by K. Richard Keeler
Is not much of reality, as comprehended by mortals, about a struggle of forces? The URANTIA Book teaches us that struggle is a reality of the experiential adventure of time and space. The religion of the spirit means effort, struggle, conflict, faith, determination, love, loyalty, and progress. (page 1729, par. 6) We experience emotional struggles within ourselves and between ourselves and others. There are also struggles between intellectual forces, between ideas. And at a still higher level, there are struggles that go on at the level of the soul. They go on within us, and they go on between us as individuals, groups, cultures, and nations.
The indwelling Adjuster cannot stop or even materially alter your career struggle of time; the Adjuster cannot lessen the hardships of life as you journey on through this world of toil. The divine indweller can only patiently forbear while you fight the battle of life as it is lived on your planet;. . . (page1223, par. 4)
We struggle with the forces of patience and the forces of impatience; the forces of faith and the forces of fear; the forces of goodwill and the forces of anger; the forces of love and the forces of hate; the forces of responsibility and accountability and the forces of liberty without accountability; the forces of limited personal sovereignty and the forces of unlimited personal sovereignty; the forces of compromise and the forces of inflexibility.
In the URANTIA movement we've struggled with the forces of copyright and trademark maintenance and the forces of copyright and mark destruction; the forces of support for the Declaration of Trust and the Foundation and the forces of opposition to the Declaration of Trust and the Foundation; the forces of interdependence and the forces of independence; the forces of cooperation and the forces of competition; the forces of teamwork and social cooperation and the forces of selfdetermination. We may, however, take solace in the words of the Master:
"What I require of you, my apostles, is spirit unity—and that you can experience in the joy of your united dedication to the wholehearted doing of the will of my Father in heaven. You do not have to see alike or feel alike or even think alike in order spiritually to be alike. Spiritual unity is derived from the consciousness that each of you is indwelt, and increasingly dominated, by the spirit gift of the heavenly Father." (page 1591, par. 6)
Although the struggle may have strained, it has not broken our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory and love—which stretch between every heart and soul of every participant in our young movement and beyond—will yet swell the chorus of unity and brotherhood when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature. [Adapted from a statement made by Abraham Lincoln.]
Today, efforts are underway to heal the organizational wounds of the past. Perhaps what doesn't destroy us makes us stronger. May we learn from, but not regret, the past. May we plan for, but not pine for, the future. And may we live dynamically, but wisely and patiently in the present-assured that, if we act boldly, perseveringly, lovingly, and joyfully, seen and unseen friends and forces will come to our aid.
Let us work together. And if we do so lovingly, we can dynamically participate in bringing to our perplexed planet the most recent of the revelations of truth to the mortal races of Urantia. (page 1008, par. 2)