© 2005 Sara Blackstock
© 2005 The Urantia Book Fellowship
| Journey to India: Legacy of the Sethite Teachers | Volume 6, Number 1, 2005 (Summer) — Index | Legacy in Peril: Children and the Urantia Community |
(Editor’s Note: All words in bold print indicate emphasis by the author.)
I bow to one of the corrections of the younger generation! In chatting with some of the young adults of our “community” in preparation for this article, it was strongly suggested by one outspoken and clear-headed young man that we should be using the term “community” instead of “movement.” I heartedly agreed and immediately changed my phraseology, even though I have used “movement” for the last thirty or so years of being involved in “it.”
So my first thought as I write this article is “listen to the young ones, take them seriously, and be willing to change.” However, the wisdom of the “older ones” must be joined with the forward push of the “younger ones,” and herein lies the fascinating dance of the exchange of ideas, ideals, and experience. A few of the younger generation and the older generation have been kind enough to send me their thoughts regarding the future of the Urantia community. And then I will give you my thoughts on two subjects which can affect the future of our Urantia community:
When I asked some young adults to share their candid thoughts of the future of the Urantia community with me, they did and here are a few of their insights which, if we listen with “big ears,” may give our community a feeling of our future from their perspective.
FROM JACOB DIX: “The young Jesusonian adults are, above all, friends. We strive to understand each other; we are highly focused on fellowship and our commitment to support each other. Unity is a constant concern and we strive to maintain a collective attitude of united spirit. Friendship is the highest priority, and it will remain so. People will know that we have been with the Master when they see how we love one another. I think that our mutual loving-kindness is the primary means by which we will win souls into the kingdom. The youth are becoming increasingly aware of a keen competition for their membership in the ranks of these gray-haired organizations. One of the greatest challenges I see for the young adults is recognition of its importance. Yet the clamor of adults for young members only drive us away so long as there is a lack of cooperation of adults themselves throughout ALL organizations, not to mention among individuals and organizations they belong to. Our unity will keep us from joining devisive individuals. Every young Urantia reader has in mind to bring a higher idea of family, community, and loyalty to the table of those relationship groups they build and are a part of.”
The following words of the Master seem to be of great meaning personally to all ages:
. . . You shall love one another with a new and startling affection, even as I have loved you. You will serve mankind with a new and amazing devotion, even as I have served you. And when men see you so love them, they will perceive that you have become faith-fellows of the kingdom of heaven, and they will follow after the Spirit of Truth which they see in your lives, to the finding of eternal salvation. [UB 191:6.2]
FROM STEENA MARIGOLD: “When I read The Urantia Book with my friends, most of the time I don’t really think of it as a movement. I’m not in it for anything other than to discover about God and my life path with others who want to do the same. I think people need more truth in their lives. …Can we make a difference? Yes, I think so, but I don’t know how to make oceans part or anything of that magnitude. Then again when the time’s right I wouldn’t rule it out. But I just think most of God’s work isn’t glamorous as all that. It’s about doing your life with as good attitude as you can muster up with patience and knowing that it works out in the end. I am eternally and completely loved, valued, and accepted. So I just live up to that, remember it, and see others the way I know God sees me and doing that almost makes everything else easy.”
One young man, Joseph, from Pointe Noire Republic of Congo has as his dream of helping the world to know The Urantia Book a video game creation with a Master Universe simulation. “This could help more persons, mainly the young, to catch easily this cosmological concept of reality.”
The young adult readers who attended the World Parliament of Religions found joy in their international connections with each other.
NAMUKALE KALIWANDA and CHITA NONDE from Zambia share some of their thoughts brought on by the powerful ex-periences they had at the World Parliament of Religions this past summer of 2004. Namukale was in awe of her interfaith experience of other religions: “It is amazing how people can come together and cooperate in various activities, regardless of difference in religions, faiths, beliefs and life styles. The Urantia Book gives a great account of all religions. The parliament gave me an opportunity to encounter these religions.” Chita’s first-hand experience of connecting with other readers was expressed with joy: “Thank you for your love and cheerfulness of all The Urantia Book readers, including the Spaniards. Truly love is, will, and forever be the universal language. Thanks to all who made it possible for me and my friend to have such immeasurable experiences; we were a brotherhood.” Chita also said: “Life is but a day’s work; do it well. We need to live the religion of Jesus—have personal experience, not the traditions—and this will make us reveal the revelations to others. I have experienced this before.”
MICHAEL MACISAAC has traveled widely, organizing tours of young people, helping them to connect with each other, forming lasting friendships. When I asked him to share his thoughts about the future of the Urantia community, he found it hard to generalize about the younger generation or readers. “I find a whole spectrum of folks. The people I am closest with are generally the ones who have been the most active in going to conferences and traveling together and those who have shown the most interest in fellowshipping with other young adult readers. One generalization that can be made is that the younger generation folks have been generally aloof from getting involved in politics. On the other hand, it might just be a general tendency not to get involved in anything. I hope that our generation can ‘take the torch’ someday as an undivided family of readers. How this might work I don’t know. But it seems that if we follow too closely in the patterns and footsteps of our elders that we will end up in the same boat that they are in. Many of us hope to have families and children, strong and loving ones which are representative of The Urantia Book teachings. Some of us have discussed many times over the years how great it would be if we end up moving to the same area so that we can be closer to each other and work together to create a high culture for our future children who can play together.” Mike has found over the years that: “…there are just many degrees of devotion to the revelation and desire to do something together or at least fellowship.”
PRADHANA FUCHS from Chile shares the following thoughts: “I feel that the importance of The Urantia Book for the future of humanity is mighty. The importance of it is in the teachings that are a gift for the understanding of men. And youths will be able to harvest the sacred fruits for their nourishment. They tell us in the book that the apostles of Michael couldn’t understand some of his teachings but other generations on earth will. I just can say to the youth that what the book gives us is something for living. It is something that lights our acts day by day. If it is just a book that when it is closed stays trapped in its pages, that will be the sign that we are not the waited generation. So I invite you to go out through life and celebrate in our acts the teachings that have been given to us as blessings in our beautiful blue book, to share our visions of the spirit in a purest way is a will of God.”
And a few thoughts from some of the “older ones”: MEREDITH SPRUNGER said: “Obviously, unless we can interest young people in the Fifth Epochal Revelation the Urantia movement will not grow. When I discovered The Urantia Book in 1955, I realized that the best way to introduce young people to The Urantia Book was to find college-age people who were oriented toward philosophy and science. So I accepted a position at Indiana Institute of Technology in Fort Wayne, teaching in the areas of philosophy and psychology. Here I introduced hundreds of students in philosophy classes to The Urantia Book. Many of them became quite interested and are solid members in the Urantia movement today. I still think that colleges and universities are the best places to introduce young people to the teachings of the book. Young people who are leaders are the most effective people to introduce other young people to the book.”
LINDA AND BOB BUSELLI raised two children who have both embraced The Urantia Book and its teachings. She feels: “Perhaps the most important factor may have been our own total immersion in the movement. Both of the children attended their first Urantia meeting before they were three weeks old. We had study groups in our home all the time they were growing up; and until they were 10 or 11 years old, the word “vacation” was synonymous with “Urantia conference”. They still have vivid memories of their Thought Adjuster parties which were staged and attended by the entire study group. Their feeling of belonging is vital. It is important that our young people be included from early childhood.”
PAUL AND MARY SNIDER raised five children, all of whom read The Urantia Book, along with two of their grandchildren. Paul is writing “from the top of his head” in response to my plea for his thoughts on the future of the Urantia community: “Our youth will become the fathers and mothers of the next stage of evolution of these wonderful teachings into the world community. As the tree is bent, so grows the branch. How are we helping those who are young among us to learn the value of spiritual community, the value of each individual personally in this immense jigsaw puzzle of creation, the value of real deep down loyalty to truth and beauty and goodness in the individual expressions of each moment of daily living. All of us who have put on a few years know that the young among us hunger mightily for leadership to help them find a sure-footed way forward through the mysteries and perils and opportunities of this strangely polarized world we have inherited. The Father in heaven leads with an elegant grace. The Master leads with a majestic whisper. What do we add with our little voices to the beautiful symphony that is already unfolding around us and within us. The main thing that comes to mind when I think of our young is that each one is the hope of the world, a precious treasure of possibilities and potentials. Each new person who discovers the thrill of God becomes one more beacon of light helping others through the confusions of the age. The next fifty years will be crucial in the evolution of our movement. We have to find the inspired and courageous and selfless leadership to bring us together into a true community. Each of us is a Talent to be used in the service of the Master. In his Alexandrean appearance the Master told us to love each other with a new and startling affection, to serve humankind with a new and amazing devotion. In his last spoken prayer on the Mount of Olives he asked that his followers would be as one, even as he and the Father are one. These were not casual remarks. These were marching orders for the soldiers of the circles. I continue to pray that all of us, young and old alike, will have the courage and the fortitude and the perseverance to haul in for the long and difficult and fascinating struggle forward as we continue in the second greatest adventure of all time. As Louis Armstrong sang so beautifully, it’s a wonderful world.”
I must add that if there was enough time and space, there are at least twenty-five or thirty other readers who have successfully parented children within our community whose thoughts and experiences I could have tapped. Forgive me for not getting to you. Let’s create a time in the near future for further sharing.
Have you ever noticed how a baby’s eyes will follow you when you are in the stores? They are usually sitting in a contraption, strapped in so they won’t fall out, relatively immobile, yet their eyes are moving, searching, and then they latch onto yours for a split second. If you smile or play or play peek-a-boo you may be rewarded with a smile back. Have you also noticed how children of almost any age are listening the hardest when you are speaking the quietest? When we really wanted our son to hear something, my husband and I would talk very quietly and you could almost see his ears grow big. They are also adept eavesdroppers on adult conversations, or what adults do when they think the kids are in bed. I have been privy to several such sharings: “When my mom thinks I am asleep, I come out of my room very, very quietly and sit on the stairs and listen to them talk.” I am constantly surprised as the kids at my daycare center share candidly their observations of their parents. The parents might be shocked to know how sneaky and interested their kids are in their doings. Isn’t it funny that when we talk directly to them, they almost shut us off, unless we have learned to become very adept at talking “so children will listen,” and “listening so they will talk.” The purpose for sharing these observations is not to show up the sneakiness of children, but to point out that they are watching us, listening to us, observing what we are doing, how we are doing it, and probably more important, WHY we are doing it.
Conscious parenting–conscious living–conscious loving, is realizing we are not parenting for the next moment of a child’s wants, nor even for the next day, nor the next ten years, but for their whole mortal life:
The child’s subsequent life is made happy or unhappy, easy or difficult, in accordance with his early mental and emotional life, conditioned by these social and spiritual relationships of the home. A human being’s entire afterlife is enormously influenced by what happens during the first few years of existence. [UB 177:2.5]
Of course we are far from perfect, even using the best tools given us. We make numerous mistakes. Not to worry. Children get a kick out of seeing us making mistakes; they will use them for all they are worth and if we have a healthy psychology and ego, then we can laugh with them as we admit we were caught in a lie to Aunt Susie that we were “sick.” A great deal can be gained by being honest about our mistakes and encouraging discussions about them, and asking them what they would do.
When they are small they live quite easily in the microcosm of the present moment. And that is why awareness of the habit patterns we develop in our families is so important. Stephen Covey, author of the book used in corporate training for effective individuals, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, has also written one just for families: The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Families. Although it is quite dense with valuable suggestions, it is well worth the time for it lays out how to develop effective family habits. The first habit Covey talks about is to BE PROACTIVE—“the ability to act based on principles and values rather than reacting based on emotion or circumstance.” (Pg. 29) Covey goes on to say that in order to be proactive we have been given four gifts unique to humans which animals do not posses: self-awareness, conscience, imagination, and independent will. Does this sound like an extension of what we have read in The Urantia Book? I give this as just one example of many excellent guides we have been given for developing an excellent family life.
Children take it all in; they are reading us on many levels. What they are really getting on a deep, deep level is our loyalties: “Children are permanently impressed only by the loyalties of their adult associates; precept or even example is not lastingly influential.” [UB 100:1.4] And in paper 196 we are given a list of five sacred human loyalties: “. . .personal honor, family love, religious obligation, social duty, and economic necessity.” [UB 196:0.7] It appears that these are the loyalties youth will respond to. We could use this list as an evaluating tool of our own family lives.
The 7th habit necessary to developing a healthy and strong family life Covey calls SHARPENING THE SAW—“attending regularly and consistently to renewal in all four dimensions of life: physical, social/emotional, mental and spiritual.” (pg. 278) The spiritual dimension of this personal renewal we know to be spending time in our personal relationship with God. This is the essential foundation for building a dynamic home life based on truth, beauty, and goodness because it is the foundation for creating and maintaining an unassailable inner life, and the day goes from there.
We are helping our children to develop their value structure as we LIVE ours. So let’s get really good at consciously taking the intellectually exciting phrases we read from The Urantia Book and grounding them into our daily microcosm, because our children are watching and listening and evaluating and forming their world view, their values, their habits, and their loyalties. And they may or may not choose to become part of our Urantia community, but perhaps even more important is that they are given a healthy psychological, emotional and spiritual foundation upon which to build their lives and live as loving people.
Encouraging and allowing developmentally appropriate and experiential spiritual growth was brought into focus for me when a rabid Urantia reader father told me he sat his kids down every night and read to them starting from the beginning of the book. If we are into our agenda, we can make this mistake often. One word for it in the professional world of education is “adultism” …forcing adult concepts or ways on children. We must think about how a baby, child, or teenager will respond to something we do which we might enjoy, but may have no meaning whatsoever to them, or will be so abstract as to not connect with anything in their experience. What, how, and why we teach must be attractive and relevant to their life. When parents ask me how they can teach their children about God, my first answer usually has to do with fire. A new baby’s eyes will be riveted on a candle for many moments; a toddler will want to come close to the candle and will consider it a privilege to blow it out; a teenager will love to light the family candle. Fire can represent the Light of God. So a developmentally appropriate activity for any age would be to light a candle and thank God for His Light which dwells within. “The quickest way for a tadpole to become a frog is to live loyally each moment as a tadpole.” [UB 100:1.4] In fact taking your children and youth out to find tadpoles in nature could be conducive to worship: “The child should be introduced to worship in nature’s outdoors.” [UB 167:6.6] Children experience awe when in the presence of storms, mountains, tall trees, huge rocks, oceans, beautiful flowers, and rainbows.
There are some Urantia study groups that are providing hands-on relevant experiences for their children. We are looking forward to a curriculum that can be shared. For example, if the lesson has to do with God within, the child takes a lump of clay and molds a form, putting in the middle a beautiful jewel. The clay is hardened and a pendant made so the child can wear it, remembering the unseen jewel inside. Ceremonies are poignant for children. At the past several conferences, a ceremony with candles and certificates have been held to honor those children who have received their Thought Adjusters. And drama can bring many concepts to life. The Jerusalem Marketplace has appeared at the last three conferences and has been traveling in Alaska for the past two summers, giving children a chance to get a feel for what the life and times of Jesus were like with costumes, swords, money changers, and so on. One study group holds an Easter celebration outdoors with the teenagers wearing costumes and reading the Easter story from atop large boulders.
I believe our job is to bring the marvelous stories and great truths of The Urantia Book to life for our youth. We must become good story tellers rather than just read the book to our children. We must find the living metaphors of life’s every day stories and live them with our children, experiencing their wonder with them. Consider some of the philosophical riches mined from a simple game of double solitaire: (1) Play with the hand you have been dealt; (2) Don’t whine over missed opportunities; (3) Don’t stop and wait too long for an opportunity—keep moving; (4) Accept defeat with a smile—it was a game; (5) Win with humility—you might lose next time, and on the metaphors go. The exquisite truths and stories of The Urantia Book must be brought forth from the pages of a “book” into the “books” of our lives.
If we can allow and guide our children to grow their own religion, to experience their own personal relationship with God as their spiritual parent, to desire to live truly, create beauty, and do good because these values have been modeled for them by their community, and because these values are relevant in their own lives, then we have done the best we can to build a foundation for the next generation.
Sara Blackstock is a credentialed teacher and Director of a school-age day care center, working with teachers and families for over thirty years. She is also the coordinator of the Family Life Committee of The Urantia Book Fellowship, and the instigator of the Jerusalem Marketplace. Her main interest lies in working with parents and children to recognize and develop the physical, mental, and spiritual potential of each child through a balanced, relevant, and meaningful atmosphere.
| Journey to India: Legacy of the Sethite Teachers | Volume 6, Number 1, 2005 (Summer) — Index | Legacy in Peril: Children and the Urantia Community |