© 1992 Meredith J. Sprunger, Ann Bendall, Ken Glasziou, Jim McNelly
© 1992 ANZURA, Australia & New Zealand Urantia Association
2 Salisbury Crt, Glen Waverley, Victoria, AUSTRALIA, 3150.
¶ In This Issue…
SIX-0-SIX
PO BOX 616, Sunnybank, Queensland, AUSTRALLA 4109
Six-O-Six is a bi-monthly publication dedicated to the promotion of International goodwill and understanding among readers of The URANTIA Book.
- So They Say
- Letters to the Editor
- News Around the World
- Articles
- Channeling and the Urantia Movement .
- Channeling and Communication with the
- Spirit World
- Channeling and Mental Disorder
- Midwayer Communications
- The Book Study and Discussion
- Spreading the Message
- Forum
- Are You Ready for the URANTIA Book?
- Divine Antidotes
- Quotable Quotes
- Crosswords
- On Reflection
- The Importance of the Individual
- When All is Said and Done
¶ Editor’s Notebook
An interesting topic currently generating comment relates to the subject of channeling. Articles in this issue present a range of views on this matter. In addition, there is an item or two on book distribution, although the Foundation’s policy has not been specifically addressed.
All this, plus our usual features. We hope our continuing diverse collection of information assists in the understanding of fellow readers.
Now for a few words lightheartedly dedicated to those selfless people who have contributed, so often unintentionally, to the revelation.
Our simple ideas, our dearest dreams, win small gains and endure spectacular losses. For each and every occasion, our dear friends, God bless them, offer their god-like objectivity and insight. Often, they too, are hapless victims in our cause.
But they hang in there for us, realizing there was no real solution and no criteria for success. At least that opinion serves us well as our survival technique.
Surely that aspirant appreciated our one-hour explanation about the third mansion world! And what — about those sentences we knew by heart and finished off with the page number just for good measure. Their childlike faith did not buy our power of reason, our pearls of revelation, our expectations. Unnoticed by us, their suspicion of our quest was already changing to certainty. Their loss of course. Our approach was so reasonable, so gentle. Oh well, they obviously weren’t ready!
Then we move to the take-it-or-leave-it approach. Enough of those lengthy explanations, the carefully selected brochure. Just give 'em the book. Cop that!
See, they’re not ready either!
With a little patience, and lots of different dissemination techniques, we can have confused people everywhere. It’s lots of fun. Swap stories with colleagues. It’s like God has given us creative control over the spiritual destiny of a whole planet.
By comparison, being CEO at Time magazine would bc a little mundane, don’t you think?
The best part is being only accountable to God. Now who can argue with that? No shareholders, no losses. No worries, sport!
Now, here are some very important tips:
- Never smile. Leave people to ponder on your seriousness.
- Seem absent-minded, the sign of greater awareness and higher contact.
- Never be stuck for an answer. Act like you always know whereof you speak.
- Be articulate. Be able to out-manoeuvre your own subconscious.
- Leave meetings early. Wear the latest joggers for a fast get-away.
- Always leave your book at home. Borrow, and make someone feel important.
In honour of us poor souls saving this planet, we need a book to rescue us, to overcome our unhappy lot. Perhaps research could be done on Les Miserables, The Revolt of the Masses, and Dicken’s Hard Times. There, I feel better already.
I have to go now. Turn on my answering machine with the UB message, put my feet up, and learn a few more lines from the book. I’ve got another big day tomorrow.
Hey, by the way! What’s the best way to remember those flamin’ page numbers?
¶ So They Say
Environment Magazine
[With] The increasingly international nature of environmental problems… one nation’s problem is, in fact, every nation’s problem. The traditional notion of national sovereignty has been severely challenged and is being transformed.
Professor Goodman, Murdoch University
Australia needed to refine social science theory which is woefully inadequate for dealing with change in East Asia. The existing concepts are all based on Western European experience.
University Of Queensland Contact Magazine
New areas of study derive from new discoveries and knowledge. Consequently, a university that wishes to provide a curriculum that maintains currency for undergraduates cannot rely on elderly administrators who haven’t taught or researched for many years, and certainly it cannot rely on government bureaucrats.
Nobel laureate, Eugene Wigner
The concepts of mathematics are not chosen for their conceptual simplicity…but for their amenability to clever manipulations and to striking, brilliant arguments.
¶ Crafts Magazine
According to Plato, the question of whether art is of value is the question of whether it has any clear relationship to knowledge. Plato concludes that art has a little to do with knowledge, but very little and accordingly he assigns it a rather minor place in his conception of the best possible State.
Six-O-Six is published sir times a year, and editorial contributions are welcomed. Subscription rates: Australia - $ 10 per year. Other countries - US $17 per year The material contained in this publication is of general comment only, and not advice on any particular matter. The publisher, authors and editors expressly disclaim all liability in respect of this information and of the consequences of any actions resulting therefrom. Interpretations and opinions expressed are those of the authors, and do not necessarily represent those of Six-O-Sir or Urantia Foundation. All quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are front The URANTIA Book © 1955 and used by permission. This publication is copyright with the exception of fair dealings under the Copyright Act, no part may be reproduced by any process without and permission from the publisher.
¶ Letters To The Editor
¶ The Fellowship International Conference
St Hyacinthe, Canada, July/August 1993
It is the plan of the Canadian organizers of the conference that 30% of the presenters should come from outside of the United States.
No doubt many of these 30% will be Canadians. However, the organizers want to hear from readers who plan to attend the conference in the hope that some of them would be prepared to make a presentation.
Apparently the facilities at St. Hyacinthe are first class, and very versatile, so that a great range of different types of presentation can be scheduled. The organizers plan a strong emphasis on small groups.
If any Australian or New Zealand reader who plans to attend the conference would like to make a presentation, or participate in the program in some way, please contact either:
Sue Tennant
Box 470 Springville, NY 14141, USA
or
William Wentworth
“Elmgrove”
Towamba, NSW 2550, Australia
¶ Photos Sought
Dear Readers of Six-O-Six,
We are in the process of processing the third issue of the Study Group Herald. I am therefore requesting further that you send black and white photos or negatives of your study groups or yourselves with the names of the people on the photos at the back as soon as possible to:
Martin Greenhut
P.O. Box 692, Montery, MA, 01245, USA
¶ Broad Perspective
Geoff Lund, Runaway Bay, Qld
In 1990, while in the United Kingdom, I picked up some books on religious topics, such as ‘Encyclopaedia of World Religions’, published in the 19th century, and one entitled ‘The Myth of Christian Uniqueness’, and they have been most informative.
I find most religious journals push their own line only and are not interested in discussion of wider religious thought, although there may be one or two in the USA encouraging that line. I do feel there is a great searching, particularly in the Western world, for some faith that will bring brotherly love between peoples.
¶ News Around The World
¶ Local Office
The Urantia Foundation advises it now has an office in Australia. It is to provide copies of The URANTIA Book and other Foundation materials to individuals and bookstores throughout the Southwest Pacific.
So that bookstores know that they can order books direct, The URANTIA Book has been listed in Australian Books in Print.
For individuals, up to three books per year may be purchased at a 40% discount from the suggested retail price of $55 Australian (plus shipping and handling).
This policy has been implemented to encourage purchases from bookstores. In this way it is expected that the book will become available to a wider readership.
Further enquiries and orders can be addressed to:
Urantia Foundation
7 Walsh St. North Narrabeen N.S.W. 2101,
Australia, Telephone/Fax: (02) 9706200
¶ Museum Open
The Jerusalem Bible Lands Museum is now open. Mosaics, sarcophagi, terra cotta figurines from Syria, jewellery from ancient Egypt, Phoenician ivory inlays, Sumerian seals, and countless other objects reveal the ancient world, the cradle of our civilization.
It is largely the collection of Dr Elie Borowski, who gathered the pieces over 45 years. Of his museum, Dr Borowski says: “The focus is on the Bible, the moral and spiritual source of Western Civilization.”
¶ Channel Of A Different Sort
An Open Learning Project, based on a British concept, is being run by ABC television in Australia.
These degree courses are directed at mature age students, and students who have missed out on University acceptance.
Initial response has been strong, particularly from rural and regional areas.
The preference has not been for the usual courses of statistics and marketing. Interest has been directed to French, Australian studies, and comparative religion.
Demand and Government support are in place. Availability of overseas programs, new course production, and textbooks are in short supply.
¶ New Zealand Connection
Book readers in New Zealand have requested affiliation with The Australian Association of Students of The URANTIA Book (AASUB).
Such a move would provide an expanded network of reader contacts, encourage additional study groups, and address the wider issue of book availability in New Zealand libraries and bookstores.
¶ Court Case
In the court case against Kristen Maaherra, the Foundation has successfully delayed bringing it before the court on the grounds of a conflict of interest by the defence lawyers. It appears that a now-deceased lawyer who once worked for the Foundation had an informal conversation with a member of the law firm representing Kristen Maaherra. Her lawyers did their standard search before accepting her case and found no conflict. However it seems that the court case could be delayed for possibly a further six months. It also appears to be true that the Foundation cannot voluntarily withdraw.
¶ Cosmology '92
By Eric J. Lemer, from ‘Sky and Telescope’, Feb. 1992
The Big Bang predicts that the universe is homogeneous on the largest scale, but astronomers have discovered vast conglomerates of galaxies stretching across billions of light years. Given the known velocity of galaxies today, it would have taken at least 60 billion years by any process to form these structures (the age of the Big Bang universe as derived from the Hubble relation is less than 20 billion years).
Isotropic blackbody background radiation has been cited as the greatest confirmation of the Big Bang. This requires an inflationary universe and a density of matter 50 to 100 times larger than observed. So ‘dark matter’ was invented. However if the large scale structures now observed had that the density dark matter theories predict, the galaxies would be flying around at speeds 10 times higher than observed.
New results by Fuller and colleagues show that there is less helium than the Big Bang calls for, and estimates for deuterium and lithium are out by a factor of ten.
An alternative theory that describes a virtually infinite universe filled with plasma and shaped by electricity and magnetism as well as gravity is receiving growing support. Theorists say that there are plasma explanations for the Hubble relation as compelling or more so than the Big Bang’s. The Wolf Effect in which resonant frequencies interact to cause wave length shifts may account for large red shifts observed from quasars.
[Note: very recent evidence indicates that the isotropic background radiation may not be isotropic after all. Remarkably, after so long being the strongest supporting evidence for the Big Bang, mental gymnastics are now being performed to use the lack of isotropism as also its strongest supporting evidence! And this before the data is even confirmed.]
¶ Articles
¶ Channeling And The Urantia Movement
by Meredith J. Sprunger
Psychic or paranormal psychological phenomena variously referred to as extrasensory perception, channeling, spiritualism, mediumship, and activities of the marginal consciousness have been rather common throughout human history. Many years ago I made a study of these paranormal communications and found they varied in quality as widely as the capabilities of the human mind. Some of the psychic communications studied present verifiable factual knowledge for which scientists find no reasonable empirical explanation. The great bulk of this material, however, is demonstrably inaccurate and unreliable.
Since the publication of The URANTIA Book, there have been many claims by book readers of “special” channeling information or guidance. Some even claim The URANTIA Book came through a channeling process although the authors of the book deny the spiritual authenticity of channeling-mediumistic psychic phenomena (UB 77:8.13; UB 146:7.2). Dr William S. Sadler, leader of the group receiving the Urantia Papers, after listing every conceivable form of psychic phenomena (marginal consciousness), unequivocally declared: “The technique of the reception of The URANTIA Book in English in no way parallels or impinges upon any of the phenomena of the marginal consciousness.”
¶ Channeling And Communication With The Spirit World
The Sunshine Coast Study Group
“The only means of communion with the spiritual world is embraced in the spirit endowment of mankind, the indwelling spirit of the Father, together with the outpoured spirit of the Son and the omnipresent influence of the Infinite Spirit.” (UB 150:3.7)
The word ‘only’ in this statement is quite unambiguous and must be kept continually in mind. At first sight there look to be three independent spirit sources. However the book states that, “Regardless of plurality of origin, all spirit influences are one in function.” (UB 34:6.2) Only the Thought Adjuster directly contacts the human mind (UB 34:5.3).
We need to know what is meant by ‘communion.’ A dictionary definition is “to converse together intimately”. To do that via a third party is usually inhibitory to intimate bilateral fellowship. So can there be any really direct contact with angels and other similar celestial beings? The book says:
¶ Channeling And Mental Disorder
by Ann Bendall and Ken Glasziou, Queensland [Ann’s expertise is in psychology; Ken’s in biochemistry]
Professor A.C.P. Sims is a well-known authority on the subject of mental disorders, including schizophrenia. In his book, ‘Symptoms in Man’s Mind’, he writes, “The religious nature of the delusion is seen as a disorder of content… So religious delusions are not caused by excessive religious belief… but they simply accentuate that when a person becomes mentally ill his delusions reflect, in their content, his predominant interests and concerns.”
M.V. Dunlop is a well-known Christian author who has written extensively on the subject of contemplative meditation as a means of training our minds to live continuously in the presence of Jesus. He makes these two statements, “Sooner or later our mental states are bound to reflect that on which we keep our attention,” and, “our minds take their quality from that on which we dwell.” His system of meditation aims to help us on our way to obeying Jesus’ command, “Be ye therefore perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect.” (Matt. 5:48; U.B. 1574:4)
In the light of Professor Sim’s observations it is well to beware of the possible harm that may arise from excessive or obsessional preoccupation with a narrow set of interests. Remember that The URANTIA Book describes Jesus in this way:
“The all-consuming and indomitable spiritual faith of Jesus never became fanatical, for it never attempted to run away with his well-balanced intellectual judgments concerning the proportional values of practical and commonplace social, economic, and moral life situations. The Son of Man was a splendidly unified human personality; he was a perfectly endowed divine being; he was also magnificently co-ordinated as a combined human and divine being functioning on earth as a single personality. Always did the Master co-ordinate the faith of the soul with the wisdom-appraisals of seasoned experience. Personal faith, spiritual hope, and moral devotion were always correlated in a matchless religious unity of harmonious association with the keen realization of the reality and sacredness of all human loyalties — personal honor, family love, religious obligation, social duty, and economic necessity.” (UB 196:0.7)
The gradation between the ‘normal’ mental state and the more extreme states such as schizophrenia is continuous. Probably nobody is completely ‘normal’ and few are totally mad.
Given the appropriate environmental, physiological and psychological conditions, most of us are capable of acting in an irrational way and can be pushed to the borderline and beyond of mental disability. Usually, it is only when we become severely socially dysfunctional that we get a label such as paranoid, manic, schizophrenic, etc.
It is an established fact that many kinds of psychotic disturbances, including schizophrenia, can be simulated using drugs known to interact with the electrochemistry of the brain, and specifically with the complex system of neurotransmission of electrical impulses across the nerve synapses regulated by substances such as dopamine, serotonin, gamma aminobutyric acid, etc. Schizophrenia is believed to be a disorder of this system and can be treated with drugs such as chlorpromazine that act at the level of the neurotransmitters.
Professor Sims uses the term ‘communicated insanity’ to describe the transfer of psychotic behaviour from a deluded person (the Principal) to ‘Associates’ who come to share false beliefs. In one such relationship (folie impose), separation from the Principal is often followed by remission of symptoms in the Associates. Sims also states that it cannot be stressed too often that patients believe their delusions literally, and that such delusions differ from mere fantasy. The reality of the delusion is ‘known’ with unconcerned certainty.
What we call channeling is not a new phenomenon and is found among the inmates of mental institutions where patients ‘hear’ voices that they may ascribe to God himself, extraterrestrials, celestial beings of many kinds, and disembodied spirits. Among the latter, Indian chiefs and Egyptian princesses are popular, but Napoleon appears to have become unfashionable.
Always Did The Master Co-Ordinate The Faith Of The Soul With The wisdom-appraisals of seasoned experience.
When ‘channeling’ is a delusion of the mind induced by malfunctioning electrochemistry, at present the only immediately effective treatment appears to be with appropriate drugs. However, even in some quite severe cases, remission does occur spontaneously.
A great danger associated with ‘channeling’ is when the channel has a charismatic personality combined with acting, oratorical, and organizational skills in which case communicated insanity may become a very real problem in that such people may have a profound and harmful influence on their followers.
A well known example is the case of the Reverend Jones who, claiming to be instructed by God, induced hundreds of associates to indulge in murder and suicide. Because of the dangers involved, and since The URANTIA Book advocates a one-to-one relationship with both our Thought Adjuster and Jesus’ Spirit of Truth, it is highly questionable that one should ever divert attention to lesser beings for our guidance.
¶ Midwayer Communications
Excerpts from “ A Report on Channeling in the Urantia Community” by Ernest Moyer
“But it should be made clear that the midway creatures are not involved in the sordid performances taking place under the general designation of ‘spiritualism’”. (UB 77:8.13)
There it is! A concrete and specific statement about spiritualism, about mediumship, and about channeling. Midway creatures are not involved in such sordid performances. They do not invade the sanctity of the human mind; they do not offer spirit communications; they do not mislead poor misguided human mortals; they do not desecrate the dignity of human personality. They do not provide channelings, or any other form of mediumship falling under the general designation of Spiritualism.
How did some Urantians get into the belief that channeling was an authorized technique of communication?
¶ The Bookstudy And Discussion
¶ Spreading The Message
Brisbane Study Group
How do we spread the message of The URANTIA Book? Good question. There was a time when many of us thought that we could rely upon instructions said to have been given to the human members of the Revelatory Commission. Presently there is considerable doubt about the validity of some of these supposed instructions. This may be a good thing, for it makes sense that the book itself should contain all the instructions necessary for its own dissemination. And at least we know that what we find in the book is authoritative. The following statement by the Master himself is both challenging and somewhat bothersome.
“Let me emphatically state this eternal truth: If you, by truth co-ordination, learn to exemplify in your lives this beautiful wholeness of righteousness, your fellow men will then seek after you that they may gain what you have so acquired. The measure wherewith truth seekers are drawn to you represents the measure of your truth endowment, your righteousness. The extent to which you have to go with your message to the people is, in a way, the measure of your failure to live the whole or righteous life, the truth co-ordinated life.” (UB 155:1.5)
The extent to which we have to take the message to the people is the measure of our failure! Speaking about the earliest Christian community, the book says: “Nevertheless they were filled with joy, and they lived such new and unique lives that all men were attracted to their teachings about Jesus.” (UB 194:4.6) It was the joy and the unique lives of these people and not the written word that drew attention to the teachings of Jesus.
¶ Forum
¶ Are You Ready For The Urantia Book?
Jim McNelly (From An Article In The Brotherhood Of Man Library)
During periods of darkness when tyrants cast a pall of authoritarianism over the world, it never fails that dedicated bands of volunteers appear unexpectedly to pick up the banner of light when truth and righteousness might otherwise flicker or fade.
Past revelations are filled with testimonies of individuals carrying on when ordained teachers and leaders failed or became timid, missing the opportunities of the ages. Van and Amadon stood tall following the fall of the Prince and remained steadfast for over one hundred thousand years. Adamson carried on when the Garden was no more. David Zebedee gathered a band of workers when others sought only to be served. Steven stepped forward and paid the price as Peter sought to devolve Jesus’ teachings into a minor subsect of Judaism. Paul’s eyes were opened and, with teachings that worked, turned the Roman world upside down.
Look at what is happening. The sales agreement with the Brotherhood has been cancelled. None of the staff trained in book distribution are left at 533. Less than 5% of the former Brotherhood has stayed with the Foundation.
¶ Divine Antidotes
Sixty-five institutions that existed in 1500 AD still exist today: The Roman Catholic church, The Parliaments of Iceland, Britain, and the Isle of Man, Six Swiss cantons, and 55 universities.
Truth is absurdly congenial to the play of our minds.
Leonard Euler, to an atheist foe, 1776
Monsieur, A plus B to the n, divided by n, equals x, therefore God exists. Respond!
Should the meek inherit the earth, they should get a good lawyer and fight it.
Does the disregard of epochal revelations stand condemned as a symbol of man’s inhumanity to God?
You know why mankind is in such trouble? We’ve made it easier to break a Commandment than a lease.
Graffiti
Prophet 1: God is dead. …Nietzsche
Prophet 2: Nietzsche is dead. …God
Authorised Version, Judges 4:19
And he said unto her, Give me, I pray thee a little water to drink for I am thirsty. And she opened a bottle of milk.
¶ Crosswords
by Audrey Morris, Tewantin, Queensland
Across
1. Infinite power 7. Oxygen 8. Praise 9. In the midst 10. Planet 11. Grossly material planet 12. Prayers 15 . Upper air 18. Serious 19. Might 20. Unconcealed 22. Listener 23. Tithe 24. Town on the way to Rome
Down
1. Unite 2. Fish trap 3. More courteous 4. Inconsolable bereaved woman (Greek) 5. Keen 6. Reality 9. Alertness
10. Creations 10A. Law 13. Repines 14. Unity 14A. Children on his knee 16. Spirit 17. Empire 21. Thought Adjuster
Solution to previous crossword
Across: 9. Andromeda 10. Monitors 12. Atom 13. Rivals 14. Inanity 15. Infrared 17. Initiated 18. Eternal 20. Genius 21. Am 24.
Breathed 26. Solitary 28. Halo 29. Orison 31. Deity 34. Midwayers 36. Campsites 38. Nearest 39. Trees 40. Trig 41. Satania 42 . Trusted
Down: 1. Paradise 2. Odd/Off 3. Regime 4. Satan 5. Omission 6. Individual 7. Stearin 8. Artist 11. Syndics 16. Annual 19. Enrol 20. God 22. Mercy 23. Ethics 25. Harvesting 26. Son 27. Shamans 30. Susatia 31. Damascus 32. Assigned 33. Parents 35. Draws 36. Create 37. Tirade
¶ On Reflection
¶ The Importance Of The Individual
by Ann Bendall, Nambour, Queensland
“The apostles early learned that the Master had a profound respect and sympathetic regard for every human being he met, and they were tremendously impressed by this uniform and unvarying consideration which he so consistently gave to all sorts of men, women and children. He would pause in the midst of a profound discourse that he might go out in the road to speak good cheer to a passing woman laden with her burden of body and soul. He would interrupt a serious conference with his apostles to fraternize with an intruding child. Nothing ever seemed so important to Jesus as the individual human who chanced to be in his immediate presence. He was master and teacher, but he was more — he was also a friend and neighbor, an understanding comrade.” (UB 138:8.9)
A few pages later (UB 139:5.7), Philip, who had the habit of interrupting Jesus with foolish questions, while he was in the midst of discourse with the apostles, was never reprimanded because:
¶ When All Is Said And Done…
“As he [Jesus] grew into manhood, he passed through all those conflicts and confusions which the average young persons of previous and subsequent ages have undergone. And the rigorous experience of supporting his family was a sure safeguard against his having overmuch time for idle meditation or the indulgence of mystic tendencies.” (UB 126:5.9)