MODERN SPIRITUAL RESOURCES: Creating a cutting-edge foundation on which to build a spiritual practice

So that we might better understand our spiritual reality, our spiritual caretakers have given us many great spiritual texts. Many of these are ancient works, passed down through the generations. The Center is pleased to bring to your attention three modern works. In addition, we would like to bring to your attention some derivative works.

Like their ancient predecessors, modern spiritual texts inevitably contain ideas that are radical in terms of the changes they ask of us. And therein lies a major barrier. Even though it is becoming more and more apparent that radical change is needed if society is to be healed, radical ideas are still often difficult to accept and implement. Considering that most people have yet to accept and implement many of the radical ideas of old (e.g., "love your enemies"), it is perhaps not surprising that there has been little rush to investigate modern texts and any new and radical ideas they might contain. Still, much can be gained by adopting new perspectives, even for a moment. Each new perspective sheds new light on our search, enhances our vision, and thus enables us to more quickly and easily find the spiritual peace that we all seek. (More on the subject of perspective)

The Conversations with God series makes the bold claim of being a dialogue with with God! Not just someone's inspired thoughts, but the actual words of our Creator--tempered by the reality that they were filtered through a human mind. See Origins for a discussion of this process. A Course in Miracles not only presents a radical course for spiritual change, but is attributed to Jesus! The Urantia Book, a descriptive text of enormous scope, claims to be the work of more than twenty different spiritual beings and commissions (each described in the book)! One paper even describes life on a spiritually advanced planet! Many people simply cannot accept that books such as these could exist and them not know about them. How could a book written by Jesus exist without their clergy knowing about it? As a result, many dismiss these marvelous works without ever having opened or investigated them. Needless to say, if they have not read them, they are unlikely to accept them as real, and are in no position to spread the word. (More on the subject of authenticity)

The three texts that will be our primary focus are: Conversations with God, a three book series that is being followed by a new series called Friendship with God; A Course In Miracles, three books (a one-year course of study, a text and a teacher's manual) often sold as one volume; The Urantia Book, 196 chapters or papers containing a vast treasure of insight into reality, both new and old.

A Course In Miracles (ACIM)

The Course consists of three books often bound as one: a TEXT (669pp); a WORKBOOK For Students (488pp), a series of 365 daily lessons that is considered the essence of the course; a MANUAL For Teachers (92pp). The author of A Course In Miracles is identified as Jeshua, meaning Jesus, and was produced in cooperation with Helen Schucman and William Thetford. Essentially, Schucman received the words and Thetford typed them from dictation and gave essential support.

The REAL world, as explained in A Course In Miracles, lies just beyond our thoughts and perception. It is a loving world of unlimited by time and space, a world of absolute freedom in which we are allowed to experience whatever we choose (even if it brings us discomfort). It is a world in which we are given many opportunities--and that includes the opportunity to temporarily forget what we know and experience what it is like to be less than whole.

The Course teaches that the experience we have chosen in coming to this planet is separation from God. And while this experience teaches us the importance of oneness, it is an experience that typically generates considerable fear. But the Course repeatedly states that this separation and the accompanying fear is only a masterful illusion that we have skillfully created in order to produce this experience, an illusion that is the product of thoughts generated within our brains, an illusion that can be largely overcome once we recognize that our thoughts cannot lead us to truth, only to fear.

Why are our thoughts unable to lead us to truth? The Course states it is because thoughts are really just perceptions based on past events, whereas the truth is found in the NOW, the Holy Instant. As such, the Course encourages us to live in the now and not worry about the past or fear the future (much as Eastern sages have recommended for centuries).

ACIM is available in English, Spanish, German, Hebrew, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, Chinese and Russian. Other languages are in the process of translation.

For more a more detailed description of the content and purpose of ACIM check out the following Course organizations: www.acim.org (The official site); www.miraclecenter.org (A reader's organization founded in 1978); www.facim.org/~facim/directry.htm (This is the teaching organization of the Foundation For Inner Peace). Or check out Resource Perspectives a page where the Center presents selections from the Course mixed in with quotes from other texts, as they relate to unity, making contact with your personal Inner Voice, love, fear and time.

JOURNEY BEYOND WORDS
Many people find A Course In Miracles, like The Urantia Book, difficult to read. As a result, like The Urantia Book, people often buy ACIM but read very little of it. Fortunately, a similar, but more concise discussion of the principal ideas from the Course can be found in two other books (and a third is in the works). Journey Beyond Words is the first of these books. In this work channeled through Brent Haskell, PH.D., D.O. in which Jeshua/Jesus discusses the WORKBOOK portion of the Course. Most explorers are likely to find Journey Beyond Words easier to read than the Course itself. In addition, Journey contains an expanded discussion of values. DeVorss Publications, 358 pp.

Because the structure of Journey Beyond Words is relatively concise compared with the Course, the Center recommends it as an introduction to the Course (the WORKBOOK or TEXT) or as a simultaneous experience. But please note that while Journey presents a new perspective on the Course and is more easily and quickly read, it should not be considered as a replacement for the workbook section's series of daily lessons which are the heart of the Course.

THE OTHER VOICE
In this second work from Brent Haskell we are given Jesus' discussion of chapters 1-15 of the TEXT (the first half). As with Haskell's other work, The Other Voice presents the same ideas found in A Course In Miracles, but in a form that is more poetic, a form most people are likely to find more understandable. DeVorss Publications, 375 pp.

Selections from Haskell's books can be found mixed in among selections from other texts on the Resource Perspectives page. Please note that this is a long page with numerous quotations grouped by topic.

Haskell's books have been designated Miracles Studies books, "Miracles Studies" being a term suggested by the Foundation For Inner Peace, the copyright holder of the Course, as a term "which may be used to designate materials which provide information about, and/or interpretations of, A Course In Miracles." Although Haskell's works are clearly study aids to the Course, considering the importance of the message of the Course and the difficulty that many people encounter in wading through its rather dense repetitive structure, we would like to suggest that Haskell's work might involve more than this designation suggests.

In "Why the Holistic Perspective is Important" we point out that the human brain is essentially two different brains with two vastly different perspectives (and it's actually much more complex than that). We tend to be dominated by one or the other to some degree, with the dominant perspective being the one we most easily understand. The other perspective,-- we often have considerable difficulty understanding it, and that includes ideas arising out of that perspective. Knowing this, it would seem wise of our celestial guides to present mentally challenging ideas such as those found in the Course from these two different perspectives. Whether or not this is the case--well, read both versions and decide for yourself.

A RETURN TO LOVE
Perhaps the most famous book associated with A Course In Miracles is the number one best seller by Marianne Williamson, A Return To Love. In this 1992 book she weaves a discussion of the principals of the course into an intriguing life story. This is a very interesting and heart-warming book that introduces basic Course principal in understandable terms. Highly recommended for the spiritual explorer interested in the Course. HarperCollins hardcover edition is 260 pp. Also available in softcover.

THE JESHUA LETTERS
Another book that outlines some of the ideas found in ACIM is The Jeshua Letters by Marc Hammer. The Center is recommending this book primarily because of its portrayal of the emotional experiences of a seeker who reluctantly finds himself receiving messages from Jesus that he is asked to share with the world. This book provides valuable insight into the process through which celestial messages are received and how people react to the process. Kendra Press, ISBN 0-963-00840-4, 259 pp.

Conversations with God (CwG)

Also available in this series:
MEDITATIONS FROM CONVERSATIONS WITH GOD, BOOK 1
MEDITATIONS FROM CONVERSATIONS WITH GOD, BOOK 2

Your relationship with Me is no different from your relationship with each other. You begin your interactions with each other with a conversation. If that goes well, you form a friendship. And if that goes well, you experience a sense of oneness--communion--with the other person. It is exactly the same way with Me.
    First we have a conversation.
    Each of you experiences your conversations with God in your own way--and in different ways at different times. It will always be a two-way conversation, such as the one we are having right now. It could be a conversation "in your head," or on paper, or with My responses taking just a little more time and reaching you in the form of the next song you hear, or the next movie you see, or the next lecture you attend, or the next magazine article your read, or the chance utterance of a friend whom you "just happened" to run into on the street.
    Once you have become clear that we are always in conversation, then we can move into friendship." (from the back jacket of the book)

CONVERSATIONS The Newsletter of ReCreation
The Foundation for Personal Growth and Spiritual Understanding, a foundation started by the author, publishes a newsletter that includes information about the foundation's work, a bulletin board, news and notices about upcoming events, a letter from Mr. Walsch, and available products. Around 12-14 pages, not including an insert in which Mr. Walsch answers questions. Twelve-issue subscriptions (newsletters are not necessarily published every month): $35.00 for US addresses, $50.00 outside the US. Order from ReCreation Foundation, Order Dept NL 39, 1257 Siskiyou Blvd., PMB #1150, Ashland, Oregon, 97520.

A book of unparalleled scope, The Urantia Book consists of a collection of 196 papers spread over 2097 pages covering a wide variety of topics and authored by a wide variety of spiritual beings (each of which is described in the book). The Urantia Book is often described as a cosmology--and it starts out as such--but it is much more. An example of this is the 700+ page year-by-year chronicle of the life of Jesus as observed first hand and recorded for posterity by a "midwayer," a type of spiritual being introduced in the book and described as a being that is approximately half way between a mortals and an angel. Read about the seventh, eighth and ninth years of Jesus' life.

This amazing book will give both brain hemispheres a challenge. Your left brain will discover a host of exciting universe details that create an enormously complex structural puzzle to piece together. Your right brain will be treated with soulful reminders of what it means to be whole, to be connected through love to the Universe and to God. A more comprehensive overview of the Urantia Book can be found at urantiabook.org/web_intro.htm

Be advised that while large portions of this book are very easily understood, there are some extremely difficult sections, and the latter tend to be located in the front of the book. It is generally agreed that the Foreword is the most difficult portion of the book. Often, people start with the Foreword, find it impossible to understand, and then give up on the book. This is unnecessary, as large portions of the book are easily read and understood.

The Urantia Book is available in English, Spanish, French, Finnish, Russian and Dutch and is currently being translated into other languages. Available soft-cover (6x8) and hardcover (8x10). The larger type of the hardcover version is a definite plus.

JESUS A REVELATION OF GOD
A comparative study of the words of Jesus as found in the Bible and the words of Jesus from The Urantia Book, edited by Laurence Robert Whelan. Mr. Whelan identifies the scene and sets the context, then presents the scripture, as in this example:

Evening of the Ordination

The evening of the ordination, Jesus continued to teach the apostles. He said to the twelve apostles:

Matthew 5:17
"Do not think that I have come to destroy the law or the prophets. I have not come to destroy them. I have come to fulfill and give them their full meaning."

The Urantia Book, Page 1576:15
"You find it difficult to receive my message because you would build the new teachings directly upon the old, but I declare that you must be reborn. You must start out afresh as little children and be willing to trust my teaching and believe in God. The new gospel of the kingdom cannot be made to conform to that which is. You have wrong ideas of the Son of Man and his mission on earth. But do not make the mistake of thinking that I have come to set aside the law and the prophets; I have not come to destroy but to fulfill, to enlarge and illuminate. I come not to transgress the law but rather to write these new commandments on the tablets of your hearts." From page 42

THE URANTIA BOOK Online
The complete Urantia Book is available with search engines at http://urantiabook.org (a readers group) and http://urantia.org (the publisher's site). The search engine is especially valuable when trying to research a topic since the book lacks an index. A Spanish version can be found at http://librourantia.org. French and Portuguese versions are also available online and links can be found on the links page.

Urantia Book Reference works:

CONCORDANCE and CONCORDEX
A Concordance is available as is a third edition Concordex (combination index-concordance. The Concordex is 503 pages.

PARAMONY
The http://urantiabook.org site contains an online Paramony listing 13,000 cross-references between the Bible and The Urantia Book (click on the site index and go to Paramony). A new edition of the print version of the Paramony is being prepared and should be available sometime in the first half of 2000.
 
 

Correcting Time Resources

To move us to this higher state of being, celestial teachers tell us, major shifts will need to take place in our basic institutions (government, education, religion). Thus, a major function of The Correcting Time is to "correct" the material/spiritual imbalance that currently exists in individuals and the institutions they (we) have created.

As Bob Dylan so prophetically announced in the sixties: "The times they are a-changin'." And as we know, change tends to be stressful. It will not be easy or come quickly. You and I will probably not see light and life. It is doubtful that our grandchildren will, but their grandchildren might. In any case, we are told that great changes are in store for us. And we can see them starting to happen.

To help us deal with the stress of accelerated spiritual growth brought on by the correcting time, a veritable flood of celestial teachers have been sent to the planet. They are here as aids, to help us develop our connection with our TEACHER, the Ultimate source of Peace. They are here to help us better understand this world and our place in it; here to help us change it. And not only are they here to teach, but also to learn. The teacher-student relationship, according to The Urantia Book, is to be found all along the eternal path of life: no matter how much we learn, we are always helping those behind us and receiving help from those who have gone on before. We don't simply wake up in heaven perfect beings knowing everything and with nothing left to learn!

Along with an influx of personal teachers, we are currently experiencing a reestablishment of celestial communications circuits. These circuits, according to The Urantia Book, were severed in order to limit the spread of a spiritual rebellion involving, among others, Lucifer and Satan. Now, we are told, the rebellion has been settled and circuits are gradually being re-opened, which is facilitating greater human-celestial communication. (Of course there are still many negative forces at work on our planet, but they are the result of our beliefs--they are internal forces generated by fears and bad habits and programming that developed during the rebellion, rather than external forces generated by "evil" spirits). Prayers asking for answers are being answered. This is one of the ways.

Unfortunately, most people are unaccustomed to listening for the voice of God and the teachers He/She has sent. Thus, we find the process of tuning-in to be a daunting challenging (assuming we are able to open our minds to the possibility). Still, more and more often, people are finding answers when they ask questions. And more and more, people are sharing their messages and lessons through books of various types and through transcripts, published and unpublished.

Of course, the question always comes up: which transcripts are derived from legitimate contact with loving spiritual beings and which are all or mostly the fantasy of some egotistical individual out for personal glory or the product of an enterprising soul whose primary goal is profit? (And it's not even that simple, since people's biases can fall somewhere in between.) The answer to this question involves highly personal matters and is one each of us must arrive at by ourselves. Nevertheless, this problem can be solved in the same way most problems come to be solved: through investigation, practice, patience and by asking good questions in a honest spirit of inquiry conditioned by a touch of skepticism. Meanwhile, always remember that you are not required to decide the validity of what you read at the time you read. You can always read, then at some later date decide what you think . In the meanwhile, pay attention to how you feel about what you have read. Look for ideas that promote positive ideas and solutions involving love, peace, joy, forgiveness, and understanding–or whatever high ideals you choose to value. Try them on for size. Decide only when you are comfortable doing so.

Celestial advice on the subject of authority from The Center Within (introduced below).

"All spiritual teachings must be evaluated by their content, and not followed or rejected because of the celebrity of their supposed source. The time is long past on this planet when spiritual seeking can be promulgated by asserting the authority of the teacher. It must be the teachings themselves and the effect they have on the students' lives and not the claimed authority of their source that must be the final determinant in evaluating any spiritual teaching." (p.14)

"You must cease to seek for the word of God only on the pages of the olden records of theologic authority. Those who are born of the spirit of God shall henceforth discern the word of God regardless of whence it appears to take origin. Divine truth must not be discounted because of the channel of its bestowal is apparently human. Many of your brethren have minds which accept the theory of God while they spiritually fail to realize the presence of God. And that is just the reason why I have so often taught you that the kingdom of heaven can best be realized by acquiring the spiritual attitude of a sincere child. It is not the mental immaturity of the child that I commend to you but rather the spiritual simplicity of such an easy-believing and fully-trusting little one. It is not so important that you should know about the fact of God as that you should increasingly grow in the ability to feel the presence of God." (pp.1732-33) [This was part of a second discourse on religion to a group of teachers of truth during a journey to the Phoenician coast shortly after Herod had authorized the arrest of Jesus by officers of the Sanhedrin.]

For more on authority see Channeling and Authenticity

Teaching Mission

Because this is still a relatively small group, spiritual explorers are unlikely to find a Teaching Mission group in their area. Nevertheless it might be helpful to briefly discuss the organization so that those who feel moved to start a similar type of group might obtain some small measure of guidance.

In terms of function, Teaching Mission groups normally make contact with one or more celestial teachers through one or more individuals in the group. (It is often said, start a group and a teacher will be sent.) Typically, groups discuss the spiritual-growth-enhancing ideas that are given them and/or seek to put them to use in their daily lives. As individuals, members typically work toward recognition of their own sacred Inner Voice. (Obtaining spiritual teachings through others is something that is only done when one is unable to recognize one's own inner voice.) This is the typical format, but each group is free to proceed as they choose. There are no set rules or procedures or organizational dictates other than those decided upon by the group. However, Teaching Mission groups do not engage in seances, nor attempt to make contact with departed loved ones, UFO personnel or attempt other contacts unrelated to their spiritual growth (as is often the case with fee-based channeling).

One of the factors that helps to make the transcripts from this group exceptionally reliable is the process whereby transcripts are freely circulated among a relatively large number of experienced individuals. Not all celestial communications are transcribed, but of those that are, many, if not most, are published to the web (see "transcript subscriptions" below and/or check the links page under "transcripts"). What this does, in effect, is produce a system of critique similar to the peer review process that we find assisting scientist in their search for physical truth. And while the member critique in this group clearly lacks the organizational focus and intense scrutiny one finds in the scientific community, it nevertheless helps promote quality.

Another factor that suggests a high level of integrity is the philosophical benchmark of unity. One would expect teachers at the celestial level to be relatively unified in the messages they convey. Likewise, the messages received: we would expect them to be relatively unified–-and that seems to be the case with Teaching Mission transcripts. Furthermore, teachers often stay with one group for years, then move to other groups. When teachers move we would expect their style and approach to teaching to remain relatively stable, even though they are channeling their messages through different individuals – and that too seems to be the case.

Since the inception of the Teaching Mission in the early 90's various groups and individuals have been transcribing their teacher's comments. The result is a massive collection of transcripts available for study. With the Teaching Mission being relatively new, transcripts are only now beginning to reach publication. And although many transcripts circulate, few have been archived on the net (the Center hopes to correct this–-it is only a matter of time and funding). To help spiritual explorers obtain an immediate sense of what the teaching mission and the correcting time is about, the Center recommends:

THE CENTER WITHIN
Edited by Fred Harris and Byron Belitsos, this is a 1998 compilation of transcripts from a teacher named Will. The Center Within offers a series of spiritual lessons that provide a wealth of information on how to make spiritual progress. The lessons not only reveal the essence of the Teaching Mission, but each lesson is also accompanied by a related quote from The Urantia Book. 6x9 paperback, ISBN: 1-57983-001-3, 284 pp.

Excerpted from The Center Within, the following lesson sums up the substance of the mission. Found on pages 160-161, the lesson is entitled "Families are those connected through the heart":

"I'd like to speak with you tonight on family. Family can mean many things. It can mean a biological family. Or it can mean a congregation of close friends. But I choose to speak of family as those connected though the heart.

There are many on this world who erect barriers to such a heart connection and look for differences in people rather than similarities. The connection between people is part and parcel of the circuits that we have discussed recently. Visualize two live wires, each with the light of the Father flowing through it, but not connected. Until there can be a bridge between the two, they may forever be separated. We ask that each of you take one end of the wire in one hand and one in the other and become the conduit for the Father's love that will connect those two wires.

By doing this, you have created a circuit that permits the love of the father to flow unimpeded through those connections. You in this group have opened your heart circuits and created a linkage that we will call, for this purpose, extended family. When members in this circuit are able to connect with other people, the family extends further. Finally, in the exponential growth of this family, we will connect all people on this planet through the heart circuits.

This will require that we bridge all barriers, all differences, all impediments to this type of energy flow and love. This will not be accomplished through the destruction of those barriers, but we shall do it though the raising of the depth of love on this planet so that no barrier will be tall enough to interrupt this circuit.

This is our plan, and each person on this planet is a necessary ingredient for the final completion of a heart-based family. This planet will reach Light and Life when each person can be connected through the heart to each other person, and each can be concerned about the well-being of their family--that is, all other people on this planet.

That is the sum and substance of our mission. It is not going to happen overnight, but it must begin somewhere. If you look around, you'll see that many connections are already in place, and we ask that you continue to reach out and put those circuits into place whenever you can."

Additional material from The Center Within can be found under Stillness/Meditation on the Timeless Resources page and scattered through the Resource Perspectives page.

FRUITS OF THE SPIRIT
This 1999 "universal course in character development" recounts a series of lesson from Teacher Tomas edited by Angus Bowen and Karen O'Dell. Available for $8.95 through selected bookstores and from the publisher ($10.00 postpaid) at Harp of God Distribution Center, 123 S. Main St., Butler, PA 16001. 5 ˝ x 8 ˝ paperback, 55pp.

THE CORRECTING TIME
The Center also recommends a 1999 autobiographical adventure story entitled The Correcting Time. Written by one of the early pioneers of the Teaching Mission, The Correcting Time gives both an interesting and informative account of the development of the Teaching Mission from the perspective of an early adherent, and incorporates many of the teachings of Will. ISBN: 0-9667435-0-4 90000. $14.95, available from Amazon.com and other booksellers. 384pp.

Transcript Subscriptions
Teaching Mission transcripts can be obtained free by e-subscription. As transcripts are posted to the internet they will automatically be posted to your email. (Back issues not readily available.) To subscribe send majordomo@circuit1.teamcircuits.com the message: subscribe tmtranscripts

Transcripts often contain specialized terms from The Urantia Book. A glossary can be found at http://urantiabook.org/glossary.htm or try using search at Urantia Book sites in the LINKS section.

Other Sources of Modern Transcripts