Confusion and clear thinking

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Dear friends—long-time friends, friends with whom I wrestle, and friends whom I have not yet met, we are family. The spirit presence of the infinitely loving Father indwells us. We receive the mercy of the Eternal Mother Son. And we are beneficiaries of the ministry of the Conjoint Actor, whose offspring are sometimes busy helping to fashion us into tempered steel, as they wield the hammer of suffering on the anvil of justice.

I write to draw your attention to some articles that you may find helpful in your work with The Urantia Book. Brief explanations and links are found here in the section titled Principles of epochal revelation management.

Today I have added to this collection a reflection on the topic of confusion to whet appetites for clear thinking about how to wisely play our role in helping to manage the outworking of the fifth epochal revelation. Here it is.

Want the 14:13 video          or the audio file?

Confusion contrasts with clear thinking, which played a key role in the character of Van.

^{67:3.6 (756.7)} 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.

The ingredients in Van’s spiritual insight, moral steadfastness, and loyalty begin with three intellectual virtues: clear thinking, wise reasoning, and logical judgment. The intellectual virtues are developed in tandem with the other nine qualities noted here. When I use the term “clear thinking,” I mean to include wise reasoning and logical judgment.

I used to think of confusion as a blur in the mind, a frequent occurrence that does not seem too serious. But the revelators use the term in contexts that show its danger. Confusion blurs the capacity for insight. The success of epochal revelations depends, in part, on clear thinking.

I find it entertaining and edifying to review some of the striking statements that show the significance of confusion. A few of these quotes relate to principles of epochal revelation management. Great lessons in clear thinking are found in these passages which recognize, describe, and diagnose confusion.

The purpose of the Foreword is to reduce confusion (appearances to the contrary notwithstanding—please smile).

^0:0.1 (1.1) In the minds of the mortals of Urantia . . . there exists great confusion respecting the meaning of such terms as God, divinity, and deity. Human beings are still more confused and uncertain about the relationships of the divine personalities designated by these numerous appellations. Because of this conceptual poverty associated with so much ideational confusion, I have been directed to formulate this introductory statement . . . .

In cosmology, one of the services of The Urantia Book is ^{101:4.6 (1109.7)} “the reduction of confusion by the authoritative elimination of error.”

In our attempts to discern inputs from the Thought Adjuster, we need to realize the factors in us that make ^{109:5.3 (1199.4)} “confusion of concept inevitable.”

^{109:5.3 (1199.4)} But your unsteady and rapidly shifting mental attitudes often result in thwarting the plans and interrupting the work of the Adjusters. Their work is not only interfered with by the innate natures of the mortal races, but this ministry is also greatly retarded by your own preconceived opinions, settled ideas, and long-standing prejudices. Because of these handicaps, many times only their unfinished creations emerge into consciousness, and confusion of concept is inevitable. Therefore, in scrutinizing mental situations, safety lies only in the prompt recognition of each and every thought and experience for just what it actually and fundamentally is, disregarding entirely what it might have been.

Confusion can trip us up as we struggle in mansion worlds. We can ^{32:3.6 (361.1)} “grow weary in progression, entertain spiritual doubts, stumble into confusion, and thus isolate [ourselves] from the progressive spiritual aims of [our] time and universe.”

Some of the quotes have to do with principles of epochal revelation management. The Planetary Prince’s staff, during their first 300,000 years, functioned with loyalty and wisdom to avoid confusion.

^{66:6.6 (750.1)} The Dalamatia teachers sought to add conscious social selection to the purely natural selection of biologic evolution. They did not derange human society, but they did markedly accelerate its normal and natural evolution. Their motive was progression by evolution and not revolution by revelation. The human race had spent ages in acquiring the little religion and morals it had, and these supermen knew better than to rob mankind of these few advances by the confusion and dismay which always result when enlightened and superior beings undertake to uplift the backward races by overteaching and overenlightenment.”

Very frequently the authors describe the effects of the Caligastia rebellion in terms of confusion.

^{67:5.1 (758.6)} Great confusion reigned in Dalamatia and thereabout for almost fifty years after the instigation of rebellion. The complete and radical reorganization of the whole world was attempted; revolution displaced evolution as the policy of cultural advancement and racial improvement. Among the superior and partially trained sojourners in and near Dalamatia there appeared a sudden advancement in cultural status, but when these new and radical methods were attempted on the outlying peoples, indescribable confusion and racial pandemonium was the immediate result. Liberty was quickly translated into license by the half-evolved primitive men of those days.

Solonia describes the consequences of Eve’s error: ^{75:4.3 (842.5)} “Eve had consented to participate in the practice of good and evil. Good is the carrying out of the divine plans; sin is a deliberate transgression of the divine will; evil is the misadaptation of plans and the maladjustment of techniques resulting in universe disharmony and planetary confusion.”

Urantia was in ^{76:5.7 (853.1)} “such a hopeless state of confusion, all the more confounded by evil and sin,” that Michael of Nebadon chose to come here.

Before Michael’s bestowal on Urantia, Gabriel instructed him to ^{120:2.3 (1327.3)} “do any and all things, consistent with the purport of your bestowal, to atone for the sorrow and confusion brought upon Urantia by the Caligastia betrayal and the subsequent Adamic default.

As Jesus trained the first six apostles, ^{137:7.14 (1535.6)} “he did not precipitate confusion by the presentation of truth too far beyond their capacity to comprehend.”

When the Sanhedrin were freaking out, sentencing to death, condemning, and arguing, they are described from Paper 162 through 190 as being extremely confused.

And anyone who desires to minister to others today needs to be aware: ^{100:5.1 (1098.4)} “The world is filled with lost souls, not lost in the theologic sense but lost in the directional meaning, wandering about in confusion among the isms and cults of a frustrated philosophic era.”

In my opinion, there is a confusion the gospel movement and the Urantia Book movement; they have different characteristics.

 

Happy trails as you cultivate clear thinking!

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