© 2024 M. José Sánchez
© 2024 Urantia Association of Spain
| Luz y Vida — July-August 2024 — Newsletter | Luz y Vida — July-August 2024 | Presentations from the 20th Urantia Book Readers' Meeting in Spain |
Manuel Vicent in his latest book, A Particular Story, tells us these beautiful words at the beginning:
Life, like the violin, only has four strings: you are born, you grow, you reproduce and you die. With these elements each personal story is woven with a whole tangle of dreams and passions that time half-macerates with chance.
Certainly, those four strings to which the Spanish writer alludes are fundamental in earthly life, that of here. But is there nothing more, just chance? Only what our senses see? If we were to pluck those four strings with the violin bow, would we not extract great melodies? Would not the beauty and truth, the intelligence and order of a superior intelligence such as that of the musician be manifested in an inert body such as a musical instrument?
Those of us who read The Urantia Book know the difficulties that material life has, especially in a decimal world, in rebellion, without the help of a physical planetary government and, on many occasions, with the predominance of our instinctive part over our highest part. It is true that there are many human beings who only aspire to be born, grow, reproduce and die; to reproduce the incessant race of the hamster, which leads nowhere. Now, The Urantia Book tells us:
At the time of this writing the worst of the materialistic age is over; the day of a better understanding is already beginning to dawn. The higher minds of the scientific world are no longer wholly materialistic in their philosophy, but the rank and file of the people still lean in that direction as a result of former teachings. But this age of physical realism is only a passing episode in man’s life on earth. Modern science has left true religion—the teachings of Jesus as translated in the lives of his believers—untouched. All science has done is to destroy the childlike illusions of the misinterpretations of life. (UB 195:6.4)
Now, precisely, we have in our hands a powerful toy that we can learn to use, for better or worse. I am referring to a technological development never before seen in history, the new revolution of the emerging paradigm that is transforming our social, labor, economic, and political relationships… A new worldview that can perpetuate that purely material conception of life that Vicent speaks of, or it can allow us to develop the human and spiritual potential of being to the maximum. The new technological tools, AI, social networks, transhumanism, the Internet of Things, are they at the service of the human being, are they there to give it plenitude? Or are they tools that instrumentalize and “objectify” the human being, a human being understood as a consumable, an object to be transformed according to personal taste, a subject devoid of transcendence and at the service of spurious interests?
This crucial dilemma that we human beings of the 21st century have was analyzed and debated at the XX Meeting of readers of The Urantia Book in Toledo, in June. In this special issue of the “Light and Life” newsletter we want to share with you what we experienced and worked on there.
Something quite difficult because in letters, in a written text, it is difficult to capture the emotions and the hugs, the glances and smiles, the dialogues at meals and the laughter, the words shared in hallways and in the meeting room, the conversations and debates of the “Comanche territory” on Saturday or the dialogues and debates of each group in the different workshops. How can we transmit to you the spirit of harmony, love and joy that we have experienced that weekend and that has “recharged our spiritual batteries”? With that high spirit we have been able to return home to different parts of Spain and continue showing the world, in our small area, the teachings of our beloved Master. That is what it is about: working in the “vineyard”, in the world, in our environment and showing with actions what is inside us.
Jesus put the spirit of positive action into the passive doctrines of the Jewish religion. In the place of negative compliance with ceremonial requirements, Jesus enjoined the positive doing of that which his new religion required of those who accepted it. Jesus’ religion consisted not merely in believing, but in actually doing, those things which the gospel required. He did not teach that the essence of his religion consisted in social service, but rather that social service was one of the certain effects of the possession of the spirit of true religion. (UB 159:5.8)
Well, let’s go! We don’t want to keep these experiences inside, but rather we want to share them. Here we go, dear reader, with the lines that follow this introduction.
We also want to give you a surprise: we believe that we must continue sharing what was analyzed and worked on at the XX Toledo Meeting using the format of the “Urantian Talks”, which we will resume after the summer. A classic: we will make presentations in the Association’s Zoom room on Friday afternoons, and the room will be open to all people who want to contribute/listen to the interesting topics of the XX National Meeting. And this work of continuing to expand the teachings of The Urantia Book is the fundamental task of the Urantia Association of Spain. An arduous task, but one in which we can all contribute.
Let us conclude this preamble with the words, precisely, of a brilliant violinist who has known how to play in the streets of his country at war, in films, on stages around the world and who has known how to capture what the beauty of the violin, of music, can bring to us to transform and elevate human beings. Depth is within our reach and it is a desire that we fulfill with beauty.
We live in a time of frivolity, of lack of roots, but at some point there will be a boom and we will return to the essentials.
So let’s not lose hope. We are moving towards a better world than the current one. We are moving towards a new paradigm of the future that will change the Earth like never before in history, and we can be there, spreading The Urantia Book with the powerful digital tools that we have, with the unmatched technological advances that we have at our disposal.
Happy reading, happy summer.
PS: I offer you a little wink. Copy this YouTube link (see below) and enjoy the beauty that moves us and shows that human beings have spiritual roots that do not disappear no matter how much they want to exalt the material side. Being born, growing, reproducing and dying is just a part of our existence.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQ0fb0mu4p4
¶ References
- Index of the magazine “Luz y Vida” of the Association of Spain
- This article from the magazine “Luz y Vida Online”
| Luz y Vida — July-August 2024 — Newsletter | Luz y Vida — July-August 2024 | Presentations from the 20th Urantia Book Readers' Meeting in Spain |