Tag: Current Events

Sovereignty

Parliament

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This posting on sovereignty is a slightly condensed version of a new Talking Points page. This is an important topic in these times of unsettling events in many areas. We the people have the right to direct our government and how it functions; however, what is our recourse when government appears unable to deal with current events? How can we incorporate revelations about spiritual reality into our societal interactions, help everyone to become empowered, and participate in society?

While in England June 2015, we spent a few nights at Runnymede on the Themes, which is within walking distance of where the Magna Carta was signed that same month exactly 800 years previously. (When reservations were made we had no idea of the significance of its location.) In that unremarkable field, today a cow pasture, the concept of sovereignty of the people was given birth as a result of actions by a group of barons against King John. Growth of the idea of sovereignty of the people was gradual and marked by uneven progress, but this was an historic turning point in the history of government on Earth, when it started moving away from absolute monarchs, toward something more representative of the people’s will.

Representative government such as ours is the best form of government available to evolutionary beings.[1] Having government answerable to the people is the only way to govern because this allows citizens to elect their representatives at all levels of government. When voters are educated and involved in the process, this works quite well. However, there are potential dangers with this system; it may glorify mediocrity, ignorant rulers might be chosen, it may have a majority of uneducated and indolent citizens, and also become slavery to public opinion instead of well-informed reason.[2] Our government has certainly been influenced by these democracy destroying effects.

Our form of government has evolved over the years resulting in the American democracy which has been in place for over 230 years. While it functioned well in the past, it is now fraying around the edges. We need to discover and implement something better.

Mother Earth has inherited a patchwork system of nation-states each claiming absolute sovereignty over territory, even extending out into the surrounding ocean and sky above. Borders of each nation are sometimes arbitrary, subject to change; except for island nations, there is no obvious way to separate one from another. Photos of our beautiful blue orb from space show no national boundaries, only a blue marble apparently isolated in space.

Each nation claims the right to do whatever it wants to its citizens and environment. Various nations are constantly competing on many levels; the United Nations is able to deal with many issues but unable to prevent wars or persuade powerful nations to refrain from harming its own citizens or environment. This is because it has no sovereign authority; it must instead deal with each nation claiming total sovereignty. Environmental issues, especially groundwater and atmosphere, expand to affect other nations who generally can do nothing against pollution coming in by water and air.

Sovereignty is defined as the supreme political authority.[3] On Earth sovereignty resides in each nation, and its citizens. This patchwork system is unable to cope with problems arising from competing interests of the various nations.

As long as nations claim absolute sovereignty over their territory, it will be impossible to have peace on Earth. People of Earth must rise up and assert true sovereignty, that of all citizens of this planet, this beautiful blue sphere in space. As long as nations cling to the fiction of national sovereignty there will be no peace on planet Earth. People of our planet have to endure destructive wars which are the direct consequence of this false notion of national sovereignty. You cannot prevent nations going to war as long as they remain infected with the delusional virus of national sovereignty. (Urantia Book, 1489.1) While it may appear war is a disease on our planet, that is not the case; war is a symptom of the virus of national sovereignty.[4]

With scientific progress, wars are going to become more and more devastating until they become almost racially suicidal. (Urantia Book, 1490.3) Having atom bombs, missiles, chemical, and biological weapons of mass destruction, we have arrived at the point where wars are truly suicidal. It is imperative we find a way to end “the delusional virus of national sovereignty” before the next widespread war. Future of life on our planet is at stake.

Our planet is one complete heavenly body; arbitrary lines drawn on paper have no validity other than historical precedent. When one segment of society, one nation, claims to formulate laws and regulations without considering global reality, that nation is irresponsible. Currently one nation can pollute the air or water going into another and be restrained only by unenforceable regulations. “Democracy is a sham unless it is world democracy.”[5]

The only legitimate sovereignty is that of all people of Earth; anything else is fiction.[6] We are one Earth, one beautiful blue marble in space, one people; every thinking mortal is equally indwelt by a fragment of God. Arbitrarily selecting one group of humans and declaring they can decide for themselves how to construct their government while at the same time ignoring the rest of humanity is an insult to reason.

There are only two levels of genuine sovereignty; first, the individual who has spiritual free will to make personal decisions. The second level is that of all humanity, there are no intervening levels.[7]

It will require government of all mankind to solve problems of all mankind. Nothing short of this can possibly work.[8] We have seen this on a smaller scale; in America individual states gave up their sovereignty to the United States government. Also, England, Scotland and Wales fought many wars until they gave their sovereignty to the United Kingdom.[9]

The best political system cannot be enacted until we have intelligence, spiritual receptivity, discipline, and wisdom to properly implement it and persevere in its operation. Now is the time to seek God’s will in creating a better political system for our planet, assist global political evolution; we need Earth Federation.

Earth Federation is a systematic structure for a world government, complete with a ratified and amended constitution, and a procedure for implementation. Nations can only enter this Federation after a majority of its citizens have voted to request it; their entry will become final when the nation has disbanded its military, given Earth Federation half of the money thus saved, and destroyed all weapons of mass destruction.

Peace will not come to Urantia until every so-called sovereign nation surrenders its power to make war into the hands of a representative government of all mankind. Political sovereignty is innate with the peoples of the world. When all the peoples of Urantia create a world government, they have the right and the power to make such a government SOVEREIGN; and when such a representative or democratic world power controls the world’s land, air, and naval forces, peace on earth and good will among men can prevail — but not until then. (Urantia Book, 1489.3)

Government of All Mankind is the next logical step in political evolution. Only such a government with global sovereignty has any chance to bring warring nations together in peace and brotherhood. Sometime the supernational sovereignty of the planetary government of mankind will be similarly created by nations for their own benefit and for the benefit of all men. (Urantia Book, 1490.1) This will happen and we must work to realize Earth Federation; the only other option is to wait for another world war which would probably bring global annihilation of all life.

When government becomes unable to deal with current events people must become aware of the situation, examine various possibilities, then vote for responsible, able, and experienced public officials; the duty of citizenship means citizens must wisely exercise their sovereignty. It is also the duty, even the responsibility, of those given an advanced revelation such as The Urantia Book to live these teachings. This is especially true of the realization everyone equally has a spark of God within, we are all sisters and brothers; all of our interpersonal relationships need to be infused with this truth.

  1. The Urantia Book, 517.5, this refers to the page.paragraph of the one column edition. All references are to The Urantia Book unless otherwise noted. 517.5 ↑

  2. 801.13 – 801.18 ↑

  3. Third College Edition Webster’s New World Dictionary of American English, Victoria Neufeldt and David B. Guralnik eds., Webster’s New World, Cleveland and New York, 1988, p 1283 ↑

  4. 1491.1 ↑

  5. “World Revolution Through World Law, Basic Documents of the Emerging Earth Federation;” Edited with an introduction and other writings by Glen T. Martin, Institute for Economic Democracy Publisher, Sun City, AZ, 2006, p 181 ↑

  6. Martin, p 66 ↑

  7. 1487.9 ↑

  8. 1490.5 ↑

  9. 1490.6 ↑

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 ↑

Death of Our Democracy?

Every day we learn of some new way in which it seems we live in dangerous, changing times. The troubled environment such as America is experiencing is not exclusive to our nation; as we will see there are currently many troubled places on our planet.

The Urantia Book states we are moving out of the sheltered bays of tradition and into rough waters before we will find a more secure harbor based on inclusion, brotherhood and love.[1] Society is moving from one level, materialism, to another more spiritual level. These changes define our times: they test our values; also they present opportunities for spiritual growth and service. The nature of our eternal future will depend on how we respond to current challenges. We definitely need to be certain of our moral foundation before moving into the troublous times ahead.

The Urantia Book gives guidance for this transition period. One section discusses philosophic statements, called mota, which are aimed at increasing our spiritual awareness and guiding us toward a more balanced viewpoint.[2] Selected entries will be discussed with the aim of gaining insight into how we should proceed in the times ahead.

These mota lessons are aimed at teaching the less advanced students on the transition worlds where we will be repersonalized after physical death. The goal is to help them attain a higher awareness of applied philosophy before they proceed to more advanced spiritual realms.

These statements guide us as we seek to deal with the troubling times ahead. They provide guidance as to how we should act, react and seek a better world for each one of our sisters and brothers.

Selected mota:

Few persons live up to the faith which they really have. Unreasoned fear is a master intellectual fraud practiced upon the evolving mortal soul.[3] There is no reason we should fear because each one of us is indwelt by an actual spark of God.[4] All we need do is cooperate with our God within, also called our Thought Adjuster, knowing we have an internal perfect guide who has a plan for our lives. There is no place for fear in the lives of faith motivated individuals.

To enjoy privilege without abuse, to have liberty without license, to possess power and steadfastly refuse to use it for self-aggrandizement — these are the marks of high civilization.[5] By this measure our civilization does not qualify as being particularly “high,” we need only read the signs of our times to see troubled waters ahead.

Blind and unforeseen accidents do not occur in the cosmos. Neither do the celestial beings assist the lower being who refuses to act upon his light of truth.[6] If we follow the internal guidance each of us receives, if we act upon our own light of truth we will be assisted by celestial beings and forces. We are certainly not alone.

The weak indulge in resolutions, but the strong act. Life is but a day’s work — do it well. The act is ours; the consequences God’s.[7] This does not need further comment except to say that the consequences brought by God are strongly influenced by the nature of our actions.

The greatest affliction of the cosmos is never to have been afflicted. Mortals only learn wisdom by experiencing tribulation.[8] Experience certainly seems to be the best teacher and lessons learned during trying times are long remembered. Those who have not been afflicted do not know the thrill of choosing God’s will over lesser choices in times of desperate needs. {Spiritual Free Will}

Impatience is a spirit poison; anger is like a stone hurled into a hornet’s nest.[9] Impatience and anger each bring damage to our soul, they deflate our true self. If we have true faith we will not be tempted into these destroying emotions. True faith is certain guard against them. {True Religion}

Anxiety must be abandoned. The disappointments hardest to bear are those which never come.[10] How often do we worry incessantly about something that never takes place? We might imagine some bad thing that may or may not happen, then waste valuable time worrying about it. Again, we have a perfect guide, God within, showing us the true way; all we need do is listen within and we will know the true path.

The evolving soul is not made divine by what it does, but by what it strives to do.[11] Our goals define us more certainly than do our accomplishments. What we wish to become has more lasting (spiritual) value than who we have been or what we have done.

The destiny of eternity is determined moment by moment by the achievements of the day by day living. The acts of today are the destiny of tomorrow.[12] Each insignificant action in our daily lives appears to be without meaning, but the truth of the matter is there is no such thing as an insignificant act. Each decision may signal a change in the soul’s attitude or it may be a reaffirmation of our dedication to do God’s will at all times.[13]

The argumentative defense of any proposition is inversely proportional to the truth contained.[14] This mota gives deep insight into much rancor in our lives and in our political environment. Stated otherwise, the more violently we shout and argue, the less truth we have. A sign we have no facts or truth to make our point is when it becomes necessary to shout and raise a fuss. If we had reasonable points we would calmly make them, if that is not the case we wave our arms and get red in the face. This is a vital point to remember.

Where we are going?

What are some indications that severe changes are imminent?

Our nation, the United States of America, is currently experiencing political turmoil; there is no point in dwelling further on this. Our neighbor to the north, Canada, recently had an election where no party gained a majority; the current ruling party will need to form some sort of a coalition to be able to pass legislation. Another nation that is politically unsettled is Great Britain, which has voted to secede from the European Union but there is no mechanism for them to do this. The recent election in Israel also gave no clear winner and negotiations to form a government are ongoing.

There are other nations where there are riots and anti-government protests.[15] Among these are: Hong Kong, Lebanon, Iraq, Chile, Ecuador, Bolivia, Egypt, France, Ethiopia, and Syria. Including some from earlier in the year adds the following:[16] Guinea, Haiti, Nicaragua, Malawi, Russia, Sudan, Spain and Zimbabwe. These are generally protesting unfair government practices. More than ten percent of the nations on Earth have some sort of political turmoil, and these are only the ones that are in the news.

There are also movements protesting the effects of climate changes such as Extinction Rebellion, which started in London and FridaysForFuture, started by Greta Thunberg.

Each one of these movements has a valid, important point to make; each one declares more must be done to bring about a better life for all citizens.

We are witnessing the beginning of the collapse of state-ism; our patchwork of individual sovereign nations will not work in an increasingly interconnected world. The transition from our current state of affairs to recognition that every person on Earth must have individual and equal sovereignty will necessarily be contentious, but eventually the transformation will be recognized as being vital to the survival of life on Earth.[17]

If we look at our democracy, or any statist democracy, as one of the so-called individual sovereign nations on planet Earth then, “yes” this should be the end of our democracy, and the end of every sovereign nation on our blue orb in space. The only valid sovereignty is the sovereignty of all mankind or that of each individual. There is nothing in between. The universe name for our planet is Urantia.

War on Urantia will never end so long as nations cling to the illusive notions of unlimited national sovereignty. There are only two levels of relative sovereignty on an inhabited world: the spiritual free will of the individual mortal and the collective sovereignty of mankind as a whole.[18]

There is already a framework for global government called the Earth Federation. There is a masterful constitution for this world government. When the citizens of Earth recognize that statism has failed they will seek to join the Earth Federation and accept the constitution of Earth. Only this way can there be peace on Earth and good will among all humanity.

  1. All references are to The Urantia Book unless stated otherwise. The number refers to the single column version in the format page.paragraph; 1086.6 ↑

  2. see pages 556-7 for the full list of mota ↑

  3. 556.4 ↑

  4. Bible: I Corinthians 3:16 ↑

  5. 556.8 ↑

  6. 556.9 ↑

  7. 556.13 ↑

  8. 556.14 ↑

  9. 557.4 ↑

  10. 557.5 ↑

  11. 557.8 ↑

  12. 557.10 ↑

  13. 1475.1 ↑

  14. 557.14 ↑

  15. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-global-protests-markets-graphic/global-protests-gaining-attention-in-financial-markets-idUSKBN1X326E, retrieved 10/24/2019. ↑

  16. https://reliefweb.int/report/world/press-briefing-note-protests-and-unrest-around-world-25-october-2019 retrieved 10/26/2019 ↑

  17. 1489.1 ↑

  18. 1487.9 ↑

Current Events – Values

Events in the news cry out for comment; there is much heated debate with little real dialog. Getting bogged down in the details might be an exercise in futility, rather it would be interesting to look at these times using concepts from my book “Light of Truth: Anticipating the Triumph of Righteousness” and the corresponding website. We will comment on values as exemplified by an elected political leader and how strongly this leader is supported. We find that one of the “Talking Points” pages on the website, “Ideologically Driven Processes,” explains these times very well.

Coloring an entire movement with the characteristics of one leader sometimes may be unfair, but in our political environment one leader has taken advantage of our strongly polarized society with no opposition from his supporters, in this case such colorization is warranted. If his supporters disagreed with him there would be public comments. This silence is confirmation of their support, even admiration, of their leader. His values and ideals have become their values and ideals.

This leader admires only those world leaders who are brutal dictators such as Kim Jong-un in North Korea and Vladimir Putin in Russia while he says unkind words about democratically elected ones such as Angela Merkel in Germany. These are the values admired by his silent supporters.

This leader forcibly takes young children from their families and locks them in cages. He has unkind things to say about women, those with handicaps, the free press, and minorities. These are the values admired by his silent supporters.

And there is more.

Why is there silence from his supporters? In order to get elected and reelected politicians need financial support which will dry up if they go against this polarizing leader. These politicians are afraid to speak their minds because if they do, there will not be enough funds to run a political campaign. The money they need comes from wealthy donors who have a particular ideology the leader espouses.

These wealthy donors have a set of values they believe in strongly and they are willing to give a large amount of money to further their values. To them these values are so important anything is acceptable as long as it enhances their values. Therefore they give money to this leader and those supporting him, all of whom have become beholden to the wealthy donors.

What is wrong with this? What is wrong with following strongly held beliefs? The problem is that everything needs a solid foundation. Just as we cannot build a house upon sand, we cannot build our life on a moral quicksand; there must be a firm moral foundation. When any goal becomes so important that morality is lost, the goal becomes unattainable. After this point there will be no way to evaluate decisions, no way to judge which is the proper course. Going astray is inevitable.

As an aside, for those working to counteract climate change the motivation is the health of Mother Earth. Everyone, even super-billionaires, depends on their environment for sustenance; therefore working to protect our environment for the good of humanity might be an acceptable foundation. However, this is not adequate because violent radicals would be unrestrained; a more enduring foundation would be to recognize that everyone has within them an actual spark of God;[1] He is literally within each thinking human being. With this truth as a moral foundation, protectors of Planet Earth will be well guided. With this as a moral foundation there will be a way to judge each proposed action: what effects will the action have, will it harm human beings who are indwelt by God?

How did this leader come into power? Because of the extremely unequal distribution of wealth in our society (and around the world), a significant segment has been disadvantaged and frustrated. These frustrations led them to vote for anybody promising to help them. Of those running for this office, one largely ignored these disadvantaged voters while the other made empty promises but cut taxes for the rich once elected.

Our polarized society needs to recognize the value of every human being; since everyone equally has within them a spark of God, everyone has value. God is no respecter of persons, He respects everyone equally. This truth needs to be incorporated into our greed-filled economic system, our overburdened welfare system, our immigration policies, our interpersonal relationships, and even into how we think about our sisters and brothers.

  1. Bible: I Corinthians 3,16 ↑