SPIRITUAL COMMUNION

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From THE URANTIA BOOK

Part III, 103, 4 

 

Spiritual Communion

 

 The characteristic difference between a social occasion and a

 religious gathering is that in contrast with the secular the

 religious is pervaded by the atmosphere of communion. In this

 way human association generates a feeling of fellowship with

 the divine, and this is the beginning of group worship.

 Partaking of a common meal was the earliest type of social

 communion, and so did early religions provide that some

 portion of the ceremonial sacrifice should be eaten by the

 worshipers. Even in Christianity the Lord’s Supper retains

 this mode of communion. The atmosphere of the communion

 provides a refreshing and comforting period of truce in the

 conflict of the self-seeking ego with the altruistic urge of the

 indwelling spirit Monitor. And this is the prelude to true

 worship — the practice of the presence of God which

 eventuates in the emergence of the brotherhood of man.

 

 When primitive man felt that his communion with God had

 been interrupted, he resorted to sacrifice of some kind in an

 effort to make atonement, to restore friendly relationship. The

 hunger and thirst for righteousness leads to the discovery of

 truth, and truth augments ideals, and this creates new

 problems for the individual religionists, for our ideals tend to

 grow by geometrical progression, while our ability to live up to

 them is enhanced only by arithmetical progression.

 

 The sense of guilt (not the consciousness of sin) comes either

 from interrupted spiritual communion or from the lowering of

 one’s moral ideals. Deliverance from such a predicament can

 only come through the realization that one’s highest moral 

ideals are not necessarily synonymous with the will of God.

 Man cannot hope to live up to his highest ideals, but he can be

 true to his purpose of finding God and becoming more and

 more like him.

 

 Jesus swept away all of the ceremonials of sacrifice and

 atonement. He destroyed the basis of all this fictitious guilt and

 sense of isolation in the universe by declaring that man is a

 child of God; the creature-Creator relationship was placed on

 a child-parent basis. God becomes a loving Father to his

 mortal sons and daughters. All ceremonials not a legitimate

 part of such an intimate family relationship are forever

 abrogated.

 

 God the Father deals with man his child on the basis, not of

 actual virtue or worthiness, but in recognition of the child’s

 motivation — the creature purpose and intent. The

 relationship is one of parent-child association and is actuated

 by divine love.
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GOD AND SPIRIT IN THE WILDERNESS

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In the wilderness there is never this sense

of having to move, never the feeling of boredom

if nothing dramatic happens.

Time moves slowly, as it should,

for it is a part of beauty that cannot be

hurried if it is to be understood.

Without this easy flowing, life can become

empty and hectic....

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We cannot all live in the wilderness,

or even close to it, but we can, no matter

where we spend our lives, remember the

background which shaped this sense

of the eternal rhythm, remember that days,

no matter how frenzied their pace,

can be calm and unhurried, we can refuse

to be caught in the so-called rat race and

the tension, which kills God-like leisure.

Though conscious of the roar around us,

we can find peace if we remember

we all come from a common mold

 and primeval background.

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Life in the wilderness can be

a continual contemplation and communion

with God and Spirit of those values

echoing within us all,

values born of timelessness, mystery,

the great silences, and an

ancient way of life.

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Sigurd Olson (1899-1982)

American author, teacher, environmentalist

Former President of the National Parks Assoc.

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