By Line St-Pierre, associate trustee, Québec, Canada, and Katharina Becker, New Mexico, United States
“Union of souls—the mobilization of wisdom. Every human being sooner or later acquires a certain concept of this world and a certain vision of the next. Now it is possible, through personality association, to unite these views of temporal existence and eternal prospects. Thus does the mind of one augment its spiritual values by gaining much of the insight of the other.” ~ Rodan of Alexandria 160:2.7 (1776.1)
Attending the Parliament of the World’s Religions last October in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States, was a dream come true, especially because the first day was dedicated to women and to their importance to, and participation in, the current epoch. The members of a fifteen-woman panel—composed of multi-faith speakers who were mothers, grandmothers, daughters, and sisters—shared their experiences, knowledge, passion, and vision of how to make this world a better place.
Their love, power, and inner strength gave the attendees hope by elucidating real possibilities for “Reclaiming the Heart of our Humanity” (to borrow the title of a pre-Parliament event). Many of the speakers helped us understand what has to happen to effect the healing of humanity. They urged women to listen to and trust their inner teacher and to speak non-judgmentally from the heart. They called upon women to be the bearers of light and love and to take on the attributes of God. They asked the women attendees to form circles with sacred spiritual centers, to be activists from within, and as women of Spirit and faith, to uplift all women.
This first Women's Assembly was attended by more than three thousand people, including a few hundred men. Throughout this day and continuing during the entire conference, there was a growing understanding and even a sense of urgency felt by women at the Parliament for the need to regain our dignity, our importance, and our value as women, mothers, and teachers. The Urantia Book reminds us that “woman has always been the moral standard-bearer and the spiritual leader of mankind. The hand that rocks the cradle still fraternizes with destiny.” 84:6.4 (938.8)
Notwithstanding the diversity of religious faiths at the Parliament, the attendees exhibited a spiritual unity, a looking in the same direction towards a higher purpose, a divine one, to God our Father-Mother. During workshops, in circles, women connected at the heart level through rituals, prayers, and reflections. In supporting each other with compassion, women planted seeds of love and experienced greater understanding.
The Urantia Book encourages us, as we grow more spiritual, to “construct a new and appealing philosophy of living” that integrates truth, beauty, and goodness. We felt that the gathering of women at the Parliament demonstrated how women are feeling the call to construct a new philosophy of living. 2:7.10 (43.3)
“But the great problem of religious living consists in the task of unifying the soul powers of the personality by the dominance of LOVE.” 100:4.3 (1097.7)
What will resonate for a long time—perhaps forever—is the sharing of stories by many God-conscious women with voices and thoughts, such as:
“What’s my religion? It’s the presence and the breath of our divine source—love—unconditional love!” ~ Dr. Rose Pere
“Revolutionary love is the call of our times. Forgiveness is not forgetting. Forgiveness is freedom from hate.” ~ Valarie Kaur
“Be students of each other, be teachers of each other. Mothers are nurturers of the world.” ~ Amerind grandmother
“Hope starts it, but faith completes it.” ~ Bishop Barbara King
“The belief is that we can create whatever we want.” ~ Mallika Chopra
“It’s very important to teach our children to take responsibility for their lives, to understand their purpose and their power, and to rewrite the wrongs of our society.” ~ Ilyasah Shabazz
“The idea of women changing the world is a very real possibility. We are the solution if we could see the beauty, the strength, and the capacity in women.” ~ Jean Shinoda Bolen
“Welcome to the revolution and shine with the divine.” ~ Diana Butler Bass
“When you give women education, they become passionate and free-thinking. They raise passionate and free-thinking children, who grow up to be passionate free-thinking adults—and passionate free-thinking adults are difficult to manipulate and impossible to control.” ~ Marianne Williamson
We can recognize in many of these voices some of our own thinking, and even perceive, in some of the statements, aspects of the teachings in The Urantia Book. We feel deeply grateful for the cosmic perspective that we have received from the fifth epochal revelation. What a peace of mind it is to know where we came from, and where we are going.