Knjiga Urantije
DIO III. Povijest Urantije
POGLAVLJE 103 : STVARNOST RELIGIOZNOG ISKUSTVA
Paper 103
The Reality of Religious Experience
The Reality of Religious Experience
SVA ČOVJEKOVA istinski religiozna reagiranja potaknuta su ranom službom ađutantnog duha obožavanja i nadzirana ađutantnim duhom mudrosti. Čovjekovo prvo nadumno obdarenje jest uključenje njegove ličnosti u krug Svetog Duha koji izvire iz Stvaralačkog Duha Svemira; i mnogo prije nego što dođe do darovanja božanskih Sinova ili do sveopćeg darovanja Ispravljača, taj utjecaj djeluje kako bi proširio čovjekovo gledište etike, religije i duhovnosti. Nakon darovanja Rajskih Sinova, oslobođeni Duh Istine snažno doprinosi proširenju ljudske sposobnosti opažanja religijskih istina. Kako evolucija napreduje na nastanjenom svijetu, Ispravljači Misli sve više sudjeluju u razvoju viših tipova ljudskog religijskog uvida. Ispravljač Misli jest kozmički prozor kroz koji konačno stvorenje može pogledom vjere nazrijeti sigurnosti i božanstvenosti bezgraničnog Božanstva, Oca Svih.
103:0.1 (1129.1)
ALL of man’s truly religious reactions are sponsored by the early ministry of the adjutant of worship and are censored by the adjutant of wisdom. Man’s first supermind endowment is that of personality encircuitment in the Holy Spirit of the Universe Creative Spirit; and long before either the bestowals of the divine Sons or the universal bestowal of the Adjusters, this influence functions to enlarge man’s viewpoint of ethics, religion, and spirituality. Subsequent to the bestowals of the Paradise Sons the liberated Spirit of Truth makes mighty contributions to the enlargement of the human capacity to perceive religious truths. As evolution advances on an inhabited world, the Thought Adjusters increasingly participate in the development of the higher types of human religious insight. The Thought Adjuster is the cosmic window through which the finite creature may faith-glimpse the certainties and divinities of limitless Deity, the Universal Father.
Religijske sklonosti ljudskih rasa urođene su; one se univerzalno očituju i imaju naizgled prirodno porijeklo; primitivne religije u svom su nastanku uvijek evolucijske. Kako prirodno religijsko iskustvo nastavlja napredovati, povremena otkrivenja istine označavaju inače spori tijek planetarne evolucije.
103:0.2 (1129.2)
The religious tendencies of the human races are innate; they are universally manifested and have an apparently natural origin; primitive religions are always evolutionary in their genesis. As natural religious experience continues to progress, periodic revelations of truth punctuate the otherwise slow-moving course of planetary evolution.
Jedinstvo religijskog iskustva unutar neke društvene ili rasne skupine proizlazi iz istovjetne naravi Božjeg fragmenta koji prebiva u pojedincu. Upravo to božansko u čovjeku rađa njegov nesebični interes za dobrobit drugih ljudi. No budući da je ličnost jedinstvena — nijedna dva smrtnika nisu jednaka — neizbježno slijedi da nijedno dvoje ljudskih bića ne može na isti način tumačiti vodstva i poticaje duha božanstvenosti koji živi u njihovim umovima. Skupina smrtnika može doživjeti duhovno jedinstvo, ali nikada ne može postići filozofsku jednolikost. A ta raznolikost u tumačenju religijske misli i iskustva očituje se u činjenici da su teolozi i filozofi dvadesetog stoljeća oblikovali više od pet stotina različitih definicija religije. U stvarnosti, svako ljudsko biće definira religiju prema vlastitom iskustvenom tumačenju božanskih poticaja koji proizlaze iz duha Boga koji prebiva u njemu; stoga takvo tumačenje mora biti jedinstveno i u potpunosti različito od religijske filozofije svih drugih ljudi.
103:1.1 (1129.8)
The unity of religious experience among a social or racial group derives from the identical nature of the God fragment indwelling the individual. It is this divine in man that gives origin to his unselfish interest in the welfare of other men. But since personality is unique—no two mortals being alike—it inevitably follows that no two human beings can similarly interpret the leadings and urges of the spirit of divinity which lives within their minds. A group of mortals can experience spiritual unity, but they can never attain philosophic uniformity. And this diversity of the interpretation of religious thought and experience is shown by the fact that twentieth-century theologians and philosophers have formulated upward of five hundred different definitions of religion. In reality, every human being defines religion in the terms of his own experiential interpretation of the divine impulses emanating from the God spirit that indwells him, and therefore must such an interpretation be unique and wholly different from the religious philosophy of all other human beings.
103:1.3 (1130.2)
While your religion is a matter of personal experience, it is most important that you should be exposed to the knowledge of a vast number of other religious experiences (the diverse interpretations of other and diverse mortals) to the end that you may prevent your religious life from becoming egocentric—circumscribed, selfish, and unsocial.
Racionalizam griješi kada pretpostavlja da je religija u početku primitivno vjerovanje u nešto, nakon čega slijedi potraga za vrijednostima. Religija je prvenstveno potraga za vrijednostima, a tek potom se oblikuje sustav interpretativnih vjerovanja. Ljudima je mnogo lakše složiti se oko religijskih vrijednosti — ciljeva — nego oko vjerovanja — tumačenja. To objašnjava kako religija može biti složna u vrijednostima i ciljevima, a istodobno pokazivati zbunjujuću pojavu održavanja stotina međusobno suprotstavljenih vjerovanja — doktrina. To također objašnjava zašto određena osoba može očuvati svoje religijsko iskustvo unatoč napuštanju ili promjeni mnogih svojih religijskih uvjerenja. Religija opstaje usprkos revolucionarnim promjenama u religijskim vjerovanjima. Teologija ne proizvodi religiju; religija proizvodi teološku filozofiju.
103:1.4 (1130.3)
Rationalism is wrong when it assumes that religion is at first a primitive belief in something which is then followed by the pursuit of values. Religion is primarily a pursuit of values, and then there formulates a system of interpretative beliefs. It is much easier for men to agree on religious values—goals—than on beliefs—interpretations. And this explains how religion can agree on values and goals while exhibiting the confusing phenomenon of maintaining a belief in hundreds of conflicting beliefs—creeds. This also explains why a given person can maintain his religious experience in the face of giving up or changing many of his religious beliefs. Religion persists in spite of revolutionary changes in religious beliefs. Theology does not produce religion; it is religion that produces theologic philosophy.
To što su religiozni ljudi vjerovali u mnogo toga što je bilo pogrešno ne poništava religiju, jer religija se temelji na prepoznavanju vrijednosti i potvrđuje se vjerom osobnog religijskog iskustva. Religija se, dakle, zasniva na iskustvu i religijskoj misli; teologija, filozofija religije, pošten je pokušaj tumačenja toga iskustva. Takva interpretativna vjerovanja mogu biti točna ili pogrešna, ili mješavina istine i pogreške.
103:1.5 (1130.4)
That religionists have believed so much that was false does not invalidate religion because religion is founded on the recognition of values and is validated by the faith of personal religious experience. Religion, then, is based on experience and religious thought; theology, the philosophy of religion, is an honest attempt to interpret that experience. Such interpretative beliefs may be right or wrong, or a mixture of truth and error.
Ostvarenje prepoznavanja duhovnih vrijednosti je nadidejno iskustvo. Ne postoji riječ ni u jednom ljudskom jeziku kojom bi se mogao označiti taj „osjećaj,” „doživljaj,” „intuicija” ili „iskustvo” koje smo odlučili nazvati sviješću o Bogu. Duh Boga koji prebiva u čovjeku nije ličnost — Ispravljač je predličan — ali taj Nadzornik predstavlja vrijednost i odašilje dašak božanstvenosti koji je osoban u najvišem i beskonačnom smislu. Kada Bog ne bi bio barem osoban, ne bi mogao biti svjestan; a kada ne bi bio svjestan, tada bi bio niži od čovjeka.
103:1.6 (1130.5)
The realization of the recognition of spiritual values is an experience which is superideational. There is no word in any human language which can be employed to designate this “sense,” “feeling,” “intuition,” or “experience” which we have elected to call God-consciousness. The spirit of God that dwells in man is not personal—the Adjuster is prepersonal—but this Monitor presents a value, exudes a flavor of divinity, which is personal in the highest and infinite sense. If God were not at least personal, he could not be conscious, and if not conscious, then would he be infrahuman.
Religija djeluje u ljudskom umu i ostvaruje se u iskustvu prije nego što se pojavi u ljudskoj svijesti. Dijete postoji oko devet mjeseci prije nego što doživi rođenje. Ali „rođenje” religije nije iznenadno; ono je postupno izranjanje. Ipak, prije ili kasnije dolazi do „dana rođenja.” Čovjek ne ulazi u kraljevstvo nebesko ako se nije „ponovno rodio” — rodio se iz Duha. Mnogim duhovnim rođenjima prethodi velika tjeskoba duha i obilježena su snažnim psihološkim potresima, kao što su mnoga tjelesna rođenja praćena „porođajnim mukama” i drugim nepravilnostima „porođaja.” Druga duhovna rođenja prirodan su i normalan rast prepoznavanja vrhovnih vrijednosti uz produbljenje duhovnog iskustva, premda se nikakav religijski razvoj ne događa bez svjesnog napora i pozitivnih, osobnih odluka. Religija nikada nije pasivno iskustvo ni negativan stav. Ono što se naziva „rođenjem religije” nije izravno povezano s takozvanim iskustvima obraćenja, koja obično obilježavaju religijske epizode kasnije u životu, kao posljedica mentalnog sukoba, emocionalne potisnutosti i temperamentalnih previranja.
103:2.1 (1130.6)
Religion is functional in the human mind and has been realized in experience prior to its appearance in human consciousness. A child has been in existence about nine months before it experiences birth. But the “birth” of religion is not sudden; it is rather a gradual emergence. Nevertheless, sooner or later there is a “birth day.” You do not enter the kingdom of heaven unless you have been “born again”—born of the Spirit. Many spiritual births are accompanied by much anguish of spirit and marked psychological perturbations, as many physical births are characterized by a “stormy labor” and other abnormalities of “delivery.” Other spiritual births are a natural and normal growth of the recognition of supreme values with an enhancement of spiritual experience, albeit no religious development occurs without conscious effort and positive and individual determinations. Religion is never a passive experience, a negative attitude. What is termed the “birth of religion” is not directly associated with so-called conversion experiences which usually characterize religious episodes occurring later in life as a result of mental conflict, emotional repression, and temperamental upheavals.
103:2.2 (1131.1)
But those persons who were so reared by their parents that they grew up in the consciousness of being children of a loving heavenly Father, should not look askance at their fellow mortals who could only attain such consciousness of fellowship with God through a psychological crisis, an emotional upheaval.
Evolucijsko tlo u čovjekovu umu na kojem klija sjeme otkrivene religije jest moralna narav koja vrlo rano rađa društvenu svijest. Prvi poticaji djetetove moralne naravi nemaju veze sa spolnošću, krivnjom ili osobnim ponosom, nego s impulsima pravednosti, poštenja i težnjama za dobrotom — spremnošću na korisno služenje bližnjima. A kada se takva rana moralna buđenja njeguju, dolazi do postupnog razvoja religijskog života koji je razmjerno slobodan od sukoba, previranja i kriza.
103:2.3 (1131.2)
The evolutionary soil in the mind of man in which the seed of revealed religion germinates is the moral nature that so early gives origin to a social consciousness. The first promptings of a child’s moral nature have not to do with sex, guilt, or personal pride, but rather with impulses of justice, fairness, and urges to kindness—helpful ministry to one’s fellows. And when such early moral awakenings are nurtured, there occurs a gradual development of the religious life which is comparatively free from conflicts, upheavals, and crises.
103:2.4 (1131.3)
Every human being very early experiences something of a conflict between his self-seeking and his altruistic impulses, and many times the first experience of God-consciousness may be attained as the result of seeking for superhuman help in the task of resolving such moral conflicts.
103:2.5 (1131.4)
The psychology of a child is naturally positive, not negative. So many mortals are negative because they were so trained. When it is said that the child is positive, reference is made to his moral impulses, those powers of mind whose emergence signals the arrival of the Thought Adjuster.
U odsutnosti pogrešnog poučavanja, um normalnog djeteta kreće se pozitivno u razvoju religijske svijesti, prema moralnoj ispravnosti i društvenom služenju, a ne negativno, udaljavajući se od grijeha i krivnje. U razvoju religijskog iskustva može, ali i ne mora, biti sukoba; ali uvijek su prisutne neizbježne odluke, napor i djelovanje ljudske volje.
103:2.6 (1131.5)
In the absence of wrong teaching, the mind of the normal child moves positively, in the emergence of religious consciousness, toward moral righteousness and social ministry, rather than negatively, away from sin and guilt. There may or may not be conflict in the development of religious experience, but there are always present the inevitable decisions, effort, and function of the human will.
Moralno biranje obično je praćeno većim ili manjim moralnim sukobom. A taj prvi sukob u dječjem umu odvija se između poriva egoizma i impulsa altruizma. Ispravljač Misli ne zanemaruje lične vrijednosti egoističnog motiva, ali djeluje tako da daje blagu prednost altruističkom impulsu kao onome koji vodi prema cilju ljudske sreće i radostima kraljevstva nebeskog.
103:2.7 (1131.6)
Moral choosing is usually accompanied by more or less moral conflict. And this very first conflict in the child mind is between the urges of egoism and the impulses of altruism. The Thought Adjuster does not disregard the personality values of the egoistic motive but does operate to place a slight preference upon the altruistic impulse as leading to the goal of human happiness and to the joys of the kingdom of heaven.
Kada moralno biće, suočeno s porivom da bude sebično, izabere nesebičnost, to je primitivno religijsko iskustvo. Nijedna životinja ne može donijeti takav izbor; takva je odluka i ljudska i religijska. Ona uključuje činjenicu svijesti o Bogu i pokazuje impuls društvenog služenja, temelj bratstva ljudi. Kada um činom slobodne volje izabere ispravan moralni sud, takva odluka predstavlja religijsko iskustvo.
103:2.8 (1131.7)
When a moral being chooses to be unselfish when confronted by the urge to be selfish, that is primitive religious experience. No animal can make such a choice; such a decision is both human and religious. It embraces the fact of God-consciousness and exhibits the impulse of social service, the basis of the brotherhood of man. When mind chooses a right moral judgment by an act of the free will, such a decision constitutes a religious experience.
Ali prije nego što dijete bude dovoljno razvijeno da stekne moralnu sposobnost i tako bude u stanju izabrati altruističko služenje, ono je već razvilo snažnu i dobro objedinjenu egoističnu narav. Upravo ta činjenična situacija daje povod teoriji o borbi između „više” i „niže” naravi, između „starog čovjeka grijeha” i „nove naravi” milosti. Već vrlo rano u životu normalno dijete počinje učiti da je „blaženije davati nego primati.”
103:2.9 (1131.8)
But before a child has developed sufficiently to acquire moral capacity and therefore to be able to choose altruistic service, he has already developed a strong and well-unified egoistic nature. And it is this factual situation that gives rise to the theory of the struggle between the “higher” and the “lower” natures, between the “old man of sin” and the “new nature” of grace. Very early in life the normal child begins to learn that it is “more blessed to give than to receive.”
Čovjek ima sklonost poistovjetiti poriv da služi vlastitom interesu sa svojim egom — samim sobom. Nasuprot tomu, sklon je volju za altruizmom poistovjetiti s nekim utjecajem izvan sebe — s Bogom. I doista je takav sud ispravan, jer svi takvi nesebični porivi uistinu potječu iz vodstva prebivajućeg Ispravljača Misli, a taj je Ispravljač fragment Boga. Poticaj duha-Nadzornika u ljudskoj se svijesti ostvaruje kao poriv prema altruizmu, kao usmjerenost na bližnja stvorenja. Barem je takvo rano i temeljno iskustvo dječjeg uma. Kada rastuće dijete ne uspije postići jedinstvo ličnosti, altruistički poticaj može postati pretjerano razvijen i nanijeti ozbiljnu štetu dobrobiti sebstva. Pogrešno usmjerena savjest može biti odgovorna za mnoge sukobe, brige, žalosti i bezbrojne ljudske nesreće.
103:2.10 (1131.9)
Man tends to identify the urge to be self-serving with his ego—himself. In contrast he is inclined to identify the will to be altruistic with some influence outside himself—God. And indeed is such a judgment right, for all such nonself desires do actually have their origin in the leadings of the indwelling Thought Adjuster, and this Adjuster is a fragment of God. The impulse of the spirit Monitor is realized in human consciousness as the urge to be altruistic, fellow-creature minded. At least this is the early and fundamental experience of the child mind. When the growing child fails of personality unification, the altruistic drive may become so overdeveloped as to work serious injury to the welfare of the self. A misguided conscience can become responsible for much conflict, worry, sorrow, and no end of human unhappiness.
Iako su vjerovanja u duhove, snove i raznovrsna druga praznovjerja imala ulogu u evolucijskom nastanku primitivnih religija, ne treba zanemariti utjecaj klanskog ili plemenskog duha solidarnosti. U odnosima unutar skupine pojavila se upravo ona društvena situacija koja je predstavljala izazov sukobu između egoizma i altruizma u moralnoj naravi ranog ljudskog uma. Unatoč vjerovanju u duhove, primitivni Australci i dalje usmjeravaju svoju religiju na klan. S vremenom takvi religijski pojmovi teže personalizaciji — najprije kao životinje, zatim kao nadčovjek, a naposljetku kao Bog. Čak i takve niže rase poput afričkih Bušmana, koji uopće nemaju totemistička vjerovanja, ipak prepoznaju razliku između osobnog interesa i interesa skupine, primitivnu razliku između vrijednosti svjetovnoga i svetoga. Ali društvena skupina nije izvor religijskog iskustva. Bez obzira na utjecaj svih tih primitivnih doprinosa čovjekovoj ranoj religiji, ostaje činjenica da istinski religijski poticaj ima svoje porijeklo u stvarnim prisutnostima duha koje potiču volju na nesebičnost.
103:3.1 (1132.1)
While the belief in spirits, dreams, and diverse other superstitions all played a part in the evolutionary origin of primitive religions, you should not overlook the influence of the clan or tribal spirit of solidarity. In the group relationship there was presented the exact social situation which provided the challenge to the egoistic-altruistic conflict in the moral nature of the early human mind. In spite of their belief in spirits, primitive Australians still focus their religion upon the clan. In time, such religious concepts tend to personalize, first, as animals, and later, as a superman or as a God. Even such inferior races as the African Bushmen, who are not even totemic in their beliefs, do have a recognition of the difference between the self-interest and the group-interest, a primitive distinction between the values of the secular and the sacred. But the social group is not the source of religious experience. Regardless of the influence of all these primitive contributions to man’s early religion, the fact remains that the true religious impulse has its origin in genuine spirit presences activating the will to be unselfish.
Kasnija religija nagoviještena je u primitivnom vjerovanju u prirodna čuda i misterije, neosobnu manu. Ali prije ili kasnije evoluirajuća religija zahtijeva da pojedinac učini neku osobnu žrtvu za dobro svoje društvene skupine, da učini nešto kako bi druge ljude učinio sretnijima i boljima. Na koncu, religija je određena postati služenje Bogu i čovjeku.
103:3.2 (1132.2)
Later religion is foreshadowed in the primitive belief in natural wonders and mysteries, the impersonal mana. But sooner or later the evolving religion requires that the individual should make some personal sacrifice for the good of his social group, should do something to make other people happier and better. Ultimately, religion is destined to become the service of God and of man.
103:3.4 (1132.4)
Remember that in the religion of all ages the experience which is paramount is the feeling regarding moral values and social meanings, not the thinking regarding theologic dogmas or philosophic theories. Religion evolves favorably as the element of magic is replaced by the concept of morals.
Čovjek je evoluirao kroz praznovjerja mane, magije, štovanja prirode, straha od duhova i štovanja životinja prema raznim obredima, pri čemu je religiozni stav pojedinca postajao skupna reakcija klana. Ti su se obredi potom usredotočili i kristalizirali u plemenska vjerovanja, a naposljetku su se ti strahovi i vjere personalizirali u bogove. Ali u cijeloj toj religijskoj evoluciji moralni element nikada nije bio posve odsutan. Poticaj Boga u čovjeku uvijek je bio snažan. I ti moćni utjecaji, jedan ljudski, a drugi božanski, osigurali su opstanak religije kroz mijene vjekova, premda je religija vrlo često bila dovedena do ruba opstanka tisućama subverzivnih tendencija i neprijateljskih antagonizama.
103:3.5 (1132.5)
Man evolved through the superstitions of mana, magic, nature worship, spirit fear, and animal worship to the various ceremonials whereby the religious attitude of the individual became the group reactions of the clan. And then these ceremonies became focalized and crystallized into tribal beliefs, and eventually these fears and faiths became personalized into gods. But in all of this religious evolution the moral element was never wholly absent. The impulse of the God within man was always potent. And these powerful influences—one human and the other divine—insured the survival of religion throughout the vicissitudes of the ages and that notwithstanding it was so often threatened with extinction by a thousand subversive tendencies and hostile antagonisms.
Karakteristična razlika između društvene prigode i religijskog okupljanja jest u tome što je, za razliku od svjetovnoga, religijsko prožeto ozračjem duhovnog zajedništva. Na taj način ljudsko udruživanje stvara osjećaj zajedništva s božanskim, i to je početak skupnog štovanja. Sudjelovanje u zajedničkom obroku bilo je najraniji oblik društvenog zajedništva, pa su i rane religije predviđale da dio obredne žrtve pojedu štovatelji. Čak i u kršćanstvu Gospodnja večera zadržava ovaj oblik duhovnog zajedništva. Ozračje duhovnog zajedništva pruža osvježavajuće i utješno razdoblje primirja u sukobu sebičnog ega i altruističkog poticaja unutarnjeg Ispravljača Misli. A to je uvod u istinsko štovanje — praksu prisutnosti Boga koja dovodi do pojave bratstva ljudi.
103:4.1 (1133.1)
The characteristic difference between a social occasion and a religious gathering is that in contrast with the secular the religious is pervaded by the atmosphere of communion. In this way human association generates a feeling of fellowship with the divine, and this is the beginning of group worship. Partaking of a common meal was the earliest type of social communion, and so did early religions provide that some portion of the ceremonial sacrifice should be eaten by the worshipers. Even in Christianity the Lord’s Supper retains this mode of communion. The atmosphere of the communion provides a refreshing and comforting period of truce in the conflict of the self-seeking ego with the altruistic urge of the indwelling spirit Monitor. And this is the prelude to true worship—the practice of the presence of God which eventuates in the emergence of the brotherhood of man.
Kada je primitivni čovjek osjećao da je njegovo duhovno zajedništvo s Bogom prekinuto, posezao je za nekom vrstom žrtve u nastojanju da izvrši okajanje i obnovi prijateljski odnos. Glad i žeđ za pravednošću vode do otkrića istine, a istina uzdiže ideale; to pak stvara nove probleme za pojedine religiozne ljude, jer naši ideali imaju sklonost rasti geometrijskom progresijom, dok se naša sposobnost da ih ostvarimo povećava samo aritmetičkom progresijom.
103:4.2 (1133.2)
When primitive man felt that his communion with God had been interrupted, he resorted to sacrifice of some kind in an effort to make atonement, to restore friendly relationship. The hunger and thirst for righteousness leads to the discovery of truth, and truth augments ideals, and this creates new problems for the individual religionists, for our ideals tend to grow by geometrical progression, while our ability to live up to them is enhanced only by arithmetical progression.
Osjećaj krivnje (ne svijest o grijehu) proizlazi ili iz prekinutog duhovnog zajedništva ili iz snižavanja vlastitih moralnih ideala. Oslobođenje iz takva stanja može doći jedino kroz spoznaju da najviši moralni ideali pojedinca nisu nužno istovjetni s voljom Boga. Čovjek se ne može nadati da će živjeti u skladu sa svojim najvišim idealima, ali može biti vjeran svojoj nakani da pronađe Boga i postaje mu sve sličniji.
103:4.3 (1133.3)
The sense of guilt (not the consciousness of sin) comes either from interrupted spiritual communion or from the lowering of one’s moral ideals. Deliverance from such a predicament can only come through the realization that one’s highest moral ideals are not necessarily synonymous with the will of God. Man cannot hope to live up to his highest ideals, but he can be true to his purpose of finding God and becoming more and more like him.
Isus je uklonio sve obrede žrtve i okajanja. On je uništio sam temelj svakog takvog fiktivnog osjećaja krivnje i izoliranosti u svemiru proglasivši da je čovjek dijete Božje; odnos stvorenja i Stvoritelja postavljen je na osnovu odnosa djeteta i roditelja. Bog postaje ljubeći Otac svojim smrtnim sinovima i kćerima. Svi obredi koji nisu legitimni dio takva prisnog obiteljskog odnosa zauvijek su dokinuti.
103:4.4 (1133.4)
Jesus swept away all of the ceremonials of sacrifice and atonement. He destroyed the basis of all this fictitious guilt and sense of isolation in the universe by declaring that man is a child of God; the creature-Creator relationship was placed on a child-parent basis. God becomes a loving Father to his mortal sons and daughters. All ceremonials not a legitimate part of such an intimate family relationship are forever abrogated.
Ta ideja-ideal dobročinstva prema drugima — poticaj koji egu uskraćuje nešto radi dobrobiti bližnjega — u početku je vrlo ograničena. Primitivni čovjek bližnjim smatra samo one koji su mu sasvim bliski, one koji se prema njemu ponašaju susretljivo; kako religijska civilizacija napreduje, pojam bližnjega širi se i obuhvaća klan, pleme i naciju. A onda je Isus proširio pojam bližnjega tako da obuhvati cijelo čovječanstvo, čak do toga da trebamo ljubiti svoje neprijatelje. I u svakom normalnom ljudskom biću postoji nešto što mu govori da je to učenje moralno — ispravno. Čak i oni koji taj ideal najmanje žive, priznaju da je on ispravan u teoriji.
103:5.2 (1133.7)
This idea-ideal of doing good to others—the impulse to deny the ego something for the benefit of one’s neighbor—is very circumscribed at first. Primitive man regards as neighbor only those very close to him, those who treat him neighborly; as religious civilization advances, one’s neighbor expands in concept to embrace the clan, the tribe, the nation. And then Jesus enlarged the neighbor scope to embrace the whole of humanity, even that we should love our enemies. And there is something inside of every normal human being that tells him this teaching is moral—right. Even those who practice this ideal least, admit that it is right in theory.
Svi ljudi prepoznaju moralnost toga univerzalnog ljudskog poticaja na nesebičnost i altruizam. Humanist porijeklo toga poticaja pripisuje prirodnom djelovanju materijalnog uma; religiozni čovjek ispravnije prepoznaje da istinski nesebičan poriv smrtnog uma predstavlja odgovor na unutarnje vodstvo Ispravljača Misli, koji je duh.
103:5.3 (1134.1)
All men recognize the morality of this universal human urge to be unselfish and altruistic. The humanist ascribes the origin of this urge to the natural working of the material mind; the religionist more correctly recognizes that the truly unselfish drive of mortal mind is in response to the inner spirit leadings of the Thought Adjuster.
Ali čovjekovo tumačenje tih ranih sukoba između volje-ega i volje-koja-nije-od-ega nije uvijek pouzdano. Samo relativno dobro ujedinjena ličnost može presuditi u raznolikim sporovima između težnji ega i zametaka društvene svijesti. Sebstvo ima svoja prava jednako kao i bližnji. Ni jedno ni drugo nema isključivo pravo na pozornost i služenje pojedinca. Neuspjeh u rješavanju toga problema dovodi do nastanka najranijeg oblika ljudskih osjećaja krivnje.
103:5.4 (1134.2)
But man’s interpretation of these early conflicts between the ego-will and the other-than-self-will is not always dependable. Only a fairly well unified personality can arbitrate the multiform contentions of the ego cravings and the budding social consciousness. The self has rights as well as one’s neighbors. Neither has exclusive claims upon the attention and service of the individual. Failure to resolve this problem gives origin to the earliest type of human guilt feelings.
Ljudska se sreća postiže tek kada se želja ega i altruistički poticaj višega sebstva (božanskog duha) usklade i pomire ujedinjenom voljom integrirajuće i nadziruće ličnosti. Um evolucijskog čovjeka stalno je suočen sa složenim problemom prosuđivanja u nadmetanju između prirodnog širenja emocionalnih poriva i moralnog rasta nesebičnih poticaja utemeljenih na duhovnom uvidu — istinskom religijskom promišljanju.
103:5.5 (1134.3)
Human happiness is achieved only when the ego desire of the self and the altruistic urge of the higher self (divine spirit) are co-ordinated and reconciled by the unified will of the integrating and supervising personality. The mind of evolutionary man is ever confronted with the intricate problem of refereeing the contest between the natural expansion of emotional impulses and the moral growth of unselfish urges predicated on spiritual insight—genuine religious reflection.
Pokušaj da se osigura jednako dobro za sebstvo i za najveći broj drugih sebstava predstavlja problem koji se ne može uvijek zadovoljavajuće riješiti u vremensko-prostornom okviru. U uvjetima vječnog života takve se suprotnosti mogu razriješiti, ali u jednom kratkom ljudskom životu one su nerješive. Isus je na takav paradoks ukazao kada je rekao: „Tko hoće spasiti svoj život, izgubit će ga; a tko izgubi svoj život radi kraljevstva, naći će ga.”
103:5.6 (1134.4)
The attempt to secure equal good for the self and for the greatest number of other selves presents a problem which cannot always be satisfactorily resolved in a time-space frame. Given an eternal life, such antagonisms can be worked out, but in one short human life they are incapable of solution. Jesus referred to such a paradox when he said: “Whosoever shall save his life shall lose it, but whosoever shall lose his life for the sake of the kingdom, shall find it.”
Težnja za idealom — nastojanje da se bude sličan Bogu — neprekidan je napor prije i poslije smrti. Život poslije smrti u svojim bitnim značajkama ne razlikuje se od smrtnog postojanja. Sve što u ovom životu činimo dobro, izravno pridonosi unapređenju budućeg života. Istinska religija ne potiče moralnu mlitavost ni duhovnu lijenost, ohrabrujući ispraznu nadu da će sve vrline plemenita karaktera biti darovane čovjeku samim prolaskom kroz vrata prirodne smrti. Prava religija ne umanjuje čovjekove napore da napreduje tijekom smrtnog razdoblja života. Svaki smrtnički dobitak izravni je doprinos obogaćenju prvih stupnjeva iskustva besmrtnog opstanka.
103:5.7 (1134.5)
The pursuit of the ideal—the striving to be Godlike—is a continuous effort before death and after. The life after death is no different in the essentials than the mortal existence. Everything we do in this life which is good contributes directly to the enhancement of the future life. Real religion does not foster moral indolence and spiritual laziness by encouraging the vain hope of having all the virtues of a noble character bestowed upon one as a result of passing through the portals of natural death. True religion does not belittle man’s efforts to progress during the mortal lease on life. Every mortal gain is a direct contribution to the enrichment of the first stages of the immortal survival experience.
103:5.8 (1134.6)
It is fatal to man’s idealism when he is taught that all of his altruistic impulses are merely the development of his natural herd instincts. But he is ennobled and mightily energized when he learns that these higher urges of his soul emanate from the spiritual forces that indwell his mortal mind.
103:5.9 (1134.7)
It lifts man out of himself and beyond himself when he once fully realizes that there lives and strives within him something which is eternal and divine. And so it is that a living faith in the superhuman origin of our ideals validates our belief that we are the sons of God and makes real our altruistic convictions, the feelings of the brotherhood of man.
Ali čovjek nije spašen niti oplemenjen pritiskom. Rast duha izvire iznutra, iz evoluirajuće duše. Pritisak može deformirati ličnost, ali nikada ne potiče rast. Čak je i odgojni pritisak koristan samo u negativnom smislu, jer može pomoći u sprječavanju pogubnih iskustava. Duhovni je rast najveći ondje gdje su svi vanjski pritisci svedeni na najmanju mjeru. „Gdje je Duh Gospodnji, ondje je sloboda.” Čovjek se najbolje razvija kada su pritisci doma, zajednice, crkve i države najmanji. Ali to se ne smije tumačiti kao da u naprednom društvu nema mjesta za dom, društvene ustanove, crkvu i državu.
103:5.11 (1135.1)
But man is not saved or ennobled by pressure. Spirit growth springs from within the evolving soul. Pressure may deform the personality, but it never stimulates growth. Even educational pressure is only negatively helpful in that it may aid in the prevention of disastrous experiences. Spiritual growth is greatest where all external pressures are at a minimum. “Where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” Man develops best when the pressures of home, community, church, and state are least. But this must not be construed as meaning that there is no place in a progressive society for home, social institutions, church, and state.
Kada član neke društveno-religijske skupine ispuni zahtjeve takve skupine, treba ga ohrabriti da uživa religijsku slobodu u punom izražavanju vlastitog osobnog tumačenja istina religijskog vjerovanja i činjenica religijskog iskustva. Sigurnost religijske skupine počiva na duhovnom jedinstvu, a ne na teološkoj jednoobraznosti. Religijska skupina treba biti sposobna uživati slobodu slobodnog mišljenja, a da ne mora postati „slobodoumna.” Velika je nada za svaku crkvu koja štuje živoga Boga, potvrđuje bratstvo ljudi i usuđuje se ukloniti svaki vjeroispovjedni pritisak sa svojih članova.
103:5.12 (1135.2)
When a member of a social religious group has complied with the requirements of such a group, he should be encouraged to enjoy religious liberty in the full expression of his own personal interpretation of the truths of religious belief and the facts of religious experience. The security of a religious group depends on spiritual unity, not on theological uniformity. A religious group should be able to enjoy the liberty of freethinking without having to become “freethinkers.” There is great hope for any church that worships the living God, validates the brotherhood of man, and dares to remove all creedal pressure from its members.
Teologija je proučavanje djelovanja i reagiranja ljudskog duha; ona nikada ne može postati znanost jer se u svom osobnom izrazu uvijek mora u većoj ili manjoj mjeri povezivati s psihologijom, a u svom sustavnom prikazu s filozofijom. Teologija je uvijek proučavanje vlastite religije; proučavanje tuđe religije jest psihologija.
103:6.1 (1135.3)
Theology is the study of the actions and reactions of the human spirit; it can never become a science since it must always be combined more or less with psychology in its personal expression and with philosophy in its systematic portrayal. Theology is always the study of your religion; the study of another’s religion is psychology.
Kada se svemir proučava i ispituje izvana, razvijaju se različite fizikalne znanosti; kada se čovjek i svemir istražuju iznutra, nastaju teologija i metafizika. Kasnija umjetnost filozofije razvija se u nastojanju da uskladi mnoge nesuglasice koje se u početku neizbježno pojavljuju između nalaza i učenja tih dvaju dijametralno suprotnih putova pristupa svemiru stvari i bića.
103:6.2 (1135.4)
When man approaches the study and examination of his universe from the outside, he brings into being the various physical sciences; when he approaches the research of himself and the universe from the inside, he gives origin to theology and metaphysics. The later art of philosophy develops in an effort to harmonize the many discrepancies which are destined at first to appear between the findings and teachings of these two diametrically opposite avenues of approaching the universe of things and beings.
103:6.3 (1135.5)
Religion has to do with the spiritual viewpoint, the awareness of the insideness of human experience. Man’s spiritual nature affords him the opportunity of turning the universe outside in. It is therefore true that, viewed exclusively from the insideness of personality experience, all creation appears to be spiritual in nature.
Logičan i dosljedan filozofski pojam svemira ne može se izgraditi na pretpostavkama ni materijalizma ni spiritizma, jer su oba ta sustava mišljenja, kada se primjenjuju univerzalno, prisiljena promatrati kozmos iskrivljeno: prvi dolazi u doticaj sa svemirom okrenutim iznutra prema van, a drugi spoznaje narav svemira okrenutog izvana prema unutra. Stoga ni znanost ni religija, same po sebi i uzete odvojeno, nikada ne mogu steći primjereno razumijevanje univerzalnih istina i odnosa bez vodstva ljudske filozofije i prosvjetljenja božanske objave.
103:6.5 (1135.7)
A logical and consistent philosophic concept of the universe cannot be built up on the postulations of either materialism or spiritism, for both of these systems of thinking, when universally applied, are compelled to view the cosmos in distortion, the former contacting with a universe turned inside out, the latter realizing the nature of a universe turned outside in. Never, then, can either science or religion, in and of themselves, standing alone, hope to gain an adequate understanding of universal truths and relationships without the guidance of human philosophy and the illumination of divine revelation.
Čovjekov unutarnji duh uvijek mora za svoje izražavanje i samoostvarenje ovisiti o mehanizmu i tehnici uma. Jednako tako, čovjekovo izvanjsko iskustvo materijalne stvarnosti mora biti utemeljeno na svjesnosti uma doživljavajuće ličnosti. Stoga su duhovna i materijalna, unutarnja i izvanjska ljudska iskustva uvijek u međusobnoj povezanosti s funkcijom uma i, što se tiče njihove svjesne spoznaje, uvjetovana djelovanjem uma. Čovjek materiju doživljava u svom umu; duhovnu stvarnost doživljava u duši, ali te spoznaje postaje svjestan u svom umu. Intelekt je usklađivač i trajno prisutni uvjetovatelj i određivač cjelokupnog smrtnog iskustva. I energijske stvarnosti i duhovne vrijednosti obojene su svojim tumačenjem kroz um kao medij svjesnosti.
103:6.6 (1136.1)
Always must man’s inner spirit depend for its expression and self-realization upon the mechanism and technique of the mind. Likewise must man’s outer experience of material reality be predicated on the mind consciousness of the experiencing personality. Therefore are the spiritual and the material, the inner and the outer, human experiences always correlated with the mind function and conditioned, as to their conscious realization, by the mind activity. Man experiences matter in his mind; he experiences spiritual reality in the soul but becomes conscious of this experience in his mind. The intellect is the harmonizer and the ever-present conditioner and qualifier of the sum total of mortal experience. Both energy-things and spirit values are colored by their interpretation through the mind media of consciousness.
Vaša poteškoća u postizanju skladnije koordinacije između znanosti i religije proizlazi iz potpunog nepoznavanja posrednog područja morontijskog svijeta stvari i bića. Lokalni svemir sastoji se od tri stupnja, odnosno razine, očitovanja stvarnosti: materije, morontije i duha. Morontijski pristup briše svaku razliku između nalaza fizikalnih znanosti i djelovanja duha religije. Razum je tehnika razumijevanja u znanosti; vjera je tehnika uvida u religiji; mota je tehnika morontijske razine. Morontija mota jest nadmaterijalna osjetljivost na stvarnost koja počinje nadoknađivati nedovršen rast; njezina je supstancija znanje-razum, a njezina bit vjera-uvid. Mota je nadfilozofsko pomirenje razilaženja u opažanju stvarnosti koje je nedostižno materijalnim ličnostima; ona je djelomice utemeljena na iskustvu preživljenja materijalnog života u tijelu. Ali mnogi su smrtnici prepoznali poželjnost postojanja neke metode kojom bi se uskladilo međudjelovanje široko razdvojenih područja znanosti i religije; a metafizika je rezultat čovjekova neuspješnog pokušaja da premosti taj dobro poznati jaz. No ljudska se metafizika pokazala više zbunjujućom nego prosvjetljujućom. Metafizika predstavlja čovjekov dobronamjeran, ali uzaludan napor da nadoknadi odsutnost mote morontije.
103:6.7 (1136.2)
Your difficulty in arriving at a more harmonious co-ordination between science and religion is due to your utter ignorance of the intervening domain of the morontia world of things and beings. The local universe consists of three degrees, or stages, of reality manifestation: matter, morontia, and spirit. The morontia angle of approach erases all divergence between the findings of the physical sciences and the functioning of the spirit of religion. Reason is the understanding technique of the sciences; faith is the insight technique of religion; mota is the technique of the morontia level. Mota is a supermaterial reality sensitivity which is beginning to compensate incomplete growth, having for its substance knowledge-reason and for its essence faith-insight. Mota is a superphilosophical reconciliation of divergent reality perception which is nonattainable by material personalities; it is predicated, in part, on the experience of having survived the material life of the flesh. But many mortals have recognized the desirability of having some method of reconciling the interplay between the widely separated domains of science and religion; and metaphysics is the result of man’s unavailing attempt to span this well-recognized chasm. But human metaphysics has proved more confusing than illuminating. Metaphysics stands for man’s well-meant but futile effort to compensate for the absence of the mota of morontia.
103:6.8 (1136.3)
Metaphysics has proved a failure; mota, man cannot perceive. Revelation is the only technique which can compensate for the absence of the truth sensitivity of mota in a material world. Revelation authoritatively clarifies the muddle of reason-developed metaphysics on an evolutionary sphere.
Znanost je čovjekov pokušaj proučavanja njegova fizičkog okruženja, svijeta energije-materije; religija je čovjekovo iskustvo s kozmosom vrijednosti duha; filozofija se razvila kao napor ljudskog uma da organizira i poveže nalaze tih široko razdvojenih koncepcija u nešto nalik razumnom i jedinstvenom stavu prema kozmosu. Filozofija, razjašnjena otkrivenjem, može djelovati prihvatljivo u odsutnosti mote i u prisutnosti sloma i neuspjeha čovjekove razumske zamjene za motu—metafizike.
103:6.9 (1136.4)
Science is man’s attempted study of his physical environment, the world of energy-matter; religion is man’s experience with the cosmos of spirit values; philosophy has been developed by man’s mind effort to organize and correlate the findings of these widely separated concepts into something like a reasonable and unified attitude toward the cosmos. Philosophy, clarified by revelation, functions acceptably in the absence of mota and in the presence of the breakdown and failure of man’s reason substitute for mota—metaphysics.
Rani čovjek nije razlikovao razinu energije od razine duha. Ljubičasta rasa i njihovi anditski nasljednici prvi su pokušali razdvojiti matematičko od voljnog. Sve više je civilizirani čovjek slijedio stope najranijih Grka i Sumerana koji su razlikovali neživo od živog. A kako civilizacija napreduje, filozofija će morati premošćivati sve šire jazove između koncepcije duha i koncepcije energije. No u vremenu prostora te su divergencije sjedinjene u Vrhovnom.
103:6.10 (1136.5)
Early man did not differentiate between the energy level and the spirit level. It was the violet race and their Andite successors who first attempted to divorce the mathematical from the volitional. Increasingly has civilized man followed in the footsteps of the earliest Greeks and the Sumerians who distinguished between the inanimate and the animate. And as civilization progresses, philosophy will have to bridge ever-widening gulfs between the spirit concept and the energy concept. But in the time of space these divergencies are at one in the Supreme.
Znanost uvijek mora biti utemeljena u razumu, premda su mašta i nagađanje korisni u širenju njezinih granica. Religija je trajno ovisna o vjeri, iako je razum stabilizirajući utjecaj i korisna pomoć. A uvijek je bilo i uvijek će biti pogrešnih tumačenja pojava i prirodnog i duhovnog svijeta, lažno tako nazvanih znanosti i religija.
103:6.11 (1137.1)
Science must always be grounded in reason, although imagination and conjecture are helpful in the extension of its borders. Religion is forever dependent on faith, albeit reason is a stabilizing influence and a helpful handmaid. And always there have been, and ever will be, misleading interpretations of the phenomena of both the natural and the spiritual worlds, sciences and religions falsely so called.
Iz svojeg nepotpunog shvaćanja znanosti, svojeg slabog oslonca na religiju i svojih neuspjelih metafizičkih nastojanja, čovjek je nastojao izgraditi svoje formulacije filozofije. A suvremeni bi čovjek doista izgradio vrijednu i privlačnu filozofiju o sebi i svom svemiru kad ne bi došlo do sloma njegova svevažnog i neophodnog metafizičkog povezivanja između svjetova materije i duha, do neuspjeha metafizike da premosti morontijski jaz između fizičkog i duhovnog. Smrtnom čovjeku nedostaje koncepcija morontija uma i materije; a otkrivenje je jedina tehnika koja može nadoknaditi taj nedostatak u pojmovnim podacima koje čovjek tako hitno treba kako bi izgradio logičnu filozofiju svemira i došao do zadovoljavajućeg razumijevanja svojeg sigurnog i postojanog mjesta u tom svemiru.
103:6.12 (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.
Kad se čovjekova filozofija odveć osloni na svijet materije, ona postaje racionalistička ili naturalistička. Kada se filozofija osobito naginje duhovnoj razini, ona postaje idealistička ili čak mistična. Kada je filozofija toliko nesretna da se oslanja na metafiziku, nepogrešivo postaje skeptična i zbunjena. U prošlim vremenima većina čovjekova znanja i intelektualnih procjena padala je u jednu od te tri iskrivljenosti percepcije. Filozofija se ne smije usuditi projicirati svoja tumačenja stvarnosti prema linearnom principu logike; nikada ne smije propustiti uzeti u obzir eliptičnu simetriju stvarnosti i bitnu zakrivljenost svih pojmova odnosa.
103:6.14 (1137.4)
When the philosophy of man leans heavily toward the world of matter, it becomes rationalistic or naturalistic. When philosophy inclines particularly toward the spiritual level, it becomes idealistic or even mystical. When philosophy is so unfortunate as to lean upon metaphysics, it unfailingly becomes skeptical, confused. In past ages, most of man’s knowledge and intellectual evaluations have fallen into one of these three distortions of perception. Philosophy dare not project its interpretations of reality in the linear fashion of logic; it must never fail to reckon with the elliptic symmetry of reality and with the essential curvature of all relation concepts.
103:6.15 (1137.5)
The highest attainable philosophy of mortal man must be logically based on the reason of science, the faith of religion, and the truth insight afforded by revelation. By this union man can compensate somewhat for his failure to develop an adequate metaphysics and for his inability to comprehend the mota of the morontia.
Znanost se održava razumom, religija vjerom. Vjera, premda nije utemeljena na razumu, ipak je razumna; premda neovisna o logici, ipak je potaknuta zdravom logikom. Vjera se ne može hraniti čak ni idealnom filozofijom; doista, ona je, zajedno sa znanošću, sam izvor takve filozofije. Vjera, ljudski religijski uvid, može biti sigurno poučena jedino otkrivenjem, a može biti sigurno uzdignuta jedino osobnim smrtnim iskustvom s duhovnom prisutnošću Ispravljača, Boga koji je duh.
103:7.1 (1137.6)
Science is sustained by reason, religion by faith. Faith, though not predicated on reason, is reasonable; though independent of logic, it is nonetheless encouraged by sound logic. Faith cannot be nourished even by an ideal philosophy; indeed, it is, with science, the very source of such a philosophy. Faith, human religious insight, can be surely instructed only by revelation, can be surely elevated only by personal mortal experience with the spiritual Adjuster presence of the God who is spirit.
Istinsko spasenje jest tehnika božanske evolucije smrtnog uma od poistovjećenja s materijom, kroz područja morontijskih veza, do visokog svemirskog statusa duhovne korelacije. I kao što materijalni intuitivni instinkt prethodi pojavi prosudbenog znanja u zemaljskoj evoluciji, tako manifestacija duhovnog intuitivnog uvida nagovješćuje kasniju pojavu morontije i razuma duha i iskustva u uzvišenom programu nebeske evolucije koji potencijale vremenskog čovjeka pretvara u aktualnost i božanstvenost vječnog čovjeka, rajskog finalista.
103:7.2 (1137.7)
True salvation is the technique of the divine evolution of the mortal mind from matter identification through the realms of morontia liaison to the high universe status of spiritual correlation. And as material intuitive instinct precedes the appearance of reasoned knowledge in terrestrial evolution, so does the manifestation of spiritual intuitive insight presage the later appearance of morontia and spirit reason and experience in the supernal program of celestial evolution, the business of transmuting the potentials of man the temporal into the actuality and divinity of man the eternal, a Paradise finaliter.
No pošto se uzlazni čovjek okreće prema unutra i prema Raju u potrazi za iskustvom Boga, on će se isto tako okretati prema van i prema prostoru u potrazi za razumijevanjem energije materijalnog kozmosa. Napredovanje znanosti nije ograničeno na čovjekov zemaljski život; njegovo iskustvo uzlaska kroz svemir i nadsvemir u nemaloj će mjeri biti proučavanje transmutacije energije i preobrazbe materije. Bog je duh, ali Božanstvo je jedinstvo, a jedinstvo Božanstva ne obuhvaća samo duhovne vrijednosti Oca Svih i Vječnog Sina nego je također svjesno energetskih činjenica Univerzalnog Kontrolora i Otoka Raja, dok su ove dvije faze svemirske stvarnosti savršeno korelirane u umnim odnosima Združenog Činitelja i na finitnoj razini ujedinjene u javljajućem Božanstvu Vrhovnog Bića.
103:7.3 (1138.1)
But as ascending man reaches inward and Paradiseward for the God experience, he will likewise be reaching outward and spaceward for an energy understanding of the material cosmos. The progression of science is not limited to the terrestrial life of man; his universe and superuniverse ascension experience will to no small degree be the study of energy transmutation and material metamorphosis. God is spirit, but Deity is unity, and the unity of Deity not only embraces the spiritual values of the Universal Father and the Eternal Son but is also cognizant of the energy facts of the Universal Controller and the Isle of Paradise, while these two phases of universal reality are perfectly correlated in the mind relationships of the Conjoint Actor and unified on the finite level in the emerging Deity of the Supreme Being.
Sjedinjenje znanstvenog stava i religijskog uvida posredovanjem iskustvene filozofije dio je čovjekova dugog iskustva uzlaska prema Raju. Matematičke aproksimacije i sigurnosti uvida uvijek će zahtijevati usklađujuću funkciju logike uma na svim razinama iskustva koje su ispod najvišeg dosega Vrhovnog.
103:7.4 (1138.2)
The union of the scientific attitude and the religious insight by the mediation of experiential philosophy is part of man’s long Paradise-ascension experience. The approximations of mathematics and the certainties of insight will always require the harmonizing function of mind logic on all levels of experience short of the maximum attainment of the Supreme.
103:7.5 (1138.3)
But logic can never succeed in harmonizing the findings of science and the insights of religion unless both the scientific and the religious aspects of a personality are truth dominated, sincerely desirous of following the truth wherever it may lead regardless of the conclusions which it may reach.
Logika je tehnika filozofije, njezina metoda izražavanja. Unutar područja istinske znanosti razum je uvijek podložan istinskoj logici; unutar područja istinske religije vjera je uvijek logična s polazišta unutarnjeg gledišta, premda takva vjera može izgledati posve neutemeljena sa znanstvenog gledišta koje promatra izvana. Promatrano izvana, gledajući prema unutra, svemir se može činiti materijalnim; promatrano iznutra, gledajući prema van, isti se svemir čini posve duhovnim. Razum izrasta iz svijesti o materiji, vjera iz duhovne svijesti, ali posredovanjem filozofije ojačane otkrivenjem logika može potvrditi i unutarnje i vanjsko gledište, te tako pridonijeti stabilizaciji i znanosti i religije. Tako, kroz zajednički dodir s logikom filozofije, i znanost i religija mogu postajati sve tolerantnije jedna prema drugoj, sve manje i manje skeptične.
103:7.6 (1138.4)
Logic is the technique of philosophy, its method of expression. Within the domain of true science, reason is always amenable to genuine logic; within the domain of true religion, faith is always logical from the basis of an inner viewpoint, even though such faith may appear to be quite unfounded from the inlooking viewpoint of the scientific approach. From outward, looking within, the universe may appear to be material; from within, looking out, the same universe appears to be wholly spiritual. Reason grows out of material awareness, faith out of spiritual awareness, but through the mediation of a philosophy strengthened by revelation, logic may confirm both the inward and the outward view, thereby effecting the stabilization of both science and religion. Thus, through common contact with the logic of philosophy, may both science and religion become increasingly tolerant of each other, less and less skeptical.
Ono što je potrebno razvijajućoj znanosti i religiji jest više pronicavosti i neustrašive samokritičnosti, te veća svijest o nepotpunosti evolucijskog statusa. Učitelji i znanosti i religije često su previše samouvjereni i dogmatični. Znanost i religija mogu biti samokritične jedino u pogledu svojih vlastitih činjenica. Onoga trenutka kada se napusti razina činjenica, razum abdicira ili se brzo izrodi u suučesnika lažne logike.
103:7.7 (1138.5)
What both developing science and religion need is more searching and fearless self-criticism, a greater awareness of incompleteness in evolutionary status. The teachers of both science and religion are often altogether too self-confident and dogmatic. Science and religion can only be self-critical of their facts. The moment departure is made from the stage of facts, reason abdicates or else rapidly degenerates into a consort of false logic.
Istina — razumijevanje kozmičkih odnosa, svemirskih činjenica i duhovnih vrijednosti — može se najbolje postići služenjem Duha Istine, a može se najbolje kritički prosuđivati putem otkrivenja. Ali otkrivenje ne stvara ni znanost ni religiju; njegova je funkcija uskladiti i znanost i religiju s istinom stvarnosti. U odsutnosti otkrivenja, ili kada ga čovjek ne uspije prihvatiti ili razumjeti, smrtni čovjek u svojim jalovim nastojanjima uvijek pribjegava metafizici, jer je ona jedina ljudska zamjena za otkrivenje istine ili za motu morontija ličnosti.
103:7.8 (1138.6)
The truth—an understanding of cosmic relationships, universe facts, and spiritual values—can best be had through the ministry of the Spirit of Truth and can best be criticized by revelation. But revelation originates neither a science nor a religion; its function is to co-ordinate both science and religion with the truth of reality. Always, in the absence of revelation or in the failure to accept or grasp it, has mortal man resorted to his futile gesture of metaphysics, that being the only human substitute for the revelation of truth or for the mota of morontia personality.
Znanost materijalnog svijeta omogućuje čovjeku da upravlja, i donekle ovlada, svojim fizičkim okruženjem. Religija duhovnog iskustva izvor je poticaja bratstva koji ljudima omogućuje da žive zajedno usred složenosti civilizacije znanstvenog doba. Metafizika, a posebno otkrivenje, pruža zajedničko mjesto susreta otkrićima znanosti i religije te omogućuje čovjekov pokušaj da logički poveže ta odvojena, ali međusobno ovisna područja mišljenja u dobro uravnoteženu filozofiju znanstvene stabilnosti i religijske sigurnosti.
103:7.9 (1139.1)
The science of the material world enables man to control, and to some extent dominate, his physical environment. The religion of the spiritual experience is the source of the fraternity impulse which enables men to live together in the complexities of the civilization of a scientific age. Metaphysics, but more certainly revelation, affords a common meeting ground for the discoveries of both science and religion and makes possible the human attempt logically to correlate these separate but interdependent domains of thought into a well-balanced philosophy of scientific stability and religious certainty.
U smrtnom stanju ništa se ne može apsolutno dokazati; i znanost i religija počivaju na pretpostavkama. Na morontija razini postulati i znanosti i religije mogu se djelomično dokazati logikom mote. Na duhovnoj razini najvišeg statusa potreba za konačnim dokazom postupno nestaje pred stvarnim iskustvom sa stvarnošću i unutar stvarnosti; ali čak i tada mnogo toga što nadilazi konačno ostaje nedokazano.
103:7.10 (1139.2)
In the mortal state, nothing can be absolutely proved; both science and religion are predicated on assumptions. On the morontia level, the postulates of both science and religion are capable of partial proof by mota logic. On the spiritual level of maximum status, the need for finite proof gradually vanishes before the actual experience of and with reality; but even then there is much beyond the finite that remains unproved.
Sve podjele ljudske misli počivaju na određenim pretpostavkama koje se prihvaćaju, premda nedokazane, putem konstitutivne osjetljivosti za spoznaju stvarnosti u umnom obdarenju čovjeka. Znanost započinje svoju hvaljenu karijeru rasuđivanja pretpostavkom stvarnosti triju stvari: materije, kretanja i života. Religija započinje pretpostavkom valjanosti triju stvari: uma, duha i svemira — Vrhovnog Bića.
103:7.11 (1139.3)
All divisions of human thought are predicated on certain assumptions which are accepted, though unproved, by the constitutive reality sensitivity of the mind endowment of man. Science starts out on its vaunted career of reasoning by assuming the reality of three things: matter, motion, and life. Religion starts out with the assumption of the validity of three things: mind, spirit, and the universe—the Supreme Being.
Znanost tako postaje misaona domena matematike, energije i materije vremena u prostoru. Religija pretpostavlja da se bavi ne samo konačnim i vremenskim duhom nego i duhom vječnosti i vrhovnosti. Samo kroz dugo iskustvo u moti ove dvije krajnosti svemirske percepcije mogu dovesti do analognih tumačenja porijeka, funkcija, odnosa, stvarnosti i sudbina. Najveće usklađivanje razilaženja energije i duha nalazi se u uključenju u krug Sedam Glavnih Duhova; njihovo prvo ujedinjenje je u Božanstvu Vrhovnog; a konačno jedinstvo u beskonačnosti Prvog Izvora i Središta, JA JESAM.
103:7.12 (1139.4)
Science becomes the thought domain of mathematics, of the energy and material of time in space. Religion assumes to deal not only with finite and temporal spirit but also with the spirit of eternity and supremacy. Only through a long experience in mota can these two extremes of universe perception be made to yield analogous interpretations of origins, functions, relations, realities, and destinies. The maximum harmonization of the energy-spirit divergence is in the encircuitment of the Seven Master Spirits; the first unification thereof, in the Deity of the Supreme; the finality unity thereof, in the infinity of the First Source and Center, the I AM.
Rasuđivanje je čin prepoznavanja zaključaka svijesti u vezi s iskustvom u i sa fizičkim svijetom energije i materije. Vjera je čin prepoznavanja valjanosti duhovne svijesti — nečega što nije podložno nikakvom drugom smrtnom dokazu. Logika je sintetičko napredovanje u potrazi za istinom kroz jedinstvo vjere i rasuđivanja te je utemeljena na konstitutivnim obdarenjima uma smrtnih bića, na urođenom prepoznavanju stvari, značenja i vrijednosti.
103:7.13 (1139.5)
Reason is the act of recognizing the conclusions of consciousness with regard to the experience in and with the physical world of energy and matter. Faith is the act of recognizing the validity of spiritual consciousness—something which is incapable of other mortal proof. Logic is the synthetic truth-seeking progression of the unity of faith and reason and is founded on the constitutive mind endowments of mortal beings, the innate recognition of things, meanings, and values.
Postoji stvarni dokaz duhovne stvarnosti u prisutnosti Ispravljača Misli, ali se valjanost te prisutnosti ne može dokazati vanjskom svijetu, nego samo onome koji tako doživljava unutarnje prebivanje Boga. Svijest o Ispravljaču temelji se na intelektualnom prihvaćanju istine, nadumnom opažanju dobrote i poticaju ličnosti na ljubav.
103:7.14 (1139.6)
There is a real proof of spiritual reality in the presence of the Thought Adjuster, but the validity of this presence is not demonstrable to the external world, only to the one who thus experiences the indwelling of God. The consciousness of the Adjuster is based on the intellectual reception of truth, the supermind perception of goodness, and the personality motivation to love.
Iako i znanost i filozofija mogu svojim rasuđivanjem i logikom pretpostaviti vjerojatnost Boga, samo osobno religijsko iskustvo čovjeka vođenog duhom može potvrditi sigurnost takvog vrhovnog i osobnog Božanstva. Tehnikom takvog utjelovljenja žive istine filozofska hipoteza o vjerojatnosti Boga postaje religijska stvarnost.
103:8.1 (1140.1)
Although both science and philosophy may assume the probability of God by their reason and logic, only the personal religious experience of a spirit-led man can affirm the certainty of such a supreme and personal Deity. By the technique of such an incarnation of living truth the philosophic hypothesis of the probability of God becomes a religious reality.
103:8.2 (1140.2)
The confusion about the experience of the certainty of God arises out of the dissimilar interpretations and relations of that experience by separate individuals and by different races of men. The experiencing of God may be wholly valid, but the discourse about God, being intellectual and philosophical, is divergent and oftentimes confusingly fallacious.
Dobar i plemenit čovjek može biti posve zaljubljen u svoju ženu, a ipak potpuno nesposoban položiti zadovoljavajući pisani ispit iz psihologije bračne ljubavi. Drugi čovjek, koji ima malo ili nimalo ljubavi prema svojoj supruzi, mogao bi takav ispit položiti sasvim uspješno. Nesavršenost uvida zaljubljenog čovjeka u pravu narav voljene osobe nimalo ne umanjuje ni stvarnost ni iskrenost njegove ljubavi.
103:8.3 (1140.3)
A good and noble man may be consummately in love with his wife but utterly unable to pass a satisfactory written examination on the psychology of marital love. Another man, having little or no love for his spouse, might pass such an examination most acceptably. The imperfection of the lover’s insight into the true nature of the beloved does not in the least invalidate either the reality or sincerity of his love.
Ako doista vjeruješ u Boga — vjerom ga poznaješ i ljubiš — ne dopusti da stvarnost takvog iskustva bude na bilo koji način umanjena ili potkopana sumnjičavim insinuacijama znanosti, cjepidlačenjem logike, postulatima filozofije ili domišljatim prijedlozima dobronamjernih duša koje bi htjele stvoriti religiju bez Boga.
103:8.4 (1140.4)
If you truly believe in God—by faith know him and love him—do not permit the reality of such an experience to be in any way lessened or detracted from by the doubting insinuations of science, the caviling of logic, the postulates of philosophy, or the clever suggestions of well-meaning souls who would create a religion without God.
Filozofija, želi li biti od najveće koristi i znanosti i religiji, treba izbjegavati krajnosti i materijalizma i panteizma. Samo filozofija koja priznaje stvarnost ličnosti — trajnost u prisutnosti promjene — može imati moralnu vrijednost za čovjeka i služiti kao veza između teorija materijalne znanosti i duhovne religije. Otkrivenje je nadoknada za slabosti evoluirajuće filozofije.
103:8.6 (1140.6)
Philosophy, to be of the greatest service to both science and religion, should avoid the extremes of both materialism and pantheism. Only a philosophy which recognizes the reality of personality—permanence in the presence of change—can be of moral value to man, can serve as a liaison between the theories of material science and spiritual religion. Revelation is a compensation for the frailties of evolving philosophy.
Teologija se bavi intelektualnim sadržajem religije, metafizika (otkrivenje) njezinim filozofskim aspektima. Religijsko iskustvo je duhovni sadržaj religije. Bez obzira na mitološka zastranjenja i psihološke iluzije intelektualnog sadržaja religije, na pogrešne metafizičke pretpostavke i tehnike samoobmane, na politička izobličenja i socioekonomske izopačenosti filozofskog sadržaja religije, duhovno iskustvo osobne religije ostaje istinsko i valjano.
103:9.1 (1140.7)
Theology deals with the intellectual content of religion, metaphysics (revelation) with the philosophic aspects. Religious experience is the spiritual content of religion. Notwithstanding the mythologic vagaries and the psychologic illusions of the intellectual content of religion, the metaphysical assumptions of error and the techniques of self-deception, the political distortions and the socioeconomic perversions of the philosophic content of religion, the spiritual experience of personal religion remains genuine and valid.
Religija ima veze s osjećanjem, djelovanjem i življenjem, a ne samo s razmišljanjem. Razmišljanje je usko povezano s materijalnim životom i treba biti uglavnom, premda ne sasvim, pod dominacijom rasuđivanja i činjenica znanosti te, u svojim nematerijalnim dosezima prema domenama duha, pod dominacijom istine. Bez obzira koliko nečija teologija može biti iluzorna i pogrešna, njegova religija može biti posve istinska i vječno istinita.
103:9.2 (1140.8)
Religion has to do with feeling, acting, and living, not merely with thinking. Thinking is more closely related to the material life and should be in the main, but not altogether, dominated by reason and the facts of science and, in its nonmaterial reaches toward the spirit realms, by truth. No matter how illusory and erroneous one’s theology, one’s religion may be wholly genuine and everlastingly true.
103:9.3 (1141.1)
Buddhism in its original form is one of the best religions without a God which has arisen throughout all the evolutionary history of Urantia, although, as this faith developed, it did not remain godless. Religion without faith is a contradiction; without God, a philosophic inconsistency and an intellectual absurdity.
Magično i mitološko porijeklo prirodne religije ne poništava stvarnost i istinitost kasnijih religija otkrivenja niti konačno spasonosno evanđelje religije Isusa. Isusov život i učenja naposljetku su oslobodili religiju praznovjerja magije, iluzija mitologije i okova tradicionalnog dogmatizma. Ali ta rana magija i mitologija vrlo su djelotvorno pripremile put kasnijoj i višoj religiji pretpostavljajući postojanje i stvarnost nadmaterijalnih vrijednosti i bića.
103:9.4 (1141.2)
The magical and mythological parentage of natural religion does not invalidate the reality and truth of the later revelational religions and the consummate saving gospel of the religion of Jesus. Jesus’ life and teachings finally divested religion of the superstitions of magic, the illusions of mythology, and the bondage of traditional dogmatism. But this early magic and mythology very effectively prepared the way for later and superior religion by assuming the existence and reality of supermaterial values and beings.
Iako je religijsko iskustvo čisto duhovni i subjektivni fenomen, takvo iskustvo obuhvaća pozitivan i živ stav vjere prema najvišim područjima objektivne stvarnosti svemira. Ideal religijske filozofije jest takvo povjerenje vjere koje bi čovjeka bezuvjetno navelo da se osloni na apsolutnu ljubav beskonačnog Oca svemira nad svemirima. Takvo istinsko religijsko iskustvo daleko nadilazi filozofsku objektivaciju idealističke želje; ono doista uzima spasenje zdravo za gotovo i bavi se jedino učenjem i vršenjem volje Oca na Raju. Obilježja takve religije su: vjera u vrhovno Božanstvo, nada u vječni opstanak i ljubav, osobito prema bližnjima.
103:9.5 (1141.3)
Although religious experience is a purely spiritual subjective phenomenon, such an experience embraces a positive and living faith attitude toward the highest realms of universe objective reality. The ideal of religious philosophy is such a faith-trust as would lead man unqualifiedly to depend upon the absolute love of the infinite Father of the universe of universes. Such a genuine religious experience far transcends the philosophic objectification of idealistic desire; it actually takes salvation for granted and concerns itself only with learning and doing the will of the Father in Paradise. The earmarks of such a religion are: faith in a supreme Deity, hope of eternal survival, and love, especially of one’s fellows.
Kada teologija zagospodari religijom, religija umire; postaje doktrina umjesto života. Poslanje teologije jest samo olakšati samosvijest osobnog duhovnog iskustva. Teologija predstavlja religiozni pokušaj definiranja, pojašnjenja, razrade i opravdanja iskustvenih tvrdnji religije koje se, na koncu, mogu potvrditi samo živom vjerom. U višoj filozofiji svemira mudrost, poput razuma, stupa u savez s vjerom. Razum, mudrost i vjera najviša su ljudska postignuća čovjeka. Razum uvodi čovjeka u svijet činjenica, u stvari; mudrost ga uvodi u svijet istine, u odnose; vjera ga uvodi u svijet božanstva, u duhovno iskustvo.
103:9.6 (1141.4)
When theology masters religion, religion dies; it becomes a doctrine instead of a life. The mission of theology is merely to facilitate the self-consciousness of personal spiritual experience. Theology constitutes the religious effort to define, clarify, expound, and justify the experiential claims of religion, which, in the last analysis, can be validated only by living faith. In the higher philosophy of the universe, wisdom, like reason, becomes allied to faith. Reason, wisdom, and faith are man’s highest human attainments. Reason introduces man to the world of facts, to things; wisdom introduces him to a world of truth, to relationships; faith initiates him into a world of divinity, spiritual experience.
Znanost (znanje) utemeljena je na urođenoj pretpostavci (ađutantnog duha) da je razum valjan, da se svemir može spoznati. Filozofija (koordinirano razumijevanje) utemeljena je na urođenoj pretpostavci (duha mudrosti) da je mudrost valjana, da se materijalni svemir može uskladiti s duhovnim. Religija (istina osobnog duhovnog iskustva) utemeljena je na urođenoj pretpostavci (Ispravljača Misli) da je vjera valjana, da se Bog može spoznati i dosegnuti.
103:9.8 (1141.6)
Science (knowledge) is founded on the inherent (adjutant spirit) assumption that reason is valid, that the universe can be comprehended. Philosophy (co-ordinate comprehension) is founded on the inherent (spirit of wisdom) assumption that wisdom is valid, that the material universe can be co-ordinated with the spiritual. Religion (the truth of personal spiritual experience) is founded on the inherent (Thought Adjuster) assumption that faith is valid, that God can be known and attained.
103:9.9 (1141.7)
The full realization of the reality of mortal life consists in a progressive willingness to believe these assumptions of reason, wisdom, and faith. Such a life is one motivated by truth and dominated by love; and these are the ideals of objective cosmic reality whose existence cannot be materially demonstrated.
Kada razum jednom prepozna dobro i zlo, on očituje mudrost; kada mudrost bira između dobra i zla, istine i pogreške, ona pokazuje vodstvo duha. Tako su funkcije uma, duše i duha uvijek tijesno povezane i međusobno funkcionalno isprepletene. Razum se bavi činjeničnim znanjem; mudrost filozofijom i otkrivenjem; vjera živim duhovnim iskustvom. Kroz istinu čovjek doseže ljepotu, a duhovnom ljubavlju uzdiže se do dobrote.
103:9.10 (1142.1)
When reason once recognizes right and wrong, it exhibits wisdom; when wisdom chooses between right and wrong, truth and error, it demonstrates spirit leading. And thus are the functions of mind, soul, and spirit ever closely united and functionally interassociated. Reason deals with factual knowledge; wisdom, with philosophy and revelation; faith, with living spiritual experience. Through truth man attains beauty and by spiritual love ascends to goodness.
U religijskom iskustvu postoji stvarnost koja je razmjerna njegovu duhovnom sadržaju, a takva stvarnost nadilazi razum, znanost, filozofiju, mudrost i sva druga ljudska postignuća. Uvjerenja takvog iskustva su nepobitna; logika religijskog življenja je neoboriva; sigurnost takve spoznaje nadljudska; zadovoljstva uzvišeno božanska, hrabrost nesalomiva, odanosti neupitne, vjernosti vrhovne, a sudbine konačne — vječne, krajnje i sveopće.
103:9.12 (1142.3)
There is a reality in religious experience that is proportional to the spiritual content, and such a reality is transcendent to reason, science, philosophy, wisdom, and all other human achievements. The convictions of such an experience are unassailable; the logic of religious living is incontrovertible; the certainty of such knowledge is superhuman; the satisfactions are superbly divine, the courage indomitable, the devotions unquestioning, the loyalties supreme, and the destinies final—eternal, ultimate, and universal.