© 2010 Dave Holt
© 2010 The Urantia Book Fellowship
| Understanding the Relation of Love to the Mind | Volume 11, Number 1, 2010 (Summer) — Index | Testimonial of One Second-Generation Urantian |
No extreme spiritual disciplines are required. Even the further growth or development of consciousness may not be necessary. Although we won’t astral travel to get there, our intention is to become cosmic citizens while still conscious of our earthly station. It may be merely a matter of choosing—simply making a decision to live as citizens of the cosmos. “We are poised on the brink of cosmic citizenship, on coming to know something of the other planets in our galactic community.” [1]
Today, in spite of increased tensions of war and terrorism, the idea is positioned to experience a revival. This is due in part to the intellectual movement, ideal, or ideology known as Cosmopolitanism. It has been defined as, “the idea that all of humanity belongs to a single community, based on a shared morality,” or as, “the moral frame of reference for specifying principles that can be universally shared.” “Cosmopolitanism means … being at home with diversity,”[2]
Cosmopolitanism is not new. It began as far back as ancient Greece where Diogenes, a Cynic, declared himself a “kosmopolitês,” a citizen of the world. Immanuel Kant reaffirmed cosmopolitan rights for the world’s citizens during the Enlightenment in 1795. Despite the unfortunate name evoking a women’s magazine we see in our supermarkets, the idea gets a lot of traction with today’s community of future thinkers and philosophical writers. Most Urantia Book readers can expect to be drawn into this new conversation about cosmopolitanism eventually.
The former confidence our country had in its “experts” was seriously undermined by the worldwide financial collapse of 2008. Alan Greenspan, once the revered sage of high finance, stood before the United States Congress and made a painful confession that his “laissez-faire” economic philosophy was a mistake. Other factors stir a new moral outrage in our people: the continuing abuse of human rights, the chronic poverty here and abroad, the failure of consensus in politics, a feeling that our capitalistic system has lost the ethical integrity it had. Perhaps capitalism never had an enlightened ethics to prevent the drive to accumulate wealth on the suffering backs of other nations, even its own people. Having these questions and doubts should not be construed as a decline in patriotism. It signifies an emergent planetary perspective, a renewed moral longing—the more urgent and pressing need to progress as individuals, as a human community, to make a good world. Though it may be true that cosmopolitanism is unavailable to those not members of certain elites, cosmic citizenship is certainly available to everyone.
The Bahá’í faith was founded over a century ago partly for the purpose of fostering world citizenship. The Bahá’í promote the unity of humanity, the ideal that people should love the whole world rather than just their particular nation or state. Bahá’í writings call for the next stage of our collective growth─world unity and the organization of society as a planetary civilization. And the Bahá’í are no longer a small group. Their community comprises more than five million members in over 230 countries.
A constellation of events, including the publication of The Urantia Book in 1955, was apparently timed to manifest after World War II, as if the world was ready to leap into the stars, toward planetary consciousness. Like many in 1968, I was smitten with the theories of media culture guru Marshall McLuhan, who popularized the concept of a “global village.” The powerful symbol of the Woodstock “tribal” gathering in 1969 stirred our hopeful belief—a world community founded on peace and love was imminent. The United Nations had written a Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. The earth as a beautiful blue and verdant living planet that hung precariously in dark space was photographed from the moon for the first time in 1970.
We saw ourselves in a new way. It inspired a vision of planetary stewardship. And an environmental movement desiring to protect the precious earth as the common resource and possession of all humankind was born. Wendell Berry saw creation as “the continuous, constant participation of all creatures in the being of God.”[3] Such a concept describes our relationship with the Supreme as it is revealed in The Urantia Book, where universe citizenship is defined as consciousness of “experiential relation to the Supreme Being. . .” [UB 110:6.16]
The Urantia Book reserves this ancient term of “Supreme Being,” found in the world’s sacred literature, for a separate consideration of God, that aspect of divinity that is changing, developing, growing, evolving, and incorporating the achievements of human believers.
A friend of mine came over not long ago to share thoughts about the emergence of “universe consciousness.” We agreed that a context was needed for such unity, “a way to experience universe consciousness together,” as she described it. Though my friend is not a member of a church or cult, she longs for this cosmic communal experience. She feels the call on either a secular humanist, or perhaps a “new age” spiritual level, and shares with other seekers the need to contribute to the creation of a good world.
The Urantia Book extends and broadens the idea, bringing in something more than just “universe consciousness.” The book uses the phrase universe citizenship, more often than cosmic citizenship, to describe membership in an ordered and governed universe, a higher, less earth-centric confederation than planetary citizenship.
The rule of one God known by different names, a God to which all planets and universes owe their allegiance, establishes such a context. But our religious groups have ideological, tribal, and nationalistic commitments that prevent this unifying idea, the notion of “we all worship the same God,” from becoming actualized.
It is a difficult step for my new age seeker friend and for other humanists as well; hard for them to accept “one universal God” when that same God is used as a battlefield by three major traditional religions, Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. How can a movement for universe consciousness emerge from peoples whose ideological wars destabilize the whole world?
Battles are also being fought in world trade relations, as the political/economic forces of globalization face off against violent anti-globalization protesters. Cosmopolitanism was a response to the need to forge a bridge of communication between the two opposing camps. The anti-globalization movement sees their enemy as a force representing the commercial exploitation of client states, and less sophisticated nations. They fear that local ethnic and cultural differences are being trampled in favor of a “global culture” imposed by capitalist military-industrial forces.
We have hardly come any distance from the hopeful utopian moments of the mid-twentieth century. Nevertheless, the yearning grows, and in recent years the moral call for a more just world seeks to be expressed in some concrete form. However, only some of the people calling for a return of “cosmopolitanism” have a religious motivation. Some cosmopolitans believe that western secularization is the context in which a better world will evolve. “A universalizing recognition of a single common humanity … cannot exist unless people are freed … from the localism and potential excesses of religion.”[4]
Can a good world be made without seeking God’s wisdom?
Can the world’s religions even continue to have a role in helping make adaptations that will aid civilization’s progress? If religions remain too closely affiliated with the tribes, ethnic groups, and nations of their origin, truth seekers will look for a new road. At the very least, they will set out to discover a peaceful world within their own personal religious experience. This is a path that may be useful, even needed. The established religions must learn to more gracefully allow adherents to follow the path to truth in ways directed by their own spiritual guidance.
In our religious and spiritual practices, it is important to establish that which has cosmic value. We can reinforce those cosmic values we hold in common. “It is much easier for men to agree on religious values—goals—than on beliefs—interpretations.” [UB 103:1.4]
We must re-envision morality as a higher calling, one more conducive to agreement than the rigid moral judgments often trumpeted today. A static morality derived from ancient scriptures and preached by patriarchs of the great faiths breeds intolerance and fanaticism, conflict and war. As cosmic citizens in a globalized world, we must take moral actions that support progressive common purposes for the planet, the growth of universe consciousness.
The Urantia Book explains how cosmopolitanism can be moral without being the morality taught by religious idealists. “Morality is not necessarily spiritual; it may be wholly and purely human, albeit real religion enhances all moral values, makes them more meaningful. Morality without religion fails to reveal ultimate goodness, and it also fails to provide for the survival of even its own moral values.” [UB 196:3.27]
But it must be a real, personally meaningful religion.
Unlike the community of cosmopolitan thinkers, religious communities are more likely to embrace ideals of “brotherly love,” and to have faith in the goodness of God. Ideally such believers strive to reflect a love of God as Father and Humankind as Brothers and Sisters in their lives. They try to achieve it through action, acts of service. “Love must thereby grasp the ever-changing and enlarging concepts of the highest cosmic good of the individual who is loved. And then love goes on to strike this same attitude concerning all other individuals who could possibly be influenced by the growing and living relationship of one spiritled mortal’s love for other citizens of the universe.” [UB 180:5.10]
Commonalities in the world’s religions will provide unifying values around which we may all come together. Jesus taught “the great law of human fairness . . . in positive form: Whatsoever you would that men should do to you, do even so to them” [UB 178:1.12] a teaching familiar to us as the Golden Rule. It has appeared, with variations, in the teachings of most world religions. The Urantia Book refers to it as a “rule of universal relationship.” [UB 180:5.8]
Other shared values in addition to the Golden Rule can be found in many faiths. Religions commonly affirm goodness as the essential nature of divinity, or at least they will speak of the outgrowths of divine goodness—freedom and peace. They teach that our highest calling as human beings is to carry out the higher will of this true and good God-Spirit, to dedicate our lives in service to the needs of our fellows. Men and women alike can find liberation and fulfillment in the acceptance of this supreme will in their lives. A common belief of the world’s religions is in the higher destiny for universe citizens who have faith in a progressive future. If not heaven, they will achieve spiritual liberation.
Interfaith religionists have a natural interest in the idea of cosmopolitanism because they have discovered and explored these universal truths in the sacred scriptures of the world. Urantia Book readers also take seriously such statements as, “There is not a Urantia religion that could not profitably study and assimilate the best of the truths contained in every other faith.” [UB 92:7.3]
They learn to recognize the validity of each other’s scaffolding. They acquire a new respect for the mythology and value system of the other. It is essential that more of us gain a broader knowledge of humanity’s symbolic traditions and rituals. Understanding that our personally important symbols, metaphors and religious rituals can be linked to shared concepts of cosmic citizenship is needed to make progress. Ethnic and cultural origins are important, but taking into consideration human destiny requires that we understand the use of our own personal scaffolding. “This world is only a bridge; you may pass over it, but you should not think to build a dwelling place upon it.” [UB 156:2.1]
Many Urantia Book readers are members of interfaith networks. If truth is to become global, united in purpose yet not uniform in belief, joining an interfaith organization is a good start. It is a way to become engaged in the conversation about cosmopolitanism. To encourage the participation of religions in the cosmopolitan movement, let us learn to consciously recognize what the different faiths have in common. Let us promote that recognition to others we come in contact with daily.
Jesus once taught an Athenian, “There is unity in the cosmic universe if you could only discern its workings in actuality. The real universe is friendly to every child of the eternal God.” [UB 133:5.8]
In 1989, when I became naturalized, the United States government’s Department of Immigration asked me to give up my “green card,” and to throw it on a pile with the others. I discarded that visible symbol of my Canadian citizenship, taking on my new American status. It was a step forward for me, even though I still cried as I took the step.
Are we to rush out in a utopian fervor to forsake nationalistic loyalties? Is it wise, or premature, to expect groups to set aside national loyalties in favor of a cosmic association? Space scientists work in the hope of earning the general public’s acceptance that other planets with humanlike populations in all probability even exist. It is science’s way of validating Cosmos.
The Urantia Book attempts to address the “identity crisis” of modern civilization by suggesting the ideal identity, one suited to the higher aspirations of cosmic citizenship. “The sincere religionist is conscious of universe citizenship and is aware of making contact with sources of superhuman power.” [UB 100:6.3]
To the sincere truth seeker (religionist), I believe it is possible to step aside from earth citizenship, to open a window onto our loyalty to a higher level. But even if such a theory is credible, we are perhaps not free in our minds and hearts to freely discard loyalties to our current place in time and space. Nor does The Urantia Book support the notion. “Nothing can take precedence over the work of your status sphere—this world or the next. Very important is the work of preparation for the next higher sphere, but nothing equals the importance of the work of the world in which you are actually living.” [UB 48:6.37]
There is nothing stated therein to discourage the move to another country to better perform this “important” work of the world.
We can take our cue from Jesus’ teachings about the kingdom of heaven. He informed his followers that kingdom believers become “better citizens of the secular government as a result of becoming enlightened sons of the kingdom.…The attitude of unselfish service of man and intelligent worship of God should make all kingdom believers better world citizens.” [UB 178:1.8] So, too, should we feel empowered to become better universe or cosmic citizens, to represent the rule of God the Father and Mother in our hearts to others laboring in the dark. Jesus reminded his followers in “his last free day” on Urantia to “render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s” [UB 178:1.3] Luke_20:24 even while knowing full well that the powerful kingdoms of earth were about to condemn him to death.
Are we all cosmic citizens and just have not fully realized it? Is it because we are so hung up on being citizens of the United States of America, or Iran, or Pakistan? I think not. Cosmic citizenship is barely a reality now. It is a potential in our current civilization that is yet to be actualized. “. . . action, completion of decisions, is essential to the evolutionary attainment of consciousness of progressive kinship with the cosmic actuality of the Supreme Being. . .” [UB 110:6.17]
Jesus also taught that, “The golden rule . . . demands active social contact. . .” [UB 140:10.5]
Cosmic citizenship comes with duties and greater obligations. It requires us to strive for a nobility of character; to actualize God (God the Supreme) in human affairs, for it “is not a matter of meat and drink but rather a life of progressive righteousness and increasing joy in the perfecting service of my Father who is in heaven.” [UB 137:8.13]
A cosmic citizen pledges loyalty to the truth. Such a citizen must in the face of universe demands choose progress, be willing to leave behind error once it’s discovered. Not to do so could lead one into a kind of pride that goes against universe, even divine, reality. “Sin depicts immaturity dazzled by the freedom of the relatively sovereign will of personality while failing to perceive the supreme obligations and duties of cosmic citizenship.” [UB 118:7.4]
Let us summarize the numerous resources available to establish a consciousness of community with the cosmos.
The need to make adjustments such as a shift in loyalties has become a more common experience in today’s world. Changes of nationality often take place in one lifetime. This helps prepare the communities of Urantia for the idea of planetary citizenship. It was a cosmic irony for me when I arrived to participate in a Urantia Book conference about cosmic citizenship the same year I recovered my lost membership in the First Nation Ojibways, a tribe of Canadian-American Indians. I’d reconnected with the people of my native grandmothers, regaining an ancient citizenship once lost in shifting currents of time and earth history. Thus I have in actuality been a member of three nations in my life.
The Urantia Book teaches a model of coordinating our knowledge on three levels: science (fact), philosophy (meaning) and religion (value).
Cosmic citizens cannot long refuse better information obtained through scientific research and still hold on to old religious or traditional creeds that contradict the facts. At the level of scientific knowledge, I can identify with the problems American native peoples face. They have, in some instances, just recently recovered their lost lore and traditions. Now they face challenges to the validity of their ancestral teachings. Some American Indians reject a truth uncovered by the scientific disciplines (genetics, linguistics, archaeology), the nearly indisputable fact that their forebears emigrated across the Bering Land Bridge. They insist in the face of such discoveries that their own traditions tell them they were created here on the North American continent.
Carl Sagan accomplished a lot in educating his fellow earthlings about other worlds that were capable of supporting human life. He predicted there were “billions” in the universe (well maybe a little less than that). His early pronouncements of cosmic citizenship hold more meaning today, now that over three hundred such planets have been discovered.
Many people in the world are gradually learning a new respect for, and confidence in, the choice of a personal path of religious experience. Some are coming to understand the preeminence of their own acquirement of living truth, while they respectfully honor the more dogmatic truths taught by the religions of authority.
As loyal citizens of the planet Urantia, we try to make the best decisions we can to achieve progress in the world. Once we received the Spirit of Truth, the “mind of Jesus” empowered our decision-making, and gave us a new way to upstep the quality of our thinking. “The God-knowing believer increasingly experiences the ecstasy and grandeur of spiritual socialization on a universe scale—citizenship on high in association with the eternal realization of the divine destiny of perfection attainment.” [UB 184:4.6]
Most cosmopolitan thinkers have goals that are politically oriented. They seek justice, a fair negotiation of resources, better distribution of wealth, improved human rights for all. Martha Nussbaum defines a cosmopolitan as “the person whose primary allegiance is to the community of human beings in the entire world.”[5]
Jesus would not have necessarily agreed that this deserved our “primary allegiance,” as we learn in studying his teachings about the “kingdom of heaven.” There are cosmic citizens now who learn not only that the kingdom of heaven is within, but also that “the citizenship of the cosmos is within you.” Nevertheless, their worldly allegiance is to a president, prime minister, or king. This will probably be the case for a long time to come. “Loyal persons are growing persons. Live loyally today—grow—and tomorrow will attend to itself. The quickest way for a tadpole to become a frog is to live loyally each moment as a tadpole.” [UB 100:1.4]
Although eventually cosmic citizens will help be the leaven that causes the bread of a world government to rise, cosmic citizenship is not directly tied to or involved with a political concept like world government.
The Bahá’í understand this. Their International Group proclaimed in 1993 at the United Nations that, “World citizenship begins with an acceptance of the oneness of the human family … while it encourages a sane and legitimate patriotism, it also insists upon a wider loyalty, a love of humanity as a whole. It does not, however, imply abandonment of legitimate loyalties…”
The Urantia Book teaches that seekers can discover the truth of this higher loyalty through their own personal spiritual guidance, worship and prayer with the indwelling God.
You can consciously augment Adjuster harmony by … joyful acceptance of cosmic citizenship—honest recognition of your progressive obligations to the Supreme Being, awareness of the interdependence of evolutionary man and evolving Deity. This is the birth of cosmic morality and the dawning realization of universe duty. [UB 110:3.6-10]
Dave Holt was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, of Irish, English, and Ojibway (Chippewa) Indian ancestry. Introduced to The Urantia Book in 1976, he joined the Family of God Foundation, and is now serving as Vice President of the Golden Gate Circle Society. An award-winning writer and poet, Dave lives in Concord, California, with his wife Chappell and has a daughter, Kelsey, now 21.
Beck, U. (2000) ““What is Globalization?” In Held, D. & A. McGrew (Eds.) _The global transformations reader: An introduction to the globalization debat_e. Cambridge: Polity
Kant, Immanuel. “Perpetual Peace” 1795 . Essay can be read at the online Libary of Liberty: https://www.oll.libertyfund.org/?option=com_staticxt&staticfile=show.php%3Ftitle=358&chapter=56096&layout=html&Itemid=27
Snider, Paul. “The Family: Birthplace of Cosmic Citizens” 1999 Plenary address, IC99 Vancouver, Canada https://www.urantiabook.org/sq2000/psnider.htm
World Citizen as described by the Baha’i Faith: https://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_citizen
| Understanding the Relation of Love to the Mind | Volume 11, Number 1, 2010 (Summer) — Index | Testimonial of One Second-Generation Urantian |
Druyan, Ann (widow of Carl Sagan) https://www.anndruyan.typepad.com ↩︎
Craig Calhoun, Cosmopolitanism and Nationalism, p. 4 28 New York University, 2008 https://www.nyu.edu/ipk/files/docs/publications/cosmopolitanism_and_nationalism_nations_and_nationalism.pdf ↩︎
Berry, Wendell. His essay “Christianity and the Survival of Creation,” can be read at: https://www.greenmac.com/Susan/W_Berry/Berry_Christ.html ↩︎
Headly, The Hedgehog Review, Critical Reflections on Contempory Culture, (magazine). Fall 2009. The Cosmopolitian Predicament https://www.iasc-culture.org/publications_hedgehog_2009-Fall.php ↩︎
Martha Nussbaum, Patriotism and Cosmopolitanism, 1994 https://www.bostonreview.net/BR19.5/nussbaum.html ↩︎