How We Got The Urantia Papers

Just about all that is known or could be told about the origin of the Urantia Papers is to be found, here and there, in The Urantia Book. A list of such references is to be found on the back of the dust jacket of the Book.

Let us take a brief look at these citations.

• Page 1, par. 2. This passage refers to the difficulty of presenting expanded spiritual concepts when restricted to circumscribed human language, such as English.
• ^0:0.2 It is exceedingly difficult to present enlarged concepts and advanced truth, in our endeavor to expand cosmic consciousness and enhance spiritual perception, when we are restricted to the use of a circumscribed language of the realm. But our mandate admonishes us to make every effort to convey our meanings by using the word symbols of the English tongue. We have been instructed to introduce new terms only when the concept to be portrayed finds no terminology in English which can be employed to convey such a new concept partially or even with more or less distortion of meaning.
• Page 1, par. 4. An Orvonton Commission participated in the revelation and prepared this Foreword.

• ^0:0.4 But in order to formulate this Foreword of definitions and limitations of terminology, it is necessary to anticipate the usage of these terms in the subsequent presentations. This Foreword is not, therefore, a finished statement within itself; it is only a definitive guide designed to assist those who shall read the accompanying papers dealing with Deity and the universe of universes which have been formulated by an Orvonton commission sent to Urantia for this purpose.

• Page 17, par. 1. In presenting this revelation of augmented spiritual values and universe meanings, more than one thousand human concepts were drawn from the minds of human beings of the present and the past.

•   ^0:12.10 In formulating the succeeding presentations having to do with the portrayal of the character of the Universal Father and the nature of his Paradise associates, together with an attempted description of the perfect central universe and the encircling seven superuniverses, we are to be guided by the mandate of the superuniverse rulers which directs that we shall, in all our efforts to reveal truth and co-ordinate essential knowledge, give preference to the highest existing human concepts pertaining to the subjects to be presented. We may resort to pure revelation only when the concept of presentation has had no adequate previous expression by the human mind.

• Page 16, par. 8 & Page 1343, par. 1. In all revelation of truth, preference is given to the highest existing human concepts of ideality and reality. Only in the absence of the human concept is superhuman knowledge revealed.

•   ^0:12.10 In formulating the succeeding presentations having to do with the portrayal of the character of the Universal Father and the nature of his Paradise associates, together with an attempted description of the perfect central universe and the encircling seven superuniverses, we are to be guided by the mandate of the superuniverse rulers which directs that we shall, in all our efforts to reveal truth and co-ordinate essential knowledge, give preference to the highest existing human concepts pertaining to the subjects to be presented. We may resort to pure revelation only when the concept of presentation has had no adequate previous expression by the human mind.

• Page 1109, par. 4. Revelators are seldom at liberty to anticipate scientific discoveries. Truth is timeless, but the teachings respecting the physical sciences and certain phases of cosmology will become partially obsolescent as a result of the new discoveries of advancing scientific investigations. The cosmology of the Urantia Revelation is not inspired. Human wisdom must evolve.

• ^101:4.2 Mankind should understand that we who participate in the revelation of truth are very rigorously limited by the instructions of our superiors. We are not at liberty to anticipate the scientific discoveries of a thousand years. Revelators must act in accordance with the instructions which form a part of the revelation mandate. We see no way of overcoming this difficulty, either now or at any future time. We full well know that, while the historic facts and religious truths of this series of revelatory presentations will stand on the records of the ages to come, within a few short years many of our statements regarding the physical sciences will stand in need of revision in consequence of additional scientific developments and new discoveries. These new developments we even now foresee, but we are forbidden to include such humanly undiscovered facts in the revelatory records. Let it be made clear that revelations are not necessarily inspired. The cosmology of these revelations is not inspired. It is limited by our permission for the co-ordination and sorting of present-day knowledge. While divine or spiritual insight is a gift, human wisdom must evolve.

• Page 215, par. 2-9. Human pedagogy proceeds from the simple to the complex. The Urantia Revelation begins with the more complex and goes on to the consideration of the more simple. Instead of beginning with man reaching up for God, the Urantia Papers begin with God—reaching down and finding man.

•   ^19:1.5 For example: The human mind would ordinarily crave to approach the cosmic philosophy portrayed in these revelations by proceeding from the simple and the finite to the complex and the infinite, from human origins to divine destinies. But that path does not lead to spiritual wisdom. Such a procedure is the easiest path to a certain form of genetic knowledge, but at best it can only reveal man's origin; it reveals little or nothing about his divine destiny.

    ^19:1.6 Even in the study of man's biologic evolution on Urantia, there are grave objections to the exclusive historic approach to his present-day status and his current problems. The true perspective of any reality problem -- human or divine, terrestrial or cosmic -- can be had only by the full and unprejudiced study and correlation of three phases of universe reality: origin, history, and destiny. The proper understanding of these three experiential realities affords the basis for a wise estimate of the current status.

  ^19:1.7 When the human mind undertakes to follow the philosophic technique of starting from the lower to approach the higher, whether in biology or theology, it is always in danger of committing four errors of reasoning:

  ^19:1.8 1. It may utterly fail to perceive the final and completed evolutionary goal of either personal attainment or cosmic destiny.

  ^19:1.9 2. It may commit the supreme philosophical blunder by oversimplifying cosmic evolutionary (experiential) reality, thus leading to the distortion of facts, to the perversion of truth, and to the misconception of destinies.

  ^19:1.10 3. The study of causation is the perusal of history. But the knowledge of how a being becomes does not necessarily provide an intelligent understanding of the present status and true character of such a being.

  ^19:1.11 4. History alone fails adequately to reveal future development -- destiny. Finite origins are helpful, but only divine causes reveal final effects. Eternal ends are not shown in time beginnings. The present can be truly interpreted only in the light of the correlated past and future.

  ^19:1.12 Therefore, because of these and for still other reasons, do we employ the technique of approaching man and his planetary problems by embarkation on the time-space journey from the infinite, eternal, and divine Paradise Source and Center of all personality reality and all cosmic existence.

• Page 865, par. 6, 7. The narrative of the midwayers function in initiating and carrying forward to completion the Urantia Revelation.

•   ^77:8.11 The 1,111 loyal secondary midwayers are engaged in important missions on earth. As compared with their primary associates, they are decidedly material. They exist just outside the range of mortal vision and possess sufficient latitude of adaptation to make, at will, physical contact with what humans call "material things." These unique creatures have certain definite powers over the things of time and space, not excepting the beasts of the realm.

    ^77:8.12 Many of the more literal phenomena ascribed to angels have been performed by the secondary midway creatures. When the early teachers of the gospel of Jesus were thrown into prison by the ignorant religious leaders of that day, an actual "angel of the Lord" "by night opened the prison doors and brought them forth." But in the case of Peter's deliverance after the killing of James by Herod's order, it was a secondary midwayer who performed the work ascribed to an angel.

    ^77:8.13 Their chief work today is that of unperceived personal-liaison associates of those men and women who constitute the planetary reserve corps of destiny. It was the work of this secondary group, ably seconded by certain of the primary corps, that brought about the co-ordination of personalities and circumstances on Urantia which finally induced the planetary celestial supervisors to initiate those petitions that resulted in the granting of the mandates making possible the series of revelations of which this presentation is a part. But it should be made clear that the midway creatures are not involved in the sordid performances taking place under the general designation of "spiritualism." The midwayers at present on Urantia, all of whom are of honorable standing, are not connected with the phenomena of so-called "mediumship"; and they do not, ordinarily, permit humans to witness their sometimes necessary physical activities or other contacts with the material world, as they are perceived by human senses.

• Page 865, par. 2, & Page 1208, par. 7. Midway creatures are always employed in the phenomenon of communication with material beings through the technique of "Contact Personalities." The "subject" through whom the Urantia Papers were bestowed had a highly experienced Thought Adjuster. The "subject's" relative indifference and unconcern regarding the work of his indwelling Adjuster was in every way favorable to the execution and completion of this revelatory project.

• ^77:8.8 3. Contact personalities. In the contacts made with the mortal beings of the material worlds, such as with the subject through whom these communications were transmitted, the midway creatures are always employed. They are an essential factor in such liaisons of the spiritual and the material levels.

•   ^110:5.7 The Adjuster of the human being through whom this communication is being made enjoys such a wide scope of activity chiefly because of this human's almost complete indifference to any outward manifestations of the Adjuster's inner presence; it is indeed fortunate that he remains consciously quite unconcerned about the entire procedure. He holds one of the highly experienced Adjusters of his day and generation, and yet his passive reaction to, and inactive concern toward, the phenomena associated with the presence in his mind of this versatile Adjuster is pronounced by the guardian of destiny to be a rare and fortuitous reaction. And all this constitutes a favorable co-ordination of influences, favorable both to the Adjuster in the higher sphere of action and to the human partner from the standpoints of health, efficiency, and tranquillity.

• Page 1256, par. 1. The contact personality was a member of the Urantia Reserve Corps of Destiny. This was just one of several conditions favoring the impartation of the Urantia Revelation.

•   ^114:6.20 But aside from these many means of positive action, the master seraphim insure planetary progress against vital jeopardy through the mobilization, training, and maintenance of the reserve corps of destiny. The chief function of these reservists is to insure against breakdown of evolutionary progress; they are the provisions which the celestial forces have made against surprise; they are the guarantees against disaster.

  7. THE RESERVE CORPS OF DESTINY ^114:7.1 The reserve corps of destiny consists of living men and women who have been admitted to the special service of the superhuman administration of world affairs. This corps is made up of the men and women of each generation who are chosen by the spirit directors of the realm to assist in the conduct of the ministry of mercy and wisdom to the children of time on the evolutionary worlds. It is the general practice in the conduct of the affairs of the ascension plans to begin this liaison utilization of mortal will creatures immediately they are competent and trustworthy to assume such responsibilities. Accordingly, as soon as men and women appear on the stage of temporal action with sufficient mental capacity, adequate moral status, and requisite spirituality, they are quickly assigned to the appropriate celestial group of planetary personalities as human liaisons, mortal assistants.

• Page 1008, par. 3. The Urantia Revelation is unique in that it is presented by multiple authors. The Urantia Revelation, like its predecessors, is not inspired.
• ^92:4.9 5. The Urantia Papers. The papers, of which this is one, constitute the most recent presentation of truth to the mortals of Urantia. These papers differ from all previous revelations, for they are not the work of a single universe personality but a composite presentation by many beings. But no revelation short of the attainment of the Universal Father can ever be complete. All other celestial ministrations are no more than partial, transient, and practically adapted to local conditions in time and space. While such admissions as this may possibly detract from the immediate force and authority of all revelations, the time has arrived on Urantia when it is advisable to make such frank statements, even at the risk of weakening the future influence and authority of this, the most recent of the revelations of truth to the mortal races of Urantia.
• Page 32, par. 2. A Divine Counselor "portrays the reality and nature of the Father with unchallengeable authority."

•   ^{1:7.9 Presented by a Divine Counselor, a member of a group of celestial personalities assigned by the Ancients of Days on Uversa, the headquarters of the seventh superuniverse, to supervise those portions of this forthcoming revelation which have to do with affairs beyond the borders of the local universe of Nebadon. I am commissioned to sponsor those papers portraying the nature and attributes of God because I represent the highest source of information available for such a purpose on any inhabited world. I have served as a Divine Counselor in all seven of the superuniverses and have long resided at the Paradise center of all things. Many times have I enjoyed the supreme pleasure of a sojourn in the immediate personal presence of the Universal Father. I portray the reality and truth of the Father's nature and attributes with unchallengeable authority; I know whereof I speak.}

• Page 17, par. 2. The Revelators depend upon the indwelling Adjusters and the Spirit of Truth to help us in the appropriation of the truth in the Urantia Revelation.

•   ^0:12.12 We are fully cognizant of the difficulties of our assignment; we recognize the impossibility of fully translating the language of the concepts of divinity and eternity into the symbols of the language of the finite concepts of the mortal mind. But we know that there dwells within the human mind a fragment of God, and that there sojourns with the human soul the Spirit of Truth; and we further know that these spirit forces conspire to enable material man to grasp the reality of spiritual values and to comprehend the philosophy of universe meanings. But even more certainly we know that these spirits of the Divine Presence are able to assist man in the spiritual appropriation of all truth contributory to the enhancement of the ever-progressing reality of personal religious experience -- God-consciousness.

•  

• Page 1007, par. 1. Revelation keeps in touch with evolution. Revelation is adapted to the age of its bestowal. New revelation maintains contact with preceding revelations.

•   ^92:4.1 Revelation is evolutionary but always progressive. Down through the ages of a world's history, the revelations of religion are ever-expanding and successively more enlightening. It is the mission of revelation to sort and censor the successive religions of evolution. But if revelation is to exalt and upstep the religions of evolution, then must such divine visitations portray teachings which are not too far removed from the thought and reactions of the age in which they are presented. Thus must and does revelation always keep in touch with evolution. Always must the religion of revelation be limited by man's capacity of receptivity.

Who is Jesus to me?

For me Jesus is the creator of the universe who descended on a divine mission to show the Father's love to all the inhabitants of the earth.

He is someone very charismatic and magical in his energies, very cordial and warm, very knows what to do with every personality he meets. someone very special.

He is my brother and father, both, it can be a bit confusing how to refer to him sometimes, as brother or father, but usually I refer to him as father. Because he has fatherly qualities.

He is my savior from my difficulties, although I am also my own savior, no one will do the work for us, but yes Jesus can help a lot if we repeatedly ask for his help from the bottom of our hearts.

I appreciate you Jesus for all the things you have done for my brothers and sisters, I have brothers and sisters who dedicate their lives to you and only you and this is something I would like to learn from others - how to dedicate my life to divinity, to you and to God.

Thank you for existing in the universe and far beyond, in Paradise and Havona and the super-universes. And thank you on this occasion also to your partner Nebadonia, and it is interesting that you never had a partner in your life in Urantia but you do have a partner in your life as Michael of Nebadon. Apparently, in your mission as Jesus, you didn't have time for a partner and that would have only caused you trouble.

Good luck to all of us with the perfect presence of Michael-Jesus, to be in his peace. Amen  

When mind is thus endowed with the ministry of the Holy Spirit, it possesses the capacity for (consciously or unconsciously) choosing the spiritual presence of the Universal Father—the Thought Adjuster. But it is not until a bestowal Son has liberated the Spirit of Truth for planetary ministry to all mortals that all normal minds are automatically prepared for the reception of the Thought Adjusters. The Spirit of Truth works as one with the presence of the spirit of the Divine Minister. This dual spirit liaison hovers over the worlds, seeking to teach truth and to spiritually enlighten the minds of men, to inspire the souls of the creatures of the ascending races, and to lead the peoples dwelling on the evolutionary planets ever towards their Paradise goal of divine destiny
 

Letter to Monica

Prayer has great power my sister,
It can turn a hard person into a soft and pleasant person. how? Because prayer brings you to the knowledge that there is someone above who can help you and others, things you cannot do, there is someone who can! and it releases unnecessary weight from you.

For me, many times the power of prayer combines with the power of imagination and then the prayer is even more tangible towards God, and this gives me the power to continue forward.

Imagination is such an amazing thing, I can see things that I wouldn't see without it, I always enter a space full of light and I see people in a brighter light, happier, more passionate, I look at life from a higher perspective, more like God, and it helps me .
And prayer is my hope for better days, for days when there is romance between me and God, that my dreams with him come true, and prayer is also my place to thank God for who he is and simply let him be him and me be me.

Thank you for the wonderful powers given to us by our superiors, our kind parents, and we hope for better times. We are all in difficulties, some more and some less, but life will smile at us all in the end, if we worship, pray, confess, give thanks, serve, and 

We're not just born to increase numbers in our communities but only to make a difference and a change to impact generations yet unborn

Spreading love is the most precious gift God has ever blessed man with and so whenever we practice it, we become His witnesses. Therefore let's join hands to make this world a better place for everyone most especially the underprivileged.

I know much is coming, but dear Lord I am yearning for your support, lift me up and let me be what you want me to be, I know you knew me before I was born.

Truth is coherent, beauty attractive, goodness stabilizing. And when these values of that which is real are co-ordinated in personality experience, the result is a high order of love conditioned by wisdom and qualified by loyalty. The real purpose of all universe education is to effect the better co-ordination of the isolated child of the worlds with the larger realities of his expanding experience. Reality is finite on the human level, infinite and eternal on the higher and divine levels.” 2:7.12 

Regards,
Onesmas.

On Tue, Mar 19, 2024, 6:09 PM Monica Kemp <monicakemp54@gmail.com> wrote:
This is amazingly written, brother...thank you so much! And may I pray the same for you. 
 

And I remember, too, that our Spirit Team = our Indwelling Paradise Father Fragment, our Universe Mother's Holy Spirit bringing to us our Beloved Father Brother Michael's Spirit of Truth as well as our personal seraphim in our work for the Father (whew, that's a LOT of help for EACH of us, isn't it?!), they are always blessing us! We just need to open our eyes and hearts to be able to appreciate what they have bestowed upon us. 

Difficulties? Those are teach us how to rely in our unseen Spirit helpers...NO ONE says it is easy, as it is NOT. However, we are never alone.

Blessings in all you think, say and do today, my brother.  My heart is with you in all. 

Discussions with Paul 2024-03-28

Raise your Frequency, not only for a transient feeling of good but for creating your inner reality.

Sometimes you feel bad and you want to feel better, of course. so you raise your vibration closer to the frequency of The Infinite Source, just so you won't feel bad. but look that your attention is not only to get out of the bad but to actually be with the good and create your own reality with The Source within you.

When you raise your vibration higher to The Source, you help not only to the collective consciousness of the world but to the entire universe !!!

Be A Co-Creator, not a passive observer. 
Be Creative, not mechanical.

We need everybody's help to make the world a better place, and more than that, we need you because of your uniqueness. 

Let's enrich eternity with our individual personality uniqueness, like The Father guides us to do. let's keep raising our vibration on daily basis and show the world how good it is to do it, and how this is the way of truthful living.

Don't give up when things are not working out for you - it's just your impatience that does problems for you ! you want to be mature now, but you have to admit your current place of immatureness and smallness if you want to progress well.

But remember that you are also powerful energetic beings, co-creators, you have the power to create your own reality, with faith.

So I want to wish you good luck with your co-creation with The Source within you, let me know how is it going for you. 

Much success, your success is important to all of us, we are all connected and share the same universe 

Much love 
Onesmas 

MEDITATION 2

| Jesus-Style Meditation (previous) | Meditation or Mysticism? | Stillness Practice Is Not In The Urantia Book | Stilled Mind Meditation Is Lacking | Dangerous Ground | Transcendental Meditation vs. Jesus-Style Meditation | Keeping Up with Evolving Words |

Jesus-Style “Meditation”:
What the word really means! (Continued:)

“Worshipful Meditation” vs. Thought-Stilling Techniques

When all self-centered desires are lacking, prayer transforms into worship, “sublime thinking” into “superthinking” (ref. 1616 D). Otherwise they are identical where they overlap. At the point worship begins we basically just hang on for the ride, but this does not mean that our minds are quiet or without thoughts. Far from it. Our Thought Adjuster is “conducting” the worship.

For us at this time (in this state) “worship is effortless attention, true and ideal soul rest, a form of restful spiritual exertion” (1616 D).

This is because while the thoughts we have then seem to be our own, they are actually being produced -- not without our own unconscious distortions (see 1786 D) -- by our Thought Adjusters and the Spirit of Truth. Cause these thoughts to cease and communication stops!

“If one is disposed to recognize a theoretical subconscious mind as a practical working hypothesis in the otherwise unified intellectual life, then, to be consistent, one should postulate a similar and corresponding realm of ascending intellectual activity as the superconscious level, the zone of immediate contact with the indwelling spirit entity, the Thought Adjuster.” (1099 C)

“Ascending intellectual activity” is diametrically opposed to the stillness-minded intellectual inactivity practiced in Eastern Religion-style meditation.

The only place in the whole URANTIA Book where anything at all in the nature of non-intellectual functioning, passive-minded contemplation is advanced, which I have been able to discover, is where we are instructed by Jesus that after we have made our prayers to the Father, we should “remain for a time in silent receptivity to afford the indwelling spirit the better opportunity to speak to the listening soul” (1641 A). Notice that the spirit speaks to the soul, however, and not to the mind or consciousness of the praying person. This is quite different from hearing “voices”. This is neither prayer nor worship, and it is not “meditation”. It is a few moments of quietude to be imposed before quitting! It is to augment the transition into worship over time, so that one who now merely says his prayers will later be able to continue them on into worship, which is the goal. Ideally the transition of the moment is seamless, we simply segue from the one into the other. The line between prayer and worship is self-interest. (ref. 65 D)

Admittedly the doorway to mental quietude is cracked open by Jesus’ instruction, but hardly wide enough to admit the full panoply of Eastern-style meditation! Actually all that Jesus is saying is that we should shut up and listen for a moment after praying before returning to our ordinary thoughts and activities. There is no indication whatsoever that we can expect to be, or should become aware of any aspect of this particular transaction between our soul and Thought Adjuster, but as we more and more become our souls, that is, as we personally grow over time to identify ourselves with our higher self, the more we should obviously be able to “hear”:

“The material and mortal reality of the self transcend[s] the temporal limitations of the physical-life machine and attain[s] a new expression of a new identification in the evolving vehicle for selfhood continuity, the morontia and immortal soul. (1218 D)

This evolution of one’s soul/self identification cannot be achieved by any short-cut methods, including thought-stilling techniques! Jesus knew:

“the futility of the Caligastia method of trying to get ahead of the natural, slow and sure way of accomplishing the divine purpose.” (1521 A)

“Never, in all your ascent to Paradise, will you gain anything by impatiently attempting to circumvent the established and divine plan by short cuts, personal inventions, or other devices for improving on the way of perfection, to perfection and for eternal perfection.” (864 C)

Quite plainly we are taught that:

• “There is no other technique [than prayer] whereby every man, regardless of all other mortal accomplishments, can so effectively and immediately approach the threshold of that realm wherein he can communicate with his maker … with the indwelling Thought Adjuster.” (1000 A)

   

   

• “The ideal prayer is a form of spiritual communication which leads to intelligent worship”(1618 D).

   

   

• “When Jesus taught his associates to pray in the spirit and in truth, he explained that he referred to praying sincerely and in accordance with one’s enlightenment, to praying wholeheartedly and intelligently, earnestly and steadfastly” (1640 C).

Jesus’ instruction for a receptive moment after prayer does not appear to apply to people who are at the point of entering from prayer into worship, but rather to those whose spiritual communications seldom if ever rise to the level of worship. It appears to be a method of preparing a worshipful attitude of mind over time. This directive was presented in a list of sixteen instructions (beginning on page 1638) concerning -- except for this last point in the list -- prayer. Jesus brought that subject from the sub-level of (1) “conscious and persistent regard for iniquity”; through (3) “opening the God-man communication”; to the few moments (“a time”) of (16) “silent receptivity”. Then he touches upon the higher level of a beginning understanding of worship, which, unlike prayer, is not described in detail there. We are told that while he did teach more at this point, “not many … could fully encompass his teaching”. We should understand that Thought Adjusters at that time had not yet been universally bestowed, so worship -- including understanding of the subject -- might have been particularly difficult for these people, even though they were twenty-four of Jesus’ closest followers. This event took place, after all, during his first preaching tour of Galilee. Not long before this they were unable to grasp even more than a few of the conceptual differences between prayer and worship which Jesus attempted to teach them (ref. 1616 B). It should not be overlooked, either, that although they did have the presence of the physical Jesus, he could not be with them 24 hours a day or in their minds when they prayed, worshipped, or meditated. The Spirit of Truth would not be poured out until after Jesus’ departure.

For ourselves, if we access this now universally available spirit resource, worship should come much easier -- it is obviously a stage or ability which must be attained before “worshipful meditation”, or Jesus-style meditation can take place. But stilling one’s thoughts is hardly the way to open the door to the “realm of the highest and most spiritualized thinking”.

Meditation or Mysticism?

We are indeed told that mysticism, as the “technique of the cultivation of the consciousness of the presence of God” -- which is virtually identical to the 1934-1935 definition of the word -- “is altogether praiseworthy” (1000 A). But that “however favorable may have been the conditions for mystic phenomena, it should be clearly understood that Jesus of Nazareth never resorted to such methods for communication with the Paradise Father” (1100 A), and “the direct communion with one’s Thought Adjuster, such as occurred in the later years of Jesus’ life in the flesh, should not be confused with … so-called mystical experiences” (1100 A). And, as well, that when mystical practices “lead to social isolation and culminate in religious fanaticism, they are all but reprehensible. (1000 A).

We are clearly and most specifically warned by The URANTIA Book that “under no circumstances should the trancelike state of visionary consciousness be cultivated as a religious experience” [this “mystical state” is defined therein as “diffusion of consciousness with vivid islands of focal attention operating on a comparatively passive intellect” -- in short, thought-stilling, so-called “meditation”] (1099 D). Rather than using the “mystical” approach -- regardless of how “praiseworthy” -- “the more healthful attitude of spiritual meditation is to be found in reflective worship and the prayer of thanksgiving”. (1100 A)

Prayer, Jesus said, “is designed to make man less thinking but more realizing; it is not designed to increase knowledge but rather expand insight”(1616 C). That is, we begin to realize the truth-content of the thoughts which are formed in our minds by the work of the Spirit of Truth and our Thought Adjusters, yet which seem to be our own -- again, this hardly implies a quiet mind! It is, we are told quite plainly, our “thoughts” that lead us “Godward”. “The divine spirit makes contact with mortal man … in the realm of the highest and most spiritualized thinking” (1104 D - 1105 A). The intellect is active during worshipful meditation -- “Jesus-style meditation” -- but we are no longer in charge. This does not mean that the thoughts (as opposed to “voices” etc.) which we perceive can be expected to be entirely free of our own, personal, distortions -- they cannot! Yet these distortions will become minimized over time as we continue with the process of spiritualization (or more precisely, “morontialization”).

Stillness Practice Is NOT In The URANTIA Book

If Jesus’ instruction to pause receptively did somehow refer to Eastern-style, stilled intellect, passive-mind “meditation”, why are we not clearly informed of this either there or elsewhere in The URANTIA Book? Why would it be presented virtually as a secret and hidden instruction only to be made understandable by purported spiritual communications -- channellings, a phenomenon that has been associated with dissociation -- which The URANTIA Book did not apparently foresee, but which were to take place before even the century of its reception had passed, thus effectively outdating essential truths of a millennial or bi-millennial (1,000 or 2,000-year) revelation in less than sixty years?

While it is true that the contact personality (ref. 865 A), who was instrumental in the reception of The URANTIA Book, transmitted early materials by way of something like “channelling” (before the Urantia Papers and their prototypes were physically materialized), it should be clearly understood that by all reports he made no special preparation of his mind or self before being so-used by the revelators, and that he was unconscious and unaware (asleep) during the whole procedure. According to those who were present and recorded these night-time sessions, he did not even know anything had happened until told about it when he regained consciousness. His experience had nothing to do in any way with any kind of “meditation”.

Neither were there apparently any direct benefits to the sleeping individual from the night-time sessions. Exactly how his mind may have been used by supernals in downloading and printing-out (materializing) the hardcopy text of the Papers, is completely unknown, although secret, human technology developed only after the Urantia Papers were received and published -- is believed to exist whereby a sleeper’s visual cortex (where dreams are pictured) can be accessed wirelessly for both input and display by a remote computer. My guess is that supernals used something way beyond our possibly ahead-of-the-state-of-the-art, materialistic, secret technology to employ the sleeper’s mind like a word processor, in which he pictured the text in his own default font: pencil handwriting. This seems more realistic than Bill Sadler’s (William Sadler’s son’s) idea of an invisibly-held pencil actually writing the pages out in forged longhand, to account for the fact that they were in the subject’s own cursive script. (It was so much in his own hand that he was reported to have joked that his bank balance was in danger.)

Nor should we overlook the fact that beyond his being “favorably constituted” (ref. 1258 A), his was “one of the highly experienced Thought Adjusters of his day and generation”. And that even aside from being unconscious during the actual process, at other moments the contact personality was “consciously quite unconcerned about the entire procedure” and exhibited a “passive reaction to, and inactive concern towards, the phenomena associated with the presence in his mind” of his especially versatile Adjuster. This is described as a “rare” and “fortuitous” reaction, which was highly favorable to the individual from the standpoint of “health, efficiency, and tranquility” (ref. 1209 A).

Notice that it was his attitude which was favorable, not the experience of transmission, and that the information received by the channelling-like activities were superseded by materialized Papers -- hard copies in black and white -- which being thus received contained less mentally-imparted distortions than those which probably (if they impinged upon and thus been tinged by his imagination or dreams) would have colored the earlier product of channelling-like activities utilizing the sleeping contact personality’s vocal apparatus (see 1208 A) unless they were using him like a hand puppet and bypassing his mind completely. But if they were doing that, why was his extremely versatile Thought Adjuster needed: just to stand aside while he was “possessed”? Even then, such “possessions” are not likely to be complete and total. Personality distortions would still seep through. Obviously the room for such distortions is much greater in cases where the channeller is just trying to keep up with some sort of inner, vaguely heard “dictation”.

It should also not be ignored that Dr. Sadler used every art and artifice at his command to “debunk” the channelling-like activities as well as the materialized Papers and “instructions” or “mandates”, which were also received. He made sure that no known means of trickery was involved. Such safeguards have been entirely lacking in regards to the Teaching Mission (TeaM) and other purported communications, such as those of Emma “Christy” Christensen after the middle 1950s when the “you are on your own” message was received -- thus ending direct supernal contact and supervision -- and of Vern Grimsley in the early 1980s immediately following Christy’s death. In all of these cases there has been no objective look at the possibility of technological or other trickery, or -- as in the case of Vern Grimsley -- more than a superficial look at psychological explanations … at least none by the actual participants or their supporters, who all, decidedly unlike Sadler, seem to take everything at face value!

Again, we need to ask why exactly those phenomena which passive-intellect meditation induces would be precisely those which we are told that Jesus-style meditation does NOT include: “leadings, voices, [and] visions” (2089 B)? and "feelings or emotions”, which do NOT lead us Godward, according to The URANTIA Book.

While the practice of passive-intellect meditation was little-known in America at the time the Papers were indited into English, it was not unknown; and it had been prevalent in India and elsewhere for at least hundreds of years. This was not some new concept for which the world was in no way ready, which needed to be later revealed by way of auto-(or continuing) revelation. Why would there be only such a meager indication that it was so if Jesus’ instruction for a quiet, receptive pause at the completion of prayer were indeed a reference to thought-stilling meditative practices? We are told that the revelators used:

“more than one thousand human concepts representing the highest and most advanced planetary knowledge of spiritual values and meanings … assembled from God-knowing mortals of the past and present” (17 A).

Why -- if it is as important as some claim -- was such a purportedly valuable process excluded except, perhaps, for hints in a revelation which makes so many things so plain and which repeats key concepts almost ad infinitum? Even this confusion about the definition of “meditation” would not exist if the context of the book were observed. It explains it all very well, indeed! The problem arises only because the meaning of the word itself changed, causing people to encounter the word with a wrong idea about it already fixed in their minds, or as a result of being directed to the word by channelled purported spirits as “proof” that meditation is considered important by the supernal revelators, in an attempt to justify stilled-mind practices! Since there are rewards from (therefore reinforcing) semi-trance states (see below), simple classical conditioning makes the practice difficult to give up once started. And The URANTIA Book teaches that “it requires a great and noble character, having started out wrong, to turn about and go right. All too often one’s own mind tends to justify continuance in the path of error when once it is entered upon” (1981 D).

If, in fact as we are informed, the supernal revelators were mandated by their superiors to utilize existing expressions even where these more or less distorted the truth which they represented (ref. 1 C) -- almost the very first words in The URANTIA Book -- what possible reason could have caused the revelators to give such short shrift -- hardly more than a passing honorable mention, if even that -- to further elucidation of the Eastern religion’s method of passive-mind meditation? If that was what the Master had in mind? Rather, isn’t the truth contained in this idea: Jesus spent the “long hours of that night of meditation” “thinking, thinking”? Not zoned-out in a semi-trance state listening to “voices” and feeling “love”? Not only are we warned against such purportedly “religious” experiences, and told that they were not part of Jesus’ religion, but now more and more they are being proved to be productions of the electro/chemical anatomical apparatuses in the brain -- meat-reactions of the brain, predictably evocable by scientific tweaking!

The subjective feeling of “awareness” or lack-of-trance in such states can be deceptive as well. Hypnotists report that subjects whom objective measurements assure them have been put into in trances often afterwards refuse to believe it, even though the subjects also followed the hypnotist’s “suggestions” while apparently -- as also assessed by the experienced hypnotists -- hypnotized. The problem is that the trance state is not necessarily easily discernable from within. And to compound the problem of subjective recognition it is merely semi-trance states which The URANTIA Book warns can be spiritually dangerous. These are more than likely even less discernable than full, hypnotic trances! But we know when our mind is “comparatively passive”, and when our awareness is focused only upon “vivid islands” and not our wider consciousness. Outwardly this condition may only be signaled by widely dilated pupils, which apparently are known to accompany elevated alpha wave levels. It has been discovered that the more these states are entered into, the longer they will persist, carrying over beyond the period of meditation, even into day to day activities.

Elevated alpha levels also indicate that the mind is highly suggestible and lacking in abilities of discernment and cognition (you naturally experience this state just before falling asleep -- which fact in itself is evidence that the alpha-state is closer to the subconscious, dream-state, than to the superconscious “mountaintop of intellectual activity” which is the area of immediate contact with the indwelling, spirit God-fragment within us). We are quite likely soon to be overwhelmed with new knowledge in this area when more results of the ongoing international, cross-discipline mapping study of the brain are brought to public awareness.

Stilled Mind Meditation Is Lacking

This is not to say that Eastern-style, so-called, “meditation” has to be considered harmful in and of itself. Scientific scrutiny has apparently observed beneficial effects from its practice. The URANTIA Book in no way condemns it for promoting better health and release from stress. What it does warn is this:

“Under no circumstances should the trancelike state of visionary consciousness be cultivated as a religious experience” (1099 D).

The supernals explain that this “mystical state” (known more scientifically as “alpha-state”, so-

named because of the predominance of alpha waves produced therein by the brain) “gravitates consciousness toward the subconscious rather than in the direction of the zone of spiritual contact, the superconscious [the “realm of ascending intellectual activity”]”(1099 D). Like prayer, it also obviously can access the “subconscious reservoir of mortal experience” for “material aid” (997 C), but the danger is that “visions and other so-called mystic experiences, along with extraordinary dreams, may be regarded as divine communications to the human mind” (1100 A). The experiences themselves may be no more harmful than dreams, but they should not be believed!

Chart showing alpha brain-waves

On the other hand, this does not mean that we should jump right into Eastern Religion’s so-called “meditation” for non-religious purposes without exercising any caution. Some scientific studies have indicated a harmful effect. Also, The URANTIA Book says that “the factors which contribute to the initiation of mystic communion are indicative of the danger of such psychic states” (1100 A). And the listed factors include “dissociation”, a psychological term indicating a certain kind of loss of touch with physical/mental reality, or parts of it. Dissociation is associated with not only channelling, but with both multiple personality disorder and schizophrenia as well. The trancelike state comprising stilled-mind practices itself may be dissociative, and should be thoroughly understood if it appears in any way to be a:

“diffusion of consciousness with vivid islands of focal attention operating on a comparatively passive intellect” (1099 D).

I have not personally attempted stilled-mind practice, and probably won’t. Neither must I kill someone to accept that murder is wrong! The warnings in The URANTIA Book have been put there for one reason only, so that we can benefit from them. A word to the wise should be sufficient! They are ignored at one’s own risk of courting disaster. While such dangers cannot stop spiritual progression, they can seriously retard it!

“Dangerous Ground”

Truth can be lost when new meanings come to substitute for former, earlier concepts and where the old meaning is meant the use of such words without proper explanation will always cause confusion. The URANTIA Book’s supernal authors were obviously aware of the fact of the evolution of language -- even school kids understand it in principle. Therefore they also presented descriptions of the meditative practices which were to be AVOIDED:

• “Diffusion of consciousness with vivid islands of focal attention operating on a comparatively passive intellect” (1099 D).

   

   

• “Mental dissociation to the level of abnormal mental manifestations” (1100 A).

   

   

• “Psychic dissociation” (1100 B)

But if these other dangers can be avoided it is entirely true that Jesus-style “meditation” is highly desirable -- we are actually challenged:

“to achieve better communication with the divine Monitor [Thought Adjuster] that dwells in the human mind. Man’s greatest adventure in the flesh consists in the well balanced and sane effort to advance the borders of self-consciousness out through the dim realms of embryonic soul-consciousness in a wholehearted effort to reach the borderland of spirit-consciousness -- contact with the divine presence” (2097 A) …

… almost the last words in The URANTIA Book. However while pursuing this goal which they call the “great challenge to modern man”, they also warn us to keep in mind that:

 

 

1. “It is dangerous to entertain the idea that every new concept originating in the human mind is the dictation of the Adjuster. More often in beings of your order, that which you accept as the Adjuster’s voice [or the voice of a spirit entity] is in reality the emanation of your own intellect. This is dangerous ground … ” (1208 D)

    

    

2. “It is hazardous to attempt the differentiation of the Adjuster’s concept registry from the more or less continuous and conscious reception of the dictation of mortal conscience.” (1208 C)

    

    

3. “It is extremely dangerous to postulate as to the Adjuster content of the dream life.” (1208 C)

    

    

4. “The great danger … is that visions and other so-called mystic experiences [e.g., “leadings”, “visions”, “voices”, and other “abnormal mental manifestations”], along with extraordinary dreams may be regarded as divine communications to the human mind.” (1099 C)

    

    

5. “There is a great danger associated with the habitual practice of religious daydreaming; mysticism may become a technique of reality avoidance … ” (1099 D)

    

    

6. [And also:] “There is a certain danger associated with overmuch private praying which is corrected and prevented by group praying, community devotions. [Because] when prayer becomes overmuch aesthetic, when it consists almost exclusively in beautiful and blissful contemplation of paradisiacal divinity, it loses much of its socializing influence and tends towards mysticism and the isolation of its devotees.” (1001 A)

The URANTIA Book also teaches that:

• “It is sometimes possible to have your mind illuminated, to hear the divine voice that continually speaks within you … But your unsteady and rapidly shifting mental attitudes often result in thwarting the plans and interrupting the work of the Adjusters … this ministry is also greatly retarded by your own preconceived opinions, settled ideas, and long-standing prejudices.” (1199 C)

   

   

• “In varying degrees and increasingly as you ascend the psychic circles (ref. 1209 B), sometime directly, but more often indirectly, you do communicate with your Adjusters.” (1208 D)

   

   

• “While the voice of the Adjuster is ever within you, most of you will hear it seldom during a lifetime. Human beings below the third and second [psychic] circles of attainment rarely hear the Adjuster’s direct voice except in moments of supreme desire, in a supreme situation, and consequent upon a supreme decision.” (1213 C)

   

   

• “With the vast majority of Urantians (earth-mortals) the Adjuster must patiently await the arrival of death deliverance: must await the liberation of the emerging soul from the well-neigh complete domination of the energy patterns and chemical forces inherent in your material order of existence. The chief difficulty you experience in contacting with your Adjusters consists in this very inherent mortal nature. So few mortals are real thinkers; you do not spiritually develop and discipline your minds to the point of favorable liaison with the divine Adjusters.” (1213 A)

   

   

• “You are so devoid of courageous decisions and consecrated co-operation that your indwelling Adjusters find it next to impossible to communicate directly to the human mind. Even when they do find it possible to flash a gleam of new truth to the evolving mortal soul, this spiritual revelation often so blinds the creature as to precipitate a convulsion of fanaticism or to initiate some other intellectual upheaval which results disastrously. Many a new religion and strange “ism” has arisen from the aborted, imperfect, misunderstood, and garbled communication of the Thought Adjusters.” (1207 C)

With all these leadings, voices, misunderstood and garbled communications, dreams, and dangers, what are we to do? The URANTIA Book provides the answer:

“In scrutinizing mental situations, safety lies only in the prompt recognition of each and every thought and experience for just what it actually and fundamentally is, disregarding what it might have been.” (1199 C)

That is, if an inner voice says, for example, for us to go to such and such a place, or if we dream of such a place, we are advised NOT to conclude, “My Thought Adjuster may be (or even worse, is) telling me to go there”, but that “it was nothing more or less than the content of an inner voice or a dream … period!” Then it becomes simply another source of ideas (which is probably all it is anyway) which should be treated like any other suggestion -- according to its real value, or our best estimate thereof. We might well also keep track of the success/failure rate of emanations from that particular source. Does it prove to be trustworthy over time?

• “The human mind may perform in response to so-called inspiration when it is sensitive either to the uprisings of the subconscious or to the stimulus of the superconscious. In either case it appears to the individual that such augmentations of the content of the consciousness are more or less foreign.” (1000 D)

   

   

• “These are problems which will have to be solved through individual discrimination and personal decision. But a human being would do better to err in rejecting an Adjuster’s expression through believing it to be a purely human experience than to blunder [blunder!] into exalting a reaction of the mortal mind to the sphere of divine dignity.” (1208 C)

   

   

• “This is dangerous ground, and every human being must settle these problems for himself [or herself] in accordance with his [or her] natural human wisdom and superhuman insight.” (1208 D)

The secret of Jesus’ unparalleled religious life was his:

“consciousness of the presence of God; and he attained it by intelligent prayer and sincere worship -- unbroken communion with God -- and not by leadings, voices, visions, or extraordinary religious practices” (2089 B) …

… such as are often produced by stilled-mind, so-called “meditation” techniques, and which are supposed to be, according to its proponents, valuable religious experience!

“However favorable may have been the conditions for mystic phenomena, it should be clearly understood that Jesus of Nazareth never resorted to such methods for communion with the Paradise Father. Jesus had no subconscious delusions or superconscious illusions.” (1100 B).

Transcendental Meditation vs. Jesus-Style Meditation

One of the most popular forms of passive-mind, so-called “meditation”, Transcendental

Transcendental Meditation master, Marahrishi Mahesh Yogi.

Meditation or TM, is in fact pitched in conformity to The URANTIA Book warning against the use of such trancelike, “mystic” states for the purpose of religious experience:

“Transcendental Meditation is not a religion -- it is a technique … It supports all religions because it releases stress and purifies the mind, body, and emotions of the person who practices it.” (Maharishi Mahesh Yogi’s Transcendental Meditation: Revised and Updated Edition, by Robert Roth, 1994, Donald Fine Inc. New York)

Many benefits attributed to TM, however, are also said to be attainable from prayer and worship, or Jesus-style meditation. Rodan explained how we absorb energy during spiritual communion. He also said that:

“on every mountaintop of intellectual thought are to be found relaxation for the mind, strength for the soul, and communion for the spirit. From such vantage points of high living, man is able to transcend the material irritations of lower levels of thinking -- worry, jealousy, envy, revenge, and the pride of immature personality. These high-climbing souls deliver themselves from a multitude of crosscurrent conflicts of the trifles of living, thus becoming free to attain the consciousness of the higher currents of spirit concept and celestial communication. But the life purpose must be jealously guarded from the temptation to seek for easy and transient attainment … ” (1778 B)

Jesus (in modern terms supplied by midwayers) compared prayer to “recharging the spiritual batteries of the soul”, and worship to “tuning in the soul to catch the universe broadcast of the infinite spirit of the Universal Father” (1621 C). It provided “true and ideal soul rest”, he maintained, and that “the strain [stress] of living should be relaxed by the restfulness of worship” (1616 B). “Kingdom … believers,” he said:

“must increasingly learn how to step aside from the rush of life -- escape the harassments of material existence -- while they refresh the soul, inspire the mind, and renew the spirit by worshipful communion” (1739 D).

Notice that “worshipful meditation”, as taught and practiced by Jesus, provides something that TM does not claim: it benefits the soul! Jesus-style meditation improves the whole personality, rather than just being limited to its corporal/mental parts. This is NOT to say that proponents of non-TM brands of passive-mind meditation do not, unlike the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, claim spiritual benefits as well -- many do. The question is whether we should believe them or The URANTIA Book!

Keeping Up with Evolving Words see Comment

 

JESUS STYLE MEDITATION:

What the word really means!

“Meditation” Definition: Old vs. New

The URANTIA Book uses the word “meditation” in it a number of times. And Jesus speaks of “the value of meditation” (2047 D). There is, however, much confusion today as to the exact meaning of the word. Not only that, but it appears that The URANTIA Book actually warns against the practice of a form of “meditation” which is not only prevalent today, but which after the book was written and published became the word’s whole definition in may peoples’ minds. In other words, Jesus seems to be advocating what The URANTIA Book specifically warns against.

The Word Has Changed In Meaning

 

All URANTIA Book readers should understand that in 1934-1935, when the Papers which became The URANTIA Book were supernally indited into a “circumscribed language of the realm” (English) the word “meditation” did not mean what we now recognize as Eastern Religion-style, thought-stilling, inward-looking, so-called “meditation”! That idea had not yet found an enduring terminology in English, although “contemplation” was sometimes used (as in “contemplating” one’s navel, which practice The URANTIA Book links to self-hypnosis (ref. 987 B)). The concept was still pretty much confined to India and the East. It was only after the book had been published for at least a decade that the new meaning took over the word and left its previous definition behind. At that time various celebrities and others had began to popularize mind-stilling practices of “meditation”, and it was this use of the word which caught on.

The 1936 edition of the two-volume Webster’s Universal Dictionary of the English Language defines the word “meditation” as:

Jesus-style meditation requires active thought

“1. The act of meditating; close or continued thought; the turning or revolving of a subject in the mind; serious contemplation; mental reflection; often, specifically, thought devoted to religious subjects.”

Its synonyms for the verb, “meditate” are: “Study, ponder, consider, ruminate, revolve, contemplate, intend”. And the definition in a 1955 single volume desk dictionary -- the year The URANTIA Book was first published -- is the same.

Jesus-Style Meditation

 

That the use of the word “meditation” contains the idea of dynamic thought is clearly illustrated in the following incident in Jesus’ life as related in The URANTIA Book:

“That night Jesus did not sleep. Donning his evening wraps, he sat out on the lake shore thinking, thinking until the dawn of the next day. In the long hours of that night of meditation Jesus came clearly to comprehend that he never would be able to make his followers see him in any other light than as the long-expected Messiah” (1532 A).

Jesus spent the “long hours of that night of meditation” “thinking, thinking”!

 

And in another incident, immediately following his baptism at the hands of John the Baptist, Jesus had come to clearly and fully recall and comprehend his bestowal charge and all of the far-flung relationships congruent with his superhuman identity. Therefore he immediately retired to the hills “for a season of quiet meditation so that he could think out the plans and decide upon the procedures for the prosecution of his public labors” (1513 A). When Jesus “meditated” he planned and decided and thought! This meditation period lasted forty days. Jesus-style meditation consists of having thoughts … not stilling them! The thoughts are just directed Godward until -- sooner or later -- God takes over the direction, both “adjusting” and “controlling” them.

The URANTIA Book says that “one should postulate a … realm of ascending intellectual activity as the superconscious level, the zone of immediate contact with the indwelling entity [of God], the Thought Adjuster.” (1099 C)

It is this active-mind form of meditation which Jesus says has “value”, which the philosopher, Rodan, learned from Jesus, and says that Jesus “constantly practiced” and “faithfully taught”. Rodan calls it “worshipful meditation” (wherein Jesus went “off so frequently by himself to commune with the Father in heaven”), and he claimed that it is a technique for “gathering strength and wisdom for the ordinary conflicts of living, [and] also appropriating the energy for the solution of higher problems of a moral and spiritual nature” (1774 A-B), which he said is to be found on “every mountaintop of intellectual thought”, where “the very best that is resident in man’s nature” is called forth. (1778 B)

 

“So few mortals are real thinkers!”

What It Is and Is Not

 

When The URANTIA Book says: “One of the great troubles with modern life is that man thinks he is too busy to find time for spiritual meditation and religious devotion” (2077 B) , it is NOT referring to isolating, inward-viewing, thought-silencing, so-called meditative practices, but simply and sincerely talking things over with God! For it also says:

“The chief difficulty you experience in contacting with your Adjusters consists in this very inherent material nature. So few mortals are real thinkers; (1313 A).

 

The “worship” part of “worshipful meditation”, the term by which Rodan refers to Jesus-style meditation, is one of three levels of cosmic mind insight which are “constructive in the self-consciousness of reflective thinking” (my emphasis). The URANTIA Book laments that “it is sad to record that so few persons on Urantia (earth) take delight in cultivating these qualities of courageous and independent cosmic thinking.” (192 B)

Look, if you will, with me at the deeper meaning of the following sentence: “Man can never wisely decide temporal issues or transcend the selfishness of personal interests unless he meditates in the presence of the sovereignty of God and reckons with the realities of divine meanings and spiritual values” (1093 A). Nearly every important term in this sentence indicates ACTIVE thinking or expression: “wisely decide”, “reckons with”, “divine meanings”. These activities cannot be performed with thought-stilling techniques!

We are taught that the “more healthful attitude of spiritual meditation is to be found in reflective worship and the prayer of thanksgiving” (1100 A). What are we being told here? Meditation is similar to, or included in, “reflective worship” and the “prayer of thanksgiving”. Here the idea of reflection is used in its ordinary sense, and hardly refers to “universe reflectivity” (the “unique and inexplicable power to see, hear, sense, and know all things”) which mortals cannot experience on their own (refs. 105 A and 202 C).

The 1936 dictionary defines this use of the word “reflect” as:

“3. To turn or throw back the thoughts upon anything; to revolve matters in the mind; to think seriously; to ponder; to meditate, especially with regard to conduct.

 

“4. To pay attention to what passes in the mind; to attend to the facts or phenomena of consciousness”.

Its synomyms are “consider”, “contemplate”, “ponder”. Definitions 1 and 2 (not given here) refer to non-mental types of reflection (as of light by mirrors, etc.).

 

At the same time that we worship and pray, we must pay attention to what is happening in our minds. In all likelihood the level of our understanding will be upstepped during this process, and we become “inspired” with the new, or higher spiritual concepts which we have “discovered”.

“All such inner and spiritual communion is termed spiritual insight. Such religious experiences result from the impress made upon the mind of man by the combined operations of the Adjuster and the Spirit of Truth as they function amid and upon the ideas, insights, and spirit strivings of evolving sons of God.”(1105 A)

 

“The divine spirit makes contact with mortal man … in the realm of the highest and most spiritualized thinking”

Upstepped Thinking

 

“You are quite incapable of distinguishing the product of your own material intellect from that of the conjoint activities of your soul and the Adjuster”

 

What we must understand about worship, which The URANTIA Book by the way, refers in one place to as “superthinking”, is that we only assent to worship, and that it is actually “conducted” by our Thought Adjuster on our behalf. Therefore if we are to derive the highest benefits from this transaction we need to pay attention to what is going on! Jesus taught that we “worship God by the aid of the Father’s indwelling spirit and by the illumination of the human mind through the ministry of truth” (1641 A). What is important about this is that we “are quite incapable of distinguishing the product of [our] own material intellect from that of the conjoint activities of [our] soul and the Adjuster (1207 A). That is, during worship the thoughts we perceive seem just like our own but they are being “conducted” by our Adjuster and they are the “illuminations” of the Spirit of Truth.

 

“Why not allow the Adjuster to spiritualize your thinking?”

 

And that is why we need to be reflective, to be conscious of what is going on in our minds, and to seriously ponder what we learn by observing what appears to be our own thinking -- in fact, we cannot tell them apart. The Thought Adjusters interface with our highest thinking. This same phenomenon takes place when one writes about spiritual values as a service to one’s fellows. It is also reported to take place during the preaching of extemporaneous sermons. Writing and speaking, after all, are not much more than projections of our inner reality. And we can hardly serve our spiritual siblings if our truth is not made outwardly manifest in the material world. Jesus taught that when his followers would be brought before judges that the “spirit will teach you in that very hour what you should say to your adversaries” (1912 D). The phenomenon is hardly to be limited to court cases, but includes all forms of “witnessing” or verbal/written service of the communication of truth to ourselves and to our siblings in God’s family:

“The contact of the mortal mind with its indwelling Adjuster, while often favored by devoted meditation [note: 1934-35 definition applies], is more frequently facilitated by wholehearted and loving service in unselfish ministry to one’s fellow creatures.” (1000 B).

 

Religious ecstasy, of the type said to be produced by thought-stilling techniques, may indeed be permissible when it results from sane antecedents (ref. 1000 C), but notice that although “the god-knowing believer increasingly experiences the ecstasy and grandeur of spiritual socialization on a universal scale” (1985 B), that Jesus, who represented the perfect human (ref. 1103 C and 1511 B), only had “rare moments of emotional ecstasy” (1807 B). Likewise notice that true prophetic visions are definitely and specifically NOT “trancelike ecstasies”. (1000 C)

Words

 

Also, although The URANTIA Book teaches that words themselves are not always necessary to prayer, which The URANTIA Book, by the way, terms “sublime thinking”, it is nevertheless almost inconceivable that words may be dispensed with in the case of prayers of thanksgiving! Sometimes prayers are little more than heartfelt groans. But how do we thank God for what we have received without words? And how can we reflect or ponder without words? The URANTIA Book says that “words are irrelevant to prayer”. But it also adds that “they are merely the intellectual channel in which the river of spiritual supplication may chance to flow.” And it explains that “God answers the soul’s attitude, not the words” (1002 B). We can gain more insight into the meaning of that statement where we are told in the first part of The URANTIA Book that “it is the motivating thought, the spiritual content, that validates [prayer]. Words are valueless” (85 A).

This does not mean that words, or other mental/aural symbols of thought content, can be dispensed with by quieting the mind artificially any more than a riverbank may be demolished and the river expected to flow. What is being said about the lack of value of words is possibly better expressed in Jesus’ instruction that prayers are not “rendered more efficacious by ornate repetitions [or] eloquent phraseology” (1640 C). The way this inner communication works seems to be that “if anything originates in your consciousness that is fraught with supreme spiritual value, when you give expression to it, no power in the universe can prevent its flashing directly to the Absolute Spirit Personality of all creation.” But “the content of any petition which is not ’spirit indited’ can find no place in the universal spiritual circuitry” (84 D). That is, it is the content that matters, but nevertheless it must be “expressed”, that is, put into words, thoughts. The specific words one uses to do this are not at all important in themselves. Obviously there is no need for words to be spoken out loud in personal prayer or worship.

Again, we are taught that “the word value of a prayer is purely autosuggestive in private devotions” (1002 B). That is, we learn from our prayer and worship. The spirit indites concepts “fraught with supreme spiritual value” in our consciousness and within our minds we hear the words which comprise them as our own “thinking”. These words are not “important” per se in that they only serve to communicate those values to ourselves, not to God. But as we express them, their content flashes directly to the Paradise Father.

“ Theoretical physicist Albert Einstein thought in concepts, not words”

 

Whatever feelings we may experience during any form of meditation are likely to be deceptive:

“The divine spirit makes contact with mortal man, not by feelings or emotions, but in the realm of the highest and most spiritualized thinking. It is your thoughts, not your feelings, that lead you Godward” (1104 D)

Those who appeal to other than intellectual experience of divine contact as evidence thereof are in direct conflict with this teaching.

 

It is true that some people (Albert Einstein was said to be one) apparently do not have their thoughts in words but in complete concepts. But this abnormality might only be suited to tightly-woven abstract logical systems such as mathematics. Nevertheless this is still indicative of intense intellectual activity in which mental quietude plays no substantial part.

“Worshipful Meditation vs. Thought-Stilling Techniques” (Continued:)

 

 

 

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We have shared 4,368 free Urantia Books into the world since November 27, 2013 – all to the glory of the First Great Source and Center.

Previous years of sharing the Urantia Revelation
2019: 2,100 books given*
2018: 1,432 books given
2017: 1,151 books given
2016: 870 books given
2015: 673 books given
2014: 155 books given
2013: 18 books given

*Forecast: We plan to freely share upward of 2,100 Urantia Books (all languages) into the world in 2019, thereby growing our outreach by over 47% year-over-year. However, much depends on you! – don't miss this opportunity to help. Send a donation to us with PayPal using this account: skvestergaard@gmail.com. Your help is deeply appreciated!

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Enlightening the World of the Cross
“The hour is striking for presenting to Buddhism, to Christianity, to Hinduism, even to the peoples of all faiths, not the gospel about Jesus, but the living, spiritual reality of the gospel of Jesus.”
The Urantia Book, 94:12.7
Said Jesus: “The gospel of the kingdom must be proclaimed to all the world, to gentile as well as to Jew.”
The Urantia Book, 163:4.2

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