Postings – Page 2 – UB Light of Truth

These In-between Times

These in-between times are a result of leaving formalized religion without replacing it with something to satisfy our innate spiritual needs. Man’s greatest spiritual jeopardy consists in partial progress, the predicament of unfinished growth: forsaking the evolutionary religions of fear without immediately grasping the revelatory religion of love.[1] This new religion of love was proclaimed by Jesus of Nazareth over two thousand years ago.

Our society lacks a firm foundation to guide us through the turmoil of current events. We can rely on our Urantia Book teachings as something to grasp for assistance. In the distant past religions of authority guided lives; today these are inadequate. We are raping Mother Earth, shooting brothers and sisters, political discourse is powered by extremists; this is unacceptable. We are no better than barbarians. We need this new religion which has the power to motivate us; moving us toward a new dawn of brotherhood.

In-between

The twentieth century was characterized by rapid scientific change, industrial growth, and societal upheavals. At the same time there was a gradual decline in church authority that began with the reformation in 16^th century Europe. These changes were gradual at first, but after 1900 the pace of change accelerated; the first half of the century saw two world wars while the second half saw more wars and riots in the streets protesting war as well as racial inequality.

During these times family life and personal religious experience suffered from the decadence consequent upon the transition from old religious loyalties to the emerging new meanings and values.[2] The meanings and values generally adopted did not include the moral foundation that religions of authority had; they became contaminated by materialism and greed. A well-known movie quote from this period is: “Greed is good.”

Transition is always accompanied by confusion….[3]

New Religion

You may preach a religion about Jesus, but, perforce, you must live the religion of Jesus.[4]

When we hear a sermon we are receiving religion second hand. For religion to have value it must change us in some way. A sermon may convince us to mend our ways and change our life, but this does not occur often enough. For change to take place we must want to improve; there has to be a yearning for something better: a hunger for spiritual growth. The teacher of truth attracts only those who hunger for the truth and who thirst for righteousness.[5] When the preacher gives a sermon, only those who are hungering for truth have a good chance to embrace such truth.

True religion is a meaningful way of living dynamically face to face with the commonplace realities of everyday life.[6]

True religion is a dynamic way of reacting to life’s situations; it is a blueprint for our existence. If religion does not bring inner changes to our being, it is merely belief, not faith. Our lives are filled with constantly changing circumstances, desires and priorities. We need a dynamic religion to keep up with change and show us the way in these uncertain times. Jesus came to give us such a personal religion.[7]

The religion of Jesus does, indeed, dominate and transform its believers, demanding that men dedicate their lives to seeking for a knowledge of the will of the Father in heaven and requiring that the energies of living be consecrated to the unselfish service of the brotherhood of man.[8]

We may read about this new religion; but it has value only when we live and experience it.

One paragraph in The Urantia Book neatly compares traditional religion with the religion of Jesus.[9] Traditional religions preach about what we must give up while the religion of Jesus teaches us to forget ourselves in enhanced self-realization coupled with social service and a growing awareness of the universe around us. Traditional religions have a large component of fear derived from the Bible’s Old Testament; the new gospel of the kingdom is dominated by truth-conviction, the spirit of eternal and universal truth. No matter how pious or how closely we follow traditional church doctrine, vital life experience in the kingdom is absent; spirit-born children of the living God are filled with sincere friendliness. Neither tradition nor a ceremonial system of formal worship can atone for the lack of genuine compassion for one’s fellows.

The Center for Unity

A final note on a different subject. The Center for Unity is aimed at presenting Jesus as revealed in The Urantia Book to the world; young adults are the specific group they wish to reach. There is an excellent presentation describing it. More information can be found at their website. This threefold project is called the Jesus Metaverse which is based mainly on Part IV of The Urantia Book; it consists of a physical museum, an interconnected web presence, and a series of cinema on the life of Jesus.

[1] 1090.4; all references are to The Urantia Book in the format page.paragraph.

[2] 1089.10

[3] 1090.5

[4] 2091.10

[5] 1815.3

[6] 1089.11

[7] 1629.5

[8] 2083.2

[9] 1951.1

To SEE our Heavenly Father

Our Driveway

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Many times Jesus declared those who have seen him have seen the Father.[1] This is certainly profound, but is it relevant to us? Jesus ascended from our planet two thousand years ago; it would seem this declaration is not pertinent. However, there is more to reality than physical eyes can perceive.

Literally and figuratively, spiritually and personally, the Father and the Sons are one. It is a fact: He who has seen a Creator Son has seen the Father.[2]

See?

When we think about “see,” the first idea that comes to mind is examining something using our eyes. Every waking moment we see. Every visual input we have is received when we see something.

Seeing: we examine the above photograph and then think about it. We see the white truck and compare its size with our home; this gives an idea how big our home is. Finally the trees are several times taller yet. In the foreground our cat is surveying the whole scene. Having made these observations, we can contemplate what they mean.

Our eyes are vital to understanding the world around us.

Experience

Our dictionary has several meanings for the word see;[3] three of the first four are: get a clear mental impression of, learn or discover, and to have personal knowledge of. None of these rely on visual input. These involve experience, thinking and wisdom; they involve gaining an understanding of something.

We have access to a full presentation of the life and teachings of Jesus in The Urantia Book. Using this reference we can obtain a deeper comprehension of Jesus. We can SEE Jesus; therefore we can SEE our Father.

See!

Jesus well knew that God can be known only by the realities of experience; never can he be understood by the mere teaching of the mind…. You can know God, not by understanding what Jesus said, but by knowing what Jesus was. Jesus was a revelation of God.[4]

By studying the life of Jesus in Part IV of The Urantia Book we learn more about our Father because every aspect of the life of Jesus is a revelation of God. The way he interacts with countless mortals reveals how God would interact with each of them. We see how He would treat an erring family member (Jude, the younger brother of Jesus); how He would treat women and children, how He would react to being unfairly arrested and put on trial for his life. And so much more.

By learning about the life of Jesus we truly SEE our Heavenly Father.

Jesus admonishes every kingdom believer to become one with him even as he and his Father are one. The living experience in the religion of Jesus thus becomes the sure and certain technique whereby the spiritually isolated and cosmically lonely mortals of earth are enabled to escape personality isolation….[5]

Tags: God, Jesus, knowing God

[1] For example: 1750.7, this refers to the one column version of The Urantia Book in the format page.paragraph. See also the Bible, John 12:45

[2] 361.1

[3] Webster’s New World Dictionary, 1988.

[4] 1865.2

[5] 1985.1

Personality – Toward an Understanding

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Gaining a satisfactory understanding of our book is challenging. One reason is because we approach studying The Urantia Book while carrying preconceived notions about what certain words mean. Sometimes the authors of this revelation need to use words in a different way so they can introduce enlarged and partly spiritual concepts to us material minded mortals; personality and character fall into this category.

Character is used with the customary meaning: distinguishing attributes of an object or an individual, for example.

Personality is an entirely different situation; it is used over 1,000 times in the book but what does it mean? They tell us it would be presumptuous to attempt the definition of personality….[1] ( ! )

Their concept of personality involves concepts partly beyond material reality; it is complex, understanding it will take some effort. To fully understand their use of personality we must first disregard any non-Urantia Book definition.

Characteristics

We discuss characteristics of personality itself, not features of individual personalities. For a detailed investigation into levels of personality see Paper 112 section 1 “Personality and Reality” starting on 1226.5.

At the beginning of Paper 112, “Personality Survival,” some characteristics of personality are given;[2] following is part of this list; their use of personality is complex, its definition cannot be squeezed into a few simple words.

First and foremost it is a gift from the Father. God alone bestows personality and this is separate from the Thought Adjuster.

It may be given to anything having a mind or a spirit.

Personality is creative or cocreative; our moral choices today create our eternal reality.

Since we have it, we can use our mind to manipulate our environment; this goes beyond making simple tools.

It can be used to identify a particular living energy system since each personality is unique. This identity holds constant as we pass from our material mechanism (physical body) to our morontia form, beyond into the spiritual region, into Paradise, and beyond.

In the presence of change this does not change.

Personality can give a gift to God: a free will determination to do God’s will.

Each personality is unique in all creation.

It reacts to other personalities.

Depending on its choices it achieves eternal life with identity in the soul.

Fine Tuning our Understanding

Because of our personality, each of us is a spiritual being. God who is spirit gave us our personality; our unity of selfhood and self-consciousness of personality are supermaterial.[3] The reason personality is so difficult to comprehend is because it is non-physical while our consciousness is rooted in materialism.

Personality is that feature of an individual which we know, and which enables us to identify such a being at some future time…. Personality is that part of any individual which enables us to recognize and positively identify that person as the one we have previously known….[4]

When we die, we prefer to call this graduating from our material reality into a more spiritual region, our personality is disrupted because, even though it is not wholly material, our personality depends on our physical body to function.[5] Our personality is preserved for us; ready when repersonalize on a world on high, ready for our eternal adventure.

After graduation, when we become conscious on the mansion world, our personality will recognize other personalities we have known; we will remember them based on their unique personality. Into eternity.

[1] 1225.2

[2] 1225.3-1226.4

[3] 1228.4

[4] 194.4

[5] 1234.3

Mind-Growing our Soul

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We generally think of ourselves as living entirely in a material body. Everything we see, touch and are aware of is made up of matter; however there is a vital part of our being we generally ignore: our mind. We observe, analyze, correlate, and propose solutions to problems entirely within our mind.

Material mind is the arena in which human personalities live, are self-conscious, make decisions, choose God or forsake him, eternalize or destroy themselves.[1]

There are important considerations when we attempt to understand what is going on inside our mind. While we cannot fully comprehend its inner workings, we can at least learn to direct our own mind into more beneficial pathways. The goal of our thoughts should be to find our God fragment within.

Surveying the Field

Our mind is the thinking, perceiving, and feeling mechanism of the human organism. The total conscious and unconscious experience. The intelligence associated with the emotional life reaching upward through worship and wisdom to the spirit level.[2]

In our mind we are relatively free; we can direct our thoughts in any direction, pursue them wherever they may go. It is in our mind that our free will is strongest. This can be a good thing if we use wisdom when directing our minds, otherwise there may be unhappy consequences.

Within our mind, consciousness is free of material restraints; there are no material objects, no innate guideposts. As we see below, there are subtle leadings that could lead us into greater spiritual awareness; we need to recognize them and choose to do God’s will in all things.

Difficulties

Too often, all too often, you mar your minds by insincerity and sear them with unrighteousness; you subject them to animal fear and distort them by useless anxiety.[3]

Citizens in a materialistic society such as ours become particularly susceptible to mind difficulties when they recognize no spiritual guidance, nothing to give direction to their thoughts except materialism, which is basically greed. Having a mind without recognizing an inner moral direction is like being alone in a trackless desert with evening coming on. The current rash of mass shootings in our nation is a glaring symptom of our lack of moral guidance.

Mortal mind can actually be twisted, distorted, and rendered evil and ugly by the sinful machinations of a perverse and self-seeking human will. Likewise can this mind be made noble, beautiful, true, and good—actually great—in accordance with the spirit-illuminated will of a God-knowing human being.[4]

We make decisions based on our personality, background, and desires. If our will is self-seeking there will be insurmountable difficulties; if we have a moral compass we will have a clear path through whatever difficulties we encounter. Citizens in a secular society have little or no inner guidance; their unfocused minds wander into unhealthy regions while minds focused on finding and knowing God will surely attain Paradise and stand in the presence of our Heavenly Father.

Mind is the cosmic instrument on which the human will can play the discords of destruction, or upon which this same human will can bring forth the exquisite melodies of God identification and consequent eternal survival.[5]

The human will acting in the mind is where we rise or fail.

Our Spirit Guide

Perhaps the greatest truth revealed in The Urantia Book is that every thinking human being has within them a fragment of God, our indwelling Thought Adjuster. This truth is briefly mentioned in the Bible but it is rarely emphasized in Christianity. Knowing God is intimately linked to each of us gives new meaning to the value of every mortal.

Though the work of Adjusters is spiritual in nature, they must, perforce, do all their work upon an intellectual foundation. Mind is the human soil from which the spirit Monitor must evolve the morontia soul with the co-operation of the indwelt personality[6].

The Thought Adjuster arrives when the child first makes a moral decision, usually about five or six years of age; at this point the soul is born. Our spirit of God within never coerces; it only offers suggestions. To grow spiritually we must learn to follow these suggestions, which are subtle. Someone mired in materialism will have difficulty recognizing them while someone dedicated to choosing God’s Will has a better opportunity to make a moral choice; in their mind they KNOW and decide accordingly. Those between these extremes must learn to seek and recognize the gentle spiritual guidance everyone receives.

Our mind can assist us in our growth if we are sincere. Much more important is cooperating with our personal Thought Adjuster which will stimulate and inspire your mind to control itself and activate the body if you will release it from the fetters of fear and thus enable your spiritual nature to begin your deliverance from the evils of inaction by the power-presence of living faith.[7]

We naturally fear the unknown but there is within us a source of spiritual power; removing the chains of fear by trusting in God’s love and guidance is vital to our spiritual growth. We can reach spiritual insight because our mind is not entirely material. There is a spirit nucleus in the mind of man—the Adjuster of the divine presence.[8]

Moral Choices = Soul Growth

The process of physical evolution has provided a material mechanism: our body. Heavenly Father has given us an indwelling spark of spiritual guidance, our Thought Adjuster. In addition, we have also been given a mind, the decision-making arena where we define or destroy our eternal nature. Mind is a vital aspect of our being that is frequently under appreciated. We contemplate frivolous things when we should be training our mind to make God-seeking decisions. We choose in our mind what we become in eternity.

Mortal mind is a temporary intellect system loaned to human beings for use during a material lifetime, and as they use this mind, they are either accepting or rejecting the potential of eternal existence. Mind is about all you have of universe reality that is subject to your will….[9]

Our deepest desires are what drive us into oblivion or into an eternal life of growth and service. Our present situation is not nearly as important as our goal, which should direct our actions as we seek eternal value.

Our Thought Adjuster makes gentle suggestions and we choose in our mind how to respond. We seek the presence of God within now while in eternity we find Him in person on Paradise; this is the great adventure of our existence. Our starting point is as a material being while our goal is a perfect eternal being: a Finaliter. We get there by choosing at each decision point to do God’s Will.

Jesus taught the appeal to the emotions as the technique of arresting and focusing the intellectual attention.[10] I am developing a process that encourages this called “spiritual focusing.” I do not fully understand the process but it involves a technique to identify and encourage the growth of spiritual emotions.

Eternity

The goal of our thoughts must be to find our personal God fragment within. Our Heavenly Father is loving and merciful. The scope of His mercy was illustrated when Jesus was hanging on the cross and declared, speaking about those who had put him there, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” If such an act can be forgiven, our own mundane sins will surely be forgiven if we ask. Knowing our sins have been forgiven, we can concentrate on preparing our mind for the journey Godward.

We experience stress over momentary events in our mortal existence, but in the span of eternity these may be as important as a specific grain of sand on the beach; our material mechanism is transitory. But we, using our free will choices, can affirmatively choose an existence into eternity. This choice is made in our mind and mobilized by our actions selecting God’s will as our eternal guide.

Mind is soul soil. Is yours nourished and ready for the journey into an eternal existence?

[1] 1216.4; this refers to the one column edition of The Urantia Book as page.paragraph. All references are to The Urantia Book.

[2] 8.8

[3] 103.5

[4] 1217.1

[5] 1217.1

[6] 1216.2

[7] 1437.3

[8] 2094.5

[9] 1216.6

[10] 1705.4

Hate: Symptom of Inner Turmoil

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Our society appears to be permeated with hate. Symptoms of this are everywhere, for example this is the third year in a row that the US has had over 600 mass shootings. These acts of violence arise partly because of powerful negative emotions: hatred of anyone who has a different skin color, a different sexual orientation, or perhaps even a different political party. These feelings have always been with us but they seem stronger than before and they are acted on more frequently.

Such hatred arises in our inner life where we are in the process of defining who we are and who we want to become. This is where we choose to do God’s will or choose something lesser. Will we follow God’s plan for our lives, or will we wander without inner guidance? Each of us needs God’s leadership in our lives.

Since this inner life of man is truly creative, there rests upon each person the responsibility of choosing as to whether this creativity shall be spontaneous and wholly haphazard or controlled, directed, and constructive. How can a creative imagination produce worthy children when the stage whereon it functions is already preoccupied by prejudice, hate, fears, resentments, revenge, and bigotries?[1]

When our inner thoughts are tainted by hateful emotions it becomes difficult to function in society. Such dark emotions make spiritual progress impossible; those possessing such minds are a menace to society.

Our Inner Life

We are sentient beings interacting with the world around us by means of our mind. This mind is where we interpret our surroundings and make plans. You cannot completely control the external world—environment. It is the creativity of the inner world that is most subject to your direction….[2] This inner world creativity can take on a wide range of forms, from the most negative imaginable to the most spiritual. It is in our mind that our free will is the strongest and freest; there is a wide range of possibilities for our mind.

In our mind we determine right and wrong; evaluate meanings and values which can only be perceived in our inner experience.[3] The advances of true civilization are all born in this inner world of mankind. It is only the inner life that is truly creative.[4] The goal of society should be to guide individuals into seeking spiritual goals in their mind.

The most important goal of our inner life should be finding peace and love within. Society must have citizens at peace with themselves. All conflict is evil in that it inhibits the creative function of the inner life—it is a species of civil war in the personality.[5] Societies having a large number of citizens at war with themselves, such as ours, are unstable and will collapse.

We should share our inner life with God, our creator Father;[6] {God Within} doing so would enable us to overcome our baser emotions and become more spiritual, thereby becoming better individuals and better citizens. When our mind is in turmoil we are moving farther away from God, we become susceptible to hateful thoughts and actions.

We examine two broad categories of hate and discuss their source.

Tribal Hate

From the earliest times our ancestors formed clans and tribes, those within the group were generally trusted and those outside were generally feared and hated. Such feelings have been with us so long they are probably in our DNA. This fear and hate makes the group stronger;[7] at the dawn of history these feelings were important to the survival of our ancestors but they are not healthy in our “modern” society. Our way of life can endure only when the brotherhood of all peoples is fully realized.

When such social groups formed personal conflicts were diminished and there was peace within the group; this was an important step toward civilization, but it came at the cost of friction between groups.[8]

Such feelings of hatred for outsiders, which can be called tribal hate, are now widespread in society. Individuals who feel they are part of some particular group, such as white Anglo-Saxon males, may feel hatred for those who are different in some superficial characteristic, perhaps skin color. We need to realize each individual is a unique child of God; within their mind there is no skin color, but such mental activity will be affected by negative reactions they encounter. Hatred based on some individual characteristic is tribal hate, based on a perceived difference.

Rejecting Truth

Another form of hatred is directed at an idea that supposedly threatens an individual’s way of life; this form is rejecting truth. The first time Jesus sent the apostles out on a preaching tour he told them before you establish the kingdom on earth, you will be hated by many peoples because of this gospel….[9] Religious leaders in Jerusalem hated the teachings of Jesus because they threatened the established religion as well as their own livelihood.

Jesus was hated only by those who regarded him as the champion of that truth which was destined to overthrow the evil and error which they had determined to hold in their hearts at all cost.[10]

In today’s society there are cases of this variety of hate all over the world. For example both Islam and Christianity have radical elements promoting violence. The political arena also has pockets of hate based on ideological differences.

Those who are affected by rejecting truth are rejecting the truth of God and the light of heaven, they are aligning themselves on the side of error and darkness. There cannot be peace between light and darkness, between life and death, between truth and error.[11]

We must embrace the truth we have been given in The Urantia Book and share it with our brothers and sisters.

Counteracting Hate

Make not the mistake of trying to pluck a mote out of your brother’s eye when there is a beam in your own eye. Having first cast the beam out of your own eye, you can the better see to cast the mote out of your brother’s eye.[12]

Before dealing with other individuals we must first control our own mind. A turbulent mind cannot deal effectively with emotional situations. We begin this transformation by being totally sincere at all times, within ourself and with others. The next step is to recognize every thinking mortal has within them a spark of God and that we are all sisters and brothers. Finally there is a continual and wholehearted desire to do God’s will at all times. While doing this remember, doing our Father’s will is definitely NOT going to be the easy way! Jesus said Think not that I have come to bring peace but rather a soul struggle[13]. We should ask ourself if we have experienced a soul struggle, if not then perhaps we are not following God’s will for our lives.

When interacting with hatemongers never attempt to argue with them; they have a worldview that cannot easily be shaken. The best we can do is try to make peace in the moment and pray that when they reflect later, they will realize the error of their ways.

What does The Urantia Book have to say about this? If we are sincerely seeking to do God’s will we are safe. When the flood tides of human adversity, selfishness, cruelty, hate, malice, and jealousy beat about the mortal soul, you may rest in the assurance that there is one inner bastion, the citadel of the spirit, which is absolutely unassailable;…[14] If we are firm in our faith, we will be secure in our citadel of the spirit.

Hate can only be defeated by love. The love call of the spiritual kingdom should prove to be the effective destroyer of the hate urge of the unbelieving and war-minded citizens of the earthly kingdoms.

Hate can fester and become something terribly evil. We who seek to do God’s will are secure within ourselves and we have the citadel of the spirit. It is up to each one of us to fill this planet with love of truth and love of our Heavenly Father.

[1] 1220.8; all references are to the one column edition of The Urantia Book, in the format page.paragraph.

[2] 1220.7

[3] 1220.1

[4] 1220.2

[5] 1220.10

[6] 1221.2

[7] 576.8

[8] 784.1

[9] 1584.2

[10] 1672.2

[11] 1905.4

[12] 1571.4

[13] 1782.1

[14] 1096.4