© 2020 Susan Hemmingsen
© 2020 ANZURA, Australia & New Zealand Urantia Association
By Susan Hemmingsen, New Zealand
This being the topic of the moment, I decided to put together some Urantia Book quotes to see what was said, about health, disease, what happened in the past, how this reflects on what is happening today, and what can be expected in the future. I have put them into four different categories:
- The celestial help available now
- How ancient man dealt with disease
- The influence (or lack of) of Adam and Eve on our health
- The future; what we can expect when we’re more advanced evolutionally, spiritually and scientifically.
¶ 1. The Celestial Help Available Now
The Ministering Angels function in many areas, but specifically for this topic, we have continuous help by way of the ministry of the Angels of Health.
These are the seraphic ministers assigned to the assistance of those mortal agencies dedicated to the promotion of health and the prevention of disease. The present corps is the sixth group to serve during this dispensation. UB 114:6.12
In Paper 65, The Overcontrol of Evolution we are told:
Many features of human life afford abundant evidence that the phenomenon of mortal existence was intelligently planned, that organic evolution is not a mere cosmic accident. When a living cell is injured, it possesses the ability to elaborate certain chemical substances which are empowered so to stimulate and activate the neighboring normal cells that they immediately begin the secretion of certain substances which facilitate healing processes in the wound; and at the same time these normal and uninjured cells begin to proliferate — they actually start to work creating new cells to replace any fellow cells which may have been destroyed by the accident. UB 65:4.3
¶ 2. How Ancient Man Dealt with Disease
Ancient man had his own way of dealing with disease, and although many on our planet have evolved out of this phase, some have not. However, it is heart-warming to see, regardless of absence of scientific knowledge, how sincere the ancients were.
Fasting, dieting, and counter-irritants were often used as remedial measures. Human secretions, being definitely magical, were highly regarded; blood and urine were thus among the earliest medicines and were soon augmented by roots and various salts. The shamans believed that disease spirits could be driven out of the body by foul-smelling and bad-tasting medicines. Purging very early became a routine treatment, and the values of raw cocoa and quinine were among the earliest pharmaceutical discoveries. UB 90:4.8
Among some people disease was thought to be caused by a wicked conspiracy between spirits and animals. This gave rise to the belief that there existed a beneficent plant remedy for every animal-caused disease. The red men were especially devoted to the plant theory of universal remedies; they always put a drop of blood in the root hole left when the plant was pulled up. UB 90:4.7
Some of our current religious groups believe that faith is all that is required to heal, but in Paper 90, Shamanism–Medicine Men and Priests, The Urantia Book says:
The faith required to get well under the foolish ministrations of one of these ancient shamans was, after all, not materially different from that which is required to experience healing at the hands of some of his later-day successors who engage in the non-scientific treatment of disease. UB 90:4.2
But, we must also remember:
When you presume to sit in critical judgment on the primitive religion of man (or on the religion of primitive man), you should remember to judge such savages and to evaluate their religious experience in accordance with their enlightenment and status of conscience. Do not make the mistake of judging another’s religion by your own standards of knowledge and truth. UB 101:9.2.
There are many ways we humans try to overcome disease, so efficacious and some not, but during Jesus’ third preaching tour, there was a thoroughgoing discussion on the whole subject of human superstition and one of the things Jesus said was:
Charms and relics are impotent to heal disease, ward off disaster, or influence evil spirits; the belief in all such material means of influencing the spiritual world is nothing but gross. UB 150:3.6
¶ 3. The Influence (or lack of) of Adam and Eve on Our Health
Why are we so ravaged by this Covdi-19 virus? Is this the same on other planets?
The Life Carriers said in Paper 65, The Overcontrol of Evolution:
But throughout all of this biologic adventure our greatest disappointment grew out of the reversion of certain primitive plant life to the prechlorophyll levels of parasitic bacteria on such an extensive and unexpected scale. This eventuality in plant-life evolution caused many distressful diseases in the higher mammals, particularly in the more vulnerable human species. When we were confronted with this perplexing situation, we somewhat discounted the difficulties involved because we knew that the subsequent admixture of the Adamic life plasm would so reinforce the resisting powers of the resulting blended race as to make it practically immune to all diseases produced by the vegetable type of organism. But our hopes were doomed to disappointment owing to the misfortune of the Adamic default. UB 65:5.2
It is also interesting to observe how some can be exposed to disease, but because of having more Adamic blood, they are naturally more resistant. Scientists do observe the differences in people’s immune systems to disease, but most are not aware of the Adamic source of this immunity.
The body cells of the Material Sons and their progeny are far more resistant to disease than are those of the evolutionary beings indigenous to the planet. The body cells of the native races are akin to the living disease-producing microscopic and ultramicroscopic organisms of the realm. These facts explain why the Urantia peoples must do so much by way of scientific effort to withstand so many physical disorders. You would be far more disease resistant if your races carried more of the Adamic life. UB 76:4.7
Each country has reacted differently to Covid-19, some with very strict lockdown conditions and little contact, (e.g. New Zealand) and others (e.g.Sweden) with a completely opposite approach, so when this pandemic is over, a study of who has better immunity might not yield much. We do know however that:
The so-called white races of Urantia are the descendants of these blue men as they were first modified by slight mixture with yellow and red, and as they were later greatly up-stepped by assimilating the greater portion of the violet race. UB 64:6.24
¶ 4. The Future: What We Can Expect When We’re More Advanced Evolutionally, Spiritually and Scientifically
In Paper 71, Development of the State, under section 4: Progressive Civilization, one of the points indicating a progressive civilisation says:
Economics, society, and government must evolve if they are to remain. Static conditions on an evolutionary world are indicative of decay; only those institutions which move forward with the evolutionary stream persist…. UB 71:4.1.
On a normal planet:
During this era the problems of disease and delinquency are virtually solved. Degeneracy has already been largely eliminated by selective reproduction**.** Disease has been practically mastered through the high resistant qualities of the Adamic strains and by the intelligent and world-wide application of the discoveries of the physical sciences of preceding ages. The average length of life, during this period, climbs well above the equivalent of three hundred years of Urantia time. UB 52:5.9
We can all witness the vast efforts of all the virologists, immunologists, geneticists and other scientists around the world, communicating with each other in an unprecedented way, and sharing their research to help overcome this pandemic.
We hope that all this collaboration will result in an effective and safe vaccination, plus other medicines which may be effective in curing Covid-19. I imagine that these are the “discoveries of the physical sciences” mentioned above?
During the Golden Ages:
During this age of light and life the world increasingly prospers under the fatherly rule of the Planetary Sovereign. By this time the worlds are progressing under the momentum of one language, one religion, and, on normal spheres, one race. But this age is not perfect. These worlds still have well-appointed hospitals, homes for the care of the sick. There still remain the problems of caring for accidental injuries and the inescapable infirmities attendant upon the decrepitude of old age and the disorders of senility. Disease has not been entirely vanquished, neither have the earth animals been subdued in perfection; but such worlds are like Paradise in comparison with the early times of primitive man during the pre-Planetary Prince age. You would instinctively describe such a realm — could you be suddenly transported to a planet in this stage of development — as heaven on earth. UB 55:3.1
The quote below portrays what happens on a normal planet after the arrival of the Post Bestowal Son. Of course, we have benefited from the bestowal of Jesus, our Post Bestowal Son, but as we were not at the usual stage of evolution that exists on a normal planet for this bestowal, the advancements in the quote below are not ours.
During this era the problems of disease and delinquency are virtually solved. Degeneracy has already been largely eliminated by selective reproduction. Disease has been practically mastered through the high resistant qualities of the Adamic strains and by the intelligent and world-wide application of the discoveries of the physical sciences of preceding ages. The average length of life, during this period, climbs well above the equivalent of three hundred years of Urantia time. UB 52:5.9
The great handicap confronting Urantia in the matter of attaining the high planetary destiny of light and life is embraced in the problems of disease, degeneracy, war, multicolored races, and multilingualism. UB 55:3.21
In the Province of Prayer:
Prayer is not a technique for curing real and organic diseases, but it has contributed enormously to the enjoyment of abundant health and to the cure of numerous mental, emotional, and nervous ailments. And even in actual bacterial disease, prayer has many times added to the efficacy of other remedial procedures. Prayer has turned many an irritable and complaining invalid into a paragon of patience and made him an inspiration to all other human sufferers. UB 91:6.2
All who have faith in God and are trying to live the Golden Rule have the benefit of a wider view along with more comfort and reassurance during this unusual time…
Personal, spiritual religious experience is an efficient solvent for most mortal difficulties; it is an effective sorter, evaluator, and adjuster of all human problems. Religion does not remove or destroy human troubles, but it does dissolve, absorb, illuminate, and transcend them. True religion unifies the personality for effective adjustment to all mortal requirements. Religious faith — the positive leading of the indwelling divine presence — unfailingly enables the God-knowing man to bridge that gulf existing between the intellectual logic which recognizes the Universal First Cause as It and those positive affirmations of the soul which aver this First Cause is He, the heavenly Father of Jesus’ gospel, the personal God of human salvation. UB 196:3.1.