© 2022 Luis García Bory
© 2022 Urantia Association of Spain
We seem to know a lot about the human body, but our current knowledge and documented experience of how our mental circuits work together with the brain and nervous system (and the eight other bodily systems we have) seem to be at a very early stage. development.
In part because of the mental health crisis brought on by the coronavirus pandemic, we have been forced to take a starker look at ourselves and re-evaluate many aspects of our reality as individuals and as active members of families, organizations and communities.
In many cases, we didn’t like what we saw. And some of us, as a result, began to experience an unprecedented range of physical (non-COVID-19 related) and mental health problems. At the same time, however, such a seemingly unfortunate event created an opportunity to rethink how and why we live the way we do; relationships with significant people for us, and with the basic external factors that make up what we could call daily existence.
In some strange way, we were forced to rekindle our true fire and find our peace of mind again. Some of us may have considered for the first time the role emotional strength and mental resilience play in our achieving a reasonable level of stability and well-being.
Some of us were down deeper rabbit holes and were forced to accept that something had to change. We begin to face frankly unpleasant or depressive emotional and mental states. Some may have made drastic changes in essential relationships (family, colleagues, work, play, food, rest, and exercise, to name the most basic). Others possibly returned to a more regular practice of introspection, meditation, worship, prayer, and supplication.
And it was through the introduction (or intensification) of these practices that we were able to remember how important it is to have a functional and efficient spiritual system to achieve healthier health (energy, physical, mental and emotional well-being).
The big question is: what is part of that system and how do we keep it running? The Urantia Book seems to offer some clues on how to activate it and keep it sanely functional (morontia generator, if you will).
What do you think are the parts of that system? How do we keep it healthy and functional?
On this topic, I have many quotes from the book to share:
The six did not separate to go to their work until they had exchanged many words in discussion of Jesus’ instruction that each of them should choose a new apostle. Andrew’s counsel finally prevailed, and they went forth to their labors. In substance Andrew said: “The Master is right; we are too few to encompass this work. There is need for more teachers, and the Master has manifested great confidence in us inasmuch as he has intrusted us with the choosing of these six new apostles.” This morning, as they separated to go to their work, there was a bit of concealed depression in each heart. They knew they were going to miss Jesus, and besides their fear and timidity, this was not the way they had pictured the kingdom of heaven being inaugurated. (UB 138:1.3)
Thomas had some very bad days; he was blue and downcast at times. The loss of his twin sister when he was nine years old had occasioned him much youthful sorrow and had added to his temperamental problems of later life. When Thomas would become despondent, sometimes it was Nathaniel who helped him to recover, sometimes Peter, and not infrequently one of the Alpheus twins. When he was most depressed, unfortunately he always tried to avoid coming in direct contact with Jesus. But the Master knew all about this and had an understanding sympathy for his apostle when he was thus afflicted with depression and harassed by doubts.
Sometimes Thomas would get permission from Andrew to go off by himself for a day or two. But he soon learned that such a course was not wise; he early found that it was best, when he was downhearted, to stick close to his work and to remain near his associates. But no matter what happened in his emotional life, he kept right on being an apostle. When the time actually came to move forward, it was always Thomas who said, “Let’s go!”
Thomas is the great example of a human being who has doubts, faces them, and wins. He had a great mind; he was no carping critic. He was a logical thinker; he was the acid test of Jesus and his fellow apostles. If Jesus and his work had not been genuine, it could not have held a man like Thomas from the start to the finish. He had a keen and sure sense of fact. At the first appearance of fraud or deception Thomas would have forsaken them all. Scientists may not fully understand all about Jesus and his work on earth, but there lived and worked with the Master and his human associates a man whose mind was that of a true scientist—Thomas Didymus—and he believed in Jesus of Nazareth.
Thomas had a trying time during the days of the trial and crucifixion. He was for a season in the depths of despair, but he rallied his courage, stuck to the apostles, and was present with them to welcome Jesus on the Sea of Galilee. For a while he succumbed to his doubting depression but eventually rallied his faith and courage. He gave wise counsel to the apostles after Pentecost and, when persecution scattered the believers, went to Cyprus, Crete, the North African coast, and Sicily, preaching the glad tidings of the kingdom and baptizing believers. And Thomas continued preaching and baptizing until he was apprehended by the agents of the Roman government and was put to death in Malta. Just a few weeks before his death he had begun the writing of the life and teachings of Jesus. (UB 139:8.10-13)
When they went up the mountain, Andrew’s head was full of problems. John was inordinately perplexed in his heart. James was grievously troubled in his soul. Matthew was hard pressed for funds inasmuch as they had been sojourning among the gentiles. Peter was overwrought and had recently been more temperamental than usual. Judas was suffering from a periodic attack of sensitiveness and selfishness. Simon was unusually upset in his efforts to reconcile his patriotism with the love of the brotherhood of man. Philip was more and more nonplused by the way things were going. Nathaniel had been less humorous since they had come in contact with the gentile populations, and Thomas was in the midst of a severe season of depression. Only the twins were normal and unperturbed. All of them were exceedingly perplexed about how to get along peaceably with John’s disciples.
The third day when they started down the mountain and back to their camp, a great change had come over them. They had made the important discovery that many human perplexities are in reality nonexistent, that many pressing troubles are the creations of exaggerated fear and the offspring of augmented apprehension. They had learned that all such perplexities are best handled by being forsaken; by going off they had left such problems to solve themselves.
Their return from this holiday marked the beginning of a period of greatly improved relations with the followers of John. Many of the twelve really gave way to mirth when they noted the changed state of everybody’s mind and observed the freedom from nervous irritability which had come to them as a result of their three days’ vacation from the routine duties of life. There is always danger that monotony of human contact will greatly multiply perplexities and magnify difficulties. (UB 143:3.5-7)
In service.
Luis
¶ References
- Article of the Magazine Light and Life Online: https://aue.urantia-association.org/2022/09/29/reflexiones-urantianas/