© 2006 Santiago Rodríguez
© 2006 Urantia Association of Spain
| Luz y Vida — No. 4 — Presentation | Luz y Vida — No. 4 — February 2006 — Index | Friends and Residents on Urantia |
(Last installment)
| Material Workshop | Spiritual Workshop | Our Mind helped by Revelation tries to integrate them into a single reality |
|---|---|---|
| Science tries to identify, analyze and classify the segmented portions of the unlimited cosmos. Science indicates deity as Fact |
Religion captures the idea of the entire cosmos as a whole. Religion visualizes God as a loving personality. |
Philosophy presents the idea of an Absolute. Philosophy tries to identify the material segments of Science, with the concept of the spiritual discernment of the Whole. Where Philosophy does not arrive, Revelation triumphs by affirming that the cosmic circle is universal, eternal, absolute and infinite. The Revelation affirms the unity of the Fact of Science, of the idea of the Absolute of Philosophy, of the spiritual Personality of God of Religion, and also presents this concept as FATHER. |
| Science is only satisfied with first causes. | Religion is only satisfied with a supreme personality. | Philosophy is only satisfied with the Unity of Everything that Exists. Revelation affirms that these three things (first cause, Supreme personality and unity) are one, and that they are all good. |
| In Science, the idea precedes the expression of its realization. | In Religion, the experience of the realization of something always precedes the expression of the idea. | |
| Science pursues knowledge. | Religion is the Love of God. | Philosophy is the search for wisdom. The Hunger for Truth is a revelation that stimulates the Adjuster. It is the Adjuster who grants the feeling of reality to man’s spiritual discernment regarding the cosmos. It is the Adjuster who transmutes the primitive feeling of duty that is also changeable in a faith - higher and more certain belief in the eternal realities of revelation |
| When man approaches the study of the universe from outside, he originates various physical sciences. | When man faces the investigation of the “I” and the universe from within, he originates Theology and Metaphysics. | The two previous approaches to reality are diametrically opposed, the art of philosophy tries to harmonize the various discrepancies that inevitably appear. |
| When man analytically surveys the universe through the material endowments of his physical senses and associated mental perception, the cosmos appears to be mechanical and made of matter-energy. | Religion provides the spiritual point of view and insight into the inner character of human experience. | As both experiences are part of the reality of the universe, neither separately (neither science nor religion) will give a satisfactory account of an adequate understanding of the universal truths and their relationships, if not with the guidance of human Philosophy and the clarification of divine revelation. |
| The science of the material world allows man to control and to some extent dominate his physical environment. | Religion, the spiritual experience, is the source of the impulse to fraternity, which allows men to coexist in the complexities of the civilization of a scientific era. | The Revelation does NOT originate neither a Science nor a Religion; its function is to coordinate both science and religion with the truth of reality. |
Religious desire is the hungry search for divine reality.
The religious experiencea are the acts carried out by the conscience of the person who has found God. Let us remember that finding God in our mortal situation cannot be a unique and definitive fact, it is more an always partial achievement, they are partial and progressive achievements, each time more desirable and desirable, but never definitive and final.
As for the revelation, we must bear in mind that in the worlds of time and space the morontia Mota (or technique available at the morontia level, supermaterial sensitivity to reality, based in part on in the experience of having survived material life in the flesh), which would allow us to discern Goodness, Love and Truth in the phenomena of the material world. We are unaware of the existence of the morontia world, and it would be precisely that approach (mota) that would eliminate all divergence between the findings of the physical and spiritual approaches. The attempt of metaphysics to achieve this perspective has been ineffective. What has proven effective has been Revelation, and above all philosophy, clarified by revelation.
The morontia mota is, therefore, the superphilosophical sensitivity for the discernment of Truth and the perception of Unity.
In this attempt, and given the success achieved in the material workshop, since our mind is the one that has to deal with the two workshops, it tries to apply the same method and the same tools to the spiritual workshop and vice versa, from the spiritual workshop to the material one. This leads us to a multitude of “deceptions”, since what we believed to be a divine matter appears to be explained by science. On the contrary, spiritual issues are not demonstrable with the arguments of science, which leads us to the following situation: if man has had to doubt the existence of any of the workshops, obviously he will doubt the spiritual one, since the We cannot ignore material in the same way; but let us remember that our erroneous approach has led us to this situation, by insisting on using techniques and tools from one workshop to another, denying the existence of the spiritual workshop is a conclusion we reached, it is not a proven fact. In fact, in the mortal state nothing can be absolutely proven; both science and religion are based on assumptions.
At the morontia level the postulates of both science and religion can be partially understood by mota logic. It will be at the spiritual level of maximum state where the need for finite proofs vanishes before the real experience of reality; but even then there is much beyond the finite that remains unchecked.
We have established two phases of Reality and have assimilated them into two workshops.
Undoubtedly, as we are unified beings, we will tend to unify or seek meeting points of the two phases (material and spiritual), and we have our own mind to do so. The tools that we will use to advance in the unification will be the personal wisdom that, with the direction of the Adjuster and fed by a Philosophy clarified by the Revelation, little by little will be transmuting the meanings into values, and will be generating the capacity to correlate the two phases. disparate from reality.
There is a diversified reality, which our mind will be able to unify, when it is firmly aware of the three pillars:
And only the unification of the three pillars on which the two phases of reality rest will produce satisfaction in the person. In the human experience the unification of the two realities is intended by philosophy; but philosophy itself has met with numerous failures: it is the philosophy enlightened by revelation that has proved most effective.
Both types of experiences (interior and exterior) depend on the mind for their correlation and are conditioned to their conscious understanding by the activity of the mind itself. Man experiences matter in his mind, spiritual reality is experienced in the soul, but he becomes aware of that experience in the mind.
Wisdom is consciousness, the recognition of the meanings that the personality carries out.
Religion is the experience of knowing the value of personality.
The Revelation is the security of the survival of the personality.
Revealed Religion is the unifying element of human existence.
We are aware that material feelings and human emotions often lead to material actions, selfish acts. However, religious discernment or spiritual motivations lead to religious actions, that is, to altruistic acts of social service.
Somehow we tend to identify the ego with our “I”, and the will to be altruistic with some influence outside of ourselves: with God, and it is true that all those altruistic desires originate from Adjuster guidance.
But this early and fundamental experience in the mind of a child, which manifests itself as an impulse, has to be balanced. If the personality is not sufficiently unified, this drive can seriously threaten the well-being of the self, leading to a host of conflicts, worries, sorrow, and much unhappiness.
Convictions about God can be reached by wise reasoning, but the individual becomes aware of God only by FAITH, through personal experience. In fact, reason can always doubt FAITH, although Faith can supplement both reason and logic. Thus, although Belief may not be able to resist doubt and face fear, FAITH always triumphs over doubt because Faith is positive and alive, Belief can be stagnant.
In fact, the convincing proof of Faith, of this spiritual certainty, consists in the social fruits of the spirit that believers produce as a result of this genuine spiritual experience.
There is a great contradiction of some scientific thought that dares to dismiss the reality of religious experience and yet persists in admitting that man’s intellectual and philosophical gifts arose from less and less intelligence as we go back in time. originating finally in the primitive life that was totally devoid of thought and feeling. Consistency of ideas would require recognition of the activities of a purposeful Creator.
As a response to every being that doubts, the believer only answers: How do you know that I don’t know?
What is the reason for our stay here, what is the challenge that they have proposed to us, how will we achieve an immortal life? What a job! If it turns out that it is in our hand! It depends only on ourselves! Does it scare us? Let it not be so, the Father knows us well, he knows what we are made of and has provided us with infinite help…
We now have a different awareness of Reality.
The ability to coordinate the three integral and present factors in what we can perceive and feel, whether they come from outside or originate from within ourselves:
We arrive at this coordinated consciousness through Wisdom and Philosophy.
Once the existence of God is admitted, we approach Him from two starting points: the one provided by Evolution and the adjustment made by Revelation.
There is a process of Evolution that tends to make God like man, and there is a Revelation that tends to make Man like God. Because although the reality of God, the law of God, is invariable, God does not change. The Truth of God, which is God’s projection into the universes of time and space, and the relationship with the universe, which is a changing universe, is a relative revelation because it is always adaptable to a continuously evolving universe.
We have a Will, and I am not referring to the will that evolves until it believes in something, but rather the Will that Believes, this belief being the product obtained by enlightened reason through religious discernment and revelation.
This will leads us to the first revealed destiny, which is the arrival before the Universal Father, who is spirit, and its recognition, because although the Deity is more than spirit, the spiritual approach is the only possible one for the ascending man.
Our task is nothing but to make ourselves grow internally, the progression of man in the universe as a pre-spirit consists of the experience of freeing himself from those contents of materialism that contaminate the spiritual concept of the Universal Father, from those erroneous ideas about the nature of God and about the reality of pure and true spirit.
By managing to modify the focus on the deity, ideas and ideals to pursue during our life in the flesh are formed; a task of constant and continuous growth of endless evolution with the objective of constant perfection, which will make our will coincide with the will of the Father.
This awareness of spiritual reality is what will allow us to build our three pillars (things, meanings and values), which will be the basis for achieving what we call Happiness.
It is important to get the tint that allows the meanings to be transformed into values. Thus, human Morality can recognize values, but only religion can preserve, exalt and spiritualize those values. Still, religion is about more than emotionally steeped morality. Religion is to morality what essence is to substance; morality reveals an all-powerful controller, a Deity to serve. Religion reveals an all loving Father, a God to be adored and loved.
Faith translates this natural experience into religion. Religion is nothing but the recognition of God as reality, as source, as nature and as destination of the existence of other minds.
In addition, it allows us an exciting adventure: Faith VOUBNTARILY leads Reason as far as it can go, then continues with Wisdom to the full philosophical limit and finally dares a limitless journey accompanied only by Truth.
The big difference is that this knowledge of God is forever and ever A REALITY OF PERSONAL EXPERIENCE. True Religion is an experience of belief and knowledge as well as a satisfaction of feeling. That is, it is the KEY to HAPPINESS.
To HAPPINESS, to full satisfaction leads the fact of living a full life, and to this full life leads the progressive desire to believe in the assumptions of reason, those of Wisdom and those of Faith. Since, through the truth , man reaches Beauty, and it is true that through spiritual love, man ascends to Goodness. It is precisely this life motivated by Truth and dominated by Love, which will lead us to our final destination. Since Truth and Love are two ideals of objective cosmic reality, their existence cannot be demonstrated in a material way.
The relationship between Creature and Creator is a living experience, a dynamic religious faith that is not subject to a precise definition. The Religionist who achieves philosophical achievement, has faith in a personal God, of personal salvation and who is a God of LOVE. LOVE is the essence of religion and therefore the source of a superior civilization.
Religion being a matter of personal inner experience, it can never develop much more advanced than the intellectual evolution of the races. Then, once again, we have to take into account the intellectual state of each individual, to know what will be the maximum understanding that they will be able to acquire of reality (both physical and spiritual), but what seems evident is that the continued achievement and the Constant improvement is always possible.
Mortal existence must be visualized as formed by the seductive and fascinating experience of the realization of the reality of the encounter between the human longing stretched upwards with the saving and divine hand stretched downwards.
The intellectual mark of religion is certainty; the philosophical characteristic of religion is uniformity; the social fruits are love and service. Religion leads men to serve men, which is why it creates ethics and altruism.
Believers:
The Religious Experience demands from man an incessant activity oriented towards a spiritual growth, towards an intellectual expansion, towards an extension of the facts and towards a social service.
So in some way it is indicating to us that there are a series of life attitudes that may not be as adequate as their practitioners claim… anyway, in a personal experience each one has to know what suits them, although all we can comment…
In addition, it is easy for three possible distortions of perception to occur:
Philosophy must always take into account the elliptical symmetry of reality, it must take into account the essential curvature of all relationship concepts.
The highest Philosophy obtainable by man must be logically based on the Reason of Science, the Faith of Religion and the Discernment of Truth offered by Revelation.
In addition to our mind capable of correlating the wisdom that will allow us to discern the validity and implications of what is revealed and Faith as a driver forward, we have two powerful tools:
“Prayer may enrich life, but Adoration illuminates destiny”
As many religions as ways of understanding life are possible. Conception of religion and state of evolution go hand in hand. Although we cannot judge religion by the state of its accompanying civilization, we can estimate the true nature of a civilization by the purity and nobility of its religion.
We can measure the status of any religion on the scale of evolution by its moral judgments and by its ethical standards, such that the higher the type of religion, the more it is encouraged by an ever-improving social morality and ethical culture.
The differences in the religions of the different ages depend entirely on the difference in man’s understanding of reality and on a variable appreciation of moral values, ethical relationships and spiritual realities.
| Luz y Vida — No. 4 — Presentation | Luz y Vida — No. 4 — February 2006 — Index | Friends and Residents on Urantia |