© 2025 M. José Sánchez
© 2025 Urantia Association of Spain
| Luz y Vida — February 2025 — Newsletter | Luz y Vida — February 2025 | Navigating through life: The Father's Shoes |
At this point, it seems pointless to deny that we are possibly experiencing one of the greatest changes ever seen in human history. The transformation is taking place at all levels: social, labor, economic, financial, environmental, cultural, consciousness, etc., and it affects us all, regardless of the country or continent we live in, race, creed, or socioeconomic level.
It’s a tsunami that affects everything and everyone. We’re talking about a paradigm shift that is revolutionizing our lives. Do you realize how fortunate we are to witness these historic moments?
Beyond our everyday, personal experience, the data suggests that all this we see is just the tip of the iceberg. A study by Karl Fisch provides figures that suggest the big change is yet to come.
His research points out aspects such as these:
- In the next eight seconds, for every baby born in the U.S., four will be born in China and five in India.
- The 25% of Chinese population with the highest IQ exceeds the entire population of the United States.
- Nintendo’s research and innovation budget exceeds the US government’s education budget.
- This year alone, more information will be generated than in the previous five thousand years!
In these times, when rapid change is a key characteristic, we have a wonderful pillar that sustains and grounds us in The Urantia Book, as well as in our inner Thought Adjuster. Ultimately, the spiritual component can help us navigate these tossing tides.
And in these times of change, Plato’s age-old allegory of the winged chariot reminds us that our soul can be guided with wisdom. Only with balance and purpose can we take flight toward our true essence.
This internal struggle between the material and the spiritual has been illustrated throughout history by thinkers such as Plato, who in his dialogue Phaedrus offers us the allegory of the winged chariot.
Imagine a charioteer driving a chariot drawn by two horses: one noble and well-bred, representing our highest and most virtuous aspirations; and the other, of untamed nature, symbolizing our uncontrolled passions and baser desires. The task of the charioteer, the driver, is to steer the chariot toward the light, constantly controlling the reins of opposing forces pulling in opposite directions.
This metaphor reminds us that the human soul seeks a balance between matter and spirit, and that only through the exercise of will and divine guidance can we reach celestial heights. In the words of The Urantia Book:
Mechanists—humanists—tend to drift with the material currents. Idealists and spiritists dare to use their oars with intelligence and vigor in order to modify the apparently purely material course of the energy streams. UB 195:7.19
Thus, on this journey of evolution and awakening, the body is our vehicle, but the destination is much higher. We are not simply material beings, but consciousnesses with divine potential. We must learn to govern our body, integrate it into the greater purpose of our existence, and recognize that our true essence is eternal.
As the book teaches us, Thought Adjusters can only communicate directly and unequivocally with their human subject when that being has made final and complete decisions regarding his moral nature and his spiritual life; when he has done the work of refining his lower thoughts and emotions.
The Adjusters are always near you and of you, but rarely can they speak directly, as another being, to you. Circle by circle your intellectual decisions, moral choosings, and spiritual development add to the ability of the Adjuster to function in your mind; UB 110:6.5
Ultimately, although we live in times of change, we have the tools at our disposal to face the future with hope and determination. What’s more, if we know how to listen and interpret reality, there are many elements of hope in this world.
Let’s take the example of Hannah Arendt, an optimistic woman of great inner strength, one of the most influential thinkers of the 20th century. She was quite optimistic and believed in humanity; she believed we have two infallible resources to move history toward progress.
First, birth. Every time a boy or girl is born on Urantia, humanity begins anew, as someone totally different, unique, and with great transformative power bursts into the world. Birth doesn’t just add: it renews, transforms, and sets in motion processes with unforeseeable consequences. Thanks to it, history doesn’t come to a standstill. As long as there are new births, there will be reasons for hope. New and unsuspected talents, discoveries, and achievements can materialize.
Secondly, Hannah highlights the creativity of our species. Totalitarian perversion aspires to turn humanity into a pack of automatons, but the yearning for freedom always emerges somewhere. We are not things, but consciousnesses that weave worlds. Animals do not modify the environment or invent meanings. Instead, we contribute meaning and transform reality, adapting it to our needs and our dreams. We are not content to simply exist. We want a name, an identity, something that differentiates us and leaves a mark on posterity. Our creativity is the best guarantee that the knots of history will never completely suffocate us.
Therefore, it is hopeful to live on Urantia; our potential in this “infant school” that is the material experience in time and space is magnificent. We are finite beings, true, with a limited body subject to laws, true, but there is within us potential of incalculable value. In this context, living on Urantia is a magnificent opportunity. Although we are finite beings, we possess infinite potential.
The body is our means of insertion into the world, the means by which we can participate in the flow of life. Without it, we could not enjoy the gentle shade of a tree or the warm intimacy of another person. We must care for it and appreciate its fantastic possibilities, but without turning it into the center of our lives, a fetish to be preserved at all costs. And above all, we must know how to govern it, as Plato reminds us.
Material experience in time and space is a school, an opportunity for learning and growth. Through reflection and insight, we can move forward with greater clarity and purpose. In this sense, the February newsletter of Light and Life offers us readings and resources that invite us to delve deeper into these topics and expand our understanding. Don’t miss this diverse issue, to which so many people have contributed and from which you can benefit this month.
Contents of the February newsletter:
- Editorial (M. José Sánchez)
- Web works:
- Simplification of the Prologue (Bill Sadler)
- Is the Orvonton superuniverse the Milky Way? (Eduardo Altuzarra)
- An approach to the local universe of Nebadon (Santiago Rodríguez)
- A Day in the Life of a Mansion Worlds Student (Tom Maringer)
- Chronicle of the life of Jesus (Document 163)
- The Urantia Book for Kids Guide: Ruth and Her Friends
- Other books on spiritual growth: The Art of Happiness (Dalai Lama and Howard C. Cutler)
- Recommended Video: The Seven Most Shocking Revelations in The Urantia Book (Urantia Guide)
- Sailing Through Life: The Father’s Shoes
- Ideas taken from the Circle of Trust group: The Spirit of Truth
- Urantian Questionnaire: Ariel Vargas
- Comanche Territory: Opening of a virtual discussion forum
- About Light and Life
Each of these contents represents an opportunity to continue growing, learning, and remembering that we are spiritual beings experiencing growth in matter.
We are not alone in this spiritual endeavor that is life. The classic combination of horse and carriage has been guided by a figure not always taken into account: the Lord the charioteer serves (the essence of who we are). But many people have not developed the ability to connect with him. This disconnection from our higher Self causes the carriage to have a lot of power and little control.
The human mind is practically deaf to the spiritual pleas the Adjuster translates from the manifold messages of the universe broadcasts of love from the Father of mercies. It is almost impossible for the Adjuster to convey these spirit-inspiring directives to an animal mind so entirely dominated by the chemical and electrical forces inherent in your physical nature. 110:7.6
We, as readers of The Urantia Book, can exemplify and develop the wisdom and discernment of this inner teacher, in order to carry out its functions effectively, harmoniously, and creatively, properly controlling the horse, our most physical part.
In this February newsletter of the Urantia Association, we present our work, reviews, and reflections; but none of it would make sense if we didn’t encourage you, dear reader, to connect with the One who gives us existence, nourishes us, and loves us, just as Jesus of Nazareth did with that “Lord” we cannot forget:
In the very face of all the natural difficulties and the temporal contradictions of mortal existence, he experienced the tranquillity of supreme and unquestioned trust in God and felt the tremendous thrill of living, by faith, in the very presence of the heavenly Father. UB 196:0.3
That’s what we’re doing, that’s why we came to this unique and beautiful planet.
¶ References
| Luz y Vida — February 2025 — Newsletter | Luz y Vida — February 2025 | Navigating through life: The Father's Shoes |