© 2008 Halbert Katzen, JD
© 2008 The Urantia Book Fellowship
| The Significance of the Sevenfold Bestowal Career | Volume 9, Number 1, 2008 (Summer) — Index | Law is Life Itself |
The Urantia Book is not what it used to be. It now exhibits a unique and extraordinary quality of credibility. The good news is that the book is doing more than standing up to the test of time; its credibility keeps improving with the passage of time. Simply put, there is not another document anywhere on the planet that so specifically addresses such a wide range of historic and scientific issues and also exhibits the peculiar pattern of having assertions corroborated that were at odds with or not yet considered by science and scholarship when it was published.
To appreciate the implications of this change in The Urantia Book ’s credibility we need to look at three developmental aspects. First, we need to understand what has transpired and the opportunity presented by these developments. Second, the fact-meaning-value relationship presents some challenges. It is challenging because of the tendency to think that scientific facts lead to scientific meanings and values. In this case, they do not. As well, like the book itself but on a much smaller scale, the amount of time necessary to learn the facts can have a tendency to so over occupy our attention that we do not balance out learning about the facts with getting their meaning and value. Third, we must honestly face how our past experiences with sharing The Urantia Book can become a serious obstacle to embracing the new opportunities that are now available in light of recent developments.
Documenting for non- Urantia Book readers the ways in which science and scholarship has been catching up to it is an idea whose time has come. This development marks a dramatic shift in our ability to give a quick, positive, and powerful first impression of The Urantia Book. When we are speaking with someone who has never heard of or knows next to nothing about the book, we can provide an introduction that is inspiring, interesting, and intriguing. It only takes about one minute. All we have to do is convey the following information:
Introducing the book in this way sets up a completely new conversational dynamic. It establishes that the book provides uniquely credible information and has a fifty-year track record that is constantly improving. Starting with The Urantia Book ’s unique quality of credibility turns the tables one hundred eighty degrees with respect to the awkward issue of authorship. Information about authorship that formerly sounded strange can now be heard as an internally consistent and objectively verifiable explanation of our assertions. The possibilities of this approach really become apparent when we appreciate that introductions are not a time to try to convert people or to try to convince them about anything. The benefit of this wisdom requires more than applying it as a tactical tool; it requires embracing it as a respectful and loving way to relate to others.
If you have not tried this approach before, it is like breathing fresh air. But do not make the mistake of judging its merits by how things go the first time. Like any new conversation it takes a little time to develop one’s ability to do it smoothly and to graciously handle the variety of responses that reflect human diversity. As well, it is important to judge the value of this method for introducing The Urantia Book by how it is generally received. This means that we have to give ourselves the benefit of a sample population after we have become adept with the conversation. If we go through these steps then we are in a position to compare it to the other ways we have tried to introduce book.
By informing people about how they can verify this information for themselves, we have liberated ourselves from having to be “an expert” about the various corroborations. Sometimes we need to ask if people would like to hear a few examples. Fortunately, little time is needed to learn how to summarize the reports.
Learning how to list several examples to support an introduction is easy and gives us confidence in making the assertion that The Urantia Book exhibits a unique quality of credibility. Becoming familiar with the various reports allows us to pick topics that may be of special interest to the person with whom we are speaking. Like the tide that raises all ships, starting out with book’s extraordinary quality of credibility will uplift everything else we have learned about conversing with people who do not know about the book. However, suggesting that we start with the book’s credibility does not mean that we should focus only on this issue or attempt giving as many examples as possible.
Giving a good first impression of the The Urantia Book requires not only beginning the conversation well but also ending it well. The key is to allow the other person to direct the course of the conversation once we have provided the essential introductory information (Of course, because people new to a topic often do not know how to ask good questions, we need to respond wisely.) By monitoring their interest level, we will know when they have heard enough. At that point it is time to initiate a gracious end to the conversation.
As quickly as we are willing to embrace the blessing, we are liberated from the awkward authorship issue. Its transcendence marks a new and joyous opportunity for service. Now we can all quickly provide a powerful and positive first impression of The Urantia Book as we pass by. I suggest starting with those beyond our inner circles. We can learn the value of this new approach better when the stakes are lower and there is no history.
The book’s emerging pattern of credibility presents a relation between fact, meaning, and value that is challenging for both Urantia Book readers and non- Urantia Book readers alike. The challenge is that the presentation of the facts can easily misdirect our attention away from the meaning and value of these facts. The tendency to over-focus on the facts is exacerbated when we find their meaning and value to be personally challenging with regard to our attitude about outreach.
The meaning is clear and simple; the book is now enjoying a unique quality of credibility. The value for Urantia Book readers is that it presents an opportunity for doing much more effective outreach.
In order for us to develop confidence about this growing forest of credibility, we must take the time to appreciate the various trees in this forest, the facts. Most people are only willing to sit and listen for so long during a presentation. We tend to give even less time to reading through the Website. This is not an implied criticism. It is a necessary perspective for appreciating the process in which we are collectively engaged. Some time must be invested in considering the quality of individual meanings and values. The good news is that overcoming this challenge is simply a matter of time. Eventually, from varying degrees of exploration and osmosis, we will all see the awesome implications of this growing pattern.
Fortunately humanity is hardwired to appreciate this type of credibility. We all tend to conclude that a pattern of stating information in advance of its widespread acceptance means that the source, no matter what it is, is credible. Generally, people who are new to The Urantia Book will not jump to the conclusion that the best parts of the book are not directly related to why it has a unique quality of credibility; we need to tell them. And, of course, the value for them has to do with being informed about something that is intriguing. Just as this new opportunity for service, for sharing good news, inspires each of us to varying degrees, non Urantia Book readers also respond in a variety of ways.
There are a number of issues related to the past that need to be considered in order to appreciate the present circumstances and realize the potentials of future outreach efforts. We need to take an honest look at ourselves both individually and as a group. Of course, only the group dynamics can be addressed here.
Because our individual experiences are varied and personal, we may find ourselves more or less related to the generalizations that will be made here about our collective experiences. My comments come not only from over twenty-five years of experience with Urantia Book readers, but also from all the study groups I have recently attended and one-on-one experiences I have enjoyed.
There has been an emphasis on identifying ourselves as “reader-believers” in the last fifty years. New cultural movements must of necessity start with the congealing of “true believers” in order to generate enthusiasm and tools for future growth and development. The process we have been going through, the challenges we have faced, and the differences we have had, in a general sense, are common to all new cultural developments.
Ironically, the attitude that was necessary and appropriate in this initial developmental stage also made it harder for us to ef fectively introduce The Urantia Book. Our personal identification with it and the emphasis on being a reader-believer has a tendency to alienate and repel those who are not part of the group. The epochal revelations that were personified in some way may have justified some “hard sell” tactics, particularly when the special persons were not nearby. A book requires a different approach. Most people are disinclined to become “true believers” who are dedicated to creating a new cultural movement, no matter what it relates to. People are especially and reasonably cautious about wholeheartedly embracing new spiritual source material. When people pick up even the slightest hint that someone is trying to convert them, they tend to go running for cover.
_What were the factual circumstances we faced? The Urantia Book claims to be written by celestials. It came filled with scientific and historical information that was inconsistent with the science of the day. The first two-thirds are very challenging to read even with a good education. It has mysterious origins. It is over 2000 pages—not a pretty picture for quick and broad social acceptance.
To make matters worse, reader-believers, for the most part, have not been particularly interested in the scientific and historic material, except for the parts on cultural development. Consequently, for these and other reasons, our collective ability to appreciate and make use of the book’s emerging quality of credibility has been hampered.
How did we handle the initial lack of scientific and historic credibility? We avoided talking about the issues with science and history. We learned how to become apologists when we could not avoid the subject or if we happened to be interested in those aspects. We learned to quote phrases like “the laws of revelation hamper us greatly,” or “very rigorously limited by the instructions of superiors,” or “not at liberty to anticipate the scientific discoveries of a thousand years,” and especially “the physical sciences will stand in need of revision in consequence of additional scientific developments and new discoveries.” That last one has been a big favorite.
This is not intended as a critical commentary on our community. Quite the contrary, it was good wisdom for the day. We needed to learn how to become good Urantia Book apologists.
Now it is time to view this initial stage of cultural development as by-gone days. And I say good riddance to them.
What was our psychological response to these challenging circumstances? Introducing people to The Urantia Book and inspiring them to read it was tremendously challenging in the first fifty years. We passionately tried to introduce the book to our family and friends. It was inherently a difficult task and our unrefined zealousness made it worse. For the most part we failed miserably. With our failures came embarrassment and marginalization, being ostracized, ridiculed, disrespected, and worst of all, simply ignored.
Not surprisingly, we had a natural reaction to these experiences. We felt hurt and disillusioned. We stopped talking about it openly. We created a filtering system that excluded most people and only brought it to those who seemed “ready for it.” We concluded that America was not ready for it. A lot of resources and time were spent on translations and international outreach, thereby deemphasizing the wisdom of the revelators, who wrote it in English and placed The Urantia Book in the United States.
Fortunately for our collective psyches, because slow growth was all we were capable of anyway, early leadership put out a “directive” supporting “slow growth.” Whether this was good wisdom or came from superhuman sources is not the issue. The point is that we are past this point.
The opportunity to make a positive and powerful introduction on a person-to-person basis is significantly different today than it has been in the past. Society is different. And most importantly, the opportunity to communicate that The Urantia Book has a unique and extraordinary quality of credibility is very different. All of this merits reconsideration of our person-to-person approach and how enthusiastically we “should” inform people “as we pass by.” It is time for the whole process of personal outreach to be reconsidered.
The pattern of corroborations supporting The Urantia Book ’s credibility is extraordinary. This type of credibility, generally speaking, resonates reasonably well with most people. Many people in the United States are especially hungry for harmony between spirituality and science because the controversy between evolution and creation is constantly in our media, bogging down our legislatures, and undermining our educational systems.
People may reasonably be disinclined to believe an assertion about the book’s credibility when they hear of it for the first time. Some may embrace a theology that requires them to discount the value of this type of credibility once they find out more about its theological positions and purported origins. Others may not be psychologically ready to deal with something that exhibits superhuman qualities. Many may be preoccupied with other concerns when we bring it up and just not be ready to hear it at the moment. But all these considerations are accompanied by a general human appreciation for anything and anyone that provides factually accurate information in advance of its widespread acceptance.
Humanity is hardwired to appreciate the type of credibility that The Urantia Book now exhibits. This is today’s version of epochal superhuman credibility. The first epochal revelation had an immortal staff of one hundred. The second epochal revelation had the immortal, extremely knowledgeable, particularly tall and glowing purple Adam and Eve. Melchizedek came without linage, apparently did not age, and left as mysteriously as he came. Michael’s appearance was marked by many miraculous and unusual events. All epochal revelations are designed to have a particular quality of superhuman credibility. And this one is no different, notwithstanding that it is developing over time and comes in book form. Agondonter status is not the norm and inevitably ends.
Today, informing people about the book is a lot like showing them a gradually unfolding miracle that they can go see for themselves. Leveraging this quality is timely and part of the plan.
Being of service to others means we need to get beyond our own relationship to the book. The relevant question is: What type of introduction stands the best chance of intriguing someone who has never heard about The Urantia Book before? It is necessarily true that most all of us who are reader-believers became so in the absence of the type of credibility that the book now exhibits. This does not mean that others should be as open as we were. Taking on the attitude that the corroborations of science and history are not its most important aspect, though true, is not helpful. Who are we to ask people to trust our experience with the book when a verifiable, superhuman quality of credibility is available?
Life is a smorgasbord of spiritually enriching opportunities. The essential element of a good introduction is to impressively distinguish The Urantia Book from everything else. This is the type of information that inspires, interests, and intrigues people. Unless we succumb to sophistry, we long for harmony between spirituality and science, especially science (and history) that is ahead of its time. We would do well to honor and encourage the natural human desire to have spiritual beliefs be in harmony with scientific developments. People are starving for The Urantia Book ’s revelatory credibility and we hold the keys to the pantry.
I was first introduced to The Urantia Book when I was working for Greenpeace over twenty-five years ago. The job was going door-to-door on membership drives. I thought the most important thing to talk about was the work that Greenpeace was doing on nuclear weapons, waste, and energy issues. The problems associated with these issues seemed to put everyone’s life in danger. Naturally, this was more important to me than saving the whales. Eventually I learned that what I thought was most important was not what was most inspiring for others. And besides, once they became members, they would get a monthly newsletter to inform them about all the other issues. Similarly, we need to respect where people are if we want to be of service in a manner that is gracious and effective.
The point here is not that most people are into scientific issues, or that its emerging pattern of credibility proves its authen ticity, or that this type of introduction will immediately “turn peo ple on to The Urantia Book .” The point is that most people want to get a sense of the book’s unique quality of credibility first. People will naturally assume, or at least be willing to consider, that if the book can be ahead of science, then it probably is worth checking out for its spiritual, philosophical, theological, and cosmological content. And they would be right. There is a direct link between these issues. Starting with the book’s credibility both prepares the soil and plants the seed. And sometimes people are so ready the fruit comes very quickly.
Considering the question of whether The Urantia Book is what it used to be brings up issues that can be challenging for us to confront. “Where am I in that spectrum between the Alpheus twins, who returned to their nets, and the preaching of Simon Peter?” Ironically, the easier it is to introduce the book, the more we find ourselves confronted by issues that we can no longer pin on “the people who are not ready for it yet.”
Just as it is important to be gracious with people when making an introduction to The Urantia Book and to be respectful no matter what their response might be, we also need to be gracious and respectful with each other. The quality of the emerging pattern of credibility is a subjective experience and our personal dispositions and experiences are diverse. Fortunately, we know that God loves us just as much no matter where we fall in the spectrum that runs from “private life” to “public preaching.” And best of all, as far as the credibility of the book goes, like a fine wine, it is getting better with age.
When I got involved with the Urantia community over twenty-five years ago, people were rarely quoting phrases like, “the historic facts…will stand on the records of the ages to come,” or “authoritative elimination of error,” or “co-ordination of known or about-to-be-known facts and observations,” or “restoration of important bits of lost knowledge,” or “information which will fill in vital missing gaps in otherwise earned knowledge.” I expect we will hear these quoted a lot more in the future!
When it comes to advancing the fifth epochal revelation on Urantia, the greatest challenge we face is the person staring back at us in the mirror. We are the wellspring to the world for wisdom relating to The Urantia Book. The current cultural circumstances, particularly in the country where this gift was bestowed, are well suited for being receptive to the book. The real question is: Can we let go of the past, embrace the present, get out of our own way, and move boldly forward with the exquisite opportunity for service that lies before us?
The first step is our being willing to find our joy in simply letting people know that the book exists. Then, when we are willing to develop skills with this new type of introduction and be the kind of people who measure success in terms of whether or not we open our mouths, we will find enormous satisfaction in sowing seeds destined to grow and in harvesting some of the low hanging fruit.
There are even opportunities here for planting seeds in the conservative Christian community. Consider a conversation with someone from this community in which we express the following (after we have gotten beyond the initial introduction of The Urantia Book ’s unique quality of credibility):
“I can easily appreciate and respect that when you came to accept Jesus as your savior, you felt you had to choose between Jesus and science. You made an excellent choice. If I had found myself confronted with such a choice, I might have done the very same thing. As it turns out, my belief in Jesus has developed in such a way that it allows me to accept Jesus as my savior as well as appreciate and respect the discoveries of science.
“On the most important issues, you and I share the same beliefs. We both believe in his combined human and divine nature and that he resurrected and ascended to the right hand of our Heavenly Father, where he had all power in heaven and earth placed into his hands. We both believe that he performed miracles and even raised Lazarus from the dead. We believe in his teachings and that he is the way, the truth, and the life. We believe that he will one day return as he promised. The Urantia Book even says that, of all knowledge, knowing about the religious life of Jesus and how he lived it is the most important.
“I just wanted to share what I thought was good news and do not wish to continue the conversation if it is not being mutually appreciated.”
Consider what opportunities are now available for the Thought Adjuster to work with that person’s mind and soul.
When Spirit knows that we are willing to introduce the book in this way, then Spirit has an opportunity to guide us to those individuals in the conservative Christian community who would be most open to this approach. We will not experience these dead statistics if the living Spirit knows we have developed and are willing to use a new talent.
The good that comes from introducing The Urantia Book is something that we will often not get to see directly. This is simply the nature of informing people about something for the first time. Often people need to be exposed to new things several times before they are willing to take an interest. But one thing is for sure. This type of introduction raises the bar. It lets people know a book exists that does more than harmonize spirituality and science; it is also exhibits a unique quality of credibility in this regard. Even conservative Christians will have to respect that we see validation in our text in a way similar to how they attempt to validate the Bible.
It is high time we stop sizing up people we have never met before and making excuses about how they are the ones who are not ready. The real issue these days is whether we are ready to embrace a shift that has already occurred.
The shift in the book’s relationship to science and history, coupled with our ability to provide reports on these developments to the whole world as quickly as we can get them done and for very little money, changes everything when it comes to introducing The Urantia Book. The Internet has also changed our ability to do good research and to collaborate with each other in the process of providing quality reports on the emerging corroborations. The question we need to ask is: How much of our time are we willing to invest to make this happen?
Using the emerging pattern of corroborations to demonstrate The Urantia Book ’s unique quality of credibility is an idea whose time has come. This is the transition period when the harvest is great and the laborers are few.
The most important thing is to learn anew how to introduce the book. Generally speaking, we all meet people that no other Urantia Book reader is likely to meet in the near future. These are the souls that need us to inform them about the Urantia revelation. On this increasingly incredible planet, credibility is increasingly hard to find. Feed the hungry, lost sheep.
I am not suggesting that we do away with all we have learned over the years about introducing the book. We have developed a lot of talents because it has been so difficult. Rather the suggestion is that by first making sure the other person in the conversation knows about the book’s unique quality of credibility, all these other skills we have learned over the years will become all the more powerful. These days, credibility is everything. Interestingly enough, by first talking about the impersonal and verifiable aspect of The Urantia Book ’s credibility, we enhance our own personal credibility.
Since starting this project, my life has been opening up in well nigh miraculous ways. I believe in the teaching that the individual is not important, the work is. The obvious implication of this precious wisdom is that you too can similarly experience the exquisite joy and extraordinary response of Spirit that comes with engaging yourself in this new and timely opportunity to share The Urantia Book, the fifth epochal revelation, with our brothers and sisters everywhere.
Halbert Katzen has been reading The Urantia Book since 1981 and is the author of The Logic of Love: Finding Faith Through the Heart-Mind Connection. His interdisciplinary undergraduate degree was called The Nature and Development of Religious Experience and his graduate degrees are in business and law. Halbert does direct outreach primarily focused on universities and church/interfaith groups and he can be contacted through http://www.UBtheNews.com.
| The Significance of the Sevenfold Bestowal Career | Volume 9, Number 1, 2008 (Summer) — Index | Law is Life Itself |