© 2024 M. José Sánchez
© 2024 Urantia Association of Spain
And finally, the last month of the year 2024 arrived. A year in which, without a doubt, we have experienced the duality of life: moments of joy and sadness, births and farewells, beginnings and endings. Everyone can remember and value the journey of their year, but at the Urantia Association of Spain we are sure that all the work and projects carried out in these 12 months have been worth it:
- The shared reading and analysis on Sundays at GEV has been worth it.
- We loved the creation of the “Trust Group”, an intimate and fraternal space for dialogue.
- We greatly value the unforgettable National Meeting of Readers in Toledo.
- The creation of the “Monographic Studies” group has been worthwhile, allowing us to calmly delve deeper into the topics of The Urantia Book.
- We have learned a lot from the analysis and debates of the Urantian talks in the Zoom room.
But above all we are excited to have so many readers of The Urantia Book committed to a better and more generous world, as our beloved Master yearned for. Thanks to all of you, friends, because one more year, one more Christmas, hope remains alive… here and now.
Happy reading of our last issue of this year. And also, happy new year 2025!
In this issue, we present the transformative power of consciousness and spiritual experience, reflecting on a powerful idea that the Spanish philosopher Jordi Pigem raises in his latest book: “The world is under a spell, which is spreading and intensifying.”
What exactly does it mean?
In Greek mythology, Circe is a being with immense power of seduction and deception, a beautiful and powerful sorceress. In the digital age, we are bewitched and trapped by the incessant data and images that we consume on screens. Pigem describes it as the seductions of a “Circe 2.0” that uses unbridled digitalization, robotization, the metaverse, transhumanism and the management of Big Data by artificial intelligence, to “bewitch” us.
The classical Circe of the Odyssey deceives and dehumanizes Ulysses’ companions by transforming them into pigs, acting on appearance. But, as the story points out, the spirit of men remained intact. The current Circe 2.0, however, seems to do the opposite: she does not change our external appearance, but degrades our consciousness and attention through the compulsive use of screens, keeping us deaf to the call of the spirit that lives within us:
The highest element of all human experience is the recognition of that God whose spirit lives within you and would guide you on the long and almost endless journey of attaining the personal presence of our common Father, the God of all creation, the Lord of the universes. 133:4.5
And that’s the point. Because when Circe gives Ulysses her “potion” when he comes to free his companions, that potion has no effect on him and the sorceress exclaims, stupefied: “There is a conscience within you that does not bend to any spell!”
What conclusion can we, the readers of The Urantia Book, draw from this reflection that Pigem makes?
The story of the Odyssey has been teaching us for centuries that our inner strength, conscience or spirit, is what allows us to resist the “spells” that surround us. We live surrounded by images, by representations. We are in a society of permanent spectacle, visible on social networks, on TV or on mobile phones. And today, most of the images vomited by digital media are images of violence: physical violence, sexual violence, violence against beauty, goodness and truth, “against common sense, against the wonder and abundance of life.” And these mental contents are what keep us “bewitched,” outside of our authentic being, without having a real capacity for full and serene attention. And attention is something fundamental to come into contact with our heavenly Father, present in our mind. Those who find God experience a pure and simple joy in loving service to man, they find a deep and REAL meaning to life:
These high levels of human living are achieved in supreme love for God and selfless love for man. If you love your fellow men it is because you have discovered their values. Jesus loved men so much because he saw great value in them. 100:4.4
Can we, as the Master suggests, open our consciousness to a genuine experience of reality? The answer lies in our spiritual practice. Jesus often retreated to commune in silence with the heavenly Father, and through worship, he found the necessary strength and wisdom:
Look at your Master. At this very moment he is out there in the hills receiving strength while we are here expending energy. The secret of this whole problem is hidden in spiritual communion, in worship. From the human point of view it is a matter of combining meditation and relaxation. Meditation puts the mind in contact with the spirit, relaxation establishes the capacity for spiritual receptivity. UB 160:3.1
And the current battle is not only technological, but also ideological. The true threat of Circe 2.0 is the ideology of dehumanization, a spell that pushes us towards disconnection from what is natural and living. An ideology that “zombifies” the population that is disconnected from its essence. Because the virtual world devitalizes the real world and makes it light, distant and vain. A mirage.
And now it is up to us to decide. Do we want to continue to enter, asleep, into the world of machines, of the virtual, or wake up, breathe and embrace Life? Will we continue to be distracted by the virtual toys of the new Circe 2.0 or will we regain our attention on what is happening Here and Now? Do we want to participate in the beat of life, feeling the divine presence in our lives as so many human beings have achieved?
The prophet who said, “He whose mind is stayed on God will be kept in perfect peace” was not merely an intellectual believer in an authoritarian theology. This human knower of truth had discovered God; he was not just talking about God. UB 155:6.6
Thus, all contemplative and meditative traditions remind us of the importance of connecting with real life—the natural world, the environment around us—without digital distractions. Perhaps we can feel that connection by walking through a forest or on a beach, in silence, and experiencing what Pigem describes as a “communication with the world older than thought.” In such moments, we feel the essence of life and align ourselves with the divine.
To balance this “Algorithmic Invasion” (AI) of the machines and fully live the “Here and Now” (AA), we need to recover the practice of spiritual communion. Let us move forward with hope, remembering that authentic religion, as the Master proclaimed, is the personal, intimate and liberating experience that arises from direct contact with God and with life.
Our blue book inspires us to continue improving, without distractions, our spirit:
The quickest way to realize the brotherhood of man on Urantia is to bring about the spiritual transformation of its present humanity. The only way to accelerate the natural tendency of social evolution is to apply spiritual pressure from above, thereby increasing moral insight and at the same time enhancing the capacity of each mortal soul to understand and love all other mortals. UB 52:6.7
This is how it will be, this is how it will happen when the religion of personal and liberating experience, which the Master proclaimed centuries ago, finally becomes a reality on our planet. A unique experience that no current machine or technology can provide us with.
PS: I invite you to watch this video, why? When faced with a natural disaster, human beings seem to emerge from their daze, from the mirage, and bring out the best in them: empathy and love. Here we see human beings connected, not to machines or screens, but to love.
Let’s go for this dream of living free of “spells”, to live from the connection to our interior, to achieve it in this coming 2025!
¶ References
- Index of the magazine “Luz y Vida” of the Association of Spain
- This article from the magazine “Luz y Vida Online”