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Arena – Summer 2022

In This Issue

President’s Report

Rita Schaad, Newcastle NSW

The radio was on in my house most days during the Christmas Season – mainly ABC Classic – and Handel’s Messiah rang out ounce again…..

Hallelujah…. The kingdom of this world;
Is become
The kingdom of our Lord – King of kings forever and ever…
And Lord of lords’……… hallelujah ……
And He shall reign forever and ever….

Never on all the worlds of this universe, in the life of any one mortal, did God ever become such a living reality as in the human experience of Jesus of Nazareth.
[Paper 196:0.3, page 2087.3]

Never on any other world among many systems and constellations – even the entire Universe of Nebadon – did transpire what happened on ours, the first and only lowly planet to have the honour of hosting Christ Michael bestowing himself in the flesh as Jesus. We are known as “the world of the cross” – the sentimental shrine of all Nebadon – we are known throughout the realm for its strife-torn past (and present) and its rebellious mortals. And this still, even after 2000 years of Adjuster indwelling in most inhabitants!

We have the actual records of the birth and life of Jesus of Nazareth – found now in the historical writings of those early years, and via the traditional story we specially remember around the time of Christmas. And we have an actual place on our globe to visit, where the boat builder of Galilee walked up and down the countryside.

Our world being host to such a high heavenly being. WOW!Other worlds must look upon us and our affairs shaking their heads and asking, “how is this possible; they’re so slow in coming forward?”

We were host to the Creator on his noble quest to simply:

….win all mankind to the recognition of the Father’s love and to the realization of their sonship with God. [Paper 98:7.1, page 1083.6]

When the magnitude of this gift sinks in deep enough, we are bound to be touched in such a way that stimulates us to ….go out in all the nations to proclaim the good news! It urges us to seek for some kind of engagement in an attempt to answer the charge to spread the truth of this incredible statement.

I always felt hesitant to proclaim anything loud and verbal on the streets but was taught to serve in little ways when an opportunity presents itself. I am simply uncomfortable to do any kind of ‘telling’ about spiritual matters to others. I find especially among us Urantia Book readers that different ideas abound, and some have been practising ‘their calling’ seriously for years and hopefully their seeds are blooming where they are planted. Shouldn’t we just be confident that the Spirit of Truth is a trusty guide at the crossroads of each our lives to lead us into active service and engaging with others?

At the AGM during the conference a couple of months back, this exact query about engagement came up. Most of ANZURA’s members have been a steady and active group for over 30 years and meet up at the yearly conferences with great joy. The governing board has given many of them the opportunity to take on a position and steer the reader groups through the decades. But when we look around in the circle, it’s mostly the same faces we see.

How are we going to attract other Urantia Book readers into this family? And where are the young students and believers of this book? How come so many are not interested these days in getting involved in a group like ours? Where is the long-term commitment?

As you might know, we are getting many reader inquiries during the year, even applications for membership, but sadly they are seldom followed through or are short lived. How come our desire for community and real human contact is not shared more widely? How come talking of our personal experiences with The Urantia Book is mostly relegated to digital interchange and the social media these days? No attachment necessary, no long-term commitment required, no active participation forthcoming.

What is missing here?

If the Christian church would only dare to espouse the Master's program, thousands of apparently indifferent youths would rush forward to enlist in such a spiritual undertaking, and they would not hesitate to go all the way through with this great adventure.  [Paper 195:10.10, page 2085.2 emphasis mine]

Could we also read this as, “If we would only dare to espouse the Master’s program…”? What is that Program?

What is the difference between being a member of ANZURA and being ‘just’ a reader of The Urantia Book in Australia and New Zealand? Hasn’t it got something to do with belonging and fellowship? Isn’t that the desire of all humans, isn’t the lack of it the reason for all the ills on this sphere?

How do you see this?

It would be great if you could just be bold and communicate your ideas and thoughts about this matter. Also, I strongly encourage you to respond to any article and conference presentation in this issue if you are so prompted. The communication lines are always open. anzura.urantia@gmail.com

With best wishes for the coming new calendar year and looking forward to hearing from you.

Rita Schaad
ANZURA President



2023 Annual Conference in Sydney

Conference Committee

25 - 28 August 2023

Talkin' Bout a Revelation

We invite you to join us at the 2023 ANZURA Annual Conference that will be held 25 to 28 August at the delightful Peter Canisius House in Pymble on Sydney’s leafy North Shore.

About the Conference Theme

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?

We have in our hands an updated version of revelations presented to our ancestors that over time have become unclear and unappealing to many in our modern world. It is a very big book that requires years of invested time and effort for most of us to even glimpse an understanding. But when we do understand, we realise that we know what the world needs most to hear to help meet present day challenges and improve the lives of everyone on this planet. The book is now widely available in many forms to anyone who may be seeking, thanks to the endeavours of many over the years. But people either aren’t looking for it, don’t know it exists or think they don’t have the time required to read it. How can we, seasoned readers, best demonstrate and discuss what we have learned in ways that attract others to the book and its teachings, and that doesn’t do harm to our message? How can we better identify fertile ground: those who may be seeking and receptive to the seeds of truth we have to offer them? What might be their objections and criticisms and how should we best overcome them?

At this year’s ANZURA conference we hope to tap into and share that huge reservoir of knowledge, understanding and talent that exists within the readership community. Please join us as we workshop the core fundamentals of the books teachings and develop some practical tools and attractive ways of talking about this planet-saving revelation with the people we meet in our everyday lives.

“No man, when he lights a lamp, covers it up with a vessel or puts it under the bed; he puts his lamp on a stand where all can behold the light. Let me tell you that nothing is hid in the kingdom of heaven which shall not be made manifest; neither are there any secrets which shall not ultimately be made known. Eventually, all these things shall come to light.” 151:3.1 (1691.4)

“You cannot stand still in the affairs of the eternal kingdom. My Father requires all his children to grow in grace and in a knowledge of the truth. You who know these truths must yield the increase of the fruits of the spirit and manifest a growing devotion to the unselfish service of your fellow servants. And remember that, inasmuch as you minister to one of the least of my brethren, you have done this service to me.” 176:3.5 (1917.1) 

“Freely have you received; therefore freely should you give of the truth of heaven, and in the giving will this truth multiply and show forth the increasing light of saving grace, even as you minister it.” 176:3.10 (1918.3) 

The act is ours, the consequences God’s. 48:7.13 (556.13)

Venue

Peter Canisius House is a retreat centre conveniently located on a five-acre site in Pymble on Sydney’s North Shore. Although it’s situated in the heart of suburbia you wouldn’t know it. As you drive into the property you might think you were out in the country. The site is steeped in history and was established by the Order of the Society of Jesus which is better known as the Jesuits. Their vision is to “Provide outstanding hospitality to our guests to share and experience a spirit of quiet and a sacred place to engage in spiritual conversations.”

Cost

Full Conference: $500 – includes 3 nights of twin-share accommodation and all meals from Friday dinner to Monday breakfast.
Daily Rate: $100 – includes lunch and dinner.
Daily Rate: $50 – includes lunch only.

Catering

All meals are provided from Friday dinner to Monday breakfast along with morning teas. The meals are prepared daily by in-house chefs. Morning teas are freshly baked. Special dietary requirements such as vegetarian, vegan, coeliac and lactose-free meal options are available upon request. (Please indicate on the registration form.) Other food allergies and requirements may be able to be catered for.

Transport

Peter Canisius House is located at 102 Mona Vale Road, Pymble NSW

By Car: The conference centre can be accessed via Mona Vale Road. If heading south towards St Ives it is just past the traffic lights at the intersection of Telegraph Road which is the nearest cross street.

By Public Transport: If travelling by train or bus from Central Station, catch a train on the North Shore Line to Gordon, which is the nearest train station with good bus links to the venue. Most buses go straight past the venue.

Via Taxi or Uber: From the Airport, a taxi may cost in excess of $100. There are taxis available from Gordon Station if you catch the train. The taxi from Gordon to the venue will take 5-10 minutes and should cost about $20.

Enquiries and Registrations

For further information please contact ANZURA:
Phone: 0431 285 943
anzura.urantia@gmail.com
Mailing Address: PO Box 1581, Warriewood NSW 2102

Enjoy this gallery with some snippets of the venue…

2022 ANZURA Annual Conference Report

Julian McGarry, Hobart TAS

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." [Paper 99:5.9; page 1091.8]

Annual conferences are always the highlight of the year for ANZURA members, but this year was particularly notable because it was the first time in three years that we’ve had a face-to-face conference due to the pandemic. Comfortably accommodated at the beautiful Stewarts Bay Lodge, which is only a short walk from the Port Arthur historic site, we gathered together to focus on the ultimate personal experience – a personal and intimate relationship with the First Source and Centre of the universe of universes, our Universal Father.

Most of the conference was accessible via Zoom, which enabled visitors who were unable to attend from Australia, the United States, Canada, and Uganda. We were also delighted to be able to welcome a record contingent of our brothers and sisters from New Zealand.

Here is a list of the topics and presenters:

  • Keynote address: “Walking the ROPE – An Invitation to Intimacy with God” - Julian McGarry
  • Faith-trust in the goodness of God - Jeff Wattles and Mahtab Tehrani
  • The religion of the spirit versus the religion of the mind - Marion Steward
  • The Secret of Survival - Cecilia Bendall
  • No need for priesthood or intermediaries: God wants to deal directly with you - Regina Williamson
  • Personal effort towards spiritual growth - Geri Johnson & Rob Mastroianni
  • The ultimate human experience - Neville Twist
  • Spirit unity: harmony within diversity of experience and belief - Phillip Marriot
  • The Religion of Jesus -Daniel Swadling
  • “Feelings too deep for words” - Rita Schaad
  • Doing God’s will: Sharing our inner life with God - Pre McGee
  • Spiritual Practices for Walking the ROPE - Robert Coenraads

Some of the presentations were recorded and will hopefully be available soon on our YouTube channel. You will also be able to read a few of the presentations in this and future issues of Arena.

At the ANZURA AGM on Sunday afternoon we welcomed a new President, Rita Schaad, and a new Secretary, Merindi Belarski. Congratulations to both of you. We also showed our appreciation for the dedicated work of our retiring officeholders, Phillip Marriott and Graeme Chapman.

I would like to thank you wonderful people who came all the way to this ‘apple isle’ to enjoy this spiritual banquet. And a big thank you to all of those who were able to join us in Zoomland. Thank you also to all the presenters for making this a truly memorable occasion. I would like to specially mention Phillip Marriott for lending me his technical expertise with Zoom. Thanks Phillip. And finally, I would like to thank our dear sister Kathleen Swadling, who did so much admin work during the early stages of the conference but was unable to attend at the last moment for health reasons.

We are all looking forward to next year’s conference in Sydney on 25 to 28 August, 2023.

Warm wishes!
Julian McGarry

Brochure

Walking the R.O.P.E – An Invitation to Intimacy with God

Julian McGarry, Hobart TAS

Julian was the main organiser of the 2022 ANZURA Conference in Tasmania and opened with this keynote address.

I would like to begin by saying that I believe this theme, this topic, is the most important one in the entire universe. Perhaps this is an overstatement, but I hope that after reading the article, you will understand where I’m coming from, and maybe even agree with me. I believe it is the reason for the universe itself existing and ultimately, why we exist at all.

The Urantia Book tells us that billions of years ago, our Creator Son, Michael of Nebadon, who later incarnated on our planet as Jesus of Nazareth, was given his ‘patch of turf’ by the Universal Father on which to create his own personal universe. Moreover, he was given the mandate to bring forth millions upon millions of children for the Father, sentient mortal beings of evolutionary origin who would be capable of having a personal, intimate relationship with an indwelling  fragment of the Universal Father….our Thought Adjuster. These evolutionary, animal-origin children made from the dust of the earth would be created according to divine mandate “in the image of God” and would be required to be perfect as the Universal Father is perfect. (1:0.3, 21.3)

An extraordinary challenge, to say the least! We are further told that Michael, together with his universe consort, the Divine Minister or Universe Mother Spirit, appointed power directors and energy controllers to build a physical universe consisting of constellations, solar systems, and individual planets. (32:2.2, 358.4) Once these planets developed conditions conducive to the formation of life, Life Carriers were dispatched with the task of initiating and overseeing the evolution of living, biological systems. (58:1.1, 664.2) In collaboration with the seven adjutant mind spirits, the Life Carriers worked tirelessly to bring about animal-origin creatures having minds that were capable of interacting with absolute deity, the indwelling Father fragment. But before this could happen, these first human creatures were immediately encircuited within the protective and nurturing embrace of the Holy Spirit, the personal spirit of the Divine Minister. Nevertheless, due to the deleterious effects of the Lucifer rebellion and the Adamic default, initially only exceptional humans were indwelt by Thought Adjusters. In general, humans were not capable of experiencing personal and intimate communion with Thought Adusters. (108:2.2-3, 1187.1-2)

But this all changed when Michael himself, during his seventh and final bestowal, poured out the Spirit of Truth on the day of Pentecost. This triggered a mass migration of Thought Adjusters from Paradise to Urantia; now all normal-minded humans would be indwelt by the Universal Father via his personal Spirit – what is described in the book as “the mystery of mysteries” (1:4.1, 26.3) The scene was now set for God’s physical children to become his spiritual children, to be born again into a personal, intimate, and unique relationship with their heavenly Father. (34:5.1-6, 379.1-6)

God Is Calling Us to Intimacy

But for this to take place, one thing would be needed which even the First Source and Centre of the universe could not provide. A free-will decision by the creature to reciprocate, to seek intimate fellowship with the Creator. Given all that God has done to make such a relationship possible, surely it could be said that...

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.’ [Paper 99:5.9; page 1091.8]

This is surely a call to intimacy with our Father. It is like when romantic couples, soul mates, experience a oneness in their relationship that seems to go beyond verbal expression, so that they are able to commune together without having to utter a word. The Sufis, the mystical branch of Islam, speak of God (Allah) as the Beloved and they become his lovers: “Sufism is the attribute of those who love. The lover is someone who is purified by love, free of himself and his own qualities, and fully attentive to the Beloved.” [Kabir Helminski, Living Presence] Could it be that our Father desires to have such an intimate, romantic relationship with us, not just as his beloved children, but also as his lovers? How else could we explain extraordinary statements like these: ...unless a divine lover lived in man, he could not unselfishly and spiritually love. (196:3.16, 2094.15) emphasis added] and Worship is the act of the son’s personal communion with the divine Father, the assumption of refreshing, creative, fraternal, and romantic attitudes by the human soul-spirit.  (143:7.8, 1616.10 emphasis added)  

Does this not emphasize that God, our heavenly Father, is also our lover, and desires a personal, intimate, and romantic relationship with each one of us? Statement after statement in the book confirms that the Universal Father loves us infinitely, eternally, and unconditionally. God truly loves us with an affection that is beyond our understanding.

Our Father Wants to Be Found

Our Father is not in hiding; he is not in arbitrary seclusion. He has mobilized the resources of divine wisdom in a never-ending effort to reveal himself to the children of his universal domains. There is an infinite grandeur and an inexpressible generosity connected with the majesty of his love which causes him to yearn for the association of every created being who can comprehend, love, or approach him…. [Paper 5:1.2, page 62.4] 

God has created our universe in order to reveal himself to us; he truly yearns for our fellowship, just as any loving Father would yearn to spend time with his children. 

Mortal man cannot possibly know the infinitude of the heavenly Father. Finite mind cannot think through such an absolute truth or fact. But this same finite human being can actually feel--literally experience--the full and undiminished impact of such an infinite Father's LOVE. [Paper 3:4.6, page 50.4]

We have been created with a mind and sensory system that is capable of experiencing divine love. God has made the initial approach. God has done everything to enable us to find him. We are invited to embark on a personal search for God within our own personal experience. God wants to be found, and when we do find him, we realize that we have made the greatest discovery that a human can make.

I have called upon you to be born again, to be born of the spirit. I have called you out of the darkness of authority and the lethargy of tradition into the transcendent light of the realization of the possibility of making for yourselves the greatest discovery possible for the human soul to make — the supernal experience of finding God for yourself, in yourself, and of yourself, and of doing all this as a fact in your own personal experience. And so may you pass from death to life, from the authority of tradition to the experience of knowing God; thus will you pass from darkness to light, from a racial faith inherited to a personal faith achieved by actual experience; and thereby will you progress from a theology of mind handed down by your ancestors to a true religion of spirit which shall be built up in your souls as an eternal endowment. [Paper 155:6.3, page 1731.1] 

How Do We Enter the Rope?

Remember, we have been called to be perfect as the heavenly Father is perfect. But how is this possible, given our very lowly status in the universe? Only through our willingness to allow the Father to transform us incrementally into his image, a process that begins now, and then continues throughout our personal ascending journey to Paradise. However, our transformation can only occur when we are in spiritual communion with our Ultimate Source. And we need to progress. Progress is the name of the game! We can’t stop still. Progress is the watchword of the universe! (4:1.2, 54.5)

For most of us however, the question arises: how do we enter into and maintain this personal experience of communion with the Father? For the vast majority of us, living in our minds is a moment by moment struggle to escape the constant clamouring of the ego self for attention. (3:5.13, 51.12). God seems distant, remote, unreachable. And yet we are told that the Father wants to be found, to be experienced.

Maybe our attitude is the problem. Jesus explained:

Many of your brethren have minds which accept the theory of God while they spiritually fail to realize the presence of God. And that is just the reason why I have so often taught you that the kingdom of heaven can best be realized by acquiring the spiritual attitude of a sincere child. It is not the mental immaturity of the child that I commend to you but rather the spiritual simplicity of such an easy-believing and fully-trusting little one. It is not so important that you should know about the fact of God as that you should increasingly grow in the ability to feel the presence of God. [Paper 155:6.12, page 1732.5]

Perhaps the reality is that we view God more as a theological or philosophical theory rather than a real person. We give more weight to knowing facts about God rather than experiencing the very presence of God. With children, it’s the other way around. Knowing that their parents love them, young children are fully trusting of and bask in the affection of their parents. They exhibit a delightful informality and honesty in their relationships; they seem to have little interest in the so-called facts about their parents. All that matters to them is that they are truly loved!

The Adjuster’s Dilemma

The God fragment that dwells within us works tirelessly to establish meaningful communication with our personalities via the human mind. But unfortunately, the medium, our electro-chemical brains, makes this very difficult, if not impossible. It’s a bit like trying to listen to the world’s most exquisite classical music via a home-made crystal set. The reproduction is often of very poor quality and we frequently struggle to get the station. This observation by a solitary messenger identifies the human problem and is surely an indictment of our modern culture.

Adjusters are playing the sacred and superb game of the ages; they are engaged in one of the supreme adventures of time in space. And how happy they are when your co-operation permits them to lend assistance in your short struggles of time as they continue to prosecute their larger tasks of eternity. But usually, when your Adjuster attempts to communicate with you, the message is lost in the material currents of the energy streams of human mind; only occasionally do you catch an echo, a faint and distant echo, of the divine voice. [Paper 110:3.1, page 1205.5] 

I cannot but observe that so many of you spend so much time and thought on mere trifles of living, while you almost wholly overlook the more essential realities of everlasting import, those very accomplishments which are concerned with the development of a more harmonious working agreement between you and your Adjusters. [Paper 110:3.4, page 1206.2]

Does that mean that it is futile to attempt intimate communication with the Father’s spirit given these quotes? Not at all! If that were true, then what would be the point of the following statements:

The success of your Adjuster in the enterprise of piloting you through the mortal life and bringing about your survival depends not so much on the theories of your beliefs as upon your decisions, determinations, and steadfast faith. All these movements of personality growth become powerful influences aiding in your advancement because they help you to co-operate with the Adjuster; they assist you in ceasing to resist. [Paper 110:3.2, page 1205.6] 

The great goal of human existence is to attune to the divinity of the indwelling Adjuster; the great achievement of mortal life is the attainment of a true and understanding consecration to the eternal aims of the divine spirit who waits and works within your mind. [Paper 110:3.4, page 1206.2] 

What we are being asked to do is cooperate with our Adjusters! We can do this by consciously making choices and decisions that enable our God fragment to overcome the impediments of our mortal minds. Our Father is not so much  interested in our knowledge, our belief systems, or what we have achieved so far in our earthly existence. God is concerned with our soul’s desire. What is the treasure within our hearts? What do we yearn for deep within our very being?

It is not so much that man is conscious of God as that man yearns for God that results in universe ascension. What you are today is not so important as what you are becoming day by day and in eternity. [Paper 111:1.5, page 1216.6]

The Ultimate Search

God yearns for us and we need to yearn for God! This is the language of intimate personal union between lovers. There is no greater goal in life than our search for the God who indwells us.

Men all too often forget that God is the greatest experience in human existence. Other experiences are limited in their nature and content, but the experience of God has no limits save those of the creature’s comprehension capacity, and this very experience is in itself capacity enlarging. When men search for God, they are searching for everything. When they find God, they have found everything. [Paper 117:6.9, page 1289.2] 

What would we be prepared to pay for the greatest experience in human existence? Perhaps our time, some of our worldly possessions, or our social status? Remember, whatever our treasure is, that will be the content of our heart’s desire. (165:5.4, 1823.4) Jesus alluded to this in one of his shortest parables about the kingdom:

“The kingdom of heaven is also like a merchant seeking goodly pearls; and having found one pearl of great price, he went out and sold everything he possessed that he might be able to buy the extraordinary pearl.” [Paper 151:4.5, page 1694.3] 

The merchant found something that was so precious to him that he was willing to sell everything else he had in order to purchase it. Finding God, knowing God, experiencing God intimately is the ultimate purpose of life and is therefore worth devoting all our resources to personally realize.

Contrary to what many believe, The Urantia Book, while warning us about extreme practices, actually endorses spiritual practices that enhance the cultivation of God consciousness, what we might refer to as mysticism.

Mysticism, as the technique of the cultivation of the consciousness of the presence of God, is altogether praiseworthy….. [Paper 91:7.1, page 1000.2] 

Jesus himself practiced a form of mysticism, — “intelligent prayer and sincere worship” — as a means of obtaining “unbroken communion with God”, the consciousness of the presence of God.

The secret of his unparalleled religious life was this consciousness of the presence of God; and he attained it by intelligent prayer and sincere worship — unbroken communion with God — and not by leadings, voices, visions, or extraordinary religious practices. [Paper 196:0.10, page 2088.5 emphasis added]

Uniqueness Within Diversity

Our Father does not desire uniformity of belief among his children; he is not interested in producing spiritual clones. Our relationship with God is so individual and personal, we are loved as if we were the only son or daughter in the entire universe. And yet, God doesn’t have favourites in his cosmic family. We cannot assert that our perception or experience of God is more special or superior to anyone else’s. There is no justification for division or tribalism within the kingdom of God.

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. [Paper 99:5.7, page 1091.6]

In reality, every human being defines religion in the terms of his own experiential interpretation of the divine impulses emanating from the God spirit that indwells him, and therefore must such an interpretation be unique and wholly different from the religious philosophy of all other human beings. [Paper 103:1.1, page 1129.8]  

Righteousness Through Transformation

Let us not forget that the Master was wholly concerned with the ROPE, the religion of personal experience. He came to reveal his Father, to invite us and show us how to enter into a personal and consecrated relationship with God. He constantly challenged the human ego’s preoccupation with trying to achieve righteousness by obedience to law. Only by communion with spirit can we truly love and serve our brothers and sisters with the same devotion that God shows to us. When we fellowship and fraternize with God, we are so transformed, that our service to others feels like “natural fruits” rather than self-conscious works of righteousness. [Paper 170:5.12, page 1865.2] 

Jesus was never concerned with morals or ethics as such. He was wholly concerned with that inward and spiritual fellowship with God the Father which so certainly and directly manifests itself as outward and loving service for man. He taught that the religion of the kingdom is a genuine personal experience which no man can contain within himself that the consciousness of being a member of the family of believers leads inevitably to the practice of the precepts of the family conduct, the service of one’s brothers and sisters in the effort to enhance and enlarge the brotherhood.
[Paper 170:3.9, page 1862.6] 

Are You Ready for the Adventure?

We can only find God through personal spiritual experience, as the Ultimate Source of all reality reveals him/herself to us. But it’s not an easy road! The human ego naturally seeks out security, certainty, comfort, and social inclusion. Walking the ROPE requires a willingness to transcend our natural fears and trust the process of spirit guidance and direction. Notwithstanding these seemingly daunting but exhilarating challenges, the rewards are inestimable.

And for a long time there will live on earth those timid, fearful, and hesitant individuals who will prefer thus to secure their religious consolations, even though, in so casting their lot with the religions of authority, they compromise the sovereignty of personality, debase the dignity of self-respect, and utterly surrender the right to participate in that most thrilling and inspiring of all possible human experiences: the personal quest for truth, the exhilaration of facing the perils of intellectual discovery, the determination to explore the realities of personal religious experience, the supreme satisfaction of experiencing the personal triumph of the actual realization of the victory of spiritual faith over intellectual doubt as it is honestly won in the supreme adventure of all human existence — man seeking God, for himself and as himself, and finding him. [Paper 155:5.10, page 1729.5] 

Intimacy Through Worship

We are most intimate and most personal with our Creators when we are in a state of worship. Worship is really a celebration of our intimate and joyous relationship with our Father. It can lead to an experience of pleasure and delight which cannot be described by mere words. The quality of this experience is determined by the extent to which we have embraced the ROPE! Our capacity to do this will vary from person to person but it will be a unique experience.

Worship is the conscious and joyous act of recognizing and acknowledging the truth and fact of the intimate and personal relationships of the Creators with their creatures. The quality of worship is determined by the depth of creature perception; and as the knowledge of the infinite character of the Gods progresses, the act of worship becomes increasingly all-encompassing until it eventually attains the glory of the highest experiential delight and the most exquisite pleasure known to created beings. [Paper 27:7.1, page 303.5]

I mentioned earlier in this article that for us to make progress, to be transformed into the image of our perfect Creator, we must enter into a personal and intimate relationship with God, what I have designated as the ROPE. As we fully enter into that experience we move into worship. Jesus taught this fundamental truth to his disciples:

The spirit of the Father speaks best to man when the human mind is in an attitude of true worship. Worship, taught Jesus, makes one increasingly like the being who is worshiped. Worship is a transforming experience whereby the finite gradually approaches and ultimately attains the presence of the Infinite. [Paper 146:2.17, page 1641.1]

It is in the act of worship that the soul and the spirit fraternize as lovers, fueled by romantic attitudes as they engage in personal communion via the worship experience.

Worship is the act of the son’s personal communion with the divine Father, the assumption of refreshing, creative, fraternal, and romantic attitudes by the human soul-spirit.  [Paper 143:7.8, page 1616.10] 

Jesus’ simple but profound message to the world was all about the ROPE. What an unspeakable privilege that the God of all creation seeks a personal, intimate and transforming relationship with each one of us. The question that always remains is: will we reciprocate?

I have come, not to reveal the Father to the children of Israel, but rather to bring this knowledge of God and the revelation of his love and mercy to the individual believer as a genuine personal experience. The prophets have all taught you that Yahweh cares for his people, that God loves Israel. But I have come among you to proclaim a greater truth, one which many of the later prophets also grasped, that God loves you — every one of you — as individuals. All these generations have you had a national or racial religion…. now have I come to give you a personal religion. [Paper 145:2.4, page 1629.5 emphasis added] 

The Religion of Jesus

Daniel Swadling, Sydney NSW

(Presented at the 2022 ANZURA Conference in Tasmania)

The great goal of human existence is to attune to the divinity of the indwelling Adjuster; the great achievement of mortal life is the attainment of a true and understanding consecration to the eternal aims of the divine spirit who waits and works within your mind. [Paper 110:3.4, page 1206.2]

We see this very attunement and consecration be demonstrated, actually occur, in the life of Jesus, which I’d like to explore with you today.

Of all human knowledge, that which is of greatest value is to know the religious life of Jesus and how he lived it. [Paper 196:1.3, page 2090.4]

Religion is an experience. ‘Religion is an exclusively individual experience.’ (196:2.11) To understand the religion of Jesus, we have to see how it was revealed through his life and how he lived it, as it is a lived experience.

The creator of our universe bestowed himself on our planet with a twofold mission: to live the life of one of his human creatures, and to reveal God to us to help us understand him better. (128:0.2)

Jesus came to liberate us from stagnant nationalistic and spiritually impoverishing institutions, to remove the mediators between people and God, and demonstrate that religion is that relationship between the individual and God. Between you and God. He taught that “you are not alone,” you and every individual person on the planet is important, is valuable, can live on after death and potentially into eternity, in a universe that is full of other life, is friendly and supportive, and with unlimited opportunity and adventure.

Growth – The Human Qualities Developed by Jesus

Jesus grew from infancy into adulthood as every other person does, had an existence on this planet much the same as everyone else has:

  • He was an active child with a healthy inquiring mind; became a keen critical thinker, able to reason, studied hard and became highly educated for his time; studied nature and the world around him.
  • He was socially engaging and a caring friend and sibling; was emotionally disciplined and playful, cheerful.
  • He learned how to put himself aside and get along with his family, respected his parents; became an affectionate and dependable substitute parent to his siblings when his father died, and he nurtured them well to ensure their best growth and independence.
  • He learned many of the trade skills of his day; was a hard worker, did work of good quality and even improved some methods; met the economic necessities of life.
  • He sought out and interacted with as many people as he could to learn about them and how they thought, and what their wants, needs and desires were. He came to fully understand how people lived. Developed a keen sense of social justice and fairness.
  • He learned how to use, organise and become master of his mind, through his decisions. Gradually became aware of his dual nature as he matured, and eventually brought together his human and divine natures into one harmonious being.
  • He sought to bring high ideals into everything he did and showed others a better way of living and doing things; applied principles of truth, beauty and goodness into all his daily living.
  • He had an ability to recognise and embrace truth no matter the source.
  • From an early age he presented new ideas about who and what God was, and quickly rejected many of the prevailing notions of the time about God. Committed his life to “show forth his Father’s loving nature to all.” (126:3.10)
  • From a young age his prayers were just like talking with his earthly father; he spent much time during his life in meditation and in communion with God; he always sought to discern and fully subject himself to the will of the Father.
  • He overcame all doubts about God and his divine nature through faith: certainty of the truth in the absence of direct proof.

The book summarises the account of his younger years of how he’d lived his life, as follows:

Jesus is rapidly becoming a man ... 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 ... 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.’ [Paper 127:6.12, page 1405.4]

Born into the world a babe of the realm, he has lived his childhood life and passed through the successive stages of youth and young manhood; he now stands on the threshold of full manhood, rich in the experience of human living, replete in the understanding of human nature, and full of sympathy for the frailties of human nature. He is becoming expert in the divine art of revealing his Paradise Father to all ages and stages of mortal creatures. [Paper 127:6.15, page 1405.7]

The Human Jesus

But Jesus was careful not to build up a self-aggrandized version of himself, or an over- attractive, spectacular and attention-consuming personal career, or to become venerated. He rejected many opportunities to become involved with or lead religious and teaching institutions. He chose rather to live as an ‘everyman,’ to demonstrate an approachable and relatable ideal that anyone could follow. He came here to live a life of a normal, average human and to ‘know men.’

He was dedicated to the work of revealing the heavenly Father to his fellow mortals and at the same time was consecrated to the sublime task of living his mortal earth life all the while subject to the will of the same Paradise Father. [Paper 129:3.5, page 1423.7]

The purely human religious experience — the personal spiritual growth — of the Son of Man well-nigh reached the apex of attainment during [his] twenty-ninth year. This experience of spiritual development was a consistently gradual growth from the moment of the arrival of his Thought Adjuster until the day of the completion … of that natural and normal human relationship between the material mind of man and the mind-endowment of the spirit — the phenomenon of the making of these two minds one, the experience which the Son of Man attained in completion … on the day of his baptism in the Jordan. [Paper 129:4.2, page 1425.1]

He had become the perfection of man. He presents the perfected human personality to God, and to us, he demonstrates ‘the new and living way’ from the human to the divine, the partial to the perfect, from time to eternity. However, importantly, he did not come to live a life for us to copy. He lived his life in his day, as he was, true to himself and he thus sets the example for all of us to live our unique lives, as we are, true to ourselves and to our nature. His life was inspiring because it was so genuinely human. (129:4.7) Perhaps, to put this in modern phraseology, he is the ‘OG influencer.’ 😊

Just as men must progress from the consciousness of the human to the realization of the divine, so did Jesus ascend from the nature of man to the consciousness of the nature of God. And the Master made this great ascent from the human to the divine by the conjoint achievement of the faith of his mortal intellect and the acts of his indwelling Adjuster. [Paper 196:1.6, page 2091.2 emphasis mine]

Beliefs Decisions Behaviour

So what’s going on in the mind of someone who’s becoming a perfected person? We’re talking about someone who can literally do just about anything he wants; he’s created an entire universe for heaven’s sakes! But … he doesn’t do anything rash. He makes decisions and firm commitments to live, not by his own design, but by the will of the Father in heaven. He is even tempted at one stage by Lucifer and the rest not to do this. But he confronts their folly and waves them off, and he sticks to his guns.

He spends a lot of time in solitary meditation and direct communion with the Father. He aligns his thinking with eternal truths and values which transcend time, all the more conforming with the nature of God. He allows himself to be led by the indwelling spirit, the fragment of God within stimulating his mind and urging him on to remain steadfast in his faith and convictions.

He’s dedicating himself to his life’s mission, to remain true to himself. He’s dedicating himself to a life of service to his fellows. He's committed to the concepts of the Fatherhood of God and the consequent Brotherhood of Man, accepts his own sonship in this Brotherhood. He’s fully aware of his dual nature of both human and divine and commits himself to being dominated by the divine. He is certain of spirit triumph over the material. This faith, this certainty overcomes all doubts in his mind.

He makes these decisions and commitments wholeheartedly.

He was a wholly consecrated mortal, unreservedly dedicated to doing his Father’s will… And it was this very singleness of purpose and unselfish devotion that enabled him to effect such extraordinary progress in the conquest of the human mind in one short life ... In his devotion to the cause of the kingdom… he sacrificed all hindrances to the doing of his Father’s will. [Paper 196:2.7, page 2093.1]

Having thus consecrated his mind, he then lived, acted and behaved in the world consistently with these beliefs and decisions. This is his religious life. This is the way he became perfect.

Jesus’ life in the flesh portrays a transcendent religious growth from the early ideas of primitive awe and human reverence up through years of personal spiritual communion until he finally arrived at that advanced and exalted status of the consciousness of his oneness with the Father. And thus, in one short life, did Jesus traverse that experience of religious spiritual progression which man begins on earth and ordinarily achieves only at the conclusion of his long sojourn in the spirit training schools … [after mortal death]. Jesus progressed from a purely human consciousness of the faith certainties of personal religious experience to the sublime spiritual heights of the positive realization of his divine nature and to the consciousness of his close association with the Universal Father … And this progressing ascent from the human to the divine was an exclusively mortal achievement. And when he had thus attained divinity, he was still the same human Jesus, the Son of Man as well as the Son of God. [Paper 196:2.2, page 2093.1 emphasis mine]

What Does This Mean For Us?

By the time of his public ministry, Jesus had really already practiced what he was about to preach. All the things he taught his followers he had already done himself. Much of what he said were recounts, reminders and admonitions to himself as much as they were guidance and instructions to his followers. Jesus embodied both the revelation of God to us as our Father, and the presentation of us to God as his sons and daughters. This is the religion of Jesus expressed in the very life he actually lived. For his whole life, up to his baptism, he lived this religious life that he then went on to teach others saying, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life..... If you know me, you know the way to the Father,’ (180:3.7) so ‘follow me.’

‘I am the way,’ he says, so ‘follow me.’ It’s more than a click. It means actively integrating into our own lives the kinds of decisions and commitments of mind and behaviour that led to perfection in the life of Jesus; the path of light that leads out of uncertainty and darkness.

‘I am the truth,’ and ‘the truth shall set you free.’ Following his standards will liberate us from our fears, self-isolation, self-absorption, from slavery to these; will liberate us from falsehoods and lies that hold or push us back and down, stifling our progress and growth.

‘I am the life.’ Jesus sets the ideal model for how to live a good life in relation to God and our fellows, if it is soul growth, personality survival, perfection and ongoing, eternal life that we seek.

Modern man must find some adequate symbolism for his new and expanding ideas, ideals, and loyalties. This enhanced symbol must arise out of religious living, spiritual experience. And this higher symbolism of a higher civilization must be predicated on the concept of the Fatherhood of God and be pregnant with the mighty ideal of the brotherhood of man [-the gospel of Jesus]. [Paper 87:7.6, page 966.1]

Jesus revealed that God is our heavenly Father, and he loves and cherishes each and every one of us. We all matter. This is what makes it a personal religion: that is, you are a child of God, not just a child of a race or nation. This makes us all sons and daughters of God. We can turn that sonship into a partnership by returning his outreach and forming a relationship. Jesus thus admonishes us to:

  • Love God with all your heart, mind and soul.
  • Search for God, seek to discover and comprehend His nature, and by doing so you will become like him; ‘be you ever perfect.’
  • Be thankful for his love and the life he’s given you; the chance to experience, grow, make mistakes and be granted mercy; learn, improve and grow towards perfection.
  • Let your faith in God be like that of a little child’s trust in its parent.
  • Understand and respect that while life has its difficulties and challenges, that is His way to encourage growth.
  • Subject yourself to the will of the Father, ‘it is my will that your will be done.’
  • Live every day according to the will of the Father, and in so doing reveal Him to others.
  • Let God’s spirit within you stimulate your mind, adjust your thinking Godward, and remind you of the spirit within others, your spiritual brothers and sisters.
  • Live a life of loving service to all the children of God.

Jesus showed that the consequence of a Fatherhood of God is the Brotherhood of Man, since every individual person is a child of God. Jesus believes in men, has faith in men. ‘He taught men to place a high value upon themselves in time and in eternity. Because of this high estimate which Jesus placed upon men, he was willing to spend himself in the unremitting service of humankind. And it was this infinite worth of the finite that made the golden rule a vital factor in his religion.’ (196:2.10) He taught us:

  • To “love your fellows as you would love yourself.” “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” Love, respect and treat each other as we ourselves would be treated.
  • Even, “love your enemies,” for God loves both the wicked and the good.
  • The love of your fellows is natural by-product of realising they all have a spirit of God indwelling them as you do.
  • When you interact with others, recognise they also have a potential relationship with God, can also survive death and go on to have a universe career.
  • To give service and encouragement to your brothers and sisters in their spiritual journey; honour them and give them your loyalty; promote the spiritual growth of our human family.
  • Each and every one of us has our part to play in the expression of the infinite; each of our indwelling spirits is gently adjusting our thinking Godward, championing our individual personal involvement in that expression. And when we realise this, it can only instill a love, respect and acknowledgement of the spiritual worth of others, their value, and behave towards them and treat them accordingly.

So what’s the reason for adhering to this gospel and conducting this religious way of living in your own life? Personality survival. This is the most important ‘game’ in town: ‘seek first the kingdom of heaven.’ All else is secondary. You can take nothing material with you when you die: ‘don’t build up treasures on earth where they decay!’ You can continue to exist after death, if you want, in the surviving soul; by transferring your identity from the physical, which is temporary, to the spiritual which is eternal.

John asked Jesus, “Master, what is the kingdom of heaven?” And Jesus answered: “The kingdom of heaven consists in these three essentials: first, recognition of the fact of the sovereignty of God; second, belief in the truth of sonship with God; and third, faith in the effectiveness of the supreme human desire to do the will of God — to be like God. And this is the good news of the gospel: that by faith every mortal may have all these essentials of salvation.” [Paper 140:10.9, page 1585.7]

The ‘Kingdom of Heaven’ is multi-levelled. First, within you. It has to start here, a personal conviction, put into practice and confirmed through experience. Then, it becomes the group of other like-minded people. Then global. Then universal.

When we discovered just how big the universe is, infinite really, it was easy for us to think that we’re just meaningless tiny specks that don’t matter in the big scheme of things. Well, the religion of Jesus is the antidote to that. Each and every one of us is important, has meaning and has a part to play. Without you involved there is something missing, a gap that is the shape of you.

Most people have an existential dread of not existing. This can be rationalised away by modern science that predicts that the universe will eventually decay into nothing, and we can think, “well, we didn’t exist before we were born and we won’t exist after we die, and the same goes for all life, therefore it doesn’t matter now.” Some may think it’s liberating not to be fixated on something permanent, just to live for a fleeting moment then vanish, and just enjoy being a brief part of this amazing creation. The religion of Jesus is the antidote to that limited thinking. It overlooks that there are at least two things that remain permanent, transcend time, in the face of change: 1) that fragment of the eternal within us, and, 2) our personality. Jesus demonstrated that these two phenomena can come together and form a you that can step out of the finite and become part of the infinite.

So set some standards to base everything on – truth, beauty and goodness. Make some firm non-negotiable decisions about how you are going to conduct your life. Live loyally to them and stay true to who you are personally. Maintain constant communication with God – a sharing conversation, checking in with how he might be thinking about what you’re doing (need to know his nature, so keep discovering!); are you being consistent with his will, his mandate to be guided by spiritual standards and be ever increasingly perfect in all you do.

Love others, treat them as you would want to be treated; look for opportunities to serve them. Demonstrate God’s love for you in your love for them. Do your utmost best in everything you do – like Jesus did in his human adventure. Stick to this and have faith that you are growing spiritually; your soul is growing in preparation for next stage of existence.

And finally,

The living experience in the religion of Jesus thus becomes the sure and certain technique whereby the spiritually isolated and cosmically lonely mortals of earth are enabled to escape personality isolation, with all its consequences of fear and … helplessness. In the fraternal realities of the kingdom of heaven the faith sons of God find final deliverance from the isolation of the self, both personal and planetary. The God-knowing believer increasingly experiences the ecstasy and grandeur of spiritual socialization on a universe scale — citizenship on high in association with the eternal realization of the divine destiny of perfection attainment. [Paper 184:4.6, page 1985.1]

During one of the Master’s appearances after his death to the Jerusalem group of followers, he said:

“And now you should give ear to my words lest you again make the mistake of hearing my teaching with the mind while in your hearts you fail to comprehend the meaning. From the beginning of my sojourn as one of you, I taught you that my one purpose was to reveal my Father in heaven to his children on earth. I have lived the God-revealing bestowal that you might experience the God-knowing career. I have revealed God as your Father in heaven; I have revealed you as the sons of God on earth. It is a fact that God loves you, his sons. By faith in my word this fact becomes an eternal and living truth in your hearts. When, by living faith, you become divinely God-conscious, you are then born of the spirit as children of light and life, even the eternal life wherewith you shall ascend the universe of universes and attain the experience of finding God the Father on Paradise.

“That which the world needs most to know is: Men are the sons of God, and through faith they can actually realize, and daily experience, this ennobling truth. My bestowal should help all men to know that they are the children of God, but such knowledge will not suffice if they fail personally to faith-grasp the saving truth that they are the living spirit sons of the eternal Father.” [Paper 193:0.3.4, page 2052.3,4 emphasis mine]

The Ultimate Human Experience

Neville Twist, Auckland NZ

(Presented at the 2022 ANZURA Conference in Tasmania)

Coming through customs the other day, the custom’s officer asked me if I had any criminal convictions? "What, is it still a requirement to enter Australia" I replied? "Trying to be a smart arse, are we?" "No, not at all officer" I replied. "It’s just that I’ll be staying at Port Arthur, and I wanted to make doubly sure." ☺

Apologies for there being no power point presentation, white boards, charts etc. I’m afraid you are just going to have to listen to me ramble on for the next 20 minutes or so – so let’s get on with it.

Before we get underway, I’d like to start with a tribute to Queen Elizabeth II. QE2 was an amazing woman. To me she was an exemplar of service to her subjects around the world. Something about her that most people overlook is the fact that she was a deeply religious person. She had a deep personal faith in God. She was after all the head of the Church of England and this was a role she took very seriously. Her life was devoted to service and bringing people together. What a privilege it was living under her reign and the consistency, devotion, and loyalty she brought to our lives during 70 years of turbulence, upheaval, and constant change. In a BBC radio presentation recently, they spoke about how she was so impressed with the evangelist Billy Graham when he held crusades in Britain back in the 1960’s & 70’s, that she invited him for an audience at Buckingham palace. Two great people of faith who left an indelible impression on our world for good, and for God himself.  

Isn’t it great to be alive! To have this life experience that only the Father could give us. Surely the least we can do in return is to give him praise and gratitude for it. Without his desire to create us, we simply wouldn’t exist. We would have never known what the joys and tribulations there were install for us. And to think this is just the beginning of a never-ending experience all the way to paradise and the embrace of God himself! Where we take the trinity oath of eternity and become eternal ourselves! How great is the God we adore. How wonderful and marvelous is his/our creator son Michael of Nebadon who revealed the Father unto us while living here as Jesus of Nazareth.    

When preparing this presentation "The Ultimate Human Experience!", I quickly realised that the subject deserves more than 30 minutes of time because we could discuss it for hours, if not days. So, I just want to concentrate on three aspects of this manifold subject, so I am going to focus on peace, joy, and enthusiasm – the first two are of course fruits of Spirit. 

Starting with PEACE we read on page 1101:

“One of the most amazing earmarks of religious living is that dynamic and sublime peace, that peace which passes all human understanding, that cosmic poise which betokens the absence of all doubt and turmoil” [Paper 100:6.6, page 1101.1]

How reassuring is this? And yet we live in a world where peace is a rare commodity these days. Who would have thought that a major war would erupt in Europe again in 2022? There are conflicts all around the world. Brutal genocide in Rwanda has been going on for years. Eritrea and Ethiopia have been in a state of civil war for years. Tensions are high in many parts of the world and seem to be building. And it’s not just countries where peace has been shattered. Countless millions of people aren’t at peace with themselves. They have no faith in the living God.   

Today we live in an increasingly secular, and some would say an increasingly socialist world. A materialistic world where, to many, only material things matter. People have abandoned their faith in God. Mention God to virtually anyone these days (in NZ), and they think you are strange to say the least. No wonder so many young people are anxious, frightened, uncertain, confused and lost in their thinking these days. Mental illness is rife in NZ and the western world. Our government recently pledged $1.9 billion towards mental health. Is this going to solve anything without spiritual instruction? I very much doubt it. Many have no hope for this world, let alone the next if only they knew about it. Youth suicide is huge in NZ and many other countries. What a damming indictment on our society. If only they were taught the sublime truths, we all know. The truths that Jesus taught us while here in the fresh. What reassurance, peace and hope would fill their hearts and minds. What a sense of purpose would fill their hearts and souls.

We live in a world filled with noise. Most of us probably wake to the sound of the clock-radio to awaken us. Then it seems to be a continuous succession of noise throughout the day. Radios and TV’s blaring forth, road noise from cars and trucks coming and going, people constantly talking, phones ringing, construction sites, lawn mowers, street sweepers, aircraft flying overhead etc. Noise, noise, noise! 

The Palmist of old said “Be still and know that I am God”, which I think is very good advice. And I (personally) find that the best time of the day to achieve this, is if I waken in the wee hours. I find it a great time to have a personal chat with the Father himself. All alone, just him and me. To share my inner self with him. To seek to know him and his will for my life. It’s also an opportune time to wait for reflective feedback, just meditating on his presence. It can be a truly wonderful time. A time of real peace, joy, happiness, and reassurance. A time to strengthen one’s faith and to get more motivated.       

In David Kantor’s script for his upcoming movie presentation to theologians and (particularly) the Christian clergy, states "The crisis of Christianity is the fact that the credibility of the story which has identified Christianity as Christianity no longer provides conceptual support linking spiritual experience to observable reality."

The crisis of Christianity is, by extension, the crisis of Western Civilization. Every culture, every civilization that we know of has been held together by values derived from shared stories about the gods and their relationship to humanity. The post-enlightenment West is the first civilization that we know of to abandon its foundational stories, forsake its dependence on God, and attempt to go it alone. 

Is this the end of Western civilisation or is there hope of a renaissance. To be honest, it’s not looking that good out there, especially on the spiritual front. We will probably have to wait for the “end of the current ideological struggle” before people are ready to accept the truths of Jesus found in The Urantia Book. But rest assured, the teachings of Jesus will not fail! Maybe it could be through a unique musician. “But be not discouraged; someday a real musician may appear on Urantia, and whole peoples will be enthralled by the magnificent strains of his melodies. ... It is literally true, “melody has power a whole world to transform.” (p.500:6)

Yet we can experience this sublime truth right here and now. Again, that wonderful quote from page 1101 “One of the most amazing earmarks of religious living is that dynamic and sublime peace, that peace which passes all human understanding, that cosmic poise which betokens the absence of all doubt and turmoil” [Paper 100:6.6, page 1101.1]

JOY:           

In Peter DeCamp’s study aid "The Entities, Beings and Personalities of The Urantia Book", we read on page 66, under the sub-heading "5 of Secondary Seconaphim", (offspring of Reflective Spirits), about the "Joy of Existence" angels: 

...reflectively attuned to the superaphic harmony supervisors above and to certain of seraphim below, but it is difficult to explain just what the members of this interesting group really do; their principal activities are directed toward promoting reactions of joy among the various orders of the angelic hosts and the lower will creatures in a more general manner and in a collaboration with the reversion directors, they function as joy clearinghouses, seeking to up-step the pleasure reactions of the realms while trying to improve the humour taste, to develop a super-humour among mortals and angels; they endeavour to demonstrate that there is inherent joy in freewill existence, independent of all extraneous influences; and they are right, although they meet with great difficulty in inculcating this truth in the minds of primitive men. [Paper 28:5.16, page 312.3] 

I believe the song writer got it right when they penned these beautiful lyrics: -

I come to the garden alone,
While the dew is still on the roses;
And the voice I hear, falling on my ear,
The Son of God discloses.

And He walks with me, and He talks with me,
And He tells me I am His own,
And the joy we share as we tarry there,
None other has ever known.

He speaks, and the sound of His voice
Is so sweet the birds hush their singing;
And the melody that He gave to me
Within my heart is ringing.

And He walks with me, and He talks with me,
And He tells me I am His own,
And the joy we share as we tarry there,
None other has ever known.

I'd stay in the garden with Him
Tho' the night around me be falling;
But He bids me go; through the voice of woe,
His voice to me is calling.

And He walks with me, and He talks with me,
And He tells me I am His own,
And the joy we share as we tarry there,
None other has ever known.  

We should be filled with joy. We should try to share this joy with everybody we come in contact with. Then will people inquire of us the source of our joy and happiness. Jesus of course was a master at this. Just his countenance and demeanour were enough to draw men and women unto him.

I once worked with a couple of guys who were real druggies. A typical weekend for them was being spaced out on LSD, MDMA, cocaine or whatever they could get hold of. After some time (I forget how), they became Christians. These guys had a real Damascus Road experience. Their lives totally changed in an instant. They flushed all their drugs down the loo and completely changed their lives. They were so filled with the love of God, all they wanted to do was to talk about their experience. They would sit in my office and tell me about how they used to love getting high and the sense of euphoria they would experience. But then would go on to say it was nothing to compared to their newfound love of God and the feelings of joy and happiness they experienced now.      

ENTHUSIASM: 

When I first left school, I attended a Dale Carnegie course (of How to win friends and influence people fame), in self-confidence and public speaking. Although this course cost me several weeks of pay, it was some of the best money I ever spent. One of the exercises we had to go through each night was to act out the mantra "Act enthusiastic and you’ll be enthusiastic". 

Demonstrate how.

If we research the word enthusiasm, we will see it is derived from the Greek 'enthousiasmos' – meaning “inspiration or possession by a god”. It entered the English language around the beginning of the 17th Century and for the first 200 hundred years or so, enthusiasm was primarily employed to refer to beliefs or passions that related to religion. We need to be more enthusiastic about our relationship with God and his divine fragment that lives within us. What is more important?

One of my favourite quotes from The Urantia Book is:

Of God, the most inescapable of all presences, the most real of all facts, the most living of all truths, the most loving of all friends, and the most divine of all values, we have the right to be the most certain of all universe experiences. (1127.5) 102:8.1 [Paper 102:8.1, page 1127.5] 

This to me really says it all. It tells me that if I truly believe these truths and seek to do the Father’s will, what is there to worry about? Our loving heavenly Father is truly taking care of me, of us all, all the time. He is in control. We have our faithful companion, our divine fragment with us the whole way.

Paul taught the citizens of Rome nothing can separate us from the love of God. “Neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord”. Great words from Paul.

 The consciousness of the spirit domination of a human life is presently attended by an increasing exhibition of the characteristics of the Spirit in the life reactions of such a spirit-led mortal, “for the fruits of the spirit are love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance.” Such spirit-guided and divinely illuminated mortals, while they yet tread the lowly paths of toil and in human faithfulness perform the duties of their earthly assignments, have already begun to discern the lights of eternal life as they glimmer on the faraway shores of another world; already have they begun to comprehend the reality of that inspiring and comforting truth, “The kingdom of God is not meat and drink but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.” And throughout every trial and in the presence of every hardship, spirit-born souls are sustained by that hope which transcends all fear because the love of God is shed abroad in all hearts by the presence of the divine Spirit. [Paper 34:6.13, page 381.7]

As the conference brochure quotes “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.” (p.1091.8) The closest I have got to this is, is what I described before. It’s only a beginning and I know I am just approaching the first step. But it is a start. A start to make me aware of the divine presence in me. A juncture in life’s road that is clearly pointing me in the right direction. A signpost telling me, this is the way to go. We have just embarked on the most thrilling, joyful and exciting journey.

Let’s not forget we are all Agondonters, which The Urantia Book describes as such on page 579:

Evolutionary will creatures who can believe without seeing, persevere when isolated, and triumph over insuperable difficulties even when alone; on Jerusem the ascenders from these isolated worlds occupy a residential sector by themselves; this functional grouping of the Agondonters persists throughout the ascension of the local universe and the transversal of the superuniverse; it disappears during the sojourn in Havona but promptly reappears upon the attainment of Paradise and definitely persists in the Corps of the Mortal Finality. [Paper 50:7.2, page 579.1]

We are all going to be on the paradise journey together, even Queen Elizabeth II and Billy Graham. We are all going to be in the same group known as agondonters, whether like it or not. Best we learn to foster this sense of togetherness now. After all, we are all children of the eternal Father. We are all brothers and sisters and will remain so for eternity. Let’s all learn to share the love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance right here and now. For these are the fruits of the spirit. I believe this is the essence of "The Ultimate Human Experience" and also of our conference theme, ROPE – The Religion of Personal Experience. God bless you all. May his love shine upon you all. And don’t forget, be of good cheer!           

New Zealand Corner

Marion Steward, Auckland NZ

Musings on Christmas in New Zealand

The annual celebration of Christmas is here upon us once more, and students of The Urantia Book are possibly asking themselves that perennial question generated by the knowledge that the actual date of the birth of Jesus is August 21st, not December 25th – ‘what should we do about Christmas?

In New Zealand, Christmas for Christian families/communities continues to be a celebration of the birth of Jesus, but for most of the non-religious people (48.6% of the population as declared at the 2018 census) it is a public holiday with a special emphasis on the family. The way that people celebrate this event for the most part has very little to do with the birth of Jesus – lights, Christmas trees, gifts, decorations around the home and garden, special food at various times of the day, Christmas crackers – but for many people these aspects represent ‘Christmas’. 

There have been occasional moves over the years to de-winterfy the celebration here – my daughter learned a song at primary school called “Christmas at the Beach”, but the Northern Hemisphere traditions retain their strong hold on the celebrations here, and so fake snow still abounds in shop windows, along with all the other songs that stem from Christmas observed in the heart of winter.

It can be quite challenging to celebrate this event from a religious perspective knowing that it’s the wrong day- and if Urantia Book readers decide to put that aspect aside, what are we left with? A celebration of family has appeal, but the overlay of commercialisation can render this quite superficial. The call every year for people to donate to charities so that poor children can ‘have a good Christmas’ very much perpetuates this idea that Christmas is all about the presents, and the idea of the family gets submerged under the wrapping paper.

Perhaps we could go back to the ‘pagan’ roots and explore the ancient traditions related to the earth cycles that the early Christians replaced Christmas with. My family celebrates the summer solstice and has done for many years. One tradition we have established is for each family member to record on a large piece of paper things they are celebrating, appreciating, and/or feeling grateful for. These papers are then laminated and displayed every year and have formed a wonderful family history of joys and achievements and general good feelings.  Christmas as a festival, then, from its earliest beginnings to modern times, seems to be a little like a pick and mix – people can take ideas and customs from a number of different times and places and put them together to make their own kind of celebration – it will be interesting to see how it evolves over the next few decades, as societies become more and more diverse, and the religious aspects, in particular, become less and less relevant to the majority.



God’s CD Collection

Neil Francey, Burleigh Heads QLD

The vastness of the master universe is almost beyond measure, yet the revelators describe it as within a boundary. Does infinity then extend beyond that dimension, out into a fathomless darkness? Could there be other master universes located beyond the power, communication, and travel capabilities of the one presented to us?

Such musings are in good company, as on numerous occasions in the quotations below, the revelators say effectively (as on page 642): ‘We do not know, but we speculate much concerning these and related matters.’

The ideas expressed here are purely speculative. They have no basis in revelation and are merely a personal observation. These concepts in no way compare with the scholarly astronomical research and deductions being made by professional analysts of the Urantia revelation. [My thanks to Nigel Nunn for his invaluable interest and comments about this article.]

View article in PDF here (opens in a new tab)

Also on the ANZURA website under Topical Index/Study Aids you can find an excellent description, with diagrams, for the Master Universe. (Or you can click on this link to go straight to it: An Artist's Conception of the Master Universe)

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Click here to view the list of contacts on the website.

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The Arena newsletter keeps students of The Urantia Book throughout Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific in touch with Urantia related news, activities and events from our local region as well as from the global Urantia Book reader community. It also provides interesting articles written by readers on a wide range of subjects from the book which we hope may be helpful in assisting with your studies.

The Arena is published by ANZURA two to three times a year and is dedicated to the promotion of goodwill and understanding among readers of The Urantia Book. Articles and editorial contributions that relate to The Urantia Book and its teachings are welcome from readers all over the world.

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