© 2015 Urantia Association of Spain
| Convergences and divergences: The adolescence of humanity - the anthropic principle | Luz y Vida — No. 39 — March 2015 — Index | News from Urantia Association of Spain |
Mariano lives in Torrejón de Ardoz (Madrid). He is 54 years old, married and has three daughters. He works in a Madrid railway transport company, where he has been a training instructor since he was 24 years old. He started reading The Urantia Book around the year 2000, and was quickly hooked. In 2004 he organized the Madrid study group. A short time later, engaged in making The Urantia Book known, he wrote the novel The Circles of Truth (in Spanish and English). After attending the Chicago Leadership Symposium in 2011, he was appointed Responsible for the study groups of the Urantia Association of Spain. Since 2013, he has been moderating, together with other members of the AUE Board, the Virtual Study Group in Spanish on Sunday afternoons.
¶ 1. How did you get to “The Urantia Book” and why do you think you found it?
Like many other readers, he went through a book by J.J. Benitez, specifically The Testament of Saint John, where he thanks Urantia Foundation. That was enough to get me going. For me, this was due to the guidance of my Adjuster, in response to a demand for more true and sincere knowledge on my part.
¶ 2. What was your first impression when reading it?
That he was facing something very important, authentic and exceptional. Since by then I had already read some Trojan Horse, and knew of the similarity in the figure of the Master that Benítez assigned to it, I gave it great value and credibility before starting to read it, but always with reservations.
¶ 3. At what point in the reading (document, sentence, etc.) did you accept that “The Urantia Book” is really what it claims to be?
As I have said, my level of credibility was very high, but if I have to highlight something that “got” me, it is the fact of the divine spark or Thought Adjuster that we all carry in our minds. Also the proposal on personal religion disarmed me of all possible disbelief.
¶ 4. How has “The Urantia Book” changed your life?
That is a difficult question to answer. I think the changes, at least in my case, are very subtle; sometimes you have the feeling of going backwards, other times that you are on the right track. On the other hand, my journey in the search for Truth goes back a decade, at least, before knowing The Urantia Book. Already then I devoted myself to doing the divine will. This is the path to which every child born of the Spirit must consecrate himself. There is nothing.
¶ 5. Has the faith you had before reading it changed? In what way?
Faith already had it, but it has been reinforced and above all “bathed” with true knowledge; Everything has become much clearer, which reinforces your confidence in God and in His Work.
¶ 6. Is there a point (or points) of the revelation that you find difficult to accept?
No. More than accepting, what is hard for me is understanding. Apart from the always difficult understanding of certain concepts, there are some issues that are difficult for us to understand due to our poor material vision of life, a partial, relative and biased vision of Reality.
¶ 7. What is the part that has most deeply impressed you?
There are many things that have impressed me about the 5th revelation. To highlight a couple of them: the personality of the Master in his life on Earth, full of understanding and mercy towards everyone. Also the ascending race of human beings, how long and exciting it appears to us, full of worlds and beings of all kinds.
¶ 8. How do you understand that of doing “the will of the Father”?
I believe that it is a totally personal work, of introspection, of continuous observation of our thoughts and above all of our actions. The will of the Father must be discovered by oneself, although we have many “clues” about it, and then have the willpower to carry it out, the latter being even more difficult.
¶ 9. Have you become aware of the presence of your Adjuster?
As the book says, it is as if we thought ourselves, it is not a voice that whispers in our ears, for which reason, and in the spiritual state in which I think I find myself, I cannot distinguish when it is me and when it is He But I am sure of one thing: that he is present in me and that, especially in moments of meditation, inspired by the beauty of nature, I feel closer to him.
¶ 10. Have you tried to put the Master’s teaching into practice? What was the result?
I believe that doing the Father’s will and putting the Master’s teachings into practice are the same thing. Something that usually works in solving problems or various situations where we have to make decisions is to think: What would the Master do in this situation? Coming to our mind and heart his personality, perhaps we make the decision that is most in line with the divine will.
¶ 11. Do you think that The Urantia Book has something “mysterious” that makes not everyone dedicate themselves to reading it?
The problem is not in the book, but in the lack of concern for the search for the Truth in which we live, the lack of commitment of oneself with God. An “awakening of consciousness” has to take place in the individual, so that he is attracted, first to seek and then to accept. Many search, but in little or no fertile land. In any case, each one chooses his path and it may be the best, the most appropriate for him at that moment. I say this from experience.
¶ 12. Is there anything else you would like to say regarding “The Urantia Book”?
Which is a wonderful gift from our older Brothers. To them and to my Adjuster, who has providentially led me to know and enjoy it, slowly but surely, from the prologue to the fourth part, I am eternally grateful.
¶ References
- Light and Life Magazine (all old issues): https://aue.urantia-association.org/numeros-antiguos-del-lyv/
| Convergences and divergences: The adolescence of humanity - the anthropic principle | Luz y Vida — No. 39 — March 2015 — Index | News from Urantia Association of Spain |