© 2008 Antonio Moya, Carmelo Martínez, Eduardo Altuzarra, Santiago Rodríguez
© 2008 Urantia Association of Spain
| Holy places? (second part) | Luz y Vida — No. 12 — February 2008 — Index | More about how many survive (part one) |
By various authors
Participants:
- Antonio Moya
- Carmelo Martínez
- Eduardo Altuzarra
- Santiago Rodríguez
Santiago: I’m not sure that it could be a “theme”, but since it’s something that tingles me, I want to comment on it, since it addresses me in a recurring way.
What are we expected to do in this world? Each one of us.
I always have the certainty that I will be “blamed” for things that I did or rather that I “did not do” and that in some way it was evident that I should have resolved. I have that constant and continued weight on me. Every time I read the UB it becomes more evident and that pressure increases, but I can’t find out what it could be, I don’t know if it is something specific that I have to address, or if it is choosing a specific form of behavior or attitude.
Have you ever had a similar feeling?
Sorry for the ambiguity of the comment.
Antonio: Of course it is a good “topic” that you raise, Santi! And what a theme! Also, what better topic can we raise in this forum of close friends, where we get naked inside, than our worries, fears, corrosive doubts and the like?
Do you know what I’m doing now? Well, reviewing, page by page, my 6 volumes of the History of Philosophy to definitely find a pillar on which to support my faith. That is the issue that currently gnaws at me. I am like Santiago de Safed: «Lord, I believe. But help me in my disbelief."
What are we expected to do in this world? What a question… Well, progress. Seek God, seek the Truth, and act accordingly. That is to say, to act according to the best lights that we have about the truth, the beauty and the goodness. Being a good father, a good husband, a good son, a good professional, a good neighbor, a good co-worker.
If you always act according to your lights, who can blame you for something you did, or did not do, out of unconsciousness or ignorance? You are not responsible for doing, or not doing, something you are unaware of. We are only responsible for what we do fully aware of knowing what we were doing. This is my opinion.
You have already chosen the specific form of behavior or attitude, and it is the one you have at this moment, based on your lights on truth, beauty and goodness. If you act with all sincerity, according to your lights, you are on the right path. And if tomorrow you have more lights because you have raised your level of consciousness (as happens to all of us), then you will act better than today. The best way for a tadpole to become a frog is to act like a tadpole at all times, in all sincerity. Lucifer wasn’t guilty of being wrong UNTIL he realized he was screwing up, and didn’t back down. This is what we should not do. If we realize the error, we must rectify it.
The things that you think you should solve, solve them, without hesitation. With God’s help. I assure you that everything always goes well, and that our fears are always unfounded. In all my life, there hasn’t been a thing I feared that didn’t always work out in the end. Everything works out for the best.
As for feeling like a stone on this issue every time you read the Book, it occurs to me to tell you that the level of the Urantia Book is very high, and not all of us (or almost none) are going to reach that level. Keep in mind that the level indicated there is like a model, like a European champion speaking in football terms. But not all teams become European champions. The model is there, and all that is required of us is that we strive to achieve it. That’s all. We work, we fight, we make an effort, but… maybe we won’t become European champions. It is most likely. So no problem. For that (and for nothing else) are the mansion worlds.
Relax, Santi, God only asks us for sincerity, that we act according to the lights we have at this precise moment. He does not ask of us what we cannot give, an impossible. Do you, as a parent, ask your son, at his current age, things from when he reaches 30 years of age?
Santiago: Thank you Antonio! Your comments are welcome, and I will try to assimilate them, and reinforce my “patience”, so as not to try to run more than what is necessary at all times.
If you allow me a comment about the search for “the pillar” with which to strengthen your faith, I am just suggesting that you actually have to look for three pillars. Remember that, like almost everything on this side and if we don’t want it to limp, we have to give similar importance to the three props (and I believe that faith not only does not escape this situation, but since you only reinforce one or two to the detriment of the three together, we will always be “unbalanced”). Possibly in philosophy you will find reinforcement for “Truth”, but do not forget, in parallel and to the same extent, to reinforce the pillar of “Beauty”, and that of “Goodness”.
With this, perhaps in a “theoretical” way he answers my question, and perhaps what is expected of us is that we develop and reinforce these three pillars to the best of our ability, but without the “distress” of wanting to run before learning to walk. Thank you once again Antonio, because your comments perfectly serve the purpose of starting to walk.
Anyone want to make some more completely practical suggestions for this level of learning, and start reinforcing those three pillars in a balanced way?
Carmelo: Dear Santi: I often have that feeling. In my case it refers to my professional work, although I understand that the one you describe is the same. I often wonder when I come home if I have done everything I had to do, if more was expected of me, if there was something I should have seen and I missed, if something is going to “sink” for me. my inaction. It is a very uncomfortable sensation, which is restless, as if something that I do not perceive was escaping and I had to catch it. It does not let rest.
It is a feeling that fortunately I have almost overcome. I do what I think I should do and leave the rest to “fate.” That feeling is a trap of our mind. We think that there are things that depend exclusively on us and that we cannot fail. But things are not like that; there is a providence.
I copy a quote that I think is relevant; is at UB 39:4.13 (paper 39). It says like this: “…it is the experience of living this life that is important. Even the work in this world, although it is essential, is not nearly as important as the way you do this work…”. Our effective work for the creation, for the development of the Supreme, in this world and in this life is nil or almost, except for the personal growth that we are capable of doing by ourselves and in ourselves. In my opinion, this is what is expected of us, as Antonio told you.
The feeling you describe is the result of an over-responsible mind (and in my case, sometimes, also a bad conscience for not having done everything I should and could), something that is undoubtedly bad. Be sincere and loyal to yourself, do everything your mind and your spirit tell you… and abandon yourself in the arms of the Father. Don’t get bogged down with “possibilities”; act and trust
Eduardo: Santi tells us that he doesn’t know what to do to “get it right” and stop having “strange sensations”. Antonio is reviewing the six volumes of “The History of Philosophy” and Carmelo comments that less so, but that many times he has gone home without knowing for sure if he had done his homework correctly.
Well, I tell you that when you have uncertainties, read the inevitabilities. I can tell you that, since I read them for the first time in the UB, these nine INEVITABILITIES have always accompanied me and thanks to them I have learned to be moderately wise, to be moderately sure of things and they have managed to give me enough faith as so that, after having made a decision, know that it was the most correct and accurate. Always keep in mind that we must learn to “relativize” things.
¶ References
- Light and Life Magazine (all old issues): https://aue.urantia-association.org/numeros-antiguos-del-lyv/
| Holy places? (second part) | Luz y Vida — No. 12 — February 2008 — Index | More about how many survive (part one) |