© 2003 Ken Glasziou
© 2003 The Brotherhood of Man Library
| What do the Urantia Papers say about mind? | Volume 10 - No. 6 — Index | Can I “be” what God wants me to “be”? |
During discussion between Jesus and Immanuel on the purpose of Jesus’ bestowal, Immanuel recommended as follows:
“Exhibit in your one short life in the flesh, as it has never been seen on Earth before, the transcendent possibilities attainable by a God-knowing human during the short career of human existence. . . and show to the entire universe the achievement of God seeking man and finding him and the phenomenon of man seeking God and finding him.” (UB 120:2.8)
Hence is it any wonder that we are told, “Of all human knowledge, that which is of greatest value is to know the religious life of Jesus and how he lived it.” (UB 196:1.3)
One further comment from Immanuel is important for our purpose: “Your great mission to be realized and experienced in the mortal incarnation is embraced in your decision to live a life wholeheartedly motivated to do the will of your Paradise Father, thus to reveal God, your Father, in the flesh and especially to the creatures of the flesh.” (UB 120:2.8)
From our viewpoint, Jesus’ life was lived to reveal the nature of God to mankind. But the very fact that his revelation was to be indicative of the possibilities attainable by God-knowing humans informs us that his life was and is a model for us to attempt to emulate.
Two essential steps to Jesus success were the dedication of his own will to doing the will of God and the total faith that he placed in God. This is illustrated by his answer to a question of the “how far can we go” type. Jesus answer really said, “All the way.”
“I have absolute confidence in my heavenly Father’s overcare; I am consecrated to doing the will of my Father in heaven. I do not believe that real harm can befall me; I do not believe that my lifework can really be jeopardized by anything my enemies might wish to visit upon me, and surely we have no violence to fear from our friends. I am absolutely assured that the entire universe is friendly to me–this all-powerful truth I insist on believing with a wholehearted trust in spite of all appearances to the contrary.” (UB 133:1.4)
The key to success in doing the will of God with total faith is to do as Jesus did and foster continuous communication with the spirit forces within us. From early childhood, Jesus spoke to the indwelling Spirit of the Father as he would have spoken to his earthly father. As he grew older, this became a dominant aspect of his life. On this we are told: “It is not enough that this Spirit be poured out upon you, the Divine Spirit must dominate and control every phase of human experience.” (UB 34:6.7) Which is exactly what Jesus did.
The fact that there are at least 35 references in the New Testament to the Indwelling Spirit demonstrates that its power was well known to the earliest of Christians. Presumably this trust of the individual in the indwelling God-Spirit was lost when religion became organized and a priesthood became officialdom. This move also heralded the loss of spirituality as the goal of individual living.
We cannot go back to where the early Christians were. We must move on from where we are now. But we can reintroduce the personal presence of the indwelling Spirit of God to be the dominant force in, and the focal point of, our lives.
Jesus told us, “Love one another as I have loved you.” (UB 182:1.6) To truly love another we must not so much attend to their earthly comfort and welfare as to help them to discover their ‘utmost cosmic good’–meaning to help them in any way we can to become more spiritual. But what does ‘more spiritual’ mean?
“Spirituality becomes at once the indicator of one’s nearness to God and the measure of one’s usefulness to our fellow beings.” (UB 100:2.4)
“Actual spiritual status is the measure of Deity attainment, attunement to the God-Within. The achievement of finality of spirituality is equivalent to the attainment of the maximum of reality, the maximum of Godlikeness.” (UB 100:2.5)
So what does God want from me? Simply my personal and sincere dedication to doing God’s will, with my life to be lived in the service of God and my fellow beings. For without that there would be little of spiritual value in my life and my soul would add up as close to being a vacuum.
But with Jesus as my model, with Jesus’ Spirit of Truth as my guide and counselor, with sincere, selfless, goodness as the focal point of my material life, and with a total faith in the love and goodness of God, what more could there be? What more could one aim for?
If you strive for the evolution of Ryour soul, remember that you wont produce it by the worldly activities of your body.
The world is in the condition it’s in because the world is full of sleep walkers.
| What do the Urantia Papers say about mind? | Volume 10 - No. 6 — Index | Can I “be” what God wants me to “be”? |