© 2012 L. Coll
© 2012 Urantia Association of Spain
| The spiritual evolution of man for the achievement of mortal survival (last part) | Luz y Vida — No. 30 — September 2012 — Index | The abortion |
When people come across The Urantia Book and begin to read and study it, they may ask themselves the following question, especially people who believe in reincarnation: what does the Urantia Book have to say about the reincarnation?
Well, regarding reincarnation, in another physical life here on this planet, The Urantia Book has very little to say. It simply says that we do not reincarnate here again, that the spirits of the dead do not return.
Jesus further explained to his apostles that the spirits of departed human beings do not come back to the world of their origin to communicate with their living fellows. Only after the passing of a dispensational age would it be possible for the advancing spirit of mortal man to return to earth and then only in exceptional cases and as a part of the spiritual administration of the planet. (UB 146:7.2)
3. The spirits of the dead do not come back to communicate with their families or their onetime friends among the living. (UB 150:3.5)
The book gives us a comprehensive and very detailed explanation of how and where this next “reincarnation” occurs with respect to us and our continued existence. The little reincarnations are 100% convinced that we reincarnate again in this world with another physical body, when they read The Urantia Book and discover that the book says that we do not reincarnate here again, before slamming the book shut and leaving it abandoned in some corner and draw hasty conclusions, it would be very convenient for you to do a calm, serene and meticulous study in The Urantia Book to understand the explanation that the book gives about what we call or understand as “reincarnation”, which is nothing other than our continued existence on other levels of reality.
On the mansion worlds the resurrected mortal survivors resume their lives just where they left off when overtaken by death. When you go from Urantia to the first mansion world, you will notice considerable change, but if you had come from a more normal and progressive sphere of time, you would hardly notice the difference except for the fact that you were in possession of a different body; the tabernacle of flesh and blood has been left behind on the world of nativity. (UB 47:3.1)
When he was in this world, Jesus told his apostles that in the House of the Father there were many mansions:
“Do not disturb your heart, you believe in God, also believe in me. In my Father’s house there are many mansions, if it were not so I would have told you, then I go to prepare a place for you.” (John 14:1,2)
THE Creator Son, when on Urantia, spoke of the “many mansions in the Father’s universe.” In a certain sense, all fifty-six of the encircling worlds of Jerusem are devoted to the transitional culture of ascending mortals, but the seven satellites of world number one are more specifically known as the mansion worlds. (UB 47:0.1)
The Urantia Book tells us that we do not reincarnate here again physically in another body of flesh. But it does give a new, broader concept on the subject of reincarnation, and it clearly explains where and how this “reincarnation” occurs. And this reincarnation, understood from the human point of view, occurs at other levels and stages of our existence, much better and more advanced; that we have a new body and even in the early stages we continue to eat and drink on another level much like this physical world only much better -the morontia level-, but we do not return again to this physical world in which we have lived.
Though you have morontia bodies, you continue, through all seven of these worlds, to eat, drink, and rest. You partake of the morontia order of food, a kingdom of living energy unknown on the material worlds. Both food and water are fully utilized in the morontia body; there is no residual waste. (UB 47:4.6)
All human life, from the time we are born to the time we die, forms a course and a training school for our next stage. And, once we die and leave behind this physical body, that’s it!, “it is finished”, the course is finished on this planet, we have graduated.
When you finish your earthly career, your body remains on this planet. Your Thought Adjuster proceeds to the bosom of the Father, and these angels are not directly concerned in your subsequent personality reassembly on the identification mansion world. There your new body is a morontia form, one that can enseraphim. You “sow a mortal body” in the grave; you “reap a morontia form” on the mansion worlds. (UB 39:2.13)
An animal body is sown, it will be raised a spiritual body. There is an animal body (that is, our material body) and there is a spiritual body. 1 Corinthians 15:44
According to The Urantia Book, the only beings in the universe who experience reincarnation are beings residing on a wonderful world headquarters: Jerusem (the New Jerusalem, described in the Apocalypse of Saint John, chapter 21).
When, with the passing of time, the physical bodies of these unique creatures deteriorate from usage and age, their creators, in collaboration with the Life Carriers, fabricate new bodies in which the old spornagia re-establish their residences. (UB 46:7.4)
The goal of the universe is progress and advancement. The book explains and gives us to understand that we do not return here again in some incarnation or hundreds of incarnations, as claimed by Eastern beliefs; that only represents a step back and meaningless.
Some eastern beliefs about reincarnation have fallen into this error. They affirm that we have to return here a few times or hundreds of times, and perhaps reincarnate in some miserable and poor situation, to purify our karma or rectify mistakes of our past life, and suffer again and again. That alone represents a rather pessimistic and hopeless doctrine. It can be compared with a student who reached the 7th or 8th year of basic education, who was ready to enter the University and suddenly they sent him back to the first or second year. It doesn’t make sense, much less if we don’t remember our previous life. Because if we reincarnate here and do not remember our past existence, then what point of reference can we have to learn things and rectify possible mistakes to continue learning?
And of all the contaminating beliefs which could have become fastened upon what may have been an emerging monotheism, none was so stultifying as this belief in transmigration—the doctrine of the reincarnation of souls—which came from the Dravidian Deccan. This belief in the weary and monotonous round of repeated transmigrations robbed struggling mortals of their long-cherished hope of finding that deliverance and spiritual advancement in death which had been a part of the earlier Vedic faith. (UB 94:2.3)
There was, throughout all these regions, a lingering belief in reincarnation. The older Jewish teachers, together with Plato, Philo, and many of the Essenes, tolerated the theory that men may reap in one incarnation what they have sown in a previous existence; thus in one life they were believed to be expiating the sins committed in preceding lives. The Master found it difficult to make men believe that their souls had not had previous existences. (UB 164:3.4)
The Urantia Book clearly explains to us that, in the next stages in the celestial worlds, we have memories and experiences of our physical life here in this world, and we have a strong reference point to compare things, rectify mistakes and continue learning. And that does make sense and it is a “reincarnation” with a purpose and a goal.
Never in your long ascendancy will you lose the power to recognize your associates of former existences. Always, as you ascend inward in the scale of life, will you retain the ability to recognize and fraternize with the fellow beings of your previous and lower levels of experience. Each new translation or resurrection will add one more group of spirit beings to your vision range without in the least depriving you of the ability to recognize your friends and fellows of former estates. (UB 44:0.18)
In the early stages in the heavenly worlds, we still have a body much like this, and we still eat and drink and rest, only on a much better and more advanced level. We keep remembering our existence here on Earth, our friends, achievements and projects that we have experienced here in this world, and we have the great opportunity to meet again with our friends and loved ones that we appreciated so much when we were here in the flesh.
Always, as you ascend inward in the scale of life, will you retain the ability to recognize and fraternize with the fellow beings of your previous and lower levels of experience. (UB 44:0.18)
The various headquarters worlds are provided with every phase of material and spiritual creation. All kinds of material, morontial, and spiritual beings are at home on these rendezvous worlds of the universes. As mortal creatures ascend the universe, passing from the material to the spiritual realms, they never lose their appreciation for, and enjoyment of, their former levels of existence. (UB 15:7.4)
In all of The Urantia Book there is no law or regulation that prohibits belief in reincarnation or any other deeply held belief that people may have.
The Urantia Book only invites, clarifies erroneous ideas and concepts or that could be wrong, and gives an extensive and comprehensive explanation of how reincarnation occurs and where it takes place.
The book does not speak of a reincarnation again in a physical body here in this world, but it does give a broad explanation of our next stages of existence in other levels of reality and what happens to our personality and our continued existence once we are gone. We have departed from this world.
L.Coll
¶ References
- Light and Life Magazine (all old issues): https://aue.urantia-association.org/numeros-antiguos-del-lyv/
| The spiritual evolution of man for the achievement of mortal survival (last part) | Luz y Vida — No. 30 — September 2012 — Index | The abortion |