© 1987 Robert Reno, Helena Sprague
© 1987 ANZURA, Australia & New Zealand Urantia Association
2 Salisbury crt, Glen Waverley, Victoria, AUSTRALIA, 3150.
¶ The South Pacific Regional Meeting Of Urantia Book Readers
Australia is celebrating its bicentenary next year. For almost a year now plans have been made for Australia to host a meeting of URANTIA Book readers in the South Pacific Region.
We are happy to announce that we have, after a lot of searching, found a beautiful venue in Robertson, N.S.W. Robertson is a scenic tourist resort on the Illawarra Highway, about 22 km east of Moss Vale.
If you decide to make this a date, you will be staying for 4 days and 4 nights from 10th — 14th October 1988 at the stately old manor “RANELEAGH HOUSE” . There will be room for 100 people. For more information contact:
Kathleen Swadling, 7 Walsh St. Narrabeen, NSW. 2101. PH. (02) 9137893
¶ “Thought For The Month”
“Everything nonspiritual in human experience, excepting personality, is a means to an end. Every true relationship of mortal man with other persons -human or divine- is an end in itself. And such fellowship with the personality of Deity is the eternal goal of universe ascension.” (The URANTIA Book UB 112:2.8)
¶ Dear friends of the URANTIA Movement:
For several years I have felt very strongly that an introductory manual that is brief and readable is needed within the URANTIA Movement. A booklet, “A Brief Introduction to The URANTIA Book and Its Most Basic Teachings”, is my most recent attempt to create an example of what I would like to see developed by an appropriate Brotherhood committee.
To date the URANTIA Movement has worked on formulating a basic policy of quiet, personal promotion of The URANTIA Book, a position with which I wholeheartedly agree. Now it may be time to focus further attention on developing new and safe forms of outreach ministry. My personal experience leads me to believe that many, many people are ready to appreciate The URANTIA Book if they are given a proper introduction to it.
By proper introduction I mean they must be given sufficient information to arouse their interest in a way that will motivate them to tackle such a large volume.
I believe it is often unfair to give a copy of The URANTIA Book to someone and expect him or her to be able to handle its complex contents without guidance.
However, it is difficult to give a good and thorough verbal introduction to the book for various reasons. Perhaps the biggest problem is the fact that the book deals with religion. People have their own ideas on this subject. It seems to me that a good written introduction that covers the basic questions people have about the book will help to meet the many problems associated with its effective distribution.
Because the book is so difficult to introduce to others I believe many people become frustrated. Their response to this frustration often is to become either ultraconservative or improperly radical. That is, they lean towards no action because they don’t know what correct action to take, or they begin to think in terms of “publicity” because “something more” should be done to let people know that such a spiritual resource exists. I believe a good introductory manual would be able to help relieve the frustration of both these extreme groups as well as help the majority of readers who probably lie somewhere in between.
Reports have been positive of people using this booklet as a tool to help introduce The URANTIA Book to new readers. However, it has also been valuable in study group situations as a teaching aid where often answering basic questions for a new reader can be disruptive to more experienced members.
In this booklet I am attempting to do what I’m proposing a Brotherhood committee might do, that is, utilize the democratic process by compiling the suggestions of many readers. This was especially true in the later editing stages when numerous improvements were made from various perspectives on the basis of ideas submitted by a variety of people. My plans are to continue to improve its contents as ideas and suggestions come to me. A copy is being sent for review to each Society and to a few of the larger study groups. If you wish to reply with comments or suggestions, your response will be very welcome.
In our Father’s service
Cliff Larsen, Santa Rosa Beach, FL,USA
Dear 6-0-6
Thank you for the recent copy of the Six-0-Six. I was very impressed with the first one you sent me, and this recent issue seems also to have kept the same high standard. It is also good to have a home grown newsletter that reflects the events in the lives of people in the Mother Pacific. What we learn from it is just as important as what we gather from the Brotherhood Bullet in or The Urantian Journal.
On behalf of the study group here in Auckland, I would like to say: Best wishes to staff and for the future plans of those who foster Six-0-Six. May be in the near future we in New Zealand can contribute some material. There does not seem, at this stage, sufficient depth of resource and readership for those of us here in New Zealand, to develop our own local newsletter. This will come in time. Things are changing.
Our Auckland study group has seven readers. We meet Wednesday nights at a members house in Mount Eden. It has been a good year and our group is making good progress.
Just recently we received some ten URANTIA Books. Some of these the group will use in our circle and some will go into a library programmed for 1987 . So much to do in this area. The spirit of our group is growing slowly as we learn to work together. I am sure we will be able to take on more challenges in the field of the kingdom in the coming year.
Dennis Clampitt, Auckland, NZ
¶ Land Of The Morning Calm
by Robert Reno
In the first part of his article Robert Reno shared some of his experiences as an army chaplain in South Korea.
In this second part he quotes from some of Asia’s religious leaders and finishes with an important message for us all:
Part II
I don’t believe I need to quote from The URANTIA Book on what it teaches as the religious challenge of our age, but I would like to quote from a number of Asia’s eminent religious leaders presenting their thoughts and ideals at the Asian Conference on Religion and Peace:
“It is not through the power of military security systems that true security can be achieved in Asia; it is only through the spiritual unity of religious peoples in Asia that this goal can be obtained.”
“Our deliberations centre around. the vital subject of real and lasting peace and all that it means. The rich experience of the religious people assembled here would, I am sure, lead to decisions of a far reaching nature. They would be significant not only for Asia but the whole world.”
“We, no doubt, belong to different religions. At the same time, we are all members of the great family of humanity. The theme of this conference is “Religion in Action for Peace.” This means the translation of all our agreed precepts into practice. Such action is moat relevant in this nuclear age in order to save the human family from total disaster. All of us are agreed on this goal. It should, therefore, be easy for us to unite in common endeavour for peace… I have every hope that we shall take humanity a step forward on the road to a peaceful and fruitful living and a harmonious brotherhood.”
¶ David Zebedee And Ruth
By Helena Sprague
The first derivative novel based on Part IV of The URANTIA BOOK.
Around many readers of The URANTIA Book are family and friends, teen and adult, who find the book formidable, but who would enjoy some of its teachings in a lighter presentation. DAVID ZEBEDEE AND RUTH closely follows the history of the families of Zebedee of Capernaum and Joseph of Nazareth, especially the relationship that developed between David, Jesus, and Ruth — Jesus’ sister/daughter. Lifestyle and political/economic conditions of their time are described in detail, while many of The URANTIA Book teachings are woven into the story.
The book will be 300-400 pages long with illustrations, and will be hard bound. The URANTIA foundation has granted permission to print a limited edition, which will be a nonprofit endeavour.
For further information write to: The DAVID Project
P.D. Box 921
Farmington, CT 06034,USA
Synopsis of
DAVID ZEBEDEE AND RUTH
By Helena Sprague
David was the son of Zebedee between James and John, the apostles, and he revealed a temperament distinctly different from his brothers. He was a practical business man, competent in organizing time, resources and man’s labour. While he was loyal to his boyhood hero, Joshua ben Joseph of Nazareth, and worked faithfully with him to the end, David was confused by the new and by the conflicting opinions about Joshua’s identity.
His attention was given to girls, earning a living, and the tightrope of being a Roman subject while his closest friend was a Jewish revolutionary. A devoted son with a strong sense of family, David knew heartache and long delay before he could establish a family of his own. Longer still was his journey through the maze of tradition and doubt to a livable faith, the journey on which Joshua and Ruth accompanied him.
¶ Dear friends of Six-0-Six
I enjoy receiving your newsletter. It is an excellent way to begin getting acquainted with you. I hope one day Bill and I will be able to meet some of you in person.
You have been discussing how to run study groups and I want to share a particular experience from our study group which we have found to be very beneficial. Our weekly time together is divided between studying The URANTIA Book (which usually includes reading through a paper or doing a topical study) and what we call our “prayers and thankfuls”. It is this latter part that is relatively unique and has come to be very meaningful to us.
The person whose turn it is to be in charge leads the prayers and thankfuls. The first round is prayers. By going in order around the circle, the less assertive people in the group are assured of having their share of the time. Each person in turn shares his concerns and requests with the rest of us. Anyone is free not to participate. We find many times that newcomers are comfortable enough with our casual approach to join right in. While no formal prayer is said, each of us individually directs our thoughts Godward as we listen to each friend’s sharing. The second round is thankfuls. Once again we proceed around the room while each person tells of the things he is particularly thankful for that week. We have discovered that the number of thankfuls has increased over the years. Each of us loves this joyful time. Last, we have a period of several minutes for silent communion and worship. We take turns indicating the end of this quiet time.
This “prayers and thankfuls” time is filled with laughter, sympathy, encouragement, love and joy. We are sharing our spiritual lives together in a way that is spiritually and emotionally nourishing. Sometimes we spontaneously spend our entire two -hour meeting time in this way, fulfilling some unspoken yet seemingly mutual need in us all.
In joyful thanksgiving for each of you
Kaye Cooper, Arlington, TX, USA
¶ The Library Donation Scheme
We gratefully have received our first shipment of 100 URANTIA Books from the URANTIA Brotherhood to be donated to libraries around the country.
However, the postage required to send then to the libraries has to be paid by URANTIA Book readers in Australia. If you feel you would like to donate towards this worthy cause of helping to spread the Fifth Epochal Revelation, please send your cheque to: “Six-0-Six Newsletter, Library Fund” c/- 2 Salisbury Court, Glen Waverley, Vic. 3150.
¶ What Happens To Those Library Books ?
It has come to our notice that although URANTIA Books are donated to libraries, they are not necessarily put out on the shelf for the public to find and browse through.
A recent inquiry made at the Glen Waverley library whether they had the book or were able to get it, resulted in me finding out that it was not even on their catalogue. Waverley is the most populous municipality in Victoria with over 130.000 people. A few years ago I made a similar inquiry, but then I was told it was on their catalogue. Other people have had similar experiences, where they were told the book was unavailable, although a book had been donated a few years before.
It appears that unless there is a demand for a book of a religious natura, libraries will not put it out on the shelf es they receive many books of that kind and have not got the space to put them all out.
So it might be a good idea if all you good folks, who possess an URANTIA Book, go to the library so now and then, to make sure it stays in circulation. Even if your local library has not got the book, for the minimal fee of 50x they will get it for you from another library.
Dear 6-0-6,
Thanks for sending us your newsletter. I often don’t find a chance to get out The URANTIA Book and your snippets are often a great revelation to me.
Helen & Glen Stickley, Byfield, Qld.
¶ From A New Reader
The article on the origin of The URANTIA Book answered all my questions fully and completely: I have not read enough of The URANTIA Book to jettison my belief in re-incarnation nor the law of karma, or what goes with it, not yet… I do trust that the respectable clairvoyants like Edgar Casey — ‘Sleeping prophet’ or even our own Mario Schoenmaker do not err so much?
Jurka Sepp, Melbourne
Dear Editors,
I found Stephen’s Theiler’s letter in March/April Six-0-Six interesting in regard to his questions about reincarnation.
As a member and teacher of the Baha’i Faith and as a reader of The URANTIA Book, I am often in a situation where I am asked to justify my beliefs on reincarnation.
The Baha’i Faith and The URANTIA Book teachings coincide in many areas (e.g. the pamphlet enclosed in above newsletter, “Pioneers for The New Age” by Meredith Sprunger, section on step seven in outreach ministry: The formation of a new social expression of religion). One of these areas is the teachings on reincarnation, i.e. transmigration of the soul, continuing spiritual learning and growth after death and the existence of a more refined and spiritual body or vehicle for the soul, is taught. The return of the spirit to this planet or to another human body or the evolution of animal spirits to human spirits is NOT taught.
Yet many people are attracted to the teachings of reincarnation, they instinctively empathize with teachings of soul transmigration, it is something they want to believe. Also many people have experiences of what seems to be irrefutable evidence of reincarnation.
As the teachings of eastern philosophies and religions become more popular in the west, so does the belief in reincarnation spread. It will not do for us to proclaim the falsity of this doctrine because it says so in The URANTIA Book or because Baha’u’llah (the founder of the Baha’i Faith) said so. We must show people the truth behind their beliefs, where they originated from, why they are distorted or inaccurate or how the original teachings on this subject were adapted to human understanding and most of all, how the truth about reincarnation is even better news than the erroneous concepts most people have. Because any revelation must be in a form at least partially comprehensible to the receiver, it is often expressed in analogy or symbolism, even Jesus taught this way with his parables. This process is further added to by the interpretation we place on these teachings. Hindu cosmology is a vast subject.
The teachings on the transmigration of the soul describe a complex process of spiritual evolution while the cosmology describes numerous planets and spiritual worlds. The only disparity between the teachings of transmigration and reincarnation is that people interpreted the lives to come in the spiritual worlds in terms of what they could understand, i.e. life on this planet in these bodies. Also the resultant philosophical reasoning from the doctrine of karma have played a large part in the formation of ideas about reincarnation.
In copies of the Bhagavad-Gita and other scriptures the word reincarnation does not appear, even in the index, all references are to transmigration. (e.g.Bhagavad-Gita As It Is" 1972, Bhaktividanta Book Trust.)
On the subject of various experiences people have, that seem to prove reincarnation, know that the abilities of the human mind and psyche are little understood. People exhibit the ability to be disassociated from pain and injury, others can speak languages they have not learned, the visualizing ability of Nicola Tesla was probably the most amazing proved mental phenomena of this century. When one observes certain experiences of the psyche, many things that seem to be proof of reincarnation, can be understood in terms of distant viewing, cross-temporal telepathy, genetic memory, ancestral memory or even the reading of the Ethereal Record. If you don’t know of these things you will interpret these as evidence of reincarnation.
With the rise of eastern philosophies and the common belief forms about reincarnation growing, particularly in the ‘alternative societies’, people will observe the evidence in terms of what they want to believe. That is, unless they are true searchers after knowledge and not merely looking for a secure and satisfying philosophy and belief system, otherwise it will all point to reincarnation or if they are spiritualists, they will see it as proof of spirit communication.
But how secure, satisfying and wonderful to know the message of the most recent revelation of our spiritual future. Not a blissful static existence in sone conceived heaven or a succession of death and rebirth on this planet, in these bodies, only to be absorbed in some type of cosmic, nirvanic void, but a real adventure of continuing advancement through the innumerable spiritual worlds of God’s vast universe and the granting of more refined and progressively spiritual bodies, bodies adapted to the worlds and tasks at hand!
of course these above ideas only briefly touch upon the subject. I would be happier to talk or write at greater length with anyone interested and would welcome correspondence.
Michael Wilson, Miranda, NSW
¶ New Study Group In Country Area
Christopher and Bridget Billington are very happy to announce that they are holding weekly study groups at their home in W-Tree via Buchan in East Gippsland, Vic. The five members in their group are studying the fourth part of The URANTIA Book. Congratulations to Bridget and Christopher for the active role they have played in achieving this in the two years that they have lived there.
¶ The 1987 Australian Conference For Readers Of The Urantia Book
THIS YEAR’S THEME IS: THE PURPOSE OF REVELATION AN UNIQUE LIVE-IN EXPERIENCE OVER 2 NIGHTS FROM FRIDAY OCT. 9TH TO SUNDAY OCT. 11TH
TO BE HELD IN SYDNEY AT THE WILLIAM ARNOTT LODGE
LOCATION: The Lodge is located approximately 2 ~km above Narrabeen Beach.
TRANSPORT: By public transport, catch a Mona Vale, Newport or Palm Beach bus from Wynyard Park on the York St. side and proceed to Narrabeen shopping centre (1 hour). From there take a taxi for the short distance up the hill to the site. For those coming by coach or car, the Lodge is at 19a Wesley St, Eleanora Heights. Wesley St runs off Powder Works Rd, which runs off Mona Vale Rd, almost opposite the Bahai Temple at the top of the hill and off Pittwater Rd via Garden St, near the traffic lights at Narrabeen High School at the bottom of the hill.
COST: $50 per head includes all meals and accommodation for period from 6 p.m.9th oct to 3 p.m. 11th Oct. The Lodge has accommodation for 50 persons.
1987 AUSTRALIAN CONFERENCE FOR READERS OF THE URANTIA BOOK — REGISTRATION FORM NAME/S:
ADDRESS: ___
ENCLOSED IS PAYMENT OF … FOR PERSONS SIGNED
CHEQUES TO BE MADE OUT TO “U.B.FUND” AND SEND BY SEPTEMBER 1ST TO:
C/- K & T SWADLING, 7 WALSH ST, NARRABEEN, NSW,2101. PHONE (02) 9137893