What The Urantia Book Means to Me - Michelle Heulot

Printer-friendly version

By Michelle Heulot, Chinon, France

We are all pilgrims on the path of life and truth. My path was illuminated when I discovered The Urantia Book, or rather when it found me! I was then in the midst of a religious and spiritual upheaval, my scientific, archaeological, and historical research having shaken my convictions based on a literal interpretation of the Bible.

For decades, I had put blind trust in a religious institution, the sole holder of “the truth,” but which in fact distorted the truth by adding rules and interpretative dogmas. These progressive discoveries provoked in me painful states of consciousness: bitterness, indignation, shame, sadness, discouragement, and even depression.

At the height of my confusion, when I prayed, the words of Christ in John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth, and the life,” kept coming back to touch my heart and challenge my soul. And it was these very words that energized me and gave me the courage and determination to begin a new search.

Among the spiritual sites I consulted, the Urantia Book International School (UBIS) caught my attention with a course on true religion. My first UBIS experience, in September 2016, followed by many others, triggered a determined quest for research that gradually came to answer my questions with consistency and logic.

I understood that true religion is a personal spiritual experience not subject to human interpretations; that I had to free myself from this straitjacket in order to find God on my own, as Jesus recommended, and to know him in my own soul.

However, on this path of discovery, I advanced with prudence and discernment, bringing a critical and analytical spirit to bear on these new religious insights. The staff that supported my pilgrim's walk became more and more reassuring, powerfully energized by “the truth that the kingdom of heaven is the spiritual brotherhood of man founded on the eternal fact of the universal fatherhood of God.” 163:7.4 (1808.6)

The plan of God that I was discovering exerted in my mind an extraordinary fascination: this universal, omnipotent, omnipresent, and omnificent Father delegating all his powers to coordinates and subordinates who put in place ways and means so that creators and created personalities can live and progress eternally. The more I penetrated the mysteries of God, the greater was my religious hunger.

By faithfully practicing worshipful meditation, I experienced an intimate and precious communication with the divine fragment within. This inspired me and vivified my faith. This living faith gave me the courage and strength to overcome the fears that paralyze—fear of the unknown, fear of being ostracized, fear of losing my bearings, and fear of being rejected.

I gradually came to understand that The Urantia Book expands and clarifies many of the Bible's hard-to-understand teachings and concepts, and that the apparent conflicts between the Bible and the sciences stem from the various theological doctrines and interpretations. I became aware of the valuable contribution of the Bible to the gradual awakening of humanity to welcome and appreciate the revelations offered by spiritual personalities.

How happy I was to learn that the truths of the Gospel will gloriously persist thanks to new educators who will “dare to depend solely on Jesus and his incomparable teachings” and who will be “exclusively devoted to the spiritual regeneration” of humanity. 195:9.4 (2082.9)

In the last five years that I have been walking this path of dedication to doing God's will with all my heart, a new awareness of spiritual strength and joy accompanies me every day, a living and growing faith in a kind and friendly spiritual world that is an answer to my demanding and sincere search for God. And I have discovered, in seeking and finding my own truths, in nurturing my personal relationship with the Spirit of God, a dynamic and sublime peace, “that peace which passes all human understanding, that cosmic poise which betokens the absence of all doubt and turmoil.” 100:6.6 (1101.1)

This confidence and assurance in the eternal and universal realities constantly feeds my grateful soul, which has only one burning desire: to express grateful praises to the Creator, my Heavenly Father, and engage in His universal plan.

A flight to spiritual freedom and a total commitment to universal love without boundaries or prejudice is what The Urantia Book means to me, with this injunction of our Master Christ Jesus imprinted in my soul: “Devote your life to proving that love is the greatest thing in the world.” 192:2.1 (2047.5)