© 2000 David Elders
© 2000 The Urantia Book Fellowship
| Thinking About Tomorrow | Volume 2, Number 2, 2000 (Summer) — Index | Scientific Predictions of The Urantia Book - Part II |
One of the most provocative and mysterious aspects of The Urantia Book is the revelators’ claim that they grafted newly revealed truth onto the “highest existing human concepts pertaining to the subjects to be presented.” (UB 0:12.11) A longtime reader of the book, Matthew Block, has spent a decade in the cause of identifying, where possible, those human authors whose thinking and expression might have been used in the building of this revelation. His untiring labor will soon show forth fruits that will serve for ages to come to deepen our appreciation for, and understanding of, the process by which humankind is uplifted by revelation, both personal and epochal. On the eve of the publication of Block’s seminal work of discovering, compiling, comparing, and demonstrating the links between the book and many of these human source authors, it might be of value to explore the way in which the revelators themselves prepared us for this anticipated discovery of these human authors and what it might mean (Matthew’s first volume, Sources of The Urantia Book: Papers 99-103, will be published later this year).
Perhaps the meeting described below did not actually take place, at least in the way depicted. Nevertheless, it is clear from the revelators’ statements that they were mandated to graft new truth seamlessly onto the highest attained human comprehension of reality. So, the notion that an assembly of the selected revelatory team to finalize their plans for the revelatory process is perhaps not too farfetched.
Conclave of the recently appointed Urantia Revelatory Commission
Sometime prior to the arrival on our planet of The Urantia Book and consistent with the proven technique of careful advance planning for each successive episode of epochal revelation of truth to a human world, a meeting was called by the Melchizedek Director of the Revelatory Commission. The purpose of the meeting was to establish the revelatory mandates. The typical revelatory process, only partially comprehended by those who are called to execute it, is entirely a mystery to the human mortals for whom the revelation is designed. On a normal world, this mysterious quality of revelation is an elegant stimulus to the ascending life of the soul. Indeed, with the active guidance of functioning planetary supervisors, the mystery is eventually transformed into the appreciative recognition of the inherent need and value of revelation. On Urantia, however, the natural process of successfulepochal revelations has been interrupted and is somewhat more confusing. Indeed, the full integration of revelation into human experience, mind, and soul has been distorted by the planetary rebellion, the default of Adam and Eve, and the crucifixion of the Creator Son as he was manifest as Jesus of Nazareth. Only the Melchizedek mission can be said to have nearly fulfilled its purposes.
Most of those present at this historic meeting well understood one of the essential characteristics of the revelatory process: that “Successive planetary revelations of divine truth invariably embrace the highest existing concepts of spiritual values as a part of the new and enhanced co-ordination of planetary knowledge.” (UB 0:12.12) Although that characteristic was plainly visible in the four epochal revelations so far presented to the mortals of Urantia, the plan to present the fifth epochal revelation as a written work in the English tongue of that world presented problems with which these revelators had not dealt before inasmuch as revelation is typically embodied in a living personality. Moreover, because this revelation was to be a presentation of many beings rather than a single one, the rules of revelation had to be understood in a new way.
One of the most interesting issues discussed at that eventful meeting had to do with this plan to use a book instead of a being. A revelation embodied as a being would appear naturally in the context of the time in which he would appear, and be able seamlessly to communicate truth consistent with the cultural and linguistic forms current as of the visitation. However, as a printed revelation of truth, often necessarily compiled and written far in advance of the time of its intended communication to its mortal recipients, some conscious adjustment had to be made to deal with the differences in cultural expression and language to insure that the highest attained concepts to which new truth would be grafted were comprehensible to the mortals at the time of revelation.
The consequence of this memorable discussion became institutionalized as one of the mandates governing the process by which the fifth epochal revelation was assembled. Of great interest to observers was the decision to actually reveal in several places the agreed-upon technique as a part of the revelation itself. A Divine Counselor put it this way in the Foreword of the Urantia papers:
In formulating the succeeding presentations having to do with the portrayal of the character of the Universal Father and the nature of his Paradise associates, together with an attempted description of the perfect central universe and the encircling seven superuniverses, we are to be guided by the mandate of the superuniverse rulers which directs that we shall, in all our efforts to reveal truth and coordinate essential knowledge, give preference to the highest existing human concepts pertaining to the subjects to be presented. We may resort to pure revelation only when the concept of presentation has had no adequate previous expression by the human mind.
Successive planetary revelations of divine truth invariably embrace the highest existing concepts of spiritual values as a part of the new and enhanced coordination of planetary knowledge. Accordingly, in making these presentations about God and his universe associates, we have selected as the basis of these papers more than one thousand human concepts representing the highest and most advanced planetary knowledge of spiritual values and universe meanings. Wherein these human concepts, assembled from the God-knowing mortals of the past and the present, are inadequate to portray the truth as we are directed to reveal it, we will unhesitatingly supplement them, for this purpose drawing upon our own superior knowledge of the reality and divinity of the Paradise Deities and their transcendent residential universe. (UB 0:12.11-12)
A secondary midwayer, once attached to the Apostle Andrew, and acting under the supervision of a Melchizedek revelatory director, echoed adherence to this mandate at the beginning of the Jesus papers, indited into the English language in 1935-36:
In carrying out my commission to restate the teachings and retell the doings of Jesus of Nazareth, I have drawn freely upon all sources of record and planetary information. My ruling motive has been to prepare a record which will not only be enlightening to the generation of men now living, but which may also be helpful to all future generations. From the vast store of information made available to me, I have chosen that which is best suited to the accomplishment of this purpose. As far as possible 1 have derived my information from purely human sources. Only when such sources failed, have I resorted to those records which are superhuman. When ideas and concepts of Jesus’ life and teachings have been acceptably expressed by a human mind, I invariably gave preference to such apparently human thought patterns. Although I have sought to adjust the verbal expression the better to conform to our concept of the real meaning and the true import of the Master’s life and teachings, as far as possible, I have adhered to the actual human concept and thought pattern in all my narratives. I well know that those concepts which have had origin in the human mind will prove more acceptable and helpful to all other human minds. When unable to find the necessary concepts in the human records or in human expressions, I have next resorted to the memory resources of my own order of earth creatures, the midwayers. And when that secondary source of information proved inadequate, I have unhesitatingly resorted to the superplanetary sources of information.
The memoranda which I have collected, and from which I have prepared this narrative of the life and teachings of Jesus—aside from the memory of the record of the Apostle Andrew—embrace thought gems and superior concepts of Jesus’ teachings assembled from more than two thousand human beings who have lived on earth from the days of Jesus down to the time of the inditing of these revelations, more correctly restatements. The revelatory permission has been utilized only when the human record and human concepts failed to supply an adequate thought pattern. My revelatory commission forbade me to resort to extrahuman sources of either information or expression until such a time as I could testify that I had failed in my efforts to find the required conceptual expression in purely human sources.
While I, with the collaboration of my eleven associate fellow midwayers and under the supervision of the Melchizedek of record, have portrayed this narrative in accordance with my concept of its effective arrangement and in response to my choice of immediate expression, nevertheless, the majority of the ideas and even some of the effective expressions which I have thus utilized had their origin in the minds of the men of many races who have lived on earth during the intervening generations, right on down ro those who are still alive at the time of this undertaking. In many ways I have served more as a collector and editor than as an original narrator. I have unhesitatingly appropriated those ideas and concepts, preferably human, which would enable me to create the most effective portraiture of Jesus’ life, and which would qualify me to restate his matchless teachings in the most strikingly helpful and universally uplifting phraseology. In behalf of the Brotherhood of the United Midwayers of Urantia, I most gratefully acknowledge our indebtedness to all sources of record and concept which have been hereinafter utilized in the further elaboration of our restatement of Jesus’ life on earth. (UB 121:8.12-14)
Before the meeting ended, there was at least one more dimension of the process addressed. Specifically, in addition to expressing in the text itself their mandate to utilize existing and attained human thinking and expression, it was agreed that the use of particular human expressions would not be masked in any way and, moreover, whenever appropriate, a “flag” would be inserted into the text to alert the human reader of their existence: at least eleven times in the papers a phrase such as “restated in modem phraseology,” or “adapted to twentieth-century religious and political conditions” was used. Though it was fully anticipated that the discovery of this material might at some future time risk weakening the revelatory credibility of The Urantia Book, it was agreed by the entire gathered revelatory team that the long-term benefits far outweighed the risk. The anticipated benefits included:
Upon adjournment of the meeting, the participants subsequently undertook those tasks which culminated in presentation of The Urantia Book to its intended mortal recipients.
For those among us (readers and non-readers alike) whose belief in the revelatory nature of the book is either non-existent or based on its mythological, phenomenological, or miraculous existence, a comparison of the human resource authors’ works and The Urantia Book will be challenging to say the least. The logic of the human mind alone is insufficient to validate the book’s revelatory promise, and doubt as to the validity of its revelatory authorship and significance may well be stimulated. This course represents the attempt to comprehend or validate the authenticity of The Urantia Book in the context of the human source material, and may show its fruits in the attempt to rationalize or alter the text to better conform to subjective human understanding.
For those among us who have personally validated the authenticity of the revelation in the consciousness of our souls, attested to by the Indwelling Spirit and the Spirit of Truth, the challenge will be a different one. The Melchizedek’s claim that the “…historic facts and religious truths of this series of revelatory presentations will stand on the record of the ages to come…” (UB 101:4.2) will long serve as a stimulus to deepen our comprehension of and appreciation for the elegance of the revelatory process that opens up to the ascending being new potentials for the understanding of God and his universes. This course represents the attempt to evaluate the human source material in the context of The Urantia Book as revelation, and may show its fruits in the effort to better conform one’s understanding to its objective teachings. The choice awaits us as this material becomes more readily available, as the discussion of its meaning and value is ignited in our reader community, and as we consider how best to speak of it to new readers.
In a way, we have been given a gift that will enable us to deal with The Urantia Book in a manner not unlike those who lived at Jesus’ time had to deal with his reality as revelation. At a park south of Bethsaida-Julius, Jesus’ popularity as a miracle worker reached its peak when he performed his first and only nature miracle and five thousand human beings gathered to hear and see him were given sustenance derived from five barley loaves and two dried fish. At the time of his crucifixion, when it appeared that his power was insufficient to save himself, less than fifty persons remained at the scene to await his death. Will we today allow the existence of this human source material to gravitate our consciousness into our human minds alone and therein doubt the revelators’ claim that this is the way revelation works (“restated in modern phraseology”), or will the existence of this human source material serve to deepen and expand our trust in the down reach of new truth to lure us into the ascending life of the soul? Will we be like the Simon Peter in Caesarea-Philippi who answered Jesus from his soul when he said, “you are the son of the living God.” Or, will we be like the Simon Peter in Annas’ courtyard who, overcome by the fear and doubt in his mind said, “I know not this man, neither am I one of his followers.”
Two thousand years ago, there were some who saw the Creator Son of God in the being of Jesus of Nazareth, a respected carpenter, and they saw this in the consciousness of their souls. Others saw only a carpenter, disbelieving in their human minds the truth of his divine reality:
. . . You think you are better than the people of Nazareth; you moved away from us, but your brother is a common workman, and your sisters still live among us. We know your mother, Mary. When are they today? We hear big things about you, but we notice that you do no wonders when you come back." Jesus answered them: "I love the people who dwell in the city where I grew up, and I would rejoice to see you all enter the kingdom of heaven, but the doing of the works of God is not for me to determine. The transformations of grace are wrought in response to the living faith of those who are the beneficiaries. (UB 150:9.2)
As a student of The Urantia Book for almost 30 years, David Elders has tried to live up to the challenges and responsibilities of its teachings in his personal life as well as within the Brotherhood-Fellowship via service in various functional positions. He and his wife, Marta, who shares this dedication to the teachings, have raised two sons who have embarked on their own family journeys.
| Thinking About Tomorrow | Volume 2, Number 2, 2000 (Summer) — Index | Scientific Predictions of The Urantia Book - Part II |