Spiritual Growth: Issues and Challenges in The Urantia Book

What is Spiritual Growth and Progress?
A study based upon The Urantia Book, the Bible, and the work of Abraham Maslow

by Dave Holt

Our world is witnessing the failure of coercive law and military force to achieve peace. To bring about a true and lasting peace and a real brotherhood of man, we need to foster spiritual growth and progress within individuals. I first designed this study for use in an Episcopal Church group. It combines psychologist Abraham Maslow's growth theory with concepts of Christian growth and development. Some references to the Urantia Book (cites read: UB old ed. page #, paper, section, par.) are included, but the number of relevant passages that can be included is much greater than here offered.

The class is based on Future Tasks, Part IV of Abraham H. Maslow's Toward a Psychology of Being.

2 Peter 3:18, "Grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord."

Opening Exercise

(a) We will assume that those who are taking this class seek growth and progress. We also begin with the assumption that we will not be talking about material goals, at the same time understanding that material success may be related to your success in your spiritual achievements.

What are your goals? What kind of growth would you like to achieve? Can you describe your goal in a word or a phrase? (examples: do you want to grow in knowledge? Become more compassionate, more loving? Grow in righteousness? Overcome a bad habit that holds you back spiritually? Extract yourself from a pattern of abusive behavior to yourself or others?)

(b) What methods do you have now, if you have any, for assisting yourself to grow?

The idea of being born in sin, "born under a bad sign," is partially true for some of us, but it breeds a misconception that we are not born ever and always connected with the love of God through his spirit within, his angels and his Son Jesus. Even when we are not mindful of it, or remembering it, we are always in connection with God and his forgiveness. This inspires us to strive for growth and progress in our faith in this connection, making it more real in our day to day reality, and making us full partners with God in establishing his love and justice in the world.

Acts 17:28 "For in him we live and move and have our being."

(UB: pgs. [OE/NE] 29/24, 35/29, 139/121, 1155/1013, 1282/1122)

(c) Are you willing to accept the trials of seeking growth? Growth comes with the uncovering and solutions of life problems, both spiritual and material, which can be painful. It is important to be willing to make these discoveries. (see tasks #9, #17)

The first stage in solving a problem that is in the way of our growth is to stop denying there is a problem. Coming out of denial can sometimes be done well on our own, but other times the denial is shared. Others around you can be "in denial" also, such as members of your own family.

"It is our mission to help men solve their spiritual problems and in this way to quicken their minds so that they may be the better prepared and inspired to go about solving their manifold material problems." (Jesus in UB, p. 1662, 148.5.4)

We will look at growth as problem solving under three facets that I think are necessary to achieving it:

• Having a holistic psychology (heart, feelings, care of the body). Some problems will require psychoanalysis or psychotherapeutic treatment, but these treatments should not displace the necessity for the other two facets of problem solving: developing philosophical backbone and discovering the gifts of spiritual insight, grace.
• Having an active spiritual life, (soul, care of the spirit), being receptive to the gifts of grace. Some important ingredients of a fruitful spiritual life are: prayer, meditation, communion, confession, repentance, forgiveness.
• Defining Terms
  Self-actualization is acceptance and expression of the inner core or self, and fullest development of one's talents and capacities.
  B-cognition: The unselfish (altruistic) cognition of the object in its own right, without reference to its need gratifying or need frustrating qualities, without principle reference to its value for the observer.
  D-cognition: Cognitions which are organized from the point of view of basic needs or deficiency needs and their gratification and frustration.
  

Growth is not merely the accumulation of experiences, adding one episode of our life onto another. Real growth means that we can derive meaning from our experiences. We interpret them; we come to a philosophical or spiritual description of what we have learned, even if we aren't aware of having used philosophy or religion.

The Tasks

After each task there will be readings from scripture, psychology, and other sources to illuminate the task.

1. "We have each of us an essential inner nature ... with an appreciable hereditary determinant."

Ezekiel 36: 26-27, "I will give you a new heart...I will put my spirit within you."

Luke 17:21, "The kingdom of God is within you."

Psalm 139: (13-16) "For you created my inmost being...I am fearfully and wonderfully made."

"Such ideas [as the divine spark] can only be based on the existence of unconscious psychic processes, for otherwise we simply could not understand how the same ideas crop up everywhere ... such images are not inventions of the intellect; rather they are natural revelations." (Carl Jung fr. Psychology and Religion)

Discussion Question: Is "within you" a collective spirit presence whose influence we all share? Or is it something individualized like a guardian angel? In Christianity and the UB, the concept is not that a spirit pervades all nature, but that spirit is something separate from nature and available to conscious beings with mind.

A philosophy of life may help us to understand the different endowments of a soul and spirit within, e.g., in terms of Being (Spirit) and Becoming (Soul). We also need to discern the qualities of our own nature, our gifts and circumstances, as separate from the overall undifferentiated human nature or collective unconscious. Seeing ourselves as merely a part of the ocean of being, a goal conceived by the great teacher Buddha, constitutes a kind of surrender of personality. As Westerners, for the purposes of this study, we will preserve the idea of individual survival (salvation) in religion, and as confirmed by the discoveries of our great psychologists (ref. task #4).

2. Origins/ Destiny. "natural inclinations, propensities or inner bent ... shaped in the first few years of life ... are potentialities, not actualizations."

3. "Authentic selfhood ... being able to hear these impulse-voices within oneself...They are hard to know."

Isaiah 30:19, "This is the way, walk ye in it."

Psalm 42, "Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disturbed, disquieted within me?"

Psalm 46, "Be still and know that I am God."

Psalm 51, "the hidden part" where "thou shalt make me to know wisdom."

John 16:13, "the Spirit of Truth, he will guide you into all truth."

4. "Each person's inner nature has some characteristics unique to the person."

1 Corinthians 13:12, "...I shall know as fully as I am known..."

5. "It is possible to study this inner nature scientifically...and by inner search and psychotherapy...to discover what it is like ... not invent or construct." (but see #8, we can be creative with what we innately have)

"People can learn to study their life force in the same way that a master gardener studies a rosebush." (Kitchen Table Wisdom, Dr. Rachel Remen)

Thomas Merton's assessment of the value of Buddhist meditation which, "seeks not to explain but to pay attention, to become aware." (Zen the Birds of Appetite, pg. 38)

UB p. 2094, 196.3.par 10-14, "The human mind does not create real values..."

6. "Much of the inner deeper nature is unconscious impulses... capacities, emotions, judgements, attitudes, definitions, perceptions etc." The goal: to uncover the repression and bring these to consciousness if needed for growth.

"To know God, you must know yourself...you must humble yourself to know yourself better." (Baptist sermon 1994) ... (also The Gospel of Thomas)

Mark 4:26-28 (Parable of the Sower) "A man scatters seed on the land; he goes to bed at night and gets up in the morning, and the seed sprouts and grows--how, he does not know ..."

(Recommended essay: Carl Jung, The Transcendent Function)

(b) The unconscious is not dangerous or bad as people think; "our depths can also be good or beautiful." The roots of love and creativeness lie deep in the inner self. The goal: to recover them, to enjoy and use them.

Galatians 5:22-23. Fruits of the spirit are "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control." (UB p. 2054) [193.2.2]

7. The "inner nature pressing always for open, uninhibited expression." The goal: to allow the urge to grow... "the will to health."

Philippians 2:13, "It is God who works in you, inspiring...the will and the deed."

Psalm 1:3, "And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season."

John 15:8, "Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit."

Luke 6:45, "A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth that which is good."

Matthew 5:6, "Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled."

8. "The inner self grows ... partly by discovery ... partly also a creation of the person himself." (a combination of something already there--God-given? And something we create on our own, using what is pre-existent in some way), e.g., an intertwining of the gifts of grace and intentional effort, a theme of Partnership with God or Spirit and Stewardship emerges.

9. "the failure to grow to one's potential ... valuelessness is a source of illness."

Matthew 25:14-30, Parable of the Talents, or Luke 19:11-27, The Pounds

Matthew 12:33, "you must either make the tree good or else ... corrupt."

"unused capacities can become a disease center, or atrophy and disappear, thus diminishing the person."

"When you come to know yourselves then you will become known and you will

realize that it is you who are the sons of the living father. But if you will not know yourselves, you will dwell in poverty and it is you who are that poverty." (The Gospel of Thomas II.3, Nag Hammadi)

UB p. 1437, 130.6: "The Young Man Who Was Afraid"

10.; "Truth revealing and uncovering techniques ... psychotherapy, science, education, art ... lessen malice, fear ... increases love, courage ... altruism." The latter are deeper, the good is more natural and intrinsically human.

2 Corinthians 3:17, "where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty."

11.; "Uncovering therapy reduces evil or destructive hostility ... [which] is reactive rather than instinctive and may be expected to lessen as the personality matures and as the society improves."

I believe that we must first affirm the reality of our own inner violence and tame it or know it before we attack or criticize the violence in others around us.

Job 42: 5-6: "I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear; but now my eye sees thee, wherefore I abhor myself, and repent..."

Romans 7:14-20, "what I do is not what I want to do but what I detest..."

12.; "No psychological health is possible unless the essential core of the person is fundamentally accepted, loved and respected by others and by his self."

Deuteronomy 33:27, "The eternal God is thy refuge and underneath are the everlasting arms."

John 16:27, "The Father himself loves you..."

"Isn't it important to be on your way, even if you don't always get there?" (told by a schoolteacher to her class after the Space Shuttle explosion, Jan. 1986)

13.; "Controls of the psyche coming from fear of the psyche are largely neurotic. Balance is needed between spontaneity and control."

Proverbs 25:28, "He who has no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down, and without walls."

Psalm 18:21-28, "I kept myself from my iniquity..."

Ephesians 4:29, "Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying that it may minister grace unto the hearers."

UB p. 1609, 143.2, "Lesson on Self Mastery" (some echoes of Romans 12, in the Bible)

14.; Maturity means to transcend deficiency (D) needs ... one is not only motivated by deficiencies, not merely coping, but also by "being, expressing ... developing B-cognition which is unselfish, altruistic; with increasing selfhood, B-cognition and B-motivation become easier."

Prayer of St. Francis, "Grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console, to be understood as to understand, to be loved as to love; for it is in giving that we receive..."

15.; "The general human need for belongingness includes the need for community, for interdependence, for fellowship [in order to] to develop strength in individuals..."

John 15:1-4, "No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine..."

John Donne: "No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less...Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind..." (Meditation 17).

16.; "Though in principle, self-actualization is easy, in practice it rarely happens (less than 1% of adults.)" The conviction that humanity's intrinsic nature is evil or dangerous prevents self-actualization or the achievement of a mature self.

Mark 10:15, "Whosever shall not receive the kingdom as a little child, he shall not enter therein."

Romans 8: 16, "The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God."

17.; Growth is painful as well as having its rewards and pleasures. It usually requires the sacrifice of something familiar and satisfying--easier. It requires "courage, will , choice, individual strength, as well as protection, permission and encouragement."

John 15:2, "He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit."

UB p. 1097, 100.4, "Problems of Growth"

UB p. 1984, 184.4, Jesus "Hour of Humiliation"

Growth addresses problems we carry that hold us back. There are three important phases here:

1. Coming out of denial, recognizing that there is a problem

2. Arriving at an understanding of the problem (insight therapy, spiritual insight)

3. Living in affirmation, "actualizing" ones solutions to spiritual life problems

There will be a temptation to evangelize ones discovery of the problem and to want everyone to come out of denial with you, if it is shared by the family or a social group. This missionary tendency can reflect badly on your insight, distorting it until it becomes hurtful to others, bad for those around you, hence valueless.

Give up ones "internalized parents as a sole ethical guide, becoming responsible rather that dependent, replacing fear with courage."

Jesus on family. Matthew 12: 46-50, "Who is my mother and who are my brethren?...whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven..."

18.; Growth is a dialectic between fostering forces and discouraging forces. "Homeostatic tendencies (stabilizing), Freudian defense mechanisms are defensive, pain-reducing postures ... quite necessary, and not always pathological." "It is good to have intrinsic guilt when [a person] deserves to." (Maslow, p. 195)

The Serenity Prayer of AA: "God grant us the serenity to accept the things we cannot change, Courage to change the things we can, And wisdom to know the difference."

Romans 12:3 "For I say...to every man...not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith."

UB, p. 1209, 110.6, "The Seven Psychic Circles"

19.; Growth is moral choice of good over bad, understanding that there is a naturalistic system of values when discovering what is good and what is bad. Choosing the good is difficult, evil is sometimes attractive.

The singer, Gladys Knight, talked about conquering her gambling problem: "That's the amazing hand of God. When he is the light in your healing, he fixes it completely. I left it in his hands and said, `I love you more than I love this.' Same thing with my cigarettes. I threw them out one day... My prayer to him was to take away the desire, and that's exactly what he did. I can walk through the casinos, no problem."

20.; "Neurosis is not part of the inner core but rather an evasion of it... it is a loss of capacity and diminishes the human being and real self."

Micah 6:8, "What does the Lord require of thee but to do justly, and to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God?"

21.; Allow the integration of the rational (scientific) and the "irrational" (mysterious, religious). Such opposites are seen to be unities, and "the dichotomous way of thinking recognized to be immature."

Jeremiah 23:28, "Let the prophet who has a dream tell his dream."

UB p. 2066, 194.3.20, "Prayer does so often dig out larger and deeper channels wherein the divine bestowals may flow."

(b) "The concept of a healthy unconscious and healthy irrationality sharpens awareness of the limitations of abstract verbal and analytic thinking." A full description of the world requires "pre-verbal, metaphorical, intuitive types of cognition." Expand our science to include both kinds of knowing.

Luke 12: 11-12, "Take ye no thought what ye shall say for the Spirit shall teach you in the same hour what ye ought to say."

UB p. 1095, 100.1, Religious Growth: "Growth may be intentional but...unvaryingly unconscious."

22.; Develop creativity for psychological health. "Value one's primary processes, accept impulses instead of always controlling them, enjoy peak experiences."

1 Cor. 2:10-11, "For the Spirit explores everything...Among men, who knows what a man is but the man's own spirit within him?"

Philippians 2:5 "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus..."

John 15:11, "These things have I spoken unto you...that your joy might be full."

UB, p. 1591, 141.5.par 1, "Mortals may be empowered to live individual lives of originality and freedom before God."

23.; Cultivate the integrative power of peak experiences "in which time disappears and hopes are fulfilled," to integrate "splits within the person, between persons, within the world, and between the person and the world."

Matthew 6:22, Luke 11:34 "The light of the body is the eye; if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body will be filled with light."

John 10:10, "I have come that they may have life and have it to the full."

UB p. 1739, 156.5.par 5, "the old and the inferior will be forgotten..."

24.; Enhance or create societies that gratify basic human needs and permit self-actualization, and develop education that fosters it also, to help the person live in both worlds, the inner and the outer.

Romans 12:2 "And be ye not conformed to this world; but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind..."

UB p. 1220, 111.4.par 3,5. "The Inner Life" "Only in the higher levels of the superconscious mind...can you find those higher concepts...which will contribute to the building of a better and more enduring civilization."

25.; Emphasize "the role of action in psychology--goal-directed, motivated and purposeful action." "The urge to service." De-emphasize analysis of the past; "from Freud we learned that the past exists now in the person; from growth and self -actualization theory we must learn that the future also now exists in the person in the form of ideals, goals, mission, destiny, etc."

UB p. 1211, 110.6.17, "action, completion of decisions...kinship with the cosmic actuality of the Supreme Being."

Ghandi taught, "act, by all means, but make your act, in the modern sense of the word, a sacrifice. That is...choose a selfless goal, use right means (non-violence), and never try to get the results for your own benefit." (Michael Nagler, Reading the Upanishads, in Easwaran's translation of the same)

Seminar by Dave Holt, (Distilled from 43 tasks in Maslow's original list)

Bible references use the King James, and the New English Bible (Oxford).

Undertaking a Program of Spiritual Growth

by Dr. Meredith J. Sprunger

Introduction

When we seriously contemplate the meaning of our existence the most basic question we asks ourselves is: "Who am I?"; "Where am I going?"; and: "Why?" We cannot be effective and achieve satisfaction in living unless we know who we are; this knowledge brings meaning and direction to our life. It has taken us many centuries to learn that we were created over a long evolutionary process. And it has taken some of us a little time to realize that this amazing creative action, rather than limiting God’s role in our origin, actually increases, enhances, and glorifies Divine involvement in creation. It articulates and expands our conceptual appreciation of God’s omnipotence, omniscience, and omnipresence in the universe.

In understanding ourselves, we first must recognize that we are continuous with the rest of creation. We are a part of the animal kingdom and differ from our animal cousins mostly in degree. Emergent evolution through its mutational potentials, however, does often produce unique qualities. In man, his large and complex brain give him the capacity for truth, beauty, and goodness perception, self-consciousness, and rationality potentials. He also possesses a number of anatomical characteristics, such as upright posture and the opposed thumb, which give him advantages for certain types of behavior.

Man’s superior mental abilities give him both worship and wisdom potentials. Because of these unique mental capacities, he is able to receive spirit guidance, and is endowed with various forms of spiritual ministry. Traditionally, this guidance is viewed in various ways. The Quakers speak of the fragment, or spark of the Father indwelling the human mind, as in the "Inner Light". The Apostle John refers to the Son’s influence as the Spirit fo Truth; and Christians generally talk of the "Spirit’s guidance", as the "Holy Spirit. The names and sources given to this spirit ministry make little difference, practically, since man’s experience of spirit ministry is unified. One.

We human beings, then, are animals with worship and wisdom potentials; and, at the same time, we are indwelt by the Spirit of God. From our biological-animal heritage, we are influenced by subconscious mental activities; through our spiritual endowment, we are lured by superconscious mind-qualities. The wide disparity of these two sources of unconscious psychic influence could cause serious problems, except for the amazing integrative capacity of personality, working through the rational and value perception capacities of the conscious mind. When we are born, we are almost completely dominated by our illogical animal heritage; but we are born, also, with the potentials for transcending this animal origin.

Where Are We Going?

It is necessary to have a knowledge, not only of our origin and nature, but also, of our destiny, if we are to understand and creatively relate to our problems and opportunities, as human beings. The Divine challenge to man is: "Be you perfect, even as I am perfect." Deep in man there is growth motivation toward spiritual reality – truth, beauty, and goodness. We are beings who are always I the process of "becoming". We start as animals, with a spirit endowment, who’s intended destiny it is, to recognize, and ever more realize, that we are mortal sons and daughters of God. Like the water lily…we have our roots I the much of animal origin; but as we grow and blossom, our faces transcend the murky depths of the human sea and are turned toward, and bathed in the sun of spiritual reality.

The physical mechanism of our birth is the scaffolding by which we evolve an immortal soul. The chemical-electrical activities of our unique brain enables our endowment of mind to perceive and choose universe realities which are supermaterial and eternal. Through the guidance of the indwelling Spirit of God and our decisions we fashion an immortal soul.

The central purpose, then, of our human existence is to participate in the shaping of a personality-character and nonmaterial soul which transcends our animal origins. It is the bringing into being of a New Person which is no longer dependent on the physiological mechanism utilized in its development. When the body dies, we are prepared t receive a new body, a higher energy mechanism, to continue our education and development I the universe.

How It All Gets Started

After viewing our origins and visualizing our destiny, let us look at how the task of character formation and soul growth begins. We have a long infancy and childhood because of the extensive foundation work required to provide an adequate base for acquiring superanimal potentials for living.

The first aspect of this substructure of human aptitude is contributed by maturation and development. It is governed by internal controls which cannot be altered very much by external stimulation. Very early, we learn there are no reliable short cuts in evolutionary development. This basic principle is inherent in all human life and society; and we are confronted by this pervasive truth many times. The evolutionary law of readiness underlies all of human development In the process of growth emergent capacities are co-ordinated with mechanisms of control but the control function is always a little behind capacity expression. This characteristic of maturation and development presents constant problems and affords the opportunity for much learning in the conscious co-ordination and integration of behavior.

The second foundation factor contributing to the potentials of human behavior is learning. The content and lessons of experience are the most immediate and important sources of knowledge and wisdom available to man. Much of our learning is unconscious. Through association conditioning and goal-directed conditioning much of our life is shaped without our being aware of it. The most significant learning, however, is a cognitive process. This type of learning is dominated by truth insight and the rational evaluation of alternatives in decision-making and action. The learning process enables us to acquire two basic mental resources: intellgence and creativity. Intelligence tends to be oriented toward facts, quantitative and analytical relationships, and logical thinking. Creativity is more related to insight, value, and holistic relationships, and integral thinking. A balance of both approaches to experience is required to acquire wisdom.

The slow and imperceptible work of maturation and learning give us the tools we need to build the character and value structures of our lives which we unconsciously recognize as the most important determinates of the future. These long developmental years teach us the evolutionary wisdom of mustar seed beginnings in human achievement. It calls our attention to the importance of the small, the insignificant, the unseen, and the unconscious aspects of an underlying divine purpose in our lives. While experiencing the priority of the physiological and safety needs in our material existence, we make the first, tentative discoveries that they are not as deeply satisfying as the love, achievement, and spiritual needs. At an early age, we become dimly aware that the lower animal drives and emotions are inferior to the being or spiritual values. We are arriving at the threshold of the time when we seriously think about taking conscious control of the direction of our lives

Developing Working Tools

After maturation has given us our full raw capacities for achievement, we are ready to begin the co-ordination and development of these potentials into reliable abilities and direct them in solid accomplishment. Often this training begins with physiologically oriented skills such as sports, art, music, and other performance skills. We begin to learn the mental and emotional disciplines required I goal-directed activity in areas of tangible feed-back in preparation for the time when we will be facing the more difficult, intangible aspects and challenges of character development.

The years of educational preparation become increasingly complex as we develop the working tools for personal achievement. Our most basic experiences involve assuming responsibility, developing interpersonal relationships, learning group co-operation and loyalty, and achieving the maturity required for marriage and family relationships. Later, as we grow, this concern, responsibility, and service is extended to the larger social community. We are acquiring the talents, the experience, and the urge for larger service.

Assuming Responsibility for Spiritual Growth

The increasing lure or threat of truth, beauty, and goodness in our lives leads us to an active confrontation with God. The challenge of spiritual dedication forces us to consciously or unconsciously make a decision or to actively or subliminally avoid making a decision. If we are fortunate, we consciously decide to give our allegiance to God and to direct our lives in harmony with his will. This whole-hearted desire for inner spiritual growth is the culmination of our material-emotional-mental development. We have consciously aligned ourselves with the ultimate verities of the universe. We strive to integrate our lives around key spiritual values. Our consciousness opens to new insights and larger truths. With an assertion of will we dedicate ourselves to search for spiritual reality wherever it may lead us. Almost immediately we experience conflict with outmoded traditional views and lower level animal drives.

As we attempt to exercise discipline and control over our lives, we discover that will power, in and of itself, is rather limited. Self-mastery cannot be achieved by self-discipline alone. But, in order to go forward, we must be willing to suffer and endure pain. This period of confusion, anguish, conflict, and struggle may be long or short, but even though it is a temporary state, we cannot avoid or escape it. And we need the courage and stamina to persevere and persist. We do not grow spiritually so much by what we do, but by what we attempt to achieve. Where we are is not as significant as the way we are facing. What we are is not as important as that with which we identify.

The Key to the Mastered Life

In time we learn that the key to spiritual growth is mind directionalization. We are transformed by our reality or spirit identifications. Soul evolvement proceeds through such mind affirmations and identities. This mind identification with the true, the beautiful, and the good (God) is a living faith which has the power to transmute potentials into actuals. When desire and belief are upstepped and converted into living faith, we actualize a new state of being. Thought is the master of drives, attitudes, and emotions. As long as there is dominance of lower level needs, opinions, and feelings, we have not achieved spiritual mind identification and control. Such doubt, or lower level thinking, is a part of our animal heritage and will strive to dominate our behavior until, through our persistent efforts and the power of the spirit, we achieve mind mastery.

Mind mastery, however, is a tenuous achievement. I traumatic experience and periods of stress it may break down and we fall back on our lower level resources and methods of adjustment. Repeated experience and testing are required to produce solid spiritually inspired character. Just as our physiological maturation required a long development period, so must our spiritual maturation be perfected through long and rigorous experience. We should never allow ourselves to become discouraged with our spiritual progress, and give up the struggle. Growth is always unconscious; and effort is ultimately rewarded by achievement.

Living the Mastered Life

As we achieve increasing degrees of mind control or living faith, new levels of being are actualized. These successive stages of growth are circles or stages of mind-personality attainment. At each step of mind-faith achievement we become more real and effective. Such soul growth reflects a harmonious and balanced functioning of the entire personality. This mind mastery actuates a faith power which dominates our animal drives, thoughts, and feelings, and transmutes them into higher needs, attitudes, and emotions. We emerge from the level of living by self-control to the freedom and joy of self-mastery. We have learned to love God, our fellowman, and ourselves so wisely and completely that we can do as we like because we desire the good; that which is in harmony with Universe Reality. We no longer have to live by the discipline of self-denial as the desire for evil no longer exists. Not only are we more effective persons, but we have achieved a state of being that utilizes the highest resources and mechanisms for the health of body and mind. Our entire personality is harmonized in integrated living with joy and happiness. We have found unity with the Father’s will and way. We have entered a new state of being; we have become a New Person.

Soul growth is a learning process stimulated by the spirit urge to strive for perfection (truth, beauty, and goodness), whereby succeeding circles of attainment or stages of being are achieved. At each advancing level of mind mastery, we become less dependent on the lower animal needs and emotions and more attuned to spiritual, being-values. At each stage of growth we experience greater freedom, more encompassing love, and deeper happiness.

All who are fortunate enough to make this spiritual pilgrimage, experience the culminating purpose of human existence. They have evolved a living, vibrant soul whereby new levels of being and reality are progressively experienced. But this growth and inner peace has come so gradually and unconsciously that its realization comes almost as an unbelievable surprise, a joyous discovery! It al began in earnest when the mind and will of our animal heritage made the decision to dedicate itself to God and spiritual values, in the place of the lower animal drives and pleasures. With this decision we were born again. Our embryonic soul was born into the light of a spirit illuminated mind.

From this point of spiritual infancy, step by step, circle by circle, our personality and character progresses by decision and action under the guidance of the indwelling Spirit of God, to achieve mind control and living faith which factualizes the evolving, immortal soul. This nonmaterial soul gradually masters and dominates the physical mechanism, the animal body, in which it was born, transmuting it into higher needs, attitudes, and emotions and finally prepares to discard the old physical body and its lower animal nature in anticipation of advancing to the mansion worlds on high and receiving a new body; a new energy mechanism, where more advanced spiritual and universe education will begin.

What a glorious life and destiny the Master has provided for us animal-origin children of time. We have begun an endless unfolding of exhilarating service, thrilling adventure, and boundless attainment. But we need never worry about the degree of our mind mastery; the level of our circle attainment; or the status of our soul growth, for the Father allows each of us to proceed at our own pace. Each step is taken at the time of internal readiness, and in the eternity ahead, we have ample time to achieve all of the purposes and goals of our spiritual destiny. At every crossroad of decision, and in each crisis of living, the Master’s Spirit of Truth will always speak saying, "This is the way."

Quest for Spiritual Culture:
An Exploration of The Urantia Book Paradigm of Spirituality

David Kantor, IC99 Plenary Address
University of British Columbia, Vancouver, B.C., Canada

When we gather together like this, it seems appropriate that we consider the state of our planet and ask what we, as bearers of an epochal revelation, are doing about it. The Urantia Book describes a paradigm of spirituality which is fundamental to the social development of normal worlds. We're going to explore that paradigm this morning. We'll look at how the Lucifer rebellion has retarded its implementation on our world; and we'll look at how the seraphic planetary government is mobilized in support of it. The result should be a very practical understanding of how we each can support this paradigm, and thus participate cooperatively in the transformative tasks of the fifth epoch.

Religionists often view entanglement in the institutional affairs of government, economics, industry and civil culture as detracting from more important personal spiritual pursuits.

Medieval Christianity taught that the authority of the state and all the institutions of this world were an ordained punishment for the sin of Adam. Radical Calvinism took the position that true believers had been mandated by God to control sin by means of civil institutions. Conservative Islam seeks to place social and governing institutions under the control of the clergy.

And while good men and women of faith struggle valiantly throughout the world, trying to serve humanity as best they can, the fact remains that the world is desperately short of compelling visions by which a spiritual transformation of its institutions might even be contemplated.

We live today in a world where we are struggling to keep the basic human institutions of marriage and family intact. It is not surprising then, that we would find great confusion and difficulty in attempting to achieve meaningful personality integration at higher levels of social complexity.

It is helpful to think of "institutions" as co-ordinating mechanisms. In a world of active, creative personalities there need to be means for coordinating their activities so they may be mutually sustaining where possible and, hopefully, not mutually destructive. In today's world, the ways in which we affect each other's activities are changing rapidly. When the rate of change exceeds the rate at which coordinating institutions can adapt and remain effective, a threshold is crossed where social breakdown begins to appear.

As the world continues to flirt with this threshold, the magnitude of the potential difficulties seems overwhelming. Global ecological problems whose solutions will require an unprecedented level of international cooperation loom on the horizon. Fledgling institutions of world government, developed to prevent catastrophic wars between superpowers are finding themselves unable to prevent regional civil wars rooted in ethnic conflict. And throughout the developed world, the breakdown of that most basic and fundamental of all human institutions, the family, continues to accelerate.

There has been great success in building military, economic, and industrial systems, but a failure to advance systems which are inherently social and moral. We have utterly failed to match the astonishing accomplishments of our heads and hands with a comparable development of our hearts.

In Paper 92 we are told that, "Modern man is confronted with the task of making more readjustments of human values in one generation than have been made in two thousand years."

In Paper 99 the revelators describe our time as "psychologically unsettled", characterized by "the economic upheavals, moral crosscurrents, and sociologic rip tides of the cyclonic transitions of a scientific era."

The popular mentality is again filled with apocalyptic fears and expectations.

Historian Oswald Spengler, in his book "The Decline of the West" comments on our tendency to equate cultural crisis with apocalypse; to become so overwhelmed by the magnitude of change taking place that we lose the ability to rationally process it and end up projecting metaphysical meanings onto events we observe in the world around us. Spengler goes on to point out that "crisis" is the normal state of Western Civilization.

You may recall the story about Mahatma Ghandi's return to India after his first visit to England. He was asked by a reporter what he thought of Western civilization and he replied that -- he thought it would be a good idea.

Over the next half century, human society will undergo yet more profound changes. It will experience a radical demographic transformation, be challenged by unforseen effects of ecological neglect, experience fundamental shifts in the global balance of economic and political power, and cope with nearly continuous technological change. These transformations are inevitable -- the forces which compel them are already in place -- but what the outcome will be, no one knows.

It is such a complex system of inter-related factors that no one can reasonably predict its likely state at any point in the future. It is impossible to know whether the twenty-first century will usher in an era of human advancement and global integration, or a period of conflict, environmental degradation and human tragedy on a scale that overshadows anything which has previously occurred -- The planet is literally "quivering on the brink."

Broad social trends, such as rising levels of education, attempts to stabilize an emerging international economy, rapid increases in literacy world-wide, and the growing economic and social liberation of women, are examples of powerful forces with unknown potentials for transformative change. The information revolution with its ability to profoundly affect public opinion, is spreading globally far more quickly than did the industrial revolution. And it is clear that the majority of the social, economic and political effects of this revolution have yet to appear.

The underlying forces which determine all these trends however, are human processes driven by human decisions being made on a daily basis. We may not be able to predict the future, but we certainly are shaping it through the choices we make on a moment by moment basis.

The general consensus of opinion held by individuals who attempt to study these trends and their implications, is that the long-term social and ecological health of our planet will be determined by decisions made in the next 25 years or so -- during the lifetime of virtually every person in this room; each of us will participate in determining the outcome.

Czech President Vaclav Havel has commented that "Nothing short of a new spiritual vision of global dimensions will save human civilization."

Exploring the Urantian Paradigm of Spirituality

Most of us would be in agreement that The Urantia Book provides such a vision. But how do we go about applying the ideas in this book to the problems of our world? How do we get from ink and paper to an advancing civilization ruled by spiritual wisdom? While the revelators have generously provided us with a comprehensive overview of the cosmic context within which the present planetary struggle is taking place, the challenge of effectively applying this information lies before us today.

The Urantia Book describes religion as "the mighty lever which lifts civilization from chaos."

But we are also told that institutional religion "cannot afford inspiration and provide leadership in this impending world-wide social reconstruction." We are told that "Only the real religion of personal spiritual experience can function helpfully and creatively in the present crisis of civilization."

And it is this "real religion of personal spiritual experience" along with The Urantia Book's portrayal of the ideals of cosmic citizenship, which holds such great hope for transforming human institutions. With these concepts, The Urantia Book profiles a paradigm of spirituality unlike that of any existing religion or philosophy in the world today. It links personal spiritual development to meaningful personality integration resulting in the brotherhood of man.

The grand panorama of a personal cosmos is first laid out in the Foreword of The Urantia Book. The revelators make it clear to us that the future of the cosmos involves a discovery and exploration of the new realities which actualize when personalities interact with each other in creative ways.

As the revelation unfolds we are told something about the cosmic purpose of all this personality experience -- preparation for creative participation in the communities of personalities which comprise the mortal corps of the finality, communities of personalities who have experientially, over the long journey to Paradise, discovered, explored, and developed their potentials for working together creatively for the Father's purposes.

We are told about our ascent through the "psychic circles" which involves cosmic socialization and the realization of universe citizenship.

Social integration and spiritual growth are inseperable in The Urantia Book's paradigm of spirituality. In this paradigm, the locus of spirituality is in the relationships between personalities.

This revelation describes relationships between persons, from the Paradise Trinity down to those which we sustain with our family members, as the living realities within which the continuous discovery and exploration of an infinite cosmos takes place.

In Paper 103 a Melchizedek admonishes us to "Remember that in the religion of all ages the experience which is paramount is the feeling regarding moral values and social meanings, not the thinking regarding theologic dogmas or philosophic theories."

Just as information about the material world makes impressions on the conscious mind through the eyes and the ears during the process of looking and listening, so do spiritual values make their impressions on the superconscious mind during the process of reflective personality interaction.

In a loving, caring, "authentic" exchange with another personality the superconscious functions of mind are mobilized in a state of dynamic receptivity, open to the discovery of divine values which the immediate moment holds as potentials.

Imagine for a moment that you are engaged with another person in an effort to solve a problem. You're sincerely seeking the best possible outcome. As you engage in this discussion, you try to do your best thinking; you simultaneously attempt to be conscious of the moral and ethical values in the situation.

You try to phrase your communication in a caring and loving manner. The interaction is free from any effort to psychologically or emotionally manipulate the other. As you communicate you are trying to remain "conscious of consciousness" -- you've mobilized your best resources and while applying them you are still actively evaluating -- seeking to discern even higher values.

You may even attain a level of involvement where you actively seek to bring an understanding of the Father's will into the interaction -- you're sharing the inner life with God as you participate in this relationship.

This experience in which the personality engages in a choice-making dance with the meanings and values of the cosmos, is the living process by which we open ourselves up to spiritual guidance.

The Midwayers comment that, "Every time man makes a reflective moral choice he immediately experiences a new divine invasion of his soul."

This living process of relationship is where the fruits of the spirit appear. It is where we apply the higher levels of the golden rule. It is where we implement Jesus' great commandment. It is where Jesus' brotherhood of the kingdom is experientially discovered.

This is the paradigm of spirituality which the apostles failed to grasp!

And I ask today, "Do we get it?" Have we really gained any more understanding than the Apostles had regarding the profound implications of Jesus' teachings about the kingdom of heaven?

In Paper 170 the Midwayers comment that "...to his apostles Jesus always taught the kingdom as embracing man's personal experience in relation to his fellows on earth and to the Father in heaven." "The kingdom of heaven," said Jesus, "is a spiritual relationship between God and man."

Given this paradigm of spirituality, and the Apostle's difficulty in grasping it, appreciate the remembrance supper.

This sacrament which Jesus initiated has the potential for invoking a social context in which it is possible to experientially discover that which he was unsuccessful in communicating to his followers.

The remembrance supper is an intimate social activity. Through the employment of this sacrament we are encouraged to attempt to become conscious of our personal relationship with the Father as well as our relationships with our fellows, and to merge these into an experiential wholeness catalyzed by a shared appreciation of the Master's life.

Said the Master on the occassion of that first remembrance, "Every soul who attains the realization of this united nature of God and man shall live forever. And this bread of life which I give to all who will receive is my own living and combined nature. The Father in the Son and the Son one with the Father--that is my life-giving revelation to the world and my saving gift to all nations."

In the context of the remembrance supper our souls can experientially feel the spiritual state of personality integration which The Urantia Book indicates needs to be actualized as a cultural reality on a broad scale.

A Melchizedek refers to the remembrance supper as "... the practice of the presence of God which eventuates in the emergence of the brotherhood of man."

The Midwayers comment that by establishing this sacrament, "the Master sought to set man's reborn soul free upon the joyous wings of a new and living spiritual liberty."

This "religion of personal spiritual experience," the Urantian paradigm of spirituality, is creative participation in a progressive culture of integrated mortal-divine personality association. It contains an ideal of daily living in which every single encounter with another person is an opportunity to participate directly in the spiritual transformation of the world.

Recovering from the Lucifer Rebellion

Once we begin to appreciate the critical importance of the relationship between mortal personality and the personality of the universal Father, we can more fully appreciate how the Lucifer rebellion has affected human institutions.

Item number one in the Lucifer manifesto was a denial of the reality of the universal Father. And even today, tens of thousands of years later, there is still confusion in the world regarding whether or not this essential relationship with the Father is real, or merely a conceptual illusion.

The long-term repercussions of failing to establish a spiritual basis for social evolution may be seen when we compare the state of our institutions with those described for a normal world in a post-Adamic epoch. Failure to establish a relationship with the Father significantly reduces an individual's chances of perceiving and implementing values which transcend self-interests. And it is from such an impoverished set of values that many of our world's institutions derive their character.

Recovery from the Lucifer rebellion requires elevation of the values by which the people of our world conduct their affairs. On the level of planetary institutions and culture, the realization of full recovery is limited only by individual free-will decision making processes which choose and actualize values within the cultural milieu on a moment-by-moment basis. It's the ultimate democracy and we cast a vote each time we make a choice of values which affect a human interaction.

The trial of Timothy McVey for the Oklahoma City bombing may have settled his legal status, but the task of repairing the damage he did - emotionally, psychologically, socially, spiritually - will continue to challenge the affected individuals and community for many years to come. And so it is likely to be with the recovery from the Lucifer rebellion.

We can get an idea of how the universe authorities are dealing with this situation by observing the focus of the last three epochal revelations. Each of them has represented an attempt to re-establish a spiritual foundation on the planet from which cosmic citizenship might develop.

Machiventa Melchizedek dealt with the very basic dynamics of the relationship with God - its faith-grasp by the mortal mind.

Jesus continued the process with a revelation of the nature of the Father's personality and his love for each individual. Each of these revelations aimed at restoring the integrity of this underlying relationship between the individual and God. Jesus, with his teachings about the kingdom, also laid the groundwork for a fuller appreciation of the interpersonal nature of reality.

The Urantia Book furthers this process with its revelation that this emerging network of spiritualizing personality relationships is a vital part of the living cosmos.

The primary task of the fifth epoch seems clearly laid out before us -- fostering the development in our world of a cosmic foundation of spiritualized personality relationships. This is the essential infrastructure which must be in place before a meaningful spiritual culture can evolve.

Upon such a foundation, men and women will more easily discover those higher values of universe socialization and cosmic citizenship by which our institutions might truly be transformed.;

Mortal Cooperation with Seraphic Guidance

There are indications in the book that the number of seraphim devoted to this task is enormous. I suspect that almost everyone in this room, at one time or another, has felt a deep desire to assist our unseen friends in some small way in their task of planetary enlightenment, to support the plans they no doubt have implemented relative to this revelation.

In attempting to get a useful idea of what cooperation with the revelators and their seraphic associates involves, we can study the way in which seraphic involvement in human affairs is described in The Urantia Book. With that knowledge it should be relatively easy for us to recognize what we need to do to support and reinforce their efforts. If we could accomplish this and foster the growth of a readership in which each individual is actively seeking cooperative engagement with the program being implemented by the planetary government, we might be able to do a great deal in terms of helping "apply spiritual pressure from above" to the problems of our day.

So how do the seraphim work?

They are "mind stimulators," continually seeking to promote circle-making decisions in the mortal mind. They "operate from the outside inward, working through the social, ethical and moral environment of human beings." This network of spiritualizing interpersonal relationships is real. It forms a morontia environment in which the seraphim are able to minister to participating minds and souls.

In Paper 196 we're reminded that, "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."

It is the Seraphim who make spiritual values "visible" to the superconscious, as it functions in the social, ethical and moral environment of interpersonal communion.

In The Urantia Book we are encouraged to pray for values; we are told such praying indicates that religion "has evolved to that level where the human mind recognizes the reality of beneficent powers or beings who are able to enhance social values and to augment moral ideals..."

From the ministry of the Mighty Primary Supernaphim who facilitate the relationships between the diverse residents of Paradise, to the Primary Seconaphim who facilitate relationships between the Ancients of Days, the Trinity and the Creator Sons, on down to the Home Seraphim who function within the relationships between your family members, the ministry of the Infinite Spirit is continuously fostering the value-potentials inherent in personality associations.

These relationships -- our first living connections with the infinite cosmos -- are fragile, tenuous affairs which flicker back and forth from reality to unreality in accordance with the quality of values being implemented in any given interaction. This is the arena in which the seraphim labor to reinforce the faintest flickers of faith, to strengthen newly emerging souls and immediately begin integrating them with the culture of the spiritual cosmos.

At a conference like this we can actually feel this process taking place -- we feel spiritually invigorated and challenged to be our best in our friendships. New meanings and values appear in our relationships with each other on a daily, if not hourly, basis.

Consider for a moment some of the angelic orders which serve in this personal universe:

• The Interpreters of Cosmic Citizenship
• The Union of Souls
• The Spirits of Brotherhood
• The Ethical Sensitizers
• The Social Architects
• The Heart of Counsel
• The Satisfaction of Service
• The Quickeners of Morality

-- the list goes on and on. Just contemplating these names gives us a glimpse into the personal nature of the spiritual cosmos. This entire ministry of the angelic orders is focused on the spiritual enhancement of relationships between personalities.

The Master Seraphim of Planetary Supervision foster the development of human institutions by making higher values available to the mortals who participate in the work of those institutions. These seraphim minister within social groups -- the angels of the churches, the angels of the races, the angels of progress, the home seraphim. The angels of enlightenment are occupied, not only with the mental and moral training of individuals, but of small groups -- families, groups, schools, communities -- virtually any association of mortals persisting over some period of time seems to provide a context for seraphic ministry.

How do we support their work? Six quick action-points:

• 1. First and foremost is our personal relationship with the Father. The secret of Jesus' 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. God needs to become an integral part of all our processes.
• 2. We support seraphic efforts by cultivating a sensitivity to the divine values they attempt to bring to our attention.
• 3. We support their work by courageously choosing those values to shape our relationships with others -- "by decisions, by more decisions, and by more decisions."
• 4. We support seraphic services when we reinforce the higher value-choices we recognize being made by our fellows -- stabilizing and affirming existing values where appropriate; recognizing and reinforcing religious living in others.
• 5. We lay the groundwork for enhanced seraphic action when we provide spiritually useful information. Get The Urantia Book spread around the planet. Remember the parable of the sower. Jesus said that this parable was a hint as to what messengers of the kingdom might expect in their ministry from generation to generation as time passed. Don't assume that we'll always have the remarkable global transportation and communication infrastructure which we enjoy today. Maximize all available opportunities and resources for the spread of the revelation. Don't wait for things to happen -- make them happen.
• 6. Be involved; participate creatively in human associations. Rededicate yourself to service in your marriage and your family, your work community and your study group. The cultural icon of the monastic saint living in contemplative bliss aloof from the cares of less enlightened folk is no longer useful. Mother Theresa, Dag Hammersjold, Vaclav Havel, countless men and women with high ideals, working in the inner city, in classrooms, in churches, struggling to revitalize our institutions -- these are the new icons of the applied spirituality of the fifth epoch. The benign virus of love is not going to invade the sentimental emotion stream of humanity unless we're out there helping to make the personality connections necessary for its transmission.

By dedicating ourselves to such a program, by choosing the highest values we can recognize in any given situation, we can serve as conduits through which the higher values of the spiritual world may be passed to the mortal world and incorporated into planetary institutions.

"True religion," a Melchizedek tells us, "is the devotion of the self to the service of meaningful and supreme values."

This vision is ennobling. Your family, the local school board on which you serve, your kid's soccer team, the youth group at your church, the working group at your office -- When you realize that these are all arenas in which the seraphim are laboring to achieve a spiritual transformation, the most commonplace tasks of daily life take on cosmic significance and become worthy of our best efforts. This is how the religion of personal spiritual experience can become "the mighty lever which lifts civilization from chaos."

Conclusion

In closing, I would like to ask you to take a deep breath, and take a moment to look around you. Impress upon your mind the image of this beautiful room and the hundreds of readers sitting around you. Recall the moments of worship, insight and love which you have experienced here -- impress these realities into your memory.

And as you serve in the years to come, when you run into difficulty or feel overwhelmed by circumstances, reflect back on this moment, a time in which you sat in assembly with a gathering of universe conscious citizens of Urantia. In your times of challenge, rest assured that many of these individuals are valiantly serving the Father's purposes in their own corners of the world, in their own sets of challenging circumstances.

Look ahead as well, to a reunion on the mansion worlds, where we can reminisce about the Urantia adventure, deepen our friendships, and perhaps be launched on the universe career in the company of cherished friends from the mortal adventure.

And as you leave here today, and see your fellows streaming out of the doors of this auditorium, appreciate the fact that they are on their way to Africa, Asia, the Pacific; to Europe, to North and South America, carrying a heightened understanding of the kingdom of heaven to be planted in the families and human associations of our world.

May God richly bless each and every one of you with unlimited opportunities to participate in the spiritual transformation of our world.

Experiments in Personal Religion
Excerpts from a study course by Henry Nelson Wieman

This study consists of materials contributed by Henry Nelson Wieman to a book titled, "Experiments in Personal Religion" which was published in 1928 by the American Institute of Sacred Literature in Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A. An editorial note at the beginning of the original text comments that the fourfold purpose of this course is "to help people to think more clearly concerning the nature and function of religion, to quicken their powers of observation in their customary contacts with the religious life of others, to cultivate skill in the evaluation of the results of observation, and to foster a deeper religious life in themselves and others.";

In preparing the following excerpts for web publication it is hoped that the purpose of the original publication will bear additional fruit in a new generation of truth seekers.

Study I: Religious Experience through the Outer World of Nature

The Method of Religious Experience

In this study we want to do two things. We want to learn how to prepare for religious experience and profit by it, and we want to pool our experiences so that we can learn from one another. The art of how to prepare for religious experience and profit by it is one of the great practical arts of human living. Like every other art it must be developed. The only way to develop any art is for people to tell one another what they have learned through their experiences and efforts. Cannot we all, who have a share in this course, co operate in the enterprise of improving the art of entering into and profiting by the religious experience? Wonderful possibilities for increasing joy and mastery in living are attainable through proper use of religious experience. Indeed, its proper use is the master art in life, for through it all the other arts of living can be improved.

We crudely talk about air and water and food and social group as the factors upon which we must depend for our welfare and improvement. But these are mere fragments in that vast, mysterious, mighty Working which operates in us and upon us and around us throughout all nature. In religious experience there is some conscious awareness of this mighty and blessed Working. When we come into the presence of some great manifestation of nature we may suddenly become aware of this all-sustaining Working. We may feel ourselves borne up by it, or see it gazing up at us in the face of a flower, or towering over us in the mountains, or feel it encompassing us with the greenery of the wood.
But this sense of the mighty Working does not always come to us in the presence of nature. There may be some to whom it never comes. Others it may visit very rarely.
Here we are face to face with a subtle and loathsome temptation. It is the temptation to make ourselves think that we have this exalted experience when we do not have it. Our minds run something like this: It is the proper thing to have this experience in the presence of nature. Poets and prophets and many great souls have had it. I guess I can too. Then we go through all the motions of having the experience and really make ourselves think that we have it.
Can, then, one cultivate this experience? No, not directly. But one can prepare himself for it. One may put himself in the way of having it. It is like love. One cannot make himself love his brother. But the great contagion is likely to infect him if he is receptive to it and puts himself in situations where it is likely to befall him. So religious experience must come of itself, often quite unexpectedly; but one can conduct his life in such a way that it is likely to befall him. That is part of what we mean by the art of preparing for religious experience.
But when the experience comes it may have no value save to provide the luxury of a pleasant or stirring emotion. To have conscious awareness of this all-sustaining Working does not bring one any closer to it, for one is always as close to it as he can get. There are some natures who can enter frequently and deeply into genuine and vivid awareness of God and yet live weak, futile, slovenly lives. To have conscious experience of God does not necessarily help a man at all. To conduct ourselves in such a way that religious experience not only may befall us but that it may have beneficial results for us is the whole of what we mean by the art of preparing for religious experience and profiting by it.
Great living depends on making proper adaptation to that Working upon which all life is dependent. If conscious experience of that Working helps one to make better adaptation to it, his life will be better. But merely to have a vivid and exalted consciousness of that Working will not help him if the experience does not enable him to make better adaptation. On the other hand, a man who does adapt himself to the working of God, even though he may have no conscious experience of God, will live a great life. Through the teaching of others, and through results of careful experimentation, a man can learn how to adapt to many things of which he has never had any conscious experience. This applies to the working of God as well as to other matters. But religious experience may be of great help to a man in making better adaptation to that Working upon which human life is dependent for its greatest goods. In fact, this is the only enduring and practical value religious experience can have. If it does not do this its value is purely sentimental. It is quite easy to be unduly sentimental and rapturous about religious experience for its own sake.
There are, then, two very urgent and very practical questions pertaining to religious experience: (i) how to put one's self in the way of having the experience; (2) how to use the experience in such a way as to attain better adaptation to the working of God as he operates throughout space and time. Let us reduce these two questions to one: how to prepare for religious experience in such a way that it will bring us into better adjustment to God.
We answer this question under four points.
1. One must face the chief difficulties and perplexities of his life and wrestle with them. He must take life seriously. He must draw on his every resource of physical endurance and mental agility and nervous energy and dogged determination to master circumstance and make human life more satisfactory for himself and others. This strain and burden-bearing, this taking of life seriously, is necessary preparation for profitable religious experience. The frivolous and superficial generally do not have great religious experiences. Some of them, however, do; but when they do, their experience is only the luxury of a sweet and exalted emotion such as we described above.
2. But earnest wrestling with the serious problems of life is only preparation for profitable religious experience. Such wrestling does not ordinarily in itself yield the experience. Rather the experience is likely to come when one stops the fight for a breathing spell and a short period of relaxation. One goes off, let us say, where he can be alone with nature, in a scene quite different from that in which he has been trying to solve his difficult problems.
This, then, is the second requirement for entering into a profitable religious experience. One must leave the struggle of life, occasionally, for a little spiritual relaxation. In this month's study we suggest turning to nature. Further suggestions for the use of this time of relaxation will be made in later lessons. In this period of relaxation, if rightly conducted, the religious experience is most likely to come.
3. The experience that comes in the interval of relaxation should provide some insight toward the solution of the problems which have been engaging one's attention in the struggle of living. Here we have the chief function of religious experience. It is an experience through which discoveries are made concerning how to live more effectively and more abundantly; how to achieve mastery over difficulties and mount to higher levels; in a word, how to live in better adaptation to the working of God. Religious experience should be the moment of profound insight and new adjustment to the total environment. Great conversions occur in such experiences. All the famous conversions, from Paul's down, have occurred through such experiences. A conversion is simply the discovery and adoption of some new way of living in better adaptation to the Working which is God. But conversion is not the only form of moral and spiritual discovery and initiation that may occur through religious experience. After "conversion" one may make further discoveries. Often the new insight is of such a nature that you cannot word it. You simply have found out how to live with peace and power you never had before.
4. The fourth requirement is that this new way of living which has come to one in the religious experience must be carefully, observantly, and patiently tested by living it. A new way of living is not necessarily successful at the very start. Generally it is not. And often its success is not apparent to any save those of deepest insight. But one must be teachable in the conduct of his new way of life. He must modify and adapt and reshape it to fit the conditions with which he has to deal. No one is worse than the hair-brained fanatic who will not learn from the results of trial and error, but insists that his way is unalterably right because he got it from God.
It is even possible that one's new way of life, discovered through religious experience, may be a mistake. The human mind is always fallible, and it does not cease to be human even when it undergoes religious experience. He who must have an iron-clad guaranty that he will make no mistakes can have no share in great living whether through religious experience or otherwise. But the great insights, the great transformation of personality and human history, have been initiated in such experiences.
The whole value of religious experience, we repeat, aside from the luxury of emotion, is that through it we discover how better to adapt our human lives to the Working upon which we are dependent for the greatest good. It should enable us to make better adjustment to God.
Two final points must be clear. The experience need not be highly emotional. The important thing is the insight that is attained concerning how better to live with God. There may or may not be a thrill and sense of exaltation. Secondly, the insight may not be something that will revolutionize human history. Generally it is not. It may be a discovery of how better to deal with your child; or how ro win the good will of your neighbor; or how to make better use of your time; or how to get over some nagging perplexity which is important to you personally, although it may never be known to any other.
And we must remember that anything which truly and in the long run benefits human life is, ultimately, a better adaptation to the vast and mighty Working which lifts us to the highest when we find how to yield ourselves to its lifting power.
Keeping in mind, therefore, the nature of religious experience, the possibility of placing one's self in the way of it and the resultant effect upon the art of practical living, can we, after our observations of the experience of historical characters, turn our eyes upon our own immediate environment, and learn to recognize the results of religious experience in others, and to recall some data regarding our own religious experience.
It will be a good plan to keep a notebook with this course, jotting down observations, memories and new experiences which seem to you to have some bearing upon the question, this month especially observing the extent to which contact with the world of external nature may foster and suggest a religious experience, always distinguishing those experiences which will stand the test of the points raised in this portion of our study. Students of the course are invited in addition to answering the review questions to report sach observations and experiences. On the following page will be found an outline of work for those who desire to have criticism by correspondence.

Study II: Religious Experience through Communion, Meditation, and Worship
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How to Get the Benefit of Private Worship

The method of worship best adapted to one person is not always best for another. And the same person in different moods and circumstances will modify his method of worship to suit his need. Hence the suggestions we are about to make must not be taken as rigid rules. We can help one another by making these suggestions. But each must work out his own method. No study of rules and instructions ever enabled a man to swim the first time he jumped into deep water. He had to learn by practice. The same is true of worshipful meditation and communion.

Let us mention first three general conditions or preconditions which are helpful to worship.

The first of these we mentioned earlier. One must be living earnestly. One must not shirk the heavy responsibilities. One cannot swim in shallow water. One must venture out to depths where wading is difficult. If one is to worship successfully he must venture out into the depths. That does not mean that one must do something conspicuous before the world, or seek trouble. It merely means that one shall assume the tremendous responsibilities that await everyone who takes life seriously. It means, for example, if one is a parent, that he shall not treat his child merely as a plaything, but shall assume the enormous responsibility of that child's highest development. No matter how apparently circumscribed one's life may be, the great responsibilities are there for him to bear if he will shoulder them.

The first precondition of effectual worship is, then, that you take life seriously.

The second is sincerity. That means you will not take into your worship any beliefs concerning which you have any doubts. For example, suppose you doubt there is a God. Then do not try to believe there is a God. You can worship better without that belief if you are not absolutely sure of it. Discard any belief and every belief which you cannot hold with complete sincerity. Whenever any belief puts you under a sense of constraint, or gives you a feeling of unreality in your worship, pitch it out. Absolute sincerity, complete honesty with yourself, is indispensable to helpful worship.

A third precondition to worship is seclusion. Even a worshiping group should seclude itself. That is what a church building is for. But in private worship the individual should be alone. Of course one may achieve this required solitude of mind in physical association with others.

But it is best to go to some place where you can be completely alone, preferably at night just before retiring or soon after arising in the morning, or both. The ideal place would be a mountain top at night. That was where Jesus went for his private worship. But for most of us most of the time that is impossible. Some room will serve, especially if you can so shut yourself in that you need not fear others will hear you even when you speak aloud.

This need for solitude for worship arises out of the nature of private communion and meditation. To worship in this fashion means to cease the conduct of ordinary affairs in order to give your whole attention to that feature of your total environment which is supremely important for all human living. It means to turn from the lesser things in order to give the whole attention to God. If one does not believe in God one can call him by another name. I have a little son whom others call Robert, but whom I call Bobby. If you prefer to call God by another name, no harm is done. If the word God brings up doubts, then think of that behavior of the universe, whatever it may be, whether known or unknown, which is most helpful to human kind when we make right adjustment of our own activities to it. God is the supremely important object for all human living, whether or not you call him by that name. To worship is to give your whole attention to this supreme thing. To do this it is necessary to isolate yourself in order not to be distracted by lesser things.

What we have mentioned thus far-earnestness, sincerity, isolation -are the preconditions of worship. Let us now enter into the act of worship itself.

1. The first step in the act of worship is to relax and become aware of the all-encompassing presence. It is difficult to describe just what we mean, as difficult as to describe the acts by which you swim or walk or breathe. Another way of saying it is that we empty the mind and cease to think about anything in particular, yet are not in a state of stupor. It is a state of awareness. Awareness of what? Of that total encompassing presence which sustains you and shapes you and in adaptation to which all your life is lived in so far as it is lived well, and in so far as the greatest goods of life are attained by you. This presence is God; but if you have doubts about God, call it a certain behavior of the universe, or ozone, or electricity, or ether, or innumerable atoms, or any other misconception of God you may prefer. (We are trying to explain how one can worship and at the same time cast out every belief concerning which he has doubts.) Better let belief in God force itself into your mind against your will than try to hold it when it seems to be slipping away. Whatever you do, be honest.

This first step in the act of worship, then, is relaxed and empty-minded awareness of the all-encompassing presence.

2. The second step is to think of how this total process of atoms or electricity or ether (of course it is God) is working upon you and in you and through you to shape the cells of your body and the impulses of your mind into the likeness of Jesus Christ when you make right adjustment to it. If this thought about Jesus gives rise to any doubts, then think of that noblest kind of personality, that highest degree of health, that clearness of mind and greatness of purpose which may be yours when you make right adjustment to this total process of God. No matter how you may doubt your own possibilities, at least there is a maximum of nobility, a maximum of health and mentality and purpose of which you are capable, however small that maximum may be.

When we say one thinks about it, we do not mean one must know what that maximum is nor what shape it will assume. In fact one does not know except as he can see the maximum realization of these possibilities in some historic form as in Jesus. But you do not need to know what your highest possibilities are to think of them in the sense here indicated. You need merely to hold in mind that there are such possibilities for you, however, undefined and unexplored, and that they are to be attained through the working of this all-encompassing Reality.

This second step in the act of worship is, then, to call to mind the fact that you have a total maximum of possibility for good which God will accomplish in you and for you in so far as you make right adaptation to him.

3. The third step is to face the chief problem with which you are struggling. If you live earnestly you are always struggling with a problem which taxes your powers. You are in deep water where wading is difficult. So, in this third stage, after you have become aware of God (called by another name if you prefer) and of your own maximum but undefined possibilities through God, then face your major problem. Survey it as comprehensively and acutely as possible to find what most needs to be done.

4. The fourth step is to analyze yourself and find what mental attitude or habit of any kind needs to be corrected and readjusted in yourself in order that your activities may so fit into the behavior of things that the problem can be solved. What habits, not only of word and overt deed, but of inner attitude and secret impulse, must be changed in yourself in order to fit yourself into the working of the all-encompassing Presence. Your task is to adapt your activities and total personality in such a way that you can "mesh in" with that behavior of the universe through which the greatest good can be attained.

But one must face the fact that this survey and analysis of self in face of his major problem may lead to radical change, or even total abandonment, of that program which he has been following. One may find that he is seeking the wrong things or has mistaken his problem. To make such a discovery is one of the great goods achieved through the worship we are describing. As a result of such worship one may turn right about and go in another direction. However, this is by no means the necessary result. The more common result, perhaps, is to find a way to carry through the task one has undertaken.

5. When you have discovered what readjustment is needed in yourself in order to make right connection with the behavior which is God, you must formulate this personal readjustment in positive terms. You must never stop with a merely negative attitude. The overcoming of a fault is always a positive constructive operation. It always consists of making some right adjustment in order to correct the wrong adjustment. This right adjustment must be formulated in mind as clearly, concisely, and accurately as possible. Put it into words. For example: "I am sensitive and sympathetic to the thought and feeling of others." Or: "I remember every detail when it is needed." Or: "I am calm and winsome and adaptable." Or whatever your need may be.

Some one may say: But the chief problem that engages me in worship has nothing to do with myself. I am praying for some one in Africa or otherwise far removed from anything that I can say or do or feel. No adjustment in myself can be of any avail whatsoever. My answer is: Anything which deeply interests you does have something to do with yourself. It has everything to do with yourself. If you pray about it, then it is through wh'at you do, i.e., through your prayer, that any good is accomplished. Either your prayer is effective or it is not. If it is effective then it is because you pra I yed. That means it is effective because of the personal adjustment which you make to the potent working of your total environment. Let no one think genuine prayer is merely a mouthing of words with no adjustment of the total personality to the total environmental working of God.

So we say the fifth step in worship is positive statement to yourself of the required adjustment of your personality in light of the major problem which concerns you, so that God can work his good.

Some will wish to take a sixth step, that of verbal repetition, preferably spoken aloud to yourself, of this required adjustment of your
personality. "I am quick to see and feel the need of another." "I am simple and honest in all my dealings." "I think profoundly, comprehensively, and accurately." I am this or that, or I feel some way or another toward certain things or persons. What it is you repeat and the numb--r of times you repeat it will, of course, depend on what you have found to be the required adjustment of your total thinking, feeling, willing, doing personality.

The words repeated are not necessarily prayers to God, although one may so apply them to God if he chooses. The communion with God has already been accomplished in the earlier stages of the worship as previously described. What one is now doing by this repetition is to reap the benefits of that worship and enter into a realization of the possibilities which it has opened up. Through this repetition of words you are simply establishing as an enduring habitual attitude of the total personality that adjustment to God which you have attained through worship. You are sealing, conserving, "nailing down" the benefits of that worship.

This repetition of words by which a personal attitude is established is the last stage in the complete act of worship. It should not be done with any sense of strain or anxiety, but in the spirit which the preceding worship has engendered.

We suggest the foregoing program as an experiment in personal religion. If you will try it every night just before retiring for three or four weeks we believe you will note some very marked results.

Study III: Religious Experience through the Influence of Beauty
; ; ; ;1. The Religious Experience of Beauty
; ; ; ; ;2. How Beauty Leads to God
; ; ; ; ;3. A Personal Experiment with Beauty
; ; ; ; ;2. How Beauty Leads to God
; ; ; ; ;3. A Personal Experiment with Beauty
; ; ; ; ;2. How Beauty Leads to God

; ; ; ; ;3. A Personal Experiment with Beauty

1. The Religious Experience of Beauty

There are four ways to experience beauty. One is the way of the aesthete; the second the way of the artist; the third the way of the moralist; the fourth, the religious way. The same person may experience beauty in all four of these ways at different times according to his mood. But he can scarcely have all four experiences at the same time; and generally he will experience beauty in one of these ways rather than the others unless he specially cultivates some other. We wish to suggest a method for cultivating the religious way of experiencing beauty. Our first step must be to clarify and distinguish the religious way as over against these others.
The aesthete finds an ecstacy in the experience of beauty which is for him the supreme good. He seeks nothing more; he wants more. This state of feeling is the end result for him. He seeks beauty where it may be found, but he does not create it. He cultivates his capacity for his appreciation that he may enter more deeply into the experience. But he does nothing more about it. When he has attained the highest ecstacy there is nothing more save to prolong that state of feeling.

The experience of the artist is very different. He is inspired by beauty to create a beautiful object. The joy of beauty is for him constructive. It is the stern joy of wringing from out the raw materials of nature a thing of beauty. It may be beautiful sound, as in music, or beautiful movement, as in the dance, or beauty of rhythm and imagery, as in poetry. But there is a strenuosity and drive in the experience of the artist that is not found in that of the aesthete.

The moralist finds still another good in beauty. Beauty stirs him to strenuous and constructive endeavor. In this respect he is like the artist and different from the aesthete. But his endeavor is not with the materials of any fine art. It is with the materials out of which we construct the good life. Beauty helps him immensely in his endeavor to achieve the good life. It makes the good life more alluring. When moral ideals are clothed in beauty, as in Tennyson's Idylls of the King, and in many songs and sermons, they inspire to moral endeavor as they could not do in any other guise.

But the most profound experience of beauty is religious. The aesthete misses it; so does the artist and moralist, except as these become religious. When we say that the aesthete, the moralist, and the artist must become religious in order to have the most profound experience of beauty, we do not mean that they must subscribe to any creed, nor join a church, although they might well do this. All we mean is that this most profound experience of beauty is religious, and he who has it thereby to that degree becomes religious.

What is this most profound and religious experience of beauty.? We must try to indicate its character, at least to the point where it can be recognized.

In this most profound experience beauty makes us aware of a reality which is richer and deeper and more marvelous than anything we can dream or conceive. This reality is not anything we perceive in the beautiful object. It is not anything we fancy. We do not here refer to bright visions that may come to us as we listen to music or to a story or contemplate any other beautiful thing. This reality which enters our awareness when we are under the spell of beauty is quite unimaginable. It is beyond the reach of our dreams just as truly as it eludes our sentences. We feel it like a ghostly presence. It seems almost to be right there, and yet it is nowhere.

Two questions must be answered concerning this experience: (1) Is this sense of unimaginable reality an illusion? (2) In what sense and under what conditions is it religious?

Answer to the first question will be found through an examination of the psychology of this experience. In this profound experience of beauty the object is so formed and so contemplated that it arouses in us a multiplicity of plastic and subtle and tentative and novel responses. Now any response aroused in us which is strange and new, especially if it consist of a complicated interplay of many tentative and novel responses, will give us this sense of strange and wonderful and unimaginable reality.
The sense of unimaginable reality which comes to us in this psychological state is not an illusion if we understand this reality to be that wholly different world which would be ours if we so reconstructed ourselves and our environment that interaction between self and environment would be very different from what it now is. The spell of beauty does not engender illusion because this profound religious experience of beauty is precisely the experience which makes a wholly different world possible. It does so because it arouses innumerable subtle, tentative, and novel impulses. These impulses provide ' the necessary psychological material out of which new and different habits can be formed. This possibility of new and different habits makes possible that reconstruction of self and environment which would bring about a different world. Since beauty engenders that psychological state out of which the required habits might be developed, it makes new and different and unimaginable worlds a genuine possibility. The psychological state induced in us by beauty is the first prerequisite to the achievement of a different world.

So we conclude that the sense of unimaginable reality which comes to us under the spell of beauty is not an illusion if it be regarded as awareness not of something actual, but of something possible.

In the presence of great beauty one becomes as a little child. A little child is capable of great modification of behavior and development. Therefore the doors of possibility stand wide open before him. With advancing age these doors close one after another. But the religious experience of beauty, by arousing many plastic, novel, and tentative impulses, preserves our youth. It keeps us plastic. It preserves and it restores our capacity for growth and for multiform adaptability. It opens many a door that was closed even for the child. It causes the man to turn and become as a little child; and thereby his entrance into the Kingdom of Heaven becomes a possibility. Beauty does truly usher us to the borderland of unexplored reality.

But we have not yet explained how this experience is religious. Merely to become aware of genuine but unimaginable reality is not in itself religious. It becomes religious only when one goes forth to seek that new and different world by living the life of faith.

The life of faith may mean either one of two things: It may mean waiting in the hope that death will take us into that other world; or it may mean the aggressive search and striving for the ways and means by which to achieve that other world here on earth. This search and striving requires experimental ventures in ways of conducting one's life, which is one form of faith. Also it means searching after the best relations with God, because God is that factor or character in the universe which will bring the best possible world into actuality when we establish the required relations with him. We know God will do that because God is that by definition. No matter how one conceives God, he always thinks of God as that particular being who will bring the greatest good to mankind when men establish right relations with him.
Therefore we say the experience of beauty is religious when it does two things: (1) when it gives us a sense of richer, deeper reality than we can conceive or imagine, but a reality which constitutes a truly possible world; (2) and when it inspires us to shape our whole lives in such a way as to make that adaptation to God through which the best unattained but possible world shall be brought into existence.

How does this differ from morality? In morality we strive to do what we know is right. Religion includes that, but goes on beyond it. Morality is trying to live according to the best ideals of this world. But the religious living which issues from the experience of beauty tries to discover the ideals of that other possible world, which may be wholly different from the ideals of this world.

The aesthete, the artist, the moralist, and the prophet all find their inspiration and their insight in beauty. Beauty stirs them each to a strange unrest and 'sets them to climbing toward high places. The aesthete climbs toward that ecstacy which awaits the sensitive soul in the presence of beauty. The artist climbs toward the creation of those forms that come to haunt him after beauty has visited him. The moralist climbs toward those ideals which beauty has rendered radiantly alluring. But the religious prophet climbs a path more perilous, more mysterious, than the others. He goes forth in the attempt to wring from out the immensities of the universe that other world, wholly different from this, which visits him in ghostly presence when he gazes on the face of beauty.
2. How Beauty Leads to God
Beauty is not confined to works of art. Art provides us with only a small part of the beauty of the world. Nature, including unpremeditated human behavior, is full of beauty. The most profound and stirring beauty steals upon us unawares without the intervention of human handiwork. just as we pass around the point of a hill we perceive for the first time a tree standing in a meadow with the autumn haze beyond it and clinging dimly about it, and we are face to face with beauty. Or we pass through a strange dense wood and suddenly come upon a waterfall, the foaming water plunging from a granite height, a little rainbow at the foot, and there in the dark pool a great globule of scarlet reflected from a flower upon the bank. Or we lift our eyes to the cold blue mountains in the distance, their peaks streaked with gleaming white, and for a moment the ecstacy is ours.

The beautiful object, whether of art or nature, not only opens to us the vast realm of possibility. It also makes us aware of the depth of richness in the concrete actual world, and does this beyond any other kind of experience. The beautiful object is so fashioned that we can be simultaneously responsive to its many different parts and qualities. The ordinary object which is not beautiful, or the beauty of which is not appreciated, has only one or two features to which we react. We ignore it in all respects save those one or two qualities in it which happen to make it useful to us. The ugly object, on the other hand, has many different features to which we react; but our responses conflict, one tending to inhibit the other. Only the beautiful object is so formed that we can respond to its many parts and qualities all at once and yet do so without inner conflict or distress.

Thus beauty makes us aware of the rich fulness of the actual as well as the great realm of possible worlds. For this reason it brings us into intimate association with God. For God is that which (1) gives the rich fullness of reality to the actual world and (2) determines the scope and limitation of the possible transformations which this actual world can undergo. Whoever discerns the richness and depth of the actual world, and also the realm of possible worlds into which this actual world can be transformed, is very close to God. Since beauty gives us this experience it brings us into the presence of God. It can do this, however, only when we have that profound experience which we have described as the religious experience of beauty. The aesthete, the artist, and the moralist, unless they undergo this religious experience, do not have that awareness of unimaginable reality which constitutes the religious significance of beauty.
3. A Personal Experiment with Beauty
Seek out that form of beauty that stirs you most deeply. For most people, perhaps, great music will do this best. Before going into the presence of beauty prepare yourself by worship. Go where you can be completely alone. Relax and try to sense the all-encompassing presence of God. Remember that in adaptation to him you may attain to wholly unknown possibilities of good. Then examine yourself to discover what readjustment of your total personality is needed to enter into the fullest possible appreciation of that beauty which you are shortly to experience. Repeat quietly and trustingly many times this required readjustment. Then end the season of worship in the state of passive relaxed awareness of God. Having thus prepared yourself, go to that place where you can surrender yourself to the most profound experience of your chosen form of beauty. After it is past note whether you had in any way or to any degree the sense of unimaginable reality which has been described. Has it deepened your sense of the presence of God? Does it increase the zest and eagerness of your quest of a better world?

align="left"To complete the experiment you should make your life a great venturesome search for that other possible world, wholly different from this, which hovered so mysteriously near you under the magic spell of beauty. But such an experiment would far exceed the scope of a short course like this. Only after centuries have passed can the result of such an experiment be reported. Only when ages are done shall we fathom the mysterious possibility that beauty brings so dimly near.

Study IV: Religious Experience through the Struggle of Life

; ; ; ;1. The Practical Problem of Struggle
; ; ; ; ;2. The Sources of Personal Energy
; ; ; ; ;3. Personal Experiment in Religion for Release of Energy
; ; ; ; ;2. The Sources of Personal Energy
; ; ; ; ;3. Personal Experiment in Religion for Release of Energy
; ; ; ; ;2. The Sources of Personal Energy

; ; ; ; ;3. Personal Experiment in Religion for Release of Energy

1. The Practical Problem of Struggle

The preceding part of this study has demonstrated the importance of struggle. The greater goods of life have rarely been attained save in those circumstances where men have been forced to struggle. The greatest goods and the ever higher levels of good can be attained only when men continue to struggle after they are no longer forced to it by danger and deprivation.

Here we have the great practical problem which is becoming ever more urgent and vital as our civilization makes life more easeful and luxurious. The problem is twofold: (1) How can men be induced to struggle for ever greater goods when necessity no longer compels them; (2) how can they keep on when discouraged, weary, or depressed with sense of failure. The first of these two parts of the problem is not so widely recognized as the second, but we believe it is much more serious. The old sad story of civilizations reaching a certain height of excellence and then sinking back into decadence; the old story of fathers struggling up from low levels of life only to see their sons become flabby and weak, if not vicious and dissipated; of individuals achieving a noble success, but at the age of forty or fifty beginning to decay morally, mentally, physicallythis old story will continue as long as we fail to keep up the great struggle of life after the scourge of necessity no longer whips us into the fight. This applies especially to the most highly endowed. These gifted men can often get what they want without one-tenth the effort others expend. So they live their lives without making that great contribution to human welfare which they could make if they exerted themselves, and all human life is impoverished thereby.
Here, then, is the twofold vital problem involved in struggle: How can we keep it up when comfortable or when discouraged?
Let us first state how it cannot be accomplished. It cannot be accomplished merely by making up our minds to do it. Resolution is not enough. Resolution may produce spurts of effort, bult it can never keep us striving with that persistency and dauntless drive which is the only road to the highest goods. The futility of all such moral volition arises out of the fact that persistent and potent struggle depends upon the release of personal energy; and personal energy can be released only when the individual is rightly stimulated. Only those situations that arouse intense desire or fear or anger or other such deep-seated emotion can release within us that amount of energy which is required for great struggle. In scientific terms, it is a problem of organic chemistry. Energy is locked up in the organism. It must be unlocked before struggle, long-continued and powerful, is possible. No matter how conscientious, no matter how highminded, idealistic, and spiritual a man may be, if the needed energy is not unlocked within him by the required stimulation, he simply does not have it in a form available for struggle.

Here is where science steps forward to show the futility of morality, culture, and education without religion when it comes to this problem of struggle. The utmost moral good will in the world cannot keep one struggling if he does not have the energy. Psychology and history of religion and the testimony of deeply religious people indicate that religion can release energy in great quantity. It is very certain that morality without religion cannot do this. One of the chief reasons why people so commonly put their trust in morality, culture, and education rather than religion is because they fail to see this basic truth about human nature. Food-getting, sex, fear, anger will release energy. But when we are at ease or when we are discouraged, how shall we get it? That is the great problem. Religion is the answer.

The purpose of the personal experiment in religion to be described later will be to discover that way of practicing religion which will release energy for struggle. But before we present that experiment we must look a little more closely into the sources of personal energy in order to make plain that personal experiment in religion is the only possible way to find how to get energy for struggle when we are at ease or discouraged.
2. The Sources of Personal Energy
The amount of personal energy available for struggle depends upon two conditions, one physiological, the other psychological. The physiological condition is stimulation of visceral processes, pre-eminently the endocrine glands. The psychological condition is freedom from mental conflict, in other words, peace. Let us briefly examine each of these in order.

When the endocrine glands are stimulated and the visceral adjustments are made through which maximum energy is released, the whole process produces a mental state called emotion. Fear, anger, and the emotional phases of desire, aspiration, hope, joy, exultation, excitement generally, are examples. But the important thing, be it remembered, is not the conscious state called emotion; the important thing is the visceral readjustments, glandular processes, and consequent release of energy. The conscious state, the emotion, simply serves to inform us that the energy is now released and made available for struggle. When this energy is drained off immediately and completely in some struggle that is going on, one does not experience the emotion to any marked degree, even though energy is being released in great quantities.

Men vary greatly with respect to the amount of personal energy at their disposal. Some are so constituted organically that they constantly have more energy than others. This organic constitution cannot, so far as we know, be changed by training or stimulation. But given this organic constitution, a man may be subjected to such stimulation as to release far more energy than he otherwise would. Religious stimulation can do this, perhaps, more powerfully than any other. It cannot change the organic constitution, but it can stimulate that constitution so that it will yield all the energy of which it is capable.

Let us turn now to the second source of energy, the psychological. It is not so much a source as a determining condition. It is mental harmony; it is dynamic peace. It is that plastic organization of responses such that each impulse supports the others and none frustrates the others. If there is conflict in our minds between two or more opposed desires, one or both of which may be subconscious, our energies will be consumed in this conflict and hence rendered unavailable for struggle with things outside ourselves. If all our energy is consumed in struggle between our own impulses we have none left for struggle with environmental difficulties. Hence our wishes and desires must be harmonious with one another if we are to have sufficient energy for the greater struggles. This inner conflict appears in consciousnes~, in the form of worry, fret, anxiety, melancholy, excitement, and, in extreme forms, delusion and insanity. One may suffer from this mental conflict and not know what is wrong with him. The conflict may be subconscious in part or whole.

We can now see the nature of the problem which we have to solve by personal experiment. We must find some way (i) to stimulate those glandular and other processes through which energy is released, and (2) bring peace of mind by removing those mental conflicts which waste and divert our vital energies.
3. Personal Experiment in Religion for Release of Energy
Let us call to mind that the aspect of the universe called God is a pervasive aspect constantly and intimately operative in our lives and in the world round about us. In so far as we yield ourselves to it, indescribable possibilities for good hover over us and loom before us. But in so far as we yield ourselves to the destructive aspects of the universe great evils hang over us and open before us. At regular seasons of worship let us cultivate this sense of divine presence, with the attendant possibilities for good and evil.
But I we must not stop with this sense of divine presence and vivid apprehension of the attendant possibilities. Each of us must recognize, and through regular seasons of meditation clarify, the definite part which he is fitted to play in bringing the divine aspect of the universe into dominance, with all the consequent good , and in reducing the evil aspects with their consequent disasters. Each of us, by reason of unique individuality and circumstance, has a definite part in this vast process. This part should be formulated by us as clearly as possible. It should be put into words and repeated in seasons of meditative worship, changing the wording as our vocation grows clearer with the passage of time. Thus a life purpose will grow upon us. Within this life-purpose specific objectives should be verbally defined in so far as we are able. This should be continued at regular seasons of worship until we Attain a sense of destiny and become possessed of a passion. With some this sense of destiny and drive of passion will be much stronger than with others. But I believe everyone can achieve a driving purpose in life by practicing regularly and for a sufficient length of time the method described. A certain season set apart each Sabbath day might be used in this way. Occasional vacations could be spent in like manner. We can imagine no better way of spending a vacation than in such meditation and worship.

What we have described must be carefully distinguished from mere resolution or moral determination. The method before us consists in exposing one's self to the stimulus of certain facts until they have worked in us the physiological and psychological readjustments through which personal energy is released. It is not resolution; it is remaking of the personality through exposure to the stimulation of supremely significant facts. The consequent state of body and mind can become a permanent disposition by regular re-exposure. This exposure is a kind of worship.

There are other problems involved in struggle besides finding the required energy. There is the problem of directing the energy to worthy ends. One may struggle to do trivial or evil things. There is the problem of efficiency. One may expend his energy in waste motion. There is the problem of keeping gracious, sympathetic, and appreciative toward persons and undertakings outside one's own work. He who struggles is often harsh and even cruel in his zeal. We have not discussed these three problems, but we believe they are automatically solved in the practice of religion which we have proposed. The same experiment in religion which releases energy will guard against these dangers also.

The practice we have described should give rise to a growing passion. It is the passion that results from finding one's destiny and surrendering to the clutch of it. Passion means maximum release of energy. Historical records indicate that no matter how frail in body one may be, such passion and sense of destiny releases energy. One may turn to flame and burn up, but as long as he lasts he has the energy needed for struggle which cannot be choked by ease nor quenched by discouragement.;

Study V: Religious Experience through Loyalty to a Great Cause: Experiment in Loyalty to a Cause

; ; ; ;1. The Problem
; ; ; ; ;2. The Proposition
; ; ; ; ;3. The Method
; ; ; ; ;2. The Proposition
; ; ; ; ;3. The Method
; ; ; ; ;2. The Proposition

; ; ; ; ;3. The Method

1. The Problem

The great cause is the all inclusive enterprise of enlarging and refining the life of man, an enterprise in which we each may have a share. When we consider this cause, and how to make personal connection with it, we are immediately confronted with a practical problem.

Can I be sure that the specific thing which I find to do is wholly and significantly of service to this cause? Can I be sure that I am doing, or can do, anything for the cause which is sufficiently worth while to command my full devotion? The cause is all right, but my part in it -- that is the problem. Can I be sure that I, even with the best intentions and utmost effort, shall not be producing at least some results through my work that positively obstruct the cause? That such results do ensue is evident to anyone who with unbiased mind will carefully observe his own experience and study the historic record. Every specific and definite form of human need in this evil world will, when satisfied by me in so far as I am able to satisfy it, lead to evil as well as good. There is no church or other institution with which I can work which will not involve me in evil. There is no campaign or enterprise or group of men with which I may ally myself which is not tainted and productive of evil. And many times the evil results are greater than the good. Every concrete specific undertaking which men have begun with high hope and great enthusiasm has been disappointing in the end to those who were sufficiently observant, humble, and open-minded to see the evil and futility of their efforts along with whatever good may have resulted.

Men do not necessarily think the matter out in the way we have presented it; they do not analyze their feelings; but their problem with respect to any great cause brought to their attention is often of just this sort. They do not respond with full devotion either because the cause is not sufficiently definite, concrete, and close'at hand so they can make direct connection with it, or else the specific and concrete thing presented has none of that indubitable and overmastering urgency and grandeur that can command their complete loyalty. You and I and most men would respond readily and completely and passionately if we could be sure that the concrete and immediate piece of work accessible to us was altogether pure and glorious, and that our devotion to it would really count for something of importance in service of the great cause. But as soon as a cause becomes embodied in concrete form in this evil and complicated world it ceases to be pure. It cannot command our hearts, and it should not. The evil is so intricately involved in the good, the tares so mixed with the wheat, and there is so much uncertainty concerning just what is the wheat and what the tares, that we cannot make direct connection with the great cause.
Here, then, is our practical problem: How to find the great cause in such form that we can yield our lives to it.

One way to solve this problem is that of the fanatic. He blinds himself. to the evil and tawdry features involved in the enterprise to which he gives his allegiance. He has found a "great cause," to be sure. He may call it Christ or socialism, Kingdom of Heaven or vegetarian diet, saving souls or pacifism. The slogan he uses makes little difference. The point is that he is able to esteem his cause so great, and can give it his unreserved devotion, only because he will not admit what others less prejudiced can plainly see. He will not admit that the cause as served by him is mixed with all manner of worthless and evil things, and in the end may result in as much harm as good. He makes himself think he is engaged in something wonderful when he is not. Such fanaticism is not the transfiguring loyalty which we need and crave. It is not the loyalty which the preceding part of this paper has presented. Yet we can see all about us and read in the historic records that no matter how devoted men may have been, and no matter how sure of serving a great cause, they have always wrought evil as well as good, and often the results of their efforts, when closely examined, can be seen to have been quite futile.

Where and how shall we find our cause, we who refuse to deceive ourselves and follow the fanatic? How can we catch the transfiguring devotion without surrendering to fanaticism?
2. The Proposition
This world has some possibility for maximum good which can be achieved through right adjustment of the different factors which enter into the making of it. What this possible maximum good may be we do not know. Eye hath not seen it nor ear heard, neither hath it entered the heart of man in the form of any dream or vision. Our thoughts concerning its nature may be mistaken. Indeed, our ideas of it in great part must he mistaken, else we would not disagree about it so radically and violently. And our ways of serving that cause must be mistaken in great part else we would not so commonly work at cross-purposes. But despite these facts it is a self-evident truth to say that among all the possibilities for good and evil which are inherent in this universe there is one or more which is the maximum good. This genuine possibility for maximum good inherent in the universe may be called the cause of Christ, the will of God, the Kingdom of Heaven, the utmost welfare of mankind, etc., but its specific nature and the best way to promote it is something about which only the fanatic is sure; and he is probably most mistaken of all.

There is no straight-cut and definite course of action known to us which will lead directly to the actualization of this possible maximum good. It is too mysterious, too ill defined in our own minds; the processes of life are too intricately interwoven, and we are too ignorant of the outcome of any suggested course of procedure. There is, however, one course of procedure and one way of living in which we can give our whole lives in complete loyalty to that unknown good.
3. The Method
The intelligent method of loyalty to the supreme but unknown good consists in throwing the light of observation and experimental investl gation over all the processes of life. That means first of all that we shall examine ourselves and constantly observe ourselves to see what habits, what impulses, what mental attitudes produce what consequences, and try to ascertain the value of these consequences.;
Secondly, it means that we shall constantly observe what customs, what mutual adaptations within our own family and between ourselves and other intimate associates, yield deeper community of heart and mind and greater co-operation. Thirdly, it means that we shall constantly observe and investigate what consequences result from what social customs, and other conditions generally in the world round about us. Of course no man can cover all these fields of investigation. But every man can take his own special line of endeavor, whatever it may be, and make it a field of constant and searching observation and experimental investigation to the end of ascertaining what results for good or ill may ensue. Also, every man can make his own personal conduct in dealing with his own intimate associates a matter of search' ng inquiry.
What constitutes the significance of this method? Its significance lies in this: that we rest our hope for the ultimate actualization of supreme good, not on the success of any specific practical enterprise, but upon the slowly garnered wisdom which is yielded by this method of indefatigable observation. It means that we shall turn our very failures and worst disasters into tools for the achievement of this ultimate good, inasmuch as such failures and disasters yield the largest harvest of wisdom if we constantly keep in the clear light of consciousness, just so far as we can, all the factors which led up to the failure or disaster.

Seasons for cultivating and practicing most intensely this observation are seasons of worship. Where are we going? What have we been doing? What attitudes on our part and on the part of humankind have produced what results, and what are the values of these? Such questions ought properly to find some answer in the season of worship. For worship ought to be a mountain top whence we can survey our lives and the lives of men. We are not saying this is all there is to worship; but this is an essential part of it. Of course, however, the observation of life cannot be limited to worship. Our whole point is that it must be constantly practiced. But nothing can be constantly practiced unless we set aside certain times for its special cultivation. Worship is such a time.

Some may object to this proposed method of observation, thinking that it will destroy the great joys and enthusiasms of life. Sometimes, they say, we must abandon ourselves to some "fine careless rapture," and disregard consequences. Now it is true that constant, critical observation of self and others and life as a whole does destroy joy and enthusiasm except as this constant critical examination is made the embodiment and expression of passionate devotion to the supreme cause. And that is precisely what we are proposing.

We suggest this method of solving the problem of how to make personal connection with the great cause: (1) constant, searching, critical, and experimental observation in everything we do to promote the good; (2) measure our service to the good not merely by objective achievement but by the wisdom gained in how to do good. Thus we shall transmute our very failures, disappointments, disillusionments, and difficulties into gain. We can begin by applying this method and assuming this attitude in any minor undertaking which we have begun or are about to begin. (3) We can take certain seasons of worship for special examination of what we have done, how we have done it, and also for reaching conclusions on the grounds of these observations.

The results to look for as tests of this method are: (1) change in the kind of things we undertake; (2) change in the wav we go about doing it; (3) increase in the final value of what we do; (4) transfer of our highest loyalty and deepest enthusiasm from the special task to that unknown good which we serve by slowly bringing it to light through the accumulated wisdom of history, our chief service being assimilation of, and contribution to, this wisdom of life. In this way lives which fail magnificently may be great successes. Perhaps this kind of failure is the genius of Christianity and the spirit of Christ.

Study VI: Religious Experience through Happiness

1. How to Enjoy the World
2. How to Cure the Joy-Killing Attitude
3. How to Preserve Critical Moral Judgment and Spiritual Aspiration in the Midst of our Joys
2. How to Cure the Joy-Killing Attitude
3. How to Preserve Critical Moral Judgment and Spiritual Aspiration in the Midst of our Joys
2. How to Cure the Joy-Killing Attitude

3. How to Preserve Critical Moral Judgment and Spiritual Aspiration in the Midst of our Joys

The personal problem for experimentation which we have in this study is twofold: (1) How can we increase our capacity for enjoyment? (2) How can we preserve our critical moral judgment and our spiritual aspiration in the midst of these joys? The second part of this dual problem is much more complicated and difficult than the first. It arises out of the fact that joy in things as they are is likely to assume the form of complacency; and complacency is death to aspiration. How can we enjoy what is, without impairing our aspiration toward that better world which God wills to make out of this one. But we shall not treat this second part of our problem until we have first made answer to the question, how to increase our capacity for enjoyment.

1. How to Enjoy the World

Everyone has something he should be able to enjoy. What you have I do not have, and what I have you do not, but everyone has something if he will be appreciative of it. Very simple things we have in mind as well as great things, such as good food when hungry, rest when weary, trees, sky, friends, happy faces, and the like. The list of things to enjoy is endless. One may be sick and not able to enjoy food, but he has something else. Another may not have the kind ministration of affectionate hands when he is ill, but there is another source of joy for him. Our problem is to enter into full appreciation and enjoyment of these good things Our happiness might be many times greater than it is if we had the mental attitudes which enable one to appreciate to the full all the good things round about. Let us mention some of the wrong mental attitudes which must be corrected if we are to enter into the fulness of that JOY which should be ours.

First is the feeling some people have that they are failing to meet some moral or religious requirement when they freely and fully enjoy such simple things as food and clothes and play. This feeling is correct only when the lesser good blinds us to the greater. How to avoid such blindness will engage our attention later. But when such blindness is not incurred there is nothing wrong in the greatest possible enjoyment of simple things. Some people have this mental habit of condemning simple joys so fixed that even when they know it is wrong to condemn them they cannot enter into them with freedom, and so their happiness is marred. This old habit must be rooted out like any other bad habit. There are many methods for overcoming a bad habit, one of which is worshipful auto-suggestion.

A much more common hindrance to enjoyment of that which is good and pleasant is worry and anxiety. We are so anxious about the future that we cannot enjoy the present. We are so fearful lest we lose our health or comfort or friends or security or other good thing that we cannot enjoy these good things while we have them. Or we are like Martha, so cumbered about many things that the one thing needful we miss. The one thing needful is to enjoy the visitor when he is present with us, whether he come in the form of a sunset, or tall tree, or a singing bird, or a child tugging at our hand, or a pleasant fire on a winter evening, or what not.

The most common hindrance of our enjoyment of good things, however, especially in America, is our restless striving after something not yet attained. There are times when we must be preoccupied with striving. A surgeon engaged in a delicate operation cannot at the same time enjoy the sunset. A man struggling to save another from drowning cannot listen to the sweet music of birds. Life must have its seasons of stern struggle when the eyes are turned away from all the sweet and lovely things around us to the end of achieving something which is not yet attained.

But our absorption in that which is not yet attained must not make us permanently unappreciative of what is already given to us. We must not be so absorbed in making the child into a good man that we cannot appreciate and rejoice in the child for what he already is. We must not be so intent on getting to the end of the picture gallery that we cannot enjoy the pictures that we pass. We must not be so preoccupied in making money for a better home that we cannot enjoy the home we already have. We must not be so strenuous in our efforts to bring the tour to a successful end that we cannot enjoy it as we go along. We must not try so hard to achieve some ultimate and unattained success that we destroy the value of every success that we ever do attain.

The only way to solve this problem is by the method of alternation. Seasons of striving and aspiration after the unattained must alternate with seasons of enjoying the good things already here. After the surgeon has completed the operation he must take some time when he can enjoy the sunset. After the terrible struggle over the drowning man there must be some time when one can listen to the birds.

This relaxation and enjoyment of the present moment, this quieting of the rush and striving after something which is still beyond us, this joy in the life which is already ours must be cultivated. Perhaps most Americans need this side of life cultivated more than any other. A good method for cultivating it is to go out for a walk in park or open country some pleasant evening, either alone or with some very dear and intimate friend with whom you do not need to talk except as mood may require. Loitering thus together or alone in the quiet dusk of evening is the best time for cultivating the attitude of relaxation. One can give himself regular doses of this kind of treatment. Formany of this age it isjust as needful as medical treatment in time of physical illness.

A fourth great hindrance to joy is envy. We cannot enjoy our own clothes because they are not as good as another's. We cannot enjoy our work because it does not seem so honorable as another's. Our success seems not as great as another's, hence it is bitterness in the mouth rather than sweetness. We want what another has, and so cannot enjoy our own. Naboth's vineyard, because it belongs to him and not to us, destroys all the joy we might have in our own acres. So we turn away our face and will eat no bread, like King Ahab.

Men have found joy in every kind of condition. If we cannot rejoice in the things which every man has to enjoy, then we are suffering from some perversion of mental attitude. Why do we not get more joy out of life? Why do we not enter into that fulness of joy which Jesus said he wished us to have? The fault is our own. We destroy our own happiness. How? By a mistaken Puritanic habit which will not let us surrender to the joy of the passing hour. Or by some goading anxiety and worry that has got us in its clutches and will not let us go. Or by a habit of strenuous striving which has become so fixed as a mental attitude that we cannot throw it off in periods of relaxation that should alternate with periods of striving. Or by envy of what other people have.

2. How to Cure the Joy-Killing Attitude

We have already suggested some measures for curing mistaken Puritanism and that strenuosity which has become a disease. But we can now lay down the principle for the cure of all four of these ills. The method of cure is to ascertain what is the right attitude which is the exact opposite of your wrong attitude, and pray for it persistently and regularly day by day until it grows up within you. If the wrong attitude is a mistaken Puritanism, the right and opposing attitude would be one of joyous acceptance and appreciation of every good thing. If the wrong attitude is worry, the right would be peaceful adaptation to every changing condition as it arises, with flexible readiness to use and enjoy to the utmost whatever may befall. If the wrong attitude is habitual strenuosity which cannot relax, the right would be restfulness and self-abandon to the hour of relaxation. If the wrong attitude is envy, the right is identifying yourself with the joy and success of the other so that his good becomes yours also.

3. How to Preserve Critical Moral Judgment and Spiritual Aspiration in the Midst Of Our Joys

A life overflowing with joy in the good things of this world, such as we have suggested, will dull the keenness of our moral judgment and drag down the highest aspiration unless in the midst of our enjoyment we meet four requirements.

The first of these four is to keep ourselves intensely conscious of the unfathomable possibilities for good which are inherent in this present world despite all its evil. The second is to be deeply sensitive to the fact that this present actual world is immeasurably degraded and evil as compared to these possibilities for good which are inherent in it. The third requirement is that we use this present world as material out of which to construct that other better world. This means that we must enter into the fullest and richest experience of this world, entering into all its joys as well as its sorrows; for only as we learn to experience it, know it, master it, and use it can we make it better. If we do not enter into full appreciation of the joys of this present world, as well as of its pains and evils, we cut ourselves off from the materials, the standing-ground, the leverage, and the nourishment by which alone that other better world can ever be brought into existence.

The fourth and last and greatest requirement of all which must be met if we are to enjoy the world in a spiritual way is to hold ourselves constantly in readiness to make any sacrifice whatsoever when such sacrifice seems to be the best thing we can do to bring forth that other better world. But we must understand what sacrifice means. It does not consist in being miserable. It consists in just the opposite. It consists in taking pain, sorrow, loss, and death and transmuting these into joy and goodness by making them contributory to the attainment of the best world which is the Kingdom of God. Such is the way Jesus met pain, sorrow, and death, and so could look upon the travail of his soul and be satisfied.

Any sacrifice which is not made as a contribution to the high end of attaining a better world, any sacrifice.which is made merely to demonstrate our own righteousness or to express our condemnation of evil is not only mistaken, useless, and foolish; it is positively evil. The sacrifice which Jesus recommended was, not that we lose our lives, but that we lose them in order to save them. The sacrifice he recommended was never morbid. Never refuse a joy unless the refusing of it will yield a greater joy. That is what is meant by losing one's life to save it.

With this understanding of sacrifice we can say that readiness for such sacrifice on all occasions is needed if we are to enjoy the world in a spiritual way. Without readiness for such sacrifice the joys of the world will distort our moral judgment, pervert our spiritual aspiration, and blind us to those vast possibilities which constitute the Kingdom of God. With this sacrifice, and with this only, can we enter into that full measure of joy which Jesus knew and which he desired us to have.

We have suggested two kinds of personal experiments in religion. One kind had to do with cultivating our capacity for enjoying the good things of life. The other had to do with preserving our moral judgment and our aspiration in the midst of these joys.

Study VII: Religious Experience through Crisis in Individual Growth and Social Experience: Salvation through Crisis

1. The Problem of the Crisis
2. How not to Meet a Crisis
3. The Right Way
4. How to Achieve the Right Way
5. How not to Meet a Crisis
6. The Right Way
7. How to Achieve the Right Way
8. How not to Meet a Crisis
9. The Right Way

10. How to Achieve the Right Way

1. The Problem of the Crisis

A crisis is dangerous. It will make us or break us. Like a wave we must ride it to victory or be whelmed beneath its flood. One becomes suddenly ill in the midst of an important undertaking. It is a crisis. Out of such illness some men have risen to a great career; others have been dragged down to ruin. The son who has been carefully reared is discovered to have stolen money. It is a turning-point in the life of the family, leading to greater mutual understanding and co-operation, if rightly met, or leading to deeper disaster if wrongly treated. The investment which was to pay for the education of the children vanishes in the bankruptcy of a firm. It calls for a reorganization of life purposes and transformation of habits whereby powers and possibilities are brought to light that might have remained forever hidden; or else the family sinks and sinks. Someone dies under whose love and shelter we have lived. How shall we meet the crisis?

Crisis generally wears the face of disaster. But it is not disaster; it is opportunity, if we make it so. But it rests with us and the way we avail ourselves of God. It is the fateful moment when we must change our ways for good or ill. It is the turning-point whence paths diverge. It is the situation in which old habits no longer suffice to produce desired results. Either they produce no noticeable results at all, or very unexpected and undesired ones.

The chief thing to note about a crisis, from the standpoint of this section, is the fact that it requires a reorganization of our habits. Therein lies its peril and its promise. Our old ways of life are disrupted. We must seek out new ways. How shall we do it? The practical problem, which we always try to formulae and solve in this section, is expressed in this last question. When old habits no longer work and we are forced to seek new ways, how shall we conduct ourselves in order to find the way of salvation and escape the way of ruin? How to meet a crisis. That is our problem.
2. How Not to Meet a Crisis
There are three wrong ways to meet a crisis. One is to fail to see it. The second is to see it and fear. The third is to be so custom bound and muscle ridden that we cannot change our ways and meet the strange new demands that are made upon us. Let us consider each of these in turn.
Often crises come and go, the backwash sweeping men off their feet, and the men never discover there is a crisis until they find themselves struggling in the wreckage and it is too late. They are so busy doing the little thing that is directly at hand. They do not take time, as every man occasionally should, to draw apart from the continuous succession of one little thing after another, and look deeply into the events of life, and fate abroad, and so be in a state of mind to catch the significance of a crisis when it begins to loom. They do not mount the watch tower of worship. It is easy to become so engrossed in the daily grind that we cannot see the crisis in its beginning. Again, some people are so blindly optimistic that they refuse to see anything which does not sustain them in what they happen at the time to want to do. Blindness to the fact of crisis is probably the most common fault and the most common reason why men are hurt instead of helped by critical situations when they arise. They simply do not see the need of reorganizing their lives and readjusting their habits. They are not alert; they are not sensitive to those changes which betoken the oncoming of a crisis. They may note the signs that indicate a change of weather, as Jesus said, but they do not observe the signs of the times. While Noah builds the ark they laugh him to scorn. So the flood comes and finds them unready.
The second wrong way to meet a crisis is in fear. Sometimes, strange though it may seem, fear is joined with blindness. If we are afraid the easiest way is to hide the head in the sand and ignore what is going on. Sometimes it is something else than the crisis which causes us to hide our eyes in fear and so remain in ignorance of the critical nature of the situation. Again, it may be some sign of the crisis which makes us shut our eyes to any further developments of it.
But this is not always the way fear affects men. It does not always make them shut their eyes to danger. But it has other effects just as harmful or worse. It is never the right way to meet a crisis. While it does not always blind, it probably always distorts the vision and prevents us from seeing things precisely as they are; and crisis is a time when, above all others, we must see things as they are. Fear confuses the mind and renders our thinking inaccurate; but crisis is a time when we must think profoundly, comprehensively, accurately, and swiftly. Fear disorganizes the will and prevents us from reaching a final conclusion and taking definite action. It is likely to throw us back into all sorts of wasteful and vacillating and futile practices just when we need most of all to conserve all our time and strength and resources. Next to blindness, fear is the worst thing that can befall us when we face a crisis. Possibly it is worse than blindness, at times.
But when we say that fear is the worst way to meet a crisis we must note a distinction. A crisis ought to stimulate us. It probably always
does when we face it and recognize it for what it is. This state of stimulation might be called a state of fear; that is, it is a state in which our latent powers are aroused, the action of heart and lungs quickened, the blood courses more rapidly through all the arteries, the total rate of metabolism is accelerated. But there is a vast difference between that state of stimulation in which we are given most complete command over all our powers and that state in which there is the stimulation of fear, but a stimulation that confuses and disorganizes the personality. It is this last which we condemn as the worst way to meet a crisis.

The third wrong way to meet a crisis is by persisting in old ways, refusing to modify and reorganize our habits, and, if need be, our total way of life. This may be due to stubbornness or conceit; it may be due to lack of plasticity in our habits, we being physically and mentally muscle bound and rigid; or it may be merely due to lack of imagination. But crisis requires change on our part, of times swift and radical change. Except ye turn and become as a little child ye have not the plasticity required to enter the Kingdom of Heaven by way of a crisis.
3. The Right Way
Knowledge of the three wrong ways to meet a crisis helps us to see what is the right way. Rightly to meet a crisis and ride it to victory we must be alert, fearless, and plastic. These three requirements should be stated a little more fully.

To be alert is to be sensitive to changing conditions, keenly aware of the dangers involved as well as of the other possibilities. Can we be sensitive to danger and possibilities of various kinds, surveying the situation in its fullness, face it squarely, feel the full stimulus of it, and yet be free of that fear that distorts the vision, confuses the thinking, and weakens the will? That is the test. These two things must be united if we are to master the crisis. We must face the issue squarely and unafraid.

Then we must be capable of changing our ways. The right thing to do in a crisis always requires some marked change in our manner of living; otherwise it would not be a crisis. Sometimes such a change requires great sacrifice. Also the good to be gained by means of the sacrifice may be problematical, depending on a venture which is by no means certain of its outcome. Furthermore this good to be gained, while it may be beneficial to others, may not be acceptable to us as a good except as we so change, our interests and ways of life as to share in the good of these others. Thus the crisis, demanding sacrifice by us, cannot be met without great capacity for transformation in our total personality and way of life.

To meet a crisis adequately, then, we must have clear vision with alertness and sensitivity; we must be fearless; and must have capacity for transforming the organization of our lives. The problem we have to solve is to discover how these three traits of personality can be acquired; for it is only by means of these that we can meet a crisis in the right way.
4. How to Achieve the Right Way
The way to be alert we have already suggested. It consists in drawing aside from the daily grind at regular intervals in order to survey in thought the total situation in which we live our lives. We must mount the watch tower and look around, figuratively speaking. To do this effectively we must relax and wait in quietness in some solitary place so that there can rise up into our mind any hidden thing which we have been experiencing but not noticing. For there are many things which enter the fringe of consciousness unnoticed, and sometimes these unnoticed bits of experience have tremendous significance for us and others. But we will never come to know them and their significance unless we take these times of quiet worshipful' waiting in which they have opportunity to rise into the focus of consciousness. Words and attitudes and expressions of the face in our associates have been saying something to us but we could not understand their meaning until the relaxation of these quiet minutes allows these experiences to enter our mind with their load of meaning. That is the reason we call this method of retirement a way of mounting the watch tower. It is a way of being alert and of cultivating alertness. If there is a crisis looming up before us, we will discover it quicker this way than in any other. If a crisis is already upon us and we have failed to note it, we will see it when we mount the watch tower.

But how can we rid ourselves of that demoralizing kind of fear which we described previously? This is one of the most important and most difficult things. Yet there is a sure way of overcoming fear. You cannot necessarily keep it from falling upon you; but when it comes you can find a cure that never fails if you learn the method of it. You can recover your self-command, restore ycur nerve, and regain clarity of vision. Fear will occasionally fall upon some of us inevitably, with all its demoralization, but the important thing is to know a method by which to escape from its clutches. We shall try to describe that method.

Stated very simply, the cure of fear is the practice of the presence of God. But that statement is hardly full enough to mean much to one who has never used the method.

One is free of demoralizing fear just as soon as he is ready to accept the facts precisely as they are. Fear of the demoralizing sort is the endeavor to make things seem to be different from what they truly are. It is shrinking, cowering, hiding, in spirit if not in body. That means trying to hide the facts out of sight and make them seem different. As long as one clings to the hope that things may be better than they seem he is subject to fear. There is record of a man who found he was going blind. As long as he clung to his failing eyesight he was fearful and depressed. But when at last he saw there was no hope, resigned himself to inevitable fact, and set to work to cultivate his sense of touch in order to become an expert flour-tester, his fear departed. The man who cannot face the likelihood of defeat and failure, but must keep these out of mind in order to sustain his courage, is still a coward. Cyrano de Bergerac said: "I have never fought with hope to win," meaning that his courage did not depend upon the hope to win. As soon as one is ready to accept the facts and commit himself completely to the course they indicate, surrendering himself to the keeping of reality, he can lift his head unafraid, alert and ready to make every possible use of circumstance, but never shrinking from reality, however grim it may appear.
Now this state of complete self-committal, this total self-surrender to reality, with consequent command over all the resources of personality, is possible when one fills his mind with the thought that underneath all other facts is the basic fact upon which all else depends. This basic fact can be called the structure of the universe or it can be called God. Whenever we commit ourselves in love to God, accepting him with affection and all things else for his sake, we are free of fear. This state of mind requires cultivation. We do ndt have it by nature, or, if we do, the conditions of civilization amid which we live have taken it from us. This state of mind must be cultivated in seasons of worship. The cultivation of this state of mind in which we feel ourselves sustained and moved by the basic fact of the world is what we mean by the practice of the presence of God. It casts out fear.

If in time of crisis one feels that he is losing his nerve, and the disorganizing chill of fear creeps over him, let him retire for a little time and be alone where he can recover this state of complete self-committal to reality for the love of God. If he has never practiced the presence of God in the manner described, he may not be able to do this. But if he has practiced it, he can in every time of need recover his poise. And becoming a master of himself, he can master circumstance. He can even master death in the sense of facing i- fearlessly and making it yield up whatsoever profit it can be made to yield to himself and his fellow-men. Many a godly man, and pre-eminently Jesus, has been able to make his own death serve him well for centuries after he was gone. We remember Latimer calling across to Ridley when the two were being burned to death for their religious faith: "Be of good cheer, Brother Ridley, for we shall this day by the grace of God light such a candle as shall never be put out." They did. Latimer turned that crisis to good account. He met it right.
The third requirement for meeting a crisis, we said, was plasticity. This is something which cannot be achieved at the last moment in the hour of need. It must be cultivated and preserved from childhood. If one has lost it he may be able to win it back by a long slow process; but it. is far better to keep it.

How can one preserve plasticity? By putting himself in the situation where he can feel awe and wonder and reverence; for awe and wonder and reverence are states of consciousness which indicate that one is reacting to something very different from the common matters of routine habit. Awe and wonder and reverence are the exact opposites of rigid routine. They constitute that precious childlike attitude which Jesus said was prerequisite to entering the Kingdom of Heaven. The reason they are prerequisite is very plain. It is because they represent in a man that plasticity which enables him to undergo transformation. Each man must seek out for himself those conditions which arouse in him the attitude of wonder, awe, and reverence. For it is these that represent in him that plasticity without which he cannot find the gateway into the Kingdom of Heaven which is opened before him by a crisis.

Study VIII: Religious Experience through the Church: The Method of Spiritual Fellowship;

1. Sympathetic and Instrumental Association
2. Organic Association
3. Organic Association as Adjustment to God
4. The Personal Experiment
5. Organic Association
6. Organic Association as Adjustment to God
7. The Personal Experiment
8. Organic Association
9. Organic Association as Adjustment to God

10. The Personal Experiment

The church and the home are designed to promote a precious fellowship. He who never experiences it, whether found in church or home or elsewhere, misses one of the greatest goods of life. But church and home should not monopolize this fellowship; rather they should be the nursery of it, where it is fostered and grows and whence it spreads out into other social groupings.

There are three kinds of association highly prized by men. All three can be found in the church at its best. We shall call the first sympathetic, the second instrumental, the third organic. The third kind is the best. It is described in the New Testament by such phrases as being members one of another, being branches of a single vine, or in such statements as: "Ye in me and I in you that ye all may be one." It is the rare and excellent kind of fellowship which constitutes the Kingdom of God. It does not exclude the sympathetic and instrumental types of association. On the contrary, it ought properly to include them; but it is more than they.
1. Sympathetic and Instrumental Association
Sympathy, taken in its original sense, means feeling together. Sympathetic association is one in which the people associated share the same feelings, the same thoughts, the same aspirations, the same hopes and purposes. A shared experience is deepened, sweetened, and intensified through the sharing of it. The psychology of this has been intensively studied and is now well understood. Each who has the experience acts as a stimulus on the others to intensify the feeling, if it is a feeling that is shared, or to make the thought more vivid and compelling, if it is a thought, to make the aspiration more absorbing and thrilling, if it is aspiration that is shared.
If it is a painful experience, such as a sorrow, a disappointment, a danger, the sharing of it somehow makes it sweet. Blessed are they that mourn if they mourn together as a beloved community, for in thus sharing the experience they shall be comforted. In sympathetic association there is q magic which transforms bitter grief or loss or disappointment or tragedy into something precious. The fellowship of sympathy touches the evils of life, and by the magic of that touch it makes them yield a fragrance. They become beatitudes. Jesus was speaking, not to isolated individuals, but to a beloved community when he said: "Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you and say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake, rejoice and be exceeding glad. For so persecuted they the prophets that were before you." Not only would they have fellowship with one another in this persecution, but also with the great prophets that went before them.

Yet, if a fellowship were merely sympathetic and nothing more, if it did nothing to remove the causes of grief and pain and disappointment, and if it did not constructively change the evil situation resulting from these causes, save only to sympathize, it would be an inadequate kind of association. Precious as sympathetic fellowship may be, taken by itself alone it is not sufficient. It ought to be an accompaniment of instrumental and organic association. It is like a climbing vine; it needs these others to provide the strong-frame on which to climb.

Instrumental association might be called association for good works. It serves as an instrument for doing things. It does things which are helpful to its own members and to others. Almost all the charitable work of the church is of this sort. The church has sought to provide wholesome recreation, to improve education, to rectify some of the economic evils. It has applied itself as an instrument to fight the use of alcoholic liquors, to limit long hours of labor, to overcome corruption in politics, etc. It has also greatly improved its organization for helping its own membership in any time of need. All this belongs to the instrumental phase of association. It is so plain and simple and commonplace that it is probably the first thing which comes to the mind of anyone who considers the value of any association, whether in the church or outside.
2. Organic Association
Over against association for sympathy and association for service is association for personality-building. We call it organic. In organic association the members do not necessarily share the same feeling. Of c6urse they may, and often do; but this sharing belongs to the sympathetic, not the organic, aspect of their association. If the association is organic, each must have, over and above the feelings he shares with others, those feelings which are the peculiar expression of his own unique individuality. But the members interact on one another in such a way as to intensify and vastly enrich the feeling of each, however different their feelings may be from one another. In this association they have thoughts which are not shared. They may differ greatly in their ideas about things. But they interact on one another in such a way as to clarify and magnify the ideas of each. They have purposes and aspirations which are not shared; but they interact in such a way as to extend the scope and accuracy and effectiveness of the purpose and aspiration of each.

Nevertheless in organic association there is profound mutual understanding. While one does not think just as the others do, he knows what they do think. While one does not feel about things as the others, he knows. how they feel. While he does not strive for the same end they may strive for, he knows what is the aspiration and striving of their lives. This deep mutual understanding is what makes their interaction in difference so helpful, so clarifying, and so creative. This stimulating interaction of diverse personalities who have profound mutual understanding of one another fosters and magnifies the individuality of each. Yet each unique individuality is organically and co-operatively connected with the others; just as the limbs of the human body, while totally different from heart, lungs, yet are so organically connected that each in its own unique diversity fulfils a function that nourishes, sustains, and enriches all the others. Thus individuals who enter into organic association with one another are members one of another. They are branches of a single vine. Each abides in the other that they all may be one.

This stimulating, sustaining, diversifying spiritual co-operation and mutual understanding need not exclude sympathy and service; but it is far more than they. It is the kind of fellowship Jesus and the disciples had with one another. These individuals were not all molded according to the same pattern. They did not come out of the process of fellowship like so many bricks, each thinking, feeling, saying, doing the same. Quite the contrary was the case. Under the stimulus of this fellowship each began to grow into a full-orbed individual. Each thought about matters in a different way; each felt differently, spoke differently, reacted differently. Yet each was so organically related to the others in profound mutual understanding, at least so long as Jesus was with them, that each fulfilled his own peculiar function and made his own valuable contribution. Each brought the whole group to a focus in himself, yet the focusing in each was very different from the others.

It should be noted that the early church was not primarily an instrumental association. It was not first of all devoted to service or good works. We do not find that it concentrated its efforts immediately on providing wholesome recreation, or fighting political corruption, or bringing justice into the economic system, or improving the schools, or opposing slavery, or d6ing any good works in marked degree except to dispense charity. It was organic rather than instrumental. It was an association devoted to saving souls; that is, it fostered, enriched, and exalted the individualit;es of its members until these outcasts, these down trodden and crushed, these slaves and riff raff rose up in towering strength to dominate the age. Such magnified and developed personalities could and did, in the course of time, enter into instrumental association for the purpose of doing good works, removing causes of evil, transforming conditions, and reconstructing the world.
We do not mean to suggest that the church should refrain from good works. On the contrary, it should do even more than it is doing. It should be an instrumental association as well as organic. But first of all, we claim, it should be organic. Its first and greatest function in the world is to bring people together in such a way that they can interact in deep organic community, with profound mutual understanding. It should quicken to life and to abundant growth those impulses, aspirations, and personal attitudes wherein the individual comes to largest fulfilment of his utmost possibilities. This is individual salvation; but it is also profoundly social. The individual finds fulfilment through interaction with his fellows. And as he increases in spiritual stature his interaction becomes increasingly creative of greater personality in himself and others.

It should be noted that this kind of association does not exclude solitude. On the contrary, it rqquires seasons of solitary, private meditation and worship; for only in solitude can one assimilate the suggestions he has received from others. Only in solitary "waiting on God" can he organize the new impulses which association has stirred within him. He must digest what he has gathered. If he does not do this, he becomes superficial. He ceases to have originality. He becomes incapable of interacting creatively. His capacity for association sinks to the level of the sympathetic and the instrumental. Only as seasons of solitary, private assimilation and organization alternate with seasons of association can his interaction with others serve to develop the powers and possibilities of himself and his associates. Only so can he participate in organic association.
3. Organic Association as Adjustment to God
Organic association is the most profoundly religious kind of association. Through it the individual and the group share most fully in the cosmic working of God. There is a cosmic process which works to make the whole universe more organic. It is God. It works to develop individuals, both human and subhuman; and it works to interrelate these individuals so that they all can be members one of another, tach in diversity fulfilling a function of vital importance to all the others, each sustaining the others and magnifying them, and in so doing finding itself most richly nourished and magnified. Trees and grass and sky and water and earth and beasts and men become increasingly interdependent and mutually supporting. The goal of this movement toward organic interdependence and mutual development of individuals is poetically expressed in the words- "The lion shall lie down with the lamb." The ultimate value of all good works and instrumental service is to provide conditions which are favorable to this work of God--the development of organic interaction between all men and between men and the rest of the universe.
4. The Personal Experiment
The personal experiment which we propose consists in the individual participating in the associations and activities of the church in such a way as to find or achieve the kind of fellowship we have called organic. The personal technique by which this is accomplished is too subtle, intimate, and variable to put into any set of rules or to describe to another. But certain suggestions can be made to guide the experiment.

One should occasionally take time to look back over his experience and examine himself to ascertain whether he has actually attained this fellowship in some measure. He should endeavor to discover and cultivate in himself those attitudes, that way of approaching and dealing with people, talking and listening to them, which will enable him to enter into organic association with them. Above all, he should have seasons of solitude and private worship to use in the way previously described.

If one earnestly seeks this most precious fellowship we believe he can find it. It will grow with him through the years, transforming the world for him and making all things more dear. Through it he enters into organic fellowship with God who works to make the universe more organic. Through organic fellowship with men and beasts and things a man finds God and lives in God and God in him. It is necessary to the best religion; it is indispensable to us.

Fear and Faith

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.

Fear is a Universal Human Experience

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 . . . " [159:4.9] "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." [149:3.2] 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." [113:2.5]

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." [3:5.8] 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." [87:4.1] 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." [87:4.5] 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." [86:7.6]

The Antidote for Fear is Faith

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." [143:7.3] 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." [108:5.8]

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 . . . " [140:8.20]

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. " [130:6.3] 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." [108:5.8]

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.

The Living Religion of Jesus

by Dr. Meredith J. Sprunger

"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?

Jesus’ 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 men…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 fellow men 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.

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 of the universe: The Kingdom of God. The fatherhood of God, and the brotherhood of man are the basic foundations of this spiritual kingdom. This loving relationship is established within the heart and mind of each person, and brings the greatest freedom and joy which finite man can experience. The two indispensable requisites for entering this spiritual kingdom, are the sincerity of faith, and the hunger for truth. Jesus taught that truth perception is the heart of spiritual experience. "You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free." (1796) Over six-hundred rules dominated the religious life of the Jewish people of Jesus’ day, and controlled every aspect of their lives. The kingdom of God establishes true spiritual freedom. Followers of the religion of Jesus, live by the timeless spiritual principles of the universe, rather than custom-conditioned religious rules. Or, as St. Augustine phrased it, "Love God and do as you like."

As we place the spiritual priorities of the kingdom first in our lives, other things follow creatively. The inner leading of the spirit enables us to discover and actualize abilities and activities which make us effective sons and daughters of God.

The well known English writer, A. J. Cronin, began his professional career as a physician, but always, in the background of his mind, was the urge to write a novel. At the age of thirty-three, he developed a gastric ulcer, and was told he must take six months complete rest in the country on a milk diet. One day, weeks later, bored by enforced idleness, he stood on the desolate shore of a Highland loch, and raised his voice in a decision of frustration, "By heavens! This is my opportunity. Gastric ulcer, or no gastric ulcer, I will write a novel." For months, he struggled and agonized over words, phrases, and sentences. When he was half way through the novel, he paused to read what he had written. He was appalled. Never, had he read such nonsense. No one would read it. Furious with the futility of all of it, he bundled up the manuscript, went out, and threw it in the ash can.

With sullen satisfaction, he went for a walk in the drizzling rain. Half way down the loch shore, he came upon the old Scottish farmer who was his host, laboriously digging a patch of heath. When he told the old farmer what he had just done, his weathered face slowly changed; his keen eyes scanned Cronin with disappointment and a queer contempt. The silent man eventually spoke: "My father ditched this bog all his days, and never made a pasture. I’ve dug it all my days, and I’ve never made a pasture. But pasture, or no pasture, I canna help but dig. For, my father knew, and I know, that if you only dig enough, a pasture can be made here."

Cronin understood. He returned to the ash can, retrieved his manuscript, and before the six months were over, he finished it. The novel, Hatter’s Castle was selected by the English Book Society, dramatized, serialized, translated into nineteen languages, and has sold millions of copies.

Our lives are made meaningful, and the most useful, when we follow the inner leading of the will of God. When we are following these spiritual priorities, we do not change them simply because we become discouraged, meet opposition, or do not find the results we would like. Sometimes, generations of digging are necessary to turn some evil bogs into pleasant pastures.

Next to placing complete trust in the loving sovereignty of God over all of life, the second major emphasis in the religion of Jesus, is that faith and confidence in the spiritual realities of the kingdom, is the foundation of sonship with God. Faith is the only requirement for sonship and salvation. If your life is to be strong and productive, you need to distinguish between belief and faith. Belief is an intellectual assent, which may, or may not be lived. A psychological state of mind attains faith levels only when it dominates our life style, with our wholehearted consent.

Belief is limiting and circumscribed; faith is expanding, releasing, and growing. Belief tends toward dogmatism; faith tends toward openness and freedom. Belief can be second-hand, and a group possession; faith must be personal. Spiritual faith is unconquerable. It causes us to grow and progress in spite of our desire for ease, and the urge of the lower level animal tendencies. It generates courage and confidence despite adversities, reverses, and defeat. Faith, working through individuals, undergirds the continued survival of justice and altruism, in spite of human selfishness, social antagonisms, industrial greeds, and political maladjustments.

We are living in a culture experiencing a crisis in faith. There is a "credibility gap", a decline of public trust in all our social institutions. Theologian Richard Rubenstein in After Auschwitz, says: "We stand in a cold, silent, unfeeling cosmos, unaided by any purposive power beyond our own resources." Our secular society is nearing the brink of what Baptist theologian Carl Henry calls: "…the absolute autonomy of man, who does not need God, either to know the truth, or to do good…whether he wishes to walk on the moon, cure cancer, or bring peace on earth." Mass education has failed to produce an enlightened society, or curb greed and violence.

A major emphasis of the religion of Jesus is that love and service are the highest motives for living. These are the "Being" values which fulfill the deepest needs of human nature, and bring happiness into our lives. When the lawyer of the Pharisees asked Jesus to state the first and greatest commandment of life, Jesus replied: "There is but one commandment…’you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength’…and the second commandment is like the first…’You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these; on these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." (1901)

The empirical and scientific wisdom of man has arrived at the same conclusions. The psychiatrist, Dr. Fisher, in his book Some Buttons Missing, says that if all of the wisdom which psychiatrists and psychologists have garnered over the years were boiled down to the meat, leaving out the parsley, and if this meat were written by the world’s best poets – you would have a lesser facsimile of the world’s greatest message of love, "The Sermon on the Mount." The anthropologist, Ashley Montagu, in On Being Human says: "The [human] organism is born with an innate need for love. Whatever is opposed to love, to goodness, and to co-operation, is disharmonic, unviable, unstable, and malfunctional – evil."

When Mozart was a small boy, he was visited by an eminent man of wisdom, Gottfried von Jacquin. Mozart was already well known as a child prodigy. Gottfried von Jacquin wrote these memorable words in Mozart’s album: "True genius without heart, cannot exist – for neither high intelligence, nor imagination, nor both together, make genius. Love! Love! Love! …is the soul of genius."

Jesus’ religion of love even appeals to most of those who reject institutional Christianity. Bertrand Russell, Nobel Prize winner, distinguished philosopher, and author of "Why I Am Not a Christian," lectured at Columbia University in November of 1950. His brilliant mind traced the impact of science on contemporary society. In the first lecture, Philosopher Russell, rather thoroughly, dismissed the formulations of Christian theology. Yet, his last lecture ends with a rather strange conclusion. He is enumerating the things and conditions which are necessary if our scientific age is to be relatively happy and stable. He says: "The root of the matter is a very simple and old-fashioned thing; a thing so simple that I am almost ashamed to mention it, for fear of the derisive smile with which wise cynics will greet my words. The thing I mean – please forgive me for mentioning it – is love; Christian love; compassion. If you feel this, you have a motive for existence; a guide in action; and a reason for courage."

Love is the most powerful attitude of man. Harry Emerson Fosdick relates a story which occurred during the Armenian atrocities. A young woman and her brother were pursued down a street by a Turkish soldier. Finally, they were cornered and the brother was brutally slaughtered. The young woman, while her brother was being slain, dodged down an alley, leaped a fence, and escaped. Later, being a nurse, she was forced by the Turks to labor in a hospital. One day, to the ward she attended, came the Turkish soldier who had slain her brother. He was desperately ill, and the slightest inattention would have ensured his death. No one would have ever known. But, she did all within her power to restore him to health. He recognized her, and one day asked her why she had not let him die. She replied: "I am a follower of him who said: ‘Love your enemies and do good for them.’" For a long time, the soldier was silent. Then he said: "I never knew that there was such a religion. If that is your religion, tell me about it, for I want it."

Service is the hallmark of all who live the religion of Jesus. We are told by a Mighty Messenger that: "Service – more service, increased service, difficult service, adventurous service, and at last, divine and perfect service – is the goal of time, and the destination of space." (316) "Every man feels, instinctively,…", James Russell Lowell points out, "…that all of the beautiful sentiments in the world weigh less than a single, lovely action." Any one who has experienced a dynamic personal relationship with God, and had dedicated himself to the demands of this relationship, must do something about it. "True religion must act." (1121)

Such service is possible even for those who are destitute and seemingly have nothing to give. George Washington Carver was such a person. He was born in Missouri of slave parents whom he never knew, because they were carried off by slave raiders when he was a baby. The white planter, Moses Carver, who raised him, was so poor, the Carvers were unable to send him to school. So, George went on his own; slept in barns and haylofts, worked for his food, at whatever jobs turned-up; took in all of the learning which the one-room school house had to offer.

He was admitted by mail, to the University of Iowa, but later rejected when they learned that he was a negro. George washed, scrubbed, and house-cleaned his way through three years at Simpson College and four years of agricultural studies at Iowa State College. There, his genius with soils and plants, won him, on graduation, a place on the faculty. But down in central Alabama, Booker T. Washington, the president and founder of Tuskegee Institute, was dreaming of economic emancipation for the negro farmer. He saw young Carver as the key to realizing this dream. When Carver arrived in Tuskegee in 1896, he had nothing to work with. He built a laboratory from material salvaged from trash piles; and transformed his sixteen-acre experimental sand farm into one of the most productive pieces of land in the South.

George Washington Carver became the first and greatest chemurgist in America. His research was the foundation of multi-million dollar agriculture enterprises. Thomas Edison invited him to join his staff at $50,000 a year. But, Carver had a formula for life which kept him at Tuskegee: "Start where you are, with what you have; make something of it; never be satisfied." Spiritual resources were at the heart of George Washington Carver’s service. He had two favorite scripture verses. His "light" passage was Proverbs 3:6: "In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths." His "power" passage was Phil. 4:13: "I can do all things through Christ who strengtheneth me."

Service is not only related to the big and important things in life. It includes the small and semingly insignificant things. "Most of the really important things which Jesus said and did seemed to happen casually, ‘…as He passed by…’" (1875) This can be true of our lives, also. In the midst of the depression, when Ted and Dorothy Hustead were barely able to suvive in their Wall, South Dakota drug store, they noticed that travelers in the hot and dusty climate, were always thirsty when they entered the store. They posted signs along approaching highways, "Free Ice Water, Wall Drug Store, Wall, South Dakota." Soon, thirsty people were showing up, and signs were placed farther and farther East, all the way to the coast. Eventually, the Wall Drug Store was hiring twenty-eight employees to serve an average of 5,000 glasses of water a day.

Sometimes, the kind and thoughtful little things we do are long remembered, and have far-reaching consequences. Fred C. Kelly tells how…late one night, many years ago, the manager of a small hotel in Philadelphia, happened to be behind the desk when a middle-aged man and his wife from New York came in. The wife was ill, and they had been unable to find lodgings, because a large convention of some kind was in the city, and all of the hotels were crowded. They were polite, and didn’t make any demands, but asked the advice of the manager about how they might obtain a place to sleep. "Every guest room is filled…", the manager said, "…but," he added, "I’ll give you my own room."

The manager hadn’t even learned their names, and didn’t expect any special reward for his courtesy. He just did it as an act of decency. But, it made a great impression on the man and his wife. They noticed that the hotel was well managed, and that much attention seemed to be paid to small details, for the comfort of the guests. The next morning, the husband called upon the manager and said: "You’re the kind of hotel manager that should be at the head of a really great hotel. I’d like to build one for you. If that interests you, please get in touch with me some time." The guest was William Waldorf Astor. And the hotel man was the late George C. Boldt. As manager of the old Waldorf-Astoria, that Astor provided for him, Boldt became known as the greatest hotel man of his time.

The great challenge of every life is to find and dedicate oneself to a meaninful life-plan. God has a purpose for your life, and one of your greatest opportunities is to find and follow that plan. Millard Fuller, director of Habitat for Humanity, an ecumenical service project with headquarters at Koinonia Farm, near Plains, Georgia, thought he had found the key to American success in his twenties. As a law student, his part time entrepreneurial projects made him more money than the president of the university was making. After graduation, he put his money making abilities into high gear. Soon, he and his business partner owned a publishing business, and 2,000 acres of farm land. Millard was a millionaire before he was thirty. He and his wife, Linda, had plans on the drawing board for a $150,000 home on a twenty-acre lot, in a plush new sub-division just outside of Montgomery, Alabama. Then his world, rich in things, fell in.

One day, he came home and found a note from Linda saying she had gone to a hotel in New York to think about whether their marriage was worth saving. Millard decided he needed to do some thinking of his own. After a week of soul searching, he realized that his entire life was headed in the wrong direction; his priorities were wrong. Millard went to New York, and together with Linda, they turned their lives, along with their possessions, over to Christ. Later in this year of 1968, they retreated to Koinonia Farm, founded by Clarence Jordan, and there, with a small band of dedicated Christians, they created the concept of Koinonia Partners, and the Fund for Humanity, to go into partnership with God, to do his work in the world.

They saw the tremendous need for decent housing among the poor people of the world, and so the Habitat for Humanity project was born. Durable and efficient houses were designed, co-operatively built, and sold to families with no profit or interest added. They were given twenty years to pay for the houses, so that payments would be low enough for them to afford. As a result of this dedicated housing, and learning first-hand about the religion of Jesus.

Finally, the religion of Jesus calls for fidelity and courage. Courage was the very heart of His teachings. "Fear not", was his watchword; and patient endurance his ideal of strength of character. The teachings of Jesus constitute a religion of valor, courage, and heroism." (1582) "No armies of the world…", he declared, "…have ever displayed more courage and bravery than will be portrayed by you and your loyal successors, who shall go forth to all the world proclaiming the good news – the fatherhood of God, and the brotherhood of man." (1608)

Anyone who follows and grows in the religion of Jesus is almost certain to meet with opposition. Selfishness and greed always resist the leaven of love; egocentric pride and self-righteousness ever strive to limit the creative expression of others; and stereotyped religious dogma is eternally prepared to do battle with the enlarged insights of the Spirit of Truth. Jesus taught that nothing can ultimately defeat those sons and daughters of God whose lives are spirit directed. We should live fearlessly and rejoice in being pioneers of truth, beauty, and goodness. The march of truth cannot be stopped by those who only kill the body.

Jesus could have escaped the cross if he had conformed to the religious dogmas and institutional authorities of his day. Socrates would not have been forced to drink the cup of hemlock, if he had agreed to stop teaching young people in Athens. Giordano Bruno would not have been executed if he had disavowed belief in the new astronomical universe described by Copernicus. Savonarola would not have been hanged if he had stopped preaching about reforms needed in the church and civil life. John Huss could have escaped being burned at the stake if he had refrained from teaching liberal ideas. William Tyndale would not have died a martyr had he not published an English translation of the Bible.

So it is, that scores of valiant followers of the religion of Jesus have had the courage to live and witness to their faith, so that truth, beauty, and goodness – the rule of God in the hearts of men and women – might grow and prosper on our planet. This is the price of progress. "Happy are they", said Jesus, "…who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Happy are you when men shall revile you and persecute you, and say all manner of evil against you falsely. Rejoice, and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven." (1570) The Master assures us that this is only the beginning of triumphant living. They who endure the test and trials of spirit-centered living in the here and now, will find on the mansion worlds on high, a continuation of thrilling adventure and fulfilling accomplishment!

Here, then, is the unsurpassed and living religion of Jesus – his profound trust in the Fatherhood of God; his absolute faith in the kingdom of God as the relationship in which the best in human life is actualized; his grateful response in living a life of love and service toward God and his fellowmen; and, his stalwart courage in following the divine way in any and all of the circumstances of life. When these four basic principles of the religion of Jesus become the ruling tenets of your life, you have the resources for mastering all of the personal and material problems of life. These are the foundations of confident and creative living.

Jesus is the greatest person who has ever lived on our world. The faith by which he lived is yours for the taking. The abundant life which he experienced may also be yours. He is longing to guide you in this life of spiritual growth, fulfillment, and power. Jesus stands, in spirit, at the door of our hearts, and knocks. He wants to lead you into meaningful living; he wants to make your life significant through divine partnership. But only you can let him in; only you can give him all that you have, and all that you are. May I assure you that when you give him all that you have, then will be make you more than you are! (1285)

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The Living Religion of Jesus

(A bare-bones outline of the above around which you can arrange your own illustrations.)

Intro: Jesus’ entire life centered around a consciousness of God. All of the beliefs by which he lived grew out of this relationship with the Father.

• 1. First of all, Jesus taught that God controls the universe, and loves man as a Father loves his children.
• A. He assures us that God is our loving heavenly Father.
• i. We have nothing to fear.
• ii. The resources of the universe are on our side.
• B. He had a high regard for human nature, and saw man as a son of God with great potential.
• C. He inaugurated the Kingdom of God, the rule of the spirit of God in the heart of man.
• D. He taught that truth perception is at the heart of spiritual experience.
• i. Brings true personal freedom.
• ii. We live by spiritual principles, rather than by religious rules.
• iii. We place spiritual priorities of the kingdom first in our lives; other things then follow creatively.
• 2. Second, Jesus taught that faith and confidence in the spiritual realities was the foundation of life and sonship. It is the key to salvation.
• A. Faith is the only requirement for salvation. It is not where you are now, but the way you are facing which is the important thing.
• B. Utilize the "mind of Jesus", the Spirit of Truth for inner guidance. "As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he." Our mind-set controls our destiny. Growth is always from within.
• 3. Third, Jesus taught that love and service are the highest motives for living.
• A. The two great commandments: Love of God and man. Love integrates all of the positive and constructive capacities of man. Love is the most powerful human capacity.

The Challenges of Faith in the Quest for Cosmic Citizenship by David Kantor

1. Introduction to the Study: Correlation with The Urantia Book

Initial Perspectives from The Urantia Book

Note: This study attempts to coorelate several stage models of spiritual development described in The Urantia Book with the work of Dr. James Fowler as set forth in his book, Stages of Faith.  Dr. Fowler's work is based on the stage theories of psychological and social maturation developed by Erick Erickson, Jean Piaget and Lawrence Kohlberg. I have taken their work and attempted to correlate it with The Urantia Book material on faith and spiritual growth, in particular the ascent through the psychic circles of consciousness of progressive kinship with the cosmic actuality of the Supreme Being. Material from Dr. Paul Tillich's essay, Dynamics of Faith, is used in conjunction with material from The Urantia Book to provide a background understanding of faith to which the material on the stages of faith development is subsequently related.

Everyone reading this study has begun the journey of faith; a journey whose destination we understand to be the presence of the Universal Father whose nature is ultimate reality, ultimate beauty, ultimate goodness, ultimate truth and divine love.; While our creative spiritual imaginations provide us with insight into the nature of the goal of our journey of faith, we sometimes find ourselves puzzled and confused regarding the best way to attain that goal.

I would like to share with you a road map of the portions of this journey which we are likely to encounter during our lives here in this world as we progress from infancy to old age.; The authors tell us that if we embark upon this journey, ". . . you are sure to encounter, and if you have the courage, to traverse, the rugged hills of moral choosing and spiritual progress."

If we know something about the path ahead, which winds through these rugged hills of moral choosing, perhaps we will be better equipped to deal with the uncertainty and difficulty which The Urantia Book says we are sure to encounter.

The Urantia Book refers to this process as the ascent through the psychic circles -- the path which leads from the first moments of self-consciousness in childhood, to a consciousness of universe citizenship later in life. It is important to understand that this ascent through the psychic circles relates to personality integration with the Supreme Being. Hence, growing through the psychic circles involves the attainment of ever more meaningful levels of functional personality integration with the social mileu—the interpersonal environment—in which we find ourselves living. We become more real as we achieve increasing integration with the lives and purposes of others in combination with a pursuit of the Father's will.

"The universe is a whole; no thing or being exists or lives in isolation. Self-realization is potentially evil if it is antisocial. It is literally true: "No man lives by himself." Cosmic socialization constitutes the highest form of personality unification. Said Jesus: "He who would be greatest among you, let him become server of all." 56:10.14

As human beings we each have many concerns which demand our attention in our daily lives. We are concerned about our needs for shelter, food, clothing, economic security for our families, education and health care for our children. We have concerns about social and political matters. We also share some concerns about our spiritual lives and our personal relationships with God.

To help us think about these matters I would like to share some questions with you. These are questions which you should answer for yourself. Your answers will help you gain a deeper perspective on the primary elements of your spiritual life.

Some questions about those things which occupy your attention

1. In daily life, to which tasks do you devote your best time, energy and thinking?

2. What are the causes, dreams, goals or institutions to which you contribute time or creative effort?

3. As you live your life, what power or powers do you rely on and trust?

4. To what or to whom are you committed in life?; In death?

5. With whom or with what group do you share your most sacred and private hopes for your life and for the lives of those you love?

6. What are your most sacred hopes, your most compelling goals and the primary purposes in your life?

These questions are intended to help you become more aware of those realities which truly occupy the center of your life and command your creative attention.

Let’s try to summarize all these questions with another question -- What is the central value, or set of values, relative to which all of your other life situations are evaluated or subordinated?   Stated another way, “What is your ultimate concern in life?”

Do you structure your life around the needs of your job or career?  Do you evaluate everything on the basis of how it will effect you economically? Do you base your major life decisions on what you believe people in your community might think of you? Is your life structured around the needs of your family?

That which truly constitutes our personal religious life is the devotion with which we pursue that which is of greatest importance to us – that which we believe will bring fulfillment and meaning to our life. Our personal religion may be wholly material, social or spiritual, but we each have elements in our lives which we pursue with religious devotion. The task of religious growth as it relates to cosmic citizenship and personality integration, is to make sure that those central values to which we are devoted – our ultimate concerns – are truly spiritual in nature and cosmic in scope. The reason for this is to be sure that we don’t develop our lives relative to some temporary phenomenon in the universe which will one day collapse and require us to start over.

“Religion is not a specific function of life; rather is it a mode of living. True religion is a wholehearted devotion to some reality which the religionist deems to be of supreme value to himself and for all mankind. And the outstanding characteristics of all religions are: unquestioning loyalty and wholehearted devotion to supreme values. This religious devotion to supreme values is shown in the relation of the supposedly irreligious mother to her child and in the fervent loyalty of nonreligionists to an espoused cause.” 100:6.1

Carefully evaluating the above questions will give us an idea of how our personal religious life appears when evaluated on the basis of the ideas given in The Urantia Book. In The Urantia Book’s view of personal religious experience, the behaviors in which we engage as we pursue whatever reality we deem to be of supreme value, these constitute our religious life. From a psychological perspective, that to which we are supremely devoted plays the role of God in our lives.

Your God may be our career, our bank account, our family, our social image, or a role we play in a human institution or organization.

Important as each of these are, if they are treated as the highest center in our lives, they become idolatrous because they take a position in our inner lives which should be dominated by our personal relationship with the Father and the desire to do his will.

I am not suggesting that we sacrifice these important and necessary elements of our personal lives. What is required is that we subordinate them to the pursuit of the Father’s will.  That is to say, when we make decisions regarding our family lives, our careers, our economic needs, our social roles we learn to make them relative to a sincere seeking of the Father’s will – our consideration of God and our desire to do his will in all things must become our supreme value. Thus our spiritual experience can come to coordinate and integrate all of the other concerns which affect us in daily life.

Given this understanding of the religious life, what is faith?; Why is it important?; How does it grow and develop over the course of a human lifetime?

2. Paul Thillich's Perspective on Faith as Background for the Study

Faith as Devotion to One's Ultimate Concern

What is faith? For purposes of the present study we will consider faith to be our attitudes of devotion to that which is of greatest concern to us in life.

In much of the highly competitive developed world, economic success is the god to which many people are devoted. They may go to church on Sunday and consider themselves to be religious but their ultimate concern is with their economic success. Faith is a state of being ultimately concerned.

The nature of one s beliefs is significant in the life of the believer, but it does not matter for the formal definition of faith.

1780:5;;160:5.3 The object of religious devotion may be material or spiritual, true or false, real or unreal, human or divine. Religions can therefore be either good or evil.

1088:7;;99:3.6 Many individual social reconstructionists, while vehemently repudiating institutionalized religion, are, after all, zealously religious in the propagation of their social reforms."

Faith is not an act of the rational mind it is not a creation of the will. Neither is it an act of the unconscious. But it is an act in which both the rational and the nonrational elements of our being are transcended. Faith exists prior to any attempt to derive it from something else because any such attempt is itself an indicator of the existence of faith.

We are driven toward genuine spiritual faith by our awareness that we somehow belong to the infinite. Faith is similar to love in that we do not own love like a possession, but rather discover it as a quality of our interpersonal relationships. We learn how to enhance love, how to increase its presence through loyalty and devotion. Faith is like this; we cannot own it like a possession but we experience it as a quality of our orientation toward that which is of ultimate concern to us. And, as is the case with love, we learn how to enhance it and increase its power through loyalty and devotion.

Faith has been described as the infinite passion it is a passion for the infinite. In true faith the ultimate concern is a concern about that which is truly ultimate. In idolatrous faith, finite realities are elevated to the rank of ultimacy. The inescapable consequence of idolatrous faith is deep disappointment, a disappointment which penetrates into the very heart of our existence. Idolatrous faith finds its center in something which is more or less on the periphery. Therefore, the devotion of idolatrous faith leads to a loss of the center and to a disruption of the personality. The ecstatic character of even an idolatrous faith can hide this consequence only for a certain time. But finally it breaks into the open.

He who enters the sphere of faith enters the sanctuary of life. Where there is true spiritual faith, there is an awareness of holiness.

The human heart yearns for the infinite because that is where our finite nature wants to rest. In the infinite, the finite sees its own fulfillment. The feeling of being consumed in the presence of the divine is a profound expression of our relation to the holy. It is implied in every genuine act of faith, in every state of ultimate concern.

Faith, Doubt, Risk, and Courage

An act of faith is an act of a finite being who is attempting to orient himself with respect to the infinite. It is a finite act with all the limitations of a finite act. Faith is certain in so far as it is an experience of the holy. But faith is uncertain in so far as the infinite to which it is related is understood by a finite being. This element of uncertainty in faith cannot be removed, it must be accepted. And the element in faith which accepts this uncertainty is courage.

In the courageous acceptance of uncertainty, faith shows most visibly its dynamic character. Where there is daring and courage, there is always the possibility of failure. And in every act of faith this possibility is present. The contents of our ultimate concern, whether it be our nation, our material success, or God himself, are concerns whose real nature may not be accessible to immediate awareness. But the risk must be taken.

There is risk if what was considered as a matter of ultimate concern turns out to be a matter of temporary or transitory concern as for example, the attainment of social status. The risk to faith in ones ultimate concern is that what was considered to be a matter of ultimate concern may prove to be a matter of transitory concern. This is indeed the greatest risk we can take in life. For if it proves to be a failure, if that to which we have devoted ourselves turns out to have been a temporal creation of our imagination, the meaning of our life breaks down we find that we have surrendered ourselves to something which is not worthy of such surrender.

The most destructive form of doubt is not a doubt about facts or conclusions. Genuine skeptical doubt is an attitude of actually rejecting the possibility that we can be certain about anything. It is a doubt about whether it is possible to understand anything as being true. Therefore it cannot be refuted logically. Such an attitude necessarily leads either to despair or cynicism. And often, if this alternative becomes intolerable, it leads to indifference and the attempt to develop an attitude of complete unconcern. Skeptical doubt may serve an awakening and liberating function, but it also can prevent the development of a centered personality.

1766:4;;159:3.8 "Faith is to religion what sails are to a ship; it is an addition of power, not an added burden of life. There is but one struggle for those who enter the kingdom, and that is to fight the good fight of faith. The believer has only one battle, and that is against doubt--unbelief."

But the doubt which is inherent in faith is not skeptical doubt. It is the normal, healthy doubt which accompanies every risk. It does not question whether or not a certain proposition is true or false; but it is aware of the element of insecurity in every concept which we attempt to elevate to the level of that which represents the infinite.

At the same time, the doubt which is a part of faith accepts this insecurity in an act of courage. Faith includes courage. Therefore, it can include the doubt about itself. Any act in which courage accepts risk is an indicator of the existence of faith.

1223:3; 111:7.1 "Uncertainty with security is the essence of the Paradise adventure--uncertainty in time and in mind, uncertainty as to the events of the unfolding Paradise ascent; security in spirit and in eternity, security in the unqualified trust of the creature son in the divine compassion and infinite love of the Universal Father; uncertainty as an inexperienced citizen of the universe; security as an ascending son in the universe mansions of an all-powerful, all-wise, and all-loving Father."

Faith and Community

In order to explore the content of our faith we need language and stories. The religious language of sacred stories is created in the community of believers and cannot be fully understood outside this community. But within the community, the religious language enables the act of faith to realize a richer content because it embodies the combined experience of many truth seekers. Faith needs its language; without language and stories, faith could not be conscious of itself. This is the reason why faith communities are important.

When we participate in study groups we not only study The Urantia Book, but we also become more aware of the experiences and insights of others; we are enriched and we contribute to the strengthening of faith by the manner in which we participate

1094:2 ;100:0.2 Spiritual growth is mutually stimulated by intimate association with other religionists. Love supplies the soil for religious growth--an objective lure in the place of subjective gratification--yet it yields the supreme subjective satisfaction. And religion ennobles the commonplace drudgery of daily living.

The problem which arises here is that the community itself, with its own needs and attractions, stands in danger of replacing the life of faith. Communities of believers must evolve in a way which facilitates the relationship between God and each participant. The challenge for the community is to learn how to mobilize faith in the hearts of believers without becoming obsessed with ideology, without becoming an idolatrous replacement for the spiritual faith which originally led to the creation of the community

1487:1; 134:4.4-9"Religious peace--brotherhood--can never exist unless all religions are willing to completely divest themselves of all ecclesiastical authority and fully surrender all concept of spiritual sovereignty. God alone is spirit sovereign.

You cannot have equality among religions (religious liberty) without having religious wars unless all religions consent to the transfer of all religious sovereignty to some superhuman level, to God himself.

The kingdom of heaven in the hearts of men will create religious unity (not necessarily uniformity) because any and all religious groups composed of such religious believers will be free from all notions of ecclesiastical authority--religious sovereignty.

"God is spirit, and God gives a fragment of his spirit self to dwell in the heart of man. Spiritually, all men are equal. The kingdom of heaven is free from castes, classes, social levels, and economic groups. You are all brethren.

"But the moment you lose sight of the spirit sovereignty of God the Father, some one religion will begin to assert its superiority over other religions; and then, instead of peace on earth and good will among men, there will start dissensions, recriminations, even religious wars, at least wars among religionists.

"Freewill beings who regard themselves as equals, unless they mutually acknowledge themselves as subject to some supersovereignty, some authority over and above themselves, sooner or later are tempted to try out their ability to gain power and authority over other persons and groups. The concept of equality never brings peace except in the mutual recognition of some overcontrolling influence of supersovereignty."

Another problem faced by communities of believers deals with faith and doubt within the community of faith itself. The question is whether the dynamic concept of faith is incompatible with a community defined by creedal expressions or which relies on shared beliefs for the maintenance of social coherence. Such a situation will lead to problems if it excludes the element of doubt regarding the truth of the shared meanings which define the social boundaries of the community. The concept of the infallibility of a creed, shared beliefs, a decision by a council, a bishop, or the contents of a book excludes doubt as an element of faith in those who subject themselves to these authorities. They may have to struggle within themselves about their subjection; but after they have made the decision, no doubt can be admitted by them about the infallible statements of the authorities. Such a faith has become static, a non-questioning surrender not only to the ultimate, but also to its symbolic expression as formulated by the religious authorities. In this way something preliminary and conditional the human interpretation of the content of faith is treated as if it were ultimate and is elevated above the risk of doubt.

This is idolatrous faith because its object is a human formulation which is merely representative of the infinite, but not the infinite itself.

When I speak of the content of faith," I am referring to the stories, rituals of expression, and other factors which enable us to socialize our faith experience to share it with other travelers on the journey. The "object of faith" is the infinite; the "content of faith" consists of the stories we tell ourselves and each other about the nature of the infinite and our relationship to it.

Pride and fanaticism are the unmistakable symptoms of doubt which has been repressed. Doubt is overcome not by repression but by courage. Courage does not deny that there is doubt, but it accepts doubt as an inevitable expression of its inability to fully grasp the infinite. Real courage does not need the safety of an unquestionable conviction or belief. Real courage enables us to live with the risk without which no creative life is possible. Living faith is not a matter of doubtless certainty, but rather a matter of daring courage which accepts the possibility of failure.

When we talk about the possibility of failure in relation to faith, it is important to understand that the real risk of faith is in the domain of what we have chosen to believe is true about reality as a result of our experience of the presence of the infinite. There is always the chance that our beliefs have been constructed upon erroneous assumptions, or that they have been created by unmet needs of our unconscious minds.

Without an element of doubt we lose the power to have a faith capable of powering an unending quest for truth which includes constant critical evaluation, discarding of illusions and restructuring of the content of faith. Thus we are equipped to pursue the quest for the infinite itself, rather than becoming paralyzed by centering our lives on a set of beliefs which merely represent the infinite.

Communities of faith must be sure that they include a means for criticism and self-correction. The Urantia Book notes that Religion can be kept free from unholy secular alliances only by . . . a critically corrective philosophy. In this same section the revelators suggest guarding against fanaticism by the compensations of the scientific mental attitude.

One of the great dangers in the formation of religious communities is a paralysis of spiritual growth which occurs when members of the community construct their social identities out of the roles they imagine themselves to be playing in the community. This difficulty is compounded when those social roles are reinforced by other members of the community. Genuine spiritual growth will eventually demand the abandonment of identity based on roles played in human social systems.

Faith and Belief

One of the most ordinary misinterpretations of faith is to consider it an act of knowledge that has a low degree of evidence. In this situation, we are speaking of belief rather than faith. Often this takes the form of a type of knowledge which not only has a low degree of evidence, but which is supported by religious authority. In this case, an act of will by the believer is supposed to compensate for the lack of evidence to support the belief.

The Urantia Book has a whole section devoted to this topic with additional material on page 1108. I encourage you to review this important material as part of this study. These selections contain some of the clearest commentary about the nature of faith and belief in The Urantia Book.

1114:5;;101:8.1 "Belief has attained the level of faith when it motivates life and shapes the mode of living. The acceptance of a teaching as true is not faith; that is mere belief. Neither is certainty nor conviction faith. A state of mind attains to faith levels only when it actually dominates the mode of living. Faith is a living attribute of genuine personal religious experience. One believes truth, admires beauty, and reverences goodness, but does not worship them; such an attitude of saving faith is centered on God alone, who is all of these personified and infinitely more.

"Belief is always limiting and binding; faith is expanding and releasing. Belief fixates, faith liberates. But living religious faith is more than the association of noble beliefs; it is more than an exalted system of philosophy; it is a living experience concerned with spiritual meanings, divine ideals, and supreme values; it is God-knowing and man-serving. Beliefs may become group possessions, but faith must be personal. Theologic beliefs can be suggested to a group, but faith can rise up only in the heart of the individual religionist.

"Faith has falsified its trust when it presumes to deny realities and to confer upon its devotees assumed knowledge. Faith is a traitor when it fosters betrayal of intellectual integrity and belittles loyalty to supreme values and divine ideals. Faith never shuns the problem-solving duty of mortal living. Living faith does not foster bigotry, persecution, or intolerance.

"Faith does not shackle the creative imagination, neither does it maintain an unreasoning prejudice toward the discoveries of scientific investigation. Faith vitalizes religion and constrains the religionist heroically to live the golden rule. The zeal of faith is according to knowledge, and its strivings are the preludes to sublime peace."

1108:3;;101:3.4"Through religious faith the soul of man reveals itself and demonstrates the potential divinity of its emerging nature by the characteristic manner in which it induces the mortal personality to react to certain trying intellectual and testing social situations. Genuine spiritual faith (true moral consciousness) is revealed in that it:

• 1. causes ethics and morals to progress despite inherent adverse animalistic tendencies.

• 2. produces a sublime trust in the goodness of god even facing bitter disappointment and crushing defeat.

• 3. generates profound courage and confidence despite natural adversity and physical calamity.

• 4. exhibits inexplicable poise and sustaining tranquillity notwithstanding baffling diseases even acute physical suffering.

• 5. maintains a mysterious poise and composure of personality in the face maltreatment rankest injustice.

• 6. maintains a divine trust in ultimate victory spite of the cruelties seemingly blind fate and apparent utter indifference natural forces to human welfare.

• 7. persists in the unswerving belief god despite all contrary demonstrations of logic and successfully withstands other intellectual sophistries.

• 8. continues to exhibit undaunted faith in the soul's survival regardless of deceptive teachings, false science and persuasive delusions unsound philosophy.

• 9. lives and triumphs irrespective of the crushing overload complex partial civilizations modern times.

• 10. contributes to the continued survival of altruism in spite human selfishness, social antagonisms, industrial greeds, and political maladjustments.

• 11. steadfastly adheres to a sublime belief in universe unity and divine guidance regardless of the perplexing presence of evil sin.

• 12. goes right on worshiping god in spite of anything and everything. dares to declare, "even though he slay me, yet will i serve him."
  1260:2115:1.1 "Partial, incomplete, and evolving intellects would be helpless in the master universe, would be unable to form the first rational thought pattern, were it not for the innate ability of all mind, high or low, to form a universe frame in which to think. If mind cannot fathom conclusions, if it cannot penetrate to true origins, then will such mind unfailingly postulate conclusions and invent origins that it may have a means of logical thought within the frame of these mind-created postulates. And while such universe frames for creature thought are indispensable to rational intellectual operations, they are, without exception, erroneous to a greater or lesser degree.
  Further on in this study, when we discuss the stages of faith, we will see that the ascent through the psychic circles involves moving through a series of universe frames. We live within each one for a season, learning and growing. These are paradigms, frames of reference constructed of meanings and values. But sooner or later there comes a breakdown of our conceptual scaffolding, our universe frame, and we must move on to a more expanded one within which we can experience further growth.

3. The Specific Stages of Faith Development: James Fowler

• Personal values

• Social values

• Supportive stories

• Faith experience

• Faith challenges

1. the recognition and acceptance of life as having contradictory or inconsistent qualities.

2. a reworking of the image self and world integrating symbol, story scientific philosophic understanding.
3. an understanding that truth is found within numerous stories and interpretations, not exclusively one s own.
4. a claiming and reworking of the meaning value one's own life, past present.
5. steadfast and loyal devotion to doing the will of god, as it is best understood.
6. living a life of service -- to both friends and enemies.
7. non-resistance to evil
8. living out, through faith, the highest interpretation of golden rule -- learning to love one another as Jesus loved us.

1. (Stages with two numbers such as 5-6 indicate persons in transition between the two stages.)

Stage
Ages 0-6
Ages 7-12
Ages 13-20
Ages 21-30
Ages 31-40
Ages 41-50
Ages 51-60
Age 61+

fowler, james w., Stages of Faith, Harper: San Francisco, 1981 fowler, jung, c. g., The Undiscovered Self, Penguin: New York, 1958  jung, tillich, paul, Dynamics of Faith, Harper: New York, 1958 5. Supplemental Study: Stages of Faith Development in the Life of Jesus

Faith, Love, and Action

The concern of faith is identical with the desire of love; union with that to which one belongs and from which one feels estranged. We could even ask, Is there such a thing as love without faith? There is certainly love without the acceptance of doctrines; faith as a set of accepted and defended doctrines does not produce acts of love. But faith as the state of being ultimately concerned implies love the desire and urge toward union with that from which we feel separated. The more love is present, the more faith has conquered its demonic-idolatrous possibilities.

An idolatrous faith which gives ultimacy to a secondary concern stands against all other secondary concerns and excludes love relations between the representatives of contrasting claims. The fanatic cannot love that against which his fanaticism is directed, for "love is the desire to do good to others." Idolatrous faith is also confronted with the challenge of repressing the doubts which always characterize the elevation of something secondary to a level of ultimacy.

Lastly we must understand that faith as a state of being ultimately concerned reaches out into the world as action. This is faith which seeks to transform and unite with God all that which appears to be separated from him.

2047:6;;192:2.2"If you love me, Peter, feed my lambs. Do not neglect to minister to the weak, the poor, and the young. Preach the gospel without fear or favor; remember always that God is no respecter of persons. Serve your fellow men even as I have served you; forgive your fellow mortals even as I have forgiven you. Let experience teach you the value of meditation and the power of intelligent reflection."

1780:5;;160:5.3 "If something has become a religion in your experience, it is self-evident that you already have become an active evangel of that religion since you deem the supreme concept of your religion as being worthy of the worship of all mankind, all universe intelligences. If you are not a positive and missionary evangel of your religion, you are self-deceived in that what you call a religion is only a traditional belief or a mere system of intellectual philosophy."

The Element of Religious Concern: The Content of Faith

Again, when I speak of the content of faith I am referring to the beliefs, stories, rituals of expression, and other factors which enable us to socialize our faith experience to share it with other travelers on the journey.

Faith is never experienced in isolation from some form of content. It is experienced in, with and through it's content -- the ideas, language, stories, and rituals of a faith community. An analytic mind can understand the content of faith as being something different from the the spiritual experience of faith.

The Urantia Book contains stories about reality which help us understand our experience of faith as it relates to a personal universe -- a universe structured around relationships between personalities and personality systems. For most of us, these stories form a significant part of the content of our faith. Many people in our world use stories from the Bible or some other sacred text to accomplish the same spiritual purpose -- the illumination of the values which enable us to progress in our moral and spiritual lives.

What is important to appreciate is that the goal of our experience of faith is infinite, while the stories with which we attempt to understand and to socially express this experience of faith are finite. Therefore we should be aware from the beginning that our stories, our understandings, our sacred texts, our revelations, are always going to fall short of fully expressing that to which they point. It is a fact that, because of our extreme finitude as human beings, any way in which we attempt to symbolize the infinite is going to be very limited.

The Urantia Book refers to the paradigms within which we do our thinking and choosing as universe frames and we find a brief overview of the topic on page 1260. The revelators comment that,

"Conceptual frames of the universe are only relatively true; they are serviceable scaffolding which must eventually give way before the expansions of enlarging cosmic comprehension. The understandings of truth, beauty, and goodness, morality, ethics, duty, love, divinity, origin, existence, purpose, destiny, time, space, even Deity, are only relatively true. . . . Man must think in a mortal universe frame, but that does not mean that he cannot envision other and higher frames within which thought can take place."

One of the great dangers of religious life is that we can easily mistake a particular universe frame for reality itself and become arrested in our development. This is the basis of religious conflict and religious wars. When we have an experience of the presence of God, this experience may be made possible because of a relationship we have with a book, with a person, with a group, with a place, with an object, with a piece of music almost anything is capable of mediating the presence of God to us. The problems begin when we mistake the medium through which the presence of God is experienced for the experience itself.

These concepts should help us understand the nature of doubt. Once we have embarked upon the journey of faith, that which is at risk when we find ourselves doubting, is the content of our faith. We might find ourselves asking, Does The Urantia Book really contain the truth about reality? Or we might ask, Does the Bible really contain the truth about reality? We may have doubts about whether or not a particular book is a faithful guide which can be trusted to lead us to our goal. But the fact that such doubts disturb us is proof in itself that faith is operating in our lives we are ultimately concerned even when we are experiencing doubt about the way in which we understand or express our involvement with that ultimate concern.

If we understand this, and if we understand why The Urantia Book warns us about the relativity of concept frames, we can more easily appreciate why a ruthless quest for truth must ever be our guiding principle. If we are truly growing in our faith experience, we will move through a number of universe frames during our mortal lives, each providing a conceptual environment within which we can experience growth, but each of which stands in danger of becoming an idolatrous substitute for the transcendent goal of faith -- an idolatrous substitute which can prevent further growth.

The remainder of my presentation will be devoted to sharing with you the road map of the faith journey which I mentioned earlier. We re going to review the various stages of faith through which we pass on our mortal journey. We will also consider the psychological and spiritual crises which characterize the transitions between these stages.

1097:6;;100:4.2 Religious perplexities are inevitable; there can be no growth without psychic conflict and spiritual agitation. The organization of a philosophic standard of living entails considerable commotion in the philosophic realms of the mind. Loyalties are not exercised in behalf of the great, the good, the true, and the noble without a struggle. Effort is attendant upon clarification of spiritual vision and enhancement of cosmic insight. And the human intellect protests against being weaned from subsisting upon the nonspiritual energies of temporal existence. The slothful animal mind rebels at the effort required to wrestle with cosmic problem solving.

We will find that meaningful growth demands a willingness to experience difficulty.

The Challenges of Faith in the Quest for Cosmic Citizenship:  Introduction to the Stages of Faith Development

In a study of The Urantia Book, it becomes possible to construct a model of spiritual development in which there are specific stages through which we pass on our journey from infancy to old age.

In Paper 180 we're told about the four levels of the Golden Rule. In Paper 101 we're told about four levels of philosophy. Hidden away in Paper 5 is a discussion of four levels of the realization of values. And in Paper 110 the seven psychic circles are described as "progressive levels of consciousness of experiential relationship to the Supreme Being -- cosmic citizenship."

If we attempt to find some correlation between these developmental stages, a model emerges which fits nicely with developmental stages of psycho-social growth identified by Erick Erickson, Jean Piaget, Lawrence Kohlberg, and James Fowler.

Please note that not everyone fits into the pattern which is described here. Some people move through all the stages; others move slowly through some of the stages but not all of them; the majority of people find equilibrium at a particular stage and never move on at all.

It is also important to appreciate that these stages refer to faith attitudes which dominate the decision-making processes of the personality. For example, we may be in intellectual accord with the idea that all men and women are our brothers and sisters, but this does not mean that we have yet reached the place of social or spiritual maturity where we make our all our value choices relative to this idea in our interactions with people in day-to-day life.

These stages of faith may be understood as paradigms within which our lives as persons take place. We'll consider each of these stages to be conditioned by five factors which are:

We will proceed by looking at each stage of faith and the changes which occur in the five elements as we progress through life.

Primal Faith: Parental establishment of personality foundations for spiritual development

There are some important precursors to faith which develop between infancy and the beginning of language acquirement.

Fundamental faith attitudes are established almost exclusively as a result of the relationship between the newborn child and its caretakers. The Urantia Book refers to parenthood as the supreme responsibility of human existence. Jesus exalted family life as the highest human duty. I refer you as well to the conversation which Jesus had with John Mark about the importance of early home life in Paper 177.

In this early stage of life the seeds of trust, courage, hope and love must be nurtured in an environment in which fears of abandonment, inconsistencies and deprivations may be present. The quality of personal interaction, the strength of trust, autonomy, hope and courage developed in this period support all that comes later in faith development.

Stage 1 Faith: Intuitive/Projective Faith

The faith experience at this stage consists of the attitudes which we form toward our interactions with our primary caregivers.

Stage 1 Personal Values

In this stage personal values center completely around the needs of the self.

Stage 1 Social Values

In this stage we learn how to manage life by imitating our primary caretakers. We are powerfully influenced by their examples, moods, actions and the characters in the stories they tell us.

Ideas of justice and fairness are viewed in terms of punishment and reward.

We assume without question that the experiences and perceptions we have of life represent the only available perspective and that this perspective is identical to that which is held by everyone else.

Stage 1 Supportive Stories

Imagination, stimulated by stories, gestures and symbols, and not yet controlled by logical thinking, combines with intuition and feelings to create long-lasting images that represent both the protective and threatening powers in our life.

Stage 1 Faith Experience

We experience faith as trust in primary care givers. Our beliefs are unconsciously assimilated from the basic beliefs and attitudes of family members.

Stage 1 Faith Challenges

The challenge of this period results from the emergence of rational thinking combined with the arrival of a Thought Adjuster. At the heart of this transition is a growing concern to know how life works and to clarify for ourselves the distinctions between what is real and what only seems to be real.

Stage 2 Faith: Mythic/Literal Faith

The emergent strength of this stage is the forming of stories of faith; stories which help to explain our role in social systems, and which contain our first symbolizations of the mysterious and the unknown. At this stage we experience entrance into the seventh psychic circle. Cosmic citizenship becomes potential here because the personality has exhibited the capacity to make choices relative to the well-being of other personalities.

Stage 2 Personal Values

In this stage other people are viewed in terms of how they will impact the needs of the self to feel secure, needed, loved, free, important, and esteemed.

A basic form of moral judgment emerges which is based on ideas of reciprocal fairness. I did this for you, now you must do this for me.

Understandings of God in this stage also take on a pattern of reciprocity. We engage in prayers and acts of praise in an attempt to store up God s good favor against times when special help or forgiveness may be needed -- we try to make deals with God.

Stage 2 Social Values

The boundaries of social consciousness in this stage extend to people who are like us in familial, ethnic, racial, class and religious terms.

The locus of authority is in the family and the family s immediate community. People in authority roles recognized by the family become authority figures for us. Experiences in school and exposure to mass media create the beginning of awareness that a larger world exists than that of the family and immediate community.

Stage 2 Supportive Stories

If we picture the flow of our lives as a river, this stage tells stories that describe our perspective from the middle of the river. In this stage we do not have the ability to step out on the bank beside the river and reflect on stories about the nature of the river itself.

In this stage we begin to take on for ourselves the stories, beliefs and observances that symbolize belonging to our community.

Stage 2 Faith Experience

In this stage we place full trust in our primary care givers and the values of our significant community. We become idealists and assume that everyone and everything should be perfect -- family, friends, teachers, school, neighborhood and church. "Perfection" at this stage is understood to be conformance to the values of our significant community.

We tend to possess a great degree of certitude; we have complete confidence in our perceptions (things are either black or white) and in our opinions (we are always right).

Stage 2 Faith Challenges

Our transition into Stage 3 begins with the discovery that there are competing stories whose meanings contradict each other. This leads to reflection on those various meanings. The transition to more formal thinking makes such reflection possible and necessary. Previous literalism breaks down and an overconfidence in our own assessments leads to disillusionment with previous teachers and teachings. Conflicts between authoritative stories must be faced. For example, conflicts between the Genesis story of creation and evolutionary theory. The discovery of such conflicts as well as growing awareness of a greater world create the need to find some means of unifying the increasingly diverse content of mind and experience.

Stage 3 Faith: Conventional and Synthesized Faith

In this stage faith attitudes are synthesized from one s own experience combined with the attitudes expressed within one s significant social communities. The emergent strength of this stage is the forming of identity and the shaping of a personal faith. In many people this stage is sustained throughout life.

Sage 3 Personal Values

In Stage 3, values center on the support of roles which we imagine ourselves to be playing in the social environment. Moral judgment is based largely on interpersonal expectations and implicit understandings reached between people.

Stage 3 Social Values

In stage 3, other persons are known and evaluated in terms of their supposed personal qualities and interpersonal ways of relating.

Our self-image is increasingly derived from roles we imagine ourselves to be playing in our families and in our peer relationships. In a strongly religious person, identity at this stage is usually derived from an imagined role in a powerful mythological story or drama.

Stage 3 Supportive Stories

The forming of a personal myth is a primary element of this stage -- the myth of our own becoming. We create this personal myth by incorporating stories of our past and anticipated future into our understanding of the world.

Because at this stage our religious hunger is for a God who knows, accepts and confirms our deepest self, with its developing myth of personal identity and faith, it is not surprising that many of the images for transcendence that appeal to us in this stage have the characteristics of a divinely personal significant other, such as a personal saint, angel, companion or other divine being.

Stage 3 Faith Experience

In this stage, the growing extensions of social boundaries lead to the synthesis of a world view derived from stories and symbols of the family, religion of the family, peer group beliefs, and mass media.

At this stage, faith must provide a coherent orientation in the midst of an increasingly complex and diverse range of involvements. Faith must unify values and information; and it must provide a basis for temporal identity.

Stage 3 faith typically has its rise and ascendancy in adolescence, but for the majority of people it becomes a permanent place of equilibrium. It is a conformist stage in the sense that it is acutely tuned to the expectations and judgments of other people. It does not yet have a sure enough grasp on its own identity and autonomous judgment to construct and maintain an independent perspective.

At Stage 3 we acquire an ideology, a more or less consistent clustering of values and beliefs, but we have not examined it and in a sense are unaware of having it. Differences of outlook with others are experienced as differences in kind of person.

Stage 3 Faith Challenges

At this stage, formal operational thinking, with its new capacity for reflection on our own thought and ways of experiencing, invites us mentally to step outside the flow of life s river and to analyze the process. From a vantage point on the river bank, we can take a look at the flow of the river as a whole.

Faith at this stage is synthetic in that it is non-analytical; It develops as a result of choosing various meanings and values which exist in the social environment and which are implemented in the behaviors of significant persons in our social communities.

A discussion of values and beliefs by a Stage 3 person is a means of asserting his or her solidarity with the community which is considered one's own and from which social identity is derived. This person does not discuss values in order to be sure that they accurately reflect cosmic reality. Rather, in discussions he or she seeks to establish a sense of commonality with significant other individuals or members of a significant community. In fact, at this stage intellectual analysis of the elements of faith is often viewed as a lack of faith, a failure of faith, or a betrayal of faith.

The dangers or deficiencies in this stage are twofold. The expectations and evaluations of others can be so compellingly internalized that later autonomy of judgment and action can be jeopardized. Interpersonal betrayals may give rise either to despair about the possiblities of a personal God or to a compensatory intimacy with God which is not really related to practical matters of daily life.

Factors contributing to the breakdown of Stage 3 and to readiness for transition may include: serious clashes or contradictions between valued authority sources, or the encounter with experiences or perspectives that lead to critical reflection on how our beliefs and values have formed and changed, and on how relative they are to our particular group, education or background.

Stage 4 Faith: The Reflective Faith of an Individual

The emergent strength of this stage is the reflective construction of a personal ideology and the formation of a vocational dream with its imagined social identity.

Stage 4 Personal Values

In this stage we become conscious of being an individual with values which may differ from those held by our significant social groups. But we are still not likely to attend to the unconscious factors influencing our judgments, beliefs and behaviors.

Stage 4 Social Values

In Stage 4 we construct a perspective more aware of social systems and institutions. The ability to function relative to social systems seems to be the key to breaking through the third psychic circle. Just as the making of a moral choice indicates the presence of a personality ready to begin the process of developing interpersonal relationships, so does the ability to function consciously as a living part of a social system indicate potential for functioning consciously as a living part of the Supreme. This means that we have become capable of making moral choices which are simultaneously relative to the welfare of a social system as well as to the welfare of specific individuals comprising that social system. This is the point at which we are assigned a personal seraphic guardian of destiny. This seraphim will then work to guide us through the remaining circles, toward functional identity with the Supreme and true cosmic citizenship.

Many people complete only half of the transition to Stage 4. By virtue of experience, many persons come face-to-face with the relativity of their perspectives on life. But they fail to interrupt their reliance on external sources of authority—and may even strengthen their reliance upon them—in order to cope with the insecurity of this relativity.

Stage 4 Supportive Stories

Rational thinking dominates; symbols and stories which were meaningful in earlier stages are consciously rejected although they inevitably continue to operate unconsciously. The dominant story of this stage is often a vocational dream with it's projected identity in the social mileu.

Inherited beliefs and stories are replaced with stories and symbols of the scientific and philosophical world.

Stage 4 Faith Experience

For those who have previously enjoyed an unquestioning relationship with God and to their fellow worshipers through a set of religious symbols, the Stage 4 translation of the meanings and values of religious symbols into the elements of rational thought can bring a sense of loss, dislocation, grief and even guilt. Of necessity, if we are to make this transition, we must grapple with doubt and we must have the courage to take the risk of moving forward to wherever the unflinching quest for truth might take us.

1773:5;;160:1.8 "The solution of life problems requires courage and sincerity. Only honest and brave individuals are able to follow valiantly through the perplexing and confusing maze of living to where the logic of a fearless mind may lead. And this emancipation of the mind and soul can never be effected without the driving power of an intelligent enthusiasm which borders on religious zeal. It requires the lure of a great ideal to drive man on in the pursuit of a goal which is beset with difficult material problems and manifold intellectual hazards."

Stage 4's strength has to do with its capacity for critical evaluation. But there is danger in this strength. An excessive confidence in the conscious mind and in critical thought can create excessive self-confidence. At this stage there is usually passionate attachment to the philosophical or metaphysical universe frames which we construct for ourselves.

Stage 4 Faith Challenges

The task of this stage is the construction of an individual world view based on critical, reflective thought.

Stage 5 Faith: Integrative/Expanding Faith

Unusual before midlife, Stage 5 knows intimately the sacrament of defeat and the reality of irrevocable commitments and acts. Its emergent strength is the ability to live with paradox and to develop a sense of responsibility for the world which spans beyond the attainables of one s lifetime.

Stage 5 Personal Values

Stage 5 involves going beyond the rational systems and clear boundaries of Stage 4 to include our unconscious processes. In this stage we must come to terms with the fact that the conscious ego is not master in its own house. Stage 5 understands that the content of faith, as well as the symbols and stories used to understand and share faith, are all shaped by unconscious processes.

The disrupting trends of our unconscious processes are one of the great problems of religious life. If we fail to consciously establish a uniting center of values, relative to which we attempt to relate all of the processes of our inner lives—including our unconscious needs and desires—the result can be an uncomfortable failure of personality integration.

By this I mean that we find ourselves functioning relative to different sets of values in different social settings. We have failed to integrate our personality relative to a central core of values. The establishment of such a central core of values results in an orientation of personality which persists across our participation in various social contexts. Achieving this degree of personality integration is a crucial precursor to Adjuster fusion. It is a necessary achievement for the attainment of a functional level of cosmic citizenship.

Moral judgment in stage 5 reaches beyond the interests of the self and one's community and seeks higher principles which are universal in nature. There is a deepened sense of self as both individual and an integral part of the human community. There is a recognition of oneself as paradox: both gifted and flawed, strong and weak. There may be a revival and expansion of earlier perceptions of the self as defined by a role played in a metaphysical drama.

The tasks of this stage are:

Stage 5 Social Values

The boundary of social consciousness now seeks to become more universal in nature. There is a deepened interest in the values of groups, social classes and traditions other than one's own.

There is an integration of our judgments and experiences with reflection on claims made by others and of various expressions of cumulative human wisdom. We begin to function in more consciously effective liason with the Adjuster in the choosing of the values relative to which we make our decisions.

Symbolic thinking regains equal value with critical and reflective thinking. The power and logic of the rational intellect is increasingly utilitzed to identify and integrate unconscious processes. Old symbols acquire a new richness of meaning and value. There is a growing recognition that all knowing is metaphoric; there is a readiness for participation in the reality expressed in symbol and myth.

Our world view is becomes that of the universe as a living organism of which the self is a living, contributing part. This is not merely an intellectual assent to an idea. Rather does this concept of the universe as a living organism become the central point of value relative to which we choose the moral and spiritual values which are implemented into our behaviors and decision-making processes.

Stage 5 Supportive Stories

At Stage 5, self-selected supportive stories provide symbolic representations of the infinite. There is an openness to meanings and values which might be derived from other stories. There is a recognition that the purpose of stories is to facilitate the choosing of higher meanings and values rather than to authoritatively represent actual reality.

Stage 5 Faith Experience

In the domain of faith there is an increasing effort to live relative to one s best understanding of God s purposes. There is a sense that we are participants in a created, ordered universe; that the Creator is ultimately in control; that our existence contains meaning and is of value in the universe.

Belief at this stage includes a realization and acceptance of the fact that all human ideas and understandings are fallible and destined to change. There is an understanding that God alone is infallible and changeless. A genuine openness to the truths of traditions and communities other than one s own appears.

Stage 5 Faith Challenges

Stage 4 is satisfied with an either/or , black and white view of reality in which concepts are well-defined by rigorous logical thinking. Stage 5 sees both (or the many) sides of an issue simultaneously and suspects that things are organically related to each other.

Stage 5 understands that truth is more multidimensional and organically interdependent than most theories or accounts of truth can grasp. Stage 5 also sees that the relativity of religious traditions which matters is not their relativity to each other, but their relativity to the reality to which they mediate relationship. Stage 5's radical openness to the truth of other traditions is not mere tolerance; it stems from the awareness that the reality of the infinite is greater than any medium of expression.

The new strength of this stage is a capacity to fully accept the most powerful meanings of our personal experience or of our social group, while simultaneously recognizing that these values are relative, partial and inevitably distorting apprehensions of transcendent reality. The danger of this stage lies in the direction of a paralyzing complacency or cynical withdrawal, due to its paradoxical understanding of truth.

1138:5;;103:7.7 "What both developing science and religion need is more searching and fearless self-criticism, a greater awareness of incompleteness in evolutionary status. The teachers of both science and religion are often altogether too self-confident and dogmatic. Science and religion can only be self-critical of their facts. The moment departure is made from the stage of facts, reason abdicates or else rapidly degenerates into a consort of false logic."

Stage 5 involves a critical recognition of our social unconscious the myths, ideal images and prejudices built deeply into the self-system by virtue of our nurture within a particular social class, religious tradition, ethnic group or the like.

Crisis leading from Stage 5 to Stage 6

The crisis leading to Stage 6 is the recognition that loyalty to emerging new meanings and values may require sacrifice -- of our lifestyle, social position, or in some cases, of life itself.

Stage 6 Faith: Universalizing Faith

Here we begin to participate in the faith of Jesus as described in Paper 196. This is also the level of the first psychic circle.

Stage 6 Personal Values

In Stage 6 the center of value is the evolving Supreme Being. All moral values are calculated relative to this central reality and an attempt is made to understand the will of God as a critical determiner of value choices. The self and all others are regarded as children of God.

Stage 6 Social Values

This stage sees the emergence of universal ethical principles. The boundaries of social consciousness are expanded to include personal identification with an evolving universe of personality relationships

Not only does Stage 6 understand its relationship to the Supreme, the Stage 6 individual s life is dominated by motives deriving from this insight. Stage 6 understands the nature of one s participation in an inclusive commonwealth of being. While Stage 5 acts out of loyalty to the present order, to its institutions, groups, and compromise procedures, Stage 6 involves becoming an activist incarnation of the imperatives of the great commandment which Jesus gave us -- that we love one another as he loved us.

The locus of authority is centered on personal judgment informed by the experiences and truths of previous stages, purified of egoistic striving, and linked by disciplined intuition to the principle of being and to the purposes of a transcendent power.

The world is understood as a living part of a universal spiritual creation of a divinely integrated intelligence.

Stage 6 Supportive Stories

Personal and social identity at Stage 6 is experienced as relationship to the Supreme. It transcends forms of social identity projected from roles in social or metaphysical stories which supported faith in earlier stages. Stories may be used to symbolize various truths but the individual is likely to draw upon a larger pool of stories instead of relying on a single story.

In earlier stages our stories provided a means for imagining and projecting identity within the social mileu. Stage 6 identity becomes a repercussion of our fuller participation in the work of the Supreme. It is no longer something we project and try to sustain -- consciously or unconsciously. Someone like Mother Thresea might be a good example of a person whose social identity was a repercussion of her service to the Supreme rather than an artifact created by her psychological processes and projected into her social environment.

Stage 6 Faith Experience

Stage 6 faith is faith in God and in God s purposes; the dedication of our will to the doing of the will of God to the best of our understanding.

In stage 6, beliefs about God become less important than our personal experience of God as active and present in our life and in the world.

Stage 6 Faith Challenges

The tasks of this stage are:

Stage 6 is exceedingly rare. The persons best described by it have become incarnators and actualizers of the spirit of an inclusive and fulfilled human community. They are powerful in the sense that they create zones of liberation from the social, political, economic and ideological shackles we place and tolerate on human life. Through their decisions and actions they help humanity to experientially know the meaning of living in the presence of God.

1095:6;;100:2.2 "Spiritual growth is first an awakening to needs, next a discernment of meanings, and then a discovery of values. The evidence of true spiritual development consists in the exhibition of a human personality motivated by love, activated by unselfish ministry, and dominated by the wholehearted worship of the perfection ideals of divinity. And this entire experience constitutes the reality of religion as contrasted with mere theological beliefs."

Beyond paradox and polarities, persons in this stage are grounded in a oneness with the Supreme. Their visions and commitments free them for a passionate yet detached spending of the self in love, devoted to overcoming division, oppression, and violence.

It is important to appreciate that we are not engaged in the faith adventure alone. God is seeking to find us and to commune with us.

1733:6;;155:6.18 "You are my apostles, and to you religion shall not become a theologic shelter to which you may flee in fear of facing the rugged realities of spiritual progress and idealistic adventure; but rather shall your religion become the fact of real experience which testifies that God has found you, idealized, ennobled, and spiritualized you, and that you have enlisted in the eternal adventure of finding the God who has thus found and sonshipped you."

4. How Do We Progress Through the Stages of Faith?

How Do We Progress?

How do we go about traversing these stages of growth? These stages should not be viewed as levels of achievement, but rather descriptions of stages we will encounter in a natural, evolutionary process. Our efforts should be directed toward the tasks of the stage in which we find ourselves, rather than an effort to force a transition to the next stage.

In our efforts to traverse the psychic circles, we might ask, "What is it that retards our growth and prevents us from moving into the next higher circle?" The answer is "fear." It is fear, The Urantia Book tells us, which is the opposite of faith. We are told that one of the great tasks of mortal life is to transmute the fear inherited from our evolutionary origins into the faith of our spiritual heritage.

It is fear which keeps us from progressing—most often a fear that critical evaluation of our beliefs and assumptions might expose illusions which we have found comforting and upon which we have come to depend for identity. One of the greatest betrayals of spiritual integrity in which we might engage is to use the concept of "faith" as an excuse to avoid critical evaluation. "Unreasoned fear is a master intellectual fraud practiced upon the evolving mortal soul."

The boundary between our present circle of attainment and the next circle is really the boundary between our faith and our fear; the boundary represents unconquered fear. For example, in the seventh circle when the ascender's social consciousness is based on the immediate family and the family's community, it is fear and uncertainty regarding personal relationships outside this boundary which keeps the ascender confined to this circle.

When this fear is transmuted into faith, the ascender's social boundaries expand and it is possible to move into the next higher circle. This higher circle, in turn, has a boundary of fear which must be conquered before additional progress may be made. Thus it is a process of transmuting fear into faith which enables us to traverse these circles and eventually become comfortable functioning as a cosmic citizen. Any time we find that we are dividing people up into "us" and "them" categories and relating to members of the different categories with different sets of values, we can be sure that we are in one of the lower stages of development and that fear—conscious or unconscious—is playing a dominant role in shaping our behavior.

The admonitions to spiritual growth which we find in The Urantia Book will work at any stage and will faithfully guide us on our path.

These admonitions for growth are:

One of the beauties of the teachings of Jesus is that if we simply follow his great commandment, which leads to worship and service, we will find ourselves progressing in a natural manner. Jesus was not an administrator who came to give us rules and regulations, he is our creator and he came to tell us how to live progressively and meaningfully within the system which he created.

1773:5;;160:1.8 The wise and effective solution of any problem demands that the mind shall be free from bias, passion, and all other purely personal prejudices which might interfere with the disinterested survey of the actual factors that go to make up the problem presenting itself for solution. The solution of life problems requires courage and sincerity. Only honest and brave individuals are able to follow valiantly through the perplexing and confusing maze of living to where the logic of a fearless mind may lead. And this emancipation of the mind and soul can never be effected without the driving power of an intelligent enthusiasm which borders on religious zeal. It requires the lure of a great ideal to drive man on in the pursuit of a goal which is beset with difficult material problems and manifold intellectual hazards.

1209:4;;110:6.4 "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. By such a balanced growth does man ascend the circles of planetary progression one by one, from the seventh to the first."

These factors, if embraced, can lead us through these stages of growth. Not only do they lead from one stage to another, but they provide for a full realization of the potentials within each stage. Jesus commented to John that he must have . . . faith in the effectiveness of the supreme human desire to do the will of God—to be like God. ;

But perhaps the best way to study this path of faith development would be to study the process as it unfolded in the life of Jesus.

Distribution of Stages of Faith by Age in the Research Sample

Research of Dr. James Fowler

Suggested reading:

The Challenges of Faith in the Quest for Cosmic Citizenship:

Developmental Stages in the Life of Jesus

A thorough study of Part IV of The Urantia Book will lead the student into a much deeper appreciation for what was involved in the traversal of these stages in the life of the Master. The following is only an outline provided for use by the reader in the pursuit of a deeper study.

"Thus ends the career of the Nazareth lad, and begins the narrative of that adolescent youth‑‑the increasingly self‑conscious divine human‑‑who now begins the contemplation of his world career as he strives to integrate his expanding life purpose with the desires of his parents and his obligations to his family and the society of his day and age." 124:6.18

The return of Ganid and Gonod to India marked the end of the chapter in Jesus' life which might be termed, "the mission of Joshua the teacher. 133:9.6

"Jesus now entered upon the fourth and last stage of his human life in the flesh. The first stage was that of his childhood, the years when he was only dimly conscious of his origin, nature, and destiny as a human being. The second stage was the increasingly self‑conscious years of youth and advancing manhood, during which he came more clearly to comprehend his divine nature and human mission. This second stage ended with the experiences and revelations associated with his baptism." 157:6.3

"The third stage of the Master's earth experience extended from the baptism through the years of his ministry as tegether and healer and up to this momentous hour of Peter's confession at Caesarea‑Philippi. This third period of his earth life embraced the times when his apostles and his immediate followers knew him as the Son of Man and regarded him as the Messiah." 157:6.3

"The fourth and last period of his earth career began here at Caesarea‑Philippi and extended on to the crucifixion. This stage of his ministry was characterized by his acknowledgment of divinity and embraced the labors of his last year in the flesh. During the fourth period, while the majority of his followers still regarded him as the Messiah, he became known to the apostles as the Son of God. Peter's confession marked the beginning of the new period of the more complete realization of the truth of his supreme ministry as a bestowal Son on Urantia and for an entire universe, and the recognition of that fact, at least hazily, by his chosen ambassadors." 157:6.3;

"Just as men must progress from the consciousness of the human to the realization of the divine, so did Jesus ascend from the nature of man to the consciousness of the nature of God. And the Master made this great ascent from the human to the divine by the conjoint achievement of the faith of his mortal intellect and the acts of his indwelling Adjuster. The fact‑realization of the attainment of totality of divinity (all the while fully conscious of the reality of humanity) was attended by seven stages of faith consciousness of progressive divinization. These stages of progressive self‑realization were marked off by the following extraordinary events in the Master's bestowal experience:" 196:1.6 ;

Stages of "faith consciousness of progressive self-realization" in the life of Jesus:

• 1. The arrival of the Thought Adjuster.
• 1425:1, 129:4.2 "The purely human religious experience‑‑the personal spiritual growth‑‑of the Son of Man well‑nigh reached the apex of attainment during this, the twenty‑ninth year. This experience of spiritual development was a consistently gradual growth from the moment of the arrival of his Thought Adjuster until the day of the completion and confirmation of that natural and normal human relationship between the material mind of man and the mind‑endowment of the spirit‑‑the phenomenon of the making of these two minds one, the experience which the Son of Man attained in completion and finality, as an incarnated mortal of the realm, on the day of his baptism in the Jordan."
• 2. The messenger of Immanuel who appeared to him at Jerusalem when he was about twelve years old.
• Some time after this experience, during his 17th year, " Jesus made great progress in the organization of his mind. Gradually he had brought his divine and human natures together, and he accomplished all this organization of intellect by the force of his own decisions and with only the aid of his indwelling Monitor, just such a Monitor as all normal mortals on all postbestowal‑Son worlds have within their minds. So far, nothing supernatural had happened in this young man's career except the visit of a messenger, dispatched by his elder brother Immanuel, who once appeared to him during the night at Jerusalem. 127:2.12
• 3. The manifestations attendant upon his baptism.
• [See "The Baptism of Jesus," Page 1510, Paper 136, Section 2]
• 4. The experiences on the Mount of Transfiguration.
• 136:3.5While he tarried on the mountain, talking with Gabriel, the Constellation Father of Edentia appeared to Jesus and Gabriel in person, saying: "The records are completed. The sovereignty of Michael No. 611,121 over his universe of Nebadon rests in completion at the right hand of the Universal Father. I bring to you the bestowal release of Immanuel, your sponsor‑brother for the Urantia incarnation. You are at liberty now or at any subsequent time, in the manner of your own choosing, to terminate your incarnation bestowal, ascend to the right hand of your Father, receive your sovereignty, and assume your well‑earned unconditional rulership of all Nebadon. I also testify to the completion of the records of the superuniverse, by authorization of the Ancients of Days, having to do with the termination of all sin‑rebellion in your universe and endowing you with full and unlimited authority to deal with any and all such possible upheavals in the future. Technically, your work on Urantia and in the flesh of the mortal creature is finished. Your course from now on is a matter of your own choosing."
• [See Plans for Public Work page 1514, Paper 136, Section 4]
• 5. The morontia resurrection.
• [See The Morontia Transit page 2020, Paper 189, Section 1]
• 6. The spirit ascension.
• [See The Master s Ascension page 2057, Paper 183, Section 5]
• 7. The final embrace of the Paradise Father, conferring unlimited sovereignty of his universe.
• [See The Last Group Prayer page 1963, Paper 182, Section 1]

Parallels Between Major Contemporary Theories of Structural and Psycho-social Development removed from original article

The Dynamics of Inner Spiritual Guidance

Dr. Meredith J. Sprunger

Basic Conditions Which Facilitate the Reception of Spiritual Guidance

• 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.
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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.

Why Study Philosophy? Why Study Theology? Perspectives from The Urantia Book   by Steven Hecht

Truth is not a state so much as a process—the process of living. The Urantia Book teaches this. This insight is crucial for postmodern religion and its understanding of divinity: God—divinity—is not to be found in a body of belief or in a body of knowledge. God is not a state of being, even the highest state of being. God is beyond Being, The postmodern God is divinity in the process of finding God in the other person—in the call, the divine command in that other to serve the other, to find God. In The Urantia Book Jesus was able to describe this call as the kingdom of heaven, the will of God. Postmodern philosophy and The Urantia Book are able to say that the ability to hear that command has little to do with belief and everything to do with faith.

INTRODUCTION: WHY STUDY PHILOSPHY? WHY STUDY THEOLOGY?

We can begin by asking: Why talk about philosophy? Why talk about theology? Why consider the history and significance of philosophy and theology for readers of The Urantia Book? Isn’t all this in the end a bunch of intellectual chatter? What is the point if we love one another and dedicate ourselves to serving the will of God in our lives?

We might start by considering that the word “philosophy” means love of wisdom. I’ll suggest to you that the wisdom of love is potentiated by the love of wisdom. Even the most humble among us can possess a non-intellectual but divinely-guided wisdom that will lead her into the secure embrace of the spirit of God. But we are told that “[i]ntellectual deficiency or educational poverty unavoidably handicaps higher religious attainment,” just as we are warned that these intellectual factors also become “handicapping and embarrassing” if they are overdeveloped. (102:3.1)

After all is said and done, the highest adjutant mind-spirit we are blessed with is the spirit of wisdom. The spirit of wisdom is “the spirit coordinator and articulator of the work of all the other” adjutant mind-spirits and represents “the inherent tendency of all moral creatures towards orderly and progressive evolutionary advancement.” (36:5.12) The love of wisdom—philosophy—constitutes one of the three aspects of our “reality response” to, and as, the cosmic mind, which the Universal Censor informs us is “the intellectual potential of the grand universe….The Master Spirits are the sevenfold source of the cosmic mind,” and this mind is “a subabsolute manifestation of the mind of the Third Source and Center” and is functionally related to the mind of the Supreme Being. (16:6.14) So philosophy—the love of wisdom—is a response to, and a manifestation of, divinity.

While reading Paper 16, Section 6 one particular sentence caught my eye. That sentence refers to the reality response in this way:; “It is this universal cosmic endowment of will creatures which saves them from becoming helpless victims of the implied a priori assumptions of science, philosophy, and religion.” I find this to be a remarkably liberating insight. It tells us that our cosmic mind, constituted by our three cosmic intuitions of causation, duty (which I call philosophy), and worship, gives humanity the permanent capability of transcending its static assumptions in science, philosophy, and religion! The revelators tell us that “[t]he experience of living never fails to develop these three cosmic intuitions; they are constitutive in the self-consciousness of reflective thinking.” Philosophy, theology, and religion are inherently progressive when informed by our highest adjutant; mind-spirit, the spirit of wisdom. This has crucial implications for how we relate to the truth and wisdom contained in this revelation. Are we supposed to study these truths in isolation, independent ofthe progressive evolution of intellectual inquiry on Urantia? If we study the teachings in isolation do we learn those teachings more effectively or less?

Continuing the paragraph in Paper 16, Section 6: “But it is sad to record that so few persons on Urantia take delight in cultivating these qualities of courageous and independent cosmic thinking.” Progress in the realms of philosophy and theology is never without the discomfort, conflict, and confusion associated with intellectual birth pangs. We are reminded many times how the human intellect often slothfully clings to the thought-patterns and religious practices that have provided comfort and security in the past. We are challenged to overcome this intellectual inertia because such a triumph can help to bring forth a new spiritual harvest in its wake.

Philosophy is founded in the intuition provided by the adjutant; spirit of wisdom. Philosophy exists so that the material and spiritual realms can be coordinated--with the help of revelation—by the human reality response of cosmic mind. While religion is the mother of philosophy, it is through philosophy (and art) that “the material-minded man is inveigled into the contemplation of the spiritual realities and universe values of eternal meanings.” (5.5; 5:4)

Now that the identification of human sources by Matthew Block has begun to place the revelation into the context of the evolution of Western philosophical and theological thought, it would be timely to broaden our understanding of that historical context. The understanding of that common history stimulates intellectual growth and gives us a platform to better actualize our individual and group religious destinies.

“Materialistic secularism,” “mechanistic naturalism,” “thoughtless secularism,” “humanism,” and “rationalistic speculations of a material cosmology” are some descriptors the revelators have attached to what is now known as the age of modernism. The roots of the age of modernism are usually traced to the period of neo-Scholasticism (which itself was greatly influenced by medieval Islamic philosophy) and the writings of Francis Bacon, both of which occurred late in the thirteenth century. Rationalistic metaphysics and all the trappings of secular humanism were well established by the seventeenth century, which saw the writings of Descartes. The beginning of the postmodernist age is usually considered to have occurred sometime during the first half of the twentieth century, which coincides with the presentation and publication of the Urantia Papers.

Contemporary commentators agree with this analysis presented in The Urantia Book: “In revolting against the almost total control of life by religious authority, and after attaining the liberation from such ecclesiastical tyranny, the secularists went on to institute a revolt against God himself, sometimes tacitly and sometimes openly.” (195:8.6)

The revelators call this the “great mistake of secularism,” nevertheless agreeing that western civilization simultaneously benefited by liberating itself from the imposition of a totalitarian theology supported by institutionalized Christianity. Both these aspects are represented in Nietzche’s famous battle cry of the late 19^th century—“God is dead”—that helped to inspire postmodern philosophy by exposing the god of metaphysics. I use the word “totalitarian” not in its political sense, but as a philosophical term. The totalitarianism of speculative metaphysics and rationalistic theology is what has embraced and subjugated the living God during the age of modernism. Both the authors of The Urantia Book and postmodern religion rise in protest against this overreaching of metaphysical speculation.;;

One thesis of this presentation is that postmodern philosophical theology—through the spirit of wisdom and the reality response of cosmic mind--is dedicated to exposing the a priori assumptions of rationalism while transforming and supplanting the god of modernism, which is the god of metaphysics, the god haunted and hounded by the cult of the scientific method. Postmodern philosophy provides certain insights and tools that theologians use to effect this transformation in understanding. A certain vanguard in postmodern philosophy no longer allows itself only secular a priori assumptions. This post-secular philosophy respectfully admits the theological. As Graham Ward describes the thought of Emmanuel Levinas, philosophy is now in a position to challenge the assumptions associated with the rationalism of humanism and the Enlightenment—the rationalism of the modern age. Ward describes the desire and the challenge of post-secular philosophy:

“It can witness and speak of not what is simply inexpressible, but of the saying in which what exceeds what can be said has happened. Levinas calls this mode of discourse prophecy but refuses to locate it in the confines of religious experience. Instead, prophecy is a way to testify not by presenting a theme called responsibility but by speaking in my responsibility to others. The need to theorize becomes not a mode of cognition but a requirement of responsibility in relation to others.” (Ward, 50)

The Urantia Book speaks in a similar vein when it tells us that revelation is compensation for the frailties of philosophy and when it says that “[f]aith most willingly carries wisdom along as far as reason can go and then goes on with wisdom to the full philosophic limit…[w]hen reason once recognizes right and wrong, it exhibits wisdom; when wisdom chooses between right and wrong, truth and error, it demonstrates spirit leading.” (103:9.7,10) Postmodern philosophical theology encourages each of us to take reason beyond itself into wisdom, and to bring the love of wisdom to the wisdom of love. It calls acting with the wisdom of love the locus and the hand of divinity on earth.

Quoting Ward, “the postmodern is a site for the questioning and rethinking of the modern.” (Ward, xxv) This time of questioning can bring us through and beyond the assumptions that have characterized the age of modernity. It is possible that the contemporary influences I am about to discuss will help seed a genuine global religious impulse that will be able to distinguish itself among the leading faith-traditions now associated with the major civilizations of the planet. While we are told that philosophy by itself cannot nourish faith, it can certainly serve to coordinate the realms of science and spirituality--the secular and the religious. That improved coordination will undoubtedly be a characteristic of the global religion of the fifth epoch.

We need to compare how pre-moderns understood the world around them with the understanding of the modern era now passing. In medieval times—before the Renaissance in the fifteenth century and before the Enlightenment in the eighteenth—people lived in a world or a cosmos that was, in its broadest sense, little different from the world of; Jesus’ contemporaries. It is hard for us to conceive, but that world was not observable in the modern sense. Graham Ward compares the premodern and the modern in his book, The Postmodern God, by saying that there were no objects “understood as discrete entities, objects for a possessive perception.” Before the “age of reason” the reality of things in the world was established because they participated in a divine order of creation, not because they gained an objective standing due to being measurable by humanly standardized laws of nature and human perceptive abilities.; As Ward says: “All was gifted and given; corporeality had to be understood theologically.” Material reality had no existence in and of itself; it could only be understood analogically as part of the whole of God’s creation. The world and everything in it did not stand apart from a human subject who was watching, measuring, or manipulating objects at eye’s distance and arm’s length; the pre-modern world, including the human race itself, was securely and wholly secure in God’s hands as beheld in his; eyes. It is very difficult for us to truly comprehend this difference in understanding and perceiving the world, since we are still ensconced in our own scientific, rational, and modern modes of perception and understanding.

The pre-modern era changed as the Renaissance dawned. Material reality gained autonomy from God at the same time the perceiving, knowing human subject did. The bywordof this knowing human subject—the cogito—was “I think, therefore I am.” The autonomy of human reason was granted in part by the new perceptual talents of perspectivism in art and in part by the scientific method, neither of which required participation in a divinely ordered chain of being.

It should be emphasized that the emergence of the objectified world, fit for manipulation and control by science and technology (which developed concomitantly with the rise of capitalism) could not have occurred without its mirror—the observing and controlling subject. The world was now an object for human investigation, epitomized by the scientific method, and the human being was now the subject who incessantly confronted the world before him with an analytical gaze from his eye and a measuring stick in his hand. The very world had changed, as had the humans in it: frombeing bathed together and sustained in the vitalizing light of a common creative God, the world now stood apart from humanity and humanity stood apart from God. God, slowly being squeezed out of the world and being replaced by human calculation, investigation, and control, now found himself placed within as a foundational metaphysical principle, useful in the systematic philosophies and theologies characteristic of modern rationalism—what The Urantia Book calls metaphysical speculation.

Graham Ward ably summarizes the transition from the pre-modern to the modern:

“The created order takes on an autonomy, governed by mathematical configurations and geometrical relations. It becomes a timeless construct, a machine to be interpreted according to the laws of mechanics. The world is not gifted and given, but an accumulation of entities owned or waiting to be owned, property to be arranged, labeled, evaluated (according to the market and demand) and exchanged. Increasingly throughout the seventeenth century, this autonomy of the world (and the autonomy of human observation and reasoning which creates and reflects it) had no need of spiritual properties; it was a self-sustaining, self-defining, immanent system. The secular was divorced from the sacred. Only as such could the world become an object of human knowledge—rather than a God-given mystery to be lived in and respected—subject to the investigations into the causal nexus of laws which determined and maintained its existence.” (p. xx)

The work of the 20^th century German philosopher Martin Heidegger makes it abundantly clear that the locus of genuine divinity is not described by metaphysical-religious speculation, what he called “onto-theology.”Metaphysical speculation cannot confer a fuller reality upon a finite mortal existence that finds itself in its shadow, nor can it promote genuine communication with the divine. Heidegger’s thinking allowed philosophy to first seek the kingdom; it gave permission for postmodern theology and philosophy to attempt to replace the god of metaphysics with the God of Jesus’ kingdom of heaven.

Philosophy and revelation are both available to account for the shortcomings of metaphysical speculation and scientific knowledge; this is where postmodern philosophy and epochal revelation can join forces to first identify and then compensate for the failure of metaphysics and scientific thinking. The postmodern coordination of philosophy, theology, and revelation will help Urantians to better bridge the divide between spirit and matter, and in doing so may make the life of faith more accessible for mortals who desire it.

It is possible that the God we can now first come to know—now that the artificial god of metaphysics has died—is divinity that possesses “absolute perfection in no attribute, imperfection in all.” (F:I.13) I find it to be remarkable that genuine divinity can be described as being imperfect in all attributes and yet still bedivine. This divinity is found in the very imperfect strivings of our everyday lives with others. As humanity hopes to find—to renew--a living relationship with God, we may initially find ourselves with a God perfect in no aspects and imperfect in all—yet, still, the actual, livingGod. Perhaps this is where Urantia—specifically the West-- currently stands in its quest for God; divinity is beginning to express itself in new, exciting, yet familiar ways.

Postmodern theology speaks of the difference between deity primarily identified through vertical transcendence based on belief (as in metaphysics and rationalistic theologies) and divinity primarily found through the horizontal transcendence of faith-in-action. One point of this presentation is that a renewed relationship with the former—the belief in the God of Paradise—may now first depend on our performance in the spirit of Immanuel—God-is-with-us>.

As Urantia Book readers we have been introduced to something resembling horizontal transcendence in the deity concept of the Supreme. The Supreme is genuine deity, and it is immanent deity: “From the finite standpoint, we actually live, move and have our being within the immanence of the Supreme.” (117:3.12) The notion of horizontal transcendence is illustrated in that God and humanity need each other (195:10.3), and that the Supreme depends on our contribution of “[t]he experience of love, joy, and service”. Inasmuch as we bestow these divine gifts on one another, so do we include—and reveal--the Supreme. “We evolve in him and he evolves in us.” (31:10.5) Or, as the postmodern philosopher Emmanuel Levinas has said,“Man would be the place through which transcendence passes.”

;“The fruits of the spirit are the substance of the Supreme as he is realizable in human experience.” (117:6.17) Postmodern religion wants to relocate transcendence from the vertical measure of belief to the horizontal measure of interpersonal exchange and human activity. Quoting Annette Aronowicz in her introduction to Levinas’ Nine Talmudic Readings:

“However, human activity reveals itself as pointing beyond itself. An act such as the protection of strangers, for instance, conceals within it a dimension of reality for the indication of which the use of the word ‘God’ comes to mind….it is through action, not through the fixing of the idea of God in our mind, that the wholly other, transcendent dimension is made accessible….it is the embodied truth—the truth in action—that conveys meaning….there is a fight against a merely abstract knowledge, a desire to penetrate reality through the concrete and particular, through the act.” (p.xxiii)

The “postmodern God” and the kingdom of God as presented in the fifth epochal revelation have much in common and can together help to instigate a fresh and unorthodox step in God-consciousness for our planet. Specifically, I will be discussing Jesus’ expression of the kingdom of heaven and the philosophical theology of Emmanuel Levinas, who is a postmodern Jewish philosopher and religionist. It is probably a mere coincidence that Emmanuel with an “E” means “God-is-with-us” (hyphenated as one word), as does Immanuel with an “I” in The Urantia Book. Nevertheless, divinity-among-us is the living God of the kingdom of heaven.

THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN AND THE CALL OF THE OTHER

Let us briefly explore Jesus’ presentation of the kingdom of heaven as described in Paper 170. First, I would like to emphasize that his presentation was pluralistic in nature; “he discussed the subject from every viewpoint and endeavored to make clear the many different senses in which the term had been used.” The kingdom of God can be entered into in many different ways because itcan be all things to all people without ceasing to be the same kingdom. The kingdom of God is able to supercede even the foundational rule of logic (a=a and not b) without contradicting it. So I think we have to becareful about saying that the kingdom cannot be this because it is that, or that the kingdom cannot be that because it is this. For instance, the kingdom can have nothing to do with the Paradise Trinity for some people, although this same kingdom has everything to do with the God of Paradise for others.; There are many rooms in the Father’s house, many with separate doors.

The pluralism inherent in Jesus’ >;presentation of the kingdom needs to be distinguished from various confusions surrounding the idea. For instance: Jesus’ spiritual ideal of the individual’s awareness of the will of God was often confused because of his; followers’ socio-religious beliefs regarding a historical, cosmological, or theocratically based kingdom that arrives “with power”. This latter understanding of the kingdom can be described as the kingdom arriving “from the outside in,’ while Jesus desired to communicate a kingdom that arrives “from the inside out”.; The midwayer editor of Part IV describes this as Jesus’ “attempt to translate the concept of the kingdom of heaven into the ideal of doing the will of God….he earnestly sought to induce them to abandon the use of the term kingdom of God in favor of the more practical equivalent, the will of God, but he did not succeed.”

And so we are left, as were the apostles, with “a double viewpoint of the kingdom…[a] matter of personal experience then present in the hearts of true believers, and…[a] question of racial or world phenomena; that the kingdom was in the future, something to look forward to.” Jesus wanted to embrace yet also spiritualize the “outside-in” belief in an exterior kingdom by teaching about “the kingdom of God in heaven, the goal of mortal believers, the estate wherein love for God is perfected, and wherein the will of God is done more divinely.”

Here is the place in which the teaching of Jesus and postmodern religion can begin to fertilize one another. I quote the revelation: “Jesus taught that, by faith, the believer enters the kingdom now.” Postmodern religion—in my opinion—is well-positioned to open the kingdom from the inside-out—as Jesus taught--because postmodern religion is able to embrace faith before belief. The religions and philosophies of modernism were liable to place the rational capacities to know and believe ahead of supra-rational capacity of faith.

The revelation accounts for the crucial differences between belief and faith in this way:

“Belief has attained the level of faith when it motivates life and shapes the mode of living. The acceptance of a teaching as true is not faith; that is mere belief. Neither is certainty nor conviction faith…Faith is a living attribute of genuine personal religious experience...Belief is always limiting and binding; faith is expanding and releasing. Belief fixates, faith liberates. But living religious faith is more than the association of noble beliefs; it is more than an exalted system of philosophy…Beliefs may become group possessions, but faith must be personal.” (101:8.1-2)

These passages convey the difference between belief in a god ensconced in metaphysics and faith with a living God that is invisible to belief, even belief in the most illuminating of cosmologies. I am not saying that genuine faith cannot exist in tandem with cosmological beliefs, as I am sure such faith exists with such belief even in this room. I am saying that postmodern religion has its priorities correct when it attempts to prepare the way for the individual’s embrace with the God of faith before the cosmological God of belief can be safely re-introduced in this current era (through the text of The Urantia Book). For spiritual and historical reasons the God Jesus spoke to (his dear Father “Abba”) needs to re-appear as our God-consciousness and precede the global reception of the cosmological God (God on Paradise). Yes, of course this is one and the same God, but my understanding leads me to conclude that Urantia’s ability to believe in the cosmological God (and the universe geography associated with the ascension journey) has been temporarily usurped and tainted by the negative echoes of our God wounded and entrapped by metaphysical speculation.

In the postmodern age, the God “in here”—previously associated with the internal workings of the human subject of modernism—is about to undergo a radical shift of orientation. Postmodern religion, primarily through the work of Emmanuel Levinas, has begun to distinguish between vertical transcendence of the divine and horizontal transcendence of the divine. It is my contention that horizontal transcendence of God will need to be realized in faith in many more of our lives before the vertically transcendent God can genuinely reappear for belief. Historically speaking, the vertical transcendence of God has been associated with God in heaven, the God out there and the God up there. This is the god that was supported through reason, through metaphysics, through belief. This is the god of belief, the god-out-there that Nietzche told us died more than a century ago, and probably several centuries before that.; What I hope to do in the last part of this presentation is to describe the living God active in horizontal transcendence--Immanuel--God-is-with-us.

The God of horizontal transcendence in postmodernity can be understood as the righteousness of the kingdom of heaven. The revelation tells us that this righteousness must “exceed the righteousness of slavish works” because service to another is spontaneous and sincere and results from the individual’s metanoia—the transformational “change of mind” that builds the soul by accessing spirit. Emmanuel Levinas goes so far as to say that the call to serve our fellows is divinity in the face of the other, is the trace of the face of God. It is the divine imperative that precedes our choice to serve, and even allows the very freedom of our free choice. According to Levinas, the divine call to serve manifests as our subjectivity as well as any universal moral rules it chooses to observe. Levinas tells us that God is alive in our lives insofar as we respond responsibly to the command manifested in the needs of the other. God—divinity—is alive with us insofar as we set that command and our response in place of subjective desires and opinions, in place of standardized morality, in place of a god that is the conceptual product of rational and metaphysical speculation.

;The revelator tells us that “Jesus was never concerned with morals or ethics as such.” Our response to the divine command to serve another is what makes possible the evolution of our individual identities and what in-forms the development of our personality. This righteousness is not the free will of a reproducible subject assigned to the objectivity of moral rules or ethical systems; rather,this righteousness is outside and beyond the subject/object order of existence. By responding in service to the call of the other we recognize the divinity of that call, the divinity of the caller, and the divinity of our person in response: we recognize and perform God-is-with-us.

In serving one another we illuminate the mystery of our completely unique personality and manifest the infinite diversity, originality, and exclusiveness of the divine in each of us. In serving one another we perform God’s love and we see how that love is uniquely expressed through each of us. This righteousness is coming as a little child, the entering of the kingdom NOW, the “doing of the Father’s will without questioning,” the “hineni” of the Hebrew Bible. “Hineni” is the Hebrew phrase used by religious heroes and prophets when called by God. “Hineni” is said by Abraham in response to the divine call to sacrifice his son, and used by Jacob, and used by Moses when receiving the commandments at the burning bush. “Hineni” says “Here I am! Send me!” in response to the divine command to serve the will of God. The “I” that hears and obeys the command to serve partakes of the unknowable and now-known infinity that is both our source and evolutionary destiny. The “I” that hears and responds to the command to serve his neighbor is not the modern “I” we know as the subject, reproducible as any one of a number of knowledgeable subjects within the objectivity that subjectivity constructs and calls objective reality. The I that hears and responds is the only-begotten faith-son.

Quoting Susan Handelman from her book, fragments of Redemption:

“Levinas describes the ‘here I am’ as the ‘I possessed by the other,’ a figure of inspiration and obsession: ‘for the order of contemplation it is something simply demented,’ ‘a seed of folly, already a psychosis.’ Yet it is a ‘reason’ or ‘intelligibility’ beyond the cogito. Levinas is converting or translating the ‘I think’ of the rational Cartesian cogito (which founds modern philosophy) into the biblical ‘here I am’….” (p.266)

The Urantia Book’s description of the hineni is “that inward and spiritual fellowship with God the Father which so certainly and directly manifests itself as outward and loving service for man…a genuine personal experience which no man can contain within himself…”. (170:3.6)

There is nothing more consistent, nothing more insistent than the call of the other, the call of the divine, the kingdom of God. The call of the other, the will of God is to be put before all else because it is hearing this call, humbling one’s self, and responding to it that constitutes the kingdom. But, like living truth, the kingdom of God is not a place and not a state of being. It is only the call and the doing in response.

"To every one who has, more shall be given, and he shall have abundance; but from him who has not, even that which he has shall be taken away. You cannot stand still in the affairs of the eternal kingdom. My Father requires all his children to grow in grace and in a knowledge of the truth. You who know these truths must yield the increase of the fruits of the spirit and manifest a growing devotion to the unselfish service of your fellow servants. And remember that, inasmuch as you minister to one of the least of my brethren, you have done this service to me.” (176:3.5)

The God that calls us in the face of the other is the God that asks us to respond and say “hineni”—“Here I am. Send me.” So speaks the will of God, this builds the kingdom of heaven.; Speaking for myself, I am tired of applying to a God “up there” or “out there,” even if up there is Paradise itself. Along with truth seeking,the revelation says that sincerity is one of the “two things…essential to faith-entrance into the kingdom.” Levinas says: “The openness of the ego exposed to the other is the breakup or turning inside out of inwardness. Sincerity is the name of this extra-version.” (Ward, 67) I can wait to directly face the face of God; I can’t wait to serve the trace of that face—the face of my neighbor. Any God out there is too far away for me; any God placed in a cosmic plan or map is too far away for me. Any God that serves as the Alpha and Omega of a system of understanding is God-as-object; that very systematic understanding makes me the intellectual subject, the standardized knower where God is merely an object of understanding within that system.

Obviously, I can only speak for myself about the God I want to know in the here and now. But my understanding of the religious state of western civilization tells me that I am not alone, and that perhaps I speak for a silent majority of believers, agnostics, and atheists. Is the God supported by, and presented as, the capstone of a cosmology, a theology, or a metaphysic the same God that Jesus spoke to as Abba, is it the God that inspired the action of the good Samaritan? Yes, and no. This ambiguity is for better and worse. Being an optimist, I see the better. Perhaps a planetary awareness and belief in the cosmological creator in Paradise will arise subsequent to our positive response to the call of the divine, the trace of the face of God as the face of our neighbor. God-is-with-us--the divine encountered horizontally in our human relations on earth. We start here—in the realm of faith-action, of righteousness—and eventually find ourselves capable of shared beliefs about the cosmos we inhabit. We live on a quarantined planet, and this planetary path from living faith to knowledge to renewed belief may turn out to be a planetary phenomenon unique in Nebadon, I don’t know. I believe that postmodern religion encourages us on the path of faith before it opens the path of knowledge and belief based in a comprehensive metaphysics or cosmology. It is perhaps no coincidence that the FER gives us so much to know and believe in, yet insists that the mustard seed of faith is greater than all that.;

As believers in the fifth epochal revelation, we know that the journey to Paradise lies ahead of us. Is that ascension journey one that leads us “up and out,” or does it actually--more practically and more spiritually--really lead us “in and through” as we better learn to hear and respond to the needs of our neighbor? Aren’t we taught that we find God in Paradise only after we have consistently met the divine call in service to others for millions of years? The pre-personal divinity of the other that we hearken to in the living moment of service is the trace of that holy face of Paradise. That trace precedes any systematic or cosmological rendition of the source of all truth, beauty, and goodness, yet will spontaneously, dependably, and actually reveal that Paradise source through time and in eternity, in finitude and infinitude. A Melchizedek father tells us that reaching inward, towards the other in service is reaching for Paradise, is God-consciousness. (103:7.3)

Both revelation and postmodern theology remind us of “our inability to ground, our inability to determine origins. Postmodernism reminds us we are already too determined [by] ourselves; we can never exhaustively account for the conditions which make the world, time, knowledge, the human animal, language, possible.” (Ward, xxvi) That awareness may one day enable Urantians to receive the truths of cosmological revelation.

Postmodern theology, then, is comfortable with a “[t]heology—as discourse, as praxis—[that] proceeds groundlessly;” that is, theology that “cannot think its own origin; it seeks and desires among the consequences of that which always remains unthought.” The Urantia Book tells us that we are unable to construct a metaphysics that philosophically reconciles our origins in matter and spirit. That is why we need revelation. So postmodern theology and revelation say something similar, and both can open us to the horizontal transcendence that arrives as the faith-action of those who hear and obey the divine call. As this transcendence progresses on earth, cosmological revelation will soon become a matter of fact.

There are some, and Graham Ward is among them, who claim that “we have not attained to the postmodern until we recover for our time the world before and beyond the secular. …In our time, a space is being cleared and a time is being announced that only theological discourse can provide with a logic. Post-secularism makes manifest how modernity hijacked for its own purposes the theological, the premodern. Simultaneously, it traces the outline of a theological worldview yet to be recovered. We are only just beginning to see what such a postmodern theology might look like.” (Ward, xlii) “The emergence of the postmodern has fostered post-secular thinking—thinking about other, alternative worlds. In the postmodern cultural climate, the theological voice can once more be heard.” (Ward,xxii);;

There will be a new voice for God, a voice with which we all can sing.

A Urantia Book Perspective on Spiritual Hope

by David Kantor

This essay addresses the topic of hope in the context of the challenges of daily life.; I am not interested in examining the idea of "hope" as a metaphysical or intellectual abstraction, but rather as an important and practical component of the psychological, social and spiritual struggles which we encounter in daily life.

What The Urantia Book Has to Say About Spiritual Hope

As we consider the nature of hope, we will also consider some additional attitudes which are related to hope -- doubt, despair, and faith.; In fact, it might be helpful to consider these four elements as parts of a spectrum.; Our basic attitude toward life can be centered at any point on this spectrum, from despair at one end to living spiritual faith at the other end.; Fear moves us toward despair and our ideals draw us in the direction of hope and faith.

It is likely that we most often find ourselves somewhere in the middle, moving between hope and doubt.; Those of you with a strong experience of faith will likely be somewhere between a sure grasp of faith and an attitude which is little more than hope.; If you often find yourself dominated by feelings of despair, I urge you to spend more time in prayer and worship so that you might find the hope and faith you need in order to live more fully and more productively.;

The Urantia Book tells us that,

52:2;;3:5.16; ". . . Mortal man earns even his status as an ascension candidate by his own faith and hope."

Hope may be thought of as a positive attitude toward future possibilities.; In the attitude of hope we imagine that some ideal state will be a reality in the future.; Thus our ideals also play an important role in sustaining hope.;

1459:5;;132:3.5 ". . . truth can never become man's possession without the exercise of faith. This is true because man's thoughts, wisdom, ethics, and ideals will never rise higher than his faith, his sublime hope. And all such true faith is predicated on profound reflection, sincere self-criticism, and uncompromising moral consciousness. Faith is the inspiration of the spiritized creative imagination."

911:5;;81:6.40 "The ideals of the race are the chief support and assurance during the critical times when civilization is in transit from one level to another."

When we talk about hope there are many goals toward which our hope might be directed.; Let's list some of these:

>

• Hope for personal health.
• Hope for the success of some personal undertaking.
• Hope for the well-being of our families.
• Hope for the future of our children.
• Hope for the success of the Urantia revelation.
• Hope for personal salvation.
• Hope for life after death.
• Hope for our world.

It should be noted that in each of these examples there is a time horizon -- a time in the future for which we desire that some particular outcome will have occurred.; Some of these horizons are closer to the present day than others.; Some exist beyond the end of our lives here in this world.; The Urantia Book contains a comment which I believe directly relates to this.;

1295:3;;118:1.3 "There is a direct relationship between maturity and the unit of time consciousness in any given intellect. The time unit may be a day, a year, or a longer period, but inevitably it is the criterion by which the conscious self evaluates the circumstances of life, and by which the conceiving intellect measures and evaluates the facts of temporal existence."

1295:5;;118:1.5 "In the maturity of the developing self, the past and future are brought together to illuminate the true meaning of the present. As the self matures, it reaches further and further back into the past for experience, while its wisdom forecasts seek to penetrate deeper and deeper into the unknown future. And as the conceiving self extends this reach ever further into both past and future, so does judgment become less and less dependent on the momentary present. In this way does decision-action begin to escape from the fetters of the moving present, while it begins to take on the aspects of past-future significance."

Here the authors are talking about the time horizon which we use to evaluate our lives. But they have more to say about this:

1295:6;;118:1.6 "Patience is exercised by those mortals whose time units are short; true maturity transcends patience by a forbearance born of real understanding.

1295:7;;118:1.7 "To become mature is to live more intensely in the present, at the same time escaping from the limitations of the present. The plans of maturity, founded on past experience, are coming into being in the present in such manner as to enhance the values of the future.

1295:8;;118:1.8 "The time unit of immaturity concentrates meaning-value into the present moment in such a way as to divorce the present of its true relationship to the not-present--the past-future. The time unit of maturity is proportioned so to reveal the co-ordinate relationship of past-present-future that the self begins to gain insight into the wholeness of events, begins to view the landscape of time from the panoramic perspective of broadened horizons."

I bring this passage to your attention because I think it relates directly to the time horizon of our hopes.; If our time units are short and we cannot envision life beyond the turbulence of the present world situation, we are likely to become pessimistic or even fall into despair.; It is important to think in longer time units and to focus our hopes out into the future beyond the present turbulence.; In this way we can find strength to work in the present for a better future situation.

The Urantia Book expands our time horizon

One of the great gifts which we receive by reading The Urantia Book is the radical expansion of our time horizon to encompass an understanding of the distant past as well as insights into the distant future.; This should help us to work more effectively in the present moment, in the present situation.;

The Urantia Book tells us that,

215:3;;19:1.6 "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."

The Urantia Book gives us many of the tools we need to evaluate our situation relative to cosmic reality and take actions which will be truly helpful within this expanded context.

When I look at the present world situation and feel overwhelmed by the difficulties and complexities of it, I am reminded of Adam and Eve and their experience.; Consider this passage describing Adam and Eve's view of planetary problems.

Here we have a clear example of hope being lost when a time horizon is not appropriate to the magnitude of the undertaking.; Adam and Eve wanted to see results in a much shorter time frame than was possible given the situation in which they found themselves.;

If you look at the situation in the world and feel overwhelmed, or if you feel you are losing hope, think about this story of Adam and Eve.; Here we have a story about superhuman beings with extensive education and background who became disoriented by the magnitude of the problems in this world.; If this could happen to them, then I shouldn't feel so badly when I find myself struggling with the same issue.;

But since the time of Adam and Eve we have also had Jesus experiencing life on this world and we have his life as an example of how to move forward creatively during times of extreme difficulty when all hope appears to be lost.;

It is helpful to consider the time horizon which Jesus used during his mortal life.; His focus was on working in the present for the future appearance of the "kingdom of Heaven."; He held within his mind an understanding of the true destiny of humanity.; I believe that this is our challenge today.; We must cultivate an understanding of this destiny.; We must develop ways of working in our daily lives which will enable us to work creatively for the realization of that destiny.

The Urantia Book: Transform and elevate hope to the status of living faith

One of our challenges is to strengthen hope to the point where it becomes living faith.; When I find myself moving from a position of hope to a position of doubt and despair, I remind myself of several comments which the revelators make.

2070:8;;195:0.12 ;"But mistake not! these compromised ideals of the Master are still latent in his gospel, and they will eventually assert their full power upon the world."

1608:1;;143:1.4 ". . . no matter what blunders your fellow men make in their world management of today, in an age to come the gospel which I declare to you will rule this very world. The ultimate goal of human progress is the reverent recognition of the fatherhood of God and the loving materialization of the brotherhood of man."

I find that reviewing these passages helps me to mobilize my hopes in the direction of faith and to overcome the tendency to slide into despair.; I believe these statements are true and it is this belief which sometimes saves me.

If we have hope for the long-term outcome of humanity's evolutionary adventure on this planet, we become empowered to work toward the achievement of that distant goal.

One of the enemies of hope is the thought that our vision of the future, our vision of the kingdom of heaven, our values, and our hopes are simply images created by our creative imaginations -- images which the mind creates in order to give us a sense of stability and purpose.; The Urantia Book addresses this issue in an eloquent passage in paper 102:

1118:1;102:0.1 "To the unbelieving materialist, man is simply an evolutionary accident. His hopes of survival are strung on a figment of mortal imagination; his fears, loves, longings, and beliefs are but the reaction of the incidental juxtaposition of certain lifeless atoms of matter. No display of energy nor expression of trust can carry him beyond the grave. The devotional labors and inspirational genius of the best of men are doomed to be extinguished by death, the long and lonely night of eternal oblivion and soul extinction. Nameless despair is man's only reward for living and toiling under the temporal sun of mortal existence. Each day of life slowly and surely tightens the grasp of a pitiless doom which a hostile and relentless universe of matter has decreed shall be the crowning insult to everything in human desire which is beautiful, noble, lofty, and good.

1118:2;;102:0.2 ;"But such is not man's end and eternal destiny; such a vision is but the cry of despair uttered by some wandering soul who has become lost in spiritual darkness, and who bravely struggles on in the face of the mechanistic sophistries of a material philosophy, blinded by the confusion and distortion of a complex learning. And all this doom of darkness and all this destiny of despair are forever dispelled by one brave stretch of faith on the part of the most humble and unlearned of God's children on earth."

Without hope, without ideals, without a vision of a better and more meaningful future, we become paralyzed in our ability to take positive creative action in the world.; If we do not have a vision of an ideal state which we are trying to achieve, how can we expect to make wise decisions in daily life?

The past century has seen an increase in the world of philosophical positions which say that our hopes are simply psychological illusions.; Religious beliefs have been portrayed as unjustifiable opinions.; Some philosophers have gone so far as to deny the existence of; knowledge and truth.; Values are portrayed as simply arising from emotional and social pressures.; The world is understood to exist without meaning or purpose.; From this perspective, passionate commitment to anything -- relationships, religious perspectives, political ideologies -- is not only useless but indicative of serious mental illness.; Indeed, during the times of the Soviet Union people with strong religious convictions were placed in mental hospitals for treatment.; This is still happening today in China.

The book says,

2076:6;;195:6.1 "Scientists have unintentionally precipitated mankind into a materialistic panic; they have started an unthinking run on the moral bank of the ages, but this bank of human experience has vast spiritual resources; it can stand the demands being made upon it. Only unthinking men become panicky about the spiritual assets of the human race. When the materialistic-secular panic is over, the religion of Jesus will not be found bankrupt. The spiritual bank of the kingdom of heaven will be paying out faith, hope, and moral security to all who draw upon it "in His name."

We are also told that,

1766:4;;159:3.8 "There is but one struggle for those who enter the kingdom, and that is to fight the good fight of faith. The believer has only one battle, and that is against doubt--unbelief."

I believe that when the authors of The Urantia Book refer to "doubt" in this context, they are referring to that doubt which leads us to believe that our ideals and values are self-created abstractions which have no real meaning or value outside of our own subjective lives.

Hope, faith, and the indwelling presence of God

What is missing in these nihilistic assessments of the inner life is a recognition of the presence of the Thought Adjuster and the role which this fragment of divinity plays in the organizing and directing of the mortal mind.; Consider the following:

1209:5;;110:6.5 "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."

Many elements of our ideals and hopes may indeed be traced to social and psychological sources.; Many of our beliefs and values are relative to our economic and social situation.; But it is essential that we appreciate the role of the Thought Adjuster in our inner lives.;

This pre-personal fragment of divinity exists within the mortal mind and constantly attempts to orient the personality toward eternal realities.; The result, in the mind of a person yielding to this influence, is a gradual emergence of a consciousness of universe reality.; The mind begins to function relative to ideals and hopes which resonate with spiritual values.; In this context the work of the Adjuster in the mortal mind may be understood as being analogous to the working of a gyroscope in a ship or an airplane.; It is a mechanism providing orientation and a sense of direction -- physical in the case of the ship or airplane, spiritual in the case of the mortal mind.; In paper 107 the Adjuster is described as, "the prisioner of spirit hope confined within the mortal mind."

I believe the authors of The Urantia Book have captured the essence of this situation with the quote which says,

2096:7;;196:3.28 "In the realm of religious experience, spiritual possibility is potential reality. Man's forward spiritual urge is not a psychic illusion. All of man's universe romancing may not be fact, but much, very much, is truth."

The stories and beliefs propagated by various religions have great value because they provide believers with a meaningful context within which values may be discovered and wise decisions may be made.; In paper 92 the authors comment that, "At one time the hope of the survival of Occidental civilization lay in the sublime Hebraic concepts of goodness and the advanced Hellenic concepts of beauty."; And in paper 94 they note that, "At the time of this writing much of Asia rests its hope in Buddhism." -- Clearly the authors place great value on the importance of religious stories and beliefs.;

And regarding our world as a whole they say,

2086:2;;195:10.16 "The great hope of Urantia lies in the possibility of a new revelation of Jesus with a new and enlarged presentation of his saving message which would spiritually unite in loving service the numerous families of his present-day professed followers."

Jesus said of himself, "I am the hope of all who know the living truth."

During mortal life the quest for cosmic citizenship involves strengthening hope to the point where it becomes living faith.; We may not be able to grasp many of the details about how the cosmos works, but through faith we can know it as good, creative, and loving.

The journey of the truth seeker often begins with asking questions about the nature of reality.; But over time the focus invariably shifts from questions about knowing to questions about being.; The primary question becomes, "How can I live effectively and creatively in this universe -- how can I contribute to its further development?"

In paper 195 we are reminded,;

2076:3;;195:5.12 "As you view the world, remember that the black patches of evil which you see are shown against a white background of ultimate good. You do not view merely white patches of good which show up miserably against a black background of evil."

A situation in Jesus' life, during the years when he was helping Mary raise the children, illustrates his sense of the power of hope:

1400:6;;127:3.14 "For four years their standard of living had steadily declined; year by year they felt the pinch of increasing poverty. By the close of this year they faced one of the most difficult experiences of all their uphill struggles. James had not yet begun to earn much, and the expenses of a funeral on top of everything else staggered them. But Jesus would only say to his anxious and grieving mother: "Mother-Mary, sorrow will not help us; we are all doing our best, and mother's smile, perchance, might even inspire us to do better. Day by day we are strengthened for these tasks by our hope of better days ahead." His sturdy and practical optimism was truly contagious; all the children lived in an atmosphere of anticipation of better times and better things. And this hopeful courage contributed mightily to the development of strong and noble characters, in spite of the depressiveness of their poverty."

In conclusion

The real spiritual challenge which we face is the strengthening of hope to the point where it becomes faith.; Hope is somewhat tentative -- we hope for some particular reality but we are not completely sure of it.; The attitude of faith declares that the object of our hopes is indeed real.; Living faith empowers us to live loyally to our highest ideals in the present moment.;

1134:7;;103:5.9 ". . . living faith in the superhuman origin of our ideals validates our belief that we are the sons of God and makes real our altruistic convictions, the feelings of the brotherhood of man."

1222:7;;111:6.8 "It is only natural that mortal man should be harassed by feelings of insecurity as he views himself inextricably bound to nature while he possesses spiritual powers wholly transcendent to all things temporal and finite. Only religious confidence--living faith--can sustain man amid such difficult and perplexing problems."

But let us not be so limited in our perspective that we view this cultivation of hope and faith as merely a strategy to avoid anxiety.; If we are able to transmute our hope into living faith, we should thereby be empowered to serve others.; There are many places in the story of Jesus where the authors comment that he often "spoke comforting words of hope and courage" to the people he encountered in the course of his daily life.; We can do this as well.; Anything you can do to relieve suffering and anxiety in the lives of people around you is a direct contribution to the healing of our world.

The book says that,

2062:12;;194:3.2 "The religion of Jesus is a new gospel of faith to be proclaimed to struggling humanity. This new religion is founded on faith, hope, and love."

1727:7;;155:3.7 ". . . when religion is wholly spiritual in motive, it makes all life more worth while, filling it with high purposes, dignifying it with transcendent values, inspiring it with superb motives, all the while comforting the human soul with a sublime and sustaining hope. True religion is designed to lessen the strain of existence; it releases faith and courage for daily living and unselfish serving. Faith promotes spiritual vitality and righteous fruitfulness."

Please note in this last quote the comment that "True religion . . . releases faith and courage for daily living and unselfish serving."; Meaningful service is the frontier we find beyond the horizon of faith.;

2086:2;;195:10.16 "The great hope of Urantia lies in the possibility of a new revelation of Jesus with a new and enlarged presentation of his saving message which would spiritually unite in loving service the numerous families of his present-day professed followers."

The great hope of our world is that this revelation will so strengthen and motivate its recipients that they will mobilize themselves into a force for service to humanity.; And this service should not be viewed as some large-scale, grandiose plan.; It is a mode of service which must be directed locally -- within our families, communities, places of work, and places of worship. ;It is not an approach which seeks to create social order by imposing ideological uniformity on society.; It is an approach which seeks to transform the world by spiritually transforming the lives of individuals.;

There is much to be done -- let's get to work!

Psalms for Readers of The Urantia Book: A Testimony of Love.
Rev. Dr. Meredith J. Sprunger.

Preface.

Psalms for Readers of The Urantia Book has been in the process of composition for over forty years. Most of the Psalms I have written have been discarded. Each person, of course, would do this differently. I hope my effort will stimulate your imagination and motivation to compose your own Psalms of praise.

An Ideal Plan (1)

839:4 75:1.3 "Adam and Eve found themselves on a sphere wholly unprepared for the proclamation of the brotherhood of man, a world groping about in abject spiritual darkness and cursed with confusion worse confounded by the miscarriage of the mission of the preceding administration. Mind and morals were at a low level, and instead of beginning the task of effecting religious unity, they must begin all anew the work of converting the inhabitants to the most simple forms of religious belief. Instead of finding one language ready for adoption, they were confronted by the world-wide confusion of hundreds upon hundreds of local dialects. No Adam of the planetary service was ever set down on a more difficult world; the obstacles seemed insuperable and the problems beyond creature solution.

839:5 75:1.4 "They were isolated, and the tremendous sense of loneliness which bore down upon them was all the more heightened by the early departure of the Melchizedek receivers. Only indirectly, by means of the angelic orders, could they communicate with any being off the planet. Slowly their courage weakened, their spirits drooped, and sometimes their faith almost faltered.

840:1 75:1.5 "And this is the true picture of the consternation of these two noble souls as they pondered the tasks which confronted them. They were both keenly aware of the enormous undertaking involved in the execution of their planetary assignment.

840:2 75:1.6 "Probably no Material Sons of Nebadon were ever faced with such a difficult and seemingly hopeless task as confronted Adam and Eve in the sorry plight of Urantia. But they would have sometime met with success had they been more farseeing and patient. Both of them, especially Eve, were altogether too impatient; they were not willing to settle down to the long, long endurance test."

We thank you, Universal Father, for giving us a loving Spirit Partner who has an ideal plan for our lives.

Deliver us from the boredom of routine living without a sense of calling and mission. Inspire us with creative insight to actualize our abilities and potentials that will facilitate your ideal plan.

Grant us wisdom in selecting objectives that will lead to following your way.

When it appears that we have come to the end of the road in our present work, reveal new avenues of service that will follow your creative plan.

Bless us with coworkers who will bring balance and success to the mission entrusted to us.

We have faith, Loving Spirit, that our partnership will bring new opportunities for spiritual growth on our world.

Thank you, Universal Father, for letting us share in your plans for the enlightenment of our handicapped planet.

Daily Guidance (2)

Each morning, Gracious Father, I look to you for guidance.

I listen for your inner voice of wisdom.

Deliver me from the inappropriate love of things and self.

Teach me how to understand and cope with frustrations and difficulties.

Lead me by your loving kindness into the supreme joy of progressive growth in spirit-guided living.

Make your way clear to my vision, that I may recognize all other ways as diversions from my highest good.

For this wonderful ministry, my deepest thanks!.

The Mind in Which We Live ( 3)

We thank you, Infinite Spirit, for the creative and self-determining qualities of the human mind. In it we live and move and have our being.

You have given our thoughts dominion over our material bodies.

You have equipped us with the control of our destiny.

We rejoice that you have given us this cosmic instrument that is subject to our will; And have given our will the ability to master the minds in which we live.

Direct us in partnership with the Father’s indwelling Spirit, that our minds may be trained and structured by truth, beauty, goodness, and love.

Help us to lose ourselves in service that we may discover the joy of a transcendent mission.

We are grateful that through your guidance we increasingly establish our identity in the spirit-consciousness of our soul.

Eternal thanks for this opportunity to direct our destiny!.

God’s Loving Care (4)

Gracious God, in your loving care I put my trust.

Save me from the disintegrating pressures of life.

Establish me in the unified, integrated life of the Spirit.

Inspire my judgment and renew my energy.

Assist enlightened love to motivate all of my relationships.

May the appeal of the many not distract me from the wisdom of the One.

Illuminate my vision of the highlands of the soul.

May the light of your love enable me to see myself as I am against the background of what I ought to be.

How wonderful is your presence in my experience, not leaving me to the folly of my lower nature, but urging me to actualize my higher self.

I live in the identity of my soul-mind, as I anticipate the adventure of my universe career!.

God’s Unfathomable Love (5)

Universal Father, how majestic and revered is your Spirit in all the cosmos.

Father of Fathers, whose glory is proclaimed from the mortal worlds to Paradise, you are the First Source and Center of all things and beings.

How marvelous is it that you govern the universe of universes by the inspiring power of our love!

When I envision the astronomical systems and contemplate the endless galaxies which you have established, we are but mites in the universe.

Yet you have made us your cherished children!

How can I understand your unfathomable love which has a supreme concern for us mortals?

Indeed, you have bestowed yourself upon us, given each of us a Divine Monitor which endows us with endless possibilities for spiritual growth! In this precious gift you have crowned us with glory and honor.

Paradise Father, you have made us stewards over the affairs and resources of this planet; provide us also with the wisdom necessary to co-operate with your forces of creative evolution.

Lead our lowly planet, step by step, to that great era of Light and Life when the kingdoms of this world shall truly become the kingdoms of the Most High.

O Lord our God, how infinite is your wisdom in the plan for all creation!.

The Father’s Way (6)

I love you, Universal Father, and rejoice in your partnership in my life.

I am thankful for the lawful behavior of phenomena upon which I can depend.

I am grateful for the values of truth, beauty, and goodness that you have established to govern all human interaction.

All that is not in harmony with your perfect way will eventually perish.

Those who thwart your purposes for humanity will be vanquished.

The iniquitous find the way of the transgressor is hard, their plans do not prevail.

Your Triune judgment is the arbiter of time and the template of eternity.

The mills of your divine justice turn slowly, but grind exceedingly fine!

Your Fatherly rule of love is ascendant in the worlds of space.

It will bring justice and peace to humankind.

There is an integration of spiritual influences empowering us to transcend our animal legacies.

A confederation of divine powers is directed toward freeing us from our material limitations and finite handicaps.

We rejoice that nothing in all the universe can separate us from your Fatherly care and blessing!.

Spiritual Progress (7)

How long, Mighty Supreme, must we wait for the enlightenment of humanity?

How long will we be afraid to turn our face toward new spiritual paradigms?

How long must we struggle with closed minds and stunted souls?

How long will your people be led by the priests of the past instead of the prophets of the future?

Give us the patience to co-operate with your laws of creative evolution.

Deliver us from the folly of devising short-cuts to sound spiritual growth.

May we not indulge in the short-lived joys experienced by the midwife of the premature.

Rather, Universal Father, give us the joys of those who stand on the mountain top and view the rich plain of abundant growth and future potential.

Give us the satisfactions of those pioneers who break new trails knowing that others will follow, settle, and build.

May all the lone voices of truth crying in the wilderness become a mighty chorus of humanity affirming your will and way.

We have complete trust in the triumph of your great plan for humankind.

Your steadfast love and Fatherly care sustain us every step of the way.

In the midst of the problems and suffering of this confused world, we live in the bountiful blessings of renewal, growth, and joy that your inner presence provides.

We will praise you eternally!.

My Prayer (8)

Heavenly Father, I love you!

Thank you for being my mentor and my partner.

Thank you for evolving our soul, for your love, and for your guidance.

You are my hope and my salvation, my authentic self.

With your help, I am striving to master my mind and dedicate my will to follow spiritual ideals.

Help me, Indwelling Spirit, to ascend the cosmic circles of mind and personality development.

Lead me to those mysterious factors preliminary to our eternal fusion.

Guide me in the joy of creative service in bringing your epochal revelation to the seekers of truth and spiritual enlightenment.

Out of the Depths (9)

Out of the depths I cried unto you, O Lord.

When the pressures of my human condition were about to break me, when it seemed that I was on the brink of breakdown, in desperate concern,

I placed myself totally in your hands.

Never, Gracious Sustainer, shall I forget the deep peace which came upon me.

So great and overwhelming was the relief, I knew it was a singular event.

My gratitude was beyond words, and I knew I would remember it even when I stand before you on Paradise!

Countless of your children, Loving Father, have experienced your deliverance from the depths of anxiety and despair.

Always, do we remember your seemingly miraculous intervention when we were snatched from the jaws of disaster.

We are living witnesses to your loving-kindness and saving empowerment.

The Saving Presence (10)

The subconscious mind speaks to us according to our hungers and desires.

All too often, our sensual needs and egocentric motives take precedence and dictate their guidance to our plans.

Our selfish intentions are styled in respectable clothing.

The thwarted ego assures us that we have our rights, that our indulgences are justified.

Your steadfast love, Universal Father, does not abandon us to this dark side of our nature; our lower urges are challenged by the integrity of your indwelling presence.

Your saving grace reaches us in the midst of despair; our fragmented and imperfect lives are saved by your loving guidance.

You rescue us from the pitfalls, the addictions, and the evil lures which have captivated us; and you save us from ourselves.

How precious is your steadfast love, O God!

We children of earth live in its warmth in deep confidence and unshakable security.

Your Spirit is our foundation of life; in your light we see the truths of eternity.

As we strive to live by these great truths of your kingdom, all other needful things become ours as well.

Indeed, your blessings are so abundant and so deeply satisfying, we feel an eternal debt of love.

This overflowing fellowship of love is bringing joy to our days and meaning to our destiny!.

On Being Human (11)

Universal Father, I see so many needs that cry out for help.

Because of my human limitations, I must choose where I will serve.

Even when I am guided by your Spirit and make wise decisions, I have a sense of frustration bordering on guilt.

Help me to concentrate on what I can do so that I will not feel responsible for the undoable.

Because we are material beings, the needs and health of our bodies assume primary importance.

Help us who are called to serve the needs and welfare of the mind and soul not to feel as second class servers.

Inspire us to live by values that transcend our material existence.

May the fruits of the Spirit nourish our total personalities as your sons and daughters.

Nobility of the Common Person (12)

We rejoice that the common person has the same spiritual status and potential as royalty, rulers, and brokers of power.

Each person is cared for with the same Parental love; and the same standard of growth toward perfection is required by all.

The indwelling divine Spirit strives to lead us to our true heart’s desire and reveal an ideal plan for our life.

The celestial hosts of a great universe are constantly seeking to help us grow in spiritual stature.

As we ascend the psychic circles of personality growth, doors of accomplishment open and victorious living becomes ever more a reality.

One day we will become one with God’s Spirit and in this fusion we join the immortals!.

Mustard Seed Beginnings (13)

Universal Father, we thank you for your marvelous plan for the finite creation.

Here everything has mustard seed beginnings, all entities start as germs of potentiality.

On the finite level experience is required, risk and courage are indispensable, effort and suffering are indigenous.

Your Incarnate Son is the divine embodiment of your plan and the living assurance of your constant love and never ending guidance.

Here in the small, the weak, and the unknown are hidden the potentialities of divinity.

In the babe of Bethlehem resides the Sovereign of a universe.

Through his matchless life, your light and your truth shine in purity and power.

In him we see the latent possibilities of human nature.

The Master of Life has opened our consciousness to a new and higher level of living.

We who are born with animal drives and material mindedness are invited to recognize and accept our status as your children.

His Spirit of Truth leads us to transcend the dominance of our physiological conditioning through the spirit mastery of our material minds to achieve a new identity and soul consciousness centering in the realities of your kingdom.

We thank you for your Supreme plan of love in our finite creation.

We rejoice that we are your children in time and eternity.

Enlarge Our Perception (14)

Supreme Being, we marvel at the diversity of the finite creation.

We rejoice in the variety of talents and abilities the Creator has given his sons and daughters.

Inspire us to celebrate our differences and lovingly accept those who follow your leading that is different than ours.

Help us to appreciate the diverse ways which are ordained to achieve the spiritual maturity of Life and Light on our world.

Open our minds to perceive the broad spectrum of reality encompassed by Truth.

Enlarge our conception of the vast combinations of creation that are possible to create Beauty.

Deepen our appreciation of the multitude of activities which establish that which is Good.

We thank you, Supreme Integrator, for evolving a cosmos replete in the elements of Perfection!.

Deliverance from Self-deception (15)

Blessed is the person who knows that God's love is unconditional; who does not despair because they are human.

Happy are they whose attunement with God free them from a sense of guilt.

When we run away from reality and fail to be honest with ourselves before

God, trouble is sure to come.

The ego has countless strategies of self-defense and self-deception.

Rationalization enables us to have good and honorable reasons for following selfish and evil motives.

Until we become God-integrated persons, we are a battle ground of conflicting drives, emotions, and motives.

In this inner conflict our vitality is dissipated, our effectiveness is dampened, and our health is undermined.

No one can face the depth of their imperfection and finitude except in the presence of the Father's sustaining love.

As we abide in God's presence, gradually we receive deeper insights into our true motives and a larger vision of our purpose and destiny.

The Inner Leading constantly instructs us in the way we should go.

The Universal Father has given us a perfect guide for time and eternity.

Our task is to always remain teachable.

Rejoice, for in the Father's way of truth and love we can never be enslaved by our inferior motives and desires.

God's down-reach has opened to us a glorious destiny!

Secular Illusion (16)

Father of All, looking out on the decadent structure of our society, it often appears that you are not present or concerned with the human condition.

Mistaking your permissive freedom and patient forbearance for the absence of control or nonexistence is the greatest of human delusions.

Experience reveals the gnawing emptiness of secular living.

The wisdom of history clearly warns all who listen:

Without the spiritual nourishment of truth, beauty, and goodness all that is human degenerates; the soul withers and unhappiness proliferates.

All that is not in harmony with our universe Father's way of love shall perish.

Self-esteem and spiritual growth is the reward of all who are meek, Reality-oriented, and teachable.

Those who are led by truth shall find life-giving freedom.

Those who are inspired by beauty shall be drawn into transforming worship.

Those who are motivated by goodness shall find the rich satisfaction of service.

They have found the way to victorious living and are dynamic participants in the Family of God!.

Delivery from Illusions (17)

Infinite Spirit, we thank you for the multiple gifts of the human mind:

For the objective and logical ability to perceive and analyze the material world.

For the subjective and creative insight that discerns intangible values.

For the will capacity to choose the true, the beautiful, and the good in contributing to the growth of our immortal soul.

We are inspired by the subliminal perception of the soul recognizing our partnership with the Father’s indwelling Spirit.

Guide us as we search for the unique meaning and direction of our life.

Deliver us from the illusions of objective materialism and the delusions of subjective dogmatism.

Free us from the chains of orthodoxy and tradition that attempt to eternalize the temporal.

Prepare us for the discovery of challenging realities that shake our past assumptions.

Open the doors of our mind to enlarged truth and expanded vision.

Undergird our joy as we fearlessly face the problems of time and the adventures of eternity!.

The Ground of Creative Living (18)

Loving Universe Sovereign, thank you for establishing the Ground for Creative Living:

For the freedom to establish and direct unique life plans;

For the wisdom and guidance to formulate fulfilling spiritual objectives;

For the loving partnership with supportive and creative coworkers;

For the joy of service cultivating the ground of growth and spiritual transformation.

Thank you, Loving Creator, for the foundation of Universe Reality:

For the universal nature and recognition of truth in all societies and cultures;

For the emergence of spiritual values from the morass of animal inclinations;

For the goodness indigenous in the human soul that nourishes the growth of noble character;

For the leavening standards of justice draining the quagmires of greed and corruption;

For the ubiquitous attraction of beauty that enhances and elevates the human scene.

Thank you, Universe Father, for these divine qualities undergirding our human struggle.

The Necessity of Perseverance (19)

Teach me, Timeless Spirit, to enlarge my concept of time.

Deliver me from the desire for immediate results.

Help me to understand and experientially know the timelessness of spiritual growth.

Lead me through effort, struggle, and uncertainty to realize the necessity of perseverance in progressive growth.

Focus my attention on the immediate goals of service that I may lose myself in creative activities.

Grant me that inner peace of knowing that nothing can separate me from your love and guidance.

Uplifting Service (20)

Creative Spirit, I am thankful for the urge toward constructive activity.

For the motivation to pursue my sense of calling.

For the desire to help my fellows in the daily opportunities of living.

For the joy of actualizing the fruits of the Spirit.

Undergird my integrity that I may be trustworthy.

Strengthen my courage to persevere when it would be easier to give up the struggle.

Enhance my vision that I may live in the potential reality of the distant goal.

Renew my energy as I climb the mountain of projected spiritual ideals.

Restore my soul in the joys of uplifting service.

Outworn Dogmas (21)

Eternal source of loving wisdom, I long for a deeper awareness of your presence. Minister to the true needs of my soul.

Deliver me from vain words, mindless rituals, and outworn dogmas.

Inspire me with a fresh vision of reality for our day.

Teach me to lay solid foundations of truth and justice.

Help me to understand that there are no shortcuts in your creative way.

Your way is perfection in process; your purposes working out in time are sure.

This realization fills my heart with a deep and overflowing joy.

I am involved in the battle of reality’s triumph over half-truth and evil!

I do not doubt; the love of the Universal Father will some day rule our planet! In this surety of faith, I live without fear and anxiety.

Beyond Tradition and Orthodoxy (22)

Save us, Supreme Teacher, from the pride of learning, the arrogance of theological elitism, and the self-righteousness of tradition and orthodoxy.

Teach us to be mindful that your ways are open to the humble and the unlearned, but are often hidden by the self-interests of the proud, the affluent, and the sophisticated.

Enlighten our realization that even though intellectual comprehension may be partial or erroneous, understanding of spiritual truth may be real and genuine.

Your truth, Universal Father, cannot be imprisoned in creeds, dogmas, or theological treatise, but flows freely through living personalities.

The static forms of intellectualism fossilize your living and growing revelation of truth; but prophets in each generation advance the understanding of your progressive plan for humankind.

Deliver us from confusing political and economic action for the more basic spiritual transformation and dedication which is the foundation of social justice.

Save our religious fellowships from secular entanglements that they may have a clear vision of your will and way and proclaim your goals and objectives for humankind.

Undergird and guide those who labor in the vineyards of the world, that your will may increasingly be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Testimony of History (23)

I marvel at the faith of our forebears.

Without the aid of science and technology to help in their struggle and assuage their pain and suffering, they remained steadfast and loyal to your purposes.

This testimony of history reinforces my faith in eternal purposes as

I struggle with the vicissitudes of time.

Universal Father, I am beginning to understand that even the inevitability of pain and suffering is germane to your perfect divine plan for the development of strong, courageous, and resilient sons and daughters.

These tested souls are the meek who shall inherit the earth.

I dedicate myself to your service anew, gracious Father.

I will follow wherever your truth leads me; and

I will sing your praise and proclaim your love to all people!.

Save Us From Destruction (24)

Deliver us, Universe Sovereign, from the distortions of truth that would divert us from a balanced view of reality:

The sectarian who appeals to group loyalty and convention to justify discriminatory and immoral practices.

The traditionalist who seeks to establish truth by authority and antiquity.

The radical who makes sweeping generalizations on the basis of a few selective examples.

Save us from the poisons which corrupt and bring the downfall of civilization:

The society where sensual pleasures are dominant and life becomes artificial, fast, and shallow.

Quality is replaced by quantity, beauty by utility;

skepticism flourishes and spiritual values decline; the body prospers and the soul decays.

The commonwealth is governed by the dictatorship of money.

Humanity becomes a slave of the machine and economic profit.

The inferior multiply and the gifted decline.

Class conflict raises its ugly head and irrationality abounds.

Social institutions have become an end in themselves.

Their calling to ministry and service is lost in the feverish cultivation of the institution.

Prophetic voices are ignored and the bureaucrats govern the land.

Rescue us, O Most High, from our headlong plunge into disaster!

You are our guide, our strength, and our fortress.  May your will and way take first place in our lives.

Shepherd us in the family of your kingdom which inspires loving service and establishes the foundations of peace.

We thank you for your Fatherly care, and we bring you our unconditional love! 

A New Paradigm of Reality (25)

Savior of humankind, enlighten our confused and beleaguered society with a vision of reality that will inspire and transform its citizens.

Our traditional sectarian standards have been found wanting. The value-customs of yesterday are outworn and threadbare.

We hunger for a larger and more encompassing revelation of universe truth and spiritual insight.

May your Supreme leavening power of growth give us the wisdom and courage to phase out obsolete and decadent folkways.

We pray that your Spirit of Truth will illuminate our hearts and minds to create new styles of living and reformed social institutions that more perfectly actualize your will and way.

Your partnership in our troubled society transforms its meaning and destiny.

We confidently place our lives and fortunes in your hands, knowing that the resources of a vast universe are structured for the ultimate salvation and victorious ascendancy of your mortal creation.

We rejoice and praise you, Universe Father, for the triumph of this bitter- sweet adventure on the planets of time and space!.

The Advent of a New Day (26)

Gracious God, help us respect the faith of our forefathers; but deliver us from their simplistic and erroneous view that health and prosperity are signs of your blessing, while sickness and poverty are indications of your displeasure.

Teach us the dynamics of your evolutionary way of working in our lives and in the world.

Past civilizations are teaching us that when your spiritual values are not actualized in our lives, we become frustrated, maladjusted, and ill.

Life becomes artificial, fast, and shallow; the body prospers and the soul decays.

The dictatorship of money and the struggle for power characterize the nations of the world.

Our sensate culture contains the poisons of its demise; May a new vision of your universe reality enlighten our minds and inspire humanity to travel a higher road.

People everywhere are seeking a new spiritual vision; the spirit of expectancy is abroad in the land. My faith intuits that we are on the brink of the advent of a new day. I rejoice in hope, for your saving renewal is near!

A New Dispensation (27)

Why, Infinite Spirit, do the people of earth love doctrinaire clichés more than new, vibrant visions of truth, outworn customs and traditions more than progressive ways of living?

Send forth a new dispensation of your light and your truth; let them lead us into a new era of living.

May social interaction be enhanced by international and interracial fellowship, facilitated by a common language and mutual respect.

Let educational cross-fertilization and ethical awakening unmask the immorality of human intolerance and strife.

Through your spirit's transforming power, bring all people into your family to dwell in peace, well-being, and love.

Empower us, then, to rise to heights of culture undreamed of by present-day humanity; where simplicity of living is achieved amid ever increasing scientific and technological complexity; where spiritual values reign supreme, and your praise and adoration is the joyful recreation of all.

The Spiritual Fellowship (28)

Infinite Spirit, inspire us to create a dynamic spiritual fellowship rooted in love and devotion to the Father/Motherhood of God and the sister/brotherhood of all people.

Ground us in the mystery of epochal revelation that inspires us to strive for the perfection that is beyond our grasp.

Keep us in chaordic openness that stimulates social development and spiritual progress. Bind us to the truth insights which are permanent in the midst of change.

We thank you, Conjoint Actor, for mediating unto us the love of the Universal Father, the mercy of the Eternal Son, and an increasing awareness of the Supreme.

Our Loving Sovereign (29)

Universe Father we thank you for your creative love.

You have formed us in harmony with the established patterns of reality.

We are secure in your benevolent care for you know us as Creator and creature.

You have experienced the vicissitudes of our mortal nature.

We praise and glorify you for your saving ministry to our world.

We are forever grateful for your unparalleled revelation of the loving nature of the Universal Father.

We are inspired by your demonstration of the acme of religious living in our midst.

You are the way, the truth, and the life. You are the source of abundant living. You are the bridge between time and eternity.

We rejoice that you reign as our understanding and compassionate Sovereign!

The Ground of Love (30)

Universal Father, your love is the ground condition of the universe and the supreme reality of the cosmos.

We are sustained and energized in the realization that the dominant characteristic of your relations with humankind is loving kindness.

Your love is the most powerful cosmic drawing force for all of your ascending children, and the greatest enabler of all their finite potentials.

We are grateful that your creative wisdom has made love the most satisfying and rewarding of all human experiences, and the most effective embodiment and expression of truth, beauty, and goodness.

Lead us in love that is rooted in true understanding, nurtured in the goodness of unselfish service, and perfected in the beauty of experiential wisdom.

Inspire us in that dynamic and infectious urge to do good to others that it may become the dominant and ruling motive of our lives.

We give you our undying love and our eternal devotion to the actualization of truth, beauty, and goodness! 

Living the Religion of Jesus: The Creation of Destiny A Perspective from The Urantia Book by Paul Snider 

The Urantia Book tells us that 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." [191:6.2] 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. tells us that 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.The Urantia Book 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 . 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.destiny 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: "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." [182:1.6]

Spiritual Healing: Insights from the Urantia Book   by: Henry Begemann 

Mr. Begemann was a long-time student of the Urantia Book who translated it into the Dutch language. See also, "Healthy Spiritual Relationships and Spiritual Healing Therapies" by Dan Massey.

Spiritual Healing could be viewed as one factor of the vast process of supremacy, spirit dominance over mind, and mind over matter—pattern caused to appear. (See The Urantia Book, [116:5.6-9] and [116:6.4-8] )

The ordination -- mandate, [140:3.2] 1. Proclaim liberty to the spiritual captives 2. Proclaim joy to those in the bondage of fear
3. Heal the sick, in accordance with the will of my Father in heaven a. [141:4.4-6] Jesus taught the twelve how to heal. What he taught is not communicated, only some clues: b. "... the whole man..." Diseases of the flesh, Troubled minds. (Giving clues for really interested students is an often practiced method of the authors of The Urantia Book).

The whole man:

1. The material energy system

2. The mindal energy system

3. The spirit energy system (different from the indwelling spirit)

4. Personality a. true personality, changeless   b. identity, (personality identifying itself with a living organism to get self-knowledge through experience). On our level, and throughout the local universe-career the I, or ego, or self, is not yet centered in the spirit-energy system, but in the mind-energy-system.

5. The Thought Adjuster, the indwelling spirit, not yet really a part of man.

6. Soul, born of two parents, mind and Adjuster, the embryonic morontia-mind including a potential/actual new self, reborn man. (the Biblical concept of "the old man" and "the new man".)

7. Relationship between "the whole man" and disease: [42:12.5] "The spirit is the architect, the mind is the builder, the body is the building." a. The architect can be inactive or "captive;" The mind can be without director and in error; The body can exemplify and manifest the error of mind. b. Purely physical disease. [4:2.8] (...the mis-thinking) the collective mind influences nature and creature.

The spiritual healing process indicated by ordination-mandate.

1. Liberty for the spiritual captives... The spiritual energy-system is non-active through the overpowering tendencies, convictions, and fears of the ego, that is centered in mind. Reversion of truth: matter dominates mind, (material) mind dominates spirit. a. Living, experienced, TRUTH causes the mind-center, the self, to strive for spirit -- (real value) domination. Then the creative nature of spirit manifests itself. This is liberty -- sonship. Intellectual "truth" is insufficient for spiritual healing. When the captain of the mind-ship listens to the advice of the pilot, he steers his ship free from the shoals, into the open sea of spirit. [11:1.9] b. The liberated spiritual energy-system regenerates the mindal and material energy systems.

2. Joy for those in bondage of fear.... Fear is an attitude of the mind. Mind, lacking the creativity of the spiritual energy-system, is in bondage to its concepts of material reality. [12:8.5] a. Mind, innately creative, thus creates fear images, which can become obsessions. Fear is a strong factor in the collective mind also. According to Jesus, the remedy for fear is joy. The BEAUTY of life is the basis and reason for joy. Life, as the Universal Father meant it for his children, is beautiful. When we experience the love of our Father, this love casts out fear, through the liberated creativity of the spiritual energy-system. b. Experienced values create their channels of expression. Fear is a concomitant of illness. Jesus often began his treatment with "Be not afraid." Fear often expresses itself in the material body as some form of disease accordant with the special form of the fear. (Mind dominating matter). c. Every Thought Adjuster brings with him an individual plan of life for his subject. [2:7.6] "Happiness ensues from the recognition of truth because it can be acted out; it can be lived...."

3. "I send you forth ... to heal the sick in accordance with the will of my Father in Heaven." Two meanings: 1. Healing is in accordance with his will. 2. Our healing work should be done in accordance with his will. Both interpretations seem valid. What is the will of God? On the personal, spiritual level the Thought Adjuster is called the will of God. On the physical level, pattern is called the will of God. Mind (with the self-center) is confronted with mystery above and below. [111:7.3] "Why do you not allow the Adjuster to strengthen you with Cosmic Power while you wrestle with the temporal difficulties of creature existence?" On p. [0:1.17] power is mentioned as a disclosure of divinity on impersonal levels. Conclusion: personality has not power. Power is not personal. The Urantia Book tells us that, "That quality of ... personality by virtue of which pattern is caused to appear may be attributed to God - Deity ..., to the co-existence of personality and power." [0:6.12] Though personality has not power, there exists a relationship between personality and power. This relationship The Urantia Book mostly calls "Sonship with God." [196:3.31] is very enlightening for the "Sonship with - God" - consciousness. It is more than God-knowingness, more than embryonic soul-consciousness, more than the faith-experience of Sonship, it is the actual experience of the divine presence, "equivalent to the integration of the self with the universe, and on its highest levels of spiritual reality." It is actually participating in the process of Supremacy. But physical healing not only implies dedication to doing the Father's will as expressed by the indwelling presence, it also requires recognition of the Father's will as pattern. We need an enlightened and unshakable faith and pattern is the basis for that. Pattern, like personality, is an unfathomable mystery because the Universal Father is the source of both. But there are some essential aspects of pattern which our book has revealed and which we should remember: 1. Pattern is perfect, absolutely or relatively, depending on the level on which it has been projected. Its gravity-debt has already been paid [0:6.11] 2. Pattern does not control energy, like gravity does. In this respect it more resembles love. Pattern is the GOODNESS of the Universal Father, who "fills all things." Pattern should be accepted in living faith. Pattern constitutes the validity-basis for the divine command: "Be ye perfect as I am perfect." In final analysis the Universal Father himself has paid the gravity-debt. More directly the Creator Sons and their subordinates have paid the gravity-debt for us by projecting pattern. The perfection of pattern is already here. God's goodness is not the same as God's mercy. God is good because he shares his perfection with us as the ever-present, perfect pattern, waiting to be activated. He is merciful because he knows that the realization of perfection is a process in time. Even the realization of relative perfection as manifested in healing is, in most cases, a process. Jesus' healings were instantaneous, because his faith was so much stronger and more enlightened than ours. As a Creator Son he was above time, but it is not clear if, or in how far he acted as Creator Son, when healing. Anyway, he taught his apostles how to heal. Our healing mostly is the result of a faith struggle between the spiritual mind and the material mind. And this struggle can only be won through the help of the indwelling spirit, our Father-friend within. A Divine Counselor summarizes it as follows: "Health, sanity, and happiness are integrations of truth, beauty and goodness as they are blended in human experience. Such levels of efficient living come about through the unification of energy systems, idea systems, and spirit systems." [2:7.11] "Happiness ensues from the recognition of truth because it can be acted out..." [2:7.6] Spiritual healing is a privilege, not a "must." It belongs in the category mentioned at [170:5.18]. Medical science has its place in evolution.

Healthy Spiritual Relationships and Spiritual Healing Therapies by Dan Massey

See also "Spiritual Healing: Insights From The Urantia Book" by Henry Begemann.

This is a partial, informal, and preliminary exposition of some ideas I have been developing as a result of my reading of . References indicate page and paragraph in the first edition of The Urantia Book.

We have learned that finite existence can be understood in terms of three levels of reality -- material, mental, and spiritual. Our experience of being results from the harmonization and unification of these three levels of our existence by personality. Total health -- personal well-being -- stems from the quality of this unifying process, and is realized on all three levels of experience. On the level of spirit as happiness. On the level of mind as sanity -- mental efficiency. On material levels as bodily health, physical well-being. [2:7.11] [100:4.3] [194:3.19]The total experience of well-being is affected by the quality of health on all three levels. Two processes are active. Failure of development at any one level will limit the truth receptivity of the mind and the ability of the personality to harmonize the three classes of experience. In addition, failure at a higher level directly impairs the growth potential at lower, dependent levels. [100:1.6]To put these ideas more positively, true religious growth, attained through prayer, worship, and other authentic spiritual experience has beneficial effects on all levels of being and living. Spiritual growth and truth reception is favored by balanced development on all three levels of being. [91:7.5] [110:6.3]There is a universal impulse to perfection active in all persons. This impulse is so strong that, even in the absence of a strong spiritual consciousness, it appears as a desire for physical and mental health. In the spirituallly and scientifically backward culture of Jesus' day this was manifest as a nearly universal desire for physical healing and relief from mental and emotional anguish. Even the healthy sought these works for others, taking them as signs of power, and thus bolstering their faith in Jesus as the Messiah. This impulse was so powerful that Jesus was forced to devote much of his service time on Urantia to this particular form of ministry. [146:6.4] [145:3.13]In Jesus' ministry we learn to distinguish the ideas of health and healing. Health is a dynamic state of well-being, characterized by balanced, harmonious growth on all levels of personal experience. Perfect health is a state of growing, relative perfection, such as Jesus exhibited throughout his life. By healing we mean a related growth process by which the levels of personal being are brought into a unified harmony of relative perfection. Both health and healing imply positive and constructive growth towards final perfection. Health is growth in balance and harmony. Healing growth grows towards balance and harmony.Spiritual Healing and Spiritual PowerAlthough there is no sharp boundary, we think of healing in terms of growth for the resolution of a state of extreme, abnormal imperfection or disharmony. In , we find Jesus practicing healing in at least five distinct ways:The Urantia Book

1. First, we see a supportive ministry in which he comforts the sick and helps them by attending to their immediate physical needs. This was a novelty for the period.

2. Second, we see Jesus applying his superior (superhuman) knowledge of practical material therapies for specific diseases and conditions.

3. The third category includes a series of involuntary contact healings in which the faith of the seeker combines with the compassion and power of the Son to bring about physical healing in accordance with the Father's will. [149:1]4. Fourth, Jesus performed a series of voluntary acts of healing which were to help the spiritual growth or service potential of individual believers. [152:0.3]5. Finally, Jesus exercised his power and authority as Creator Son to heal (or, in the case of Lazarus, to resurrect) a person who did not seek or may not have merited such by faith. In these cases, the purpose seems to have been related to the revelation of the Father to a broader audience or the satisfaction of Jesus' unusual sympathy and compassion.It is clear that Jesus intended that his followers would minister according to this example, and the experiences of the seventy teachers showed that they were able to cure "nervous disorders." [163:6.2] At the same time, many of Jesus' own healing actions were clearly contingent on his personal, incarnate presence to occur, for they drew on spirit energies of divinity or ministering celestial personalities under his direction. To learn what was possible/hoped for/expected of his follower, it is useful to review the story of James of Safed and his demon-possessed epileptic son. [Paper 158, sec. 4, 5, 6]We should review this to learn the factors which contributed to the failure of the apostles to heal the child, and to discover the extent to which they might have effected a cure. Clearly they started off with an unspiritual, egocentric attitude, and compounded this with boldness and presumption; however, subsequent prayer and meditation still failed to enable a cure. When Jesus arrived, he identified "doubting unbelief" as an obstacle, and then challenged the faith of the father seeking the cure. After reinforcing James' faith, Jesus accomplished the cure according to the Father's will. The healing was both physical and spiritual.Later that evening, Jesus analyzed the apostles' defeat in detail [158:6]. His summary is noteworthy in that, while criticizing the apostles, it affirms three principles at work in his ministry:

1. It is potentially possible to time-shorten natural events when the goal is the Father's will.

2. It is potentially possible to perform spiritual work in the presence of spiritual power.

3. Willful actualization of these potentials depends on the experience of living faith.This is, in a sense, an elaboration of the principle that the desire of a true son, when willed by the Father, must be.

These principles applied to Jesus' followers, as was shown by the later successes of the seventy in spiritual work. If the apostles had been prepared and grown spiritually, they need not have failed in their efforts. Modes of Healing Therapy From Jesus' example in we can identify forms of healing therapy appropriate to the present day. These include:

1. Material therapy--life support, care for the physical body, corrective surgery, for example.

2. Scientific therapy--material application of mental discoveries. Material therapeutic intervention, specific actions affecting body operation favorably, based on scientific knowledge, medicine.

3. Mental therapy--applied psychology, education, other aids to emotional and intellectual growth and mental efficiency.

4. Spiritual therapy-- spiritual power applied to improve the function of all levels of personal being.

Five Modes of Spiritual Therapy

In these terms we find at least five modes of spiritual therapy exemplified in Jesus' ministry:

1. To build faith and spiritual health-happiness.

2. To enhance emotional stability and maturity.

3. To build sanity by augmenting truth receptivity.

4. To cure nervous disorders.

5. Directly to heal physical disease.

All five of these forms of spiritual therapy are potentially workable for Jesus' true sons.Jesus' analysis of the apostles' failure with the epileptic boy gives us some idea of the requirements for such powerful spiritual actions. We clearly understand that the presence of total living faith is a prerequisite for the actualization of the healing potentials inherent in such an occasion. While we cannot know exactly what James' declaration signified to himself, his words provide some indication of the kind of faith which is required.We know that any sequence of events abridging the normal limitations of time must be for a pure purpose which accords with the Father's will. What forms of phenomena might be time-shortened in accordance with the Father's will? What goals would accord with the Father's will?Finally, we must consider whether the need to assure the presence of the necessary spiritual power constitutes a limitation. Specifically, can we be assured of the presence of the necessary spiritual power?Jesus told his apostles they would see the Kingdom come in power during their own lives, and this promise was fulfilled in the bestowal of the Spirit of Truth and the universal bestowal of the Thought Adjusters at Pentecost. The remembrance supper, the act of communion, factualizes the presence of God, and constitutes the basis of true worship. While this act, which is the only sacrament established by Jesus, has purely symbolic significance to the intellectual believer, its spiritual significance is increasingly perceived by the more spirit-conscious. To the truly God-knowing faith son, the Masters' personal presence is fully revealed. [103:4] [179:5.6]

Although Michael, incarnate as the Son of Man, is no longer physically among us, this same spirit being, even the Master Son himself, is still with us, whenever and wherever we choose to acknowledge his presence. And this presence is surely endowed with sufficient spiritual power to accomplish all spiritual work according to the Father's will.When man thus practices the presence of God, and enters into the communion of true worship, he participates with the Creator in his own co-creation by accepting God's will. At the same time, man also participates in a larger undertaking--the eventuation of the brotherhood of man. Since Michael is the Father-Son, his will is the Father's will and his supreme purpose should indicate to us that will. Our pure purpose must look towards the emergence of human brotherhood.

Learning to be Merciful in Our Relationships   by Dr. Jeffry Wattles

See also, "The Memory of Mercy" -- The Urantia Book, 28:6.2

Dietrich Bonhoeffer counseled a couple on their wedding day, "Forgive each other every day from the bottom of your hearts." The daily practice of being merciful in your relationships keeps weeds from springing up and choking out the flowers in the garden of our relationships. The Urantia Book teaches that mercy is a process, a profound spiritual exercise, the completion of justice, and a joyful experience of partnership with God. In my experience, the passage of greatest social value in the book is the description at [28:6.2] of that mercy process. The more one practices the five steps, the more meaningful they become, and the more their power is evident.

1. The first step in the mercy process is to be just.

This means at least two things for me:

Remove logs. Is there a log in my eye, some pride or anger that is distorting my moral perception?

Clarify the violation. Exactly what moral principle or ethical law has been violated? Often I find that I cannot answer this question with anything definite. I am merely irritated by someone else's behavior, and the mercy process is not truly indicated; it is I who need to grow in understanding and love.

In some cases, I need as part of the Justice step to initiate the "Jesus grievance procedure" (see The Sermon on Forgiveness, [159:1] by going personally to the individual and lovingly confronting him or her.

In some cases, I need to go as far as involving groups with judicial authority. But I must at least be free of mental poisons, and I must be very clear about what violation I believe occurred. Being just is-- as I interpret this paragraph at [28:6.2]--the personal virtue governing the experience of "group understanding."

The hardest times are when an individual persistently refuses to acknowledge wrongdoing or to amend his ways. When this occurs, it blocks the ideal completion of the mercy process. Social authority may act, but unresolved issues await a higher stage of universe progress.

In a family, people learn to agree to disagree. If one member insists on the others' meeting his or her own standards, freedom perishes or the family breaks asunder. When is an issue worth insisting on that much? Some issues are worth it. Not many.

2. Next, we must be fair.

Fairness means taking into account the antecedents that caused the unfortunate behavior in question. If there was a lapse in the effectiveness of spiritual motives, then it must be possible to understand the material motives whose history helps explain things.

Comprehend the motive. This is the prime requisite in understanding people. It is easy to forget to even wonder why a person did something; and it is easier to postulate motives than discover them. One of the most powerful prayers is, "Please, God, help me love this person."

Praying for someone is more than scanning the individual's name on a prayer list. It means savoring the relationship, waiting for illumination, and preparing to interact. It means sensing what God is doing in that person's life and adding our own finite support for that enterprise. Some readers have stumbled over the recommendation in the Urantia Book about letting others know you are praying for them. It would be injurious to say, "I'm praying that God will help you overcome your obnoxious parenting style." It probably would not even do to say, "Raising children is a tremendous undertaking, and I pray for divine wisdom and grace for you"; but one could surely manage to express something like, "I have really been enjoying praying for you lately."

This part of the process requires us not only to see the good motives that may have been present in unfortunate behavior; but we also need compassionate regard for the less noble motives that are part of the common heritage of humankind. Fear, vanity, sex hunger, thirst for wealth and power, ease-seeking, problem-avoidance, insincerity--each of us has a portion of these. They have an evolutionary role to play, and overcoming them does not have to be a lonely struggle.

The discovery of motives is not a one way street; mercy is not something that one person does to another unilaterally regardless of the other's knowledge, desire, and cooperation. People who comprehend each others' motives achieve "mutual appreciation".

3. Next comes patience.

Some faults will take more than a lifetime of work to eradicate. What rate of growth can be reasonably expected?

The word patience comes from the Latin word meaning to suffer. Patience begins in suffering, but it ends in service. Someone said that faith means knowing that the rules of the game are fair and that there are unexpected good surprises ahead.

Patience is an adjunct to "fraternal fellowship"

4. Then kindness.

We have to interact with people to show kindness. It is so easy to feel forgiving in the middle of a marvelous prayer session with the Father, but quite another matter to actually relate to a difficult mortal. Once I took a seminary course in evangelism. At the beginning of the term, we each selected a person to whom we wanted to present the gospel. One week, our assignment was very simple: love that person. All I will say is that it was a wonderful assignment.

5. Finally, we can be merciful in our relationships.

By the time we experience the flow of kindness, the normal inclination is to just forget about the original problem. It's so much easier to let bygones be bygones. But mercy summarizes the whole process, remembers all the steps, and in the light of that whole sequence, to extend mercy. That is not the mercy of blindness, but the mercy of the realization of reality--the evolving dominance of goodness. An action that expresses trust, such as giving the person some responsibility, can manifest the conclusion of the mercy process.

Whenever I have done my best, taking as much time as needed, with each step in sequence, I have found rich rewards.

Let me try to describe an experience of mercy which captures an essential aspect of this process--that it has phases bound together in the unity of a mature act of faith. It does not only involve spiritual awareness, in that it does not focus alone on realities that are divine, eternal, and spiritual. Rather it brings the mortal, temporal, and unspiritual into relationship with the enduring values; it is an act of what I call our philosophic consciousness.

Suppose I am thinking of a person who has wronged me. (For the purpose of this example, I am making the unworldly assumption that there is no question about determining the moral character of the action in question.) As an unspiritual being, my first awareness of this act may be the (psychologic) pain of injury. I may feel anger or sadness, contempt or outrage, intensely or mildly. In prayer, God helps me to regain my perspective on my brother, to see his shining wonderfulness. I dwell in the beauty of that revelation, and my love for him returns in greater strength and radiance than before. I have reached the stage of spirituality. (If we can experience that joy together and practice kindness, we have truly fulfilled the ideal of spiritual communion of step 4.)

But now I go one step further. I recall that ugly shadow of the evil that was done to me. It is jarring to juxtapose that shadow beside the beautiful, indwelt creation that has just been revealed to me more brightly. I think a bit more: there is a reason why that evil act occurred.

Some compulsion of material causes, some immaturity of creature will has manifested. This action is a part of the evolutionary growth of this brother, part of an early chapter of his success story. (I am also assuming for the purposes of this example that the person in question is a believer.) His error exposes part of the subterranean geography that needs adjustment, settling, harmonization. I can apply my prayer for my brother at that exposed spot. I can have confidence in the eventual triumph of my brother-- and the Supreme--with regard to this weakness.

By this time, my image of my brother has changed. About the nucleus of the indwelt and divinely bestowed personality, I see the slowly evolving self. I identify with the evolutionary process of progress. I think how glad I will be one day, when we are all so much more lovable, to have begun to know and love this brother in the mortal life. I give thanks for that privilege.

Note: now my awareness is complex, not simple. I see this person neither as a monster nor as an angel, but as growing around a nucleus of God-given perfection. To be able to balance-- creatively and progressively--the multiple phases of my brother's reality in my awareness of him exercises a new muscle. Mercy requires the exercise of this muscle. I call it a philosophic consciousness when fact and value are held together in proper balance.

In any human attempt at spiritual ministry the danger of self-righteous condescension is present; but that danger cannot be avoided by refusing to undertake the mercy process. On the contrary, the discoveries and growth to which the process leads are a powerful antdote for pride. It takes humility and faith and an appetite for spiritual adventure to receive mercy. On either side, we grow in partnership with God. Who of us has not needed, does not now need, and will not continue to need to receive mercy and to practice it? "What does the Lord require of you, but to do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?

The Human Response to the Father's Love: Urantia Book Perspectives on Spiritual Growth

by Peter Laurence

The Father's Love: The Pattern Relationship

The title of this talk is "The Human Response" and through it, I'd like to explore some of the ways in which we, as individuals, respond to God. I say "some of the ways" because this is by no means intended to be a complete survey of the topic, and if, at the end of this session, I leave you either challenged, perplexed, or inspired to think more about the subject, then I will have achieved my goal for the day.

Let me first establish the stimulus for the human response--the Father's love, the pattern relationship. It seems to me that one of our major problems is having to reconcile God's absolute reality with the reality which we perceive in human terms. In other words, the meaning we give to the reality that we perceive is strictly our interpretation of the absolute pattern, based on our personal experience and that which others share with us. A good example is the difficulty we face in attempting to deal with God's relationship to mortal creatures, the relationship which is symbolized by the term "love."

To help describe this absolute pattern The Urantia Book tells us that ". . Love is the greatest relationship in the world--in the universe--just as truth is the greatest pronouncement of the observation of these divine relationships." (*1615:5) "Love is the greatest of all spirit realities. Truth is a liberating revelation, but love is the supreme relationship." (*1608:1) "Love is the ancestor of all spiritual goodness, the essence of the true and the beautiful." (*2047:5) ". . .love is all-embracing of truth, beauty, and goodness." (*67:5) These concepts of ". . truth, beauty, and goodness--man's intellectual approach to the universe of mind, matter, and spirit- must be combined into one unified concept of a divine and supreme ideal. As mortal personality unifies the human experience with matter, mind, and spirit, so does this divine and supreme ideal become power-unified in Supremacy and then personalized as a God of fatherly love." (*647:7)

"Mortal man cannot possibly know the infinitude of the heavenly Father. Finite mind cannot think through such an absolute truth or fact. But this same finite being can actually feel--literally experience--the full and undiminished impact of such an infinite Father's LOVE. Such a love can be truly experienced, albeit while quality of experience is unlimited, quantity of such an experience is strictly limited by the human capacity for spiritual receptivity and by the associated capacity to love the Father in return." (*50 5)

"Finite appreciation of infinite qualities far transcends the logically limited capacities of the creature because of the fact that mortal man is made in the image of God-- there lives within him a fragment of infinity. Therefore man's nearest and dearest approach to God is by and through love, for God is love. And all of such a unique relationship is an actual experience in cosmic sociology, the Creator-creature relationship--the Father-child affection." (*50:6)

"God is the Father; man is his son. Love, the love of a father for his son, becomes the central truth in the universe relations of Creator and creature..." (2018:1) "The Father loves each of his sons, and that affection is not less than true, holy, divine, unlimited, eternal, and unique--a love bestowed upon this son and upon that son, individually, personally, and exclusively. And such a love utterly eclipses all other facts. Sonship is the supreme relationship of the creature to the Creator." (*454:3) "God loves each creature. . . throughout all time and eternity." (*1304:7) "The infinite love of God is not secondary to anything in the divine nature." ( *2017:3)

Thus, love is the pattern relationship, an absolute pattern emanating from the source of all reality. When the creature first feels the stirrings of this inspiration in his own emerging capacity to respond, the outcome is an inevitable blend of the human and the divine--the divine pattern of love constrained by the human response. This response has taken so many diverse forms through the course of its evolution that the term "love," as we have come to apply it, falls far short of adequately symbolizing the relationship of God to his creation. A Divine Counselor has expressed his frustration at the limitations of our symbolism by saying, "At times I am almost pained to be compelled to portray the divine affection of the heavenly Father for his universe children by the employment of the human word symbol love. This term, even though it does connote man's highest concept of the mortal relations of respect and devotion, is so frequently designative of so much of human relationship that is wholly ignoble and utterly unfit to be known by any word which is also used to indicate the matchless affection of the living God for his universe creatures!" (*40:4)

Let's take a look at the development of some of these aspects of the human capacity to love.

Evolutionary Love: The Human Response

The device which stimulates the earliest creature response to our Creator's love is predictably biological in nature. While the urgings of food hunger lead us to survive in the flesh, that which impels the dawning of a will creature's capacity to love another human being is the instinctive desire to reproduce. The fifth epochal revelation tells us that "It is because of the sex urge that selfish man is lured into making something better than an animal out of himself. The self-regarding and self-gratifying sex relationship entails the certain consequences of self-denial and insures the assumption of altruistic duties and numerous race-benefiting home responsibilities. Herein has sex been the unrecognized and unsuspected civilizer of the savage; for this same sex impulse automatically and unerringly compels man to think and eventually leads him to love." (*922:3)

The social repercussions of this biological genesis of the capacity to love apparently run through an evolutionary process which, during the course of eternity, progresses toward the ideal and original pattern. According to the midwayers, "Love, unselfishness, must undergo a constant and living readaptative interpretation of relationships in accordance with the leading of the Spirit of Truth. Love must thereby grasp the ever-changing and enlarging concepts of the highest cosmic good of the individual who is loved. And then love goes on to strike this same attitude concerning all other individuals who could possibly be influenced by the growing and living relationship of one spirit-led mortal's love for other citizens of the universe. And this entire living adaptation of love must be effected in the light of both the environment of present evil and the eternal goal of the perfection of divine destiny." (*1950:6)

Such affection must be played out on the stage of finite reality before it can achieve the heights of perfection. As we come in contact with others, and as our relationship with God is gradually redefined, our expressions of love are continually influenced by Supreme values. The midwayers go on to say that "Love is the highest motivation which man may utilize in his universe ascent. But love, divested of truth, beauty, and goodness, is only a sentiment, a philosophic distortion, a psychic illusion, a spiritual deception. Love must always be redefined on successive levels of morontia and spirit progression." (*2096:6)

The human response to God, the evolutionary capacity to love, is initially stimulated by the biological sex urge and progresses, "automatically and unerringly," to the acquisition of social responsibility and eventually to the stirrings of affection for another human being. Before it can be redefined on morontia and spirit levels, love must transcend the mortal breeding ground within which it takes a variety of forms that are colored by our receptivity to Supreme values. It is my central purpose in this discussion to propose that we, as mortals participating in the development of our relationship with God, inevitably go through varying stages in that relationship which are reflective of our current capacity to love as the Father loves, and that the primary indicator of the quality of that love is both drawn from, and illustrated by, the nature of our relationships with fellow mortals. As Erich Fromm expresses it in his classic work The Art of Loving, " . . . the nature of (any individual's) love for God corresponds to the nature of his love for man. . ." (p. 69)

Human Affection: The Importance of Romance

Human awareness of the existence of God is prompted by the sixth adjutant mind spirit, who leads us to worship that which is greater than ourselves. When we cross the threshold of understanding the fact, and feeling the truth, of sonship, worship becomes a very personal matter, but the form that is takes is largely determined by the human condition. The midwayers, in summarizing Jesus' words, say that "Worship is the act of the son's personal communion with the divine Father, the assumption of refreshing, creative, fraternal, and romantic attitudes by the human soul-spirit." (*1616:10)

Let's focus for a moment on the word "romantic." Romance is defined by one dictionary as "the tendency of the mind toward the wonderful and mysterious." When human affection reaches the level where it imbues its object with qualities which are wonderful and mysterious, this condition may be described as romantic love. The condition itself forms the basis for an over-whelming proportion of contemporary literature, yet the characteristics of the romantic relationship have escaped serious study until fairly recently. Since romantic love may well be one manifestation of the human response to God's pattern relationship, and since this construct could possibly describe the form which worship takes for any individual at a particular stage of his or her development, it might be worth while to learn just what qualities this relationship appears to possess.

Now, don't get upset. I'm not suggesting that there is a sexual aspect to worship (although at certain periods in human history the blending of these two elements apparently took place), but I do feel that the romantic relationship is definitely one stage in the human interpretation of absolute love, and therefore deserves our attention.

The most comprehensive study of romantic love that I am aware of was done by Dorothy Tennov of the University of Bridgeport, and was published in 1979 under the title Love and Limerence: The Experience of Being in Love. As I read to you her short preface to the book, see if you identify at all with this state of mind. "You think:

"I want you. "I want you forever, now, yesterday, and always. Above all, I want you to want me.

"No matter where I am or what I am doing, I am not safe from your spell. At any moment, the image of your face smiling at me, of your voice telling me you care, or of your hand in mine, may suddenly fill my consciousness rudely pushing out all else.

"The expression 'thinking of you' fails to convey either the quality or quantity of this un-willed mental activity. 'Obsessed' comes closer but leaves out the aching. A child is obsessed on Christmas Eve. But it's a happy pre-possession full of excitement, curiosity, and expectation. This pre-possession is an emotional roller coaster that carries me from the peak of ecstasy to the depths of despair. And back again.

"I bear the thought of other topics when I must, but prolonged concentration on any other subject is difficult to tolerate. I must admit that it has happened on occasion that some entertainment or distraction overwhelmed thought of you, and I was suddenly freed from my pain and for an instant viewed you from a new perspective. (On those occasions I glimpsed reality usually closed from my view.) I don't seek 'distractions.' I'm too afraid that they won't distract after all and I'll be imprisoned somewhere saying polite nothings while I long to give myself up to desiring you with all my passion; to Tin Pan Alley's 'burning desire.'

"Everything reminds me of you. I try to read, but four times on a single page some word begins the lightning chain of associations that summons my mind away from my work, and I must struggle to return my attention to the task at hand. Often I give up easily, leave my desk, and throw myself down on my bed, where my body lies still while my imagination constructs long and involved and plausible reasons to believe that you love me."

This is one description of the feeling of romantic love for another human being. Obviously the relationship entails much that is limited to non-spiritual levels, but if we can feel this way about a fellow creature--does it make sense that the expression of our love for the inexpressible beauty of the personality of God can be any less? Does the thought of God so fill our minds that the ability to concentrate on anything else is lost? Are the wonderful and mysterious qualities of another fragile and imperfect being more deserving of this overwhelming feeling of affection than the qualities of the Father of all? True worship is described by the revelators as ". . . a natural and spontaneous reaction to the recognition of the Father's matchless personality and because of his lovable nature and adorable attributes." (*65:6) In light of this statement, the romantic attitude might very well fit somewhere into a useful model for a natural and legitimate response to God.

Tennov, in her study, looked for regularities in the expressions of romance given to her by over a thousand people on questionnaires, in diaries, and in individual interviews. The resulting pattern of behavior she identified by the term "Limerence," which stands for the condition of being in love. Its first and foremost characteristic is described by her in a quote from Stendhal, in which he states, "The most surprising thing of all about love is the first step, the violence of the change that takes place in the mind.... A person in love is unremittingly and uninterruptedly occupied with the image of the beloved." (p. 33) According to Tennov, " . .when your limerence for someone has crystallized, all events, associations, stimuli, experience, return your thoughts to (the limerent object) with unnerving consistency. At the moment of awakening after the night's sleep, an image of (the limerent object) springs into your consciousness. And you find yourself inclined to remain in bed pursuing that image and the fantasies that surround and grow out of it. Your daydreams persist throughout the day and are involuntary. Extreme effort of will to stop them produces only temporary surcease." (p. 34)

"The 'moment of consummation,' the goal, the climax of the limerent fantasy is not sexual union but emotional commitment on the part of the (limerent object)." (p. 39) This reciprocation of feelings seems to be the most critical element in the expression of romantic love. The lover yearns most to be loved in return. Such a phenomenon is not limited to mortal feelings. A Divine Counselor confesses that "...I think we all, including the mortals of the realms, love the Universal Father and all other beings, divine or human, because we discern that these personalities truly love us. The experience of loving is very much a direct response to the experience of being loved. Knowing that God loves me, I should continue to love him supremely, even though he were divested of all his attributes of supremacy, ultimacy, and absoluteness." (*39:3-39:1) This Divine Counselor goes on to say that the Father himself ". . is eternally motivated by the perfect idealism of divine love, and that tender nature finds its strongest expression and greatest satisfaction in loving and being loved." (*59:3) "There is an infinite grandeur and an inexpressible generosity connected with the majesty of his love which causes him to yearn for the association of every created being who can comprehend, love, or approach him. . ." (*62:4)

The excitement of romantic feeling; the uncompromising preoccupation with the beloved; the insatiable desire to be loved in return; all of these criteria describe a condition which many of us have experienced in connection with another being. I wonder how many have gone through the process of falling in love with God. Is there anyone on earth as beautiful, as good, or as capable of loving us in return?

Beyond Limerence

And yet, the limerent condition falls short of an ideal response to God --it does not represent the highest form of worship available to man. For one thing, according to Tennov, the state of ". . .limerence appears to develop and be sustained when there is a certain balance of hope and uncertainty. However unappealing it may be," she says, "in a universe conceived as orderly and humane, the fact is undeniable; fear of rejection may cause pain, but it also enhances desire." (p. 54) This principle seems to be the basis for the classic game of playing hard-to-get, which on the human level has been effective for as long as anyone can remember. Based on Tennov's analysis, "Games, play-acting, subterfuge, coyness, the sending of ambiguous messages and trial balloons that can be retracted or denied if such seems a wiser course: Such deviations from straightforward honesty become essential limerent strategies." Does God play games with us? I think not. Do we play games with God? That appears to be an inescapable aspect of the human condition.

Tennov agrees that limerence is not the highest form of love. She finds that limerence is a highly dependent state, where insecurity exerts a profound influence on our behavior. As she expresses it, "Is this deplorable state of affairs a necessary aspect of love? It does seem essential to limerence; hence the need for a new term. . .'Love,' in most of its meanings, involves concern for the other person's welfare and feelings. Affection and fondness have no 'objective'; they simply exist as feelings in which you are disposed toward actions to which the recipient might or might not respond. In contrast, limerence demands return. Other aspects of your life, including love, are sacrificed in behalf of the all-consuming need. While limerence has been called love, it is not love."

Although every being derives the deepest satisfaction from being loved, the expression of true love, God's pattern relationship, demands nothing in return. Says The Urantia Book, "Love is the desire to do good to others." (*648:5) "Love is the outworking of the divine and inner urge of life. It is founded on understanding, nurtured by unselfish service, and perfected in wisdom." (*1898:6) "Love is the secret of beneficial association between personalities." (*141:4) The epitome of unselfish love finds its analogy in ". . .the parent-child relationship, than which there is none more tender and beautiful in mortal experience." (*40:7), according to a Divine Counselor. Here again, the impositions of finite reality may tend to obscure, for many of us, the ideals inherent in the absolute pattern.

Throughout The Urantia Book, the parent-child relationship is extolled as the greatest expression of love in human experience. To what extent do we see, in our own lives, the unselfishness and the wisdom of the Father's love as we bestow it upon our children? In turn, do we really look upon our earthly parents as a reflection of the infinite love of God? I suspect that most often the reverse is true. Our image of God as a father is deeply affected by the original impression we have of our human experience as children. Erich Fromm tells us that "...the love of God cannot be separated from the love for one's parents." In his words, "If a person does not emerge from incestuous attachment to mother, clan, nation, if he retains the childish dependence on a punishing and rewarding father, or any other authority, he cannot develop a more mature love for God; then his religion is that of the earlier phase of religion, in which God was experienced as an all-protective mother or a punishing-rewarding father." (p. 68-69) A Melchizedek points out that "Religious meanings progress in self-consciousness when the child transfers his ideas of omnipotence from his parents to God. And the entire religious experience of such a child is largely dependent on whether fear or love has dominated the parent-child relationship." (*1013:6)

Fromm distinguishes between generalizations of mother love and father love. "Fatherly love," he says, "is conditional love. Its principle is 'I love you because you fulfill my expectations, because you do your duty, because you are like me.' In conditional fatherly love we find . . a negative and a positive aspect. The negative aspect is the very fact that fatherly love has to be deserved, that it can be lost if one does not do what is expected. In the nature of fatherly love lies the fact that obedience becomes the main virtue, that disobedience is the main sin--and its punishment the withdrawal of fatherly love. The positive side is equally important. Since his love is conditioned, I can do something to acquire it, I can work for it; his love is not outside my control as motherly love is." (p. 36)

On the other hand, Fromm says that the child learns, through the early nurturing experience with the mother, that " . . . I am loved because I am. This experience of being loved by mother is a passive one. There is nothing I have to do in order to be loved--mother's love is unconditional. All I have to do is to be--to be her child. Mother's love is bliss, is peace, it need not be acquired, it need not be deserved. But there is a negative side, too, to the unconditional quality of mother's love. Not only does it not need to be deserved--it also cannot be acquired, produced, controlled. If it is there, it is like a blessing; if it is not there, it is as if all beauty had gone out of life--and there is nothing I can do to create it." (P. 33)

From the human view, which is more desirable, mother-love or father-love? Fromm feels that "Unconditional love corresponds to one of the deepest longings, not only of the child, but of every human being; on the other hand, to be loved because of one's merit, because one deserved it, always leaves doubt; maybe I did not please the person whom I want to love me, maybe this, or that--there is always a fear that love could disappear. Furthermore, 'deserved' love easily leaves a bitter feeling that one is not loved for oneself, that one is loved only because one pleases, that one is, in the last analysis, not loved at all but used." (p. 35)

There is an inescapable note of insecurity, however, in Fromm's description of both types of parent love, a negative aspect to each. Does this sense of insecurity creep into our response to God? Are we sure that we're doing the right thing? Will the beneficence of infinite and eternal love be removed from us? A Melchizedek assures us that "God the Father deals with man his child on the basis, not of actual virtue or worthiness, but in recognition of the child's motivation--the creature purpose and intent." (*1133:5) Jesus said that "The child, being immature and lacking in the fuller understanding of the depth of the child-father relationship, must frequently feel a sense of guilty separation from a father's full approval, but the true father is never conscious of any such separation. Sin is an experience of creature consciousness; it is not a part of God's consciousness." (*1898:5)

In summary, if our response to God's love is truly conditioned by our human experience and by our established patterns of relationship to fellow mortals, and if we, here, today, are earnestly seeking a higher form of expression for that response, then a major shift in perspective may be called for. Rodan of Alexandria understood and explained that "The lower religions shape their ideas of God to meet the natural state of the human heart; the higher religions demand that the human heart shall be changed to meet the demands of the ideals of true religion." (*1781:3)

To me this is an invitation--an appeal to render to our Creator at least the best of our human capacity to love and then to go beyond our experience by reaching for the ideals presented by his indwelling gift. As a Mighty Messenger puts it, "Men all too often forget that God is the greatest experience in human existence. Other experiences are limited in their nature and content, but the experience of God has no limits save those of the creature's comprehension capacity, and this very experience is in itself capacity enlarging. 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." ( *1289:3)

Some Thoughts About the Father's Will    by Steve Dreier

We are taught in The Urantia Book that "One is free to choose and act only within the realm of one's consciousness. (377:5)

The sincere study of The Urantia Book has produced, for many of us, a genuine expansion of consciousness, introducing new possibilities for choice and action, particularly with respect to God. The concepts we have about the Universal Father must necessarily condition our experience of relationship with him. When God is smal1 and far removed it is difficult to rely upon him to any great extent. But the Universal Father of The Urantia Book is found to be infinitely loving, infinitely powerful, and the closest and dearest friend any of us shall ever know. We are given a philosophic foundation upon which we may exercise a level of childlike trust in God which far exceeds what was previously possible for us.

But philosophy is not faith. This expanded life with the Father is not automatic; we must each choose to have it. Each of us is a freewill being, at least with respect to that which is spiritual. We are not compelled to either seek or do the Father's will; it must be a matter of voluntary, genuine, and wholehearted personal choice. We are obliged to confront and answer the question: Do we really want to do the Father's will?

What do we know about the Father's will? Quite a lot really, at least in the general sense. We know that the Father's will involves such concepts as truth, beauty, and goodness; it is associated with the positive elements of relationship: love, service, devotion, mercy, kindness, loyalty, patience, sincerity, etc. We know that his will is not self-centered or self-seeking but outgoing, sharing, and giving. And we know that it utterly transcends our human conception of these values, for it is the kind of will which loves and serves even a so-called enemy. In the will of God there is no provision for human intolerance or unfairness, not to mention anger, hate, and revenge.

On the contrary, the Father's will implies a devoted life of unselfish and wholehearted service which is freely given as, when, and where required. But it is not sentimental or foolish. It does not condone idleness, immaturity, or the pursuit of that which is evil. The Father's will requires real courage, persistent effort, and above all, a living and personal faith. We know it is a high ideal, a grand and inexpressibly glorious purpose, and that it can really be understood only by being lived. And we further know that it is ours for the asking, if we truly desire to have it. Whatever the specific and personal nature of the Father's will for us, it is certain to be reflective of these general qualities.

So, do we really want to do the Father's will.? Do these generalities provide us with enough information to formulate a decision? Of course what is being asked may seem impossibly high; we may fear that we are not capable of living life on such an exalted level of loving service. Many of us have probably experienced enough of our own faults and failures to cause us to doubt our ability to live in such a manner, even if we sincerely wanted to. The real question, however, is not can we do it but rather do we really want to do it? Do we want to give ourselves to the Father to love and serve as he directs, and with all that this implies? There are two ways of answering yes to this question: partial and wholehearted. The partial acceptance of this offer is not hard to come to; we all have the desire to seek the Father's will to some degree. But the wholehearted and unstinted response is quite another matter. In the face of well-known human limitations, mind alone is likely to be of little use. Only a genuine and trusting personal faith in the amazing promises of the Father can really free us to accept the privilege of the wholehearted doing of his will. "But I say to you in all sincerity: Unless you seek entrance into the kingdom with the faith and trusting dependence of a little child, you shall in no wise gain admission." (1536:4)

Battle doubt with faith.

Are we capable of living as the Father asks us to? Jesus consistently taught that the ability to do the Father's will could not be self-attained. He always taught that such an ability was a gift, a bestowal, or an endowment, freely given by the Father to each of his children who sincerely desires it and who will, in faith, ask for it (see p. 1609). The Father never asks us to do the impossible. If we really trust him and decide to do as he asks, he will provide us with all the tools we require to accomplish his assignments. Just how this can be is not mind-comprehensible; these are spirit transactions and they transcend the capacity of our minds. Nevertheless, whoever sincerely desires to live the will of God and who will, by faith, accept the Father's gift of spiritual power, is certain to experience the reality of these promises. The chief barrier to this realization is doubt. "The believer has only one battle, and that is against doubt--unbelief." (1766:4)

While the doing of the Father's will is accomplished by the endowments of the spirit, the purpose of this bestowal of ability is not the attainment of a life of static and blissful ease. When the power of doing God's will is given, it is for the actual doing of that will. It is certain that all who have the faith to accept this greatest of all gifts will immediately be assigned to the Father's service. It is equally certain that this service will be difficult and demanding. Yet at the same time there may also be experienced the "peace which passes understanding." Difficulty and tranquillity might seem an incompatible combination when examined by the logic of mind.

But in the faith experience of those who have chosen to wholeheartedly seek and do the Father's will these elements often find an inexplicable and transforming union. There is no knowing just where the Father's leading is going to take us, except to say that it will certainly lead down vigorous paths of genuine self-forgetfulness, wholehearted loving service, and divine assurance. "In entering the kingdom, you cannot escape its responsibilities or avoid its obligations, but remember: The gospel yoke is easy, and the burden of truth is light." (1766:3)

Again, are we really interested in doing the Father's will? It is a commonplace observation that human beings, given a choice, will focus their attention upon matters which interest them. Some people have an interest in sports, so they devote considerable time to thinking and talking about sports. Others are interested in music or movies, and they think and talk about these things. But who consistently directs attention to the Father's will? Do you observe that when students of The Urantia Book gather together, whether for study or fellowship, that the frequent topic of serious inquiry is the knowing and doing of the Father's will? And in our family life, with our close friends, or with passing acquaintances, do we often consider and discuss the Father's will?

Jesus was always thinking and talking about the Father's will, and we are called to follow him. Can we expect to make progress in this domain without giving regular and genuine attention to it? "Even to approach the knowing of a divine personality, all of man's personality endowments must be wholly consecrated to the effort; halfhearted, partial devotion will be unavailing." (30:4)

Those of us who have, at this early date, been brought to The Urantia Book are a truly blessed generation. We have been called out to be champions for the Universal Father - our Father - the God of all creation. We have been offered the unparalleled opportunity to live the remainder of our lives as representatives of the Father, to know and do his will. Many of our fellows sit in darkness, in near complete ignorance of even the existence of this kind of life, but for us it is an immediate possibility. We have a matchless text to inspire and instruct us, we have a multiplicity of spiritual forces to guide and sustain us, and we have each other. What more do we require?

It is hoped that future days will witness a growing preoccupation on our part with the question of knowing and doing the Father's will. This inexhaustible subject sorely needs the attention of sincere and interested sons and daughters. It is also hoped that we shall learn to use more of our time together to encourage one another to go forward on this endless journey, to continually grow in our willingness and ability to always say: "It is my will that your will be done." The doing of the Father's will, then, is first a question of wholehearted desire, next of the faith acceptance of spiritual power, and lastly of continued seeking of the Father's way.

The will of God can be done by anyone who truly desires to do it. Would the Father ask us to do that which we were incapable of doing? But we must be willing to seek his guidance continually and to rely upon him completely. If we truly want to love and serve, if we really wish to work for the establishment of the unseen Father's universal family, then we can and will be empowered to do so. This empowering is the rebirth of the spirit; one is born again. Everything becomes new. These are the liberated sons and daughters of God, the salt of the earth, the light of the world, the free and liberated members of the infinite family of the Universal Father.

Principles of Knowing God's Will

By Harry McMullan III
From the 1981 Urantia Brotherhood Conference
Snowmass, Colorado

Ships and airplanes that move across continents and oceans have highly sophisticated guidance systems to assist them in arriving at their destinations. These systems allow the pilot to make course corrections totally without reference to land objects. Most of them work off of gyroscopes; there are inertial guidance systems, Doppler guidance systems, and stellar guidance systems. Whatever their design the purpose of these systems is to keep the ship on course. The first principle of divine guidance is to make sure that we are inwardly certain that God has given each of us an on-board guidance system which is capable of leading us to where we ought to go.

If human beings, within thirty years of the discovery of the transistor, have been able to devise guidance systems that will allow a cruise missile to travel 5000 miles and hit a target of only a few square meters in size, surely the Original Source of intelligence is capable of designing a suitable system to permit his children to know what his desires are.

Seeking God's Will Activates Our Highest Potentials

God wants to lead his children. Being led is not an extraordinary event, reserved for mystics and ascetics; rather, it is the normal order of things. It is abnormal not to be led by God. The subject is so confused that most people look upon guidance, if one is ever to receive it, as an intermittent, periodic, or even spasmodic affair. Well, if a human parent wants his child to do something, he tells him so; and, if that's a fair principle in human relations, it is also fair in divine relations.

There is a perfect will which God has for each of us. The Urantia Book teaches that the Adjusters come to indwell us, bringing with them, ". .the model careers, the ideal lives, as determined and foreordained by themselves and the Personalized Adjusters of Divinington. Thus they begin work with a definite and predetermined plan for the intellectual and spiritual development of their human subjects. ." [110:2.1]

Things run well when they are run in accordance with the designer's original intent. If I had a Corvette, and hitched an eight-row plow behind it, and took it out to the fields to cultivate, I shouldn't expect it to perform as well as it does where it was intended to be operated, namely, on the highway. If I tried to use water instead of gasoline to fuel it, it wouldn't get far. Likewise, we are happiest and most successful when we operate according to our Designer's original plan. Therefore, we search for God's perfect will for us, knowing that his will is our place of ultimate success and pleasure. Similarly, if we live contrary to God's design, we heap onto ourselves unhappiness, guilt, and frustration.

Do we trust God's goodness? If we don't, we won't be able to accept the guidance he has for us, because we will not believe that it is in our best interests to do so-- somebody else's best interests possibly, but not ours; and so we begin to search for a rationale not to do what we know is right. We must believe that God is a good God, not filled with the malice, vindictiveness, or short-sightedness which actuates human beings, as the ancient Greeks believed their gods to be motivated by. As we progressively understand the nature of God, we learn that he would never do anything to harm us. Neither does God ever deprive us of anything that might be essential or needful for our well-being.

God's Will and His Grace

God's will is good: it's what we would want for our selves if we could only see the larger picture. When we are held back from a possession, or an experience, it is in variably for our own good. How many times have each of us longed with all our hearts for something, not received it, and a year or so down the pike been thankful that it didn't work out? The most dramatic example of that experience for me happened while I was in college. I went to Panama with my father, who was negotiating the purchase of a large tract of land there, bounded by the Pacific on the south, two rivers east and west, and a mountain range to the north, consisting of about 125,000 acres. They were only asking $12 per acre.

We were both very disappointed when he couldn't arrange financing for the purchase of the property. Some seven or eight years later, I learned that the sellers had been making a living for years by selling that tract, at what looked like a bargain price, to buyers -- accepting a large down payment, taking back a purchase money mortgage and then murdering the buyer. After receiving the down payment they would take the buyers to the property, ostensibly for a further tour, and abandon them to the tender mercies of the murderous Choc Indians who lived nearby, whom the settlers had previously incited.

With the buyers dead, payments would cease to be made on the purchase money mortgage and the tract would revert to the sellers who would then repeat the process. We couldn't understand at the time why we hadn't been successful, but in retrospect it was by the grace of God.

God's will is always best for us, but it often isn't the easiest or most comfortable way, at least initially. He might put us through a course of training that is grueling, but nonetheless necessary. The high school football coach runs his players in summer training to the point of dropping in the August heat, but without toughening up the players, they would stand no chance of winning games.

We shouldn't think that God is holding something back from us. That was what Lucifer told his associates, namely, that God was depriving them of total liberty and self-rule NOW. If anything is being withheld from us by God, it is for our own good. God causes all things to work together for good, and not just for those who love him and who are called according to his purposes, as the Bible says. He causes circumstances to work together for good for all of his children, regardless of whether they love or serve him. This doesn't mean that the circumstances are necessarily good in themselves, but that he can make them into good. We allow him to make circumstances good by submitting to his will, which is our best possible alternative in any given situation. We must recognize that God is active and alive in our lives and seeking to help us to the maximum extent. Situations arise which require choice: we come to a fork in the road, which way do we go? Now there isn't any teaching of The Urantia Book that tells us it would be better to work for IBM rather than Xerox or that we should move to Des Moines rather than Dubuque. Let's say that God has something for me to do in Des Moines, but I go to Dubuque instead.

If I have sincerely sought the Father's will in the matter, and honestly chosen what I believe his will to be, he will make my errors right. He will create in Dubuque the opportunity which will work to my highest good, and capitalize to the maximum extent on my being there even though according to his perfect will, I should have been in Des Moines, and mistook what I believed his will to be. If our decision was made in sincere faith, we grow regardless of whether the decision itself is right or wrong. We can learn as much from our mistakes as we can from our successes, if we approach them in faith. In fact, deep wisdom seems to be more effectively learned in failure, rather than success. The Urantia Book teaches that "Defeat is the true mirror in which you may honestly view your real self." [156:5.17]

When we truly know in our innermost being that God is good, we offer him our lives; we become willing to go anywhere, do anything, be anything in his service. Knowing that God shapes every circumstance for good gives us enormous confidence, for whatever happens, we know that God will make it good for us. In his will, we can't lose. We cease trying to fight life or to engineer some particular personal result by our activities, rather saying, "Father, what pleases you?"

This leads to another principle of receiving clear guidance, which is to avoid having set, preconceived opinions about how we expect events to turn out. We must cease having a mind of our own in the matter before us. We must not come before God as an advocate of any particular position. The object is not to get what we want, but what he wants. What would we be accomplishing anyway, if hypothetically we were successful in persuading God to do other than his perfect will? The only result would be lessened benefit or outright harm, both to ourselves and to all others involved in the situation. Our desire should be to find that which is the good, acceptable, and perfect will of God, whatever path it takes us down, and whatever the consequences to our self-concept or pride.

If I already have my mind made up that what I need is the job, the house, the money, then I'm not really asking God for his will to be done, but for permission from him to do what I want to do anyway. Instead of trying to talk God out of something, we should aspire to live in conformity with his plans.

Wholehearted Trust We must trust God completely, and accept his will in full. He doesn't lay his will out like food on a cafeteria line, from which we can choose the spinach, skip the beets, take some corn, but not the asparagus. When he reveals his will to us, he expects us to act on that revelation. In fact, if he were to reveal to us aspects of his will which in his omniscience he knew that we were not going to live up to, he would be heaping condemnation on our heads, for as The Urantia Book teaches, to know and not to do is sin. Obviously, not desiring to create a condition of sin in us, he reveals his will to us only in amounts which he knows that we are capable of successfully carrying out. The sin of Adam and Eve was the mixing of good and evil, the mixing of God's will with their own desires. Our following of God must be 100%. To follow him 99% of the time is not obedience, nor surrender, and is different only in degree from following him only 1% of the time. The Urantia Book teaches that God is a God of supreme loyalties, who desires either all of our loyalty or none. We either follow and obey him, and have our lives dedicated to him, or not. I might emphasize that I'm not talking about eternal survival here, where only the faintest flicker of faith can save us, but about the full walk with God, which is the vocation to which we are all called.

We shouldn't ever think that we are confronted with a situation which requires a departure from God's will; that somehow his ways do not apply in a particular case, or that we, being closer, see aspects of the problem that God doesn't see. His will is always perfect. We must not compartmentalize God, and leave him out of any aspect of our lives. His will is as valid in our business life as it is in our family life.

Neither should we worry that God is unable to get through to us. The one who created intelligence in the first place can come up with a way to make his will known to his children. God is not limited in any way. He can use any of the resources available to him (which is everything) to get through to us. In a more spectacular vein, he might send an angel to see us; he might cause a friend to give us important advice; he might cause a particular part of The Urantia Book or the Bible to come alive in our souls; he might send a stranger to deliver us a message. He might even call us on the telephone, and if that sounds strange, is it really any stranger than him giving us a 2000 page book. He could place an ad in the local newspaper. He can speak to us through circumstance, or the still small voice. God is absolutely unlimited in his ability to get through to us, and we should put our minds at rest concerning his ability to do so. He knows us, where we live, what clothes we have in our closets, what cars we drive, who our friends are, and what our problems and opportunities are. Even though from time to time he may choose to communicate with us through exotic means, ordinarily all of the basic guidance we need we can find in The Urantia Book.

There, guidance is objective. Even though readers sometimes debate interpretations of certain parts of The Urantia Book, at least it is there in black and white, and, generally speaking, long-time readers interpret passages about the same. I can't imagine God ever leading any of us contrary to his teachings in The Urantia Book, and for that reason it should be our least suspect form of guidance. All other forms of leading are more subjective and hence open to interpretation, being colored by the psychological pressure of the clamoring of our insistent human wills. What somebody else tells us may be wrong; we may misunderstand circumstances; the tingles up our spine may have come from a draft, rather than spiritual leading. For that reason, in searching for a knowledge of God's will. we should all have a systematic program of Urantia Book study. If we were studying a technical course such as mathematics, we would obviously not want to concentrate on multiplication to the exclusion of subtraction.

Likewise, if we believe that The Urantia Book is the word of God to us, we should spend a lot of time learning what it says about things. We must make sure that as the years pass, we make definite progress in our spiritual understanding. The Urantia Book will never disappoint us. What it tells us to do won't necessarily be the easy way, but it will always be the right way, which ensures, in turn, that it will be the most pleasant and profitable way for us in the long run. It will always be the way of wisdom and success when seen from the downstream side of the situation. And what is wisdom but being able to see the long-term perspective of events, thus being empowered with foreknowledge as to how to act so as to bring about the desired result?

Jesus gave us a Law of Use, namely, that to those who have, more shall be given, but from those who have not, even that which they have shall be taken away [171:8.7]. What we don't exercise, we lose. By the end of my high school years, I was fluent in French and German, but guess what has happened to them after 15 years of disuse? We gain our spiritual growth by practice, just as we gain our mastery of a foreign language, and that practice is the practice of the presence of God; sharing our inner life with God and making him a part of all that we do.

All of us have been given the ability to know the will of God because God himself lives within us. The kingdom of heaven is within. There is no possible deprivation of environment which will impede the success of a soul dedicated to the doing of the Father's will. It is the desire of our heavenly Parent to guide us, and the possibility of receiving that guidance is our birthright .

No Shortcuts to Finding God's Will

Our decision-making should not be skewed on the basis of what our minds think of as the most pleasant alternative. What God wants is good, and what he doesn't want represents degrees of evil. If we want to do his will we must learn what he thinks is good, and what he thinks is not good. His value system is totally different than that of the world. The world says, "Go after riches, power and fame." Jesus taught us to seek first the kingdom of heaven, and all things needful will be added to us. There aren't any shortcuts; we must submit ourselves to God and begin the process of learning to do his will.

There is a general guidance available to all of us, which is, and ever will be, true; such as is found in the spiritual teachings of The Urantia Book. It will never be right to steal, and if our supposed divine inspiration tells us to do so, we deceive ourselves. In addition to that general guidance, there is a specific guidance which God has for each of us, uniquely intended for the person concerned. Honesty, mercy, and love, for example, are not normally guides to whether we should move to Des Moines or Dubuque. Specific guidance gives us course changes on a very intimate basis. The steps to receiving this guidance are: first, that we believe that God is actively involved in our lives; second, that he has a will for us; third, that his will is the best thing that could happen to us; fourth, that he is capable, in the manner of his choosing, of making his wishes known to us; and fifth, that he has endowed us with the ability to do his will. Ordinarily, the measure of the refinement of our guidance will be the measure of the refinement of our walk with God. If we are coarse towards him, our leading will be coarse; but, if we are refined in our attempts to follow his ways, if we are tender toward God and compassionate toward our brothers and sisters, our leading will likewise be refined.

One of our best inner guides to knowing God's will as it relates to a particular situation is whether his peace is resting with us, that peace which Jesus described as the peace that passes all understanding. This is peace that doesn't depend on whether the sun is shining, or whether we got the raise, or whether the landlord raised the rent, or on whether we seem to be successful or not. His peace is inner; we are being led, motivated, and guided from within. One of the main characteristics of this peace, once we have experienced it, is that we are highly uncomfortable when we lose it. It functions like physical pain. Individuals born without the ability to feel pain stay in jeopardy of fatal injuries, because they don't know when their bodies are being hurt. God's peace is our gyroscope, telling us when we get off course.

When we walk in the light as he is in the light, we experience his peace, but if we sin, the peace at least temporarily leaves us. When we return to the Father, when we renew a right relationship with the universe, his peace returns. To continually experience this inner peace, we must maintain a conscience void of offense. Is there anything worth disrupting our relationship with God? The Urantia Book teaches that Jesus made such extraordinary progress in the conquest of his mind in one short life because of his singleness of purpose and unselfish devotion. He was wholly consecrated, unreservedly dedicated to the doing of his Father's will. "In his devotion to the cause of the kingdom, Jesus burned all bridges behind him; he sacrificed all hindrances to the doing of his Father's will." [196:2.7]

Jesus taught that all we have to do is live loyally today, and tomorrow will take care of itself. The things he leads us to do today will turn out to have been right somewhere down the pike, even if it takes years or generations. We don't have to have the reason for a particular course of action spelled out; all we have to do is make sure that we live loyally and abide in his peace.

We should be thankful that God doesn't always make his will crystal-clear to us. He could send down an angel to unroll a scroll, whereon a message written in Old English script would instruct us as to what we should do in a particular situation. But that would deprive us of the adventure of finding out his will by trial and error. We would become puppetized. Instead, God teaches us by the more difficult but surer method of "line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little." We have to learn about his nature in order to understand his will, and in so learning we become more like him. We must be still and know that God is God. When and as we do, we will hear the still small voice, which will speak to us at every crossroads, saying, "This is the way."

Do we get our guidance from God or from the world? If Joe down the street puts in a swimming pool do we feel that we should too, even though we can't afford it? How much are we led by fashions, not only in dress, but in ideas? The world pressures people to conform to it, and sends them into what The Urantia Book calls "industrial servitude" by inducing them to purchase, on credit, goods they don't really need. Our guidance should come from God, not Gucci.

Occasionally, we become faced with big decisions: to move to another town, to change our employment, to go into a new business, to marry, and so forth. In such cases, we don't want any possibility of error; we want to be certain that we have a correct reading of the Father's will. In such situations we can expect God to confirm his guidance to us by repetition. Different episodes of his guidance will complement and intersect with each other. We get an inner feeling on the matter, then we ask the counsel of spiritually-minded friends. From the human perspective, we see that the decision makes good common sense. We feel at peace with God about it. Finally, circumstances may open up in such a way as to facilitate the endeavor. We are not out of line to ask God for his clear, unmistakable guidance before we make a radical change in our lifestyle, and we should not be in a hurry about it. He will use different witnesses to confirm his will to us.

Seek Spiritual Counsel

In seeking wise counsel concerning a spiritual problem, we need to talk with spiritual people; one of Judas's problems was that when he felt that he had to talk with someone, he sought out unspiritual people. However, many of our problems are more technical in nature and here we must seek advice from people competent in their fields. I would far rather be operated on by a competent atheist physician than by John Hales, since surgery is not his field of specialty.

Circumstances can be a witness to us. Jesus had been thinking about taking a trip through the Roman Empire, and along came Ganid and Gonod with an offer. Jesus was interested in working in an executive capacity. and in seeing Persia, and along came an opportunity to manage a caravan going that way. Not overmuch reliance should be placed on circumstances; they can be totally misleading. The fact that things are arrayed against us may only mean that God is giving us an opportunity to overcome them. Your alarm clock doesn't go off, you sleep late, and miss the plane. Were you meant to, was it God's will that you miss the flight? Not necessarily, maybe you just need a new alarm clock. We shouldn't necessarily alter our course of action due to obstacles. More often, circumstances can be helpful in leading us by revealing opportunities.

The Urantia Book teaches that Jesus led his life in the channel of its natural flowing. We should not and could not avail ourselves of every situation that opens up for us, but when other conditions of guidance are met, circumstances can be an additional signpost. I used to work staking out drainage ditches in the swamps of eastern North Carolina. I would sight through the transit, and my helper would be a distance away with an armload of straight five foot wooden sticks, which he would drive into the ground when I waved my hat at him in a certain way to indicate that he was on course. After he had driven as many as four stakes in the same line, he no longer needed my help from behind the transit, for all he had to do was sight down the row of stakes to get a line straighter than the dragline operator was capable of digging. Coming into a harbor, the pilot often lines up the buoy lights to keep himself in the channel. In seeking spiritual guidance, we need to look for the different ways in which God guides us to line up, to confirm, and complement each other. Until we receive such confirming guidance, we should not radically change our lifestyle. We should keep doing what we are doing until God tells us otherwise: "Whatsoever your hands find to do, do it with all your might."

God normally discloses his will to us incrementally, step by step. We take the right step today and he shows us the right step tomorrow. In order for the step which he intends to show us tomorrow to be valid, we must have taken the step he gave us today. His will is progressively revealed as we follow what he has already given us. In practice, this means that we must live according to the principles of the kingdom; we must serve our fellows. We must give the bread of life to a hungry world: we must use all the resources at our command to help our fellows: in mind, body, and estate. When we are encased in selfishness, only concerned about our personal plans and schemes, we can hardly receive guidance; but when we help others, we find that we ourselves are helped. If we give, it will be given unto us, if we seek the good of others, good will return our way.

The Kingdom First

A key principle of guidance is humility. Since pride is the greatest sin. Perhaps humility is the greatest virtue. Pride says, "I can manage my affairs very nicely on my own without you, God." But God cannot lead a person intent on leading himself, who says, in essence, "I think I know more about the situation than God does." If we think that we have a better grasp of our destiny than God does, we are not candidates for guidance. On the other hand, if we humble ourselves he exalts us. When we humbly ask him to teach us, he rewards us by showing us his ways. We should come to God and say, "Father, I want to do it your way, for I know that yours is the best way, not just for me, but for all concerned." When we seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, all other things needful are added to us.

The most all-embracing principle of receiving God's guidance is to know the Guide. It is far better to understand how God does things than it is to have a specific answer to a specific question. It's better to have the Guide with us all the way than to have even a detailed road map. God will never lead us contrary to his nature, so the more we know about his nature, the better qualified we are to receive his guidance. The Jewish leaders, even though they had spent their lives in religious pursuits, made the worst error imaginable by crucifying Jesus, because they did not know God. God would much rather have us love one another than be precise in our doctrinal interpretations. Doctrine exists in the mind, whereas love lives in the soul.

When we know the way God acts and who he is, he guides us subtly and unconsciously, because we are responding to his nature. On the other hand, if we don't know God, we stand an excellent chance of misunderstanding whatever guidance he might give us, because we won't be capable of interpreting what we hear. As we practice the presence of God, his nature becomes grafted onto ours. We become more like him, and following his will becomes more of an out-flowing of what we have become. The deepest part of each one of us must become wrapped up in God himself: there must be implicit trust of the Father, without even a shadow of suspicion that he isn't there, or that he doesn't care, or that he's not able to help.

Finally, we must remember that guidance, and the ability to follow it, is a gift of God, which we cannot psyche ourselves into on our own. We receive these gifts, we don't generate them on our own. The ability to hear and follow God is an endowment. As The Gracious, acceptable, and perfect will of God." [143:2.4]

The Dark Night of the Soul

by Dr. Meredith J. Sprunger

The average person tends to go through life accepting things as they are and adjusting to situations as they arise without too much inner frustration. People who have significant potential often have high physical and mental energy levels, superior truth insight, and the will capacity to drive themselves toward goal objectives. They are strongly motivated toward selective types of achievement.

These people of superior potential also have a greater probability of driving themselves to the point of psychological-physical exhaustion and encountering what appear to be unsolvable existential problems. They keep pushing themselves unrealistically, determined to meet all obligations, and respond to new opportunities. This pace in the fast lane becomes a way of life.

One day when the conditions are right, some of these people experience the listlessness and overwhelming depression of "burnout." They see no adequate reason for their inability to respond positively to their many responsibilities. Threatened by this ambiguity and their own imaginations, they are overcome with the various psychic and physical symptoms of "battle-fatigue" – inability to cope, powerlessness, anxiety states, crying, a sense of doom and black despair! The onset of these "burnout symptoms" is usually associated with some sort of community, a threat to assumed security, death in the family, or some challenge that requires resiliency and creative energy.

General Dwight Eisenhower went into the shock of such an experience when, after the rigors of his World War II activities, he took on a new set of responsibilities as President of Columbia University. Harry Emerson Fosdick grappled with this frightening experience when his psychic energy was drained by his disciplined schedule for excellence and opposition to his progressive theology by the Presbyterian power structure. These burnout experiences have been so universal among the spiritual leaders of history that it is classically known as "the dark night of the soul." It strips away all sources of pride, egocentricity, self-will, and self-sufficiency.

This all-encompassing experience of depression, anxiety, inadequacy, and despair is often regarded as the deepest suffering human beings can know. It is frequently described as "Hell". This ultimate testing forces the individual to face ultimates or completely fold and sink into a subhuman existence. The intensity of the experience is such that one surrenders all that he or she is and all that they have to the highest reality of their experience – God. Intuitively one knows that the only way out, the only road to health, strength, meaning, and joy is unreserved dedication to the indwelling Spirit’s will and way regardless of consequences. With the last reserve of will we join, in spirit, with Job saying, "Though he slay me, yet will I trust him."

We become willing to surrender our attachment to material things and pleasures, money, egocentricity, pride, flattery, popularity, personal power, reputation or anything which separates us from eternal truth, spiritual beauty, and divine goodness – the will and way of God as we sincerely understand it in our experience.

The road back to health, strength, and well-being is painstaking and time consuming. It is a rebuilding of our personality structure. It begins after our unreserved dedication with a sense of inner peace. Anyone passing through this ultimate testing to achieve reality orientation and commitment is never the same. They have entered another dimension of being and develop into stronger, more capable people because they are no longer the center of their existence. They become self-forgetful in the service of spiritual values, which are more important than the vicissitudes of mortal existence. One day they discover that they not only have inner peace, but, have achieved the higher happiness of love and service.

It is my observation and experience that human beings are not prepared to be entrusted with significant human and spiritual service until they have passed through some criticial forms of testing, and found capable of assuming these heavier burdens of responsibility for the common good. Years later, looking back, that which was experienced as "the dark night of the soul", we see was in actuality "God's refining fire of mind enlightenment, enabling us to develop mind control, will dedication, and soul growth."

Be assured, if you should experience "the dark night of the soul" in any of its many forms, you are a person of significant potential, that God is challenging to enter a new level of being, which is beyond the domination of the lesser values of the material world. It is a humble beginning, but the humble do, indeed, inherit the earth!

The Great Adventure:
Man in Partnership with God

Bill Sadler's reflections on what The Urantia Book meant to him
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
November 23, 1958

This being something of an open meeting of the Urantia Society, I pondered at length what I could talk to you about that would be most interesting, most useful, to all of you. We could talk about the facts of the Urantia Book and I think I could cover that in about six months of intensive discussion. We can talk about the meanings which can be derived from these facts, and I suppose that could be covered in about two years. But I thought I would share with you my feelings for this Book -- not the facts, not the meanings -- but what Value this Book has in my life as a human being here on earth. So I picked as a title for this discussion, "The Great Adventure -- Man in Partnership with God."

This Book appeals to me because it presents the story of evolution in contrast to fiat creation. God can, and does, work apart from time, but when he works apart from time, no creature can participate in that development. When God works in time, he slows down the creative process to something which we call evolutionary growth, and this enables a creature, even a human being, to sense what is happening, and if he so elects, to go in partnership with God, to become a partner with God in this growth process.

I like the idea of sharing in the creative adventure with Deity, and when I speak of partnership with God, I mean no disrespect; I know I am the junior partner and God is the senior partner, but there is a difference when you are a partner. Even if you are a junior partner, you have something to say about policy. I don't change God's mind, but it is my decision as to whether or not he can change my mind.

How does God equip his junior partners -- human beings? Well, quite obviously, we have bodies and minds, but these don't come from God. What equipment does God give us that he is willing to enter into any kind of a limited partnership with us? He gives us two priceless pieces of equipment. First of all, he gives us an absolute sense of direction. He incarcerates a part of his love inside of us. He lives in us -- even as the Bible says, "The true light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. " This part of God that lives in us is God's love made real to each one of us, and this part of God that lives in us knows the way to God. It points just as unerringly God-ward as the compass needle points northward. It came from God, so it knows the way back to God. It is our unerring pilot.

And God gives us a second priceless endowment -- he endows us with relative free will, freedom of choice. The pilot is not the captain. We are captain. The pilot can steer only as we choose. I think of all the priceless gifts which God could make to me, and none would transcend the endowment of freedom of choice. Otherwise, I would be a machine. With freedom of choice, I am a person. I can be a son of God. What does freedom of choice mean? It means that I just don't have to respond slavishly to what happens to me. I have something to say about what I become. Even physically, I have something to say. I can't avoid wrinkles, but I can choose which kind will etch themselves into my face. I can frown or I can smile.

In the sense that I have relative freedom of will, I am made in the image of God. I have been liberated from marching in lock-step to antecedent causation. This Book teaches me that the more outside of myself I go toward the material level, the less choosing I can do. I can't choose to be older or younger. The more I move inward away from the material level, inward and spiritward,, the greater is my liberation of choice, until when I reach the supreme choice, pro or con concerning God, here my choice knows no restriction -- as to whether I choose to be His son, to do His will -- I am absolutely on my own. Here my choice is absolute. God has given us this perfectly splendid equipment -- freedom of choice and an absolute sense of direction. We can't miss if we let the pilot do a good steering job.

At the same time, God has confronted us with a great challenge. All religions teach this challenge. It is expressed in various forms. The challenge presented by medieval Christianity was not so much the hope of heaven as it was the fear of the devil in hell. I think that is still true today; many people operate on a negative basis. I recall a friend of mine who returned a piece of stolen merchandise -- it was a wrist watch -- and he returned it because he had a dream, and in this dream he saw himself sitting on a red-hot rock in the eternal tropics, looking at a wrist watch that was calibrated in cycles of eternity.

This Book teaches me that I have a challenge, but it is not the challenge of fear -- it is the challenge of a situation. This Book tells me that I am confronted with this kind of a challenge, and I quote the Book -- "In the evolutionary universes, energy-matter is dominant, save in personality, where spirit, through the mediation of mind is striving for the mastery. " That is a rather long sentence; let's break it down. Energy-matter is here first. Just consider our planet. It passed through its astro-physical evolution before life ever appeared, and it has been around here for about a billion years. Life has been here for only about two-thirds of that time.

Human life has been around here for only about a million years, less than a tenth of one percent of physical planetary history, and when man did appear on earth, he was confronted with a rather hostile material environment. He had to adjust to it, strive to dominate it, in order to survive.

Mind can whip matter because mind can be ingenious, it can manipulate matter. But that is not the challenge. The challenge is -- can spirit dominate matter, using mind as its tool? And this challenge holds true only in personality. How come? Only in personality, which possesses this priceless endowment of free will, can mind choose to attack matter on the outside, while at the same time subordinating itself to spirit direction on the inside.

This Book gives me a mature philosophy of religion, it gives me a theology which is spiritually satisfying and at the same time intellectually stimulating. This Book enables me to avoid the two great errors which cut right across human thinking all over this world. Error No. 1 -- "You strive with spirit alone -- spirit without mind. " If you really believe this, you will substitute prayer for work. This is the error which is fundamental to Hinduism and to southern Buddhism. This is an error which our Christian Science friends enjoy. Christian Science is American, or occidental, Buddhism.

When you attack the problems of living with spirit alone, you are forced to deny the reality of matter, and you wind up with a theology which is full of illusion. The Hindu has a name for the illusion of matter -- he calls it "Maya" -- it's not really there. He trusts everything is spirit and simply says "the world is not here. " Buddhism does the same thing. I love the story they tell about three Buddhist Monks in various stages of enlightenment. Each Monk is sitting by the side of the road with his begging bowl in front of him, and, of course, what the Monks in their saffron robes beg for is food, not money. The first Monk looks down in his begging bowl and he sees three hairs -- a very, very repugnant sight -- "I don't like the idea of hair in my eating equipment." They bother him. These three hairs symbolize the illusory reality of the material world. The second Monk is farther along in the process of enlightenment -- he sees the hairs, but they don't bother him because he knows they aren't real. The third Monk doesn't see the hairs.

Now, there is an alternative to this, and all too many people, especially occidental people, fall victim to this second alternative; this is to attack the physical problems of this world with mind alone, without spirit. This is at the root of secularism. Consider the medieval Christian viewpoint. Let's take Florence -- pre- renaissance Florence. It's about 900 A. D. -- the plague hits the city, and the devout Christian Florentine bows his head as he buries his loved ones and says -- "The Lord giveth, the Lord taketh away, blessed be the name of the Lord."

Comes the renaissance and men begin to rebel against this passive acceptance of material happenstance, and in their rebellion they swing all the way in the other direction. They become secularists -- man is the measure of all things. There is an answer to the black death. I don't look down my nose at the fruits of secularism -- this has resulted in modern science, representative government, relatively universal education, the highest standard of living we have ever had -- but something is wrong. With all of our unprecedented material progress, have men ever been so scared as they are today?

When mind attacks the problem without spirit, it progresses, but its progress is thwarted and jeopardized by selfishness, by fear, by lack of ethics and morality and love. We can't successfully run a free society without God anymore than you could run the solar system without gravity.

I'm sorry for my Hindu and Buddhist friends who say "the world is an illusion -- I'll do it all with prayer. " I tremble for the future of our secularistic society which is trying to work out all these problems with MIND ALONE. What a harvest of fear we are reaping. You know, that in my lifetime, in major wars, we have scientifically killed off more human beings than have been killed in all the recorded history of war. There is something wrong with secularistic society, isn't there? But the alternative is not "spiritistic" society. This Book tells me when you conjoin mind and spirit, you can have peace on earth, survival in death, and in the cosmos you can have the great adventure.

This is the most sane philosophy I have ever encountered. It presents no easy path to peace on earth or salvation in the future -- it offers lots of hard work.

Matter presents a challenge to each of us. Mind develops the techniques for solving this challenge of the reality of physical mass energy. What are we doing to this planet to civilize it? What is a pipeline, but an artery? What is a telegraph wire, but a nerve? We are doing to this planet what a contractor does to a sub-division when he takes rolling hills and dales and makes them habitable through bringing in utilities, conveniences and so on. Matter challenges us -- mind develops the technique -- spirit provides the motivation. Without spirit direction, this problem- solving mind eventually winds up in a cul-de-sac of hate, fear, jealousy, and perhaps death.

I was born in Chicago -- I love my city. It has the magnificence of civilization aborning about it. Carl Sandburg well called it "hog-butcher to the world. " It's a beautiful city, too. I work amidst the facade of skyscrapers along the lake-front. It has taken Americans nearly 150 years to build this city. It can be blown to hell in 150 minutes with the techniques we have developed today. I ponder that, and I know fear. Without spirit motivation, mind can be a Juggernaut -- a Frankenstein's monster -- because it knows power, it can know power without restraint.

It is personality -- it's this equipment which God has given us -- that can choose to subordinate this questing, adventurous, problem-solving mind, to spirit-direction. We can meet this mortal challenge without committing human suicide. I don't think there is anything magical or mystical about western civilization. I have studied history. Rome went down, Babylon went down, Assyria went down. China has gone down half a dozen times. Egypt broke up, Greece came and went. I don't think we have any guarantee of the future. In the struggle in which we are engaged right now, I don't think material techniques are enough. The biggest thing that is missing in American ideology is God. We are never going to beat our competitors by discussing our way of life which involves more mustard and piccalilli on our hot dogs and more chrome plating on our automobiles.

These Papers tell me that one of the great things that is taking place out here in these evolutionary universes is the unification of power and personality. This is what we have been discussing. As mind dominates matter -- this is power. And, that mind which dominates matter is the mind of a choosing personality. But if this powerful person is to persist, he must be spirit-motivated. Force alone never survives. No matter how much force you mobilize, eventually, if your power begets fear, there arises a coalition stronger than you are which drags you down in defeat.

What is the effect of spirit on power -- power, meaning just what we mean by that word, a powerful person? If a powerful person is spirit motivated -- and he can choose to be this -- then he is an ethical person, he is a moral person; he uses power with restraint. The power which he possesses causes him to be an object of admiration, not fear. He is a love motivated individual. And this Book defines love very wonderfully -- "Love is the desire to do good to others. " Such an individual lives up to one of the really great quotes from this Book -- "To have power and refuse to use it purely for selfish aggrandizement, this is the mark of a high civilization."

This challenge is the challenge which comes from a loving God, but not a soft God. God's love is not a soft love -- it is a stimulating love. It is like the love of a wise parent who would never do a child's homework for him until the child had exhausted his own efforts. This challenge is well stated by the Book when it says -- "The weak make resolutions, but strong men act. Life is but a day's work, do it well. The act is ours -- the consequences, God's."

Jesus lived such a life. Jesus was an intensely practical man. Among other things, he said "Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's. " We tend to forget that half of the quote, don't we? He said "Cast not your pearls before swine. "These are not the statements you might get from a starry-eyed impractical dreamer. The Christ that we paint anemic pictures of might just possibly have appealed to the ladies aid society of Capernaum, but he could have never carried those hard-boiled fishermen with him. He told his followers to be as "wise as serpents" as well as "harmless as doves." When they didn't have any money in the treasury, did he say -- "Shall we pray?" He said "No, we will go fishing and we will sell the fish and finance ourselves, then we will go preach."

He was a good carpenter in Nazareth and he worked for money, he didn't pray for it. Incidentally, he was such a good carpenter that even when there was a depression, he had plenty of work to do. He didn't just "sprangle" through Galilee and Judea with 12 fellows -- he organized them. They had jobs to do. It was a simple but effective organization. He didn't just take these 12 men upon the mountain, place hands on them, imbue them with power from on high and say "Go spread the message. " NO I He gave these 12 men between four and five years of the most intelligently practical sales training I know anything about.

When he finished with them, he tested them, and he commissioned nine of them to spread the good news. One was dead, and two he sent back to the fish nets. He recognized human differences; he knew that prayer couldn't change a man's I. Q. He gave Peter one set of instructions. He gave the Alpheus twins, who weren't very bright, but very lovable, another set of instructions. To Peter, he said "Be a good shepherd, feed my sheep." To these slow-thinking but wonderful Alpheus twins, he said "Boys, go back to your fish nets, and remember, to a God-knowing kingdom believer, there is no such thing as secular work. All work is sacred. " I see this union of mind and spirit best exemplified in the inspiring but intensely practical life of Joshua ben Joseph, whom we know as Jesus of Nazareth.

When mind attacks matter, you get skill. I feel sorry for people who have no real skill, who are not really professional in doing something. You know, I would rather be awfully good at drilling dry holes than to drill sloppy holes. That language, I think, is good semantics in Oklahoma, isn't it? When you turn mind loose to attack the problems of matter, you get skill. Now, when you subordinate mind to spirit, you get love. And when you combine love and skill -- when you combine problem-solving ability with the desire to do good to others -- you get something pretty wonderful - you get wisdom. From a temporal standpoint, considering everything below the level of spirit, I think wisdom is the pearl of great price. If we have this kind of wisdom, we can attack the stimulating adventure of this life with courage, with tenderness, with worship, with humor. That is an unbeatable combination.

And so, as I distill the teachings of this Book, -- not the facts, not the meanings, but the Value, I see wisdom in this life, sonship with God in the next life, and forevermore spiritual growth in the business of knowing God, finding out more and more about him. This Book well teaches me that God is the first truth and the last fact. He is the first divine reality that I can feel, but he is the last divine reality that I will ever understand because he is infinite. And I have the feeling that if we choose to use mind's courage and spirit's love wisely together in meeting the challenge of matter, we can enter upon a never-ending partnership with God. And this partnership is one of adventurous service, in the execution of God's will in the ever growing universes, throughout all the endless cycles of eternity.

How the Living Spirit of Truth Transforms Us

By Stuart R. Kerr, III

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"This is the kingdom of heaven—God is your Father and you are his sons, and this good news, if you wholeheartedly believe it, is your eternal salvation. " [1593:1]

"When the Father's will becomes truly your will, then you are in very truth in the kingdom because the kingdom has thereby become an established experience in you." [1589:1]

Mankind begins the mortal life as sons of the flesh; this is the primary material reality wherein man strives on this his earthly estate. Our Creator Son, Michael of Nebadon, bestowed himself on this world 2,000 years ago to initiate a new dispensation to mankind he came as Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of Man and "the truth made manifest in the flesh"; he came offering mankind a new way of living, a promise of transformation whereby his Spirit of Truth would strengthen the inner soul of man by the constant spiritual renewal of mind. This Spirit of Truth works by endowing the individual with the "power of the certain and joyous performance of the gracious, acceptable, and perfect will of God." [1609:6]

Jesus' spirit works with the human mind which acts as an effective conduit linking the estate of the flesh with the higher estate of the spirit. It is through mind that Jesus, through his Spirit of Truth, compels the human personality, through faith, to attempt a breach of the mortal estate and to transcend to the higher spiritual reality of the kingdom of heaven.

"He announced that he had come to function as a teacher, a teacher sent from heaven to present spiritual truth to the material mind. . . . Jesus spoke directly to men's souls. He was a teacher of man's spirit, but through the mind." [1594:4]

Jesus' incarnation on our world of Urantia gave mankind the opportunity for living a new life within the spiritual estate of the kingdom of heaven. Once he had gathered his twelve chosen apostles together under his loving care and personal influence, Jesus initiated the process of transforming these rugged men of the flesh into newborn creatures of the spirit. He worked to realitize their newborn identities to such a level of advancement within the kingdom that they would prove worthy as ambassadors of this heavenly estate to their brothers and sisters of the flesh.

Jesus was to accomplish this spiritual transformation by virtue of his being the living Spirit of Truth in the flesh. By the power of his very presence and by the sublime strength of his very personality, Jesus would draw these men to functionally align themselves to a new and higher reality of the spirit, to become sons of God within the heavenly estate of the Father's kingdom, to fully and faithfully dedicate their wills to the will of the Universal Father.

"They slowly assimilated his teaching because Jesus was all that he taught. What they could not gain from his verbal instruction, they gradually acquired by living with him." [1584:6]

Jesus' first attempts at raising the spiritual consciousness of these men of the world were often met with frustration and disappointment. The apostles would persistently relate the spiritual teachings of Jesus to their own concepts of the material, social, economic, and political realities of their own temporal circumstances and upbringing.

"Jesus would present to them the beautiful spirit of the soul's attitude, but they insisted on translating such teachings into rules of personal behavior." [1584:6]

"But you will stumble over my teaching because you are wont to interpret my message literally, you are slow to discern the spirit of my teaching." [1577:2]

"When I speak the language of the spirit, why do you insist on translating my meaning into the language of the flesh?....By this time it should be possible for me to instruct you as full-grown men of the spirit kingdom." [1605:2]

As the apostles slowly progressed in their attainment of a deeper understanding of Jesus' words, they began to demonstrate a real and spiritual grasp of his true meanings. These apostles were truly building a bridge that would allow them to cross over to a new estate of the spirit for the experiencing of new reality insights; they were truly re-identifying their lives as faith-sons of the Father within the kingdom of heaven.

"They saw more clearly that spiritual truth was not to be advanced by material wonders....These twelve men were slowly awaking to the realization of the real nature of their task as ambassadors of the kingdom." [1705:5]

Encouraged by this new development in the apostles spiritual maturation, Jesus then took his teaching to the next level of spiritual awareness and influence. He began to suggest that they were now different persons than who they were, and that, as his ambassadors of the kingdom to the world, they must now become sensitive to the reality that their brothers and sisters remained in the status of the flesh. Many of their listeners would find their instructions regarding the kingdom to be, for the most part, incomprehensible; at least this would be the case unless these people could first be enticed to enter into the kingdom of the spirit as well.

"You cannot teach the deep things of the spirit to those who have been born only of the flesh; first see that men are born of the spirit before you seek to instruct them in the advanced ways of the spirit....Introduce men to God and as the sons of God before you discourse on the doctrines of the fatherhood of God and the sonship of men." [1823:2]

"My words to you, the apostles, must be somewhat different from those spoken to the disciples and the multitude." [1823:2]

Jesus also taught the apostles that their achieved status as citizens of the kingdom did not completely remove them from their having had origin on a world of the flesh. These men were still obliged to finish their material lives, albeit they would do so as spiritual creatures of a nature rarely before seen by mortal man.

"Let me assure you, once and for all, that, if you dedicate your lives to the work of the kingdom, all your real needs shall be supplied. Seek the greater thing, and the lesser will be found therein; ask for the heavenly, and the earthly shall be included. The shadow is certain to follow the substance." [1823:3]

There finally came that critical moment that completely changed the life efforts of Jesus on this planet - Peter openly confessed that he acknowledged Jesus as the Son of God, the living Christ. This confession of Peter ‘s "marked the beginning of the new period of the more complete realization of the truth of his supreme ministry as a bestowal Son on Urantia and for an entire universe." [1749:2] This acknowledgment of Jesus' divinity gave confirmation to Jesus that his Father in heaven recognized this as the completion of an important stage in his Son's human life in the flesh. Now the stage was finally set to initiate the final juncture of his earthly bestowal career - to deliver to his apostles and their successors the very keys of the outward kingdom, the authority over all things temporal on this planet in preparation for his eventual death and resurrection.

"You are my chosen ambassadors....you could not entertain this belief as a result of mere human knowledge. This is a revelation of the spirit of my Father to your inmost souls... Upon this rock of spiritual reality will I build the living temple of spiritual fellowship in the eternal realities of my Father's kingdom....To you and your successors I now deliver the keys of the outward kingdom - - the authority over things temporal." [1747:31]

Jesus offers to mankind a technique of "trans-estatism" whereby mankind is functionally endowed with the freewill prerogative to align his identity, starting from his original material and earthly estate, to a higher spiritual reality occupying another estate of heavenly existence. Mankind is challenged with the opportunity for becoming sons of God within the transcendent reality of the spiritual estate of the kingdom of heaven.

"When you enter the kingdom, you are reborn. " [1592:7]

"As the new creatures of the rebirth of the spirit, you are taught to believe and rejoice. In the Father's kingdom you are to become new creatures; old things are to pass away; behold I show you how all things are to become new. And by your love for one another you are to convince the world that you have from bondage to liberty, from death into life everlasting." [1609:5]

During his brief sojourn on this world, Jesus was the living Spirit of Truth; all that Jesus promised to mankind regarding the later outpouring of his Spirit of Truth at Pentecost, Jesus was himself the literal and living manifestation of this promise.

"Jesus was the truth made manifest in the flesh, and he promised to send his Spirit of Truth into the hearts of all his children after his return to the Father in heaven." [1593:8]

"In just a few hours the world will see me no more; but you will continue to know me in your hearts even until I send you this new teacher, the Spirit of Truth. As I have lived with you in person, then shall I live within you; I shall be one with your personal experience in the spirit kingdom." [1948:4]

"In a very short time I am going to send you my spirit, just like me except for this material body. This new teacher is the Spirit of Truth who will live with each one of you, in your hearts, and so will all the children of light be made one and be drawn toward no another." [1949:1]

Thus could Jesus, during his early years prior to his public ministry, convince his young travel companion Ganid to speak of this Spirit of Truth as a present reality (years before the Pentecost,); thus does Jesus tell his apostles that they are being transformed by this same Spirit of Truth (also before the actual event of Pentecost,) as a very real part of their training as ambassadors of the kingdom. Jesus can avow these claims because he was this living Spirit of Truth in the flesh.

"Always will I [Ganid] try to worship God with the help of the Spirit of Truth, which is my helper when I have become really God-knowing." [1452:2]

"By the old way you [the apostles] seek to suppress, obey, and conform to the rules of living; by the new way you are first transformed by the Spirit of Truth and thereby strengthened in your inner soul by the constant spiritual renewing of your mind." [1609:6]

By virtue of his Spirit of Truth, Jesus fellowships with man and reinforces man's emergent faith through enhanced sensitivity and receptivity to spiritual truth.

"The spirit never creates a consciousness of himself, only a consciousness of Michael, the Son....your fellowship with the Spirit of Truth is not to be found in your consciousness of this spirit but rather in your experience of enhanced fellowship with Michael." [2061:3]

"The Spirit of Truth comes really to lead all believers into all truth, into the expanding knowledge of the experience of the living and growing spiritual consciousness of the reality of eternal and ascending sonship with God." [2061:6]

And when man successfully undertakes this faithful attempt at spiritual transformation, he trans-realitizes his being into a proper "temple of God"; and the Father responds by sending his spirit, a fragment of himself, to actually dwell within the mind of man. At his consecration of the apostles to the Father in heaven, Jesus entrusts them into the Father's loving care.

"I have manifested you to the men whom you chose from the world and gave to me. They are yours—as all life is in your hands— you gave them to me, and I have lived among them, teaching them the way of life, and they have believed.... Be near them, Father, until we can send the new teacher to comfort and strengthen them." [1964:1]

Jesus has fulfilled his mission to spiritually unify his apostles according to their faith and dedication to the Father, and by their dedication as ambassadors of the Father's kingdom. Jesus has admirably performed his role as "unifier" to this group of faithful believers, just as he will continue to perform this role to all faithful believers throughout the habitation of his created local universe.

"Father, keep these men faithful as I prepare to yield up my life in the flesh. Help these, my friends, to be one in spirit, even as we are one." [1964:1]

"I have sheep not of this flock. . . I must provide for them the pattern of doing the will of God while living the life of the mortal nature." [1577]

Jesus enters into the estate of mortal man, via the Spirit of Truth, by a supreme and dynamic act of immanence, and man reciprocates by his faithful attempts to transcend his mortal estate into the spiritual realm of the kingdom of heaven.

Doing the Father's Will and Human Motivation:
Insights from The Urantia Book

by Henry Begemann
Wassenaar, Netherlands

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There may be a great difference between acting from good human motives and doing the Father's will. Morality, and its correlated motivation, is in the first place an evolutionary phenomenon. Then it is "super-animal, but sub-spiritual." Morality derived from this level is not spiritual activity, but an activity derived from a sense of duty. Morality as Jesus taught is more than evolutionary, it is revelationary, because its origin is in the Father-child relationship. This experienced relationship has as a consequence an enhanced morality that transcends duty. The Urantia Book tells us that, "The one characteristic of Jesus' teaching was that the morality of his philosophy originated in the personal relation of the individual to God--this very child-father relationship." (*1585:3)

align="left"We may intellectually accept this, believe it, but this is not sufficient, not the real thing. The Urantia Book continually and consistently places the accent on the point that such a relationship should be an actuality for us. The first phase of the kingdom is described as: "The personal and inward experience of the spiritual life of the fellowship of the individual believer with God the .7.4 Father." (*1862:11) Then the second phase of the kingdom results as "The enlarging brotherhood of gospel believers, the social aspects of the enhanced morals and quickened ethics resulting from the reign of God's spirit in the hearts of individual believers." (*1863:1)

To have once experienced this contact with the Father does not imply that henceforward this contact is an established factual relationship. All too often, and all too easily, we drift away from this living contact. Then our morality is no longer rooted in this communion-experience, and it descends again to the evolutionary level of duty, though our aims and purposes may nominally remain the same. We then act as sons of God, (at best), but not in a sonship with God. And our good motives and intentions are human then, and not divine, though they may be our human concepts (not experience) of the Father's will.

To know the Father's will requires an actual, living contact with him, as he lives in us. This contact is characterized by experiencing his attributes as our values. When we actually feel those values (values must be felt, says The Urantia Book), then we begin to discern the Father's will. "The human Jesus saw God as being holy, just, and great, as well as being true, beautiful, and good. All these attributes of divinity he focused in his mind as the 'will of the Father in heaven.' " (*2087:2)

By These Fruits

The Father's will is the Father's way. His ways are characterized by beauty, goodness, truth, mercy, fairness, greatness, nobility, etc. And if we desire to do the will of the Father, our ways should reflect those same values, even though necessarily incompletely, finitely. Then we show forth the fruits of the spirit. And by these fruits we shall be judged. Nobody can judge somebody else's contact with the Father. But a good tree will bring forth good fruits, and an evil tree evil fruits. The Father, generally, does not tell us what to do, but how to act. If he should say: do this, do that, he would not deal with us as sons, but as servants. The Father respects us too much for that. But he is always longing to show us how we should act. "The Father's will is manifest throughout the universes." His attributes are; and we know them as spiritual values. So when we have to make a decision, or have a problem, we should not submit to our human minds that want to tackle the problem itself. The solution of a problem does not lie in that problem, it must be found on a higher level.

We should look away from the problem, and do as Jesus did: focus our minds on the Father's attributes. Then we soon realize that all solutions of the problem that do not reflect, or hardly reflect, those attributes, are not the Father's way. That already turns our minds in the right direction. And when we begin to feel truth, beauty, and goodness in our meditative minds, those minds become enlightened, spiritualized. And the father knows that the what of the Father's will will unfold now we begin to see the how of his will.

There is a great difference between knowing and seeing. Knowing essentially is an intellectual function; seeing, with the spiritual eye, is a spiritual function. The Urantia Book states, for example, that believing in Jesus is not sufficient, not even believing in his teachings; you must see Jesus. (*1857:3) So when we meditate on the Father's attributes (e.g. truth), we should not make the mistake of substituting the form, the expression, the letter of truth for truth itself. Truth is living, a dynamic value, that must be felt, experienced. Values must be felt. (see p. 1219:6) A passage from our book may lead us to that experience, it is not that experience. Mind may be the gateway to spirit, it is not spirit.

Try to feel truth, and you'll discover how much more difficult that is than knowing truth. it is the same difference as between being a son of God, and having sonship with God. When we see truth, when we feel it, then indeed are we in the presence of God, and his will is manifest to us. But truth is only one aspect of the Father's reality. Love, beauty, and goodness are as characteristic of his nature and ways as truth. And we should, to solve our problems, meditate on these other attributes as well. Especially feeling the Father's goodness will prove to be a mighty help in solving our problems, though solving the problem should not be the main feature of our activity. To find the Father, to be like him, is the greater goal, and the problem is just a step on that long, long way. Let us not be result-oriented, and look for immediate results. The Father's way is the slow, but sure way. The Father is patient, but not compromising.

There is a great temptation in good motives. They may seem so nice and good, and we feel so nice and good when well-motivated. But let us beware. Remember Cano and Eve. Cano, though "completely honest and sincere", was, unconsciously, a tool in the hands of Caligastia. And his philosophy was: "Men and women of good motives and true intentions can do no evil." Have we really outgrown that philosophy? The second epochal revelation stranded on good motives. Let us behold Jesus, the Father incarnate amongst us. His philosophy was: "The Son can do nothing of himself, only what he sees the Father doing." Sonship with God. Let us not be satisfied with our good motives and hard work for the kingdom, sometimes for the Brotherhood, or the Foundation. "According to the truth committed to your hands you will be judged." And our book stresses continually the point of true religion, experienced values, living inward fellowship with the Father. To be a son of God will not do, sonship with God is required, and our great privilege.

Psychology as a Variety of Religious Experience

by Marta Elders, Ph.D.
Author's Note: While this talk was spoken extempore, it has been modified here to adjust to the written word.

I am going to try an exercise here in the shifting of consciousness. First I greeted you and you greeted me back in the initial hello. And that is the way we frequently acknowledge one another, without too much thought beyond the fact that this is another person in front of me. Now this (demonstrating the hands placed together in front of the chest with the head briefly bowed in acknowledgment) is an indication of acknowledging the God within, a greeting frequently used in some gatherings. This behavior is symbolically quite different from the first hello. What I am looking at here, and what this exercise briefly demonstrates, is that where our consciousness is, where our awareness is, has a powerful impact on what we actually see and acknowledge in front of us. I'm sure many of you are familiar with the quote in The Urantia Book that it is our thoughts, not our feelings, that lead us Godward. The way we hold our thinking is where we truly live. The way we hold our thinking is how we can be with God.

I was asked to speak about psychology and what is happening in the field. But as I began my preparation I decided to focus on the psychological insights that are offered in The Urantia Book. It is noteworthy, however, that there is an increasing spiritual awareness in certain branches of psychology, particularly transpersonal psychology. And for those of you who are interested in pursuing thinkers who have addressed religion, spirituality, spiritual development, and consciousness from a psychological viewpoint, I would suggest reading Abraham Maslow, Carl Jung, Roberto Assagioli, Ken Wilbur, Michael Washburn, and George Kuhlewind.

But, I chose to talk about psychology from The Urantia Book viewpoint. And I have struggled for months trying to decide what I was going to say here today, how I was going to say it, and, in fact, I am still working on it. I took the word psychology literally; that is--the knowing of the soul, the psyche logos. And I believe that the "knowing of the soul" is where certain branches of psychology are heading. So what insights are available from The Urantia Book in this endeavor? What is the soul? How does one know one's soul? What is identity? What is self? What is material self? What is ego? What is material mind? How does mind function? How do these constructs and realities come into existence, interact, develop, and grow? In an attempt toward further understanding and to stimulate our soul awareness I am going to briefly describe our development as I understand it to be presented in The Urantia Book. As I do this, I invite each of you to bring your own lives present, to bring them present in your consciousness, to bring your sense of self into your awareness, who you think you are; and then see how the words and descriptions work in your life. Do the words fit with your experience? What do they mean in your life? Interestingly, words, in and of themselves, are meaningless. They are but symbols. It is only our experience that fills out the words and gives some meaning to us. So hopefully as you bring your own experience to the words there may be enrichment, movement, change, and whatever was there before may be a little different after.

Each of us began as an embryo. As we formed, a brain formed. Our material mind, our use of the adjutant minds is dependent on our brain capacity. The brain will be the hardware and the seven adjutant mind-spirits, which have been bestowed by the local universe Mother Spirit, will be the software. Whenever the brain begins to function, I believe the lower adjutants have become operative. The first five adjutants--intuition, understanding, courage, knowledge, and counsel--are considered animal, subhuman; the top two, worship and wisdom, are considered moral or human. After approximately nine months of gestation, a baby is born. It is my belief that sometime after birth but before attaining a year, personality is bestowed. Once personality has been bestowed on this living energy system, on our vehicle, there is the potential for self-consciousness. We can become aware that we are. I can know that I am. You can know that you are. And as this self-conscious being we form an identity. This identity that we construct, and are most likely living out of, can be referred to as a material self-identity and is usually how we describe who we are. For example, a child might identify himself or herself as a good girl, a fast runner, superman, daddy's helper, a bad eater, etc. This material identity is very much determined and affected by our family, the community that we live in, the culture that we grow up in, what we see on TV, etc. This social and cultural context forms the frame in which we decide who we are. In our exploration, developmentally, we now have been bestowed with personality, have begun to construct a material self-identity, and are functioning mostly on the first five adjutant mind spirits.

In the process of becoming, of growing, we use the sixth adjutant, the spirit of worship, and at some subsequent time the seventh, the spirit of wisdom. With the use of the seventh adjutant, we make a moral decision. You and I choose something that is greater than the self; we make a decision that is truly moral. At that moment a Thought Adjuster is bestowed, a soul is initiated, and psychic circle growth begins. Essentially at this point we have a child developing along a material track that is establishing a material self-identity, a personhood, while simultaneously the soul, a quasi-spiritual reality, is germinating. Our soul is in embryonic form. This soul will be built and added to every time a moral decision is made, every time a supreme decision is made, every time truth is touched, every time beauty is touched, every time goodness is touched. There is this incredible fabric being woven inside our beings, that at some time will be our identity--this incredibly beautiful, exquisite creation that most of the time we don't even perceive. So, here we are in our lives making decisions in the material world and creating our souls.

To me psychic circle growth, which appears to be a stage process, is true human development, is true maturation on this planet. As this occurs the soul grows, there is increasing Adjuster attunement, there is mind attainment, and increasing personality status. Developmental theorists have perceived aspects of this growth and have contributed much to the psychological literature. Lawrence Kohlberg and Carol Gilligan have done work with moral development. James Fowler has pursued faith development. Erik Erikson has done work with ego development. I think each of these individuals has seen, from a particular perspective, the manifestations of this developmental process.

Again here we are in our lives, living in and from how we see ourselves, how we identify ourselves, mostly living in our ego identities, our material selves, as mother, father, teacher, student, driver, shopper, etc. When we answer the question "Who am I?" or "What am I doing?" we will be pointed toward where we live. We live in our thinking. When we greeted one another before we noticed where we live. That is the consciousness that we usually live in. In reality there seems to be two selves from which we can live--one the material self and the other the soul. Given that we usually live from the material self, how might we switch to living from our soul selves? How do we make that move? How do I make that move? How do you? Certainly we can talk about prayer, and we can talk about worship, and we can talk about being with God. But clearly, it is more than talking about--it is really living there.

One of the struggles that I had in preparing for this talk was that when I started I believed that the ego self was not wanted, not desired. I believed that I needed to transcend it, to let go of it, to not be it. That's not quite where I am today. The sense that I have now is that this self in its fullness is what needs to be committed to God. The full self in its completeness, in its richness, in its maturity, in its full psychic circle growth, in its full mind mastery, is what we need to give our Father so that he can live through us, so that his love can flow through us in this incredible way. And yet, it remains seemingly difficult to shift from this material self to this soul identity. We are alerted to the perimeter of conflict in The Urantia Book. There we are warned about how hard the material mind will hold on to us, how we cling to our material self. Especially when we have done well. Especially when our lives are good. Especially when we have been successful. Why? Because we like it, we like how we feel about ourselves, we like how our life is working. We are happy. We know how to get things done. We know how to make our lives work. Why should we shift? In contrast, if we are in pain, if our lives are not working, if our lives are falling apart, then we are much more likely to reach out and get help. But when it is good, it's hard to do that.

So what might it be like to enter that fringe of conflict and move into our souls? To me that is the place where we close our eyes and we open our hearts. That's the place where we take that leap of faith. I think that this place is oftentimes best described by our poets, by our artists, by our musicians. They have reached in, or taken that jump, and then tried to bring their experience back to a material description. There is a line in T.S. Eliot's "Four Quartets," where he describes this shift into the soul as: "where the darkness becomes the light, and the stillness, the dance." That's exquisite. The stillness, the dance, the shift, the darkness, the light. I think it is darkness that we go into initially, that we literally do close our eyes and open our eyes of faith. Jesus commented, "you see not with the eye of faith, and you hear not with the understanding of the spirit," which says to me we need to see with the eye of faith, that's where we need to see from. We need to hear with the understanding of the spirit. When we are in a situation, can we take our consciousness, and can we look to see with the eye of faith? Can we listen to hear with the understanding of the spirit? This injunction works both in terms of our being with another person and our being open to truth when it is presented to us. And yet we hesitate. Why?

In The Urantia Book there is a statement that there are, among others, two attitudes or states that inhibit growth, one being ignorance and the other being prejudice. When I think of those attitudes in terms of my own thinking, they seem to be most active when I have a closed mind, a prejudicial mind, when I have prejudged a situation, when I think I know the way things are, when I have the answers, when my frame is closed and I am not looking to know more. These attitudes will keep me far away from that fringe of conflict, confident in my own limited thinking, and not hungry for growth. The emotions of anxiety, fear, envy, and jealousy will help maintain this position. And the wall will keep the inside from getting out and the outside from getting in. And I will remain isolated in my self, defended against the very truth I need. One time Ganid inquired of Jesus why he had not interacted with a certain man, and Jesus replied: "Ganid, 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."

Take a moment to again bring your own life up, your own presentation of yourself to yourself, and let it just be there. What are your inhibitors? What are your stumbling blocks? Let yourself see what needs to be opened. Let yourself see what your fears are; see what is getting in your way, what you need to do to move into your soul, to commit to your Father.

I mentioned that one of the insights I had while preparing was this commitment of the selfhood from its own fullness. This was beautifully articulated when Jesus went up into the hills following his baptism and the two minds were made one. And I quote: "The results of this momentous season of meditation demonstrated conclusively that the divine mind has triumphantly and spiritually dominated the human intellect. The mind of man has become the mind of God from this time on, and [this is the part that caught my attention] though the selfhood of the mind of man is ever present [the selfhood, the being that had been developed, the man], always does the spiritualized human mind say, `not my will, but your be done.'" It is as if our selfhood is almost embraced by our larger divinity. Another quote also expresses this: "The marks of human response to the religious impulse embrace the qualities of nobility and grandeur. The sincere religionist is conscious of universe citizenship, and is aware of making contact with sources of superhuman power. He is thrilled and energized with the assurance of belonging to a superior and ennobled fellowship of the sons of God. [And here's where I'd like to highlight.] The consciousness of self worth has become augmented by the stimulus of the quest for the highest universe objectives, supreme goals. The self has surrendered to the intriguing drive of an all-encompassing motivation which imposes self discipline, lessens emotion conflict, and makes mortal life truly worth living."

One wonders what else would promote this shift into a more divine awareness. One possibility from the Jesus Papers: "To become acquainted with one's brothers and sisters, to know their problems, and to learn to love them is the supreme experience of living." That is supremacy. Our souls are part of the Supreme. Our interactions with one another can be a Supreme experience, the experience of Supremacy. And then there is this suggestion, "Each race must become familiar with the thought of all races. Each nation must know the feelings of all nations. Ignorance breeds suspicion, and suspicion is incompatible with the essential attitude of sympathy and love."

For a moment, suppose we were able to shift our seat of identity from material self to the soul and live from that place, at least attempt to live from that place some of the time. Most likely we would be quite mature and would have realized much of the psychic circle growth. As we made decisions we would probably check them out with God first, using that as a grounding point, a centering place. What else? What else do we need to allow to happen? What is needed? The sense that I have is that it's all in place, the only thing we sometimes do is get in the way--get in our own way. In reality all we have to do is fully commit to this, all we have to do is wholeheartedly choose to do it. There is a statement that "the great problem of religious living consists in the task of unifying the soul powers of the personality by the dominance of love." So, it's love. Where do we get love? Where does it go? What do we do with it?

"All true love is from God, and man receives the divine affection as he himself bestows this love upon his fellows." That's where it comes from, that's where it goes. It's the flow. It's the flow of the universe. It's the energy of the universe. "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." Doesn't work. "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. The great circuit of love is from the Father, through the sons, to brothers, and hence to the Supreme. The love of the Father appears in the mortal personality by the ministry of the indwelling Adjuster. Such a God-knowing son reveals this love to his universe brethren and this fraternal affection is the essence of the love of the Supreme." It is supremacy. It is the coming into existence of the Supreme. It is the living of Supremacy. "Man can discover the Father in his heart, but he will have to search for the Supreme in the hearts of all other men. And when all creatures perfectly reveal the love of the Supreme, then will he become a universe actuality to all creatures."

And here we are, with our lives in front of us, left with the question, the great challenge: "Will you decide to personalize the experiencible value meanings of the cosmos into your own evolving selfhood?" And that, to me, is psychology, the knowing of the soul, the creating of the soul, as a variety of religious experience.

Walking with God

by Steve Dreier, President, The Urantia Book Fellowship
Keynote Address, 1990 General Conference, Snowmass, Colorado

Each of us is involved in a dual relationship to God -- in the inner-life and in the outer-life. The walk with God in the inner-life concerns the personal relationship with God; the walk with God in the outer-life involves everything else.

Let us begin by considering the inner-life. The possibility of the inner walk with God is founded on the presence of two cosmic realities. One is the Thought Adjuster; the other is personality. The concept of the personal walk with God requires that both we and God are present together. Unless this condition is satisfied the concept of walking with God would be a beautiful poetic sentiment, but would have no basis in fact.

As we know, both of these realities are present with and within every normal human being. Each of us is a person; each of us has received the gift of personality from the Universal Father. Also, for the last two thousand years, every personality on this planet has received from the same Universal Father the gift of the divine Thought Adjuster -- the literal and factual presence of God within us. It is on the presence of these two cosmic realities that everything else rests. Each of us is present, and God is present with each of us. The inner walk with God involves the evolution of the relationship between the two.

The personality half of this association gives each of us our existence. We are personality. Since personality is unique, it gives each of us a unique existence. Each of us is one of a kind; no two are identical. In addition, personality gives us a self-conscious awareness of our existence; we not only exist, but we are aware that we exist. Even more, personality endows us with the awareness of awareness itself; we are aware that we are aware that we exist. Such a level of self-realization begins to touch upon the divine; the gift of personality incorporates potentials for Godlike levels of self-realization. Each unique personality is endowed with the ability to sustain relationships with all other personalities -- including prepersonalities and superpersonalities, but these relationships are not automatic; they are entirely subject to another inherent attribute of personality -- freewill choice. Finally, the additional gift of the Thought Adjuster, the literal presence of God, completes the factual basis for the inner relationship with God.

There are some interesting matters associated with the bestowal of both personality and the Thought Adjusters which are worthy of consideration. In our section of the cosmos, in the seven superuniverses, the Universal Father rarely does anything directly. Virtually every function is delegated, redelegated, and still further redelegated -- but not in these two cases. Both personality and the Thought Adjuster are bestowed directly by the Universal Father. There are no intermediaries of any kind.

When functions are delegated, some degree of control may be lost. The agent may not carry out the work as had been intended. On page 382 is this observation: "The Urantia peoples are suffering the consequences of a double deprivation of help in this task of progressive planetary spiritual attainment. The Caligastia upheaval precipitated worldwide confusion and robbed all subsequent generations of the moral assistance which a well ordered society would have provided. But even more disastrous was the Adamic default in that it deprived the races of that superior type of physical nature which would have been more consonant with spiritual aspirations."

Both our social environment and our physical mechanisms, our bodies, have been received through a delegated task. Those entrusted with these areas of responsibility did not act as planned. Serious problems resulted and we have to live with these problems. But in establishing the basis of walking with him, the Father apparently decided to allow no chance for error or default to interfere. He has given us both our self--personality--and himself--the Thought Adjuster--directly. The integrity of the inner-life relationship with the Father is unassailable. No person or power has the ability to interfere with the development of the inner relationship between God and any willing freewill personality.

There is more. The Father's presence within is not a generalized presence, but one which is individualized to each unique personality. It is true that the Thought Adjusters are equally divine, equally God; we each possess the same divine presence of God. Yet each Thought Adjuster is also individualized to the unique personality with which it is in association. Perhaps that is why we call them "Adjusters." Each is the same divine presence, but adjusted to accommodate the unique potentialities of a unique personality.

Time-space relationships are also of interest. In the superuniverses time and space usually condition everything; they must always be reckoned with. For example, there are about 1000 of us gathered here in this room this morning, and each has had to deal with time-space issues to bring this about. We have each had to traverse space, and that process required time. We were all aware, in advance, that this would be necessary, and we each made appropriate plans and, too, appropriate actions. Perhaps some of our fellowship are not present here today because their time-space requirements were too great a barrier to overcome.

The inner walk with God is one of those rare instances in which time and space are not limitations. In this case the Father has overcome the usual barriers of time-space -- neutralized or even transcended them. By placing himself within us the Father has established a situation which guarantees that he is always and everywhere with us. There is no moment and no place in which God is not with each of us. Time is not a factor in conditioning or limiting the direct relationship with God; he is always with us. Nor is space a limiting factor, for wherever we are, God is also there with us. We are always and everywhere in the immediate presence of God. The usual limiting functions of both time and space have been eternally overcome.

The inner walk with God thus involves remarkable cosmic circumstances. God is not merely with each of us; he is with each of us always and every place. He is with each of us divinely, and divinely adjusted to the uniqueness of each personality. All external potential barriers to the inner relationship with God have been overcome. Reflective consideration of this situation leads to an inevitable conclusion. It is clearly the Father's desire -- the Father's will -- that we walk with him. We were made to walk with God; it is the basic fact and fundamental purpose of our existence.

The Universal Father has given each of us an invitation to walk with him. This invitation is not one expressed with words, but with life itself; it is inherently expressed by the structure of the cosmic situation in which we find ourselves. Everything has been taken care of; all barriers have been overcome. The only remaining barrier is the willingness to accept the Father's invitation to walk with him. We are created by God as beings of freewill dignity and choice. We must consciously and willingly accept the Father's offer to be what he created us to be. We must choose to walk with God.

The acceptance of that invitation leads quickly to a discovery about the nature of God. We discover that God is love. It is an experience which is difficult to describe in language. A Divine Counselor, on page 40, says: "At times I am almost pained to be compelled to portray the divine affection of the heavenly Father for his universe children by the employment of the human word symbol `love.' This term, even though it does connote man's highest concept of the mortal relations of respect and devotion, is so frequently designative of so much of human relationship that is wholly ignoble and utterly unfit to be known by any word which is also used to indicate the matchless affection of the living God for his universe creatures! How unfortunate that I cannot make use of some supernal and exclusive term which would convey to the mind of man the true nature and exquisitely beautiful significance of the divine affection of the Paradise Father."

This lack of adequate terminology is unfortunate. We sometimes try to express the difference between God's love and human love by saying that God's love is a divine love. We also distinguish between human love and God's love by saying that God's love is a fatherly love, while human love is a brotherly love. The outer world is the domain of human or brotherly love; the inner-life is the domain of divine and fatherly love. The first great discovery of the inner walk is the realization that God loves us as a father, divinely, each of us, one at a time.

Divine and fatherly love is much different from human love. Divine love is constant; it never varies. God's love is infinite, and remains infinite; it never increases or decreases. God loves each of us in this present moment with the same infinite and divine love with which he has always loved us, and always will love us. When we find God on Paradise, he will love us with the same divine and infinite love with which he now loves us. God's love is, like the Father himself, divine, infinite, eternal, and changeless.

The Father's love originates in the freewill decision of his own divine nature. The Father chooses to love us. His love cannot be earned, nor can it be lost. It is not dependent upon anything we do, or anything we do not do. It is simply the free and unconditional gift of God to each of his children.

The Father loves all his children equally, with the same divine affection. He is no respecter of persons. We are told, on page 138, that "[t]he love of God strikingly portrays the transcendent value of each will creature, unmistakably reveals the high value which the Universal Father has placed upon each and every one of his children from the highest creator personality of Paradise status [the Eternal Son?] to the lowest personality of will dignity among the savage tribes of men in the dawn of the human species on some evolutionary world of time and space." There is no favoritism whatever with the Father. Each is loved equally.

Divine love takes some getting used to. Often, the experience of love in the outer-life does not prepare us to realize the love of God in the inner-life. Human love is often highly conditional and very fragile; it is here one moment and gone the next. Almost instinctively we come to expect our human love to be highly conditional, subject to a great variety of limits and restrictions. Failure to accommodate these conditions often results in a lessening or complete withdrawal of love. Sometimes love is even replaced by hate. Few of us have not experienced the fragility of human love at some points in our lives.

God's love is not at all like such human love. God's love has no conditions; it is a free and unconditional gift. God's love never varies; it is constant, infinite, eternal, and divine. But our experience with human love may cause us to expect God's love to be similar in character to human love. We expect his love to be conditional, fragile and variable. We expect it to come and go. We imagine a God who loves humanly, not divinely. We find it hard to accept God's love as it is; it seems just too good to be true.

Faith is the only means of escape from this situation. Faith alone will allow us to accept divine love fully and unconditionally. Faith alone can silence all the doubts and fears which may lead us to believe that we are unworthy of God's love. Faith allows us to come to the full realization that God loves each of us with the fullness of his love in each moment, unconditionally, as we are and where we are.

The incomprehensibly great gift of the Father's love must be accepted without questioning. Perhaps this is why Jesus so often said that entrance to the kingdom would require the faith and trusting dependence of a little child. It often does require a childlike consciousness to fully and unquestioningly accept the divine and unconditional love of God.

The attempt to discuss God's love with word symbols is subject to the same problems which are encountered in attempting to describe the nature of God. Our best attempts to discuss the nature of God utilize expressions such as "I AM." Perhaps the best we can do to express the nature of divine love is to say "IT IS." It remains only to be faith realized in personal experience.

The personal realization of the love of God produces profound changes in the inner-life. New standards of divine love begin to replace older standards of human love. The inner experience of being loved by God provides a new pattern for loving others. We seek to love others as we ourselves experience being loved by God. We strive to imitate God. We seek to love unconditionally, infinitely, eternally, and divinely.

One can develop a taste, a genuine enthusiasm, for loving others as God loves. It is a great adventure, and a great challenge. Attention is routinely directed to the experience of divine love in the inner-life, for it is that experience that provides the model for loving in the outer-life. The inner and outer domains are thus reciprocally related, the experience of each leading to augmented realization of the other.

The divine plan appears to provide that God's love should completely surround us, both inside and outside, but by different techniques. God takes full and direct responsibility for the presence of his divine love in the inner-life; but the presence of God's love in the outer-life is a delegated function. Each individual who attains the inner realization of the Father's love is assigned to the great collective effort to achieve the outer realization of divine love.

God's love appears in the inner-life through the direct action of God; it provides the pattern for love in the outer-life. Having provided each of us with this pattern, the Father then delegates the actualization of his divine love in the outer-life to us. He has given us everything we need to carry out the assignment. Our contribution is the willingness to accept and wholeheartedly seek to accomplish it.

It is interesting that the new commandment -- "Love one another as I have loved you" -- was first given to us two thousand years ago at the conclusion of the bestowal mission. It would not have been fair to give such a command before that. The new commandment really requires us to love others as we ourselves experience being loved by God. But experience of being loved by God is founded on God's factual presence in each person -- the Thought Adjuster. For the last two thousand years every normal human being has automatically received a Thought Adjuster, and has therefore been equipped to personally experience the Father's love in the inner-life. However before Jesus the Thought Adjusters were not automatically bestowed; some people had them, some did not. It would have been unfair to ask someone who did not have a Thought Adjuster to "love others as God loves you." Without the inner presence of God persons cannot directly experience the love of God, cannot really know how God loves them.

Prior to Jesus the highest commandment required "loving your neighbor as yourself." This is another way of saying that we should love others according to our highest concept of love, that we do the best we are capable of doing. Those who had Thought Adjusters would love as God loved; those lacking Thought Adjusters would love according to their highest philosophical standard of love.

Since the bestowal all are endowed with Thought Adjusters. God is literally present in each of us. Each of us is fully equipped to directly experience the love of God in our inner-life. It is now consistent and fair to universally require that we love others as we ourselves directly and personally experience being loved by God. The "New Commandment" really announces the universal bestowal of the inner presence of God, and indicates the presence of new capacities and new and divine possibilities for all people. All persons are equipped to love others as they experience being loved by God. One aspect of divine love is its eternal nature; God loves eternally. If we are to love as God does, our love must also reflect an eternal nature. What does this mean? How is it accomplished? How can a person love eternally?

There are no simple answers to such a question, but here is a possibility. In this room there are over one thousand of us. Between some of us deep and intimate personal friendships have developed. Between others relationships have begun, but may not have progressed very far just yet. Among still others there has not even taken place a first meeting; they are still unknown to one another.

The consciousness of being a child of God, of being loved by God, includes the consciousness of eternal life. Whoever has personally experienced the love of God knows that they will exist eternally. Given an eternity, everyone in this room will eventually meet everyone else. Deep and loving personal relationships will develop between all of us. We will all come to know each other, we will all work together, live together, laugh together, experience joys and sorrows together, and know each other literally as brothers and sisters -- every one of us to every other. It may happen on this planet, or on the mansion worlds, or the constellation, or some other place; sooner or later, however, it will happen. Everyone will come to know everyone else.

The consciousness of eternal life gives each of us the ability to project forward into the potentials of the unactualized future, and to bring the reality of that future into the experience of the present moment. The future and the present become unified in personality experience. We are living in eternity, and in eternity there are no strangers. A person that you meet for the first time is a future intimate and beloved associate. When that eternity realization is incorporated into the present moment it adds new meaning and value to all relationships. One can choose to live in eternity, and to love eternally, as God does. Ganid once asked Jesus why he spent so much time with strangers. Jesus replied that to one who knows God no person is a stranger. Perhaps, in this statement, Jesus was referring to the ability of all God-knowing individuals to recognize eternal life, and choose to live in eternity. Thus the experience of attempting to love others as God loves us begins to free us from the limitations of time. The past and future are brought together in the present moment to constitute one unified reality -- the everlasting now.

Much more could be said about the inner walk with God, and we have all week together to do that. Let us now turn our attention to consideration of the outer walk with God.

It is in the attempt to love others as we experience being loved by God that we cross the boundary between the inner and outer lives. The inner and the outer worlds are very different places, and it is important to distinguish clearly between them. Paper 15 is entitled "The Seven Superuniverses"; it is the paper which describes the physical and governmental organization of the seven superuniverses. It begins with this statement: "As far as the Universal Father is concerned -- as a Father -- the universes are virtually nonexistent; he is the Father of personalities." (*164) This statement is interesting not only for its content, but also for its location. It begins the paper in which the revelators present a detailed discussion of the superuniverses, and they apparently wish to make it very clear this outer level of universe reality is very different and distinct from the inner level of the personal relationship with God. The inner-life is the domain of the Father. The outer-life is the domain of the Supreme.

The Father--as a Father--recognizes only individual personalities. The Supreme recognizes only the collective whole. The Supreme--as Supreme--does not recognize separate individuals. The Supreme recognizes only the collective association of individuals, the unified and integrated whole. The Universal Father is concerned with the perfecting of the inner-life of each separate and distinct personality. The Supreme is concerned with the perfecting of the outer-life of the collective assembly of all beings--the integration of all Father (and other) perfected personalities, along with all things and energies, into one finite and evolutionally perfected whole.

The inner-life, the life with the Father, is characterized by grace and faith. Our only contribution to the development of the inner-life is faith; God does everything else, provides everything else which is required. The conditions of the outer-life, the life with the Supreme, are much different. In the outer-life virtually nothing is a gift; everything is earned. The inner-life is only concerned with being--being a child of God. The outer-life is additionally concerned with doing. The opening lines of Paper 115--the paper introducing the Supreme Being --make this difference clear. "With God the Father, sonship is the great relationship. With God the Supreme, achievement is the prerequisite to status--one must do something as well as be something."

The inner-life is private, strictly private. It consists of a unique and personal relationship with the Father. The outer-life is public. There are no secrets; everything belongs to everybody. Anyone can find God in the inner-life. Any ONE, and at any time and any place. No ONE can find God in the outer-life. Only together, collectively, can the God of the outer-life be discovered. The inner-life is time-and-space transcended. The outer-life must constantly adjust to the barriers of time and space. The inner-life is characterized by peace, certainty and security. The outer-life often involves uncertainty, bewilderment, struggle and challenge. The inner-life is existential; it simply IS. The outer-life is entirely experiential. Most of it remains to be.

This appears to be our situation. The Father creates us and endows each of us with a unique personal existence. He places himself within us, unassailably, individualized to our own unique nature. He loves us divinely, infinitely and eternally. Sooner or later we personally experience God's love, and as a consequence we are endowed with the possibility of loving others as we experience God loving us. This having been accomplished, the Father presents us to the Supreme for assignment. Once the inner-life is secure, the work of the outer-life begins.

The Supreme is engaged in the literal perfecting of all finite reality -- all things and beings -- into a single integrated and organic whole. Our relationship to the Supreme is functional, not personal; it is a matter of doing, not being. The Supreme delegates functional responsibility. Power control beings are assigned the task of distributing and directionalizing energy. Seraphim are assigned transport duties; they carry beings from one place to another. These assignments are not entirely optional. We, for example, will never be assigned to do the work of power control beings. We were not created for that function; we do not possess the abilities required to execute such assignments. Nor will we ever be assigned to enwrap beings in friction shields and carry them across space. We are not made for that function; only the seraphim can do that.

So what are we made for? What is our function in the outer-life domain? What is our role in service to the Supreme? On page 558 an archangel makes this observation: "The mortal survival plan has a practical and serviceable objective; you are not the recipients of all this divine labor and painstaking training only that you may survive just to enjoy endless bliss and eternal ease. There is a goal of transcendent service concealed beyond the horizon of the present universe age. If the Gods designed merely to take you on one long and eternal joy excursion they certainly would not so largely turn the whole universe into one vast and intricate practical training school, requisition a substantial part of the celestial creation as teachers and instructors, and then spend ages upon ages piloting you, one by one, through this gigantic universe school of experiential training."

Apparently it is not to be eternal bliss and endless ease. What then is it to be? From page 557: "There is a definite and divine purpose in all this morontia and subsequent scheme of mortal progression, this elaborate universe training school for ascending creatures. It is the design of the creators to afford the creatures of time a graduated opportunity to master the details of the operation and administration of the grand universe, and this long course of training is best carried forward by having the surviving mortal climb up gradually and by actual participation in every step of the ascent."

What's this? -- "to master the details of the operation and administration of the grand universe"?

From page 342: "Before spirit mortals reach Havona, their chief study, but not exclusive preoccupation, is the mastery of local and superuniverse administration." Additionally, from page 348: "...these surviving creatures have been trained to the limits of their capacity respecting every detail of every divine principle of the just and efficient, as well as merciful and patient, administration of all the universal creation of time and space." And again from page 348: "It seems evident to us that the present assignments of the perfected evolutionary creatures partake of the nature of postgraduate courses in universe understanding and superuniverse administration; and we all ask, `Why should the Gods be so concerned in so thoroughly training surviving mortals in the technique of universe management?' "

Why indeed! It would appear that our basic function with respect to the outer-life, the domain of the Supreme, has to do with matters of universe management and administration. This came as a complete surprise to me, a true revelation. It is not really what I had imagined. My ideas of the ascent to Paradise have been highly conditioned by the traditional views of this subject, and those do not project a functional destiny of management and administration responsibilities. Nevertheless, that seems to be the basic assigned role for mortal ascenders.

The initial reaction to the realization of this situation may not be one of exuberant enthusiasm. In the description of the fifth mansion world, on page 537, there is this observation: "At about this point the average mortal ascender begins to manifest bona fide experiential enthusiasm for the Havona ascent." The major work of the first four mansion worlds appears to involve overcoming mortal objections to the cosmic assignment.

We have considered two principal ways in which we walk with God -- the inner-life, and the outer-life. They are very different experiences, and are, at least initially, relatively independent of one another. One does not have to participate in the functional realities of the outer-life in order to experience the personal truths of the inner-life. Of course, sooner or later these two phases of walking with God must be unified in personal experience, but that does not seem to be required in the beginning.

The inner-life with God is freely available to anyone who sincerely desires it. No conditions apply to the realization of the Father's love except personal faith. The inner-life has been separated from the rest of cosmic reality. The Thought Adjusters come and go independently of all other cosmic administration. They are not subject to the administration of the Master Spirits, or the Ancients of Days, or any other administrative unit. The bestowal of personality also lies outside the domain of the supreme administrators; it is given directly by the Father. The Father has separated the possibilities of the inner-life from everything else; he has structured reality to insure that the relationship with him shall be subject to no condition other than the personal choice of each of his children. The Father's love is experienceable, fully experienceable, at this moment, at any moment. It is a reality unto itself.

The outer-life is entirely different. There is no relationship to the Supreme except through the acceptance of functional responsibility, including the willingness to learn to work together with other functionally responsible personalities, in ever enlarging associations, and associations of associations, until eventually there is one enormous, integrated and perfected community embracing all finite things and beings. Teamwork is the method of Supremacy. Remember the statement on page 311: "One of the most important lessons to be learned during your mortal career is teamwork. The spheres of perfection are manned by those who have mastered this art of working with other beings." We need to get used to the idea of constantly enlarging teamwork; the Supreme is engaged in the development of one unified team which includes all things and beings.

Our program this week provides opportunities to discuss both of these ways of walking with God. Some presenters have chosen to focus on the inner-life, others on the outer-life. This happy balance was not specifically structured; it has the character of an eventuated development. We seem to have inherently recognized the realities of the inner and outer lives and spontaneously arranged ourselves to give attention to each.

I would like to conclude these remarks with some prayerful thoughts. I hope that each of us, individually, and all of us, collectively, will use this week to fellowship with one another and enjoy the outstanding natural beauty of this location. I hope that each of us, myself included, will leave this place with an enriched and enlarged capacity to personally experience the Father's love, and consequently with an enriched and enlarged capacity to love others as we experience God loving us. I hope that the experience of this week will leave each of us with a clearer perception of our relationship to the Supreme, and with an augmented enthusiasm for the functional and collective responsibilities of supremacy. Finally, I hope that we will each return home with the clear realization that all of this, as magnificent as it is, is just the beginning of the beginning, the first faint realization of the infinity and eternity of our relationship with God, both inside and outside.

"No matter how much of God you may attain there will always remain much more of him the existence of which you will not even suspect. And we believe this is just as true on transcendental levels as it is in the domains of finite existence. The search for God is endless." (*1169)

You Are The Light of The World:
Urantia Book Insights for Spiritual Growth

by Dr. Meredith J. Sprunger
"You are the light of the world." Matt. 5:14, U. B., p. 1570

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Dr. George Gallup, in a talk at Princeton Theological Seminary last year, said:; "Americans today appear to be on a spiritual quest of major proportions; the final two decades of this century could, in fact, represent a unique chapter in the history of religion in the United States.";

We are living in an exciting period of history.; Kenneth Boulding, in his book, The Meaning of the Twentieth Century, Alvin Toffler, in The Third Wave, and numerous other philosophers of history are pointing out that we are living in one of the major transitional periods in the history of man.; Daniel Yankelovich in his exhaustive sociological study, New Rules, says that we are marching to a new beat; we cannot turn back the clock; we are entering a new age of society.; He found that people are fed up with the selfish, individualistic preoccupations of the 1970's, and hunger for commitment to truth and service.; Marilyn Ferguson, in The Aquarian Conspiracy, documents the many facets of this personal and social transformation of consciousness in the 1980's.

We should gear our ministry to the changing nature of our contemporary culture.; John Naisbitt in Megatrends, observes that we are changing from an industrial society, to an information society.; High technology is emancipating us from dependency on neighbors and work groups; therefore, people are hungry for the human touch.; Small in-groups become increasingly important to our identities and well being. The decentralization trend in Western Civilization is lessening the importance of hierarchies and power structures, and increasing the significance of local communities and networks.; Society will be rebuilt from the bottom up.; We must rely less on central-institutional help and guidance and develop more local direction and individual initiative.; The small units of society which will rebuild our culture are close-knit, dedicated, participatory groups governed by a central purpose.

A couple of years ago, Dr. Harvey Cox of the Harvard Divinity School, and his students, made a study of what young people are searching for, in spiritual guidance.; They found four basic things:

• They are looking for friendship, fellowship, and love.
• They are looking for ways to find and experience God in a first hand, personal way.; They are not interested in second hand religion.
• They are looking for guidance more vital and relevant than the old religious cliches.; They want a larger and deeper vision of God and Reality.
• They are looking for a natural, simple, fresh faith which is a living force, rather than a ritualistic form.

All of these new trends in our society are tailor-made for the message of The Urantia Book, and the small groups in which it must be nourished.; Our planetary supervisors have done a marvelous job in preparing our planet for the fifth epochal revelation.; They now look to us to begin this ministry in a systematic and serious way.; The personal contact of individuals and the organizing of small study groups is the heart of the Urantia movement, and the key to rebuilding our society and the world.; Sometimes, we are tempted to think that such grass-roots ministry is not important.; But, I would remind you that it was exactly this kind of ministry which a few, uneducated disciples of Jesus initiated, and the Book of Acts describes them as "These men who have turned the world upside down!"; These humble beginnings transformed Western Civilization.

Jesus tells us, "You are the light of the world."; There are a great many people in our contemporary society who do not know who they are.; In their identity crisis, they are depressed by the Freudian view that human nature is dominated by irrational and unconscious urges.; When they turn to spiritual help, all too often, they are discouraged by the Pauline view, that human nature as inherently sinful, and prone to all evil.; Men and women today are hungering for the unadulterated message of Jesus, to discover who they really are; that they are sons and daughters of God -- that human nature is essentially good -- that they have great worth and potential, and are meant to be co-workers with God.; This is the good news of the gospel, and all of the psychological crape-hangers of gloom cannot overcome it.; In the teachings of The Urantia Book we have the greatest message to share with humankind that our planet has received in the last 2,000 years.; We are the light of the world; those who have been called to share this great message with our fellowman.; This is the most important imperative of the Urantia movement.

While outreach ministry is of great importance, I should like to close with something of even greater significance.; If you are not called to this outreach ministry, or fail to respond to the Spirit's leading, there are others who will hear this call and carry the good news of The Urantia Book to the farthest corners of the earth.; But, there is another call which no one can respond to except yourself.; This is the Father's loving appeal that you dedicate yourself to your own spiritual growth.

Nothing in the world is more important in your life than your active co-operation in achieving the Spirit's mastery of your mind and body; your attitudes and appetites, your emotions and actions.; This is not accomplished by simply willing it; it demands active participation.; The initial stages of growth usually require enduring suffering, transcending egocentric pride, or even social humiliation.; The rewards and joys of a Spirit controlled mind and a Spirit mastered body, however, far outweigh the birth pangs endured in evolving the soul.; The enlarged freedom and deepened inner peace of your liberated and growing soul bring the greatest joy and sense of fulfillment which sons and daughters of God can experience in life.; Not only have you actualized your authentic self, but you have a quality of being which is more real, and can accomplish greater service for your fellowmen and the Father's kingdom.; It is my prayer that each of us may grow in this life of the Spirit. For the life of the Spirit is the well spring and creative source of outreach ministry and service.

The Stewardship of Consciousness:
A Study in Spiritual Psychology for Readers of The Urantia Book

by Dr. Thomas Burns, Ph.D.

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Since this talk concerns the science of psychology, perhaps we could spend just a minute talking about what that is, because many people do not know what it really means. Many believe that psychologists just spend time talking to people with problems, and that that's about all there is to it. There is, in fact, much more.

Psychology is the science of behavior. Now I am not going to spend much time talking about science, since a previous speaker has done such a good job with that. The fact that psychology is a field of study which has adopted the scientific method is important in distinguishing it from other fields which are more treatment-oriented, such as psychiatry. Psychiatry is a specialty practice of medicine, whereas psychology is a field which studies behavior, and, as such, uses the scientific method.

This first illustration is a highly schematic representation of the empirical method. What psychology, like any science, attempts to do is to move from theory to some sort of testable hypothesis. This hypothesis is then taken into a laboratory situation where it is empirically tested. The resulting data, which rarely come out like one thinks that they should, are interpreted, often resulting in the formation of new theories. So while the figure depicts a circle, we might more accurately think of it as a spiral in which knowledge, both in the form of data as well as more precise questions, is increased every time we take a turn around the cycle.

Psychology adopted the scientific method in about the late 1800's, thereby becoming psychology, and has proceeded in that fashion ever since. Obviously, science produces information which tends to be useful. There is, however, a vigorous discussion between basic and applied scientists concerning the appropriateness of practicality as a motivation for scientific endeavors.

Clinical psychology is an applied area in which an effort is made to use what comes out of the empirical psychological laboratories for the benefit of those encountering various life problems. The present talk will be more from the applied point of view than from the more theoretical aspect of the cycle in the illustration. I have been a practitioner for about fifteen years now, and I figure that I have logged about 15,000 hours in intense dialogue with other human beings, so I am going to be speaking from the viewpoint of a scientist, but as one who has been observing the practical application of that science for a while. Of course, I will also be talking as a Urantia Book reader.

The title of this talk is "The Stewardship of Consciousness and The New Science of Mind." The word "stewardship" is interesting. It is mentioned often in the Bible, and much thought has evolved among theologians around the concept of stewardship. In The Urantia Book, Jesus gives at least four parables on stewardship (*1853, 1763, 1876, 1893) and one discourse. (*1822) The use of stewards and stewardship is an image or a metaphor for man's role on this planet.

In one of the most interesting parables, the one I call the "use-it-or-lose-it parable" (*1875), several stewards were given a sum of money by their master. One steward wanted to take very good care of his master's money, so he tied it up in a napkin and kept it. When the master came back for an accounting of the money he had given out, he learned that one steward had invested it such that it earned interest and another had similarly gained a return on his money. The steward who had kept his money had actually saved it. Nothing had happened to the money; it was still there and he gave it back to his master. This steward had not stolen the money or done anything dishonest with it. However, in the parable he is treated very harshly. Not only was this steward chastised, but he lost the money entrusted to him. The idea is that what you are entrusted with needs to be somehow not only preserved, but also used. What a good and proper steward does is use the resource entrusted to him, take that resource on behalf of the master, and use it for gain.

I mentioned the Bible. That is a sacred book of writing, for those of you who come to us from the New Age. Certainly not a perfect work, but in Genesis, around the first book, 26th chapter, man was told to have dominion over fish, birds, cattle, and every creeping thing that crawls over the earth, with obvious reference to men.

But the implication there is interesting. We do not think about having dominion over man too much when we consider stewardship. We think about conquest over man--there has certainly been a lot of that in our history. One group conquers another group. An authoritarian approach is used in conquest, both with animals, with the land, and with each other. But I do not know if anybody has ever thought about the fact that our brain is part of that admonition for stewardship--that we must have some sort of control over this nature organ, which is really, from a body sense, not much different from a bladder. It is something we have to learn to have control over, or it will do to us psychologically what our bladders will do to us physically if we do not learn control. And I think most of us have had the experience of our brains doing that.

The next figure is one depicting that we have a brain that will just run roughshod over us if allowed to do what it does naturally. It comes with some sort of biological programming for which we should all be very grateful, because it got us this far. Part of that programming is to be very afraid. It is to kill anybody who makes us angry; it is to take whatever we want, no matter to whom it belongs. It is to have sex with any attractive creature.

All of that is wired in at some level in our brains, and that is all going on in your brain. I hate to be the one to tell you that. It is happening deep in the brain in structures called, collectively, the lymbic system. You have some stuff going on there that you would not want to talk about. Unfortunately, a lot of that material does find its way into our behavior, because when we are not doing anything and nothing much is going on, our brain--not having an off switch--will just decide that it will just scare the pants off its owner. And your brain will do that. Every time you start worrying or ruminating over some past problem or some future thing that is facing you; every time you start manufacturing things to be scared of, remember that guy in Figure 2. That is your brain running you.

Not too many people realize it, but you really do not have to take everything your brain hands you. A lot of it is garbage. It is either nonsensical or it is frightening or it is sad or it is just meaningless. I was counting the rails in the fence on the way over here, and I started thinking, "Why am I doing that? I don't think I'm ever going to need to know that."

Now sometimes our brains control us in what society might call "proper ways." Figure 3 on the following page depicts willpower as an answer. That is when we successfully, but usually for short periods of time only, take control of our brain with mere efforts of will. That is us with the swastika on our arms and our poor little brains being subjugated. That is the scaffolding on which most of society has been constructed. That is how we manage ourselves: we talk to ourselves, we fuss at ourselves, and we call ourselves bad names. If we do too good a job at "willpowering" ourselves into submission over too long a period of time, we get this next situation, depicted in Figure 4. This is the classic Type A Behavior which occurs after 10 or 15 years of managing our brains with willpower. We get stuck on the treadmill.

Consciousness is a real resource. Who would like to perform a miracle right now? If you would like to perform a miracle, think about yourself thinking. This is a bit like Descartes' dreams, I know, but think about yourself thinking. Think about yourself being here. Look at or examine or listen to the content of your own thought.

As I talk to you, you have a narration going. You might be saying to yourself, "What is he talking about?" or "When is he going to be through?" or "This is really great stuff." You have some kind of narration of your experience, some kind of internal match, some sort of internal response to what is going on all around you. Have you ever thought about your own thinking? You should not be able to do that, like the legendary impossibility of bumblebee flight.

It is very difficult from an information-science point of view to understand how it might be possible that we can step outside of the very system that is doing the thinking and think about that system--even watch that system work. Where do we stand when we do that, to look back at it? It is more than just an interesting game. The ability to think about our thinking may relate to third-circle attainment. I am very hesitant to guess about that, but there does seem to be a new array of possibilities made available when you can stand outside of your own experience, when you can be aware of your awareness. Because then you can begin to monitor it. And then you can begin to make changes in it that do not need the continual energy expense of willpower.

You can begin to realize, for example, that you are thinking about all those things you did not do before you left to come here. You can realize that your mind is running over and over again, "Did I really shut the gas stove off?" or "Did I really lock the front door?" Anybody doing that? That is our brain, just kind of running on idle, so to speak, just kind of doing what it does.

You can, then, produce fears. As a matter of fact, the brain has probably evolved to do that. Remember, a million years ago, it would be very useful if you assumed there was a tiger behind every tree. Every now and then there would be a tiger behind a tree, and if you assumed there was a tiger behind every tree, you would guess right occasionally, and that would help you live to procreate. Kids who assumed no tigers behind trees probably did not live long enough for their serene genes to survive.

In short, it is very useful to have a brain that scans for danger, that assumes the worst, as in Figure 3. Our ancestors were probably not very happy, and I think The Urantia Book indicates that life was a little tough back then. We inherit from them a nervous nervous system. This system, if left to itself, will scan for danger and will constantly be on the lookout for it.

Now, let us leave this point for just a moment and talk about why stewardship of consciousness is important. First, it is a resource, and we are asked to have stewardship over resources. It is a marvelous resource--the ultimate resource! It is the resource by which we may become co-creators, taking part in the psychological aspect of our own evolution. (Recent developments in recombinant DNA research may make it possible for us to participate in our biological evolution also.)

The reason it is particularly important now, at this point, to become aware of our consciousness and its proper stewardship is because we all are painfully aware that our technology on this planet has finally reached the point where it can be lethal--to virtually the entire planet--either through disastrous ecological disruption or through warfare.

Another reason is that the planet is becoming crowded, and it is likely that we are already pressing the margins of our resources for sustenance. We received some interesting information last night in which the number of people on the earth during the Neanderthal era was computed against the square footage necessary to feed people. Our food production technology is pretty good now, but then we have a lot of folks on the planet, too. The only way we are going to apportion resources adequately is through intelligent use of our consciousness.

However, I think we are reaching the limits of our ability to manage ourselves simply by willpower. If you have ever noticed--I do not know if anybody here has been on a diet or has tried to stop smoking--but most of us have found that willpower is marginally useful. Willpower has probably put more pounds on people than Ben Jerry. Willpower simply does not work very well. It is pretty good if you have to stay up all night to finish a set of drawings when you would rather go to bed, or for other temporary short-term approaches. But if willpower is taken on as an idol, as a way of running your life, then that is when you become the subject of Figure 4.

As a matter of fact, culturally, willpower seems to be falling apart. It may be a foot race as to whether the spiritualization of men is going to be sufficiently in place to carry civilization when the scaffolding of willpower collapses. It was not for Rome, Greece, and other high civilizations which have fallen. Let us hope and pray, all of us, that as willpower falls apart this time, we will have something to take its place. As a matter of fact, it is intriguing to contemplate that the early liberties Lucifer preached might have been a premature abdication of willpower. What we may have now is a sufficient amount of accumulated, generational-wisdom civilizations behind us so that we can contemplate turning loose of the rules. WHAT? Turning loose of the rules? Did that strike fear in anybody's heart? It did when Jesus talked about it, too. His death was hastened by his getting rid of all the "thou shalt nots" and replacing them with two "thou shalts" which were fairly open-ended and did not give the people a clear set of things that they were supposed to go out and do.

What we are now encountering is the birth of the self, and this may be a Western cultural phenomenon, as well as a personal one. Individually, the time in our lives when we begin to understand that there is more to us than just following the rules has been given the name "mid-life crisis" for men, and "getting liberated" for women. But it is basically the same process of deciding there is a ME in here, and that maybe it's okay to go about being me, even though realizing that I do not have any apparent, external rules for doing this.

Nobody has ever been a perfect "me" before and then come back to write a book about how to do it. Nobody has drawn a map or produced a chart showing what you are supposed to do next in order to be a perfect you. It is something that you will always explore at the cutting edge. You will always be moving yourself and being moved into uncharted waters.

As you evolve, and are a participant in your own evolution, you are aware that you do not know what the heck you are doing. You are confused, and you are not supposed to be confused--we are supposed to know, to be cool. But in fact, when you are really out there being you, you never really know. You just find out. It is very difficult to learn to ride a bicycle by sitting in an armchair from studying drawings of bicycles. Eventually, you will have to get up on the bicycle and take the risk of finding out how to ride, if you are ever to learn. In life, eventually, you will have to go out there and find out what it is all about, if you are truly to live it as the creature God meant you to be.

Our cultural awareness might be reaching that point at which we are daring to give up the prosthesis of this set of rule structures, of this set of willpower-derived, formula approaches toward how to live our lives--what I would call reactive living. Reactive living is safe living, and the reactions that we learn are culturally shared. We know what we are supposed to do as long as it is a response, a reaction. And we are constantly moving ourselves into reactive situations, because it is a lot better than having to be proactive, which is, in essence, painting your own painting, singing your own song. When you are singing your own song, people can criticize something which is at the very core of you. And that can really hurt. Because if it really is your song, then it is intimately, totally personal.

If you are only reacting, then you are only doing what the situation requires. The whole idea of proactive living--the whole idea of authoring yourself--can be very scary, and most folks will do just about anything to keep from moving into that anxietyunless life decides it is just going to catapult them right into it with certain crises or events. That is probably what various sorts of addictions are all about--not just substance addictions, but addictions like workaholism, addictions to children, addictions to problems, addictions to physical ailments, or to relationships. All of these might be flights into problems, while we tell ourselves that we will get to the rest of our lives as soon as we get our current problem (funny how there always seems to be one) figured out.

In fact, facing the anxiety of breaking through and living our own lives is what the process of psychotherapy is all about. It is bolstering that decision for proactive living and getting rid of those illusory fears that stand between us and being what God made us to be.

Let's talk about some of the ways that we have come up with for managing this consciousness. Perhaps a little demonstration of consciousness is in order. Look at the next figure. Just look at that for a minute. Soon something will happen. See, it changes. What do you suppose is happening there? What did it feel like when it changed? Can you learn to make it happen? This is a little stewardship of consciousness in action. If you can learn to give yourself the experience of shifting your perception of this Necker Cube, you can transfer that skill to shifting your perception of life's problems.

Have you ever had a communication perception transform on you when, say, somebody explained what they really meant? All of a sudden you realize, "Oh, yeah. Gee, I got angry for no reason." That shift in perception was reduced to the very simplest pattern here, but, in fact, it is a pattern of the metanoia of Christian theologians--the core meaning of repentance. Repentance really means a kind of change in how you see life--a fundamental change. Anyone who has done some things wrong, and then realized that these were not good and that they hurt people in unseen ways, is going through an experience very much like the "flip" of the cube. The hopeful thing is that it is something you can learn to do--something at which you can become more skilled.

Now, I do not think anybody can make this happen each and every time they want to-- immediately, instantly. You have to kind of sit there and do a few things and then it happens, so there are perhaps two phases to the process. But you can learn to have some management over it, and you do not have to use a whip, and you do not have to tell yourself to do it. Nobody switched this cube by telling themselves to do it. Try telling yourself to make it switch. It will not work. Telling yourself is a very poor way of controlling your behavior. Telling yourself to do better is about as good as trying. There is a reason we have one word for "trying" and another for "doing." If they meant the same thing, we would have just one word, right?

Now just as a demonstration of that, can you put your finger behind your thumb? Now try to push your finger past your thumb. Harder. Okay, now just do it. I never told you to oppose with your thumb, did I? I said TRY to push your finger past your thumb. The opposition by the thumb is all contained in the word "try." So whenever you tell yourself "Well, I want to try to lose weight," "I want to try to stop smoking," "I am going to try to get up early and read The Urantia Book," forget it, because you are going to be opposing yourself. If you say "I am going to do it, you may or may not be able to, but you are going to be more likely to do it when you are not opposing yourself. The other way, you are going to be doing something different from doing--you are going to be "trying." It is a different act altogether. I have had people say, "You know, I try not to think about that." I would like for anybody to try not to think about the number 3.

My father once told me that if I could boil a rock in vinegar for half an hour and not think about a hippopotamus, it would turn to gold. I still think he was right.

Now we need to talk about some interesting findings from a small group of investigators who have looked at a group of individuals who happen to be excellent communicators. They used methods derived from stochastic modeling and linguistic analysis to extract the essential features of what these expert communicators were doing in order to communicate so effectively. In other words, they extracted fundamental, underlying patterns that were the backbone of powerful communication stratagies. It is a little bit like having concentrated, distilled communication.

They looked at successful attorneys, they looked at effective sales people, they may even have found a few psychologists to look at to see what they were doing that made their particular communication more effective than those around them. In essence, they extracted their patterns or, one might say, stole their strategies.

They finally found a psychiatrist named Milton Erickson out in Phoenix, Arizona, who was doing most of the things they found to be particularly effective, so they just studied him, modeling his communication patterns. The findings of these investigations give us an interesting picture of the consciousness, which is emerging as one which is congruent with information presented in The Urantia Book.

The authors of the book talk about different parts of our consciousness. They describe it as divided into a group of registers operating at different levels of awareness. Another way of describing this is to say that you have different "parts." There is a part of you, for example, that wants to be here; there is a part of you that wants to be out in the sun; there is a part that wants to be back seeing to business; there is a part of you that wants to be doing other things. We have sayings in our language, such as "I'm of two minds about this," or "I'm really divided about this." What we usually do if we are divided is to get out our whip of authoritarianism and literally subjugate the other parts to do our bidding. One part wins out, the other parts lose, and we go that way as long as we can, until the other parts band together--mutiny--and then we do something else.

What the modelers have found is that we exist in parts, and, if we direct a more enlightened management toward those different parts, we will be able to manage our consciousness much better. If we work in harmony with ourselves, our energy is better spent. The way to bring that about is to have a little committee meeting with the different parts of you. This is a personal application of a more enlightened small group management approach, which was first offered by an industrial psychologist named McGregor. He observed that when workers in a factory are given a greater say in the decisions within their production facility--given that these workers have achieved a certain level of maturity--production will increase and errors will decrease.

We can do that with ourselves. We can check out the different parts; we can honor and respect the different parts of our own consciousness and give them a say. We can literally have a dialogue inside. I don't recommend you do this in public, but you can literally negotiate and converse with those different parts. If you can find that you are divided, if you can find that you have feelings of being pulled in different directions, then you can simply honor those different parts of you by listening to them. You can allow those different parts to have their say, and then you can decide on the final behavior.

Note that this does not mean that you just do what every part says. That would be anarchy. If you have ever been a member of a committee which rejected or ignored your input, you know how alienated from that committee you felt. On the other hand, if your input was respected, even though it might not have been adopted, you felt a lot better about going along with the final consensus of the group than if you were the invisible person. Have you ever been the invisible member in a committee? You speak to contribute an idea, and then you get the idea that no one heard a sound. Generally, somebody who is disenfranchised like that in a committee will end up, consciously or unconsciously, sabotaging the group's work, either actively or passively.

This is why we sabotage ourselves so much--why we shoot ourselves in the foot so often--because we are disenfranchising parts of ourselves, and those parts act at the unconscious level to sabotage our progress. The idea is to become more conscious of all those different parts and then to minister to them. Greater consciousness is going to mean greater management possibilities.

The communication modelers I discussed earlier found that metaphors were a very effective means of communicating. Now, that may ring a bell, for you can register "parable" in place of "metaphor." That is why I am using these graphic illustrations rather than charts and lists, because an image of the brain saying "Boo" at you--scaring you--is much more powerful and memorable than pictures of words. Metaphors work as spoken images, and Jesus used them almost exclusively when he really wanted to communicate elevated and difficult concepts to his audience.

On page 1692 of The Urantia Book he provides a discourse on the advantages of parables. In this, Jesus says people can connect with parables at their own level. Parables force people to search inside so they get a lot more out of the parable than the speaker ever intended. People find their own truth; they connect the parable to events in their own lives. To understand a parable, the listener must provide a response of analysis, causing him or her to become more involved in the communication. One might say that parables influence the listener to do a lot of the work.

In fact, the book itself uses some very nice communication images. I like the nautical metaphors, used on at least two occasions: "Mind is your ship, the Adjuster is your pilot, human will is captain. The master of the mortal vessel should have the wisdom to trust the divine pilot to guide the ascending soul into the morontia harbors of eternal survival." (*1217) Here they have presented an image, a mind-map, if you will, of an event whose understanding carries with it, in a few words, an extremely dense packet of information which we "decode" by running the metaphor through our own experience. This "walking through" the experience is--even though we may never have actually been on a ship--like putting water on instant coffee. It "reconstitutes" the truth of the message for the listener. We find that for most people the brain does much better with pictures than just about any other form of communication. I think that is why the video revolution has taken over. It communicates such intense amounts of information which can be used and apprehended so quickly that it is probably one of the most effective means of communication that is around. (This is not a plug for the video revolution--I greatly deplore the losses to the English language.)

Consciousness is so important for us to understand because it is the very tool that we use to understand it. It is one of those peculiar things in which we are using that which we are studying to understand what we are studying. There is the Heisenberg uncertainty here. Our consciousness is the final understander of scientific data. Science is both a product and a servant of consciousness.

Science sounds very objective but, in fact, the whole reason for the methodology of science is to permit someone else to have the same experience as the scientist who is claiming discovery. The proper scientist makes his exact steps public so that anyone can go through those same steps and have the same experience so that you can experience.

We are the final arbiters of our own reality. We somehow make the decision that something is real. Science is simply a way--a structured way--of allowing you that prerogative if you have difficulty believing my data. Science is basically a phenomenological pursuit, that is, one rooted in the experience of the individual's consciousness. But how do we understand the mind? And how do we grow in our ability to assess it? That is the challenge we are given in being proper stewards of this resource.

Worshipful Problem Solving

By Lynne Kulieke
General Conference of The Urantia Book Fellowship, 1990
Snowmass, Colorado
Page numbers refer to the first edition of The Urantia Book

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The subject is worshipful problem solving, which we are enjoined to cultivate as one of the many desirable spiritual habits. A number of questions arise merely from this peculiarly beautiful and intriguing combination of words. What is worshipful problem solving? It appears to be a somewhat contradictory term, for we know that worship is not self-serving, but for its own sake, while problem solving definitely implies self-interest. Another question that occurs is how is this religious predisposition to be developed? And finally why should mortal men and women strive to acquire such a habit? What purposes of God and humanity are achieved?

I choose to begin today's examination of the topic with some selected passages from The Urantia Book which may help to serve as an illuminating text for further consideration, if not now and in this company, perhaps at another time and place. I will conclude with some personal reflections.

Let's commence with a study of the nature of worship. We are informed:

Worship is a personal communion with that which is divinely real, with that which is the very source of reality. (*2095)

Worship [is] the sincere pursuit of divine values and the wholehearted love of the divine Value-Giver. (*195)

Worship is the conscious and joyous act of recognizing and acknowledging the truth and fact of the intimate and personal relationships of the Creators with their creatures. (*2031)

Only personalities can commune with each other, albeit this personal communion may be greatly facilitated by the presence of just such an impersonal entity as the Thought Adjuster[and]only a person can love and be loved. (*31)

Worship isthe 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. (*66)

There is a dynamic here which I have chosen to emphasize through the arrangement of the citations. Notice we begin with a rather general statement about the worship of God as the source of reality, but it becomes readily apparent that with the choice of the word "communion" as an alternative for "worship," the activity takes on meaning and reality for us as time-space mortals only inasmuch as it is personal, and most significantly, as it makes forever clear that personal relationship illuminated by Michael's bestowal on earth, the loving relationship of Father and child.

The Father desires all his creatures to be in personal communion with himTherefore settle in your philosophy now and forever: To each of you and all of us, God is approachable, the Father is attainable, the way is open. (*63)

Although the approach to the Paradise presence of the Father must await your attainment of the highest finite levels of spirit progression, you should rejoice in the recognition of the ever-present possibility of immediate communion with the bestowal spirit of the Father so intimately associated with your inner soul and your spiritualizing self. (*63)

The great challenge to modern man is to achieve better communication with the divine Monitor that dwells within the human mind. (*2097)

But there are other universe difficulties [which] must be met and planetary obstacles [which] must be encountered as a part of the experience training provided for the growth and development, the progressive perfection, of the evolving souls of mortal creatures. (*1719)

Of all the problems in the universe requiring an exercise of consummate wisdom of experience and adaptability, none are more important than those arising out of the relationships and associations of intelligent beings. (*311)

Still, we are reminded that worship is, as I remarked at the beginning, for its own sake; prayer embodies a self- or creature-interest element; that is the great difference between worship and prayer. There is absolutely no self-request or other element of personal interest in true worship; we simply worship God for what we comprehend him to be. Worship asks nothing and expects nothing for the worshiper. We do not worship the Father because of anything we may derive from such veneration (such as solutions to our problems); we render such devotion and engage in such worship as a natural and spontaneous reaction to the recognition of the Father's matchless personality and because of his lovable nature and adorable attributes. (*65)

These remarks may be definitive, but more is required to understand why the authors dare, then, in another paper to use the word "worship" in combination with the words "problem solving." Clearly the phrase suggests benefits, though unsought in moments of true worship, to be derived from communion with the Father. Rodan provides some enlightenment.

"Successful living is nothing more or less than the art of the mastery of dependable techniques for solving common problems. The wise and effective solution of any problem demands that the mind shall be free from bias, passion, and all other purely personal prejudices which might interfere with the disinterested survey of the actual factors that go to make up the problem presenting itself for solution. The solution of life problems requires courage and sincerityAnd this emancipation of the mind and soul can never be reflected without the driving power of an intelligent enthusiasm which borders on religious zeal. [And] you can hardly expect success unless you are equipped with that wisdom of mind and charm of personality which enable you to win the hearty support and cooperation of your fellowsYou simply must have tact and tolerance.But the greatest of all methods of problem solving I have learned from Jesus, your MasterIn this habit of Jesus' going off so frequently by himself to commune with the Father in heaven is to be found the technique, not only of gathering strength and wisdom for the ordinary conflicts of living, but also of appropriating the energy for the solution of the higher problems of a moral and spiritual nature.

"I am deeply impressed with the custom of Jesus in going apart by himself to engage in these seasons of solitary survey of the problems of living; to seek for new stores of wisdom and energy for meeting the manifold demands of social service; to quicken and deepen the supreme purpose of living by actually subjecting the total personality to the consciousness of contacting with divinity; to grasp for possession of new and better methods of adjusting oneself to the ever-changing situation of living existence; to effect those vital reconstructions and readjustments of one's personal attitudes which are so essential to enhanced insight into everything worth while and real; and to do all of this with an eye single to the glory of God--to breathe in sincerity your Master's favorite prayer, `Not my will, but yours, be done.'

"The worshipful practice of your Master brings that relaxation which renews the mind; that illumination which inspires the soul; that courage which enables one bravely to face one's problems; that self-understanding which obliterates debilitating fear; and that consciousness of union with divinity which equips man with the assurance that enables him to dare to be Godlike. The relaxation of worship, or spiritual communion as practiced by the Master, relieves tension, removes conflicts, and mightily augments the total resources of the personality." (*1773-4)

The secret of [Jesus'] unparalleled religious life was this 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. (*2089)

Personal, spiritual religious experience is an efficient solvent for most mortal difficulties; it is an effective sorter, evaluator, and adjuster of all human problems. Religion does not remove or destroy human troubles, but it does dissolve, absorb, illuminate, and transcend them. (*2093)

Sincere worship connotes the mobilization of all the powers of the human personality under the dominance of the evolving soul and subject to the divine directionization of the associated Thought Adjuster. (*66)

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It appears, after thoughtful contemplation of these passages that problems can be viewed altruistically as well as selfishly; they can even be viewed, on the highest level, with "an eye single to the glory of God." I submit, then, that the soul's attitude in identifying and confronting problems is pivotal to our understanding of the role of worship in their solution. If our God is occasionally too small (meaning our understanding of him, as J.B. Phillips contends), then our comprehension of the nature of our problems may be just a trifle small, also. They may merely be petty and largely fictitious grievances, hardly worthy of consideration.

Let us now turn our attention to the contribution of the Thought Adjuster in our development, specifically to the role he plays in the cultivation of the habit under discussion today. I think here we begin to find how worshipful problem solving is initiated, enhanced, and ultimately made a firm part of our being and also exactly how important it is that we assent to and cooperate in this process.

Religious experience, being essentially spiritual, can never be fully understood by the material mind; hence the function of theology, the psychology of religion. The essential doctrine of the human realization of God creates a paradox in finite comprehension. It is well-nigh impossible for human logic and finite reason to harmonize the concept of divine immanence, God within and a part of every individual, with the idea of God's transcendence, the divine domination of the universe of universes. These two essential concepts of Deity must be unified in the faith-grasp of the concept of the transcendence of a personal God and in the realization of the indwelling presence of a fragment of that God in order to justify intelligent worship and validate the hope of personality survival. (*69)

However Urantia mortals may differ in their intellectual, social, economic, and even moral opportunities and endowments, forget not that their spiritual endowment is uniform and unique. They all enjoy the same divine presence of the gift from the Father, and they are all equally privileged to seek intimate personal communion with this indwelling spirit of divine origin, while they may all equally choose to accept the uniform spiritual leading of these Mystery Monitors. (*63)

Adjusters are interested in, and concerned with, your daily doings and the manifold details of your life just to the extent that these are influential in the determination of your significant temporal choices and vital spiritual decisions and, hence, are factors in the solution of your problem of soul survival and eternal progress. (*1204)

Now, that's a problem that merits attention, but it is still, in a manner of speaking, selfish. After all, religion is not a technique for attaining a static and blissful peace of mind; it is an impulse for organizing the soul for dynamic service. We can include now a consideration of the noblest ends accomplished by true worship.

Worship is the technique of looking to the One for the inspiration of service to the many. (*1616)

The spirit of the Father speaks best to man when the human mind is in an attitude of true worship. (*1641)

By opening the human end of the channel of the God-man communication, mortals make immediately available the ever-flowing stream of divine ministry to the creatures of the worlds. (*1638)

Prayer may enrich the life, but worship illuminates destiny. (*1123)

Worship is intended to anticipate the better life ahead and then to reflect these new spiritual significances back onto the life which now is. (*1616)

It appears that worship of the Father, under the guidance of the Thought Adjuster, can enhance the altruistic urge in God-knowing mortals. As they adore the Father, they cannot fail to become impressed by the beauty and goodness of his loving nature and (as a result), as Jesus taught, become increasingly like the being who is worshiped. It follows then that the children of the Universal Father will attempt to emulate his perfection in their own sphere and serve others as generously as he bestows himself on them. (*1641) How often do we hear Jesus exhort his followers, "Be you perfect even as your Father in heaven is perfect"? (*1584)

The human Jesus saw God as being holy, just, and great, as well as being true, beautiful, and good. All these attributes of divinity he focused in his mind as the "will of the Father in heaven. His second greatest exhortation was ever to seek to do the will of the Father. (*2087)

"The will of God is the way of God," he said. "To do the will of God, therefore, is the progressive experience of becoming more and more like God. (*1431)

The demonstration that believers are moved by the supreme human desire is to be found in the lives they live.

Spiritual development depends, first, on the maintenance of a living spiritual connection with true spiritual forces and, second, on the continuous bearing of spiritual fruit. (*1095)

The proof of fraternity with the divine Adjuster consists wholly in the nature and extent of the fruits of the spirit which are yielded in the life experience of the individual believer. (*65)

The evidence of true spiritual development consists in the exhibition of a human personality motivated by love, activated by unselfish ministry, and dominated by the wholehearted worship of the perfection ideals of divinity. (*1095)

The fruits of the spirit are worthy of enumeration. They are loving service, unselfish devotion, courageous loyalty, sincere fairness, enlightened honesty, undying hope, confiding trust, merciful ministry, unfailing goodness, forgiving tolerance, and enduring peace. (*2054)

The results of so living one's life as to bear these fruits is happiness, of which the book says we humans know relatively little:

Human happiness is achieved only when the ego desire of the self and the altruistic urge of the higher self [divine spirit] are co-ordinated and reconciled by the unified will of the integrating and supervising personality. (*1134)

In this endeavor we have a magnificent partner: "God has embarked upon the eternal adventure with man. If you yield to the leadings of the spiritual forces in you and around you, you cannot fail to attain the high destiny established by a loving God as the universe goal of his ascendant creatures from the evolutionary worlds of space." (*64)

These selections from the book are powerful, they are definitive, they serve as pointers towards the truth; but until they are confirmed in and by experience, until they are lived, they cannot be truth for us. Faith must ever be active. Yet inasmuch as we have responded, if only to the extent signified by our presence here today, I hold that as an indication that we have already experienced in some small way the realities reported in the Urantia papers. The chord has been struck and it resounds with endless reverberations--we shall hear it through eternity.

Up to this point, we have contemplated worshipful problem solving in the most ideal of spiritual generalities, but I think few of us would deny that the human element has made a contribution to our spiritual welfare, that God-knowing individuals have, through their efforts, conscious or unconscious, aided in the growth of our religious habits to serve the Father and our fellows. Reflection on the human origins of our uniquely personal call to worship might well be worthwhile and worthy of sharing with others as we spend time in fellowship here this week. To stimulate your thinking, I'd like to offer some reminiscences of my own. I'm going to tell you a story; there appears to be ample precedent for storytelling.

A story

Like David Copperfield, I was born (although there I think the similarity ends. Certainly I am not going to present an endless recitation of trials and tribulations for your delight and delectation.) I spent the formative years of my life in a small midwestern town called Zion. It had been founded as a fundamentalist religious community in the very early 1900's. With their respective families, my mother's parents arrived as children, and there they grew up and married, having ten children of their own. My father's people lived in Chicago where they belonged to the Advent Christian Church (not to be confused with Seventh Day Adventists), but in the thirties my great uncle Fred introduced my grandparents and their six children to the Urantia papers; the entire family moved as one in joining the early Forum. My father and mother met in Zion when he began to teach at Elmwood School. I am given to understand that my mother was the star pupil of his first seventh and eighth grade classes, though they didn't start to date until my mother's junior year in high school and didn't marry until the September following her graduation.

When my father returned from the war, he found us already settled into a small apartment over the living quarters of my Grandma and Grandpa Edwards. My grandfather, a celebrated plasterer, had completely remodeled the large old house to accommodate us, and the address 2806 Emmaus, the block between Elisha and Enoch, was drilled into me as the place where I belonged, in case I should stray, which I must admit, I often did. Oh yes, Zion was characterized by street names from the Old Testament and the periodic arrival of a bevy of preachers and ministers who knew where they would find a welcome audience. Many of the descendants of the early settlers, my grandparents among them, had become disenchanted by the strict autocracy of the Christian Catholic Church and its leaders, who ruled like the Hebrew Judges of old. Imbued with the restless pioneer spirit and disgruntled by the slavish adherence to old rules and dogma, the Edwards were always seeking a new Moses to lead them to freedom in the promised land, though their journeys had become more figurative than literal of late.

I came to know the Kulieke residence in Chicago equally as well because never a Sunday or Wednesday dawned but that my father would announce it was Forum day, and we would trundle down the turnpike in our pick-up truck, he to continue on to Diversey with a large number of other members of the clan. Sometimes my mother would accompany him, too. Other times she would stay with me in Logan Square to socialize with my grandmother and all my cousins and occasionally an extra aunt to help referee the energetic play of the Kulieke progeny. In those days I didn't know what the Forum was; I didn't even know the meaning of the word, or of the word "sacrosanct," for that matter, but somehow I captured the spirit of the two which rapidly were associated in my mind, the those mysterious meetings my father attended obviously commanded his respect. How I loved those Sunday afternoons! When the clan returned from 533, my grandfather Kulieke would take me with him to the corner store, ostensibly on some errand for my grandmother, but really to buy me gum, which my parents forbade at home. Only the mild-mannered benevolence of my grandfather as he peered in genuine bewilderment through his thick glasses could silence the objections of my mother and father. He found it impossible to believe that gum once a week could irreparably damage my teeth. We always stayed for supper, and I remember vividly on warm June and July evenings, with the family overflowing onto the porches, that my German grandmother would carefully count the strawberries for dessert, placing one at a time in each dish so that no individual was favored over another. Mom and Pop Kulieke, as they were known to everyone, governed that household benignly with a rare and gracious blend of fair play and understanding generosity.

So it was I grew up enveloped in two enormous families who sought to worship God and carry out their responsibilities faithfully and in the manner of their own choosing. Children were cherished; even my brother Mark, though just a baby, was valued as highly as the next, I noted, despite the fact that he couldn't talk. I'm afraid I ranked him low on my list for entertainment value, however amusing it might have been to shake rattles at him from time to time. But gifts of a material kind were not plentiful. Still on Saturday mornings my father would hold me on his lap while we listened to the music of Lizst, Brahms and Debussy, Beethoven, Smetana and Tchaikovsky on old 78's (we didn't have a piano until later; then my father would play his own arrangements of favorite pieces). My week had its most pleasurable routine, for on Mondays I was privileged to hand my mother the clothespins while she hung the wash in the back yard, somewhere between the apple tree and the rhubarb, and sang to me "In the Garden," "Abide with Me" and the Indian Love Call from "Rose Marie." All this celebration of music notwithstanding, the first record set of my own was a narration of "The Story of Jesus," which I played until it was worn out. I was entranced by the sound effects of the storm as Claude Rains recounted the parable of the man who built his house on the sand, and the gentleness of Jesus' petition, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do," would move me to tears. To this day when I imagine the voice of God, it still comes to me in the rich and beautiful tones of Claude Rains.

I loved stories of all kinds and in all forms; I read voraciously even before I entered school at the age of four and a half, but I also adored the hours when my mother would read such books as Just David, about a young boy who recognized that his talent for playing the violin came from his father in heaven. Sometimes my mother would sew, and my father would read to us. Sacred to every Christmas season was Van Dyke's Story of the Other Wise Man, who found his king every day of his life by helping others. That was upstairs. Downstairs my Grandma Edwards would indulge me as often as I pleaded with accounts of the joys and rigors of her childhood on a farm. My favorite concerned the time she mistook in the distance a post painted white for her mother's apron. It was much more exciting than the Bible story about the lost sheep. I had had little experience of sheep, but I had great experience of grandmothers, who, at all costs, should never be allowed to get away. My grandfather, on the other hand, would feel it incumbent on him to make me familiar with his displeasure over the latest activities of the Church Elders. Additionally, at that time my Uncle Marvin, one of my mother's younger brothers, who still lived at home, was developing his own special cult around baseball, and he would regale me with all sorts of pungent commentaries on the American League teams. I could be forgiven, I think, for becoming just a little confused. If any one had asked me then my understanding of the devil, who, according to my grandfather was alive and all too well, I would have explained very kindly that the devil had a number of names, but for the most part, he was called the Yankees; he was evil incarnate, in nine different forms to be sure, but someday he was to be vanquished by that mighty host of the Lord God, the White Sox. Because the devil's attempts for dominance were visible on the TV screen every summer afternoon, the entire battle for man's soul was safely externalized for me, and I was never afraid. The White Sox seemed to be taking a long time about settling his doom, but, after all, if my Uncle Marvin was not discouraged, why should I be? For years, I had watched Marvin, regular as the first robin, bound out to the spring lawn, raise his arms to the sky, and declare, "This is the year the White Sox win the pennant," which was, apparently, an item of supreme value. God could not fail to respond in time, I was sure, for faith was always rewarded. Of course, I knew what was expected of me so that I could reap my reward. (Contrary to my original expectations, I learned this was not to be a pennant but admission to a place called heaven.) There was definitely a high premium placed on being good; I was to tell the truth, set the table, make my bed, and under no circumstances ever again to walk across my mother's carpet with the soles of my shoes freshly painted purple. God would be happy.

There were, inevitably, some perplexities for a young child.

My father was wont to quote Cullen Bryant, saying, "The groves were God's first temple," and take me for walks among the trees, but my grandparents were rather adamant about a church with four walls and a steeple, to be entered preferably on a Sunday morning. Nevertheless, I was given to understand that it was always proper to seek out the Almighty. In our lives, God was first, and God was last, not to mention all that came in between. God even began every day and ended every day. At 9:00 every morning and evening in Zion, the carillon from the old college building only two blocks away would sound out, and everyone and everything would stop. It was God's moment. I don't believe I comprehended the full significance, but I stopped too, because it was clearly the thing to do. My most enduring memory is of the warm, summer twilights when I would be at play with my friends. At the first sound of the chimes, I would scamper towards the house with its lights, through the trees, just pinpoints like the first stars in the violet sky, and I would know that I could enter the front door or the back door or any one of the many side doors of my home to be enfolded in loving arms. All would be safe and secure and lovely as we listened to the carillon play "Sweet Hour of Prayer."

Worship and Mysticism:
A Commentary on Urantia Book Paper 5, Section 33

by Dr. Jeffrey Wattles

Let us listen again to the Divine Counselor of Uversa, whose account of "True Worship" may be found in The Urantia Book in section 3 of Paper 5, "God's Relation to the Individual." Our commentary cannot properly be a monologue, but I have not marked, in the present text, the pauses for discussion that punctuated it. This discussion follows one on the prayer process (Paper 91 #9, p. 1002) and anticipates one on service. The commentary here is a step toward holographic study--finding the whole of the book in the part.

Worship is both simple and complex. The simplicity of worship is reflected in the fun of the word for worship among the Quicatec Indians of Mexico; it means, etymologically, "to wag one's tail before God." One great message of The Urantia Book is that WE CAN worship. We are in the Father's personality circuit. Our minds enjoy the adjutant mind-spirit of worship. We are built to worship. However complex or mysterious worship may seem when discussed, and however elusive it may be at times in our practice, we can and do worship the Universal Father. The section on True Worship articulates the concept of worship. When we read this highly articulated account, we may be led to remark, "Easier said than done." But if we keep in tune with the worship experience itself, then we may say, "Easier done than said." Let us take a moment to do just that before proceeding.

This commentary emphasizes one basic truism: worship is worship of God. In the language of contemporary phenomenology (the philosophical discipline devoted to describing experience), worship is an intentional act (where "intentional" does not denote a deliberate act of will, but an act of consciousness which is directed toward an "object" of some sort; directed beyond itself). Worship is directed to God. Worship is a relating to God. The practical import of recognizing the basic I-Thou character of worship is this: this directedness toward God keeps us from a certain kind of mysticism, and we will pay repeated attention here to the difference between worship and mysticism. (I use the term "mysticism" here in its pejorative sense, recognizing that a qualified approval of mysticism is offered in Paper 91, section 7, p. 1000f.) Hear from page 1001:

When prayer becomes overmuch aesthetic, when it consists almost exclusively in beautiful and blissful contemplation of paradisiacal divinity, it loses much of its socializing influence and tends toward mysticism and the isolation of its devotees.

Our worship may become reoriented to bliss; then we begin to aim for subjective feelings. We can become more interested in worship than in God. Spiritual bliss is a delightful wave that arises spontaneously; it is not the goal or essence or criterion of true worship, at least at this point in our universe career. Paper 27, #7 (p. 303), describes the Conductors of Worship on Paradise and offers a definition:

Worship is the conscious and joyous act of recognizing the truth and fact of the intimate and personal relationships of the Creators with their creatures. The quality of worship is determined by the depth of creature perception; and as the knowledge of the infinite character of the Gods progresses, the act of worship becomes increasingly all-encompassing until it eventually attains the glory of the highest experiential delight and the most exquisite pleasure known to created beings.

Even in this characterization, the joy of worship remains a function of the relatedness of the worshipers to God. It is not simply self-contained joy (whatever that might mean), but rejoicing in the character of the Gods. Worship, moreover, is implicitly social, implicitly group worship, whether or not the worshiper happens to be alone. One worships our Father, not just my Father. The sense of the social horizon also preserves worship from mysticism.

The contrast between worship and mysticism will become more subtle as we go on to consider the role of mindal and spiritual factors in worship. For now, the main point can be restated by drawing on p. 196: "We worship God, first, because he is, next because he is in us, and last, because we are in him." In each of these phases--even in the most interior phase of worship and in the wondrous feeling of being in God--worship is directed to God. Jesus said, "My yoke is light"; I take it that the light yoke of spiritual experience is to sustain attention on God, rather than relaxing into a self-centered space.

In Paper 143 #7, "Teachings About Prayer and Worship" we read: "Worship is effortless attention, true and ideal soul rest, a form of restful spiritual exertion." (*1616) The difference between worship and narcissism, then, is subtle but not difficult; it is a matter of attention to God. The point is not that we need anxiously to hold on to duality lest we slip into bliss. Again, simply, worship is worship of God. Worship is relational.

Worship is for its own sake; prayer embodies a self- or creature-interest element; that is the great difference between worship and prayer. There is absolutely no self-request or other element of personal interest in true worship; we simply worship God for what we comprehend him to be. Worship asks nothing and expects nothing for the worshiper. We do not worship the Father because of anything we may derive from such veneration.

So we don't enter into worship in order to go load up on a sublime good time. This point, which seems to me to be present as an advanced teaching in the traditions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, is a familiar basic teaching in much of Hinduism and Buddhism, which are often rigorously clear about keeping worship pure from creature concerns. Writing in the Hindu tradition, O.B.L. Kapoor describes bhakti (worship). He says that yoga (the path of self-mastery) and jnana (the path of philosophic insight) and karman (the path of service-action) are "useful as aids to Bhakti in as much as they are free from all desires for worldly enjoyment. But since they aim at Mukti or a certain blissful state of self, they are not whollyselfless in their approach." (The Philosophy and Religion of Sri Caitanya, p. 180)

Why are we taught that prayer is the ideal prelude to worship? The authors of the Urantia Papers validate human need and encourage the expression of appropriate human desire. The creature is encouraged to express these needs in prayer to the Creator. Indeed, we do in fact walk around most of the time with needs in our hearts, consciously or unconsciously. If we were to try to go directly into worship without prayerfully processing these burdens of the heart, we might deceive ourselves--we might become the prey of old business, the return of the repressed, intruding upon our worship.

Can the human mind-self transcend creature concerns without divine assistance? Perhaps that is our ultimate prayer: "God, help me (us) now to transcend the standpoint of request." In any case, no matter what our creature concern is, in prayer we not only present the needs of self and others that we are concerned about, but we also begin to sense the divine response to those needs. Sensing that response, we are lifted by gratitude into worship. I think that's how it goes and how it is supposed to work.

"We simply worship God for what we comprehend him to be." Again, the emphasis is on God. In phenomenological terms, worship is a "founded" act, an act that is based on another act. For example, I may value a political proposal because I believe (and here comes the founding proposition) it will solve a particular important problem. Our worship of God also, in a way, follows the human path from fact to meaning to value. We might say, "I worship God because God is so ________."

Usually we don't spell this out to ourselves, but some conception of God underlies our worship. (Recall that the Supreme represents the maximum of truth, beauty, and goodness that we can comprehend, and thus it is particularly in the realm of personality and love that we have access to a supersupreme relationship.) Our comprehension of God, if translated into words, might be put in terms of a noun, a noun phrase, an adjective, an adverb, a verb, a preposition, a dependent clause--let grammatical imagination run free--or even a complete sentence!

We "render such devotion and engage in such worship as a natural and spontaneous reaction to the recognition of the Father's matchless personality and because of his lovable nature and adorable attributes." Note that the sequence of matchless personality, lovable nature, and adorable attributes exactly follows the first three papers in Part I of the book. In other words, the more we realize of God, through our study and otherwise, the more we will comprehend God and the more likely that our worship is to be spontaneous. If worship is not spontaneous, then it is, perhaps, something we do because we feel we should, or because we are in a group where it is the expected thing, or because we know it's supposed to be a sublime thing--in other words, basically to satisfy our own sense of duty, expectation, or desire--i.e., something which has still to be transformed if it is to reach the level of true worship.

Now we are told that on the fifth mansion world, worship is becoming spontaneous (*537.5). Nevertheless we have a tremendous clue to facilitate spontaneity in worship in the line on p. 67: "Sooner or later, God is destined to be comprehended as the reality of values, the substance of meanings, and the life of truth." This idea encourages us to discern God in every realm of daily life--and the more we do so, the more we will be inspired by what we discern, inspired to spontaneous worship. Such connection between the God we worship and the reality, substance, and life of what we experience daily, helps to explain why we are often encouraged to engage in intelligent worship.

When you deal with the practical affairs of your daily life, you are in the hands of the spirit personalities having origin in the Third Source and Center; you are co-operating with the agencies of the Conjoint Actor. And so it is: You worship God; pray to, and commune with, the Son; and work out the details of your earthly sojourn in connection with the intelligences of the Infinite Spirit operating on your world and throughout your universe.

Just as the rules for prevailing petitions (p. 1002) embed teaching on prayer in a general theory of action, we must observe that this section on worship is placed in the context of an entire philosophy of living in the germ. Now we see that trinitarian remarks have practical significance for daily life.

Sincere worship connotes the mobilization of the total powers of the personality under the dominance of the evolving soul and subject to the divine directionization of the associated Thought Adjuster.

What are these powers? Recall the line from p. 1400: "Jesus possessed the ability effectively to mobilize all his powers of mind, soul, and body on the task immediately at hand." The protagonist in this poem from medieval France, "Le Jongleur de Notre Dame" is not a juggler, but the tumbler of Our Lady:

Now above the altar was carved the statue of Madame St. Mary, and this minstrel did come before this image right humble./ Sweet Lady, said he, scorn not the thing I know, for with the help of God I will essay to serve you in good faith, even as I may. I cannot read your hours nor chant your praise, but at the least I can set before you what art I have./ Then commenced this minstrel his merry play, leaping low and small, tall and high, over and under. Then he knelt upon his knees before the statue, and meekly bowed his head./ Most gracious Queen, said he, of your pity and charity scorn not this my service./ Again he leaped and played, and for holiday and festival, made the somersault of Metz. Afterwards he did the Spanish vault, springing and bounding, then the vaults they love in Brittany, and all of these feats he did as best as he was able. Then he walked on his two hands, with his feet in the air, and his head near the ground./ Thus long did this minstrel leap and play, till at last, nigh fainting with weariness, he could stand no longer on his feet, but fell to his knees./ Lady, said he, I worship you with heart, with body, feet and hands, for this I can neither add to nor take away. Now I am your minstrel./ Then he smote upon his breast, he sighed and wept, since he knew no better prayer than tears, nor no better worship than his art."

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. (*66)

What can those longings and aspirations be? Are they not requests of a higher order? First of all, a longing is not a request, and an aspiration is not a request. If longings and aspirations look forward to fulfillment, they do not express themselves in order to gain fulfillment. The purpose of soul expression is not to gain, but simply to express. Second, the longings and aspirations are unutterable. Think of some very sublime verbalized request, e.g., the close of the believer's prayer: "and make us increasingly perfect like yourself." Now surely the soul aspires to divine perfection, but the word symbols of the human intellect are mere shells; words do not manage to express the soul's longings and aspirations. You remember Lao Tzu's opening line, "The Tao that can be named is not the real Tao"? Well, the longings and aspirations that can be put into words are not the soul's longings and aspirations.

"The mortal mind consents to worship."

This means, first of all, that the mind does not conduct worship. Sometimes we try to prime the pump by praise of God. Or in group prayer, sociosuggestion may be used. We remind ourselves of who we comprehend God to be. This is sublime thinking. It is not worship; but it may stimulate that conception which will serve as the trampoline for worship, for superthinking (*1616). Reading may also be used to prime the pump. Nothing wrong with priming the pump, but the liquid concepts with which we prime are not yet the water of life.

The divine spirit, we recall, aids us in "ceasing to resist." What the mind does in worship is somewhat like ceasing to resist. The mind, then, is attentive, alert, but less active: "effortless attention" (*1616).

A metaphor from the older tradition of Roman Catholic architecture and liturgy may be helpful. In some churches in Spain one can still see the beautifully wrought ironwork gates that separated the altar where the priest performed the Mass. The people looked upon mysteries they did not understand. In worship, the indwelling spirit is like a priest operating behind the gates of consciousness. The mind is more like a sympathetic onlooker at an invisible spectacle wherein are transpiring marvelous and subtle transactions. Only occasionally does the mind stir in some recognition of meaning or value.

Why does the mind need to consent? Because worship is not just a matter of registering some insight. The mind can get the intellectual point and efficiently move on to the next concern rather than waiting for something more profound to transpire. The quick mind likes to move on to the next idea immediately after the first has registered; the immature mind neglects ripening intuition into insight. In worship, however, the entire personality is submitting to the consciousness of contact with God. Worship therefore has a different rhythm.

The point, however, is not merely to slow the mind down, but for the mind to assent to an activity which is not primarily its own. Contrast the poetic, artistic, and musical mysticism which is common today. "The characteristics of the mystical state are diffusion of consciousness with vivid islands of focal attention operating on a comparatively passive intellect." (*1099) To "consent to worship" seems comparatively passive, but the intellect is not the central receiver of the worship experience; the consenting mind is upstaged by the more engaged soul and Thought Adjuster and the personality as a whole. Nor is consciousness diffuse in worship, but as we have said, attentive, alert, "effortless attention." Nor is God perceived or imaged and therefore cannot function as a vivid island of focal attention.

Shall we risk over-teaching and foolish teaching to speak to the question which is sometimes raised: What about distracting thoughts in worship? We must step carefully in response. Our "technological" society is steeped in the quest for quick and easy maxims that the mind can easily understand and which can be easily practiced "in the comfort of your own home." Our desire to control nature, carried to extremes, has yielded a now obvious harvest of pollution. And our desire to control the spiritual life is no more beautiful. We are awash with techniques, methods, handy advice, guidelines, and suggestions.

It is all too easy to produce facile and excessively specific instructions. There are various techniques of self-reminding, such as the saying of a spiritual word; but it must be remembered that worship itself is self-forgetting. There is no infallible technique for the human mind to use which guarantees its entry into worship. To use any method of self-reminding is to return to the prayer process, a return to a mountain range, one of whose peaks is to "surrender every wish of mind and every craving of soul to the transforming embrace of divine growth." (*1002)

The openness that is called for here is comparable to that of worship. The intellect that wants to be not merely ship but captain and pilot, too, cannot pray, much less consent to worship. But there is hope. I was praying the other day and I asked God to make me increasingly perfect like himself. And the "response" formed: "I AM." (Smile.)

Let us expand the notion of technique: science (the careful determination and correlation of fact), philosophy (the pursuit of meaning until the very end), and art (the flavored expression of self and spirit) are techniques. Let us consider the coordination of psychology, philosophy, and religion, as a method for finding one's way back to worship through an environment of thoughts. Thoughts need not be regarded as distractions, as though God were somehow to be found only in a different direction from the world.

Again: "Sooner or later, God is destined to be comprehended as the reality of values, the substance of meanings, and the life of truth." One can explore the value latent in one's thought-complexand then go on to ask what (who) is the reality of this value. And thus one comes once again before the God one had begun to worship. One can explore the meanings of one's thought complex and then go on to inquire after the substance of those meanings. This path also leads to the presence of God. "Thinking surrenders to wisdom, and wisdom is lost in enlightened and reflective worship." (*1228). And such movement into and "out from" God-consciousness is the life of truth.

The opening of Psalm 92 illustrates a movement from thinking and prayer ("sublime thinking") back to worship. We hear the psalmist turning from the third person discourse of thinking about God to the second person discourse addressing God directly: "It is a good thing to give thanks to Yahweh, to sing praises to your name, O Most High." Prayer and worship have a characteristic second-person or I-Thou focus--or else a sense of the presence of God so genuine as to make anonymous thinking, as though one were alone, obsolete.

When is it worth responding by probing the thought that arises in worship for its value and meaning and truth, and when is it better to abandon the thought? I doubt it would be wise to construct a criterion. The main thing is that the mind aims to be a good mother for the soul--to cooperate with the Thought Adjuster, the father of the soul.

The soul "craves and initiates worship." The craving for worship is one of those unutterable longings we were just discussing. The soul initiates worshipin response to the values it feels. The soul feels values. The more we live from the level of soul consciousness, the more our daily life will conduce to worship. You can walk down the street, perceptually alive to the buzzing, blooming scene about you, with its bodies and boutiques. Or you can walk through the same scene attentive to the qualities of soul that are suggested in the persons and the evident culture. One of the reasons that prayer is the recommended preparation for worship is that the prayer process facilitates the revelation of values.

When we "surrender every wish of mind and every craving of soul to the transforming embrace of divine growth" (*1002), we permit new values to dawn. The rejoicing over these freshly revealed values occasions the spontaneity of the soul's initiation of worship. For someone living in continuous communion with God, the recourse to prayer would not be a necessary preliminary to worship; the supreme truth, beauty, and goodness glimpsed in so many phenomena of daily life would themselves be abundant springboards to worship. I remember Carolyn Kendall mentioning once having asked various people what inspired them most to worship. Some said being out in nature; some said this or that. She said seeing other people, being with people, especially prompts her to worship.

"The divine Adjuster presence conducts such worship in behalf of the mortal mind and the evolving immortal soul." The only point I want to make about this is that there is at this point no human conductor of worship. Human conductors of worship may prepare this phase, but when we open our most profound receptivity, when we surrender to the Adjuster guidance, when we consent to this unutterable transaction, we should not, I suggest, be filled at that time by the socio-suggestions of some preacher, organist, book, or meditation guide. Such other experiences may be beneficial; they may be worshipful, but they are not worship.

What is the difference between a worshipful experience and worship? Worship is an experience of God; an experience of every other reality can be worshipful. Gandhi was asked how long he took for his morning devotions: "Long enough to last all day." Our lives are to be "inwardly illuminated by worship and outwardly devoted toservice." (*1175) To be illuminated by worship means that the awareness/motivation/ response/joy of supreme value is never lost; at least it is in the margin of consciousness. The experiences of striving for value are upheld by the more basic experience of celebrating value.

How can we distinguish mysticism from this phase of worship in which, once initiated by the soul, there is a shift into overdrive, into the duration conducted by the Thought Adjuster? The mind is oriented to God, but not as an island of focal attention operating on the sensory or quasi-sensory level of mind. If the mind gets engaged in trying to detect the faint stirrings of the superconscious, then it is possible to get lost in faint stirrings and to lose the fundamental intention of worship--the act of the entire personality, to which we now turn.

The final level in our exposition is the level of personality. We read, "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."

The body is not included in this enumeration of the levels of the realization of worship mentioned at the close of our section on True Worship. This means not that the body must be still or gesturally neutral in worship, but merely that the body itself is not a level on which worship is realized. The import of the author's omission of the body here, I propose, is that movement and rest, gesture and posture, our kinesthetic and perceptual sensations--these are dimensions of experience that register in the mind; and it is as part of the mind's experience that they belong to worship. The center of gravity of the worship experience, however, is not in bodily perceptions or movement.

The mention of personality is important because, as each of us can say, I am not just a loose association of mind plus soul plus Thought Adjuster. Even the values of supremacy felt by the soul are not identical with the personality of God intended in worship. I am more than even my soul. I am me, I am a person. On page 67 we read:

The Greek religion had a watchword "Know yourself"; the Hebrews centered their teaching on "Know your God"; the Christians preach a gospel aimed at a "knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ"; Jesus proclaimed the good news of "knowing God, and yourself as a son of God." These differing concepts of the purpose of religion determine the individual's attitude in various life situations and foreshadow the depth of worship.

In other words, I am part of this worship circuit. I am not just an empty openness toward God. Nor in action am I a mere channel. Indeed, one of the essentials of the family of God is to have "faith in the supreme human desire to do the will of God--to be like God." (*1586)

I have two footnotes in closing. One of the "presuppositions"--I cannot find the right concept--of sincere worship is that we are partly saying, as it were, to God: "I want to become more like you." If this is sincere, we cannot hold any ambition higher. A couple of quotes will amplify this theme. "Proper conduct is essential to progress by way of knowledge, through philosophy, to the spiritual heights of spontaneous worship." (*301) It is the divine mercy that we are accepted into the kingdom simply as children of faith. Nonetheless we are called to perfection.

The meaning of that invitation is the long universe ascent (*22). But there is one value of perfection that can be realized in a preliminary way (*290) right now. When, after the Ordination Sermon, Jesus emphasized, "Be you perfect," he insisted that being righteous, by faith, must precede doing righteousness in daily life. (*1584) I take it that being righteous by faith is the way in which we can, in this life, satisfy the Master's call to be perfect.

Being righteous by faith does not guarantee that any given decision will be right, but it does guarantee that we will be teachable. And being righteous is God's gift, not a self-conscious attitude of religio-moral superiority. The Adjuster has been referred to as "the betrothed Adjuster" (*66); this might suggest that the account of worship given here is more meaningful for one who has made the supreme decision for the will of God.

And, finally, a look ahead. "Worship is intended to anticipate the better life ahead and then to reflect these new spiritual significances back onto the life which now is." (*1616) Worship is a foretaste of eternity, in which we as a perfected brotherhood will voyage in the never-ending discovery of the infinity of the Universal Father. (*1174)

Personality and Will:
Increasing Personal Mastery of the Inner and Outer Worlds

by David N. Elders

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At some unimaginable level of reality, God is alone in the universe. There is none other beside him. But inherent IN God is the potential for the manifestation of differential forms of his existence. By the simple choosing of his unfettered and absolutely free will, God gives life to an infinity of unified, yet diverse, expressions of his being: potential and actual, personal and nonpersonal, finite and infinite, material, mindal, and spiritual. This is not a linear occurrence. This process is an inherent part of God and simply is always.

One consequence of this eternal process of God's self-existence is the qualification of a segment of God's infinity into an expression bounded by time and space, limited to the experience of his material, mindal, and spiritual realities, and unified by personalitya four-dimensional expression of God in the finite, that is, "in finity." Called by some, "Supreme," it all takes place in a space called the Grand Universe.

What is this place called the Grand Universe? What is its purpose? Who knows that they live here? In whom does its value reside? Which thoughts are thought here? What matters here? These are some of the questions of the four dimensions.

God looks from an infinite distance into a Grand Universe mirror which is framed by time and space. In it he sees a reflection of himself, a reflection though not infinite and absolute, yet still reflective of the essence of his existence. As he moves closer to the mirror, he knows in it the fullness of those aspects of his being which can be expressed in such a mirror. Closer yet, he chooses to experience those aspects of his being which have been selected to interact for a time in such a space. Closer still to the mirror God sees himself as many sons, per-sonsa reflection of himself through each of whom he is expressed uniquely and from each of whose unique perspective he is known as God. At the end of time and throughout this space, each son recognizes his Father and once again, as always, God is aloneand yet accompanied by an infinite number of sons who are a part of his personal presence and who share his will, the very same will which gives these sons their lives.

* * *

"God is personality." (*28) "Personality is the exclusive gift of [NOT FROM] the Universal Father." (*77) Could it be that even though each one of us is not God, that God is--LITERALLY--each one of us? I AM Dave; I AM Steve; I AM Berkeley; I AM Melissa; I AM Marta.

"Mortal man is more than figuratively made in the image of God. From a physical standpoint this statement is hardly true, but with reference to certain universe potentialities it is an actual fact. In the human race, something of the same drama of evolutionary attainment is being unfolded as takes place, on a vastly larger scale, in the universe of universes. Man, a volitional personality, becomes creative in liaison with an Adjuster, an impersonal entity, in the presence of the finite potentialities of the Supreme, and the result is the flowering of an immortal soul. In the universes the Creator personalities of time and space function in liaison with the impersonal spirit of the Paradise Trinity and become thereby creative of a new power potential of Deity reality." (*1281) Is the willful choice we make to do God's will a literal part of that same will which separated the evolutionary finite from God's infinity and will cause the final actualization of its potentials?

"Man attains divine union by progressive reciprocal spiritual communion, by personality intercourse with the personal God, by increasingly attaining the divine nature through wholehearted and intelligent conformity to the divine will. Such a sublime relationship can only exist between personalities." (*31) Does not divine union with God imply the final mastery of those aspects of the divine nature which we experience in time and space?

"The progressing personality leaves a trail of actualized reality as it passes through the ascending levels of the universes. Be they mind, spirit, or energy, the growing creations of time and space are modified by the progression of personality through their domains. When man acts, the Supreme reacts, and this transaction constitutes the fact of progression." (*1286) Does not true mastery of the inner and outer worlds take place as each per-son-ality allows the gifts of God to be realized in self-consciousness, that is, as the growth of the soul?

"The Supreme is God-in-time; his is the secret of creature growth in time; his also is the conquest of the incomplete present and the consummation of the perfecting future. And the final fruits of all finite growth are: power controlled through mind by spirit by virtue of the unifying and creative presence of personality. The culminating consequence of all this growth is the Supreme Being." (*1280) When God looks in his mirror, does he actually see evolution in time, or is the self he sees reflected in the already-complete Supreme?

"Man, the civilized, will someday achieve the relative mastery of the physical forces of his planet; the love of God in his heart will be effectively outpoured as love for his fellow men, while the values of human existence will be nearing the limits of mortal capacity." (*1306) Is it not through the choosing of a relatively free-will personality that this mastery takes place and the true potentials gifted by the Father have therefore and thereby been fully actualized in human experience?

* * *

One day in time a birth takes place. A new child is born to finite, material parents. Soon the child, vaguely aware that she's not the creatures around her, sees her reflection in a mirror. Her immature vision stops at the mirror's edge and she sees her body and believes that's who she is. As she grows tall and strong, she moves closer to the mirror to see herself more deeply. Though her eyes see the image reflected, her thoughts and feelings tell her more about her self, and she comes to believe that what she thinks and feels is who she is. But a quiet voice within her adjusts her vision so that she can look deeper still into the mirror of her mind. She doesn't know it yet, but she seeks the Father in whose image she is made. She seeks the existence of her source and the source of her existence. She seeks God. And as her knowing sharpens and her inward sight focuses, she moves closer still to the mirror and in finality finds God's face looking at her and she recognizes it as her own. She is one of the sons God sees reflected in his Grand Universe mirror in finity.

Even now, as always, in response to existential choice the vaults of God's reality, though not asleep, awaken to mirror God's reflection. The Supreme, the living mirror which reflects the selves of God in finity, the universal grand in which is shown the strains of conscious self and sonship, begins its soul-filled symphony of light. Toward God, Supremacy reflects the finished fusion of a multiplicity of sons. Toward sons, Supremacy reflects a single face, the personality of God. Each son can see this fact of God as a reflection of her own; and God can see each face he sees as a reflection of his own. Supremacy is the looking glass in which potential actuals are fused into an infinite visage by the unity of will--the will of God above and the wills of God below.

And the existential unified diversity of God's eternal self-existence is, as always, one.

Spiritual Perspectives in the Workplace

By James Moravec

Introduction

One of the most important aspects of life is our vocation, the activity in which we spend the major portion of our time. Let us suppose that you put in a 40-hour work week. Add to that 40 hours the time spent preparing for work, getting to and from work, and any extra meetings and conferences. In a typical week you have spent at least 45% of your waking hours in work-related matters. If you are self-employed, work overtime, or bring your work home, it is easy to approach 60% or more of your time engaged in work activities. The workplace occupies such a significant portion of our lives that we should seriously consider its place in our spiritual destiny.

Rodan of Alexandria observed, "The two major problems of life are: making a temporal living and the achievement of eternal survival. And even the problem of making a living requires religion for its ideal solution." (U. B. p. 1778:4) The daily problems we encounter in the workplace will be most easily solved if we can maintain a spiritual perspective or, as Webster defines perspective, "a view of things in their true relationship or relative importance."

We all have put a great deal of thought and effort into career planning but we read on page 435 of The Urantia Book that "It is not so much what you learn in this first life; it is the experience of living this life that is important. Even the work of this world, paramount though it is, is not nearly so important as the way in which you do this work." How is it then, that we maintain our spiritual perspective while dealing with the daily challenges at work?

Creativity Linked to Values

In order to put first things first in our lives, we must focus on values. No matter what vocation or work we are engaged in, the way in which we do this work is determined more by our dominant values than any other factor. Jesus taught his followers that the will of God can be done in any earthly occupation. All things are sacred in the lives of those who are spirit led, that is, subordinated to truth, ennobled by love, dominated by mercy, and restrained by fairness-justice. If we know and love God, our real business on earth is so to live as to permit the Father to reveal himself in our lives. In this way, God-seeking persons will be attracted to these higher ways of living and may even ask for our help in finding out more about the God who inspires such expression in our lives. Think of the many people you encounter in the workplace, all potential spiritual brothers and sisters in the kingdom. Are truth-seekers drawn to you by the way you conduct yourself in the workplace, or do you easily lose sight of the spiritual perspective when bogged down by deadlines, quotas, under-staffed departments, and the multitude of daily problems?

That which the enlightened and reflective human imagination of spiritual teaching and leading wholeheartedly and unselfishly wants to do and be, becomes measurably creative in accordance with the degree of mortal dedication to the divine doing of the Fathers will. When man goes in partnership with God, great things may, and do, happen. (U.B. p. 1467:6)

One aspect of the workplace that makes it difficult to maintain our focus on the spiritual is the mood that is created today by the dominance of the profit motive. Many of us find our work environment adversely affected by others who are driven to attain increasing amounts of material possessions while they give little attention to spiritual values.

Present-day profit-motivated economics is doomed unless profit motives can be augmented by service motives. Ruthless competition based on narrow-minded self-interest is ultimately destructive of even those things which it seeks to maintain. Exclusive and self-serving profit motivation is incompatible with...the teachings of Jesus. (U. B. p. 805:6)

How well celestial personalities know us, for they go on to say, "But the profit motive must not be suddenly destroyed or removed; it keeps many otherwise slothful mortals hard at work." (U.B. p. 805:7) So, if we are sincerely dedicated to doing the Fathers will--if we whole-heartedly apply ourselves to trying to maintain our focus on spiritual perspectives--we will become increasingly more creative in finding solutions to our work-related problems. This is definitely a challenge, one that requires great effort if we are to accept it and progress.

Several people in The Urantia Book story discuss work-related problems with Jesus. His replies are just as relevant today as they were two thousand years ago. For those of us who find ourselves in vocations that involve providing a service to individuals whose behavior is far from spiritual, we can find inspiring words in Jesus discussion with the mistress of a Greek inn in which he said, "Minister your hospitality as one who entertains the children of the Most High. Elevate the drudgery of your daily toil to the high levels of a fine art through the increasing realization that you minister to God in the persons whom he indwells...." (U.B. p. 1475) Even the smallest task performed when thought of as a service to God will be performed in the best possible way, with the greatest care and attention. Looked at from the spiritual perspective, every action becomes, potentially, an act of love--a work of art.

A young Greek in the shipyards asked this question of Jesus: "If the Gods are interested in me, then why do they not remove the cruel and unjust foreman of this workshop?" Jesus replied with these words:

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 men; that is, if you have not lost your savor. As it is, this man is your master in that his evil ways unfavorably influence you. 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. There is no adventure in the course of mortal existence more enthralling than to enjoy the exhilaration of becoming the material life partner with spiritual energy and divine truth in one of their triumphant struggles with error and evil. It is a marvelous and transforming experience to become the living channel of spiritual light to the mortal who sits in spiritual darkness. If you are more blessed with truth than is this man, his need should challenge you. Surely you are not the coward who could stand by on the seashore and watch a fellow man who could not swim perish! How much more of value is this mans soul floundering in darkness compared to his body drowning in water! (U. B. p. 1430:3)

Im sure this discussion with Jesus helped this young Greek view his problem from a more spiritual perspective. And as we use this spiritual frame of reference in viewing our contemporary problems, we will arrive at more creative and effective solutions.

Guidelines for Action

The authors of The Urantia Book point out that Jesus was constantly doing good things for people "as he passed by." A study of the ways in which Jesus related to people indicates that he had a high degree of personal preparedness in his personal encounters. A list of some of the skills or techniques that Jesus possessed, which enabled him to minister to his fellow mortals so effectively, can serve as an excellent guideline in our efforts to maintain our spiritual perspective. When relating with people, Jesus was:

• Very perceptive, sensitive to the persons inner thoughts and feelings. (We can show increased sensitivity and perceptivity by developing good listening skills, taking the time to be aware of body language).
• Conscious of the individuals level of spiritual and intellectual development, always making sure to address them at the appropriate level.
• Always interested in what they were doing while he seldom offered them advice unless they asked for it.
• Cautious in not directly pointing out anothers flaws but would rather, through a series of questions, lead them to recognize those flaws themselves.
• Never drawn into conflicts that could not be adequately dealt with when directed to the appropriate channel. (As we are not personally able to deal with every problem that arises, we should make an effort to become knowledgeable in the services that are available for dealing with conflicts).
• Always able to provide words of comfort. He looked for the good and praised it. He left his fellows with some suggestion that was practical and immediately helpful. And he would always include in his discussion some message of the love of God and the truth that they were loved children of the Most High.

Opportunities for Service

To Ganid, the young man from India, who Jesus served as a tutor, he said, "To become acquainted with ones brothers and sisters, to know their problems and to learn to love them, is the supreme experience of living." (U. B. p. 1431:1) Later he also taught Ganid that he should, "Become interested in your fellows; learn how to love them and watch for the opportunity to do something for them which you are sure they want done." (U. B. p. 1439:1)

Although some of us may be employed in high tech professions where opportunities for intimate encounters and personal service to ones fellows are limited, we are currently undergoing a shift in the American job scene. The following is a quote from Jobs of the Future by Marvin Cetron. "Service occupations steadily have grown to become the economic roots of the U. S. work force. According to the U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, more than two-thirds of the nations employment growth during the past twenty years has come in the service sector. By 2000, its predicted that as much as 90% of the U. S. labor force will work in service occupations."

Jesus gave the following message to the apostles in his farewell discourse.

"You have not merely chosen me, but I have also chosen you, and I have ordained you to go forth into the world to yield the fruit of loving service to your fellows even as I have lived among you and revealed the Father to you. The Father and I will both work with you, and you shall experience the divine fullness of joy if you will only obey my command to love one another, even as I have loved you." (U. B. p. 1945:2)

The authors of the Jesus papers comment on Jesus farewell discourse with these words.

"If you would share the Masters joy, you must share his love. And to share his love means that you have shared his service. Such an experience of love does not deliver you from the difficulties of this world; it does not create a new world, but it most certainly does make the old world new."

"Keep in mind: It is loyalty, not sacrifice, that Jesus demands. The consciousness of sacrifice implies the absence of that wholehearted affection which would have made such a loving service a supreme joy. The idea of duty signifies that you are servant-minded and hence are missing the mighty thrill of doing your service as a friend and for a friend. The impulse of friendship transcends all convictions of duty, and the service of a friend for a friend can never be called a sacrifice. The Master has taught the apostles that they are the sons of God. He has called them brethren, and now...he calls them his friends." ( U. B. p. 1945: 3,4)

"The old religion taught self-sacrifice; the new religion teaches only self-forgetfulness; enhanced self-realization in conjoined social service and universe comprehension. The old religion was motivated by fear-consciousness; the new gospel of the kingdom is dominated by truth-conviction, the spirit of eternal and universal truth. And no amount of piety or creedal loyalty can compensate for the absence in the life experience of kingdom believers of that spontaneous, generous, and sincere friendliness which characterizes the spirit-born sons of the living God. Neither tradition nor a ceremonial system of formal worship can atone for the lack of genuine compassion for ones fellows." (U. B. p. 1951:2)

It is obvious that both through the example and teachings of Jesus and the contemporary condition of our society, we have a tremendous task before us. To shift our attention from the material to the spiritual in order to better deal with the daily struggle of the workplace will take a very conscious effort. We can make a beginning at internalizing this spiritual perspective in our lives in the here and now, but we are told this process will continue in the next phase of our eternal career:

"...you will learn to let pressure develop stability and certainty; to be faithful and earnest and, withal, cheerful; to accept challenges without complaint and to face difficulties and uncertainties without fear.... If you fail, will you rise indomitably to try anew? If you succeed, will you maintain a well-balanced poise--a stabilized and spiritualized attitude--throughout every effort in the long struggle to break the fetters of material inertia, to attain the freedom of spirit existence?"

"...you will learn to suffer less through sorrow and disappointment, first, by making fewer personal plans concerning other personalities, and then, by accepting your lot when you have faithfully performed your duty."

"You will learn that you increase your burdens and decrease the likelihood of success by taking yourself too seriously...nothing equals the importance of the work of the world in which you are actually living. But though the work is important, the self is not. When you feel important, you lose energy to the wear and tear of ego dignity so that there is little energy left to do the work. Self-importance, not work-importance, exhausts immature creatures; it is the self element that exhausts, not the effort to achieve. You can do important work if you do not become self-important; you can do several things as easily as one if you leave yourself out." (U. B. p. 555: 4-6)

Dealing with Problems

Some time ago, I attended a weekend retreat entitled "Pathway to Wholeness--Understanding Stress and Our Crazy Extremes." The seminar was very insightful and I came home with many practical guidelines for dealing with daily problems. I learned that stress is the response to finding ourselves in a situation in which we have not developed adequate coping resources. We are all aware that two different individuals put in the same predicament will probably respond differently. While one may become anxious and begin to show the classic symptoms of stress, the other may efficiently deal with the situation without any difficulty at all. The difference is the result of one having had adequate resources to cope with the problem. They may have been through a similar situation in the past, and had some experience in dealing with the problem. Perhaps this person may have slept better the night before, or may have been in better health. Whatever the reason, they felt adequate and knew they could handle things.

Throughout the weekend we continued to talk about ways to improve our coping resources in order to avoid stress. There are seven aspects of our lives which need to be fostered in order that we grow into well-balanced, adequate individuals. We should strive to develop:

• Otimal physical health
• Rewarding family life and relations with primary others
• Opportunities for mental stimulation and growth
• The ability to express ones emotional experiences
• Job satisfaction
• The ability and the time to have fun
• An ever deepening and enriching relationship with our Creator

We should be striving to develop adequate coping resources in order to better deal with the problems we are faced with on a daily basis. We need to progress to the level on which we can maintain our focus on the spiritual perspective and avoid conflict and stress by wholeheartedly believing in the power of Gods goodness and its eventual triumph over evil.

The effort to maintain a balance in the use of our time and energies will continue throughout our long sojourn toward Paradise. Ever and anon we will be engaged in work, progress, and play activities; or stated otherwise, in service, study, and relaxation activities. Jesus set the perfect example. He knew the importance of regular quiet time for prayer and worship, a time to revitalize oneself, to direct our focus to the spiritual perspectives in order that we might return from our meditations with a stronger dedication to doing the Fathers will.

The authors of The Urantia Book repeatedly remind us that ones vocation can be utilized as an effective "reflector" for the dissemination of the light of life. We are admonished to let our light so shine that our fellows will be guided into new and godly paths of enhanced living. To help us maintain our focus on the spiritual perspective let us remember Jesus words to the Alpheus twins in one of his resurrection appearances.

Never forget that, when you are a faith son of God, all upright work of the realm is sacred. Nothing which a son of God does can be common. Do your work, therefore, from this time on, as for God. And when you are through on this world, I have other and better worlds where you shall likewise work for me. And in all of this work, on this world and on other worlds, I will work with you, and my spirit shall dwell within you. (U. B. p. 2049:4)

Salvation, Healing and Spiritual Wholeness

By Francyl Streano Gawryn
1990 General Conference, Snowmass, Colorado

Let me begin with this reading from "Mary Magdalen":

It was in the month of June when I saw Him for the first time. He was walking in the wheatfield when I passed by with my handmaidens, and He was alone.

The rhythm of His step was different from other men's, and the movement of His body was like naught I had seen before.

Men do not pace the earth in that manner. And even now I do not know whether He walked fast or slow.

My handmaidens pointed their fingers at Him and spoke in shy whispers to one another. And I stayed my steps for a moment, and raised my hand to hail Him. But He did not turn His face, and He did not look at me. And I hated Him. I was swept back into myself, and I was as cold as if I had been in a snow-drift. And I shivered.

That night I beheld Him in my dreaming; and they told me afterward that I screamed in my sleep and was restless upon my bed.

It was in the month of August that I saw Him again, through my window. He was sitting in the shadow of the cypress tree across my garden, and He was as still as if He had been carved out of stone, like the statues in Antioch and other cities of the North Country.

And my slave, the Egyptian, came to me and said, "That man is here again. He is sitting there across your garden."

And I gazed at Him, and my soul quivered within me, for He was beautiful.

His body was single and each part seemed to love every other part.

Then I clothed myself with raiment of Damascus, and I left my house and walked towards Him.

Was it my aloneness, or was it His fragrance, that drew me to Him? Was it a hunger in my eyes that desired comeliness, or was it His beauty that sought the light of my eyes?

Even now I do not know.

I walked to him with my scented garments and my golden sandals, the sandals the Roman captain had given me, even these sandals. And when I reached Him, I said, "Good-morrow to you."

And He said, "Good-morrow to you, Miriam."

And He looked at me, and His night-eyes saw me as no man had seen me. And suddenly I was as if naked, and I was shy.

Yet He had only said, "Good-morrow to you."

And then I said to Him, "Will you not come to my house?"

I did not know what He meant then, but I know now.

And I said, "Will you not have wine and bread with me?"

And He said, "Yes, Miriam, but not now."

Not now, not now, He said. And the voice of the sea was in those two words, and the voice of the wind and the trees. And when He said them unto me, life spoke to death.

For mind you, my friend, I was dead. I was a woman who had divorced her soul. I was living apart from this self which you now see. I belonged to all men, and to none. They called me harlot, and a woman possessed of seven devils. I was cursed, and I was envied.

But when His dawn-eyes looked into my eyes all the stars of my night faded away, and I became Miriam, only Miriam, a woman lost to the earth she had known, and finding herself in new places.

And now again I said to Him, "Come into my house and share bread and wine with me."

And He said, "Why do you bid me to be your guest?"

And I said, "I beg you to come into my house." And it was all that was sod in me, and all that was sky in me calling unto Him.

Then He looked at me, and the noontide of His eyes was upon me, and He said, "You have many lovers, and yet I alone love you. Other men love themselves in your nearness. I love you in your self. Other men see a beauty in you that shall fade away sooner than their own years. But I see in you a beauty that shall not fade away, and in the autumn of your days that beauty shall not be afraid to gaze at itself in the mirror, and it shall not be offended.

"I alone love the unseen in you."

Then He said in a low voice, "Go away now. If this cypress tree is yours and you would not have me sit in its shadow, I will walk my way."

And I cried to Him and I said, "Master, come to my house. I have incense to burn for you, and a silver basin for your feet. You are a stranger and yet not a stranger. I entreat you, come to my house."

Then He stood up and looked at me even as the seasons might look down upon the field, and He smiled. And He said again: "All men love you for themselves. I love you for yourself."

And then He walked away.

But no other man ever walked the way He walked. Was it a breath born in my garden that moved to the east? Or was it a storm that would shake all things to their foundations?

I knew not, but on that day the sunset of His eyes slew the dragon in me, and I became a woman, I became Miriam, Miriam of Mijdel.

--Kahlil Gibran, The Son of Man

* * *

Salvation and Healing

Salvation is spoken of in many, many terms and from many contexts. John Sanford, in his book, Healing and Wholeness, speaks of spiritual growth and its goal in terms of wholeness. He says, "It is impossible to summarize the way a person becomes whole. It is an individual matter, differing with each person. But it can be said that to become whole we must be involved with life. This earthly existence appears to be a crucible in which the forging of the whole person is to take place. Our life must have a story to it if we are to become whole, and this means we must come up against something; otherwise a story can't take place. Some people seem destined to become whole by combating outer life circumstances, some through encountering the inner forces of the unconscious, some through involvement with both. But if we stand on the sidelines of life, wholeness cannot emerge. If we are to become whole, we will have led a life in which darkness has been faced, and an encounter with evil has been risked."

On page 1662-3 of The Urantia Book, Jesus, in talking with John, makes reference to the story of Job, who, having been blessed with money, a beautiful home, lovely family, good health, etc., suddenly finds himself stricken, his family dead, his lands and home ruined. Said Jesus, "While Job did not, through suffering, find the resolution of his intellectual troubles or the solution of his philosophical difficulties, he did achieve great victories; even in the very face of the breakdown of his theological defenses he ascended to those spiritual heights where he could sincerely say, `I abhor myself'; then was there granted him the salvation of a vision of God. So even through misunderstood suffering, Job ascended to the superhuman plane of moral understanding and spiritual insight. When the suffering servant obtains a vision of God, there follows a soul peace which passes all human understanding."

On page 1651, Jesus, in the company of Simon the Pharisee and others, is reclining to eat when a well-known woman of "unsavory reputation" who had recently become a believer in Jesus' gospel and changed her mode of living came in from the street.

This unnamed woman had brought with her a large flask of perfumed anointing lotion and, standing behind Jesus as he reclined at meat, began to anoint his feet while she also wet his feet with her tears of gratitude, wiping them with the hair of her head. And when she had finished this anointing, she continued weeping and kissing his feet.

When Simon saw all this, he said to himself: "This man, if he were a prophet, would have perceived who and what manner of woman this is who thus touches him; that she is a notorious sinner." And Jesus, knowing what was going on in Simon's mind, spoke up, saying: "Simon, I have something which I would like to say to you." Simon answered, "Teacher, say on." Then said Jesus: "A certain wealthy moneylender had two debtors. The one owed him five hundred denarii and the other fifty. Now, when neither of them had wherewith to pay, he forgave them both. Which of them do you think, Simon, would love him most?" Simon answered, "He, I suppose, whom he forgave the most." And Jesus said, "You have rightly judged," and pointing to the woman, he continued: "Simon, take a good look at this woman. I entered your house as an invited guest, yet you gave me no water for my feet. This grateful woman has washed my feet with tears and wiped them with the hair of her head. You gave me no kiss of friendly greeting, but this woman, ever since she came in, has not ceased to kiss my feet. My head with oil you neglected to anoint, but she has anointed my feet with precious lotions. And what is the meaning of all this? Simply that her many sins have been forgiven, and this has led her to love much. But those who have received but little forgiveness sometimes love but little."

The Parable of the Pharisee and the Publican

And on page 1838 Jesus tells the parable of the Pharisee and the Publican

Said Jesus: "You see, then, that the Father gives salvation to the children of men, and this salvation is a free gift to all who have the faith to receive sonship in the divine family. There is nothing man can do to earn this salvation. Works of self-righteousness cannot buy the favor of God, and much praying in public will not atone for lack of living faith in the heart. Men you may deceive by your outward service, but God looks into your souls. What I am telling you is well illustrated by two men who went into the temple to pray, the one a Pharisee and the other a publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed to himself: `O God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of men, extortioners, unlearned, unjust, adulterers, or even like this publican. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.' But the publican, standing afar off, would not so much as lift his eyes to heaven but smote his breast, saying, `God be merciful to me a sinner.' I tell you that the publican went home with God's approval rather than the Pharisee, for every one who exalts himself shall be humbled, but he who humbles himself shall be exalted."

The common bond here is the recognition of one's own personal limitations, one's own capacity for evil, one's own fragile and vulnerable state of being, and what the spiritual repercussions are consequent upon the recognition and acknowledgement of those limitations, capacity for evil and fragile and vulnerable state of being. In these stories, the darkness has been faced, the evil has been encountered.

From the section, "Trips about Rome," we read on page 1466 of The Urantia Book that Jesus has just passed by a person and has not engaged that man in a conversation which would naturally lead to questions regarding spirituality. In part, Jesus explains to Ganid, "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 he become so attracted by our lives as sons of God that he would be constrained to inquire about your Father."

John Bradshaw uses a term which I personally like--that of healthy shame. Healthy shame brings us to a correct recognition of our human limitations. It gives us the permission to be human. It gives us permission to act and to make mistakes when we act. Reading again from John Sanford's Healing and Wholeness: "This means, of course, that life must be lived with riskThe safe life is not the whole life, and the whole life will have its share of mistakes. Not only will we learn through these mistakes and errors, but they themselves become a part of our mysterious totality. We are our mistakes, as well as our successes. A life without mistakes is impoverished, although, of course, our mistakes and errors must be redeemed by our becoming conscious through them."

I believe that if we do not, on a continual basis, reconsider and accept the fact of our own limitations, reckon with our own healthy shame, the reality of our own capacity for evil, our own smallness, then we cannot accept ourselves for who we really are, and we divorce ourselves from ourselves. We then fail not only to accept our own humanity, but we also fail to accept the humanity of those around us.

The second solution which Jesus offers for spiritual blindness is relatedness--our relationships to those around us whom we love and who love us. It is in relationship that we find another path to spiritual growth. It is in the embrace of real relationship that we allow ourselves to be vulnerable to others and valuable to others. It is in growing relationships that we discover that we are lovable and that we have the capacity to love, and it is through relationships, the successes and the failures, that we perfect our ability to love. Again, reading from John Sanford:

The development of consciousness is not possible without emotion, and emotion comes to us through the significant relationships in our lives. If we have not loved and hated, been enriched and injured by others, life has not been lived. For this reason, relationships are crucial to our psychological development.

At the conclusion of Sanford's book, he suggests six techniques whereby we may seek to enhance our own personal process of self-healing, our own process of becoming whole. I would add, our own process toward a deeper and more rich understanding of our own story, our own movement toward spiritual completeness. They are:

1. Our relationships.

2. Journal writing. Keeping a journal is not the same as keeping a diary. In a diary, one writes about what one did during the day, outward actions, people seen, etc. In a journal one writes about one's inner life. A journal is a personal account of one's own inner journey toward wholeness.

3. Body work of some sort. Be it yoga, jogging, tennis, swimming, racquet ball, golf, you name it. Try at least three times per week to do some regular activity which honors and exercises the wonderful companion your body is for you.

4. Meditation. Again, pick your own style, but spend some regular time every day if possible in this quieting activity.

5. Active imagination. This will take some explaining if you are not familiar with it. For a more detailed explanation, please do refer to John Sanford's Healing and Wholeness. This is a process of actively engaging in dialogue with some image or feeling which holds special meaning for you, and writing down the dialogue. Use your journal. Writing it down is very important. Take for example a dream you have recently had, or an image from a piece of poetry or art. Ask the image what import it holds for you. The fact that it is an image which you remember with some emotional content guarantees that it holds import for you. Write down your questions and the answers you receive.

6. Dreamwork. Try to put some thought each morning before arising to remember your dreams. Use your journal to record your dreams and your reactions to them. Use active imagination with those images which are intriguing or hold emotional content for you.

• style="list-style: none">For more information on this topic, please refer to the following books:
• 1. Prayer, Stress, and Our Inner Wounds, by Flora Wuellner, published by The Upper Room
• 2. Prayer and Our Bodies, by Flora Wuellner, The Upper Room
• 3. Healing and Wholeness, by John Sanford, Paulist Press
• 4. Necessary Losses, by Judith Viorst, Ballantine
• 5. The Uses of Enchantment, by Bruno Bettelheim, Vintage Press
• 6. Dreamwork, by Jeremy Taylor

An Eye to the Keyhole of Eternity

By Fr. Robert J. Schuer
General Conference 1990 ;;Snowmass, Colorado

It is with great pleasure that I stand here on Urantia and speak to a special group of Andon and Fonta's descendants. Your "Walk with God" has brought you here from many states and even distant countries. You are interested in ways in which spiritual life is promoted and in particular the habits which cause your spiritual life to progress. The habit of meditating on cosmic meanings is the one with which we are concerned right now.

To meditate means to perceive truth and how you fit into it--how your being, your person, your spirit, your life, your family, your country, your world fit into it. Meanings have to do with the identification which you make with true values and purposes so that they become a structure and guide for your life now and for eternity. We all seek to find "meaning" for life and existence. Those who have found no "meaning" for their lives are in danger of wasting them.

When the word "cosmic" is applied to meanings it is to denote that they are far reaching and include the whole cosmos. This has to be because all truth is one and is centered in the one true God. Since you are interested in God, you find that you are interested in the entire cosmos, your place in it, and your function in it.

As I stand here on Urantia I see a great light. It is shining from each one of you. Its source is the Spirit of God within you--the Spirit of God the Father within you, the Thought Adjuster. He came when you made your first moral decision and began your life as a child of God being reborn in the Spirit. He teamed up with your mind to develop your soul by making more good decisions, gaining high values and true ideals.

The light that I now see coming from you indicates to me the presence of the real you--your spirit--with whom you are learning to identify. It is distinct from your body and especially from your ego. It gives you identity as a Child of God and you give it your personality. So it is the real you which has come from God and will be returning to God. Whether your personality will be present or not on this return to God is entirely up to you. If you continue to acknowledge your true relationship with the Father and with all of his other children your safe return is practically assured. Your relationship with the Father and with all of his children is one of love: your desire and decision to do good for him and for all of them.

As you identify with your Spirit you begin to realize that your main purpose in this life is healing. As you refuse to identify with your ego or with your body you accept healing for yourself. As you see and acknowledge the Spirit of God within other people you bring healing to them. As you give them acceptance, respect and help--because of the Spirit of God within them--they learn to accept themselves as children of God because of this same Spirit. They learn to identify with their Spirit rather than with their bodies or with their egos. They learn to get rid of their false illusions caused by their egos. They learn to perceive truth as through God's eyes.

As you know, everyone's life is pretty well governed by the way in which they perceive reality. If your perceptions are false, then you are living life under an illusion. One of the reasons why God has given us the Fifth Epochal Revelation is that it is time for us to see truth through his eyes. If we were not ready for it, he would not have given it.

Let's take a look now and see what we can see.

Putting an eye of faith to the keyhole of eternity we see ourselves and every other human being on the planet as a child of God who is destined to acknowledge his relationship with God and thereby gain the benefits of that relationship. This act of acknowledgement is called faith and reminds us of the truth of the revelation which states, "without faith no one can be saved." This act of acknowledgment also leads us to acknowledge our relationship with all the rest of God's children--living on this planet and elsewhere--and reminds us of our privilege and duty of giving them acceptance, respect and help.

So we find ourselves in agreement with Jesus' great commandment of love: to love everyone regardless of their race, creed or the mistakes that they may have made in life. We feel no compulsion to like everyone or everything that everyone says or does, but we have sincerely desired and decided to do good for them.

Keeping our eye at the keyhole of eternity we now look at our material body. We have already seen our Spirit and our mind, and we see our soul which these two are developing. Now we see the body clearly and realize that it was given to us in time, to be used for communication. It came to us indirectly from our first parents, Andon and Fonta, unlike our personality which came to us from God the Father; unlike our Spirit which came to us from the Son; and unlike our mind which came to us from the Spirit.

We now see our bodies as aggregations of organized energy: material, electrical, mental and psychological. With the psalmist we realize that we are "wondrously made." But we also realize that these bodies are only temporary and that on graduation we will receive a new morontia body. So we do not consider the loss of parts of it or of all of it to be any kind of catastrophe. In the meantime we take reasonably good care of it and avoid poisons, acids and drugs which could harm it. If for some reason we decide to use alcohol, nicotine or caffeine, we do so with moderation, knowing that these substances are extremely addictive and could make it difficult for the Thought Adjuster to communicate with us.

The more deadly substances such as marijuana, crack, cocaine and heroin can easily make it impossible for the Thought Adjuster to communicate with a human being. So if a human being wishes to bury himself in materiality and forever lose all contact with divinity and the possibility of a future happy life, these are the deadly chains with which to bind himself. The sad thing is that such persons have not only tried to throw away peace, joy and happiness for all eternity but that they have evidently succeeded in throwing away whatever peace, joy and happiness that they could have had right now, in this life. They could have lived in communication with a loving Father, a loyal Brother, Jesus, and an enlightening Spirit. Those who accept God into their lives live on a perpetual high of faith and love and do not need devilish substitutes or imitations of God. "I am the Lord thy God and thou shalt have no strange gods before me."

Next we turn our eye of faith to the next sphere we will wake up on after we graduate from this life. We see mansion world number one to which our guardian seraphim takes our soul upon graduation. Our Thought Adjuster, with our mortal mind transcripts and active creature memory patterns, has returned to the Father but comes to this first mansion world for our resurrection.

It is the reuniting of the morontia-soul trust of the seraphim and the spirit-mind trust of the Adjuster that reassembles creature personality and constitutes resurrection of the sleeping survivor. Throughout all eternity you will recall the profound memory impressions of your first witnessing of these resurrection mornings. On mansion world number one (or another in case of advanced status) you will resume your intellectual training and spiritual development at the exact level whereon they were interrupted by death.

Between the time of planetary death or translation and resurrection on the mansion world mortal man gains absolutely nothing aside from experiencing the fact of survival. You begin over there right where you left off down here. So, descendants of Andon and Fonta, continue to love and serve your heavenly Father and all of his children. Accept whatever environmental or social situation you find yourself in today and ask yourself, "What would Jesus do today if he were wearing my shoes and my flesh?"

All you have to do in any situation that you find yourself in is to react to it the best you can in a God-like way. Then whenever and however you graduate from this life, you will find yourself well prepared. If you feel that you have had unusual trials, tests and difficulties in this life, know that this was only permitted because of your great physical, mental and spiritual potentials which needed opportunities for fruition. With Lacordaire you can now exclaim, "What a life on what a planet!"

Now if your eye of faith is not too tired looking through the keyhole of eternity we will take a look at the heaven of your culture and dreams. We see a real place called Jerusem. It is the capital of the system of 619 inhabited planets of which Urantia--our earth--is one. This is a beautiful sphere--an architectural sphere created perfect, it is the place where our Adam and Eve were employed in the trial-and-testing physical laboratories before they volunteered to come to Urantia to upgrade the human race.

Looking on Jerusem you see beauteous highlands and other unique variations of topography and landscape. You see thousands upon thousands of small lakes shimmering in the light of several nearby suns, not too bright but something like brilliant starlight, as Jerusem is not dependent on them for light or heat. You see transports arriving on the crystal field, the so-called sea of glass. Around this area are the receiving stations for the various orders of beings who traverse space by seraphic transport.

Near the polar crystal station you see student visitors ascending to the pearly observatory to view the immense relief map of the entire headquarters planet. You see all types of beings present in the central broadcast amphitheater listening in and discerning the never-ending stream of universe space reports. All is peace, joy and harmony among all types of material, morontial and spiritual beings. There are no forms of conflicting life, no struggle for existence, no survival of the fittest. Rather there is a creative adaptation which foreshadows the beauty, harmony and the perfection of the eternal worlds of the central and divine universe. What a heaven!

Now we take a look through our keyhole at our constellation capital, Edentia; at our local universe capital, Salvington; at the capital of our minor sector called Uminor the third; at the capital of our major sector called Umajor the fifth; and at the capital of our superuniverse, Uversa. We could look at the one billion Havona worlds in linear procession in seven concentric circles about the capital of capitals called Paradise, but we won't. We have to save something for you to see for yourself.

Finally, can you imagine Christ Michael coming from his Father on Paradise past all these wonderful places to:

• A little-known star system on the outer edge of the seventh superuniverse?
• The third planet circling around a comparatively small sun and known to its inhabitants as Earth?
• A planet listed as number 606 of its system?
• One of the 35 planets that joined in the Lucifer rebellion?
• A planet whose grand universe number was 5,342,482,337,666?
• A planet whose Adam and Eve defaulted in their mission?
• The planet on which you are now living?
• The planet to which was sent an incredible fifth epochal revelation?
• And the planet from which you are now gazing through the keyhole of eternity because of that revelation?

Life Changes—Practice Makes Perfect

By Brent St. Denis
General Conference 1990
Snowmass, Colorado

;

One of the miracles of our relationship with the heavenly Father is that in barely one hour of space-time in this room we can together comprehend a little of the potential of our eternal and infinite loving parent-child relationship with the Creator of all things. (I recently read Guy Murchie's book called The Seven Mysteries of Life and when he describes, in relative terms, some of the fabulously unimaginable numbers which scientists have discovered in their measurements of astronomical and subatomic occurrences, the mind boggles. It can be downright intimidating.) Like the love and nurturing provided us by our earthly parents to help us over the fears of childhood, no less is the love of our Father also with us in an embrace which can render us fearless and powerful in the ascent to him in Paradise.

* * *

I want to focus on a few practical attitudes of daily living which can constantly remind us of the miracle of our existence and of the endless possibilities which are consequent upon our individual choosing to do his will. I will begin by listing a few things I have learned in the midst of my own struggles.

• C" -- Chances
• There is nothing that can "happen" to us during this earthly life that, of itself, can in any way impede our spiritual progress. In fact, it's the other way around. The events of life are opportunities for growth. It is our attitude toward the so-called problems of life which determine their growth potential for us. Spiritual progress is entirely in our hands. Can you imagine making any headway without challenges?
• "H" -- Habits
• Habits, even unconsciously done, can be used to assist us in the quest for personal spiritual fulfillment. I believe we can establish neural pathways of positive response to external stimuli that will promote growth. Our heavenly Father has not designed an ascension plan that has negative feedback loops built into it. The opposite is true if we choose to look for them.
• "A" -- Alert
• We can ask our Thought Adjuster to help us to be alert to those opportunities in which growth is possible. We are taught that it is our own free will which reigns supreme in the making of spiritual choices, but I have concluded we can each make a pre-fusion choice to grant our Thought Adjusters the right to intervene in order to remind us of what is really important at that moment.
• "N" -- Now
• I cannot find God tomorrow, nor shall I find him in yesterday. I can only find him as a living reality today, at this moment.
• "G" -- God's Will
• I am convinced that The Urantia Book is right when it declares that "The doing of the will of God is nothing more or less than an exhibition of creature willingness to share the inner life with God--with the very God who has made such a creature life of inner meaning-value possible." (*1221) I want to emphasize for you the words creature willingness.
• "E" -- Ego
• Our egos can severely impair our ability to see the light which shines forth constantly from the First Source and Center. I liken the ego to the mindal equivalent of the material body. It does serve a purpose during this life, but its current essence is material; nonetheless it can be transmuted.
• "S" -- School
• The Urantia Book teaches us that the mansion worlds are more like training schools. It occurs to me that the earthly sojourn is no less a school, too! I have found it helpful to look at life's events as assignments designed to serve a purpose in this life and the next as educational opportunities and experiences. Assignments ignored or done half-heartedly are lost opportunities which we may regret having forgone when at some future time we are part of a team of ascenders charged with fulfilling some project in Orvonton.

Before continuing, I would like to summarize these C.H.A.N.G.E.S.:

• C(hance)--Life's events are growth opportunities.
• H(abits)--Growth habits can be developed.
• A(djuster)--Thought Adjuster can help us be alert to spiritual opportunities.
• N(ow)--You can only find God in the present.
• G(od's Will)--Doing the Father's will = willingness to share the inner life.
• E(go)--Ego can be transmuted.
• S(chool)--Earth is a school for mortals.

* * *

The Urantia Book begins and ends with reference to the fatherhood of God. Jesus teaches us that the brotherhood of man is a consequence of this fact. Both of these realities require the existence of individual God-seeking mortals for their fulfillment as fact in time and space. There can be no father without children, there can be no brotherhood without brothers and sisters. Each of us has a responsibility to do our part as best we can as children of God. Our responsibility starts within our own minds wherein are bred the attitudes of life which will make us increasingly more conscious of our important place in the cosmic plan. After all, there is no other personality quite like any of us who can interpret God's love to others in exactly the same way. While God is no respecter of persons in that he puts no one of us ahead of the other in his love, there is, nonetheless, something special about each of us that no other can provide. I want to emphasize that we do have a responsibility.

We begin our mortal careers as potentially perfect unconscious beings. As we grow into consciousness, we begin the adventure of becoming consciously perfect even as the Father is perfect. We have not been abandoned in this task. We have the tools we need to achieve this perfection, including an eternity within which to accomplish it. In keeping perfection as our goal, we need only keep the next curve in the road in our sight. We are not expected to become perfect now or even tomorrow. It is only required that we desire that perfection. It therefore makes sense to develop practical attitudes which can assist us in maintaining an orientation towards the Father.

Let us examine more closely the attitudes I outlined a few minutes ago which I have found to be helpful to me in my practical day-to-day living. I would like to be "on track" at all times, but as these attitudes pass through my consciousness at various times and in seemingly random order, they do bring me back to that place where I can more readily remember that this life is a truly wonderful adventure and let's be on with it. Let's not waste any more time with pointless trivialities.

As I prepared for this session with you, I wondered what impact, if any, there might be on its content, because I was approaching my fortieth birthday. Frankly, it added an air of anticipation to my thinking. What would the effect be on my thinking when my Thought Adjuster became my Thought Controller? My conclusion thus far is that the change in phase passes with the same notice by self that was the case when our Mystery Monitor first arrived around the age of six. Over time, however, I fully expect that this quiet experience will manifest itself in a more complete list of attitudes. But for now, here is what I know.

* * *

Growing in Life Changes

All too often we seem to consider the events of life as problems. As we mature spiritually, I believe we can learn to look at all the events of life as "learning situations." The Urantia Book teaches us that there is no challenge that we will face that is beyond our mortal capacity to cope. I believe the secret here is that every one of life's events contains a lesson that we can learn. As surely as the treasures of this world cannot accompany us beyond this life except that they be spiritual treasures, then just as surely there can be no material problem that can detract from our progress in spirit. In fact, the contrary is the case. The degree to which we face the events of life with a joyous willingness to learn something new, then, shall be the measure of the growth potential contained in that event.

This is not stoicism. This is simply accepting life for what it is, one of the best chances we will ever have to face faith challenges which it is doubtful are available on any other planet in all of Nebadon. As agondonters we should rejoice at having this chance to really test our faith. I am willing to wager that many ascenders from other worlds would gladly trade places with any of us. This is not to suggest that we should go out looking for problems because there are ample opportunities for each of us in our daily lives if we will only look. We can learn what we need to learn!!

A corollary of this particular point is that nothing can be achieved by avoiding the problems of life, but there is most assuredly something of infinite value in every test.

Spiritual Habits

Generally we do not associate habits as being helpful in developing our spiritual selves--our souls. I suggest to you that we can develop habits which can widen our mind's door to spiritual thoughts which can then lead us to spiritual action. After all, we cannot serve/love our fellows without first thinking about it and deciding to do so. Nonetheless we can predispose our minds to spiritual action by using simple techniques of autosuggestion. I'm not talking about mystical phenomenon here, merely the same type of trick you would use to wake yourself at a certain time each morning. The mind is a vast reservoir of power, and we can employ this to our spiritual advantage as readily as we do for material gain and pleasure.

From personal experience I can tell you that the year which preceded my discovery of The Urantia Book was a year during which I was required to say the Lord's Prayer each morning. As homeroom teacher in a public high school in Jamaica, it was my responsibility to lead my class each morning in a few moments of prayer as this was the cultural practice in Jamaican public schools at that time. Outside of this requirement, my life was spiritually quite bereft of much pleasure and devoid of prayer. But this few minutes of required form prayer five mornings each week over ten months did have an impact. Even though it has been fifteen years since that period, I can clearly recall an awakening of spirit consciousness that year that has been a watershed experience for me. I have not looked back since. This morning habit seemed to act like a small hammer on my mind which eventually cracked open an otherwise stubborn refusal to wake up and smell the spiritual coffee brewing right under my nose.

A simple habit you might try is this one: just prior to closing your eyes at night, possibly, but not necessarily as a part of your internal "wake-up call," simply ask that your first thoughts of the next morning be very positive. Be specific. Choose something like a beautiful scene or phrase such as "thanks for another day of school."

Alertness

One of the problems our human minds appear to have difficulty with is one of remaining alert to subtle things when there are so many macro events occurring around us all the time. Too often we miss loving opportunities because we are preoccupied with the big things. The perspective of our minds assumes--in default of instructions to the contrary--that something must be big and complicated to be good. We have many good examples of situations in which an alertness to the apparent little things can lead to some spiritually big events. Just remember when Jesus took time from his sermons to stop and spend a few moments with a nearby child. Normally we wouldn't do that, but his actions time and again demonstrated the spiritual value of the little things as he went by. I believe we are not naturally alert as mortals to these opportunities. I believe we must train ourselves to be alert for these seemingly small events.

I have no doubt that our Thought Adjusters can and will help us with the problem of alertness to spiritual opportunities. We must only ask. It does not require eternal fusion with the Thought Adjuster to seek cooperative undertakings. You only need to give your Adjuster the right to intervene at any time and place to point out that an opportunity for loving service is at hand. While it is a fact that our individual wills reign supreme in matters spiritual, it must be obvious that we have a resource available to us which can assist in circumventing the tendency of mind (as driven by ego) to ignore the spiritually obvious.

God Now

Should it be obvious that one can only find God in the present? After all, is there anything wrong with planning to do something tomorrow? No, of course not! But the fact is, your plan is no more than that until tomorrow arrives to become today and you put your plan into action. You've no doubt all heard the expression, "the road to hell is paved with good intentions." I suggest that our plans for tomorrow are within the material realm and that it is the current moment that is important. I'd rather say, "Procrastinate tomorrow."

Your experiences of a spiritual nature which you lived yesterday will constitute valid and important memories which you can recall for encouragement and pleasure as the moments pass by. But even as memories it is their recall in the present which provides spiritual pleasure and refreshment.

Even if we do not agree on the merits of past and future spiritual experiences, I believe you will accept that without there being the search for God in the present, it is doubtful that past and future experiences are of much value to you as a continuum until they are joined as a single life experience by the search moment-by-moment as we go about our daily affairs.

The search for God now does not imply a life devoted to silent meditation; rather it is a life bathed in trust and confidence that, when all is said and done, things will always work out for the best. It is a life of conscious faith.

Willingness to Share the Inner Life with God

I think we are often confused in our thinking about the Father's will. We wonder if we are doing his will at this time or that and worry whether we actually know what it is. I say, "Don't worry, be happy!" It is simply your desire to do his will as demonstrated in your desire to share the inner life with him. It would require infinite wisdom to consciously know the fullness of the Father's will at each moment. His will is infinite; to know it in its fullness at each moment would mean knowing the outcome of your action/spiritual response for the eternity to follow. For our heavenly Father, the I AM, who contains time and space, this is an easy matter but not one possible for us. The trick is to not try to understand the moment with the rational mind but rather to simply give the moment to him and leave comprehension to follow in the fullness of time.

Our gift to the Father as ascending mortals is the first step of faith. I am not aware that we must understand his will in order to do his will. It is usually our fear of the unknown which demands to know the consequences of any given undertaking. I suggest that in matters spiritual it is sufficient to know that the outcome in eternity is to find oneself in the presence of God. In the short-term, trust the spiritual intuition which is your heritage.

Transmuted Ego

I believe ego serves a useful purpose during the mortal career. I am not certain how long we carry our egos with us, but I suggest that the ego may in fact be an integral part of our identity which will be a part of our conscious selves throughout eternity. At this point in our universe careers, ego has earned itself a bad name. If we imagine that ego embodies our own will, then because our will does not always agree with the Father's will, there results confusion. I believe our egos can subsume to the Father's will and still exist as a positive element of mind. The difficulty, though, is that ego is quick to respond to time-space stimuli and therefore too often gets the upper hand in our dealings with people and events. I see ego preoccupied with our material existence because it may be that element of mind most closely related to our animal-origin selves. If you think about it, ego does act to protect. The problem is that it's like keeping a vicious guard dog around your house which keeps the neighbors away, too.

I believe we make a mistake in trying to bury our ego. It exists as fact, so I suggest we work to transmute it instead. This is where good spiritual habits can come into play. Our egos like to feel good, like to feel wanted and loved, to feel important and special. Well, these are all things that can be derived from spiritual living if such things can be seen from a broader perspective. After all, does God not love us, is he not thrilled when we are found after being lost, are we not special in that what we bring to the growth of the Supreme is very special, indeed, unique? I am convinced that if the ego is fed spiritual fruit rather than material food it can serve a higher purpose and will continue as a functioning part of mind throughout the universe career serving to protect us spiritually.

When we observe that one of our fellows appears to live "with his/her ego in their back pocket," so to speak, it seems they have no ego. I suggest their ego has been commissioned for higher service.

Earth as School

It would appear to follow naturally that our time on this planet Urantia is really time in school. It makes sense to me that if the next stages of our universe career involve participation in the schools of the mansion worlds, why would our lives here be any less a schooling experience? This idea is further supported by the fact that the departure that most Urantia mortals will make in transit to the mansion worlds will be in the company of thousands of earthmates with whom we will advance through the morontia worlds. It is even common knowledge that we "learn from our experiences." Remember the School of Hard Knocks?

Why look at the earth life as time in school? Simple! It can alter one's attitude toward life's experiences to consider oneself a "student." One is more apt to be more open to learning, more willing to try in spite of possible failure, more open to new ideas and perspectives, more generous to fellow students who also struggle with life's lessons, and more likely open to prodding and leading on the road to spiritual knowledge.

I believe that when I have eventually regained consciousness on the mansion worlds, and when I have rekindled by memories of the earth life, I will feel some regret at not having taken greater advantage of the learning opportunities afforded by life in the flesh. This is a natural feeling that many of us can relate to when we remember our own high school days. We ask: what if I had switched courses when it was suggested to me? why did I spend so much time in the pool hall after school? We seldom dwell negatively on these memories, but there is sometimes a quiet sense that a little better use of time might have proven to be very helpful indeed. We'll not utilize our time here in an ideal way, but it is important to remain conscious of the value of time in the flesh as providing endless beneficial chances to refine our spiritual skills.

* * *

In my sharing with you today, I wanted to emphasize a few practical things which any of us could use to spiritual advantage. I hope you will keep the handout I've given you and that you will each seek your own set of unique life attitudes which will help you optimize the spiritual opportunities this short time on earth provides. I like to dub this set of attitudes as "Be-Attitudes." Because the search for God must be undertaken in the present, if we can each live our lives humbly, bravely and joyously aware that by being conscious:

• That this moment has great potential value in eternity;
• That a willingness to share the inner life with God is his will;
• That ego has its place;
• That growth opportunities abound each day;
• That this life is a soul school;
• That some habits can be good; and
• That we can be alert to spiritual events.

Then we'll likely not have too many regrets when we awaken on the mansion worlds.

The Problem of Evil—The Theodicy Problem

By Dr. Meredith J. Sprunger

The fact of evil and suffering in man’s experience is the most perplexing problem confronting religionists who believe in an all wise, all good, all powerful God (referred to as the theodicy problem). Some theistic philosophers attempt to solve this enigma by assuming limitations in God’s wisdom or power. Others admit the rationally inexplicable nature of this vexing question, which, they point out, is due to man’s limited knowledge, and leave the issue in the realm of divine mystery. I believe there is a more adequate approach to this troubling problem.

The problem of evil has perplexed man primarily because he has failed to comprehend the dynamics of the perfect methods and goals of an all wise, all good, all powerful creator. To catch a glimpse of the wisdom behind the divine plan, we need to be aware of basic universe facts and purposes regarding man. First, we live in an evolutionary universe. Evolution is the basic method of creation, growth, and achievement. There is no substitute for experience in an evolutionary universe. Second, we are imperfect beings living on an imperfect planet; not by accident, divine limitations, or creative inabilities; but by deity purpose and design. We possess a degree of free will as well as imperfection. Such a combination makes mistakes (evil) inevitable. Along with these limiting conditions, the basic law of the universe is the demand for growth toward perfection.

When we contemplate these facts and conditions a great purpose for man which is both wise and good, begins to emerge. Man is participating in his own creative growth toward perfection. Among the universes of creation, God, no doubt, does create perfect universes with perfect beings; but such personalities would not have the same qualities as those participating in their own growth toward perfection in an evolutionary universe.

By starting at the bottom of an evolutionary universe and experiencing growth from the lowest form of life having truth perception, or true choice, to eventual perfection, man will possess an experiential maturity, appreciation, and wisdom impossible to any being created perfect. This is an unalterable aspect of reality. Experience always adds to any other form of universe reality. God, being true to his own nature (reality), does not, indeed cannot, create a perfect being that has all of the desirable qualities of one created through evolutionary experience, and participating in his own creation.

In such an evolutionary universe, there are certain inevitabilities. In order to develop courage, evolutionary beings must live in an environment where fear, struggle, and hardship are encountered. If such personalities are to achieve loyalty and integrity, they must have experience in a society where betrayal and duplicity are possible. If man is to appreciate pleasure and achieve happiness, then must he dwell in a world where pain and suffering are ever-present experiential possibilities.

Through the educational process encountered between the hammers of suffering, and the anvils of necessity, the creative evolutionary process is a forging out of man the beginnings of a noble, strong, and thoroughly experienced being whose potentials transcend lowly man’s fondest dreams. Man’s anxieties and sorrows, his trials and suffering are just as much a part of a wise and good divine educational plan in the universe, as the lessons of childhood; the rigor of school days; and the psychic suffering of adolescence are necessary in developing character in humankind, at our present level of existence. That which appears evil, cruel, or unjust, when we see the total situation from a universe point of view, we realize was due to the illusions of a partial and immature understanding.

The foregoing presents a positive understanding of the reasons for imperfection, suffering, and evil in an evolutionary universe; but it does not speak to the excessive and irrational aspects of evil and suffering. These unreasonable and absurd characteristics of the problem of evil may be better understood if we realize that in an evolutionary universe, God not only establishes physical, mental, and spiritual laws which operate more or less autonomously; but also delegates all of the power and control possible to subordinate beings, including man; because in his perfect wisdom and unselfish love, he knows that these procedures will eventually be the most rewarding way of sharing his divinity (reality) with every being, past, present, and future, in such a universe.

God, being fully aware of the potential and actual evil with would result from delegating such creative power and authority, also established compensating and reclamation sources of ministry and salvation so that everything deprived of personalities on one level of universe experience, will be made available or compensated for, on other levels of experience.

The rebellion of a "Lucifer" and other universe personalities from the divine way, may result in erratic, unexpected, or uncontrolled behavior by both intelligent beings and natural laws on the planetary level. This "chaos" is not arbitrarily corrected in an evolutionary universe, because such arbitrary action is not in harmony with the divine wisdom of creative evolution. Time is required for personalities to make decisions, and divine justice never destroys what loving education can save. Evil is more clearly seen for what it is, when allowed to run its evolutionary course. We are being thoroughly trained to recognize and resist all of the dynamics of evil. Finally, far more good will accrue in the universe by this evolutionary process of overcoming evil, than by applying arbitrary solutions. God inaugurated an evolutionary universe out of a Fatherly love to share himself with creation, even though at immature levels, the problem of evil would be a stumbling block to the comprehension of the wisdom of the basic purpose of this creative process.

Worship—Actualizing the Kingdom of Heaven:
Perspectives from The Urantia Book

by David Kantor Note: All references refer to page numbers in the first printing of The Urantia Book.

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Have you ever stopped to wonder what it must be like for Michael to see what is occurring on this planet? Don't you imagine that, as a loving parent, he would have a plan for rehabilitating this world which would be the wisest, most effective plan possible?

In trying to understand just what such a plan might involve, it's interesting to consider the passage on page 1862 which tells us that Jesus, rather than directly addressing issues of human morality and social ethics, "...was wholly concerned with that inward and spiritual fellowship with God the Father which so certainly and directly manifests itself as outward and loving service for man."

This suggests that Jesus knew the experience of worship would powerfully motivate men and women to redirect their lives towards kingdom building, and that this would be the quickest, most effective way to go about planetary reclamation.

Throughout the teachings of Jesus, we find an exquisite inter-weaving of the gospel of the kingdom of heaven with the central role of worship as a mechanism by which the kingdom develops. Let's consider some of the ways in which worship enhances kingdom building.

Worship as Unifier

The Psalms have been a vehicle for thanksgiving in Judeo-Christian culture since before the time of Jesus. They provide a good illustration of the way in which worship can affect the functioning of human communities.

The literature of early Judaism contains stories about the heavenly hosts being stimulated to praise God as a result of observing the Jewish community singing these Psalms. This is a wonderful concept: The angelic community joins the mortal community of worshipers, in thanksgiving and praise -- that's group worship!

Early in its history, the Christian church was plagued by various forms of mystical excess. Worship services were frequently interrupted by spontaneous outbursts from individuals speaking in tongues. Communities of believers were disrupted by individuals who claimed that the Holy Spirit was communicating through them and had given them information about Jesus' impending return. Some monastic communities insisted on using prophetic-mystic hymns which confused meanings and imagery in the minds of many people. And there was a great deal of sometimes bitter theologic controversy.

All of this conceptual chaos mitigated against the unity of Christianity and its worship. In this environment, the Psalms, with their ancient, well-established themes and musical traditions, became the commonly accepted means of worshipful expression. Worship played an important role in unifying these communities of believers during the turbulent times of spiritual upheaval preceding the fourth and fifth centuries.

The Medieval church, frequently functioning in an uneducated, semi-pagan society, had a different problem. While its entire organization rested upon an intellectual monasticism, it needed to be careful to not discourage the pious but naive religious practices of the common people.

Again, worship, utilizing the Psalms, provided a resolution. In these melodies and poems, the educated monk and the illiterate peasant could stand next to each other in the cathedral and pour out their hearts in worship.

These are just a couple of examples of how worship has played a major role as an integrator and unifier of Christian civilization. To get a sense of the significance of worship in human affairs, ask yourself, "How many political and economic systems have risen and fallen in the nearly 2,500 years that these worshipful Psalms have been quietly unifying human communities?"

Millennialism: Some Thoughts about Evolutionary Religion

In considering ways in which we might develop meaningful worship practices within our communities of readers, it is essential that we understand some of the ways in which evolutionary religion shapes our world.

Let's remember that the purpose of revelation is to enhance evolutionary religion on the planet, not to replace it. Evolutionary religion is the context in which we interpret the meaning of The Urantia Book. We can let this be a completely unconscious process, or we can attempt to understand it, but it remains an inevitable part of being a psychological creature, living in an evolving social culture.

There are elements of evolutionary religion which are going to be extremely troublesome for us, some which are important for us to identify and foster, and others which will continue to sneak up on us unconsciously, and affect the way in which we're dealing with this revelation.

Millennialism is a good example of a troublesome element in evolutionary religion which has plagued the outworking of the fourth epochal revelation.

Right from the start, the early believers were certain that the Master would return immediately, and miraculously usher in a new age of spiritual living.

Millennialism, and the idea that history is about to go through a miraculous transition, has been a major force in the socio-political evolution of Western civilization. It led to the destruction of Jewish culture by the Romans in 70 A.D. It was present when the crusades were launched in the middle ages. It profoundly shaped American social and political history and has dominated political processes in the Middle East for the past half century. It has played a major role in the destruction of the global environment by fostering an attitude of indifference to the long-term health of the planet's ecosystem.

It is actively present today in much of our culture, particularly on the religious margins, dominated by Christian Fundamentalism and New Age movements. It is pervasive in secular culture as well, where it takes the form of a belief that science and technology will lead us to an era of enlightened living.

Millennialism appears in two forms; either a vision of a final battle in which good triumphs over evil, or an innocence which seeks to make utopias in an uncorrupted landscape. The Family of God Foundation was a classic millennialist expression. It didn't matter whether it was a spiritual renaissance or world war III which was coming -- it was the underlying assumption of an impending millennial transformation of reality which was the primary belief being expressed.

The early Christians insisted on interpreting Jesus' message in terms of the messianic expectations surging within their culture. Given the tensions and forces shaping our culture today, we're likely to be mightily challenged to keep from making the same error 2,000 years later.

But there are also components of evolutionary religion which are vital to our progress, or, which are partially developed elements of the religion of the future. If we simply abandon these conceptual tools and ideals, any construction we undertake will occur, by default, upon the remaining foundation of unconscious psycho-social processes.

This can be easily observed in many new religious movements today, whose adherents abandon established paradigms under the guise of enlightenment and freedom, only to find themselves giving expression to older levels of shamanic or spiritualist practices. Earlier this year in Napierville, we saw a regression of nearly 2,000 years to the practices of the mystery cults of the crumbling Greco-Roman empire, where priestesses led chants and ritual dancers in an effort to invoke the appearance of a God.

We have only to see such horrifying images as those of wounded children being flown out of Sarajevo, the smoking rubble in Waco, Texas, or Moslems weeping next to mosques which have been destroyed by their Hindu brethern, to be reminded of the savage power of the religious impulse when it is freed from the restraints of moral culture and rational integration.

Do we fully appreciate the significance of the fact that here in the late 20th century, religion is rapidly replacing economics as a primary source of international conflict? The integration of the religious impulse with the rest of human culture is an example of a partially completed achievement of evolutionary religion which we're challenged to reinforce and further develop.

People don't just wake up one day and decide to become raging religious fanatics; these events are the end results of long series of quietly accumulating errors. The seeds of illusion are first planted when we choose to view our religion as a "matter of the heart," transcending any need for mere intellectual integrity. The seeds of chaos are planted along side them, when we become so committed to a course of action or to a set of beliefs, that we begin to view errors and discrepancies as acceptable anomalies.

This is the point where we cease to seek truth to guide our footsteps, and begin to use truth to further our purposes.

These realities should sober anyone who thinks we can simply transcend evolutionary religion by an act of will, and allow spiritual idealism to eclipse critical evaluation of what we're doing.

For nearly 2,000 years now, God-knowing men and women have struggled with the same questions about worship, community, spiritual commitment and living in closer association with the Master, which we now ask. We would be fools to ignore the accumulated literature of this epic struggle. We must be informed as well as inspired, if we wish to do more than simply socialize our unconscious needs and desires.

As I talk with theologians and clergy persons in various Christian denominations, I am coming to appreciate the way in which many of them are essentially managing a global distribution system for Jesus' love and mercy. As I hear stories of struggles against social and moral deterioration in the inner cities, and of ministers who are bringing healing and wholeness to families and communities, I appreciate that many of these people working with the fourth epochal revelation have their lives on the front lines in the struggle against error, evil and chaos in our world.

In many cases, I think there is far more that we could learn from them than they could learn from us. Beautiful ideas about Jesus are far less valuable than the loving and selfless ministry that many of our Christian brothers and sisters are administering in his name, often under extremely difficult circumstances. It seems to me that we would be far wiser to offer these folks a helping hand rather than smugly inform them that we have "the truth."

Catherine Albanese, Professor of Religious Studies at the University of California in Santa Barbara, has identified three dominant psycho/social themes in American culture around which religious movements coalesce in today's world. They are, millennialism, the quest for a community of feeling, and the quest for personal religious experience.

It's significant that the "teacher mission" expresses all three of these unconscious trends. Our conference here this weekend focuses on two of them. We really have to ask ourselves, to what degree are we creatively addressing the real spiritual needs of our world, as opposed to merely responding to unconscious forces in our culture?

It's very important that we cultivate an awareness of the unconscious determinants active in our culture and within ourselves, which may be shaping the way in which we're interpreting and socializing our experience with this epochal revelation.

Only as we understand the foundation of evolutionary religion upon which we stand, will we find the freedom to begin creatively developing more enlightened practices.

Urantia Book Concept of the Adjutant Mind Spirits

Let's take a few moments to review the basic structure of mortal mind, because it forms the arena in which our experience of worship takes place.

As you may recall, our minds are the result of the ministry of the local universe Mother Spirit who provides the adjutant mind spirits as attenuations of the cosmic mind suitable for interaction with material mechanisms managed by the Life Carriers.

These mind spirits are actually levels of consciousness in the universe Mother Spirit. There are a total of seven and the first five minister, in varying degrees, to all pre-human life. These are the spirits of intuition, understanding, knowledge, counsel and courage. In mortal life, the spirit of worship adds the religious impulse.

We end up with six levels of consciousness in the Mother Spirit, each of which functions relatively independent of the others. A seventh level of consciousness, the Spirit of Wisdom, integrates and unifies the first six making it possible for consciousness to become conscious of consciousness -- self-consciousness.

The Spirit of Wisdom adds "ideas formulated from protoplasmic memory" (664) to the set of electrochemical processes with which the adjutants interact.

Understanding these adjutants is important because if we simply abandon the worship practices which have evolved on the planet, our efforts at worship can easily begin to deteriorate into devising ways of trying to activate the Spirit of Worship by shutting down the functioning of all the other mind spirits.

Think about it; we try to remove ourselves from awareness of our social surroundings so the Spirit of Counsel won't distract us. We reduce physical stimuli. We try to minimize intellectual activity so the Spirits of Intuition and Understanding won't disturb our concentration.

We make an attempt to be "open" by trying to eliminate our pre-conceptions of what the encounter with God should be like, which minimizes any interference from the Spirit of Knowledge. Once we've accomplished this, we've effectively eliminated the Spirit of Wisdom because now there's nothing left to be coordinated.

And then we find ourselves spiritually squinting in an attempt to see God in the resulting darkness, longing for a fuller revelation of the divine presence! It seems somewhat counter-productive to attempt to worship the Father by a technique which seeks to keep the Mother Spirit from getting too much in the way.

Sincere Worship

There is a far richer concept of worship which emerges from the pages of The Urantia Book. It involves the expression of such a profound depth of gratitude for the gift of life, and the Father's love, that it cannot be attempted by anything less than a fully functioning, fully integrated human consciousness.

The Urantia Book tells us that "Sincere worship connotes the mobilization of all the powers of the human personality." (66) On page 1104, we find that, "The divine spirit makes contact with mortal man...in the realm of the highest and most spiritualized thinking." (1104)

This is a domain where the spirit of wisdom is actively integrating the religious impulse with intuition, understanding, knowledge, council and courage. It is a realm where personality is creatively unifying this adjutant ministry with the indwelling presence of the Father, the Spirit of Truth and the Holy Spirit.

Page 66 says that true worship, in the last analysis, becomes an experience realized on four cosmic levels...intellectual, morontial, spiritual and...their unification in personality. This is no quiet corner of quiescent capitulation to whatever happens to present itself to consciousness!

Emerging from these quotes is a robust concept of worship, in which all mindal and spiritual resources available are integrated by personality and utilized in an attempt to express the depth of our desire to worship.

Worship as Consecration of Will

One of the oldest concepts of worship is that of giving something to God. It is said of Jesus that he "...brought to God the greatest of all offerings: the consecration...of his own will to the majestic service of doing the divine will." (2088) On page 22 we're told that "There is nothing which man can give to God except this choosing to abide by the Father's will, and such decisions...constitute the reality of...true worship." (22)

Not only is the consecration of our will the only possible gift we can give, the process of giving this gift, constitutes the reality of true worship. Understanding worship as a consecration of will, liberates worship from a passive state of mere blissful consciousness or powerless acquiescence. It reveals that our integration with Deity, takes place as we unite our wills with the creative purposes of the living cosmos itself.

Note that this is a consecration of will, not a surrender. (1221)

This is an important distinction. The concept of worship as a consecration of will removes worship from the subject-object isolation characteristic of much of present day Christianity. It transcends the merged consciousness paradigm of mysticism. It also exposes the pantheistic error of quietism. Quietism is the "let go let God" concept of mentally "stepping aside" so that the spirit can supposedly dominate consciousness.

The concept of worship portrayed in The Urantia Book should completely banish from our conceptual vocabulary such degrading ideas of self which lead us to think we must "step aside," or "get out of the way" so that worship may be experienced. In worship, we are invited to experience the fullness of the Father's unconditional love with our whole being.

Worship and Service

Let's briefly consider the relationship between worship and service, yet another important aspect of kingdom building.

In the Bible, we find that one of the most common Hebrew words for worship comes from a root meaning "servant." One of the most important words for worship in the New Testament can mean either service or worship, depending on its context. In these early texts worship and service are simply different aspects of the same concept.

On page 1008 of The Urantia Book, we find that the essence of Jesus' teaching was love and service, the loving worship which creature sons voluntarily give...and...the freewill service which they bestow upon their bretheren, in the joyous realization that in this service they are likewise serving God the Father.

In The Urantia Book, worship is still synonymous with service. There is a substantial thread in Christian thought which maintains that service is critical because there are significant aspects of Jesus' gospel which can only be truly comprehended as they are acted out. Page 1112 points us to what the authors describe as "the service-discovery of spiritual reality."

When we appreciate these active aspects of worship, the ideal of being able to "maintain unbroken communion with God" (1326, 2065, 2088) begins to make some practical sense.

It is not my intent to imply that service is worship; rather to point out that service to our fellows becomes a context in which our worship is received by the Father.

Worship and Context

If we are going to worship God, wouldn't it be helpful to have a concept of where his presence might be contacted?

Religious literature is replete with stories of sacred mountains, rivers and valleys in which a focalized presence of God is purported to exist. One of the five pillars of Islam is the requirement that the Muslim make a pilgrimage to Mecca and worship at the Kaaba at least once during his or her life.

Judaism locates the presence of God in sacred time. The Sabbath is a religious context which exists relative to time as a cathedral exists relative to space.

In the Sabbath meal, which is a blend of ritual formality and informal family conversation, transcendent reality enters the ordinary world of the family and is experienced with a sense of celebration.

In the Roman Catholic tradition, sacrament provides a catalyst for worship. In the traditional mass, a priest becomes the agent through whom Jesus, presumed present on the altar, offers himself to the Father. This ritual is conceived as a means of transcending time and making the individual worshiper actually present at an historic event.

What about worship in the Hindu, Buddhist and Taoist families of religions? These religions, because they generally fail to grasp the significance of personality, tend to place their highest value on a subjective union with existential divinity, which the worshiper strives to experience as a specific state of consciousness.

Given the range of these human beliefs about just where God might be contacted, consider the implications of Jesus' statement that "where two or three believers are gathered together, there am I in the midst of them." (1762)

This suggests that for personalities, the richest experience of the presence of God is to be found within the process of relationship -- our relationship with God and our relationships with each other. These relationships are the primary elements in the gospel of the kingdom. They constitute the environment in which worship is expressed.

Very relevant to our topic, is an insight into the nature of the kingdom on page 1861 where the midwayers say that Jesus frequently referred to "the kingdom of God within you."

This statement is immediately followed by the comment that Jesus sought to substitute many terms for the kingdom but always without success. Among others, he used: the friends of God, the fellowship of believers, the children of God, the fellowship of the faithful, the Father's service, and the liberated sons of God.

What's interesting about these terms is that they're all designative of community. While Jesus never failed to exalt the sacredness of the individual as contrasted with the community (1862), when he says, "The kingdom of heaven is within you" it is very instructive to ask whether he is referring to an individual or to a group.

It is also instructive to remember that even God, as Trinity, is a community. From the viewpoint of The Urantia Book, it appears that relationships between persons, form the architectural structure of the spiritual universe. The inevitable repercussion of this fact, in the domain of the Father's personality circuit, is the emergence of community, which becomes spiritually transformed through worship, into the kingdom of heaven.

Our participation in the social communion of the remembrance supper is described as "the practice of the presence of God." Note that from the perspective of The Urantia Book, the "practice of the presence of God" is an activity in which we engage as we participate worshipfully in community.

The midwayers refer to this social communion as "the prelude to true worship...which eventuates in the emergence of the brotherhood of man." (1133)

Here we begin to get a glimpse of the creative relationship between the activity of worship and the emergence of the kingdom. Consider what's happening here: In the remembrance supper, Michael participates with us in the experience of simultaneously communing with God and with our fellows.

The Master has provided a means whereby he can be personally active, helping us as fully as we will allow, to bring about those personal and social transformations essential to a fuller realization of the kingdom of heaven.

Perhaps in this context we can more fully appreciate the book's statement that "worship is divinely creative."

Enhancing our Worship Experience

But now let's ask the question, "What may the sincere worshiper do which might further develop the potentials of worship?" Let's consider some of the specific activities pointed to by The Urantia Book. This assumes, of course, that there is already present an active worship life.

Jesus exhorted his believers to "employ prayer as a means of leading up through thanksgiving to true worship." (1640) The role of prayer is a significant topic worthy of its own on-going study. For our purposes here, let's simply recognize that the sincere worshiper will cultivate an active prayer life.

Emotions are important. The mortal foundations for the experience of worship are a group of feelings embracing awe, reverence, humility, and even a primitive form of gratitude. (708)

On page 1840 it is suggested that we attempt to arouse the highest of human emotions in association with the intellectual approach to spiritual communion with God. On this same page it is noted that Jesus "rejoiced to contemplate the Father through the inspiring spectacle of the starry realms of the Creator Sons." Sincere worshipers will strive for a quality of emotional integration which provides significant depth of feeling for their worship experiences.

We looked at the relationship between service and worship, and we thought about communities of worshipers. The human communities in which we participate may be one of the most important factors in our worship experience. They combine service opportunities with a richer context in which worship may be experienced. Page 1094 reminds us that "Spiritual growth is mutually stimulated by intimate association with other religionists." (1094)

Certainly the ideas we have considered here would imply that there are significant aspects of worship which are simply unavailable outside of community.

The sincere worshiper will find ways of becoming committed to and involved in a variety of human communities. Certainly this should include a community of worshipers.

Knowledge, and our approach to managing our intellectual life are very important. On page 303 we find that the quality of worship is determined by the depth of creature perception...and knowledge of the infinite character of God. (303) Page 910 tells us that the coming goal of earthly existence is quality of thinking.

Page 1104 tells us precisely where the Adjuster and the Spirit of Truth function --"amid and upon our ideas, ideals, insights and spirit strivings." (1104) These are all elements which we control; we provide the inner environment upon which our spiritual benefactors depend. Page 1641 says that our experience of worship is the illumination of this inner environment by the Father's indwelling spirit. (1641) Obviously, the integrity and the artistic skill with which we develop and maintain this inner environment, is crucial to our spiritual growth, and the experiential quality of our worship.

At the very least, we must develop sufficient intellectual competence to wisely discriminate between truth and error. (647)(1142) Likewise must we be alert to well-meaning individuals who will inevitably appear on the scene, who will attempt to use The Urantia Book, and us, as a means of reinforcing their own self-conceived images as "spiritual leaders." It's relatively easy to use words and quotes from The Urantia Book without having any idea of the models of reality which they really represent. May we always be "wise as serpents and harmless as doves."

The sincere worshiper will have an on-going program for intellectual development leading to an enhanced comprehension of Deity and the acquisition of intellectual skills.

May we never become so intellectually slothful that we presume to view the Spirit of Truth as a gift which has been given to relieve us of the moral obligation to critically examine our ideas and assure their integrity; may we never descend to the anemic spirituality which views critical evaluation of belief, as a betrayal of faith.

Let's clarify what might be seen as a Gnostic tendency here by pausing to acknowledge the solitary role of faith in providing entrance to the kingdom. These factors which we're considering here are not necessary for survival, nor are they necessary for a full recognition of the Father's love.

But they are the critical elements which condition our capacity for spiritual receptivity. (50) Enhancing spiritual receptivity is not a matter of creating a psychic vacuum which will then somehow suck in the presence of God; it's a matter of engaging in "the highest and most spiritualized thinking" possible. (1104)

The Urantia Book indicates that it is the active process of this spiritualized thinking, through which spirit ministry is received. It is during the time we are engaged in the actual process itself, of actively seeking truth, discerning meanings and discovering values, that we are open to spirit influence. If, during such spiritualized thinking, we are simultaneously offering to God the gift of our consecrated will, we are truly engaging in the reality of sincere worship.

By choosing to engage in such worship, we assent to the establishment of the morontial and spiritual conditions which make it possible for the adjuster to nourish and refresh the embryonic soul.

We're talking about the mechanism by which we participate in the birth of our souls here -- how seriously are we taking this privilege of participating in the creation of a new universe citizen? Are we giving worship a level of priority in our lives commensurate with the universe significance of this activity?

We choose survival as we choose to engage in the process of sincere worship.

In our longing to more fully know God, let us not overlook the warning given on page 1778. "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." (1778) I think this quote ought to be embossed on the cover of The Urantia Book like the surgeon general's warning on a pack of cigarettes -- "Warning: Spirit Central has determined that revelation may be rough on your psyche and may lead to unforseen mutations in your social environment..."

Webster, by the way, defines fanaticism as "intense, uncritical devotion."

It is essential that the sincere worshiper have some understanding of the nature of these dangers and a sound philosophical strategy for negotiating safe passage upon the high seas of intellectual adventure and spiritual discovery, which lie before us.

Although not directly related to enhancing worship, let's add one other consideration: If we're serious about integrating this revelation into the communities in which we function, we should each have an on-going commitment to studying and understanding the way in which the fourth epochal revelation has been integrated into human communities. As Matthew Block's work is showing, much of the conceptual architecture of The Urantia Book is constructed from the most successfully developed elements of the fourth epochal revelation.

This book stands as a literary colossus astride 2,000 years of human struggle for a deeper communion with God. As we begin to understand its historic antecedents as well as the trends of evolutionary thought which it picks up, develops and projects into the next millennium, the magnificence of the landscape illuminated by the light of this text becomes truly breathtaking, in its intellectual depth and spiritual grandeur.

In closing, let me just say that while I have emphasized the "active" aspects of worship, this is not to devalue its more contemplative aspects. Rather, should it expand them by suggesting that the visionary concept of worship contained in The Urantia Book points us to a mode of worshipful living which we see fully developed in the life of the Master, who was able to maintain "unbroken communion" with God.

May we all strive for such an enlightened level of living.

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In addition to The Urantia Book, the following sources provided ideas and information for this presentation:

Catherine Albanese, "America: Religions and Religion" (Belmont, California: Wadsworth Publishing Company, 1992).

George M. Marsden, "Understanding Fundamentalism and Evanglicalism" (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1991).

Wayne A. Meeks, "The First Urban Christians" (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1983).

H. Richard Niebuhr, "The Kingdom of God in America" (Middletown, Connn: Wesleyan University Press, 1988).

H. Richard Niebuhr, "Christ and Culture" (New York: Harper and Row, 1951).

H. Richard Niebuhr, "The Social Sources of Denominationalism" (Glouchester, Mass: Peter Smith, 1987).

Ted Peters, "The Cosmic Self" (San Francisco: Harper, 1991).

Eric Werner, "The Sacred Bridge: The Interdependence of Liturgy and Music in Synagogue and Church during the First Millennium" (New York: Da Capo Press, 1979).

Prayerful Problem Solving

By Meredith J. Sprunger
General Conference 1990 Snowmass, Colorado

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Human beings are, by nature, problem-solving creatures. Our basic needs and urges interact with environmental stimuli in search of organismic satisfaction and fulfillment. All problem solving from birth to death is set in the context of our nature, experience, and learning. How we solve our problems is most fundamentally determined by our nature and resources. We are material beings integrated and controlled by a neural system directed by mind and indwelt by spirit. Human beings, therefore, have physical, mental, and spiritual resources to aid in problem solving. All of these capacities and capabilities interact and function holistically.

Centuries of experience--verified by scientific discovery, rational insight, and spiritual revelation--has taught us that these triune human resources exist in a hierarchical relationship. Our material nature is directed by the meanings and quality of mind, and mind is eventually influenced and determined by the values of spiritual reality. The more immature and underdeveloped the individual is psychologically and spiritually, the greater the domination of the physical laws and conditions will be. Conversely, the more mature and developed we are mentally and spiritually, the less we are influenced and controlled by our physical condition and the material world.

The human approach to problem solving reflects this hierarchical relationship of resources and leads to a differential strategy in finding a solution to our difficulties. Usually we start by analyzing the situation; attempting to break it down into its simplest components. We isolate facts and influences. If this analytical process does not lead to a solution, we have learned to employ the more systematic techniques of the scientific method. The scientific method is especially helpful in understanding and solving problems related to the material world.

When these analytical attempts at problem solving bring inadequate results, we turn to the more holistic or integral method of creative thinking. Graham Wallas, a pioneer in creative thinking research, describes this type of thinking as a four-step process: preparation, incubation, illumination, and verification. This is solution by insight. In creative thinking we are able to cross the borderline between our empirical-rational capacities for the resolution of difficulties and prayerful problem solving. We cannot distinguish whether insights originate in our conscious and subconscious mind or if they are received from spiritual, superconscious resources.

We do find that sooner or later we reach the limit of our human ability to solve difficult problems. At this point those of us who accept the reality and availability of spiritual resources and the efficacy of prayer may consciously engage in prayerful problem solving. At the outset, spiritually mature people need to rule out prayer as a form of magic or a technique in which we can bargain with or change God. God is infinite in goodness and love and does not need to be persuaded to do good. Secondly, we must have an understanding of God and universe laws which enable prayerful problem solving to operate effectively. Physical, mental, and spiritual laws were established by God to regulate the world and our lives. Prayer is not a means to circumvent these laws.

While God's relationship with material reality is largely through the utilization of impersonal laws, God's relationship with people is personal. Through personal communication God seeks to assist us in using universe laws more effectively to augment our welfare. We receive this spiritual ministry primarily through our minds and the minds of others. Mind is the arena in which prayerful problem solving takes place.

Efficacious prayer is not a rocking chair solution to tough problems or an easy detour around the hilly road of rigorous living. When prayer is used as an escape mechanism or psychological safety net by the fearful, slothful, or cowardly, it does not achieve genuine spiritual quality or power. Prayer is not a spiritual crutch or a magic wand. It is the actualization of an indigenous partnership with God. God works with us, not "for" us as an indulgent wonder worker. There are elemental spiritual requirements which must precede problem solving prayer. We are required to face reality courageously and have exhausted our human ability to cope with our difficulties. Egocentric, selfish, or purely personal objectives must be surrendered for a dedication to spiritual values and growth. Indecision and vacillation are barriers to divine guidance. Only a wholehearted decision to follow God's will as we sincerely understand it will bring spiritual wisdom. Our prayer should be for guidance, not some miraculous happening. Finally, we need to pursue our quest with living faith, not doubting that our spiritual resources will be sufficient for any mortal eventuality.

Even though prayer does not change God's mind and is not a way of changing natural or spiritual laws, it is a process through which the natural course of events can be altered. We live in an open universe in which human thought and action may influence the sequence and quality of events. Prayer is a spiritual technique through which we sometimes discover or utilize higher laws which may nullify or counteract lower laws. It is a psychological-spiritual relationship which may change our thinking and behavior. As a result, different options or events take place, higher and more inclusive laws may be set in motion, or superior resources may be made available to help us solve or cope with problems.

The editors of Guideposts in His Mysterious Ways (1988, Guideposts Associates, Inc.) have compiled the stories of over a hundred people who have escaped tragedy or death or whose lives have been dramatically changed by seemingly miraculous happenings brought about as the result of prayer. How do we understand these unusual events? And why are people in similar situations, who appear to be just as good and righteous, not the recipients of such miraculous deliverance through their prayers?

While the answer to these questions is hidden by our incomplete knowledge and limited view of divine wisdom, it appears that the basic factor in God's relationship with persons is a spiritual quality of love which is unique for each individual in any given situation. The effect of every personal relationship with God is determined by the quality and circumstances of its singular reality.

It may be helpful to speculate about the methodologies of prayerful problem solving. Our minds are indwelt by the spirit of the Universal Father and nurtured by the Spirit of Truth and the Holy Spirit. No doubt there are many ways in which we may be assisted by this triune spirit ministry. The following avenues are suggested as ways in which prayer may bring spiritual help in problem solving.

1. New ideas or insights which result in changed attitudes and/or actions that alter our lives and the reactions of our associates.

2. Augmented faith and imagination increases the power of our mind to change our body chemistry and function. These changes appear to be miraculous only because we are largely ignorant of the ability of the mind to control the body when fully undergirded by faith visualization and imaginative imagery.

3. Possible greater utilization of latent extrasensory capacities: telepathy, clairvoyance, precognition, and psychokinesis. In unusual situations and times of crisis we observe the association of prayer and exceptional perception, awareness, and other events.

4. The activity of angels or other superhuman beings to minister to needs and bring help which is sought through prayer. Such events usually take place only in extremely critical situations or when larger providential purposes are served.

5. Prayer may be able to use channels, energy forms, or laws unknown to us. Sometimes it appears that prayer brings about a mysterious coordination of people and events.

Any or all of these methods of ministry may be involved in prayerful problem solving. Sometimes prayer enables us to find approaches to our difficulties which were not available to us through analytical-rational-creative thinking. At other times we find that prayer does not bring those ideas, attitudes, or actions which alter the external conditions of the problem. It is still there in all its terrible reality. But even in these situations, prayer is spiritually effective. It is a dynamic spiritual fellowship which inspires creative attitudes and courage which enable us to live with even the most difficult problems such as personal deficiencies, tragedy, injustice, pain, and death.

One of the most difficult questions associated with prayerful problem solving is the place of intercessory prayer. Is it a legitimate spiritual technique for helping others or only a psychological-social way of expressing our concern for their welfare? God does not need to be informed of their condition nor be persuaded to perform good deeds. God is our loving Universal Father whose spirit indwells each of us and we do not need saints, supermortal beings, or fellow mortals interceding for us. Each person has to determine their own spiritual destiny, and intercessory prayer cannot be used to manipulate their lives.

Regardless of its effect, we spontaneously pray for those we love. There is great value in the psychological-social ramifications of intercessory prayer. There is some evidence, however, that intercessory prayer has more than autosuggestive or sociosuggestive validity. If this is so, how do we understand this form of ministry? One explanation is that our extrasensory capacities have the ability to enter other minds and bring comfort, strength, and love. Another possibility is that God not only gives us the opportunity to be co-partners with him in shaping our own lives, but may have created spiritual channels through which we are privileged to be co-ministers with him in helping others within the limits of their spiritual autonomy. If not, why do we have this spiritual urge to pray for others?

In concluding our thinking about prayerful problem solving, we should remember that the stimulus of problems is basic to personal and spiritual growth. Problems are really opportunities for development and service. There are inherent limits to problem solving in the evolutionary universe. These limitations are germane to our glorious destiny and the quality of spiritual perfection which we are forging out between the hammers of anguish and the anvils of necessity here on planet earth.

Sharing the Spiritual Life

By Carol Hay
General Conference 1990 Snowmass, Colorado

Today I want to talk to you about sharing your spiritual life with others. When I use the term "spiritual life," what I am referring to is the inner relationship that you have with God. In my personal experience, one of the main ways that God relates to me is through the love that he gives me. So when I share my spiritual life with other people, I'm mainly passing the love that God gives me along to other people. The Urantia Book tells us that love is the desire to do good to others, so spiritual sharing is a very action-oriented, creative approach to life that involves a desire to share the love that we receive from God with others. And--if you're like me--you've had some very wonderful experiences sharing your spiritual life with other people and you've also had some really awful experiences with it.

So we're going to talk about ways to share our spiritual lives so that we consistently get the results that we want when we share spiritually, so we can make a difference in the lives of those around us, and so we can make a difference in the relationship that we have with God as well. I'd like you to help me answer three questions in regard to spiritual sharing. The first question is: What is the purpose of sharing our spiritual life with others? The next question is: When do we share it; when is it appropriate? And last: What sort of skills do we need to more effectively share our spiritual life with others?

Again, the first question is: What is the purpose of spiritual sharing? I've already quoted The Urantia Book which says that love is the desire to do good to others. Love brings with it an inherent desire to share itself with others. And it's very interesting the way God has set this up. Because you can't feel the love from God in its full capacity until you start sharing it with other people and it begins to flow through you. Only then, only through sharing, can you really feel the full effect of God's love. I want to quote another section from The Urantia Book that reads something like this: "All true love is from God, and we receive the divine affection as we ourselves bestow this love upon others. Love is dynamic. It can never be captured; it is alive, free, thrilling and always moving. We can never take the love of the Father and imprison it within our hearts. The Father's love can become real to mortal man or woman only by passing through that person's personality as they in turn bestow this love upon others. The great circuit of love is from the Father, through sons and daughters to brothers and sisters, and hence to the Supreme." We're going to talk a little more about the Supreme in a minute. But right now, let's talk about this circuit of love that comes from the Father. It's a flow of love that is passing through us. So, inherent in our relationship with the Father is the need to share it with others.

Let me illustrate this point by comparing the way God's love works to the way a light bulb works. There are two tiny filaments of wire inside a light bulb, and when you turn on the current to that light bulb, the current passes from one piece of filament to the next piece of filament by way of a connecting wire, and it completes the circuit. Only when that electric current is passed on to the next filament will the light bulb actually work. If only one conductor of electricity were present, the circuit would not be complete and the current would have nowhere to go, and we'd all be in the dark, which I am most of the time anyway. You see, if you don't share your spiritual life, then that flow of love is interrupted and the circuit is incomplete. Love wants to be shared, and it has to be shared in order to be felt in its most complete sense. So the purpose of spiritual sharing is to pass the love we receive from God on to others, and in that process we feel his love in its fullness.

Now let's go back to the Supreme. Just what is this thing called the Supreme? And why is it important to you? When the book says the great circuit of love is from the Father, through us to others, and then to the Supreme, what is it talking about? The Supreme is that part of God which is growing right now in this universe age. It is the part of God that is evolving in time and space, as we are. When the flow of the Father's love passes through us to our brothers and sisters, we are contributing to the growth of the Supreme. Because, in a very basic sense, the experiences we have in this life contribute to what the Supreme experiences. And when you start making decisions knowing that they will affect the growth of the Supreme, then you begin to develop something that The Urantia Book calls universe citizenship, which is the mark of a maturing human being. So what is the purpose? Spiritual sharing allows the flow of love from the Father to be passed along to others, which is what that love was meant to do, and it is the only way that you can feel that love in its fullness.

The second question when looking at the tool of spiritual sharing is: When do I use this tool? Some people think that the answer to that question involves the times when someone is standing on a soap box on a street corner telling others about Jesus or inviting a friend to a Urantia Book study group or telling someone else about all those bright lights that were floating around in your head during meditation this morning. But when we limit our experiences of spiritual sharing to these special instances, we miss out on the point that every minute of every day can be an opportunity to share our spiritual lives with others. Spiritual sharing is the act of sharing God's love, and that means that sharing is considering the other person, respecting their needs and responding to them with the highest intentions that you're capable of. You always have choices on how you are going to respond to life. You will always have the opportunity to share your spiritual life with others.

Let's make this concrete. Your child has just come home from school. And she's forgotten her science homework and left it at school. It's not the first time that this has happened. Now, at the parent-teacher conference a few weeks ago, her teacher told you that she's having a lot of trouble with science. So, here you are, standing in the kitchen, it's the end of a long day and you've got to respond to this. How do you respond? Do you say, "You know, I am so tired of this. You know that you need to work on this subject more than anyone, so why don't you pay more attention to what you're doing? Let me tell you something, young lady, if you don't go back to school and get that homework, you are grounded for the rest of the week. Now, I've had enough! I mean it!"

Or, the situation can be an opportunity to share God's love with your child. And you can respond like this: "You know, when I was your age, I was having the worst time with math. I can still remember how frustrating that was. Listen, why don't you go back and get that homework and we'll work on it together until we get it right." Sometimes, that's what spiritual sharing sounds like. Very seldom do we have the opportunity to share something profound or enlightening to a person. But that doesn't stop us from giving God's love to people. So, it's obvious, then, that the answer to when can you share your spiritual life with others is: Always.

The third question that we need to ask of spiritual sharing is this: What skills do I need to share my spiritual life with others? Very often, I find that people don't even consider this question. I am of the opinion that we have a tendency to talk and think and talk and think but spend very little time actually finding ways to put these beautiful truths into our lives.

I think there's a good reason for this. It's human nature to put off doing things that we don't know how to do. Let me give you an example. When I moved to Colorado, I soon discovered that my husband and my two stepsons were crazy about downhill skiing. Every Saturday morning during the winter season, at the crack of dawn, they'd be up getting all of their gear together for the two-hour drive in traffic up to the mountains so they could freeze to death in a long lift line and then take their lives in their hands as they maneuvered down the hill. At least that's how I saw it. And no matter how much they tried to convince me that it was fun, I just couldn't see it that way. Frankly, I was sure that I would begin my descent and end up embedded in someone's car in the parking lot. But last year, John took me skiing and stayed with me the whole time as we took it easy down the beginners' slopes. And, you know, after awhile I kind of got to like it. By the end of the second day, I had a different idea about skiing. I actually had a good time. John broke his ankle, but I had a good time. And it just goes to show you that until you develop the skills that it takes to do something well, you're not going to be too diligent about applying the activity in your life.

Everyone has to work on things in order to become good at them. For example, do you think Nobel Prize heart surgeon Michael Debakey was born with heart surgeon genes? Did he graduate from high school and go straight to the operating room for his first surgery without the benefit of med school? Of course not. Did Itzhak Perlman take his first violin out of the case at age five and play an incredible sonata without the benefit of music lessons? Of course not.

You see, everything requires skill. If you want to be really good at something, you have to develop the skills that it takes to do that something well. Even Jesus took the time and spent the effort to acquire the skills that he needed to be effective in sharing his spiritual life with others. From The Urantia Book, page 1424, we are told: "The Son of Man, during the time and through the experiences of this tour of the Roman world, practically completed his educational contact-training with the diversified peoples of the world of his day and generation. By the time of his return to Nazareth, through the medium of this travel-training he had just about learned how man lived and wrought out his existence on Urantia."

Then on page 1427 it says: "On this Mediterranean tour Jesus spent about half of each day teaching Ganid and acting as interpreter during Gonod's business conferences and social contacts. The remainder of each day, which was at his disposal, he devoted to making those close personal contacts with his fellow men, those intimate associations with the mortals of the realm, which so characterized his activities during these years that just preceded his public ministry." He didn't go shopping. He didn't take tours of art museums. He got out there and learned about people. Another quote from page 1460 says: "He spent much time gaining an intimate knowledge of all races and classes of men who lived in this, the largest and most cosmopolitan city of the world."

Even Jesus spent many years acquiring skills for sharing his spiritual life. So let's identify those skills which will be useful in sharing our spiritual lives with others.

When I am working on improving my ability to share my spiritual life with others, I try to remember three words. Listen, Love and Leap. These three words make up the foundation of the skills that you can use in spiritual sharing to make the experience a good one for both you and the person with whom you're sharing, and, of course, let's not forget the Supreme. Let's talk about these three "L's" now.

The first L is Listen. A lot of people might be surprised that listening is a skill, because all of us listen; we're all listening now. Most of us have two ears that work reasonably well, but the reality is that few people listen effectively. And being a good listener is necessary if you want to share God's love. Because you have to find out what people need before you can love them. You know how Jesus always hit the nail on the head when he shared God's love with people? That wasn't just his divine nature coming through; he knew what people needed because he paid attention to what they were saying to him. On page 1874 in the book is the section entitled "As Jesus Passed By," that says, among other things, that Jesus was a charming listener.

I want to identify two skills that will help you be a more effective listener. And the best technique of listening that I know of to help us become more effective listeners is a technique called "Active Listening." The two skills from this technique are feeding back and responding to feelings and meanings rather than just the words.

However, I want to make a point here first. In the book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey, there's a chapter called "First, Seek to Understand." In this chapter, Covey reviews techniques such as active listening, and he brings an important consideration to light. If you're not genuinely interested in what someone has to say, forget it. All the techniques in the world won't help. As a matter of fact, people can sense when you're not into it, and they'll resent your manipulation. I think it's a good point to rememberso on with the techniques.

The first skill in Active Listening is something called feeding back. What it means is that when a person says something to you, you feed it back to them. Feed back the message that you think you are hearing from them. This helps you find out if you're receiving the right message and also lets them know that you're getting it. For example, your friend says, "I'm so upset with Bob!" You respond with, "You're feeling really angry." Seems pretty obvious, but this is what I usually do: My friend says "I'm so upset with Bob!" and I say, "You know, I'm upset with Bob, too. He was supposed to be here at 7:30 last night to help me move this piano and he didn't even show up until 9:00." Do you see how it helps to remember to feed back?

The second skill in Active Listening is: Cultivate an inner response to feelings and meanings rather than words. Respond to the feelings and meanings that the person is communicating rather than just what they are saying. For example, your friend says "I can't find a job." You can respond to the feelings that she's having by saying, "That must really be frustrating." If you respond to the words only, you might say something like, "Well, I'm sure that the unemployment office has a list of jobs that might interest you. Why don't you go down there and check it out?" Do you see the difference? She already knows about the unemployment office. Feed back the message and respond to feelings and meanings rather than the words.

The second L in the three L's is Love. The attitude you have when you approach spiritual sharing will either make or break your experience. If you approach someone with a feeling of "this person could really use some concepts from The Urantia Book," then don't expect the experience to be a very good one. Your attitude should really be one of receiving instead of giving, which is a paradox, since you're the one who wants to share, but you've got a lot of things to learn about someone before you can appropriately share God's love with them. So the first skill to cultivate in the context of love is to receive the other person with openness, and with a great sense of respect for them. You will distance yourself from other people when you start comparing everything about them to the opinions that you have about how you think it should be. There's a passage on page 138 in The Urantia Book where it says "The love of the Father absolutely individualizes each personality as a unique child of the Universal Father, a child without duplicate in infinity, a will creature irreplaceable in all eternity." Everyone of us is a completely different person. It's unfair to look at someone through a stereotype that you've created in your mind.

Cultivate an openness and a respect for other people so that you can see who they truly are. That way your spiritual sharing will be more appropriate when you begin responding. Jesus was so good at this. His willingness to see people for who they were and his respect for those individuals made it easier for him to really connect with people on the level that they were on, and on the subjects that they were interested in. Be open, and respect others. If you have trouble doing this, the best way to cultivate that openness and respect is by becoming more aware of your responses, so when you do make judgments about people you can monitor yourself and change that bad habit into a good one.

Skill number two in the context of love is this: Develop your faith in people. And that means that you need to believe in them for who they are. This is hard to do. It means that you have to let go of prejudices and fears about people. But faith is absolutely imperative. Faith is also very powerful. Faith releases the potential in other people. When someone else knows that you have faith in them to be able to handle their difficulties, solve their problems, attain their dreams, then you have given that person a great gift. Faith breeds faith. There's a quote in the Jesus papers on page 1875 that says, "Great things happened not only because people had faith in Jesus, but also because Jesus had so much faith in them."

I have a personal experience that I want to share with you that illustrates just how moving faith can be for a person. When I was in my early twenties, I was married to a man who had a very wonderful family. His mother was spiritual sharing personified. This woman could communicate a feeling of respect for others and faith in who they were to such an extent that people always loved being around her. We all said that she could tame a lion. Both my mother-in-law and my father-in-law were staunch Christians and were very respected people, and my mother-in-law was a hostess with the mostest. Well, I was in town for a few days visiting my new in-laws without my husband. My sister-in-law, who lived in the same town, decided to take me to the beach for the day. We had to be back a little early because my mother-in-law had invited some friends over for dinner to meet me. So, my sister-in-law and I picked up some sandwiches and a bottle of wine and headed down to the beach for the day. We sat on the beach and ate our sandwiches and drank our wine and walked on the beach and drank our wine and talked and drank our wine. I think I should mention that I come from a family of teetotalers, and it took me a few years to figure out how to drink alcohol in moderation. This was before I had that figured out. I don't remember much of what happened for the rest of the evening, but my sister-in-law told me that I came into my mother- and father-in-law's house, stood in the living room and sort of swayed and grinned, and they had to carry me to my room, pull my boots off and leave me lying there in a most indelicate manner.

I woke up the next morning with a terrible hangover, but nothing close to the horror that I was feeling about this tremendous faux pas I had just pulled in this nice respectful family who had invited guests over to meet me with the real china and the real silverware on the table! I wanted to die. I walked into the kitchen where my very polite, well-bred mother-in-law was sitting at the table doing her Bible study and stammered out something like, "I don't know what happened last night, but," and my mother-in-law jumped in and said, "Well, I do! You just haven't been eating enough!" And that was the end of the conversation. I was pardoned from any wrong-doing because I just hadn't been eating enough. Can you imagine what her spiritual sharing did for me at that moment? She had faith in me. She knew that I was young and stupid. She had a strong enough sense of her own self to not be embarrassed by what I did. She didn't care that I had come home drunk and ruined her dinner party. All she cared about at that moment was restoring my self-respect. Develop your faith in people. It's a great gift to give someone.

The first L was Listen. The second L was Love. And the third L is Leap. Taking a leap of faith is very important if you want to share your spiritual life with others. Because one of the biggest barriers you will face is the fear of rejection. A good example of this is demonstrated by how people react when someone they know is getting a divorce or has a death in the family. Friends tend to fade into the woodwork during those times. And when you ask them why, they say things like, "Oh, I really don't know the situation. I don't want to say the wrong thing and make matters worse," or, "I don't want to appear nosy or meddlesome!" We are so afraid to let go of the controls and enter a situation where we're not sure what's going to happen. I'm not suggesting that by taking a leap of faith we can expect God to start talking inside of our heads, saying, "Okay, this is what you need to do." Rather, taking a leap of faith means believing that God is going to take care of our needs even if we do end up with egg on our faces. So we can relax and let the situation play itself out so we can determine what sort of sharing is appropriate.

I was once in a prayer group at my church. We'd meet every Thursday morning, and there was a very elderly lady who came every week. She came into the room in a wheelchair and she then transferred to her walker before finally getting into her chair, and it was a rather precarious operation. But her mind was very keen, and she had a wonderful wisdom that made her very interesting to listen to. But when the prayer group was over, I was afraid I'd be asked to help her get into her wheelchair and I was afraid I'd mess things up, so I always ended our conversation before it was time for her to go. What I was really doing was saying, "I really like what you have to say, but I'm not comfortable with the fact that you're an invalid." One day, there was no one else to help, and I thought, "Good grief, Carol, stop being so afraid of being in an awkward situation and help her!" So I did. And it was awkward, but it was a small example of how my relationship with another human being became whole because I stopped worrying about my needs so I could move into an area that I was not comfortable with. Take that leap of faith and trust God to take care of your needs.

Develop your listening skills. Concentrate on a loving attitude. And trust God to take care of you. It's a procedure that can be applied to even the most ordinary situation. And ordinary situations are what most of life is made of. Because although I'd love to be blinded on the road to Damascus like Paul and have God say, "Carol Hay, this is your life mission," I don't think it's going to happen. What God really wants from me is for me to take the love that he's offering in abundance, pass it through my personality and express it to the universe as only I can do. How we respond to life is our only real gift to God.

I'd like to close with part of a poem by Michael Hanna that describes just how important those everyday responses to life really are:

For love is lavish when rendered in small ways
And each of us profits or suffers
In measure with all of us

And as the qualities of the part
So the qualities of the whole
Forever will these little opportunities to love
That daily drop into our hands
Abundantly satisfy the question

"Lord, what will you have me do?"