It seems most appropriate to bring to the attention of the executive committee certain wise comments and advices, which have been gathered over a period of time, relative to the future problems of the Urantia BROTHERHOOD and its component societies. These advices could perhaps be best presented under the general caption:
SOME PROBLEMS CONFRONTING A NEW RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATION
Of course, you probably know that the best government in the world is that which governs least, that the true purpose of government is to prevent government, and that that government which prevents the most government is best because it leaves the individual free -- permits him his liberties and inalienable rights -- but prevents predatory groups from interfering with these liberties, and were it not for these wicked minorities we wouldn't need government. When people are all spirit-led they won't need any more government than they have in Havona. The Papers state: "Regarding the government of the central universe, there is none."
That organization is best which is so organized as to prevent all other organizations.
When people come to you about the Urantia Book and the Urantia BROTHERHOOD and tell you that since the Thought Adjusters are here and indwell everyone and the Spirit of Truth has been poured out upon all flesh, therefore, it isn't necessary to have an organization but just to trust in God, etc., don't argue with them. They are right. But it would be the height of folly to follow their ideals because the world is organized today as it has never needed to be organized before. If we undertake this work without an organization, we will have in the English-speaking world alone fifty other organizations springing up who will all claim the right to use the name "Urantia", and each one claiming to be the "only true and original" Urantia BROTHERHOOD. It would become the most disgraceful thing in the world since the early days of Christianity. Not since the gospel of Jesus has there appeared on earth such a dynamic nucleus about which could be built so many organizations and which would attract so many differently motivated men -- good, bad, and indifferent.
We must create an organization whose major purpose is to prevent other organizations and, therefore, the most benign. Create an organization which will organize the least and thereby prevent all other organizations with their tyranny and disgrace and their disrupting influences. That is the purpose of organization just as it is the purpose of government to prevent governing.
We have an organization. We may not like it in all ways but there is nothing in particular we can do about it just now. It is in spirit an organization to prevent organizations, and to allow as much liberty as possible. When the time comes that we feel it can be improved, we will have the experience to do so. We must not be misled by people who do not believe in organizations. (But always remember, when you deal with idealists, they are in the right and you are in the wrong. Therefore, do not argue with them because you cannot win.) If men would be willing to be led by the Spirit of Truth we wouldn't need organization, but very few will be. Therefore, those who are must safeguard their trust. Jesus began on Mount Gilboa and he started with a simple, social organization. He told his followers to begin that social organization. Yes, look at what that organization did! We may point to the mistakes of the Christian Church as an organization and what it did to the teachings of Jesus but among other things it kept them alive as a spring board from which the Urantia Book starts off. And do not forget that with all its faults Jesus started it. He said: "Whatever you do on earth, I will bind in heaven."
The only thing we can do about our organization is to do our best. If we look back from the mansion worlds and see posterity doing things to the organization, we can have the comfort of knowing that they did the same to Jesus' social organization.
We should foster an organization that will give every one a right to his own belief and interpretation but an organization that will prevent confusion, disruption, and disgrace. We should foster an organization that will have control over the wicked minority who might by organization seek to disgrace the very purpose for which the Book was given to the world. If we do not have an organization to safeguard the name, then will such an organization arise to take the name. And isn't it best, if there must be an organization, that it be in the hands of friends instead of enemies? The organization that organizes least is best.
Some idealists will join us but they will later go off in their own ways just like Abner and they will do a good work, and we will wish them well because we have an organization which prevents any one from being restricted or inhibited; therefore we will bid Godspeed to all idealists who will not have an organization. Jesus did not forego organization of the twelve because Judas was going to betray him. Jesus built an ideal organization; he built that organization having the least organization for the purpose of preventing other organizations. Our forebears ran away with it beyond the social level it was intended to function on.
Even today, in our group, some of our members are not personally converted to the idea of an organization, but they are overawed. Some of our folks cannot understand how we can go on organizing truth but we are doing it to prevent interminable confusion in this age of organization. And so we want to create an organization that has as few teeth as possible.
There has not in 1,900 years been anything about which there could be so much confusion and competition for control, and you cannot spike organization guns except by organization; that is the only way to prevent unwanted organizations in this present age.
We might consider asking an idealist if he thinks the Urantia Book should be copyrighted or just trust the Spirit of Truth to take care of that? Do not argue with idealists on their level. Be patient until they get halfway down the landing, where they can be more practical. Idealists are just like the rest of us the moment they go down one flight of stairs, but remember, when they talk to you from their level, do not argue with them. We have to deal with many things in our jobs that are not ideal. When this Book is once published, if the idealists control it, they would provide no organization and soon a lot of selfish people would start to work to make a name out of it. Lucifer, Satan, and Caligastia were idealists, at the start. But they were also something else. They were egotists. Marry idealism to egotism and you have a fatal combination.
Abner was an idealist, a wonderful man. He loved the truth. Paul was an ideist. He had ideas, and it was a great pity they did not work together; then they would have had a religion for the Orient and a better religion for the Occident. If idealists and ideists could work together it would save a lot of time and lives. An idealist is an impractical thinker. An ideist is a practical thinker.
Regarding Abner and Paul: One refused to have an organization; he was impractical. The other (Paul) built an organization and he knew he was building in a practical way. We can love Abner but we must respect Paul. Abner failed; Paul's cause lived.
We must carefully consider the organization Jesus created before he left the planet. It was an organization designed to prevent confusion, to ordain justice, to safeguard majorities against minorities. He did not leave the ecclesiastical hierarchy that subsequently grew up. But he did leave a simple, social organization that could carry on and prevent confusion.
Failure to organize would witness, I believe, the most terrible failure for the Urantia Book. It would allow all manner of designing groups and organizations to spring into existence and to use the name Urantia, to prostitute the meanings of the Urantia Book, and to dictate its policies.
Many things we have debated and discussed over the years. Many things we have thought of and discarded years ago, but we bring in new people and they do not know what has gone before. They are in the position of James, Jesus' brother. He was a good man but he was handicapped because he had not been with the Master and the apostles. He was always making speeches and rulings but he did not know what had gone on before. No one had confidence in him.
Be patient with an idealist; patience will do a great deal for them. As far as possible in dealing with them, see if you cannot win them to a greater body of truth. Expose them to the truth and many you will carry along with you.
We can always say to those who do not want an organization: Of course, you do not have to have one. You do not have to organize your little group. You can go on as you like. You cannot call your group a Urantia Society but you can call it a society for the study of the Urantia Book. But, of course, you are organized if you are so organized that you cannot join the Urantia Society. You are a minority organization that cannot join the majority organization.
The thing idealists and egotists will take particular offense at is the provision we have for turning people out. They do not want anyone to have power to turn them out of anything. They want to do as they please. We want to have respect for idealists but we don't want to have too much faith in them.
Think for a moment of the large number of warring and disgraceful organizations that would be in existence if we did not control the name Urantia and provide some authoritative recognition. In our own group there may be those who are waiting to take off and start something personal; by organizing we minimize all of these dangers. Think of it in the future: One million simple-minded people in confusion and there are a dozen different organizations that want to do something for them about the Urantia Book. They get literature from several different groups each claiming to be the one and only true one. Perhaps several will have members on their governing boards who were Forumites that have violated their pledge of secrecy. That would be true if we did not occupy the field with an organized group. When there is an organized group, then it can speak to one million distracted souls. If such were in existence it can say to such people: You do not have to pay any attention to these others. You go ahead in your own way. You can be free. You can be your own boss and here is a charter to prove it.
As we said before, in Havona there is no organization. Just tell the idealist to be patient. There he will find what he wants without organization. If we had no organization and would give up the right to turn people out of it, the idealist would feel much better about it, but we would have no right to create such an organization. We have in our Brotherhood organization one of the most consistent, liberal, fair plans for any movement that was ever devised. That doesn't mean it is perfect. But we are going to try out our organization as it is until we know more.
Idealists expect an evolving animal to be more subject to spiritual leading than is possible. If there is some freaky work that some idealists want to do, let them do it. Let them pursue their tangents. Idealists are to an organization what comets are to the solar system. They are spectacular but you can't depend on them. You cannot plan to receive from an idealist a regular income for a social organization, but he can go out and get a million dollars sometimes.
You are going to have a lot of them come along now. Some ideists but mostly idealists. Coming events cast their shadows before them. They will be operating on a spiritual level so you cannot argue with them. They are right. And they are right in theory but it won't work in practice.
By the way, if you read the Urantia Papers all the way through you will find that the universe is very well organized, but in spite of all that organization there is some trouble here and there.
(End of March 7, 1955, Memo)