The Urantia Book
PAPER 130
ON THE WAY TO ROME
130:0.1 THE tour of the Roman world consumed
most of the twenty-eighth and the entire twenty-ninth year of
Jesus' life on earth. Jesus and the two natives from India --
Gonod and his son Ganid -- left Jerusalem on a Sunday morning,
April 26, A.D. 22. They made their journey according to schedule,
and Jesus said good-bye to the father and son in the city of
Charax on the Persian Gulf on the tenth day of December the
following year, A.D. 23.
130:0.2 From Jerusalem they went to Caesarea by
way of Joppa. At Caesarea they took a boat for Alexandria. From
Alexandria they sailed for Lasea in Crete. From Crete they sailed
for Carthage, touching at Cyrene. At Carthage they took a boat for
Naples, stopping at Malta, Syracuse, and Messina. From Naples they
went to Capua, whence they traveled by the Appian Way to Rome.
130:0.3 After their stay in Rome they went
overland to Tarentum, where they set sail for Athens in Greece,
stopping at Nicopolis and Corinth. From Athens they went to
Ephesus by way of Troas. From Ephesus they sailed for Cyprus,
putting in at Rhodes on the way. They spent considerable time
visiting and resting on Cyprus and then sailed for Antioch in
Syria. From Antioch they journeyed south to Sidon and then went
over to Damascus. From there they traveled by caravan to
Mesopotamia, passing through Thapsacus and Larissa. They spent
some time in Babylon, visited Ur and other places, and then went
to Susa. From Susa they journeyed to Charax, from which place
Gonod and Ganid embarked for India.
130:0.4 It was while working four months at
Damascus that Jesus had picked up the rudiments of the language
spoken by Gonod and Ganid. While there he had labored much of the
time on translations from Greek into one of the languages of
India, being assisted by a native of Gonod's home district.
130:0.5 On this Mediterranean tour Jesus spent
about half of each day teaching Ganid and acting as interpreter
during Gonod's business conferences and social contacts. The
remainder of each day, which was at his disposal, he devoted to
making those close personal contacts with his fellow men, those
intimate associations with the mortals of the realm, which so
characterized his activities during these years that just preceded
his public ministry.
130:0.6 From firsthand observation and actual
contact Jesus acquainted himself with the higher material and
intellectual civilization of the Occident and the Levant; from
Gonod and his brilliant son he learned a great deal about the
civilization and culture of India and China, for Gonod, himself a
citizen of India, had made three extensive trips to the empire of
the yellow race.
130:0.7 Ganid, the young man, learned much from
Jesus during this long and intimate association. They developed a
great affection for each other, and the lad's father many times
tried to persuade Jesus to return with them to India, but Jesus
always declined, pleading the necessity for returning to his
family in Palestine.
1. AT JOPPA -- DISCOURSE ON JONAH
130:1.1 During their stay in Joppa, Jesus met
Gadiah, a Philistine interpreter who worked for one Simon a
tanner. Gonod's agents in Mesopotamia had transacted much business
with this Simon; so Gonod and his son desired to pay him a visit
on their way to Caesarea. While they tarried at Joppa, Jesus and
Gadiah became warm friends. This young Philistine was a truth
seeker. Jesus was a truth giver; he was the truth for that
generation on Urantia. When a great truth seeker and a great truth
giver meet, the result is a great and liberating enlightenment
born of the experience of new truth.
130:1.2 One day after the evening meal Jesus and
the young Philistine strolled down by the sea, and Gadiah, not
knowing that this "scribe of Damascus" was so well versed in the
Hebrew traditions, pointed out to Jesus the ship landing from
which it was reputed that Jonah had embarked on his ill-fated
voyage to Tarshish. And when he had concluded his remarks, he
asked Jesus this question: "But do you suppose the big fish really
did swallow Jonah?" Jesus perceived that this young man's life had
been tremendously influenced by this tradition, and that its
contemplation had impressed upon him the folly of trying to run
away from duty; Jesus therefore said nothing that would suddenly
destroy the foundations of Gadiah's present motivation for
practical living. In answering this question, Jesus said: "My
friend, we are all Jonahs with lives to live in accordance with
the will of God, and at all times when we seek to escape the
present duty of living by running away to far-off enticements, we
thereby put ourselves in the immediate control of those influences
which are not directed by the powers of truth and the forces of
righteousness. The flight from duty is the sacrifice of truth. The
escape from the service of light and life can only result in those
distressing conflicts with the difficult whales of selfishness
which lead eventually to darkness and death unless such
God-forsaking Jonahs shall turn their hearts, even when in the
very depths of despair, to seek after God and his goodness. And
when such disheartened souls sincerely seek for God -- hunger for
truth and thirst for righteousness -- there is nothing that can
hold them in further captivity. No matter into what great depths
they may have fallen, when they seek the light with a whole heart,
the spirit of the Lord God of heaven will deliver them from their
captivity; the evil circumstances of life will spew them out upon
the dry land of fresh opportunities for renewed service and wiser
living."
130:1.3 Gadiah was mightily moved by Jesus'
teaching, and they talked long into the night by the seaside, and
before they went to their lodgings, they prayed together and for
each other. This was the same Gadiah who listened to the later
preaching of Peter, became a profound believer in Jesus of
Nazareth, and held a memorable argument with Peter one evening at
the home of Dorcas. And Gadiah had very much to do with the final
decision of Simon, the wealthy leather merchant, to embrace
Christianity.
130:1.4 (In this narrative of the personal work
of Jesus with his fellow mortals on this tour of the
Mediterranean, we shall, in accordance with our permission, freely
translate his words into modern phraseology current on Urantia at
the time of this presentation.)
130:1.5 Jesus' last visit with Gadiah had to do
with a discussion of good and evil. This young Philistine was much
troubled by a feeling of injustice because of the presence of evil
in the world alongside the good. He said: "How can God, if he is
infinitely good, permit us to suffer the sorrows of evil; after
all, who creates evil?" It was still believed by many in those
days that God creates both good and evil, but Jesus never taught
such error. In answering this question, Jesus said: "My brother,
God is love; therefore he must be good, and his goodness is so
great and real that it cannot contain the small and unreal things
of evil. God is so positively good that there is absolutely no
place in him for negative evil. Evil is the immature choosing and
the unthinking misstep of those who are resistant to goodness,
rejectful of beauty, and disloyal to truth. Evil is only the
misadaptation of immaturity or the disruptive and distorting
influence of ignorance. Evil is the inevitable darkness which
follows upon the heels of the unwise rejection of light. Evil is
that which is dark and untrue, and which, when consciously
embraced and willfully endorsed, becomes sin.
130:1.6 "Your Father in heaven, by endowing you
with the power to choose between truth and error, created the
potential negative of the positive way of light and life; but such
errors of evil are really nonexistent until such a time as an
intelligent creature wills their existence by mischoosing the way
of life. And then are such evils later exalted into sin by the
knowing and deliberate choice of such a willful and rebellious
creature. This is why our Father in heaven permits the good and
the evil to go along together until the end of life, just as
nature allows the wheat and the tares to grow side by side until
the harvest." Gadiah was fully satisfied with Jesus' answer to his
question after their subsequent discussion had made clear to his
mind the real meaning of these momentous statements.
2. AT CAESAREA
130:2.1 Jesus and his friends tarried in
Caesarea beyond the time expected because one of the huge steering
paddles of the vessel on which they intended to embark was
discovered to be in danger of cleaving. The captain decided to
remain in port while a new one was being made. There was a
shortage of skilled woodworkers for this task, so Jesus
volunteered to assist. During the evenings Jesus and his friends
strolled about on the beautiful wall which served as a promenade
around the port. Ganid greatly enjoyed Jesus' explanation of the
water system of the city and the technique whereby the tides were
utilized to flush the city's streets and sewers. This youth of
India was much impressed with the temple of Augustus, situated
upon an elevation and surmounted by a colossal statue of the Roman
emperor. The second afternoon of their stay the three of them
attended a performance in the enormous amphitheater which could
seat twenty thousand persons, and that night they went to a Greek
play at the theater. These were the first exhibitions of this sort
Ganid had ever witnessed, and he asked Jesus many questions about
them. On the morning of the third day they paid a formal visit to
the governor's palace, for Caesarea was the capital of Palestine
and the residence of the Roman procurator.
130:2.2 At their inn there also lodged a
merchant from Mongolia, and since this Far-Easterner talked Greek
fairly well, Jesus had several long visits with him. This man was
much impressed with Jesus' philosophy of life and never forgot his
words of wisdom regarding "the living of the heavenly life while
on earth by means of daily submission to the will of the heavenly
Father." This merchant was a Taoist, and he had thereby become a
strong believer in the doctrine of a universal Deity. When he
returned to Mongolia, he began to teach these advanced truths to
his neighbors and to his business associates, and as a direct
result of such activities, his eldest son decided to become a
Taoist priest. This young man exerted a great influence in behalf
of advanced truth throughout his lifetime and was followed by a
son and a grandson who likewise were devotedly loyal to the
doctrine of the One God -- the Supreme Ruler of Heaven.
130:2.3 While the eastern branch of the early
Christian church, having its headquarters at Philadelphia, held
more faithfully to the teachings of Jesus than did the Jerusalem
brethren, it was regrettable that there was no one like Peter to
go into China, or like Paul to enter India, where the spiritual
soil was then so favorable for planting the seed of the new gospel
of the kingdom. These very teachings of Jesus, as they were held
by the Philadelphians, would have made just such an immediate and
effective appeal to the minds of the spiritually hungry Asiatic
peoples as did the preaching of Peter and Paul in the West.
130:2.4 One of the young men who worked with
Jesus one day on the steering paddle became much interested in the
words which he dropped from hour to hour as they toiled in the
shipyard. When Jesus intimated that the Father in heaven was
interested in the welfare of his children on earth, this young
Greek, Anaxand, said: "If the Gods are interested in me, then why
do they not remove the cruel and unjust foreman of this workshop?"
He was startled when Jesus replied, "Since you know the ways of
kindness and value justice, perhaps the Gods have brought this
erring man near that you may lead him into this better way. Maybe
you are the salt which is to make this brother more agreeable to
all other men; that is, if you have not lost your savor. As it is,
this man is your master in that his evil ways unfavorably
influence you. Why not assert your mastery of evil by virtue of
the power of goodness and thus become the master of all relations
between the two of you? I predict that the good in you could
overcome the evil in him if you gave it a fair and living chance.
There is no adventure in the course of mortal existence more
enthralling than to enjoy the exhilaration of becoming the
material life partner with spiritual energy and divine truth in
one of their triumphant struggles with error and evil. It is a
marvelous and transforming experience to become the living channel
of spiritual light to the mortal who sits in spiritual darkness.
If you are more blessed with truth than is this man, his need
should challenge you. Surely you are not the coward who could
stand by on the seashore and watch a fellow man who could not swim
perish! How much more of value is this man's soul floundering in
darkness compared to his body drowning in water!"
130:2.5 Anaxand was mightily moved by Jesus'
words. Presently he told his superior what Jesus had said, and
that night they both sought Jesus' advice as to the welfare of
their souls. And later on, after the Christian message had been
proclaimed in Caesarea, both of these men, one a Greek and the
other a Roman, believed Philip's preaching and became prominent
members of the church which he founded. Later this young Greek was
appointed the steward of a Roman centurion, Cornelius, who became
a believer through Peter's ministry. Anaxand continued to minister
light to those who sat in darkness until the days of Paul's
imprisonment at Caesarea, when he perished, by accident, in the
great slaughter of twenty thousand Jews while he ministered to the
suffering and dying.
130:2.6 Ganid was, by this time, beginning to
learn how his tutor spent his leisure in this unusual personal
ministry to his fellow men, and the young Indian set about to find
out the motive for these incessant activities. He asked, "Why do
you occupy yourself so continuously with these visits with
strangers?" And Jesus answered: "Ganid, no man is a stranger to
one who knows God. In the experience of finding the Father in
heaven you discover that all men are your brothers, and does it
seem strange that one should enjoy the exhilaration of meeting a
newly discovered brother? To become acquainted with one's brothers
and sisters, to know their problems and to learn to love them, is
the supreme experience of living."
130:2.7 This was a conference which lasted well
into the night, in the course of which the young man requested
Jesus to tell him the difference between the will of God and that
human mind act of choosing which is also called will. In substance
Jesus said: The will of God is the way of God, partnership with
the choice of God in the face of any potential alternative. To do
the will of God, therefore, is the progressive experience of
becoming more and more like God, and God is the source and destiny
of all that is good and beautiful and true. The will of man is the
way of man, the sum and substance of that which the mortal chooses
to be and do. Will is the deliberate choice of a self-conscious
being which leads to decision-conduct based on intelligent
reflection.
130:2.8 That afternoon Jesus and Ganid had both
enjoyed playing with a very intelligent shepherd dog, and Ganid
wanted to know whether the dog had a soul, whether it had a will,
and in response to his questions Jesus said: "The dog has a mind
which can know material man, his master, but cannot know God, who
is spirit; therefore the dog does not possess a spiritual nature
and cannot enjoy a spiritual experience. The dog may have a will
derived from nature and augmented by training, but such a power of
mind is not a spiritual force, neither is it comparable to the
human will, inasmuch as it is not reflective -- it is not
the result of discriminating higher and moral meanings or choosing
spiritual and eternal values. It is the possession of such powers
of spiritual discrimination and truth choosing that makes mortal
man a moral being, a creature endowed with the attributes of
spiritual responsibility and the potential of eternal survival."
Jesus went on to explain that it is the absence of such mental
powers in the animal which makes it forever impossible for the
animal world to develop language in time or to experience anything
equivalent to personality survival in eternity. As a result of
this day's instruction Ganid never again entertained belief in the
transmigration of the souls of men into the bodies of animals.
130:2.9 The next day Ganid talked all this over
with his father, and it was in answer to Gonod's question that
Jesus explained that "human wills which are fully occupied with
passing only upon temporal decisions having to do with the
material problems of animal existence are doomed to perish in
time. Those who make wholehearted moral decisions and unqualified
spiritual choices are thus progressively identified with the
indwelling and divine spirit, and thereby are they increasingly
transformed into the values of eternal survival -- unending
progression of divine service."
130:2.10 It was on this same day that we first
heard that momentous truth which, stated in modern terms, would
signify: "Will is that manifestation of the human mind which
enables the subjective consciousness to express itself objectively
and to experience the phenomenon of aspiring to be Godlike." And
it is in this same sense that every reflective and spiritually
minded human being can become creative.
3. AT ALEXANDRIA
130:3.1 It had been an eventful visit at
Caesarea, and when the boat was ready, Jesus and his two friends
departed at noon one day for Alexandria in Egypt.
130:3.2 The three enjoyed a most pleasant
passage to Alexandria. Ganid was delighted with the voyage and
kept Jesus busy answering questions. As they approached the city's
harbor, the young man was thrilled by the great lighthouse of
Pharos, located on the island which Alexander had joined by a mole
to the mainland, thus creating two magnificent harbors and thereby
making Alexandria the maritime commercial crossroads of Africa,
Asia, and Europe. This great lighthouse was one of the seven
wonders of the world and was the forerunner of all subsequent
lighthouses. They arose early in the morning to view this splendid
lifesaving device of man, and amidst the exclamations of Ganid
Jesus said: "And you, my son, will be like this lighthouse when
you return to India, even after your father is laid to rest; you
will become like the light of life to those who sit about you in
darkness, showing all who so desire the way to reach the harbor of
salvation in safety." And as Ganid squeezed Jesus' hand, he said,
"I will."
130:3.3 And again we remark that the early
teachers of the Christian religion made a great mistake when they
so exclusively turned their attention to the western civilization
of the Roman world. The teachings of Jesus, as they were held by
the Mesopotamian believers of the first century, would have been
readily received by the various groups of Asiatic religionists.
130:3.4 By the fourth hour after landing they
were settled near the eastern end of the long and broad avenue,
one hundred feet wide and five miles long, which stretched on out
to the western limits of this city of one million people. After
the first survey of the city's chief attractions -- university
(museum), library, the royal mausoleum of Alexander, the palace,
temple of Neptune, theater, and gymnasium -- Gonod addressed
himself to business while Jesus and Ganid went to the library, the
greatest in the world. Here were assembled nearly a million
manuscripts from all the civilized world: Greece, Rome, Palestine,
Parthia, India, China, and even Japan. In this library Ganid saw
the largest collection of Indian literature in all the world; and
they spent some time here each day throughout their stay in
Alexandria. Jesus told Ganid about the translation of the Hebrew
scriptures into Greek at this place. And they discussed again and
again all the religions of the world, Jesus endeavoring to point
out to this young mind the truth in each, always adding: "But
Yahweh is the God developed from the revelations of Melchizedek
and the covenant of Abraham. The Jews were the offspring of
Abraham and subsequently occupied the very land wherein
Melchizedek had lived and taught, and from which he sent teachers
to all the world; and their religion eventually portrayed a
clearer recognition of the Lord God of Israel as the Universal
Father in heaven than any other world religion."
130:3.5 Under Jesus' direction Ganid made a
collection of the teachings of all those religions of the world
which recognized a Universal Deity, even though they might also
give more or less recognition to subordinate deities. After much
discussion Jesus and Ganid decided that the Romans had no real God
in their religion, that their religion was hardly more than
emperor worship. The Greeks, they concluded, had a philosophy but
hardly a religion with a personal God. The mystery cults they
discarded because of the confusion of their multiplicity, and
because their varied concepts of Deity seemed to be derived from
other and older religions.
130:3.6 Although these translations were made at
Alexandria, Ganid did not finally arrange these selections and add
his own personal conclusions until near the end of their sojourn
in Rome. He was much surprised to discover that the best of the
authors of the world's sacred literature all more or less clearly
recognized the existence of an eternal God and were much in
agreement with regard to his character and his relationship with
mortal man.
130:3.7 Jesus and Ganid spent much time in the
museum during their stay in Alexandria. This museum was not a
collection of rare objects but rather a university of fine art,
science, and literature. Learned professors here gave daily
lectures, and in those times this was the intellectual center of
the Occidental world. Day by day Jesus interpreted the lectures to
Ganid; one day during the second week the young man exclaimed:
"Teacher Joshua, you know more than these professors; you should
stand up and tell them the great things you have told me; they are
befogged by much thinking. I shall speak to my father and have him
arrange it." Jesus smiled, saying: "You are an admiring pupil, but
these teachers are not minded that you and I should instruct them.
The pride of unspiritualized learning is a treacherous thing in
human experience. The true teacher maintains his intellectual
integrity by ever remaining a learner."
130:3.8 Alexandria was the city of the blended
culture of the Occident and next to Rome the largest and most
magnificent in the world. Here was located the largest Jewish
synagogue in the world, the seat of government of the Alexandria
Sanhedrin, the seventy ruling elders.
130:3.9 Among the many men with whom Gonod
transacted business was a certain Jewish banker, Alexander, whose
brother, Philo, was a famous religious philosopher of that time.
Philo was engaged in the laudable but exceedingly difficult task
of harmonizing Greek philosophy and Hebrew theology. Ganid and
Jesus talked much about Philo's teachings and expected to attend
some of his lectures, but throughout their stay at Alexandria this
famous Hellenistic Jew lay sick abed.
130:3.10 Jesus commended to Ganid much in the
Greek philosophy and the Stoic doctrines, but he impressed upon
the lad the truth that these systems of belief, like the
indefinite teachings of some of his own people, were religions
only in the sense that they led men to find God and enjoy a living
experience in knowing the Eternal.
4. DISCOURSE ON REALITY
130:4.1 The night before they left Alexandria
Ganid and Jesus had a long visit with one of the government
professors at the university who lectured on the teachings of
Plato. Jesus interpreted for the learned Greek teacher but
injected no teaching of his own in refutation of the Greek
philosophy. Gonod was away on business that evening; so, after the
professor had departed, the teacher and his pupil had a long and
heart-to-heart talk about Plato's doctrines. While Jesus gave
qualified approval of some of the Greek teachings which had to do
with the theory that the material things of the world are shadowy
reflections of invisible but more substantial spiritual realities,
he sought to lay a more trustworthy foundation for the lad's
thinking; so he began a long dissertation concerning the nature of
reality in the universe. In substance and in modern phraseology
Jesus said to Ganid:
130:4.2 The source of universe reality is the
Infinite. The material things of finite creation are the
time-space repercussions of the Paradise Pattern and the Universal
Mind of the eternal God. Causation in the physical world,
self-consciousness in the intellectual world, and progressing
selfhood in the spirit world -- these realities, projected on a
universal scale, combined in eternal relatedness, and experienced
with perfection of quality and divinity of value -- constitute the
reality of the Supreme. But in an ever-changing universe
the Original Personality of causation, intelligence, and spirit
experience is changeless, absolute. All things, even in an eternal
universe of limitless values and divine qualities, may, and
oftentimes do, change except the Absolutes and that which has
attained the physical status, intellectual embrace, or spiritual
identity which is absolute.
130:4.3 The highest level to which a finite
creature can progress is the recognition of the Universal Father
and the knowing of the Supreme. And even then such beings of
finality destiny go on experiencing change in the motions of the
physical world and in its material phenomena. Likewise do they
remain aware of selfhood progression in their continuing ascension
of the spiritual universe and of growing consciousness in their
deepening appreciation of, and response to, the intellectual
cosmos. Only in the perfection, harmony, and unanimity of will can
the creature become as one with the Creator; and such a state of
divinity is attained and maintained only by the creature's
continuing to live in time and eternity by consistently conforming
his finite personal will to the divine will of the Creator. Always
must the desire to do the Father's will be supreme in the soul and
dominant over the mind of an ascending son of God.
130:4.4 A one-eyed person can never hope to
visualize depth of perspective. Neither can single-eyed material
scientists nor single-eyed spiritual mystics and allegorists
correctly visualize and adequately comprehend the true depths of
universe reality. All true values of creature experience are
concealed in depth of recognition.
130:4.5 Mindless causation cannot evolve the
refined and complex from the crude and the simple, neither can
spiritless experience evolve the divine characters of eternal
survival from the material minds of the mortals of time. The one
attribute of the universe which so exclusively characterizes the
infinite Deity is this unending creative bestowal of personality
which can survive in progressive Deity attainment.
130:4.6 Personality is that cosmic endowment,
that phase of universal reality, which can coexist with unlimited
change and at the same time retain its identity in the very
presence of all such changes, and forever afterward.
130:4.7 Life is an adaptation of the original
cosmic causation to the demands and possibilities of universe
situations, and it comes into being by the action of the Universal
Mind and the activation of the spirit spark of the God who is
spirit. The meaning of life is its adaptability; the value of life
is its progressability -- even to the heights of
God-consciousness.
130:4.8 Misadaptation of self-conscious life to
the universe results in cosmic disharmony. Final divergence of
personality will from the trend of the universes terminates in
intellectual isolation, personality segregation. Loss of the
indwelling spirit pilot supervenes in spiritual cessation of
existence. Intelligent and progressing life becomes then, in and
of itself, an incontrovertible proof of the existence of a
purposeful universe expressing the will of a divine Creator. And
this life, in the aggregate, struggles toward higher values,
having for its final goal the Universal Father.
130:4.9 Only in degree does man possess mind
above the animal level aside from the higher and quasi-spiritual
ministrations of intellect. Therefore animals (not having worship
and wisdom) cannot experience superconsciousness, consciousness of
consciousness. The animal mind is only conscious of the objective
universe.
130:4.10 Knowledge is the sphere of the material
or fact-discerning mind. Truth is the domain of the spiritually
endowed intellect that is conscious of knowing God. Knowledge is
demonstrable; truth is experienced. Knowledge is a possession of
the mind; truth an experience of the soul, the progressing self.
Knowledge is a function of the nonspiritual level; truth is a
phase of the mind-spirit level of the universes. The eye of the
material mind perceives a world of factual knowledge; the eye of
the spiritualized intellect discerns a world of true values. These
two views, synchronized and harmonized, reveal the world of
reality, wherein wisdom interprets the phenomena of the universe
in terms of progressive personal experience.
130:4.11 Error (evil) is the penalty of
imperfection. The qualities of imperfection or facts of
misadaptation are disclosed on the material level by critical
observation and by scientific analysis; on the moral level, by
human experience. The presence of evil constitutes proof of the
inaccuracies of mind and the immaturity of the evolving self. Evil
is, therefore, also a measure of imperfection in universe
interpretation. The possibility of making mistakes is inherent in
the acquisition of wisdom, the scheme of progressing from the
partial and temporal to the complete and eternal, from the
relative and imperfect to the final and perfected. Error is the
shadow of relative incompleteness which must of necessity fall
across man's ascending universe path to Paradise perfection. Error
(evil) is not an actual universe quality; it is simply the
observation of a relativity in the relatedness of the imperfection
of the incomplete finite to the ascending levels of the Supreme
and Ultimate.
130:4.12 Although Jesus told all this to the lad
in language best suited to his comprehension, at the end of the
discussion Ganid was heavy of eye and was soon lost in slumber.
They rose early the next morning to go aboard the boat bound for
Lasea on the island of Crete. But before they embarked, the lad
had still further questions to ask about evil, to which Jesus
replied:
130:4.13 Evil is a relativity concept. It arises
out of the observation of the imperfections which appear in the
shadow cast by a finite universe of things and beings as such a
cosmos obscures the living light of the universal expression of
the eternal realities of the Infinite One.
130:4.14 Potential evil is inherent in the
necessary incompleteness of the revelation of God as a
time-space-limited expression of infinity and eternity. The fact
of the partial in the presence of the complete constitutes
relativity of reality, creates necessity for intellectual
choosing, and establishes value levels of spirit recognition and
response. The incomplete and finite concept of the Infinite which
is held by the temporal and limited creature mind is, in and of
itself, potential evil. But the augmenting error of
unjustified deficiency in reasonable spiritual rectification of
these originally inherent intellectual disharmonies and spiritual
insufficiencies, is equivalent to the realization of actual
evil.
130:4.15 All static, dead, concepts are
potentially evil. The finite shadow of relative and living truth
is continually moving. Static concepts invariably retard science,
politics, society, and religion. Static concepts may represent a
certain knowledge, but they are deficient in wisdom and devoid of
truth. But do not permit the concept of relativity so to mislead
you that you fail to recognize the co-ordination of the universe
under the guidance of the cosmic mind, and its stabilized control
by the energy and spirit of the Supreme.
5. ON THE ISLAND OF CRETE
130:5.1 The travelers had but one purpose in
going to Crete, and that was to play, to walk about over the
island, and to climb the mountains. The Cretans of that time did
not enjoy an enviable reputation among the surrounding peoples.
Nevertheless, Jesus and Ganid won many souls to higher levels of
thinking and living and thus laid the foundation for the quick
reception of the later gospel teachings when the first preachers
from Jerusalem arrived. Jesus loved these Cretans, notwithstanding
the harsh words which Paul later spoke concerning them when he
subsequently sent Titus to the island to reorganize their
churches.
130:5.2 On the mountainside in Crete Jesus had
his first long talk with Gonod regarding religion. And the father
was much impressed, saying: "No wonder the boy believes everything
you tell him, but I never knew they had such a religion even in
Jerusalem, much less in Damascus." It was during the island
sojourn that Gonod first proposed to Jesus that he go back to
India with them, and Ganid was delighted with the thought that
Jesus might consent to such an arrangement.
130:5.3 One day when Ganid asked Jesus why he
had not devoted himself to the work of a public teacher, he said:
"My son, everything must await the coming of its time. You are
born into the world, but no amount of anxiety and no manifestation
of impatience will help you to grow up. You must, in all such
matters, wait upon time. Time alone will ripen the green fruit
upon the tree. Season follows season and sundown follows sunrise
only with the passing of time. I am now on the way to Rome with
you and your father, and that is sufficient for today. My tomorrow
is wholly in the hands of my Father in heaven." And then he told
Ganid the story of Moses and the forty years of watchful waiting
and continued preparation.
130:5.4 One thing happened on a visit to Fair
Havens which Ganid never forgot; the memory of this episode always
caused him to wish he might do something to change the caste
system of his native India. A drunken degenerate was attacking a
slave girl on the public highway. When Jesus saw the plight of the
girl, he rushed forward and drew the maiden away from the assault
of the madman. While the frightened child clung to him, he held
the infuriated man at a safe distance by his powerful extended
right arm until the poor fellow had exhausted himself beating the
air with his angry blows. Ganid felt a strong impulse to help
Jesus handle the affair, but his father forbade him. Though they
could not speak the girl's language, she could understand their
act of mercy and gave token of her heartfelt appreciation as they
all three escorted her home. This was probably as near a personal
encounter with his fellows as Jesus ever had throughout his entire
life in the flesh. But he had a difficult task that evening trying
to explain to Ganid why he did not smite the drunken man. Ganid
thought this man should have been struck at least as many times as
he had struck the girl.
6. THE YOUNG MAN WHO WAS AFRAID
130:6.1 While they were up in the mountains,
Jesus had a long talk with a young man who was fearful and
downcast. Failing to derive comfort and courage from association
with his fellows, this youth had sought the solitude of the hills;
he had grown up with a feeling of helplessness and inferiority.
These natural tendencies had been augmented by numerous difficult
circumstances which the lad had encountered as he grew up,
notably, the loss of his father when he was twelve years of age.
As they met, Jesus said: "Greetings, my friend! why so downcast on
such a beautiful day? If something has happened to distress you,
perhaps I can in some manner assist you. At any rate it affords me
real pleasure to proffer my services."
130:6.2 The young man was disinclined to talk,
and so Jesus made a second approach to his soul, saying: "I
understand you come up in these hills to get away from folks; so,
of course, you do not want to talk with me, but I would like to
know whether you are familiar with these hills; do you know the
direction of the trails? and, perchance, could you inform me as to
the best route to Phenix?" Now this youth was very familiar with
these mountains, and he really became much interested in telling
Jesus the way to Phenix, so much so that he marked out all the
trails on the ground and fully explained every detail. But he was
startled and made curious when Jesus, after saying good-bye and
making as if he were taking leave, suddenly turned to him, saying:
"I well know you wish to be left alone with your disconsolation;
but it would be neither kind nor fair for me to receive such
generous help from you as to how best to find my way to Phenix and
then unthinkingly to go away from you without making the least
effort to answer your appealing request for help and guidance
regarding the best route to the goal of destiny which you seek in
your heart while you tarry here on the mountainside. As you so
well know the trails to Phenix, having traversed them many times,
so do I well know the way to the city of your disappointed hopes
and thwarted ambitions. And since you have asked me for help, I
will not disappoint you." The youth was almost overcome, but he
managed to stammer out, "But -- I did not ask you for anything --
" And Jesus, laying a gentle hand on his shoulder, said: "No, son,
not with words but with longing looks did you appeal to my heart.
My boy, to one who loves his fellows there is an eloquent appeal
for help in your countenance of discouragement and despair.
Sit down with me while I tell you of
the service trails and happiness highways which lead from the
sorrows of self to the joys of loving activities in the
brotherhood of men and in the service of the God of heaven."
130:6.3 By this time the young man very much
desired to talk with Jesus, and he knelt at his feet imploring
Jesus to help him, to show him the way of escape from his world of
personal sorrow and defeat. Said Jesus: "My friend, arise! Stand
up like a man! You may be surrounded with small enemies and be
retarded by many obstacles, but the big things and the real things
of this world and the universe are on your side. The sun rises
every morning to salute you just as it does the most powerful and
prosperous man on earth. Look -- you have a strong body and
powerful muscles -- your physical equipment is better than the
average. Of course, it is just about useless while you sit out
here on the mountainside and grieve over your misfortunes, real
and fancied. But you could do great things with your body if you
would hasten off to where great things are waiting to be done. You
are trying to run away from your unhappy self, but it cannot be
done. You and your problems of living are real; you cannot escape
them as long as you live. But look again, your mind is clear and
capable. Your strong body has an intelligent mind to direct it.
Set your mind at work to solve its problems; teach your intellect
to work for you; refuse longer to be dominated by fear like an
unthinking animal. Your mind should be your courageous ally in the
solution of your life problems rather than your being, as you have
been, its abject fear-slave and the bond-servant of depression and
defeat. But most valuable of all, your potential of real
achievement is the spirit which lives within you, and which will
stimulate and inspire your mind to control itself and activate the
body if you will release it from the fetters of fear and thus
enable your spiritual nature to begin your deliverance from the
evils of inaction by the power-presence of living faith. And then,
forthwith, will this faith vanquish fear of men by the compelling
presence of that new and all-dominating love of your fellows
which will so soon fill your soul to overflowing because of the
consciousness which has been born in your heart that you are a
child of God.
130:6.4 "This day, my son, you are to be reborn,
re-established as a man of faith, courage, and devoted service to
man, for God's sake. And when you become so readjusted to life
within yourself, you become likewise readjusted to the universe;
you have been born again -- born of the spirit -- and henceforth
will your whole life become one of victorious accomplishment.
Trouble will invigorate you; disappointment will spur you on;
difficulties will challenge you; and obstacles will stimulate you.
Arise, young man! Say farewell to the life of cringing fear and
fleeing cowardice. Hasten back to duty and live your life in the
flesh as a son of God, a mortal dedicated to the ennobling service
of man on earth and destined to the superb and eternal service of
God in eternity."
130:6.5 And this youth, Fortune, subsequently
became the leader of the Christians in Crete and the close
associate of Titus in his labors for the uplift of the Cretan
believers.
130:6.6 The travelers were truly rested and
refreshed when they made ready about noon one day to sail for
Carthage in northern Africa, stopping for two days at Cyrene. It
was here that Jesus and Ganid gave first aid to a lad named Rufus,
who had been injured by the breakdown of a loaded oxcart. They
carried him home to his mother, and his father, Simon, little
dreamed that the man whose cross he subsequently bore by orders of
a Roman soldier was the stranger who once befriended his son.
7. AT CARTHAGE -- DISCOURSE ON TIME AND SPACE
130:7.1 Most of the time en route to Carthage
Jesus talked with his fellow travelers about things social,
political, and commercial; hardly a word was said about religion.
For the first time Gonod and Ganid discovered that Jesus was a
good storyteller, and they kept him busy telling tales about his
early life in Galilee. They also learned that he was reared in
Galilee and not in either Jerusalem or Damascus.
130:7.2 When Ganid inquired what one could do to
make friends, having noticed that the majority of persons whom
they chanced to meet were attracted to Jesus, his teacher said:
"Become interested in your fellows; learn how to love them and
watch for the opportunity to do something for them which you are
sure they want done," and then he quoted the olden Jewish proverb
-- "A man who would have friends must show himself friendly."
130:7.3 At Carthage Jesus had a long and
memorable talk with a Mithraic priest about immortality, about
time and eternity. This Persian had been educated at Alexandria,
and he really desired to learn from Jesus. Put into the words of
today, in substance Jesus said in answer to his many questions:
130:7.4 Time is the stream of flowing temporal
events perceived by creature consciousness. Time is a name given
to the succession-arrangement whereby events are recognized and
segregated. The universe of space is a time-related phenomenon as
it is viewed from any interior position outside of the fixed abode
of Paradise. The motion of time is only revealed in relation to
something which does not move in space as a time phenomenon. In
the universe of universes Paradise and its Deities transcend both
time and space. On the inhabited worlds, human personality
(indwelt and oriented by the Paradise Father's spirit) is the only
physically related reality which can transcend the material
sequence of temporal events.
130:7.5 Animals do not sense time as does man,
and even to man, because of his sectional and circumscribed view,
time appears as a succession of events; but as man ascends, as he
progresses inward, the enlarging view of this event procession is
such that it is discerned more and more in its wholeness. That
which formerly appeared as a succession of events then will be
viewed as a whole and perfectly related cycle; in this way will
circular simultaneity increasingly displace the onetime
consciousness of the linear sequence of events.
130:7.6 There are seven different conceptions of
space as it is conditioned by time. Space is measured by time, not
time by space. The confusion of the scientist grows out of failure
to recognize the reality of space. Space is not merely an
intellectual concept of the variation in relatedness of universe
objects. Space is not empty, and the only thing man knows which
can even partially transcend space is mind. Mind can function
independently of the concept of the space-relatedness of material
objects. Space is relatively and comparatively finite to all
beings of creature status. The nearer consciousness approaches the
awareness of seven cosmic dimensions, the more does the concept of
potential space approach ultimacy. But the space potential is
truly ultimate only on the absolute level.
130:7.7 It must be apparent that universal
reality has an expanding and always relative meaning on the
ascending and perfecting levels of the cosmos. Ultimately,
surviving mortals achieve identity in a seven-dimensional
universe.
130:7.8 The time-space concept of a mind of
material origin is destined to undergo successive enlargements as
the conscious and conceiving personality ascends the levels of the
universes. When man attains the mind intervening between the
material and the spiritual planes of existence, his ideas of
time-space will be enormously expanded both as to quality of
perception and quantity of experience. The enlarging cosmic
conceptions of an advancing spirit personality are due to
augmentations of both depth of insight and scope of consciousness.
And as personality passes on, upward and inward, to the
transcendental levels of Deity-likeness, the time-space concept
will increasingly approximate the timeless and spaceless concepts
of the Absolutes. Relatively, and in accordance with
transcendental attainment, these concepts of the absolute level
are to be envisioned by the children of ultimate destiny.
8. ON THE WAY TO NAPLES AND ROME
130:8.1 The first stop on the way to Italy was
at the island of Malta. Here Jesus had a long talk with a
downhearted and discouraged young man named Claudus. This fellow
had contemplated taking his life, but when he had finished talking
with the scribe of Damascus, he said: "I will face life like a
man; I am through playing the coward. I will go back to my people
and begin all over again." Shortly he became an enthusiastic
preacher of the Cynics, and still later on he joined hands with
Peter in proclaiming Christianity in Rome and Naples, and after
the death of Peter he went on to Spain preaching the gospel. But
he never knew that the man who inspired him in Malta was the Jesus
whom he subsequently proclaimed the world's Deliverer.
130:8.2 At Syracuse they spent a full week. The
notable event of their stop here was the rehabilitation of Ezra,
the backslidden Jew, who kept the tavern where Jesus and his
companions stopped. Ezra was charmed by Jesus' approach and asked
him to help him come back to the faith of Israel. He expressed his
hopelessness by saying, "I want to be a true son of Abraham, but I
cannot find God." Said Jesus: "If you truly want to find God, that
desire is in itself evidence that you have already found him. Your
trouble is not that you cannot find God, for the Father has
already found you; your trouble is simply that you do not know
God. Have you not read in the Prophet Jeremiah, `You shall seek me
and find me when you shall search for me with all your heart'? And
again, does not this same prophet say: `And I will give you a
heart to know me, that I am the Lord, and you shall belong to my
people, and I will be your God'? And have you not also read in the
Scriptures where it says: `He looks down upon men, and if any will
say: I have sinned and perverted that which was right, and it
profited me not, then will God deliver that man's soul from
darkness, and he shall see the light'?" And Ezra found God and to
the satisfaction of his soul. Later, this Jew, in association with
a well-to-do Greek proselyte, built the first Christian church in
Syracuse.
130:8.3 At Messina they stopped for only one
day, but that was long enough to change the life of a small boy, a
fruit vendor, of whom Jesus bought fruit and in turn fed with the
bread of life. The lad never forgot the words of Jesus and the
kindly look which went with them when, placing his hand on the
boy's shoulder, he said: "Farewell, my lad, be of good courage as
you grow up to manhood and after you have fed the body learn how
also to feed the soul. And my Father in heaven will be with you
and go before you." The lad became a devotee of the Mithraic
religion and later on turned to the Christian faith.
130:8.4 At last they reached Naples and felt
they were not far from their destination, Rome. Gonod had much
business to transact in Naples, and aside from the time Jesus was
required as interpreter, he and Ganid spent their leisure visiting
and exploring the city. Ganid was becoming adept at sighting those
who appeared to be in need. They found much poverty in this city
and distributed many alms. But Ganid never understood the meaning
of Jesus' words when, after he had given a coin to a street
beggar, he refused to pause and speak comfortingly to the man.
Said Jesus: "Why waste words upon one who cannot perceive the
meaning of what you say? The spirit of the Father cannot teach and
save one who has no capacity for sonship." What Jesus meant was
that the man was not of normal mind; that he lacked the ability to
respond to spirit leading.
130:8.5 There was no outstanding experience in
Naples; Jesus and the young man thoroughly canvassed the city and
spread good cheer with many smiles upon hundreds of men, women,
and children.
130:8.6 From here they went by way of Capua to
Rome, making a stop of three days at Capua. By the Appian Way they
journeyed on beside their pack animals toward Rome, all three
being anxious to see this mistress of empire and the greatest city
in all the world.
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