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The Spirituality Content of the Urantia Papers.
In the not too far distant future there will come a time when much of The Urantia Book will have become outdated. This will be because of the outdated-ness of much of its science as well as considerable portions of the historical content, including its biblical material.
There can now be little doubt that the revelators anticipated this. Throughout the book there is scattered a huge amount of material that relates directly to things of spiritual value. In fact there is so much in this category that we are forced to speculate on whether the main function of the Urantia Papers is to divert our attention from the material and the secular to, "things of the spirit."
That this is factually so is illustrated by:
"Only those human experiences which were of spiritual value are common possessions of the surviving mortal and the returning Adjuster and hence are immediately remembered subsequent to mortal survival." (451) Think about that!!
So what is spirituality?
Despite a large number of references to "spirituality" and "spiritual value," in the Urantia Papers, nowhere do these Papers provide an exact definition of such terms. Among the best we are given is:
"Everything we do that is good contributes to the enhancement of the afterlife," combined with statements such as "only those human experiences of spiritual value," survive--"your past life and its memories having neither spiritual meaning nor morontia value, will perish with the material brain" (pp. 451,1235).
Thus, we can take spiritual value to mean "that which is good." Other relevant statements are:
Spirituality is the indicator of one's nearness to God and the measure of one's usefulness to our 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 our capacity thereof and is directly proportional to the elimination of the selfish qualities of love. (from p.1096)
Actual spiritual status is the measure of Deity attainment, attunement to the indwelling Spirit of God. The achievement of finality of spirituality is equivalent to the attainment of the maximum of reality, the maximum of Godlikeness. (from p.1096)
From which we conclude: Spirituality is what God is--and is measurable by our nearness to God, our God-likeness.
The Universal Father
First and last--eternally--the infinite God is a Father. God is a Father in the highest possible sense of that term. He is eternally motivated by the perfect idealism of divine love and tender nature that finds its strongest expression and greatest satisfaction in loving and being loved.
Selflessness is inherent in parental love. God loves not like a father but as a father.
The First Father is universal spirit, eternal truth, infinite reality, and father personality--a transcendent reality. But God is even more. He is a saving person and a loving Father to all who enjoy spiritual peace on Earth, and who crave to experience personality survival in death.
The existence of God is utterly beyond all possibility of demonstration, except for the God-consciousness of the human mind and the presence of the God-Spirit that indwells the mortal intellect--and is bestowed as the free gift of the Universal Father. It is not there by right of possession, but it is designed to be so for all those who choose to survive the mortal existence.
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