© 2020 Luis Garcia-Bory
© 2020 International Urantia Association (IUA)
(Transcribed and edited from an online presentation given at the 24-hour Online Urantia Event, March 21, 2020)
The coronavirus pandemic of 2020 is likely to go down in the history of our planet as the moment in which most of us were urged to understand that Urantia is a self-contained living ecosystem, where anything occurring in one part of the web will impact, at varying degrees, all of us and the biological environment in which we all co-exist. This understanding, however, is not happening quietly. Struggle, pain and suffering are present in many corners of our world. And the most grievous aspect is of course the loss of thousands of lives we are already witnessing.
In many countries affected by the pandemic, millions of people are instructed to stay home as hospitals and health services are stretched to their maximum capacity. Many poor countries struggle to even start the basic efforts needed to protect their people. Hysteria bubbles up and misinformation becomes rife. Panic dominates reason and irrational fear becomes commonplace. We empty grocery shelves and become obsessed with separation and individual safety. Our global supply of goods clogs up and economic calamity ensues. We start to understand that we are likely to witness the most severe economic depression of our lifetimes.
Our places of work stop, our cars stop, our airplanes and trains stop, our parks stop, our places of worship and reunion and physical activity and leisure stop. To one degree or another, many aspects of our lives come to a full stop as we are forced to stay apart to contain the speed at which infection spreads.
And this unexpected isolation brings about deep change in how we live our daily lives: suddenly we are forced to slow down and look at ourselves at home, look at our own lives beyond our work environment and notice more our support systems and the lives of those around us, rethinking our priorities beyond work deadlines and financial targets and personal and family ambitions.
We are forced to stop and ponder the fact that our individual decisions and actions in relation to this pandemic will not only impact our loved ones in close proximity, but also our extended families and communities and other fellow humans far beyond our immediate spheres of interest, convenience or influence. We are forced to remember that we are, paradoxically, dispensable and valuable, and our life is at the same time as fragile and resilient as the next person’s. And that resilience and survival of the ecosystem can only be possible because we all form a network that glues together and brings stability to the whole.
A conscious move from fear, inertia, and inaction might be required from each one of us so that we faithfully elevate our planetary consciousness and leave the individual selfhood-based realm of thinking in this pandemic and start reflecting on what The Urantia Book calls a brotherhood ministry that focuses on unselfishly yielding fruits of the spirit. That might require the enhancing of our mindsets from the question “How is this pandemic going to affect me and my loved ones?” to: “What can I do myself and how can I collaborate with others to be helpful to a larger number of people around me, especially the most vulnerable?” Individual Spirit-led action will help us take tiny steps onto the dawning of our planet’s age of spiritual striving and we can do this by:
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Re-centering our energy towards progressive thinking and action, which includes greater …intellectual keenness, economic wisdom, social cleverness, and moral stamina… in … the conquest of disease [UB 71:8.1,8], and even as it has been revealed that humans are …far from the realization of these exalted ideals of progressive civilization, the civilized races have made a beginning—mankind is on the march toward higher evolutionary destinies [UB 71:8.15] and we can make a conscious daily effort to continue this march.
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Refreshing our awareness and activation of our extraordinary spirit endowments: spiritual intuition (or faith insight), spiritual reason (or soul intelligence) and spiritual philosophy (the wisdom of spirit realities) which I believe are the foundations of religious faith (moral consciousness), through which we know …the soul of man reveals itself and demonstrates the potential divinity of its emerging nature by the characteristic manner in which it induces the mortal personality to react to certain trying intellectual and testing social situations. And it Exhibits inexplicable poise and sustaining tranquility notwithstanding baffling diseases and even acute physical suffering [UB 101:3.4,8].
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Renewing our commitment to the unity of the service of God, embracing spirit unity (that we are all God’s children and spiritually alike [UB 141:5.1]), as the cornerstone of sibling-centered service. Jesus taught the apostles that they had a mission “to comfort the afflicted and minister to the sick” and that they …should minister to all who suffer the sorrows of human sickness, pointing out in particular Diseases of the flesh—those afflictions commonly regarded as physical sickness and Troubled minds—those nonphysical afflictions which were subsequently looked upon as emotional and mental difficulties and disturbances [UB 141:4.4-6].
Remembering that:
- Disease is not some sort of man-made curse or unfair and disproportionate act of God, but instead, by and large, a consequence of the “biologic adventure” pursued by Life Carriers in the process of designing, testing, developing and triggering of evolutionary human life in Urantia. This endeavor was far from perfect, as they inform us: But throughout all of this biologic adventure our greatest disappointment grew out of the reversion…of parasitic bacteria** on such an extensive and unexpected scale which …caused many distressful diseases in the higher mammals, particularly in the more vulnerable human species. Furthermore, they …discounted the difficulties involved because we knew that the subsequent admixture of the Adamic life plasm would so reinforce the resisting powers of the resulting blended race as to make it practically immune to all diseases… Any yet, But our hopes were doomed to disappointment owing to the misfortune of the Adamic default [UB 65:5.2].
** …and their auxiliary virus bodies… [UB 65:2.3]
- We can remain confident in the Father’s evolutionary plan for Urantia: There are, of course, certain compensations for tribulation, such as Michael’s bestowal on Urantia. But irrespective of all such considerations, the later celestial supervisors of this planet express complete confidence in the ultimate evolutionary triumph of the human race and in the eventual vindication of our original plans and life patterns [UB 65:5.4].
I see many encouraging signs that this pandemic is already bringing about a positive shift in consciousness amongst many of us around all continents of Urantia. We take closer notice of the fragility of the well-being of our elders, we try to protect more our children and our spouses; we come across for the first time to some neighbors we had never seen. We watch overpopulated and overly polluted cities becoming calm and clean again. We take more time to notice our grocery shop assistants, our pharmacy assistants, and a myriad more of those that help us live a clean, healthy and orderly life. We are invited to appreciate them more and be grateful to have them in our lives. Because to have them makes us whole, and with them, our ecosystem carries on.
Before us, there is a unique opportunity for planetary spiritual-uplift if we only seek to respond to the current events surrounding the crisis by consciously inviting the Spirit to take the lead and guide us towards a strengthening of the bonds that unite us as humans. Regardless of individual beliefs, preferences, origins or qualities. United in love of life and ministry, where beauty, truth, and goodness inspire and guide every decision, every action, every act of unselfish service we extend to others every day. Just like millions of other humans, our true Urantia heroes are battling and risking their own lives to treat and save others, to make possible that we have food on our tables and supplies in our larder, that our services run so that we can be connected and informed and take precautions and care for one another, in short, so that our ecosystem not only survives, but one day thrives again.
Please allow me to invite you to rethink how you can respond to this crisis by:
- Making a daily decision of staying positive and propagating positive thinking amidst the current vicissitudes, challenges, suffering, and perplexities, especially to those of us who are more emotionally sensitive.
- Being diligent, responsible, and sensible in the analysis of information we find, receive, assimilate, distribute, and use, staying away from conspiracy theories, magic cures, racist behaviors, and questionable sources of information.
- Remaining frugal and making calm decisions based on reliable information, avoiding fear mongering, panic behaviors, unnecessary accumulation of food and medical supplies, and patiently supporting those who might be reactive to these tendencies.
- Taking seriously the instructions and advice from our medical and government authorities and act accordingly in order to reduce to the minimum possible the risk of becoming infectious and inadvertent “spreaders” of the disease, especially if we show no symptoms.
- Above all, being of loving service—especially to the most vulnerable and at higher risk— conscious that our individual and joined actions will make all the difference in not only fighting the pandemic, but staying hopeful and confident in the future.
I would like to finish with two inspiring excerpts from The Urantia Book:
The divine spirit makes contact with mortal man, not by feelings or emotions, but in the realm of the highest and most spiritualized thinking. It is your thoughts, not your feelings, that lead you Godward. The divine nature may be perceived only with the eyes of the mind. But the mind that really discerns God, hears the indwelling Adjuster, is the pure mind. ‘Without holiness no man may see the Lord.’ All such inner and spiritual communion is termed spiritual insight. Such religious experiences result from the impress made upon the mind of man by the combined operations of the Adjuster and the Spirit of Truth as they function amid and upon the ideas, ideals, insights, and spirit strivings of the evolving sons of God. [UB 101:1.3]
That, then, is the primary or elementary course which confronts the faith-tested and much- traveled pilgrims of space. But long before reaching Havona, these ascendant children of time have learned to feast upon uncertainty, to fatten upon disappointment, to enthuse over apparent defeat, to invigorate in the presence of difficulties, to exhibit indomitable courage in the face of immensity, and to exercise unconquerable faith when confronted with the challenge of the inexplicable. Long since, the battle cry of these pilgrims became: “In liaison with God, nothing—absolutely nothing—is impossible.” [UB 26:5.3]