The Cosmic Citizen

This week we come to the end of our study of Paper 100, Religion in Human Experience, which is doubtless one of the most amazing papers in The Urantia Book. So far, we've covered 1.Religious Growth, 2.Spiritual Growth, 3.Concepts of Supreme Value, 4.Problems of Growth, 5.Conversion and Mysticism, and 6.Marks of Religious Living. But now, we come to Melchizedek's capstone of this remarkable paper, with Section 7.The Acme of Religious Living. Can you guess who Melchizedek offers as a prime example of The Acme of Religious Living? If you said JESUS, you're correct! Yes, Jesus was and is The Acme of Religious Living and in this day and age we really need his exquisite example of majestic poise and matchless symmetry of personality. So, we're dedicating this week to Section 7 from Paper 100, and rather than go on to Paper 101, which we will begin next week, we also plan to read another equally beautiful Section 7 from Paper 171, As Jesus Passed By. These two sections are the perfect tribute to Jesus, who he was and who he is and who he always will be. Regulars, Andre Radatus and Marvin Gawryn, will be attending a Urantia University board meeting this week, so Derek Samaras and Jeremy Daigle have agreed to join Chuck and Paula for these wonderful readings on the sublime character of Jesus. Here's a taste: "The unfailing kindness of Jesus touched the hearts of men, but his stalwart strength of character amazed his followers. He was truly sincere; there was nothing of the hypocrite in him. He was free from affectation; he was always so refreshingly genuine." "Jesus could help men so much because he loved them so sincerely. He truly loved each man, each woman, and each child.... He was an expert in the comprehension of human need, clever in detecting human longings. If you love Jesus, this episode is bound to be a feast for your soul so please tune in!

We're on week 6 of our multi-week series on Papers 99 through 103 of The Urantia Book—the "religion papers." We are currently on Paper 100: Religion in Human Experience. Our Melchizedek author relates the following in sections 5. Conversion and Mysticism and 6. Marks of Religious Living: "The world is filled with lost souls, not lost in the theologic sense but lost in the directional meaning, wandering about in confusion among the isms and cults of a frustrated philosophic era. Too few have learned how to install a philosophy of living in the place of religious authority. (The symbols of socialized religion are not to be despised as channels of growth, albeit the river bed is not the river.)" [(1098.4) 100:5.1] "But emotion alone is a false conversion; one must have faith as well as feeling." and the introduction of the concept of "the superconscious level." [(1099.3) 100:5.5,6] Regarding religious living: "The self has surrendered to the intriguing drive of an all-encompassing motivation which imposes heightened self-discipline, lessens emotional conflict, and makes mortal life truly worth living. The morbid recognition of human limitations is changed to the natural consciousness of mortal shortcomings, associated with moral determination and spiritual aspiration to attain the highest universe and superuniverse goals. And this intense striving for the attainment of supermortal ideals is always characterized by increasing patience, forbearance, fortitude, and tolerance." [(1100.6) 100:6.4] This will be another rich and interesting exploration of revelation. We hope you can join us on the chat board and/or in the conversation by tuning in to the live show. Archived shows are always available on demand.  http://tobtr.com/11563335

Last week we began a study of Paper 100, Religion in Human Experience. We covered Religious Growth and Spiritual Growth. Yes, there is a difference. In a word, this paper is SUBLIME! Every person who has ever struggled to do the right thing for the right reasons should read Urantia Paper 100, Religion in Human Experience. It is a masterpiece of religious philosophy, but then, one could expect no less from a Melchizedek. This week we'll continue to unpack this splendid and insightful paper to uncover Supreme Values and Problems of Growth, and perhaps more. Consider the following tantalizing tidbits: "Values are not conceptual illusions; they are real, but always they depend on the fact of relationships. Values are always both actual and potential—not what was, but what is and is to be." "Religious living is devoted living, and devoted living is creative living, original and spontaneous. New religious insights arise out of conflicts which initiate the choosing of new and better reaction habits in the place of older and inferior reaction patterns. New meanings only emerge amid conflict; and conflict persists only in the face of refusal to espouse the higher values connoted in superior meanings." "Man cannot cause growth, but he can supply favorable conditions. Growth is always unconscious, be it physical, intellectual, or spiritual. Love thus grows; it cannot be created, manufactured, or purchased; it must grow. " Come and romance the universe with us! This week's study contains everyone's favorite, the Cavema paradigm, you can see a great video of it here: THE CAVEMAN Please join us as we take another deep and purposeful dive into this remarkable and uncanny revelation!

We have finished Paper 99 and continue this week with our multi-week series on Papers 99 through 103 of The Urantia Book; the "religion papers." We begin Paper 100: Religion in Human Experience.  Our Melchizedek author says: "Some persons are too busy to grow and are therefore in grave danger of spiritual fixation. Provision must be made for growth of meanings at differing ages, in successive cultures, and in the passing stages of advancing civilization. The chief inhibitors of growth are prejudice and ignorance." (1094.4) 100:1.2  And, "Children are permanently impressed only by the loyalties of their adult associates; precept or even example is not lastingly influential. Loyal persons are growing persons, and growth is an impressive and inspiring reality. Live loyally today — grow — and tomorrow will attend to itself. The quickest way for a tadpole to become a frog is to live loyally each moment as a tadpole." [(1094.6) 100:1.4] His enrichinging paper intrigues us with statements like this:  "Habits which favor religious growth embrace cultivated sensitivity to divine values, recognition of religious living in others, reflective meditation on cosmic meanings, worshipful problem solving, sharing one’s spiritual life with one’s fellows, avoidance of selfishness, refusal to presume on divine mercy, living as in the presence of God." [(1095.3) 100:1.8] "Spirituality becomes at once the indicator of one’s nearness to God and the measure of one’s usefulness to fellow beings." [(1096.1) 100:2.4] This will be another stimulative and interesting exploration of revelation. We hope you can join us on the chat board and/or in the conversation by tuning in to the live show. However, archived shows are always available on demand.

We continue this week with a multi-week series on Papers 99 through 103 of The Urantia Book on the "religion papers." We are currently still on Paper 99: The Social Problems of Religion. Who would have guessed that religion has social problems?  Our Melchizedek author expounds more on these social problems in sections 5. Social Aspects of Religion, 6. Institutional Religion and 7. Religion's Contribution. Yes, we will cover all three sections this week to finish up Paper 99 and move on to Paper 100. Religion in Human Experience, next week. The Melchizedek author of this amazing paper intrigues us with statements like this: "Just as certainly as men share their religious beliefs, they create a religious group of some sort which eventually creates common goals. Someday religionists will get together and actually effect co-operation on the basis of unity of ideals and purposes rather than attempting to do so on the basis of psychological opinions and theological beliefs. Goals rather than creeds should unify religionists." And this: "Sectarianism is a disease of institutional religion, and dogmatism is an enslavement of the spiritual nature. It is far better to have a religion without a church than a church without religion." And this: "Religion inspires man to live courageously and joyfully on the face of the earth; it joins patience with passion, insight to zeal, sympathy with power, and ideals with energy." He fully illuminates the wonderful benefits of socialized religion compared to the traps of institutionalized religion. There is a difference! This will be another rich and interesting exploration of revelation. We hope you can join us on the chat board and/or in the conversation by tuning in to the live show. However, archived shows are always available on demand.

We continue a new multiweek series on Papers 99 through 103 of The Urantia Book on the "religion papers." Our Melchizedek author contunues with sections 3 and 4 on the relationship of the religionist to religion and the transition difficulties through the last and coming centuries as thinking women and men are socialized into a religious life or prone to avoid it.  We're instructed that religious pursuits ought to be consciously religious and not subsumed in social, political, or economic endeavors. "Many individual social reconstructionists, while vehemently repudiating institutionalized religion, are, after all, zealously religious in the propagation of their social reforms. And so it is that religious motivation, personal and more or less unrecognized, is playing a great part in the present-day program of social reconstruction.  "The great weakness of all this unrecognized and unconscious type of religious activity is that it is unable to profit from open religious criticism and thereby attain to profitable levels of self-correction. It is a fact that religion does not grow unless it is disciplined by constructive criticism, amplified by philosophy, purified by science, and nourished by loyal fellowship." [(1088.7,8) 99:3.6,7] And we are told:  " Genuine religion renders the religionist socially fragrant and creates insights into human fellowship. But the formalization of religious groups many times destroys the very values for the promotion of which the group was organized." and that, "[s]ocial leadership is transformed by spiritual insight; religion prevents all collective movements from losing sight of their true objectives." [(1089.9,10) 99:4.1,2] Please join us for another enriching discussion! http://tobtr.com/11533567

We begin a new multiweek series on Papers 99 through 103 of The Urantia Book.  Affectionately, many students of the papers refer to these as the "religion papers."  A Melchizedek of Nebadon reveals the true nature of religion in these five papers.  He starts where most of us find ourselves:  thinking of religion in terms of how we are socialized into a religious life.  But there's the rub:  What truly is a religious life?  We're told that, "...religion should not be directly concerned either with the creation of new social orders or with the preservation of old ones. True religion does oppose violence as a technique of social evolution, but it does not oppose the intelligent efforts of society to adapt its usages and adjust its institutions to new economic conditions and cultural requirements." [99:0.2] Among others, we're given this insight into social reconstruction:  "A godless humanitarianism is, humanly speaking, a noble gesture, but true religion is the only power which can lastingly increase the responsiveness of one social group to the needs and sufferings of other groups. In the past, institutional religion could remain passive while the upper strata of society turned a deaf ear to the sufferings and oppression of the helpless lower strata, but in modern times these lower social orders are no longer so abjectly ignorant nor so politically helpless." [99:1.5] And we are led to realize this catch-22:  "Institutional religion is now caught in the stalemate of a vicious circle. It cannot reconstruct society without first reconstructing itself; and being so much an integral part of the established order, it cannot reconstruct itself until society has been radically reconstructed." [99:2.2] Please join us! http://tobtr.com/11523935

For the past three weeks, we have been engaged in a study of The Nature of Cultism, with our good friend and regular caller, Marvin Gawryn. This study is focused on Section 7 of Urantia Paper 87, The Ghost Cults—one facet of a decades-long study Marvin has pursued. We have read, Section 7, The Nature of Cultism, from Urantia Paper 87, and pondered terms like "masterful mystery" and "worthful unattainable" and words like "cult," "symbols" and "symbolism."  The last three episodes have setup inter-connected topics, that are part of a larger whole. They are like a great chamber that can be entered through a number of doorways. This week we may ponder the following: How can we best understand, conceptualize, the core spiritual truths of the gospel?  Jesus original gospel, and the up-stepped core spiritual truths of the UB? How can we best retain them in our awareness and put them into practice, shape our lives around them (spiritual formation)?How can we form effective spiritual community, and a strong spiritual culture around these core truths? How can we best share these soul-saving truths with the countless spiritually hungry sisters and brothers in our modern culture? How can we best contribute to the evolution of the next higher stage of human civilization? "Regardless of the drawbacks and handicaps, every new revelation of truth has given rise to a new cult...and even the restatement of the religion of Jesus must develop a new and appropriate symbolism." (87:7.6) Marvin Gawryn has created the following comprehensive course for Urantia University Inc: A Way of Life in the Family of God: A Course in Spiritual Formation, set to run from Sept 21 - Nov 23. This study on the Cosmic Citizen, is in a way, a promo and precursor to that course.

The past two weeks, our good friend and regular caller, we have been engaged in a study of The Nature of Cultism, with Marvin Gawryn. This study is focused on Section 7 of Urantia Paper 87, The Ghost Cults—one facet of a decades-long study Marvin has pursued. We read Paper 87, Section 7, The Nature of Cultism, and barely began to unpack the Brilliant Evening Star's statements regarding religious social evolution on our world. This quote peaked our interest: But the great difficulty of finding a new and satisfying symbolism is because modern men, as a group, adhere to the scientific attitude, eschew superstition, and abhor ignorance, while as individuals they all crave mystery and venerate the unknown. No cult can survive unless it embodies some masterful mystery and conceals some worthful unattainable. Again, the new symbolism must not only be significant for the group but also meaningful to the individual. The forms of any serviceable symbolism must be those which the individual can carry out on his own initiative, and which he can also enjoy with his fellows. If the new cult could only be dynamic instead of static, it might really contribute something worth while to the progress of mankind, both temporal and spiritual. [87:7.9 The Urantia Book] If only to get us to ask, "What could that 'masterful mystery' be?"  What mystery would be plausible and satisfying to both scientific minds and others?  This is one of the challenges of our age. Marvin Gawryn has created the following comprehensive course for Urantia University Inc: A Way of Life in the Family of God: A Course in Spiritual Formation. The course is set to run from Sept 21 - Nov 23. Our study on The Nature of Cultism, on the Cosmic Citizen, is in a way, a promo and precursor to that course. Please tune in and join us!  http://tobtr.com/11494893

Last week, our good friend and regular caller, Marvin Gawryn, began a study of The Nature of Cultism, with us. This study is something he's spent years on, and it is especially focused on Section 7 of Urantia Paper 87, The Ghost Cults. The authors of The Urantia Book state that we have just entered a massive societal transition that will carry us from the current materialistic and nationalist cultures (that have developed over the past 500 years) to the beginnings of a higher stage of civilization which entails the end of war, the establishment of a global government, a global language, and a unified culture that primarily values spiritual goals. This stage of our evolution is predicted to last for 1,000 years. They warn us that this next 1000 years will be a whirlwind of non-stop change and turbulence — both for societies and the individuals within them. Far from utopian, this period in human evolution may be one of confusion, dislocation and even regression. Indeed, it is precisely in preparation for this stormy millennium of danger and opportunity that the authors brought a revelation to fortify and prepare us.  It is in Paper 87, Section 7, The Nature of Cultism, that they urge us to evolve a new spiritual culture from the up-stepped truths contained in the revelation to create a more meaningful, compelling, and higher symbolism, as well as an idealistic vision for ourselves and our society that will help provide the guidance, solace and stability greatly needed by humanity during this oncoming hurricane of transition. Marvin Gawryn has created the following comprehensive course for Urantia University Inc: A Way of Life in the Family of God: A Course in Spiritual Formation. The course is set to run from Sept 21 - Nov 23. Our study on The Nature of Cultism, on the Cosmic Citizen, is in a way, a promo and precursor to that course. We hope you can tune in!