© 1993 Irene Bonutta, Ken Glasziou, Trevor Swadling, Tom Mulhall
© 1993 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
- The Key to Loving Service
- Responsibility
- More on Caligastia
- Registration for the 1993 Conference
- The Book — Study and Discussion
- A Further Statistical Investigation of Writing Styles in The URANTIA Book
- Forum
- What Might Have Been?
- Divine Antidotes
- Quotable Quotes
- Crosswords
- On Reflection
- The Lord is My Pacesetter
- From ‘New Age Understanding’
- When All is Said and Done
¶ Editor’s Notebook
The communication agenda in the Urantia Movement is for mainstream readers only. This is domination by a minority interest, given total book sales. It is time to recognize the many classifications of readers and to consider their particular needs.
Just for starters:
- The earnest and communicating reader
- The 'spin off reader who is looking for a way to use the information
- The home-based and private reader
- The friend of a reader
- Those who are going to read it ‘one day’
- Those who’ve heard about it
The list could go on. Readers don’t need to follow any program, gravitate to any one place, be it study group or city, and their pace and level of interest is entirely their own.
We experience the book. Like the modern working career, life changes course, prosperity is made and lost, status is strictly temporary, and we never retire.
So too, there is no certainty that someone hears about the book, traverses various stages of readership, to finally join the ‘professional circuit’.
It is not a matter of finding readers, it is all a matter of making friends and finding needs. What the book has given to us, and made of us, we can apply in general counselling, not recruiting. Maybe it is through such methods that, today, closet readers abound. Or do they?
We can endeavour to identify the spiritual interest of our friends and offer values. Hand them their independence. Fragmentation will continue. As individuals however, we will eventually seek an overriding ethic in society. One greater than our particular interest group.
The teachings, filtered through time and societies, are unlikely to be that moral imperative. It could be The URANTIA Book per se — the revelation to the planet.
For structures tumble and no-one can be quarantined from change.
Behavioral theories and certain tics — neither stand the test of time. A cerebral world is replacing the mechanical.
But values, and our offspring, shall endure. As will our many categories of students continuing to study the blue ‘rule’ book, the one bastion that will retain its innocence. Reality will eventually catch up with it.
And perhaps this is the best way to provide for the diversity of readership through the course of this sagacious dispensation. Maintain, as long as possible, the innocence of The URANTIA Book. Allow for the spontaneity of discovery, and the personal and personality identification it ushers with great gusts of energy.
Spontaneity neither awaits or demands a formula of URANTIA Book introduction or readership style.
But the book itself, the gift of the gods, is imperative. But the book is on trial! And even worse than that, so are its contents! The rewriting is underway. An avalanche of half-truths, half-baked, half-inched. Choice, the modern god of consumerism.
What then of giving attention to the needs of the Unknown Reader, and less to our own. Perhaps their chosen status is its own reward. A perspective of enduring innocence, distributing values to family and friends.
So is The URANTIA Book readership truly known and truly appreciated for its contribution to the advent of light and life? It would seem to be both undervalued and overvalued!!
¶ So They Say
Lee Kuan Yew — On Good Government
Whilst democracy and human rights are worthwhile ideas, we should be clear that the real objective is good government. That should be the test for official government aid. Is this a good government that deserves aid? Is it honest and effective? Does it look after its people? Is there an orderly stable society where people are being cducated and trained to lead a productive life?
David Gelman — ‘Newsweek’ Magazine
Ordinary people, many of them favored with sound intelligence and higher education, are recruited at a point in their lives when the summons to some larger collective purpose seems just the antidote to their alienation. Cult leaders know an outside threat increases the cohesion of the group. They foster a them-and-us mentality: members are the chosen ones, their mission transcendent. Many present themselves with special trunk lines to God.
H. Mcqueen — ‘Weekend Australian’
Perfect-fit adaptation and purposeful evolution are as anti-Darwinian as the creationism of the fundamentalist Christians. Darwin’s good news is that human physiology works well enough to keep our species going, but some time in the near future — say in 250,000 years — homo sapiens will have evolved into something else or become extinct.
Father James Murray — Anglican Priest
Millennialism thrives in times of conflict and upheaval, but faces another problem. The year 2000 is confined to those countries and cultures following the Christian West. The Buddhist, Jewish, and Muslim calendars offer quite different years. In any case the Gregorian calendar is almost certainly skew-whiff by four or six or seven years, which makes 2000 inaccurate.
Fred Hoyle — ‘The Intelligent Universe’ (M. Joseph, London, 1983)
… the Earth is a fine garden which had its soil initially well-prepared to receive the seeds from which terrestrial life has evolved.
It is precisely because of…control by intelligence…that life on the Earth inherited such a comparatively placid and favourable home for its development.
I expect astronomers will eventually discover that much of what they currently believe concerning the behaviour and formation of galaxies has to be modified to take account of intelligent control.
¶ Letters To The Editor
¶ Articles Welcomed
First Urantia Study Group, Auckland, New Zealand
We really like the current editorship and format, as far as we’re concerned you can be too tolerant of widely divergent views. We like articles to do with The URANTIA Book and its teachings. Keep up the good work!
¶ Top Channel
Francois Dupont, Bruxelles, Belgium
I love Six-O-Six and I like its content. I especially appreciated your ideas about channelling, I fully share them! Is not The URANTIA Book the biggest, the highest, the deepest, the most complete ‘channelling’ work on this planet? All other channellings aside, are to be considered in function of (in relation to?) The URANTIA Book. Our inner conviction, guided by the Spirit of Truth, is the only individual tester and arbiter. Best wishes and compliments for your Six-O-Six newsletter.
¶ A Message From Sedona
Delphius (formerly Madeline Noordzy), Sedona, U.S.A.
It is about two years ago since I resigned as editor of Six-O-Six. Many things have happened since that time. Now I live in another country, have a new name and am editor of a new publication, which I am very excited about. Please accept this issue of The Salvington Circuit as my gift and that of my cosmic family to you. It has some great reading in it, my personal story about how I happen to be here is also included. Hoping to hear from you soon.
Six-0-Six is published six times o year and editorial contributions are welcomed. Subscription rates: Australia $10 per year. Other countries — $A 15 per year. Please remit in Australian dollars. 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 only actions resulting therefrom. Interpretations and opinions expressed are those of the author, and do not necessarily represent those of Six- O Six or Urantia Foundation. The editor reserves the right to edit all material to conform to style guidelines and available space. All quotations, un less otherwise indicated are from The URANTIA Book © 1955 and used by permission. This publication is copyright.
¶ News Around The World
¶ Congress On Family Law And Human Rights
In July, the First World Congress on Family Law and Human Rights will be held in Sydney.
This congress sees the family as the vital human unit, and extends the definition of family beyond parents and children.
The contemporary assault on the family, and especially children, is due in part to the increasing coalescence of cultures and the denial of human rights.
The congress will consider The Economic and Social Council of the United Nations report that abuses of children including slavery, sale, and sexual exploitation, are universal.
¶ Anniversary Of Chinese Presbyterian Church
With its origins in the Australian goldrushes of the 1850s, the Chinese Presbyterian Church recently commemorated 100 years of ministry. The Church government has survived on an orthodoxy based on scriptures, faith, and integration into its community.
¶ New Journal Published
The ‘Salvington Circuit’ is a bi-monthly publication claiming to be part of the Continuing Fifth Epochal Revelation to awaken Cosmic and other Urantian reservists as to the adjudication by the Bright and Morning Star versus Lucifer which the publishers believe is being implemented now on Urantia by the present Planetary Prince, Machiventa Melchizedek and his staff.
Further information or copies of the journal contact: PO Bax 3946,
West Sedona, AZ, USA, 86340
¶ Australlans Are Religlous!
The Australian Bureau of Statistics reveals there are as many as eighty identifiable religious bodies now represented in this country.
¶ Understanding Unbelief
ABC’s Radio National has begun a series — Understanding Unbelief. “It will seek to find a replacement for faith. Atheism has been a bit of a fizzer”, quotes the program organizer.
¶ International Fellowship Committee Report
John Lange, International Fellowship
The International Fellowship Committee made a trip to Mexico City, March 18-22, 1993. We were hosted by Javier de la Garza and his reader community. We made a presentation and had several group discussions. They are all excited about the Spanish translation to be published soon. Readers in Finland will be hosting ‘Summer Days’, June 11-13, 1993. This will probably be held in the Helsinki area. Joel Rehnstrom expressed to me the desire of the group to have many attendants from other countries. With the anticipated publication of the Finnish translation, this should be quite a joyous occasion.
The International 1993 Conference for readers of The URANTIA Book is in the final planning stage. It will be held July 31 — August 5, 1993 in St. Hyacinthe near Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The theme is ‘Touch the World’, and we will focus on our international reader community. The opening ceremony will be a narrative of the Urantia movement in the world today. If you or someone you know has an interesting picture or story on this subject, please send it to me, or Sue Tenant.
As I have now visited several different cultures with URANTIA Book readers, I have found the Urantia Teachings not to replace but to be an outgrowth of more traditional religious beliefs. Thus the Urantia Teachings give us a fabric of common experience joining us in a family of great religious diversity.
¶ Big Bang — Big Fizz?
Ken Crosswell, New Scientist
Astronomers in the US and Britain believe they have discovered what may be the two most distant galaxy ‘superclusters’, vast chains of galaxies that stretch across tens of millions of light years. At 10 billion light years from earth, they would have existed just 2 billion years after the big bang. Their presence could completely destroy that theory which is already in trouble.
¶ Articles
¶ The Key To Loving Service
Irene Borutta, Melbourne
With great interest I have been following the ongoing legal wrangles between the Urantia Foundation and Kristen Maaherra. As often happens in prolonged disputes, both sides are polarising, creating more division instead of coming any nearer to a solution.
What purpose does this whole situation serve? The gradual breakdown of the cohesion of the Urantia movement. This would seriously effect the beautiful truth this book proclaims. Religious experience is only valid as a living experience, a knowing of God as our Universal Father and a knowing of God in our divine self as in all our brothers and sisters. With this realisation, Jesus is our greatest inspiration of a God-conscious life, lived with total dedication and devotion in unbroken communion with the heavenly Father.
As we partake of his life as he lived it on earth, as we ponder his teachings and try to integrate them in our own lives, the closer we get to him.
By opening our hearts and listening to his words we see many present day situations in a new light.
¶ Responsibility
Ken Glasziou, Maleny, Queensland
A review of a recent university study on ‘lying’ claimed to show that we all tell lies and about 93 percent of us tell at least one ‘whopper’ per week. I presume that all URANTIA Book readers make up part of the remaining 7 percent!
Why do human beings lie so much? I once heard a child psychologist explaining that our reward and punishment system for the training of our children is a marvelous way to teach children to lie. Harking back to my own childhood, I recall that if we chose to lie it had to be water-tight, since the consequences of being caught for lying were far worse than admitting to the felony. I recall too that my dear old mum could hand out a mean whipping for lying — for which I belatedly thank her. In those days the 9th commandment came over as, “It’s a sin to tell a lie” — and there was even a popular song having that as both title and main theme. It must have been effective training, for almost 70 years later, I can still remember every deliberate lie I ever told. And that’s no lie.
There are many kinds of liars in this world, some despicable like the ‘con artists’ who get their kicks from acts like cheating the feeble minded out of their life savings. Then there are those who seem to get away with it, such as politicians or the likeable rogue who is quick to confess with a cheery word and a mischievous grin when confronted with exposure.
¶ More On Caligastia
Trevor Swadling, Sydney
I would like to make a few observations concerning the current tendency for some readers of The URANTIA Book to accuse or imply that some people are being influenced by Caligastia. Perhaps we may find some clues from The URANTIA Book itself. A couple of characters who come to mind from The URANTIA Book who one would expect to be candidates for being influenced by Caligastia, are Judas and some of the members of the Sanhedrin. What does the book say about them in relation to this? On UB 179:2.3 We read:
“He [Jesus] fully realised that this traitorous betrayal was the work of Judas, but it also pleased Lucifer, Satan, and Caligastia.” UB 179:2.3
Then on UB 183:0.4:
¶ Registration For The 1993 Conference
Included with this issue of Six-O-Six is the Registration Form for the 1993 Conference on Queensland’s Gold Coast.
Your early registration or advice that you will be attending will greatly assist the organizers.
Your participation will contribute to: your own ascension career, your fellows, the fifth epochal revelation, the midwayers, the seraphic guardians, the Holy Spirit, the Supreme Bcing… Now there’s a good reason or two!
The program will include:
- Keynote presentations
- A workshop on the theme
- Talks by overseas visitors
- A report on the International Conference in Montreal, Canada
- Anzura Annual General Meeting
- Con and Maria’s world famous URANTIA Book Quiz
- Lots and lots of free time
As the saying goes — “Scc you in Paradise”.
¶ The Book Study And Discussion
¶ A Further Statistical Investigation Of Writing Styles In The Urantia Book
Ken Glasziou, Maleny, Queensland
A previous study on this subject was published in the March/April 1992 issue of Six-O-Six. The study was undertaken because of speculation that The URANTIA Book may have been written by a single author. Some that have been suggested are: Dr. W. Sadler, Lena Sadler, Bill Sadler, Wilfred Kellogg, Carl Jung, H.G. Wells, and Robert Millikin.
Many forms of style analysis have been used in attempts to identify authors of various documents and literary works. The advent of computers has enabled investigators to use increasingly sophisticated methods to collect and analyze data. Much of the modern work has its roots in methods pioneered by Mosteller and associates. Included among these procedures is the fre. quency of use by individual authors of ‘marker’ words that begin sentences or join clauses and phrases within sen tences.
In the previous investigation, the frequency of use of marker words at the commencement of sentences was used in a broad-based investigation. For example, the first analysis simply compared Part 4 with the remainder of the book, it being expected that there could be differences in style between the authors for Part 4 (earthbound midwayers) and the authors of remainder of the book (celestial beings). A global test using six marker words indicated multiple authorship at a probability level of one part in more than 30,000 . The results of a survey indicated that there are not less than four authors of The URANTIA Papers, and perhaps nine or many more.
¶ The Forum
¶ What Might Have Been?
Tom Mulhall, Melbourne
Jesus continued to teach the twenty four, saying:
“The heathen are not without excuse when they rage at us. Because their outlook is small and narrow, they are able to concentrate their energies enthusiastically. Their goal is near and more or less visible; wherefore do they strive with valiant and effective execution. You who have professed entrance into the kingdom of heaven are altogether too vacillating and indefinite in your teaching conduct. The heathen strike directly for their objectives; you are guilty of too much chronic yearning. If you desire to enter the kingdom, why do you not take it by spiritual assault even as the heathen take a city they lay siege to? You are hardly worthy of the kingdom when your service consists so largely in an attitude of regretting the past, whining over the present, and vainly hoping for the future. Why do the heathen rage? Because they know not the truth. Why do you languish in your futile yearning? Because you obey not the truth. Cease your useless yearning and go forth bravely doing that which concerns the establishment of the kingdom.” (UB 155:1.3)
Although largely a matter of history now, The URANTIA Book was published in 1955 by The Urantia Foundation in Chicago. Since that time over thirty major works by theologians, philosophers, psychologists and laypeople have appeared on our shelves related to the book. The Urantia movement, which grew principally from the book itself, has given rise to a bourgeoning Church, numerous centres for theology and philosophy around the globe, social reform programs too numerous to mention and has been called “…the only new religion this century to truly grasp the minds of modern peoples”.
The URANTIA Book became a noticeable item carly in the 1960s. The outstanding feature of the book was its apparently effortless ability to inspire the minds of people from almost every walk of life and persuasion. What should have been on the surface, like so many other things of its kind, an obscure esoteric oddity, became readily appealing to business people, professionals, teachers, tradespeople as well as the rebellious youth of that age. The book seemed to have something for everyone and although conversation and dispute was much varied, and often hot, the ‘Revelation’ of The URANTIA Book provided a framework that brought a new way of viewing the age-old Christian message and also a new way of seeing society’s potential. It gave an enormous variety of people a unified goal which seemed to transcend social prejudices. By 1970 the term ‘Urantian’ was commonplace.
By the early 70s, the groundwork was being laid that would provide for the movement’s continued growth and influence. Small churches were formed in many major cities around the world and the Christian churches began to take notice. Urantian centres of every kind provided the opportunity for people to meet and exchange ideas.
The book’s great appeal was the modernity of its timeless spiritual message. People everywhere began to see the relevance of the age-old Christian message to a rapidly changing and technological environment.
With the healthy economic climate of the 70 s, social justice issues came to the fore and many notable politicians paid more than a fleeting interest to The URANTIA Book. In the business world, the concept of the ‘service motive’ overcoming the ‘profit motive’ took hold in the minds of many of the wealthy. Outreach work, often funded by major companies, began in the form of private Community Centres, Youth Centres, even Centres for Social Equality and Justice which sprang from the soil of the spiritual movement.
By the mid to late 70s it seemed that The URANTIA Book was here to stay. Many people, disillusioned with mainstream Christianity, embraced the teachings while many Christians themselves, certainly at grass-roots level became more and more sympathetic with the message.
¶ Divine Antidotes
At the end of the day, all men are cremated equal.
The fifties rocker thought an atheist was someone who didn’t believe in Elvis.
Believer: Our spirit teacher is called Xerox.
Skeptic: Why?
Believer: 'Cos he keeps on repeating The URANTIA Book?
If reincarnation was true, surely some of us would have favoured customer status.
Ancient of Days: Paddy, do you choose survival or extinction?
Paddy: What else is available?
Then there was the religionist who went to church regularly.
Every Christmas, no matter how bad the weather.
The aspirant wasn’t on speaking terms with his Thought Adjuster — only listening terms.
The URANTIA Book traces our family tree back to the time we lived in one.
Teacher: If you had five copies of The URANTIA Book and the Police for Gender Language wanted a copy, how many would you have left? Johnnie: Five
What do the French say when they hear of another UB-ism?
Mercy!
¶ Crossword
By Audrey Morris, Tewantin, Queensland
Across
1. Endless unfolding 4. Having power to do 8. Fetishism 10. Oil lamp of Jesus’ time 11. Spring 12. Centre of Angona System (2) 13. The Steadfast 15. Alto Violin 16. Age 17. Pith 17A. Abdicate 18. Service 19. Anoint 20. Build up hopes again (Hyphen) 22. Judge 23. Energy whirls of space
Down
2. Woman at Jacob’s Well 3. A Tertiary Seconaphim (3) 5. Unit 6 . Result 7. Lengthy cloak (2) 9. Self 11 . Spirits of the advancing world 4. The ancestors of universes 18. Marriage 21. Affirm
Solution to previous
Across: 1. Ascend 8. Orvonton 9. Spaced 10. Graduate 11. Decode 12. Soul 13. Peter 16. Eased 19. Ezra 21. Leaven 22. Sac 22A. Ensa 23. Stasis 24. Nee 24A. Seek 25. Andrew
Down: 2. Supreme 3. Enclose 4. Dodges 5. Condole 6. Stratus 7. Entered 13. Poisons 14. Teacher 15. Release 17. Anaxand 18. Eremite 20. Alaska
¶ On Reflection
¶ The Lord is My Pacesetter…
Oswald Astor
The Lord is my pacesetter. I shall not rush.
He makes me stop and rest for quiet intervals.
He provides me with images of stillness which
restore my serenity.
He leads me in ways of efficiency through
calmness of mind.
His guidance is peace.
Even though I have a great many things to
accomplish each day, I will not fret.
For His presence is here, His timelessness, His all
importance will keep me in balance.
He prepares refreshment and renewal in the midst
of my activity by anointing my mind with the oils
of tranquility.
My cup of joyous energy overflows.
Such harmony and effectiveness shall be the fruits
of my hours.
For I shall walk in the peace of the Lord and t
dwell in His House forever.
¶ From ‘New Age Understanding’
Donald Curtis (Unity Books, Missouri, USA)
What is grace? Grace has been defined as the impersonal outpouring of God’s love into His creation. If we truly felt that God lives in our heart, if we truly believed that God is our very being and that we live because God lives through us, then we would never feel any separation whatsoever. We would become what we are intended to be — vehicles for the infusion of God’s grace into the world.
Problems come because we do not seek the kingdom first. We seek accomplishment first. Let us be very honest with ourselves and look at the way in which we approach this business of living. Don’t we usually approach it first from the human point of view? You say: “Well, of course I do! I’m human. How else would I approach it?” Quite right, but there is another way of looking at ourselves. Although we are going through a human experience, we are not human beings. We are spiritual beings. We are sons of God going through a human experience. We must understand that we are not primarily sons of men; we are sons of God. So long as we believe that we are only human beings, we are going to experience pain, suffering, tears, disease, and death. But when we realize that the human aspect is but an expression of the divine reality, then a great new standard of living becomes operative. It becomes possible to walk this earth, through grace, as sons of God.
The spiritual way of life does not interest everybody. It is only when a person comes to see that we are here in life for a purpose, and that this purpose is to unfold, to grow, to learn, to develop, to live, walk, speak, think, and act as what we are — sons of God — that we really become interested in spiritual standards. When we surrender our human and worldly appetites, we do not give up anything; rather we attain something. But we do not do this just in order to attain. We do it because we know that this is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
As we give up all destructive, negative ties such as fears, worries, tensions, pressures, selfishness, and self-seeking, and live by grace instead of by effort, we will be free.
Only God is good. The good that comes forth from an individual comes from the spiritual self, the God-self. Man hasn’t even begun to express the tremendous potential that lies beneath the surface. We need to learn one principle: As we give up all destructive, negative ties such as fears, worries, tensions, pressures, selfishness, and self-seeking, and live by grace instead of by effort, we will be free.
I had an awakening not too long ago. There is something that I had been wanting very, very much. I expressed this great desire in prayer — and listened for the answer. The ‘inner voice’ came through loud and clear. It said, “You must give up this desire, because any desire you have limits your potential for progress”.
I have been meditating upon this instruction ever since, and it has come to me that any time we intrude our personal wants and desires, or even our objectives and goals between ourselves and the full attainment of what God has in mind for us, we introduce limits that separate us from the God-within. We gain our true goal only by surrender, by bringing our gift to the altar and saying: “Father, you gave me this life, now I am giving it back to you. I am reporting for duty. I am emptying myself of these things which have put me in bondage. Use me ”.
¶ When All Is Said And Done…
“Graciousness is the aroma of friendliness which emanates from a love saturated soul.” (UB 171:7.1)