Catalogue of ANZURA Products

From , By ANZURA Admin on

Secondary Works and Study Aids Inspired by the Teachings of The Urantia Book

Why Study Aids and Secondary Works?

Many students of The Urantia Book produce study aids and derivative works—creative tools that help others understand the complexity of The Urantia Book. Secondary works can be instrumental in assisting or inspiring others in their study and personal spiritual development; they are also useful as outreach tools for sharing the book’s teachings with the wider community. ANZURA encourages and supports the development of Urantia related study aids and may assist readers in their production and distribution.

The products presented in this catalogue have all been created by students of The Urantia Book who have been inspired by their study and comprehension of the book and its teachings. We hope these creative tools may be helpful in your journey with the study of the book and for sharing the teachings in your various spheres of influence.

(Disclaimer: Please note that the opinions expressed in these works are those of the individuals who created them. Including them in this catalogue does not imply endorsement of content by ANZURA.)

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Adorning our Message with Truth, Beauty and Goodness

By Julian McGarry, Hobart on

Presented at the annual conference of ANZURA in Pymble 2023

In a world that is desperate for good news, it is critical that we, as faith sons and daughters of the Universal Father and students of The Urantia Book, learn how to adorn our message of hope to ailing humanity with truth, beauty, and goodness. To achieve this, we need to find answers to the following pivotal questions: firstly, what should be the nature of the message that we want to convey to our fellows, and secondly, how should we go about doing it? These are the questions I wish to address in this article.

It is natural in our enthusiasm for The Urantia Book, the 5th epochal revelation, to assume that we should be encouraging individuals to read this book, replete as it is with a panoramic description of the ascending career,  an unparalleled account of the life of our Master, Michael of Nebadon, and answers to almost every question that we have ever asked about God. However, would this be wise? Is it possible that rather than enlightening people, we might inadvertently frighten them away? Indeed, two crucial supplementary questions we need to ask with respect to preaching and teaching are:  what does our Master, Michael of Nebadon want us to do and how can we learn from his example when he incarnated on our planet as Jesus of Nazareth?

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Evolution and the Revelation – the Method of Seed Planting and Expansion

By Rita Schaad, NSW on

How did Humanity Evolve and Societies expand?

(Presented at the 2023 Conference in Sydney)

The aim of this presentation is to summarize the huge story of our evolution and then to give the attendees opportunity to discuss and work on some of the topics, like the Andonite expansion, the Dalamatia times, the coloured races, the Edenic Garden and the Andite dispersion.

Some worksheets, maps and tables were prepared for workshop groups, hoping to find parallels and problems of humanity and society that reverberate to this day and how best we can bring these kinds of stories of our evolutionary past into the discourse today.

See the full PDF of Rita’s presentation at: link

President’s Report

From , By Rita Schaad, NSW on

Over the past few decades, ANZURA has created a ‘well oiled’ routine, spread out over 12 months, following our statement of purpose in the Bylaws:

ANZURA is designed to encourage the study of The Urantia Book and to assist in the dissemination of its teachings by non-invasive, moderate, evolutionary growth.

This we aim at when encouraging and promoting regional Study Days, conferences, and the in-person and online weekly or monthly study groups. The Arena newsletter is both an information tool for these activities as well as an historical archive.

Other activities that Urantia Book readers in Australia and New Zealand can participate in are a wide range of choices offered from other constituent associations of Urantia Association International from all over the world. The internet is making it all possible.

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2023 Annual Conference in Sydney Update

From , By Conference Committee on

The time is drawing near for this year’s annual conference – 25 to 28 August at Peter Canisius House in Pymble, Sydney. (We’re slightly earlier this year due to date constraints for our usual time a little later in the year.)

Registration:

If you’re planning on coming, please get your registrations in as soon as possible so we can start getting the final planning details arranged. To register, you may click on the link at the end of this message for the conference brochure and fill out the registration form (you’ll need to print it out and either post or email your form to us). Alternatively, you can send us an email with your details and payment method.

Theme: Talkin’ Bout a Revelation


How are we talking about the concepts of The Urantia Book with non-readers and new readers? How can we discuss such universal truths that everyone needs to know without alienating them? How can we convince increasingly secular, sceptical and materially focused people that the spiritual world is just as real? How can we help to transform stagnant traditional religious practice into courageous living and dynamic spiritual growth?

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Unity – Harmony Within Diversity of Experience and Belief

From , By Phillip Marriott, SA on

(This was presented by Phillip at the 2022 Tasmanian conference)

What is “Spirit Unity” and where does it exist?

It’s very easy to have diversity, difference of opinion and divergent viewpoints, because we are human; our personalities are unique and my experience is personal. I may go through a shared event or tribulation, but my experience is mine and mine alone.

Jesus discussed this in Paper 141, section 5.1-4:

Spiritual Unity

One of the most eventful of all the evening conferences at Amathus was the session having to do with the discussion of spiritual unity. James Zebedee had asked, “Master, how shall we learn to see alike and thereby enjoy more harmony among ourselves?”

“…What I require of you, my apostles, is spirit unity — and that you can experience in the joy of your united dedication to the wholehearted doing of the will of my Father in heaven.

“You do not have to see alike or feel alike or even think alike in order spiritually to be alike. “ (141:5.1-4, 1591.6)

Spirit Unity is something which must be strived for and worked at; it will not come automatically. It must be consciously thought out and sorted.

I recently had an encounter at a book promotion that I do on a regular basis. I had set up The Urantia Book stall and next door to me was another religious group offering prayer sessions, blessings, sunscreen, bottled-water and colouring-in pictures for the children. I think their curiosity was pricked when they realised that I was also talking about Jesus, God, and things spiritual. I was approached by a young man and invited to engage in conversation; he asked about the book and what it was all about, so I gave my usual spiel.

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Feelings Too Deep for Words

From , By Rita Schaad, NSW on

(This is a presentation given by Rita at the 2022 Tasmanian conference)

While preparing for this, I first and foremost really needed to look at the world today and its inhabitants and found myself observing and reflecting, changing ideas constantly. What were those most important points to share today – but in the end one makes a lot of compromises…

As far as the sad state of world affairs is concerned, nothing much relating to us humans have really changed. Things should actually be much more improved considering the Divine Adjusters have been able to flock to this sphere on account of the Spirit of Truth ‘being poured out upon all flesh’ and residing within all mortal minds for 2000 years.

The question I asked myself over and over again is how do people – how do we – get to that point where we receive a divine invasion resulting in an experience ‘so sublime’ that it is too deep for words?

click here for PDF

Faith-Trust in the Goodness of God

From , By Jeff and Mahtab, USA on

(This is a dialogue between Jeff and Mathab that was presented via Zoom at the 2022 ANZURA Conference in Tasmania.)

Jeff: Hi, Mahtab, good to see you. What have you been up to lately?
Mahtab: Oh, the religion of personal experience.
Jeff: Cool! Could you tell me about it a little?
Mahtab: Sure—after you answer the same question. What have you been doing?
Jeff: Same thing, what do you know! The religion of personal experience. I like the conference title and the phrase, “intimacy with God.” For me, the religion of personal experience involves times when I’m wrestling with the intimate details of my personal growth struggles. But I’m also writing about this religion of the spirit as we find it in Jesus and his gospel.
Mahtab: Tell me more.
Jeff: Sure—but—would you be willing to start?

Mathab’s discourse:

“In its true essence, religion is a faith-trust in the goodness of God”. (2.6.1) A recent health challenge made me wonder how true this statement is in my own personal experience.

One morning I woke up with my throat swollen up, and hardly able to swallow even my saliva. For the next few days, I tried to taking tiny bites of food, hoping that whatever it was would pass in a day or two. It didn’t, and in fact things took a turn for the worse. Gradually, speaking became uncomfortable and I started to lose my voice, followed by significant weight loss. After visiting with a few specialists, I received a diagnosis of laryngopharyngeal reflux disease or LPR. It took me some time to realize that this might become a chronic condition. I was scared, as nothing seemed to help, and I was desperately looking for an explanation for what had given rise to my symptoms in the first place.

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Spiritual Practices – an Invitation to Intimacy with God

From , By Robert Coenraads, NSW on

An Experiential Exploration of Relaxation, Meditation, Prayer and Worship and its Benefits to Soul, Heart, Mind and Body

(This is a presentation given by Robert at the 2022 Tasmanian Conference)

Introduction

All formal religions and individual spiritual pilgrims have, at their heart, a basic desire to connect or become one with a greater good. It lies somewhere at the core of their belief system, perhaps smothered by a greater or lesser amount of superficial ritualistic practices.

Western religions appeal to the intellect and promote desirable moral practices through examples given in the scriptures. Outsiders, and members of the church, often complain that, try as they may, it really doesn’t seem if there is anyone listening ‘up there’ as the realities and stresses of day-to-day living become increasingly complex and difficult to manage.

Eastern traditions take their adherents by the hand, sit them down and teach practical techniques for clearing the mind, being present and aware, and simply ‘listening’. These highly effective techniques have made their way to the West and developed into various forms meditation that have continued to evolve into practices to meet specific needs, and they have been scientifically demonstrated to achieve results1.

Philosophy speaks of everybody being an individual ‘Self’ making up a part of a greater whole. It is a concept much akin to the Holy Spirit of the Bible or that of the evolving Supreme Being of the Urantia Book. Philosophy calls the Self ‘Atman’ and the Supreme Self ‘Param Atman’ of which every individual is a part.

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Activity Report from a Urantia Book Student

From , By Phillip Marriott, SA on

Being a student of The Urantia Book has inspired me to think of ways I can be of service to the revelation. I have found a few things that suit my skill levels, so I’d like to share with you some of my Urantia related activities in this neck of the woods namely, regular book promotions, weekly online Study Group, and my responsibilities and duties in Urantia Association International.

    1. Regular Book Promotion

    I organise a regular Urantia Book promotion booth at markets; the one I usually attend is The Queen of Wands Psychic Fair.

    This fair is held once a month and moves to a different location each time, so there is always a variety of people who come to visit. I particularly like these types of events because people are a little more open to discussing things of an esoteric nature. They don’t run away like scared rabbits if I mention the word God, Angels, Spirits or Universal, etc.

    In the past I used to do these promotions produce markets. Most of the time I met with a poor response and hardly ever sold any books. Interest was very limited, and I often wondered whether it was my approach. Finally, however, I concluded that I was fishing in the wrong barrel.

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