© 2024 Luis Coll
© 2024 Urantia Association of Spain
| Luz y Vida — December 2024 — Editorial | Luz y Vida — December 2024 | Urantia Questionnaire: Víctor García Bory |
Two of my favorite paragraphs refer to the concept that Jesus taught about the kingdom of heaven and the spiritual and personal transformation of the individual: “The kingdom of heaven is within you.”
At different times and in varying circumstances it appears that Jesus may have presented numerous concepts of the “kingdom” in his public teachings, but to his apostles he always taught the kingdom as embracing man’s personal experience in relation to his fellows on earth and to the Father in heaven. Concerning the kingdom, his last word always was, “The kingdom is within you.” (UB 170:1.13)
Many times we are trying to change the world and society, but it is a gigantic task to change this society for the better. The work is immense and gigantic. It is essential that the individual first changes and transforms himself, and it is then that he will be more prepared to make the external changes that will be noticed in his life and his influence to change things.
In his teachings, Jesus focused a lot on the personal and spiritual progress of the individual and taught that “the kingdom of heaven is within you.”
- It was in itself a new standard of moral values, a new ethical yardstick wherewith to measure human conduct. It portrayed the ideal of a resultant new order of human society. (UB 170:2.4)
We, with the revelation of The Urantia Book, have embarked on a very far-reaching enterprise: the celestial cause of the Creator Son, and it is a great and exciting job, and quite a challenge to try to change people and society in general. But in my opinion we are not going to achieve it if we do not first work on ourselves, on our inner life and on promoting personal and spiritual change in individuals.
Since this inner life of man is truly creative, there rests upon each person the responsibility of choosing as to whether this creativity shall be spontaneous and wholly haphazard or controlled, directed, and constructive. How can a creative imagination produce worthy children when the stage whereon it functions is already preoccupied by prejudice, hate, fears, resentments, revenge, and bigotries? (UB 111:4.9)
And this is the hope of establishing “the kingdom of heaven on earth,” which will lead to great changes and, in the future, the possibility that the long-awaited age of light and life will begin to dawn.
¶ References
- Index of the magazine “Luz y Vida” of the Association of Spain
- This article from the magazine “Luz y Vida Online”
| Luz y Vida — December 2024 — Editorial | Luz y Vida — December 2024 | Urantia Questionnaire: Víctor García Bory |