© 2016 Gary Deinstadt
© 2016 The Urantia Book Fellowship
| Why Should You Support a Urantia Organization Like The Urantia Book Fellowship? | Volume 16, Number 1, 2016 (Summer) — Index | Healing Meditation |
I was invited to speak on The Urantia Book at an interfaith service that a local Christian church usually schedules on the third Sunday of every month. I know these people well, because I’ve worked with them in other interfaith endeavors. Participants involved come from diverse religious backgrounds, including clergy. They recently created a speaker series. In addition to the invited speaker, there’s an interfaith team of approximately five people, who each contribute a five-minute talk related to the speakers subject matter.
In the planning stages of my talk, I collected quotes from The Urantia Book and asked if they’d be interested in choosing one to speak on. At our meeting, we were reviewing the quotes and many said, “I’d like to speak on this one, no wait, I found another. Can I pick more than one??” They all enjoyed the process. I suggested that in their presentations they read the quote as is, and then feel free to add anything they’d like. So on the day of the service, I really had no idea what to expect.
I was surprised at what they came up with. It was interesting to see what they gleaned from an out of context quote from a book they didn’t know. Much of it was insightful. It demonstrated to me that it wasn’t important whether they got it right or not; it was more about creating the space for self discovery, the opportunity to participate, to share their own perspectives, reach their own conclusions, which interestingly enough, led to the common desire of digging deeper into The Urantia Book. Figuratively, all I did was open The Urantia Book and leave the room. By the time it came for me to speak, people were already eager to hear what I was going to say. There was definite buzz in the room.
I chose to begin with a quote from Paper 34: The Local Universe Mother Spirit. Section 6: The Spirit In Man …The dead theory of even the highest religious doctrines is powerless to transform human character or to control mortal behavior. What the world of today needs is the truth which your teacher of old declared: “Not in word only but also in power and in the Holy Spirit.” The seed of theoretical truth is dead, the highest moral concepts without effect, unless and until the divine Spirit breathes upon the forms of truth and quickens the formulas of righteousness. I requested a moment of silence for us to ask the divine spirit to breath on all of our forms of truth. In this way, I acknowledged all their forms of truth. I wanted to be respectful of their personal religious experiences. My motive was to create a trusting warm, comfortable, and inviting atmosphere.
After our brief moment of silence, I told them that trying to describe The Urantia Book was like trying to describe Stravinsky’s Rite Of Spring and/or Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony etc. I added that I could easily bog them down in the minutiae of what notes were played where and by what instruments. I could also tell them more about the composers, which are all important factors when you consider the piece as a whole, but nothing would move them as much as the personal experience of hearing the music for themselves. So I said I would follow a similar pattern in presenting The Urantia Book. For the most part, I stayed away from the minutiae, got out of the way and let the book sing.
The next thing I wanted to accomplish was to rid myself of potential red flags. For example:
“ The Urantia Book…
It’s not a religion, but much is religious.
It’s not a particular philosophy, but quite philosophical.
It’s not a holy book or practice.
No shoulds or should nots.
It wasn’t created to save you, fix you, or convince you of anything.
It doesn’t require a belief. It’s more of a definitive work; so it wasn’t necessarily inspired per se, but it’s the most inspiring thing I’ve ever encountered.” I did this because I didn’t want to get in the way of their personal beliefs.
I didn’t want them to think I was there to fix them or sell them anything. I wanted to create an equal playing field.
We briefly looked at the first couple of paragraphs of the forward, “In the minds of the mortals of Urantia- that being the name of your world etc.,” We glanced over the title’s of the papers/ authors, etc., but then we narrowed it down to subject matter that were more immediate to people’s concerns: Why are we here; where are we going—(The Eternal and Divine Purpose) the universe in and around us, good and evil in the world and life after death.
The Q&A that followed was interesting in so many ways. I’d get a couple of questions such as, “So, where’s Jesus now?” Well, if you find yourself in a similar circumstance, I suggest responding: “Where two, three or more are gathered, etc.” because any additional info could easily lead you into The Urantia Book minefield. A Urantia Book minefield question is one that either forces you to use the book’s language, which may be familiar to readers, but clearly demonstrates to others that you’re in this world, but starting to sound like you’re not of it. OR, it’s a question you can’t possibly answer when you approach it from the bottom/up. (finite to the infinite.) It has to be addressed from the top/down. If I couldn’t come up with a comprehensive response, I would simply apologize and explain my dilemma. I used the example of a thousand-piece puzzle. Most puzzles come with the whole picture on the cover of the box, so you know what you’re trying to piece together. If all you have is a bunch of other pieces, you may get a clue, but the cover has to be your reference point. Surprisingly, they happily accepted the fact that it was a top/ down question.
The fascinating outcome of all this was that they truly wanted to know more about the top. Most people eagerly expressed an interest in studying the book further and are looking forward to joining us at our next study group meeting.
So, from this experience I learned:
Gary Deinstadt has been a student of The Urantia Book since 1982. He served on the General Council for 13 years and the Executive Committee for 5 years as the Education Committee Chair. Gary and his wife Andrea host a monthly study group at their home in Somers, New York (Westchester County). Gary is an ordained Interfaith minister and a two-time Emmy Award winning composer.
| Why Should You Support a Urantia Organization Like The Urantia Book Fellowship? | Volume 16, Number 1, 2016 (Summer) — Index | Healing Meditation |