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Nearly a month ago my hard disk crashed; it has been a struggle to get everything about the website back in order. This entry was ready a couple weeks ago, but only now have I been able to post. I could not wait to share these thoughts about the bridge between physical and spiritual reality: mota.
Mortal beings have great difficulty comprehending spiritual realty. To us it seems incomprehensible that there is more to reality than what we can see, touch or feel. For example many times we have been asked “What do angels look like?” the answer is they are spirit beings, in the purely physical sense they do not exist. They exist in spiritual reality, not in physical reality. A vague analogy is love; like spiritual reality, love cannot be seen or analyzed, yet it is certainly real. The bridge guiding us into spiritual reality is called mota.
I do not pretend to be a philosopher; that being said, I have thoughts on this subject based on revelations in The Urantia Book. Mortal philosophy functions well except when it ventures beyond the physical realm into the swamp of metaphysics, which is generally something beyond the physical. A material philosophy cannot safely go outside the physical without some sort of guidance from beyond the physical. Our revelation calls this guidance mota. Revelation is the only technique which can compensate for the absence of the truth sensitivity of mota in a material world. Revelation authoritatively clarifies the muddle of reason-developed metaphysics on an evolutionary sphere.[1]
Mota presents philosophical statements highlighting superphysical value. It also implicitly rejects many other conflicting ideas; filtering out the unworthy. This clarification helps us begin to comprehend spiritual reality and gives hints as to how we can increase our level of spiritual awareness.
Mota is more than a superior philosophy; it is to philosophy as two eyes are to one; it has a stereoscopic effect on meanings and values. Material man sees the universe, as it were, with but one eye—flat.[2] As we grow in spiritual understanding we attain a wider viewpoint, we superimpose our physical experiences onto the mota guided by revelation; thereby being able to distinguish between the worthy and the unworthy. We begin to achieve a more spiritual outlook; we see with both the physical and the spiritual, gaining a stereoscopic world vision.
The mota statements have been rearranged into various categories to assist our understanding of these vital concepts. Each statement is referred to by its number; they are on 556.3 to 557.14 in The Urantia Book.
Spiritual and Physical Reality
There is only one mota in this topic, but it is a vital one. Understanding that the spiritual is something other than the physical is fundamental to spiritual growth. We cannot grow into the spiritual from the physical unless we know there is something beyond, above, and more desirable; something other than the physical. Our eternal life and growth depends on this.
Falsehoods Revealed
18. Impatience is a spirit poison; anger is like a stone hurled into a hornet’s nest.
19. Anxiety must be abandoned. The disappointments hardest to bear are those which never come.
28. The argumentative defense of any proposition is inversely proportional to the truth contained.
Weeding out falsehoods, pointing out undesirable characteristics, is a vital aspect of mota. The first of these is cleverness; which might be useful in the short term, but it is shallow and does not give true lasting character. Often we try to appear more than we really are; we may pretend to be successful while inwardly we are barren; these are shallow personalities. Being aware of and avoiding spirit poisons is a vital aspect of spiritual growth; among these poisons are impatience and anger. God is guiding and helping us; therefore there is no need for anxiety. We worry endlessly over things which never happen.
The last mota in this section is a classic commentary on our current political, societal, and interpersonal discourse. The louder and stronger we defend our position, the less truth we have to offer. In this respect, the soft word of truth falls like a great stone into the arena of discourse, however the loud shouting of untruth means many who listen only to the shouting without thinking will be misled by the noise. They listen to the form, not the substance. And so it is in our society.
When we know which characteristics to avoid, we are better prepared to begin our spiritual growth.
Action
7. Blind and unforeseen accidents do not occur in the cosmos. Neither do the celestial beings assist the lower being who refuses to act upon his light of truth.
9. Action achieves strength; moderation eventuates in charm.
22. The evolving soul is not made divine by what it does, but by what it strives to do.
When we seek spiritual growth it is important to act, and Jesus was certainly known for acting decisively. The statement in the middle, #22, might appear to have a different message, but this is not the case; blind unthinking actions would be dangerous. The important thing is what is the goal of our actions, what are trying to accomplish? Action guided by firm spiritual goals should be our objective; when we have a worthy goal we must act.
When we act based on our light of truth we will be assisted by celestial beings. As we seek growth, fortuitous things happen as a result of such assistance. When we act we become strong but when we restrain ourselves from acting unwisely, charm is acquired. When we act based upon our spiritual goals, God decides the consequences. Today’s actions determine our destiny tomorrow. Being strong is not as important as is using our strength wisely. If we know truth we must act upon that truth.
Difficulties
8. Effort does not always produce joy, but there is no happiness without intelligent effort.
The gulf between the physical and the spiritual is wide indeed; therefore efforts to personally connect the two are difficult. As we seek to personally bridge this formidable gap we must address our personal shortcomings, face them and change them; when we do this we move toward spiritual awareness.
Any goal that is truly worthy will be challenging; such goals only stimulate the true seekers of righteousness. There may not always be joy, but there can be no joy unless we strive to improve. “The greatest affliction,” if everything is given to us without striving, why would we put forth any effort to improve? Such individuals get stuck in the doldrums. In the depths of difficult personal experience we gain experiential insights that are not possible if we are in the illuminated heights of ecstasy. Spiritually worthwhile growth always comes with a struggle.
It is certainly true that spiritual truth has to be experienced, it cannot be obtained from a book; only in the depths of personal adversity, personal experience, can we glimpse it. Spiritual truth is available for anyone who earnestly desires it.
The Arts
20. Only a poet can discern poetry in the commonplace prose of routine existence.
On the first reading these are difficult to understand, why is it that a poet can pull poetry out of everyday experiences? How can the arts make this happen?
Art proves that man is not mechanistic…. Art is mortal morontia, the intervening field between man, the material, and man, the spiritual. Poetry is an effort to escape from material realities to spiritual values.[3]
The arts are similar to mota; they act as a bridge between the physical and the spiritual. The purpose of the photos on this website is to encourage a spiritual emotion. For example, the photo of a rose on the Talking Points page “God Within” is not merely a rose photo; the goal of the photos is to evoke a feeling that is related to the subject of the article. This is a fuzzy area, but that is the aim: to highlight something physical in a way that evokes spiritual emotions.
The photo for this posting of our little cove in Western North Carolina shows peace and tranquility; we appreciate these opportunities to share our life and the ecosystem in these ancient mountains. Nearly 400 million years ago these mountains were as high as the Alps are today.[4]
Faith
10. Righteousness strikes the harmony chords of truth, and the melody vibrates throughout the cosmos, even to the recognition of the Infinite.
At first blush it would appear that “unreasoned fear” should be in the first category, “Falsehoods Revealed;” however, it says that we do not live up to the faith we have, if we did we would not experience unreasoned fear. We may feel we have faith, but it does not impact our daily lives strongly enough. If we truly have faith, then we will live it every moment of our existence. The many gifts given us by the ministries of God are rich indeed; we must accept them and use them in faith. When we fully live our faith, our righteousness fills creation. Have faith in God to the end of your days on earth.[5]
Civilization
6. To enjoy privilege without abuse, to have liberty without license, to possess power and steadfastly refuse to use it for self-aggrandizement—these are the marks of high civilization.
17. Ambition is dangerous until it is fully socialized. You have not truly acquired any virtue until your acts make you worthy of it.
26. Knowledge is possessed only by sharing; it is safeguarded by wisdom and socialized by love.
27. Progress demands development of individuality; mediocrity seeks perpetuation in standardization.
Thoughts
14. Whet the appetites of your associates for truth; give advice only when it is asked for.
After assigning the mota to categories these were left over, last but certainly not least.
Giving advice out randomly is rarely productive. Those of us who are students of The Urantia Book certainly know this. Handing the book out randomly is rarely productive. Give advice only when there is a real interest.
We call death graduation; we graduate from life in the flesh to a better life on high. Friends of ours call it getting a promotion; we are promoted to better life beyond the physical.
Comments
This posting is too long already; we close with a quote.
Revelation is evolutionary man’s only hope of bridging the morontia gulf. Faith and reason, unaided by mota, cannot conceive and construct a logical universe. Without the insight of mota, mortal man cannot discern goodness, love, and truth in the phenomena of the material world.[6]
It is up to each one of us to increase our understanding of these truths, to truly live them every moment of our existence. If we do, we can go forth and share these revelations in our lives. Become a Light of Truth.
[1] 554.1; all references are to The Urantia Book one column version in the format page:paragraph.
[2] 554.2
[3] 2079.10
[4] 673.8
[5] 2049.4
[6] 1137.3