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On Growing Spiritually.
"The goal of human self-realization should be spiritual, not material. The only realities worth striving for are divine, spiritual, and eternal." (1096)
The Urantia Papers are strong on spiritual meanings and values. They tell us our soul is built from experiences having spiritual meaning and value that occur in the course of our earthly life, and that: "The Thought Adjuster will recall and rehearse for you only those memories and experiences which are a part of, and essential to, your universe career….But much of your past life and its memories, having neither spiritual meaning nor morontia value, will perish with the material brain;"
Meanings and values, as used in the Papers, may be associated with words such as religious, supreme, and even divine. But when it comes to nailing down exactly what is meant by this terminology, we find we are faced with real difficulties.
It may be that these terms are indefinable outside of the event or occasion in which they actually occur. A similar situation has been recognized regarding what constitutes a moral act.
Each such act is unique; the exact circumstances under which it occurs will never be repeated. Hence, any attempt to provide a precise definition of morality is an impossible task.
Although the Urantia Papers inform us the only realities worth striving for are "divine, spiritual, and eternal," if we set out to define what is meant by spiritual meanings and values, even after scouring the Papers and the hundreds of relevant references, the most likely result is that we will come away empty handed.
So is there a way to put meat on the bones of these undefined terms? Fortunately the answer is yes. We can find it on page 1096:
"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 therefore and is directly proportional to the elimination of the selfish qualities of love."
Whereas the concepts of truth, beauty, love and goodness defy exact definability, the declaration that our spiritual development is dependent on the elimination of selfishness provides something having substance for us to work on.
Those words "directly proportional" are from standard mathematical terminology. In their present context they mean that if we can double the unselfish qualities of our love then we automatically double our spiritual development. Likewise if we can halve the selfish qualities we also double our spiritual development.
So working upon the elimination of selfishness from our very being and striving for unselfishness in all our relationships can do amazing things for both our spiritual development and the growth of our souls.
In fact, for most of us, these may come close to being the only areas that we can consciously work upon to advance our spiritual development. And if we consciously and sincerely make it into a joint venture with our Thought Adjuster, amazing results are absolutely assured.
Eliminating selfish qualities, such as egoism, vanity, and selfishness itself, from our nature is not exclusive as a means of advancing soul growth. The unceasing activities of our Thought Adjusters are always at work at subconscious levels, striving to redirect the effects of evolutionary animal behavioral responses that are now inappropriate for potential spiritual beings.
But at the conscious level of eliminating selfishness from our nature, the task is linked to free will decisions that must be our own. And it is concrete--something that we can really get our teeth into.
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