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Sense the critical reading topic was degenerating into a brawl, I thought I’d revive my old topic. This time though, I’ll focus on application studies. I’ll list three examples.
The first example is the bestowal commission. How can it be applied to our daily lives? I know that not all of it can, but how can the parts that can, do so?
The second example is found in the counseling of the rich man in Rome. If you take some of Jesus’s quotes and break them apart sentence by sentence, what he says sounds like a Urantia Books’ version of the book of Proverbs. How can his counseling to the rich roman be applied to our own lives?
A third example is the Moroncha Mota. Take the mota statements one at a time and break them down. Meditate on them. Ponder the deeper meaning that is implied by the text. That is where critical reading/comprahention comes in. Apply what you have gleaned from this deep meditation on said passage of the text to your own life. That is called truly living the teachings of the Urantia Book. That is what we are all called to do.
Apply said steps to the entire Urantia Book.
. . . I’ll focus on application studies. I’ll list three examples. The first example is the bestowal commission. How can it be applied to our daily lives?
Are you referring to Michael’s seventh bestowal commission?
120:1.0[Part IV]1. The Seventh Bestowal CommissionIf so, which parts do you think apply to our daily lives?I did not go through the entire thing, but this should be enough of an example to show you what I was talking about.
120:1.3 “In entering upon the Urantia bestowal, you have voluntarily divested yourself of all extraplanetary support and special assistance such as might be rendered by any creature of your own creation. As your created sons of Nebadon are wholly dependent upon you for safe conduct throughout their universe careers, so now must you become wholly and unreservedly dependent upon your Paradise Father for safe conduct throughout the unrevealed vicissitudes of your ensuing mortal career. And when you shall have finished this bestowal experience, you will know in very truth the full meaning and the rich significance of that faith-trust which you so unvaryingly require all your creatures to master as a part of their intimate relationship with you as their local universe Creator and Father.
me here: Jesus had to master faith as we have to master faith.
120:1.4 “Throughout your Urantia bestowal you need be concerned with but one thing, the unbroken communion between you and your Paradise Father; and it will be by the perfection of such a relationship that the world of your bestowal, even all the universe of your creation, will behold a new and more understandable revelation of your Father and my Father, the Universal Father of all.
Me here: …unbroken communion… Something that we all should aspire to… Sense that is not possible though, dedicating a few minutes during the day for communion and prayer will be a good start. But what does it mean? Communion? It means communication. So, another way to say it is unbroken two way communication. From me to god equals prayer. From
God to me equals meditation. Not the mystic eastern style of meditation, but the constant pondering… constant digging… that is implied by biblical meditation. The major difference is we don’t use the bible. We use the Urantia Book.
120:1.5 …You may proceed upon your mission with but a single thought — the enhanced revelation of our Father to the intelligent beings of your universe.
me here: That should be the mission of every one of us ub readers: to live the teachings in such a way as to reveal God to man in such a way as to reveal God in a new way that people around us have never experienced before.
120:2.1 …complete your human education — all the while subject to the will of your Paradise Father …
me here: We should continuesly learn. Learning never stops. We should also be subject wholely to the will of all aspects of God.
120:2.5 “5. As concerns the planet of your bestowal and the immediate generation of men living thereon at the time of your mortal sojourn, I counsel you to function largely in the role of a teacher. Give attention, first, to the liberation and inspiration of man’s spiritual nature. Next, illuminate the darkened human intellect, heal the souls of men, and emancipate their minds from age-old fears. And then, in accordance with your mortal wisdom, minister to the physical well-being and material comfort of your brothers in the flesh. Live the ideal religious life for the inspiration and edification of all your universe.
me here: This paragraph is self explanatory. It can apply to us just as it applied to Jesus in the flesh.
120:2.7 “7. In all that you may perform on the world of your bestowal, bear constantly in mind that you are living a life for the instruction and edification of all your universe. You are bestowing this life of mortal incarnation upon Urantia, but you are to live such a life for the spiritual inspiration of every human and superhuman intelligence that has lived, now exists, or may yet live on every inhabited world which has formed, now forms, or may yet form a part of the vast galaxy of your administrative domain. Your earth life in the likeness of mortal flesh shall not be so lived as to constitute an example for the mortals of Urantia in the days of your earthly sojourn nor for any subsequent generation of human beings on Urantia or on any other world. Rather shall your life in the flesh on Urantia be the inspiration for all lives upon all Nebadon worlds throughout all generations in the ages to come.
me here: Live your life in such a way as to have a positive impact on those you encounter in daily life. You never know if one event that you are a part of will alter the person next to you for the rest of their lives, even though that time will be the only one in wich you see this person.Chucksmith,
I’m sorry, I completely missed your “me here” insertions. They are buried in the text and I blew right by them.
Me here: …unbroken communion… Something that we all should aspire to… Sense that is not possible though, dedicating a few minutes during the day for communion and prayer will be a good start. But what does it mean? Communion? It means communication. So, another way to say it is unbroken two way communication. From me to god equals prayer. From God to me equals meditation. Not the mystic eastern style of meditation, but the constant pondering… constant digging… that is implied by biblical meditation. The major difference is we don’t use the bible. We use the Urantia Book.
I think it is possible to have unbroken communication. Maybe not at first, but it is not as hard as people think. The alter-ego approach is the best approach and the easiest. I hope folks are aware that the two-way part of any communication is not necessarily a conscious phenomenon. In my experience it is more of a compromise at first, what I think the other party in my head might want to say in return, that is why they call it a fictitious alter-ego.
But sincere efforts do bring real results in the way you think. You begin to recognize “something else” in your train of thought, and over time, that “something else” is recognized as a “higher thought,” a better one worth pursuing. And it’s usually attached to an action that is also worth pursuing. It’s not easy to describe, but the whole thing is based on faith, so I could never claim that “God told me to think it, or do it.” It’s me thinking and doing but me being influenced by my inner experience with this other person whom I call “Lord”.
I don’t think it’s an intellectual thing as much as a questioning thing. The kind of pondering that rises to the level of prayerful communication is a desire to be like the one you’re communicating with. It’s a person to person kind of thing, not a person to book kind of thing. When it comes to communal communication, the words in the book are only triggers and prompts. The real business of personal revelation is a personal relationship with Deity . . . getting to know what God thinks about it all . . . and the way he shares his thoughts is not what we’re used to, and on the whole, not a specifically material-mind type of conscious sharing. The key is to learn to discover and recognize spiritualized thinking . . . another topic that has to do with spiritual insight.
I think the authors could have left out so much information about default and isolation. Its too distracting for me. What you dont know cant hurt you.
Glad the Life Carriers did not go astray.
How can his counseling to the rich roman be applied to our own lives?
I’ve often pondered this interesting commentary to the rich man. While Jesus goes into great detail to this man about his wealth, the essence of the story (for me) pertains one’s relationship with God – doing God’s will with respect to one’s assets be they small or large, few or many, little or much. What does the bible say about the rich man getting through the eye of a needle?
But the rich man was not fully satisfied with Jesus‘ answer. He made bold to ask again: “But what do you think a man in my position should do with his wealth? Should I keep it, or should I give it away?” And when Jesus perceived that he really desired to know more of the truth about his loyalty to God and his duty to men, he further answered: “My good friend, I discern that you are a sincere seeker after wisdom and an honest lover of truth; therefore . . . .Wealth is not a problem, spiritually speaking, but if the love of wealth supersedes the love of God, there’s a problem.163:2.6 When Matadormus heard this, his countenance fell. He arose and went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. This wealthy young Pharisee had been raised to believe that wealth was the token of God’s favor. Jesus knew that he was not free from the love of himself and his riches. The Master wanted to deliver him from the love of wealth, not necessarily from the wealth. While the disciples of Jesus did not part with all their worldly goods, the apostles and the seventy did. Matadormus desired to be one of the seventy new messengers, and that was the reason for Jesus’ requiring him to part with all of his temporal possessions..163:2.10 Riches have nothing directly to do with entrance into the kingdom of heaven, but the love of wealth does. The spiritual loyalties of the kingdom are incompatible with servility to materialistic mammon. Man may not share his supreme loyalty to a spiritual ideal with a material devotion..163:3.3 “[. . .] Whatever thing or person comes between you and the love of the truths of the kingdom, must be surrendered. If one’s wealth does not invade the precincts of the soul, it is of no consequence in the spiritual life of those who would enter the kingdom.”.Jesus is talking about wealth – material stuff, resources, assets, etc. I think a person is a fool to give everything away to become so-called *spiritual*. To intentionally be a pauper does not, in my opinion, lead to spiritual insight. If a person intentionally leads a life like that, such a person ends up depending on the kindness of others to provide the necessities of life. Many years ago I knew a man like that. We lived in a rural area and one day this man showed up. Being neighborly, we invited him in for tea. He and my husband talked philosophy. He told his story and described his belief that “God would provide everything he needed”. He subscribed to some sort of Eastern philosophy. It became his habit to come over to eat and to get garden veggies. In truth he was a leech. But we thought we were doing the right thing by him and it never dawned on us that we should do anything different. BTW, what would you do? Anyhow in retrospect I’m glad I had the experience of it. But my treasure of wisdom has grown and also I’ve matured in my perspective on the subject of riches.Sorry about my insertions being buried in the text. Next time I’ll preface what I say by warning the reader that I will do that. I use a screen reader and haven’t figured out how the block quote, at least block quote is how JAWS reads it, feature works. I usually just put the text down like I did there and my point afterwords. Maybe I should give the references from now on and have the reader look them up?
Maybe I should give the references from now on and have the reader look them up?
All I have to do is highlight what I want separated from the rest of the text, then click the block-quote icon. If you click it without highlighting first, it erases stuff. Not sure if that helps. I would say you could try changing colors, but I lost the ability to use color on this forum a few years ago and it has never come back. Not sure if that happened to you too. You could also italicize or bolden your “me here” text. Either way, I don’t mind looking up text if that’s the way you go.
How can his counseling to the rich roman be applied to our own lives?
My response to your question Chuck is entirely personal, as it should be. It’s what I have figured out over the years for myself. First off, I became a single parent in my thirties. Right then and there was I faced with financial stress and strain, since during my marriage I was a stay-at-home mom. My kids were five and six. A few years later (which was a few years after being born again!), I concluded I needed a long-term financial plan for my future for myself and I instituted a plan based on a book I read. My hope was counseled by an inner sense of practicality based upon the saying *if you watch your pennies, the dollars will take care of themselves*. Since I had nothing, I had nothing to loose, so I made my plan which plan is in effect to this day. I have no wealth, no riches, but I am accountable for every penny, and I do understand what Jesus means when he said render to Caesar.
133:4.3 To the Roman centurion he said: “Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s and unto God the things which are God’s. The sincere service of God and the loyal service of Caesar do not conflict unless Caesar should presume to arrogate to himself that homage which alone can be claimed by Deity. [. . .]”I am happy to render to Caesar what the tax code says I owe Caesar. I view such renderings as my yearly dues to live in this country. I do not have any internal conflict about this.A third example is the Moroncha Mota. Take the mota statements one at a time and break them down. Meditate on them. Ponder the deeper meaning that is implied by the text. That is where critical reading/comprahention comes in. Apply what you have gleaned from this deep meditation on said passage of the text to your own life. That is called truly living the teachings of the Urantia Book. That is what we are all called to do.
This is a good suggestion. It would make a good topical study for study group. I think I’ll take up your idea for my study group. We’ve dipped back into the wealth of topical study material we’ve accumulated over the years, and we have a lot of material to choose from, but your idea stimulates my mind. Thanks so much!
Mara, your welcome! The ub stimulates the mind as well as the spirit! It is also amazing how personal ones’ journey is through the book.
Bonita, I’ll try your ideas if I can figure out the correct keyboard commands.
It is also amazing how personal ones’ journey is through the book.
I agree! On your suggestion of a way to maximize study of morontia mota, I’ve selected one of the human philosophic points the revelators provided, and I will attempt to demonstrate a way to further comprehend it.
48:7.3028. The argumentative defense of any proposition is inversely proportional to the truth contained.- First, I would want to have a better idea of what a proposition is. Here are some synonyms: proposal, scheme, plan, project; theory, hypothesis, thesis, argument, premise, principle, theorem, concept, idea, statement.
- Second, I would want to dig into the reasons behind the relationship between *truth* and *argumentative defense*. When one increases, the other diminishes. More defense, less truth. Or conversely, less argumentative defense, more truth.
- Third, I would want to examine *truth*.
Of course the human philosophic statement provided is an example of the morontia mota we do not have! What would a morontia mind be trying to comprehend? I’ll lead out with these selections to suggest that propositions in the first place must be undergirded with the attained wisdom of the one who is doing the proposing.
12:7.3 It is repugnant to the divine nature to suffer any sort of deterioration or ever to permit the execution of any purely personal act in an inferior way. It should be made clear, however, that, if, in the divinity of any situation, in the extremity of any circumstance, in any case where the course of supreme wisdom might indicate the demand for different conduct — if the demands of perfection might for any reason dictate another method of reaction, a better one, then and there would the all-wise God function in that better and more suitable way. That would be the expression of a higher law, not the reversal of a lower law.
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25:4.12 Those mortals and midwayers who serve transiently with the advisers are chosen for such work because of their expertness in the concept of universal law and supreme justice. As you journey toward your Paradise goal, constantly acquiring added knowledge and enhanced skill, you are continuously afforded the opportunity to give out to others the wisdom and experience you have already accumulated; all the way in to Havona you enact the role of a pupil-teacher. You will work your way through the ascending levels of this vast experiential university by imparting to those just below you the new-found knowledge of your advancing career. In the universal regime you are not reckoned as having possessed yourself of knowledge and truth until you have demonstrated your ability and your willingness to impart this knowledge and truth to others.
27:6.2 The master philosophers of Paradise delight to lead the minds of its inhabitants, both native and ascendant, in the exhilarating pursuit of attempting to solve universe problems. These superaphic masters of philosophy are the “wise men of heaven,” the beings of wisdom who make use of the truth of knowledge and the facts of experience in their efforts to master the unknown. With them knowledge attains to truth and experience ascends to wisdom. On Paradise the ascendant personalities of space experience the heights of being: They have knowledge; they know the truth; they may philosophize — think the truth; they may even seek to encompass the concepts of the Ultimate and attempt to grasp the techniques of the Absolutes.
28:5.7 1. The Voice of Wisdom. Certain of these seconaphim are in perpetual liaison with the living libraries of Paradise, the custodians of knowledge belonging to the primary supernaphim. In specialized reflective service the Voices of Wisdom are living, current, replete, and thoroughly reliable concentrations and focalizations of the co-ordinated wisdom of the universe of universes. To the well-nigh infinite volume of information circulating on the master circuits of the superuniverses, these superb beings are so reflective and selective, so sensitive, as to be able to segregate and receive the essence of wisdom and unerringly to transmit these jewels of mentation to their superiors, the Perfectors of Wisdom. And they so function that the Perfectors of Wisdom not only hear the actual and original expressions of this wisdom but also reflectively see the very beings, of high or lowly origin, who gave voice to it.
I figure if morontians are going to advance in morontian logic, they are going to have to apply their best wisdom in making propositions from the get go.
In regards to an “argumentative defense” the authors are referring to the practice of egotistically justifying one’s personal theories out of pride. It’s a form of resistance to truth.
Truth doesn’t need to be defended. The more you feel the need to defend what you think is true, the more likely whatever it is your defending is not actually true.
146:3.2 No man is at any time disturbed by his neighbor’s attitude when he has perfect confidence in the truth of that which he wholeheartedly believes. Courage is the confidence of thoroughgoing honesty about those things which one professes to believe. Sincere men are unafraid of the critical examination of their true convictions and noble ideals.
In the morontia realms mota becomes a *personal possession*. They call it *morontia wisdom* and they measure it in order to determine mota achievement. (45:7.7 ) Even wisdom on our world is achieved by personal experience. Problems arise when an individual knows he/she ought not ______, yet foolishly proposes something impulsively without prior considerations of the BIG THREE: origin, history and destiny of that which is proposed. The more experience one has, the less foolish will be the propositions in the first place. I am specifically referring not to life on Urantia, but to life in the morontia. Remember this one about using only history to comprehend a current problem? If there is a problem, then it follows there would be propositions put forth to lead to a solution/s of such a problem. I am guessing, but I think these are the types of propositions referred to in this statement of human philosophy. I might be wrong.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.
“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.” 19:1.6
Here is another way to correlate the 3 phases of universe reality: Past, present, future – as a way to obtain perspective on a proposition.
160:2.9 [. . .] The present, when divorced from the past and the future, becomes exasperatingly trivial. Only a glimpse of the circle of eternity can inspire man to do his best and can challenge the best in him to do its utmost. And when man is thus at his best, he lives most unselfishly for the good of others, his fellow sojourners in time and eternity.
A real example of the statement, “The argumentative defense of any proposition is inversely proportional to the truth contained” is found on the pages of the UB and is known as the Lucifer manifesto.
53:4.1 The Lucifer manifesto was issued at the annual conclave of Satania on the sea of glass, in the presence of the assembled hosts of Jerusem, on the last day of the year, about two hundred thousand years ago, Urantia time. Satan proclaimed that worship could be accorded the universal forces — physical, intellectual, and spiritual — but that allegiance could be acknowledged only to the actual and present ruler, Lucifer, the “friend of men and angels” and the “God of liberty.”It took seven years of of Lucifer’s argumentative defense of his sophistries, as well others who were promoting his propositions, until every personality finally took a stand – made a choice for or against the ways of Lucifer.67:3.7 This seven years of waiting was a time of heart searching and soul discipline. Such crises in the affairs of a universe demonstrate the tremendous influence of mind as a factor in spiritual choosing. Education, training, and experience are factors in most of the vital decisions of all evolutionary moral creatures. But it is entirely possible for the indwelling spirit to make direct contact with the decision-determining powers of the human personality so as to empower the fully consecrated will of the creature to perform amazing acts of loyal devotion to the will and the way of the Father in Paradise. And this is just what occurred in the experience of Amadon, the modified human associate of Van.. . . . . . . .(757.3)67:3.10 There is no end to the recital of the stirring events of these tragic days. But at last the final decision of the last personality was made, and then, but only then, did a Most High of Edentia arrive with the emergency Melchizedeks to seize authority on Urantia. The Caligastia panoramic reign-records on Jerusem were obliterated, and the probationary era of planetary rehabilitation was inaugurated.. . . which rehabilitation we are in the midst of now.
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