A Revelation of Cosmic Evolution
For the last decade EnlightenNext magazine has been heralding the arrival of a new and important development in contemporary spirituality, one that marries evolution and spirit in an integral vision of the holy life. We call it evolutionary spirituality. Still in formation, evolutionary spirituality is a growing cultural current with many shapes and flavors. And it also has many tributaries—it has been influenced by fields as diverse as cosmology, biology, psychology, evolutionary philosophy, and esoteric mysticism.
“Esoteric evolutionists” is the phrase we use in reference to the individuals whose work makes up the latter tributary. People like Rudolf Steiner, Dane Rudhyar, P.D. Ouspensky, and the Theosophists understood evolution as a process that unfolds according to secret metaphysical laws, blueprints, or archetypes hidden in the universe and in the workings of consciousness itself. Often surprising, sometimes entertaining, always original, the esoteric evolutionists straddle that line somewhere between pre-modern and postmodern, cosmic and crazy, and have been enormously influential in shaping our postmodern spiritual culture. Even the phrase “evolution of consciousness” was, until recently, most widely associated with the esoteric evolutionists.
Guest blogger Byron Belitsos
–The Editors
A Revelation of Cosmic Evolution
Purported to be a modern revelation to humankind, The Urantia Book comes across at first glance as a futuristic encyclopedia of spirituality, history, philosophy, science, and metaphysics—all framed within a striking evolutionary and integral cosmology. The book’s 2,097 pages of teachings are vast in scope, depicting, for example:
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• a “prime directive”: the evolutionary imperative that rules space-time reality
• eternal life: a detailed guide to the soul’s evolution after death
• the unique self: why each human personality is unique in all eternity
• the divine indwelling: each of us has a pure spark of God within
• cosmic history: a “revelatory” history of our planet (whose name is “Urantia”)
• the Integral Absolute: the unity of evolutionary and existential (perfect) realities
For me, the Urantia text has long served me as an integral guide to evolutionary cosmic reality. At times it has served me by taking on the role of a postmodern sacred text (especially just after I first stumbled upon it in 1974), but over these 36 years, The Urantia Book has always for me been an indispensable philosophic/cosmic reference text. For example, it was the integral philosophy of the Urantia revelation that—in the mid-1990s—led me to take Ken Wilber much more seriously after his publication of Sex, Ecology, and Spirituality. I went on to create one of the earliest integral websites, ikosmos.com (founded in 1997), after which Ken invited me to be an inaugural member of the Integral Institute. I also then met and was for a time a student of Andrew Cohen.
But these days, in my current reading of the Urantia revelation, I focus especially on its teachings about the nature and purpose of the human soul—how our personal soul is an evolutionary-experiential reality that actually grows in depth and breadth through our daily moral choices. In other words: The evolutionary import of each decision and each personal experience, at any moment of waking life, is actually preserved as our soul; all meaningful experience that is based on choosing true values gets incorporated into us as a new divine invasion of the personal soul.
Further, personal soul growth continues throughout our eternal life and yet ends in our perfection in the far-distant future—and this reality is in actually the secret of the evolution of Deity itself. The evolution of God is (in part) constituted by the accumulated evolutionary soul growth of all beings in all domains; and this reality, when combined with the physical and biological evolution of the grand universe itself, equals the God of Evolution. And this “face” of God is both a counterpoint and complement to existential, eternal, non-experiential, creator Deity, mythically known as God the Father/Mother.
An integral, evolutionary picture of Jesus and Christianity
“Read The Urantia Book and spiritualize your thinking.”
—Deepak Chopra
Some regard The Urantia Book as a postmodern Bible, and since its publication in 1955, the book has sold over 650,000 copies in English and has been translated into eleven languages. Not unlike A Course in Miracles, the Urantia material updates and expands the teachings of Jesus. Followers of Jesus are especially attracted by the book’s magnificent detail on his life, and its clearer, deeper, and far more philosophical presentation of Jesus’ gospel. Its seven-hundred page narration of the life of Jesus (which is Part IV of the Urantia text) enhances our concept of the love of God—i.e., our heavenly “Father and Mother”—and greatly augments our understanding of ethics, health, happiness, love, service, forgiveness, mercy, friendship, marriage, and spirituality.
Finally, the Urantia revelation provided the world with an “integral, evolutionary Christianity” long before latecomers in the Integral Institute began talking about Integral Christianity. Thus, when it first appeared in 1955, The Urantia Book was, in my view, far ahead of the current trend. However, none of this exempts the Urantia book and movement from critique and critical analysis.
The mythic heaven (of old) is not the last stop
“The Urantia Book has been very important to me.
Any spiritual seeker is bound to find sustenance here.”
—Marianne Williamson
By all accounts, The Urantia Book is a unique artifact in the history of religion and revelation. Its off-planet pedigree is a subject of intense controversy, but tens of thousands worldwide regard The Urantia Book as revelatory, and now dozens of writers, teachers, healers, and visionaries are beginning to create a global cultural phenomenon around this mysterious tome. It is arguably a leading feature of the emergent integral, global, worldcentric culture.
In the publishing domain, the current outpouring is evidenced by ambitious reference works, several novels (including an international bestselling series in Spanish authored by J.J. Benitez and published by Planeta), a proliferation of excerpt books, and now, the first professional-quality interpretive work, a new book entitled Heaven Is Not the Last Stop (Document It! 2010) by Sheila Keene-Lund, a well-known teacher in the Urantia community. In this, the sixth decade since its appearance, a rich underground literature has arisen among the diverse and far-flung worldwide Urantia community, but not until Keene-Lund’s work has a single author succeeded in comprehensively relating the complex teachings of the Urantia text to existing knowledge in multiple fields.
The Urantia Book is a book-with-a-mission that is unique in its category: its readership has grown entirely by word of mouth; and oddly, this has been the intention from the beginning of the Chicago-based Urantia Foundation, the original publisher and copyright holder, whose trustees solemnly refused to spend on publicity in its first decades of existence—and whose permissions policy discouraged interpretive works. Even so, hundreds of study groups are now spread out across the world, and many celebrities have come forward to defend the teaching, including the Deepak Chopra and Marianne Williamson, and even Hollywood stars such as Edie Adams, Jackie Gleason, and writer-producer Norman Lear. Still, the Urantia text has been met with very little notice by the religious establishment, even though it contains a highly ambitious challenge to contemporary Christianity with its claim to contain the true life and teachings of Jesus—in such depth that its adherents claim its teachings far exceed the New Testament in religious significance. Keene-Lund, for example, examines this claim in detail. Truly, the Urantia phenomenon is a new religious movement to watch, offering profound teachings suitable for any Evolutionary. And Keene-Lund’s acclaimed new book is likely to be a lead-off secondary work for anyone hoping to delve into its rich revelations.
I now believe that the Urantia text—after a long period of obscurity due in part to the postmodern rebellion against Christianity—can now take its place among the classics of universal, evolutionary spirituality, providing as it does a “megasynthesis” suitable for the twenty-first century that rivals (and complements) those of Ken Wilber, Aurobindo, Teilhard, and other great synthesizers of knowledge.
“The Urantia Book is a tremendously insightful book and [I] still find it very interesting.”
—Stephen R. Covey
Filed Under: Cosmology • EnlightenNext Editors’ Blog • Evolutionary Spirituality • Religion
Thank You, Byron, for that introduction to “The Urantia Book.” I’ll be adding it to my research library instantly!
I’m currently writing a book that bears witness to the Soul as the essence of the Unique Self in any single lifetime; the memory capacity,bridge and channel of the Divine Urge as the Evolutionary and Integral Impulse within the individual, and hence, the Nondual Unifier of the relative individual “in the world” and the Absolute Spirit as Ground of All “as the world.”(To put it into a nutshell.)Forty years of silent and inexplicable transformation brought me surprisingly to ultimate nondual awakening. Here’s the kicker; I wasn’t on any kind of “spiritual path,” I had no teacher and no teaching, only an already evolved capacity to contemplate the Ground of Being and all phenomena arising in the clearing of my consciousness. How did this happen? The answer lies in the Soul as the Evolutionary capacity, as that which “remembers” and seeks return and union to the Spirit that is already itself; Spirit “seeks” itself thru and as the Soul. The Divine and Its projection into/as manifestation are Not-Two, and the Human Soul is the most evolved medium for Spirit’s awakening.
Needless to say, it was no glamorous life; it was one of personal sacrifice and great suffering, but the Soul was prepared via its evolution for the stunning visions Spirit graced it with. And now I serve my obligation to the All of Spirit by sharing this truth in my own writing.
I have great confidence in the collective Soul of Humanity to Awaken, and I Thank You for your good work in the world for the sake of that awakening to the awesome potentials of the Evolutionary/Integral Impulse.
God Bless!
Linda Nada
I’m sorry, this is just more androcentric prattle, as if this site can’t yield enough of it. Eternal life? The unique self? The divine indwelling? Help! These are the very ideas that have messed us up in the first place by suggesting that humans are special. We ARE IT, not children of some benevolent father God (how old hat!) By the way, the entire universe and all that’s in it is IT, too.
I’m sorry you feel that way. Without getting into more “prattle” from either side, my only comment would be that long ago, I decided that such expressions as “children of a benevolent father” were only words that were written to express a philosophy to a generation of humans who were not yet evolved enough to understand the language of the Universe that was so far beyond their capability that it had to be put into the simplest terms and descriptions possible. We, speaking here now, in this time and place STILL are not evolved enough to fully understand the universal wheel as it spins through space.
The bible was written for a different time and place and the Urantia book was way ahead of its time. We’re only now catching up with the ability to understand SOME of the deeper intentions of this volume.
I had to write something in response to having received this unexpected e-mail as I sat pondering life a few days after the terrible tragedy in Tucson–a stones throw away from here–and the miraculous response of the people present at this event.
Carolyn, I was you until I actually read the Urantia Book. It is online in several languages. If you take a look, you may be surprised. I was. Rhonda
Bah Humbug to you too !! Open your mind & your heart.
I am impressed with this article by Byron. I have studied the Urantia Book for 36 years myself and have read many articles about it, I think this is one of the best.
This was very interesting. I like the term “off-planet pedigree” to refer to this unique book and it is refreshing to read a description of the UB without the usual defenses and dissembling. This is surely due to the quality of the reader on this sight. I will come back here often to explore the other offerings that contribute to the growing philosophy of evolutionary spirituality.
I for the one cannot find interesting a book which so pathetically claims knowledge over God and even dares to define the Indefinable with attributing to the Most Mysterious contradictory adjectives like evolutionary, integral and so on and so forth. An “evolving God” is a contradiction of terms – what is this God which is still in need to evolve?! Then It is no more God, but just an evolutionary something!!!
However, that is how human mind and its ego act – they constantly project themselves and even more so on God Himself! More an ego projects and conceptualize on God more the ego is flattered and boosted.
Aliya, I understand exactly what you are saying and I felt exactly the same way until I actually read the Urantia Book. It is online in multiple languages and if you give it a try, you may be very surprised by what you find. Rhonda
Thank you, Rhonda, for your advise:) Still, I can never become ineterested in human mind’s projections and illusions, it does not matter how skilfully the book auhtors managed the science fiction.
The way to God is rather the reverse – through your heart into your inner being not through your mind and its fantasies.
If God is inclusive, there is nothing that is not God, which suggests that God includes evolutionary aspects of reality. If God wishes to experience God’s creation, then God must wish to experience evolution. My number one rule is to never limit God by supposing God cannot or does not do something. To suggest that God does not experience evolution, limits God.
And why should God experience something like evolution, a pure projection and illusion of the limited human mind?!
There is one thing very important to be understood – God’s reality does not include non existentiality, falsity and illusory staff. The Being of God’s Ultimate Reality has nothing to do with the false Non-being of the illusions.
Well done, Byron. Let’s hope this inspires readers to find out for themselves what is contained in the Urantia Papers/Book, rather than listen to or accept the opinions of others.
After reading the fine description above, one can hope there exists a remote possibility that persons might read the Urantia text without having to contend unnecessarily with the burdensome weight of cultural accretion tending ever to diminish original sources of presumed momentum.
The article by Byron Belitsos was very clear and descriptive. I appreciate very much what he has described about the Urantia Book. Thank you for publishing this piece. //Daniel Raphael
Thanks for publishing a thoughtfull analysis of The Urantia Book. As a spiritual seeker, my goal has been to search many philosphies/theologies to build a universal set of principles that are reasonable to my mind and ring true to my inner sense of truth. The problem has always been an epistemological one of how best to separate truth from fiction. My discovery of The Urantia Book has been the greatest intellectual treasure of my search. It provided what I had been trying to do. It’s scope is so vast and yet so profound. The best truths I had discovered in my personal search were not only reinforced but also expounded upon. I could see the best insights of philosophy, theology, and psychology all rolled into a magnificent tapestry. I could not recommmend the book more highly to any seeker of truth.
I’ve been reading The Urantia Book since 1974. My thoughts about it have evolved over the years, but like Byron I think it’s core revelations about the nature of human-kind and the relation of the individual as well as the community to God will stand the long test of time. Eastern and Western theology has long struggled with questions (for example how evil can exist if God is infinite and good) that are well answered by The Urantia Book while, at the same time, it elevates the questions to new and more nuanced levels.
Although I have been a Urantia Book reader for years, Byron Belitsos’ masterful essay inspires me to read it all over again! Thanks for this interesting and thought provoking presentation.
My own study of the Urantia Book began in 1977. As a road musician at the time, I read, reread, and all too often annoyed my musical colleagues with its profound, and often arcane perspectives. After abandoning the entertainment profession, I tested its historical and political outlooks as I earned a doctorate in American politics, political theory, and communication. The U Book survived this challenge with flying colors. Its cosmology not only supports the political and economic liberties that exist today, it establishes directive principles for governments when the abuse of those liberties threatens the common good. Notwithstanding its imposing 2097 pages, the U Book’s most important principle is quite simple: Every person is a child of God.
That a publication dedicated to catalyzing evolution in consciousness and culture would include a Urantia Book feature, is both fitting and timely. This article does an excellent job of placing the Urantia Book within the context of integral explorations. As Byron Belitsos affirms, the book is a classic of universal, evolutionary spirituality, which introduces unparallelled reality synthesis.
I loved this article! What a splendid, intriguing, and fair review of a truly remarkable book. Thanks for giving it this consideration.
I first encountered the Urantia Book as a first year law student in 1972. At first, I was very skeptical but became intrigued when my lawyer mind was unable to find any internal inconsistencies that typically characterize modes of thought as complicated and comprehensive as this one. As a serious student of Eastern thought at the time, I was especially impressed by its ability to blend East and West in such a smooth and coherent fashion. It became clear to me after some rather intense study that it was far superior in this regard to the attempts made to do so by my “heros” at the time: Alan Watts and R. Buckminster Fuller to name a few.
The crowning blow to my initial skepticism came when I failed to discover the identity of anyone who profited from existence of this text after conducting a thorough research into its origins and publication. It seemed to me that no reasonable human being would have had a motive to create such a complicated work if it was not what it purports to be-a revelation.
I also concluded that no human being I had ever encountered in my years of intense spiritual inquiry possessed the ability to put such a massive piece of work together that answered every single question that I had ever had about who I really was and what my eternal destiny is. Eventually, I gave up trying to debunk it and began trying to incorporate its teachings into my life. I am so grateful today that I made this choice.
For anyone who encounters this magnificent text and experiences curiosity as to its value, I humbly suggest that you let spirit be your guide. Like all things of spirit, it will either resonate or it will not. After all, what do you have to lose?
Thank you, Mr. Belitso, for bringing this important work to the attention of the readers.
Byron,
As the founder of Celestial Seasonings, friend of integral evolutioary author Steve MacIntosh, father of 4, pastoral care minister at St. John’s, and long time Urantia Book reader/believer, I think this is the best portrayal of the Urantia Book and its teachings of this type that I have ever read. You nailed it.
God Bless
John
Francis of Assisi is said to have said, “Preach the gospel at all times; when necessary, use words” and to me that is without a doubt the most effective way to ever show God to others… My life has changed dramatically after reading this book, and it most certainly changes me again every time I reread it. I will read this book as often as possible for the rest of my mortal life, yet the principles, and truths exemplified in this book will carry on with me as I continue to learn how to do the Father’s will and search for perfection long after I leave this planet.
It has been said many times that the more you learn about the Father the more you love him, and for me it wasn’t until learning to love him that I was finally able to learn about him, and I owe my personal relationship with the Father to the truths learned in The Urantia Book. It is my opinion that NO revelation short of the presence of the Father is ever complete including The Urantia Book, however this book will take you on a spiritual roller coaster filled with truth, wisdom, philosophy, and most importantly it is a restatement of the life of Jesus and how he lived it. It is because of this book that I have learned that it’s going the second mile of service that will lead men to the Father, and because of that I have devoted my life to being a living example that Love is the greatest thing in the world.
I always wanted a relationship with the Father and it wasn’t until reading this book that I realized that the very thing I was searching for my entire life was right inside of me all along. God bless you and I hope the spirit of truth within you leads ever towards God our Father. There are no words the express the joy, and peace that I have in my heart from knowing the Father, and continually learning t
Thanks for the great article Byron. The Urantia Book has been my compass for over 30 years. It teaches a progressive, evolutionary, perfecting view of the cosmos, our planet, our future, our relationship to God, and our own soul development. The Urantia Book is a book about hope and faith, service and love. Every act that is loving, good, beautiful, and true lives forever and adds to our evolutionary god and universe. I highly recommend the Urantia Book to every person who is seeking for knowledge, understanding, and a pathway to connection to God.
The Urantia Book is a gem, a true revelation to seeing the cosmic scope of our existence. I am so glad I came across this marvelous book and recommend it to all sincerely searching for truth.
The Urantia Book – it’s a life changing read.
Mr Belitsos’ challenge to present an integrative view of the Urantia Text in this period of postmodern spirituality, complements the diversity encountered in defining such a personal experience as reality. Not an easy task, Mr Belitsos demonstrates the undefinable quality one encounters every time the book is opened to any page. Spirituality, though personal, is also progressive and associative as diverse individuals begin to understand the qualities inherent in associative peaceful and fruitful living. No matter what belief is provoked, the Art of Living is an underlying quality we all seek. Mr Belitsos truly does touch upon the ultimate reality, sharing a text which goes beyond belief to encompass personal and associative experience.
Byron’s insightful review of The Urantia Book is all true, but I would go further and say the epochal revelation of The Urantia Book is the Mt. Everest of books.
I was born and raised a Jew. At the age of 62 I became a follower and a true believer in the religion of Jesus Christ and a student of his teachings without becoming a Christian. I accomplished this by reading “The Urantia Book”.
Readers of The Urantia Book worldwide have a spiritual “leg-up” on answering all the questions left to contemplation by the Bible about Jesus and God’s Will. This revelation, the fifth epochal revelation, provides a conclusive narrative of humankind’s origins and existence, and provides a continuation and much-needed clarification of principles for our spiritual lives while on Earth. It is, however, the “lead-off secondary work,” Heaven Is Not The Last Stop that makes the daunting Urantia Book text intelligible, logically building a case for a new spiritual awakening, individually and globally. Heaven Is Not The Last Stop is the needed preamble to provide the spiritual catalyst for living life with a new frame of reference.
Byron thank you for your very insightful and provocative article. Thank you Enlightenment Next for having the courage to continue your work with such determination. I will miss your monthly magazine, but your internet offerings will remain high on my priority list….you have done an excellent job of educating a vast number of souls on this earthly plane.
Unlike many of the people who commented above I was introduced to the Urantia Book just 7 years ago. After a lifetime of spiritual questing I had gathered a prodigious stack of questions most of which I did not expect to get answers to until after I died. Lo and behold! as I slowly and steadily moved through this book I kept finding answers and then more answers. All the contradictions I had encountered in my religious upbringing and later explorations were set to rest. The Urantia book makes more sense than anything I have ever read.
Thank you, Mr. Belitsos for a very good article.
Thank you Byron for your insightful article. The Urantia Book has offered a revelation of which I had been waiting for. A personal relationship with our Creator is waiting for all of us as soon as we realize it is there, this revelation gives us the understanding of how that is accomplished in time and space.
The Urantia book, it speaks to your heart! You will Know it’s value as the message speaks to you. It is certainly a light in the dark and if you allow, it will quide you. As a reader of this wonderful book for more than 30 years,it has been my guide and my companion.Anyone that has been searching,please go to your local library and sign a copy out.
Judeo-christian anthropocentric gnosis for the space age.
The text reflects all the cultural bias of the 1950′s American south -Jesus, salvation, the angelic host and a no-uncertain put-down of great teachings such as Buddhism. It also denigrates what it euphimistically calls the ‘indigo race’ aka black people.
I’m sure people of Africa would be delighted to know what the celestial host thinks of them.
It’s an entertaining read as are many other ‘New Age’ fads and perhaps an improvement on many religous dogmas, but let’s not get too distracted by the metaphysical fireworks display.
Thanks for doing what you do Byron and for putting out info on the Urantia material. You are a hero.
http://www.HealingOriginalSin.com
Madalyn
I am grateful to all who commented. I especially liked when Dave Tucker quotes St Francis in Dave’s post above: “Preach the gospel at all times; when necessary, use words”. The Urantia Book is one key feature of the progressive unfolding of a planetary spiritual renaissance, but it is after all just a massive compendium of words. We truly need these revelatory words, but we also need deeds of love and compassionate action to restore justice and peace on our world (on planet Urantia, if you will). My prayer is that the Urantia teachings lead to such a result, sooner than later. (By the way, I pick up these sorts of themes at my blog, RadWisdom.com.) Again, thanks to all for your interest and commentary on my piece. –Byron
That’s a great point, Byron; that the Urantia Book “is a massive compendium of words.” It’s an imperative to remember that no matter how wise, informed or knowledgeable a written tome is, it’s expression is from a particular perspective,and therefore, is still a perspective informed either thru scholarship, direct experience or both,but no matter what the case, can only represent particularity, and hence, partiality. While meaning is infinite, language itself falls into syntaxical and sub-order rules of formation; it simply has to in order to make sense to the reader. This is why mystics and sages use metaphor(as do scientists)that is “pointing to” without literalizing the subject. Is the Urantia Book as metaporical as the Bible?(which is often taken to be literal) or does it provide a literal representation? I recommend reading those things that take a literal stance,like much of what came out of the “new age,” with a more discerning eye. Metaphor turns a person back onto themselves, and hopefully to the interior posture of Unknowing.
This is also a great reason to take up Integral Theory in which perspectives and research are lined-up, side-by-side with each other and scrutinized for similarities and differences. It can help anyone interested in the transformation of consciousness to take a “perspective on perspectives” in a more informed way. In this way, the fragmentation between perspectives is healed and rejoined in greater understanding of the One that is in/as the Many; perspectives are honored from all sides and a greater understanding of how we are informed by our contexts,conditioning and self-imposed limitations comes to the fore.
Thanks Again,
Linda Nada
How is it possible to believe in the Urantia book ?
It is the opposite of enlightenment !
Beautiful fiction.
Much like the graphic for this article.
Come on. Is this article and most of the attached posts a put-on, or what? Do people who are aware of Integral concepts REALLY take this Urantia book seriously? I feel like I should be checking to see if this is April 1stm or if I might be accidentally reading The Onion. But alas, no.
Urantia book:
“Gautama’s experience was tragic, however, in that he was an “orphan prophet” whose philosophy failed early on to envision the reality of a spiritual God.”
Really?