© 1977 Stephen Zendt
© 1977 The Urantia Book Fellowship (formerly Urantia Brotherhood)
“How shall we induce men to let go of God that he may spring forth to the refreshment of our own souls while in transit outward and then to serve the purpose of enlightening, uplifting, and blessing countless other souls? … Look to your Master. Even now he is out in the hills taking in power while we are here giving out energy. The secret of all this problem is wrapped up in spiritual communion, in worship. From the human standpoint it is a question of combined meditation and relaxation. Meditation makes the contact of mind with spirit; relaxation determines the capacity for spiritual receptivity.” (UB 160:3.1) Rodan of Alexandria.
When we observe the words which Jesus chose in his admonition to “Let your life so shine…” we see that we are to let, to allow our lives to shine with the Father’s presence within us. I take this to mean that we need very much to learn to relax into the presence of the Spirit. Modern life is filled with the need to meet various situations with vigorous and courageous good will, with the need to put a guard on our tongues, with the need to find forgiveness through forgiving others, with the need to be of service. Perhaps, with all these needs to be met, we forget to remember to relax, to be still enough to commune with the spirit, I wonder how brightly our light might shine if we were to become centers of calm in this troubled world; how well might we whet our loved one’s curiosity by the possession of truly God-centered calm and conscious peace?
The cool and tranquil appraisal of life and its many experiences can be the one great gift which we maly give as bearers of the living God. Not that we are to be aloof and imperturbable, and present to others an icy calm composed of rigid emotional control, not at all; simply that we have received the gift of revelation, and that we are imbued with a spirit which is equal to the challenge of life, which fills us with real gladness that we are alive. This type of relaxed living can spread to others wherever we are, in whatever situation we may become involved. It prevents tempers from rising it is a powerful aid to rational appraisal of life situations and relationships, and, best of all, it brings sincere seekers to ask for your source of loving, peaceful vibrations. Then, without confusion and evangelistic do-goodism clouding the issue, the religion of Jesus may be described and discussed, briefly or in depth, in response to the desire of the person or persons asking for the information.
All of us have at one time or another experienced the awful encounter with the fact that we have not been adequate representatives of the supreme truths which the religion of Jesus embodies, that the fruits of the spirit are not particularly on full-time display in our lives. Yet we know that the “conspiracy of spiritual forces, a confederation of divine powers…” is working in and through events and our personal awareness to effect our “final deliverance from material bondage and finite handicaps… ‘That you may be strengthened with power through His spirit in the inner man.’” (UB 34:6.9-10) We. know that our loving Father’s forgiveness is always there: therefore it helps all of us to truly relax; to forgive ourselves and others for shortcomings, to hear the inner wisdom gained through worship, to realign our lives with the joy of living a calm and centered life, filled with the power of our infinite spiritual heritage.
What a superb experience it is to share such inner awareness with other faithers in group worship! Then the combined power of fraternizing souls and spirits lifts us to renewal and re-creation of our spiritual perceptions whereby we are cleansed of fears and anxieties, of the need to continually rush the living of our lives. We become representatives of the infinite perspective of the eternal God, power centers of the peace that passes all our understanding, not only for our own health and well-being but for the enhancement of the religion of Jesus in the world. We need to relax together, to let our spiritual progress be a mutual achievement, to provide from our solid basis of faith and common love a source for those who shall come seeking truth for their lives in the “cyclonic upheavals” of the times to come; we do this not on our preaching soapbox or in well-meant exhortations, but in honest good will toward brothers and sisters. We shall be serving them as children of one loving Father, and living among them as centers of living peace. possessors of the calm of spiritual character, faith-fellows of Jesus in the world.
— Stephen Zendt