Our Responsibility To The Revelatory Commission
I wish to thank the Finnish community for this wonderful conference experience, I wish to thank the European community for their participation in this conference. Gathering with you people from France, England, Scotland, The Netherlands, Norway, Belgium, Malta, Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Russia, Spain, Columbia, Peru, Australia, Canada and the U.S. in this beautiful conference setting is a small taste of the future age of light and life. It should give us hope for the future of the planet and of the revelation.
In this talk I would like to give you a clear picture of the Trustees' role. And, I would like to suggest that we who believe this revelation are all trustees. There are essentially two functions provided for in the Declaration of Trust,
- Dissemination of the Fifth Epochal Revelation, and
- Providing for the integrity of the inviolate text.
It is clear that these two functions were requested by the revelatory commission. The question I would ask of our global community is whether we truly recognize, acknowledge and affirm these instructions from the revelatory commission? Do we take seriously the reality of the revelatory commission?
We have been given a tremendous gift in the Fifth Epochal Revelation. With that gift comes both rights and responsibilities. There are many who would immediately claim the rights without Ji.ving up to the responsibilities of this great gift.
In the name of dissemination there are those who would destroy the copyright or dilute it to such an extent as to make it ineffective. There were clear instructions given by the revelatory commission to protect the copyright until the revelation was well rooted. The Foundation is in the process of translating the revelation into at least twelve new languages, representing more than twelve countries. The question I would ask is whether the revelatory commission's instructions has relevance in those countries wherein translations are being undertaken, China, Korea, Brazil, etc... Then the copyright must be clearly supported. For if it is lost in the U.S., it is lost globally. That is the law.
With respect to dissemination the Trustees have developed policies recently that will, in our opinion, provide for 98% of all the people who desire to be about the work of dissemination and have felt hampered by previous copyright policy. It is our prayer that with these policies in place we can promote an environment of cooperation globally that will truly allow for an effective dissemination of the revelation.
I would share with you an image of a home, your home. There are those who would suggest that locking the doors to your home at night represents a policy of fear. I would suggest that it represents not fear but caution. In this world, as we have clearly seen from the experience of previous epochal · revelations, such caution is a reflection of wisdom. Again, I ask do we truly appreciate that there was a revelatory commission of beings :from all parts of the universe, from the United Midwayers to Divine Counselors, who were in some fashion concerned with this revelation being well rooted and providing some safeguards at the outset of its development? Do we appreciate their request for policies of effective but patient dissemination? Do we appreciate the global nature of the revelation and the need for such policies globally?
The second role of the Trustees' that I shared with you regards the responsibility of respecting the integrity of the inviolate text.
There are those who, in a spirit of impatience, would violate the integrity of the text by splitting it up. We have been given a carefully painted picture of the cosmos, its origin, history and destiny in relation to the life and teachings of Jesus, our Creator Son, as he is carefully portrayed in Parts I, Il, Ill and IV of the Book. This picture was developed over a period of hundreds of years by the revelatory commission. There are those who would cut the revelatory commission's picture up in the name of dissemination. Imagine with me for a moment taking a picture, the Mona Lisa, and cutting it up into four pieces, and displaying a quarter of that beautiful picture in its own frame. I do not think that is what Leonardo Da Vince had in mind, nor do I believe that is what the revelatory commission had in mind.
My son, Michael, greatly enjoys picture puzzles. Imagine if I were to give him a box with only one quarter of the pieces. It doesn't seem appropriate, does it? The revelatory commission put a massive puzzle together in an exceedingly artistic and careful way. That picture should be respected by all of us as we go about disseminating the truths of the Book.
My involvement with the global interfaith movement also suggests to me that such partitioning of the revelation does not seem a wise move. I was recently in Edmonton, Canada, at a meeting of the North American Interfaith Network. I discussed the matter with a leader of the Network who also reads The Urantia Book and she concurred. The Urantia Book is serving as a leaven to the world's great traditions in this time and it is just beginning to perform that very important function. Let us allow this process of leavening to take place without putting Part IV up against the New Testament.
We have seen the consequences of impatience in previous revelations. What have we learned? Maybe in this instance, with the Fifth Epochal Revelation, we might consider, that if we err, we might wish to err in the direction of patience.
We on this planet have a very immature concept of time, and therefore our projects, as evolutionary creatures on the very first rung of universe existence. We unwisely measure time and therefore The Urantia Book project by our incredibly short lifetime, by our seventy some years, often-times without due consideration of the longer tern vista. The Urantia Book project is a long term project.
I am a student of paleontology. I sit on the board of a museum of paleontology in California, the Raymond M. Alf Museum of Life. In our museum we have a fifty-foot spiral that records the evolution of life on Urantia. All of recorded human history is demonstrated by the specs of dust on the end of this great spiral.
Let me give you another example of out short-sided view of time, consider Jesus' sixth bestowal before his arrival on our small planet, Urantia. His sixth bestowal occurred during the time of the Jurassic Park, when Tyrannosaurus Rex was the King of Kings on Urantia. Do we have the wisdom to give due consideration to the longer term vista? Do we have the·courage to possess our souls in patience and be about the most immediate tasks of the revelation, as instructed and provided for by the revelatory commission?
We must rest our souls in wisdom and learn to be more compassionate toward one another and take seriously the long-term nature of the adventure of which we are all a part. We should do our best to acquire the perspective of the revelatory commission and take responsibility, collectively, for that perspective.
Urantia Foundation has formally adopted a policy of unity. The Trustees have sought the wisdom of the community, travelling globally to gamer that wisdom. We humbly request that those who would destroy the copyright or violate the integrity of the revelatory picture consider the consequences of such actions, consequences such as bleeding the resources from the work of publication, translations (which are so expensive and so greatly needed), and dissemination of the Fifth Epochal Revelation. Other consequences include further division in an already divided community and the very real possibility of failing to respect the instructions of the revelatory commission, itself.
The Master sought and now seeks unity in every possible way known to a Creator Son here on Urantia. The Master sought and now seeks to find healing within the divided community of war-weary citizens of the World of the Cross. We who have been given so much have a tremendous responsibility to try with all out hearts, minds, and souls to respond to the wishes of our Creator Son. His last prayer on Urantia was a prayer requesting that there be unity among the brotherhood of believers. We are told that we have a sacred obligation toward one another in the fulfillment of these duties. Do we have the gracious courage to try to give Jesus the gift, which he so ardently desired and desires?
We have been asked to form thousands of study groups. Have we carried out that instruction? Not yet.
Our division has distracted us from focusing on this immediate and primary task. To carry out this task will require all the talents and resources of our community of believers working in solidarity. We must get the book into libraries and bookstores around the world. We must get it translated, as we are in the process of doing, so that the vast majority of the world's population has access to it We must work on forming and developing study groups and study group leaders. These are the immediate projects toward which we, as a community, should be directing our attention.
May we have the courage to recognize and respond, responsibly, to these immediate instructions and goals.
Postscript to the speech delivered in Helsinki
Peep Sober, chief of the Estonian translation team, delivered a presentation at the Estonian conference, immediately after the Finnish conference. I would like to share some reflections that were inspired by that talk as a postscript to my talk in Finland.
In speaking about the future, Peep referred to the process of reality in the philosophical terms of thesis, anti-thesis and synthesis. I believe that in our limited understanding of the Supreme we give short shrift to this process of synthesis and how profoundly it affects not only the evolution of our organizations, but, our personal evolution as well. He analyzed the current division in the movement in term of thesis, anti-thesis and synthesis. If we could have the courage to see ourselves in relation to such a process, rather than two or more tracks moving independently, we might be able to provide a context for considering resolution. Such a process requires courage and a willingness to engage in a process of expanding trust. This is not an easy requirement; but, it is necessary if we accept the premise that we are all growing within the womb of the Supreme. At the close of the twentieth century we stand before the bar of human need; we stand at the end of a century that has claimed untoldmisery and destruction of life. Standing in a camp in Estonia, wherein barbed wire can be seen, with a high tower that sheltered armed Soviet frontier guard just a few short years ago, quickly brings home the point that we must move toward resolution, toward solidarity in this small movement of believers in the Fifth Epochal Revelation. There is much work to be done and it is so much better done in cooperation. I salute the work of the Estonians, Peep and his team, in bringing the works of the Fifth Epochal Revelation to their people. I pray that the people of North America will move toward resolution of their differences and begin solidly supporting the work of dissemination to people around the world, such as the Estonians. There is so much work to be done.
Peep referred in his speech to the thesis of the “revelation process, Contact Commission, Forum, Urantia Foundation (1950), Urantia Brotherhood (19S5), The Urantia Book (19S5)”, the antithesis being the creation of the “Fellowship (1989), IUA (1993), Copyright battle,” and the synthesis commencing in 1997, “Foundation and Fellowship begin cooperation.” This insightful analysis provides clues as to what, perhaps, we have been through and some suggestion of what we must assume as our responsibility. Inevitably, there are tensions that will confront us in the future in similar fashion. What we should begin to understand is that these tensions·are part and parcel of a dynamic process of which we are all a part and in which we are all called upon to move towards synthesis, in a manner that respects the process. In The Urantia Book, we are often reminded of the importance of the “how” constantly.
We should be asking ourselves what have we learned in this process, this process that is occurring within the realms of time and space, within the domain of the Supreme? How has this experience given us insight into what may lie ahead?
Peep referred to the uncertainty of the process of which we are a part with a quote from The Urantia Book.
In the more advance planetary ages these seraphim enhance man's appreciation of the truth that uncertainty is the secret of contented continuity. They help the mortal philosophers to realize that, when ignorance is essential to success, it would be a colossal blunder for the creature to know the future. They heighten man's taste for the sweetness of uncertainty, for the romance and charm of the indefinite and unknownfulure. (p.438:2)
Can we all recognize this process of which we are a part and breath into the “sweetness of uncertainty"? Do we have the willingness to move past our uncooperative behaviors and continue to bring resolution to our lack of unity? Do we have the courage to give the Master what he truly wants within our community? In the name of our Master, I pray we do. And, I pray this is your prayer, too!