© 2023 Urantia Association of Spain
I live in a small city in the province of La Coruña called Narón and which is close to Ferrol, the city where I was born. Although I was born in Ferrol, I grew up in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and in San Fernando (Cádiz). When I returned to Ferrol at the age of 17, I felt tremendously unhappy because my youthful friends stayed in San Fernando. I have a partner and a 13-year-old son.
¶ 1. How did you get to “The Urantia Book” and why do you think you found it?
I came to The Urantia Book because for years I searched for alternative books and information to what I received from my academic and religious catechetical training. After a few years studying Law, I dropped out due to a deep existential crisis, I had a near-death experience and, furthermore, Law had not been what I initially thought it would be for a long time. I left it in fourth and went to a Diploma that had many things in common with History, which was what I would have really liked to start at university. I finished my diploma and went to work and got married. During all these years I would drop a book or find information that was always pseudo-academic that I found through unofficial channels, which was opening my mind and making me interested in knowing what they don’t tell you at school or in catechism. Although you know inside that there is something else or intuition, I don’t know. I read books by J.J. Benítez, in addition to learning about Caballos there was a book that marked me a lot: Lucifer’s Rebellion. I also bought books on the apocryphal gospels, Gnostic Christians, the Cathars, the Knights Templar, Mary Magdalene and Jesus and the Holy Grail… All the legends that could exist around Christianity interested me, I was always a lover of mythology (Greek, Roman, Nordic, Celtic, Egyptian) and ancient history. Since I was little I have believed a lot in Jesus as my friend, my brother, my teacher and my creator who is close to me but often silent… without speaking, with whom I have not spoken many times out of shame, and also with whom I have angry many times for his silence… or maybe it’s my stubbornness and foolishness. Finally, after five years of being a mother, around 2014 I discovered The Urantia Book on the internet, on Facebook and on YouTube, in addition to being a regular on JJ Benítez’s website. I didn’t buy the book until a few months later.
¶ 2. What was your first impression when reading it?
At that time I was in a bad personal moment and I felt when I read it that it was the answer to what I always looked for and cried. I bought the Latin American edition on Amazon, and I still didn’t know anything about the Spanish association of book readers. I started reading the headings that caught my attention, I didn’t read in order but what I wanted, a huge book and so much information within reach… I haven’t read it all yet. I found the book because I searched for it, I guess, and because I needed it like hell.
¶ 3. At what point in the reading (document, sentence, etc.) did you accept that “The Urantia Book” is really what it claims to be? How has “The Urantia Book” changed your life?
I have not needed any proof that The Urantia Book is what it claims to be, I am a person who has trusted his intuition for a long time and I also believe that I was taught since I was little about what faith is: believing without seeing or touching and without need for proof. Although obviously I moved away from the Catholic Church because I do not believe in many of its dogmas, and I did not feel comfortable with its history in many of its points… and like many, they did not correctly explain the readings and the differences between the Old Testament and the New , I began to look outside of it for the answers that I could not find. I felt a lack of faith in what they told me from the Bible or the Church (Old Testament), however when reading The Urantia Book I had no problem believing what the book says. It certainly does not make much sense to believe in a seraphic being or an angel, in a Solitary Messenger that I do not see or know or touch, and yet not believe in what they tell me in catechism or the Bible, which is supposed to have been made by people. I had such a hard time finding The Urantia Book that I find it hard to believe that nobody talks about it anywhere. I am an archivist and I studied Library and Information Science, and I had never heard of The Urantia Book until I saw videos on YouTube and got into Jeannie Vázquez’s meetings on Facebook.
¶ 4. Has the faith you had changed after reading it? If so, in what way?
It hasn’t changed my faith much or radically from before, I just understand better why the world is the way it is. The book explains things that are not explained to you anywhere else, so that they tell it to you in a less childish or fanciful way. And knowing that there are beings superior to me, divine or perfect but not gods, and that there are other planets with life and that it is admitted and explained without complexes… I love it!! Because it’s something I always believed in. Because the world has been wanting to demonstrate life on other planets for decades and yet there is already a book that talks about it and it is not mentioned anywhere. I think it is no coincidence that a book like this on a planet like this has so little success (in the sense of bestseller or in a globalized world and in the age of information science).
¶ 5. Are there any points (or points) of the revelation that you find difficult to accept?
There is nothing that is difficult for me to accept from the book, just to understand.
¶ 6. What is the part that has most deeply impressed you?
I was impressed when I first read the description of the central universe, how accurately it describes the position of the planets or spheres. I began to draw it and it didn’t fit on the page… and the name of the Melchizedeks, with their schools of wisdom, which I loved from the beginning and their function, and of the Carriers of Life and controllers that makes me believe less in the Darwinian theory. I was impressed that we have a piece of God the Father, the unknown grandfather within us and that from what God the Father has imagined, our being developed in eternity is already there a priori and that if we believe it we will be able to reach that destination. It’s all about believing and doing it little by little… and that our ancestor is the lemur and not the monkey.
¶ 7. How do you understand “doing the will of the Father”?
To do the will of the Father is to do what he has predestined or pre-imagined for us. It’s difficult to listen to that piece of God the Father, but I think that if we stop for a bit and try to listen, very interesting things can come out. The problem is the fast pace, the toxic information in this world and also the problems that surround us on a daily basis. In addition, that phrase reminds me of the moment when Jesus on the Mount of Olive tells the Father that his will be done and not his… it could be something similar.
¶ 8. Have you become aware of the presence of your Adjuster?
I am not aware of my Adjuster’s presence, but I know he is there, and when you are sad or in trouble, even though I sometimes forget him, I believe his help can reach me in some way. And since I read it so clearly in The Urantia Book it is an assurance that I have never felt so easily before, that we really are special.
¶ 9. Have you tried to put the Master’s teachings into practice? What was the result?
Since I was little I have followed the message of Jesus, it is our animal instinct and our clumsiness that makes us fall into errors and failures over and over again despite knowing the message of Jesus. I also know now that the only way to learn is through experience, which is what makes our soul grow with each of its moral decisions. And through our choice to put into practice what Jesus teaches us.
¶ 10. Do you think that “The Urantia Book” has something “mysterious” that makes not everyone decide to read it?
I do not believe that there is anything mysterious in The Urantia Book and that it exists for some people and not for others. Simply that the person who is not dissatisfied, or that everything is going splendidly or that is not open to spiritual experiences… I don’t believe in coincidences and if our only motivation is material things, prestige or what they will say… a book does not attract you like The Urantia Book. If people don’t read the Bible, why are they going to read a book like this that has no endorsement, except a foreign Foundation that nobody knows about and a group of people who put together some texts that nobody knows how they got there and that everything the world that does not want to believe decides that this is a matter of sects…
¶ 11. Is there anything else you would like to say regarding “The Urantia Book”?
For me, finding The Urantia Book has opened a world of hope that is not found in this world, but that helps you to live here; That Jesus is my creator and not just the Son of God and my brother is amazing; That there is more than one universe and that there are seven is hilarious. There are many things that I am reading and discovering that I did not know, but when you read it you say “I knew it!”.
During the pandemic period, I spoke via Zoom with other readers and it was a “energy shot”. And to the extent of my possibilities, I will remain open and wanting to learn more and more about the book and I will try to make it known in my environment, although I have been the geek and weird for a long time.
¶ References
- Article of the Magazine Light and Life Online: https://aue.urantia-association.org/2022/12/30/cuestionario-urantiano-marise-castro