© 2024 Sebastián Nozzi
© 2024 Urantia Association of Spain
| Luz y Vida — June 2024 — Editorial | Luz y Vida — June 2024 | Urantia Questionnaire: Romualdo Soler González |
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 happens, remember, while Jesus is “on the way to Rome” (doc. 130), before his public work, and illustrates one of the many times in which he “did good” “while passing through” (UB 171:7.9).
Since I have to choose one paragraph, let me share the first one in which Jesus begins to assist the young man with his hopeful words:
By this time the young man very much desired to talk with Jesus, and he knelt at his feet imploring Jesus to help him, to show him the way of escape from his world of personal sorrow and defeat. Said Jesus: “My friend, arise! Stand up like a man! You may be surrounded with small enemies and be retarded by many obstacles, but the big things and the real things of this world and the universe are on your side. The sun rises every morning to salute you just as it does the most powerful and prosperous man on earth. Look—you have a strong body and powerful muscles—your physical equipment is better than the average. Of course, it is just about useless while you sit out here on the mountainside and grieve over your misfortunes, real and fancied. But you could do great things with your body if you would hasten off to where great things are waiting to be done. You are trying to run away from your unhappy self, but it cannot be done. You and your problems of living are real; you cannot escape them as long as you live. But look again, your mind is clear and capable. Your strong body has an intelligent mind to direct it. Set your mind at work to solve its problems; teach your intellect to work for you; refuse longer to be dominated by fear like an unthinking animal. Your mind should be your courageous ally in the solution of your life problems rather than your being, as you have been, its abject fear-slave and the bond servant of depression and defeat. But most valuable of all, your potential of real achievement is the spirit which lives within you, and which will stimulate and inspire your mind to control itself and activate the body if you will release it from the fetters of fear and thus enable your spiritual nature to begin your deliverance from the evils of inaction by the power-presence of living faith. And then, forthwith, will this faith vanquish fear of men by the compelling presence of that new and all-dominating love of your fellows which will so soon fill your soul to overflowing because of the consciousness which has been born in your heart that you are a child of God. (UB 130:6.3)
What really catches my attention is that Jesus does not reject the “secular” resources that we use to solve our psychological/emotional problems. Much of what he initially says and suggests could come from practitioners of Stoicism, Buddhism or psychology (possibly of the cognitive behavioral type, or even positive psychology).
Notice how he exhorts the young man to train his mind (“intellect”) to be his servant in solving his problems, rather than being his slave. Jesus does not deny the existence of the young man’s problems, although he suggests that there are “real” and “invented” ones and even reminds him that these problems are inescapable. But instead of sinking him into resignation, he makes him see that, if he puts his mind to work for him, it can help him solve his problems.
Jesus mentions fear, which is part of the title of this section and, we would say, the young man’s main affliction. He mentions it in the following way: animals are subject to fear, because they cannot think (they do not possess a “clear and capable” mind). Perhaps said another way: when we do not make use of our clear and capable mind, we are prone to succumb to fear. If we make use of reasoning, we will be able to transcend animal fear and attack problems effectively.
So far, this could have come from a Stoic text or modern psychology. But, and here comes the big “but,” Jesus has more… He continues with his big “but,” which is like a bomb that changes everything: “But the most valuable thing of all, your potential for true achievement, is the spirit that lives within you” (which we know is the Thought Adjuster).
At this point one might ask: but why does he call it a “true achievement”? Is training the mind to solve problems not a true achievement? Why would it be less than true?
If one reads everything that follows, the end of the paragraph quoted above and the next one in the book, one can begin to understand what Jesus meant. I think it would be more correct to say that the mere achievement of mind training is not part of the whole truth. It is not that it is “not true” but that it is “not true at all.” Jesus is telling us: training the mind is good, but there is more!
Notice how he is doing the young man, and all of us, a favor by bringing to light the following chain of “helpers.” In a way, he is telling us something like, “If you train it, the mind will help you solve your problems… but if you let it, the indwelling spirit will in turn stimulate and inspire your mind.” He is warning us that there is a different influence than the mind, which is just waiting for us to recognize it, to synchronize with it, and to give it permission to “stimulate and inspire” our mind (it is not called the Thought Adjuster for nothing). And again, let us reflect on the entire paradigm shift that Jesus promises at the end of the paragraph and the next one. Let us see how he promises that things will become easier and lighter, and more rewarding.
If I may use an analogy for illustration… it’s something like having one of these electric bikes today (and one that has an infinitely charged battery). Jesus tells us: it’s okay to train your body and your legs to get you from here to there. Use the bike, but the true use of it is to recognize the electric motor inside it. If you recognize it, turn it on, and allow it to serve you, it will assist your legs and you will be able to go much further and with greater ease.
I have selected this passage, as I said, because it is a story to which I return again and again. And the reason I return is not because I am a clever cyclist who uses the electric motor, but often a fool who keeps trying to pedal uphill with the motor off. I hope that the selection of this story and the accompanying analysis will illuminate Jesus’ words and intent in it, and help us to give due recognition and freedom of action to the “electric motor” - that “potential for true achievement,” the Thought Adjuster that “lives within you.”
Thank you so much.
¶ References
- Index of the magazine “Luz y Vida” of the Association of Spain
- This article from the magazine “Luz y Vida Online”
| Luz y Vida — June 2024 — Editorial | Luz y Vida — June 2024 | Urantia Questionnaire: Romualdo Soler González |