© 2007 José Alberto Wonsover
© 2007 Urantia Association of Spain
“as the new creature of the rebirth of the spirit, you are taught to believe and rejoice. In the Father’s kingdom you are to become new creatures; old things are to pass away; behold I show you how all things are to become new. (UB 143:2.3)
All things must be renewed. And in life itself that’s how it is!.. Every day and every morning is a new day, with new opportunities and new challenges. It is not the same day as yesterday. It’s a brand new one. What’s more, every second that passes is completely new. But the monotony is the cause of “everything” we see it the same. We go to our jobs or our studies and see how nothing changes. And logically nothing is going to change if we don’t change first. We must renew ourselves, we must be new creatures. It’s not that “we could be…” it’s that we must be.
A butterfly before being a butterfly is a caterpillar. It must be. Because that’s how nature is. That is the process. It is as it should be. When the caterpillar becomes a butterfly it is as if a new species came out, it is as if something new was born.
The Master always distributed good News, it was always New. For example, when he met Nalda, the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well told him:
“Woman, go your way; God has forgiven you. Henceforth you will live a new life. You have received the living water, and a new joy will spring up within your soul, and you shall become a daughter of the Most High.” (UB 143:5.9)
All new! A new life and a new joy! Not the normal joy that we normally know, not the normal life that we normally live… A new life and a new joy!
You shall love one another with a new and startling affection, even as I have loved you. You will serve mankind with a new and amazing devotion, even as I have served you. (UB 191:6.2)
It’s not just a feeling of something new and then everything remains the same… It’s something that is truly NEW! It is born within us. That new life and that new joy have been born.
It is not necessary to think that everything is “the same”. Actually when you are born again, when you truly experience the LOVE of the Father, nothing is the same. That step is wonderful but at the same time at the beginning it is difficult. And it is difficult because it presupposes transformation of the self, to give way to your “higher self”, to share your life with your deeper nature, with your Adjuster. To not simply do one’s own will but to do God’s will. It is a difficult step. The caterpillar must transform to become a butterfly.
The very seed of a plant must die so that something new and beautiful can live in it. But since we don’t know what is going to happen, we “cling” to what we have more “sure”.
Once upon a time there was a mountain climber who happily went climbing. The day was beautiful. He climbed, reached the top and was about to go down. It was a wonderful day, but when the man was very close to descending completely from the mountain, something happened. One of the straps that held it slipped, leaving only a safety rope.
The man was afraid, panicked. In a second he thought and revived his entire life. And in that pray to God…
- Oh God, help me because I know I won’t get out of this. Please help.
In that he feels that God speaks to him almost whispering: “Cut the rope”.
- How? Cut the rope? Never, impossible. I want to save myself! And you tell me to cut the rope? If it’s the only thing I have left!
“Do what I tell you and you’ll be fine, just cut the rope.”
The indecisive man decided to cut the rope. This is crazy, he thought. But he knew he couldn’t back down because it was perhaps even more dangerous. And she couldn’t call anyone because she thought they were all hundreds away. So he decided to cut the rope.
It is said that after a very short time some rescuers arrived and found him barely a meter and a half from the ground. It was only five feet off the ground! So much “scare” to be a meter and a half away!
Many times in our lives the same thing happens. Change scares us and we cling to what we have. Because we don’t know if they are “good” or “bad” changes. So we cut in the bud and prefer not to change and continue as we are. Knowing that maybe it’s much better. We prefer the traditional.
We “hold on” to what we have. It’s safer. Is more reliable". That’s what we thought at first. Who doesn’t like security! Living traditional is as safe as there is, because you know exactly what is going to happen next year, and the next, and the next, and the next…
It is more “safe” but it is more monotonous. More boring!
There comes a time when people get bored of the same thing. Always the same. Many times not even a change. And if by “chance” something changes, you see everyone’s face as if they woke up from a dream. The reaction is imminent and it is instantaneous.
That is why many times the same couples get bored when the relationship becomes monotonous, one does not want to be on a par with the other person because it is always the same. It was more exciting at first! When they were “starting” to know each other. But many times a relationship becomes monotonous and often with the results and the “statistics” that we see on the news and in the newspapers. But when there is something new in the other person it is more exciting… More full of Life! It puts a new spin on the relationship.
The waters of a river are never the same. The river may have the same “name,” but the important thing is that the water that flows is never the same. That is why there is more LIFE in rivers than in ponds. Nothing flows in ponds. But in the river, although it seems that it is the same water, it is not really. New water always flows.
In religion it is like that. The same religion that the Master showed us is a personal religion, but above all a religion of LOVE, joy, joy and happiness.
The religion of Jesus demands living and spiritual experience. Other religions may consist in traditional beliefs, emotional feelings, philosophic consciousness, and all of that, but the teaching of the Master requires the attainment of actual levels of real spirit progression. (UB 160:5.12)
To cut with the “traditional” is to cut with the past and welcome something NEW and better. It is hard, an arduous process, because the mind “gets used” to the traditional. And giving way to something new is giving way to something unknown. It scares us! Of course. We don’t know what will happen. We don’t know that the caterpillar will change into a butterfly. We know the caterpillar, but not the butterfly.
We “get used” to what we know, we are “scared” by what we don’t know.
And yet, we know perhaps the best of the examples. At first it’s hard for us to accept it, it’s true, but we know someone who went through what we went through… The Master’s life. This does not mean “imitating” the life that the Master lived. This means accepting what he accepted and living our own life accordingly.
“If you would follow after me when I leave you, put forth your earnest efforts to live in accordance with the spirit of my teachings and with the ideal of my life—the doing of my Father’s will. This do instead of trying to imitate my natural life in the flesh as I have, perforce, been required to live it on this world.” (UB 181:1.3)
Even imitating a life exactly as the Master lived it becomes traditional and monotonous. Each one lives their different life. A snow crystal is never always the same, there are never two that are identical. Even each person is different, there are never two fingerprints that are exactly the same. Everything is always something new. We cannot live the Master’s life because he lived it in his own way. But we can live our life with its same principles and its same ideals. Those ideals will always help and comfort us.