© 2000 Larry Mullins
© 2000 The Christian Fellowship of Students of The Urantia Book
How did the human Jesus do the things he did?
The Urantia Papers tell us, regarding Jesus, that "The secret of his unparalleled religious life was this consciousness of the presence of God; and he attained it by intelligent prayer and sincere worship-unbroken communion with God — and not by leadings, voices, visions, or extraordinary religious practices.” (UB 196:0.10) We are also told that this knowledge about the religious life of Jesus is the most valuable human knowledge we can attain.
This very knowledge can transform our lives and our relationships. It can unlock the creative power that slumbers within us and bring forth a new life. The beauty and power of a truth such as this will continually confront us until we come to terms with it. Also, such a truth is expressed in many religions and by many people who have never heard of The Urantia Book. Our spiritual support group has been studying two alternate sources of spiritual truth that translate the power of the presence of God into practical human religious experience.
One source is a recent paper titled “The Seven Gifts of the Spirit” by Thomas Keating, a Catholic Priest. [1] The other source is a small book by Frank Laubach, Practicing His Presence. [2] The Keating paper provides some rich insights for Urantians who are interested in meditation, but find charismatic practices unwholesome. The Laubach book is a collection of letters written to his father in 1930-32. These letters reveal the secret of his amazing productivity in his later years.
Thomas Keating quotes Paul: “If anyone is in Christ, he or she is a new creature.” (II Cor. 5:17) The Urantia Papers tell us (without referencing Paul) on UB 100:7.18: “If any man has Christ Jesus within him, he is a new creature; old things are passing away; behold, all things are becoming new.” This promise has stirred the human heart for centuries. The question has always been: How do we realize the promise of Jesus that he will renew our lives, and transform our outlook? Keating proposes a technique to achieve this, a method called “centering prayer.”
Father Keating’s theme is a technique of acquiring an attitude whereby we may receive the fruits of the spirit — the gift of God. The Urantia Papers tell us on UB 143:1.7 that the “highest and supreme [attitude] is uncompromising loyalty to the enlightened convictions of profound spiritual realities. And such courage constitutes the heroism of the God-knowing man. And you are all God-knowing men; you are in very truth the personal associates of the Son of Man.”
Keating’s paper is too long and abundant with ideas to discuss fully here, but one visual idea he provided was most valuable to our group. Keating explains that there are two ways of asking for the power and energy of the Spirit to fill our souls. One is to say: “Give me this.” The other is to bolt the door of our human minds, and to pray in secret, without words, with our hearts. We turn our whole being toward God in childlike trust: “Our openness to the Spirit might be compared to baby birds opening their beaks for the worm that one of their parents is bringing. Practically half the baby bird is his mouth.” This powerful visual image is difficult to forget. It indicates a passion and hunger for the gifts of the Spirit, and an openness that could hardly be more vivid.
The other work that has been valuable to our group is Frank Laubach’s letters to his father, Practicing His Presence. Until the age of 45, Laubach’s life was spent as an obscure missionary among the Moslems in the southern Philippines. Then, like Brother Laurence before him, he decided to attempt to experience the presence of Jesus continuously. Forty years later, when he died at the age of 85, Frank Laubach was one of the best known and widely loved men of the twentieth century. He wrote over fifty books and was considered by many as the single greatest educator of modern times. The wellsprings of this man’s extraordinary life can be traced back to the lonely shack in which he lived on the island of Mindano. It was here he set out on the greatest adventure a man or woman can attempt: to find and live in the presence of God at all times. His brief book chronicles his inner experiences during this audacious endeavor.
Again, I can only touch upon the highlights of what Laubach had to say. One of the more powerful messages of these letters reveals the utter practicality of what he was doing. Like Jesus, this was no obscure mystic listening to voices and leadings. He tells us that “living in the presence is very, very difficult.” However, it “makes everything else easier.” Here is perhaps the great freedom that Jesus offered humankind. Once we find God, all else is added.
This resonated with my own personal experience. Once, in a very dark moment of my life, I was desperately in need of money. I was in the middle of a divorce, and the entire world seemed to be crushing my spirit. I could no longer rise to the challenge. One night I searched and prayed for rescue, and I came across a passage in a book by Emmett Fox. He said, in effect: But what of those who are now desperate for immediate help, who need to pay the mortgage, who are about to face the court, who dread the dawning of another day? This got my attention, and the passage that followed gave me my answer: “Find God within, and then let the worst take place. Have faith, he will deliver you, he will not forsake you. Your only task is to make this connection; without it, nothing else matters.” I took this message in, because by then I had given up hope. I was a hungry little bird craving the spirit with all my heart. That night I slept in peace as a child of God, and indeed God delivered me.
We are, then, to recall that we are “personal associates of the Son of Man.” The great value of a good spiritual support group is that it brings forth the Spirit of Truth whenever we come together. The two works that were discussed here were not my discoveries, they were gifts of two of my fellow associates of the Son of Man who attend our group. Spiritual ideas multiply in the sharing. What I share with you I retain, and you acquire also. And we