© 1993 Ken Glasziou
© 1993 ANZURA, Australia & New Zealand Urantia Association
Ken Glasziou, Maleny, Queensland
Firstly, let me state unequivocally that I don’t know. Until recently my reaction to this question has been, “No, not likely”. After all, The URANTIA Book tells us that since the cross of Christ, Caligastia has been comparatively impotent (UB 53:8.9). Besides that we are assured of survival providing we do not deliberately and knowingly reject it, and even then we have to agree to our own annihilation. Then we have another statement that says:
“The only means of communion with the spiritual world is embraced in the spirit endowment of mankind, the indwelling Spirit of the Father, together with the outpoured spirit of the Son and the omnipresent influence of the Infinite Spirit.” (UB 150:3.7)
That word ‘only’ is tremendously important. It implies that if Caligastia, who presumably is a spirit, wants to get at us, it must be indirectly through our indwelling Spirit endowment — in reality, our first line of defence against him.
Those are comforting thoughts, grounds for supreme complacency. Or are they? Does Caligastia really belong to what the book is calling the ‘spiritual world’? That depends upon which dictionary definition we may choose. Some indicate that spiritualists communicate with the spiritual world, including the nasty spirits. But another dictionary definition says that ‘spiritual’ pertains to things sacred or holy — which surely would exclude nasty spirits. Does this mean that Caligastia and other nasty spirits, not being members of what the book means by the ‘spiritual world’, can communicate with us directly if we are willing to let them?
This is not a comforting thought for those who indulge in the phenomenon called ‘channelling’. It may mean that the ‘good’ spirits can only communicate with us indirectly through our Thought Adjuster, but that ‘nasty’ spirits can get at us directly.
Ernest Moyer in his Urantia Newsletter No.2, stressed the possibility that many sincere URANTIA Book readers may have unwittingly invited Caligastia into their lives.
If we face the facts, the Urantia movement is a dismal failure. Could Ernest be right — does Caligastia have the movement by the throat, and if so, how did it happen? I do not know of any readers who would knowingly invite Caligastia into their lives, not even some whose actions (in my view), have been enormously disruptive and harmful. So how could it have happened? That question took me back to the section in The URANTIA Book on how Caligastia managed to get at Eve.
There, we are reminded that neither Caligastia or Dalagastia had any power to influence an individual against his will (UB 75:2.1). All their direct attempts to beguile Adam, Eve, or their children, failed. So Caligastia concluded that his only hope of success was in the adroit employment of suitable persons belonging to the upper strata of the Nodite group. How could he do it? He was visible to and could communicate directly with Adam and Eve — but not to these Nodites. The two Nodites who brought about Eve’s downfall were Serapatatia and Cano. The first is described as deeply impressed with the righteousness of Adam’s cause, entirely honest and thoroughly sincere in all of his activities and “never conscious, even later on, that he was being used as a circumstantial tool of the wily Caligastia”. (UB 75:3.3)
Cano was the other Nodite involved with Eve. He is described as of brilliant mind, sympathetic with the Adamic regime, the sincere spiritual leader of the Nodites who favoured friendly relations with the Garden. Neither look to be ready-made agents for Caligastia.
The rot set in when:
“…one day, during a talk with Eve, it occurred to Serapatatia that it would be very helpful if, while awaiting the recruiting of large numbers of the violet race, something could be done in the meantime immediately to advance the needy waiting tribes”.(UB 75:3.5)
A hybrid leader of Nodite and violet stock was proposed as the solution. Cano, the Nodite, and Eve, of the violet race, got themselves nominated as parents.
How did this idea get planted in Serapatatia’s mind? — for it surely was Caligastia’s work. There appear to be just two possibilities. One was that Caligastia managed to have himself invited into the minds of other Nodites who subsequently influenced Serapatatia. The alternative is that Caligastia influenced Serapatatia directly. Since the text clearly indicates that the idea was original with Serapatatia we have to favour the second option. So we might ask why were Serapatatia and Cano especially vulnerable? Perhaps they did not have Thought Adjusters? But from the glowing character descriptions given in the book of these two, that appears to be unlikely. After all, Andon and Fonta had Thought Adjusters.
The clue may be in the description of both as being prominent leaders. Serapatatia was a leader of the Syrian Nodites and was also one of Adam’s most able and efficient lieutenants. Cano is introduced as the spiritual leader of those Nodites dwelling in the vicinity of the Garden.
Among we mortals, leaders are usually drawn from one of two groups. One group consists of those with natural leadership ability but little or no desire to lead. Such people tend to have followers rather than themselves seeking to lead. The other group is composed of those with a burning desire to be number one and who may, or may not, have real leadership qualities.
Is it possible that a longing to be important, a longing for recognition among our peers, to be a teacher or a leader, or to be someone special (in reality ego-tripping no matter how we disguise our motives from ourselves), can be enough to open our minds to Caligastia?
The deep-seated craving to be somehow outstanding — is this not Lucifer’s disease of self-exaltation (UB 67:1.2) that may subsequently lead to unbridled self-will, unregulated self-expression, and unmitigated selfishness (UB 54:1.5)? How often have we seen this disease run its full course in political leaders? Did such ego-tripping aspirations in Serapatatia and Cano result in them unconsciously opening up their minds to manipulation by Caligastia? No other conclusion is obvious from the written evidence in The URANTIA Book. If so, selfish pride may be the only key required for us to become vulnerable to the wiles of Caligastia. The book has a warning for us. It says:
“Of all the dangers which beset man’s mortal nature and jeopardize his spiritual integrity, pride is the greatest.” (UB 111:6.9)
Could there be a point where our self-will becomes so dominant that our Thought Adjuster can no longer influence us and we then become open to the wiles of Caligastia? It is entirely conceivable that such could be the case without us having the slightest awareness of what had happened.
One thing of which we can be completely certain is that Caligastia really did succeed in manipulating the unsuspecting minds of Serapatatia and Cano — and in doing so, he destroyed the Adamic mission. Maybe Ernest Moyer is right then, perhaps Caligastia has done it again within the Urantia movement. The aspiration to stand out from one’s fellows is an exceedingly common human fault that often times leads to many kinds of aberrant behaviour.
For Lucifer, there was deliberate and conscious antipathy to the authority of the Universal Father. There is no suggestion that either Serapatatia or Cano, both of whom became efficient tools of Caligastia, had such antipathy. On the contrary, they were eager to support the Adamic mission yet they were responsible for the failure of the mission. Is there a parallel in the Urantia movement? Most, perhaps all, of its problems appear to stem from the desire by individuals to be important, to be special, to be among the chosen, to be leaders. Surely it is necessary for each of us to examine our true motives.
Most Urantian mortals are expert in the art of selfdeceit — we can always rationalise our behaviour, shift the blame elsewhere, and justify our actions, even attributing our selfishly-motivated actions to being for the good of others and in the service of God. While we might succeed in hiding our real motives, they cannot be hidden from God. Perhaps they are also obvious to Caligastia.
The desire to be special or ‘chosen’, and even such apparently innocent thoughts such as “I didn’t find the book, it found me”, may be the seeds of a developing pride that can lead to Lucifer’s disease of self-exaltation. When we look at the actions of Serapatatia, Cano, and Eve, what we see are ordinary people rationalising their well-meaning actions in terms of ‘the end justifying the means’ — another disease that has also afflicted the Urantia movement. The result for the Adamic mission was an utter disaster for God’s divine plans for Urantia. And it definitely was the outcome of the nefarious and unseen scheming of Caligastia. However to have told any of the three major participants that they had fallen under the influence of Caligastia would undoubtedly have brought an amazed and indignant denial.
We need to have a serious re-think about how it might be possible for us to fall into the clutches of the enemy camp. There is adequate evidence available from the appalling failure of the Urantia movement to justify such a re-think.
In The URANTIA Book we have a detailed account of the life and teachings of Jesus to light the pathway for us. We are told that Jesus was a revelation of God. We are told that when Ganid tempted Jesus to put himself forward as teacher and leader, he responded:
“I am now on the way to Rome with you and your father, and that is sufficient for today. My tomorrow is wholly in the hands of my Father in heaven.” UB 130:5.3
Jesus was never in a hurry. He always had time to comfort men “as he passed by.” He was a charming listener. He comforted hungry minds and ministered to thirsty souls. Surely such a personal, loving, unselfish service is the real task that we have each been given by the Fifth Epochal Revelation. When Christianity swept through the Roman Empire, one of the major catalysts became enshrined in this remark from an unknown observer, “See how those Christians love one another.”
Can the same be said of the Urantia movement? I think not. How many have pondered upon the depth of meaning for themselves of those strange words in the beatitudes that are so contrary to the natural aspirations of humans to be prominent: “Happy are the poor is spirit — the humble — for theirs are the treasures of the kingdom of heaven. Happy are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Happy are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God.” Considered in this light, how many URANTIA Book readers truly believe that they qualify? The secret of Jesus’ unparalleled religious life was his consciousness of the presence of God — not some esoteric, out-of-this-world spirit entity. Jesus attained this consciousness by intelligent prayer and sincere worship — unbroken communion with God — and not by leadings, voices, visions, or extraordinary religious practices (UB 196:0.10). His advice to us today might well be that recorded in the bible — “Go thou and do likewise.”