A:

You wrote: I come to you in a state of confusion. Over the past several months, I have been reading UB papers #57 thru 75 or so. I am in search of understanding of what our purpose is on Urantia and where to from here (after death). If this planet is evolutionary, I would expect to go on to another evolutionary phase. What is so confusing to me is that I cannot fathom that our sojourn on Urantia can fulfill any evolutionary accomplishment. I guess what I am saying is that: can any good thing come out of Urantia?

Yes, those papers can be pretty depressing, if taken all by themselves! The fact is that we live on a world that is fallen, isolated, and in darkness. There’s just no two ways about it. And if that’s all we learn, it is really a downer. But, be of good cheer! Keep reading!

Our evolutionary growth starts here, and it continues throughout our eternal career until such time as we become full-fledged spirits. I find it good to know what has happened to our world to make it so dark; it explains so much to me, and knowledge like this is powerful, as it holds in its presentation the seeds of change, and what we must do to make the world (and ourselves) better while we are here. Knowing the truth of things makes even a bad situation better.

If all had gone according to plan, we would have the headquarters of the Planetary Prince still flourishing in Dalamatia and we would have Adam and Eve still resident in the Garden in charge of a world-class center of culture and spiritual education. We were essentially robbed of those things, and not only that, we were put into isolation – separated from the spiritual circuits…so it’s not a pretty picture.

You say: The question that recurs with me is, why are we on Urantia evolving under such horrible circumstances? Humanity’s sojourn on Urantia seems futile. When I consider the enormous blight on our lives here on Urantia, I just don’t understand why this step or phase in the Divine plan was necessary or if necessary, what is to be accomplished.

This step was NOT necessary; normal planets do not experience this kind of upheaval. Our planet is far from normal. The Lucifer rebellion was the result of choices made by Lucifer, Satan, and Caligastia. It was a detestable violation of trust by these beings – and others who joined them – and it still affects our world today. We see it clearly in the attitudes of “self-assertion” in our business, social, and political cultures. We see greed, selfishness, and exploitation by the “haves” on the “have-nots.” It’s hard to see…but when we understand the WHY of it, at least we may feel less at the mercy of these things and less dismayed at them, for we know that eventually, the world WILL be restored to the universe community.

We must use our knowledge of these things to help us rise above them and to help others. What we have been given through The Urantia Book is a blueprint for living that is able to be really put into practice. Through the life and teachings of Jesus we have the example of a human life that was perfected, in spite of the handicaps of rebellion and sin. Jesus, when he was here, terminated the rebellion that day on Mt Hermon, but until the rebellion has been permitted to run its whole course – until each soul makes a choice for good and for God – we will have these problems to encounter and overcome. But, armed with knowledge, armed with truth, beauty, and goodness as our constant companions in the form of the thought adjuster, armed with the recognition of truth through Jesus’ Spirit of Truth, we are equipped to assist the world and help our brothers and sisters (and ourselves) be overcomers!

You have some great papers coming up, so be of good cheer! The Religion papers: #99 to #103 and the thought Adjuster papers: #107 to #112 are some of the very best, and will hopefully ignite your enthusiasm and lift your spirits again.

On Jerusem, people from Urantia are called adondontors: “evolutionary will creatures who can believe without seeing, persevere when isolated, and triumph over insuperable difficulties even when alone.” And somewhere in the book we are told that some of the spiritual beings who know about us actually ENVY us for our opportunities to become truly good through difficult experience. LOL!

Once this life is over, we take our immortal soul with us; and our soul is the sum and substance of all the good that we have done and thought – all of the good decisions we have made and the spiritual victories we have won through hard experience on this dark world. The life we live after this one will have none of the hardships we experience here, but our earthly experiences will be of great help in advancing us as we continue to evolve and change into better and better beings.

Remember this section: THE REWARDS OF ISOLATION? Read it again!

Thanks again for writing. I am so glad to have the opportunity to share some experience and strength and hope with you. As they say: “it is what it is,” but when we know what it is and more importantly, why it is, we have a fighting chance to overcome. One of our jobs here, as I see it, is to help others achieve a better orientation to the world and the universe – to help others rise up out of despair and hopelessness through knowledge of true reality. So many of our brothers and sisters are completely disoriented in this life, with no clue of what is happening – they only know they don’t like it, and with little wonder. But, all is not lost. A lot has been lost, but be of good cheer:

54:6.6 At first the Lucifer upheaval appeared to be an unmitigated calamity to the system and to the universe. Gradually benefits began to accrue. With the passing of twenty-five thousand years of system time (twenty thousand years of Urantia time), the Melchizedeks began to teach that the good resulting from Lucifer’s folly had come to equal the evil incurred. The sum of evil had by that time become almost stationary, continuing to increase only on certain isolated worlds, while the beneficial repercussions continued to multiply and extend out through the universe and superuniverse, even to Havona. The Melchizedeks now teach that the good resulting from the Satania rebellion is more than a thousand times the sum of all the evil.

Good news indeed! And it ain’t over until it’s over!