© 2024 Jose Manuel Díaz
© 2024 Urantia Association of Spain
20th Meeting of Readers of The Urantia Book in Spain
June 28, 2024, Toledo
Good morning. I’m José Manuel. This is my second meeting. I’m retired early, I’ve been reading the book since 2016, and I’ve considered myself a scholar since 2017. I came to it at the insistence of a good friend some of you know, Raúl Framiñán. I don’t consider myself an expert on the topic I’m presenting, but I was asked to participate, and here I am.
In this second stage of the Meeting, we are now going to put on the “Ethics and Morals glasses” to, from this perspective, analyze together The Urantia Book in relation to the immediate future paradigm (we are talking about the next 10-20 years, until the middle of the century, 2050 at the latest).
What will this event involve? First, I’ll try to use this presentation to provide a possible overview of how to approach this topic based on the questions posed here. Then, we’ll work as a group on three questions related to the topic we’re discussing today.
First, let’s clarify what is meant by the terms in the title of this talk. According to the Royal Spanish Academy, ethics can have five meanings, including: rectitude, moral teaching, set of moral norms, philosophy that deals with goodness and values, etc. It also proposes a series of synonyms that include the concepts of morality, honesty, decency, rectitude, integrity, etc.
According to the Royal Spanish Academy, moral can have up to 9 designations, including: acting in relation to good or evil, which is based on conscience, concerns the inner self of the person, which regulates both individual and collective behavior, are faculties of the spirit, has to do with the state of mind, etc. And we are offered synonyms similar to the concepts seen previously, among them, the word ethics itself: morality, honesty, decency, integrity, etc. As you have noticed, several synonyms coincide. We could affirm, then, that officially both words come to indicate the same concept and, in fact, in everyday vocabulary, we tend to use both terms interchangeably.
This is not the case in The Urantia Book. Among the various uses of the word ethics in the book, we are told that it has to do with the inherent rights of other people, that ethical responsibility is related to the multitude of existing beings, that ethics is the external “social mirror” (no reference is made to oneself)… or that ethics serves to adapt us to coexistence with the numerous groups of existing beings. Therefore, for the revelators, ethics is rather related to the social aspect and the norms of behavior that govern relationships among all.
And what is the word moral used for in The Urantia Book, and what meaning does it have? First, it places morality in its proper place: the revelators warn us that it precedes religious experience and can never be considered the totality of this experience. They define “moral intuition” as “the understanding of duty,” and although it is an endowment of the mind, it is associated with the other constituent elements of man. Morality is the “recognition of duty” that one has and the ability to distinguish between right and wrong. And in this last quote, ethics appears in reference to the group, while morality refers to the personal. From all this, we can conclude that morality is related to the personal, the individual, the responsibility of each individual, and the inner response that each person gives to the relational problems that ethics addresses.
Once the terms of the title of this presentation have been defined, let’s move on to the second of the proposed questions: Are new moral and ethical rules needed?
If nothing is changing, the answer might well be no. But if it isn’t, then it’s advisable to rethink new rules. Let’s pause to reflect on the major changes of the 21st century, or third millennium. What changes have occurred in these last 24 years? I’ve selected these as the most representative: There are two major technological revolutions in this century: 1) infotechnology (which includes three things: big data management, artificial intelligence, and robotics), and 2) biotechnology (which encompasses biogenetics, which we’ll discuss later, cyborgs (beings formed by living matter and electronic devices, s/RAE), and the design or remodeling of life with non-carbon-based elements). From the first revolution, we can highlight as examples the 4th generation of robots, which acquired their own movement starting in 2000 (used in construction and maintenance processes), the 5th generation of robotics, which incorporated Artificial Intelligence starting in 2010, or YouTube (created in 2005 in California, United States). But, apart from these two great revolutions, we must also highlight as significant technological changes, the great expansion of 3D printing (although it was initially created in 1983), renewable energies and the virtual reality of numerous video games.
One of the aspects of infotechnology (the aforementioned first revolution) that requires a closer look is the processing of information on a global level. The Internet expanded worldwide starting in the 1990s. The first version of the wireless protocol, called 802.11, was created in 1997 (and launched as Wi-Fi in 2009). Both were born in the previous century, but they have allowed computers and multiple accessories to connect to the network and to each other wirelessly in this third millennium. Social networks, such as Facebook, which was launched in 2009, generated a new way of communicating that was previously unimaginable. Likewise, mobile phones and digital TV have spread across the globe and at all levels (today, mobile phones have become an essential item).
One of the aspects of biotechnology (2nd revolution) that also requires a more precise zoom is biogenetics. In 2003, 99.99% of the human genome sequence was deciphered, consisting of more than 30,000 genes and some 3.12 billion genetic instructions. This has led to the development of a new branch of personalized medicine: gene therapy.
Today, too, the human genome is already being used for the early detection of hereditary diseases or for the diagnosis of diseases in embryos. But it is thought that, in the near future, it could be used for other purposes: for example, genetically tailored children with superior or modified motor, intellectual, or emotional abilities, some non-evolutionary biological differentiators such as bodily fluorescence (it has already been achieved in rabbits with a jellyfish gene, and they fluoresce at night), and there is even speculation about a new species that will surpass Homo sapiens. Global ethical limits have not yet been established for these scenarios.
Another of the great changes we are witnessing is climate change. Although not new in the history of our planet (we have already experienced six ice ages with their corresponding six warming periods), this time it is highlighting and emphasizing human responsibility. The famous Kyoto Protocol is an example of countries’ response to raising awareness about this problem, although it is not globalized (vetoed by China, the US, and Australia). Actions are being taken not only at the political or business level, but also at the domestic level, concern has increased, and behavioral changes are taking place, such as citizen cooperation in recycling.
In this third millennium, we have also witnessed events that have had an almost global impact. Fortunately, we are not talking about world wars, as in the last century, but we have witnessed phenomena such as international terrorism, the economic crisis that began in 2008 (from which we have not yet fully recovered), and the recent COVID-19 pandemic.
And one last aspect, no less important, that we are going to highlight in these great changes is the one that affects social relations, such as mobility (for example, what types of jobs will exist in 2050? Today, no one dares to draw it, so expert pedagogues are already leaning towards the idea that schools should teach the 4Cs: communication, cooperation, creativity, and criticism); another aspect is online learning or interculturality, which we are already becoming accustomed to and of which the UBIS courses can be a good example; and yet another is how structures that have always been standard and very stable throughout history are being transformed (for example, the family, in which we see in the image new possibilities that are already occurring today: single-parent families, same-sex parents, grandparents or strangers practically responsible for raising children, not having children voluntarily, or adoption as an alternative to procreation, etc.). And one last aspect we face is exponential population growth. Ten thousand years ago, the world’s population was estimated at 1 million; any nation today has a much larger population than the entire planet (48,692,804 inhabitants as of April 1, 2024, in Spain). In 1800, the world reached 1 billion inhabitants. However, in the last 12 years, the number has grown from 7 billion to 8 billion (the 1 billion achieved in 1800 has only been reached in the last 12 years); by 2050, we are expected to reach 10 billion.
All these changes suggest that WE DO NEED TO APPLY NEW ETHICAL AND MORAL STANDARDS to so many new problems, problems humanity has never faced before. And according to William Sadler Jr., The Urantia Book was prepared and revealed for this very situation in which we find ourselves.
Having reached this disruptive point in history, it seemed advisable to ask ourselves a question I consider important: Where should we look for the cornerstone from which all our ethics and morals emanate? What is the source from which we Urantians should draw inspiration to establish these new rules of behavior? To this end, I have chosen Jesus’ last words before leaving our planet, perhaps as a final testament to his disciples.
The rock on which we always base our ethics and morals is the truth that we are all children of God and, therefore, brothers and sisters. From this must flow our response to society (that is, ethics) and our response to ourselves (that is, morals).
And now we’ve reached the end of the presentation, asking ourselves the final question: why change ethics and morals? What’s the point of all this purpose? What’s the meaning of my existence? This time I’ve been inspired by the parable of the vine and the branches, whose moral (the spiritual meaning of the parable) was revealed to us by Jesus himself, explaining to his disciples that “the true believer exists only to produce the fruits of the spirit” (17 are revealed). And we have to know how to produce these fruits of the spirit in the changing times that are already here.