© 2024 Urantia Association of Spain
I am originally from Caracas, Venezuela and I have been living for some time now in a paradise in North American Florida called Venice.
I present myself as 67 years old, a servant by profession, with three daughters (one of whom recently left this plane) and five grandchildren, and married to an extraordinary person, who thanks to God shares my faith and encourages my beliefs and my highest spiritual desires. She also knows The Urantia Book very well and is an occasional reader.
I have been an everlasting reader and explorer of these revelations for more than fifteen years and, although I satisfy my hunger for truth and my thirst for wisdom day after day, the spring of living and eternal waters never runs dry. It is incredible, but I feel that it is like Love, the more it divides, the more it multiplies.
And I grant this interview with all my heart, because I want to touch hearts, open minds and unite consciences, so that together and hand in hand with the Almighty and Eternal God who created us and strengthens us with His Infinite Love, we undertake the great task of making this society and this civilization the human institutions that we so long for, need and deserve. With God, everything is possible. But apart from Him we can do nothing, absolutely nothing.
¶ 1. How did you come across The Urantia Book and why do you think you found it?
I could say that I came to The Urantia Book because I was looking for it. He who seeks, finds. I had been waiting for some time for a kind of revelation that would satisfy my hunger for truth and my thirst for new hope. And the book is precisely full of that: deep truths and great and new hopes. But at this point, I would dare to say that rather than me finding him, it was the other way around, he found me. Do you remember this beautiful phrase? “The man who seeks God and God who finds him.” One for the other!
¶ 2. What was your first impression when reading it?
Surprise, caution and excitement. Surprise and excitement, above all. After a long journey through the deserts, valleys and mountains of life, of searches and encounters, of illusions and discouragements, and increasingly thirsty for new truths and hungry for transformative wisdom, you find yourself with this delicious honeycomb of cosmic information never seen before, and in your hands, calming those longings and filling those existential voids, and you are left standing like this, on one foot. And you ask yourself, what is this? Who made it? You realize then, that it was for you, that this was precisely what you were looking for. And so you are nourished step by step, day after day with its religious, philosophical and even factual coherence. Comforting your intellect, strengthening your faith, renewing your hopes for glory and thus confirming the sure destiny of your spiritual and eternal nature. Well, each letter, each phrase, each paragraph and each chapter fits perfectly into your thinking model, your philosophy of life and your cosmic vision of reality. And that, in my opinion, is power in action.
¶ 3. At what point in the reading (document, sentence, etc.) did you accept that The Urantia Book is really what it claims to be?
Through its connotation in three words that I must consider as my favorites of all time: God, Jesus and Love. And these three abound in The Urantia Book, since in almost each of its pages one of them always appears. Or all three together, as in this case:
“Jesus revealed a God of Love, and Love totally encompasses truth, beauty and goodness.” (UB 5:4.6)
And by the way, this time seasoned with these three more that I also like a lot: truth, beauty and goodness.
As we would say in Venezuela: What else?
¶ 4. How has The Urantia Book changed your life?
Since I started reading it, it became a favorite, recurring and necessary reading. I would even say vital. I feel that I am spiritually nourished every time I read it. It practically joined forces (allied itself) with the Bible to delight my intellect, my faith and my spiritual aspirations. Since then, I have carried them up and down, and I know that wherever I am, they are each one of them for me, like a spiritual debit card that never runs out. And when one feels spiritually rich, one no longer needs anything and can shout to the world, as that famous poet of yesteryear shouted: “In truth I have nothing, and yet I have everything.”
¶ 5. Has your faith changed after reading it? If so, in what way?
I could not say that it has changed it, but rather that it has increased it. It has taken it to a level of practical spiritualization that resonates in my mind with the famous phrase of the apostle: “If your faith does not move mountains, set it aside, for it is not a reliable faith.” I no longer wait to see God to know that He exists. Because the fact of knowing that He exists is as if I saw Him. And additionally, there are other super intelligent beings who came directly to Earth to tell us that they know Him and that they attest to Him, His power and His glory. And if our mind has in fact already been spiritualized thanks to the infinite Love and patience of He who gave His life on the cross for us, we can now end our earthly experience in peace, knowing, now properly, that God is in, for and with us, and at all times, places and circumstances. And this was not taught to me by The Urantia Book, but it updated my understanding:
“It is not necessary to see God with the eyes of the flesh, to perceive him with the vision of the faith of the spiritualized mind.” (UB 1:3.3)
¶ 6. Is there any point (or points) of the revelation that you find difficult to accept?
The point or part that I find difficult to accept is why there are still so many who do not believe in these revelations or in the words of wisdom that are contained in them. But on the other hand, I understand that everything is part of an evolutionary process that takes time for each person. Little by little and without haste, Love is more certain (an old song said). But, for the sake of our knowledge, patience and application, everything is already written. One step at a time. We cannot apply too much pressure from where we are now, nor intentionally accelerate the speed of the teaching:
“The only technique for accelerating the natural tendency of social evolution is to apply spiritual pressure from above, thus increasing moral insight and at the same time elevating the capacity of the soul of each mortal to understand and love all other mortals.” (UB 52:6.7)
¶ 7. What is the part that has impressed you most deeply?
I truly tell you that the book is designed to impress you on any page you open it. To tell you that there is any part that has confused or disappointed me would be a fallacy. But in summary, I could say that the unjust trial, the humiliation and the crucifixion always leave you impressed by the rudeness, crudeness and vileness of the events that He experienced firsthand. I was also pleasantly impressed by Jesus’ travels through the Roman and Parthian territories of that time; and the magnificent theological, philosophical and spiritual treatises on religion, located in the central part of the voluminous copy, fully met my expectations. And of course, the beautiful impression that studying another of my favorite subjects made on me: the seraphic hosts and the government of the Most Highs. And who would not be impressed by this powerful statement?:
“THE MOST HIGH [thus, with capital letters] rule in the kingdoms of men through many heavenly forces and agents.”
¶ 8. How do you understand “doing the will of the Father”?
Let me tell you that I asked that same question to a priest when I was just eight or nine years old. I remember that he answered me with a smile: “Do good without looking at who.” Then, with my childish naivety, I replied: “But how am I going to do good without looking?” Ha, ha.
Already in my adolescence, I learned that doing something good for others increased happiness: that of the sender of the good and that of the receiver. But above all, I found that the giver always gained more. And I became fond of that in that first stage of my life. In fact, I got used to being a recurring servant. I don’t feel good when I am served, I prefer to serve.
In some later studies, I also discovered or confirmed that God’s Will for us “is perfect happiness and complete joy.” Although I have never been completely unaware that His main Will for us is that we love one another (as He loves us!) and that we try to understand one another as well (and just as He understands us!). Two things that, although they may seem, are not so easy for many. But for me, that, more than a commandment or an order, is a true delight. A delight that heals. And I quote this same paragraph again:
“Mutual understanding and brotherly love are transcendent civilizing and powerful factors in the worldwide realization of the brotherhood of men.” (UB 52:6.7)
¶ 9. Have you become conscious of the presence of your Adjuster?
I humbly tell you that it is not up to me to reveal whether I have been or am truly conscious of His presence. All the beings that surround me or that I surround can testify to that. The Urantia Book says that, for now, and in the sphere where we find ourselves, we are partially conscious. But, the “little voice” that speaks to you and tells you, for example: “this is the way, follow it,” is a true reality. And there may be a living testimony. Nothing is a coincidence in life. Look at this:
“At times it is possible for the mind to be illuminated, for the divine voice that continually speaks within you to be heard, so that you may become partially conscious of the wisdom, truth, goodness and beauty of the potential personality that constantly resides within you.” (UB 109:5.2)
¶ 10. Have you tried to put the Master’s teachings into practice? What has been the result?
Of course I do. Since I was a child I have been a devoted follower of His commands and teachings. Do you know which one is my favorite? Love one another! Since I was a child I have been a fanatic of Love. And a lover of God, first of all; of nature and its elements, of people, of animals and grateful for everything I did and continue to do for Love in this life. And the fact of knowing and corroborating, through this magnificent revelation, that He was loved as much as He loved, leaves us with a pleasant taste in the soul. Was He also hated? Of course; by the ugly, hateful and malicious people that there have always been and will be in the world, so that, by contrast, His lovers and followers know that no matter how much they want, the shadows of evil will never be able to extinguish the light of goodness that generates and keeps the energy of Love alight forever. And who would not delight in knowing that there were different Marys in His life who loved Him with passion and devotion? And that there was also a Rebecca who, in an overflowing act of devotion and profound Love, proclaimed to the world and the entire universe: “the only one entirely worthy of being loved and the greatest among ten thousand.” Surely she meant ten thousand billion!
¶ 11. Do you think that The Urantia Book has something “mysterious” that makes not everyone decide to read it?
It’s not that he believes it, but he says it himself. Look at his cover slogan:
“The Urantia Book: Revealing the mysteries of God, the universe, Jesus, and even ourselves.” And who in their right mind wouldn’t want to be part and parcel of this divine mystery? And that is what we could call “mysterious.” It must be because there are many people who are afraid of the mysterious. But the mysteries of life are the order of the day! “But whoever touches it, it touches him,” my mother would often repeat, with her peculiar, funny, and humorous naturalness.
¶ 12. Is there anything else you would like to say regarding The Urantia Book?
Just as the Fourth Revelation came at the peak of humanity to split history in two, this Fifth Revelation came at the right time and in the right place, and with a very, very specific mission. And it did not come to split this second history into two more halves, but to write a new history. The new history that must chart the course of a new humanity. And no longer towards that promised land of then, but rather towards the same Heights of power and glory, where He who is the Beginning and the End of all that is created and uncreated, of all that is visible and invisible and of all that turns and moves in the universe, dwells, reigns and governs with justice, righteousness and Love. And this is what this Fifth Revelation teaches us with complete propriety. And right now, almost a hundred years after its overflow into the world, it is not possible to imagine this same world, without this magnificent and overflowing gift of science, religion and philosophy descended directly from those same heights of power, glory and infinite and eternal wisdom.
This, brothers and sisters, is my humble opinion on the matter.
¶ References
- Index of the magazine “Luz y Vida” of the Association of Spain
- This article from the magazine “Luz y Vida Online”