What Do You Do When Their Rules Stop Making Sense?
by Lah-May
Fear of homelessness, poverty, lack of financial security was drilled into me at an early age. "The only thing between you and the streets is a job," my father used to tell me. So after see-sawing between being a student and traveling around the country living like a gypsy, I finally settled down, finished college, and then set out to find my secure place in the world.
I never had any idea what I wanted to do with my life. I enjoyed singing and playing guitar, but I never disciplined myself to become very good at either. I was fairly competent in English and writing, but was advised there really was no job market, and I certainly had no desire to be a starving writer. I failed my first computer class—it was so boring. I did, however, learn to appreciate computers at a job I had during my stint as a college drop-out. So back to college I went thinking, "Ah, maybe I can support myself if I study computer science." The degree was offered through the math, engineering, and business departments. Up to that point I had never excelled in left-brain activities and therefore didn't think I had the intelligence to make it through the first two schools. So, I enrolled in the school of business and forced myself to also study accounting, marketing, finance, and economics (yuck! yuck! yuck! yuck!).
The day I graduated from college I joined other students in the campus bar to drink beer and saturate all my class notes on the bar floor. I even got so bored at the commencement ceremony I left before my name was called, more than satisfied to receive my degree in the mail. I had no sentimentality about the experience and saw the education only as a means to an end.
"OK world, I've got my degree, now open your doors to your lucrative jobs." Nothing, nada. But then again, the last place I wanted to live was where I was—the Los Angeles area. So I wasn't too broken-hearted when I was turned down from the only interview I had. I moved north, out of the L.A. area, where there were even fewer opportunities. I did get a job offer from a former employer who was in Montana, and although I didn't see it as any sort of career, I thought it was better than nothing. The day before I was to head out to Montana to do some geodetic survey work, my parents pulled some strings and got a friend of theirs to get me a job with a defense contractor.
All right! A real job, real benefits, vacation time! I made it!!...I hated the job. But, I stuck with it—the streets didn't look too comfortable. And what the heck, I did get to travel.
Like most Americans I was raised with some religion—Catholicism in my case. I never bought into it too deeply though—putting my foot down at age 12, refusing to go to catechism any longer. I did pick up a few values though. While I dismissed concepts like God sent His Son to die for us (now really, what kind of father would do that?), I latched on to the concept of Fatherhood of God and brotherhood of man. (The feminist in me even managed to get past the omission of motherhood and sisterhood—I knew what those bible writers were trying to convey.) I recognized truth, I just didn't have any examples or role models working to implement ideals like peace, justice, etc. The predominant message around me was, "Gotta protect ourselves from those darn Ruskies! Defense!! Defense!! Defense!!"
It didn't take me long to suspect it really wasn't about defense. There was a lot of money in that branch of the government, and a lot of corporations were getting rich. But…I had car payments, rent (then a mortgage), career clothes to purchase, furniture, and the push for more, more, more. I was getting quite entrenched in all the muck of the Great American Dream.
While working up in Alaska, I was introduced to The URANTIA Book by a co-worker who quickly became a brotherly soul mate. Wow! So much was explained. So much confusion cleared from my mind—it offered an expanded understanding of God, the Creator of All; a clarification of who Jesus of Nazareth really was/is…has been for a very long time. It talked about the Lucifer Rebellion and the default of Adam and Eve. I enthusiastically shared it with anyone I met—until I realized no one in the defense circle I was in was interested.
Questions started haunting me. What was I going to do with these incredible spiritual truths? What was I supposed to do with my life? I still hated my job, yet I continued to succumb to the pressure to "be successful"—being a good enough employee to win the company president's award one year. Little did anyone know I was secretly praying for enthusiasm for my work—a prayer that was never answered for as long as I stayed in that career.
I tried switching employers, going to work for, not a defense contractor per se, but a company that sold software—basically a huge accounting program to help defense contractors count their money. I hated that job as well. While I got to travel more, and often first-class, I was seeing how necessary it was for our country to have "enemies" to feed this monster industry.
The contradictions began to eat at me. I would walk through a company's halls and see weapons of destruction proudly displayed on their walls. I would watch corporate executives drive up in Mercedes and BMWs. Then I would go home and read in The URANTIA Book about how God loved all humans—He was no respecter of persons. I would watch the nightly news and listen to commentaries about our latest enemy, and then I would read how we are to love our enemies. I myself would seek diversion at upscale malls, coming home with full shopping bags to a life of questionable meaning.
I was growing more and more cynical. I saw how far off track this country was from being a nation "under God." The rhetoric from political and religious leaders was nauseating me. Were there any answers? I was growing doubtful about life in general and sinking into depression. I could either start taking an anti-depressant (offered by my doctor) to numb myself so that I could continue living the choices I had made thus far and stay in the line of work I was in, or I could finally surrender and ask a higher spiritual intelligence for help and direction....I got down on my knees and prayed one night.
Prayers do get answered. One just has to be open to the unexpected. No one would have ever guessed I would quit my job, sell most of my belongings, and join a spiritual community. But I did. I knew that was what God was asking of me. Years before, I had contact with other Urantia Book readers and heard about Gabriel of Sedona, Aquarian Concepts Community, and Continuing Fifth Epochal Revelation. I had thought the claims were ridiculous—creating a "Divine New Order, a Divine Administration." Even the words made me suspect—I had spent too much time around the New World Order rallying crowd to trust anything having to do with "government." But here was God, pointing me in the direction of Sedona, Arizona.
I feel my real education began when I joined Aquarian Concepts Community. There was no cable or satellite TV where I lived, so I didn't watch television—no more of a steady stream of propaganda and distortions. I hooked into the Internet for non-mainstream news. I educated myself on issues that were never taught in traditional educational institutions. I studied The URANTIA Book and the continuing revelation (The Cosmic Family volumes) with a sense of urgency. I began to understand more about the Lucifer Rebellion and its effects on this planet, its governments, and all its institutions.
We make bold claims in this community—including that Gabriel of Urantia is in direct contact with a higher order of spiritual beings. One of these beings is Gabriel of Salvington, the Bright and Morning Star, who is the Chief Administrator of our universe of Nebadon. He is in charge of wrapping up this terrible rebellion we are in the throes of and bringing this fallen planet back into alignment with divine principles. In a transmission given to members of this community, the Bright and Morning Star stated:
"Urantia [Earth] continues to be divided by factions too numerous to count—governments, religions, corporations—all vying for power. Families of the rich and greedy vie for power, divisions within divisions and sects within sects. When will this ever end? It is written that in the last days the good seed will be divided from the bad seed. When all is said and done, there only exists goodness or badness, right or wrong. The world is heading, and has been for some time now, to an ultimate end of the rebellion. Since the upstepped adjudication that started in 1911, more human beings have died than in the entire previous history of Urantia, killed by each other in wars. In the beginning of the upstepped adjudication, from 1914-17, millions of soldiers died in battle against one another. In one day 20,000 British soldiers died in the battle of the Somme. And the wars continue; in every country millions and millions of souls have suffered and died. What is this in the nature of humankind that causes such conflicts between one another? How easily they forget that on the other side of the weapon they have family and children too. Who causes these wars? Why do some people want your sons and daughters to fight for them? The greedy perpetuators of materialistic values and fallen principles have caused the wars of history. The rich who want to control all of the weapons pay the soldiers to do their bidding. When it comes down to the lower ranks, by propaganda the soldiers are told that they are fighting for the honor of their country, but in most cases this is not so. Men and women of pompous attitudes, men and women of pompous dress, would annihilate millions of individuals for their own gain, and do. These men and women now are in control, not only of governments, but of corporations that control governments.
"Peace cannot come to Urantia or any fallen world until billions of souls who inhabit them can make their next decision for God and for the will of God, rather than for the will of the fallen mind. Who is it that you are loyal to? Do you think that you may be following God when in your daily life you make decisions against the innocent? You restrict others' freedom by bureaucratic codes. You stand for error and sin and iniquity, and your laws harm the innocent. Who is your God? If every soul tomorrow morning would make the first decision of the day for God, and continue on throughout the day, by the end of a twenty-four hour time period, no iniquitous ruler in any corporation or government or army would have the dio [evil] power to control their corporations or military forces. It is that simple. It is called choices, right choices."
~ Gabriel of Salvington, The Bright and Morning Star, Chief Executive and Head Administrator of our local universe of Nebadon, the first born son of Jesus Christ Michael and the Universe Mother Spirit (see The URANTIA Book, page 369) from the July 15, 2000 Global Community Communications Alliance Transmission, as received by the Level Six Audio Fusion Material Complement, Gabriel of Sedona
Buckminster Fuller, the visionary architect, once said, "You can never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change things you have to build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete."
I have lived in two worlds. As a young adult I entered the strong arm of the dominant culture only to become disillusioned—seeing it was more about protecting the interests of the rich and powerful than protecting a worthy civilization. I left that world after 12 years to enter the totally new, exciting, and innovative world of Divine Administration—one that has yet to be established in totality on this planet, but one that is destined to be.
How can I explain what Divine Administration is? In a nutshell, it's based on the Father-/Motherhood of God and brother-/sisterhood of humankind. Imagine a world where every thought and action is rooted in loving and caring for others, helping them find their destiny in God. A more concrete vision of Divine Administration is given in The Cosmic Family, Volume I:
Most of the jobs in Western civilization and the present social and economic structures of the world will be eliminated. Many of the latent abilities and memories of the cosmic starseed will be restored, enabling them to perform in a supermortal function and accomplish tasks that in their previous life existences on Urantia were impossible for them. Many of the motor skills will also be actuated, and many starseed will find total enjoyment and fulfillment in their daily realities. Many of the Urantian reserve corps with various potentials of service will be functioning in schools of development to realize their fullest potentials, where in their pre-change-point existence these potentials could not be realized because of survival concerns due to the monopoly and greed of the controlling elite. Many of the career fields, such as medicine, the building trades, and of course all commercial and merchandising positions, will drastically change. Agriculture and many of the health-related sciences will also undergo tremendous advances in a short period of time.
I have been a member of Global Community Communications Alliance for almost ten years now. I am both a student and instructor of The URANTIA Book; I also study The Cosmic Family volumes. We work at disseminating the revelation through the written word, art, music, and even through our way of life. I, like others here, keep chipping away at the lower patterns and cultivating the higher ones, for we truly believe that the world and everything in it will change when people themselves change.
Oh, and by the way, I've picked up the guitar again, sing in a Global Change Music band, and even wrote my first song not too long ago.