A PHILOSOPHY OF BROTHERHOOD
Stan and Ruth Hartman
From The Urantian Journal of Urantia Brotherhood
June 1976
It's evident to many of us that the wind of the spirit is lifting the minds of others as well as Urantia Book students. A new philosophy is evolving, of "I love, therefore I am"; and though an intellectual understanding of the cosmic accuracy of this premise is not universal among those who love, the experiential personal spiritual significance of that truth is recognized by all who live knowingly in God, and is felt by many who do not yet realize that He is, and is aware of them, and is their very love.
Focus on Love
How do we approach the world? With The Urantia Book in hand? Of course. Why not?
We will in no way disparage, or shove down people's throats, that message which has changed our lives, if we follow its spirit. We have come to respect the written word even more because of the revelation's continual emphasis upon the spirit between the lines--and because of the great service of the book in serving as a tool to focus our minds upon what is truly real: that which loves and arises from love. In the beginning there is love.
But we also have to beware of mistaking our own human desire to love for love itself. This distinction has been illustrated, for example, in Peter's denial of Jesus. After seeing Jesus look upon him with ". . . such a glance of commingled pity and love as mortal man had never beheld in the face of the Master" (1981:3), Peter "wept bitterly," shedding "tears of agony" (1981:4). In those moments, Peter came to really understand the human experience--the human significance--of Jesus' teaching, and real humility was born in him. Before the realization of his denial, he had desired, and believed, but now he was experiencing-living-the full meaning of the human condition, as Jesus lived it, and wisdom came to appear in him as he sat by the side of the road convulsed in grief. There is no human wisdom without human experience; love is not an intellectual concept, or desire, but the overflowing fulfillment of desire, which cannot be contained in mere -thought. "It is your thoughts, not your feelings, that lead you Godward" (1104-5), but love is the result-the proof that those leadings are succeeding.
If we can distinguish what we want to be from what we are, without becoming bogged down in what we are nor intoxicated with what we want to be, we will not deceive ourselves with respect to the importance of the Urantia Brotherhood. It would be foolish to overlook our human tendency to institutionalize religion and crystallize truth, but it would be foolish also, and vain, to think that we are beyond the need for the formal organization of a group with laws. The path between these two errors is a narrow one, that requires uncompromising truthfulness in order to avoid the pitfalls on either side and proceed onward to the goal of uplifting our world. There must be a buffer zone, a transition, between society at large and the protective functions of the Urantia Foundation, or there would be a shock where the two meet. Not all Urantia Book students may wish to participate directly in the Urantia Brotherhood, or even in study groups, but they should not thoughtlessly deny the need for their existence either, any more than the Urantia Brotherhood should equate itself with the spiritual brotherhood of man.
Nurture Patience
When we all truly walk hand in hand with our Father, there will be no spiritual disunity among us; but intellectual uniformity is not in our realm of possibility, and therefore we need to make rules with regard to socializing the revelation, to insure that its spread among the peoples of our world is smooth, evolutionary, and free from personal distortion. If we rush off with it, we will stumble and damage it; if we hoard it to ourselves, it will lie dormant and decay. We must plant this truth, gently and carefully, water it wisely and faithfully with our loving devotion to our fellow men, and let the sun of the Father's spirit inspire its growth from the soil of those minds into which its roots delve always deeper. Only in this way will it flower and bear the fruit that our desperate, impatient, and much-honored world needs.
A Service of
The Urantia Book Fellowship