Shallow people are those who are spirituality thin; spiritually speaking they are without substance. They live their lives with no lasting goal, seeking nothing of eternal value because they have not received the saving message of the eternal worth of every human being. These individuals live totally in the moment, ignoring eternal life that is available to all who believe. The thrust of their lives extends not much farther than tomorrow. They have little purpose in their life and have no thought about where they will be in a thousand years.
These shallow people are the product of our secular, greedy, materialistic society. They have no comprehension of anything beyond material existence; they do not know material objects are transitory; they can disappear or decay over time. Material things can be useful in the moment, however they may quickly lose their value depending on circumstances.
Even many individuals who attend church are caught up in this spiritually shallow existence, instead of receiving uplifting spiritual guidance, they are overwhelmed by dogmatism. They may be honest in living a faith directed life, but the faith guiding them is shallow.
Purpose of Life
In order to better understand shallow people and their difficulties, we need to think about what is the purpose of life. Why are we here? Is there something we should be striving for that shallow people are missing?
Before undertaking any task, we need a plan and a goal. If we are going into town on an errand, especially in these times of COVID-19, we must know what we are going to do and plan accordingly. Perhaps we will go to the Post Office, the store, and the bank. We need a plan. This also goes for our life, what do we want to accomplish? There should be long term goals like getting a proper education, a satisfying job and planning for retirement, but even this is not enough. Considering the relentless march of time and our apparently brief mortal life span, having a really long term goal and plan would be more significant.
The Urantia Book is a revelation describing the nature of God and His creation. It presents a new and exalted goal of destiny, a supreme life purpose. (Urantia Book, 1778.3) Our life purpose should be difficult, but balanced so there is no danger of becoming enveloped in fanaticism.
We need to develop a plan for our lives that incorporates a goal for our eternal life. How can we reach eternal life? What are the steps?
Human life continues — survives — because it has a universe function, the task of finding God. The faith-activated soul of man cannot stop short of the attainment of this goal of destiny; and when it does once achieve this divine goal, it can never end because it has become like God — eternal. (Urantia Book, 1459.7)
The purpose of life is to attain eternal life. We do this by following the spiritual guidance each one of us receives. We are not alone in the universe; each thinking mortal has within them a literal spark of God.[1] Also, given the complexity of our physical apparatus, the vital life force we feel flowing throughout our body, our self-aware consciousness, and the web of our interactions with sisters and brothers, there is no way our Heavenly Father would snuff us out after a brief mortal existence; that would certainly be a lot of wasted effort. Father does not operate that way.
Dogmatic religions do not teach this truth, rather they proclaim their followers must adhere to the dogma, obey the rules. Fixating our life efforts upon this goal of eternity gives a new motivation to our existence, a new purpose for our lives, and a sublime goal: serving our Heavenly Father throughout all future eternity.
Jesus, as reveled in The Urantia Book, places a high value on each person. Jesus placed a high value upon all human beings because each one of us has the chance to go to Paradise and meet our Heavenly Father, therefore he was willing to spend himself in the unremitting service of humankind. And it was this infinite worth of the finite that made the golden rule a vital factor in his religion. What mortal can fail to be uplifted by the extraordinary faithJesus has in him? (Urantia Book, 2093.4)
Many religions give lip service to the Golden Rule, but in the everyday lives of their followers it frequently is not practiced. Just read the news. The reason for this is they have no motivation to actually practice the Golden Rule; they vaguely understand it and its importance. They have no articulated plan for reaching life eternal, therefore some religions produce shallow people.
Sisters and brothers: the time has come when each of us needs to reach out toward our goal of destiny, serving Heavenly Father during our eternal life.
Shallow People
Shallow people do not know about their goal of destiny, they were not given and did not seek the good news. Their family, their religious institutions, and their interactions with brothers and sisters did not give them this truth. Because of this they have no spiritual depth, no spiritual vitality. They live a moment to moment existence where there is no thought about what might come next. Shallow people may have no moral foundation.
They may certainly be moral in their actions, but this is because they were so taught, or because it seems to be the right thing to do, not because it is in harmony with a life goal seeking an eternal existence. They may be good because they so choose without any consideration of eternity. They are guided by good thoughts, not by a driving spiritual urge. They are spiritually good people, but shallow.
There are also shallow people who have given up on experiencing anything after their life in the flesh; they feel they can do whatever they may choose without lasting consequences. Whether or not they are caught will not be consequential in the march of eternity because God is our ultimate judge, but their misdeeds certainly poison the lives of those affected by their misdeeds.
Being shallow in spiritual matters is unrelated to intelligence. It is certainly possible that those with more intelligence could be very thin in spiritual awareness, while our less endowed sisters and brothers may totally “get it.” The outward physical appearance has no relationship to inward spiritual progress.
Spiritually shallow people permeate society and are without guidance because they ignore the leading of their spark of God within and other spiritual guides, such as the Spirit of Truth.[2] Our Heavenly Father is reaching out to each thinking mortal, gently guiding each one closer to Him. Spiritually shallow people do not know about the beckoning of eternity and therefore they ignore the spiritual guidance they receive.
Message to Brothers and Sisters
The Father is not in spiritual hiding, but so many of his creatures have hidden themselves away in the mists of their own willful decisions and for the time being have separated themselves from the communion of his spirit and the spirit of his Son by the choosing of their own perverse ways and by the indulgence of the self-assertiveness of their intolerant minds and unspiritual natures. (Urantia Book, 64.1)
The message to all of our brothers and sisters is that our Heavenly Father is guiding each one of us; we are absolutely not alone. The goal of our existence has to be: follow this spiritual guidance, seek the goal of eternity, seek to become more like our Heavenly Father, and enlist in His service throughout all future eternity.