A school of thinking

Reading The Urantia Book as a School of Thinking

The new philosophy of living in truth, beauty, and goodness prepares us for the schools of thinking, feeling, and doing in the mansion worlds.  To anticipate the mansion world schools of thinking, let’s look for lessons implicit and explicit in The Urantia Book, taking them roughly in sequence. 

1.  In Paper 1, the first lesson on thinking comes immediately after the sentence introducing the Universal Father: “The Universal Father is the God of all creation, the First Source and Center of all things and beings. First think of God as a creator, then as a controller, and lastly as an infinite upholder.”  Thinking takes place, thus, in a personal context; it is an activity of the sons and daughters of God.

            Responsive reading takes time to fulfill revealed imperatives.  A Divine Counselor is the counsel of God.  What do you come up with when you take time to plumb the depths of this lesson on thinking?  I assure you that it is most gratifying to take twenty minutes from time to time to meditate on this sequence.  A brief essay on a broad topic cannot quote favorite passages amplifying the meanings of creator, controller, and upholder; but I suggest that reflecting on this lesson might yield the following ideas.  The Father’s creative acts are characterized by design and by cooperation; he does not just start something without a good plan, and there is teamwork as his thought comes to expression in word and deed.  Nor does the Creator throw out energy, mind, and spirit without structuring them by principles expressing his perfect governance.  His loving control, from within and from without, leads us through our adventures of growth, recycles whatever becomes forever and finally resistant to progress, and upholds us through the conservation and dominance of goodness.

2.  The next major lesson on thinking is the section, “Divine Truth and Beauty” (2:7, 42).  First, we must frankly acknowledge the relativity of truth.  Even though “the laws and decrees, the thoughts and attitudes, of the First Great Source and Center are eternally, infinitely, and universally true,” divine truth is variously adapted.

All finite knowledge and creature understanding are relative. Information and intelligence, gleaned from even high sources, is only relatively complete, locally accurate, and personally true.

            Physical facts are fairly uniform, but truth is a living and flexible factor in the philosophy of the universe. Evolving personalities are only partially wise and relatively true in their communications. They can be certain only as far as their personal experience extends. (2:7, 42.2-3)

How do the universal conciliators solve this problem?  They “collectively manifest forty-nine experiential viewpoints, or insights, each angular—hence incomplete—but all mutually compensatory and together tending to encompass the circle of Supremacy” (25:2, 275.4). 

Recognizing that our insights are partial and incomplete is no excuse for narrow-mindedness.  The fallacy of abstraction is “the practice of focusing attention upon one aspect of reality and then of pronouncing such an isolated aspect to be the whole truth.”  (Reductionism, deceptively explaining the higher in terms of the lower, illustrates this fallacy [12:9, 141.4-6]).  Notably, the cure for this problem returns to the first lesson on thinking, to “look for the creative design which is behind and pre-existent to, all universe phenomena” (2:7, 42.6). 

The goal of our labor in compensating for limits in our approach is to realize the truth in its fullness: “Truth is beautiful because it is both replete and symmetrical” (2:7, 42.5).  Until the grasp of truth attains a realization of the beauty of truth, it is not yet complete.  Ask what dimensions of reality need to be included and balanced in order to achieve repleteness and symmetry!

            There are two more tests for truth; one involves philosophic logic, and the other is spiritual-intuitive:

Intellectual self-consciousness can discover the beauty of truth, its spiritual quality, not only by the philosophic consistency of its concepts, but more certainly and surely by the unerring response of the ever-present Spirit of Truth. Happiness ensues from the recognition of truth because it can be acted out; it can be lived. Disappointment and sorrow attend upon error because, not being a reality, it cannot be realized in experience. Divine truth is best known by its spiritual flavor.  (2:7, 42.7)

This section concludes by calling for the construction of a new framework for thinking, a philosophy of living centered on “the enlarged and exquisitely integrated modern concepts of cosmic truth, universe beauty, and divine goodness.”  I will not probe that project here, since I have worked on it elsewhere.  

3.  Thinking is an activity of the mind, and the pattern of mind is the absolute mind of the Infinite Spirit. 

The first act of the Infinite Spirit is the inspection and recognition of his divine parents, the Father-Father and the Mother-Son. He, the Spirit, unqualifiedly identifies both of them. He is fully cognizant of their separate personalities and infinite attributes as well as of their combined nature and united function. Next, voluntarily, with transcendent willingness and inspiring spontaneity, the Third Person of Deity, notwithstanding his equality with the First and Second Persons, pledges eternal loyalty to God the Father and acknowledges everlasting dependence upon God the Son. (8:1, 90.5)

How can we pattern our thinking on the acts of the Infinite Spirit?  This paragraph may suggest that we can conduct our mental life so as to be illumined by worship and consecrate ourselves to the Father’s will.  The Conjoint Actor then continues the cycle of action by creating the Havona universe.  How can we pattern our action on that creative achievement?  In the evolving realm of time and space, we can take up our duty to the Supreme: “In the evolutionary cosmos energy-matter is dominant except in personality, where spirit, through the mediation of mind, is striving for the mastery” (12:8, 140.8).  We can work graciously to subordinate the energies of our bodies and the powers of this world to spirit purpose.  The time-space expression of the Paradise pattern is diagrammed in figure 1.

The pattern of absolute mind expressed

in the superuniverses and local universes

Mind is “the ability to know and be known” (6:2, 78.5).  “In the evolutionary cosmos energy-matter is dominant except in personality, where spirit, through the mediation of mind, is striving for the mastery” (12:8, 140.8; see the last two sections of paper 12).  “Mind transmutes the values of spirit into the meanings of intellect” (102.6).  “Mind is the technique whereby spirit realities become experiential to creature personalities” (140.5).  Our minds are limited (1.2), but there is hope (289.2), and we are invited to engage in creative speculation and imagination (330.2).

4.  The next lesson on thinking I would highlight is implicit, not explicit.  We are to “meditate” on the revelation of divine attributes made by Jesus (7:7, 89.5).  What is meditation?  As the authors use that term, meditation means pondering, thinking things over at length, allowing the soul to nourish itself on truth.  Meditation does not connote gravitating the mind toward the subconscious or inducing anything like a trance.  The apostles on several occasions meditated on what Jesus had just said to them, thinking over what they had just heard.  “Let the sublime knowledge of the mortal life of Jesus of Nazareth sink into your souls . . .” (20:5, 228.6).  Meditation is not mysticism. 

5.  A cluster of lessons on thinking are given in the section on the cosmic mind, which tells of the mind’s capacities regarding causation, duty, and worship.  First, note the movement within the description of each capacity, for example, with the first one, how the involvement rises from perception to physics.

Causation—the reality domain of the physical senses, the scientific realms of logical uniformity, the differentiation of the factual and the nonfactual, reflective conclusions based on based on cosmic response. This is the mathematical form of the cosmic discrimination. (16:6, 192.2)

Bernard Lonergan in his masterpiece, Insight, notes that developed thinking proceeds through three phases: experience, understanding, and judgment.  We tend to be too passive in our thinking, failing to interpret, failing to articulate definite conclusions based on our experience.  To be more active thinkers is an ideal implicit in the way the intuitions of cosmic mind are described.

            Second, notice that these three intuitions of the cosmic mind are called apriori assumptions that make experience possible (the terminology and concept derive from the philosophy of Immanuel Kant).  There are insights so basic they cannot be proven, for proof appeals to something more basic.  To affirm such an insight, then, is to set forth an axiom.  Any attempt at proof assumes too much or proves too little.  To the properly attuned mind, the insight is self-evident.  It moreover implies a commitment to explore the terrain opened up by the affirmation.  Those who reject the insight may try to disprove it, though their attempted proofs, too, will assume too much or prove too little. 

            Third, to integrate these three intuitions is simple in theory, but what is more common than to discharge duties as a burden or to be careless about the consequences of our actions?  Rather, actions in the realm of fact (causation) should accord with our duty, and the performance of duty is to be motivated by love.  Each action is a microcosm of our contribution to the Supreme, ordering material reality in the light of spirit purpose. 

6.  Another major lesson on thinking is that “the true perspective of any reality problem . . . can be had only by the full and unprejudiced study and correlation of three phases of universe reality: origin, history, and destiny” (19:1, 215.3).  This lesson provides a key to integrating science (which portrays finite history) with religion (which portrays origin and destiny). 

7.  One of the most important lessons of thinking pertains to the social dimension: we are to become “sufficiently intelligent and tolerant to avoid clashes of mind and wars of opinions” (25:3, 278.3).  “The higher a creature’s education, the more respect he has for the knowledge, experience, and opinions of others.”  Many of our difficulties in thinking together stem from the following sorts of problem: “Too often, all too often, you mar your minds by insincerity and sear them with unrighteousness; you subject them to animal fear and distort them by useless anxiety” (9:5, 103.6).  Note that the quest for knowledge and wisdom and the epoch of philosophy and brotherhood represent the middle stages of progressive civilization (50:5, 577), while “study becomes voluntary” on the fifthmansion world (47:7, 537.5).  The realization of social brotherhood on our world today depends much on the achievement of personal transformations and planetary adjustments including intellectual cross-fertilization: “Each race must become familiar with the thought of all races” (52:6, 597.5)

8.  Thinking, feeling, and doing are correlated with truth, beauty, and goodness.  Genuine soul expression is lacking unless these values are personally integrated (507#7).  If we focus on truth in the culminating section of Part II, Truth, Beauty, and Goodness (56:10, 646-48), we find several nuggets for meditation.  Notice how intellectual and spiritual dimensions are combined in the following teachings:

·       Truth “represents man’s effort to discern God in mind . . . .”  This first teaching orients us toward the eternal truth and the source of truth. 

·       “The meanings of eternal truth make a combined appeal to the intellectual and spiritual natures of mortal man.”  Here the intellectual and spiritual dimensions are simply mentioned together. 

·       “Truth is the basis of science and philosophy presenting the intellectual foundation of religion.”  If we read this sentence hastily, we can see truth simply as intellectual, but the basis of science and philosophy need not itself have the intellectual character of science and philosophy.  Nevertheless, it is interesting to see truth presented as the intellectual basis of religion.  From the time of Plato, truth has been seen as intellectual rather than spiritual, and there is a grain of insight in what became a one-sided tradition in western philosophy.

·       “The recognition of true relations implies a mind competent to discriminate between truth and error. The bestowal Spirit of Truth which invests the human minds of Urantia is unerringly responsive to truth—the living spirit relationship of all things and all beings as they are co-ordinated in the eternal ascent Godward.”  This quotation enables us to see that the Spirit of Truth is not only concerned with what we might (one-sidedly?) call spiritual truth, since the movement of all things and beings is involved.  The “definition” of truth here is astounding.  “Eternal truth is the special ministry of the Paradise Sons who not only bestow themselves upon the mortal races but even pour out their Spirit of Truth upon all peoples.”

·       “Truth meanings are the mortal-intellect repercussions of the eternal word of Deity—the time-space comprehension of supreme concepts.”  Here again is the emphasis on the intellectual dimension of meaning, the focus of thinking, but the term concept is a reminder that we have to do with more than an idea here, since there is a spiritual dimension to concepts:

Truth is inconcussible—forever exempt from all transient vicissitudes, albeit never dead and formal, always vibrant and adaptable—radiantly alive. But when truth becomes linked with fact, then both time and space condition its meanings and correlate its values. Such realities of truth wedded to fact become concepts and are accordingly relegated to the domain of relative cosmic realities. (118:3, 1297.4)

·       As we pursue this quest, man “finds himself increasingly absorbed in the experiential study of philosophy . . . .”  Philosophy goes beyond an abstract intellectual study to become experiential as we put its lessons into practice, reflect on our own experience, and progressively move from faith to God-consciousness.

Lessons on Thinking from Part III

It is risky to infer patterns from diverse passages in The Urantia Book, but the following one may be helpful: that thinking on all levels proceeds from intuition, through reasoning, to wisdom.  Consider the evidence and draw your own conclusions. 

1.  First, notice “reason,” “logic,” and “faith” used to denote different levels.

Reason is the act of recognizing the conclusions of consciousness with regard to the experience in and with the physical world of energy and matter. Faith is the act of recognizing the validity of spiritual consciousness—something which is incapable of other mortal proof. Logic is the synthetic truth-seeking progression of the unity of faith and reason and is founded on the constitutive mind endowments of mortal beings, the innate recognition of things, meanings, and values.  (103:7, 1139.5)

2.  Next, note “intuition” and “reason” used to denote different phases of activity within a given level.

As material intuitive instinct precedes the appearance of reasoned knowledge in terrestrial evolution, so does the manifestation of spiritual intuitive insight presage the later appearance of morontia and spirit reason and experience . . . . (103:7, 1138.0)

3.  Then observe the three-part sequence of spiritual activation: intuition, reason, wisdom

Faith-insight, or spiritual intuition, is the endowment of the cosmic mind in association with the Thought Adjuster, which is the Father’s gift to man. Spiritual reason, soul intelligence, is the endowment of the Holy Spirit, the Creative Spirit’s gift to man. Spiritual philosophy, the wisdom of spirit realities, is the endowment of the Spirit of Truth, the combined gift of the bestowal Sons to the children of men. And the co-ordination and interassociation of these spirit endowments constitute man a spirit personality in potential destiny.  (101:3, 1108.1)

 The remark about co-ordination and interassociation is essential, since we sometimes cannot begin simply with intuition in isolation from reason and wisdom.  Let me explain.  There is an appealing logic to the simple sequence of clear steps: Begin with intuition, then use reason to make an inference, then synthesize a wisdom perspective integrating other relevant intuitions and inferences.  In fact, however, it is often the case that we need to use reason to sharpen an intuition, and the use of reason draws upon our background wisdom synthesis about what is relevant and plausible.  In other words, to construct a “lesson” from the p. 1108 sequence must not be dogmatically construed as a temporal sequence.

The section on cosmic mind (16:6, 191-92) portrays the functioning of what the author calls intuition on every level.  Since intuition can be sharpened it must be defined so as to make room for growth to insight.  In order for intuition to rise from perception to physics, reasoning must come into play.  In order for duty to be recognized, wisdom must function. 

            The Urantia Book gives examples of these three functions on every level.   

I.  Intuition, reasoning, and wisdom regarding the material level

            i.  Simple intuition

The spirit of intuition—quick perception, the primitive physical and inherent reflex instincts, the directional and other self-preservative endowments of all mind creations; the only one of the adjutants to function so largely in the lower orders of animal life and the only one to make extensive functional contact with the nonteachable levels of mechanical mind. (36:5, 402.3)

            ii.  Reasoning described, implicit in description, and applied

Very early the savage observed that race mixture improved the quality of the offspring. It was not that inbreeding was always bad, but that outbreeding was always comparatively better; therefore the mores tended to crystallize in restriction of sex relations among near relatives. It was recognized that outbreeding greatly increased the selective opportunity for evolutionary variation and advancement. The outbred individuals were more versatile and had greater ability to survive in a hostile world; the inbreeders, together with their mores, gradually disappeared. This was all a slow development; the savage did not consciously reason about such problems. But the later and advancing peoples did, and they also made the observation that general weakness sometimes resulted from excessive inbreeding.

While the inbreeding of good stock sometimes resulted in the upbuilding of strong tribes, the spectacular cases of the bad results of the inbreeding of hereditary defectives more forcibly impressed the mind of man, with the result that the advancing mores increasingly formulated taboos against all marriages among near relatives. (82:5, 918.1-2)

About the time of the attainment of the maximum of mass, the gravity control of the gaseous content [of the Andronover nebula] commenced to weaken, and there ensued the stage of gas escapement, the gas streaming forth as two gigantic and distinct arms, which took origin on opposite sides of the mother mass. The rapid revolutions of this enormous central core soon imparted a spiral appearance to these two projecting gas streams. The cooling and subsequent condensation of portions of these protruding arms eventually produced their knotted appearance. These denser portions were vast systems and subsystems of physical matter whirling through space in the midst of the gaseous cloud of the nebula while being held securely within the gravity grasp of the mother wheel. (57:3, 653.3)

Institutional religion cannot afford inspiration and provide leadership in this impending world-wide social reconstruction and economic reorganization because it has unfortunately become more or less of an organic part of the social order and the economic system which is destined to undergo reconstruction. (99:2, 1087.4)

iii.  Wisdom

Science becomes the thought domain of mathematics, of the energy and material of time in space. Religion assumes to deal not only with finite and temporal spirit but also with the spirit of eternity and supremacy. Only through a long experience in mota can these two extremes of universe perception be made to yield analogous interpretations of origins, functions, relations, realities, and destinies.  (103:7, 1139.4)

II.  Intellectual intuition, reasoning, and wisdom

            i.  Intuition

            Any grasp of any simple idea illustrates this function.

            ii.  Reasoning avoided and reasoning done well

“You are confused, Thomas, by the doctrines of the Greeks and the errors of the Persians. You do not understand the relationships of evil and sin because you view mankind as beginning on earth with a perfect Adam and rapidly degenerating, through sin, to man’s present deplorable estate. But why do you refuse to comprehend the meaning of the record which discloses how Cain, the son of Adam, went over into the land of Nod and there got himself a wife? And why do you refuse to interpret the meaning of the record which portrays the sons of God finding wives for themselves among the daughters of men?  (148:4, 1660.6)

Jesus rightly reasoned that the watchcare of his earthly father’s family must take precedence of all duties; that the support of his family must become his first obligation. (126:3, 1389.8)

Premises for Jesus’ reasoning

Jesus listened attentively and sympathetically to the recital of these things, first by the father, then by Rebecca herself. He made kindly reply to the effect that no amount of money could take the place of his obligation personally to rear his father’s family, to “fulfill the most sacred of all human trusts—loyalty to one’s own flesh and blood.” (127:5, 1403.1)

Jesus is rapidly becoming a man, not just a young man but an adult. He has learned well to bear responsibility. He knows how to carry on in the face of disappointment. He bears up bravely when his plans are thwarted and his purposes temporarily defeated. He has learned how to be fair and just even in the face of injustice. He is learning how to adjust his ideals of spiritual living to the practical demands of earthly existence. He is learning how to plan for the achievement of a higher and distant goal of idealism while he toils earnestly for the attainment of a nearer and immediate goal of necessity. He is steadily acquiring the art of adjusting his aspirations to the commonplace demands of the human occasion. He has very nearly mastered the technique of utilizing the energy of the spiritual drive to turn the mechanism of material achievement. He is slowly learning how to live the heavenly life while he continues on with the earthly existence. More and more he depends upon the ultimate guidance of his heavenly Father while he assumes the fatherly role of guiding and directing the children of his earth family. He is becoming experienced in the skillful wresting of victory from the very jaws of defeat; he is learning how to transform the difficulties of time into the triumphs of eternity. (127:6, 1405.4)

            iii.  Wisdom

The conceptual grasp of the Trinity association of Father, Son, and Spirit prepares the human mind for the further presentation of certain other threefold relationships. Theological reason may be fully satisfied by the concept of the Paradise Trinity, but philosophical and cosmological reason demand the recognition of the other triune associations of the First Source and Center, those triunities in which the Infinite functions in various non-Father capacities of universal manifestation—the relationships of the God of force, energy, power, causation, reaction, potentiality, actuality, gravity, tension, pattern, principle, and unity. (104:2, 1146.2)

III.  Spiritual intuition, reason, and wisdom

            i.  The faith grasp of any spiritual truth illustrates the functioning of spiritual intuition.

            ii.  Spiritual reason: a high pattern for what we must attempt here

Though apparently deprived of the personal presence of the Master Spirits above and of the Creator Sons below, the Ancients of Days have at their command living beings attuned to cosmic mechanisms of reflective perfection and ultimate precision whereby they may enjoy the reflective presence of all those exalted beings whose personal presence is denied them. By and through these means, and others unknown to you, God is potentially present on the headquarters of the superuniverses.

The Ancients of Days perfectly deduce the Father’s will by equating the Spirit voice-flash from above and the Michael voice-flashes from below. Thus may they be unerringly certain in calculating the Father’s will concerning the administrative affairs of the local universes.  (28:4, 309.3-4)

            iii.  Wisdom

The Soul of Philosophy. These wonderful teachers are also attached to the Perfectors of Wisdom and, when not otherwise directionized, remain in focal synchrony with the masters of philosophy on Paradise. Think of stepping up to a huge living mirror, as it were, but instead of beholding the likeness of your finite and material self, of perceiving a reflection of the wisdom of divinity and the philosophy of Paradise. And if it becomes desirable to “incarnate” this philosophy of perfection, so to dilute it as to make it practical of application to, and assimilation by, the lowly peoples of the lower worlds, these living mirrors have only to turn their faces downward to reflect the standards and needs of another world or universe. (28:5, 311.3)

The highest realization and the truest interpretation of the golden rule consists in the consciousness of the spirit of the truth of the enduring and living reality of such a divine declaration. The true cosmic meaning of this rule of universal relationship is revealed only in its spiritual realization, in the interpretation of the law of conduct by the spirit of the Son to the spirit of the Father that indwells the soul of mortal man. And when such spirit-led mortals realize the true meaning of this golden rule, they are filled to overflowing with the assurance of citizenship in a friendly universe, and their ideals of spirit reality are satisfied only when they love their fellows as Jesus loved us all, and that is the reality of the realization of the love of God. (180:5, 1950.3)

            Part III also gives lessons in its narrative of the development of scientific method.  We see in the Life Carriers (who sponsor the first nine papers in Part III) keen and systematic observers and excellent and aesthetically sensitive communicators.  Here (gathered from the whole book) are qualities for science that we can all apply:  

• Confidence in the human capacity for understanding.
• A spirit of inquiry and an appetite for solving problems
• Concentration and patience
• A well informed and well organized mind
• Methodical procedure
• Openness to fresh cosmic discovery
• Teamwork with the wider community of researchers
• Humane sensitivity about the inability of a statistical generalization about a group of people to do justice to the mystery and infinite value of an individual personality.
• Courage to pursue and report on unpopular inquiry
• Humility—not being arrogant about one’s grasp of facts or conceited about one’s advanced mathematical expressions.

            Although “primitive man only thought when he was hungry” (68:2, 765.2), at least his thinking was purposive.  Primitive religion is pregnant with two higher tendencies, whose flourishing will render it obsolete: true religion and science.  In the earlier phases of religious development (Papers 86 and 87) the need for more adequate science is emphasized; in the later papers (88 and 89) the need for more adequate religion is more emphasized.  Superstitions and magical effort to predict and control with magic all foreshadow the scientific age (88:6, 972.6,8). 

Exploration of the phenomena of life sooner or later destroys man’s belief in chance, luck, and co-called accidents, substituting therefore a universe of law and order wherein all effects are preceded by definite causes.  Thus is the fear of existence replaced by the joy of living. (86:1, 952.1).

 This passage is notable for the major role it assigns to science in the work of liberating the human mind from fear.  Many popular writers today put all the burden on religion for this accomplishment.

The depersonalization of so-called natural phenomena has required ages, and it is not yet completed.  But the frank, honest, and fearless search for true causes gave birth to modern science . . . . (81:2, 901.9)

            A major concept, scientific action is introduced: “Scientific knowledge, leading to scientific action, is the only antidote for so-called accidental ills” (86:7, 957.1)  The virtues of the scientific method are heralded:

Mankind is progressing from magic to science, not by meditation and reason, but rather through long experience, gradually and painfully.  Man is gradually backing into the truth, beginning in error, progressing in error, and finally attaining the threshold of truth.  Only with the arrival of the scientific method has he faced forward.  But primitive man had to experiment or perish. (88:4, 970.8)

            “One half the world is eagerly grasping for the light of truth and the facts of scientific discovery, while the other half languishes in the arms of ancient superstition and but thinly disguised magic” (88:6, 973.2).  “Only facts and truth court the full light of comprehension and rejoice in the illumination and enlightenment of scientific research” (cf. “The great inconsistency of modern society is to exalt love and to idealize marriage while disapproving of the fullest examination of both” (83:7, 929.3).

            Scientific knowledge is one of the fifteen essentials of civilization (81:6, 907.5-7).  Material progress depends on it; “knowledge is power.”  “And science also stabilizes philosophy through the elimination of error, while it purifies religion by the destruction of superstition.”

            “Man naturally tends to believe that which he deems best for him, that which is in his immediate or remote interest; self-interest largely obscured logic” (86:2, 951.6; cf. the warning about public opinion, 71:2, 802.1).

            The human intellect is imaged as a deductive system: “Into this major premise of illusion and ignorance, mortal fear has packed all of the subsequent superstition and religion of primitive peoples” (86:6, 955.8).

“Language is man’s greatest and most serviceable thinking tool . . .” (81:6, 908.7).

            Note the qualities and activities of mind that cooperated in the heroic perseverance of Van:

The spiritual insight and moral steadfastness which enabled Van to maintain such an unshakable attitude of loyalty to the universe government was the product of clear thinking, wise reasoning, logical judgment, sincere motivation, unselfish purpose, intelligent loyalty, experiential memory, disciplined character, and the unquestioning dedication of his personality to the doing of the will of the Father in Paradise.

            This seven years of waiting was a time of heart searching and soul disciplines.  Such crises in the affairs of a universe demonstrate the tremendous influence of mind as a factor in spiritual choosing.  Education, training, and experience are factors in most of the vital decisions of all evolutionary moral creatures.  But it is entirely possible for the indwelling spirit to make direct contact with the decision-determining powers of the human personality so as to empower the fully consecrated will of the creature to perform amazing acts of loyal devotion to the will and the way of the Father in Paradise” (67:3, 756.7).

Lessons on thinking from Part IV

            One of the most comforting teachings about thinking is this assurance:  “If your own mind does not serve you well, you can exchange it for the mind of Jesus of Nazareth, who always serves you well” (48:6, 553.7).  Part IV gives us an unprecedented opportunity to know the Master, to develop our friendship with him, and to know his mind. 

Whole-personality focus

If I had to pick a single lesson on thinking, this would be it.

Jesus possessed the ability effectively to mobilize all his powers of mind, soul, and body on the task immediately in hand. He could concentrate his deep-thinking mind on the one problem which he wished to solve, and this, in connection with his untiring patience, enabled him serenely to endure the trials of a difficult mortal existence–to live as if he were “seeing Him who is invisible.”  (127:3, 1400.7)

How (not) to achieve success in action

            Jesus did not want to plunge us into a religion of self-examination, and he only gave this lesson after a humiliating failure; but the teaching he gave negatively can be put in a positive way. 

In what you attempted, in which you so completely failed, your purpose was not pure. Your motive was not divine. Your ideal was not spiritual. Your ambition was not altruistic. Your procedure was not based on love, and your goal of attainment was not the will of the Father in heaven. (158:6, 1758.5)

This teaching unfolds what is usually presented as simple (purpose) into a beautifully articulate concept brimming with thoughts we can use in our personal development.  From time to time the book gives similar marvelous expansions.  We hear often of mercy and forgiveness, but the lessons on mercy and forgiveness unfold those concept most helpfully (28:6, 315.2; 159:1, 1762).  We hear often of the vigorous response to problems, but the concept of cosmic stamina is spelled out in the presentation of progressive attitudes (26:5, 291.3).  Likewise the lessons on prayer give a master concept of a practice of thinking for practical problem solving (91:9, 1002).    

Gather information and organize for service

            To cope with the overload of today’s information age, what could be more beneficial than this practical orientation?

As a child he accumulated a vast body of knowledge; as a youth he sorted, classified, and correlated this information; and now as a man of the realm he begins to organize these mental possessions preparatory to utilization in his subsequent teaching, ministry, and service . . . .  (127:6, 1405.6)

Study intensely

At the Capernaum synagogue he found many new books in the library chests, and he spent at least five evenings a week at intense study.  (129:1, 1420.6)    As they thus tarried before embarking on their active public preaching, Jesus and the seven spent two evenings each week at the synagogue in the study of the Hebrew scriptures. (137:7, 1535.6)  Do our study groups come up to the standard implied here?

Balance the mind

Profound philosophy should be relieved by rhythmic poetry.

Prayer is self-reminding, sublime thinking; worship is self-forgetting—superthinking.  (143:7, 1616.5,9)

Mind arena of choice

The moral values of the universe become intellectual possessions by the exercise of the three basic judgments, or choices, of the mortal mind:

1. Self-judgment—moral choice.

2. Social-judgment—ethical choice.

3. God-judgment—religious choice.  (196:3, 2094:10-13)

Presumably, morality has to do with one’s personal standards, while ethics is the application of those standards in the context of groups and institutions. 

Preparing for and making great decisions

Having achieved full consecration, having formally begun his public ministry, Jesus retires to formulate the great decisions that will order his ministry. 

The first thing Jesus did, after thinking through the general plan of co-ordinating his program with John’s movement, was to review in his mind the instructions of Immanuel.

[This was] a season for thinking over the whole eventful and varied career of the Urantia bestowal and for the careful laying of those plans for further ministry which would best serve this world while also contributing something to the betterment of all other rebellion-isolated spheres. Jesus thought over the whole span of human life on Urantia, from the days of Andon and Fonta, down through Adam’s default, and on to the ministry of the Melchizedek of Salem.  (136:4, 1514.3,6)

We do well to review the successes and failures of the history of epochal revelation on our planet to learn every lesson to guide our handling of the fifth epochal revelation.

The spontaneity following the achievement of great decisions 

The ideal of thinking is not to go around thinking all the time.  We can be too much beset with thinking.  Rather, the ideal is a spontaneity that flows from a keen awareness of the present united with deep and true commitments such as those expressed in Jesus’ great decisions.

Most of the really important things which Jesus said or did seemed to happen casually, “as he passed by.” There was so little of the professional, the well-planned, or the premeditated in the Master’s earthly ministry. He dispensed health and scattered happiness naturally and gracefully as he journeyed through life. It was literally true, “He went about doing good.” (171:7, 1875.4)

Philosophical teachings

If one begins to restate the philosophic teachings of the book, there is no (happy) end of the matter.  Nevertheless, a few of the philosophic sections in Part IV may be noted: Discourse on Reality (130:4, 1433-36); Truth and Faith (132:3, 1459-60); Discourse on Science (133:5, 1476-77); Discourse on Mind (133:7, 1479-80); The Rule of Living (147:4, 1650-51); Materialism and The Vulnerability of Materialism (195:6-7; 2076-80).

Communicating with different types of mind

You do not have to see alike or feel alike or even think alike in order spiritually to be alike. (141:5, 1591.6) 

Each of the apostolic teachers taught his own view of the gospel of the kingdom. They made no effort to teach just alike; there was no standardized or dogmatic formulation of theologic doctrines. Though they all taught the same truth, each apostle presented his own personal interpretation of the Master’s teaching. And Jesus upheld this presentation of the diversity of personal experience in the things of the kingdom, unfailingly harmonizing and co-ordinating these many and divergent views of the gospel at his weekly question hours.  (148:1, 1658.1)

The second night of their sojourn at Gennesaret the Master again told the apostles the parable of the sower and added these words: “You see, my children, the appeal to human feelings is transitory and utterly disappointing; the exclusive appeal to the intellect of man is likewise empty and barren; it is only by making your appeal to the spirit which lives within the human mind that you can hope to achieve lasting success and accomplish those marvelous transformations of human character that are presently shown in the abundant yielding of the genuine fruits of the spirit in the daily lives of all who are thus delivered from the darkness of doubt by the birth of the spirit into the light of faith–the kingdom of heaven.”

Jesus taught the appeal to the emotions as the technique of arresting and focusing the intellectual attention. He designated the mind thus aroused and quickened as the gateway to the soul, where there resides that spiritual nature of man which must recognize truth and respond to the spiritual appeal of the gospel in order to afford the permanent results of true character transformations. (152:6, 1705.3, 4)

Always respect the personality of man. Never should a righteous cause be promoted by force; spiritual victories can be won only by spiritual power. This injunction against the employment of material influences refers to psychic force as well as to physical force. Overpowering arguments and mental superiority are not to be employed to coerce men and women into the kingdom. Man’s mind is not to be crushed by the mere weight of logic or overawed by shrewd eloquence. While emotion as a factor in human decisions cannot be wholly eliminated, it should not be directly appealed to in the teachings of those who would advance the cause of the kingdom. Make your appeals directly to the divine spirit that dwells within the minds of men. Do not appeal to fear, pity, or mere sentiment. In appealing to men, be fair; exercise self-control and exhibit due restraint; show proper respect for the personalities of your pupils. Remember that I have said: “Behold, I stand at the door and knock, and if any man will open, I will come in.” (159:3, 1759.4)

Don’t think too much

            Excessive intellectualism handicaps individuals and study groups.  It is well to balance a study of the lessons on thinking with the following balancing quotations.

Worship is, therefore, the act of the material mind’s assenting to the attempt of its spiritualizing self, under the guidance of the associated spirit, to communicate with God as a faith son of the Universal Father. The mortal mind consents to worship; the immortal soul craves and initiates worship; the divine Adjuster presence conducts such worship in behalf of the mortal mind and the evolving immortal soul. (5:3, 66.4)

Let the sublime knowledge of the mortal life of Jesus of Nazareth sink into your souls, but waste no thought in useless speculation as to how this mysterious incarnation of Michael of Nebadon was effected. Let us all rejoice in the knowledge and assurance that such achievements are possible to the divine nature and waste no time on futile conjectures about the technique employed by divine wisdom to effect such phenomena. (20:6, 228.5)

Just as certainly as men share their religious beliefs, they create a religious group of some sort which eventually creates common goals. Someday religionists will get together and actually effect co-operation on the basis of unity of ideals and purposes rather than attempting to do so on the basis of psychological opinions and theological beliefs. Goals rather than creeds should unify religionists. Since true religion is a matter of personal spiritual experience, it is inevitable that each individual religionist must have his own and personal interpretation of the realization of that spiritual experience. Let the term “faith” stand for the individual’s relation to God rather than for the creedal formulation of what some group of mortals have been able to agree upon as a common religious attitude. “Have you faith? Then have it to yourself.”

That faith is concerned only with the grasp of ideal values is shown by the New Testament definition which declares that faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen.

Primitive man made little effort to put his religious convictions into words. His religion was danced out rather than thought out. Modern men have thought out many creeds and created many tests of religious faith. Future religionists must live out their religion, dedicate themselves to the wholehearted service of the brotherhood of man. It is high time that man had a religious experience so personal and so sublime that it could be realized and expressed only by “feelings that lie too deep for words.”

Jesus did not require of his followers that they should periodically assemble and recite a form of words indicative of their common beliefs. He only ordained that they should gather together to actually do something–partake of the communal supper of the remembrance of his bestowal life on Urantia. (99:5, 1091.6-9)

The intellectual factors of religion are important, but their overdevelopment is likewise sometimes very handicapping and embarrassing. Religion must continually labor under a paradoxical necessity: the necessity of making effective use of thought while at the same time discounting the spiritual serviceableness of all thinking.

Religious speculation is inevitable but always detrimental; speculation invariably falsifies its object. Speculation tends to translate religion into something material or humanistic, and thus, while directly interfering with the clarity of logical thought, it indirectly causes religion to appear as a function of the temporal world, the very world with which it should everlastingly stand in contrast. Therefore will religion always be characterized by paradoxes, the paradoxes resulting from the absence of the experiential connection between the material and the spiritual levels of the universe—morontia mota, the superphilosophic sensitivity for truth discernment and unity perception.  (102:3, 1121.3, 4)

And she was just about to seek direct and personal help from the Master when she did what so many have done before and since—dodged the issue of personal salvation by turning to the discussion of theology and philosophy. She quickly turned the conversation from her own needs to a theological controversy. (143:5, 1613.3)

Prayer is designed to make man less thinking but more realizing; it is not designed to increase knowledge but rather to expand insight. (143:7, 1616.6)

The religion of civilization. The advancing religious concepts and practices of the civilizing races—the religion of the mind—the intellectual theology of the authority of established religious tradition. (155:5, 1728.6)

Jesus well knew that God can be known only by the realities of experience; never can he be understood by the mere teaching of the mind. Jesus taught his apostles that, while they never could fully understand God, they could most certainly know him, even as they had known the Son of Man. You can know God, not by understanding what Jesus said, but by knowing what Jesus was. Jesus was a revelation of God. (169:4, 1856.2)

In instituting this remembrance supper, the Master, as was always his habit, resorted to parables and symbols. He employed symbols because he wanted to teach certain great spiritual truths in such a manner as to make it difficult for his successors to attach precise interpretations and definite meanings to his words. In this way he sought to prevent successive generations from crystallizing his teaching and binding down his spiritual meanings by the dead chains of tradition and dogma. In the establishment of the only ceremony or sacrament associated with his whole life mission, Jesus took great pains to suggest his meanings rather than to commit himself to precise definitions. He did not wish to destroy the individual’s concept of divine communion by establishing a precise form; neither did he desire to limit the believer’s spiritual imagination by formally cramping it. He rather sought to set man’s reborn soul free upon the joyous wings of a new and living spiritual liberty. (179:5, 1942.3)

            And so must we clearly recognize that neither the golden rule nor the teaching of nonresistance can ever be properly understood as dogmas or precepts. They can only be comprehended by living them, by realizing their meanings in the living interpretation of the Spirit of Truth, who directs the loving contact of one human being with another.  (180:5, 1950.6)

Truth often becomes confusing and even misleading when it is dismembered, segregated, isolated, and too much analyzed. Living truth teaches the truth seeker aright only when it is embraced in wholeness and as a living spiritual reality, not as a fact of material science or an inspiration of intervening art.  (195:5, 2075.5)

August 2004