Part I: A New Approach To The Group Study Of The Urantia Papers
"Of all human knowledge, that which is of greatest value is to know the religious life of Jesus and how he lived it." [2091]
Introduction: The Man in Whom Jesus Showed no Interest
"On their visit to the lakes in northern Italy, Jesus had a long talk with Ganid concerning the impossibility of teaching a man about god if a man did not desire to know god.
They had casually met a thoughtless pagan while on their journey up to the lakes, and Ganid was surprised that Jesus did not follow his usual practice of enlisting the man in conversation which would naturally lead to the discussion of spiritual questions. When Ganid asked his teacher why he evinced so little interest in this pagan, Jesus answered:
" ‘Ganid, the man was not hungry for truth. He was not dissatisfied with himself. He was not ready to ask for help, and the eyes of his mind were not open to receive light for the soul.’ " [1466]
Light for the soul
This was one of the very few times the Urantia Papers record the Master showing no interest in talking to someone. From this incident a description may be drawn of someone whom the Master might "pass by" as not yet teachable: self-satisfied, believing in his or her own power to handle things, and close-minded to the inner light of the soul.
Some of us began to believe sometime ago that ordinary study groups do not cultivate the inner life. Reading groups seem to be developed around "head knowledge." We began to wonder if this was enough and had the feeling of dissatisfaction with our regular study groups. Something was missing.
Are study groups life-changing?
We could talk about the teachings of the Master in study groups, and most of us knew the Urantia Papers fairly well. But study groups did not seem to change the lives of those who attended. We came to believe that very few of us were living the teachings of the Master on a significant level. Intellectually, we thought we knew about the religious life of Jesus and how he lived it. But even this knowledge — that which is "of the greatest value" to humankind — in and of itself was not enough. We knew about this religious life, but we did not, in a sense, "own" it.
We came to believe that we needed more than the knowledge and philosophy about the Master’s religious life. We decided we wanted to experience that religious life ourselves, and actually live it. We needed to live the religion of Jesus.
The group we now call Living the Teachings set about to learn and define the religious life of Jesus, and to discover how he lived it. We then sought to apply these ideas to our own lives. We discovered this process to be a mutual adventure, yet one that is profoundly personal and ongoing. More and more we discovered ourselves gravitating toward a religious belief. But not a religious belief like any we had known before. Not a belief of priests, and churches, and rules. It was more a personal religious belief that addressed the inner life of each individual . . .
Do The Urantia Papers Present A Religion To Be Feared?
The Urantia Papers provide new revelatory information about what it refers to on page 1467 as the "new and everlasting religion of Jesus."
Some readers have protested that they "already have a religion." They claim to be a Catholic, or a Methodist, or a Jew, or whatever. But the Urantia Papers generally use the word "religion" in a different context than we are accustomed. The Papers generally use the first definition of religion, as it was presented in dictionaries at the time and in virtually all modern dictionaries:
re-li-gion: 1. (a) Belief in a divine or superhuman power or powers to be obeyed and worshiped as the creator(s) and ruler(s) of the universe (b) expression of such belief in conduct and ritual.
Yet sometimes the Papers do refer to what they call formal religion , or organized religion. In this case they are generally discussing specific "religions" such as the Catholic, Methodist, and Jewish religions. This is the common definition most people are accustomed to. This is also what most people think of when the word "religion" is used. Formal religion is traditionally described in the second dictionary definition:
2. (a) any specific system of belief and worship, often involving a code of ethics and a philosophy [the Christian religion, the Buddhist religion, etc.] (b) any system of beliefs, practices, ethical values, etc. resembling, suggestive of, or likened to such a system. [humanism as a religion.] [Compton’s 1997 Edition]
For most of us, our formal "religion" is an accident of birth. We may be Catholic, yet if we had been born into a Jewish family, we would likely be Jewish. If we were born in Syria we would more likely be Islamic. There are exceptions, but this is generally the case. It is similar to being born in Dallas and rooting for the Dallas Cowboys, or in Washington D.C. and rooting for the Washington Redskins.
As we shall see, the "new and everlasting religion of Jesus" is not an accident of birth. It has never been attempted on a large scale. This religion is indeed new, and it is a profoundly personal religion. It is an inner life religion of the spirit that is defined by the individual believer by means of his or her relationship to the living Spirit of Truth. There are not, nor can there ever be, "gurus" who can authentically know your inner life better than you. In the personal religion of Jesus, we are all equals. The Living the Teachings concept is a group of individual believers who come together to share their own hope, strength and wisdom as spiritual equals.
Why Do We Fear The Religion Of Jesus?
"Primitive man lived a life of superstitious bondage to religious fear. Modern, civilized men dread the thought of falling under the dominance of strong religious convictions. Thinking man has always feared to be held by a religion. When a strong and moving religion threatens to dominate him, he invariably tries to rationalize, traditionalize, and institutionalize it, thereby hoping to gain control of it. By such procedure, even a revealed religion becomes man-made and man-dominated.
"Modern men and women of intelligence evade the religion of Jesus because of their fears of what it will do to them — and with them. And all such fears are well founded. The religion of Jesus does, indeed, dominate and transform its believers, demanding that men dedicate their lives to seeking for a knowledge of the will of the Father in heaven and requiring that the energies of living be consecrated to the unselfish service of the brotherhood of man. Selfish men and women will not pay such a price even for the greatest spiritual treasure ever offered to humankind." [2083]
Why Do We Need Religion?
"God is not only the determiner of destiny; he is man’s eternal destination. All nonreligious human activities seek to bend the universe to the distorting service of self; the truly religious individual seeks to identify the self with the universe and then to dedicate the activities of this unified self to the service of the universe family of fellow beings, human and superhuman." [67]
The Religion That Humankind Fears
THE "LIVING THE TEACHINGS" group is based upon our conviction that, of all the knowledge we can ever acquire, that which has the greatest value is knowledge about the religious life of Jesus and how he lived it. Yet, we discovered that having knowledge — simply knowing something — was not enough. For us, even believing the teachings of the Urantia Papers does not seem to answer the "still, small voice within."
As we began to assemble quotes from the Urantia Papers to support and enlarge upon the primary premise about the religious life of Jesus, a compelling challenge seemed to emerge. More than simply knowing about the Master’s religious life, and beyond believing in him and the task he undertook, we are being called upon to follow the Master.
This is a distant cry from anything most of us expected when we first picked up the Urantia Papers. For nearly four decades we have been content to call ourselves "readers." It is easy enough to be a "reader," and to learn and teach others about the religious life of Jesus and how he lived it.
Then, not long ago some of us took the more difficult step and began to declare ourselves "believers." We thus profess our belief in the Urantia Papers as a revelation of epochal magnitude.
And yet, many of us now conclude that, beyond belief, we are to pick up our individual crosses and actually follow the Master. Thus, many of us are confronted with an immensely different challenge. Such a belief becomes a way of life, and cannot be confined to study groups. Such a belief might disrupt everything that we are doing.
If we entertain such a stunning idea, we might no longer find so much warmth and comfort in our study groups and our social gatherings, where we talk about the compelling life of Jesus.
On the contrary, we find ourselves back on the sun scorched roads of Israel, and through the dusty air we see that wondrous sunlit countenance turn toward us. He would probably not ask us: "Do you read the Urantia Papers?" nor "Do you believe the Urantia Papers?"
More likely the Master might ask: "Will you? Will you follow me?"
No spiritual self-examining
The ten cascading premises that follow are not "steps." They do not require self-examination, as do Twelve Step Programs and most psychological methods. Although they will help the spiritual life of anyone, these cascading premises are not an attempt to take the place of, nor improve upon, the spiritual methods of introspective Twelve Step programs. Jesus offered a method of spiritual growth that was unlike any other, before or since his time.
"The three apostles were shocked this afternoon when they realized that their Master’s religion made no provision for spiritual self-examination. All religions before and after the times of Jesus, even Christianity, carefully provide for conscientious self-examination. The carpenter’s son never taught character building; he taught character growth, declaring the kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed." [1583]
What, then, is the kingdom of heaven?
"Jesus never tired of telling them that the kingdom of heaven was their personal experience of realizing the higher qualities of spiritual living; that these realities of spirit experience are progressively translated to new and higher levels of divine certainty and eternal grandeur."
A Living the Teachings group is, then, dedicated to nurturing the process of living at "higher levels of divine certainty." To this end, we share our inner lives, and discuss our personal progress (or lack of progress) in achieving inner success. There can be no gurus nor experts in such a group. We do not give advice unless it is asked for. We share as spiritual equals, and we are united by our goals — not by our beliefs.
The Ten Cascading Premises
These premises, drawn from the Urantia Papers, are philosophic tools by means of which we arrive at a certain conclusion. They are by no means the only arrangement or conclusion that could be developed. They are intended to lead us to a deeper understanding of the religious life of Jesus, how he lived it, and how we may aspire to dare to attempt it ourselves.
[1]. "Of all human knowledge, that which is of greatest value is to know the religious life of Jesus and how he lived it." . [2090]
We believe the following passages form one possible path toward understanding that life, how Jesus lived it, and how we — as Urantian Believers — are called upon to develop and live our own religious lives
[2]. "The secret of his unparalleled religious life was this 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]
[3]. "Whence then comes the energy to do these great things? Look to your Master. Even now he is out in the hills taking in power while we are here giving out energy. The secret of all this problem is wrapped up in spiritual communion, in worship. From the human standpoint it is a question of combined meditation and relaxation. Meditation makes the contact of mind with spirit; relaxation determines the capacity for spiritual receptivity. And this interchange of strength for weakness, courage for fear, the will of God for the mind of self, constitutes worship. At least, that is the way the philosopher views it." [Rodan speaking] [1777]
[4]. "But . . . mistakes of the intellect in no way interfered with the believer’s great progress in growth in spirit. In less than a month after the bestowal of the Spirit of Truth, the apostles made more individual spiritual progress than during their almost four years of personal and loving association with the Master." [2061]
[5]. "Before Pentecost the apostles had given up much for Jesus. They had sacrificed their homes, families, friends, worldly goods, and positions. At Pentecost they gave themselves to God, and the Father and the Son responded by giving themselves to man—sending their spirits to live within men. This experience of losing self and finding the spirit was not one of emotion; it was an act of intelligent self-surrender and unreserved consecration." [2089]
[6]. "Thus it appears that the Spirit of Truth comes really to lead all believers into all truth, into the expanding knowledge of the experience of the living and growing spiritual consciousness of the reality of eternal and ascending sonship with God. Do not make the mistake of expecting to become strongly intellectually conscious of the outpoured Spirit of Truth. The spirit never creates a consciousness of himself, only a consciousness of Michael, the Son. From the beginning Jesus taught that the spirit would not speak of himself. The proof, therefore, of your fellowship with the Spirit of Truth is not to be found in your consciousness of this spirit but rather in your experience of enhanced fellowship with Michael." [2061]
[7]. "Paul and his contemporaries applied all of Jesus’ spiritual implications regarding himself and the individual believer to the church as a group of believers; and in doing this, they struck a deathblow to Jesus’ concept of the divine kingdom in the heart of the individual believer." [1865]
[8]. "There must come a revival of the actual teachings of Jesus, such a restatement as will undo the work of his early followers who went about to create a sociophilosophical system of belief regarding the fact of Michael’s sojourn on earth." [2089]
[9]. "Christianity has indeed done a great service for this world, but what is now most needed is Jesus. The world needs to see Jesus living again on earth in the experience of spirit-born mortals who effectively reveal the Master to all men. It is futile to talk about a revival of primitive Christianity; you must go forward from where you find yourselves. Modern culture must become spiritually baptized with a new revelation of Jesus’ life and illuminated with a new understanding of his gospel of eternal salvation. And when Jesus becomes thus lifted up, he will draw all men to himself. Jesus’ disciples should be more than conquerors, even overflowing sources of inspiration and enhanced living to all men. Religion is only an exalted humanism until it is made divine by the discovery of the reality of the presence of God in personal experience." [2084]
[10. ] We believe this series of quotes represent one way the Urantia Revelation will: "flash upon earth in the lives of the men who reveal God to their fellows." This also is a basis of the "new and everlasting religion . . .this new way of salvation, the revelation of God to man through, and in, Jesus . . . When man goes in partnership with God, great things may, and do, happen." [1467]
Forming a living the teachings group
"To "follow Jesus" means to personally share his religious faith and to enter into the spirit of the Master’s life of unselfish service for man. One of the most important things in human living is to find out what Jesus believed, to discover his ideals, and to strive for the achievement of his exalted life purpose." [2090]
A "living the teachings" group is safe, loving, nurturing, and more spiritually progressive than any group process most of us have known. The key element is a singleness of purpose, that of helping one another live at a higher level. To be successful and pleasant for all, there can be no competitiveness, nor secondary agendas.
EVERYTHING WE SUGGEST here was arrived at by trial and error. In the process of creating a Living the Teachings group we had attempted open study group-type meetings for a year, meetings patterned after AA step programs, and other formats. None of these worked well with Urantians. Then, at last, we arrived at the pattern that worked for us.
Start with a closed group
About a year ago we discovered that we had a nucleus of a few kindred spirits who were still interested in the idea of a spiritual group dynamic for the teachings of the Urantia Papers. And this is the first suggestion: Begin with a group that is compatible and willing to learn from one another. Establish a time frame of commitment, say six months or a year. Unless everyone agrees on adding a new member — maintain a closed group. You will discover that a trusting, sharing group suffers from casual drop-ins or curiosity seekers. We discovered that eight or so people is about maximum. We meet on Sunday afternoons, and have juggled the time several times to meet the needs of members.
Your group will develop its own personality, and begin to have a life of its own. This group dynamic and wisdom will establish its own "rules," so to speak.
Create a "safe" group
We have learned it is best to begin with a moment of silence, and a prayer offered by a member. This sets the tone of the meeting. We do not read any "rules" or guidelines, since we are all committed to living the teachings of the Urantia Papers. We are all there to seek to live at a higher level.
The concept of the group is one of sharing our inner lives. It soon becomes obvious that this leaves one vulnerable. After a moment of silence and a prayer, we begin sharing what we have experienced in our spiritual lives for the previous week. We may talk about our failures or successes in living the teachings, our progress in prayer and meditation, or a troublesome problem, or an individual we have difficulty with. This group sharing is casual and takes about an hour or so of our two hour meeting. We do not rush it.
After each member shares, the leader establishes a topic, and the balance of the meeting is developed around this topic. In the pages that follow, dozens of ideas will occur to you. The structure, method or technique does not matter so much as the atmosphere the group generates.
The important thing is to make the ambiance of the meeting loving, safe, and fun. Our meetings have spiritual goals and use spiritual methods. We found it best to avoid too much psychological theory, even though there are two professional therapists in our group. Guided meditations, when we use them, are lifting and fresh, and use wholesome images and symbols to stimulate the creative imagination.
We have a rule that we are not to interrupt anyone who is talking. This has required, at times, the use of a "talking stone" which is passed from member to member. Only the person with the stone can talk. We do not offer advice after someone speaks unless it is specifically asked for. We do not critique the views of someone. Cross talk is not encouraged. The principle here is that we are all spiritual equals. We are experts in only one person’s inner life, our own. There should be no "wanna-be" gurus in the group. Each individual must feel safe to speak without fear of a subtle, judgmental response. Of all the "rules" we suggest, the "no advice unless requested" is most important. The rest of the structure of the meeting depends upon who is leading it. We always alternate leaders, unless a topic is carried forward and the group agrees to keep the same leader for two or three, or even more meetings. (We recently spent six weeks on meditation, with a group leader who was especially knowledgeable about it.)
Problems and problem members
This kind of spiritual dialogue is not for everyone. It is not conducive to the competitive intellectual arena that some Urantians, especially males, seem to enjoy. Some people don’t like to share their inner lives and are embarrassed to do so. Although we all share certain deep spiritual hungers and longings, modern men and women are conditioned to avoid discussion about them; it is virtually a "forbidden dialogue." For this reason, if there is not a good "fit" for a member, it is better to let this individual go and form his or her own group along the lines they like. We all have different perspectives, and it is advisable that those who have similar perspectives and problems form their own groups. Limited, closed groups make membership precious, and each member of a group should wholeheartedly participate, or make room for someone else.
For further information write:
Larry Mullins
7322 Yucca Court
Boulder, CO 80301
This publication may be copied for fellow students of the Urantia Papers without permission. Not To Be Sold.
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The Urantia Book Fellowship