God's Book of Eskra
Chapter XXVIII
1. SAKAYA said: Without rites and ceremonies, a people is like a collection of musicians, with every one playing a different tune.
2. Without pledges to general rules, a community is like a farm without fences, where cattle roam about, destroying the harvests.
3. Two things stand prominently before all men, about which there need be no dispute, Light and Darkness. Whether ye call the Light, EOLIN, or ORMAZD, or GOD, or SUDGA, it mattereth little, provided the idea eliminated hath reference to that which is THE HIGHEST CONCEIVED OF, Who is Ever Present, and is the Person from which all persons sprung. And whether ye call darkness SIN, or EVIL, or SATAN, it mattereth little, provided the idea eliminated is that which is the extreme opposite of light.
4. Without these two entities in view, to shun the one, and strive for the other, a community is like race-horses striving for a prize by running in circular capers, instead of going on a well provided track.
5. Take no man nor woman into the family till first pledged to serve the All Person, Jehovih (Ormazd), with a full and willing heart.
6. To shun satan and his emissaries, be circumspect.
7. And when ye are come together, choose ye the oldest, wisest, best man, to be the father of the family (community).
8. When matters come up for discussion, whoever speaketh thereon shall
p. 690
speak in the direction of light, and not of darkness.
9. When asked further explanation on this, Sakaya said:
10. There are two modes of discussion before all men: One is to impart light, and the other is to abuse the opponent. The first is Jehovih's, the second is satan's method. In the family discussion, the latter method shall not be tolerated by the father.
11. After the discussion is finished, the rab'bah shall decree according to the light of the Father in him.
12. Sakaya was here asked: Why not decree according to the majority vote?
13. Sakaya said: That is the lower light, being the light of men only.
14. For I declare unto you, ye can not serve both Jehovih and men. It is incumbent on every man in the community that entereth the discussion to speak from the higher light, as he perceiveth it, without regard to policy or consequences. And the same law shall be binding on the rab'bah; and though nine men out of ten side the other way, yet the rab'bah's decree shall stand above all the rest.
15. When the discussion turneth upon rites and ceremonies, which the community may adopt, or the music, or the discipline regarding funerals, or marriages, or births, the speakers shall remember that a family is composed of old and young; of sedate and jocose; and that every talent is created for the glory of the whole, and for the glory of the Creator; and they shall enlarge their understanding, to embrace the whole. Remembering, it is easier to walk beside a bull, and turn him in his course, than to come against him for the same purpose.
16. One man hath joy in sacrifice (worship) by clapping his hands and dancing; another, in poetry; another, in singing; another, in silent prayers. And yet, one hath no preference over another in sight of Him Who created them, for they are His own handiwork.
17. Consider, then, that ye provide a time and place in the community for all of these in their own way, directing them holily. For if ye strive to bind them, that are of exuberant spirits, not to dance and clap their hands, they will find vent in secrecy and to an evil end.
18. Herein have the Brahmin priests been aiders and abettors of bawdy houses and of drunkenness and licentiousness; because they have sought to make you ascetics by overthrowing your natural talents.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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?"
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.