THE URANTIA BOOK

Self-described as a "partial revelation", The Urantia Book is a 2097 page cosmology constructed in four major sections whose message that some say will take a thousand years for the people of this planet to integrate. It is also said by some to be "The Word made Book" in the same sense that it is a delivery of Our Creator's living spiritual force that interacts with the reader in a dynamic way – stimulating, nourishing and elevating the reader's consciousness in an utterly unique and life-changing fashion.

The word "Urantia" is the name of our planet in our local universe language, so The Urantia Book could be called The Earth Book. Right from the daunting Foreword, curious readers are challenged intellectually, conceptually, and spiritually, but simultaneous to these awesome challenges are vast domains of knowledge, exacting explanations of our origins and position in time and space, depictions of loving beings organized for our greatest benefit, comprehensive reasons for our current dilemmas, and a clear position on how we as individuals, and eventually, as a species, can act in accord with all of Creation's higher purpose.

Finally published in 1955 in Chicago, Illinois, USA, The Urantia Book was a work in progress for over three decades. The name of the individual through whom the manuscript flowed and the members of The Forum whom read and questioned the manuscript as it came forth have been withheld from the public to make sure no personality cult grew up around any specific individuals(s), keeping the focus on the content of the pages. Each chapter, or paper, is authored by a being whose station and domain of responsibility covers the particular topic, i.e. Paper 42 titled: "Energy – Mind and Matter" is credited to a Mighty Messenger (a "perfected mortal" who has been rebellion tested) on duty in Nebadon (the name of our local universe). Or, Paper 67 titled "Planetary Rebellion" is authored by a Melchizedek ("the name given an entire descending order of local universe Sons of God, midway between the highest Divinity and human mortals") of our local universe.

People that discover The Urantia Book usually go through initial stages of incredulousness through to total exuberance over the existence of such a font of knowledge, wisdom, love, and insight. In 1950 The Urantia Foundation was formed to keep the manuscript "inviolate" and today there is also The Urantia International Association whose responsibility is to see to the dissemination of the teachings of the book. Through loyal dedication, enthusiastic believers have seen to the funding and careful translation of The Urantia Book into Spanish, Portuguese, French, German, Russian, Korean, Finnish and numerous other languages with the goal of making the gift available to all people of the planet.

It is no coincidence the topic of The Urantia Book is listed here on the website Becoming Celebration because in the course of comprehending the message of the book and understanding where we are in the cosmos, why we have the challenges we are grappling with, what our potential destiny is both individually and planetarily, the multi-leveled spiritual assistance that is available to us 24 ⁄ 7, the stunning scientific delineations of undiscovered phenomena, the exquisite descriptions of realms of actual but thus far unimagined beauty and complexity, with all of these and much, much more, we have no reason to be in any other state other than celebratory than to see to the business of helping our brothers and sisters gain the benefits of this experience and to embody the ideals it portrays.

There have formed several organizations with the intent of distributing the book and its teachings, there are several websites as well, but it is my suggestion that a reader experience the original book itself and let it speak to them directly. Then, should the interest be kindled to read books about The Urantia Book, there is an abundance of them. The Urantia Book is available through Barnes and Noble, Amazon.com or The Urantia Foundation, the entire text is also on the web at: www.urantia.org. There are local reading groups throughout the world now where people read, discuss, and study The Urantia Book, so should you want to speak with someone about the book or join a reading group, the following website has listings and contacts of whom to call or e-mail: www.urantia-uai.org.