© 2023 Olga López
© 2023 Urantia Association of Spain
Newsletter of the Urantia Association of Spain
Light and Life — February 2023
¶ In this number
- Editorial – February 2023
- Works – our recommendations of the month
- History and teachings: Chronicle of the life of Jesus
- A Children’s Guide to The Urantia Book: Jesus at Eleven
- Other spiritual growth books
- Video – our recommendation of the month
- Navigating through life – Looking for people
- My favorite paragraph
- Urantia Reflections: Awakening to a New Consciousness (Part One)
- Urantia Questionnaire: Javier Martinez
- UBIS “In Focus” Presentation Series
- About the Light and Life newsletter
¶ Editorial – February 2023
M. José Sánchez Santamaría
The look
«A long time ago, there was a man who decided to move to a new town. Wondering if he would like his new home, he went to consult the local Zen master:
“Master, do you think I would like this new village?” Nice people?
The Zen master asked:
—What were the people like in the town where you come from?
“They were nasty, rabid, and greedy. Some ungrateful gossips who only know how to live their lives deceiving or mistreating others —said the newcomer.
“That’s exactly the kind of people we have in this town,” said the Zen master.
Another newcomer to the village visited the teacher and asked the same question. Again the Zen master asked:
—What were the people like in the town where you come from?
“Respectful and affectionate, they are wonderful and grateful people who live in harmony with each other,” he replied.
“That’s exactly the kind of people we have in this town,” said the Zen master.
How reality changes according to which eyes we see it with, right?
And we, readers of The Urantia Book, with what eyes do we look at reality? Do we have God’s gaze, his focus, his approach to reality? A look that makes present what we have right in front of us, without evasions or screens?
¶ Jobs – our recommendations of the month
Is Orvonton the Milky Way? (Dan Massey)
This brief article is one more contribution to the controversy about what astronomical reality the revelators refer to when they talk about Orvonton, the seventh superuniverse. One must be careful with the words they use, because, as the author says: «The terms “nebula” and “galaxy” seem destined to cause confusion. When man began to catalog the fuzzy patches that he could see in the sky with the naked eye and with simple telescopes, they were called “nebulae,” or “clouds” in Latin. The Milky Way, on the other hand, was visually special and took the specific name of “galaxy”, from “milk” in Greek (…) The meanings associated with words evolve with the growth of information that man has about the world that surrounds you."
Ethical Eugenics (Charles Montgomery)
Eugenics and how to put it into practice in our societies is a controversial subject, and although revelators have emphasized on numerous occasions that mankind must deal with race improvement sooner or later, it is a matter most readers tend to tend to. to tiptoe That is why the exercise of the author of this article is especially interesting, who, in the introduction, tells us: “Some people believe that the insistence of The Urantia Book on eugenics simply reflects the tenor of the times in which it was written, and they wonder if it’s still relevant. Others are sure that it means what it says, and that these ideas are intended to endure. The first question that people often ask is: Who plays God, who decides who reproduces? This is a thorny problem that even The Urantia Book acknowledges: “The difficulty in executing a radical program like this on Urantia consists in the absence of competent judges to decide on the biological fitness or incapacity of individuals of the races of your world.” ” (P.585) But according to the book the problem is not insurmountable”.
Urartu, the Lost Kingdom of Van (Troy R. Bishop)
In this interesting article we are told about the kingdom of Urartu and what was its relationship with Van and his people, combining what we know of the ancient history of that part of the world with the statements of The Urantia Book. Its author tells us: “A casual reading of The Urantia Book might give the impression that Van’s headquarters were primarily in the Lake Van area. Further analysis and comparison of the statements in The Urantia Book indicates, however, that Van’s main headquarters were in the southern foothills of the Kopet Dag, where Adanson later settled. In this sense, The Urantia Book explains that the Vanitas (the first followers of Van) and their descendants later settled on the shores of Lake Van and their later traditions developed around this area."
The Urantia Book in the books of J.J. Benítez (Olga López)
Juan José Benítez, a well-known Spanish ufological researcher, has exposed in many of his books knowledge extracted from The Urantia Book. Some say that a before and after is clearly evident in his work, taking the reading of the book as a turning point. Many might think that this inspiration is only perceived in the Trojan Horses series, but Benítez has exposed many of the book’s contents in many other novels (in some more explicitly than in others). In this article, the author exposes which are the novels by Benítez in which the imprint of the book can be seen very clearly.
The content of the article can also be seen in web page format here.
¶ History and teachings: Chronicle of the life of Jesus
JOURNALISTIC ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE AND TEACHINGS OF JESUS ACCORDING TO THE URANTIA BOOK
We present the following installment of the chronicles of the life of Jesus, which on this occasion contains what the revelators tell us in paper 141 (Public work begins). Inside the PDF you will see a button from where you can access the text of the paper from the Urantia Foundation website.
¶ Children’s Guide to The Urantia Book: Jesus at Eleven
We continue to review the secondary work A Children’s Guide to The Urantia Book, by Mary Livingston. This is the next chapter, dedicated to the time when Jesus was eleven years old, and it begins like this:
“Jesús continued to visit his uncles and sometimes traveled with his father. One of his trips was to a city where Jews could hardly live. In that city there was something like a football stadium called an amphitheatre. People went there to watch competitions. There the men would come to see who could run faster, who would throw heavier weights and who would be the strongest.”
Download the entire chapter in PDF format
¶ Other spiritual growth books
Reaching for the Heights: The Psychology of the Spiritual Life (Marvin Gawryn)
In the words of its author, a veteran reader of The Urantia Book: «For some time I have had the profound privilege of working as an individual and family therapist. I have intimately shared in the pain and confusion, as well as the recovery and spiritual development of many people…I have seen the amazing transformations that take place when people begin to act in partnership with God…My sincere hope is that many people try to achieve the deepest joys of the spiritual life. This book therefore has a practical approach to living a spiritually centered life, undoubtedly influenced by the teachings of The Urantia Book.
¶ Video – our recommendation of the month
¶ The Origin of the Urantia Book (Urantia Association of Spain)
This is a video created by the Orion Project team, which can be seen on the channel of the Urantia Association of Spain. The video can serve very well as a double introduction: first, what is The Urantia Book about and what are the parts that make it up; and second, how the documents that comprise it arrived and who were the people involved in the process of transmitting the information revealed. All this with a high quality of edition and a very careful locution.
¶ Navigating through life – People wanted
Looking for people with little ego
(or have it tamed)
to join a new game
that on the planet has not been played.
Looking for people to whom it is born
give yourself whole without more or more,
altruistic people who please themselves
in giving everything for others.
Looking for people with good manners,
who looks at the other after his role,
because he understands that we are all
golden rays of the same sun.
Looking for people who do not compete,
Let it be your motto “to serve and to love”,
give each brother his nugget
with the joy of giving for giving.
You will be in charge of great tasks:
participate in the construction
of a new world, with his ideas
and pure “vibration shock”.
The pay is good, one of the best!,
and in a guaranteed environment;
never such seductive fees!
have been offered on the market!
In stable form you are assured
(if the performance was effective)
sparkle in the eyes, pure look,
constant joy… and the soul in peace.
If you conform to the foregoing
No appointment required:
All you have to do is say “present!”
¶ My favorite paragraph
Romualdo Soler Gonzalez
A character that fascinates me from The Urantia Book is the young Indian Ganid. I feel very identified with him because I see him being amazed by what he is discovering from his talks with Jesus. I see him make an effort to follow his teachings, some he understands immediately and others are difficult for him. And several of his “conclusions” of these talks are to talk about his fellow men and how he sees that they should be treated. Here are some found from paragraph 131:10.1:
“Though we cannot see God, we can know him. And by daily living the will of the Father in heaven, we can reveal him to our fellow men. (UB 131:10.2)
“. . . I am going to do my best to treat each of my fellow mortals just as I think God would like to have him treated. And when we live this sort of a life in the flesh, we may ask many things of God, and he will give us the desire of our hearts that we may be the better prepared to serve our fellows. (UB 131:10.5)
“Whatsoever I would that men should do to me, that I will do to my fellows. By this new faith I know that man may become the son of God, but it sometimes terrifies me when I stop to think that all men are my brothers, but it must be true. I do not see how I can rejoice in the fatherhood of God while I refuse to accept the brotherhood of man. (UB 131:10.7)
“I will judge not that I may not be unfair to my fellows.” (UB 131:10.8)
This is an excellent way to fulfill the will of the Father: reveal God, see others as your brothers and sisters, treat them with love. And something very important: do not judge your brother or sister. Every human being chooses his life and has plenty of reasons to do so. But those “reasons” are not known to anyone except that particular person and the Heavenly Father.
¶ Urantia Reflections: Awakening to a New Consciousness (Part One)
Eduardo Altuzarra
In this world, many people live with their backs to reality, although they do not stop evolving for a better future. The only difference is that some live between the subconscious and the conscious and others live between the levels of the conscious and the superconscious.
An irremediable and permanent “vibration” spreads throughout Creation, it can become like a faint musical note, like a barely perceptible signal that, however, is audible for the most transcendental part of the human being: the soul. It comes to be like a compendium of sensations, beyond the conscious, that invite you to think and wonder: What will become of me, after this ends? What can I do to be happy? Why am I in this world? Who I am?
That signal can appear at any time, in the course of any event, by observing an image, contemplating nature, during a conversation, during a period of reflection, or perhaps that moment has resonated in us as a kind of echo that has been able to remove our own intuitions; perhaps we have already perceived the musical note that has made us recognize as ours in that cosmic score that is already being interpreted. Perhaps we have found confirmation of what we already know, perhaps we have recognized this moment as our moment, our hour of transformation, our profound change of mind and heart.
When this happens, beyond the brain, in the mind of the human being, in the heart of said being (where the “messages” from the beyond arrive) ideas arrive in search of conscious and coherent thoughts that point towards directions of search. of truth at superconscious levels. A truth accompanied by beauty and goodness that drives the human being to find the facts, the meanings and the values of real life.
The mind that opens to a new idea will never return to its original size.
Albert Einstein
¶ Urantia Questionnaire: Javier Martinez
Javier officially lives in Madrid, although he resides in Almería for most of the year. He is a retired civil servant and technical telecommunications engineer. Divorced, he has been living with his current partner for more than 18 years. He has two children, and three from his current partner. He spends a lot of time collaborating with other groups reading the book (ICSS Group, Colombia, Toronto, Brazil and Spain). He also collaborates with the Ágora 2.0 group and manages a Facebook platform called “Deciphering Urantia.”
- How did you get to The Urantia Book and why do you think you found it?
I came to the book through reading J.J.'s Trojan Horses. Benítez, through a small indication in the prologue of the book El testamento de san Juan.
After a permanent search to try to learn more about the life of Jesus of Nazareth, I came across this prodigious document that satisfied most of the existential questions that I had asked myself in my life. It was a turning point in relation to my search.
- What was your first impression when reading it?
Initially I read it as if it were a fictional novel. I started with the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, later I began to read the Prologue and other documents. Something shot inside of me, since I could not stop reading until the end of the entire book. Initially I considered it more related to the theories of the New Age and of a sectarian nature. My appreciation was changing with the certainty of the reflections that were described there. I have read the entire book more than 5 times.
¶ UBIS “In Spotlight” Presentation Series
The Urantia Book International School (UBIS) begins this year a cycle of “In the Spotlight” webinars related to The Urantia Book or community of readers topics.
In Spanish, the sessions will last between 60 and 90 minutes, and will be held one Saturday a month at 6 pm (Madrid, Paris, Rome time). The presenter will give an introductory presentation on the topic in question, after which there will be an opportunity for attendees to participate in a debate.
This is the presentation scheduled for the month of February:
Title: Self-control as a measure of spiritual progress
Presents: Olga López Molina
Day: Saturday February 11
Time: 6:00 p.m. CET (Madrid, Paris, Rome)
Zoom Room: https://urantia-org.zoom.us/j/4457962840
We wait for you!
¶ About the Light and Life newsletter
Light and Life is the newsletter of the Urantia Association of Spain. From 2005 to 2016 it was published in PDF format and distributed by mail and email to the association’s reader list, but it is currently distributed in newsletter format from content in HTML format.
If you want to receive the newsletter in your email, contact the association to subscribe to the mailing list.
All papers and news from readers and study groups are welcome, so if you want to share any side work, writing, outline, image, etc., you can send it to the association and we will publish it previous evaluation of its suitability. Likewise, the Communication commission of the board of directors of the Urantia Association of Spain reserves the right to edit it so that it meets minimum spelling quality.
¶ References
- Article of the Magazine Light and Life Online: https://aue.urantia-association.org/newsletter/luz-y-vida-febrero-2023/