Postings

Agnotology

This posting is a condensed version of a new entry on the Talking Points page. The subject is Agnotology, the study of ignorance. We certainly have an abundance of ignorance and outright lying these days!

The study of ignorance, its origin and nature has been termed agnotology,[1] which was crafted from the same Greek word as agnostic. One way to study ignorance is to divide it into three basic types. The first of these is native state; these are things we have not yet discovered. The second is called lost realm, which are things we previously knew but have forgotten. The final type is the one we are interested in: strategic ploy, deliberately constructed ignorance by a group promoting a certain agenda.[2] “Ignorance can be an actively engineered part of a deliberate plan.”[3]

The deliberate spreading of falsehood is one of the tactics used by the followers of our fallen planetary prince; this activity is deliberate and they know exactly what they are doing. This deliberate spreading of lies is the way they operate. What they disseminate is misinformation, and they know it is false. Furthermore they actively promote and spread these statements they know to be lies; their motto might be: “we rule you if we can fool you.”[4]

This type of agnotology is spread by special interest groups having an ideology not generally accepted; they fully believe in their agenda, so much so they will do anything to bring it into a wider acceptance. Since they have such a firm belief in their tenets they feel justified in spreading lies to attain their goals. Indeed there is no limit to the techniques they will use to further their plans; for them the end does justify the means, there is no cultural or moral restraint to their activity.

In our society the spreading of deliberate lies has become simple due to our internet technology and social media; for these outlets there is little checking of facts, everything put out there is assumed to be absolute truth. There are even students of The Urantia Book who believe outrageous lies published on these media. Each of us needs to be critical of information we receive; we need to think for ourselves.

Truth is diluted by an avalanche of lies in this process; the forces opposing truth can put out a blizzard of lies obscuring all truth and leading many astray. Thinking persons must be careful and attempt to discover where truth resides; we must consider the source of any information we receive before we make up our mind.

One of the most glaring examples of agnotology is the tobacco industry denying their product causes cancer; an executive of that industry “stated doubt is our product.”[5] The tobacco industry utilized countless agnotology schemes to create doubt concerning the scientific evidence about the cancer causing effect of tobacco. Among these are: advertising, funding questionable research, set up organizations acting as a mouthpiece for the industry, press releases containing falsehoods, compiling friendly research for publication in poplar outlets and many other such projects. They also had a vast amount of money to fund these efforts.[6] At every turn the industry denied, spread falsehoods and did everything to obfuscate reality, even though there was good scientific research linking tobacco with cancer.[7]

Willful dissemination of falsehood has become so commonplace it is hardly noticed, and this is a sad commentary on our society. It seems we cannot trust anyone to tell the truth; this is not a modern phenomenon; lie telling has been with us for a very long time indeed.

Deliberately spreading lies was one of the main techniques used by Hitler and the Nazis in their rise to power. There is a well-known quote by their propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels to this effect: “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.” And: “the truth is the greatest enemy of the state.”[8] The methods and results of the Nazis are well known.

The political arena is fertile ground for lie telling. It is too easy to make up a wild story defaming one’s opponent and publish it without any basis in fact whatsoever. Another tactic frequently used is cherry picking voting records; they pick a few votes bolstering the position they want to promote against their opponent while ignoring the vast number that do not. Lie telling has become prevalent in our society; a consequence of not having a strong moral foundation.

This prevalence of lie telling is what happens when any society ignores spiritual reality. Certainly if we ignore future eternity, if we ignore God, if we ignore true values, then we are free to do whatever we might want. Where will you be in a thousand years? What will be the spiritual harvest of your actions? The quality of our decisions during life in the flesh determines the nature of our service and adventure opportunities in eternity. We can ignore truth only so long; eventually it rises up and asserts itself. When reality rises up and bites you on the buttocks will you be on God’s side or on the side of those who cannot face spiritual reality?

We recognize a serious problem, what can each of us do about it? First is stick to the truth, not in any circumstances stoop to the level of truth deniers, because when we fall to their level we become one of them. It is imperative we stick to truth and emphasize reality. The moment we fall to their level we may be lost. Those working against truth have much experience; they absolutely know what they are doing. Therefore we must be patient, follow the internal guidance each of us has, and fearlessly confront the truth deniers.

They can be defeated by reason, patience and determination; we must not be caught up in the emotional displays they use to obscure their falsehoods. When we consistently stick to truth, we weaken their position. They have no real facts to bolster their position, they can only bring up half-truths or harangue about nothing until those upholding reality give up. As long as we, truth tellers, stick to our positions, and if we are strong, we will be able to withstand the sophistry of evil.

We must counteract lie tellers point by point, dealing with each false issue they concoct. One problem lie tellers have is keeping all their lies consistent; we who stick to truth have only one story making it easier for us. We must not be dismayed when liars publish wild and untrue stories about us, and we must be steadfast declaring truth even though nobody may believe it. Eventually truth will come out.

Tags: Agnotology, Ideologically Driven Processes, Moral Foundation

  1. “Agnotology: The making and Unmaking of Ignorance” Edited by Robert N. Proctor and Londa Schiebinger, Stanford University Press, Stanford California, 2008, p. vii ↑

  2. Proctor p.3 ↑

  3. Ibid p. 9 ↑

  4. Ibid p. 11 ↑

  5. Proctor p. 1 ↑

  6. Ibid p. 17 ↑

  7. During the first half of the twentieth century the author’s uncle, Dr. Leonell C. Strong, was one of these researchers and he remembers visiting Dr. Strong’s lab when young. Among other research Dr. Strong painted tobacco tars on mice and observed the tumors formed. A biography of Dr. Strong can be found at: https://acsjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.3322/canjclin.29.1.54 ↑

  8. Thinkexist.com/quotation/-if_you_tell_a_lie_big_enough_and_keep_repeating/345877.html, retrieved 4/13/2020 ↑

Troublous Times

In this posting, we briefly discuss two quotations from The Urantia Book, both of which apply to these times. The first says our society is moving out of the sheltered bays of tradition into seas of destiny. The other looks at a troubling forecast by Jesus which may indicate workings of the Most Highs as they guide political evolution;[1] that the Most Highs rule in the kingdoms of mortals is also mentioned in the Bible.

Urantia society can never hope to settle down as in past ages. The social ship has steamed out of the sheltered bays of established tradition and has begun its cruise upon the high seas of evolutionary destiny; and the soul of man, as never before in the world’s history, needs carefully to scrutinize its charts of morality and painstakingly to observe the compass of religious guidance. (Urantia Book, 1086.6)

These seas of destiny will not be smooth like the sheltered bays of tradition we have resided in these many years. While the bays were enjoyable, such tranquility rarely causes human mortals to struggle and improve themselves. The vast majority of humanity would rather sit underneath a palm tree with a jolly beverage than move out and transform society. The urge to instigate societal transformation necessarily requires some sort of motivation, a “slap in the face” to get things moving.

Human beings need a firm moral foundation for these uncertain times; we must follow our compass of religious guidance. Only when we base our lives on living truths taught by Jesus will we be able to sail safely upon these seas of destiny.

Whatever the source of this pandemic, it is our slap in the face, a wakeup call saying we must make our native planet safe for everyone; we are all in this together. There is no safe space where we can hide to avoid this virus, to escape this mandate to move out and make this world of ours safe for every living creature. Many governments all over the world are failing in their efforts to deal with this health and economic calamity. In addition, there is no sovereign Earth government to regulate dealings between nations.

On these seas of evolutionary destiny we will encounter methods to utilize in guiding society toward recognizing spiritual reality, and basing society upon it; if this does not happen society will collapse because any society not based upon spiritual reality cannot endure.[2] Study any previous society in our history; all of them failed because they were not based on spiritual reality; God.

On the morning of his last free day on Earth, Jesus taught a group of believers, disciples, and the apostles near their camp in Gethsemane. This presentation, which lasted almost two hours, was about the relationship between the Kingdom of Heaven and kingdoms on Earth. He emphasized believers should follow laws of earthly kingdoms as well as adhere to spiritual directives such as the Golden Rule. The only exception was when earthly rulers should require homage given to them; years later, Peter was crucified in Rome because he refused to worship Caesar. This discourse by Jesus is summarized in The Urantia Book, Paper 178, “Last Day at the Camp,” section one, “Discourse on Sonship and Citizenship.”

One paragraph in this address[3] is especially relevant to our current situation. Each sentence will be considered separately. When Jesus speaks about “you” he is speaking to each individual as well as the collective body of Kingdom believers.

Under the soon-coming persecutions by those who hate this gospel of joy and liberty, you will thrive and the kingdom will prosper.

After Jesus ascended, his followers were indeed persecuted by those resisting these new teachings; those having religious and political authority were afraid of losing positions of influence, power, and their very livelihood. They were more interested in material considerations of self-preservation than understanding and accepting these new spiritual teachings of joy and liberty. In spite of this resistance, the Kingdom of Heaven did indeed thrive, prosper, and grow.

But you will stand in grave danger in subsequent times when most men will speak well of kingdom believers and many in high places nominally accept the gospel of the heavenly kingdom.

As the centuries passed, modified teachings of Jesus spread even farther, eventually covering most of the Earth; many nations and their leaders appeared to accept these teachings. Nominal Christianity was, and still is, one of the most prominent religions on our planet. However, this apparent acceptance shielded an underlying insincerity; this reception of the teachings was superficial and incomplete. The transformed message of Jesus did not generally bring about a fundamental spiritual renewal in individual believers; they did not truly manifest fruits of the spirit in their lives. Because of this artificiality, grave danger was lurking unseen.

Learn to be faithful to the kingdom even in times of peace and prosperity.

Being faithful to the kingdom means not only incorporating these truths into our daily lives, but also sharing them with sisters and brothers, contributing to growth of the kingdom. Believers need to be focused at all times on spiritual reality, upon values of the kingdom; this is especially true when things appear to be easy, when everything seems to be going well. During these idyllic times we are vulnerable to unforeseen events suddenly overwhelming us, catching us unprepared, obliterating our complacency, and bringing calamity upon us.

Tempt not the angels of your supervision to lead you in troublous ways as a loving discipline designed to save your ease-drifting souls.

This is the kicker to the entire paragraph. When spiritual reality has been ignored for a considerable length of time, there comes a moment when the tipping point is reached, when the system can tolerate no more abuse, and misfortune follows. We do not need to know how or upon whose orders these “angels of our supervision” operate. If we ignore our spiritual potential and become complacent, the angels watching over us may lead us into “troublous ways” in an effort to guide us into more spiritually productive efforts. These angels may be our individual guardian angels, and for society they would be the angels of progress or the angels of the churches. Their directions would come from the Most Highs.

What does this mean for our current situation? Our society has become mired in secularism for so long our Heavenly Father seems to be of minor importance. God has been marginalized and forgotten, to our peril. Therefore, our guiding angels may be directed to lead us into difficult times in an effort to help us become somewhat aware of spiritual reality and our obligation to humanity.

The way to make the best use of these opportunities is to examine our faith, becoming certain it is sincere. Next we need to accept the new covenant, a sincere commitment to follow God’s guidance knowing we will be assisted. We must choose to do His will at all times; if we are honest we will know how to proceed. Finally we must recognize our own light of truth and go forth sharing these teachings of love, joy, and service.

These times try our souls and force us to seek new ways of living. These times can transform society so every living soul becomes treasured, loved, nurtured, and assisted so they can become productive members of global society with global government.

These seas of destiny will become extremely rough and last far longer than we can imagine, but they are necessary to bring about an equitable society for each individual citizen, a citizen of the cosmos.

  1. All references are to The Urantia Book one column edition and refer to page.paragraph, 1488.2 ↑

  2. 2075.12 ↑

  3. 1931.1 ↑

Faith in the Time of Coronavirus

Spring Hope

Click on photo for information about it.

Things have changed around our house, as it has for many of us. A month ago we were a household of two with one cat. Then two family members were rescued from Palm Beach County, not a place to be during these times. Now there are four of us and two cats; I spend a significant amount of time being gate keeper for cats.

A discussion of the place of faith in our life is important in difficult times such as now. Faith can be a great comfort; it also can become a dangerous crutch. When faith ignores science, the consequence can be unfortunate.

In these times of anxiety over global pandemic, faith can be a comforting presence, but what does this mean? How should faith motivate us in these troubling times? Faith must be a driving force in our life at any time, even more so when we are in distress as today. Faith should be the bedrock of our existence, but must be based on spiritual reality. We must not presume Heavenly Father will allow us to flaunt faith, expecting Him to protect us from whatever misdeeds we might perpetrate.

Most of the country is under some sort of stay-at-home directive; the goal of which is to minimize spread of this deadly disease. There is scientific evidence isolation does in fact help curb the spread of this virus. Stay-at-home orders are a sensible method to lessen the severity of this deadly pandemic; such orders are based upon sound science from many places around the globe.

In Lodi, California, where there was a mandatory stay-at-home order, one pastor held religious services anyway, and was arrested after the services. We saw a report interviewing the faithful as they left the service. Many of them said they were “protected by the blood of Jesus.” They were confident and unanimous in their faith that Jesus would protect them from harm. Let us pray they are correct. The issue is about not only protecting ourself, but also those around us. One unsuspecting infected individual in that service could infect dozens of others who would spread it even farther. That is exactly what happened in South Korea. At least one infected person, identified as “patient 31,” attended a gathering at Shincheonji Church of Jesus, and infected others, this quickly grew to thousands. South Korea, a democracy, issued and enforced mandatory stay-at-home orders, the spread was minimized.

Jesus said we are to render to Caesar that which is Caesar’s;[1] he was talking about taxes, but this directive would also apply to laws, which we must obey. This especially applies when such laws are based on science and aimed at protecting public health. To do otherwise would be placing one’s own wishes above health and safety of sisters and brothers.

When religious people base their faith on a set of dogma, they are in danger of limiting themselves to only what that dogma proclaims. Sometimes this even neglects reasonable scientific considerations, as we saw above. Since everyone is indwelt by a spark of Heavenly Father,[2] faith can be a personal relationship with Him. The bedrock of faith should be the conviction Father is with us. Father will protect us as long we follow spiritual reality. If we presume to be somehow above others, we have not true faith.

Truth is living; the Spirit of Truth is ever leading the children of light into new realms of spiritual reality and divine service. You are not given truth to crystallize into settled, safe, and honored forms. (Urantia Book 1917.3) When truth becomes crystallized dogma, it has lost its vitality.

Everyone is equally indwelt by an actual spark of Heavenly Father. This means He is always with us, guiding us, and showing the way. He is “no respecter of persons.”[3] Father respects everybody equally; we all stand equal before Him.

Belief becomes faith only after it motivates our lives and changes our way of life. This faith is a living and personal religious experience.[4] When we have this personal experience, when we dedicate ourselves to following God’s will in thoughts, actions, and deeds, we know God and His love for each of us. In his life among us, Jesus attained the highest realization of this as a human being living on our planet. Jesus was born a mortal struggling to understand his surroundings just as everyone born on this orb or on any other in this local universe. He was on his own, and by the strength of his will and faith, he found God; and so can we if we make his faith our faith.

Jesus personified personal religious experience, and this shone forth in his life. The religion of Jesus is all about each believer having an individual relationship with God. It is truly that simple, and that difficult.

When an individual has faith there may not be any obvious indication; if they truly do have faith they cannot consciously prove it.[5] The only way faith can be demonstrated is first, fruits of the spirit are shown in their life,[6] and second their entire life shows they have risked everything they are and everything they have in pursuit of finding God in their own life.[7] Fruits of spirit include sincere and loving service working to uplift people in darkness.[8] In times such as this, we manifest fruits of the spirit in joyful service to family, friends, and neighbors.

Society must become more aware of spiritual reality; however this may take a major event. We need something to make us aware of the need for all citizens to seek a more spiritual existence; this spark may be anything: a major war, riots in the streets, a pandemic, an economic collapse, or perhaps a spiritual awakening. People need to become aware of their eternal spiritual possibilities, what will be in store for them if they reach out to grasp eternal goals and seek spiritual reality.

Kingdom builders… are not to be disturbed by temporal upheavals or perturbed by terrestrial cataclysms. What does it matter to you who believe this gospel of the kingdom if nations overturn, the age ends, or all things visible crash, since you know that your life is the gift of the Son, and that it is eternally secure in the Father?[9] (Urantia Book 1916.2)

We pray for peace, love, harmony, and guidance. We pray health care workers, government officials, and others on the front lines of this pandemic will find courage, strength, and moral fortitude to do the right thing. We pray those who have lost loved ones will have time to grieve, remember, and move on.

Be safe.

  1. All references are to The Urantia Book unless otherwise noted, 1899.2, this refers to page:paragraph of the one column edition; and Bible, Matthew 22:21, also appears in Mark and Luke. ↑

  2. Bible, I Corinthians 3:16 ↑

  3. Bible, Acts 10:34 ↑

  4. 1114.5 ↑

  5. 1733.2 ↑

  6. 1733.3 ↑

  7. 1733.4 ↑

  8. 1930.3 ↑

  9. 1916.2 ↑

God Within

Beauty is From God

Click on photo for information about it.

The “Talking Points” page “God Within” has been updated. This posting is a slight condensation of the new page. Additions include a discussion of the plan our Thought Adjuster has for our life, and ways we can cooperate with our indwelling spark of God. This page is important because the truth our Heavenly Father is literally a part of every thinking mortal on Earth is a vital part of the revelations in The Urantia Book; it should be the moral foundation of our life.

Every mortal with a normal mind living on this planet has as a part of their being an actual fragment of God, our Thought Adjuster, or Adjuster. God is therefore infinite, can be everywhere, and at the same instant actually dwells within each of us; He is both within us and outside, guiding us toward His presence. We need not go any farther than our inner experience to find God and commune with Him.[1]

Since Pentecost, when the Spirit of Truth was universally bestowed, everyone on Earth has received a Thought Adjuster.[2] Again, everyone has this fragment of God within as a part of their being; therefore everyone has value, everyone must be included in society, every child of God has something unique to offer.

While our Adjuster is a part of each one of us, its goal is very long term; it is preparing us for the long journey to Paradise and being in the presence of God.[3] Our God within is not concerned with our momentary fancies, rather our Adjuster is gradually preparing us for the challenges of eternity.

Before our Adjuster arrives to dwell within us it received an estimation of our intellectual endowment and our capacity for spiritual progress; based upon this information it volunteers to work with a specific mortal.[4] This is comforting; your Adjuster knows your potential and volunteers to assist you in your ascent toward Paradise. This spark of God in our lives knows our capability exactly and desires to be within us, guiding us toward realizing our full potential.

When our Adjuster arrives to dwell within our minds they have a carefully thought out plan for us that was approved by their supervisors.[5] God indeed has a plan for our life, each and every one of us. He wants to guide us step by gradual step through many existences on many levels until we literally stand in the presence of the creator of all things on Paradise. The only catch, the only fly in the ointment, is we must, of our own free will, accept this plan. Our loving Heavenly Father absolutely will not force us into anything against our will. We need to accept the plan God has for our life. Since we have this capability of rejecting the plan of God at any time, it is not predestination; we certainly can reject it anytime and choose, whatever. As if we could improve upon the plan of God!

Our Thought Adjuster arrives when we make our first moral decision, our first free will decision; currently this is just before the child’s sixth birthday.[6] At this point the divine fragment begins to guide the child toward making spiritual decisions, initiating a desire to know more about God. While this spark of God is working in our minds it refuses to compel us to do anything against our will;[7] our spiritual free will is inviolate.

They want to change our feelings of fear to those of love;[8] they cannot do this arbitrarily, we must make the decision. Our decision to accept love into our life is the fulcrum on which our Adjuster can apply a spiritual lever to advance our emotional life. Our everyday decisions supply the fulcrum our Adjuster can use to uplift our emotional base and reach toward spiritual advancement. When our emotions are negative the Adjuster has nothing to base the desired uplifting spiritual lever upon; they are thwarted by our baser thoughts.[9]

Our Thought Adjuster is a literal spark of God and is therefore perfect. Our Adjuster will not fail; apparent failures are caused by our unwillingness to follow the internal guidance we receive. If we are honest we will definitely know what our Heavenly Father wishes for our lives, the choice is ours. We have perfect guides; therefore is the goal of perfection certainly attainable.[10]

There is no conscious way we can assist our Adjuster as it seeks to spiritualize us, this interaction cannot be guided by specific thoughts and actions, rather our faith and supreme desires are utilized in this upward struggle.[11] There are however, ways we can cooperate with our spark of God within.

First, we must choose to respond to the guidance we receive. For those without knowledge of revelations in The Urantia Book this may be a challenge as they are not aware of this internal guidance. Regardless of our spiritual awareness, our highest desires are acted upon. If we desire truth, beauty, and goodness we will be guided in that direction. Our highest, most spiritual aspirations are respected.

Second, we must love God and want to become more like Him. There is a spontaneous desire to worship our heavenly Father, and love Him.

Third, we need to love our sisters and brothers, sincerely recognize universal brotherhood. We must serve them and see to their needs. An intelligent, inherent, and wise love for those around us is an important aspect of spiritual growth.

Finally, we have to recognize cosmic citizenship, our responsibility to God that we fulfill obligations to grow, serve, and minister to sisters and brothers. Cosmic morality entails recognizing our duty to universal reality, realizing each one of us has something special only we can contribute to the growth of universal deity. Everyone has value, meaning, and purpose in our Father’s creation.

Every decision we make has an effect on work of our Adjuster.[12] It is important to always be conscious of the potential spiritual value of each decision. In our heart we usually know which way our Heavenly Father might want us to go, which decision He might approve. Certainly some decisions will be of more importance than others, but each one can become vitally important.

The Adjusters have long term plans for our lives; they gradually and persistently work to carry out these plans, lovingly guiding us every small step along the way. What is important for each step is our decision to follow the guidance of our spark of God within. No human being will ever be spiritualized by a divine Monitor against his will; survival is a gift of the Gods which must be desired by the creatures of time.[13] We need to give consent for this glorious transformation, from a lowly creature on this evolutionary planet into an eternal being with growing spiritual awareness and progress.

Frequently we are so tied up in the trifles of life, everyday conflicts, we totally overlook spiritual values, spiritual reality.[14] We are generally unaware of the need to cooperate with the divine guidance each and every one of us receives throughout our lives. Each human being is constantly guided by a divine inner spark of God; we are oblivious. We can live a life of joy, love and brotherhood while totally living a God consecrated life, just as Jesus did. He certainly knew pain and loss, but his overriding emotion was joy and love. The life of Jesus was one of loving service. By our moment to moment choices we can also choose such a life.

The dominant emotion of these God fragments is love, the most truly divine love in all creation.[15] The love of our Creator Son, Jesus, is truly sublime, but our Adjuster is part of our being, within our mind always poring forth love and an urge to grow spiritually. The loving guidance of our Thought Adjuster will be with us forever, always showing the way toward spiritual growth and loving service.

We are not alone in the cosmos because our Heavenly Father is always with us; it is we who have chosen to ignore Him. Our choices define us and the most eternally significant choice we can make is to follow the guidance of our personal spark of God. His love is part of us; we must embrace and choose to follow His leadership. The consequence of so choosing is an eternal life of service and adventure.

  1. All references are to The Urantia Book. They are to the one column edition in the format page:paragraph, 62.1 ↑

  2. 1187.2 ↑

  3. 1192.1 ↑

  4. 1185.4 ↑

  5. 1204.5 ↑

  6. 1186.8 ↑

  7. 753.2 ↑

  8. 1192.3 ↑

  9. 1193.1 ↑

  10. 1192.5 ↑

  11. The following discussion is based on 1206.4-8 ↑

  12. 1209.6 ↑

  13. 1204.6 ↑

  14. 1206.2 ↑

  15. 1203.2 ↑

We Need a Story

This posting is a slightly condensed version of the Preface to my book, “Light of Truth: Anticipating the Triumph of Righteousness.” A similar version is on the Talking Points Page, Motivating Story. It was probably written a year or so ago but is even more relevant now than it was then. We truly need a story.

The presence of severe difficulties in global society begs the question: how did we get this way? And another: what we can do about it? There are sources pointing the way, showing what we can do to improve life on Earth; we must use these sources in efforts toward promoting brotherhood and love. Our planet has been living in spiritual darkness for decades; it is time to move forward into light of truth.

Society has no overall guiding principle, no well-defined goals, no story to motivate it, everything is piecemeal. “When we have no stories that describe the present and guide the future, hope evaporates. Political failure is, in essence, a failure of imagination.”[1] We seek a story to give us goals and hope; give lives purpose; it will become the motivator of our existence.

This inspiring story is a captivating narrative giving our lives meaning and direction. Stories in the media, such as Star Wars or Harry Potter, are entertaining but they do not motivate lives. The story we seek is a unifying ethic empowering our struggle for a better life. One such story brought about the westward expansion of America. Based on exaggerated glowing reports of opportunities in the west, shopkeepers and ordinary people in the east fled westward with family and few belongings to carve out a better life in the west; that story gave their hardships and their lives meaning; it gave them hope for the future.

Today we have no such encouraging story and as a result of this loss of direction there is an “epidemic of loneliness sweeping the world.”[2] People are not connected with their community, their surroundings; they are isolated as never before. This impacts their actions in society, their effectiveness. This isolation brings negative, even self-destructive emotions into their lives.

What is the story to motivate this change? This story to ignite our desire for a better society needs to be concise yet captivating, the goal needs to be enticing, and it should have a broad appeal to society. The story must be powerful enough people will be willing to undergo hardships to bring the story to life. Just as the story of a better life in western United States gave citizens in the east strength to endure the many dangers of the journey west, our story must give everyone strength to persevere through the struggle to bring about a better life for us all.

We propose a story based on teachings in The Urantia Book. [3] This revelation has power, depth, and complexity; it has the potential to transform society on our Planet. We use this revelation to build a story capable of bringing about a better life for everyone.

There are only three components to this story. First is the truth every thinking human being has a spark of God within. “Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the spirit of God dwells in you?”[4] This spirit of God is the Thought Adjuster. The second component of the story is the truth everyone can have eternal life if they so choose.[5] The third part of the story is the truth everyone is equally indwelt by our Heavenly Father; we are all sisters and brothers, when society realizes this there will be universal brotherhood.[6]

Here is the story.

Every thinking human being on Earth has the spirit of God within them; truly everyone, no exceptions. God is within every person. How strongly can it be stated? This truth is the cornerstone of our story. Our Father did not just send His son here a couple thousand years ago and then forget about us. Our Heavenly Father is literally present within each thinking mortal on this planet. God is no respecter of persons,[7] He respects everyone equally.

Life eternal is freely given to everyone who asks for it. All we need do is follow His guidance, choose to do His will in all things. Again, it is truly that simple. Physical death is simply like walking out of one room and into another; like walking out of this physical space and into a more spiritual realm. Eternal life is ours for the asking; we should live with the certainty of this truth.

As we recognize the presence of our Father equally within everyone we realize every person is sister or brother; we are all equally children of God. This feeling of universal brotherhood colors interactions with neighbors and everyone we may chance to meet or learn about. The watchword for every day becomes brotherhood.

One way to enlarge this story is to study the full life and teachings of Jesus as revealed in The Urantia Book. As we incorporate these teachings into our lives we are seeking to become more like our Heavenly Father, living our faith, allowing this faith to transform our existence, changing the world for the better, one interaction at a time.

Even though this fact of universal brotherhood is the final component of our story, this is where each one of us can have the greatest impact. The other two components, presence of God within and eternal life, primarily are personal and internal manifestations; something we experience within ourself. This issue of universal brotherhood is external; we express this in our daily life. This influences our reaction to situations as we encounter and interact with those around us. This feeling of brotherhood must be genuine; a natural consequence of internalizing the other components of the story.

This issue of brotherhood is where we declare how we stand; exclusion or inclusion, hate or love, rejection or acceptance, a narrow existence or an eternal life of service doing God’s will.

Simply stated our story is every mortal of sound mind has within a fragment of our Heavenly Father, this God within is the promise of eternal life and when we fully realize this we will know we are all sisters and brothers. This story with the potential to transform life on Earth is simple and profound, giving it power to energize society.

This story has the power to ignite a resurgence in spiritual awareness and willingness to bring about a better life for everyone on Earth; no exceptions.

  1. “Out of the Wreckage: a New Politics for an Age of Crisis” by George Monbiot, Verso, New York, 2017, p6 ↑

  2. Monbiot p 17 ↑

  3. The Urantia Book, Urantia Foundation, Chicago IL, 2015 printing. See appendix 1 and 2 for a discussion of this revelation ↑

  4. Bible, 1 Corinthians 3:16 ↑

  5. The Urantia Book, 71.7, this refers to the page.paragraph of the one column edition. All references are to The Urantia Book unless otherwise noted. ↑

  6. 2053.4 ↑

  7. Bible Acts 10,34 and Romans 2, 11; ↑