© 2024 Olga López
© 2024 Urantia Association of Spain
Urantia Association of Spain Newsletter
Light and Life — June 2024
¶ In this issue
- Editorial – June 2024 — M. José Sánchez Santamaría
- Works – our recommendations of the month
- History and teachings: Chronicle of the life of Jesus
- Guide to The Urantia Book for children: Jesus at age 19
- Other books on spiritual growth
- Recommended audio
- Navigating through life: The chained elephant
- My favorite paragraph — Sebastián Nozzi
- Urantian Questionnaire — Romualdo Soler González
- UBIS «In the Spotlight» Presentation Series
¶ Editorial – June 2024 — M. José Sánchez Santamaría
The hidden wisdom of God
Dear friends, readers of the Luz y Vida newsletter: welcome everyone, one more month, to this space to analyze, debate, disseminate and share the extensive teachings of the blue book.
In the June newsletter you will find a small “banquet” with such a diversity of “food” that we hope you can enjoy it throughout this month. We have four interesting works that will make us reflect and open our minds more:
- Questions and answers to the comments on the Prologue, a work by Bill Sadler.
- True religion, by Olga López
- Advertising and The Urantia Book, by Jeffrey Wattles
- Creation according to The Urantia Book, a study by Juan Pomares.
- We continue with the story in journalistic format of the life of Jesus, “Chronicle of the life of Jesus” (document 156)
- The Guide to The Urantia Book for children reaches when Jesus was 19 years old
- We recommend a book of spiritual growth: Wake up, by the Indian priest Anthony de Mello.
- Recommended audio: Reflections on the parable of the mustard seed (from the “Light and Life” space on Radio Urantia)
- Poetry and reflection visit us in the section “Navigating through life”,with the short story “The Chained Elephant”
- This month Sebastián Nozzi speaks to us in “My Favorite Paragraph.”
- Romualdo Soler González, from the Málaga study group, answers the Urantian questionnaire.
- We remind you that we are closer to meeting in person at the XX Meeting of readers of The Urantia Book in Spain, in Toledo.
- Víctor García will present “The concept of education in The Urantia Book” in the “In the spotlight” series of presentations at UBIS.
¶ Works – our recommendations of the month
Questions and Answers to the Comments on the Foreword (Bill Sadler)
On the Urantia Foundation website we found this transcription of one of the talks that Bill Sadler gave to a study group, in which there is a lively dialogue between him and the attendees about concepts and entities that appear in the Prologue, in a very simple and colloquial language, with comparisons of daily life that can be very useful to us when it comes to understanding at least the most basic aspects of the Absolutes and the levels of reality.
La verdadera religión (Olga López)
One of the most important concepts of The Urantia Book is undoubtedly that of religion, true religion. Not the religion that we inevitably associate with churches, dogmas and rituals, but the religion that is the product of our personal experience. True religion is one that truly elevates our spirit, and does not chain it with useless dogmas and rituals. The best religion is personal experience, one’s own faith. This work is about that, about delving into the concept of personal religion.
Advertising and The Urantia Book (Jeffrey Wattles)
The author begins this paper: “Recognizing The Urantia Book as a wonderful gift, it is natural that we want to share it with others. The book brings good news—the gospel, the fatherhood of God, and the brotherhood of man—in a way that is ideal in many ways. We are called to proclaim the gospel to the entire world, but should we do the same with The Urantia Book? Some speak of intensive promotion of the book, while others adhere to the tradition of a slow, gradual approach. Can we find any guidance in the book?” The following answers typical concerns among readers.
La creación según El Libro de Urantia (Juan Pomares)
It is always good to have an outline to understand the basic concepts of The Urantia Book, and having an overview of all creation is very useful when we have so many celestial beings and administrative units involved. We recommend this work as a useful aid to readers; it includes two tables: one for the central universe and one for the master universe.
¶ History and Teachings: A Chronicle of the Life of Jesus
JOURNALISTIC ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE AND TEACHINGS OF JESUS ACCORDING TO THE URANTIA BOOK
We present to you the next installment of the chronicles of the life of Jesus, which on this occasion contains what the revelators tell us in document 156 (The stay in Tyre and Sidon). Inside the PDF you will see a button from which you can access the text of the document from the Urantia Foundation website.
¶ A Children’s Guide to The Urantia Book: Jesus at Age 19
We continue our review of the secondary work A Child’s Guide to The Urantia Book by Mary Livingston. This is the next chapter, which deals with the events of Jesus’ life after he took his brother James to Jerusalem, and it begins:
“Jesus went back to work at the caravan shop. He fixed things made of wood and leather. He was happy to be back in the store where he had been for four years. There he had the opportunity to see people from all over the region again. He really loved people.”
Download the full chapter in PDF format
¶ Other books on spiritual growth
Despierta (Anthony de Mello)
The heart of Anthony de Mello’s successful spiritual message is consciousness. De Mello’s words of hope, which combine (as no one else has managed) Christian spirituality with Buddhist parables, Hindu breathing exercises and a deep understanding of human psychology, come together in a great synthesis in this work.
De Mello seduces and challenges us in these brief chapters, which are ideal for reading in quiet moments, at home or in the office, and in them he points out that we must leave this illusory world in which we are always running, and become aware. And this only happens, he insists, by being attentive to the needs and potential of others in all areas of our relationships.
We present a masterpiece of spirituality, a work that especially encourages us to awaken in all aspects of our lives.
¶ Recommended audio
Reflections on the parable of the mustard seed, by Olga López (Radio Urantia’s “Light and Life” Space)
Jesus’ parables do not have a single interpretation, but rather serve to evoke in us elevated images and ideas, and help us discern how to progress spiritually. That is the great power of using parables: to draw parallels between the material world, which we know so well, and the spiritual world,that we know less about, in order to better understand the latter.
The parable of the mustard seed is one of the best known parables used by Jesus when referring to the development of the kingdom of heaven in the hearts of men. If there is one idea that stands out above all others when reading about this parable, it is that of progress, evolution. The kingdom of heaven, the realization of the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of men, is a process that develops gradually, which is born like a small seed that must be cared for so that it can grow and bear fruit.
¶ Navigating through life: The chained elephant
When I was a kid I loved circuses, and what I liked most about circuses were the animals. I, like others, as I later found out, was drawn to the elephant.
During the performance, the enormous beast displayed its weight, size and enormous strength… but after its performance and until a while before returning to the stage, the elephant was held only by a chain that imprisoned one of its legs to a small stake driven into the ground. However, the stake was only a tiny piece of wood barely buried a few centimeters in the ground.
And although the chain was thick and powerful, it seemed obvious to me that an animal capable of uprooting a tree with its own strength could easily tear out the stake and escape. The mystery is obvious: What keeps it going? Why doesn’t it run away?
When I was five or six years old, I still trusted in the wisdom of the elders. I then asked some teacher, some father or some uncle about the mystery of the elephant. Some of them explained to me that the elephant doesn’t run away because it is trained. I then asked the obvious question: if it is trained, why do they chain it? I don’t remember having received any coherent answer.
Over time I forgot about the mystery of the elephant and the stake… and only remembered it when I met others who had also asked themselves the same question. A few years ago I discovered that, luckily for me, someone had been wise enough to find the answer: the circus elephant does not escape because it has been attached to a similar stake since it was very, very small. I closed my eyes and imagined the little newborn attached to the stake. I am sure that at that moment the little elephant pushed, pulled, sweated, trying to free itself. And despite all its efforts, it could not.
The stake was certainly very strong for him. I would swear that he fell asleep exhausted, and that the next day he tried again, and the next and the next… Until one day, a terrible day in his history, the animal accepted his impotence and resigned himself to his fate. This huge and powerful elephant, that we see in the circus, does not escape because he believes (poor thing) that he cannot. He has a record and memory of his impotence, of that impotence that he felt shortly after being born. And the worst thing is that he has never seriously questioned that record again. He never… never… tried to test his strength again.
(Jorge Bucay)
¶ My Favorite Paragraph — Sebastian Nozzi
It was not an easy task for me to decide on just one favorite paragraph from The Urantia Book. This book is so full of wisdom and inspiring paragraphs! However, after thinking, reflecting, and above all asking the Father for an answer, I realized that there is a story that I return to again and again. This story never fails to fill me with satisfaction, inspiration, and hope. And it is that of the “young man who was afraid” (UB 130:6). This interaction takes place, recall, while Jesus is “on his way to Rome” (doc. 130), prior to his public work, and illustrates one of the many times he “did good” “while passing through” (UB 171:7.9).
Since I have to choose a paragraph, let me share the first one in which Jesus begins to assist the young man with his hopeful words:
¶ Urantian Questionnaire — Romualdo Soler González
I am Romualdo Soler González, I live in Nerja (Málaga). I am a Linux systems administrator, some days I work in our offices in Malaga and other days I work remotely from home. I am divorced, I have a 20 year old daughter who lives with my mother and brother in Malaga, where she studies Mechanics. I have been in a new relationship for years and both she and I like to go for long walks, meet up with friends, travel, read, meditate, watch good movies and eat good food.
I am passionate about the history of the different peoples of this planet, about electronics and computing, and for a little over a year now about Artificial Intelligence, with which I am learning to work and, by extension, to live.
1. How did you find The Urantia Book and why do you think you found it?
I found The Urantia Book through a download link for the book itself on the Internet. I didn’t know about its existence, no one had told me about it or had I heard about it anywhere; but since I am a seeker of God, I told myself that if God is everywhere, He must also be on the Internet. And one day, searching for writings about God on that global network, I found The Urantia Book.
¶ UBIS «In the Spotlight» Presentation Series
The Urantia Book International School (UBIS) offers a series of «In the Spotlight» webinars related to topics from The Urantia Book_ or the community of readers.
In Spanish, sessions last between 60 and 90 minutes and are held one Saturday per month at 6 pm (Madrid, Paris, Rome time). The presenter gives an introductory presentation on the topic in question, after which there is an opportunity for attendees to participate in a discussion.
Here is the presentation scheduled for June:
Day: Saturday, June 8
Time: 6:00 p.m. CEST (Madrid, Paris, Rome)
Title: The Concept of Education in The Urantia Book
Presenter: Víctor García Bory
Zoom room: https://urantia-org.zoom.us/j/5136302555
Presentations will resume in October. We will keep you informed!
¶ About the Luz y Vida Newsletter
Luz y Vida is the newsletter of the Urantia Association of Spain. From 2005 to 2016 it was published in PDF format and distributed by post and email to the association’s reader list, but is currently distributed in newsletter format from HTML content.
If you wish to receive the newsletter in your email,contact the association to be added to the recipient list.
All work and news from readers and study groups are welcome, so if you wish to share any secondary work, writing, outline, image, etc., you can send it to the association and we will publish it after evaluating its suitability. Likewise, the Communications Committee of the board of directors of the Urantia Association of Spain reserves the right to edit it to ensure it meets minimum spelling quality standards.
¶ References
- Index of the magazine “Luz y Vida” of the Association of Spain
- This article from the magazine “Luz y Vida Online”
- Index of the magazine “Luz y Vida Online”