Postings

Ideology Becoming Dogma

In this posting we revisit an important topic covered in our previous blog; what happens when an ideological goal becomes the primary focus for a group of people? Having such a goal is not a problem but difficulties arise when the goal is not based on facts or reality. It is OK to have an idealistic ideal to strive for, some transformation needed by society, but ignoring certain facts of life makes any goal unattainable.

In our society there are many crosscurrents involving various points of view. Having several differing viewpoints is not a bad thing but expressing them with heated emotions is now more common than in the past. Many feel their worldview is the only valid one there is, they cannot even begin to understand what motivates those who hold differing opinions; these viewpoints reach the level of dogma.

“Nothing is more dangerous than a dogmatic worldview—nothing more constraining, more blinding to innovation, more destructive of openness to novelty.”[1] When the ideas driving individuals reach the level of dogma, there arises a disconnect from reality. Dogma means accepting ideas and principles without question.[2]

This is what happens when a particular idea or goal is considered to be so vital, so important that achieving this goal is the focus of their being, their reality; an ideology is simply a set of beliefs shared by a particular group.[3]

The process proceeds in this way; first a group of individuals gather and discuss some particular goal, something important that is missing from their society. They reach a consensus on their goal and develop a plan to achieve it. At some point they might declare their goal is so vital any means must be used to reach their goal; this recognition may evolve over time as they recognize their goal is not being reached. The goal has then become their morality and their ideology has become dogma.

This mixing of goal and morality is a catastrophic blunder because it means there is no moral framework, no moral foundation to determine which actions are acceptable and which are not. {Moral Foundation} This is especially important for goals which are difficult to attain, those involving a long time frame. Without a moral framework it is too easy to take moral shortcuts when progress is not apparent. Impatience was a major factor in the downfall of Adam and Eve.

Our largely secular society may want to forget about our Heavenly Father, creator of all things and beings, but God is a fact of life who cannot be ignored. God is actually present within each thinking mortal on Earth. Recognizing the presence of our Heavenly father within each of us will provide a strong moral foundation and give us a chance to attain our idealistic goals because now our work is based on reality, on God.

No worthy goal can be attained without realizing God is with us and guiding us, we need only listen to Him and follow the spiritual guidance each of us receive.

  1. Stephen Jay Gould, quoted by John Mauldin in “Thoughts from the Frontline” 6/8/19 ↑

  2. https://www.thefreedictionary.com/ Retrieved 6/10/19 ↑

  3. Ibid ↑

Ideologically Driven Processes

This posting discusses “Ideologically Driven Processes.”

Ideologically driven processes occur when individuals seize upon a particular goal so strongly they will go to any length to attain it. They feel their goal is so vitally important anything is acceptable in their quest; this goal then becomes their morality. Their actions are no longer measured against right and wrong but against how it helps them reach their goal. There is no possibility of success when goal and morality become confused in this way.

An example of this is Communism. Their original goal was to attain a “workers’ paradise” where common labor would be properly compensated for their work, which is certainly a worthy goal. The problem with Communism is they had no moral foundation, they felt it was necessary to use any means whatsoever to attain that goal, thus resulting in the socially repressive conditions of their regimes. They felt obligated because of the difficulty in convincing governments to recognize the rights of workers; since they were impatient and wanted results soon they felt obligated to use strong methods. Once they started on the path of seeking their goal at all costs they gave up any chance of reaching that goal. Those who embark on such an ideologically driven process can never attain their goal because of their lack of moral foundation.

Having a moral foundation based on the truth that God is present within each thinking mortal on this planet is vital. When we realize this and use it as our moral compass, sorting out priorities becomes much easier.

Terrorists in general fall into this category because their goal, whether they seek social or religious reform, is seen to be so vitally important they feel conventional morality no longer applies, the supposedly transcendent goal has overtaken their morality.

Terrorists seek out those who feel disadvantaged in some way; this may not necessarily be because of poverty. Recruits would be carefully fed information to indicate a way out of their misery; once these individuals have fallen into the terrorist mindset it is difficult for them to return to society.

An article in Foreign Affairs Magazine addresses this point; “Teenage Terrorists Aren’t Lost Forever” by Nabeelah Jaffer discusses this issue of returning young terrorists to society. The radicalization process is termed “de-pluralization” where potential recruits are led to “see the world through the lens of a single story.” This story then becomes the focus of their existence as they buy into the terrorist mindset. “The urgency of the problem demands an urgent response: Violence seems justified in pursuit of a noble cause.” They have therefore bought into an ideologically driven process.

One way to return these individuals to society is, in effect, to reverse the process; in other words they aregradually introduced into a more pluralistic view of the world. Such procedures offer more promise than to force feed them “proper” dogma. The gradual pluralistic approach certainly seems the better way.

This process could be used in any instance where radicals have become fixated on a certain idealistic goal to the exclusion of morality. Such individuals could be introduced into a more pluralistic mindset, have their point of view expanded to the point where we all are sisters and brothers because each one of us has a spark of God within. A firm moral foundation must be in place before the needs of the disadvantaged can be addressed.

Recognizing our Light of Truth

This posting is an entry on the Talking Points page which lists topics from my book “Light of Truth – Anticipating the Triumph of Righteousness.” Each one of us can become an individual Light of Truth if we follow the guidance of the fragment of God dwelling within. The problem is not the rampant evil on our native planet; rather it is our inability and unwillingness to listen for God’s guidance in our lives. He truly wants to help us but we must listen and follow that guidance.

Our study of The Urantia Book reveals we have all the pieces necessary to build a character able to go forth and contest the forces promoting deceit and iniquity. We now put them together in a way to guide us toward living these teachings, striving to make this world a better place in which to live; indeed, a better place for everyone on the face of Earth.

There are seven stages in the soul construction process; each one of these successive realizations brings us closer to becoming equipped to move out into the greater world promoting righteousness, peace, love, and brotherhood.

The first and most important of these steps toward recognizing our Light of Truth is to realize each one of us has a literal spark of God dwelling within. We may be looking at the most unhappy, confused person imaginable; even there our Heavenly Father is within that human being striving to bring light and truth to that individual. God is no respecter of persons; we all stand equal before Him. This truth of God within is the bedrock of our reality, our soul and our eternal future.

Knowing this, we have faith that God will guide us in our daily lives. This will not be an obvious leading, no text message or email, rather it will be gentle guidance showing the way. Our Father does not coerce, does not force but if we choose to follow His guidance, we will know the way. We will know the way. This is a distinct awareness of how we should proceed; we will know it in our soul and the more willingly we follow this guidance the more readily we will recognize it next time. Having faith, knowing God is guiding us, is fundamental to making spiritual progress.

Once we recognize and accept God’s guidance, the next step is choosing to follow His lead. We might fear difficulties will be involved or we would rather do something else. There may be any number of excuses we want to present. Following our Heavenly Father only when it is easy does not count as doing God’s will. One thought that helped me when dealing with these matters was becoming confident that God would not ask me to do something either beyond my ability or immoral; he would not ask me to do the non-doable. Choosing to follow the will of our Heavenly Father will not be the easy way, but doing so means we have God fully on our side. Bring it on!

A covenant is a formal agreement between an individual and our Father. This covenant means we accept that God’s favor is entirely based on faith alone. If we have faith in God and share this faith in our daily lives, He will protect us. We do not have any idea exactly how this protection works, but it will surround us. God cannot protect us against our recklessness or going against God’s will, but those of full faith can be protected. Before proceeding, each individual must personally, individually, and solemnly accept and uphold our covenant – this holy pact with our Heavenly Father.

As a result of this we will enjoy a more personal relationship with our Heavenly Father. In our interactions with people we see the individual, we exchange words and emotions, but with God there arises a certainty within, often difficult to describe. This certainty is at the center of our being – in our soul. Our personal relationship with God becomes the core of our being, the center around which the rest of our soul – our existence – revolves. This relationship with God promotes the best we can become; we interact with our Father through living experience rather than with dogma and preachers.

At this point we will be able to bring the Motivating Story to life in our relationship with our sisters and brothers. This story energizes our efforts to reach out and share these teachings, to fully live them. Living the story means we become focused and eager to participate in the spread of these teachings of peace, love and joy. Living the story means we now have a framework on which to build a new world, we have a meaningful and vitalizing world view.

After this process we are becoming, each one of us, a Light of Truth. We know God is with us, guiding us and helping us to become more aware of spiritual reality. We will certainly not know what lies in the future, we will not know what the consequences of our actions will be but we do know we have the best possible guide in all creation: Our Heavenly Father who created all things, all beings, and who is love.

One valid question at this point is: What does it mean to become a Light of Truth? It means we become tuned into God’s will; the Spirit of Truth will guide us into truth, and our actions declare truth. This does not mean we become perfect or infallible, it does not mean we are an unthinking robot spouting spiritual platitudes. We become thoughtful, although still flawed, spirit guided human beings dedicated to following the guidance each one of us receives; we become people consecrated to following God’s will in making this native planet of ours a better place for each one of God’s creatures, large, small or apparently insignificant. Every one of them is a creature of God.

These stages on the road toward becoming a Light of Truth are:  recognizing each one of us has a spark of God within; having faith our Heavenly Father will guide us; accepting this guidance, choosing to do God’s will; accepting the covenant that faith is the sole requirement to receive God’s protection; we will enjoy an intimate personal relationship with God; we then bring the motivating story to life. Each one of us can become a Light of Truth to our sisters and brothers – all of them.

When this happens we can move forward into the world according to our Father’s will. We may not have any idea what will transpire but we can be confident God does have a plan to make this native world of ours a better place. Our Father knows how to make everything more equitable for each creature. God has a plan for each one of us; we now have the tools to help us cooperate with His divine plan for our life.

Jesus – the Man

As WE Pass By

Being fully human Jesus had emotions just as we have them. For example when addressing believers in Zebedee’s house (father of the apostles James and John) he was unusually cheerful. When it became time to part with the apostles the “sorrow of love” placed a great strain on his human heart. He certainly felt love and compassion toward Mary his mother. At the tomb of Lazarus he wept. Indeed he experienced the full range of human emotions from joy to good humor and on to sorrow and grief, but he was a child of joy; his frequent exhortation was “be of good cheer” just as today we might say “be happy.”

Jesus was indeed a mortal until the day of his baptism in the Jordan River when the divine portion of his career began. After this event he was in full communication with his Thought Adjuster (also called adjuster, the spark of God within everyone) who had been personalized after the baptism by John and was now a separate personality. This dual nature of Jesus gives his life story such power and makes it spiritually compelling.

The personality of Jesus was such that all manner of people were drawn to him. Many of the apostles were manly fishermen and such individuals would not be drawn to the mystical type of person generally depicted in our artwork. His personality was perfected by his decisions and by faithfully following the advice of his adjuster.

The personality of Jesus was such that it appealed to all manner of people, from educated intellectuals to sturdy Roman soldiers to Galilean fishermen. He was totally sincere and interested in each individual he met; he fully loved each individual, this showed in his interactions with every person; he loved people so much because he placed a high value upon them.

His personality was such that people were comfortable when they were with him. Though they called him Rabbi, they were learning not to be afraid of him. Jesus possessed that matchless grace of personality which enabled him so to live among them that they were not dismayed by his divinity. They found it really easy to be “friends with God,” God incarnate in the likeness of mortal flesh (Urantia Book1534.1). They immediately respected him and called him Rabbi even though he had no formal training. It was and still is easy to be friends with him.

This is a vital point; it is easy to be friends with God. He is our closest, most intimate friend; He truly knows us and loves us. He knows our value, our unique personality and the contributions we can make as we grow in spiritual awareness and service. It is easy to be friends with God.

The greatest proof of the mortal nature of Jesus is his humiliation and crucifixion. He was tried unfairly, beaten and dealt an ignominious death at the hands of religious zealots but he maintained his dignity and composure throughout.

The most compelling indication of his distinctive character was when Pontius Pilot gestured toward him and proclaimed: “Behold the man!”

Jesus the human being with his unshakable faith in God is a compelling image for mortals struggling with a hostile environment of materialism and greed, but Christianity forsook the human Jesus in its glorification of him as the divine Christ. After the emotions connected with Pentecost, Jesus became a religion and his human aspects were largely ignored. While the glorified Christ is truly a noble story it neglects the human Jesus. We must not lose sight of this human Jesus because he is our brother as well as our creator.

We must now figuratively resurrect the human Jesus from the tomb where his mortal struggles were buried underneath the theological traditions and religious dogmas of more than two thousand years. These traditions do portray a splendid concept of the Christ, but they do not speak to our human efforts and needs. The religious authorities who put Jesus to death were mired in tradition and dogma just as many current religious leaders are. The revelation of The Urantia Book was given to us at this time so we who seek righteousness can bring a breath of fresh air into the religious community today; we should seek God’s guidance in bringing this truth forward.How unfortunate that religion itself should be so misinterpreted as to take the human Jesus away from struggling mortals! Let not the discussions of the humanity or the divinity of the Christ obscure the saving truth that Jesus of Nazareth was a religious man who, by faith, achieved the knowing and the doing of the will of God; he was the most truly religious man who has ever lived on Urantia. (Urantia Book 2090.2) (The universe name of our planet is Urantia.)

Welcome to UB Light of Truth

This is the opening posting for “Light of Truth: Anticipating the Triumph of Righteousness” by Doug Cable. My book is based on teachings of The Urantia Book, a new revelation of truth to our planet, which is known as Urantia.

Since I am new to this website thing, please bear with me as I seek to figure out this new realm. The website (UBLightofTruth.com) has, in addition to the usual pages (Home, Blog, and About) a page labeled Talking Points, which is an extensive list of talking points based on “Light of Truth.” Four entries are currently posted; two near the top (Adam and Eve – Garden and Death Becomes Graduation) as well as two near the bottom under “Urantia” (Urantia Book – Purpose and Urantia Book – Validation); others will be added as they are introduced in this blog.

“Light of Truth” uses the revelations in The Urantia Book to help us understand ourselves, our surroundings, and our potential, even our eternal potential. We find that a singular event in our distant past has had a profound effect on our history, even down to this day. “Light of Truth” examines this impact and makes specific suggestions for counteracting the negative forces in our society.

Following is the entry “Urantia Book – Purpose” from the Talking Points page.

The spiritual condition of our planet cries out for deliverance from these troubled times. There is too much violence, hatred and evil for a supposedly civilized planet. We are closer to being barbarians than civil human beings.

Earth needs spiritual guidance so that we can make the necessary changes to bring about peace and brotherhood. The previous revelation of truth was the life and teachings of Jesus more than two thousand years ago. While his teachings greatly uplifted the spiritual awareness of our native planet, many of his teachings were not assimilated by those who followed him. One example of this is the truth that every normal minded person on Earth is indwelt by a fragment of God. Our Heavenly Father is literally within everyone, which has astounding implications. Everyone without exception has value, purpose and meaning because of this. If those who claim to follow Jesus realized this truth there would no longer be religious strife between Christians and those of other faiths.

Sending another such teacher today would not work in our near instantaneous mass media environment because such a person would undoubtedly become the news and the teachings would mostly be lost in noise. If there were miracles, the news frenzy would be unbelievable.

Given our situation, the best solution would be to give us a new revelation of truth in a book form. That way it could be distributed, studied, shared, and integrated into the lives of its students. Recognition of its value would be gradual, allowing time for the message to sink in and become deeply meaningful for its students. This way the teachings would be the driving factor instead of some momentary news event.

The purpose of The Urantia Book is to increase our spiritual awareness, to uplift our lives, our society, our government, and to improve the overall spiritual health of Earth. Our beautiful native planet cries out for peace and harmony, without a major increase in spiritual awareness the future of life on this planet is in peril.

The actual message Jesus taught needs to be restated for our times. Everyone needs to know we are all equally indwelt by a fragment of God; we need to know that spiritual reality is vital to our wellbeing. We need to know that eternal life is truly ours for the asking and that we are all sisters and brothers; there are no exceptions.

Society has been largely secular for way too long, it has ignored our Heavenly Father and this is evident in the state of our society. We need a spiritual uplift; The Urantia Book shows us the way to achieve this.

The Urantia Book is not a book to merely read and put aside, it must be studied and its teachings be allowed to transform our life, our interactions with our sisters and brothers, as well as our society. Its purpose is to begin the process of bringing peace, brotherhood, and joy to Earth.

Originally Posted 1/7/19