© 2012 Lawrence Schkade
© 2012 The Urantia Book Fellowship
| Urantia, 606 of Satania: Concerning the Inhabited Worlds of the Satania System | Volume 12, Number 1, 2012 (Summer) — Index | Race and The Urantia Book |
The following was presented at the Lone Star Roundup Conference, Argyle, TX, March 31, 2012
We worship God, first because he is, then, because he is in us, and last, because we are in him. [UB 16:9.14]
Joseph Campbell states in the treatise, The Power of Myth, that there are various kinds of myths.[1] Myths can range from fictional to factual in some combination. One type of myth tells of the origins of the world and humankind. This kind of mythical tale captures the essence of complex events and expresses concepts in simplified terms. Many cultures in time from around the world have creation myths. For example, many view the Biblical creation story in Genesis, a Hebrew myth, to be an adaptation of a much earlier Sumerian (ancient Mesopotamian) epic, entitled Enuma Elish.[2] The creation myth told here is factual, for it is based on descriptions in the Urantia Papers.
This tale begins in the eternal past before time. Existential and perfect God, the I AM, had not experienced imperfection. God conceived of imperfect worlds on which intelligent creatures would evolve, be given free will and could choose to participate in a perfecting process, enabling God to self-realize through their experiences.
In coordinate response to the Universal Father’s thought, the Eternal Son, the word of God, gave expression to that thought, and the Infinite Spirit, the act of God, took action conjointly. Subsequent to existential Havona and through coordinate actions of agencies of the Trinity, energy was slowed and the creation of the imperfect but evolving time-space material universes, worlds and intelligent creatures proceeded. Spirit-led mortals could choose to strive to become perfected, supported by various material, mindal, and spiritual systems.
Before the foundation of our world the Father thought of each of us as potential partners in his plan of self-realization. “There is in the mind of God a plan which embraces every creature of all his vast domains. . .” [UB 32:5.7] According to plan the Universal Father, through fragments of himself (Adjusters) in mortal minds, could self-realize from creature experiencing, as they respond to his invitation to become perfected by choosing to do his will and contribute to the actualizing of Experiential God, the Supreme in whom we “live, move and have our being.” [UB 105:2.11] [UB 1:5.16]
The invitation to participate in creature-Creator partnerships presented in this myth is real and open to everyone. The question is: how will we choose to respond? Addressing that question is the focus of this presentation.
Jesus taught that we should strive to be like God—to become perfect even as the Father in heaven is perfect, although he did not expect us “to achieve an impossible manifestation of brotherly love.” [UB 140:5.3]
Every mortal really craves to be a complete person, to be perfect even as the Father in heaven is perfect, and such attainment is possible because in the last analysis the ‘universe is truly fatherly.’ [UB 140:4.11]
Jesus said, “I declare that you must be reborn. You must start afresh as little children. . .” [UB 140:6.2]
By faith the believer enters the kingdom now. [UB 170:2.20]
While we may enter as a child, “the Father requires that you grow up, by grace, to the full stature of spiritual adulthood.” [UB 193:2.2]
Our minds must “be remade,” a process of “self-destruction and soul reconstruction.” [UB 160:5.10]
Rebirth constitutes entry into the kingdom, but progress in the kingdom, growth toward spiritual maturity, requires a radical change in the manner of thinking, especially the shift toward loving motivation, intentions, decisions, and actions. The Master taught: “The kingdom of God in this world, the supreme desire to do the will of God, the unselfish love of man which yields the good fruits of improved ethical and moral conduct.” [UB 170:2.18] Jesus said, “The kingdom of heaven is not a matter of meat and drink but rather a life of progressive righteousness and increasing joy in the perfecting service of my Father who is in heaven. For has not my Father said of the children of the world, ‘It is my will that they should eventually be perfect, even as I am perfect.’” [UB 137:8.13]
For most, a mind shift from selfish to selfless does not come as a sudden ecstatic event; rather, it is a gradual change process that is often stormy and difficult, involving daily striving. Said Jesus, “. . . take up your responsibilities and follow me.” [UB 140:6.11] Along the way, sincerity and decision-making are keys to spiritual growth, and these are available to all who seek to change.
Like faith, spiritual growth is a divine gift. “Man cannot cause growth, but he can supply favorable conditions” for such progress. “Man’s sole contribution to growth is the mobilization of the total powers of his personality—living faith.” “Spiritual growth is always unconscious” as is, for example, psychic circle achievement. [UB 100:3.7]
“The religion of the spirit means effort, struggle, conflict, faith, determination, love, loyalty, and progress. The religion of mind—the theology of authority—requires little or none of these exertions from its formal believers.” [UB 155:5.11] Jesus exemplified “in his life what he taught in his religion: the growth of the spiritual nature by the technique of living progress.” [UB 157:6.4]
Spiritual growth, the path toward unselfishness, changing from a focus on self to selfless, involves a radical change of mind, a paradigm shift, a neuro-physiological brain change. By seeking the transfer of our “seat of identity from the passing material-intellect system to the higher morontiasoul system,” we can choose to change our orientation from self toward others and serving them selflessly. [UB 112:5.4]
Self-mastery is the measure of one’s moral nature and the indicator of his spiritual development … by the new way [believe and rejoice] you are first transformed by the Spirit of Truth and thereby strengthened in your inner soul by the constant spiritual renewing of your mind, and so are you endowed with the power of the certain and joyous performance of the gracious, acceptable, and perfect will of God. [UB 143:2.3-4]
Experiential growth implies creature-Creator partnership— God and man in association. [UB 116:0.3]
In the beginning the Father does all, but as the panorama of eternity unfolds . . . creatures, even men, are to become God’s partners in the realization of finality of destiny. And this is true even in the life in the flesh; when man and God enter into partnership, no limitation can be placed upon the future possibilities of such a partnership. [UB 118:5.2]
Mind is anything that responds to the mind circuit of the Conjoint Actor. “. . .mind ever intervenes between spirit and matter.” [UB 0:6.8] “The mind is a personal-energy system existing around a divine spirit nucleus.” [UB 12:9.6] We have access to the power of mind to change the way we think, which results in new neurological pathways in our brains. The mortal intellect has the ability “to conceive, design, and create automatic mechanisms demonstrates the superior, creative, and purposive qualities of man’s mind as the dominant influence on the planet.” Mind always reaches out towards such things as: “formulation of mental systems, attainment of wisdom goals and achievement of spirit levels.” [UB 42:12.1-8]
The mind of an individual “is always competent to produce a suitable and serviceable body for the living creature identity.” [UB 42:12.9] All energy responds to mind. “Mind is always dominant over matter, and spirit is ever correlated with mind.” [UB 65:8.5] In the realm of the Supreme, spirit can dominate energy-matter through mediation of mind. Mind has the “innate ability to form a universe frame in which to think” and fathom conclusions. [UB 115:1.1] We have the capacity to conceive of higher quality and more loving ways of thinking to replace old selfish and otherwise counterproductive thinking habits. “Man must think in a mortal universe frame, but that does not mean that he cannot envision other and higher frames within which thought can take place.” [UB 115:1.2] Spirit in “volitional personality can strive through mind for the mastery of energy-matter,” disclosing “the potential unity of all finite creation.” [UB 116:6.4]
A paradigm is a habit of reasoning. Stated another way, a paradigm is “the box” in the commonly used phrase, “thinking outside the box.” A paradigm change is a shift in manner of thinking from inside to outside the box. For example, the transition in cosmology from a Ptolemaic perspective (geocentric, sun around earth) to a Copernican view (heliocentric, earth around sun) required a radical change in manner of thinking. Likewise, the change from the perspective of the “flat earth society” to that of occupants of an orbiting space vehicle, where Urantia is observed as a blue sphere suspended in space, constitutes a paradigm shift. The history of humans on Urantia involved paradigm changes. “At first life was a struggle for existence.” We now live in a second paradigm, achieving a “standard of living.” A third paradigm of human existence is coming, a focus on “the quality of thinking.” [UB 81:6.28] The advent of this most recent paradigm is being furthered by the confluence of advances in education and philosophy, digital communication technologies, and the global distribution of The Urantia Book.
Today’s information society has origins marked by significant technological advances in human communication: the emergence of written language, the invention of the printing press, and the development of the digital computer. These new paradigms facilitated the capture, storage, and transmission of information and knowledge that have, respectively, enabled general literacy, eliminated time and distance from communication, and opened new avenues of creativity.
By far, however, the most important paradigm shift for us personally and spiritually is the radical change from material to morontia mind, from self to selfless. Mortal personality “possesses the power of transferring its seat of identity from the passing material-intellect system to the higher morontiasoul.” [UB 112:5.4] In terms of paradigm change, the “transfer of seat of identity” is a shift from selfish ‘in the box thinking’ to selfless ‘out of the box’ thinking, outward toward others and serving them. This capacity for free-will choice of identity change is “man’s greatest opportunity and his supreme cosmic responsibility.” [UB 112:5.5]
For many years it was believed that neural pathways in the brain were fixed during childhood. The concept was that neural “wiring” in the brain began to form at birth. The process continued as children responded to stimuli and experiences, but neurological brain wiring ceased well before adult status.[3] The earlier scientific view also held that, by adulthood, some functions of the brain became fixed or “hard-wired” neurologically and confined to specific, localized brain regions.
Recent research in neuroscience reveals a new paradigm: the brain is much more plastic or pliable, subject to influence and capable of change. The new view of the brain’s ability to restructure itself after training or practice is termed neuroplasticity. Recent research further reveals that, while neural networks do perform specific functions, the circuits have the ability to reorganize themselves.
Current neuroscience research suggests that circuits in adult brains are continually altered by experience. From a teleological perspective, one can wonder: was it by divine design that the evolving brain was guided to develop the ability to change as we experience and God self-realizes? [UB 1:5.13-14] Humans can modify their brains by directing mind energy. [UB 111:6.5] This ability makes spiritual habit formation possible, leading to personal growth. Changes in the brain due to experience correspond to the primacy of experience in the Deity plan for the creation of the material universes. “God cannot experientially know what he has never personally experienced,” consequently God self-realizes the evolving time-space universe through us via our indwelling Adjusters. [UB 108:0.2] God experiences with us, for “In all your afflictions, he is afflicted.” [UB 1:5.16], [Isaiah 63:9]
In the process of brain reorganization, such as from experience, neurons (nerve cells) and neural networks alter their connections and activities in response to sensory stimulation and development. Effectively, this means that when neurons activate or “fire” simultaneously in response to the same stimulus, the neurons become associated and the connections become stronger. In neuroscience the saying goes: “Neurons that fire together wire together.” Thus activity is the basis of habit formation. Moreover, this joint function means that brain plasticity allows a neuron to adjust its activity in response to new information, such as in learning and habit formation or modification. Brain adaptability is especially significant for this presentation.
Brain change will result from our consecrated efforts to change our thinking habits from negative to loving and from self to selfless. Plasticity enables the brain to form new neural connections throughout one’s lifetime. How we choose to think and the habits that are formed do alter the neural paths in our brains. Importantly, brain plasticity makes it possible to “teach an old dog new tricks,” although the rate of learning may slow a bit with age. Significantly, there is no real barrier to learning new habits other than one’s resistance to change. Overcoming the inertia of mortalminded self-satisfaction with existing thought habits can be a daunting task, but it is doable with God’s help. The bottom line for us, as followers of Jesus’ teachings and as truth seekers, is that we are never too old to work on replacing old acquired nonproductive thinking habits with new love-centered spiritual thinking habits. It is never too late to make progress toward becoming perfected, even as the Father in heaven is perfect.
Humans have long been aware of a major effect of brain plasticity, that of habits. For example, in about 300 BCE Aristotle is quoted to have said: “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”[4] Applying this insight to ourselves, should we not, as spiritual children of the Father, strive to become excellent, i.e., more perfected, in doing his will by seeking to develop spiritual habits of thinking that lead to spiritual growth?
In science, a habit is defined as: a behavior pattern acquired by frequent repetition or physiologic exposure that presents itself regularly or with increased ease of performance and has become nearly or completely involuntary. A habit is an acquired quality, a trait that is chosen. Some “mindless” habits are especially difficult to change, requiring considerable time, assistance, persistence, and repetition to modify. New Year’s resolutions are attempts to make new habits to replace old ones. But these efforts often fail because insufficient time and effort is devoted to the change. Some habits, like smoking, having prejudicial thoughts, or thinking of self first, are not easy to change.
Some individuals who are in denial about having bad thinking habits may be prone to say, “I can’t help myself; it’s just how I am.” And if so, that’s how they will continue to be. However, “If your own mind does not serve you well, you can exchange it for the mind of Jesus of Nazareth, who always serves you well.” [UB 48:6.26] Changing undesirable habits requires a sincere desire to grow. “. . .you must come to that place of spiritual advantage where you have really and truly developed an actual interest in, and love for, those higher and more idealistic forms of conduct which your mind is desirous of substituting for those lower and less idealistic habits of behavior that you recognize as temptation.” [UB 156:5.5]
Spiritual growth involves thinking habits that are progressively more spiritual and less oriented toward temporal items such as material things or the mortal self. Religious habits of thinking and acting contribute to spiritual growth. “Mind can profit from experience, can learn from reactive habits of behavior in response to repetition of stimuli.” [UB 65:6.8] “One can develop religious predispositions toward favorable reaction to spiritual stimuli, a sort of conditioned spiritual reflex.” Such habits help to “develop religious predispositions toward favorable reaction to spiritual stimuli, a sort of conditioned spiritual reflex. Habits which favor religious growth embrace cultivated sensitivity to divine values, recognition of religious living in others, reflective meditation on cosmic meanings, worshipful problem solving, sharing one’s spiritual life with one’s fellows, avoidance of selfishness, refusal to presume on divine mercy, living as in the presence of God.” [UB 100:1.8]
To change a thought sequence, use the following steps. First, become aware that a habit is undesirable. Prayerful meditation will help to identify negative thinking habits and to gain the strength of spiritual stimulus to change. Second, have sufficient strength of desire to change and create an alternate idea as a substitute idea to replace the undesirable thought.[5] For example, say within, “think love, not self,” to replace a selfish thought habit. In another instance, when the thought of criticizing someone occurs, interrupt the thought by saying, “stop” within your mind and say the positive alternative thought, “I will pray for her/him.” [UB 91:5.3] “New religious insights arise out of conflicts which initiate the choosing of new and better reaction habits in the place of older and inferior reaction patterns.” [UB 100:4.1]
In yet another case, should a loved one become ill, rather than worrying and “awfulizing,” imagining hypothetical (“what if”) negative outcomes, say, “stop” within to interrupt the thought. Then, pray for the alternative, which is for courage, strength, and peace for the loved one to deal with the challenge. Third, in each case, having replaced a negative thought with a positive alternative, enjoy the reward of feelings of joy and peace that come from growing spiritually, as we actually do the Father’s will and make progress toward becoming more perfected.
Changing a thinking habit requires devoted effort. Frequent repetition, spiritual decision-making, and worshipful meditation (contact of mind with spirit) are necessary for spiritual habit formation. Such repetition crystallizes “into habits, strength-giving and worshipful habits.” [UB 160:3.2-3] Learning persistence and patience are necessary to acquire spiritual thinking habits.
Jesus fully understood how men prepare themselves . . . He subjected his chosen messengers to repeated rehearsals in disappointment and provided them with frequent and testing opportunities for choosing between the right and the wrong way of meeting spiritual trials. He knew he could depend on his followers, when they met the final test, to make their vital decisions in accordance with prior and habitual mental attitudes and spirit reactions. [UB 153:1.3]
The keys of the kingdom of heaven are: sincerity, more sincerity, and more sincerity. All men have these keys. Men use them—advance in spirit status —by decisions, by more decisions, and by more decisions. The highest moral choice is to . . . choose to do the will of God. [UB 39:4.14]
With God the Father, sonship is the great relationship. With God the Supreme, achievement is the prerequisite to status—one must do something as well as be something. [UB 115:0.1]
Experiential growth implies creature-Creator partnership— God and man in association. Growth is the earmark of experiential Deity. [UB 116:0.3]
The Supreme is God-in-time; his is the secret of creature growth in time. [UB 117:2.1]
From the finite standpoint, we actually live, move, and have our being within the immanence of the Supreme. [UB 117:3.12]
We are surely loved by God. But we are also needed. “God is truly omnipotent, but he is not omnificent—he does not personally do all that is done.” [UB 118:6.1]
God and men need each other. They are mutually necessary to the full and final attainment of eternal personality experience in the divine destiny of universe finality. [UB 195:10.3]
Experiencing, making decisions, and taking action in time-space is our task. “When man decides, and when he consummates this decision in action, man experiences, and the meanings and the meanings and the values of this experience are forever a part of his eternal character on all levels, from the finite to the final.” [UB 117:5.13]
Through us mortals, the Supreme actualizes, becoming “real by one more degree” when an ascending mortal attunes to Adjuster leading and “the divinity of Supremacy advances one more step toward cosmic realization.” [UB 117:0.3]
Always will actuals be opening up new avenues of the realization of hitherto impossible potentials—every human decision opens up a new capacity for human growth. [UB 115:3.16]
Mankind does not ascend effortlessly in the universe, neither does the Supreme evolve without purposeful and intelligent action. Creatures do not attain perfection by mere passivity . . . [UB 117:4.7]
To the extent that we do the will of God in whatever universe station we have our existence, in that measure the almighty potential of the Supreme becomes one step more actual . . . And God the Supreme is becoming the highest finite manifestation of the total will of God. [UB 117:0.1]
The evolution of Adjuster progress in the spiritualizing and eternalizing of a human personality is directly productive of an enlargement of the sovereignty of the Supreme. Such achievements in human evolution are at the same time achievements in the evolutionary actualization of the Supreme…the evolution of the Supreme can never be fully attained independent of the completed evolution of all creatures. [UB 117:4.9]
In sum, we are in a win-win situation. By doing God’s will we achieve; that’s a WIN, and the Supreme actualizes, which is also a WIN! It is a WIN-WIN situation. Clearly, striving to do the Father’s will is ‘the only game in town.’ All else is selfishness and illusion. We prepare ourselves to participate in this ‘divine game’ by acquiring spiritual habits of thinking, developing skills for recognizing opportunities to serve others, and being proactive to actualize those potentials.
“You mortals now living on Urantia who may aspire to Paradise attainment and finaliter status should understand that such a destiny is only realizable because you are in and of the Supreme, hence are participants in the cycle of the growth of the Supreme.” [UB 117:2.5] Thus, our destiny has begun. Decisions and actions that we take today determine our destiny. Concerning progress in acquiring spiritual thinking habits along the way, please remember: “The important thing is not the rapidity of your progress but rather its certainty. Your actual achievement is not so important as the fact that the direction of your progress is Godward. What you are becoming day by day is of infinitely more importance than what you are today.” [UB 147:5.7]
What an adventure! What a romance! A gigantic creation to be administered by the children of the Supreme, these personalized and humanized Adjusters, these Adjusterized and eternalized mortals, these mysterious combinations and eternal associations of the highest known manifestation of the essence of the First Source and Center and the lowest form of intelligent life capable of comprehending and attaining the Universal Father. [UB 112:7.18]
The goal of eternity is ahead! The adventure of divinity attainment lies before you! The race for perfection is on! whosoever will may enter, and certain victory will crown the efforts of every human being who will run the race of faith and trust, depending every step of the way on the leading of the indwelling Adjuster and on the guidance of that good spirit of the Universe Son, which so freely has been poured out upon all flesh. [UB 32:5.8]
Lawrence Schkade has been a student of The Urantia Book since 1980. He has hosted a study group in his home since 1983 and has given topic presentations at Urantia readers conferences, symposia, and meetings.
| Urantia, 606 of Satania: Concerning the Inhabited Worlds of the Satania System | Volume 12, Number 1, 2012 (Summer) — Index | Race and The Urantia Book |
Joseph Campbell and Bill Moyers, The Power of Myth. Doubleday, 198 ↩︎
http://www.ancienttexts.org/library/msopotamian/enuma.html ↩︎
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0.9171.1580438.00.html ↩︎
http://www.refocuser.com/2009/05/neuroplasticity-your-brainsamazingability-to-form-new-habits ↩︎
Charles Duhigg, The Power of Habit, Random House, 2012, p. 276 ↩︎