© 2025 M. José Sánchez
© 2025 Urantia Association of Spain
¶ WAKE UP
Once again, welcome to this “Urantian” space for reflection, learning, sharing, and personal development that the “Light and Life” Newsletter aims to be. What’s more, in this issue, we encourage you to participate in the 21st National Urantia Book Readers’ Meeting, taking place in Zamora this May. And with a very thought-provoking topic of spiritual development… We’ll leave it there…
We propose a brief pause in your daily routine, a cordial invitation to stop and calm your mind and body. Are you up for it and continue reading?
A beggar stood by the side of a road for over thirty years. One day, a stranger passed by.
“A handout?” the beggar murmured, mechanically extending his cap.
“I have nothing to give you,” said the stranger, who then asked. “What are you sitting on?”
“Nothing,” the beggar replied. “Just an old box. I’ve been sitting on it since I don’t know how long.”
“Have you ever looked inside?” the stranger asked.
“No,” said the beggar. “Why? There’s nothing inside.”
“Well, take a look”, insisted the stranger.
The beggar managed to open the lid. With infinite surprise, disbelief, and joy, he saw that the box was full of gold.The Power of Now (E. Tolle)
We are all like that beggar who lives unaware of our great treasure: not inside a box, as in the story, but somewhere closer, like within us. We search outside for crumbs of pleasure or satisfaction, for esteem, security, or love, when inside we have a treasure that is far greater than anything the world can offer.
What a greater treasure it is to feel oneness with Being, to feel connected to something immeasurable, indestructible, loving, that is much greater than us, but that is essentially myself. Tolle reminds us that when we are present, when our attention is fully and intensely in the NOW, you can feel that inner beauty.
“The kingdom of God is within you” was probably the greatest pronouncement Jesus ever made, next to the declaration that his Father is a living and loving spirit. UB 195:10.4
Sometimes, amidst the noise of the world, something deep within us calls to us. It’s not a voice heard in our ears: it’s a whisper felt in our chest, a subtle vibration that doesn’t impose itself, but persists. It’s our soul reminding us that we didn’t come just to survive, to chase after the immediate, to repeat meaningless routines: we came to awaken.
Don’t let the day end without having grown a little,
without having been happy, without having increased your dreams.
Don’t let discouragement get the better of you.
Don’t let anyone take away your right to express yourself,
which is almost a duty.
Do not abandon the desire to do
something extraordinary in your life.“Don’t stop” (anonymous)
Many readers of The Urantia Book already understand that spirituality is not a religion or a dogma: it is a reunion, a humbling inward look and recognition that there is something beyond the visible, something enormous within us. It is an invisible order, a harmony that sustains chaos; and in that order, each person has a place, a purpose, a heartbeat all their own.
What a mistake to dream of God far off in the skies when the spirit of the Universal Father lives within your own mind! UB 5:2.3
Perhaps it’s time to return. To return to the center, to the origin, to that part of us that cannot be touched but feels everything. That part that doesn’t die, that doesn’t age, that simply is, and from which we see the world in an astonishing, marvelous way, despite the material suffering that exists.
The great and immediate service of true religion is the establishment of an enduring unity in human experience, a lasting peace and a profound assurance. UB 5:4.2
Spirituality is not separate from thinking, but it teaches us to think with the soul, to let the mind be a tool and not a prison.
It’s not about rejecting the mind, but rather inviting it to align. The spirit ignites vision, but it’s the serene mind that turns it into a bridge, a decision, a reality. It’s like a subtle dance: the soul sets the rhythm, and the mind transforms it into movement.
When they are harmonized, life ceases to be a series of scattered efforts and becomes conscious creation. There is no longer internal struggle, there is direction. There is no longer emptiness, there is purpose.
Then we understand: the profound is not at odds with the practical; the subtle can become concrete. Spirituality is not an escape from the world, but a wiser and more loving way of inhabiting it.
Because in the end, it’s not about learning to fly, but about remembering that we always knew how. And having the courage to spread our wings… with an open mind and an ignited soul.
Machado already knew it:
Last night when I was sleeping
I dreamed, blessed illusion!
that a fountain was flowing
inside my heart.
Tell me, why is there a hidden ditch,
water, you come to me,
spring of new life
where I never drank from?
Last night when I was sleeping
I dreamed, blessed illusion!
that a hive had
inside my heart;
and the golden bees
were manufacturing in it,
with the old bitterness
white wax and sweet honey.
Last night when I was sleeping
I dreamed, blessed illusion!
that a burning sun was shining
inside my heart.
It was hot because it gave
warmth of red home,
and it was sun because it shone
and because it made you cry.
Last night when I was sleeping
I dreamed, blessed illusion!
that it was God who had
inside my heart.
Last night when I was sleeping (Antonio Machado)
THANK YOU for reading from that place that cannot be seen, where the true return to the Origin begins.
THANK YOU for waking up to true reality.