© 2006 José Alberto Wonsover
© 2006 Urantia Association of Spain
I would like to tell you a story:
This is the story of a very contradictory parrot. For many years, it had been living in a cage, and its owner was an old man whom the animal kept company. One day, the old man invited a friend to his house for a delicious cup of tea.
The two men went into the living room where the parrot was sitting in its cage near the window. The two men were having tea when the parrot began to cry insistently and vehemently:
–Freedom, freedom, freedom!
He kept asking for freedom. The entire time the guest was in the house, the animal kept demanding freedom. His plea was so heartbreaking that the guest felt so sad he couldn’t even finish his cup. He was walking out the door, and the parrot kept shouting, “Freedom, freedom!”
Two days passed. The guest couldn’t stop thinking compassionately about the parrot. He was so distressed by the little animal’s condition that he decided it was necessary to set it free. He hatched a plan. He knew when the old man left home to go shopping. He was going to take advantage of that absence and free the poor parrot. The next day, the guest stationed himself near the old man’s house, and as soon as he saw him leave, he ran into his house, opened the window, and entered the living room, where the parrot continued to cry, “Freedom, freedom!” The guest’s heart broke.
Who wouldn’t have felt pity for the little animal? He quickly approached the cage and opened the door. Then the terrified parrot darted to the opposite side of the cage and clung to the bars with its beak and claws, refusing to leave. The parrot continued to scream, “Freedom, freedom!”
This story, like many others, has a moral, a lesson. Like this parrot, many human beings claim to want to mature and find inner freedom and do something about it, but they’ve grown accustomed to their inner cage and don’t want to leave it.
No matter what we do, if we are not what we want to be, it is of no use.
We are called to BE. And becoming someone is achieved through experience. Remember:
That evening while teaching in the house, for it had begun to rain, Jesus talked at great length, trying to show the twelve what they must be, not what they must do. They knew only a religion that imposed the doing of certain things as the means of attaining righteousness—salvation. But Jesus would reiterate, “In the kingdom you must be righteous in order to do the work.” Many times did he repeat, “Be you therefore perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect.” All the while was the Master explaining to his bewildered apostles that the salvation which he had come to bring to the world was to be had only by believing, by simple and sincere faith. UB 140:10.1
The Master repeated: Be perfect, therefore, as your Father who is in heaven is perfect.
And you know, there’s a big difference between being and doing. Being is often associated with doing something. But there’s a big difference.
But BEING someone is much more than doing something. It’s much more. Doing is a function of the body and mind. But BEING is a function of the SOUL.
Look, for example, how curious… For you to do something, or to do something well, you need to learn, study, and practice. Isn’t that right? Doing something implies that there’s a goal you can ultimately achieve. But that’s when doubts arise. Am I doing it right? Is it the right path? And many other questions that ultimately lead nowhere. They cause you FEAR, even panic, about doing it wrong or not reaching your goal.
But BEING someone implies that this GOAL is already within you; you just have to believe it. It implies that what you’re doing is creating the necessary opportunity to express that goal, that happiness, which is already within you; only what you need to do is appreciate it. That LOVE that is already within you. The Father who is already within you. So reaching the Father doesn’t become a goal of something you have to do, since He is within you. You’ve already reached Him. In fact, He reached us first. We just need to believe it, love Him, and accept Him, just as He first loved us.
That is why the only thing on which spiritual destiny depends, as the Master explains, is… faith, LOVE, and devotion to truth—the hunger and thirst for righteousness—the eager desire to find God and become like Him. (UB 156:5.7)
That’s why, to become someone, all you need is faith, LOVE, and the desire to find the Father. And knowing that the Father is ALREADY within us, all you need to do is believe it. It’s about remembering and discovering who you are and what you want to become. It’s about understanding, faith, and LOVE. What’s more, it’s not about effort, because doing requires effort, but being requires only that experience, faith, LOVE, and the desire to find God and become like him. Do you understand what I’m saying? Are you following me? Because this is so amazing when you understand it. You don’t need to make an effort because it’s not something you have to do… It’s already within you! You only need to believe it with faith. You either believe it or you don’t. You either live it or you don’t. It’s more than determination. It’s conviction, it’s certainty about what you believe and how you believe and live it. You just have to believe it.
What’s more… That beautiful reward isn’t in the distant future, it’s… Now! Right now. Right now. The Book illustrates so splendidly:
Such seekers after truth do not have to wait for rewards in a distant future; they are rewarded now. They find the kingdom of heaven within their own hearts, and they experience such happiness now. (UB 140:5.7)
That is why the Master told us (not only to his disciples, but to all his followers and for his entire universe):
You are the salt of the earth, a salt with the taste of salvation…
You are the light of the world…
Simply put, WE ALREADY ARE. We just have to believe it by faith. The Master wasn’t saying we’re going to be, or that we’re going to achieve it… We already are!
When we act, which is very different from doing something to achieve something, when we act, we are already acting with love, we are already acting with the goal in our favor. We are told that without a worthwhile goal, life is aimless and unprofitable, which causes much unhappiness (UB 140:4.9). Doing something to achieve something requires effort and an endless struggle. But that goal is already within us. The Father is within us. But this does not mean that we have already achieved the goal and not acted. Rather, it is when we act, but when we act with love, kindness, and mercy toward our friends and brothers that we develop that being within us.
And so, you don’t make an effort to experience something; you just experience it, and that’s it. Just as a flower doesn’t make an effort when it’s about to bloom; it only blooms when it’s ripe. When the right and exact time indicates it should. Without any effort, as if it were the most natural thing. And whatever the results of that experience, rest assured that our Father LOVES us. It’s something that is born within you. Logically, that experience is for you to understand that God LOVES us and is with us in both good and difficult times. And that faith in the Father is what will help you through any experience in LIFE. It’s that simple.
You then find it incredibly easy to do something, and the work becomes effortless, natural, and creative. Acting with LOVE. When you understand this, you understand that your soul yearns to BE free, to BE like God or ONE with God. To become perfect. The child desires to BE like the Father, to BE one with the Father. Something that you will achieve with experience and faith.
And if you have faith, a genuine and true faith, that experience becomes enriching, creative, and motivating. And it’s easier for you to do the right thing. Because that faith in the Father is what guides you.
very day a true believer lives, he finds it easier to do the right thing. UB 156:5.13