© 2004 Chris Ragetly
© 2004 Association Francophone des Lecteurs du Livre d'Urantia
Reason, reasoning, comes from the mind. Faith can manifest itself on the mental as well as the spiritual level. “…Reason creates the probability that faith can transform into moral certainty, and even into spiritual experience…” (UB 102:6.6). This function or should we say this possibility that faith has to transform a probability (provided that it is compatible with the divine reasoning of the Adjuster) into moral certainty or even into spiritual experience, is one of the channels that allows our spiritual evolutionary experience to progress.
But before it can become a spiritual experience, this stage must pass through the moral phase of certainty. We need this certainty on the mental plane before we can transform this mental reality into a spiritual experience. But what exactly is faith? The Urantia Book offers us a question-definition of faith: “Is faith - the supreme affirmation of human thought - desirable? Then the mind of man must find itself in this embarrassing situation where it always knows less than it can believe.” (UB 3:5.9) First, the definition: “Faith is the supreme affirmation of human thought” Human thought, which functions thanks to the mind, reaches here the maximum of its affirmation, we must “fuel” mentally at 100%, so that we can pass to the spiritual stage, that is to say, transform a mental certainty into a spiritual experience (with the indispensable help of the Adjuster) and thus be able to endure this bizarre situation where we always know less than we can believe! In other words: I have a living faith in God, (but exactly, what is a living faith? It is a faith that is practiced and lived on a daily basis) and this belief gives us an indispensable point of support for the continuation of our evolution, both mental and spiritual, but what I know about God comes down to very little, the successive revelations teach us a little more each time, taking into account the new levels that the human mind has reached in a given era of an evolutionary planet.
Reason here joins subjective logic. The latter works as well on the mental as on the spiritual level. That is to say that we gradually develop a semi-material and semi-spiritual mind. The morontia soul is the illustration and the proof of this. But you will say, in our current state we are not conscious of our soul, so how can we develop a spiritual experience? Let us refer to the Urantia Book: “…The immense abyss between the experience of the truth of God and the ignorance of the fact of God can only be bridged by living faith…” (UB 102:6.6) Living faith is this bridge, this divine means, that God offers us.
When we are on the Mansion Worlds, we will then have every opportunity to operate our morontia soul; indeed, we will then have only it for mind. The transition from the morontia to the spiritual will be much simpler, especially since our faith will be even more alive.
But, let’s not delude ourselves too much, the efforts that God will ask us to make will always be in relation to our possibilities, but 100%! In other words, our potentials are and will always be used to the maximum. It is up to us to make the effort, God’s reward will always be an immense surprise, far exceeding our expectations.
“…We can know God as truth, but to understand God - to explain him - we must explore the fact of the universe of universes…” (UB 102:6.6) This sentence sums up in a few words the great difficulty we have in explaining God once we know him, or believe we know him. The exploration of the universe of universes is the adventure of adventures, it is carried out on the three finite experiential evolutionary levels (material, mental and spiritual) in which we exist. With each experience, we participate in the evolution of the Supreme Being, therefore in the evolution of the finite. This participation in the evolution of the level of supremacy allows us to enter into cosmic citizenship, to get a little closer to the Father. Thus, with each new step we are a little more able to describe our experiences for the satisfaction and edification of people who share our convictions.
Chris. M. Ragetly