© 1994 Ann Bendall
© 1994 The Brotherhood of Man Library
| Heart—the Alpha and Omega of Spirituality | Volume 1 - No. 3 — Index | Jealousy, the Heart-Poison! How did Jesus deal with it? |
The Urantia Book gives a wealth of information on Judas—his childhood, personality characteristics and coping strategies in dealing with life events. The revelators, in indicating that a particular attribute or characteristics was a hindrance to the spiritual development of an individual (in particular, Judas), describe where it eventuated from as well as giving advice on how to overcome it (for those readers who might recognize some similarity in themselves).
Judas was the spoilt, only child of unwise parents. As a consequence, he grew up with exaggerated ideas about his self-importance, ideas which he strongly adhered to. Due to his ego-centric view of the world, he became expert at misinterpretation of the words and acts of his friends, viewing any and all as related to him personally. He expected always to win, was a poor loser, and had loose and distorted ideas about fairness. And Judas was prone to indulgence in hate, suspicion and revenge. Instead of accepting disappointments “as a regular and commonplace feature of human existence, he unfailingly resorted to the practice of blaming someone in particular, or his associates as a group, for all his personal difficulties and disappointments.” UB 193:4.7
Primarily Judas “went wrong” because he was “an isolated personality”. He neither confided in nor freely fraternized with those he lived in close association with, preferring to seek the advice and consolation of his unspiritual relatives or those chance acquaintances who were either indifferent, or actually hostile, to the welfare and progress of the spiritual realities of the heavenly kingdom, of which he was one of the twelve consecrated ambassadors on earth UB 193:4.7.
He never once went to the Master with a purely personal problem! This fact coupled with:
a) his inability to develop close, loving relationships with others, perhaps caused by his seeing others as the tools to be used in the fulfillment of his ambitions;
b) leading to his not growing “in spiritual grace”; and
c) his persistent harbouring of grudges, plus cravings of revenge for his own disappointments in life, led to Judas meeting “defeat in his battles of the earth struggle”. He “failed to subdue these evils by love, faith, and trust.” Finally he became loveless, and incapable of recognizing love in others.
The Most Famous Words of Twehtieth Century Theology
He comes to us as One unnknown, without a name, as of old, by the lake-side, He came to those who knew Him not. He speaks to us the same word: “Follow thou me” and sets us to the tasks which he has to fulfil for our time. He commands. And to those who obey Him, whether they be wise or simple, He will reveal Himself in the toils, the conflicts, the sufferings which they will pass through in His fellowship, and, as an inefable mystery, they shall learn in their own experience, Who He is.
Albert Schweitzer
“The Quest of the Historical Jesus.” (1901)
Self Betrayal
Self-betrayal means that the person does not use his own faculties in determining which experiences contribute to self-realization and which are irrelevant or impeding; the person no longer uses his own powers and organs to create a reality and venture into new life. He forces himself to fit into another person’s plans and to do work that has no meaning or value. Thus, he does not trust his own immediate experience and is neither open to himself nor to the world.
C. Moustakos, 1974
Some of the other apostles had similar characteristics to Judas but they chose to grow in love for Jesus and the other apostles, leading to growth in grace and truth. They became more trusting, developed the confidence to confide in others, and in honesty, they craved to know and be known.
“Judas never learned that the real rewards for noble living are, after all, spiritual prizes, which are not always distributed during this one short life in the flesh.” UB 193:4.11
“He craved worldly honor in his mind and grew to love this desire with his whole heart.” UB 177:4.10
With worldly honour being the centre of Judas’ being, his vision became so clouded that he finally developed a mental image of Jesus as—a clown, a coward! He was ashamed of and bitterly resented Jesus, became resentful of what he regarded as Jesus’ lack of appreciation of himself, and embarrassed to be associated with him. (The other apostles were similar to Judas in their mental craving for honour, but they loved Jesus so much they were prepared to substitute his greater truths for their dreams of glory.)
If we dissect Judas into personality, mind, temperament, emotions etc., we find that:
In personality he was isolated. Despite being surrounded by friends, Judas isolated himself by his refusal to form deep, honest meaningful relationships with any of them.
In mind he was suspicious and vengeful. He did not like to face facts frankly and was dishonest in his attitude toward life situations.
In intellect he became vainglorious.
In temperament he was surly and vindictive.
Emotionally, he was loveless and unforgiving.
Socially, he was unconfiding and almost wholly self-contained, and yet he could not stand ridicule. It was ridicule which was the most powerful influence “in his final determination to forsake Jesus and his fellow apostles” UB 172:5.13.
In spirit, he became arrogant and selfishly ambitious.
In life, he ignored those who loved him, and in death, he was friendless. UB 193:4.13
In prayer time, he indulged in thoughts of human fear, persisted in the entertainment of subtle doubts about the mission of Jesus as well as giving in to his unfortunate tendency to harbor feelings of revenge.
And so, Judas appears to have died a slow painful death. Due to his persistence in clinging to the above characteristics “his griefs multiplied, his sorrows increased, his anxieties augmented, and his despair deepened almost beyond endurance” UB 193:4.12. In describing the process leading to Judas becoming a traitor, Jesus said:
“This is the coming to fruit of the concealed evil in the heart of one who failed to love the truth with his whole soul. How deceitful is the intellectual pride that precedes the spiritual downfall.” UB 179:4.2
And Jesus’ verdict of the manner in which Judas would be adjudged is reflected in his statement to Pilate:
“But you are not so guilty since you are ignorant of the gospel. He who betrayed me and he who delivered me to you, they have the greater sin.” UB 185:7.2
| Heart—the Alpha and Omega of Spirituality | Volume 1 - No. 3 — Index | Jealousy, the Heart-Poison! How did Jesus deal with it? |