Peril everywhere. At this moment of upheaval, in which our politics, culture, and environment approach an existential threat, The Urantia Book offers crucial perspectives on how we may proceed. Nevertheless, the revelation does not sugar-coat our current dilemma:
“Occidental civilization of the twentieth century groans wearily under the tremendous overload of luxury and the inordinate multiplication of human desires and longings. Modern society is enduring the strain of one of its most dangerous phases of far-flung inter association and highly complicated interdependence.” 68:2.5 (765.2)
We start by zooming out to the big picture context, locating where we are in the planetary ages. Then we explore the revelation’s guidance on civilization; how to best leverage our understanding and target our efforts to advance our beloved planet’s progression. We can glean guidance from “Government on a Neighboring Planet” and the “Garden” papers, especially on how to uplift our children’s education and home life. We conclude with how our inner work and outer service contribute to the evolution of the Supreme.
Planetary Evolution
It was strangely reassuring to me when I read about the succession of ages on the road to light and life in the “Planetary Princes” paper, and realized that we are largely in the third one, the material-comfort era. This is the age of luxury, which is characterized by “tyranny, intolerance, gluttony and drunkenness” (50:5.3). We learn that we are in a phase and that these characteristics form a pattern of evolution that other planets have overcome. Our experimental planet includes many people who are still in the first, the nutrition epoch, focused on the food quest and the second, the security age, the quest for self-preservation (50:5.3). With these disparities in levels of civilizational development and the dangers of our current era, we are so fortunate that Jesus gave himself as the Spirit of Truth to guide us from within.
Urantia has the Spiritual Foundation for Progress—Jesus’ Gift to the Planet
The pouring out of the Spirit of Truth provides the spiritual foundation for the realization of great achievements in the interests of the human race of the bestowal world. Urantia is therefore far better prepared for the more immediate realization of a planetary government with its laws, mechanism, symbols, conventions, and language—all of which could contribute so mightily to the establishment of world-wide peace under law and could lead to the sometime dawning of a real age of spiritual striving; and such an age is the planetary threshold to the utopian ages of light and life. 72:12.5 (820.3)
We are doubly gifted with the Spirit of Truth from Michael and with the awareness of this bestowal from the revelation. Therefore, we can consciously cultivate and mobilize wisdom by individually attempting to listen to the Spirit of Truth within.
The weaker elements of the races incline towards excesses and brutality. Gradually these pleasure-seeking weaklings are subjugated by the more strong and truth-loving elements of the advancing civilization. 50:5.3 (577.1)
Rarely does The Urantia Book give instructions, but I read instructions in those words. As truth-lovers, we do all we can to fortify and support each other in our relationships, our teams, and our efforts to uplift society so we may tip the balance away from the brutality of the material-comfort era and towards the blossoming of the next era, the quest for knowledge and wisdom.
The quest for knowledge and wisdom where food, security and material comfort still dominate society, but many are hungering for knowledge and thirsting for wisdom. 50:5.3 (577.2)
Through the Spirit of Truth, we can exchange our faith for the faith of Jesus in order to focus on addressing the problems we face.
The all-consuming and indomitable spiritual faith of Jesus never became fanatical for it never attempted to run away with his well-balanced intellectual judgments concerning the proportional values of practical and commonplace social, economic, and moral life situations. 196:0.7 (2088.2)
How Your Inner Work Impacts Civilization
Only in the higher levels of the superconscious mind as it impinges upon the spirit realm of human experience can you find those higher concepts in association with effective master patterns which will contribute to the building of a better and more enduring civilization. Personality is inherently creative, but it thus functions only in the inner life of the individual. 111:4.5 (1220.4)
If your God-given personality is inherently creative within your inner life, you have the capacity to stretch your mind to reach for those higher concepts that align with a pattern for building a better and more enduring civilization. In Africa, the concept of ubuntu, I am because we are, defined as, “values and practices that people of Africa or of African origin view as making people authentic human beings…(to be) part of a larger and more significant relational, communal, societal, environmental and spiritual world,” [1] has launched a network of institutions such as hospitals, schools, and group homes for refugee children.[2] In the ecosystem of spirit values, the spiritual growth of each person accrues to the benefit of all and the spiritual decline in each person redounds to everyone’s loss. There is no escaping this fundamental aspect of the spiritual ecosystem. We are interdependent as a culture of the whole. The good news is that even though we cannot control others, any work that we do on our own spiritual development will enhance not only our own lives, but the lives of all. Have confidence in the many contributors who stand side by side with you. Envision the spiritual force that you are helping to build, through every decision and action, however small. Feel part of the circulation of giving and receiving spirit values.
Civilization and You
The Urantia Book defines civilization as the evolution of mores. Through this lens, we can support those that we believe will elevate society. Mores are social norms that are widely observed within a particular society or culture and determine what is considered acceptable or unacceptable; the conventions that embody the fundamental values of a group. Mores and morals have similar meanings — mores are the customs and conventions of a group or of society itself. They are not necessarily based on written law, and they can change. The mores of the Victorian era prescribed that women remain in the private sphere of the home. A Victorian traveling to our time would probably be shocked by current mores that allow women to work.
Today, in the broader culture, the idea of civilization has become tarnished, associated with Western cultural imperialists, despoilers of native peoples. Materialistic ideals have fueled countless conflicts. For example, in our recent history, Hitler usurped Nietzsche’s ideal of the superman to support his genocidal acts. Many would argue that, as a species, humanity has not advanced because economic, class, and ethnic territorial competition has fragmented modern civic life, yet few would want to return to a pre-industrial age with its limited resources. Civilization is a big concept…what does it have to do with you and I? Everything. Government doesn’t dictate civilization. The word root, “civil,” simply means citizen, and is defined as “relating to ordinary citizens and their concerns, as distinct from military or ecclesiastical matters.” This speaks to our relationships with each other, especially how we impact society through our involvement in groups and how we contribute to the mores of those groups. Even though there is a great need for society to address economic problems, civilizational poverty is not economic, it is spiritual. Jesus was not shy about overtly decrying unseemly mores as they pertained to the spiritual life of his people, such as animal sacrifice and the presence of money changers on the temple grounds (193:1.7).
The survival of a society depends chiefly on the progressive evolution of its mores. The process of custom evolution grows out of the desire for experimentation; new ideas are put forward—competition ensues. A progressing civilization embraces the progressive idea and endures; time and circumstance finally select the fitter group for survival. But this does not mean that each separate and isolated change in the composition of human society has been for the better. No! indeed no! for there have been many, many retrogressions in the long forward struggle of Urantia civilization. 68:4.7 (76.7)
As material creatures who have a limited number of days on the planet, it is natural for us to want to see, hear, or touch the direct results of our efforts in our lifetimes. But with the vision provided by The Urantia Book, if we are committed to our values, we must persist in our communities with an evolutionary mindset and adjust our expectations to a longer view exceeding our short time on Earth:
But these customs are not an unmitigated evil; their evolution should continue. It is nearly fatal to the continuance of civilization to undertake their wholesale modification by radical revolution. Custom has been the thread of continuity which has held civilization together. The path of human history is strewn with the remnants of discarded customs and obsolete social practices; but no civilization has endured which abandoned its mores except for the adoption of better and more fit customs. 68:4.6 (767.6)
From “Government on a Neighboring Planet” (Paper 72), we learn how competition is evolving to improve society. The revelation visualizes some possibilities of how new norms about notions of success could emerge in our own culture.
Competition is keen on this continent, but much of it has been transferred from industry to play, skill, scientific achievement, and intellectual attainment. It is most active in social service and governmental loyalty. 72:5.7 (813.8)
From fifteen years with governmental leadership development institutions, I’ve had the opportunity to witness glimpses for an evolved future society. I was fortunate enough to represent the United States at an international governmental conference in Taiwan, which had funded visiting professionals from thirteen different countries with the goal of exchanging best practices from a variety of cultural perspectives—a lesson in unity without uniformity. Two aspects were especially noteworthy. First, the value the country places on government service: only the very top percentage of students are accepted into civilian service. Secondly, the effort the host country put into our diverse group experience. They brought us together, shared their personal lives, delivered quality presentations, and after the work portion of the conference, provided dinners and excursions to see Taipei. They even taught us songs in their native language.
In the United States, another example that evokes a vision of our planet’s evolution is the Olympic training center in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The extensive campus with state-of-the-art training facilities inspires ideals with sculptures; a gigantic metal globe as you enter the grounds, and statues of athletes from each sport in peak form throughout the landscape’s winding paths. Motivational quotes from leaders and philosophers line the interior of every building. The dining hall features every kind of tasty cuisine, labelled with their nutritional value so the trainees could consume the best for their performance. Aspiration and encouragement resonate throughout the Center.
The greatest twentieth-century influences contributing to the furtherance of civilization and the advancement of culture are the marked increase in world travel and the unparalleled improvements in methods of communication. But the improvement in education has not kept pace with the expanding social structure; neither has the modern appreciation of ethics developed in correspondence with growth along more purely intellectual and scientific lines. And modern civilization is at a standstill in spiritual development and the safeguarding of the home institution. 81:6.25 (909.6)
These then are our mandates: to advance education, ethics, spiritual development, and the home. This is a tall order, but fortunately, these areas are so interdependent that any improvement in one will likely uplift the others, especially the home and education.
Education’s Role
What does the revelation suggest in order to uplift our culture in the realms of education and home life?
Education recently passed from the control of the clergy to that of lawyers and businessmen. Eventually it must be given over to the philosophers and the scientists. Teachers must be free beings, real leaders, to the end that philosophy, the search for wisdom, may become the chief educational pursuit. 71.7.3 (806.4)
What does the revelation mean when it says that “Teachers must be free beings, real leaders”? Does it mean that teachers must be free from any ideological stance that could inhibit their performance for the greater good? Does it mean that they must have faced and overcome obstacles to their own personal development, so that they are free from self-preoccupation and therefore able to give? With The Urantia Book’s focus on the sanctity of freewill choice, does it mean that teachers need to have a developed inner spiritual life, so their choices reflect the authentic originality of their God given personality? Looking at Jesus as an ideal teacher/leader, he exemplifies all these qualities. He is free from all human negative traits, altogether sincere and genuine. He is not beholden to anyone but God, so is free from human dogma or institutional influence and becomes the way for all others to discover truth, beauty, and goodness. His message focuses on the primacy of the individual’s relationship to God. He proclaims the value of true liberty and admonishes his followers to free the spiritual captives.
Part of the evolution of our mores includes our attitude towards education; the importance of the teaching profession, the value of philosophy (the search for wisdom), and the character of teachers. When I first joined the leadership development arm of the United States government, I did not realize that there was an entire educational system apart from an academic one. This adult educational training and development track, which is based on a person’s functional role within a larger institution, centers on relationships with others; progressing from team lead, to supervisor, to manager, to executive. From the perspective set forth in Paper 195, “After Pentecost,” this parallel system may have emerged because character, values, and relationship skills have not yet been the focus of academic curriculum.
The purpose of all education should be to foster and further the supreme purpose of life, the development of a majestic and well-balanced personality. There is great need for the teaching of moral discipline in the place of so much self-gratification. Upon such a foundation religion may contribute its spiritual incentive to the enlargement and enrichment of mortal life, even to the security and enhancement of life eternal. 195:10.16 (206.3)
The Urantia Book also includes instructive guidance when it describes the curriculum from the schools of the Garden of Eden. In many school systems today, recess is deemed necessary to allow children to blow off steam so that they can better concentrate on their studies, with a side benefit of learning to get along in groups. However, in the Garden, socialization itself takes center stage.
The entire purpose of the western school system of the Garden was socialization. The forenoon periods of recess were devoted to practical horticulture and agriculture, the afternoon periods to competitive play. The evenings were employed in social intercourse and the cultivation of personal friendships. Religious and sexual training are regarded as the province of the home, the duty of parents. 74:7:2 (835.5)
The teaching in these schools included instruction regarding:
- Health and care of the body.
- The golden rule, the standard of social intercourse.
- The relation of individual rights to group rights and community obligations.
- History and culture of the various earth races.
- Methods of advancing and improving world trade.
- Co-ordination of conflicting duties and emotions.
- The cultivation of play, humor, and competitive substitutes for physical fighting. 74:7.2-10 (835.5-13)
Imagine, for example, that the understanding of the golden rule was a core part of every child’s development. When the revelation uses the imperative “should,” we need to listen. Our culture has designated unique individuals as visionaries, such as Steve Jobs or Mahatma Gandhi, but in the following quote, the book urges all people to find a vision. With the extent of urgent crises in the world, it is difficult to avert our eyes from immediate problems and search for an enlightened view of the whole, but that is exactly what we are instructed to do.
Urantians should get a vision of a new and higher cultural society. Education will jump to new levels of value with the passing of the purely profit-motivated system of economics. Education has too long been localist, militaristic, ego exalting, and success seeking; it must eventually become world-wide, idealistic, self-realizing, and cosmic grasping. 71:7.3 (806.3)
The contrast between “ego exalting” and “self-realizing” highlights a key message of the revelation. “Ego exalting” is dependent on a human audience to applaud, or whatever a particular culture decides are external markers of success: our academic degrees, how much money we make, and so forth. “Self-realizing” means that your self is becoming more real, more aligned with cosmic values and potentially more integrated with the Thought Adjuster’s blueprint for your ideal personality manifestation. Institutional education may have a long way to go before it evolves to focus on the self-realization of its students. But within the purview of the home, parental influence can help to nourish children’s values and guide them to attune to God within.
Home Life
The “Government on a Neighboring Planet” paper seems designed for us to compare and contrast our current culture: this nearby place has constructed a society that we might emulate. Many of the social categories, such as taxation, old age insurance, or industrial organization, would require wholesale change on our planet, but the sections on home life contain lessons that could be applied more readily today and in the near future.
These people regard the home as the basic institution of their civilization. It is expected that the most valuable part of a child’s education and character training will be secured from his parents and at home, and fathers devote almost as much attention to child culture as do mothers. 72:3.4 (811.4)
An increasing number of fathers are taking an active role in their children’s lives, far beyond the traditional parental division of labor from less than a century ago, where it was assumed that the breadwinner role belonged only to them and that only mothers were crucial to nourishing the family. Psychology has now begun to collect and analyze data that shows how fathers impact child development. There are strong research results that show how fathers have a key role in their children’s autonomy and empathy development.[3] Autonomy is important for spiritual growth because a child with a healthy sense of self, feels centered and comfortable with connecting internally. Part of that inner access includes the exercise of the will, in psychological terms, referred to as “locus of control,” feeling safe to connect to the power of choice without being overly influenced by others.
Will is that manifestation of the human mind which enables the subjective consciousness to express itself objectively and to experience the phenomenon of aspiring to be Godlike. And it is in this same sense that every reflective and spiritually minded human being can become creative.” 130:2.10 (1431.5)
We know from The Urantia Book that we aspire to loving our neighbor as ourself. Another way to think about the Golden Rule is empathy in action. A more empathetic child grows to be a more empathetic adult who could contribute to making a culture that could help tip our civilization towards a more service-oriented society. Although today there is great volatility in the mores around marriage and family life, in the long view evolution of our society, marriage and family life are growing positively in the direction of reinforcement.
Nature demands survival, but the arts of civilization continue to increase the pleasures of marriage and the satisfactions of family life. 68:2.9 (765.6)
With the clear imperative to place supreme value on home life and to value both mothers and fathers, we can support our own families and those norms within our communities.
Conclusion
It’s been less than a century since we have been able to see an image of our planet from space. What a comfort in its replete shape, no spikes jutting out in awkward angles. A shining sphere swathed in white wisps above depths of blue. From here, it is easy to imagine a spiritual city. Each person’s web of light, the internal communication lines that pulse through decision nodes on the way towards intersection. Intersections in relationship as the webs of two cities join in value and manifest as action. This would be an architecture seen from above. Above the chaos of sectarian war and ever-shifting cultural norms. Each individual’s efforts towards truth, beauty and goodness would be shafts of light piercing through barbarity and banality to form the infrastructure for true progress.
Intelligence may control the mechanism of civilization, wisdom may direct it, but spiritual idealism is the energy which really uplifts and advances human culture from one level of attainment to another. 81:6.27 (909.8)
We naturally inhabit our gravity situation of walking on the earth and don’t normally think of the larger cosmos as a consequence environment. We have seen scientific images of how one electron impacts another; the dazzling display of infinite interactions and living consequences tantalizes our imaginations. The microscope gives us entry into an otherwise invisible world. Now we need a macroscope to see the spiritual consequences of every human thought and action within the living and evolving Grand Consequence of the Supreme.
It may be easier to conceptualize having a relationship both within and in the community than it is to think about an aspect of the divine that is evolving through our thoughts and deeds ––that God actually needs us. In our day-to-day life, it is easy to overlook that in every attempt to do the right thing, every action taken in good faith, that each of us is soul-forming while creating an invisible infrastructure that contributes to the repleteness of divine wisdom. Within the ecosystem of one generation following another, the unique gifts of every person build a living spiritual legacy. Each of our spiritual gifts is received, real gifts to real-izing our experiential contribution to the Supreme’s evolution. Despite the violent lurches of political and cultural history, progressing and retrogressing, the impact of every good thought and deed endures and continues apace.
CLAIRE THURSTON is Vice President of Urantia University Institute and has been a trustee for over a decade. Her professional experience ranges from working in U.S. Federal leadership development institutions to mural painting in the Bay Area. Her home is Reston, VA where she is enjoying time with loved ones and friends, and especially her first grandson, Orion.
[1]Mugumbate, Jacob Rugare; Chereni, Admire (23 April 2020). “Editorial: Now, the theory of Ubuntu has its space in social work”. African Journal of Social Work. 10 (1). ISSN 2409-5605.
[2] The Spirit of Ubuntu directed by Kudzai Tanago (2024; Los Angeles: Distribution by Pato Banton).
[3] Hoffman, M.L. Empathy and Moral Development: Implications for Caring and Justice. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 2000.
Koestner, R., Franz, C., & Weinberger, J. “The family origins of empathic concern: A 26-year longitudinal study.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 58 (1990): 709-717.
Pruett, Kyle D. Fatherneed. New York: Broadway Books, 2000.