© 1980 David Schlundt
© 1980 The Urantia Book Fellowship (formerly Urantia Brotherhood)
The following speech was given by David Schlundt at the URANTIA Brotherhood Workshops in Lake Forest, Illinois on August 4, 1980.
They lay in the meadow
between the city and the sea
nearly every one of them
staring at the sun,
all lying in its incredible warmth
some lulled into quiet ecstasy
others dancing in the brightness —
heads raised in adoration
voices calling others to look up
and stare the sun
until all would join their dazzling darkness!
Some called to me,
“Why do you look aside?”…
“at candles and caldrons
beacons and beach fires.
They cannot light the sun!
Stare steady with us.”
No, I said,
No —
for it is fitting to see the rising sun at dawn
and bless its deepest sunset flame — but otherwise turn
and look the earth when daylight bids one walk
in the world of hamlets and cities —
or strike out upon the open sea in ships
or plunge beneath the earth
to find there the sun in smaller rays
useful to living — illuminating
penetrating — focalizing — dynamizing
in a million little ways that spell our evolution.
Look out and down and in as well
and behold the sun storing in a blade of gras5
transforming in the stomach of a cow
sleeping for epochs in the lump of coal
that leaps to life
that drives the wheels
that carry the lives like yours and mine
forward in space and time.
It is ALL the sun, my friends —
green in grass upon which you lie
ticking in clocks that keep your time
humming in wheels that spin cities into motion —
blowing in winds that bring the clouds and bend the grain
And most of all it is the sun
pulsing in our bodies making real our minds
that channel spirit-flames
invisible
all-powerful
behind the sun — yes, behind the sun
your eyes in their dazzled darkness
in their bright blindness
do not see beyond!
In their bright blindness
do not see beyond!
Come with me instead
and look with width and breadth and depth
into the multiplicity of sunlight spangled everywhere
rainbow colored
creative fragmentation, even more creative
integration —
sunlight weaving into the Supreme fabric
of evolutionary synthesis.
Behold the sun
then run with me to the sea
or join in the precious labor of the city
forming and reforming in currents of time and space.
And when the evening falls
and lights come on
it is the sun in yet another form.
And do not forget to walk the countryside in deeper night
and bask in awe beneath the countless suns
whose distant starshine
points to fields of light transcending
ALL FINITE VISION
Every planetary body is measurable in relation to its reflective light, its “albedo.” Earth (Urantia) has an albedo of 0.39 , which is to say 39 % of the light it receives from the sun is reflected back into space, with 61 % received and absorbed. Planets differ greatly in their albedo ratings. Our moon has an albedo of only 7 %, bright in the night sky though it may appear. The volcanic Jovian moon, lo, is seven times brighter than our lunar orb! The metaphor is compelling. A revelation is meant to reveal, to illuminate, to make visible and clearer that which is obscure. But revelation of ANY kind is communicated only through an evolutionary “carrier wave.” The PRIMARY PROCESS in a revelation derives from a person (usually) — Jesus the archetypal example, and in his case with a high (the highest possible?) albedo factor that reflected, therefore, not upon himself (in any egoistic sense) but back upon others to illuminate their lives in the light of the Father’s Way lives immersed in the totality of existence, Revelation may be a prophet or a child — or even an event in nature pointing beyond itself. If persons or events lead to a book, such as Bible or URANTIA Book despite differences of transmission and actualization, a SECONDARY PROCESS (at best) takes place, and the albedo will tend to drop. The “carrier wave” (book, now) tends even more than in the case of a visible person to be revered for its own sake — absorbing (to human perception) rather than reflecting light. Of course, this is partly a function of the perceiving person, but also an inherent function of the limitations of the nature of the “carrier wave. ”Can we believe for a minute that Jesus-as-living-person was a lesser “carrier wave” than The URANTIA Book? Hardly! Yet how difficult it was for people to look and walk with him in his reflective light. To look AT him, revere him, was relatively easy — but that was not the purpose of his illumination. His “reflecting” light for our benefit (in spite of his efforts to orient us correctly) was and is easily ignored.
Now The URANTIA Book for all its brightness has a lower inherent albedo than Jesus, than Christ Michael, Creator Son of our local universe! As a carrier of waves of potential revelation (it is not revelation per se) the book cannot flex and feedback on personal dimensions as a person can. Therefore, we more easily project our own “darkness” into it as we interact with its symbols, all the while simultaneously revering the book itself rather than allowing it to “reflect” upon us, So-called written revelations are notorious for this trending toward “perceptual idolatry.” Even while we learn the Kaaba is empty of the visible and finite, we proceed to fill it with “holy persons” or “holy books” — especially the latter!
There are over the years increasing indications that The URANTIA Book itself rather than its reflective light and consequent illuminated lives is taking center stage among many in the Brotherhood. Along with and very much related to this “perspective distortion” comes a dogged refusal to be appropriately self-examining, individually or collectively. Over-indulgent book-study, the confusion of “knowledge” of contents with true selfmastery, and other unhappy trends are therefore easily overlooked. Necessary ego-deflating critical awareness (reflexion) is resisted with defensive sophistries.
What I speak of here is analogous to “watchdog” or monitoring devices and methods within a business or scientific organization the purpose of which is to check procedures and evaluate actual behaviors. We must realize that no system ever does “just one thing.” Unintended consequences, directions, and spin-offs are usually if not invariably hard to detect from within the system. Monitoring is, therefore, in large part observing from a position outside the system (or subsystem) under examination. An outside agency is called in to “audit the books.” In like manner, URANTIA Brotherhood and related activities require “auditing” from many evolutionary and revelatory positions outside of the brotherhood or book per se. In no way does this imply morbid or narcissistic introspection. I refer to, as a proper aspect of high albedo, acts of conscious reflexion, examination, and control made possible by the reflective light thrown back from the book upon our lives, but also in the various lights of ambient illuminations from many different sources, I am convinced that even Thought Adjuster “control” is predicated upon just this kind of self-initiated, responsible monitoring.
In neglecting to carry out these appropriate behaviors “in the reflected light,” we in turn are most likely to reflect back upon persons and society the very “darkness” that is repressed, suppressed, and in general denied the light of consciousness. Even while avoiding morbid self scrutiny and narcissistic psychological indulgence, there remains a vital need (especially under the brightness of The URANTIA Book) for honest doubt and both personal and social self-criticism, understood, of course, as constructive reflective consciousness, In other words, we must be not only free but motivated to think, reflect, evaluate, compare — see ourselves and our social groups as others see us, and reflect thereon in the humble recognition that we are no wiser than others simply because we trustee an (not “our”) epochal revelation. On the contrary, with so beautiful a book in our hands and such a tendency to idolize in our hearts and heads, we run greater risks than others of making utter fools of ourselves! How challenged we are to discover and live in everyday ways the deep, inner, living messages pointed to by the book, not to mention the spiritual realities behind it all — and begin to do this without getting hung-up on the “carrier wave,” the book itself.
There is a Sufi tale of the wise and venerated teacher who always kept a very large book on his office shelf, but which he would never allow his followers to look into. Upon his death, however, he left in his will the permission for them to examine it at last. Upon opening it, they discovered all the many pages to be blank except the very first upon which was written, “When you have at last learned the difference between the container and the contained, then you shall have wisdom,”
— K. David Schlundt
Urbana, Indiana