© 2024 Mark Kurtz
© 2024 Urantia Association of Quebec
Mark Kurtz
United States
The mind is a wonderful gift to use! Without the mind, we would have no life to think and dream; no curiosity to seek answers to difficult questions. The mind is for storing, exploring, and deciding. It is given by the higher mind for ever greater adventures in the discovery of truth. The first important question, in my humble opinion, is only three words: What is true? (or replace “true” with “real”). Apply this to all of life’s activities for adventurous curiosity! The mind allows us to dream of possibilities. Thought allows us to become aware of the higher mind that knows our needs and has developed a progressive plan for each person.
What is progress if we do not credit the mind as a divine gift that enables us to know life and its revelations? Progress is the realization and acceptance of new experiences of meaning and purpose, actualizing discoveries that result in personal feelings of worth and achievement. Progress, as defined by God, provides a dynamism that enables us to establish attractive relationships and achieve peace. Potential progress becomes real when the mind empowers education to increase knowledge. Longstanding religious tradition, as well as new and updated information, affirms that a fragment of the personal mind of the Higher Spirit indwells people. I suggest that clergy and others consider the great importance of personal and human progress through movement, the movement of each person toward greater security in faith in God through the experience of new perspectives.
Destiny could be defined as God’s eternal relationship with us, His humblest creatures who can know Him and seek Him for continued adventure and service. We rise from the lowest level of all beings who can know God if we accept in faith that the Inventor of all is the Provider of all. The Inventor invites us, the invented, to pursue the adventure of life, the details of which are not fully revealed, but are intended for our learning as we climb the spiritual corridors that lead to glory！What religion do you know that is fully informed about all the plans that God, the Father of Destiny, has for each person?
Could there be a divine plan of fulfillment, with details that could help us understand what is attractive about progress? If people had more details, then we could ask what is next. We should say to God, “Say more!” What is the meaning of life and where are we going as a planet? We should all elevate our thoughts and ask God to help us understand our past and our imagination of future planetary life！We would be wise to trust in God, like a child who depends on its parents. The one God of all people knows and is certainly ready to help those who are ready to help themselves! We must go beyond tradition and doctrine to ask God to guide us to greater meanings and values, for the common and mutual benefit of all people on Earth.
Consider the following to help move toward higher concepts:
1. We are not omniscient! What human being has ever determined for the omniscient God what is final or what should be His goal for the fulfillment of man? Even Jesus did not determine a final plan for God. No person, even if he represents a religion, can honestly and sincerely say to God: “What I (or we) believe will be the final doctrine for all peoples forever.” The fact is that people reside here temporarily and then leave, while God remains beyond our short life. No human can formulate a permanent model equal to God! No religion has God! We are relegated to opinions!
2. History is partial. Anyone can review the history of the planet without knowing everything that has existed or happened since the beginning. Secular and religious records do not include a source that contains all the details of the entire planetary time. People are limited to an incomplete overview of past events and accomplishments, both material/physical and spiritual. We are good at forming biased doctrines and even expect them to endure! Why? For power and authority? What are the motives that lead us to insist that doctrinal beliefs are final and completely accurate to endure? To answer these questions, consider all traditions relating to domestic and civil life, religion, government, work, education, etc.
3. Traditions are ultimately circumscribed. We have all been exposed to multi-millennial cultural traditions that have emerged from normal and shared procedures, family and civil relationships, whether in material or religious life. These “norms” developed over long periods of time are difficult to adjust or sometimes to abandon in the name of progress. We cannot determine in the Creator’s place what the master plan is.
4. If not us, then who? We all know who knows all the details! God is the master designer of the patterns. Love is certainly omnipresent in His Master Creator Mind. We are free and wise to seek His guidance. We should lovingly affirm that the Master Mind of the Person of God the Father is interested in helping us earthlings to better understand the past.
5. From the beginning, the Creator has always prompted us to think and choose, to revise our models! What is in God’s mind for the sustainability and fulfillment of ultimate life? We certainly cannot say absolutely, not being omniscient!
6. New thoughts create conflict. A good teacher reminded his class of the risk of progress and its importance. He said that people are challenged when they consider change. He said that people develop their normal patterns of life and habits. Then he gently challenged the group by asking what the options are when faced with something that does not fit our pattern. He said that we can examine it and then reject it or accept it, which would be to revise the pattern. The mysteries of life, in the long-term planetary perspective, have always caused humans to confront conflicts with the norms! Planetary progress that challenges our patterns was surely in God’s mind before we began!
7. Destiny, a Long-Term Vision: Where are we going with a focus on life? We do not have a glass crystal for magical imagination. Relying solely on the past, exclusively on established or official tradition, does not reveal God’s plans for personal or planetary future destiny. We truly cannot say that all religious authorities and traditions replace God and His vast heavenly ministries that are watching us. There is certainly more to know. To accept that God is omniscient is to faithfully trust Him for all times and all accomplishments. The impartial examination of possibilities would open our minds to God’s grand directions. This implies admitting that we do not know everything and suggests that we should be sincerely curious. God, tell us more! Yes! For everyone! We must be open to knowing more! Establishing a correlation between the origin and history of the planets and the search for a destiny defines a new framework for thinking about the relationships of humans with each other and with God!
8. It is necessary to imagine an agenda. We must be updated to strengthen faith and quality of life while trusting in the higher spirit that is watching us! Given the above, how could progress be elevated to the top priority for all members of the world clergy? Certainly, progress is a major factor in continued creation and sustainable life. For us humble humans not to honestly consider progress is to risk an immobile global stagnation. We are not meant to be static, neither personally nor as a planet! The Great Inventor certainly has a plan of completion for all time. We just need to be honest and open our minds to the progressive teachings from above.
9. We must think together about global teamwork to elevate God as the Sovereign of all religions. All leaders and teachers who wish to progress should cooperate in recognizing a higher spirit, Father God, as sovereign over all relationships in life! The creature can never be greater than its creator! The clergy have a responsibility to speak to others to inspire them to think positively and to refrain from holding humanity back in old traditions. We would all benefit from the loving imagination of new and inclusive relationships that are global and secure, based on the One who loves everyone and wants world peace! We must work hard to build a true planetary spiritual unity for God！Under the one God, we are truly children of the family in spirit.
Progress is change and positive thinking towards the future. It is by changing our frame of reference to think that we need help the most in the world. Who in your circle is interested in progress? Talk about it among yourselves and see the real possibilities!