Meditation
in The Urantia Book
(Jesus-style meditation)
By Peter
Holley
[All bold
words throughout indicate emphasis added by the author.]
Words
Change Their Meaning
The URANTIA Book tells us that Jesus
meditated – a lot! What it doesn’t say is that the word “meditation” has
evolved away from its original meaning during the years following the
revelation’s final inditing in the mid 1930s. Such evolution of words was, of
course, anticipated by the revelators, who tell us that the expression of
religion “must be restated every time the dictionary of human language is
revised” (1). Likewise the meaning of each affected teaching needs to be
renewed when necessary.
The problem with changed words
is that they can give us an altered picture if we aren’t careful. The fact that
Jesus used and taught meditation as a means to communicate with one’s Thought
Adjuster makes it vitally important for us to understand what is meant, if as The
URANTIA Book states on the last page, the “great challenge for modern man
is to achieve better communication with the divine Monitor that dwells within
the human mind.”
A dictionary contemporary with
the reception of the finalized Urantia Papers (as later originally published in
The URANTIA Book) provides the following definition of the word
“meditation”:
“… close or continued thought, the
turning or revolving of a subject in the mind, serious contemplation; mental
reflection; often specifically, thought devoted to religious subjects.” (2)
The type of “meditation” often
associated with Eastern religions which requires an altered state of
consciousness had not yet at that time migrated into the dictionary. It became
a secondary definition of “meditation” sometime after Yogi Paramhansa Yogananda
came to the West and brought about what has been called a religious revolution
with the publication of his book Autobiography of a Yogi in 1946. Yet a
look at a 1955 desk dictionary shows that the more intellectually passive type
of meditation had not even appeared by The URANTIA Book’s publication
date. Neither is it included in my 1982 “College” dictionary. Some modern
dictionaries, however, now place it as the preferred definition. The
following definition of the intransitive use of the verb is from an online
dictionary (3):
meditate:
1. A. Buddhism
& Hinduism. To train, calm, or empty the mind, often by achieving an altered state, as by
focusing on a single object.
B.
To engage in devotional contemplation, especially prayer.
2. To think or
reflect, especially in a calm and deliberate manner.
This is not to say, however,
that the Buddhism and Hinduism style of meditation was unknown in the middle
thirties in the West, or that the word “meditation” was never used to denote
it. It was, but it appears to have needed qualification. Apparently the
Buddhism and Hinduism type is what the revelators meant when they referred to
“mystic meditation” (see also “mystic trances,” “mystic communications,”
“mystic experiences,” “mystic phenomena,” “mystic communion,” “mystic status,”
and “mystical state”). The root of “mystic” is a Greek term meaning “belonging
to secret rites” or “priest of mysteries,” and the word itself in the middle of
the 1930s referred to things which were secret or obscure. The fact is that
Buddhist and Hindu meditators at that time still kept their traditional
techniques as highly guarded secrets, passing them on only to followers whom
they considered to be qualified to receive them. And their
meditative-techniques seemed even more “mystical” because they revolved around
altered consciousness and brought about – to the Western way of thinking –
extraordinary experiences. Some few Europeans living in the East had, however, submitted
to yogis or to Buddhist masters and applied themselves to their esoteric
teachings, and then, later, brought the practices back home with them.
One instance of such early,
non-dictionary-defined use is found in a then-contemporary publication that is
believed to have furnished the source for much of the Rodan material in The
URANTIA Book (4). This example which is found in the book, Issues of
Life, by Henry Nelson Wieman (5), demonstrates a need for the word
“meditation” to be modified in order to indicate something akin to the
Buddhism- and Hinduism-style technique. Wieman speaks of “a kind of
worshipful, meditative waiting, in which one quietly hearkens until the call of
the world and the deepest desire of his own heart merge into a single demand.
Waiting before the Highest,” he writes, “fosters inarticulate aspiration.” (6)
Rather than simply calling it “meditation,” as many might today, Wieman had to
coin the term “inarticulate aspiration” and link it to “a kind of worshipful,
meditative waiting.”
But what is most illustrative
by this example, however, is the fact that the revelators took Wieman’s passive
“kind of worshipful, meditative waiting” and turned it into the dynamically
active, reflective type of meditation in the above definitions, that is, the
style of meditation that Jesus used and taught. The midwayer author of Part IV
compared such deep-thinking meditators with “high-climbing souls” who
reach a “mountaintop of intellectual thought” where they can “attain
consciousness of the higher currents of spirit concept and celestial
communication.” (7). Elsewhere The URANTIA Book laments, however, that
it is “sad to record that so few persons on Urantia take delight in cultivating
these qualities of courageous and independent cosmic thinking.” (8)
Rodan
Rodan gives us what is perhaps the
best view in The URANTIA Book of the type of meditation that Jesus both
taught and practiced himself. Rodan had “become a disciple of Jesus through the
teaching of one of Abner’s associates who had conducted a mission at
Alexandria” (9). And Abner, of all of Jesus’ disciples, apparently had the best
grasp on Jesus’ teachings. At least we are told that “during the later years of
Abner and for some time thereafter, the believers at Philadelphia held more strictly
to the religion of Jesus, as he lived and taught, than any other group
on earth.” (10) In any event the Rodan material certainly was not placed in The
URANTIA Book to mislead us.
Rodan spoke of what Jesus “so
consistently practices, and which he has so faithfully taught . . . the
isolation of worshipful meditation . . . this habit of Jesus’ going off so
frequently by himself to commune with the Father in heaven.” Jesus was, Rodan
said, even as he spoke “out in the hills taking in power. . . .” (11)
Rodan went on to say that the
“secret of all this problem is wrapped up in spiritual communion, in worship.
From the human standpoint it is a question of combined meditation and
relaxation. Meditation makes the contact of mind with spirit; relaxation determines
the capacity for spiritual receptivity. And this interchange of strength for
weakness, courage for fear, the will of God for the mind of self, constitutes
worship.” (12) He observed that on “every mountaintop of intellectual thought
are to be found relaxation for the mind, strength for the soul, and communion
for the spirit.” And he indicated how the lower, egoistic thinking is to be
overcome by higher thoughts:
“From such vantage points of
high living, man is able to transcend the material irritations of the lower
levels of thinking – worry, jealousy, envy, revenge, and the pride of immature
personality. These high-climbing souls deliver themselves from a multitude of
the crosscurrent conflicts of the trifles of living, thus becoming free to
attain consciousness of the higher currents of spirit concept and celestial
communication.” (13)
The Greek
philosopher-turned-disciple added:
“When these experiences are
frequently repeated, they crystallize into habits, strength-giving and
worshipful habits, and such habits eventually formulate themselves into a
spiritual character, and such a character is finally recognized by one’s
fellows as a mature personality. These practices are difficult and
time-consuming at first, but when they become habitual, they are at once
restful and timesaving.” (14)
Notice that for Rodan the relaxation
associated with Jesus’ dynamic, thinking type of meditation is a result
of having reached the “mountaintop of intellectual thought” and “spiritual
communion” rather than being part of the means to attain it – that is, a
more or less stand-alone part of the technique – as it is in Hinduism
and Buddhism (and in auto-hypnosis).
Rodan’s most profound
statement is, “Meditation makes the contact of mind with spirit.” In other
words, spirit is contacted by the actively thinking mind. And this is entirely
consistent with what we are taught elsewhere in The URANTIA Book about
the nature of the Thought Adjusters vis a vis the mortal mind.
Thought Adjuster
We are told quite clearly and in a
number of ways that the Thought Adjusters dwell and interact within “the thinking
centers of the individual’s mind” (15):
“If one is disposed to
recognize a theoretical subconscious mind as a practical working hypothesis in
the otherwise unified intellectual life, then, to be consistent, one should
postulate a similar and corresponding realm of ascending intellectual
activity as the superconscious level, the zone of immediate contact with
the indwelling spirit entity, the Thought Adjuster.”(16)
“Human consciousness rests
gently upon the electrochemical mechanism below and delicately touches the
spirit-morontia energy system above. Of neither of these two systems is the
human being ever completely conscious in his mortal life; therefore must he
work in mind, of which he is conscious.”(17)
Notice how closely this idea
of “ascending intellectual activity” parallels Rodan’s image of meditation
being intellectual mountain climbing. Notice also that it is not the lower area
of consciousness which is involved, but the upper “spirit-morontia energy
system.”
“The chief difficulty you
experience in contacting with your Adjusters consists in [your] very inherent
material nature. So few mortals are
real thinkers; you do not spiritually develop and discipline your minds
to the point of favorable liaison with the divine Adjusters. The ear of the
human mind is almost deaf to the spiritual pleas which the Adjuster translates
from the manifold messages of the universal broadcasts of love proceeding from
the Father of mercies. The Adjuster finds it almost impossible to register
these inspiring spirit leadings in an animal mind so completely dominated by
the chemical and electrical forces inherent in your physical natures”(18)
Here the assumption is that thinking
both contacts and “hears” the Thought Adjuster, since nothing is being said
about passive “listening.” The Thought Adjusters do not speak to
our minds but must use our minds to speak for them. They do this with our own
thinking processes:
“The Thought Adjuster has no
special mechanism through which to gain self-expression; there is no mystic
religious faculty for the reception or expression of religious emotions. These
experiences are made available through the naturally ordained mechanism of
mortal mind. And therein lies one explanation of the Adjuster’s difficulty in
engaging in direct communication with the material mind of its constant
indwelling.
“The divine spirit makes
contact with mortal man, not by feelings or emotions, but in the realm of the highest
and most spiritualized thinking.” (19)
[The Thought Adjuster] ‘‘is
the higher and truly internal spiritual stimulus of thought . . . .’’
(20)
“The Adjuster is not trying to
control your thinking, as such, but rather to spiritualize it, to eternalize
it. Neither angels nor Adjusters are devoted directly to influencing human
thought; that is your exclusive personality prerogative. The Adjusters are
dedicated to improving, modifying, adjusting, and co-ordinating your
thinking processes . . . .” (21)
The divine indwellers adjust
our thinking until it speaks for them, until the content of our thoughts
coincides with higher truth and their translations of the universal broadcasts
from the Paradise Father. What we experience in the perfecting of Jesus-style
meditation is at the same time their thinking and our own! Also, Rodan likewise
spoke of the need for the mental discipline found in the frequent repetition of
the practice of worshipful, dynamic-thinking-coupled-with-relaxation, that is,
Jesus-style meditation, in order to develop the mind for spiritual
communication.
It is plain to see that in
Jesus-style meditation the “worry, jealousy, envy, revenge, and the pride of
immature personality” of which Rodan spoke are to be to be harnessed and used by us rather than being emptied from the mind at the
start as both the yogis and the Buddhists do. It is we who must take our
thoughts – as we find them – and aim them Godward. Jesus said:
“Be not constantly overanxious
about your common needs. Be not apprehensive concerning the problems of your
earthly existence, but in all these things by prayer and supplication, with the
spirit of sincere thanksgiving, let your needs be spread out before your Father
who is in heaven.” (22)
At the same time Jesus
exhorted “his believers to employ prayer as a means of leading up through
thanksgiving to true worship” (23). And Rodan speaking of these same
things wrapped up meditation, relaxation, and spiritual communion into the same
ball of wax as constituting “worship” or “worshipful meditation.” So from this
we see that there is really only a difference in degree between all of this
God-directed thought: prayer, cosmic thinking, thanksgiving, meditation, and
worship. They are like different members of a family rather than different
species. For instance, in some of its aspects meditation differs little from
prayer, and in others it is the same as worship. It may, likewise, be
productive of great outpourings of thanksgiving.
Prayer, The URANTIA Book
reveals, is the only “technique whereby every man, regardless of all other
mortal accomplishments, can so effectively and immediately approach the
threshold of that realm wherein he can communicate with his Maker, where the
creature contacts with the reality of the Creator, with the indwelling Thought
Adjuster.” (24) Also, “Prayer will lead the mortals of earth up to the
communion of true worship.” (25) But “meditation makes the contact of mind with
spirit,” and the “moment the element of self-interest intrudes upon worship,
that instant devotion translates from worship to prayer” (26) – the same is no
doubt true concerning the higher and lower aspects of Jesus-style meditation.
Its lower aspect is commonly a quest for knowledge and understanding of a
subject or problem, a factual elucidation. The higher aspect – transcendent,
worshipful meditation – is a type of self-forgetful cosmic thinking, and it is
here that knowledge and understanding, or spiritual elucidation, is likely to
be found.
“Thinking surrenders to
wisdom, and wisdom is lost in enlightened and reflective worship.” (27) –
“wisdom [is] meditative and experiential thinking” (28); “worship is
self-forgetting – superthinking.” (29)
Or restated:
“Ordinary thinking ascends to
meditative and experiential thinking, and it, in turn, transcends into
enlightened and reflective worship.”
And again:
“Why do you not aid the
Adjuster in the task of showing you the spiritual counterpart of all these
strenuous material efforts? Why do you not allow the Adjuster to strengthen you
with the spiritual truths of cosmic power while you wrestle with the temporal
difficulties of creature existence? Why do you not encourage the heavenly
helper to cheer you with the clear vision of the eternal outlook of universal
life as you gaze in perplexity at the problems of the passing hour? Why do you
refuse to be enlightened and inspired by the universe viewpoint while you toil
amidst the handicaps of time and flounder in the maze of uncertainties which
beset your mortal life journey? Why not allow the Adjuster to spiritualize
your thinking, even though your feet must tread the material paths of
earthly endeavor?” (30)
It was in this sense that
Jesus told Peter:
“Let experience teach you the
value of meditation and the power of intelligent reflection.” (31).
Also Jesus-style spiritual
meditation is an essential factor of spiritual growth:
“Habits which favor religious
growth embrace cultivated sensitivity to divine values, recognition of
religious living in others, reflective meditation on cosmic meanings,
worshipful problem solving, sharing one’s spiritual life with one’s fellows,
avoidance of selfishness, refusal to presume on divine mercy, living as in the
presence of God” (32)
Jesus Meditating
In almost every instance of examples
in The URANTIA Book wherein Jesus meditated, the context clearly shows
that he was engaged in thought (see list below). In those few in which it is
not abundantly apparent it may be assumed that he was since nowhere is any
contrary notion maintained. In fact in The URANTIA Book the meditative
doctrine of “thinking nothing” (along with “seeing” and “doing” nothing),
which was derived from the teaching by Lao T’su on “nonresistance and the distinction
which he made between action and coercion” (and which can still be found in the
teachings of Buddhism) is called “perverted” by the revelators (33). And
cultivation of the “mystical state” (or “trancelike state of visionary
consciousness”) which is described of consisting in part of a “comparatively
passive intellect” – we are warned – should be in all circumstances shunned as
a means of religious experience because it “gravitates consciousness toward the
subconscious rather than in the direction of the zone of spiritual contact”
(34), that is, toward the lower, animal level rather than the upper,
morontia-spiritual level of consciousness. Whether or not this warning speaks
directly to the meditation practices of Hindus and Buddhists is problematical (but
see below). In the final analysis it is up to the devotees of the more passive
intellect styles of meditation to make such discernments for themselves.
Personally, as a follower of Jesus, I prefer to align my meditation practices
with those of my Master and Elder Brother, Jesus of Nazareth:
1. As early as his eleventh
year Jesus engaged in “profound meditation and serious contemplation.”
The content of this mental discipline, we are told, was his “thinking
about how he was to carry out his obligations to his family and at the same
time be obedient to the call of his mission to the world.” (35)
2. When Jesus was thirteen he
visited the temple in Jerusalem for the first time. When he first saw the
throngs gathered together for Passover, he “meditated deeply on how
these Jews had assembled here from the uttermost parts of the known world.”
(36) During this visit his family stayed at Bethany and he spent “much of the
time alone in the garden meditating.” (37) And we are told that at least
some of this meditation in the garden “was concerned with the contemplation
of weighty problems.” (38)
3. In Jesus fourteenth year
“he made frequent trips to the top of the hill to the northwest of Nazareth for
prayer and meditation.” During this time he “would gaze upon
Megiddo and recall the story (thought) of the Egyptian army winning its
first great victory in Asia; and how, later on, another such army defeated the
Judean king Josiah. Not far away he could look upon Taanach, where Deborah and
Barak defeated Sisera. In the distance he could view the hills of Dothan, where
he had been taught Joseph’s brethren sold him into Egyptian slavery. He then
would shift his gaze over to Ebal and Gerizim and recount to himself (thought)
the traditions of Abraham, Jacob, and Abimelech. And thus he recalled and turned
over in his mind (thought) the historic and traditional events of his
father Joseph’s people.” (39) Notice that the revelators used almost the precise
mid-1930s definition of “meditation”: “the turning or revolving of a
subject in the mind”!
4. When Jesus was fifteen, we are
told that his “profound periods of meditation, his frequent journeys to
the hilltop for prayer, and the many strange ideas which Jesus advanced from
time to time, thoroughly alarmed his mother.” (40) And again this is directly
related to his thinking, although this is not quite as clear as in some other
examples:
“Jesus was learning not to
speak of all his thoughts, not to present all his ideas to the
world, not even to his own mother. From this year on, Jesus’ disclosures about what
was going on in his mind steadily diminished; that is, he talked less about
those things which an average person could not grasp, and which would lead to
his being regarded as peculiar or different from ordinary folks.” (41)
5. At the age of twenty-five,
Jesus’ “seasons of deep meditation were often broken into by Ruth and
her playmates.” And we are informed that the content of this deep
meditation was, again, the “contemplation of his future work for the world and
the universe” (42)
6. Immediately after Jesus’
baptism he went into the hills for forty days because “he desired to be away
for a season of quiet meditation so that he could think out the plans
and decide upon the procedures for the prosecution of his public labors in
behalf of this world and for all other worlds in his local universe.” (43)
During this period of meditation he went without food for two days because “he
was so engrossed with his thinking that he forgot all about eating”
(44). And the “results of this momentous season of meditation
demonstrated conclusively that the divine mind has triumphantly and spiritually
dominated the human intellect.” (45). And it should likewise be the goal of our
own Jesus-style meditation to identify ourselves more and more with our “divine
mind,” the mind of our Thought Adjuster, accepting its spiritualized version of
our thoughts as being our own!
7. Sometime later Jesus spent
a whole “night of meditation” on the shore of the Sea of Galilee “thinking,
thinking until the dawn of the next day” (46).
8. Whether Jesus’ season of
meditation was over a month in length, overnight, or compressed into a fleeting
moment, he was engaged in thinking: “And when Jesus had bowed his head a moment
in silent meditation, he suddenly spoke, ‘Return to your home; your son
will live.’ . . . this was not a miracle of curing physical disease. It was
merely a case of preknowledge concerning the course of natural law, just
such knowledge as Jesus frequently resorted to subsequent to his
baptism.” (47) Knowledge, of course, is indivisible from the thoughts and
concepts which contain and express it.
9. And later we see Jesus
sitting in an old boat where he “meditated on the next move to be made
in the work of extending the kingdom.” (48) Again, look at the content of his
“meditation.” It clearly implies thought.
We can be assured that in all
of these instances of meditation (at least after he was grown) Jesus was
engaged in transcendent thinking in his higher mind and/or with direct or indirect
communication with his Thought Adjuster, or as Rodan put it, his “consciousness
of the higher currents of spirit concept and celestial communication.” Jesus
meditated and came away with knowledge of the Father’s will. And so can we all!
That is Jesus-style meditation’s most obvious purpose.
Hearing God
I have pointed out that it must not
be assumed that thoughtful meditation is a one-way street. We “hear” our
Thought Adjuster’s communication within our minds by the very higher-level
thoughts with which we access the area of mind in which the Monitor indwells.
God speaks to us with what to all intents and purposes are our own thoughts:
“You are quite incapable of
distinguishing the product of your own material intellect from that of the
conjoint activities of your soul and the Adjuster.” (49)
Here is the way that Jesus’
Thought Adjuster communicated with him when he was thirteen:
“It was about the middle of
February that Jesus became humanly assured that he was destined to perform a
mission on earth for the enlightenment of man and the revelation of God.
Momentous decisions, coupled with far-reaching plans, were formulating in the
mind of this youth, who was, to outward appearances, an average Jewish lad of
Nazareth. The intelligent life of all Nebadon looked on with fascination and
amazement as all this began to unfold in the thinking and acting of the
now adolescent carpenter’s son.” (50)
We are also told that “worship
may be compared to the act of tuning in the soul to catch the universe
broadcasts of the infinite spirit of the Universal Father” (51), and
worship, as we have seen from Rodan, is part of the same ball of wax as meditation.
Worship is defined in one place in The URANTIA Book as “superthinking,”
that is, egoless or “self forgetful” thought. And again reflecting what happens
on Rodan’s “mountaintop of intellectual thought,” it is “effortless attention,
true and ideal soul rest, a form of restful spiritual exertion.” (52)
What happens is that somewhere
along the line during worshipful meditation (after sufficient practice and
personal growth – the need for this cannot be stressed enough) our own
thought-producing effort more or less ceases and that of the Adjuster mind
takes over and directs our thinking, providing a spiritualized counterpart. But
as we have seen above, what we perceive in our mind cannot be in any way
distinguished from our own thinking. It is in fact our own thinking! There is
no real difference in this sense between what happens in worshipful meditation
and what takes place during worship:
“The worship experience
consists in the sublime attempt of the betrothed Adjuster to communicate to the
divine Father the inexpressible longings
and the unutterable aspirations of the human soul – the conjoint creation
of the God-seeking mortal mind and the God-revealing immortal Adjuster. Worship
is, therefore, the act of the material mind’s assenting to the attempt of its
spiritualizing self, under the guidance of the associated spirit, to
communicate with God as a faith son of the Universal Father. The mortal mind
consents to worship; the immortal soul craves and initiates worship; the divine
Adjuster presence conducts such worship in behalf of the mortal mind and
the evolving immortal soul. True worship, in the last analysis, becomes an
experience realized on four cosmic levels: the intellectual, the
morontial, the spiritual, and the personal – the consciousness of mind, soul,
and spirit, and their unification in personality.” (53)
The distinction between
prayer, worship, and Jesus-style meditation seems to be quite fine:
“Subsequent to the baptism of Jesus
and the forty days in the Perean hills, it is hardly proper to speak of these
seasons of communion with his Father as prayer, nor is it consistent to speak
of Jesus as worshiping, but it is altogether correct to allude to these seasons
as personal communion with his Father.” (54)
And that was precisely how Rodan
defined the meditation which Jesus “so consistently practices, and which he has
so faithfully taught . . . the isolation of worshipful meditation
. . . this habit of Jesus’ going off so frequently by himself to commune
with the Father in heaven.”
“Silent Receptivity”
It is true indeed that “Jesus
taught his followers that, when they had made their prayers to the Father, they
should remain for a time in silent receptivity to afford the indwelling
spirit the better opportunity to speak to the listening soul.” (55) But in
determining its relationship to meditation we should first of all note that
this concerns a communication to the soul rather than to the conscious
mind; the latter which is, of course, the goal of meditation.
Next, we should look at the
broader context wherein Jesus taught this to his followers. At that time they
hardly knew how to pray, let alone worship or meditate. And at that time Jesus
also “deplored that so little of the
spirit of thanksgiving was to be found in the prayers and worship of his
followers.” (56) A year earlier, in January of A.D. 27, Jesus had
ordained his apostles. Six months later, in June, after Jesus teachings to them
on the nature of prayer and worship, we are told that ‘the apostles grasped
only a few of his teachings’ (57). And around September of that same year, his
apostles were still asking him for “a model prayer which they could teach the
new disciples” (58).
Three months later, in January
of A.D. 28 – one year after their apostleship had begun – the group which by
this time also contained twelve of John the Baptist’s former disciples, set out
on their first preaching tour of Galilee. When they got to Jotapata, we are
told that Nathanial expressed confusion “in his mind about the Master’s
teachings about prayer’ (59). In response to his confusion Jesus gave the long
and involved teaching in which the time of silent receptivity is to be found.
Jesus’ “followers” to whom
these teachings were directed were comprised of both his own apostles as well
as those who had been with John The Baptist, plus a number of “disciples” who
had attached themselves to the group and who were being instructed at least
partially by the various apostles, who, themselves, for the first time Jesus
permitted “to preach without restraint” (60). The unavoidable conclusion, when
looked at in its full context, is that this time of silent receptivity which
was to follow prayer was strictly meant for people who did not really
understand what prayer and worship (or thanksgiving) should actually be. We are
told that not many of his apostles “could fully encompass his teaching”
on prayer and worship at Jotapata (61), so likely the whole body of “followers”
to whom the silent receptivity teaching had been directed, understood even
less!
The statement in The
URANTIA Book which says .” ... they should remain for a time in silent
receptivity to afford the indwelling spirit the better opportunity to speak
to the listening soul,” is followed immediately by:
“The spirit of the Father
speaks best to man when the human mind is in an attitude of true worship. We
worship God by the aid of the Father’s indwelling spirit and by the
illumination of the human mind through the ministry of truth.” (62)
Thus the statement does not
stand alone but must be viewed in its relationship to worship, and by
extension, to worshipful, Jesus-style meditation. And since such instruction
requiring silent receptivity is given nowhere else in the entirety of The
URANTIA Book’s teachings, it most reasonably represents merely a stop-gap
measure which Jesus designed to hold his followers in place after they had
either recited their prayers or made totally inadequate ones. By
allowing time for the Thought Adjuster to make some sort of registration on
their soul – if only of their sincere motive to pray – unconscious growth would
follow and they would in this manner move forward toward the actual techniques
of “ethical prayer” (63), thanksgiving, worship and worshipful meditation
whereby contact with their Thought Adjuster might eventually be made. In any
event there is nothing to indicate that “silent receptivity” was meant to be
either a type of or a part of meditation.
Dangers
The “great challenge” to
communicate with one’s Thought Adjuster, which I referred to at the beginning,
demands a “well balanced and sane effort to advance the borders of
self-consciousness out through the dim realms of embryonic soul consciousness
in a wholehearted effort to reach the borderland of spirit consciousness
– contact with the divine presence.” Such balance and sanity is of primary
importance:
“When the development of the
intellectual nature proceeds faster than that of the spiritual, such a
situation renders communication with the Thought Adjuster both difficult and
dangerous. Likewise, overspiritual development tends to produce a fanatical and
perverted interpretation of the spirit leadings of the divine indweller. Lack
of spiritual capacity makes it very difficult to transmit to such a material
intellect the spiritual truths resident in the higher superconsciousness. It is
to the mind of perfect poise, housed in a body of clean habits, stabilized
neural energies, and balanced chemical function – when the physical, mental,
and spiritual powers are in triune harmony of development – that a maximum
of light and truth can be imparted with a minimum of temporal danger or risk to
the real welfare of such a being.” (64)
“Even when they do find it
possible to flash a gleam of new truth to the evolving mortal soul, this
spiritual revelation often so blinds the creature as to precipitate a convulsion
of fanaticism or to initiate some other intellectual upheaval which results
disastrously. Many a new religion and strange “ism” has arisen from the aborted,
imperfect, misunderstood, and garbled communications of the Thought
Adjusters.” (65)
Speaking of the “high-climbing
souls” who are able by Jesus-style meditation to “attain consciousness of the
higher currents of spirit concept and celestial communication,” Rodan adds:
“But the life purpose must be
jealously guarded from the temptation to seek for easy and transient
attainment; likewise must it be so fostered as to become immune to the disastrous
threats of fanaticism.”
Mainly the dangers to be
encountered during all attempts to achieve contact with the Thought Adjuster
fall into one or both of two distinct categories: “subconscious delusions or
superconscious illusions” (66). And this is because the unspiritualized or
partially-spiritualized creative imagination is such a powerful force in the mind
of individuals. Compare the following:
“Since this inner life of man
is truly creative, there rests upon each person the responsibility of choosing
as to whether this creativity shall be spontaneous and wholly haphazard or
controlled, directed, and constructive. How can a creative imagination
produce worthy children when the stage whereon it functions is already
preoccupied by prejudice, hate, fears, resentments, revenge, and bigotries?”
(67)
“Supreme and self-acting
Adjusters are often able to contribute factors of spiritual import to the human
mind when it flows freely in the liberated but controlled channels of
creative imagination.” (68)
“Most of the spectacular
phenomena associated with so-called religious conversions are entirely
psychologic in nature, but now and then there do occur experiences which are
also spiritual in origin. When the mental mobilization is absolutely total on
any level of the psychic upreach toward spirit attainment, when there exists
perfection of the human motivation of loyalties to the divine idea, then there
very often occurs a sudden down-grasp of the indwelling spirit to synchronize
with the concentrated and consecrated purpose of the superconscious mind of the
believing mortal. . . . To the extent that such psychic mobilization is
partial, and in so far as such human-loyalty motivation is incomplete, to that
extent will the experience of conversion be a blended intellectual,
emotional, and spiritual reality.” (69)
“While their mortal hosts are
asleep, the Adjusters try to register their creations in the higher levels of
the material mind, and some of your grotesque dreams indicate their
failure to make efficient contact. The absurdities of dream life not only
testify to pressure of unexpressed emotions but also bear witness to the horrible
distortion of the representations of the spiritual concepts presented by
the Adjusters. Your own passions, urges, and other innate tendencies
translate themselves into the picture and substitute their unexpressed desires
for the divine messages which the indwellers are endeavoring to put into
the psychic records during unconscious sleep.” (70)
“The great danger in
all these psychic speculations is that visions and other so-called mystic
experiences, along with extraordinary dreams, may be regarded as divine
communications to the human mind.” (71)
As an illustration of the
power of the creative imagination; children at their “dawn of creative
imagination . . . evince a tendency to converse with imaginary companions”
(72), and in adults this same creative imagination has been responsible for the
projection of gods which “are figments of the imagination, illusions of mortal
mind, distortions of false logic, and the self-deceptive idols of those who
create them.” (73) This applies not only to cultural gods, but to our private
perceptions of the divine as well.
“The philosophic elimination
of religious fear and the steady progress of science add greatly to the
mortality of false gods; and even though these casualties of man-made deities
may momentarily befog the spiritual vision, they eventually destroy that
ignorance and superstition which so long obscured the living God of eternal
love.” (74)
Unfortunately The URANTIA
Book readers’ private perception of the divine is seen in terms not only of
the Paradise Father, but as one’s Thought Adjuster. That is, the mind can
easily create, as it were, a false thought Adjuster:
“But a human being would do better
to err in rejecting an Adjuster’s expression through believing it to be a
purely human experience than to blunder into exalting a reaction of the
mortal mind to the sphere of divine dignity. . . . In varying degrees and
increasingly as you ascend the psychic circles, sometimes directly, but more
often indirectly, you do communicate with your Adjusters. But it is dangerous
to entertain the idea that every new concept originating in the human mind is
the dictation of the Adjuster. More often, in beings of your order, that
which you accept as the Adjuster’s voice is in reality the emanation of your
own intellect. This is dangerous ground, and every human being must
settle these problems for himself in accordance with his natural human wisdom
and superhuman insight.” (75)
“Mortal man has a spirit
nucleus. The mind is a personal-energy system existing around a divine spirit
nucleus and functioning in a material environment. Such a living relationship
of personal mind and spirit constitutes the universe potential of eternal
personality. Real trouble, lasting disappointment, serious defeat, or inescapable
death can come only after self-concepts presume fully to displace the
governing power of the central spirit nucleus, thereby disrupting the
cosmic scheme of personality identity.” (76)
Whatever material that has
been stored in the unconscious memory – including the teachings of The
URANTIA Book – can become the costume wherein the creative imagination
dresses up its hallucinatory subconscious delusions and superconscious
illusions:
“Altogether too much of the
uprush of the memories of the unconscious levels of the human mind has
been mistaken for divine revelations and spirit leadings,” (77)
“Certain abrupt presentations
of thoughts, conclusions, and other pictures of mind are sometimes the direct
or indirect work of the Adjuster; but far more often they are the sudden
emergence into consciousness of ideas which have been grouping themselves
together in the submerged mental levels, natural and everyday occurrences
of normal and ordinary psychic function inherent in the circuits of the
evolving animal mind.” (78)
“The human mind may perform in
response to so-called inspiration when it is sensitive either to the uprisings
of the subconscious or to the stimulus of the superconscious. In either
case it appears to the individual that such augmentations of the content of
consciousness are more or less foreign.” (79)
If these communications with
the false gods created by our minds contain the highest truths which we have
ever encountered (for instance the teachings in the Urantia Papers) they may
prove to be altogether too believable. When subconscious delusions or
superconscious illusions displace truth and are raised to the sphere of divine
dignity and are believed to be genuine spiritual communications, fanaticism –
or worse – is the likely outcome. It appears that it was for these reasons that
the warnings in The URANTIA Book were given to us.
In apparent response to these
very same illusionary/delusionary dangers, internationally recognized expert on
herbal healing, reciprocal mind-body influence, and “Integrative Medicine,”
physician-author Andrew T. Weil, writes: “Zen masters warn their meditating
students to ignore makyo-sensory distortions that often take the form of
visions seen by mystics in rapturous states or hallucinations similar to those
of schizophrenics” (80). And the Hindu Upanishads “prescribe external
and internal purity, continence, non-stealing, truthfulness, not injuring any
being either by words or deeds, [and] similar moral-ethical basic values to
achieve the state of samadhi (e.g., “a state of altered consciousness,
the state to which a person reaches or is expected to reach through spiritual
disciplines of meditation and Yoga.”) (81).”
Questioned privately,
senior-certified Iyengar yoga instructor Sam Dworkis, told me (82):
“After due deliberation, my
general response to your second email has to be simply based upon one sentence,
to wit: ‘Under no circumstances should the trancelike state of visionary
consciousness be cultivated as a religious experience.’
“When I was younger and when I
was living a much more protected lifestyle, I did experiment with the more
esoteric concepts of yoga. However now that I am older and living more
conventionally, I do not enter into esoteric practices either in personal
practice or teaching. Because my “work” is now predicated upon “maximizing
potential and minimizing liability,” and as a Westerner living in a Western
body, I must reject using yoga to push into potentially dangerous territory.
“That is not to say I believe
using yoga to alter consciousness is per se wrong, but I instead look at
its implications as a normal westerner living a relatively normal western
existence.
“That being said, if I were
again living within the environs of in a “protected ashram,” eating strictly
vegetarian, and limiting the amount of external stimulation entering my nervous
system, I might be inclined to push the boundaries of “visionary
consciousness.” However, since I am not living in such a protected environment,
it is my considered opinion that it is dangerous to push such edges. Not wrong,
but dangerous.”
The URANTIA Book appears to warn us away from this
particular altered state of consciousness altogether:
“Under no circumstances should
the trancelike state of visionary consciousness be cultivated as a religious
experience.
“The characteristics of the
mystical state are diffusion of consciousness with vivid islands of focal
attention operating on a comparatively passive intellect. All of this
gravitates consciousness toward the subconscious rather than in the direction
of the zone of spiritual contact, the superconscious. Many mystics have carried
their mental dissociation to the level of abnormal mental manifestations.” (83)
And it immediately follows
that negative warning with positive instruction on what we should do
instead:
“The more healthful attitude
of spiritual meditation is to be found in reflective worship and in the
prayer of thanksgiving.” (84)
That is, the more healthful
attitude is to be found in Jesus-style meditation!
Mysticism
For many readers, meditation in The
URANTIA Book cannot be considered apart from mysticism. In spite of the
many places that variations of the word “mystical” show up in its teachings in
a less than favorable light, the revelators clearly tell us that mysticism, “as
the technique of the cultivation of the consciousness of the presence of God,
is altogether praiseworthy” (85). How is this apparent contradiction to be
reconciled?
Notice that the passage speaks
of only one special form of mysticism, that is, “the technique of the
cultivation of the consciousness of the presence of God.” That is entirely
different from what this article has been discussing, which is primarily
meditation as a technique of communicating with one’s Thought Adjuster
(one’s indwelling fragment of God). It is quite possible to communicate with
God without a “consciousness of the presence of God,” and the act of
experiencing that presence may be outside of the realm of communication per
se. God communicates with us in our thinking processes, but we feel or
sense God’s presence.
Jesus taught that “God is
love” (86), and we are told that a “human being can actually feel – literally
experience – the full and undiminished impact of such an infinite Father’s
LOVE.” (87) In fact we are informed that such an experience may encompass the
acme of religious evolution:
“Evolutionary religion is born
of a simple and all-powerful fear, the fear which surges through the human mind
when confronted with the unknown, the inexplicable, and the incomprehensible. Religion
eventually achieves the profoundly simple realization of an all-powerful love,
the love which sweeps irresistibly through the human soul when awakened to the
conception of the limitless affection of the Universal Father for the sons of
the universe. But in between the beginning and the consummation of
religious evolution, there intervene the long ages of the shamans, who presume
to stand between man and God as intermediaries, interpreters, and intercessors.”
(88)
And if The URANTIA Book gives
us a technique for attaining to this divine, experiential love, it is likely to
be compressed in the following:
“When men search for God, they
are searching for everything. When they find God, they have found everything.
The search for God is the unstinted bestowal of love attended by amazing
discoveries of new and greater love to be bestowed.
“All true love is from God,
and man receives the divine affection as he himself bestows this love upon his
fellows. Love is dynamic. It can never be captured; it is alive, free,
thrilling, and always moving. Man can never take the love of the Father and
imprison it within his heart. The Father’s love can become real to mortal man
only by passing through that man’s personality as he in turn bestows this love
upon his fellows.” (89.)
There may be other ways of
experiencing a consciousness of the presence of God, but we should not – again
– in attempting to cultivate this experience mistake what is human for that
which is divine. The scientific investigations of Michael Persinger have
demonstrated that when magnetic “fields are applied to the right hemisphere
(particularly the parietal/temporal regions) the most typical experience is
that of a sensed presence, or entity.” Persinger remarks that the subjective
“details of the experience are strongly determined by the person’s beliefs
which are supplied by the culture,” that is, a Buddhist will experience the
presence of Buddha, and a Christian will experience the presence of Jesus or
God, and so forth. Persinger adds, there “are also likely to be many different
stimuli that can evoke the same or [a] similar electromagnetic pattern and
hence experience. Our experimental procedure is one method.” (90) In all
likelihood this experience is entirely a “reaction of the mortal mind,” or more
particularly of the brain, to various stimuli, and we would do well either to
ignore it or to believe it to be of human origin. Thus, “the steady progress of
science add[s] greatly to the mortality of false gods.”
Neither, in attempting the
praiseworthy cultivation of this mystical experience, should we forget the
warning against employing the “trancelike state of visionary consciousness.”
That prohibition applies in every circumstance, not just in “meditation”
per se. Likewise we are to avoid “such things as: physical fatigue,
fasting, psychic dissociation [apparently the primary factor in initiating
yogic and Buddhist meditation], profound aesthetic experiences, vivid sex
impulses, fear, anxiety, rage, and wild dancing,” (91) which are said to
initiate the “mystic” state, some of which are used by religionists to attain
an altered consciousness, and all of which The URANTIA Book implies are
dangerous to some degree.
Altogether praiseworthy or
not, The URANTIA Book adds that “when such practices lead to social isolation
[such as, perhaps, living in an ashram or monastery] and culminate in religious
fanaticism, they are all but reprehensible.” And elsewhere:
“There is great danger
associated with the habitual practice of religious daydreaming; mysticism may
become a technique of reality avoidance, albeit it has sometimes been a means
of genuine spiritual communion. Short seasons of retreat from the busy scenes
of life may not be seriously dangerous, but prolonged isolation of personality
is most undesirable.” (92)
But the word “mysticism”
itself, as defined circa 1934, included “a view or tendency in religion which
implies a direct communication between God and man through the inward
perception of the mind,” and that is almost a definition of Jesus-style
meditation. And according to Rodan it is “a means of genuine spiritual
communion”:
“These high-climbing souls
deliver themselves from a multitude of the crosscurrent conflicts of the
trifles of living, thus becoming free to attain consciousness of the higher
currents of spirit concept and celestial communication.”
Growth and Service
Jesus-style meditation in
conjunction with prayer, thanksgiving and worship seems to be the safest technique
for achieving the goal of Thought Adjuster communication. First of all it does
NOT require an altered state of consciousness. And, next, it is in no way a
short-cut method, – or as Rodan put it, an “easy and transient attainment” –
depending as it does first and foremost upon growth. Not only does habitual
Jesus-style meditation “favor religious growth” (see above), but “genuine
prayer adds to spiritual growth, modifies attitudes, and yields that
satisfaction which comes from communion with divinity.” (93) It appears to be
only with Jesus-style meditation (including prayer and worship), operating in a
circular (more accurately, an upwardly-directed spiral-like), hand-in-hand,
feedback relationship with spiritual growth, that Thought Adjuster
communication can be achieved in a healthful, sane and well-balanced manner:
“The Adjusters are always near
you and of you, but rarely can they speak directly, as another being, to you.
Circle by circle your intellectual decisions, moral choosings, and spiritual
development add to the ability of the Adjuster to function in your mind; circle
by circle you thereby ascend from the lower stages of Adjuster association
and mind attunement, so that the Adjuster is increasingly enabled to register
his picturizations of destiny with
augmenting vividness and conviction upon the evolving consciousness of this
God-seeking mind-soul.” (94)
But there is an additional factor
which is equally necessary that must be added to meditation and growth (or
without which balanced growth is impossible). And that is service:
“The contact of the mortal
mind with its indwelling Adjuster, while often favored by devoted meditation,
is more frequently facilitated by wholehearted and loving service in
unselfish ministry to one’s fellow creatures. . . . Jesus often took his
apostles away by themselves for short periods to engage in meditation and
prayer, but for the most part he kept them in service-contact with the
multitudes. The soul of man requires spiritual exercise as well as spiritual
nourishment.” (95.)
In Conclusion
Although the meaning of the
word “meditation” has changed in the decades since The URANTIA Book was
indited, a study of the context in which the word appears keeps the meaning
clear and unmistakable. Jesus used active, dynamic thought to contact and
communicate with his Thought Adjuster, and he taught this method to his
followers. This form of meditation is not without its dangers and disciplines,
and those of us who follow Jesus today will do well to take heed of both the
instructions and warnings given in The URANTIA Book concerning
Jesus-style meditation, and for all other forms of meditation or mysticism
which we may choose to practice as well.
In this matter, as in most, we
cannot go too wrong if we keep our eyes on Jesus:
“To “follow Jesus” means to
personally share his religious faith and to enter into the spirit of the
Master’s life of unselfish service for man. One of the most important things in
human living is to find out what Jesus believed, to discover his ideals, and to
strive for the achievement of his exalted life purpose. Of all human knowledge,
that which is of greatest value is to know the religious life of Jesus and how
he lived it.” (96.)