Book of the Arc of Bon
Chapter VIII
1. WHEN the king and the Royal Council beheld the great wisdom of Capilya, they were struck dumb in their seats. After a while the king said: Was it not by blood that our forefathers established Dyaus? Scattering the Faithists with great havoc? Shall we gather up the escaped races and nurse them and have them turn upon us and bite us? Shall we not with our valiant arms defend Dyaus?
2. To this Capilya answered: Sufficient unto his own battles is the God of Vind'yu. If the king must need fight Dyaus' battles, then Dyaus is a weak God indeed. Heaven forbid that Capilya believe in such a God, or labor for one so weak!
3. But thou art right, O king; by blood our forefathers established Dyaus; but where is there, either in ancient or modern learning, a commandment that Dyaus shall be maintained by blood? Didst not thou thyself receive a commandment to stop the sacrifice of human blood on the altar? Is it, then, indeed a holier place on the battle-field, that these things must continue?
4. Man loveth vengeance; and more for this than for righteousness he desireth to inflict or destroy others. Nevertheless, all things are answered accordingly as they are; vengeance answereth vengeance; blood answereth blood; war answereth war. And the same rule applieth to virtue, which begetteth virtue; love, which begetteth love; peace, peace; good works, good works. For in these things our souls play a greater part than do our external bodies.
5. One of the Royal Council said: How sayest thou of rites and ceremonies? Capilya answered: Without rites and ceremonies the spiritual person of the state and of the community, and of the nation, is like a man that hath thrown away his clothes, and then, with disgust, drowned himself.
p. 478b
As the soldiers of the army have drill, which is discipline, so shall the worshippers have rites and ceremonies, which are the drill to keep one's soul in reverence for the Creator.
6. But it falleth not to my lot to say unto you what rites or what ceremonies; for these also come under the head of LIBERTY.
7. Another one of the Royal Council asked: Some men, who are bad men, have great pleasures and enjoyments; some men, who are virtuous and wise, have great trials and misery: What, then, is the prize which thy philosophy offereth to them that practice righteousness and good works?
8. Capilya said: Could thine eyes see as mine have seen, or thine ears hear as mine have heard, then it were easy to answer thee. Nevertheless, I declare unto thee a great truth, which is also revealed in the doctrines of the ancients, that this is not the real life, but the embryotic state. And many that have great pleasures and enjoyments in this life, waken up as babes in heaven; whilst many who are virtuous and wise, but suffer great misery, in this life, wake up in heaven in strength and glory. More are trials and exertions to be desired than ease and enjoyment; for the former causeth the soul to look upward; but the latter causeth the soul to look downward. Nevertheless, severe trials are a great injustice to any man.
9. When the king and Royal Council beheld that Capilya had greater wisdom than any other man, the king said unto them: No man in all the world hath wisdom sufficient to try my son. How say ye? And they answered: That is true. Whereupon the king said: Capilya, hear thou the king's decree, and it shall be a law unto thee in all the kingdoms of the world, which is, that thou hast been tried by the greatest king on the earth, and art acquitted and declared to be above the dominion of mortals. And thou shalt go whithersoever thou wilt in any land, doing whatsoever thou desirest, and no man shall arrest thee or forbid thee in anything whatsoever. And whatsoever law thou makest no king shall make another law, above thine, to set it aside. Wert thou not mine own son I would say thou wert begotten by the Gods!
10. The king's decree was recorded in the House of Records, and copies of
p. 479b
the decree sent to the tributary cities and kingdoms throughout Vind'yu. Yokovrana had also a copy made of Capilya's speech, and it was also recorded and signed by the king and Council, under the name, THE FOUNDATION OF LAWS.
11. Jehovih said to Capilya: I have suffered this land to endure war for hundreds of years, that they might be ready for this. Behold, they are not slow to accept doctrines of peace and liberty.
12. Capilya inquired concerning the laws, and Jehovih said: Trouble not thyself more; My hand is upon the king and Council. They will pass laws endorsing what thou hast said. Go forth, then, My son, amongst My chosen, and thou shalt establish them anew in rites and ceremonies.
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Urantia Book, 44:0.11 - The Celestial Artisans
Never in your long ascendancy will you lose the power to recognize your associates of former existences. Always, as you ascend inward in the scale of life, will you retain the ability to recognize and fraternize with the fellow beings of your previous and lower levels of experience. Each new translation or resurrection will add one more group of spirit beings to your vision range without in the least depriving you of the ability to recognize your friends and fellows of former estates.
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Princess Bride 1987 Wallace Shawn (Vizzini) and Mandy Patinkin (Inigo Montoya)
Vizzini: HE DIDN'T FALL? INCONCEIVABLE.
Inigo Montoya: You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means. -
Urantia Book, 117:4.14 - The Finite God
And here is mystery: The more closely man approaches God through love, the greater the reality -- actuality -- of that man. The more man withdraws from God, the more nearly he approaches nonreality -- cessation of existence. When man consecrates his will to the doing of the Father's will, when man gives God all that he has, then does God make that man more than he is.
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Urantia Book, 167:7.4 - The Talk About Angels
"And do you not remember that I said to you once before that, if you had your spiritual eyes anointed, you would then see the heavens opened and behold the angels of God ascending and descending? It is by the ministry of the angels that one world may be kept in touch with other worlds, for have I not repeatedly told you that I have other sheep not of this fold?"
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Urantia Book, Foreword - 0:12.12 - The Trinities
But we know that there dwells within the human mind a fragment of God, and that there sojourns with the human soul the Spirit of Truth; and we further know that these spirit forces conspire to enable material man to grasp the reality of spiritual values and to comprehend the philosophy of universe meanings. But even more certainly we know that these spirits of the Divine Presence are able to assist man in the spiritual appropriation of all truth contributory to the enhancement of the ever-progressing reality of personal religious experience—God-consciousness.
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Urantia Book, 1:4.3 - The Mystery Of God
When you are through down here, when your course has been run in temporary form on earth, when your trial trip in the flesh is finished, when the dust that composes the mortal tabernacle "returns to the earth whence it came"; then, it is revealed, the indwelling "Spirit shall return to God who gave it." There sojourns within each moral being of this planet a fragment of God, a part and parcel of divinity. It is not yet yours by right of possession, but it is designedly intended to be one with you if you survive the mortal existence.
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Urantia Book, 1:4.1 - The Mystery Of God
And the greatest of all the unfathomable mysteries of God is the phenomenon of the divine indwelling of mortal minds. The manner in which the Universal Father sojourns with the creatures of time is the most profound of all universe mysteries; the divine presence in the mind of man is the mystery of mysteries.
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Urantia Book, 1:4.6 - The Mystery Of God
To every spirit being and to every mortal creature in every sphere and on every world of the universe of universes, the Universal Father reveals all of his gracious and divine self that can be discerned or comprehended by such spirit beings and by such mortal creatures. God is no respecter of persons, either spiritual or material. The divine presence which any child of the universe enjoys at any given moment is limited only by the capacity of such a creature to receive and to discern the spirit actualities of the supermaterial world.
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Urantia Book, 11:0.1 - The Eternal Isle Of Paradise
Paradise is the eternal center of the universe of universes and the abiding place of the Universal Father, the Eternal Son, the Infinite Spirit, and their divine co-ordinates and associates. This central Isle is the most gigantic organized body of cosmic reality in all the master universe. Paradise is a material sphere as well as a spiritual abode. All of the intelligent creation of the Universal Father is domiciled on material abodes; hence must the absolute controlling center also be material, literal. And again it should be reiterated that spirit things and spiritual beings are real.
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Urantia Book, 50:6.4 - Planetary Culture
Culture presupposes quality of mind; culture cannot be enhanced unless mind is elevated. Superior intellect will seek a noble culture and find some way to attain such a goal. Inferior minds will spurn the highest culture even when presented to them ready-made.
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Urantia Book, 54:1.6 - True And False Liberty
True liberty is the associate of genuine self-respect; false liberty is the consort of self-admiration. True liberty is the fruit of self-control; false liberty, the assumption of self-assertion. Self-control leads to altruistic service; self-admiration tends towards the exploitation of others for the selfish aggrandizement of such a mistaken individual as is willing to sacrifice righteous attainment for the sake of possessing unjust power over his fellow beings.
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Urantia Book, 54:1.9 - True And False Liberty
How dare the self-willed creature encroach upon the rights of his fellows in the name of personal liberty when the Supreme Rulers of the universe stand back in merciful respect for these prerogatives of will and potentials of personality! No being, in the exercise of his supposed personal liberty, has a right to deprive any other being of those privileges of existence conferred by the Creators and duly respected by all their loyal associates, subordinates, and subjects.
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Urantia Book, 54:1.8 - True And False Liberty
There is no error greater than that species of self-deception which leads intelligent beings to crave the exercise of power over other beings for the purpose of depriving these persons of their natural liberties. The golden rule of human fairness cries out against all such fraud, unfairness, selfishness, and unrighteousness.