© 1976 Stan and Ruth Hartman, Charles Laurence Olivea, Richard F. Prince, Mario C.J. Harrington, Ruth E. Renn, David and Sue Kantor and Heather Christine
© 1976 The Urantia Book Fellowship (formerly Urantia Brotherhood)
It’s evident to many of us that the wind of the spirit is lifting the minds of others as well as URANTIA Book students. A new philosophy is evolving, of “I love, therefore I am”; and though an intellectual understanding of the cosmic accuracy of this premise is not universal among those who love, the experiential personal spiritual significance of that truth is recognized by all who live knowingly in God, and is felt by many who do not yet realize that He is, and is aware of them, and is their very love:
Focus On Love
How do we approach the world? With The URANTIA Book in hand? Of course. Why not?
We will in no way disparage, nor shove down people’s throats, that message which has changed our lives, if we follow its spirit. We have come to respect the written word even more because of the revelation’s continual emphasis upon the spirit between the lines-and because of the great service of the book in serving as a tool to focus our minds upon what is truly real: that which loves and arises from love. In the beginning there is love.
— Stan and Ruth Hartman
Dear Friends, I would like to share with you my thoughts about the future growth of URANTIA Brotherhood. These ideas reflect my interpretation of certain experiential and revelationary insights, I call them “principles of growth” for spiritual organizations:
— Charles Laurence Olivea
It is not clear to me that the entire concept of URANTIA Brotherhood school has as its genesis an externally expressed need to which we, the Brotherhood, are responding. Rather, it seems to me that we are starting with the proposition that since there is so much to learn in The URANTIA Book we must therefore need a school. The thrust of the workshop on education (which I confess I have received only second-handed) was to find out what, if any, needs there were which could be defined by those present, and then respond to them. That approach may not be the most fruitful in the long run, for several reasons.
I think it is important to remember that we are told over and over again in the book that religion cannot be taught, it must be lived. There seems to be little value in generating URANTIA Book scholars whose intellectual mastery of the book gets in the way of, or at least does not augment, their growth as loving sons of the Father. It should be borne in mind that one does not necessarily follow the other; that is, one may come to know The URANTIA Book intellectually without necessarily incorporating its values on a superconscious level. Ultimately our goal for the school should be not to have us master the book intellectually, but to love one another.
—Richard F. Prince
Forty years have elapsed since the Fifth Epochal Revelation was given to our world. Step by step a new generation is taking over the helmsmanship of our nations. Consider that during that period we have seen another world war and several other major military engagements. This should prompt us to remember that “Urantia is now quivering on the very brink of one of its most amazing and enthralling epochs of social readjustment, moral quickening, and spiritual enlightenment.” (UB 195:9.2).
We should reflect therefore on the special role the Most High Assistant is playing on our planet in leading the twelve corps of the master seraphim of planetary supervision. The task of co-ordinating the multifarious talents of the different groups in times such as these deserves our greatest admiration and appreciation as well nigh all the institutions we have come to accept are undergoing deep transformations that will lead us in due time to a world settled in light and life.
—Mario C.J. Harrington
Man does not live by bread alone but by value seeds planted in the child-mind, these spiritual values to be discovered later in life by the eye of faith. Man lives by these qualities comprehensible as love, truth, beauty, and goodness. Man lives by loving and being loved, by an outgoing concern for the good of others equal to self-concern. Man does not live by bread alone but by the inspiration of friends who speak words of encouragement and gratitude. Man lives by giving heed to the beautiful in place of the ugly. Beauty arouses a hunger which is never satisfied and man lives by continually falling in love with beauty. Man is part of the rich variety of life, living by the brilliance of a sunrise, the beauty of changing clouds, the jubilant song of birds, the fragrance of flowers, and the magic of music. When man has fed the body he should learn how also to feed the soul.
—Ruth E. Renn
When the spirit leads, words can sometimes approach the communication of eternal values. The words which here announce the birth of a new pilgrim bear such a harvest of love.
On the pathway into eternity … David and Sue Kantor announce the association of a new travelling companion; Heather Christine began the great adventure on May 12, 1976 at 4:40 a.m. as a healthy 7 pound 4 ounce, 19 inch Baby Girl…
The generations of humankind
Ever come and go,
Touching the earth for but a moment;
The realities of the material world
Assume their enchanting forms
For but a season,
And then quickly evaporate.
But softly wending thru the ages And the cycles of time,
The great galactic hymn plays on, Gently calling to each of us,
To begin the quest for perfection, And reach for the prize of etemal life.
It is to this quest which we
Now address ourselves as a family.
— David and Sue Kantor and Heather Christine
“When men search for God, they are searching for everything. When they find God, they have found everything. The search for God is the unstinted bestowal of love attended by amazing discoveries of new and greater love to be bestowed…
All true love is from God, and man receives the divine affection as he himself bestows this love upon his fellows.” (UB 117:6.9-10).