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September 9, 2011
Forget will power. The human will is not capable of running your life with efficiency and grace. Release the spirit, and it will do everything. That is the secret Jesus revealed to Fortune, the “young man who was afraid.” Jesus first assured Fortune that he had a strong body, but he should use it, and hurry off to where great things are waiting to be done. Then Jesus said: “Your strong body has an intelligent mind to direct it. Set your mind at work to solve its problems; teach your intellect to work for you; refuse longer to be dominated by fear like an unthinking animal. Your mind should be your courageous ally in the solution of your life problems rather than your being, as you have been, its abject fear-slave and the bond-servant of depression and defeat.”
And then Jesus revealed the mighty secret: “But most valuable of all, your potential of real achievement is the spirit which lives within you, and which will stimulate and inspire your mind to control itself and activate the body if you will release it from the fetters of fear and thus enable your spiritual nature to begin your deliverance from the evils of inaction by the power-presence of living faith. And then, forthwith, will this faith vanquish fear of men by the compelling presence of that new and all-dominating love of your fellows which will so soon fill your soul to overflowing because of the consciousness which has been born in your heart that you are a child of God.”
THIS IS THE SECRET! It is the “unsubmissive human will” that keeps the spirit locked away. It is the unsubmissive human will that insists we do what we WANT to do rather than do what we NEED to do. And the conflict between these two motivations burns away energy even though we are indecisive, tentative, and doing nothing. As Rodan stated: “Jesus has taught us that God lives in man; then how can we induce man to release these soul-bound powers of divinity and infinity? How shall we induce men to let go of God that he may spring forth to the refreshment of our own souls while in transit outward and then to serve the purpose of enlightening, uplifting, and blessing countless other souls? How best can I awaken these latent powers for good which lie dormant in your souls?”
We are told in the Urantia Papers: “Few mortals ever dare to draw anything like the sum of personality credits established by the combined ministries of nature and grace. The majority of impoverished souls are truly rich, but they refuse to believe it.”
So, why are people afraid to release the spirit? Because they are afraid it will change them. And, they are right. It’s all about daring to release the spirit within, following directions, and to going along with the program to win friends and influence destiny.
LARRY MULLINS
September 3, 2011
“Most of the spectacular phenomena associated with so-called religious conversions are entirely psychologic in nature, but now and then there do occur experiences which are also spiritual in origin. When the mental mobilization is absolutely total on any level of the psychic upreach toward spirit attainment, when there exists perfection of the human motivation of loyalties to the divine idea, then there very often occurs a sudden down-grasp of the indwelling spirit to synchronize with the concentrated and consecrated purpose of the superconscious mind of the believing mortal. And it is such experiences of unified intellectual and spiritual phenomena that constitute the conversion which consists in factors over and above purely psychologic involvement.” [The Urantia Book, Page 1099]
The Urantia Book goes on to tell us that just such a spectacular religious conversion happened to Saul of Tarsus on the road to Damascus. Saul of Tarsus first appears in the Biblical record as a witness to the stoning of Stephen, the first martyr to the cause of Christ—dying fearlessly and even “consenting” to his death. This experience deeply impressed Saul. Yet he continued on his feverish desire to exterminate the early believers in Jesus from the face of the earth.
Later Saul, carrying arrest warrants for several Christians, left Jerusalem for the ancient city of Damascus, some 140 miles north. As he drew near Damascus, a light “brighter than the noonday sun” engulfed him. A voice demanded: “Saul, Saul, why do you continue to persecute me?” The voice was identified as Jesus of Nazareth! Saul, blinded as a consequence of his experience, was instructed to enter Damascus where he would be informed as to what to do next. Saul was led into the city where he fasted and prayed for three days. Finally, a man named Ananias arrived, restored Saul’s sight and commanded him to “arise, and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on his name.” Saul, the former persecutor became Paul of Tarsus and began a spectacular and influential career proclaiming that Jesus “is the Son of God.”
I must admit that for some it may be quite a leap from Paul of Tarsus to George Foreman. Yet I know of no more spectacular conversion than Mr. Foreman’s. He was an equally unlikely candidate as Paul for conversion. Yet George Foreman’s description of his personal “road to Damascus” experience is, in my judgment, nothing less than a modern day miracle. Foreman encountered Jesus in such a way, and with such vivid power, that the Spirit of Truth permanently transformed him from an especially ferocious prize fighter into a loving servant of God.
I will not attempt to condense Foreman’s experience into this blog. But I highly recommend his book, “God in My Corner … a Spiritual Memoir.” He describes his experience with unforgettable detail and clarity. It is one of my favorite spiritual books.
Some people who know George Foreman only as a boxer and a hawker of grills are unfamiliar with his current commitment to a life of service. Foreman had compiled a record of 37 and 0, nearly all by knockout, before he became heavyweight champion of the world in 1972. He lost his title under questionable circumstances a year and a half later. He was on his way to getting a chance to regain the title when he lost a close decision. It was in his locker room after this fight that George Foreman had his extraordinary encounter with Jesus. Boxing had made George a wealthy man, a multimillionaire. But, because of his experience, he was finished as a prize fighter, or so it seemed. He said that after his experience with Jesus “… my whole world turned upside down. God flushed all the hatred and resentment out of my heart … Because I no longer had hate boiling inside of me, I couldn’t imagine boxing again.”
It was a month before George acquired his first Bible and decided to evangelize his new-found faith. He began contacting celebrities he knew personally to tell them about his religious awakening. Few of the rich and famous were interested.
George Foreman then began to “lift Jesus up” and talk about him with the ordinary folks. first on street corners, then in a very modest little church in Houston. At the age of 28 the great champion retired from boxing and slipped away from public view. In a few years he had been cheated out of all his money and was flat broke. By 1984 he had managed to save enough to open the George Foreman Youth & Community Center. Foreman wanted a safe haven for kids to hang out. I saw a photo of him in Life magazine about that time. He looked nothing like the George Foreman I had known. Head shaven, overweight, and impoverished, he was now a humble preacher sweeping out the modest center for youths he ran in Houston. “Poor guy,” I thought. “Once he had everything and he had let it slip away.”
Barely a year later Foreman’s accountant told him that he would go broke if he continued to use his own money to support the center. Rather than giving up on the youth center or begging for money, George decided to return to boxing. He had been in retirement for ten years and was nearly 40 years old. It took him a year to lose over 100 pounds and begin his second boxing career, ten years after his original retirement. Virtually all the boxing pundits took George’s return as a joke. George fought in a different way than in his pitiless youth. He now prayed for his opponents and dispatched them with the least possible force. Early on he cautiously fought less important, carefully selected boxers for three years for very small purses, avoiding the top contenders. Then, suddenly it seemed, he gained more and more public attention as he began knocking off the important, highly ranked boxers.
George eventually fought Evander Holyfield for the title, not winning but competitively making a good accounting of himself. Then, one final opportunity came at the age of 44. Miraculously, it seemed, Foreman became the oldest man ever to win the heavyweight championship of the world. As the referee counted out his vanquished opponent in the tenth round, George went to a neutral corner. In front of God, the angels, and all the world, he went to his knees and prayed thanksgiving.
From a young mugger and brawler in the streets of Houston, George Foreman is now a successful businessman, minister, and creator of a haven for lost and impoverished youth. He overcame adversity, failure and betrayal and found God. He has lived to serve God, and has lifted Jesus high. George Foreman has helped an untold number of people with his ministry and with the way he quietly walks his spiritual talk in his home city. As I indicated, I highly recommend “God is in my Corner… a Spiritual Memoir.” Check it out.
His website:
http://www.georgeforeman.com/index.php
Larry Mullins
August 30, 2011
Quantum physics is a fascinating subject. The very best book on the subject
(in my opinion) is John Gribbon’s “Shrodinger’s Kittens and the Search for
Reality.” He explains the theory for half the book. Then he goes into a
Chapter titled “Desperate Remedies” explaining the Copenhagen Interpretation
and its flawed premise that mind (we) create(s) reality, and there is no
objective reality. Next he has an awesome chapter on “Thinking about
Thinking” (one we could all discuss for hours), and finally an Epilogue
solution, which he calls “A Myth for our times.”
In this Epilogue he presents a different interpretation of the quantum
mysteries. This solution, by John Craymer, works with the Urantia Book.
In a sense, and very briefly, when we observe quantum realities (in my
opinion) there seems to be no time or space or causation as we know it
because we are looking into the very fringes of the mind of God,
specifically the unqualified absolute (the reservoir of all matter). Matter
seems to emerge from “nothing” (the unqualified absolute) as energy (the
universal absolute) and converts into matter (the qualified absolute).
According to Craymer’s solution, reality in time and space is achieved by
the quantum process of cancelling out the past and present (God is “making”
measurable time and space possible by conditionally surrendering
omnipresence and all knowing and allowing evolutionary realities so he can
escape the “fetters of absoluteness” as the Supreme.)
The Craymer solution discards human mind over matter (which the UB does not embrace). Jesus needed midwayers and angels to accomplish miracles. This process was indeed necessarily congruent with the will of God, but not in the Copenhagen wave collapse manner which scientist-mystic Goswami suggests. If Goswami were correct Jesus would not have needed angels and midwayers to perform seeming miracles. If anyone could know how to collapse the correct possibility wave (the will of God) it would have been Jesus.
The Urantia Book offers a new model of the human being that cannot be fully
understood in linear, left-brained terms, graphics are very useful for this. More later.
Larry Mullins
July 10, 2011
When I was a young man (long before I found the Urantia Papers), I had an experience that gave me my first inkling of what it feels like to have power over thought and a deep sense of self. When I made this discovery, I was certain I had found the secret of the universe. I had yet to learn that having knowledge of something is not the same as knowing it or owning it. We really do not own something until we incorporate it into our experience and share it with others. Yet, even though I would find it necessary to retrace my steps time and again and relearn the value of self-mastery, the original experience was a critical beginning. It was my introduction to the power of mind control and self-induced inner peace.
As an eighteen-year-old, I lived in a dysfunctional home. I was angry, poor, and had little hope. In this shadowy world, there were many temptations and diversions, but few positive possibilities. Or so it seemed. Too bored and indifferent to study, I barely managed to graduate from high school. Soon, I was working as a laborer in a local lumberyard. On the surface, I appeared defiant and confident, but inside I was in constant fear, turmoil, and despair. It was as though I was not really fully awake and was watching the world through a long tunnel. Then, I happened into a barbershop and met a man known in the neighborhood as “Don the Barber.” From there, everything began to change.
A haircut was a rare occasion for me in those days. I had passed the tiny barbershop many times, but had never entered it before. Don was middle-aged and walked with a severe limp. His intensity and friendliness immediately struck me as unusual. We were alone in the shop, and as he cut my hair, he talked about mind power, human will, and other subjects that seemed peculiar to me. I could not imagine why he wanted to discuss such offbeat ideas with me. I answered most of his overtures and questions with a grunt or a few mumbled words.
When I paid this unusual man, he suddenly handed me a small book with a worn blue cover. I turned the old tome over in my hands and noted the title: Raja Yoga … or Mental Development, by Yogi Ramacharaka. “Why don’t you read this book, and tell me what you think?” he suggested. In those days, such books were unusual in our culture. I was deeply suspicious. A yogi, to me, was a skinny guy with a turban who could lie upon a bed of nails.
“You don’t believe all this stuff, do you?” I asked.
He smiled. “Well, just read it. Think of it as a cafeteria of ideas. If one appeals to you, take it. Otherwise, pass it by.”
I tucked the book under my arm and promised to return it. When I got home, I decided to look the book over. I began to read by the afternoon light of my window. I read words unlike anything I had ever read before: “Before man attempts to solve the secrets of the Universe without, he should master the Universe within—the Kingdom of the Self.”
For a young man who had concluded he was fighting a losing battle with a hostile universe, the concept of a refuge within—a Kingdom of Self—was irresistible. The idea that there is another, better self within, with access to powerful resources unavailable to my present state of consciousness, was thrilling. It seemed to me that I had been playing a life role far below my capacities, one I did not relish. Down deep, I wanted to be something else. Raja Yoga declared that my “real” self was hidden by the fake outer persona, a facade that I presented to the world so that I could cope and get along. I was even more astounded by the assertion that it was possible for any normal person to control the mind and achieve inner peace. The idea that I could control thought was completely unique to me. The greatest of all demoralizers is the state of being in which we are helpless victims of our thoughts.
Regarding the many grievances that tortured my mind, I read:
“Yet this is an absurd position—for man, the heir of all the ages: hag-ridden by the flimsy creatures of his own brain … It should be as easy to expel an obnoxious thought from your mind as it is to shake a stone out of your shoe; and till a man can do that it is just nonsense to talk about his ascendancy over Nature, and all the rest of it. He is a mere slave, and prey to the bat-winged phantoms that flit through the corridors of his own brain. Yet the weary and careworn faces that we meet by the thousands, even among the affluent classes of civilization, testify only too clearly how seldom this mastery is obtained. How rare indeed to meet a MAN!”
I read and read. I was unaware of time or space. When the light from the window was so dim I could not read anymore, I looked up and observed the dark disorder I lived in. There is a better way to live, I thought. Of course, I knew that if I had money I could live on a higher material level. But the stunning new idea was: There is a better way to live NOW. I could create my own world within! It could be my own gallery of peace, freedom, and joy. I reasoned that if my mind could generate and sustain thoughts as clear and pure as a mountain stream, no one could hurt me anymore. No matter what others did, they could not destroy, or even affect, my inner kingdom—unless I let them. It all seemed so simple.
The pivotal, enduring insight I gleaned that day was this assurance that I had choices. I gained the knowledge that no matter what circumstances surrounded me, I could master my inner life. At the time, I had no idea how difficult such inner mastery would turn out to be. It would take the better part of a lifetime and what seemed to be endless grief before I could consistently win the battle within. Even so, in times of despair, the original revelation that we can control our thoughts gave me hope. That day, I also accepted responsibility for the secret place, my inner life. The strange book that Don the Barber lent me made me conscious of self, of being, in a way I had never imagined before. LARRY MULLINS
May 18, 2011
“Man can never wisely decide temporal issues or transcend the selfishness of personal interests unless he meditates in the presence of the sovereignty of God and reckons with the realities of divine meanings and spiritual values.” Urantia Book, page 1093
For as long as I remember, I have had a nightmare that comes at unpredictable, irregular times. I have never been able to figure out its meaning until very recently. It is not terribly scary, more disturbing than anything.
This nightmare usually comes in the same general form. I am in a huge, strange building. It has many floors, lots of activity goes on. People are all engaged in manufacturing or commercial activities of various kinds. Part of the building also serves as a hotel. The distressing part begins when I realize I am confused. I am trying to find my room, and have no idea where it is. I wander from floor to floor, and no one pays any attention to me. I am aware that everything I need is in my room, my clothes, my money, and most of all my airplane tickets. The fruitless search goes on and on until I wake up, usually in the middle of the night.
Then one night, after an especially troubling version of this dream, I figured out the answer. The nightmare comes when I fail to pray before falling asleep. My usual prayer is very simple. First of all I thank God for a fabulous day, one that taught me precious lessons. Then I pray for everyone I know who needs special help. Finally, for the world. Last of all, for guidance. This part is an authentic challenge. Because I know I am not capable of hearing God’s message, I just still the mind. I believe God talks to my listening soul. Even though my human mind is deaf to the words, it seems to sense that a wonderful transmission is taking place. In silence I wait, and usually sleep comes.
The inner presence of God can and will guide our intuition flawlessly. He sees around corners and has an unfathomable vision of our destiny. Otherwise, without him, we become lost and confused, regardless of how smart we are, or think we are. One final suggestion. When I awake I try to always thank God for a new day. My mantra is (from some anonymous source I read once): “Today is a day that surpasses all days, because each day surpasses the day before, and all lapse into magnificence. Because that’s just the way things are.”
LARRY MULLINS
May 10, 2011
Dear Mr. O’Reilly and Reverend Graham:
Hell is a state of nonbeing. This state is the opposite of reality.
When I was a kid one of my Catholic friends assured me that hell is a real place where evil people go. The nuns told him. “It’s like when you burn your finger,” my friend said. “You know how bad that feels? But it’s like your whole body is burning forever and ever.” Even as an immature child I could not believe God would do such a thing to one of his wayward creatures.
Mr. O’Reilly, you had a minister on your program who tried to explain to you that hell is not a material place where evil people go. But you interrupted him so much that he never really got to explain what he meant. You seemed to believe that if there is no material hell then Hitler, and Stalin, and Osama ben Laden are in heaven. But nobody believes that. And Reverend Graham, you wrote in your newspaper column that hell is “very real.” Then you quoted the Bible as saying that people in hell are: “shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power.” I agree with this, and isn’t “being shut out from the presence of the Lord” like being shut out from the most real of all realities?
You see, God is “the most inescapable of all presences, the most real of all facts, the most living of all truths, the most loving of all friends, the most divine of all values.” Being all these things, he is also “the most certain of all universe experience.” How can one be totally denied of this reality unless one ceases to be? The reality of being is the greatest gift the Creator has given us. The situation of total nonbeing is tantamount to annihilation.
St. Augustine had an ingenious way of explaining this. He would ask his students, “Would you rather have a beautiful pearl or a mouse?” The answer was always the same, of course, because we would all rather have the valuable pearl than the mouse. Then he would ask, “Would you rather be a beautiful pearl or a mouse?” The answer changed at that point. A mouse, limited as it is, has more being, more power to act than a lifeless pearl. Absolute nonbeing is OK for a pearl. But for a human being, it is an unthinkable disaster. And this state of nonbeing is the fate of those who choose to resolutely and finally deny the ultimate reality of God. We are punished by our sins, not for them.
The more we distance from God, the less real we become. The more we express those things that are true, beautiful and good, the more real we become. Those who embrace evil and iniquity move toward cosmic insanity, the threshold of the ultimate hell. Who are these lost souls? Jesus taught us, “by their fruits shall you know them.” Yet he also said regarding individuals: “Judge not.” So, we can certainly judge the act, but better not to speculate upon the fate of the sinner; leave that judgment to God.
Eventually, if in the wisdom of God a soul is unsalvageable, it becomes as if it had never been. This is not revenge. It is rather that the personality (the keeper of the soul) has chosen not to be.
LARRY MULLINS
April 29, 2011
The Urantia Book answers many profound philosophical questions that most people do not even know exist.
Early on in my experience with the Urantia Papers I had an intense discussion with a brilliant philosopher. He told me he was an agnostic because of a self-evident situation that makes it impossible for the material world to interact with the spiritual realms.
Patiently, this genius framed the problem for me. First of all, by definition, the material realm and the spiritual realm are separate. When the mortal being dies, there is no way for a material body and brain to translate the human mind and personality to another realm. When they pull the plug, the brain circuits go dead. The material abode begins to deteriorate and return to dust. He insisted that we can talk about a soul, but no one ever explained how that soul came to be or what it is made of.
In addition, we cannot draw the line of separation between the material and spiritual realms sharply enough. Even if angels exist, how could they communicate with us? And, how could God relate to us in any meaningful way? Finally, he said that even if a spiritual realm exists, don’t count on ever seeing it. “When the lights go out, you are gone my friend.”
This conversation bothered me. As time passed, however, I realized the Urantia Papers addresses these issues in detail. Unfortunately, as you might expect, my friend was not convinced that the great philosophical mysteries about the material realm and the spiritual realm had been solved. But he made a remarkable observation. “What impresses me, however, is that your Urantia Papers address this issue. Very, very few people are aware the problem exists. Obviously, a philosopher was involved with writing this material. This is not simply a new religion.” I explained The Urantia Book is a revelation, not a religion. Just as Jesus was a revelation, and not a religion. My friend seemed puzzled by this distinction.
I took the time to pull 20 references in the Urantia Papers that explain that the purpose of revelation is not to establish a religion, but rather to coordinate science, religion and philosophy. Here is an example:
In The Urantia Book, Page 1137 – §2: “Out of his incomplete grasp of science, his faint hold upon religion, and his abortive attempts at metaphysics, man has attempted to construct his formulations of philosophy. And modern man would indeed build a worthy and engaging philosophy of himself and his universe were it not for the breakdown of his all-important and indispensable metaphysical connection between the worlds of matter and spirit, the failure of metaphysics to bridge the morontia gulf between the physical and the spiritual. Mortal man lacks the concept of morontia mind and material; and revelation is the only technique for atoning for this deficiency in the conceptual data which man so urgently needs in order to construct a logical philosophy of the universe and to arrive at a satisfying understanding of his sure and settled place in that universe.”
Needless to say, my friend was impressed.
LARRY MULLINS
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