© 1997 Ken Glasziou
© 1997 The Brotherhood of Man Library
There surely is a very good reason. The book tells us that we disadvantaged Urantians cripple ourselves spiritually if we don’t.
The preceding “Favorite Places” section, taken from The Urantia Book, informed us that “the dead truth of even the highest religious doctrines is powerless to transform human character or to control mortal behavior. . . The seed of theoretical truth is dead, the highest moral concepts without effect, unless and until the divine Spirit breathes upon the forms of truth and quickens the formulas of righteousness.”
It would seem then, that we could know the “Foreword” backward, know the classifications of the whole hierarchy of the heavens, know all about Andon and Fonta, Adam and Eve, what the Melchizedeks, the Solitary and Mighty Messengers think about our past, present, and future, know all about our expected experiences in the morontia worlds, even know the historical components of the life of Jesus and have memorized his teachings, but this may still be without effect, “unless and until the divine Spirit breathes upon the forms of truth and quickens the formulas of righteousness.”
That kind of puts us in the hot seat, does it not? So how do we get off it? The book has answers. First, the divine Spirit has to water our souls and breathe upon the forms of truth and the formulas of righteousness, and in doing so, ‘conscious-izes’ our minds and souls on the spiritual value of our assimilated knowledge. But then comes the crunch. Though we are temples of God because his divine spirit dwells in us, it is not enough. “The divine Spirit must dominate and control every phase of human experience.”
There are measures to help us know about how we are progressing. One, of course, is the bearing of the fruits of the spirit in our lives. Another is contained within these words, “It is the presence of the divine Spirit, the water of life, that prevents the consuming thirst of mortal discontent and that indescribable hunger of the unspiritualized human mind.” The book then tells us that spirit-motivated beings “never thirst,” and that we can become, “all but independent of material environment as regards the joys of living and the satisfactions of earthly living.” Is that really possible? A living example surely would be Mother Theresa, that wonderful Catholic nun who has worked for decades under appalling conditions yet, despite advanced age and broken health, still persists with her God-given work in looking after the homeless, impoverished dying from the streets of Calcutta in a loving attempt to provide them with a dignified exit from this life.
Not that we are all called upon to be “Mother Theresa’s.” But we are called upon to yield the fruits of the spirit. The book tells us that there are two powerful demonstrations that we are God-knowing. One of them is, “The fruits of the spirit showing forth in your daily routine life.” (UB 155:6.15) It would surely be nice to have Mother Theresa-like credentials when we knock on the Pearly Gates and be greeted with a “well done my good and faithful servant.”
From the life of the Master you may each assimilate that concept of God which represents the measure of your capacity to perceive realities spiritual and divine, truths real and eternal. (UB 169:4.3)
You learn about God from Jesus by observing the divinity of his life, not by depending on his teachings. (UB 169:4.3)
The second demonstration of our God-knowingness is, “The fact that your entire life plan furnishes proof that you have unreservedly risked everything you are and have on the adventure of survival after death. . . ” That statement is confirmatory to the quote that, “The divine Spirit must dominate and control every phase of human experience.” (UB 34:6.7)
Before looking at what the book tells us about how we might achieve these goals, let’s increase our awareness of what is meant by “there truly exists within you a conspiracy of spiritual forces, a confederation of divine powers, whose exclusive purpose is to effect your final deliverance from material bondage and finite handicaps.” (UB 34:6.9)
We Urantians have need to appreciate that we are disadvantaged compared with mortal ascenders from normal planets. We have been in quarantine since the Lucifer rebellion 200,000 years ago. We were scheduled to receive genetic upgrading from the offspring of Adam and Eve almost 38,000 years ago in an attempt to increase our capacity for spiritual receptivity. However, things did not turn out as intended and only a minor upgrading occurred. Unfortunately that still left us with a serious congenital deficiency in ability to communicate with our Thought Adjusters (a serious study of the Thought Adjuster Papers 107-111 will make us cognizant of the difficulties that all Urantians have in achieving effective communication with them).
The conspiracy of spiritual forces that works for our deliverance from material bondage appears to consist of the spirits of the Universal Father, the Creator Son, and the Universe Mother Spirit. The Thought Adjusters indwell the thinking centers of our minds, “as a very part of our mind and they ever work in perfect harmony with the combined spirits of the Creator-Son and the Creative Spirit.” (UB 34:5.6) However, though we do not personally possess a segregated portion or entity of Creator Son or Mother Spirit, their dual spirit liaison hovers over the worlds, seeking to teach truth, spiritually enlighten the minds of men, and to inspire their souls. (UB 34:5.4)
A legacy of Michael’s bestowal on Urantia was the universal availability of Thought Adjusters to all Urantians having the potential to make a moral decision. A second legacy was the universal availability of his Spirit of Truth. The book informs us that the Spirit of Truth never creates a consciousness of himself, only a consciousness of Michael, the Son. (UB 194:2.4) It also informs us that, “Though the Spirit of Truth is poured out upon all flesh, this spirit of the son is almost wholly limited in function and power by man’s personal reception of that which constitutes the sum and substance of the mission of the bestowal Son.” (UB 34:5.5)
And presumably that is precisely why the books states quite explicitly that, “To follow Jesus means to personally share his religious faith and to enter into the spirit of the Master’s life of unselfish service for man. One of the most important things in human living is to find out what Jesus believed, to discover his ideals, and to strive for the achievement of his exalted life purpose. 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)
The unity of spiritual forces is shown by, “Although Divinity may be plural in manifestation, in human experience Deity is singular, always one. . . and regardless of plurality of origin, all spirit influences are one in function.” (UB 34:6.2) Certainly it may be difficult, perhaps impossible, to understand how the Spirit of Truth and our Thought Adjusters interact in order to permit us to increase our receptiveness to the “conspiracy of spiritual forces” that seeks to enhance our spiritual capacity, the effectiveness of their interaction is illustrated by the experience of the apostles who, in four short weeks after the bestowal of the Spirit of Truth, made more individual spiritual progress than in their four years of personal and loving association with Jesus. (UB 194:2.9)
The evidence that the apostles had mentally assimilated Jesus’ teaching during that four years with him is contained both in the text of the Ordination Sermon from The Urantia Book which is, to a large extent, a repetition of the Sermon on the Mount from Matthew’s gospel. It is also evident from the reproduction in the book of so much of Jesus’ spoken word originating from the gospel texts—and demonstrates that though the apostles had the knowledge of the Master’s life and words, they had little comprehension of their spiritual value.
The finite can never hope to comprehend the Infinite except as the Infinite was focalized in the time-space personality of the finite experience of the human life of Jesus of Nazareth. (UB 169:4.3)
Spiritual attainment is the true goal of living. (UB 170:2.6)
It can be instructive to place ourselves in the shoes of one of these fisherman-apostles and consider how we ourselves might have reacted to Jesus’ teaching in the light of their cultural background and tribal history. Their original expectations for what Jesus was about and would do, and what the actual outcome of his mission would be, were at vastly different poles of reality.
The apostles had only a vague understanding of the actions and teachings of their Master prior to their personal experiences with the resurrected Jesus. Those appearances confirmed beyond all doubt that he really was the Son of God and, under direction from his Spirit of Truth, the apostles finally set to searching their memories for the spiritual truths and values contained in his teachings.
During subsequent years, the Spirit of Truth would have been vividly real to them as the actual personal presence of Jesus. Perhaps the book’s teachings about the importance for us of knowing the life and teachings of Jesus was influenced by what it actually did for the apostles during their subsequent earthly careers of dedicated service to their fellows.
We, too, can know the personal presence of Jesus, and when we also know his religious life and how he lived it, his Spirit of Truth will be enabled to translate our new knowledge into that which has spiritual value for our own progress, as well as value for use during our earthly careers in the service of the Master.
Some may object that Christians have had a workable knowledge of the life and teachings of Jesus for almost 2000 years—yet the effects of that knowledge in their lives is not impressive. However it is also factual that, throughout that period, the vast majority of Christians have been effectively ignorant of the real Jesus, and what he was about.
Two Urantia Book and gospel teachings that are of critical significance, but which did not achieve the necessary prominence for them to become a potent transforming force in Christianity, are the God-within-us concept (as opposed to God-out-there), and the knowledge that the life of Jesus was, in actuality, a revelation of the nature of the living God.
The fact that Jesus lived for us is infinitely more significant than the teaching that Christ died for us. Therein there is real power.