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The Missing Link?
Condensed from Jacob Needleman, "Lost Christianity. A Journey of Rediscovery to the Centre of Christian Experience."
In a book on comparative religion, Professor Jacob Needleman has sought to address the question of what has been lost, or what is missing, from the teachings of the world's great religions. Needleman believes that something has happened that has virtually halted the progress of mankind towards that state The Urantia Book would call "light and life."
After many interviews with religious leaders from many countries, including Buddhists, Hindus, Taoists, and Muslims, Professor Needleman came up with these conclusions:
Very little needs to be changed other than these two factors.
1. Recognition that truth is the sustained consciousness of error. Only in this way can the Holy Spirit appear within the individual.
2. If we seek for what is possible within ourselves, what is not possible will be added unto us.
That seems simple enough but hunting in Needleman's book for an in-depth explanation of their meaning proved to be tedious and frustrating. Perhaps this is necessary for the benefit of those who are searching. Or perhaps it is a means by which academics and mystics ensure they do not do themselves out of a job.
The key to the first requirement is to be found in the gospel of Matthew 15:18-20. Some Pharisees had approached Jesus to complain about his disciples not washing their hands in the proper ritual manner prior to eating. Jesus answered that it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a man. Then he added:
"But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these are the things that make a person unclean. For from his heart come the evil ideas which lead him to kill, commit adultery, and do other immoral things; to rob, lie, and slander others. These are the things that make a person unclean."
The King James Bible lists these as evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, and blasphemies. The Urantia Book describes the same incident but says:
"Do you not know it is from the heart that there come forth evil thoughts, wicked projects of murder, theft, and adulteries, together with jealousy, pride, anger, revenge, railings, and false witness?" (1713)
To the above Needleman adds another quotation from the gospel of Matthew 23:26:
"How terrible for you, teachers of the Law and Pharisees! You hypocrites! You clean the outside of your cup and plate, while the inside is full of what you have gotten by violence and selfishness. Blind Pharisees! Clean what is inside the cup first, and then the outside will be clean too!"
The Urantia Book puts it more strongly:
"Woe upon you, scribes, Pharisees, and hypocrites! for you are scrupulous to cleanse the outside of the cup and the platter, but within there remains the filth of extortion, excesses, and deception. You are spiritually blind. Do you not recognize how much better it would be first to cleanse the inside of the cup, and then that which spills over would of itself cleanse the outside? You wicked reprobates! You make the outward performances of your religion to conform with the letter of your interpretation of Moses' law while your souls are steeped in iniquity and filled with murder." (1908)
Who? Me?
In other words, the major hindrance to the further spiritual progress of our planet is the continued deleterious effects of inherited animalistic emotions in most (all?) of us. The point made by many of the religious leaders interviewed by Professor Needleman is that the necessary intimate contact with the indwelling presence of God required for the continuing development of our souls, cannot occur while our hearts still harbor those things that Jesus said defile us.
Needleman claims that a tragedy for mainstream Christianity is the concept that the soul comes into existence as a complete entity, rather than something that grows progressively through experience with the God-within. If we believe that our soul is already a completed entity, then we need only ensure its survival. This is something that many Christians presume is assured because of their belief that Jesus has saved them from the consequences of their sins (i.e. those things that defile them). Hence, they are more concerned with seeking forgiveness for sin already committed, than the continuing process of spiritual growth of the soul that could become available through intimate communion with the God-Spirit within..
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