President’s Reports – Arena 2018

By William Wentworth and Julian McGarry on

President’s Report – Autumn 2018


William Wentworth , ACT

The autumn issue of Arena always mentions two important events of the coming year—the International Study Day and Annual Conference.

This year the International Study Day will be on the weekend of May 19th and 20th.  The paper for study will be Paper 36—The Life Carriers. This paper contains descriptions of the seven adjutant mind spirits, those entities which form the basis for creature mind experience and constitute the foundation for the evolution of creature mind culminating in the mind of will dignity—human mind. We hope that study groups from around the world will participate, and send reports of their study to Arena for publication.

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New Zealand Corner – 2018

By Matt Hall, Auckland on

NZ Corner – Autumn 2018

Matt Hall

 

It’s been another year of slow but steady connection in the New Zealand Urantia Book reader community. The Auckland study group continues to meet regularly, and readers from around the country now have the opportunity to study together fortnightly via Zoom. It was great to get together last year in the flesh in Wellington for fellowship and study and to discuss ways in which we can continue gently to prompt growth in our country.

Facebook has been another avenue (within the Urantia NZ group) for discussion, with several readers beginning the six-page a day journey in an attempt to read the revelation over the course of a year. Revisiting the book as a whole has been great for sparking insights into passages that may have seemed a little murky at first; it’s such a complex yet enlightening book.

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SuperMeditation

By Neil Francey, Queensland on

…Meditation in the Superconscious with the Spirit of the Infinite, Eternal, and Universal

This is a work based on the Urantia Papers that explores meditation in its ultimate form: SuperMeditation. It is based on the highest revelatory truths of the modern age.

SuperMeditation links our day-to-day life with spirit influences. It is not a quick and easy method. It works in a natural way over time and seeks to balance all attributes, powers and components of our being. There is no set method or sequence for the study of these modules. They need to be studied and applied in practical life circumstances.

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ANZURA’s Conference Canberra 2019

By Conference Committee on

September 27 – 30, 2019

This year the ANZURA conference returns to the nation’s capital, this time in a bush setting on the north bank of the Murrumbidgee River. The conference will be hosted by the very capable “Canberra Crew” and our keynote speaker will be astrophysicist and long-time reader, Nigel Nunn.

Theme: Mind Over Matter—Spirit Over Mind

In the evolutionary superuniverses energy-matter is dominant except in personality, where spirit through the mediation of mind is struggling for the mastery. The goal of the evolutionary universes is the subjugation of energy-matter by mind, the co-ordination of mind with spirit, and all of this by virtue of the creative and unifying presence of personality. [Paper 116:6.1, page 1275.1]

It is pretty obvious that in the 21st Century there is considerable understanding of the ways in which the human mind has been subjugating matter. The industrial and technological advances of the previous couple of centuries have resulted in modern men becoming virtual worshipers of science, and many suggest that this will lead eventually to mankind’s complete understanding of the material world.

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Reflections of 2018 Conference, QLD

By Susan Hemmingsen, Auckland NZ on

The 2018 ANZURA conference was held between the 5th to the 8th October at the Alexandra Headland Conference Centre, Queensland, Australia. The venue was set among the peaceful Queensland bushland and offered a lovely background chorus of native bird calls.

One of things I cherish when in the company of readers of The Urantia Book is that I’m able to talk about anything book related and experience understanding, recognition and further discussion on the topic. I know I won’t agree with everyone on everything and remind myself that what matters is “unity not uniformity”.

Friday afternoon and the attendees arrived, greeted by Graeme C, the organiser of this conference, assisted by Rita Schaad. There were many new faces and old friends from the 1988 international conference in Robertson, NSW.

It’s always really interesting to be presented with different perspectives and other thoughts of other readers, and the presentations on Saturday were no exception. The conference theme was “God Does Not Play Dice”. “God is not a cosmic accident; neither is he a universe experimenter… the Universal Father sees the end from the beginning, and his divine plan and eternal purpose actually embrace and comprehend all the experiments and all the adventures of all his subordinates.”

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On the Cosmic Background

By Graeme C on

(Presented at the ANZURA Conference in Mooloolaba QLD, October 2018)

Based on a presentation at the ANZURA Conference 2018, here is another attempt to build bridges between modern science and traditional religion, concentrating mostly on their differing approaches to knowledge. Science is fundamentally about more knowledge and its test for value is how well the knowledge works in the physical world. Religion is also a knowledge-seeking activity but more in the sense of an individual, internal “knowing” whose value lies more in its God-like and God-conscious qualities.

After working the science-religion problem for a while it eventually becomes clear that the points of difference are real and fundamental. They do not arise merely from people being difficult with each other. The knowledge-seeker who does the hard work of designing ever more demanding experiments will always be at odds with one who claims to “just know”. And the God-knower will always be disturbed when the knowledge-seeker demonstrates God-like powers apparently by peeking inside the universe’s box of tricks without permission.

Yet somehow The Urantia Book manages to cross routinely between the scientific, religious and philosophical viewpoints, treating them like islands with bridges between. Importantly there is not much attempt to dilute or transform these viewpoints, only to appreciate their usefulness and exercise the reader in using these bridges freely and frequently; to be aware of the style of thinking required at any moment and always be ready to move to an island where thinking is done that way. The hope seems to be that proficiency at making such crossings is a worthy accomplishment perhaps even contributing towards a truly advanced form of religion.

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Responses to Main Message Project

By Dylan Roberts, ACT on

Collection of Responses

With the purpose of pinpointing the primary meanings of The Urantia Book and integrating a range of views, the following question was asked of the Australian and New Zealand readership:

In approximately 300 words, describe the main message of The Urantia Book. 

In order of last name, I compiled below the twenty one responses I received by email. (Some of the responses are very short and brief, and others are substantially longer.)

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Proclaiming the Religion of Jesus: an Interfaith Perspective

By Julian McGarry on

(Presented at the 2018 Conference at Alexandra Headland, QLD)

We live in a troubled world! A cursory glance at the state of things through the eyes of our modern media would suggest that we have plenty to be concerned about. And yet, as Urantia Book students, we are comforted by the promise that our planet Urantia will ultimately be settled in Light and Life. What isn’t perfectly clear, is what we might have to go through before that beautiful day dawns upon us.

Given the present tenuous state of affairs that we Urantia mortals find ourselves in, it seems understandable and reasonable to ask what it is that the Gods and the celestial authorities that have been given oversight of our world, would have us do. A simple answer could be…God’s will!

 …Obedience to the will of the Father, yielding the fruits of the spirit in one’s personal life, is the law of the kingdom. [Paper 142:1.5, page 1596.7]

The affectionate dedication of the human will to the doing of the Father’s will is man’s choicest gift to God. [Paper 1:1.2, page 22.5]
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2018 Study Day Reflections

By Anzura News Team on

This year groups met around the world over the weekend of 19th May 2018 to study Paper 36: The Life Carriers.

The following are reflections from some of those groups who met:

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2018 Queensland Conference Theme

By Graeme C, Brisbane on

On the Cosmic Background – ‘God Does Not Play Dice’

At the time of writing, about half of the presentations for this year’s upcoming conference (that’s being held at Alexandra Headland on the Queensland’s Sunshine Coast 5-9 October) continue to develop in keeping with the stated theme, “On the Cosmic Background” and the ever-topical question by Albert Einstein, “Does God play dice with the Universe?” raised in response to scientific developments that were playing out even as The Urantia Book was coming together. Remarkably, the prevalent materialism of contemporary science was dissipating just as The Urantia Book was urging that it should. What follows is a preview of where such lines of thought might take us during the conference.

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