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<P>DATE:</B> January 18, 1996<BR><B>LOCATION:</B> Pittsburgh, PA,
USA<BR><B>T/R:</B> Gerdean</P>
<P><STRONG>TEXTUAL STUDY: </STRONG><BR>Urantia Paper 101, The Real Nature of
Religion<BR>6. Progressive Religious Experience<BR>7. A Personal Philosophy of
Religion<BR>8. Faith and Belief<BR>9. Religion and Morality<BR>10. Religion
as Man's Liberator</P>
<P><STRONG>TEACHER SESSION: BELIEF<BR></STRONG>[Sub-topics: pornography;
homosexuality]</P>
<P><STRONG>TOMAS:</STRONG> Good afternoon, my friends.</P><B>
<P>Group:</B> Good afternoon, Tomas.</P><B>
<P>TOMAS:</B> I am Tomas, your guide, teacher, companion and friend. I, as well
as many others are here this afternoon in glorious rejoicing at your combined
energies and motivations to endure, persist, pursue and secure ideal
circumstances and situations which will result in your sustained happiness and
faith in your own personal religious experience.</P>
<P>It is satisfying to your supernal guides to behold your application toward
concepts which stretch your capacities, which stimulate your mind to reach
beyond the conformity of your societal mode in search of more realistic planes
of awareness and thus service.</P>
<P>In keeping with our format and with your permission I will proceed today to
spend a few moments discussing belief, which, as you learned from your reading
today, in part, is not the same as faith, but beliefs, en route to faith and yet
greater faith, play powerful punches in your developing reality/religious
experience and I would like to help you to recognize your individual beliefs so
that you can put your beliefs in some perspective and appreciation for the
relative reality that they are.</P>
<P>I am torn, now, in my format, for I would, on one hand, like very much to ask
you individually to give me an example of a belief which you hold dear, and I
know that each of you have cherished beliefs which are noble and worthy and
which you would not hesitate to lay upon our table today, but I also understand
that in the process of laying forth these fruits, the time grows long and, until
such time as we have sustained stamina developed, I will forego that most
enticing possibility for the dubious privilege of outlining for you what I
perceive are some of your beliefs, for purposes of our lesson today.</P>
<P>The evolution of a morontia-ized soul undertakes myriad beliefs, many
garments, to clothe the dangling and imperfect aspects of a developing moral
being. The favorite one seems to be, "I believe in God," yes, and yet this is
individualized according to each person's perception of God, in that, some fear
God, some presume upon God, some create a God to serve their own purpose, some
mouth the tenets they have learned from others' God or Gods, and yet a belief in
God is certainly one which all professed believers put forth. More humanly,
individuals will say, "I believe in love," and this, too, creates a
multi-colored array of various beliefs, for love must be redefined on each new
level of awareness and comprehension of love's realities. </P>
<P>That which was once a cherished belief of the child, that Mother and Father
knew everything, provided everything put forth, was shot down when Father and
Mother acknowledged, "My child, I do not know," and in the early ages bordering
the developing theology, the child in this culture may have been encouraged to
believe in Santa Clause, and in time was made to understand that Santa Clause
was a creation for the delight of the childlike fantasy and not a reality at
all.</P>
<P>In due course, the mortal believes that a marriage partner, a love companion,
will make all their dreams come true, that once the beloved is found and
secured, all things will be possible, and yet in even the most ideal romantic
circumstances, the truth is revealed that the beloved is a mere mortal and is
heir to those traits which would not be endearing to even the most loving and
tolerant of spouses.</P>
<P>Many beliefs unfurl as life, in its continuum, prevails, and with each new
chapter in an on-going life experience, your beliefs are modified and adapted to
assimilate the new circumstances and situations presented. It is often the case
that when your beliefs are shaken, when the reality that you believed would fix
it for you come to be a mere shadow of a yet greater reality to come, you lament
that your world is shaken to its foundation and you fear ever believing in
anything again.</P>
<P>It has been human experience to lose heart in beliefs such as true love or
50-year marriages or masters degrees or home ownership or debt-free existence or
even a God that suits your purposes, to your content. All these beliefs that
fade away in the course of your growing awareness have been valuable in that
they have given you impetus and have fleshed out your life's purpose, much like
an actor who will assume a part for which he believes he is well suited.</P>
<P>He will learn his lines and find the appropriate props and invite his friends
to the opening night and discover with each new performance new subtle ways in
which to add depth and caliber to the role he has been given. His error is that
this role is not his life's role but a role he will play until the curtain falls
for the last performance and then the role-player must find yet a new role in
order to find himself brought again to life, and this, my children, is the case
for all human beings, especially those who aspire to play a part in life and not
merely sit on the sidelines and watch life happen to other people.</P>
<P>I am here today to encourage you to accept the fact that you, in your
relative imperfection, are still in a position of assuming roles to play, those
which you largely feel are acceptable to your contemporaries. Indeed, you can
all attend the cast party together and remark to one another about the flaws in
the script and the delight in period costume and so forth, but all these words
that I have outpoured upon you here have to do with your beliefs which indeed
will change and grow and evolve over the course of time and I encourage you to,
when the final curtain closes, to not despair of having nothing more to live
for, but rather, to audition for yet another part in upholding yourself with a
belief in yourself and in your purpose for being here on this stage of life.
</P>
<P>All of these beliefs which you entertain are but stepping stones into your
eternal perfection. Your faith will grow as your old and feeble beliefs give way
to greater, more sophisticated, more in-depth beliefs that require more of you
than the temporal happily-ever-after scenario. Your faith will expand as you
discover your belief, which is you r own intellectual configuration, be renewed
in an evolved and more spiritized interpretation of those beliefs, which you
hold dear, and which support you in your life's experiential mode.</P>
<P>As you understand your own beliefs, your need for beliefs, your approach to
beliefs, and the understanding that your beliefs, although they may be
paralleling others' beliefs are not necessarily the ultimate experience, it is
easier then to accept that what another individual believes is true to them is
acceptable to you, for you yourself have evolved your own beliefs, as they
themselves have evolved their own beliefs in accordance with their own
understandings also.</P>
<P>When beliefs are destroyed, it is only to create the opportunity for new and
superior beliefs to be born into reality. </P>
<P>I believe I have spoken enough on beliefs for today. I understand you have
questions of me. Whether they relate to the lesson or not is inconsequential,
for I am delighted to once again be in this position that you allow me as your
teacher, and I am appreciative. And how may I serve you, my friends? </P><B>
<P>Mrs. L:</B> I believe last week you touched on something that I would like to
review when I can read the transcript, but I was interested. You were saying
something, I think, about not being able to accept your world, and I think that
I would like to pursue that, over the weeks, because I don't want to be totally
indignant about everything that I see around me, that I feel is undermining my
grandchildren's future, and I would like to perhaps understand something about
other people's belief system as my own because, for instance, could you help me
when I try to understand and not hate the man who runs the Playboy empire? He
has a long Italian name. He's a very … sort of a … </P><B>
<P>Student:</B> Hugh Hefner?</P><B>
<P>Mrs. L:</B> No, no. Not that man. This is Gukliomo or something. But these
people who run these big conglomerates that prey on the lowest aspects of our
society. I can get very indignant and this is not productive for me, and perhaps
for others, I don't know, but I see it as something very non-productive for me
to be an indignant person and yet, of course, I have to be honest! That's my
reaction. I don't like the pornography that I see on television. I know that
there is a channel on television that is full of pornography, and so I would
perhaps like to understand the belief system of those people. Could you perhaps
tell me, because you probably love these people, because you are so very loving,
and yet I certainly don't!</P><B>
<P>TOMAS:</B> I do not know these people, and yet there are things about all
people which are loveable, namely their association with Our Father -- to the
extent that that association is viable -- and, indeed, in the potential thereof,
as well. </P>
<P>Your moral indignation is understood from your vantage point of high
standards and Jesusonian ideals, but in order for you to find some peace in your
heart and stop wasting valuable energy on flailing the air about your distress,
if you would heal yourself of this rent in your spiritual garment, you might
begin by considering the compassion of an elder sister towards one's siblings
who have not had the advantage of being:</P>
<P></P>
<OL type=a>
<OL type=a>
<LI>indwelt by such a clever and experience Thought Adjuster;</LI>
<LI>of such intellectual endowment as to make those decisions which have
kept you yourself out of finding this sort of behavior an entrepreneurial
enterprise a viable outlet for your own animalistic tendencies;</LI>
<LI>further compassion to understand that your self-esteem has been nurtured
and regarded in such light as you would find it unworthy of you to reduce
your daughtership status to sell out for such shabby crumbs of love and
acceptance as is the lot of many, many women and men on Urantia.</LI>
<LI>I would ask you also to consider economic potential, peer pressure, the
lure of ego acknowledgement in one's society and, in perhaps an overall
wrap-up, consider the overall problem that much of the old ways of Urantia
are falling into disrepair and disrepute as the age of Aquarius rises; the
old way is passing away, all things are becoming new, and in the collective
unconsciousness, the masses are aware that the old way of fear and grasping
is destined to come to a close and in its closure, they are even more
desperate for what they can get from what they understand.</LI>
<LI>And last but not least, daughter and friend, give thanks to Our Father
for the love which has been made to emerge and resound between He and ye and
allow that love which you know in your heart to rain upon those of lesser
fortune. This will eventuate in your beginning to understand your brothers
and sisters. And, indeed, in coming to understand them, you may come to love
them -- at least in sufficient amounts to not disdain your own approach to
your fellow beings. </LI></OL></OL>
<P>Have I approached your concern? </P><B>
<P>Mrs. L: </B>That was very, very helpful to me, and may possibly be helpful to
others in this group who have expressed sentiments somewhat like my own, and
thank you. Thank you very much. </P><B>
<P>TOMAS:</B> I am pleased to bring understanding as I may. I appreciate your
putting forth your concerns that we might tear them open to the light of the
Son. Further questions? </P><B>
<P>Mrs. Ml: </B>Tomas, I have one. I was wondering if our prayers are doing any
good for those poor souls living in Yugoslavia, Bosnia, Russia and where there's
so much hatred and anger and where there's so much death and destruction. Will
it ever end in our time, is what I'm wondering, and is there anything else we
can do besides sending our boys over and taking their lives in their hands, and
our prayers?</P><B>
<P>TOMAS: </B>Thank you, my daughter, for your most provocative and challenging
question, and I will attempt to respond to you also, that you might find some
soul satisfaction in the distressing situation that you have outlined. I will
say that I have no inclination to become embroiled in a political battle and,
therefore, I will not get too caught up in patriotism and the like, but I
personally find that sending young men into battle is not a solution to any
problem. </P>
<P>If I may digress for a moment, let us say you have a forest fire and the fire
rages and you send in firemen to fight the fire, but the fire is such that it
continues to burn and consume even the firefighters. How long, you are asking,
will it take for the flame of animosity, injustice and hatred and evil to
extinguish itself on Urantia, and what can you do as an individual to alleviate
the pain and suffering of those creatures who are in the wake of this roaring,
raging fire which is out of control?</P>
<P>The deer and birds will flee in terror, to seek peace outside of these
flames, and there is not much you can do but to provide hope for them by keeping
your own hope alive, which contributes to the light, the illumination of
spiritual reality on Urantia, as abstract and remote and perhaps impersonal an
answer as that may be. I can promise you that the light of the Spirit on Urantia
has been endangered by negative forces and we are here to help keep the light
alive, to help you keep your lights alive, and we are making progress. We are
upholding one another, and more to the point, we have begun to hold hands in a
large circle of "Christian fellowship" which has reached around the globe. Do
not for one moment think that these people caught in the cross-fire of these
political situations, these primitive outbursts of control and authority issues,
think not for one moment that they are not aware that millions of people are
praying for them, are concerned about them, and that in fact the spiritual
energies which are focused on them create a literal pocket of sanctity for them
in which they may find comfort.</P>
<P>Remember that when you are stressed, you go to your Father in prayer, and
whether it be in time of dire illness or the death of a love done or hunger or
famine or plague or want, your soul flickers to the hand of divinity which
reaches out to you and you are sustained. In that moment and in that knowledge
of truth you can walk many miles -- cold, hungry and torn -- none-the-less, you
are renewed in your courage by that flicker of faith which you have extended to
your Creator, your God -- that which you believe in.</P>
<P>Continue then to include all of your brothers and sisters in the spirit and
in the flesh in your prayers, in the large and in the specific. Feel free to
send specific prayers to specific individuals across the world in villages you
are not even familiar with, but rather picture a child, love that child with Our
Father's love, and that child will receive God's love and you may feel a party
to its salvation. </P>
<P>There are many, many things on this imperfect planet which bear improving,
but there are also many, many things on this planet which could be held up as
exemplary of faith sons and daughters. I would ask you, in order to get to the
meat of the problem, to pray most specifically for the tortured and dis-eased
souls of those in power, for they are the ones who fan the flames which burn the
forests of peace.</P><B>
<P>Mrs. Ml:</B> Thank you, Tomas. Thank you very much.</P><B>
<P>TOMAS:</B> And thank you for your courage in voicing your concerns.</P><B>
<P>Mrs. P:</B> On the 31<SUP>st</SUP> of May 1995, my son chose to leave this
plane. Several times in this life, previous to this, he left but decided to
return after a few hours of coma. This time he made it final. There is something
nagging at me that wants to know if he's made it across that great expanse into
space and if he is as happy now as he was here.</P><B>
<P>TOMAS: </B>I would request of you, before I respond, to share with me (but
briefly) your understanding of your son -- not that I might understand better,
but that you might hear yourself understand better who he is. Tell me.</P><B>
<P>Mrs. P:</B> I'm not real sure that I've ever nailed him down. I think he's
part of the Godness in the universe in expression. I think he's been around many
times; not necessarily here, and I do know that he had an extremely deep sense
of reality and Godness, probably greater than my own, but as to
characterization, if that's what you're asking, I have no idea who he was, other
than that he came to me by divine appointment and we lived together fifty-two of
his fifty-for years. </P><B>
<P>TOMAS: </B>He has not gone so terribly far, for he was not far removed from
whence he came, and he is indeed supremely happy, for his religious growth
continues to inspire his growing reality and his God-consciousness. You, my
daughter, already know these things. I have merely confirmed for you what you
have known in your heart. </P><B>
<P>Mrs. P:</B> Then he IS around here.</P><B>
<P>TOMAS:</B> Well….</P><B>
<P>Mrs. P:</B> In a spiritual sense.</P><B>
<P>TOMAS:</B> 'Here' is a relative phrase, for we get into the entanglements of
time and space. In broaching reality, it is not necessary to go far in the flesh
to go far in the spirit, and it is his spirit that we are referencing, for he
has discarded his mortal tabernacle, and so the distance required for his next
-- shall we say 'portrayal of reality' is just around the corner.</P><B>
<P>Mrs. P:</B> I understand, because he keeps coming from crazy places and I
know he's there. </P><B>
<P>TOMAS:</B> You will meet again.</P>
<P>My children, we have had a double feature again. The capacity of your beings
enlarged with each week, but it is not my intent nor purpose to tire you
unnecessarily, but rather to stimulate and encourage your path of ascension. In
some of these studies of the text you minds are bedazzled with truths and
concepts, and then I come along with my analogies of cultural events and so
forth, and indeed the feast of plenty enlarges to the point of total satiation.
If indeed we are full, I will depart. I will pause a moment for you and I to
sense if we have attained completion for this afternoon.</P><B>
<P>Mrs. Ml:</B> Tomas, one of your students is not present but she did present
several questions. Perhaps you can answer one of them today.</P><B>
<P>TOMAS:</B> I am willing if you are willing. Select one.</P><B>
<P>Mrs. Ml:</B> "Last night on a television show, we saw the stations coming in
from Europe and it was very shocking -- total nudity and pornography. I thought
U.S. television was getting wild, but it seemed okay to the rest of the world,
Japan even. So is the United States and myself that puritanical? Or do we just
have hang-ups about the body or is this a statement of the decay of
civilization? Is there a lesson the world is supposed to learn?</P><B>
<P>TOMAS:</B> Indeed, it does fit in with the earlier question, but only up to a
point, for this is again a provocative question not unlike the other but
reflecting upon beliefs, reflecting more closely upon your beliefs than the
earlier question, and I am happy to expound somewhat and confess to you that,
yes, your cultural mores are in your worlds rather puritanical, and the evidence
of nudity and pornography are in great part a counter-balance to the prudery
which is a cultural inheritance from the monarchy.</P>
<P>The human body is not in and of itself an object to induce shame. Indeed, the
creation of the physical being is a miracle of creation, a work of art --
exquisite in its manufacture, and delightful in its variation. That your culture
is so prurient, forces the natural swing of the human creature to peek and
streak and lure in other avenues, and I could say that much of this decadence is
the fault of those high-brows who find that even nursing infants in public is a
shameful and sexual, therefore loathsome, act. </P>
<P>Yes, your country is Victorian in its approach to sexuality. The sex act,
even in its naturalistic flavor, is not loathsome or crude; it is the beliefs of
many centuries of mores, which have resulted in this very unbalanced situation
today in your culture. Even in the European cultures (as compared to more tribal
countries), the appreciation for lasciviousness as recreation is more honest and
therefore less noticeable.</P>
<P>When, let us say, prohibition came into existence it was unsuccessful in
spite of the efforts to keep [liquid] spirits quelled for moral purposes. The
same is true for sexuality and nudity. If it were approached as a natural and
healthy endowment of mortal beings, rather than an enjoyment that should not be
enjoyed for the sake of enjoyment (which must e wrong because it is enjoyable),
we would not be suffering many of these illnesses today which, I might add,
include an abnormal amount of incest and disgrace upon the many mighty
cathedrals and institutions of religion for indiscretions relating to a very
abnormal imbalance of appreciation for that which is natural. I am not
eliminating, either, the story of the fig leaf, which somehow puts to shame the
private parts of persons who have somehow caused displeasure to some believed-in
God. </P>
<P>I hope I have not ruffled any feathers here this afternoon with this
response, but I am, even so, glad to have had the opportunity to point out that
this moral value judgment serves no purpose in Our Father's Kingdom, and it does
contribute to alienating brothers and sisters in the flesh through
misunderstanding of true value. Anything further?</P><B>
<P>Mrs. McD:</B> Tomas, while we're on the subject of sexuality, I wonder if you
would comment on what is the purpose of homosexuality?</P><B>
<P>TOMAS:</B> What is the purpose of a robin?</P><B>
<P>Mrs. McD:</B> The cosmic purpose of homosexuality.</P>
<P>TOMAS: Yes, and I ask you, what is the purpose of birds? What is the purpose
of potatoes? All things are not necessarily for a purpose. Are you inferring
that the purpose of a woman is to have children and that the purpose of a man is
to provide an income? The purpose of anything is in its being. You are asking
perhaps how is homosexuality justified in a heterosexual society?</P><B>
<P>Mrs. McD:</B> No, I don't mean to justify it. I have no problem with it. I
was just wondering. Heterosexuality has an obvious purpose of procreation. I was
just wondering why … why is it that it happens to certain souls? I just don't
understand why that manifests. I mean there must e a purpose or a reason, I
think. I mean, this is not a judgment on homosexuality. I don't see anything
wrong with it. I just don't see any reason for it, either, in a cosmic
sense.</P><B>
<P>TOMAS: </B>Well, I will attempt to respond by reminding you all that
throughout your eternal career, part of your experience will be to adapt to
other human beings, other entities, as you as ascend along with them. The
purpose, in those terms, of the six colored races includes the learning to
accept and appreciate the differences in the races and the same is true for the
various sexual preferences or inclinations of individuals. There are also many
asexual and bisexual personalities that are more readily assimilated into
society's mores.</P>
<P>Throughout your career you will encounter air breathers, water breathers,
two-brain types, three-brain types, those from decimal planets, those from
normal planets, those from planets settled in light and life. Infinite variety
of colorful renditions of humankind and ascending spirit-kind will titillate you
and entertain and stymie you and confuse you for eons to come. This is part of
the delight of creation and most certainly in your phraseology, my friend, I
would be careful for one could say, what is the purpose of Mrs. McD and cause
untold pain. We are all here for a purpose, that purpose being to express our
Creator and to aspire to be more perfect, like Him. </P><B>
<P>Student:</B> Tomas, before you leave, would you tell us if you've seen Christ
Michael recently and what has he been doing, because you know him even more
intimately that we do, of course.</P><B>
<P>TOMAS: </B>I have indeed seen Him, even today. He has been among us here
today and I smile when I hear you assume that I know Him even more intimately
than you do, for you presume too little of your own intimate association with
your Teacher/ Father/ Brother/ Michael when you assume he loves (knows) me
better, for he loves you equally and knows you as intimately. I, like you, adore
Michael. I am only a few rungs up the ladder from where you are and he reaches
to all of us and walks with all of us in equanimity as we are able to absorb,
appreciate, comprehend and assimilate his truth, beauty and goodness to us. One
moment. </P><B>
<P>MICHAEL:</B> Beloved sons and daughters, I am Michael, your Friend. I have
come to sit with you for a moment and stroke my lambs, my flock. How gentle you
are to me today in your repose, in your humble obeisance to my shepherd, Tomas.
You also are my shepherds in growing. You will also carry the staff of life with
you as you walk the hills in search of your sheep. In calling to that sheep who
has wandered away from our fold, be gentle with my lambs, you who are my
lambs.</P><B>
<P>Student:</B> Tomas told us how to achieve a more loving attitude towards some
of those (with whom) we have differences, and it was very helpful, and I was
wondering if you could tell us about the way you've been looking down on us in
all of our shenanigans.</P><B>
<P>MICHAEL:</B> I look to you with love only. I am not prepared nor do I want to
chide you or chastise you in your growth today. You do well.</P><B>
<P>Student:</B> Michael, we heard that if we could be but more simple, we could
perhaps even see you now, since you are so much closer to us here on Urantia,
and I wanted to ask you if any of our fellows here have seen you, even if it's
been just a very brief impression. </P>
<P><B>Another:</B> I must say thank you, Michael, for having come here and
touched each one of us physically on our backs or shoulders. That was great, and
this chair was here for a reason.</P><B>
<P>MICHAEL:</B> Precious ones, I have indeed presented myself to you all and you
all have responded to me. You have in your heart seen me. In time you will see
me even more, and you are beginning to see the Father through me, and in
yourselves. I visit you, indeed, as the thief in the night. Not while you hold
yourself in supplication of my being, but in your trust of my being. As you pass
by, as you go about doing good in your own way, I go with you, and surely you
shall glimpse me in the spirit and in the eyes and hearts of those we touch.
Peace be upon you, my children. Adieu. </P><B>
<P>TOMAS: </B>I am Tomas for one final remark before we put this to bed for the
afternoon. I am appreciative of the many meaty remarks that were brought to the
circuits this afternoon in your questions, for they each brought to the table
the beliefs that you have wrapped around yourselves and your fellows. Look at
your beliefs to determine how these value judgments and these behavior patterns
relate to the pure affection of divinity which we are admonished to carry
through in our daily doings.</P>
<P>Review your week now with occasional insight into what is a belief and how
has that belief served you and how will you survive as that belief system is
replaced by superior knowledge, wisdom and justice.</P>
<P>Deep affection I leave with you and commendations on your courage. Let me
also say in parting that I have been with many of you this past week, in your
grappling with acceptance and we have, some of us, made great progress. I look
forward to our continued work together, play together, and indeed, camaraderie
throughout eternity. Farewell. </P>
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