© 2021 Olga López
© 2021 Urantia Association of Spain
Ibero-American Urantiaton, November 21, 2021
The Urantia Book has redefined many terms and given them new meaning. Among those terms are leader and leadership. Before The Urantia Book, when we read or used these words, we thought of authoritarian and charismatic figures. The history of religions and civilizations in general is full of examples of this type of leader, who grow by nullifying the rest of the group. They are like very tall towers that dwarf the entire landscape around them. They believe they are the group, like King Louis XIV of France when he said, “I am the State.” They do everything possible to ensure that no one stands out more than they do. They don’t take criticism well, which they take as personal attacks. Instead of listening and taking in the group’s thinking, they generate thoughts that the rest must repeat without question.
It is true that this leadership model affirms the importance of the group, but always with the corollary that only the leader is capable of channeling the group’s value. Anyone who criticizes the leader disparages the community they lead, which leads to critics being punished, expelled, or both.
We have seen this shift in Christianity. The first Christian communities had little to do with the rigid, pyramid-like hierarchy in which the Church was organized in later centuries, particularly after it became the official religion of the Roman Empire.
After seeing in the teachings of The Urantia Book the importance given to service in our upward career and the example of ancient leaders from previous revelations, it is clear that we must understand what leadership is about from another perspective. While it is true that both types of leaders have coexisted throughout history (for example, in the Christian Church, we have wonderful examples, such as Francis of Assisi, Teresa of Jesus, and Martin Luther King, to name a few), it is also true that the world needs another kind of leader more than ever. Let’s see what their characteristics are.
We need leaders who serve the group, not the group itself. Leaders who don’t excel at others, but rather help everyone grow alongside them. These are what have been called servant leaders.
Like catalysts, chemicals that make reactions much faster or even possible, servant leaders are true social catalysts. Rather than preventing others from excelling, they are constantly on the lookout within the group to detect who excels and at what, in order to use those abilities for the benefit of all.
Servant leaders work as hard as, or harder than, others. They don’t just give orders, but are the first to roll up their sleeves if the situation demands it. They don’t believe they possess the absolute truth, but listen and learn from other points of view.
And above all, and in the particular case of the community of readers of The Urantia Book, the servant-leaders set an example: they live their lives in accordance with the teachings of the fifth revelation.
Living example is essential: the leader must naturally reflect the values that the book’s teachings exude. That is The Urantia Book’s best introduction to all those who interact with it and are unaware of its existence. We must truly exude a spiritual fragrance, making people feel at ease with us and wonder what has made us live our lives this way.
Here is one of my favorite quotes from Document 195, which challenges us as sincere believers in the fifth epochal revelation, and which calls us to give our best as leaders of a new way of seeing religion, which has the potential to transform our lives and the world in which we live:
Christianity has indeed done a great service for this world, but what is now most needed is Jesus. The world needs to see Jesus living again on earth in the experience of spirit-born mortals who effectively reveal the Master to all men. It is futile to talk about a revival of primitive Christianity; you must go forward from where you find yourselves. Modern culture must become spiritually baptized with a new revelation of Jesus’ life and illuminated with a new understanding of his gospel of eternal salvation. And when Jesus becomes thus lifted up, he will draw all men to himself. Jesus’ disciples should be more than conquerors, even overflowing sources of inspiration and enhanced living to all men. Religion is only an exalted humanism until it is made divine by the discovery of the reality of the presence of God in personal experience. UB 195:10.1
It’s not intended, however, that we should be perfect: we all have the right to have a bad day. But it is true that servant-leaders strive to live up to the teachings, just as the apostles did in their day when the fourth revelation was given in the flesh as Jesus of Nazareth.
One might think that such a leader lacks power and risks being ignored, but this is not the case: he or she possesses the authority that comes from being a living example, an authority that he or she does not claim for himself or herself before others, but rather is recognized and supported by others as representing the vision of the entire group.
In The Urantia Book, we are offered examples of magnificent leaders. In each of the four previous epochal revelations, we have inspirational figures who not only demonstrate moral and spiritual greatness but also work hard to serve others. We also, of course, have counterexamples—figures who show us what a leader should not do.
In the first epochal revelation we have, of course, Van and Amadon, who for millennia and millennia worked tirelessly to elevate the civilization of our world, with the help of thousands of generations of humans of that time. We also have the counterexamples of Lucifer and Caligastia, who precisely sought to impose their views without respecting the free will of the beings in their care.
In the second epochal revelation we have Adam and Eve. Although they made a mistake, they overcame it and dedicated their time on Earth to doing everything possible to save the mission for which they were sent.
In the third epochal revelation we have the example of Machiventa Melchizedek and Abraham: the former a leader of an important celestial order, the Melchizedeks; the latter a notable human leader who helped Melchizedek ensure that the concept of God would not be lost to the world.
In the fourth epochal revelation we have, of course, the magnificent example of Jesus of Nazareth, who has as a counterpoint the counterexamples of the Jewish religious leaders of his time, who also, like the followers of Lucifer’s rebellion, ultimately attacked the free will of Jewish believers and did not hesitate to get rid of Jesus so as not to see their authority questioned.
And at this point, you may be wondering, who are the leaders of the fifth epochal revelation? In this case, unlike the previous revelations, there is no visible authority figure behind it (Caligastia, Adam and Eve, Melchizedek, Jesus of Nazareth); the fifth revelation comes in the form of a book that, moreover, doesn’t have a single author, but rather many different ones. Authors who aren’t even human, whom we can’t see, and who only speak to us through the pages of The Urantia Book.
This important difference leads me to believe that the leaders (and teachers) of the fifth epochal revelation are not a select few, but rather all sincere believers in the book’s teachings are called to be leaders in their respective environments and places of origin. To address the many challenges we face as a civilization, the world needs a different kind of leadership… and organizations.
Of course, leaders are nothing without a group to support them, regardless of the type of organization that group adopts. We tend to conceive of authoritarian leaders as the visible head of an organization whose hierarchy is pyramidal (recall once again the Catholic Church, for example, with the Pope at the top, and cardinals, bishops, and priests at the lower levels). But what kind of organization should have servant leaders as its visible heads?
It’s clear that in this new type of organization, the rank and file plays a much more important role than in hierarchical organizations presided over by authoritative leaders. This is natural, since in this type of organization, all members are important and must be able to express their views.
In the case of the Urantia Book reading community, since there is no such thing as an “official” interpretation of the book, it naturally follows that there are no teachers, scholars, or experts who hold authority over any other reader. This means that the very nature of the community precludes the existence of authoritative leaders of the old style, and it gives us the great opportunity to be part of a movement distinct from institutionalized religions, religious communities, or any other human group to which we might compare ourselves.
As a community of people committed to putting the teachings of The Urantia Book into practice and sharing them with other seekers of Truth, we are pioneers in many ways, which leads us to face a series of challenges:
Those of us who belong to this community of book readers do much more than read the book: we are religious people, that is, for whom religion (understood as a personal experience with God) is a fundamental and omnipresent part of our daily lives.
Does this imply that we should be part of a Church, as the term is understood? Should we create some kind of ritual or group prayer that distinguishes us from other religious groups? In my opinion, no, although it is true that the revelators recognize the importance of rituals and the power of group prayer. To live and spread the teachings of the book, we don’t need a Church, much less a clergy. In a way, we could consider study group meetings and events where readers of The Urantia Book gather (conferences, seminars, etc.) to be our particular religious celebration.
One of the things I particularly like about this community is that we don’t have a name as such, beyond the “Urantia community” or “Urantia Book readers.” We’ve sometimes been called “Urantians,” when that term actually refers to all inhabitants of planet Earth, so it doesn’t really fit who we are as a group. All of those terms fall short for one reason or another, because I believe we are much more than just readers of a book, and anything associated with the word Urantia should refer to planet Earth, rather than the fifth epochal revelation.
This is perhaps the aspect that concerns me most, and even more so at the stage of development we are currently in as a community. Right now, The Urantia Book readership organizations are social groups; that is, they are committed to disseminating the teachings of The Urantia Book, but they do not make decisions regarding aspects related to the preservation of the revelation itself, since the publication, translation, and protection of the book’s text are handled by the Urantia Foundation.
The Urantia Book was published in English in 1955, so the Urantia community has been growing slowly ever since, from the emergence of the Forum through the Urantia Brotherhood to today, where there are two large associations that aspire to integrate the Urantia community: the International Urantia Association and the Urantia Book Fellowship.
In any case, we should not assume that there is no Urantia community outside of these organizations: there is an unknown but significant percentage of people who follow the teachings of The Urantia Book but do not actively belong to either organization or to any national or local association under the umbrella of either. They may belong to a study group, but most of them do not even know other readers of the book (in fact, they may not even be interested).
All of this, along with the absence of hierarchies and authoritative leaders, makes the Urantia community as such somewhat nebulous and ill-defined, which is not a drawback at all if we know how to manage and direct it.
The Urantia community aims to be a global group, present in every country and territory on the planet. Today, this goal is far from being achieved, as many more countries do not have Urantia associations than those that do. Furthermore, with the exception of Urantia Foundation, very few associations have a physical headquarters that serves as a point of reference for all those interested in actively participating in the community.
Fortunately, the Internet has served as a virtual point of reference and contact, making it easier to connect with other readers and leaders in the Urantia community, even though I don’t have a physical address to call. I’ve always believed that the emergence of the Internet was providential in the development of the Urantia community, which, especially in these early years, was very geographically dispersed. There seems no doubt that the community has grown as Internet use became increasingly widespread.
Virtual ties, while valuable, are certainly less strong than those established face-to-face; therefore, it’s a challenge to strengthen these connections in different ways, such as through in-person events that encourage interaction between people. This is a challenge when physical venues are lacking, but due to the very nature of the community, where the work is largely carried out by volunteers, a high level of motivation and a sense of purpose are required.
In this regard, there is no precedent in previous revelations: all were transmitted from person to person, and there were visible leaders who transmitted this revealed knowledge. On the other hand, followers were gathered in communities where they knew each other, in places of worship where they could meet periodically, and in our case, we are dispersed. The great challenge is precisely to come together to create community, and in this regard, the Internet has proven to be a providential tool. Of course, some effort must be devoted to strengthening these bonds, which otherwise would seem too “fluid.”
The fifth epochal revelation is a great opportunity that we cannot squander, that Urantia cannot squander. While it is true that we are human and as such fallible, we have less chance of making mistakes if we draw on the wisdom of our Adjuster on the one hand, and the wisdom of the group on the other.
A while back, I read this quote regarding group dynamics, which I thought was very apt: “When ten people think the same thing, at least one of them isn’t thinking.” This is a luxury we as a Urantia community can’t afford: we must encourage all opinions to be heard and considered, otherwise we’re missing out on new approaches, aspects that weren’t being considered, problems that hadn’t been addressed. Let’s not repeat the pattern of old-fashioned leaders who suppress those who disagree without first listening to what they have to say.
Let’s now review the most important errors that (in my opinion) we run the risk of making, taking the previous revelations as a reference:
Upon such a stage of human society the teachings of Jesus, embraced in the Christian message, were suddenly thrust. (…) This situation meant immediate conflict between the older religious practices and the new Christianized version of Jesus’ message to the world. Such a conflict must result in either decided victory for the new or for the old or in some degree of compromise. History shows that the struggle ended in compromise. Christianity presumed to embrace too much for any one people to assimilate in one or two generations. It was not a simple spiritual appeal, such as Jesus had presented to the souls of men; it early struck a decided attitude on religious rituals, education, magic, medicine, art, literature, law, government, morals, sex regulation, polygamy, and, in limited degree, even slavery. Christianity came not merely as a new religion—something all the Roman Empire and all the Orient were waiting for—but as a new order of human society. And as such a pretension it quickly precipitated the social-moral clash of the ages. UB 195:0.3
It’s clear to me that there can’t (or shouldn’t) be a Urantian Church, nor a Urantian political party (you know what I mean). Of course, believers in the Fifth Revelation can participate in churches or political parties, but always in a personal capacity, as individual believers in their own personal religion.
“You can see for yourselves that the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few…” UB 150:4.1
These words of Jesus have always seemed very appropriate to me to describe the challenge the Urantia community faces in making the teachings of the book known. In my almost 18 years of active involvement in the Urantia community, I have seen many people come and go, some with enormous enthusiasm, but who for one reason or another disappeared from the front lines and were never heard from again.
There are very few people who maintain a lasting commitment to spreading the book’s teachings and building a strong Urantia community. Here I recall the excellent classification of Urantia Association former President Chris Wood’s readers according to their level of commitment. At the bottom of this classification were the ultra-active people, who dedicated a great deal of time and energy to the Urantia community every day.
Most of the time, the burden falls on these ultra-active individuals, and that’s critical to a certain extent, as their absence (due to illness, death, or a general change in personal circumstances) can delay the development of the Urantia community in its sphere of action or, in the worst case, lead to a regression to previous situations. Furthermore, it’s not desirable for these few individuals to become saturated and burned out. Sometimes it’s necessary to take a step back, return to the second row, to recharge and return with renewed vigor.
How many times have we seen study groups disband because the host (or leader) has passed away, fallen ill, or simply had life circumstances that made them unable to maintain the group? And the same can be seen at the national and international levels. We like to think (and indeed we should) that no one is indispensable, but the truth is that sometimes too much responsibility falls on specific individuals, and their absence can jeopardize the mission of spreading the teachings of the book.
Considering that The Urantia Book was published in 1955, and that translations into major languages followed much later (e.g., in Spanish in 1993, in Portuguese in 2007), and that having the book in the language of a specific cultural community is essential for the development of readership (and ultimately, community), it is clear that the Urantia community in Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking countries is only in its early stages. Much essential work remains to be done from the perspective of Urantia organizations:
As my dear friend Carmelo once said, we readers of The Urantia Book, “are chosen, yes, but chosen to work hard.” In that sense, even though the harvest is plentiful and the workers are few, we should not feel overwhelmed. Although we may not yet be very numerous, we should keep in mind that “a social group of human beings working in coordinated harmony represents a force far greater than the sum of its component parts.” UB 133:5.6
Yes, it’s true that there’s still much to be done, but in The Urantia Book we are reminded several times that “with God, all things are possible.” Of all the references, I’m left with this one, which are words of Jesus:
“…much which is impossible to man is not beyond the reach of the Father in heaven; rather should we recognize that with God all things are possible.” UB 163:3.2
In this work of spreading the good news of the fifth revelation, we should not be shy about the word “leader,” because we are not talking about a charismatic or authoritarian leader, but rather about servant leaders. We are talking about serving our fellow human beings in whatever we are best suited to do. It’s about making our talents yield results, and that is achieved through service, service, and more service.
Let us not forget that, ultimately, it is about making God and his infinite love for us known to all those who are confused, depressed, or afraid. Who is not capable of helping those in need?