Hope for the Present Crisis of Civilization
Hope for the Present Crisis of Civilization
by Sharon Porter and Kaye Cooper
Urantia University Institute course in the spring of 2024
When The Urantia Book was given to this planet about a hundred years ago, the writers spoke of the need for “world-wide social reconstruction and economic reorganization.” That’s no surprise, considering what the book reveals about the disastrous Rebellion and Default. The crisis in Urantian civilization has only become more obvious since the book arrived.
Our civilization is beginning to change. It is beginning to be uplifted, restructured, and redirected. It feels like chaos and uncertainty! But we need to see it in a different light. This is the beginning of one of Urantia’s “most amazing and enthralling epochs of social readjustment, moral quickening, and spiritual enlightenment.” (195:9.2 [2082.7])
You may recognize that quote from the Urantia Book. It is a promise. The book said in 1935, Urantia is on the brink of this epoch of change for the better. This Fifth Epochal Revelation is initiating that enthralling epoch. We feel like we are living in chaos and change. But we who have the Urantia Book are called to a whole new way of seeing ourselves and our world. We need to focus on what is truly important and let the lesser things of life drop away. We have the opportunity, if we choose it, to contribute to this spiritual renaissance!
How do we contribute to the coming spiritual renaissance? Our book says, “Only the real religion of personal spiritual experience can function helpfully and creatively in the present crisis of civilization.” (99:2.1 [1087.4]) In the midst of such change, we all need the support of real religion—a genuine connection with spirit and a love for our sisters and brothers here on earth.
Real religion opens us to the love of God. We are beloved children. Experiencing God’s love changes us inside. We feel accepted, encouraged, strengthened, and hopeful.
Loving and appreciating God as a nurturing, supporting, caring parent causes us to want to be like God. And we seek the beautiful values we see in deity. Those values draw us into growing. Developing higher and higher values in ourselves is the very definition of growing!
Our love expands. We see our brothers and sisters with new eyes. Instead of judgment, we see their need for the loving parent we have found. And when we open the door and allow our love to flow to them, joy blooms…and we love them more. We become even more connected as divine love flows to us and through us to our human family in service.
Let’s live our religion. Let’s share the real religion of personal spiritual experience with everyone we can. Let’s become the new teachers who are exclusively devoted to the spiritual regeneration of our sisters and brothers. We can give hope to the world in this present crisis.
Sisters in Spirit—Sharon Porter, Kaye Cooper, Nancy Votrain, and Cecelia Lampley— will be leading a Urantia University Institute course in the spring of 2024:
