Author: Slawomir Zydenko
Today I’m going to tell you what man’s life after death is like according to the Urantia Book and contrast it with the Hindu theory of karma and reincarnation, which is popular in the West. But before we get into the topic, a brief reminder.
Last time, I talked about what human resurrection looks like according to the Urantia Book. I said that in order for a person to be resurrected, three elements are needed. The first is the Thought Adjuster, the divine particle that holds the record of man’s experiences and experiences. The second is man’s soul, which is stored by the Guardian Angel and contains personality traits. And the third essential element is the morontia body. Thus composed, a person is awakened in the morontial world, that is, in the half-spiritual, half-material world.
Let me just explain further what the Hindu theory of reincarnation and karma is all about. The theory of reincarnation involves reincarnation into various material entities. These can be people, animals or plants. The theory of karma, on the other hand, is closely related to the theory of reincarnation. The better a person’s karma, the better the incarnation, the worse the karma, the worse the incarnation. The best incarnation is human, the worst is plant. Karma itself, on the other hand, can be broadly defined as destiny resulting from the calculus of deeds. Man’s goal, according to the Hindu theory of karma and reincarnation, is to attain such perfect karma as to free himself from the necessity of further incarnation on Earth and thus break out of suffering. This state is called nirvana.
The eternal adventure
Let me now turn to the subject. According to the Urantia Book, what happens to a person after death? What is the further evolution of the soul if a person survives his death, which according to the Urantia Book is not so obvious at all?
What does surviving one’s own death depend on, I have explained in previous articles.
https://urantia.online/en/the-death-of-a-human-being-according-to-the-urantia-book
https://urantia.online/en/the-resurrection-of-man-according-to-the-urantia-book
According to the Urantia Book, man continues his life in the morontial world after death. Our world is a material world, while the morontial world is an energy-material world. The human body in this world is also energy-material. However, people function in this world just as they do in the material world – they make decisions, and these decisions have either a positive or negative effect on their further spiritual evolution.
At some point, there is an end to morontial life for humans. Man moves on to an even more spiritual world, then when he has completed all tasks, the process continues. Man’s evolution is the path literally to God, to the most spiritual and least material world. Man dies in a given world and is reborn in a world that is more and more energetic, that is, more and more spiritual and less and less material.
Life after death on Earth is repeatedly referred to in the Urantia Book as an eternal adventure. This eternal adventure consists of tasks that we are given to complete, just as it is on Earth. It may not look like it, but the problems we face on Earth are our lessons and tasks, which can either elevate us when we deal with them, or set us back in spiritual development if we fail. To confirm that the future life is meant to be an adventure, I give the quote:
“112:7.17 (1239.6) We believe that the mortals of Adjuster fusion, together with their finaliter associates, are destined to function in some manner in the administration of the universes of the first outer space level. We have not the slightest doubt that in due time these enormous galaxies will become inhabited universes. And we are equally convinced that among the administrators thereof will be found the Paradise finaliters whose natures are the cosmic consequence of the blending of creature and Creator.”
As can be inferred from this quote, human existence has a specific purpose and higher meaning in the Universe.
Reincarnation is not the norm
According to the Urantia Book, earthly life is only the first step. The human soul is created on Earth, and does not wander from one earthly creation to another just to reach perfection and thus avoid further suffering in nirvana.
The Urantia Book details how many spiritual entities are needed to sustain life. Everything that lives is connected to spiritual entities, but the human soul is unique in that only we can make decisions of a moral nature. With these decisions, we create our souls ourselves. If a person dies on Earth too soon, he completes the creation of his soul after death, in the morontial world. If an animal is able to make moral decisions, in a spiritual sense it becomes a human being and also creates a surviving soul after death.
Decisions of a moral nature are those that do not arise directly from drives, instincts or emotions, but from professed values. Such values can be, for example, a sense of responsibility for the group, a desire to help the weak, a sense of justice, fairness, respect for the other person, respect for all living beings in the world, and so on. The most important decisions are those concerning the relationship with another human being.
Here is a certain quote from the Urantia Book on the origin of the theory of karma, reincarnation and nirvana:
“94:2.3 (1029.1) The undue concentration on self led certainly to a fear of the nonevolutionary perpetuation of self in an endless round of successive incarnations as man, beast, or weeds. And of all the contaminating beliefs which could have become fastened upon what may have been an emerging monotheism, none was so stultifying as this belief in transmigration—the doctrine of the reincarnation of souls—which came from the Dravidian Deccan. This belief in the weary and monotonous round of repeated transmigrations robbed struggling mortals of their long-cherished hope of finding that deliverance and spiritual advancement in death which had been a part of the earlier Vedic faith.”
Jesus, during his activities in the Middle East, also came across the belief in karma and reincarnation, which was alive in that region. Here is the quote:
“164:3.4 (1811.5)There was, throughout all these regions, a lingering belief in reincarnation. The older Jewish teachers, together with Plato, Philo, and many of the Essenes, tolerated the theory that men may reap in one incarnation what they have sown in a previous existence; thus in one life they were believed to be expiating the sins committed in preceding lives. The Master found it difficult to make men believe that their souls had not had previous existences.”
Cases of reincarnation
According to the Urantia Book, reincarnation is possible, but not the norm. People return to Earth when they have a special task to complete. Normally, the human soul does not reincarnate in beings on Earth. In the Urantia Book, you won’t find many quotes about people reincarnating. So, as an example, I will give a quote about the reincarnation of Jesus, who admittedly was not a human being, but a divine being.
The human soul is created by mortal man as a result of experiencing, properly recognizing reality and consequently making appropriate moral decisions. The divine soul, in contrast, is created in a one-time divine act. The divine soul does not need to experience and recognize reality, for such soul moral choices are obvious.
Jesus performed an important function in the administration of the Universe before his life on Earth and returned to it after his death. Here is what we read in the Urantia Book:
“119:7.5 (1317.1) Joshua ben Joseph, the Jewish baby, was conceived and was born into the world just as all other babies before and since except that this particular baby was the incarnation of Michael of Nebadon, a divine Son of Paradise and the creator of all this local universe of things and beings. And this mystery of the incarnation of Deity within the human form of Jesus, otherwise of natural origin on the world, will forever remain unsolved. Even in eternity you will never know the technique and method of the incarnation of the Creator in the form and likeness of his creatures. That is the secret of Sonarington, and such mysteries are the exclusive possession of those divine Sons who have passed through the bestowal experience.”
How fortunate we were that such a personality visited Earth, wasn’t it? By the way, pay attention to where Christianity, and Catholicism in particular, has drifted. Jesus became so sacred that he could not be conceived simply. For that, his main commandment, the commandment of love, is applied by Christians so selectively, as if it didn’t exist at all. I am referring in particular to wars and abortion.
Comparison
As you can see, the Hindu law of reincarnation and the spiritual evolution described in the Urantia Book are similar only in that eternal life consists of stages, constant transformation and the pursuit of perfection. More in common with the Urantia Book is the Hindu theory of karma. The sum of deeds counts both in Hindu philosophy and in the evolutionary process described in The Urantia Book.
I hope I have given you a little insight into what the life after life of a human being looks like according to the Urantia Book. That would be all on this topic for today. Take care and until next time. Read the Urantia Book for yourself. Goodbye!
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Link to video:
https://youtu.be/UGbAaDYazWg?si=789sVxcRl8h6Wqez
Sources of quotes:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reincarnation
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karma
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nirvana
https://www.urantia.org/urantia-book-standardized/paper-112-personality-survival
https://www.urantia.org/urantia-book-standardized/paper-94-melchizedek-teachings-in-orient
https://www.urantia.org/urantia-book-standardized/paper-164-feast-dedication
https://www.urantia.org/urantia-book-standardized/paper-119-bestowals-christ-michael