696 lines
43 KiB
Plaintext
696 lines
43 KiB
Plaintext
Urantia Book Paper 160 Rodan Of Alexandria
|
||
SPIRITWEB ORG, PROMOTING SPIRITUAL CONSCIOUSNESS ON THE INTERNET.
|
||
|
||
Subjects Archive The Urantia Book Urantia Book PART IV: The Life and Teachings
|
||
of Jesus : The Bestowal Of Michael On Urantia The Times Of Michael's Bestowal
|
||
Birth And Infancy Of Jesus The Early Childhood Of Jesus The Later Childhood Of
|
||
Jesus Jesus At Jerusalem The Two Crucial Years The Adolescent Years Jesus'
|
||
Early Manhood The Later Adult Life Of Jesus On The Way To Rome The World's
|
||
Religions The Sojourn At Rome The Return From Rome The Transition Years John
|
||
The Baptist Baptism And The Forty Days Tarrying Time In Galilee Training The
|
||
Kingdom's Messengers The Twelve Apostles The Ordination Of The Twelve Beginning
|
||
The Public Work The Passover At Jerusalem Going Through Samaria At Gilboa And
|
||
In The Decapolis Four Eventful Days At Capernaum First Preaching Tour Of
|
||
Galilee The Interlude Visit To Jerusalem Training Evangelists At Bethsaida The
|
||
Second Preaching Tour The Third Preaching Tour Tarrying And Teaching By The
|
||
Seaside Events Leading Up To The Capernaum Crisis The Crisis At Capernaum Last
|
||
Days At Capernaum Fleeing Through Northern Galilee The Sojourn At Tyre And
|
||
Sidon At Caesarea-philippi The Mount Of Transfiguration The Decapolis Tour
|
||
Rodan Of Alexandria Further Discussions With Rodan At The Feast Of Tabernacles
|
||
Ordination Of The Seventy At Magadan At The Feast Of Dedication The Perean
|
||
Mission Begins Last Visit To Northern Perea The Visit To Philadelphia The
|
||
Resurrection Of Lazarus Last Teaching At Pella The Kingdom Of Heaven On The Way
|
||
To Jerusalem Going Into Jerusalem Monday In Jerusalem ...
|
||
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
|
||
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
Paper 160 Rodan Of Alexandria
|
||
|
||
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
Introduction
|
||
|
||
ON SUNDAY morning, September 18, Andrew announced that no work would be planned
|
||
for the coming week. All of the apostles, except Nathaniel and Thomas, went
|
||
home to visit their families or to sojourn with friends. This week Jesus
|
||
enjoyed a period of almost complete rest, but Nathaniel and Thomas were very
|
||
busy with their discussions with a certain Greek philosopher from Alexandria
|
||
named Rodan. This Greek had recently become a disciple of Jesus through the
|
||
teaching of one of Abner's associates who had conducted a mission at
|
||
Alexandria. Rodan was now earnestly engaged in the task of harmonizing his
|
||
philosophy of life with Jesus' new religious teachings, and he had come to
|
||
Magadan hoping that the Master would talk these problems over with him. He also
|
||
desired to secure a firsthand and authoritative version of the gospel from
|
||
either Jesus or one of his apostles. Though the Master declined to enter into
|
||
such a conference with Rodan, he did receive him graciously and immediately
|
||
directed that Nathaniel and Thomas should listen to all he had to say and tell
|
||
him about the gospel in return.
|
||
|
||
1. RODAN'S GREEK PHILOSOPHY
|
||
|
||
Early Monday morning, Rodan began a series of ten addresses to Nathaniel,
|
||
Thomas, and a group of some two dozen believers who chanced to be at Magadan.
|
||
These talks, condensed, combined, and restated in modern phraseology, present
|
||
the following thoughts for consideration:
|
||
|
||
Human life consists in three great drives--urges, desires, and lures. Strong
|
||
character, commanding personality, is only acquired by converting the natural
|
||
urge of life into the social art of living, by transforming present desires
|
||
into those higher longings which are capable of lasting attainment, while the
|
||
commonplace lure of existence must be transferred from one's conventional and
|
||
established ideas to the higher realms of unexplored ideas and undiscovered
|
||
ideals.
|
||
|
||
The more complex civilization becomes, the more difficult will become the art
|
||
of living. The more rapid the changes in social usage, the more complicated
|
||
will become the task of character development. Every ten generations mankind
|
||
must learn anew the art of living if progress is to continue. And if man
|
||
becomes so ingenious that he more rapidly adds to the complexities of society,
|
||
the art of living will need to be remastered in less time, perhaps every single
|
||
generation. If the evolution of the art of living fails to keep pace with the
|
||
technique of existence, humanity will quickly revert to the simple urge of
|
||
living--the attainment of the satisfaction of present desires. Thus will
|
||
humanity remain immature; society will fail in growing up to full maturity.
|
||
|
||
top of page - 1773
|
||
|
||
Social maturity is equivalent to the degree to which man is willing to
|
||
surrender the gratification of mere transient and present desires for the
|
||
entertainment of those superior longings the striving for whose attainment
|
||
affords the more abundant satisfactions of progressive advancement toward
|
||
permanent goals. But the true badge of social maturity is the willingness of a
|
||
people to surrender the right to live peaceably and contentedly under the
|
||
ease-promoting standards of the lure of established beliefs and conventional
|
||
ideas for the disquieting and energy-requiring lure of the pursuit of the
|
||
unexplored possibilities of the attainment of undiscovered goals of idealistic
|
||
spiritual realities.
|
||
|
||
Animals respond nobly to the urge of life, but only man can attain the art of
|
||
living, albeit the majority of mankind only experience the animal urge to live.
|
||
Animals know only this blind and instinctive urge; man is capable of
|
||
transcending this urge to natural function. Man may elect to live upon the high
|
||
plane of intelligent art, even that of celestial joy and spiritual ecstasy.
|
||
Animals make no inquiry into the purposes of life; therefore they never worry,
|
||
neither do they commit suicide. Suicide among men testifies that such beings
|
||
have emerged from the purely animal stage of existence, and to the further fact
|
||
that the exploratory efforts of such human beings have failed to attain the
|
||
artistic levels of mortal experience. Animals know not the meaning of life; man
|
||
not only possesses capacity for the recognition of values and the comprehension
|
||
of meanings, but he also is conscious of the meaning of meanings--he is
|
||
self-conscious of insight.
|
||
|
||
When men dare to forsake a life of natural craving for one of adventurous art
|
||
and uncertain logic, they must expect to suffer the consequent hazards of
|
||
emotional casualties--conflicts, unhappiness, and uncertainties--at least until
|
||
the time of their attainment of some degree of intellectual and emotional
|
||
maturity. Discouragement, worry, and indolence are positive evidence of moral
|
||
immaturity. Human society is confronted with two problems: attainment of the
|
||
maturity of the individual and attainment of the maturity of the race. The
|
||
mature human being soon begins to look upon all other mortals with feelings of
|
||
tenderness and with emotions of tolerance. Mature men view immature folks with
|
||
the love and consideration that parents bear their children.
|
||
|
||
Successful living is nothing more or less than the art of the mastery of
|
||
dependable techniques for solving common problems. The first step in the
|
||
solution of any problem is to locate the difficulty, to isolate the problem,
|
||
and frankly to recognize its nature and gravity. The great mistake is that,
|
||
when life problems excite our profound fears, we refuse to recognize them.
|
||
Likewise, when the acknowledgment of our difficulties entails the reduction of
|
||
our long-cherished conceit, the admission of envy, or the abandonment of
|
||
deep-seated prejudices, the average person prefers to cling to the old
|
||
illusions of safety and to the long-cherished false feelings of security. Only
|
||
a brave person is willing honestly to admit, and fearlessly to face, what a
|
||
sincere and logical mind discovers.
|
||
|
||
The wise and effective solution of any problem demands that the mind shall be
|
||
free from bias, passion, and all other purely personal prejudices which might
|
||
interfere with the disinterested survey of the actual factors that go to make
|
||
up the problem presenting itself for solution. The solution of life problems
|
||
requires courage and sincerity. Only honest and brave individuals are able to
|
||
follow valiantly through the perplexing and confusing maze of living to where
|
||
the logic of a fearless mind may lead. And this emancipation of the mind and
|
||
soul can never be effected without the driving power of an intelligent
|
||
enthusiasm which borders on religious zeal. It requires the lure of a great
|
||
ideal to drive man on in
|
||
|
||
top of page - 1774
|
||
|
||
the pursuit of a goal which is beset with difficult material problems and
|
||
manifold intellectual hazards.
|
||
|
||
Even though you are effectively armed to meet the difficult situations of life,
|
||
you can hardly expect success unless you are equipped with that wisdom of mind
|
||
and charm of personality which enable you to win the hearty support and
|
||
co-operation of your fellows. You cannot hope for a large measure of success in
|
||
either secular or religious work unless you can learn how to persuade your
|
||
fellows, to prevail with men. You simply must have tact and tolerance.
|
||
|
||
But the greatest of all methods of problem solving I have learned from Jesus,
|
||
your Master. I refer to that which he so consistently practices, and which he
|
||
has so faithfully taught you, the isolation of worshipful meditation. In this
|
||
habit of Jesus' going off so frequently by himself to commune with the Father
|
||
in heaven is to be found the technique, not only of gathering strength and
|
||
wisdom for the ordinary conflicts of living, but also of appropriating the
|
||
energy for the solution of the higher problems of a moral and spiritual nature.
|
||
But even correct methods of solving problems will not compensate for inherent
|
||
defects of personality or atone for the absence of the hunger and thirst for
|
||
true righteousness.
|
||
|
||
I am deeply impressed with the custom of Jesus in going apart by himself to
|
||
engage in these seasons of solitary survey of the problems of living; to seek
|
||
for new stores of wisdom and energy for meeting the manifold demands of social
|
||
service; to quicken and deepen the supreme purpose of living by actually
|
||
subjecting the total personality to the consciousness of contacting with
|
||
divinity; to grasp for possession of new and better methods of adjusting
|
||
oneself to the ever-changing situations of living existence; to effect those
|
||
vital reconstructions and readjustments of one's personal attitudes which are
|
||
so essential to enhanced insight into everything worth while and real; and to
|
||
do all of this with an eye single to the glory of God--to breathe in sincerity
|
||
your Master's favorite prayer, "Not my will, but yours, be done."
|
||
|
||
This worshipful practice of your Master brings that relaxation which renews the
|
||
mind; that illumination which inspires the soul; that courage which enables one
|
||
bravely to face one's problems; that self-understanding which obliterates
|
||
debilitating fear; and that consciousness of union with divinity which equips
|
||
man with the assurance that enables him to dare to be Godlike. The relaxation
|
||
of worship, or spiritual communion as practiced by the Master, relieves
|
||
tension, removes conflicts, and mightily augments the total resources of the
|
||
personality. And all this philosophy, plus the gospel of the kingdom,
|
||
constitutes the new religion as I understand it.
|
||
|
||
Prejudice blinds the soul to the recognition of truth, and prejudice can be
|
||
removed only by the sincere devotion of the soul to the adoration of a cause
|
||
that is all-embracing and all-inclusive of one's fellow men. Prejudice is
|
||
inseparably linked to selfishness. Prejudice can be eliminated only by the
|
||
abandonment of self-seeking and by substituting therefor the quest of the
|
||
satisfaction of the service of a cause that is not only greater than self, but
|
||
one that is even greater than all humanity--the search for God, the attainment
|
||
of divinity. The evidence of maturity of personality consists in the
|
||
transformation of human desire so that it constantly seeks for the realization
|
||
of those values which are highest and most divinely real.
|
||
|
||
In a continually changing world, in the midst of an evolving social order, it
|
||
is impossible to maintain settled and established goals of destiny. Stability
|
||
of per-
|
||
|
||
top of page - 1775
|
||
|
||
sonality can be experienced only by those who have discovered and embraced the
|
||
living God as the eternal goal of infinite attainment. And thus to transfer
|
||
one's goal from time to eternity, from earth to Paradise, from the human to the
|
||
divine, requires that man shall become regenerated, converted, be born again;
|
||
that he shall become the re-created child of the divine spirit; that he shall
|
||
gain entrance into the brotherhood of the kingdom of heaven. All philosophies
|
||
and religions which fall short of these ideals are immature. The philosophy
|
||
which I teach, linked with the gospel which you preach, represents the new
|
||
religion of maturity, the ideal of all future generations. And this is true
|
||
because our ideal is final, infallible, eternal, universal, absolute, and
|
||
infinite.
|
||
|
||
My philosophy gave me the urge to search for the realities of true attainment,
|
||
the goal of maturity. But my urge was impotent; my search lacked driving power;
|
||
my quest suffered from the absence of certainty of directionization. And these
|
||
deficiencies have been abundantly supplied by this new gospel of Jesus, with
|
||
its enhancement of insights, elevation of ideals, and settledness of goals.
|
||
Without doubts and misgivings I can now wholeheartedly enter upon the eternal
|
||
venture.
|
||
|
||
2. THE ART OF LIVING
|
||
|
||
There are just two ways in which mortals may live together: the material or
|
||
animal way and the spiritual or human way. By the use of signals and sounds
|
||
animals are able to communicate with each other in a limited way. But such
|
||
forms of communication do not convey meanings, values, or ideas. The one
|
||
distinction between man and the animal is that man can communicate with his
|
||
fellows by means of symbols which most certainly designate and identify
|
||
meanings, values, ideas, and even ideals.
|
||
|
||
Since animals cannot communicate ideas to each other, they cannot develop
|
||
personality. Man develops personality because he can thus communicate with his
|
||
fellows concerning both ideas and ideals.
|
||
|
||
It is this ability to communicate and share meanings that constitutes human
|
||
culture and enables man, through social associations, to build civilizations.
|
||
Knowledge and wisdom become cumulative because of man's ability to communicate
|
||
these possessions to succeeding generations. And thereby arise the cultural
|
||
activities of the race: art, science, religion, and philosophy.
|
||
|
||
Symbolic communication between human beings predetermines the bringing into
|
||
existence of social groups. The most effective of all social groups is the
|
||
family, more particularly the two parents. Personal affection is the spiritual
|
||
bond which holds together these material associations. Such an effective
|
||
relationship is also possible between two persons of the same sex, as is so
|
||
abundantly illustrated in the devotions of genuine friendships.
|
||
|
||
These associations of friendship and mutual affection are socializing and
|
||
ennobling because they encourage and facilitate the following essential factors
|
||
of the higher levels of the art of living:
|
||
|
||
1. Mutual self-expression and self-understanding. Many noble human impulses die
|
||
because there is no one to hear their expression. Truly, it is not good for man
|
||
to be alone. Some degree of recognition and a certain amount of appreciation
|
||
are essential to the development of human character. Without the genuine love
|
||
of a home, no child can achieve the full development of normal
|
||
|
||
top of page - 1776
|
||
|
||
character. Character is something more than mere mind and morals. Of all social
|
||
relations calculated to develop character, the most effective and ideal is the
|
||
affectionate and understanding friendship of man and woman in the mutual
|
||
embrace of intelligent wedlock. Marriage, with its manifold relations, is best
|
||
designed to draw forth those precious impulses and those higher motives which
|
||
are indispensable to the development of a strong character. I do not hesitate
|
||
thus to glorify family life, for your Master has wisely chosen the father-child
|
||
relationship as the very cornerstone of this new gospel of the kingdom. And
|
||
such a matchless community of relationship, man and woman in the fond embrace
|
||
of the highest ideals of time, is so valuable and satisfying an experience that
|
||
it is worth any price, any sacrifice, requisite for its possession.
|
||
|
||
2. Union of souls--the mobilization of wisdom. Every human being sooner or
|
||
later acquires a certain concept of this world and a certain vision of the
|
||
next. Now it is possible, through personality association, to unite these views
|
||
of temporal existence and eternal prospects. Thus does the mind of one augment
|
||
its spiritual values by gaining much of the insight of the other. In this way
|
||
men enrich the soul by pooling their respective spiritual possessions.
|
||
Likewise, in this same way, man is enabled to avoid that ever-present tendency
|
||
to fall victim to distortion of vision, prejudice of viewpoint, and narrowness
|
||
of judgment. Fear, envy, and conceit can be prevented only by intimate contact
|
||
with other minds. I call your attention to the fact that the Master never sends
|
||
you out alone to labor for the extension of the kingdom; he always sends you
|
||
out two and two. And since wisdom is superknowledge, it follows that, in the
|
||
union of wisdom, the social group, small or large, mutually shares all
|
||
knowledge.
|
||
|
||
3. The enthusiasm for living. Isolation tends to exhaust the energy charge of
|
||
the soul. Association with one's fellows is essential to the renewal of the
|
||
zest for life and is indispensable to the maintenance of the courage to fight
|
||
those battles consequent upon the ascent to the higher levels of human living.
|
||
Friendship enhances the joys and glorifies the triumphs of life. Loving and
|
||
intimate human associations tend to rob suffering of its sorrow and hardship of
|
||
much of its bitterness. The presence of a friend enhances all beauty and exalts
|
||
every goodness. By intelligent symbols man is able to quicken and enlarge the
|
||
appreciative capacities of his friends. One of the crowning glories of human
|
||
friendship is this power and possibility of the mutual stimulation of the
|
||
imagination. Great spiritual power is inherent in the consciousness of
|
||
wholehearted devotion to a common cause, mutual loyalty to a cosmic Deity.
|
||
|
||
4. The enhanced defense against all evil. Personality association and mutual
|
||
affection is an efficient insurance against evil. Difficulties, sorrow,
|
||
disappointment, and defeat are more painful and disheartening when borne alone.
|
||
Association does not transmute evil into righteousness, but it does aid in
|
||
greatly lessening the sting. Said your Master, "Happy are they who mourn"--if a
|
||
friend is at hand to comfort. There is positive strength in the knowledge that
|
||
you live for the welfare of others, and that these others likewise live for
|
||
your welfare and advancement. Man languishes in isolation. Human beings
|
||
unfailingly become discouraged when they view only the transitory transactions
|
||
of time. 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
|
||
|
||
top of page - 1777
|
||
|
||
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.
|
||
|
||
I repeat, such inspiring and ennobling association finds its ideal
|
||
possibilities in the human marriage relation. True, much is attained out of
|
||
marriage, and many, many marriages utterly fail to produce these moral and
|
||
spiritual fruits. Too many times marriage is entered by those who seek other
|
||
values which are lower than these superior accompaniments of human maturity.
|
||
Ideal marriage must be founded on something more stable than the fluctuations
|
||
of sentiment and the fickleness of mere sex attraction; it must be based on
|
||
genuine and mutual personal devotion. And thus, if you can build up such
|
||
trustworthy and effective small units of human association, when these are
|
||
assembled in the aggregate, the world will behold a great and glorified social
|
||
structure, the civilization of mortal maturity. Such a race might begin to
|
||
realize something of your Master's ideal of "peace on earth and good will among
|
||
men." While such a society would not be perfect or entirely free from evil, it
|
||
would at least approach the stabilization of maturity.
|
||
|
||
3. THE LURES OF MATURITY
|
||
|
||
The effort toward maturity necessitates work, and work requires energy. Whence
|
||
the power to accomplish all this? The physical things can be taken for granted,
|
||
but the Master has well said, "Man cannot live by bread alone." Granted the
|
||
possession of a normal body and reasonably good health, we must next look for
|
||
those lures which will act as a stimulus to call forth man's slumbering
|
||
spiritual forces. Jesus has taught us that God lives in man; then how can we
|
||
induce man to release these soul-bound powers of divinity and infinity? How
|
||
shall we induce men to let go of God that he may spring forth to the
|
||
refreshment of our own souls while in transit outward and then to serve the
|
||
purpose of enlightening, uplifting, and blessing countless other souls? How
|
||
best can I awaken these latent powers for good which lie dormant in your souls?
|
||
One thing I am sure of: Emotional excitement is not the ideal spiritual
|
||
stimulus. Excitement does not augment energy; it rather exhausts the powers of
|
||
both mind and body. 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.
|
||
|
||
When these experiences are frequently repeated, they crystallize into habits,
|
||
strength-giving and worshipful habits, and such habits eventually formulate
|
||
themselves into a spiritual character, and such a character is finally
|
||
recognized by one's fellows as a mature personality. These practices are
|
||
difficult and time-consuming at first, but when they become habitual, they are
|
||
at once restful and time-saving. The more complex society becomes, and the more
|
||
the lures of civilization multiply, the more urgent will become the necessity
|
||
for God-knowing individuals to form such protective habitual practices designed
|
||
to conserve and augment their spiritual energies.
|
||
|
||
top of page - 1778
|
||
|
||
Another requirement for the attainment of maturity is the co-operative
|
||
adjustment of social groups to an ever-changing environment. The immature
|
||
individual arouses the antagonisms of his fellows; the mature man wins the
|
||
hearty co-operation of his associates, thereby many times multiplying the
|
||
fruits of his life efforts.
|
||
|
||
My philosophy tells me that there are times when I must fight, if need be, for
|
||
the defense of my concept of righteousness, but I doubt not that the Master,
|
||
with a more mature type of personality, would easily and gracefully gain an
|
||
equal victory by his superior and winsome technique of tact and tolerance. All
|
||
too often, when we battle for the right, it turns out that both the victor and
|
||
the vanquished have sustained defeat. I heard the Master say only yesterday
|
||
that the "wise man, when seeking entrance through the locked door, would not
|
||
destroy the door but rather would seek for the key wherewith to unlock it." Too
|
||
often we engage in a fight merely to convince ourselves that we are not afraid.
|
||
|
||
This new gospel of the kingdom renders a great service to the art of living in
|
||
that it supplies a new and richer incentive for higher living. It presents a
|
||
new and exalted goal of destiny, a supreme life purpose. And these new concepts
|
||
of the eternal and divine goal of existence are in themselves transcendent
|
||
stimuli, calling forth the reaction of the very best that is resident in man's
|
||
higher nature. On every mountaintop of intellectual thought are to be found
|
||
relaxation for the mind, strength for the soul, and communion for the spirit.
|
||
From such vantage points of high living, man is able to transcend the material
|
||
irritations of the lower levels of thinking--worry, jealousy, envy, revenge,
|
||
and the pride of immature personality. These high-climbing souls deliver
|
||
themselves from a multitude of the crosscurrent conflicts of the trifles of
|
||
living, thus becoming free to attain consciousness of the higher currents of
|
||
spirit concept and celestial communication. But the life purpose must be
|
||
jealously guarded from the temptation to seek for easy and transient
|
||
attainment; likewise must it be so fostered as to become immune to the
|
||
disastrous threats of fanaticism.
|
||
|
||
4. THE BALANCE OF MATURITY
|
||
|
||
While you have an eye single to the attainment of eternal realities, you must
|
||
also make provision for the necessities of temporal living. While the spirit is
|
||
our goal, the flesh is a fact. Occasionally the necessities of living may fall
|
||
into our hands by accident, but in general, we must intelligently work for
|
||
them. The two major problems of life are: making a temporal living and the
|
||
achievement of eternal survival. And even the problem of making a living
|
||
requires religion for its ideal solution. These are both highly personal
|
||
problems. True religion, in fact, does not function apart from the individual.
|
||
|
||
The essentials of the temporal life, as I see them, are:
|
||
|
||
1. Good physical health.
|
||
|
||
2. Clear and clean thinking.
|
||
|
||
3. Ability and skill.
|
||
|
||
4. Wealth--the goods of life.
|
||
|
||
5. Ability to withstand defeat.
|
||
|
||
6. Culture--education and wisdom.
|
||
|
||
top of page - 1779
|
||
|
||
Even the physical problems of bodily health and efficiency are best solved when
|
||
they are viewed from the religious standpoint of our Master's teaching: That
|
||
the body and mind of man are the dwelling place of the gift of the Gods, the
|
||
spirit of God becoming the spirit of man. The mind of man thus becomes the
|
||
mediator between material things and spiritual realities.
|
||
|
||
It requires intelligence to secure one's share of the desirable things of life.
|
||
It is wholly erroneous to suppose that faithfulness in doing one's daily work
|
||
will insure the rewards of wealth. Barring the occasional and accidental
|
||
acquirement of wealth, the material rewards of the temporal life are found to
|
||
flow in certain well-organized channels, and only those who have access to
|
||
these channels may expect to be well rewarded for their temporal efforts.
|
||
Poverty must ever be the lot of all men who seek for wealth in isolated and
|
||
individual channels. Wise planning, therefore, becomes the one thing essential
|
||
to worldly prosperity. Success requires not only devotion to one's work but
|
||
also that one should function as a part of some one of the channels of material
|
||
wealth. If you are unwise, you can bestow a devoted life upon your generation
|
||
without material reward; if you are an accidental beneficiary of the flow of
|
||
wealth, you may roll in luxury even though you have done nothing worth while
|
||
for your fellow men.
|
||
|
||
Ability is that which you inherit, while skill is what you acquire. Life is not
|
||
real to one who cannot do some one thing well, expertly. Skill is one of the
|
||
real sources of the satisfaction of living. Ability implies the gift of
|
||
foresight, farseeing vision. Be not deceived by the tempting rewards of
|
||
dishonest achievement; be willing to toil for the later returns inherent in
|
||
honest endeavor. The wise man is able to distinguish between means and ends;
|
||
otherwise, sometimes overplanning for the future defeats its own high purpose.
|
||
As a pleasure seeker you should aim always to be a producer as well as a
|
||
consumer.
|
||
|
||
Train your memory to hold in sacred trust the strength-giving and worthwhile
|
||
episodes of life, which you can recall at will for your pleasure and
|
||
edification. Thus build up for yourself and in yourself reserve galleries of
|
||
beauty, goodness, and artistic grandeur. But the noblest of all memories are
|
||
the treasured recollections of the great moments of a superb friendship. And
|
||
all of these memory treasures radiate their most precious and exalting
|
||
influences under the releasing touch of spiritual worship.
|
||
|
||
But life will become a burden of existence unless you learn how to fail
|
||
gracefully. There is an art in defeat which noble souls always acquire; you
|
||
must know how to lose cheerfully; you must be fearless of disappointment. Never
|
||
hesitate to admit failure. Make no attempt to hide failure under deceptive
|
||
smiles and beaming optimism. It sounds well always to claim success, but the
|
||
end results are appalling. Such a technique leads directly to the creation of a
|
||
world of unreality and to the inevitable crash of ultimate disillusionment.
|
||
|
||
Success may generate courage and promote confidence, but wisdom comes only from
|
||
the experiences of adjustment to the results of one's failures. Men who prefer
|
||
optimistic illusions to reality can never become wise. Only those who face
|
||
facts and adjust them to ideals can achieve wisdom. Wisdom embraces both the
|
||
fact and the ideal and therefore saves its devotees from both of those barren
|
||
extremes of philosophy--the man whose idealism excludes facts and the
|
||
materialist who is devoid of spiritual outlook. Those timid souls who can only
|
||
keep up the struggle of life by the aid of continuous false illusions of suc-
|
||
|
||
top of page - 1780
|
||
|
||
cess are doomed to suffer failure and experience defeat as they ultimately
|
||
awaken from the dream world of their own imaginations.
|
||
|
||
And it is in this business of facing failure and adjusting to defeat that the
|
||
far-reaching vision of religion exerts its supreme influence. Failure is simply
|
||
an educational episode--a cultural experiment in the acquirement of wisdom--in
|
||
the experience of the God-seeking man who has embarked on the eternal adventure
|
||
of the exploration of a universe. To such men defeat is but a new tool for the
|
||
achievement of higher levels of universe reality.
|
||
|
||
The career of a God-seeking man may prove to be a great success in the light of
|
||
eternity, even though the whole temporal-life enterprise may appear as an
|
||
overwhelming failure, provided each life failure yielded the culture of wisdom
|
||
and spirit achievement. Do not make the mistake of confusing knowledge,
|
||
culture, and wisdom. They are related in life, but they represent vastly
|
||
differing spirit values; wisdom ever dominates knowledge and always glorifies
|
||
culture.
|
||
|
||
5. THE RELIGION OF THE IDEAL
|
||
|
||
You have told me that your Master regards genuine human religion as the
|
||
individual's experience with spiritual realities. I have regarded religion as
|
||
man's experience of reacting to something which he regards as being worthy of
|
||
the homage and devotion of all mankind. In this sense, religion symbolizes our
|
||
supreme devotion to that which represents our highest concept of the ideals of
|
||
reality and the farthest reach of our minds toward eternal possibilities of
|
||
spiritual attainment.
|
||
|
||
When men react to religion in the tribal, national, or racial sense, it is
|
||
because they look upon those without their group as not being truly human. We
|
||
always look upon the object of our religious
|
||
|
||
top of page - 1781
|
||
|
||
loyalty as being worthy of the reverence of all men. Religion can never be a
|
||
matter of mere intellectual belief or philosophic reasoning; religion is always
|
||
and forever a mode of reacting to the situations of life; it is a species of
|
||
conduct. Religion embraces thinking, feeling, and acting reverently toward some
|
||
reality which we deem worthy of universal adoration.
|
||
|
||
If something has become a religion in your experience, it is self-evident that
|
||
you already have become an active evangel of that religion since you deem the
|
||
supreme concept of your religion as being worthy of the worship of all mankind,
|
||
all universe intelligences. If you are not a positive and missionary evangel of
|
||
your religion, you are self-deceived in that what you call a religion is only a
|
||
traditional belief or a mere system of intellectual philosophy. If your
|
||
religion is a spiritual experience, your object of worship must be the
|
||
universal spirit reality and ideal of all your spiritualized concepts. All
|
||
religions based on fear, emotion, tradition, and philosophy I term the
|
||
intellectual religions, while those based on true spirit experience I would
|
||
term the true religions. The object of religious devotion may be material or
|
||
spiritual, true or false, real or unreal, human or divine. Religions can
|
||
therefore be either good or evil.
|
||
|
||
Morality and religion are not necessarily the same. A system of morals, by
|
||
grasping an object of worship, may become a religion. A religion, by losing its
|
||
universal appeal to loyalty and supreme devotion, may evolve into a system of
|
||
philosophy or a code of morals. This thing, being, state, or order of
|
||
existence, or possibility of attainment which constitutes the supreme ideal of
|
||
religious loyalty, and which is the recipient of the religious devotion of
|
||
those who worship, is God. Regardless of the name applied to this ideal of
|
||
spirit reality, it is God.
|
||
|
||
The social characteristics of a true religion consist in the fact that it
|
||
invariably seeks to convert the individual and to transform the world. Religion
|
||
implies the existence of undiscovered ideals which far transcend the known
|
||
standards of ethics and morality embodied in even the highest social usages of
|
||
the most mature institutions of civilization. Religion reaches out for
|
||
undiscovered ideals, unexplored realities, superhuman values, divine wisdom,
|
||
and true spirit attainment. True religion does all of this; all other beliefs
|
||
are not worthy of the name. You cannot have a genuine spiritual religion
|
||
without the supreme and supernal ideal of an eternal God. A religion without
|
||
this God is an invention of man, a human institution of lifeless intellectual
|
||
beliefs and meaningless emotional ceremonies. A religion might claim as the
|
||
object of its devotion a great ideal. But such ideals of unreality are not
|
||
attainable; such a concept is illusionary. The only ideals susceptible of human
|
||
attainment are the divine realities of the infinite values resident in the
|
||
spiritual fact of the eternal God.
|
||
|
||
The word God, the idea of God as contrasted with the ideal of God, can become a
|
||
part of any religion, no matter how puerile or false that religion may chance
|
||
to be. And this idea of God can become anything which those who entertain it
|
||
may choose to make it. The lower religions shape their ideas of God to meet the
|
||
natural state of the human heart; the higher religions demand that the human
|
||
heart shall be changed to meet the demands of the ideals of true religion.
|
||
|
||
The religion of Jesus transcends all our former concepts of the idea of worship
|
||
in that he not only portrays his Father as the ideal of infinite reality but
|
||
positively declares that this divine source of values and the eternal center of
|
||
the universe is truly and personally attainable by every mortal creature who
|
||
chooses to enter the kingdom of heaven on earth, thereby acknowledging the
|
||
acceptance of sonship with God and brotherhood with man. That, I submit, is the
|
||
highest concept of religion the world has ever known, and I pronounce that
|
||
there can never be a higher since this gospel embraces the infinity of
|
||
realities, the divinity of values, and the eternity of universal attainments.
|
||
Such a concept constitutes the achievement of the experience of the idealism of
|
||
the supreme and the ultimate.
|
||
|
||
I am not only intrigued by the consummate ideals of this religion of your
|
||
Master, but I am mightily moved to profess my belief in his announcement that
|
||
these ideals of spirit realities are attainable; that you and I can enter upon
|
||
this long and eternal adventure with his assurance of the certainty of our
|
||
ultimate arrival at the portals of Paradise. My brethren, I am a believer, I
|
||
have embarked; I am on my way with you in this eternal venture. The Master says
|
||
he came from the Father, and that he will show us the way. I am fully persuaded
|
||
he speaks the truth. I am finally convinced that there are no attainable ideals
|
||
of reality or values of perfection apart from the eternal and Universal Father.
|
||
|
||
I come, then, to worship, not merely the God of existences, but the God of the
|
||
possibility of all future existences. Therefore must your devotion to a supreme
|
||
ideal, if that ideal is real, be devotion to this God of past, present, and
|
||
future universes of things and beings. And there is no other God, for there
|
||
cannot possibly be any other God. All other gods are figments of the
|
||
imagination, illusions of mortal mind, distortions of false logic, and the
|
||
self-deceptive idols of those who create them. Yes, you can have a religion
|
||
without this God, but it
|
||
|
||
top of page - 1782
|
||
|
||
does not mean anything. And if you seek to substitute the word God for the
|
||
reality of this ideal of the living God, you have only deluded yourself by
|
||
putting an idea in the place of an ideal, a divine reality. Such beliefs are
|
||
merely religions of wishful fancy.
|
||
|
||
I see in the teachings of Jesus, religion at its best. This gospel enables us
|
||
to seek for the true God and to find him. But are we willing to pay the price
|
||
of this entrance into the kingdom of heaven? Are we willing to be born again?
|
||
to be remade? Are we willing to be subject to this terrible and testing process
|
||
of self-destruction and soul reconstruction? Has not the Master said: "Whoso
|
||
would save his life must lose it. Think not that I have come to bring peace but
|
||
rather a soul struggle"? True, after we pay the price of dedication to the
|
||
Father's will, we do experience great peace provided we continue to walk in
|
||
these spiritual paths of consecrated living.
|
||
|
||
Now are we truly forsaking the lures of the known order of existence while we
|
||
unreservedly dedicate our quest to the lures of the unknown and unexplored
|
||
order of the existence of a future life of adventure in the spirit worlds of
|
||
the higher idealism of divine reality. And we seek for those symbols of meaning
|
||
wherewith to convey to our fellow men these concepts of the reality of the
|
||
idealism of the religion of Jesus, and we will not cease to pray for that day
|
||
when all mankind shall be thrilled by the communal vision of this supreme
|
||
truth. Just now, our focalized concept of the Father, as held in our hearts, is
|
||
that God is spirit; as conveyed to our fellows, that God is love.
|
||
|
||
The religion of Jesus demands living and spiritual experience. Other religions
|
||
may consist in traditional beliefs, emotional feelings, philosophic
|
||
consciousness, and all of that, but the teaching of the Master requires the
|
||
attainment of actual levels of real spirit progression.
|
||
|
||
The consciousness of the impulse to be like God is not true religion. The
|
||
feelings of the emotion to worship God are not true religion. The knowledge of
|
||
the conviction to forsake self and serve God is not true religion. The wisdom
|
||
of the reasoning that this religion is the best of all is not religion as a
|
||
personal and spiritual experience. True religion has reference to destiny and
|
||
reality of attainment as well as to the reality and idealism of that which is
|
||
wholeheartedly faith-accepted. And all of this must be made personal to us by
|
||
the revelation of the Spirit of Truth.
|
||
|
||
And thus ended the dissertations of the Greek philosopher, one of the greatest
|
||
of his race, who had become a believer in the gospel of Jesus.
|
||
|
||
top of page - 1783
|
||
|
||
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
Subjects Archive The Urantia Book Urantia Book PART IV: The Life and Teachings
|
||
of Jesus : The Bestowal Of Michael On Urantia The Times Of Michael's Bestowal
|
||
Birth And Infancy Of Jesus The Early Childhood Of Jesus The Later Childhood Of
|
||
Jesus Jesus At Jerusalem The Two Crucial Years The Adolescent Years Jesus'
|
||
Early Manhood The Later Adult Life Of Jesus On The Way To Rome The World's
|
||
Religions The Sojourn At Rome The Return From Rome The Transition Years John
|
||
The Baptist Baptism And The Forty Days Tarrying Time In Galilee Training The
|
||
Kingdom's Messengers The Twelve Apostles The Ordination Of The Twelve Beginning
|
||
The Public Work The Passover At Jerusalem Going Through Samaria At Gilboa And
|
||
In The Decapolis Four Eventful Days At Capernaum First Preaching Tour Of
|
||
Galilee The Interlude Visit To Jerusalem Training Evangelists At Bethsaida The
|
||
Second Preaching Tour The Third Preaching Tour Tarrying And Teaching By The
|
||
Seaside Events Leading Up To The Capernaum Crisis The Crisis At Capernaum Last
|
||
Days At Capernaum Fleeing Through Northern Galilee The Sojourn At Tyre And
|
||
Sidon At Caesarea-philippi The Mount Of Transfiguration The Decapolis Tour
|
||
Rodan Of Alexandria Further Discussions With Rodan At The Feast Of Tabernacles
|
||
Ordination Of The Seventy At Magadan At The Feast Of Dedication The Perean
|
||
Mission Begins Last Visit To Northern Perea The Visit To Philadelphia The
|
||
Resurrection Of Lazarus Last Teaching At Pella The Kingdom Of Heaven On The Way
|
||
To Jerusalem Going Into Jerusalem Monday In Jerusalem Tuesday Morning In The
|
||
Temple The Last Temple Discourse Tuesday Evening On Mount Olivet Wednesday, The
|
||
Rest Day Last Day At The Camp The Last Supper The Farewell Discourse Final
|
||
Admonitions And Warnings In Gethsemane The Betrayal And Arrest Of Jesus Before
|
||
The Sanhedrin Court The Trial Before Pilate Just Before The Crucifixion The
|
||
Crucifixion The Time Of The Tomb The Resurrection Morontia Appearances Of Jesus
|
||
Appearances To The Apostles And Other Leaders Appearances In Galilee Final
|
||
Appearances And Ascension Bestowal Of The Spirit Of Truth After Pentecost The
|
||
Faith Of Jesus
|
||
|
||
<EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD>Ŀ
|
||
<EFBFBD> // <20> <20> <20> <20> <20>
|
||
<EFBFBD> The Decapolis <20> Further <20> Urantia Book <20> Search <20> SiteMap! <20>
|
||
<EFBFBD> T... <20> Discuss... <20> PA... <20> <20> <20>
|
||
<EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD>
|
||
//
|
||
|
||
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
<EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD>Ŀ
|
||
<EFBFBD> <20> <20> <20> <20> <20> <20> SPIRITWEB ORG (info@spiritweb.org), <20> <20>
|
||
<EFBFBD> <20> <20> <20> <20> <20> <20> http://www.spiritweb.org <20> <20>
|
||
<EFBFBD> <20> <20> <20> <20> <20> <20> Webmaster <webmaster@spiritweb.org> <20> <20>
|
||
<EFBFBD> <20> <20> <20> <20> <20> <20> <20> <20>
|
||
<EFBFBD> <20> <20> <20> <20> <20> <20> ONLINE SINCE 1993. MAINTAINED IN SWITZERLAND. <20> <20>
|
||
<EFBFBD> <20> <20> <20> <20> <20> <20> DISTRIBUTED TO CALIFORNIA, SPAIN, ITALY, SOUTH AFRICA, <20> <20>
|
||
<EFBFBD> <20> <20> <20> <20> <20> <20> AUSTRALIA <20> <20>
|
||
<EFBFBD> <20> <20> <20> <20> <20> <20> <20> <20>
|
||
<EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD>
|