The Urantia Book

[Michael...]

Psychology 101 shows that man's mind comes with a self fill bias. If we open a book to look for lies, we'll find it in the words even if it is because of our misuse of context. The Urantia book is the book of truth, and you should not open it unless that is what you are looking for. I have seen people walk away believing the UB speaks of racisims and such, but that is only taken out of context and through a lack of understanding.

[Fawzo]

Psychology 101 shows that man's mind comes with a self fill bias. If we open a book to look for lies, we'll find it in the words even if it is because of our misuse of context. The Urantia book is the book of truth, and you should not open it unless that is what you are looking for. I have seen people walk away believing the UB speaks of racisims and such, but that is only taken out of context and through a lack of understanding.

Every believer on the planet could make that very same claim about their revered and sacred texts. Your claim is no more valid then theirs and it sounds to me as if your text fails the close scrutiny tests just as theirs do.

Truth should be self evident.

[Vortex]

Psychology 101 shows that man's mind comes with a self fill bias. If we open a book to look for lies, we'll find it in the words even if it is because of our misuse of context. The Urantia book is the book of truth, and you should not open it unless that is what you are looking for. I have seen people walk away believing the UB speaks of racisims and such, but that is only taken out of context and through a lack of understanding.

Michael, you've answered the question without realizing that it contradicts your conclusions. By stating that "Psychology 101 shows that man's mind comes with a self fill bias," it would then logically follow that the Urantia book can only be a "book of truth" for one who is "bias" in favor of it, thereby leaving no room to discover any "self-evident truth" (Fawzo). Bias in any form is a cup already filled.

Spiritually minded individuals don't generally open books like Urantia, or any other book, looking for lies, but rather for confirmation or learning something new that may contribute to expanding knowledge, consciousness, and spiritual development. But in that journey, is is also not uncommon to come across information that is in contradiction with facts of science, or with the ideas and teachings of master souls who have walked among us. When contradiction and disappointment rears its head, something is within us raises a red flag to it. And this perhaps is something we need to pay more attention to, because evil does often disguise itself as good in our world; a fact we see and experience in everyday life around us everywhere.

Edited May 25, 2010 by Vortex

[Fawzo]

Yes according to Michael's logic I should believe every word in the book based on some stranger's word before even reading the book. Jim Jones, Heaven's Gate etc etc etc come to mind. <insert Jaws dramatic sounds here>

[Brother Michael Sky]

Hello Brother Michael Sky,

Many years ago, before the ULC website was revised and all posts were lost, I had a topic thread on OBE that became quite long. Have you per chance ever experienced OBE yourself by any chance?

I'm supposing you've already read the book you recommend above; I haven't, because the best books on the topic have already been written in the past but are not on the market anymore, except for that of Robert Monroe's "Journeys Out of the Body" ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Monroe ).

What do you think about the possibility of OBE? And in what way do you believe "all this might just possibly interrelate?"

Expand on this for conversation purposes so that some of us can share our thoughts and perhaps our personal experiences with such activities as OBE.

The reason I recommended this particular book is because the observations he makes mesh pretty good with my personal understanding ( and actually this book has a few really good ideas which have helped me). I am almost positive I have read the titles you refer to, however Mr. Monroe's material ( though I am sure it is very beneficial to some ) does not match with my needs.

Yes, I am an active explorer in OOBE's... I started having spontaneous OOBE's when I was a child, and didn't know what i was up to until I was 15 years old or so. At which time I started having issues with what i was learning and avoided the circumstances which allowed OOBE's to happen. Years and years of hedonistic activity later, I became disenchanted with the lifestyle I had built, and made a conscious decision to return to the simplicity and ease of my former mindset... As a result, I believe, of my honest desire to change, and the drive I felt to improve myself, my spontaneous OOBE's started happening again...

I recommend the book because the tricks and tips he presents can truly make the experience much, much more understandable and beneficial. Very, very simple techniques that I never figured out in all my experiences... I was wasting the time I had in OOBE's and did not know it..... I had been using the most fulfilling, most question-answering, most glorious experiences in my life as a simple mental retreat.... Felt, and still feel pretty dense... ... but as the poet of Excelsior ( Macedonski ) said " onwards and upwards ".... guilt is wasted, i've changed my ways...

How it relates : I remember SO many quotes from religious and spiritual sources which have some sort of reference to ' being in the spirit '. after my first FULLY conscious experience in OOBE I had no doubt that this is what they were referring to. A CONSCIOUS OOBE gives the traveller the ability to have an experience which imparts the surety of a personal experience to understand spiritual ideas. the Proof is in the pudding, as they say, and this is the ONLY method which has brought me Surety.... My doubts on certain subject have completely fallen away.... This is something I feel the NEED to share, and it is difficult at times to remember that what seems a " no-brainer" to me, is a foreign and frequently distasteful idea to some.....

With my experiences in OOBE's, I see what appears to me as the source of the information in the UB. Remembering that individuals translate experiences in a unique way, I take the general Outline of the book, and see many, many corelations with what I have experienced. And we do seem to have the ability to understand a much greater range of Reality from outside the body.... seek for answers and - taa daaaa - there they are.... just gotta really work on the proper understanding aspect.......

Edited May 25, 2010 by Brother Michael Sky

[Vortex]

Brother Michael Sky

Thanks for your honest reply. If the OBE book you suggested, and Urantia, work for you, and you feel it is helping you make progress in the right direction, that's all that matters.

Perhaps you'd like to share one of your OBE experiences that was of a spiritual nature, and one that presented difficulties for you during your learning journeys. Don't worry that others may or may not have had experiences of there own. I believe the majority of participants in this forum are familiar with what OBE is about in one way or another. After I read one of your shared choice experience, I will be happy to share one of my own as well. Perhaps some of our participants may wish to share some of there own with our spiritual brothers and sisters here.

[Brother Michael Sky]

Brother Michael Sky

Thanks for your honest reply. If the OBE book you suggested, and Urantia, work for you, and you feel it is helping you make progress in the right direction, that's all that matters.

Perhaps you'd like to share one of your OBE experiences that was of a spiritual nature, and one that presented difficulties for you during your learning journeys. Don't worry that others may or may not have had experiences of there own. I believe the majority of participants in this forum are familiar with what OBE is about in one way or another. After I read one of your shared choice experience, I will be happy to share one of my own as well. Perhaps some of our participants may wish to share some of there own with our spiritual brothers and sisters here.

I will do just that, however we have a thread which would be more appropriate...

ULC Online Forum> News, Arts & Entertainment> Off Topic Area-best astral projection technique ..... maybe I'll start one that is easier to find.... how about ULC Online Forum> A Universal Life Roundtable> Universal Beliefs and Thoughts - Out of Body Experiences ?? ok?