© 2020 Alice Wood
© 2020 The Urantia Book Fellowship
by Alice Wood
Because of its focus on the general concepts of The Urantia Book, Urantia Life Lessons, a video series that I developed for viewing on YouTube and Facebook, is a tool that serves to bring Urantia messaging to a wide range of people. It offers inspiration, introductory Urantia Book education, and it attempts to unify those two types of messaging into short sermon-like videos that can be applied to people’s daily lives, mind-sets, and practices.
While developing this series I always keep my intended audience in mind. The people who I feel most passionately about reaching are those who have heard of The Urantia Book and who are just beginning to learn about what it says - those who are curious about it, but not yet dedicated enough to sit down and read it and the way in which I formulate my messages to them has its roots in the way in which Urantia teachings were first taught to me.
As a second generation reader, I was not introduced to the teachings by reading the book. Rather, the teachings were told to me in conversation and taught by example; reading the book only came later. By the time I actually got around to studying The Urantia Book, I already had developed an understanding of how I should be living my life, relating to God, and relating to others. I already had an understanding of concepts like the family of God and slow spiritual progress from this life on into the next. The book was not quoted at me as a child, but the teachings were portrayed in a way that was appropriate for my age, and the culture and parlance in which I was surrounded. This experience heavily impacts the approach that I take in Urantia Life Lessons to communicate with adults who are only slightly familiar with the book. I try to help them become familiar with the core concepts and save the details for their own exploration.
Urantia Life Lessons videos are comprised, primarily, of two types of videos: those which are almost entirely inspirational in nature, and those which attempt to take a concept that is unique to The Urantia Book and present it in a way that won’t shock the audience while showing how that belief is relevant to normal human experience. An example of the latter is the video “Parable of the Upcrumpled.” In this video, I take a very technical quote from The Urantia Book about the “upcrumpling” of the Pacific shore line and I swing it around as a tangible metaphor for the slow development that takes place at all levels of existence, from the frustratingly slow societal shift toward human equality to the slow development of ourselves. Every lesson in the videos, even the ones that take on technical parts of the book, make their way back to the human experience.
Perhaps my favorite videos, though, are the ones that are purely inspirational. The lessons in the videos are not about a Urantiaspecific concept, but instead focus on inspiring people to deepen their relationship with God and develop a worshipful practice, which is a meaningful lesson even for experienced Urantia Book students. “People Pray” and “Uplifting Gratitude” contain this sort of positive messaging and end with instrumental music to give the viewer an opportunity to spend some time with God. Reaching people at different levels of interest in The Urantia Book and its teachings is incredibly important. I hear a lot of talk about spreading the teachings to people without mentioning the word “Urantia,” which is one important level of outreach. And, people who have enough of an interest are encouraged to take the plunge and delve into the book. But there needs to be an intermediary level of outreach as well, one that spreads the core teachings with common and updated terminology while also linking those teachings to the term “Urantia.” There needs to be a level of outreach for people who are open to something new but who are more comfortable in surroundings that are familiar. Urantia Life Lessons serves such a purpose.
For experienced readers of The Urantia Book, the videos can help with more than just inspiration. Anyone who loves the teachings but has a hard time describing them to others can pick up on useful comparisons or word choice. Every student of The Urantia Book should have, at the very least, an understanding of the etymology behind the word “Urantia” for that oft asked question, “What is Urantia?” (For an answer to that, watch “Talking About Urantia.”) If you struggle with telling people what The Urantia Book is, then I suggest (1) tell them how it’s affected your life rather than summarizing the book, and (2) whip your smartphone out and show Urantia Life Lessons them a favorite Urantia Life Lessons video (they’re 4-6 minutes in duration).
These videos have the potential to be more than just a few quality minutes in front of your computer. They can be used as a discussion starter in your study group, especially if the group contains new readers. They can also be shared with friends or enjoyed by the experienced reader who just desires seeing the teachings presented in a concise and unified manner. Urantia Life Lessons is to be utilized as a tool for bringing forth The Urantia Book’s core values - the parts that most impact how we live our lives.
“Have watched all your videos several times over. Thank you for making The Urantia Book easy, understandable; applications in living workable from moment to moment.” - viewer on Facebook.
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God’s love passed down to me
I can bring joy into people’s lives
An enthusiastic, creative, and intimate existence
God unwraps my potential