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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THE EUROPEAN DARK AGES

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From THE URANTIA BOOK

Part IV, 195, 4

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The church, being an adjunct to society and the ally of politics, was doomed to share in the intellectual and spiritual decline of the so-called European “dark ages.” During this time, religion became more and more monasticized, asceticized, and legalized. In a spiritual sense, Christianity was hibernating. Throughout this period there existed, alongside this slumbering and secularized religion, a continuous stream of mysticism, a fantastic spiritual experience bordering on unreality and philosophically akin to pantheism.

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 During these dark and despairing centuries, religion became virtually secondhanded again. The individual was almost lost before the overshadowing authority, tradition, and dictation of the church. A new spiritual menace arose in the creation of a galaxy of “saints” who were assumed to have special influence at the divine courts, and who, therefore, if effectively appealed to, would be able to intercede in man’s behalf before the Gods.

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 But Christianity was sufficiently socialized and paganized that, while it was impotent to stay the oncoming dark ages, it was the better prepared to survive this long period of moral darkness and spiritual stagnation. And it did persist on through the long night of Western civilization and was still functioning as a moral influence in the world when the renaissance dawned.

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The rehabilitation of Christianity, following the passing of the dark ages, resulted in bringing into existence numerous sects of the Christian teachings, beliefs suited to special intellectual, emotional, and spiritual types of human personality. And many of these special Christian groups, or religious families, still persist at the time of the making of this presentation.

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 Christianity exhibits a history of having originated out of the unintended transformation of the religion of Jesus into a religion about Jesus. It further presents the history of having experienced Hellenization, paganization, secularization, institutionalization, intellectual deterioration, spiritual decadence, moral hibernation, threatened extinction, later rejuvenation, fragmentation, and more recent relative rehabilitation. Such a pedigree is indicative of inherent vitality and the possession of vast recuperative resources. And this same Christianity is now present in the civilized world of Occidental peoples and stands face to face with a struggle for existence which is even more ominous than those eventful crises which have characterized its past battles for dominance.

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 Religion is now confronted by the challenge of a new age of scientific minds and materialistic tendencies. In this gigantic struggle between the secular and the spiritual, the religion of Jesus will eventually triumph.

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Yeah can you hear the call

 in our rambling land sufferations,

That can expand beyond all hope of light

 and plunge us into unrelenting night
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A pall on truth and reason,

It feels like hunting season

So avoid those lines of sight and we'll set this right
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Welcome to the new dark ages

I hope you're living right

These are the new dark ages

And the world might end tonight
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Now come ye children one and all - let's heed Ezekiel's call,

And bide until the word is good and ripe and get plucked clean out of sight
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The world will be erased our kin will be

Immaculate ejaculate in space

Before the kind of king's love, he'll snatch us

From above, brothers help me sing it
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Welcome to the new dark ages

I hope you're living right

These are the new dark ages

And the world might end tonight
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So how do you sleep

There's nothing to keep

This is deep

Because we're animals - with golden rules

Who... who can't be moved by rational views
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Welcome to the new dark ages

I hope you're living right

Welcome to the new dark ages

And the world might end tonight

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THE ECO CRISIS IS A RELIGIOUS CRISIS

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Here is a simple question for people of faith.

If you love God, then should you love what he made?

In theory the answer to this question should be yes. But in reality, we Christians recite the words of scripture more easily than we live them. The statistics are sobering: 17.3% of Kentuckians live in poverty. Of the 221,000 children among them, 13% are homeless. The United States has approximately 4.5% of the global population, but consumes 43% of the all the gasoline refined in the world, produces 25% of all greenhouse gas emissions, and consumes a third of all the electricity. In fact, we in the U.S. consume 25% of every single thing made in the world.
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The heavens declare the glory of God;
 the skies proclaim the work of his hands.

(Psalms 19:1)
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.Yet we fill these skies with 123 million tons of carbon monoxide, lead, nitrogen oxides, volatile organic compounds, particular matter and sulfur dioxide every year. Global climate change is upon us, as the temperature has risen 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit since 1880 and is increasing at an unprecedented rate.
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.You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.

(Isaiah 55:10)
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..Yet we blow up these mountains for cheap coal,impacting a land area the size of Rhode Island. Each year a land base about the size of Panama is deforested.
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The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world,
and all who live in it
(Psalms 24:1)
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But species are becoming endangered at a rate approximately 1000 times higher than in previous history. Locally, humans activity will cost Kentucky its hemlocks, ashes, walnuts, and a host of other species.
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.It is obvious that God’s creation is sick and dying,

and that human beings are largely responsible. What role does religion or Church have in creating this situation? A reasonable question, since many people who read scripture base their treatment of creation on Genesis 1. They take this scripture to mean that humans are permitted unfettered dominion over all creation.
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This question is not new.

It was first raised in the late 1960’s at the birth
 of one of the greatest environmental awakenings this country has ever seen. It was Lynn White Jr.’s publication of, “The Historical Roots of Our Ecological Crisis” in Science that started much of the current frenzy. He stated that “We are superior to nature, contemptuous of it, willing to use it for our slightest whim … Both our present science and our present technology are so tinctured with orthodox Christian arrogance towards nature that no solution can be expected from them alone.”
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 This was followed in 1969 by an even stronger statement
 by Ian McHarg in his book Design With Nature: ”’have dominion’”
over all living things (Genesis 1:26,28) is one text of compounded horror which will guarantee that the relationship of man to nature can only be destruction, which will atrophy any creative skill … this will explain all of the despoliation accomplished by western man for at least these 2000 years … The Genesis story in its insistence upon dominion and subjugation of nature, encourages the most exploitative and destructive instincts in man, rather than those that are deferential and creative … God’s affirmation about man’s dominion was a declaration of war on nature.”
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.So, is religion in fact responsible

for our current eco-crisis?

The answer might surprise you.

The first study to really examine this question, although it was not explicitly designed to do so, was performed by Yale biologists Steve Kellert and Joyce Berry. This was one of the largest social science studies ever conducted, with a sample size in the thousands. They found that those with the highest attendance at religious services had the lowest concern for the environment, and those who attend religious services the most frequently had the most dominionistic and utilitarian attitudes about Creation. This was the first pivotal study that provided evidence in support of Lynn White Jr.’s thesis that religion or church is largely responsible for our present eco-crisis.
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In the past two decades, a number of scholars have begun to examine this question in more detail. They found that religion is in fact a big part of the problem. Papers published in social science, religion, and political science report general support for the thesis. A closer examination of the evidence, however, shows that this tendency of religious people to exploit nature is more nuanced than was originally thought. In fact, when various faith traditions are examined side by side, it appears that those interpreting scripture more literally generally hold a more dominionistic concept of the environment and nature.
Those who interpret scripture as the inspired word of God,
 but less literally, have more moderate views. However, in all the
 reported literature, people of faith always fall far short in their concerns for the environment compared to people who practice or profess no faith.
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James Watt, Interior Secretary under President Ronald Reagan, illustrates the fundamentalist view and its impact on environmental stewardship. Mr. Watt was an avowed fundamentalist Christian, and also a strict free-market capitalist. His record on environmental conservation was absolutely abysmal. What was his thinking? He believed that since earth will pass away shortly, it matters little what destruction we cause in this short time before we are taken up in the rapture. Therefore it made sense to him that environmental regulations should be removed, lest they constrict individual freedom to participate in the market.
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Dr. Thomas Barnes
Professor of Forestry
University of Kentucky.
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PRAYERS FOR DEPRESSION

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Prayer When You Are Depressed
By: Dr. Walter L. Weston

God, life seems so bleak and useless right now.

I don't have any energy. I have no ambition to do much of anything. I am really feeling down. I feel "down on" myself and "down on" everyone around me. Even as I pray, I don't sense your presence. I am going through the motions, knowing that you are still with me.

I know that I am sacred and precious but they are

just words right now.

I know that my life has been worthwhile,

full of many wonderful people and experiences, much happiness and joy. I feel little of this right now. God, all I can do is affirm the goodness of life and try to hold on until the darkness is replaced

by your light and love.

Help me to spot the lies that my depressed emotions are telling me.

Life is good. I am good. You are good. Grant me hope. My loved ones love me. Life will be beautiful again. Soon, I will see the beauty around me again. Soon, I will again know vitality and purpose, happiness and love. Until then, give me the strength and hope to survive this day.

Help me to smile and laugh, even if just for a moment.

Be my strength and salvation. I ask you to restore me and make me whole. Fill me with the Word and the Spirit that I might be recreated anew. I praise and thank you. Amen.

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Psalm 143.7-11

Come quickly, Lord, and answer me,
for my depression deepens.
Don’t turn away from me,
or I will die.
Let me hear of your unfailing love each morning,
for I am trusting you.
Show me where to walk,
for I give myself to you.
Rescue me from my enemies, Lord;
I run to you to hide me.
Teach me to do your will,
for you are my God.
May your gracious Spirit lead me forward
on a firm footing.
For the glory of your name, O Lord, preserve my life.
Because of your faithfulness, bring me out of this distress.

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For lots more info go to:
http://www.holistic-online.com/Remedies/Depression/dep_home.htm

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SPIRITUAL GROWTH

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Spiritual development depends, first, on the maintenance of a living spiritual connection with true spiritual forces and, second, on the continuous bearing of spiritual fruit: yielding the ministry to one’s fellows of that which has been received from one’s spiritual benefactors. Spiritual progress is predicated on intellectual recognition of spiritual poverty coupled with the self-consciousness of perfection-hunger, the desire to know God and be like him, the wholehearted purpose to do the will of the Father in heaven.

Spiritual growth is first an awakening to needs, next a discernment of meanings, and then a discovery of values. The evidence of true spiritual development consists in the exhibition of a human personality motivated by love, activated by unselfish ministry, and dominated by the wholehearted worship of the perfection ideals of divinity. And this entire experience constitutes the reality of religion as contrasted with mere theological beliefs.

Religion can progress to that level of experience whereon it becomes an enlightened and wise technique of spiritual reaction to the universe. Such a glorified religion can function on three levels of human personality: the intellectual, the morontial, and the spiritual; upon the mind, in the evolving soul, and with the indwelling spirit.

Spirituality becomes at once the indicator of one’s nearness to God and the measure of one’s usefulness to fellow beings. Spirituality enhances the ability to discover beauty in things, recognize truth in meanings, and discover goodness in values. Spiritual development is determined by capacity therefor and is directly proportional to the elimination of the selfish qualities of love.

Actual spiritual status is the measure of Deity attainment, Adjuster attunement. The achievement of finality of spirituality is equivalent to the attainment of the maximum of reality, the maximum of Godlikeness. Eternal life is the endless quest for infinite values.

The goal of human self-realization should be spiritual, not material. The only realities worth striving for are divine, spiritual, and eternal. Mortal man is entitled to the enjoyment of physical pleasures and to the satisfaction of human affections; he is benefited by loyalty to human associations and temporal institutions; but these are not the eternal foundations upon which to build the immortal personality which must transcend space, vanquish time, and achieve the eternal destiny of divine perfection and finaliter service.

Jesus portrayed the profound surety of the God-knowing mortal when he said: “To a God-knowing kingdom believer, what does it matter if all things earthly crash?” Temporal securities are vulnerable, but spiritual sureties are impregnable. When the flood tides of human adversity, selfishness, cruelty, hate, malice, and jealousy beat about the mortal soul, you may rest in the assurance that there is one inner bastion, the citadel of the spirit, which is absolutely unassailable; at least this is true of every human being who has dedicated the keeping of his soul to the indwelling spirit of the eternal God.

After such spiritual attainment, whether secured by gradual growth or specific crisis, there occurs a new orientation of personality as well as the development of a new standard of values. Such spirit-born individuals are so remotivated in life that they can calmly stand by while their fondest ambitions perish and their keenest hopes crash; they positively know that such catastrophes are but the redirecting cataclysms which wreck one’s temporal creations preliminary to the rearing of the more noble and enduring realities of a new and more sublime level of universe attainment.

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From THE URANTIA BOOK - III, 100, 2

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SPIRIT LIFE

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I was raised to believe in a spirit world,

that life exists before earth and will continue

to exist afterward, that each human being,

bird and bulrush, along with all other

life forms had a spirit life before it came

to dwell physically on the earth.

Each occupied an assigned sphere of influence,

each had a place and a purpose.

It made sense to a child.

And if the natural world was assigned

spiritual values, then those days spent in

the wilderness were sacred.

We learned at an early age that

God can be found wherever you are,

especially outside.

Family worship was not just relegated

to Sunday in a chapel.

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Terry Tempest Williams

American Author and Naturalist

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