In The Urantia Book, Jesus talks about the differences between a religion of the mind and a religion of the spirit. Whereas the religion of the mind compels one to accept precepts and ideas imposed on you by others – where eventually dogma becomes a tool to force everyone in compliance. Religion of the spirit is an individual exploration for Divine Truth ... the search for God.
Please keep in mind that Spiritist mediums tell us that a high spirit did not dictate The Urantia Book, but I do feel that some valid points were made, even though many of the concepts of the spirit universe and the history of the world may not be correct.
Religion of the Mind
Jesus, as represented in The Urantia Book, begins the discussion with the effect of the current (Jewish thinking at the time of Christ) dogma upon his apostles and the very people they are attempting to convert:
“You have come out from among those of your fellows who choose to remain satisfied with a religion of mind, who crave security and prefer conformity. You have elected to exchange your feelings of authoritative certainty for the assurances of the spirit of adventurous and progressive faith. You have dared to protest against the grueling bondage of institutional religion and to reject the authority of the traditions of record which are now regarded as the word of God. Our Father did indeed speak through Moses, Elijah, Isaiah, Amos, and Hosea, but he did not cease to minister words of truth to the world when these prophets of old made an end of their utterances. My Father is no respecter of races or generations in that the word of truth is vouchsafed one age and withheld from another. Commit not the folly of calling that divine which is wholly human, and fail not to discern the words of truth which come not through the traditional oracles of supposed inspiration.”[i]
Jesus is telling us the inherent danger in organized religion; it fossilizes thinking – no new ideas are allowed to disturb the old order. Even worse, for those who accept what is delivered to them by the priestly class, is a kind of intellectual stupor – you know what has been told to you and there is nothing more to learn. Any new data is labeled heresy.
The nature of the human tribe is to enforce conformity and to either shame, punish, or banish those who do not fall in line. Hence, we have static religions in which any new concept is met with absolute resistance. In the past, and even now, wars have been fought, and people have died, just because of a different approach to God.
Jesus acknowledges that there have been prophets, but we should not confuse their bringing information from the spirit world with categorizing the message as a Divine Commandment. The message from the spirit world to the prophet was pertinent to the prophet, given his or her culture and level of technological advancement at the time.
Spiritism tells us the same. Humans can only decipher what is given to them according to their base of knowledge. Hence, we are only told what is possible for us to comprehend. It is the same concept where an adult would not attempt to lecture about calculus to a first grader.
Spiritism states that we should not take the Bible literally. Only the messages of love, charity, and fraternity are eternal. The spirit realm has been gradually modifying communications to humans on earth as they progress.
Religion of the Spirit
Instead of religion of the mind, Jesus introduces the concept of religion of the spirit:
“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.
Your religion shall change from the mere intellectual belief in traditional authority to the actual experience of that living faith which is able to grasp the reality of God and all that relates to the divine spirit of the Father. The religion of the mind ties you hopelessly to the past; the religion of the spirit consists in progressive revelation and ever beckons you on toward higher and holier achievements in spiritual ideals and eternal realities.
While the religion of authority may impart a present feeling of settled security, you pay for such a transient satisfaction the price of the loss of your spiritual freedom and religious liberty. My Father does not require of you as the price of entering the kingdom of heaven that you should force yourself to subscribe to a belief in things which are spiritually repugnant, unholy, and untruthful. It is not required of you that your own sense of mercy, justice, and truth should be outraged by submission to an outworn system of religious forms and ceremonies. The religion of the spirit leaves you forever free to follow the truth wherever the leadings of the spirit may take you. And who can judge – perhaps this spirit may have something to impart to this generation which other generations have refused to hear?”[ii]
How refreshing! What Jesus was recorded as saying in The Urantia Book, “My Father does not require of you as the price of entering the kingdom of heaven that you should force yourself to subscribe to a belief in things which are spiritually repugnant, unholy, and untruthful.”[iii] - is exactly what Spiritism exhorts us to do.
As an example, in The Spirits Book we are told marriage is between two spirits (no mention of between a male and a female), and then in Question 202:
202. Does a spirit, when existing in the spirit-world prefer to be incarnated as a man or a woman?
“That point in regard to which a spirit is indifferent, and which is always decided in view of the trials which he has to undergo in his new corporeal life.”[iv]
Hence, a spirit may incarnate as a male or a female, depending on the trials that the spirit desired, or was assigned, to live through in their life on earth. And, since marriage is between two spirits, a marriage is composed of two humans. The Spirits Book was codified, from communications from many spirits via mediums, in the 1850s, by Allan Kardec. This was a very advanced concept for that time.
In fact, there was more to offend the religious class of that day:
940. Is not the lack of sympathy between persons destined to live together also a source of sorrow, and one that is all the more bitter because it poisons an entire existence?
“Very bitter it is, undoubtedly; but it is usually a misfortune of your own causing. In the first place, your laws are at fault; for how can you suppose that those who dislike one another can be intended by God to live together?”[v]
Therefore, the rejection of any type of divorce in the 19th century was called into question by a message from the Spirit of Truth. No wonder the Catholic Church burned The Spirits Book!
To Be Born Again
The quest for God, via religion of the spirit, is the true meaning of being born again. It is the metamorphosis of casting off the search for material pleasures and a false moral certitude to begin to experience the intellectual ecstasy of spiritual discovery. It is the repudiation of what you know to be wrong, incorrect, or against the dictates of your conscience.
Your conscience, that gift from God, is with you in life after life, it is always present and will signal to you when an act is wrong. Religion of the spirit entails learning to follow your conscience, to not rationalize a wrong deed, but do right in the face of pressure.
Jesus provides the outcome for the earth, when we learn to be truly born again:
“Human unity and mortal brotherhood can be achieved only by and through the super endowment of the religion of the spirit. Racial minds may differ, but all mankind is indwelt by the same divine and eternal spirit. The hope of human brotherhood can only be realized when, and as, the divergent mind religions of authority become impregnated with, and overshadowed by, the unifying and ennobling religion of the spirit – the religion of personal spiritual experience.
The religions of authority can only divide men and set them in conscientious array against each other; the religion of the spirit will progressively draw men together and cause them to become understandingly sympathetic with one another. The religions of authority require of men uniformity in belief, but this is impossible of realization in the present state of the world. The religion of the spirit requires only unity of experience – uniformity of destiny – making full allowance for diversity of belief. The religion of the spirit requires only uniformity of insight, not uniformity of viewpoint and outlook. The religion of the spirit does not demand uniformity of intellectual views, only unity of spirit feeling. The religions of authority crystallize into lifeless creeds; the religion of the spirit grows into the increasing joy and liberty of ennobling deeds of loving service and merciful ministration.”[vi]
As we each, individually, find our own path to believe in God and the spirit world, our discoveries will connect us to others who have glimpsed the universe of love. We shall learn to love, to understand the trials of others, and do our best to sympathize with difficult episodes of life.
Jesus lays out how we should approach the road to discovery:
“You must cease to seek for the word of God only on the pages of the olden records of theologic authority. Those who are born of the spirit of God shall henceforth discern the word of God regardless of whence it appears to take origin. Divine truth must not be discounted because the channel of its bestowal is apparently human. 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.
When you once begin to find God in your soul, presently you will begin to discover him in other men’s souls and eventually in all the creatures and creations of a mighty universe. But what chance does the Father have to appear as a God of supreme loyalties and divine ideals in the souls of men who give little or no time to the thoughtful contemplation of such eternal realities? While the mind is not the seat of the spiritual nature, it is indeed the gateway thereto.
But do not make the mistake of trying to prove to other men that you have found God; you cannot consciously produce such valid proof, albeit there are two positive and powerful demonstrations of the fact that you are God-knowing, and they are:
1. The fruits of the spirit of God showing forth in your daily routine life.
2. The fact that your entire life plan furnishes positive proof that you have unreservedly risked everything you are and have on the adventure of survival after death in the pursuit of the hope of finding the God of eternity, whose presence you have foretasted in time.”[vii]
I took my first step toward my own discovery with the realization that I did indeed have a life plan. Only when future events were identified in the most exact detail and they came true – against all of my expectations – was my whole outlook on life derailed and I was forced to search for a higher authority. Only then, did I commence my search.
I didn’t have the presence of mind to follow the path of spiritual simplicity, instead I was presented with an impossibility that had to have an explanation … a cause not based upon our physical universe.
Now, after feeling the presence of my spirit mentors, I am more capable of actually sensing the presence of God and the wonderments of their love and constant assistance.
I still question everything. Spiritism wishes our spiritual quotient to be based upon reason; our own accumulation of evidence. But the answer keeps returning to the fact that we are loved and guided by the spirit realm, and all of this is possible by the atmosphere of love emanating from God.
To learn about Spiritism and what it tells us about our many physical lives and what is heaven like, read my book Spiritism - Everything is Connected.
[i] Urantia Foundation., The Urantia Book, Urantia Foundation, p. 1731
[ii] Urantia Foundation., The Urantia Book, Urantia Foundation, p. 1731
[iii] Urantia Foundation., The Urantia Book, Urantia Foundation, p. 1731
[iv] Kardec, A., The Spirits Book, White Crow Books, Question 202
[v] Kardec, A., The Spirits Book, White Crow Books, Question 940
[vi] Urantia Foundation., The Urantia Book, Urantia Foundation, p. 1732
[vii] Urantia Foundation., The Urantia Book, Urantia Foundation, p. 1733