How does the new philosophy of living address the planetary crisis?

For the Grand Canyon Urantia Society, March 25, 2017

 The present planetary crisis is an imbalance in civilization between material achievement and what the author of Paper 118 calls worship-wisdom. We are racing ahead in material achievement, but lagging behind in worship-wisdom. But what is that? A close inter-association of worship with wisdom. Think of worship first in the broad sense as a phase of the cosmic mind—“the spiritual domain of the reality of religious experience, the personal realization of divine fellowship, the recognition of spirit values, the assurance of eternal survival, the ascent from the status of servants of God to the joy and liberty of the sons of God” (16:6/192). Immediately we see that if worship in this sense were to catch fire in our world, it would go a long way to heal our crisis of imbalance.

In order for worship to catch fire on the planet, we need the contagion that comes from men and women whose spirituality is wisely integrated with the rest of life. But why is wisdom so important? What does it do? Wisdom coordinates the truths of science with the truths of religion. This coordination is the key to acquiring the beautiful wholeness of righteousness, which attracts other truth-seekers. What a divine way to spread worship-wisdom!

Now here’s where the new philosophy of living comes in. It is based upon concepts of cosmic truth, universe beauty, and divine goodness. These ideals can be overwhelming. Sometimes we think we have to climb Mount Everest on our own. So I emphasize the following teaching about gradual growth through back-and-forth relating. “Man attains union with God by progressive reciprocal spiritual communion, by personality intercourse with the personal God, by increasingly attaining the divine nature through wholehearted and intelligent conformity to the divine will.” Scientific realism reminds us that growth is gradual; and worship-wisdom must evolve. In reciprocal communion, we neither procrastinate nor panic.

Living the truths of science is what I call scientific living. We plunge into experience with questions and work to get a sturdy grasp of facts and causes in the natural and social worlds.

Scientific living involves continuing to learn about current ecological, social, economic, political, and other difficulties that are part of our planetary emergency. For example, today’s crisis has much to do with the high intensity of social and political antagonism. Psychologist Michael Rosenberg mediated successfully between Israelis and Palestinians and between Chicago gangs; and his book, Nonviolent Communication, explains how he defused hostile encounters—and trained others to do so—by patiently working for mutual empathy based on mutual understanding of feelings and their underlying needs.[1]

The number one scientific living lesson for teachers is exemplified by Jesus. He became “expert in the divine art of revealing his Paradise Father to all ages and stages of mortal creatures.” The lesson is this: Adjust your revelation to other persons’ capacity of receptivity. Don’t overteach. Make sure folks are in the temple before trying to show the beauties of the temple. Find out where people are and meet them there.[2]

A realistic understanding of facts and causes prepares us for philosophical inquiry, the quest for wisdom. This quest involves book learning and prayer. We need wisdom because a person can be full of scientific knowledge and full of memorized quotes from the Urantia Book, but still act foolishly. In truth-coordinated living, it’s wisdom that does the coordinating on the intellectual level.

In today’s wars of mind and clashes of opinion, philosophy enables us to function not only as mature advocates of particular positions but also as intellectual peacemakers between competing positions. I took the peacemaking approach in my talk on world peace at the 2015 Salt Lake City Parliament of the World’s Religions. I sketched the best versions of three competing positions: military action in concert with allies, non-violent action, and movement toward world government. I described these positions in moderate versions which were mutually compatible. By thus framing the debate, I was able to address divisive questions while illustrating a big-tent approach, making room for people of all political persuasions to feel welcome worshiping together.[3]

When we are seeking wisdom to make a decision, we do our best with philosophy to interpret the meanings of the relevant facts and the meanings of the relevant values. Philosophical study of the Urantia Book does not determine what course of action to pursue. It leaves many important questions untouched. But it does gives a grand and balanced perspective that empowers us to deliberate more effectively. Through study, the Book’s teachings become arrayed like keys on a piano, ready for God to play the ones needed for a timely tune.

As we move toward prayer, we surrender our wishes of mind, including our intellectual analysis, and our cravings of soul, including our attachment to our most cherished hopes. God may have something better for the long-range good of the whole. God answers prayer by giving “an increased revelation of truth, an enhanced appreciation of beauty, and an augmented concept of goodness” (91:8/1002).

Prayer is important in the spiritual life, and worship is even more important. I am not only speaking of the capacity for worship that the human mind derives from the cosmic mind. I am now speaking of worship as involving mind, soul, spirit, and personality. We engage in worship “as a natural and spontaneous reaction to the recognition of the Father’s matchless personality and because of his lovable nature and adorable attributes” (5:3/65).

The soul craves and initiates worship. When the spirit of worship catches hold in us, and we feel the upsurge, that is the movement of the soul. The mind consents to worship. The mind is the mother of the soul, and has her own ideas about things, which can distract our worship. Thank God for the divine ministry that facilitates consent to be led by a child! The indwelling spirit of God is the father of the soul, and conducts the worship; this takes place on a superconscious level. We sense that something is going on, but the meanings and values are beyond our ken.

Why is worship so important for the balance of civilization? Because worship facilitates the unifying and coordinating quality of divinity. Sincerely worshiping together draws us closer. In many ways, human beings are not equal, but we as we stand before God in worship, we are equal. How can balance come to civilization without our joining together in this great equalizer and unifier? We may want to think about visiting other religious groups to join in their worship.

Now we have heard a bit about the truths of science, philosophy, and spiritual experience. But how do we coordinate and unify them in our lives? Something more than wisdom is needed. We can bring in the whole self—material, intellectual, and spiritual—whenever we engage in any one of these domains. Here’s how Jesus did it. “[He] 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 untiringpatience, 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)

Just as the various realms of truth constitute schools of thinking, the various realms of beauty constitute schools of feeling. Even the gospel is a school of feeling. Jesus summarized it once as “the supreme desire to do the will of God coupled with the supreme joy of the faith-realization of sonship with God” (178:1.11/1931.2).

The new philosophy of living highlights the beauties of the physical creation and the charm of intellectual art. We are told that the “Supreme is the beauty of physical harmony, the truth of intellectual meaning, and the goodness of spirit value” (118:1/1278). Many years ago on a visit to my father here in Scottsdale, I had my supreme experience of the physical harmony of the contrast between the dark of night and the light of the sun. I imagined it rising from behind the mountain range, gradually, gradually . . . . Then a sudden burst—overflow of loving goodness of light poured out into the valley. Remember that Jesus, as he prepared himself for his last earthly trial, “soothed himself and strengthened his human heart” by, among other things, “memories of sunrise and sunset on the shimmering Sea of Galilee.”

Universe beauty inspires intellectual art. “The high mission of any art is, by its illusions, to foreshadow a higher universe reality, to crystallize the emotions of time into the thought of eternity.” So when we seek to appreciate a work of art, we can inquire: What emotions of time does the work initially arouse? What thought of eternity emerges as we pay attention to the unfolding details of the work? And how does the work lead the audience from the initial emotion to the culminating thought?

Taking time for recreation in nature and the arts balances our lives and sends us back refreshed. We might even give way to humor! Have you heard the one about the German and the Austrian who were side-by side in a bunker during the closing months of World War II? The German said, “Serious but not hopeless.” The Austrian said, “Hopeless, but not serious.” Actually, each of these evaluations contains a lesson.[4]

We build resilience by living in accord with some experimental psychology research on positive emotion. In her book Positivity, Barbara Fredrickson observes that when a positive emotion arises, we need to allow it to blossom forth, to fill us. We want positive emotions, culminating in love, to dominate our life. In order for positive emotions to dominate, there is a tipping point: we need a three-to-one ratio of positive over negative. It is a ratio that takes account of an emotion’s duration and its intensity. Fredrickson’s research points toward the conclusion that positive emotions make us stronger for the future and give us better access to our resources for creative problem-solving in the present.

To enjoy the beauties of nature involves learning to appreciate the moods of nature, from peaceful and sunny to cloudy and stormy. John Muir said, “In right relation to them, storms are always kind.” There are moods in the human organism, too, and when people around us are stormy it can be a challenge to sustain our faith. Jesus said, “I am absolutely assured that the entire universe is friendly to me — this all-powerful truth I insist on believing with a wholehearted trust in spite of all appearances to the contrary” (133:1/1470). On the level of empirical fact, Jesus warned his apostles about the enmity of the world, the hatred of the spiritual in the hearts of aggressive secularists. But we who know God as a Father-Friend and Jesus as a brother-friend can philosophically reinterpret such appearances to the contrary.

Consider an example. What if we find ourselves responding in the planetary crisis with anger and contempt? What if we just want to hammer the leaders who are subverting civilization? Wisdom reminds us of how the evolutionary cosmos is being managed. We read, “The universe of your origin is being forged out between the anvil of justice and the hammer of suffering; but those who wield the hammer are the children of mercy, the spirit offspring of the Infinite Spirit” (9:1/100). “Even divine love has its severe disciplines,” but anger and contempt are not among them (143:1/1608). If we want to minister to planetary needs, we do well to remember that ministry is applied mercy, and that mercy is love applied to an understanding of creature needs and limitations. And that remains true, even when ministry imposes suffering for the long-term good of the whole. But we can’t truly minister to the planet and help remove materialism and selfishness from other people’s eyes if we have logs of pride, anger, and contempt in our own eyes.

To regain a clean heart, we remind ourselves that our animal-origin emotions have a legitimate place in evolution; and we know that we have the capacity and duty to achieve mastery of these factors of material causation. To gain self-mastery, we are first transformed by the Spirit of Truth. And we cooperate in transformation, play our part in the back-and-forth of reciprocal communion, as Jesus taught: “When you are . . . tempted, I admonish you that, while you recognize temptation honestly and sincerely for just what it is, you intelligently redirect the energies of spirit, mind, and body, which are seeking expression, into higher channels and toward more idealistic goals” (136:5.1738). What a friendly universe! There is nothing wrong with these energies; they simply need to be redirected.

Note that a similar reflection applies if we find ourselves at times fearful and anxious regarding the planetary crisis. We can socialize our fear by fearing for others, and grieve with God, who goes through our afflictions with us. We can turn to Jesus as a “strong, positive, beneficent personality whose ministry banishes fear and destroys anxiety.” And we can increasingly become and be like him. “The world needs to see Jesus living again on earth in the experience of spirit-born mortals who effectively reveal the Master to all men.” (195:10.1/2084). 

In the realm of goodness, embracing morality and character, we observe Jesus’ coming to Palestine at a time of impending national crisis. His way of responding was apolitical, indirect, yet still essential today. Said Jesus, “The persistent preaching of this gospel of the kingdom will someday bring to all nations a new and unbelievable liberation, intellectual freedom, and religious liberty.” “All believers in this gospel should pray sincerely for the extension of the kingdom of heaven.” And all believers are called to proclaim in thought, word, and deed.

What is the grandeur of genuine character achievement? Those who learn the wise coordination of science and religion harvest the beautiful wholeness of righteousness. Jesus told his apostles, “You must be righteous in order to do the work.” And he also said that righteousness comes by faith. But how? One essential is “faith in the effectiveness of the supreme human desire to do the will of God—to be like God” (140:10/1584-86).

And Jesus said, “The cry of the righteous is the faith act of the child of God which opens the door of the Father’s storehouse of goodness, truth, and mercy, and these good gifts have long been in waiting for the son’s approach and personal appropriation” (146:2.1639). This personal appropriation is the key to using spiritual force to break through all earthly barriers on the way to the joy and liberty of the family of God. (166:3/1829). We often know what God is ready to give us. We appropriate these essential gifts in faith, appreciating the gift and accepting it deeply into ourselves, as we enhance our hospitality to the spirit within, lift up our attention to face the Giver, and allow our soul and his spirit to take it from there.

The Spirit of Truth empowers us to “to keep sweet in the midst of the gravest injustice, to remain unmoved in the face of appalling danger, and to challenge the evils of hate and anger by the fearless acts of love and forbearance.” These three ideal responses are beyond merely human power. But they are not beyond what God can do with us. Our every spiritual and philosophical advance in worship-wisdom is part of the eventual divine triumph.

 

 

Appendix: Out-takes (a few passages that were cut to fit the time slot)

 

When problems seem overwhelming, it’s often because different kinds of challenge are tangled together in them. But if we break up the problem into simpler components, we can focus more effectively. The types of challenge are uncertainty, disappointment, apparent defeat, difficulties, immensity, and the inexplicable. You recall the quote about “feast upon uncertainty, fatten upon disappointment.” Let’s turn that quote into an exercise (26:5/291). For starters, write down the aspects of uncertainty that you can identify in the situation you are facing. For each aspect of uncertainty, list different ways things could turn out. Then take time for philosophical and spiritual reflection, and allow the divine attitude to come into you.

 

Let’s recall Jesus’ involvement with philosophy. Prior to his bestowal, Immanuel had encouraged Jesus’ efforts “to leave behind . . . an enduring and improved system of positive religious ethics” [120:3.5/1329]; and a such a system seems to be outlined in Jesus’ teaching about the rule of living, where he presents the six levels of interpretation of the golden (147:4/1650-51). In his late teens, Jesus became a prominent member of a young men’s club for philosophic discussion. In his early twenties, Jesus was strongly tempted to accept the offer from a Damascus businessman that he should head up a new school of religious philosophy. In his late twenties, on his tour of the Mediterranean world, many of his discourses were philosophical in nature. Jesus’ discourse at the ordination of the twelve is said to constitute “a master philosophy of life” (140:4.9/1572). Jesus told Nathaniel and Thomas to listen to all that Rodan had to say. And we read that “Jesus brought the philosophy of religion from heaven down to earth” (159:5.17/1771.1).

Philosophers study concepts that are central in human thinking; but our greatest concepts are forged in struggle. Jesus formed an extraordinary concept through his three-year struggle to remain loyal to his highest convictions of truth and righteousness while at the same time being duly obedient to his parents. He did not just pray and saturate himself with spiritual reading. He made the necessary daily adjustments between these two realms of duty. As a result of his stamina, he achieved a concept of group solidarity based upon loyalty, fairness, tolerance, and love. These virtues illuminate the way for us to participate responsibly in any group.

 

Philosophy cultivates our quality of thinking. It is inspiring to know that the cosmic mind endows us with the capacity for intuition in the realms of causation, duty, and worship. Intuition in Paper 16 means insight, and insight means unchallengeable consciousness of cosmic reality. Sometimes we think we have intuition but are mistaken; so we need to sharpen these capacities, and one of the main ways to do so is through reason. To reason well, it helps to study some informal and formal logic.

If we take the trouble to write down and examine the chain of reasoning that leads up to a decision we are considering, we are more likely to be able to discover gaps in our reasoning. The study of logic gives a vocabulary that helps identify and clarify errors in reasoning. If we use that skill with tact, we can contribute better to conversation on debated topics.

In this area, we can learn much from Thomas Aquinas. When he was working on a topic, he would study a wide range of classical and contemporary sources in philosophy and theology including Jewish and Muslim along with Christian thinkers. He would break down complex issues into sharply focused questions. In discussing each one, he would first present the strongest reasons in opposition to his own view; next, he would briefly state his view and the reasons supporting it. Last, he would reply to the objections.