You’ve heard it asked, “What is the meaning of life?” A clichéd question you might say, sometimes asked flippantly, but still a good question. Perhaps more to the point: do we use a philosophy of living to find meaning, determine our purpose, and the goals of our existence? Almost all of us do, although possibly unconsciously. We may not be able to verbally articulate our philosophy, or maybe we haven’t closely examined it. Our inner life, the personal revelations, can be used as a guide. Adding philosophy to the mix helps determine what part of a revelation we can reasonably rely on, something wise within to save us from going off on a tangent.

   You are probably reading this blog about The Urantia Book (The UB) because you are curious; the same curiosity made you a spiritual seeker. You may have read that The UB calls the steps on the path to enlightenment, the ascension plan. “Mortal man earns even his status as an ascension candidate by his own faith and hope.” (3:5.16)

   Those who pursue such a course realize that the very idea of a place to ascend to is a gift in itself—dependent on the eyes of faith being opened, and spiritual insights honed to recognize the gift. “Religion is founded on the recognition of values and is validated by the faith of personal religious experience (The UB, 103:1.5).”

   Once you accept the gifts of faith and a new direction, what next? To choose to operate in a higher realm than the place you’re in now, to reach for a new level of spiritual maturity? We are given the freedom to make such a free-will decision, whether to reject or accept the ascendant adventure. “Your mission should you choose to accept it is …”

   Once a person is on the path, they’re going to cut themselves loose from anything they’ve heard about God before, and go meet him on their own terms, to explore the relationship, to refrain from entering into it in conventional ways defined by their tradition. Established religions want to provide safe havens, a refuge. Some seekers are able to stay in their church communities and handle the annoying questions that will come from the congregation while they explore a personal religion.

   Spirituality outside the church is likely to have a new basis in the scientific principle of “experiment and verification.” In the kind of personal or improvised religion I am advocating here, we experiment with a spiritual idea then verify it by seeing if it bears fruit in our lives, if it serves as a better explanation of our experience. Even St. Paul had an insight into this which he shared with the early church. “Do not treat prophecies with contempt. Test everything. Hold on to what is good.” (1 Thessalonians 5:20-21)

   When I left the church of my youth, I followed the Jesus principle I’d learned there and still found valuable, as if Jesus himself knew about the personal spiritual quest. “Ask and it will be given you. Knock and the door shall be opened (Matthew 7:7-8).” For me, the door opened onto a secret garden that had always been there. My experience confirmed Jesus was right.

   “To honor the God-knowing leaders of the past may indeed be worthwhile, but why, in so doing, should you sacrifice the supreme experience of human existence: finding God for yourselves and knowing him in your own souls?” (The UB, 155:6.7)

   What does finding God “for yourself” mean?

   It will be different for each one of us. “The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So is with every one that is born of the spirit.” (John 3:8) My path to God will be far different from yours however a unifying vision, an ideal of human brotherhood, is there at the end of our converging roads.

   My cousin, who went to college to become a Catholic priest in his youth, ran away from the Abbey and later started his own successful business. He liked to call his experimental phase “trying out spiritual tricycles.” I rode on one or two for quite a while before I climbed onto a two-wheeler. I took some spills learning how to maneuver it.

   I have blundered my way into dead ends, dark corners, and tight spots, choosing to believe in things I later found out were foolish, delusional, or simply misconceived. But let us not underestimate the value of the mistakes. To become a hero on your own journey, like the mythologist, Joseph Campbell, taught us to do, you must dare to impose meaning on the chaos, both in the life events that surround you, and upon the inner turmoil that confuses you from within.

   Why is this kind of life, the spiritual adventure, like the hero’s journey Campbell wrote about? Because you have to be willing to wrestle with the big questions, be ready to discover something different than what you hoped to find, and be ready for answers that weren’t expected. False assurances that you won’t be afraid are just that--false. We must treat it as inevitable that there will be times we experience fear, loneliness, sometimes despair. Jesus forewarned the apostles of “the perils of intellectual discovery… effort, struggle, conflict,” fraught with, “mental uncertainties” and foretold an “uncertain and troublous future of proclaiming the new truths.” (155:5.10-13)

   Maureen Murdock, a student of Joseph Campbell’s, wrote about the differences for “the heroine’s journey.”  Though facing similar dangers, the protective and nurturing female hero may be more motivated to preserve the safety of others and support their success rather than have her own glory. The heroic woman must stop acting and doing at times, so she can reclaim, heal, and discover her true self underneath the heroic accomplishments (The Heroine’s Journey, by Murdock). Men can also learn much from the heroine’s example.

   One of the obstacles to making the choice to grow, heal, or improve is the fear of failure. When it’s an adventure in failure -- faith reassures the seeker that he or she is safe. God is there to catch you. Some of the consolations of the spiritual adventure are opportunities to grow closer to God, to learn how to trust, to form a deeper friendship with God, to experience the love of a Creator/Father. It does take courage, but your relationship with God gives you the courage. We must remind ourselves to rely on that source.

   “Do not be troubled with doubts of failure or by perplexing confusion, do not falter and question your status and standing, for in every dark hour, at every crossroad in the forward struggle, the Spirit of Truth will always speak, saying, "This is the way." (34:7.8)

   With the high premium put on material "success" in our society, men often find these feelings of failure the most paralyzing things to face. Combined with the male tendency to not discuss personal problems, a man may not make the hard choices to heal or grow. He may fear he isn’t keeping up with the Joneses in the chase for material achievement. I can speak about this issue because I was raised by men such as my father and grandfather who stayed inside their heads, or built fortresses around themselves in other ways. In my own therapy, I once had a profound experience of shedding armor that protected my stomach. In my psychic landscape, it was my mid-portion, my stomach that was protected as if I was being forced to eat food I couldn’t digest.

   A suit of armor is useful much of the time; so is a fortress.  But either becomes an obstacle to growth and progress if it keeps the outside world from bringing in new information needed for the inner world to thrive and grow. Men especially need to learn when openness and vulnerability are strengths.

   I wasn’t a naturally courageous man. I had to learn to overcome fears. I got a good lesson once when I was going into a public speaking situation representing my employer. I was very nervous, afraid my speech wouldn’t go over, or I wouldn’t speak authentically and convincingly. When I drove to the location, I passed a beautiful redwood tree illuminated by morning sunlight. As it caught my eye, I found myself meditating on my soul being like that tree, standing tall in its natural environment with the sun shining on its wide spreading branches, unconcerned about proving whether its existence had validity or not. The tree knew its value. At the meeting, I was able to confidently present myself to the room. The speech was a success and I went on to make many more speeches representing my company in the community.