© 2006 Chris Ragelty
© 2006 Olga López, for translation
© 2006 Urantia Association of Spain
An infinite moment (poem) | Luz y Vida — No. 4 — February 2006 — Index | VI Meeting of Urantia Book Readers in Spain |
How many times have we heard this comment? “I am very disappointed, I talk about the Urantia Book, about my spiritual experiences, I give out Urantia Books and all for nothing, none of those people are even interested.” This is the most heard complaint among new readers of the Urantia Book. Who among us has not had this experience? Who has not wanted to challenge the entire world?
Perhaps it would be useful for new readers to rely on the following quote from the Book: “The man who knows God describes his spiritual experiences, not to convince the unbelievers, but for the edification and mutual satisfaction of the believers.” ( UB 1:6.6).
Trying to know God the Father is a personal experience. As long as a person does not seek the Father of his own free will, he will not be curious about the spiritual experiences of other people who have made the spiritual and intellectual effort to seek God. No one can be forced to know God. In favorable circumstances, which it is up to each one to discern, you can try to awaken a person’s spiritual appetite: “Stimulate the appetite for the truth of your associates; offer advice only when requested”. (UB 48:7.16). A certain spiritual clairvoyance is required, but this is only perceptible by the soul: “…But the man with a material mind is naturally much more familiar with the material manifestations of a physical nature than with the equally real powerful operations of nature that are only discerned through the spiritual discernment of the soul” (UB 12:8.4).
After the birth of the soul, which takes place concomitantly with the arrival of the Thought Adjuster and in cooperation with the material mind, it must grow under pain of death. Soul growth is indispensable for spiritual clairvoyance. But, for this to manifest itself, man must have the possibility of choosing: “…having provided the means for the growth of the immortal self, of the soul, the creation or inhibition of the creation of this surviving self and eternal that is his by choice depends on the will of man. No other being, force, creator, or agency in all the wide universe of universes can interfere to any degree with the absolute sovereignty of the mortal free will…”(UB 5:6.8). This supreme guarantee is what makes, since it is addressed to a person possessing spiritual clairvoyance, we are sure that, due to his personal free will, he has chosen to begin this eternal search for God the Father; no one has influenced it, not even the Father, therefore: “So having provided the means for the growth of the immortal soul and having freed the inner being of man from the chains of absolute dependence on antecedent causation, the Father makes himself one side…” (UB 5:6.8). Here we are dealing with a certainty that rests on solid foundations, and we can therefore talk with this person about our spiritual experiences to build them up and also to satisfy each other.
(The Urantia Book quotes that are in bold italics are the passages that I highlight.)
Published in no 31 of the bulletin “Le Lien Urantien” of the AFFLU.
An infinite moment (poem) | Luz y Vida — No. 4 — February 2006 — Index | VI Meeting of Urantia Book Readers in Spain |