.

Dangers

The "great challenge" to communicate with one's Thought Adjuster, which I referred to at the beginning, demands a "well balanced and sane effort to advance the borders of self-consciousness out through the dim realms of embryonic soul consciousness in a wholehearted effort to reach the borderland of spirit consciousness - contact with the divine presence." Such balance and sanity is of primary importance:

"When the development of the intellectual nature proceeds faster than that of the spiritual, such a situation renders communication with the Thought Adjuster both difficult and dangerous. Likewise, overspiritual development tends to produce a fanatical and perverted interpretation of the spirit leadings of the divine indweller. Lack of spiritual capacity makes it very difficult to transmit to such a material intellect the spiritual truths resident in the higher superconsciousness. It is to the mind of perfect poise, housed in a body of clean habits, stabilized neural energies, and balanced chemical function - when the physical, mental, and spiritual powers are in triune harmony of development - that a maximum of light and truth can be imparted with a minimum of temporal danger or risk to the real welfare of such a being." (64)

"Even when they do find it possible to flash a gleam of new truth to the evolving mortal soul, this spiritual revelation often so blinds the creature as to precipitate a convulsion of fanaticism or to initiate some other intellectual upheaval which results disastrously. Many a new religion and strange "ism" has arisen from the aborted, imperfect, misunderstood, and garbled communications of the Thought Adjusters." (65)

Speaking of the "high-climbing souls" who are able by Jesus-style meditation to "attain consciousness of the higher currents of spirit concept and celestial communication," Rodan adds:

"But the life purpose must be jealously guarded from the temptation to seek for easy and transient attainment; likewise must it be so fostered as to become immune to the disastrous threats of fanaticism."

Mainly the dangers to be encountered during all attempts to achieve contact with the Thought Adjuster fall into one or both of two distinct categories: "subconscious delusions or superconscious illusions" (66). And this is because the unspiritualized or partially-spiritualized creative imagination is such a powerful force in the mind of individuals. Compare the following:

"Since this inner life of man is truly creative, there rests upon each person the responsibility of choosing as to whether this creativity shall be spontaneous and wholly haphazard or controlled, directed, and constructive. How can a creative imagination produce worthy children when the stage whereon it functions is already preoccupied by prejudice, hate, fears, resentments, revenge, and bigotries?" (67)

"Supreme and self-acting Adjusters are often able to contribute factors of spiritual import to the human mind when it flows freely in the liberated but controlled channels of creative imagination." (68)

"Most of the spectacular phenomena associated with so-called religious conversions are entirely psychologic in nature, but now and then there do occur experiences which are also spiritual in origin. When the mental mobilization is absolutely total on any level of the psychic upreach toward spirit attainment, when there exists perfection of the human motivation of loyalties to the divine idea, then there very often occurs a sudden down-grasp of the indwelling spirit to synchronize with the concentrated and consecrated purpose of the superconscious mind of the believing mortal. . . . To the extent that such psychic mobilization is partial, and in so far as such human-loyalty motivation is incomplete, to that extent will the experience of conversion be a blended intellectual, emotional, and spiritual reality." (69)

"While their mortal hosts are asleep, the Adjusters try to register their creations in the higher levels of the material mind, and some of your grotesque dreams indicate their failure to make efficient contact. The absurdities of dream life not only testify to pressure of unexpressed emotions but also bear witness to the horrible distortion of the representations of the spiritual concepts presented by the Adjusters. Your own passions, urges, and other innate tendencies translate themselves into the picture and substitute their unexpressed desires for the divine messages which the indwellers are endeavoring to put into the psychic records during unconscious sleep." (70)

"The great danger in all these psychic speculations is that visions and other so-called mystic experiences, along with extraordinary dreams, may be regarded as divine communications to the human mind." (71)

As an illustration of the power of the creative imagination; children at their "dawn of creative imagination . . . evince a tendency to converse with imaginary companions" (72), and in adults this same creative imagination has been responsible for the projection of gods which "are figments of the imagination, illusions of mortal mind, distortions of false logic, and the self-deceptive idols of those who create them." (73) This applies not only to cultural gods, but to our private perceptions of the divine as well.

"The philosophic elimination of religious fear and the steady progress of science add greatly to the mortality of false gods; and even though these casualties of man-made deities may momentarily befog the spiritual vision, they eventually destroy that ignorance and superstition which so long obscured the living God of eternal love." (74)

Unfortunately The URANTIA Book readers' private perception of the divine is seen in terms not only of the Paradise Father, but as one's Thought Adjuster. That is, the mind can easily create, as it were, a false thought Adjuster:

"But a human being would do better to err in rejecting an Adjuster's expression through believing it to be a purely human experience than to blunder into exalting a reaction of the mortal mind to the sphere of divine dignity. . . . In varying degrees and increasingly as you ascend the psychic circles, sometimes directly, but more often indirectly, you do communicate with your Adjusters. But it is dangerous to entertain the idea that every new concept originating in the human mind is the dictation of the Adjuster. More often, in beings of your order, that which you accept as the Adjuster's voice is in reality the emanation of your own intellect. This is dangerous ground, and every human being must settle these problems for himself in accordance with his natural human wisdom and superhuman insight." (75)

"Mortal man has a spirit nucleus. The mind is a personal-energy system existing around a divine spirit nucleus and functioning in a material environment. Such a living relationship of personal mind and spirit constitutes the universe potential of eternal personality. Real trouble, lasting disappointment, serious defeat, or inescapable death can come only after self-concepts presume fully to displace the governing power of the central spirit nucleus, thereby disrupting the cosmic scheme of personality identity." (76)

Whatever material that has been stored in the unconscious memory - including the teachings of The URANTIA Book - can become the costume wherein the creative imagination dresses up its hallucinatory subconscious delusions and superconscious illusions:

"Altogether too much of the uprush of the memories of the unconscious levels of the human mind has been mistaken for divine revelations and spirit leadings," (77)

"Certain abrupt presentations of thoughts, conclusions, and other pictures of mind are sometimes the direct or indirect work of the Adjuster; but far more often they are the sudden emergence into consciousness of ideas which have been grouping themselves together in the submerged mental levels, natural and everyday occurrences of normal and ordinary psychic function inherent in the circuits of the evolving animal mind." (78)

"The human mind may perform in response to so-called inspiration when it is sensitive either to the uprisings of the subconscious or to the stimulus of the superconscious. In either case it appears to the individual that such augmentations of the content of consciousness are more or less foreign." (79)

If these communications with the false gods created by our minds contain the highest truths which we have ever encountered (for instance the teachings in the Urantia Papers) they may prove to be altogether too believable. When subconscious delusions or superconscious illusions displace truth and are raised to the sphere of divine dignity and are believed to be genuine spiritual communications, fanaticism - or worse - is the likely outcome. It appears that it was for these reasons that the warnings in The URANTIA Book were given to us.

In apparent response to these very same illusionary/delusionary dangers, internationally recognized expert on herbal healing, reciprocal mind-body influence, and "Integrative Medicine," physician-author Andrew T. Weil, writes: "Zen masters warn their meditating students to ignore makyo-sensory distortions that often take the form of visions seen by mystics in rapturous states or hallucinations similar to those of schizophrenics" (80). And the Hindu Upanishads "prescribe external and internal purity, continence, non-stealing, truthfulness, not injuring any being either by words or deeds, [and] similar moral-ethical basic values to achieve the state of samadhi (e.g., "a state of altered consciousness, the state to which a person reaches or is expected to reach through spiritual disciplines of meditation and Yoga.") (81)."

Questioned privately, senior-certified Iyengar yoga instructor Sam Dworkis, told me (82)

"After due deliberation, my general response to your second email has to be simply based upon one sentence, to wit: 'Under no circumstances should the trancelike state of visionary consciousness be cultivated as a religious experience.

"When I was younger and when I was living a much more protected lifestyle, I did experiment with the more esoteric concepts of yoga. However now that I am older and living more conventionally, I do not enter into esoteric practices either in personal practice or teaching. Because my "work" is now predicated upon "maximizing potential and minimizing liability," and as a Westerner living in a Western body, I must reject using yoga to push into potentially dangerous territory.

"That is not to say I believe using yoga to alter consciousness is per se wrong, but I instead look at its implications as a normal westerner living a relatively normal western existence.

"That being said, if I were again living within the environs of in a "protected ashram," eating strictly vegetarian, and limiting the amount of external stimulation entering my nervous system, I might be inclined to push the boundaries of "visionary consciousness." However, since I am not living in such a protected environment, it is my considered opinion that it is dangerous to push such edges. Not wrong, but dangerous."

The URANTIA Book appears to warn us away from this particular altered state of consciousness altogether:

"Under no circumstances should the trancelike state of visionary consciousness be cultivated as a religious experience.

"The characteristics of the mystical state are diffusion of consciousness with vivid islands of focal attention operating on a comparatively passive intellect. All of this gravitates consciousness toward the subconscious rather than in the direction of the zone of spiritual contact, the superconscious. Many mystics have carried their mental dissociation to the level of abnormal mental manifestations." (83)

And it immediately follows that negative warning with positive instruction on what we should do instead:

"The more healthful attitude of spiritual meditation is to be found in reflective worship and in the prayer of thanksgiving." (84)

That is, the more healthful attitude is to be found in Jesus-style meditation!

Mysticism

For many readers, meditation in The URANTIA Book cannot be considered apart from mysticism. In spite of the many places that variations of the word "mystical" show up in its teachings in a less than favorable light, the revelators clearly tell us that mysticism, "as the technique of the cultivation of the consciousness of the presence of God, is altogether praiseworthy" (85). How is this apparent contradiction to be reconciled?

Notice that the passage speaks of only one special form of mysticism, that is, "the technique of the cultivation of the consciousness of the presence of God." That is entirely different from what this article has been discussing, which is primarily meditation as a technique of communicating with one's Thought Adjuster (one's indwelling fragment of God). It is quite possible to communicate with God without a "consciousness of the presence of God," and the act of experiencing that presence may be outside of the realm of communication per se. God communicates with us in our thinking processes, but we feel or sense God's presence.

Jesus taught that "God is love" (86), and we are told that a "human being can actually feel - literally experience - the full and undiminished impact of such an infinite Father's LOVE." (87) In fact we are informed that such an experience may encompass the acme of religious evolution:

"Evolutionary religion is born of a simple and all-powerful fear, the fear which surges through the human mind when confronted with the unknown, the inexplicable, and the incomprehensible. Religion eventually achieves the profoundly simple realization of an all-powerful love, the love which sweeps irresistibly through the human soul when awakened to the conception of the limitless affection of the Universal Father for the sons of the universe. But in between the beginning and the consummation of religious evolution, there intervene the long ages of the shamans, who presume to stand between man and God as intermediaries, interpreters, and intercessors." (88)

And if The URANTIA Book gives us a technique for attaining to this divine, experiential love, it is likely to be compressed in the following:

"When men search for God, they are searching for everything. When they find God, they have found everything. The search for God is the unstinted bestowal of love attended by amazing discoveries of new and greater love to be bestowed.

"All true love is from God, and man receives the divine affection as he himself bestows this love upon his fellows. Love is dynamic. It can never be captured; it is alive, free, thrilling, and always moving. Man can never take the love of the Father and imprison it within his heart. The Father's love can become real to mortal man only by passing through that man's personality as he in turn bestows this love upon his fellows." (89.)

There may be other ways of experiencing a consciousness of the presence of God, but we should not - again - in attempting to cultivate this experience mistake what is human for that which is divine. The scientific investigations of Michael Persinger have demonstrated that when magnetic "fields are applied to the right hemisphere (particularly the parietal/temporal regions) the most typical experience is that of a sensed presence, or entity." Persinger remarks that the subjective "details of the experience are strongly determined by the person's beliefs which are supplied by the culture," that is, a Buddhist will experience the presence of Buddha, and a Christian will experience the presence of Jesus or God, and so forth. Persinger adds, there "are also likely to be many different stimuli that can evoke the same or [a] similar electromagnetic pattern and hence experience. Our experimental procedure is one method." (90) In all likelihood this experience is entirely a "reaction of the mortal mind," or more particularly of the brain, to various stimuli, and we would do well either to ignore it or to believe it to be of human origin. Thus, "the steady progress of science add[s] greatly to the mortality of false gods."

Neither, in attempting the praiseworthy cultivation of this mystical experience, should we forget the warning against employing the "trancelike state of visionary consciousness." That prohibition applies in every circumstance, not just in "meditation" per se. Likewise we are to avoid "such things as: physical fatigue, fasting, psychic dissociation [apparently the primary factor in initiating yogic and Buddhist meditation], profound aesthetic experiences, vivid sex impulses, fear, anxiety, rage, and wild dancing," (91) which are said to initiate the "mystic" state, some of which are used by religionists to attain an altered consciousness, and all of which The URANTIA Book implies are dangerous to some degree.

Altogether praiseworthy or not, The URANTIA Book adds that "when such practices lead to social isolation [such as, perhaps, living in an ashram or monastery] and culminate in religious fanaticism, they are all but reprehensible." And elsewhere:

"There is great danger associated with the habitual practice of religious daydreaming; mysticism may become a technique of reality avoidance, albeit it has sometimes been a means of genuine spiritual communion. Short seasons of retreat from the busy scenes of life may not be seriously dangerous, but prolonged isolation of personality is most undesirable." (92)

But the word "mysticism" itself, as defined circa 1934, included "a view or tendency in religion which implies a direct communication between God and man through the inward perception of the mind," and that is almost a definition of Jesus-style meditation. And according to Rodan it is "a means of genuine spiritual communion":

"These high-climbing souls deliver themselves from a multitude of the crosscurrent conflicts of the trifles of living, thus becoming free to attain consciousness of the higher currents of spirit concept and celestial communication."

Growth and Service

Jesus-style meditation in conjunction with prayer, thanksgiving and worship seems to be the safest technique for achieving the goal of Thought Adjuster communication. First of all it does NOT require an altered state of consciousness. And, next, it is in no way a short-cut method, - or as Rodan put it, an "easy and transient attainment" - depending as it does first and foremost upon growth. Not only does habitual Jesus-style meditation "favor religious growth" (see above), but "genuine prayer adds to spiritual growth, modifies attitudes, and yields that satisfaction which comes from communion with divinity." (93) It appears to be only with Jesus-style meditation (including prayer and worship), operating in a circular (more accurately, an upwardly-directed spiral-like), hand-in-hand, feedback relationship with spiritual growth, that Thought Adjuster communication can be achieved in a healthful, sane and well-balanced manner:

"The Adjusters are always near you and of you, but rarely can they speak directly, as another being, to you. Circle by circle your intellectual decisions, moral choosings, and spiritual development add to the ability of the Adjuster to function in your mind; circle by circle you thereby ascend from the lower stages of Adjuster association and mind attunement, so that the Adjuster is increasingly enabled to register his picturizations of destiny with augmenting vividness and conviction upon the evolving consciousness of this God-seeking mind-soul." (94)

But there is an additional factor which is equally necessary that must be added to meditation and growth (or without which balanced growth is impossible). And that is service:

"The contact of the mortal mind with its indwelling Adjuster, while often favored by devoted meditation, is more frequently facilitated by wholehearted and loving service in unselfish ministry to one's fellow creatures. . . . Jesus often took his apostles away by themselves for short periods to engage in meditation and prayer, but for the most part he kept them in service-contact with the multitudes. The soul of man requires spiritual exercise as well as spiritual nourishment." (95.)

In Conclusion

Although the meaning of the word "meditation" has changed in the decades since The URANTIA Book was indited, a study of the context in which the word appears keeps the meaning clear and unmistakable. Jesus used active, dynamic thought to contact and communicate with his Thought Adjuster, and he taught this method to his followers. This form of meditation is not without its dangers and disciplines, and those of us who follow Jesus today will do well to take heed of both the instructions and warnings given in The URANTIA Book concerning Jesus-style meditation, and for all other forms of meditation or mysticism which we may choose to practice as well.

In this matter, as in most, we cannot go too wrong if we keep our eyes on Jesus:

"To "follow Jesus" means to personally share his religious faith and to enter into the spirit of the Master's life of unselfish service for man. One of the most important things in human living is to find out what Jesus believed, to discover his ideals, and to strive for the achievement of his exalted life purpose. Of all human knowledge, that which is of greatest value is to know the religious life of Jesus and how he lived it." (96.)

FOOTNOTES
[All number entries below refer to Paper:Section.paragraph #list number in The URANTIA Book]
1. 99:1.6
2. Websters Universal Dictionary, Vol. II, World Syndicate Publishing Co., 193
3. http://www.dictionary.com
4. see http://www.squarecircles.com/matarticles/rodan/rodanparallels.htm
5. New York: Abingdon Press, 1930
6. p. 94
7. 160:3.5
8. 16:6.9
9. 160:0.1
10. 166:5.6
11. 160:1.10
12. 160:3.1
13. 160:3.5
14. 160:3.2
15. 34:5.6
16. 100:5.6
17. 111:1.5
18. 110:7.6
19. 101:1.3
20. 108:6.4
21. 110:2.3
22. 146:2.16
23. 146:2.15 #14
24. 91:6.7
25. 144:4.4
26. 5:3.4
27. 112:2.7
28. 85:7.3
29. 143:7.7
30. 111:7.2-3
31. 192:2.2
32. 100:1.8
33. ref., 94:6.7
34. 100:5.8-9
35. 124:3.10
36. 124:6.11
37. 125:4.1
38. 125:4.4
39. 126:1.1
40. 126:3.13
41. 126:3.14
42. 128:6.10
43. 136:3.3
44. 136:4.3
45. 136:4.4
46. 137:5.3
47. 146:5.2
48. 151:1.1
49. 110:4.2
50. 124:5.3
51. 144:4.8
52. 143:7.7
53. 5:3.8
54. 144:1.5
55. 146:2.1 #16
56. 146:2.1 #14
57. 143:7.9
58. 144:3.1
59. 146:2.1
60. 146:0.2
61. 146:2.2
62. 146:2.1 #16
63. see 91.4
64. 110:6.4
65. 110:4.5
66. 100:5.11
67. 111:4.9
68. 109:5.1
69. 100:5.4-5
70. 110:5.4
71. 100:5.6
72. 91:3.1
73. 160:5.9
74. 102:6.1
75. 110:5.5-6
76. 12:9.6
77. 100:5.7
78. 110:4.3
79. 91:7.4
80. (Weil also says, "Except for its voluntary and purposeful nature, meditation is not easily distinguishable from trance"). A Report to the Ford Foundation, THE DRUG ABUSE SURVEY PROJECT, STAFF PAPER 6: Altered States of Consciousness, by Andrew T. Weil, M.D. http://www.curezone.com/books/best/book.asp?ID=181
81. The writer, C. S. Shah, continues, "Another word 'mystic introversion' may be used in place of samadhi, but the use of word 'trance' is ambiguous and is, therefore, avoided." http://www.geocities.com/neovedanta/asc1.html
82. Private email, published with his permission. Sam Dworkis may be contacted through his website at http://www.extensionyoga.com/
83. 100:5.8-9
84. 100:5.10
85. 91:7.1
86. 130:1.5
87. 3:4.6
88. 90:0.3
89. 117:6.9-10
90. see http://www.innerworlds.50megs.com/Persinger_replies.htm
91. 100:5.10
92. 100:5.8
93. 91:8.10
94. 110:6.5
95. 91:7.1-2
96. 196:1.

Bio-

Peter Holley discovered The URANTIA Book within weeks of a conversion experience attendant upon his having asked Jesus into his heart some 35 years ago. Presently he is experientially investigating the new, living, revelation of Jesus as revealed primarily in Paper 195, Sections 9 and 10, and in Paper 196, Section 1. Peter understands this new, living, revelation of Jesus as being the second part of Jesus' prophesied visitation of "an enlarged revelation of truth and an enhanced demonstration of righteousness" (176:2.3).

Note: Peter Holley graduated from Urantia a few years ago. I wish I knew all the details, but I do not...ed.

Labels: creative imagination, dangers, definitions, Eastern religions, God, Jesus, meditation, mysticism, Peter Holley, Rodan, service, silent receptivity, thinking, Thought Adjuster, worship

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Tuesday, March 14, 2006

The Gospel Of Jesus: A Summary

Stephen R. Johnson
4/17/1999
Updated 3/29/2000

Introduction. What did Jesus actually teach? What concepts, ideas and ideals did he share with his followers concerning God's relation to mankind, a person's relation to God, and on what basis should we try to relate to one another? The essence of Jesus' teachings is encompassed in genuine love and unselfish social service. In his teachings, in his life and how he lived it, Jesus revealed God to men and women, and led men and women to God. What is to follow is a selection of main highlights of the gospel of Jesus; that is, not so much the gospel about him, but rather what he actually and so generously taught his apostles, disciples and other followers, even his enemies.

The Fatherhood of God. Jesus taught that first and foremost God is a father to us, our spiritual father. God is referred to as the Universal Father since he is the primal Father to all of his creatures. Just as in an ideal earthly family, our spiritual parent loves all children in the family group, but also loves each child individually. Similarly, God loves mankind as a whole, but also loves each one of us as individuals. Therefore we are not "cosmic orphans," but rather members of the family of God. He knows us perfectly, including our thoughts, inner longings and true intentions. God sends an actual "fragment" of himself to indwell our minds in order to share in our lives, spiritualize our thinking, and lead us Godward. Jesus often referred to this fragment of God or divine source as the â€œliving waterâ€� or "waters of life." Nevertheless, God has given us free will to make our own choices, and he never does ought to arbitrarily violate the sanctity of this free will that he has bestowed on us. Most of the work of the indwelling spirit is done at an unconscious level in our minds, though our cooperation facilitates this work. Having a genuine and wholehearted desire to know God, to love him and to do his will is the best way to facilitate this cooperation.

The brotherhood of man. Since God is our Father, it must follow that we are brothers and sisters in his spiritual family. This is a spiritual truth in that it refers ultimately to our spiritual relationship to one another. Unfortunately, mankind as a whole has not yet experientially actualized this reality. We are taught to love one another, but love of a fellow human being cannot be achieved by a mere act of the will alone. We must come to know a person, especially their sentiments and motivations, before we can really learn to love them. We are spiritually alike because of the indwelling spirit of God, but we can be quite different with regard to our philosophical interpretations and the way we think about our individual spiritual experiences. Jesus taught that we could have spiritual unity, without necessarily having philosophical uniformity. As individuals we can strive in our daily lives, as we come in contact with our fellows, to "love our neighbors as ourselves," even to love our fellows as Jesus loves us. And Jesus loves us both as a father and as a brother. He went about doing good, and he was genuinely interested in others. The highest interpretation of the Golden Rule is to treat others according to our best and highest ideals of how we believe God would treat them in like circumstances. And God is living love.

The faith sons of God. Jesus taught that through the exercise of faith we can daily realize and experience in our lives the ennobling truth that we are sons of God. Sincere faith is the requirement for entrance into "the kingdom of heaven," this realization and experiencing sonship with God. This is our salvation, which is the free gift of God. Jesus likened this faith in God to the implicit trust that a child has for its earthly parents. Living faith is dynamic and it grows. Its exercise progressively expands our ability to acquire truth, experience new meanings in our lives, and to deepen and broaden our values. Faith can be characterized as sublime hope, as the "inspiration of the creative spiritized imagination." In a real sense, living faith can help build "bridges" in our minds from the known to the unknown. But these bridges must be based upon a genuine hunger for the living truth of God and a "thirst for righteousness." When we search for God, this is evidence that God has already found us. Remaining in the kingdom of heaven is predicated on growth and progress therein,"bearing the fruits of the spirit." Bestowing genuine love on our fellows and engaging in whatever unselfish social service we are capable of are the keys to this growth and progress. And those men and women who are spirit-born and God-knowing show forth in their lives the fruits of the divine spirit, which are: loving service, unselfish devotion, courageous loyalty, sincere fairness, enlightened honesty, undying hope, confiding trust, merciful ministry, unfailing goodness, forgiving tolerance, and enduring peace. Although Jesus characterized the kingdom of heaven in different ways, his last word in this regard was always "The kingdom of heaven is within you."

The religion of personal experience. Jesus taught that true religion is the religion of personal experience. He focused on the individual and his or her personal relationship with God. God has personality, albeit his personality is divine, most holy, perfect and much more. Nevertheless, God the Father is a person, and our personal religious experience is bound up in our active faith-trust in him. Our supreme love of God, actually feeling his presence and loveâ€”and the desire to do good to othersâ€”these are all very personal experiences for an individual. Jesus did not espouse any rigid or uniform set of intellectual beliefs to follow such as creeds or doctrines. The only "authority" we dare rely on is encompassed in the divine leadings of the indwelling spirit of God, and the influence of the Spirit of Truth (the spirit of the Father and his Son Jesus). Jesus taught the truths of the gospel in an authoritative manner, but he was never authoritarian. When we are perplexed or confused about our circumstances and are unsure, the Spirit of Truth is always there to "show us the way,"just as Jesus would do if he were personally present. "Seek and ye shall find."

God's love and mercy. The two attributes of God that Jesus emphasized by far the most in his teachings, and in how he lived his life, were love and mercy. The Father is not a vengeful or angry deity to be appeased or feared; he does not keep a damaging checklist of our wrongdoings. God's love for us as individuals is divine and perfect, and is unconditional in the highest human sense. The source of all true love is God, and is the ancestor of all spiritual goodness. Genuine love must be unselfishly bestowed, for it cannot be self-contained. Jesus never tired of telling the story of the good shepherd who would leave his ninety and nine sheep that were in the fold and go in search of his one lost sheep. In terms of wrongdoers, Jesus hated the sin but loved the sinner. He taught that we should love even our enemies, and to return good for evil. Although God is a just God, his mercy is abundant. When we err, the Father forgives us even before we think to ask him for forgiveness; however, we are able to experience the consciousness of this forgiveness through the act of forgiving others. "Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors." Mercy is applied love, and in human affairs there are certain steps we must traverse to learn its ministry: justice, fairness, patience, and kindness. In terms of God's divine justice and mercy, Jesus taught that mercy may be lavish, but justice is precise. Although mercy is not a contravention of justice, he who would receive mercy must show mercy.

God's will. Jesus focused in his mind the will of the Father as holy, just and great, as well as true, beautiful and good. The highest human concept of God's will is embodied in truth, beauty and goodness. Nevertheless, these realities are not static or frozen; rather they are living and dynamic. The indwelling spirit of God is truly the Father's will in the mind of a human being. Jesus' interpretation of religion was at all times in terms of the Father's will; and Jesus taught that we should seek to expand our knowledge of the Father's will and petition for a richer endowment of wisdom effectively to do that divine will. Further, Jesus emphasized that we should try our very best to acquire the mind of spiritual insight. We can appreciate beauty, but truth cannot be defined in words, only by living. And truth cannot be had without the exercise of faith, living faith. Jesus taught that we are hardly in the kingdom of heaven when the Father's will is merely our law. However, when the Fatherâ€™s will truly becomes our will, â€œIt is my will that your will be done,â€� then are we enhanced to the high position of the free children of God, liberated sons of the kingdom. The more we honestly try to know and to do the Father's will, the more real we become as individuals. Jesus taught the living realities of the will of Godâ€”truth, beauty and goodnessâ€”in place of the idea of the kingdom of God. He also emphasized that the Father's will can be done in any earthly occupation. He taught that he who would be greatest among us should become server of all. And to be great is to be good.

â€œI have called upon you to be born again, to be born of the spirit. I have called you out of the darkness of authority and the lethargy of tradition into the transcendent light of the realization of the possibility of making for yourselves the greatest discovery possible for the human soul to makeâ€”the supernal experience of finding God for yourself, in yourself, and of yourself, and of doing all this as a fact in your own personal experience.â€� The Urantia Book page 1731

(For an excellent and thorough restatement of the life and teachings of Jesus, refer to The Urantia Book. This book is an anthology of 196 papers dealing with a range of topics and contains 2,097 pages, 776 of which cover the life and teachings of Jesus. It is published by URANTIA Foundation, 533 Diversey Pkwy., Chicago IL 60614, which holds the copyright.)

Labels: born of the spirit, brotherhood of man, faith sons of God, Fatherhood of God, God's will, Gospel of Jesus, Jesus, love, mercy, religion of personal experience, Stephen R Johnson

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Monday, February 06, 2006

The Living Religion Of Jesus

Meredith Sprunger
4/99/83

One of the most important things in human living, is to find out what Jesus believed, to discover his ideals, and to strive for the achievement of his exalted life purpose. Of all human knowledge, that which is of the greatest value is to know the religious life of Jesus and how he lived it. (2092)

Jesus founded the religion of personal experience in doing the will of God and serving the human brotherhood. (2092)

The living religion of Jesus is the most powerful force for shaping human destiny on our world. In less than two-thousand years, which is only a moment in anthropological time, it has influenced life on our planet more than all of the kings who have ever reigned; the armies who have ever marched; the navies who have ever sailed; and, yes, more than the advent of the atom bomb and atomic power! What was the key to this marvelous life which he lived among us?

Jesusâ€™ entire life centered around a consciousness of God, and all of the beliefs by which he lived, stem out of this relationship with the heavenly Father. His dynamic, living faith was the source of all of his teachings. Let us look at this transforming faith of Jesus. First of all, Jesus believed and taught that God is in sure and ultimate control of the universe and that God loves man as a father loves his children. Jesus assures us that God is our heavenly Father; and, therefore, we have nothing to fear. He told the fearful young man who fled to the hills with a crippling sense of inferiority, that he could free himself from this false self-image by realizing that he was a son of God. Living in this reborn image of the spirit, Jesus told him, "Trouble will invigorate you; disappointment will spur you on; difficulties will challenge you; and obstacles will stimulate you. Arise, young man! Say farewell to the life of cringing fear and fleeing cowardice. Hasten back to duty and live your life in the flesh as a son of God; a mortal dedicated to the ennobling service of man on earth; and destined to the superb and eternal service of God in eternity." (1438)

We have the resources of the universe on our side. Jesus was always aware of the power of spiritual leverage in solving the material problems of life. He said to the young man working with him in the Caesarean shipyard, who was grumbling about his cruel and unjust foreman, "Since you know the ways of kindness and value justice, perhaps the Gods have brought this erring man near, that you may lead him into this better way. Maybe you are the salt which is to make this brother more agreeable to all other menâ€¦Why not assert your mastery of evil by virtue of the power of goodness; and thus become the master of all relations between the two of you? I predict that the good in you could overcome the evil in him, if you gave it a fair and living chance." (1430)

Jesus never tired of reminding his fellowmen that they were sons and daughters of God, and that the spiritual resources at their disposal were more than adequate to cope with their human and material problems. Indeed, he had a very high regard for human nature, and understood its great potentials. He saw in Mary Magdalene, not the harlot of the streets, but the strong spiritual leader which she became. He perceived in Peter, not the impetuous man who spoke before he thought, or the coward who denied his Lord, but the spiritual rock and great evangelist, which he became. The confidence which Jesus has inspired in countless men and women over the centuries, has inspired them to actualize their potentialities, as has no person in the history of man.

Unfortunately, vast numbers of struggling people do not hear this life-giving message of Jesus. Dr. James Dobson, in a survey of young married women, found that their most difficult problem was low self-respect. The religion of Jesus is tailored to the needs of such people. Jesus declared that even the most lowly human being, is a son or daughter of God; and that when they recognize and accept this fact, they will develop a superb self-respect. Most of the debilitating problems in our lives are the result of a negative self-image, and its consequent negative view on life.

Dr. Morrison of :Pasadena, CA, contrasts the outlook of two people he knew. The first was a suicide note from a girl saying, "I am twenty-one. I have seen everything worth seeing. I know everything worth knowing. I donâ€™t like life â€“ itâ€™s cheap, dirty, and disappointing. Iâ€™ve had all I want."

The other was written by William Mulock, Canadian statesman and educator, on his ninty-fifth birthday. "I am still at work, with my hand to the plow, and my face to the future. The shadows of the evening lengthen about me, but morning is in my heart. The testimony I bear is this: The Castle of Enchantment is not yet behind me. It is before me still, and daily I catch glimpses of its battlements and towers. The best of life is always further on. Its real lure is hidden from our eyes somewhere behind the hills of time."

What is the real difference behind these contrasting views of life? It is their self-images. The one identifies with a sense of meaninglessness and the consequent worthlessness of life. The other is identified with the transcendent Reality behind the hills of time, and the consequent richness of a life of service. Both have the finite frailties of the human mind and body, which, like sand and water when mixed together, can be exceedingly weak; but to the one life, there was added the cement of spiritual reality, which transmuted these frail human elements into the concrete and permanent achievements of the soul.

The unconquerable faith which Jesus had in the loving rule of God in the heart of man, along with his confidence in the high potentialities of men and women, caused him to proclaim the existence of the most basic relationship o