© 1999 Neal Waldrop
© 1999 Urantia Association International (IUA)
Neal Waldrop, Geneva, Switzerland
The Midwayers assure us, the worst of the materialistic age is over, then state, The higher minds of the scientific world are no longer wholly materialistic in their philosophy. Nevertheless, they concede that the rank and file of the people still lean in that direction as a result of former teachings UB 195:6.4.
Evangelizing the rank and file of the people is not the challenge we face, even though their underlying psychology appears to have changed little over the last half century. It would be quixotic and counterproductive to hawk the Midwayer Commission’s eloquent refutation of materialistic fallacies (UB 195:5.10-UB 195:7.16), or the equally persuasive comments by a Melchizedek of Nebadon (UB 103:5.11-UB 103:9.10). I am strongly convinced that readers of the fifth epochal revelation must operate by attractionnot by attempting to proselytize or promote “conversions.”
During Jesus’ visit to the northern Italian lakes, he pointed out to Ganid the impossibility of teaching a man about God if the man does not desire to know God UB 132:7.1. We must also pay close attention to Jesus’ subsequent instruction to teachers and believers:
Always respect the personality of man. Never should a righteous cause be promoted by force; spiritual victories can be won only by spiritual power. This injunction against the employment of material influences refers to psychic force as well as to physical force. Overpowering arguments andmental superiority are not to be employed to coerce men and women into the kingdom. Man’s mind is not to be crushed by the mere weight of logic or overawed by shrewd eloquence UB 159:3.2.
Fundamentalist Christians tend to focus on Darwin and other 19th century scientists, portraying them as aggressors and originators of the conflict between religion and science. But this ignores earlier assaults from the side of institutional religion, such as the mid-17th century prosecution of Galileo. Fortunately, readers of The Urantia Book have no reason to argue the point or attempt to apportion blame. To the contrary, we must concentrate on making peace.
The Midwayers emphasize:
In reality, true religion cannot become involved in any controversy with science; it is in no way concerned with material things. Religion is simply indifferent to, but sympathetic with, science, while it supremely concerns itself with the scientist UB 195:6.2
This sympathy for science and concern with the scientist provide half the resources we need. But how can we persuade colleagues and friends on the other side of the chasm to cease criticizing religion from “scientific” perspectives? We can staht by understanding this antagonism as an accident of social development over the last few centuries: It is neither a mathematical axiom nor a phenomenon of nature. The Midwayers assure us that science need not challenge religion:
Science should do for man materially what religion does for him spiritually: extend the horizon of life and enlarge his personality. True science can have no lasting quarrel with true religion. The “scientific method” is merely an intellectual yardstick wherewith to measure material adventures and physical achievements. But being material and wholly intellectual, it is utterly useless in the evaluation of spiritual realities and religious experiences UB 195:7.2.
In constructing an imaginative approach that harmonizes and unifies all dimensions of the revelators’ teachings, we should welcome science’s practical value, as well as its key contributions to a balanced appraisal of the full range of human experience. A Melchizedek of Nebadon stresses how science, religion, revelation, and philosophy work together for our overall benefit:
The science of the material world enables man to control, and to some extent dominate, his physical environment. The religion of the spiritual experience is the source of the fraternity impulse which enables men to live together in the complexities of the civilization of a scientific age. Metaphysics, but more certainly revelation, affords a common meeting ground for the discoveries of both science and religion and makes possible the human attempt logically to correlate these separate but interdependent domains of thought into a wellbalanced philosophy of scientific stability and religious certainty. UB 103:7.9
Science discovers the material world, religion evaluates it, and philosophy endeavors to interpret its meanings while co-ordinating the scientific material viewpoint with the religious spiritual concept. UB 103:7.15
On mindal levels, the overall growth of humanity is closely connected with the achievements of science. In Paper 42, “Energy-Mind and Matter,” a Mighty Messenger states: The ability of the mortal intellect to conceive, design, and create automatic mechanisms demonstrates the superior, creative, and purposive qualities of man’s mind as the dominant influence on the planet 483.1. He then proceeds to declare:
Mind always reaches out towards:
1. Creation of material mechanisms.
2. Discovery of hidden mysteries.
3. Exploration of remote situations.
4. Formulation of mental systems.
5. Attainment of wisdom goals.
6. Achievement of spirit levels.
7. The accomplishment of divine destiniessupreme, ultimate, and absolute[UB 42:12.1-8].
Science unquestionably dominates the first three of these activities, and we can expect it to make significant contributions to three of the other four (i.e., numbers 4,5 , and 7 ). This pattern will also apply to the ascendant life, during which science, religion, and philosophy will continue to stimulate us and reinforce each other. On 103:7.3-4 of The Urantia Book, a Melchizedek declares:
But as ascending man reaches inward and Paradiseward for the God experience, he will likewise be reaching outward and spaceward for an energy understanding of the material cosmos. The progression of science is not limited to the terrestrial life of man; his universe and superuniverse ascension experience will to no small degree be the study of energy transmutation and material metamorphosis. God is spirit, but Deity is unity, and the unity of Deity not only embraces the spiritual values of the Universal Father and the Eternal Son but is also cognizant of the energy facts of the Universal Controller and the Isle of Paradise, while these two phases of universal reality are perfectly correlated in the mind relationships of the Conjoint Actor and unified on the finite level in the emerging Deity of the Supreme Being.
The union of the scientific attitude and the religious insight by the mediation of experiential philosophy is part of man’s long Paradise-ascension experience. The approximations of mathematics and the certainties of insight will always require the harmonizing function of mind logic on all levels of experience short of the maximum attainment of the Supreme. UB 103:7.3-4
On our planet Urantia in the flickering final months of the 20 th century, long-cherished resentments continue to nourish illusions that prevent reconciliation between religion and science. As a first step, both sides must abandon arrogance and cultivate humility. Fortunately, there are certain emerging realities which seem to hint at that:
Although all such initiatives have significant benefits, they treat religion and science as intellectual abstractions bereft of energy, activity, and life. This is deeply unfortunate, for both science and religion are living quests that seek to explore and interpret the unknown. A Universal Censor tells us:
_In human self-consciousness four universe-reality realizations are latent and inherent:
1. The quest for knowledge, the logic of science.
2. The quest for moral values, the sense of duty.
3. The quest for spiritual values, the religious experience.
4. The quest for personality values, the ability to recognize the reality of God as a personality and the concurrent realization of our fraternal relationship with fellow personalities. [UB 16:9.9-13].
In reaching out to scientists and other citizens of Urantia who tend to approach life from a scientific viewpoint, we must show them we understand that the first quest is inextricably linked to the others and essential to the unity of human experience. We must emphasize our high regard for the contributions of science to the advance of humanity. We must show interest in and sympathy for the activities of science — the work scientists actually do. If we thus link arms with scientists and give them ample opportunity to develop increased tolerance for characteristics of ours that may seem strange to them, perhaps they will someday see us as partners in their search for a better world.