© 1991 Kathleen Swadling
© 1991 ANZURA, Australia & New Zealand Urantia Association
As a devotee to the teachings contained in The URANTIA Book, I am concerned about the degree of success this revelation will have in bringing about the spiritual regeneration of mankind. I am also very much aware that the degree of success is largely dependent on what the readership does with the revelation. We see the patterns of how the past epochal revelations fitted in with the evolutionary progress of mankind as we study the URANTIA Papers. Those patterns show that a portion of the existing population received a concentrated dose of the truth, then went into the world to live it, preach it or do whatever they felt inclined to do and these actions determined the flavour or the course for the new epochal era. Evolution eventually took over and truth fragmented into cultural interpretations and societies progressed accordingly. Once given, it was up to man to determine the course. When mankind was ready, another revelation was given to serve as an upstep, then evolution continued on. It is slow, subtle and gradual. We are the recipients of the fifth concentrated dose of truth. What are we to do with it?
As individuals, our lives may have been transformed to varying degrees, we attempt to live up to the teaching as best as we can, we interact with our fellow man in family, social or working circles. Each individual unconsciously bears his own fruit according to his or her level of understanding, development, maturity and sincerity. It happens slowly and naturally.
As readers band together in groups, the situation takes on a different dimension. As soon as individuals get together you have the potential for a social problem. However that should be no reason to avoid getting together for on UB 28:5.14 of The URANTIA Book it says:
“One of the most important lessons to be learned during your mortal career is teamwork.” (Emphasis U.B.'s UB 28:5.14)
The spheres of perfection are manned by those who have mastered this art of working with other beings. Few are the duties in the universe for “the lone servant.”
So it’s going to take us all the way to Paradise before we have mastered the art of working together — we are just on the bottom rung! So it’s only natural and highly probable that when we decide on how to proceed with the revelation, there will be conflicts and differing points of view.
There are two prominent opposing points of view (with varying shades of grey in between) I see happening within the URANTIA movement around the globe which I would like to attempt to discuss and analyse in this article.
The first one I like to refer to as the conservative approach. This approach would like to keep The URANTIA Book low key and for it to be spread by slow person-to-person contact and for many, many study groups to grow at the grass roots level as individuals grow in their commitment to the teachings. It is believed that the book is designed to be studied in its entirety for it to be of maximum benefit. This ensures slow, solid growth as people mature and their understanding grows through prolonged, consistent study and interaction with fellow readers. For this approach, any organizational activity should be concerned with the fostering of the study of the book and arranging for social interaction. The book should always be kept as a FIRST-HAND experience. Secondary works are promoted by individuals.
Each individual unconsciously bears his own fruit according to his or her level of understanding, development, maturity and sincerity.
The other approach I will refer to as the more radical approach. This approach believes that The URANTIA Book should be made available to as many people as possible and organizational activity should be concerned with spreading the book itself. Books are often heavily subsidised by the group so the book is cheap, a lot of second-hand material describing the book is being published and circulated, and lots of people are being ‘turned on’ to the book via this approach. Secondary works are promoted by the group rather than the individual. The book is often diluted to become a second-hand experience in order to attract more readers.
If we understand the significance of what is taking place, we need to analyse the wisdom of the different schools of thought. The conservative approach is slow, you do not see instant results but the growth is qualitative rather than quantitative. UB 195:9.4 of The URANTIA Book states:
“Religion does need new leaders, spiritual men and women who will dare to depend solely on Jesus and his incomparable teachings. If Christianity persists in neglecting its spiritual mission while it continues to busy itself with social and material problems, the spiritual renaissance must await the coming of these new teachers of Jesus’ religion who will be exclusively devoted to the spiritual regeneration of men. And then will these spirit-born souls quickly supply the leadership and inspiration requisite for the social, moral, economic, and political reorganization of the world.” UB 195:9.4
The slow, qualitative growth and maturing of individuals does not happen overnight. If the devotion to the teachings of The URANTIA Book is instrumental in developing new spiritual leaders, as I believe it is, then it takes time; it take years of study and commitment to understand the book fully, not to mention the attempting to live and degree of success in living the teachings in our daily lives. True leadership requires maturity and maturity requires growth and sincerity. An early mandate handed down by the revelators was that: “The URANTIA Book is being given to those who are ready for it long before its worldwide mission. In the meantime thousands of study groups must be brought into existence. Thus will the book be in readiness to comfort and enlighten the peoples of the world when the battle for man’s liberty is finally won and the world is once more made safe for the religion of Jesus and the freedom of mankind.”
This mandate suggests to me that it is within the study group that these new spiritual leaders could emerge and it will take thousands of study groups to develop them. We don’t even have many hundreds of them yet. We can argue over what is meant by “long before its time” — it could be decades or it could be centuries. At the rate we’re going I think more like centuries which is not inconsistent with the patterns of evolutionary growth. The book is always warning us about hastiness. The repercussions of Lucifer’s and Eve’s impatience should be a lesson well learned as we read. So I see the conservative approach as being consistent with slow evolutionary growth.
However the second, more radical school of thought may produce more readers and even study groups more quickly, but what happens to the quality? Rapid growth can attract cultish type followers, immature individuals with lots of zeal and enthusiasm, but perhaps lacking in wisdom. Leaders can emerge who are charismatic or egotistical or whose motives may be questionable and the zealous followers quickly mass around these leaders and each are fed with emotional enthusiasm until all believe they are on a spiritual mission from God. Anyone who stands in their way is an agent of Caligastia or the devil. Before you know it we have a noisy, sanctimonious crowd evangelising The URANTIA Book and destroying its credibility in the eyes of the world.
Recently I was discussing this topic with a fellow reader and he said The URANTIA Book is like a black box with the power to self-destruct. If this book comes under the scrutiny of the public eye and the media, how will it ever stand? How do we defend it publicly? There are statements, when taken out of context, which are highly offensive. If we attempt to defend these statements we start telling the world about the book which will no doubt be ridiculed by the populous at large. If blown up by the media, The URANTIA Book may be lost to the populous at large forever. We could run this risk with the radical approach. It could become just another cult, ism or religious sect. What an abominable fate for such a superb book! The long-term degree of success of the revelation may be reduced and it will be today’s readership that could be responsible.
Personally I have come to the conclusion that The URANTIA Book is not targeted to the general population of today’s world. It is too complex and integrated and needs to be studied in its entirety in order to be understood fully. Rather the teachings contained in the book, and more importantly the teachings of Jesus, is the message the world at large is ready for. Does it not follow then that those who have embraced The URANTIA Book should be more concerned with infusing the teachings into society somehow rather than turning masses of people onto The URANTIA Book itself? If we are bearing the fruits of the spirit, as we should automatically be doing as we progress spiritually, then it is those fruits which will bring about the spiritual regeneration of the world. Those who are ready for The URANTIA Book find it through existing readers if those readers are socially active amongst their fellow men. Once someone has found the book, then the contact with other readers through study groups etc. should be fostered as that’s where growth and understanding starts happening. Providing that we sincerely attempt to apply the teachings in our daily lives and achieve some degree of success, we will grow spiritually and eventually have some impact on the spiritual progression of mankind.
One more point I would like to make about the nature of this revelation is that because it is in print it has the unique benefit of remaining a FIRST-HAND EXPERIENCE for many years to come. More people will be receiving the concentrated dose of truth for centuries to come, not just a handful in one generation as was the case with the past two revelations. So what’s the hurry? It’s not going to go away. People who find this book will be attracted to the fellowship of readers if that fellowship is concerning itself with the spiritual growth of the individual — nothing more, nothing less. What better way to assist the growth of the individual than by encouraging the study of The URANTIA Book and the social interaction of readers and believers.
Kathleen Swadling, Sydney