© 2000 David Carrera Ibañez
© 2000 International Urantia Association (IUA)
| Journal — December 2000 — Content | Journal — December 2000 — Index | You say: The fifth epochal revelation |
David Carrera Ibanez
Leon, Spain
This is a legitimate question. Someone who, by chance, hears people talking about the Urantia Foundation or the book, and who knows nothing about it, may well wonder along these lines. We, who have read the book, already know that the best way to find the answer to this question is precisely to read the book. However, it is a fairly voluminous work, which may not yet have been translated into the language of the person asking the question. This is why I wrote this article, the objective of which is to shed some light on those who seek to know more and who have not yet been able to access the book.
We all believe in some explanatory model, which will allow us to justify and order reality. All of us, at certain moments in our lives, ask ourselves: who are we? Where do we come from ? And where are we going? What is our origin and what is the purpose of life? What is our destiny?
Neither cultural nor scientific paradigms will satisfy this intimate need to obtain answers to these questions. (Regarding the epistemological aspect of the problem, I take it for granted that potential readers admit the existence of an objective reality and are of the opinion that the human mind - within the limits which are his own — can be deployed to apprehend and understand reality)
Religion alone represents a valid way to relieve this anxiety. And we believe that a manual, an instruction manual or, at the very least, an oral tradition, should exist to help us in this quest.
Currently, many people are satisfied with what the major religions have to offer on these issues. If the one that is predominant in the country where you live is not suitable, you can look elsewhere, among the dominant cults of the globe. If this exploratory research disappoints, you study new religions - quite often sects - and if one is nearby, it is all the more likely that you will opt for this solution. Or perhaps you will simply abandon all research, because you cannot trust what you discover; and then you will develop for yourselves a theology and a religion.
In both cases, you become victims of the dynamic of invention. You are no longer engaged in a real process of searching for the truth. At the same time you seek the truth and draw conclusions with which you combine other people’s conjectures, which are just as much a figment of the imagination as your own. You put forward a chain of hypotheses about reality and you will only find rest when you have developed, or have been presented to you, an explanatory whole where all the pieces of this puzzle - which you call reality — will have found their place. (However, some conclusions will be useful — precisely because they have been acquired through your own experience or that of others — and they will fit together coherently.)
Personal characteristics such as discernment, sincerity and the degree of demandingness will combine in this process which can be described as anything but easy.
Intelligent and sensitive beings, born in worlds where violence and confusion reign like ours, always come to feel unspeakable suffering at one point or another in their existence. The deeper our observations of reality, the more complex, sophisticated and decisive the hypotheses we will have to formulate to satisfy our thirst for truth. In these conditions, it is easy to find yourself in a dead end, where everyone finds themselves with their share of worried questions, their anxiety.
Regardless of the intensity of our experiences, the ideas we have of reality are more or less adequate.
You may be more or less aware of this fact. If you are not, you can easily become victims of pride, fanaticism and intolerance. If you are aware of your inability to comprehend reality, and if no reliable and exhaustive source of knowledge - more effective than your intellect - is at your disposal, you can decide to give up everything. Once again, we find ourselves faced with two possible options:
With your permission, I would like to share with you an opinion accompanied by a position.
Confusion and disorder reign in our world. And the following factors combine to give rise to a cocktail conducive to the emergence of individual or collective sects: the absence of official, reliable and truthful knowledge on fundamental questions; to this is added the desire of every human, at one moment or another in their existence, to know who they are; this desire combines with man’s intense need to define himself as a being worthy of respect and with the need for the mind to generate paradigms that will describe reality. Intellectually, humanity has progressed. More and more people find the teachings and rites of the great religions unsatisfactory. On an emotional level, the absence of cultural and social warmth and empathy contributes to making cults attractive to the lonely and lost individual in our societies — and generally cults are very good at exploiting this factor to control the will of their adherents. and extort money from them. This greater or lesser need for warm gregariousness determines whether an individual chooses a sect with an individualistic character, a sect without official existence and without awareness of its existence as a sect — or a sect with a strongly accentuated communitarian character. You retain what you like or what suits you in one or another religion, you mix it all with beliefs that are yours and which give you an original philosophy of life, and that’s it.
Atheism itself – the absolute denial of the existence of God – can also present itself as a phenomenon of a religious nature and give rise to a sect. Cult gives your stagnant mind the illusion of movement it believes it needs. It also provides a warm community, a potential substitute for emotional deficiencies in the family; in short, a reason to live.
This is why sects are flourishing everywhere. And we would find more of them if people were less informed about the tragic excesses that some of them experienced: those of the People’s Temple, the Davidians, the Solar Temple and, finally, that of Edelweiss, very active currently in Uganda. Everyone knows what happened. If you are lucky, the sect you join will not be heading towards a final catastrophe, will not exhibit a destructive character. Or, more precisely, its leader will not be paranoid.
This is the landscape in which the “new religions” are growing. People get lost in an avalanche of contradictory information. Faced with an abundance of information, humans tend to simplify — it’s easier — and to place in the same boat, and to define as sects, everything that refers to religion or spirituality.
I have observed that those who are convinced that “all groups interested in religion or spirituality are sects” also belong to a sect: that of incurable and narrow-minded unbelievers. This sect is nameless, without formal organization, but it still exerts a cultural influence on its members. Their attitude of refusal of any transcendence gives them a feeling of superiority, in the sense that no one exists in the spiritual universe who would have precedence over them.
When I have a conversation with someone about fundamental issues — and I feel confident in what the person is feeling — I sometimes bring up concepts that are completely new to my counterpart. The question then arises: “How do you know that?” Most of the time, I can’t answer without mentioning The Urantia Book. The second question never fails to be:
“But who wrote it? "It’s a question for me to answer that men or women are the authors. I always say, “Well, it’s not about human authors, it’s not about aliens… (And I laugh.) The cosmos is overflowing with life forms and this book was written by mid-life beings. path between God and us, who belong to the top of a hierarchy of beings.” (And I laugh again, because I imagine what is going on in the head of my interlocutor.)
I destabilized my counterpart: either what I have just said is incredible, but true, or Urantia is another sect.
The interlocutor is perplexed: he has a satisfactory answer to the crucial questions we had raised; but there is also this reference to this mysterious book… It could well be another of my many eccentricities: perhaps I am under the influence of an obscure sect which has completely subjugated me ? But these latest impressions do not coincide with what he knows about me. Of the various aspects of my personality, the one that I have just presented to him appears by far the most positive, in every sense of the word, and the most serene, the most calm. Many ideas collide in his mind. His eye movements let him guess. Behind this silence, there is a lot of agitation — not just intellectual. His thought structure was shaken, badly. Connecting facts and ideas together is not only logical, but also the right thing to do. I understand very well that someone checks the source of important information. Not discerning anything negative in my words, feeling no uncomfortable premonition, knowing that I am always as intellectually critical as I am inclined to emotionality, my interlocutor temporarily rules out the option of the sect.
What I am about to write will come as a shock to many: when one considers the multitude of cults in the world, it is understandable that the Urantia movement would be considered a cult by those unfamiliar with the book. I am even of the opinion that this attitude represents healthy prudence: after all, we could be dealing with one of these dangerous sects. (In a word, this attitude is laudable as long as someone has not collected relevant information, not only about the book, but also about the various organizations connected with its teaching: the Urantia Foundation, the 'International Association, study groups…)
But beware! I also suggest that we must keep an open mind. Furthermore, so that my interlocutor and I can continue to discuss this theme, I remind him that we are probably not alone in the universe, that he should not categorically reject the existence of angels and other beings, nor the possibility of a progressive process of revelation taking place; that he must recognize as possible the presence of a hierarchy of celestial beings and their insertion into an administrative structure.
In my opinion, the problem that I have just presented is of the utmost importance to be understood for all those who wish to disseminate and make known The Urantia Book. It presents itself frequently, at least within the culture in which I evolve, namely the Hispanic culture — more precisely that of northern Spain, where people are the most conformist, clinging to immutable beliefs and are opposed in principle to any new idea. The book is therefore only spreading slowly. On the other hand, a work has enjoyed real success: Caballo de Troya (The Trojan Horse) whose author is J. J. Benítez, journalist and researcher in the field of the paranormal. These are literary re-creations inspired by Part IV of the Urantia Book. Readers find it less difficult to believe in fictional time travel to the time of Jesus than to believe in a revelation presented by superhuman beings.
Intellectual barriers close access to books for many simple people. Other barriers arise from the social environment, tradition, customs, prevailing culture and scientific presuppositions (as for genetic factors, there is not much that 'we can do it).
Despite everything, the obstacles will be quite easy to remove if the interlocutors stick to human logic. However, I am of the opinion that one should not waste one’s time with someone who displays pride and willful stubbornness.
One of the next questions your interlocutor will probably ask is this: “Why is this revelation only appearing now? Why didn’t it appear earlier in human history? » To this, I answer: Everything happens at the right time. On the one hand, humanity has not always been receptive to such teaching (and, perhaps, as you can see, is it still not?) On the other hand, humanity must experience an internal evolution that is in line with its ability to master its environment and matter. Another reason, which crosses my mind, is that respect for copyright has only recently appeared in history. If we wanted to provide information of great importance and if, at the same time, we wanted to preserve this information from any distortion - as has happened too often in the past with religious teachings -, was it not logical to expect such laws to protect it?
If we look at contemporary history, we come away with the impression that humanity is suffering more anxiety and confusion than ever before. Could it be because the information available, the basic tool of essential knowledge, has failed to adapt to recent intellectual and material progress of man? If so, isn’t it time for The Urantia Book? The moment when its destiny exhorts humanity to an important evolutionary leap, as much religious and spiritual as scientific? Wouldn’t it be logical and desirable for progress in different areas of interest to humanity to be made in a coherent manner?
We find inside the book the reasons which explain the why of this revelation, how much we have suffered from the absence of communications with the rest of the universe, why our planet represents an exceptional case in the history of the system.
“Wait, wait… I don’t know…” our interlocutor will continue. And the only way we have left to convince him is to make the book available in Spanish so he can read it.
The restraint and discretion its followers might show in their proselytizing might ensure that people do not view Urantia as another of these obscure sects. Doesn’t the book itself teach patience? That everything happens at the right time? Let us therefore be aware that understanding and acceptance of the teachings of the book by those we love will come when the time is right. Let us content ourselves with informing them that we know of the existence of the book and, from time to time, giving a few snippets of its teaching; we should avoid insistence. Let the vicissitudes of their lives prepare the right moment, the time when, spontaneously, their interest in the content of the book will spring forth.
Also, the fact that we are not the disciples of any guru, nor of any group of people, but rather that we relate to the teachings of a book, should reassure our interlocutors. The content of a book cannot be modified arbitrarily and inconsistently. A person — a leader — can suddenly opt for other goals.
The book represents the fundamental link between readers; if anyone wants to know the nature of this connection, they will have to read it.
My mother is 70 years old and a devout Catholic. When the subject of our discussions comes to Jesus, each of us draws on his own sources; but, quite quickly, the discussion takes as its object the very validity of these sources. I leave aside the fact that ecclesiastical authorities have distorted these sources for temporal interests for 2000 years - and that the revelation they carry could also have been distorted - I stick to obtaining from this good Catholic the following admissions: 1. angels exist and their understanding of reality is much broader than ours; 2. nothing is impossible for God: consequently, a revelational process can very well result from his will. My mother gets a little upset when I corner her like this and she calls me Uriantero. (Obviously, I laugh about it.)
Another aspect to consider: this aura of “extraterrestriality” which surrounds readers. We, readers of the book, know how to differentiate the essential from the accessory and this gives us a serenity which is reflected in our attitudes and makes us stand out in a group. People look at us and wonder about us, wondering what it is about us that makes us this way. As a friend and I examined a photograph of two readers giving a presentation on an issue raised in The Journal, my friend made the following comment: “They look like aliens.” And that’s probably true. He wouldn’t know be otherwise The transformation is major: the book creates in its reader spiritual and intellectual concerns and needs which, until now, could only be poorly satisfied by the limited responses of our confused and often indolent societies. .
The Urantia Book undoubtedly promotes this distinct charisma, which adds to the amazement of those who observe us. As we grew older, we learned to discern this halo in those who successfully adhered to a philosophy of life and who, having no knowledge of the book, developed the charisma of love, but not this serenity granted by the certain knowledge that I mentioned above. The merits of those who are close to God, without having had access to the teachings of the Urantia Book, are indisputable. However, the knowledge conferred by the book influences the image that a person projects; this knowledge distinguishes those who have had access to it.
These lost and frightened looks presented by pedestrians on our urban arteries are being transformed. A new race of men and women, aware of their role in the universe and of what each of their members have that is very special within them, is finally emerging. Such a revolution cannot take place without observable manifestations.
This possession of distinct knowledge will not generate fear or distrust since this knowledge will be shared freely and fraternally, without constraints imposed on the beneficiaries. This again will set Urantia apart from the way the cults operate. Another factor: the one who immersed himself in the teachings offered by the book, never felt that someone was trying to reduce his free will, never became dependent on something external to him -even. He who dedicates himself to spreading the truths contained in the book, does so through his own words, through his ways of looking at life and behaving in it — and, above all that, he smiles! He smiled without asking anyone’s permission to do so; he smiles with his lips and his eyes. And we know that the eyes are the mirrors of the soul.
I truly believe that the first thing a beginning reader must overcome is fear. Depending on his personality type, he will expect, more or less unconsciously, that the book will change him. And I do not deny this possibility, nor do I wish to hide it. This apprehension is well-founded. Once you read this book, you will never be the same. We know that in reality personality never changes; what changes is the character — the soul in development.
You change because true knowledge allows you to reconfigure your character, thanks to these most powerful tools and access to this vast project that the book offers to your personality.
The pieces of the puzzle are falling into place now. Some had to be moved, but it was worth it.
Your soul is finally in harmony with cosmic laws.
This is what we call feeling free.
This presentation represents a concerted effort at proselytizing.
In closing, I would like to leave this message: “My friend, you who are reading me, for the moment take a step back from this article; take a step back from the Journal; in relation to the Foundation — go to the book without intermediaries! Read it. You do not have to believe that it contains the truth before reading it — you do not even have to believe it to be true after reading it. You can even read it as if it were fantasy fiction. While you were preparing to undertake this reading, while you were reading and after reading, you were, in fact, devoting yourself to this incessant quest of yours: to find an explanatory model which would satisfy you and allow for the apparent chaos of the universe to give way to harmony.
| Journal — December 2000 — Content | Journal — December 2000 — Index | You say: The fifth epochal revelation |