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My Dear Friends and Fellow Students,
I would like to introduce and share a study of Paper 100 – Religion In Human Experience – with those who attend here and I look forward to your insights as to the teachings, meanings, and value discovered together. This is the first Paper I read nearly 5 decades ago and it is the one I return to most often for inspiration, guidance, and truth upon this spiritual and religious journey of mine. While I have read the entire book many times, this Paper I have read countless times. Indeed, of all the Papers, it is my opinion that this particular one stands upon its own in powerful and unique ways that speaks to the mind and heart of all religionists and believers and seekers.
I first read this Teaching as a student of the Jesusonian Way, the Tao, and Zen….all paths to Being and Becoming. The Paper profoundly integrated these Ways into what I describe and aspire to live as The Tadpole Way!!
Interesting to me, that this is right in the middle of the UB and is where the book fell open upon my first touch and has remained the core and central source of my instruction ever since.
It is my intention to take considerable time to post, incrementally, the entire Paper in this study to consider every element of The Teaching found within. None of you are so restricted of course!!! Feel free to post supporting text from throughout the UB or to skip forward and back as you wish. While I hope this becomes a study of a particular Paper, it is filled with so many topics of import that we must consider other Papers and concepts to support such a study.
For those who seek the meaning of life and how to achieve true happiness and how best to approach this dual nature within ourselves and formulate an effective Philosophy For Living this mortal life, this Paper offers so much to consider regarding the very art of Living…it is a why to and how to instructional to achieve harmony, balance, peace, contentment, trust, faith and how to express those in our daily life in meaningful ways which lead to a sure attachment to the Living Vine and the resulting Fruits of The Spirit.
It is not an instructional or commandment list of what to do or when. It is a celebration of the unique, personal, and endless individual experiences in and expressions of The Spirit Within. It is more about Why and How, than what and when. We must each live our religion and it is our own religious experience that determines our inner motives for living daily, our intentions at the intersections of choice, our priorities in this life, and how all those determine the actual choices we make day by day. Experiential wisdom and spiritual growth (spiritization) only come over time by the living and the choosing we do while living.
Welcome to The Tadpole Way!!!
To begin here is a link to the Paper in the digital version of the UB:
If you have not done so, I recommend both a reading of the text and a listening of the audio version, both on the same page at the link above.
Religion in Human Experience
(1094.1) 100:0.1 THE experience of dynamic religious living transforms the mediocre individual into a personality of idealistic power. Religion ministers to the progress of all through fostering the progress of each individual, and the progress of each is augmented through the achievement of all.
(1094.2) 100:0.2 Spiritual growth is mutually stimulated by intimate association with other religionists. Love supplies the soil for religious growth — an objective lure in the place of subjective gratification — yet it yields the supreme subjective satisfaction. And religion ennobles the commonplace drudgery of daily living.
Paper 100 is one of my favs too Bradly.
“Religion ministers to the progress of all through fostering the progress of each individual, and the progress of each is augmented through the achievement of all.”
Here is a complementary reference to the “individual” and to the “all” and to what I think is an underemphasized idea and ideal, the idea and ideal of brotherhood.
12:7.11[Part I]Brotherhood constitutes a fact of relationship between every personality in universal existence. No person can escape the benefits or the penalties that may come as a result of relationship to other persons. The part profits or suffers in measure with the whole. The good effort of each man benefits all men; the error or evil of each man augments the tribulation of all men. As moves the part, so moves the whole. As the progress of the whole, so the progress of the part. The relative velocities of part and whole determine whether the part is retarded by the inertia of the whole or is carried forward by the momentum of the cosmic brotherhood.I will study with you. . .(1094.1) 100:0.1 THE experience of dynamic religious living transforms the mediocre individual into a personality of idealistic power.
Having your personality transformed from mediocrity to idealistic power! Think about that for a second. Religious living is the spark that ignites our true selves, and it takes place within the psychic, or cosmic, circles of striving for personality realization. There is so much packed into that one sentence, it’s hard to know where to begin. Idealistic power must be the super-self power which comes from the soul . . . soul powers. It’s the energy that drives religious living and it comes from the Adjuster himself, particularly when we realize our sonship with him and strive for personality intercourse. We’re told that the quality of our religious living is determined, in part, by this very realization and transformation.
(1013.5) 92:7.10 4. The unfettered progress of the personality in this cosmic path of idealistic spiritual living, realization of sonship with God and never-ending progressive citizenship in the universe.
But this kind of idealism is not humanistic or mystical in nature. I like to think of it as a superhuman stretch, reaching up with faith and trust toward Deity, knowing that God, himself, has already touched me. That’s the ideal of idealistic power, the relationship.
Welcome and thanks Mara!!
A most important and relevant supporting quote…one that addresses the anxieties of so many, even our fellow students of the UB – what to do to help transform our world!! BE! BECOME!! And thusly can we best help the rulers of our world to transform the world, as the world is best transformed by our own personal spiritization and transformation!
(1094.1) 100:0.1 THE experience of dynamic religious living transforms the mediocre individual into a personality of idealistic power. Religion ministers to the progress of all through fostering the progress of each individual, and the progress of each is augmented through the achievement of all.
So many profound lessons in one short quote: The experience…of dynamic….religious living…transforms….into a personality of idealistic…power! Our achievement in such transformation ministers to the progress of all and the achievement of all.
WOW! From average and mediocre into the power of idealism realized personally and collectively.
(1094.2) 100:0.2 Spiritual growth is mutually stimulated by intimate association with other religionists. Love supplies the soil for religious growth — an objective lure in the place of subjective gratification — yet it yields the supreme subjective satisfaction. And religion ennobles the commonplace drudgery of daily living.
LOVE is the very SOIL for our personal AND planetary GROWTH….without love there is no branch to attach to the VINE through which the love of God flows….and it cannot flow TO but must flow THROUGH a life dedicated to THE WAY, the transforming and dynamic life of the religionist. And such love is mutually stimulated by those in intimate association with others. Who is a religionist? Who is not I wonder? Back to the many faces and flavors of love and faith in us little children of time!
(added) SWEET…welcome to Bonita too…thank you.
In terms of fostering the individual for the benefit of all, recall that the Adjuster is the one doing the fostering. He does it one-on-one. And they tell us if the Adjusters should leave this planet, we would revert to a very primitive civilization. So, it’s obvious this extremely intimate individual relationship is benefitting not only our world, but our entire universe, and through the Supreme, the rest of reality.
1:3.6 This Paradise spirit that indwells the minds of the mortals of time and there fosters the evolution of the immortal soul of the surviving creature is of the nature and divinity of the Universal Father.
5:5.13 When the mind believes God and the soul knows God, and when, with the fostering Adjuster, they all desire God, then is survival assured.
109:4.4 The indwelling Adjusters have in no small measure co-operated with other spiritual influences in transforming and humanizing the descendants of the primitive men of olden ages. If the Adjusters indwelling the minds of the inhabitants of Urantia were to be withdrawn, the world would slowly return to many of the scenes and practices of the men of primitive times; the divine Monitors are one of the real potentials of advancing civilization.
The next quotes introduce the concept of loyalty…a most important concept. While children are most impressed by the loyalties of parents and leaders, our personal loyalty to the spirit nature within (of our dual nature options and realities) determines the transfer of the seat of our identity (quote welcome). It is our personal loyalty to love and to the mysterious spirit within, the small still voice, that determines our motives, intentions, and priorities in life. To which are we MOST loyal? To self interest? Or to the commandments of our Lord…to love God and others, or one another? For self interest is material, temporal…while the interest in the best outcome for another and all others is God centered. This is not against our own self interest….not to the mind who is reality centered and aware of the reality of God within and the brotherhood/sisterhood of humanity and ALL of God’s creatures…my interests are best served by the interests of ALL.
1. Religious Growth
100:1.1 (1094.3) While religion produces growth of meanings and enhancement of values, evil always results when purely personal evaluations are elevated to the levels of absolutes. A child evaluates experience in accordance with the content of pleasure; maturity is proportional to the substitution of higher meanings for personal pleasure, even loyalties to the highest concepts of diversified life situations and cosmic relations.100:1.2 (1094.4) Some persons are too busy to grow and are therefore in grave danger of spiritual fixation. Provision must be made for growth of meanings at differing ages, in successive cultures, and in the passing stages of advancing civilization. The chief inhibitors of growth are prejudice and ignorance.
100:1.3 (1094.5) Give every developing child a chance to grow his own religious experience; do not force a ready-made adult experience upon him. Remember, year-by-year progress through an established educational regime does not necessarily mean intellectual progress, much less spiritual growth. Enlargement of vocabulary does not signify development of character. Growth is not truly indicated by mere products but rather by progress. Real educational growth is indicated by enhancement of ideals, increased appreciation of values, new meanings of values, and augmented loyalty to supreme values.
100:1.4 (1094.6) Children are permanently impressed only by the loyalties of their adult associates; precept or even example is not lastingly influential. Loyal persons are growing persons, and growth is an impressive and inspiring reality. Live loyally today — grow — and tomorrow will attend to itself. The quickest way for a tadpole to become a frog is to live loyally each moment as a tadpole.
Ahhhh…The Tadpole Way!!!!!
Are we loyal to God within? Are we loyal to universe reality? Do we respond to Love? Do we care for others? Do we trust the Lord? Do we so sufficiently to live in sublime confidence and contentment in ultimate outcomes? If so, then we are indeed making Circle Progress and approach our destiny as Finaliters and Eternal Adventurers in God’s Friendly Universe!!
This eternal adventure is not a race nor does it depend, in this life on knowledge or accurate belief, but only depends upon this loyalty, a tadpoles loyalty, in God’s grace and friendly universe!!
This is not merely the good news…but the greatest of all news a revelation to humanity might ever deliver…or so I think and believe.
And because of the Father’s Spirit (Thought Adjuster), the Mother’s Spirit (Holy Spirit and Adjutants), and the Son’s Spirit (Spirit of Truth delivered at Pentecost)….every human mind is ministered to in very intimate, personal ways to bring this truth to every one of us in very personal ways….we are each and all so ‘adjusted’ and ‘spoken’ to in so many ways which deliver…Religion In Human Experience.
THE TADPOLE WAY!!!!!!!
Believe, strive, and express as we pass by….Oh Geez, I guess I’m behind. I was still pondering this one:
(1094.2) 100:0.2 Spiritual growth is mutually stimulated by intimate association with other religionists. Love supplies the soil for religious growth — an objective lure in the place of subjective gratification — yet it yields the supreme subjective satisfaction. And religion ennobles the commonplace drudgery of daily living.
What do you suppose it means that love is an objective lure in the place of subjective gratification? I’ll venture my guess: Love, for a true religionist, is not something to be used for self-indulgence or self-fulfillment (gratification), but something else. Love is the objective soil we must work with, dig into. Divine things must be loved in order to be known, and when we know them, we have supreme satisfaction. I think everything in life must be viewed through this filter. Looking at life and relationships as though God, the inner alter-ego, is also seeing through those very same eyes changes everything in an objective manner. It realitizes life such that all the truth, beauty and goodness becomes visible, expressible and then actualized. It changes love from something one strives to get, to something one sees and chooses to live.
In regards to spiritual growth being stimulated by intimate association with other religionists, I don’t think they’re talking about a church. I think they’re talking about any personal relationship. Jesus talked about this, always sending people out in twos and always having a companion or two himself. Then there’s the Rodan papers which highlight the importance of friendships. But the word that stands out to me is the word intimate. Humans must be known in order to be loved. This requires barriers to be torn down, openness and honesty, not to mention trust. Trust is essential to intimacy. Folks who are constantly looking to tear down other people, for whatever reason, are not living religious lives and need to stop. I don’t care how righteous they think their cause is in doing so, it’s wrong.
Moving on, what do you think this means? What is a personal evaluation elevated to the level of absolutes? How would you recognize such a thing?
100:1.1 (1094.3) While religion produces growth of meanings and enhancement of values, evil always results when purely personal evaluations are elevated to the levels of absolutes.
No worries…and no hurry…I agree there’s so much to consider.
I think the last quote above means that error is always the result of personal prejudice…when personal evaluations are elevated by the mind to levels of any form of inflexible absolutism. Ignorance + prejudice are the chief inhibitors of growth.
100:1.2 (1094.4) Some persons are too busy to grow and are therefore in grave danger of spiritual fixation. Provision must be made for growth of meanings at differing ages, in successive cultures, and in the passing stages of advancing civilization. The chief inhibitors of growth are prejudice and ignorance.
Self satisfaction or smugness is a real obstacle to transformative progress and truth realization! Which also goes, I think, to the objective lure as opposed to the subjective gratification.
Moving on, what do you think this means? What is a personal evaluation elevated to the level of absolutes? How would you recognize such a thing?
100:1.1 (1094.3) While religion produces growth of meanings and enhancement of values, evil always results when purely personal evaluations are elevated to the levels of absolutes
I think this is a good example of how the authors deal with the paucity of the English language: assigning multiple meanings to words, “absolute” in this case.
We can deceive ourselves in creating what we believe to be our own Absolute values or beliefs while at the same time closing our minds to realities that would otherwise cause our absolute to be discarded or otherwise grow and evolve or help us expand our ideas of what absolute really is.So by absolute, they mean when personal evaluations are treated as though they are the final truth; as though there’s nothing left to ponder on the subject, end of the road, door closed? That’s a circumscribed viewpoint, right? Besides prejudice and pride, I think fear and ignorance play a role creating a circumscribed viewpoint. Attitudes like that more, or less, force the psyche to segmentalize or compartmentalize one’s thinking, and hence one’s relation to reality. Thank God for mercy!!
I’m reminded of this quote concerning the danger of the circumscribed viewpoint and evil inherent in segmentalizing reality:
(215.1) 19:1.4 In this connection, however, it may be noted that Teacher Sons are the supreme co-ordinating personalities of Trinity origin. In such a far-flung universe of universes there is always great danger of succumbing to the error of the circumscribed viewpoint, viewpoint, to the evil inherent in a segmentalized conception of reality and divinity.
So by absolute, they mean when personal evaluations are treated as though they are the final truth; as though there’s nothing left to ponder on the subject, end of the road, door closed? That’s a circumscribed viewpoint, right? Besides prejudice and pride, I think fear and ignorance play a role creating a circumscribed viewpoint. Attitudes like that more, or less, force the psyche to segmentalize or compartmentalize one’s thinking, and hence one’s relation to reality. Thank God for mercy!!
I’m reminded of this quote concerning the danger of the circumscribed viewpoint and evil inherent in segmentalizing reality:
(215.1) 19:1.4 In this connection, however, it may be noted that Teacher Sons are the supreme co-ordinating personalities of Trinity origin. In such a far-flung universe of universes there is always great danger of succumbing to the error of the circumscribed viewpoint, viewpoint, to the evil inherent in a segmentalized conception of reality and divinity.
Captured my thoughts better than I could
And the quote suggests this potential will hang with us long past our lives on UrantiaHowever- I will take issue with one potential evil you refer to and that is prejudice. (I’m ok with pride as potential evil)I think the word is a hot potatoe and needs clarification.
Example- I can define prejudice as pre-judging. I do this almost every day of my life. I pre-judge what I will buy for dinner, what friends I choose to have, what neighborhood I want to live in, what movie I watch, what book I read, where I will vacation, and many more pre-judging choices. Can’t see anything wrong with prejudice as described. It is a potential for safety and longevity.As used in the UB in the quote above, it is my understanding that prejudice is the love of one’s own opinions and beliefs…no matter what they may be and is an inherent obstacle to any realization (or pursuit) of truth….beyond the truth we currently cherish so much – it is a sign of a closed mind. It is not preferences in music or food and prejudice “as described” is a mind poison which prevent progress.
The meaning seems clear to me. There are several uses however and the manner and context utilized determine the definition:
As used in the UB in the quote above, it is my understanding that prejudice is the love of one’s own opinions and beliefs…no matter what they may be and is an inherent obstacle to any realization (or pursuit) of truth….beyond the truth we currently cherish so much – it is a sign of a closed mind. It is not preferences in music or food and prejudice “as described” is a mind poison which prevent progress.
The meaning seems clear to me. There are several uses however and the manner and context utilized determine the definition:
Pre-judging or prejudice is a tool in life. Like any tool, it can be used or abused and TUB quotes accurately point out abuse.
To avoid it because of potential abuse makes no sense to me. It’s kept me alive at times.
However, I thought that Webster would have at least one definition of prejudice as pre-judging but I was wrong about that – I pre-judged Webster and got educated! Webster is all the negative mindless stuff. So maybe I need a different word.
But as another example: it is not closed minded to avoid dangerous neighborhoods, it is using mind wisely to your advantage based on experience and the best information available.
That’s why I think the word needs a bit more detailed definition. It’s not all bad.Example- I can define prejudice as pre-judging. I do this almost every day of my life. I pre-judge what I will buy for dinner, what friends I choose to have, what neighborhood I want to live in, what movie I watch, what book I read, where I will vacation, and many more pre-judging choices. Can’t see anything wrong with prejudice as described. It is a potential for safety and longevity.
That’s your own very creative definition Gene. It has nothing to do with the dictionary definition, as you point out.
PREJUDICE, noun
1. Preconceived opinion that is not based on reason or actual experience.
2. Dislike, hostility, or unjust behavior deriving from unfounded opinions
3. Harm or injury that results or may result from some action or judgment
The mini-judgments you make during the day have more to do with wisdom, I think. Those wise choices you make after deliberating on the matter also have something to do with the reality recognition responses of the cosmic mind. None of that would be prejudiced.
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