© 1996 François Dupont
© 1996 French-speaking Association of Readers of the Urantia Book
The ends of centuries, the ends of millennia and even more so the ends of civilizations have always aroused reactions of fear and anxiety in the face of what was going to happen. It is as if each secular transition of a millennium could only bring profound and lasting upheavals. Perhaps what we feared most, in this change in the state of things, was the fact of not being able to adapt to it, or the idea that inevitably, new catastrophes would emerge from behind the threatening horizons of this end of the period.
Thus we know that the end of the 18th century was characterized by the advent of the French Revolution, itself leading to the Napoleonic Wars, bringing about a new order in most European states. The end of the 19th century prepared the way for the First World War and, its offshoot, the Second World War, each of which led to unnecessary slaughter and a new social order.
What does the end of this 20th century, which is at the same time the end of the 2nd millennium of our era, have in store for us? As in the previous century, religious sects abound, political circles abound, terrorist bands multiply… Where are we going?
Here is what the famous psychologist Bruno Bettelheim thinks:
Bruno Bettelheim, page 128 — “Once again, if society has become more powerful, it is to the detriment of the citizen. Society being more powerful than ever, and the individual more anxious than he has ever been at any time in the past, he must rely, for his survival, on those who run this society. The physical distance which separates the individual from those who run him, prevents the individual from verifying whether his trust in their good will is justified, a process which could be disastrous for his feeling of economic and social security.”
- Is *courage—*strength of character—desirable? Then must man be reared in an environment which necessitates grappling with hardships and reacting to disappointments. (UB 3:5.6)
- Is *hope—*the grandeur of trust—desirable? Then human existence must constantly be confronted with insecurities and recurrent uncertainties. (UB 3:5.8)
This rather pessimistic speech is nuanced by what he says a little further on:
Bruno Bettelheim, page 145 — “An era that encourages man to let the machine provide what is essential to his existence, demands, more than any other, that man clearly discern what is essential and what is contingent, a notion he hardly needed when the superfluous was rare. Just as a democracy demands that a population have more culture and moral sense than in the more primitive forms of society, so modern man needs a more developed affectivity in order not to succumb to the temptations inherent in the age of machines. The more the world around us is mechanized and fragmented, the more humanity we must put into our personal relationships; the more we live in a mass society, the better we will have to know how to form intimate relationships.”
But, for its part, the URANTIA Book gives us the assurance that our tribulations are a necessary evil:
“Anxiety was a natural state of the savage mind. When men and women fall victims to excessive anxiety, they are simply reverting to the natural estate of their far-distant ancestors; and when anxiety becomes actually painful, it inhibits activity and unfailingly institutes evolutionary changes and biologic adaptations. Pain and suffering are essential to progressive evolution.” (UB 86:2.1)
He even tells us what needs to be corrected in our attitude towards this mental suffering:
“The Third Source and Center, the universal intelligence, is personally conscious of every mind, every intellect, in all creation, and he maintains a personal and perfect contact with all these physical, morontial, and spiritual creatures of mind endowment in the far-flung universes. All these activities of mind are grasped in the absolute mind-gravity circuit which focalizes in the Third Source and Center and is a part of the personal consciousness of the Infinite Spirit.” (UB 9:6.1)
Personally, I think that, among the assiduous readers and persevering students of The URANTIA Book, there are not or could be any truly anxious people, afraid of a future that is, in short, quite close, trembling for their children, hesitating to commit to anything.
But maybe I’m wrong. Wouldn’t predictions and personal problems be more complex depending on the type of mental functioning of the readers?
Who would accept the challenge of taking the plunge and writing down their own thoughts and reactions to this burning question?
François Dupont — Brussels