2012-03-29 The Unexamined Life; Cultural Creatives
– Mar. 29, 2012
Conversations with Monjoronson #46
Teacher: Mighty Messenger Charles standing in for Monjoronson
Topics:
The definition of “social sustainability”
Why linear, logical thinking will not bring us into the future
Using the schematic for social sustainability
The unexamined life is not worth living
Making time for reflection
Documents that will help the design teams
Making the same mistakes over and over again
Sense of empowerment in light workers
Is one social institution more important than another for beginning?
Sustainable social practices
Cultural creatives
The critical moment in saving the planet
Service
Only Urantians can make a difference
TR: Daniel Raphael
Moderator: Michael McCray
March 29, 2012
Prayer: Heavenly Father, we once again gather in your presence, bathed in your abundant love and light, joyful that we are privileged to be living on this beautiful orb called Urantia and have the opportunity to assist in raising the consciousness one more step toward the days of light and life. We ask our local universe parents to be with us as we converse with Monjoronson or Charles, to guide us in this work of the Correcting Time. Amen.
CHARLES: Good morning, this is Charles.
MMc: Good morning, Charles!
CHARLES: Once again, our fearless leader is indisposed with a developing situation that seems to consume his time and Machiventa’s. Therefore, they have given me the reins today to speak in response to your questions and to statements that are necessary.
MMc: Very good. I’m sorry that they are away and that there are troubles that consume their time, but it’s good to have you back. We appreciate that you are here and that you were here last week. We want to thank you for that session; it was very illuminating.
CHARLES: Thank you. It was something that you might say was “on my chest,” that needed to be said and there will be further developments concerning those topics in the future.
MMc: Very good. I wonder if there is anything you would like to say to us before we begin?
CHARLES: No, there is enough that has been said last week for your thoughtfulness, reflection and questions that you might develop.
MMc: Would you care to dialog some more with us about the subject of social sustainability?
CHARLES: Yes, if you have questions, please.
MMc: I googled “social sustainability” to assess what information was now in the public sector. I found that the definitions of social sustainability there varied substantially and often they were quite different than the working definition that I’ve come to in our conversations. Would you give us your definition of “social sustainability?”
The definition of “social sustainability”
CHARLES: Most certainly. I will give you the end result of social sustainability first: Evidence that social sustainability has been in effect is when you see a society that has been functioning continuously in existence for at least 250 earth years and more. Social sustainability is the integration of all social aspects, which contribute to the sustenance and stability of a society, such that there are no efforts that work against its own continuation. All social enterprises, organizations, institutions and processes are integrated as a whole, so that there is a whole-ism in effect where the social organizations and processes understand and see themselves as integrated with all other social processes and organizations to achieve this end. All social options and choices, considerations, decisions and then actions all are made on the basis of social sustainability. What contributes to the continuation of society, what supports that society to last—from the level of the individual family, community and the whole society, and eventually the civilizational society.
MMc: Thank you. So that everything dovetails together to reinforce the goal of social sustainability?
CHARLES: That is correct.
Why linear, logical thinking will not bring us into the future
MMc: Would you explain to our audience what the systems approach or the systems thinking is and why you said that “linear, logical thinking that is discontinuous will not suffice to bring you into the world of the future successfully?”
CHARLES: Yes, most certainly. The reality of a world that has entered into the days of light and life is that all social components support each other and support the long-term vision and goal of social sustainability, whereas in the immature, un-evolved societies the social activities looks like a music scale, it looks like a music…
[[This is Daniel: What’s that bar where they print the open lines of the music and then you put in the notes to make music? Roxie: The staff. Daniel: Yeah, the staff. Okay, we’ll use that word for now in the conversation.]]
… so that your social institutions look like a music staff, where the notes and so forth are placed on [or between] the lines, but in each case it is as though there is a stack of these social processes and organizations that each are doing their own individual thing, that they do not necessarily consider how their work complements or detracts from the operation and functionality of other social processes.
In a socially sustainable society, there has been a thorough examination of all the assumptions of that society, of all social processes and of all social considerations, such that they have been thoroughly exposed and that there is now a new set of assumptions for the society that underlies and provides the foundation to the philosophy ideation and development of all social processes. These assumptions are necessary to be exposed because these assumptions, when they are erroneous to the larger social reality, are the cracks and fissures that will eventually undermine a society, whether it is a political process, an economic process, your social organization or its process of governance. These assumptions must be known and exposed and validated or invalidated as supporting social sustainability.
This is a part of the educational and indoctrinational process for all students and citizens in a society that exists [in] or is approaching the days of light and life, so that everyone is on the same page, so to speak, where everyone has the same assumptions, no matter what their ethnic background or political preference or gender. You can have all those differences, but it is necessary that everyone have the same assumptions that underlie the functionality and sustainability of that society and community. Does this resonate or make sense to you to this point?
MMc: Yes, it does. So as this situation of social sustainability moves along, we get a situation where everybody begins to believe the same thing, they have the same assumptions, so that there is an agreement between people of differing backgrounds and nationalities, perhaps religious persuasions?
Using the schematic for social sustainability
CHARLES: Yes, if you were to pull out the schematic for sustainability, as a sheet of paper in front of you at this time, you would look and see on the far left the column of “values”—quality of life, equality and growth—and then the next column is “beliefs,” and the next column to the right is “expectations,” and then the far right column is the “criteria or performance” that fulfills the expectations. Under the word “beliefs,” you could also put in parentheses, (assumptions) because assumptions often lie hidden within your beliefs. We expect these things. The assumptions are put under the column of “beliefs,” and they are validated or invalidated by checking them against the values to the far left column. Do these assumptions provide for the social sustainability of a society? You may question your national patriotism, your own chauvinistic expectations for fulfillment as an individual. You may examine all of these in that chart, and you will check them against the values to the left. If they support the quality of life of everyone equally, and allow for the growth of everyone equally, then it is validated. If they do not support the quality of life for everyone equally, and allow for growth of everyone equally, then those are invalidated.
Let us examine the topic of male chauvinism: Does this support everyone to improve the quality of life? As you look at the quality of life you realize that underneath the subordinate qualities of the values is equality and growth. Male chauvinism is not a validated value or assumption that validates social sustainability, as it disregards children and women and does not provide for the equitable growth of women and children. So, you see that male chauvinism is not a validated attitude, belief, or assumption in a sustainable society. It is very typical of immature societies and cultures.
If you also examine the assumption of “adultism,” where adults are superior to children, and children are lesser than adults, you would examine this assumption against the values and you would see that the quality of life of children is not the same as adults, because they are not treated equally and they are not given the same latitude for growth and development as adults. Adultism is not a socially sustainable attitude or assumption in a sustainable society. Do you understand the process?
MMc: Yes, I do. I can see that you can apply this to almost anything.
CHARLES: Exactly, any social behavior. All attitudes, assumptions and beliefs can be examined through this schematic of sustainability. On the far right-hand column, you would list all the activities of that attitude or behavioral assumption, and then you would write the expectation that would fulfill or support those actions and then you would examine the beliefs that support that, those behaviors. And under that would be the assumptions—and you would want to examine the assumptions—the whole process of exposing assumptions is “what are the assumptions?” Most people have not trained their minds to expose their own assumptions, and therefore, they continue on in life as they have been. But one who has a reflective mind, one who has reflected upon their own behavior in their social life as they are fulfilled with joy and satisfaction, as opposed to disappointment, and has taken the time to understand their disappointments, why their assumptions or their beliefs have not been fulfilled, has an opportunity for tremendous growth.
The unexamined life is not worth living
The unexamined life is not worth living as you were told many centuries ago. So that you have an examined life, where you understand your thinking, you begin to understand your actions as they contribute or do not contribute to the social sustainability of your own self, your family and your community. This is the beginning of a humble acceptance of your position in life as an integral part of your larger society. The thoughtful individual, who has had positions of arrogance in their thinking, has much to examine and much soil to till, to examine their thoughts, their assumptions and their beliefs. This process of examining assumptions and beliefs is central to everyone becoming a contributor to their society.
MMc: It would seem to me that the schematic for sustainability and these three core values also may be used by the individual to examine his own life, to look at where the assumptions that he has made clash with what society might value.
CHARLES: Exactly! At times, most individuals are not intelligent enough or sensitive enough to understand their thinking, particularly when they have been satisfied or fulfilled, or filled with joy for some accomplishment or some status in their life. Usually this examination only occurs when someone has been disappointed, has been hurt, has not had their wishes fulfilled, and this schematic offers an opportunity for that individual to examine their own thinking and the sources of that disappointment. Those who are beginning this process of self-examination may need to have the guidance of one who has experienced this self-examination process using the schematic. This is the beginning of great wisdom, both for individuals, for families and for communities. This is a tremendous instrument, which is extremely simple in its operation and can be used by most anyone, who is even slightly bright. You will not find this to be some device that requires expertise or high education, but simply a simple procedural way of examining their thinking. When one duplicates this form and begins writing in the columns to fill them out, it becomes much more workable and becomes an object that they can use for examination; it becomes a facile tool they can use with their mind more easily.
MMc: As we’ve been told, an unexamined life is not worth living, but most of us have not had the tools to examine our lives in a way that would allow us to. You had to be very intelligent in order to examine your own life in a way that would present some value to you.
Making time for reflection
CHARLES: Yes, the primary tools for the examined life are one, having the time to do so. You North Americans have made your lives so busy that you are unable to have time to reflect, and the process of reflection is the beginning of wisdom—it always has been. When you have experiences and then you have time to reflect on them, what were the lessons involved and what is the over-arching wisdom of that experience that you have examined in reflection? Then you can grow as an individual.
Second, you must have a questioning mind; you must be curious about life, even your own thinking, even the interior environment of your mind. You can be curious about why you think these things. Where did these assumptions come from? Who gave them to you? Why do you think what you think? Where did this thinking come from? Of course, you will realize that those individuals who were significant in your life before you went to school were the individuals who impregnated your mind with your biases, your beliefs, your assumptions.
It is very few people who grow up in their teen years and begin to sit and think and question why they believe what they believe. This is the beginning of wisdom. We are talking about self-examination; we are not talking about self-analysis, which is a rabbit hole for the individual to ferret out. You need professional, skilled help to do self-analysis—this is better left to another individual. The truly intelligent mind is fully capable of assessing their mental activities to determine whether they have neuroses, fetishes or even psychoses, but very few people are self-observing.
The third factor that you must use is self-observance, self-observation. The self-observing-self is one who learns from their own activities. They examine their assumptions. They want to know what it is that under-girds their thinking, so that they behave or think in a certain way—they begin to examine their assumptions. Now, everyone has a very simple tool in the schematic to begin examining their assumptions. If men think that they are “superior,” then they have to prove that. What is the assumption? Where did they get that assumption? It begins to lead to a very conscious, very intentional life. If you begin to find that you have erroneous assumptions, then you can choose to think otherwise; you make an actual conscious decision apart from parents, grandparents, educational assistance and the significant references of your life, to choose how you want to think, and choose your own assumptions. This is truly the beginning of generating morontia mota for the individual. There are certain assumptions that are true in the whole universe and this is the early era of morontial mota for individuals that are common throughout an evolved spiritual universe. You will find this the epitome of thinking to be endemic to the morontial universe.
MMc: You said last week that you had been involved in the development of a document that will act as an instructional manual for the development of design teams. It appears that that document won’t be available until sometime later this year. Are there any other documents available now that you suggest that we might read to help us in the design team process?
Documents that will help the design teams
CHARLES: Yes, there is the early document that this one produced, called the “Guide to the Co-creative Design Team Process,” and that will tell you about the early years where the Melchizedeks and Celestial Teachers validated the concept of co-creative design teams. This has changed tremendously since then, but the fundamental concepts that they learned are still in place and always will be in place. The context for using that was provided in the other document that this one produced called, “Planetary Management and Global Sustainability.” This provides the context for using the co-creative design team process. This document outlines the difficulties of your world, and the necessity of local co-creative design teams working to generate designs for sustainable social processes, organizations and institutions. What these works do is to bend your culture towards local thinking, local examination of social processes and problems, to create permanent sustainable solutions, rather than using this central authority of government and large organizations.
Using local design teams provides an educational process that can simultaneously uplift the communities of the whole planet within a very short period of time. This is quite a novel thought for your culture and your society; it is very advanced, it will only be used in the face of dire disaster on your world, unless individuals with forethought do so sooner. I apologize for going astray from your question about other books that were written.
MMc: You haven’t really gone astray, but I was thinking that as “The Urantia Book” was written, it borrowed heavily from works that were already in the lexicon of human knowledge. Daniel was given a list of books that he was suggested to read prior to his development of the book that will come out later. I am wondering if it would be to our advantage to read some of these books as we plan to work in the co-creative design teams?
CHARLES: I would be glad to provide those to you. These are not in order:
1. “The Fifth Discipline—The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization” by Peter M. Senge.
2. David Bohm’s book, titled “On Dialog.” This is the book that you will find to be central to examining your assumptions.
3. “Synchronicity: The inner path of Leadership,” by Joseph Jaworski, introduction by Peter Senge.
4. The last book, which is much more academic, oriented towards research is “Action Science,” by Chris Argyris, Robert Putnam and Diana McLain Smith. This provides the validated information fundamental to the design team work.
5. For those who are more interested in the more spiritual aspects of working together, I could suggest another book entitled, “Living Deeply: The Art and Science of Transformation in Everyday Life,” based on a decade-long research program of the Institute of Noetic Sciences, edited by a number of people.
What is central to all our work, whether you read the books or not, is the capacity to learn from your experiences. As I said a moment ago, that requires time, it requires thoughtful reflection about your experiences and the work that is done produces wisdom. [It] is the exposure of assumptions, to validate your assumptions, whether they support social sustainability or not, and then the conscious act of choosing the assumptions that you want in your life that do support social sustainability. You are a learning organization of one person. Your individual processes in your ascendant career are to learn from your life, the lives of others and to work diligently to support a sustainable, spiritual life of ascension. You cannot do this if you do not learn from your experiences.
Making the same mistakes over and over again
As you know—or you may not know—there are many individuals around you who continue to make the same mistakes over and over again in their life. They have a cognitive learning impediment, which prevents them from learning from their mistakes and making right decisions. This is horrific; it works against their higher nature; it works against their becoming more complete, satisfied, fulfilled and happy. Your prisons are filled with these individuals, and your companies and corporations are also filled with these individuals, who continue to be quite unhappy about life, as they are not learning from their successes and they are not learning from their mistakes, and they are incapable of learning vicariously from the successes and mistakes of others. It is a most unfortunate situation that they have gotten themselves into. Correcting that is also a matter of thinking about their ongoing mistakes, but again, it takes a little bit of reflection—perhaps only 3, 4 or 5 seconds to think about, “Why have I had all these mistakes in my life?” “What have I done that has caused them to come into my life?” That is the beginning of understanding.
Your organizations have been linear along this music staff for decades and centuries. Many were instituted and organized in a linear manner in the beginning. It is now time to examine the organization and structure of your corporations, foundations, government, organizations, institutions and social organizations to examine whether they are linear in nature or they are systems in nature. Systems are circular. Where there is recognition of mistakes, there is no condemnation of mistakes, and there is definitely a reward for examining mistakes and finding the assumptions that brought about those mistakes. Then you have learned a great deal. Organizations that do not have this learning component are like individuals who are unable to learn from their experience. They will end up making the same mistakes over and over again, and you see this repeated in political organizations and in your political parties, as they go through another 4 years of campaigns (and do this occasionally every 2 years as well.) They are not taking into account the learning process of a society as their beliefs are so strong and their assumptions are so strong that it does not allow for the examination. This is very unfortunate, and of course, this is the path that will lead to destruction of any unsustainable society, organization, social process or political entity. The ends are in sight when you see this happening, whether it takes decades or centuries, there is an end to it.
MMc: Thank you. In reading the transcripts from other venues there appears to be a common thread as to the direction that has been taken to this point in Michael’s Correcting Time. This involves a sense of empowerment of light workers, either of individuals or groups, of like-minded, like-hearted individuals working to enlighten the collective human consciousness. You—the larger you—are asking them to project their consciousness, right order, integrity, wholeness and oneness on the planet. Through their enlightened consciousness, the collective human consciousness, is enlightened. Am I correct in this assumption?
Sense of empowerment in light workers
CHARLES: Yes, you are very correct in your assumption. It is the assumption that underlies bringing your world into the days of light and life. The first stage in generating an expansion and direction of consciousness is to gather those individuals together who are like-minded and have a similar intent. It is important that this intent be known and exposed. Intentions are almost synonymous with assumptions. It is when you bring individuals together of like-mindedness, like-consciousness, and then you empower those two to act as three, and three to act as five, and five to act as nine and so on, so that when you have millions of people gathered together in like-consciousness, who project their intention for the world and project their intention through their consciousness onto the world for right order. It will have a resounding effect in the development of the course of that world. A remarkable thing about people who are working together consciously to raise the consciousness of their planet is that there is no opposition.
It is simply very similar to the effect of one individual trying to move a railroad car that is fully loaded on a level railroad track. It is almost nearly impossible for that individual to do so by themselves, but when there are ten individuals who push together against this loaded railroad car, they are able to begin moving it. The actions of ten individuals at 200 pounds apiece may only weigh one ton, they are able to move a railroad car that may weigh one hundred tons. The parallel is that the loaded railroad car is human consciousness and the power of concerted force by ten individuals pushing together provides a synergistic effort to raise the consciousness of the world. They are able to do so, and it is important that for this to continue [in] this movement, that there be individuals whose whole lives are dedicated to raising the frequency of consciousness of the whole world and they can keep it going all by themselves. Then when more people come into the rational, intuitive understanding of the work that is being done, they too will participate and they will have right thinking that sustains the higher consciousness of the world.
It is the collective consciousness of your world that dominates the negativity that is going on in the world now. It only appears that someone is responsible for what appears as a conspiracy of negative events. In reality there is no one in charge of that negativity, but rather the collective, unorganized negativity and fear of millions of individuals. The efforts of those who are of like-mindedness, of like-intention and focus can bring your world into light and life and raise the consciousness of all human-kind. These are the ones who are breaking apart negative global consciousness because it is unorganized. It is very powerful to do this in concert at the same time, and then it becomes incredibly powerful. Many of you have experienced this effect in the merkabah circle; it is highly powerful and it multiplies your power many times over. Whether you are an individual or a whole group, you can apply your energies to the focus of the merkabah to direct its energy to where this enlightenment is needed.
Roxie: Charles, I have a question for you. Just as an arch requires a keystone at the top to make it sustainable, is there one social structure or institution in our society that performs this critical function, one that perhaps is most important to develop first, so that the rest are upheld?
Is one social institution more important than another for beginning?
CHARLES: One moment, please. For a society to move towards social sustainability, it has come to the realization that it is not institutions that support the overall sustainability of a society. This society has examined the assumption, that there is one institution or one social structure that pulls everything together. It is actually quite the opposite. It is coming to the realization that there are no institutions, no social structures that make or break the development of social sustainability. What is quite unique about this movement or decision of a society to move towards social sustainability, is that there is no finger pointing any more. The responsibilities for social sustainability lie with individuals, with families and with the whole of the community or society to make that decision that they are fully responsible now for the development of social sustainability. [The] peace and social stability of their personal lives, their families, communities and their whole world requires conscious thought, intention, decision and then action to bring this about. Social sustainability is a process; it is more than a concept, it is an actual process that supports all social institutions to become all the keys of social sustainability.
It is quite an advanced development for a society to engage. It requires some immature societies to advance quickly to save themselves, and it requires older, more mature societies to come to the final conclusion that nothing else works and they must point towards that. Social sustainability is a decision for a society that is outside of religion, outside of politics, outside of economies, outside of all social processes, organizations and institutions, but simultaneously supports every one of them. It is a remarkable development for a society to make this decision. It is not an easy one to do. On the other hand, it is quite obvious that it is necessary or the society will fail and disappear. Does this help?
Roxie: Yes, thank you.
MMc: The last time we talked, you used the term “sustainable social practices,” is this a conglomerate of things that must happen in society and to individuals in a society? What you mean by the use of that term?
Sustainable social practices
CHARLES: Would you like me to explain that term more clearly?
MMc: Please.
CHARLES: For instance, let us say that global economists got together and realized that what they were doing as separate nations, as separate economies was not supporting the economic stability and sustainability of the world. They then came together and decided to examine whether there were certain economic practices or decisions that were necessary to support national economies, while supporting the global economy, and that they were inseparable. When they broke up they went back to their home countries and began to practice making decisions that supported the global economy and that also supported their national economy. Of course, you realize that these economists would be criticized by the home population and home politicians, because they were making decisions which were not totally oriented towards that national economy, but pointed towards other economies as well.
The rationale that the economists would use is that by solely making decisions or practices that are oriented towards the national economy worked against the global economy that would [not] become stable and sustainable. And so, they would be able to eventually turn the opinion of politicians and corporate leaders and financiers and the financial community toward thinking of the larger economy of the world that must be served by these practices, which support a sustainable global economy, which in turn supports and benefits national economies. This is perhaps the area of social activity now, which is more capable of becoming a model for global social sustainability than any other social institution.
The most divergent one is national sovereignty and the military actions that nations take to protect their sovereignty, militarily. It seems so painfully ironic that a nation could be so militaristic, but be so interested also in economic stability at the same time. In a larger-minded world, you will find that these are not separate, that they affect each other, and that the global economy affects your militarism and your militarism affects your global economy. A benefit for all is that there would be practices or decisions that are made by local individuals, national individuals and international individuals that contribute to the global economy and which everyone seeks to have a stable, prosperous, sustainable global economy that helps everyone.
Does this clarify the word of “sustainable social practices?”
MMc: I believe it does, or at least it helps. What you mean by sustainable social practices is the “whole cloth?”
CHARLES: The “whole cloth,” exactly. Let us take another topic. Let us examine sustainable social practices concerning birth control. Birth control also means education concerning conception and reproduction. The sustainable social practices concerning this would begin at an early age when children begin to understand that there are girls and boys, that they are two different sexes and that they ask questions about this. They are given information at their level of understanding, so that they accept their sexuality early in life as a fact of life and that it is a responsible practice of their own to make decisions concerning the reproduction of the species, between themselves and a partner, and that delaying this until ages late in the 20’s or early 30’s is the optimum time to bring children into the world. These individuals are given further education and birth control medications or devices to use to delay the conception of the next generation. This is done not from the perspective of religion or politics, but [from the] simple fact that sustainable social practices involving conception aids the population control of a community, nation and the world, and that the economies and quality of life are supported by making those decisions.
The assumptions by many individuals from a religious or political standpoint is that the individual is not responsible enough to make that decision, or that it is immoral to have this information, or that this information would be used by sexually active individuals to become promiscuous. However, it has been largely seen that objective sexual information and the availability of birth control devices and medications does not necessarily increase promiscuity, but it does promote responsible sexual activity and the delay of procreation. Responsible social practices are the area of human behavior that is common to everyone and is under the philosophy of social sustainability. It has its own responsibilities outside of any other belief system. It is a belief system, a system of practices that benefits everyone equally, so that the individuals are able to grow. Do you glean the fundamental core values of sustainability in my verbiage, sir?
MMc: Yes, I do.
CHARLES: So that you begin to think in terms of social sustainability, always you go back to the core values. You are examining the behaviors, the expectations, the beliefs and assumptions and then compare them against the core values to see if they are validated and socially sustainable, or not. When you begin to think this way, you begin to orient all your thinking towards this long-term goal of bringing your civilization into the days of light and life, where it is socially sustainable, whether it is the economy or whether it involves procreation, or governance.
MMc: Last time we were together, you used a term that I am not familiar with. You said, “It is our hope that the work that we are doing will be seen by individuals who are known as “cultural creatives,” who would engage these topics and would be the ones who would initiate local design teams.” What do you mean by “cultural creatives?”
Cultural creatives
CHARLES: “Cultural creatives” are individuals who are leading your culture into more rational, responsible, sustainable ways. Cultural creatives are all around you; they are individuals as Wayne Dyer; they are individuals as Erich Fromm; they are individuals as Albert Einstein, Robert Schweitzer, Barbara Marx Hubbard and many others. These are individuals who live inside the box and think outside the box. They are able to think and take apart their culture and think about what works and to lead other individuals forward into directions that are productive and helpful for their society. They are, in fact, creating the new culture. These positive cultural creatives, are all constructive, conservative, and bring about improvements in your culture. There are also “cultural destructives” who exist to deconstruct your societies. We do not need to mention them; they are infamous in the history of your culture and world.
Cultural creatives are those individuals who bring about positive change to themselves, their families, their communities. Many individuals who are cultural creatives bring about positive creative changes to the whole world. You do not need to be a Mahatma Gandhi or Mother Teresa to be a cultural creative; those are simple examples and models of persons of cultural creatives of global magnitude, and who affect all humankind, even those who live outside the genre of those thoughts. Mother Teresa has had a tremendous influence upon the Hindus, the Christians and even the Communists. She provided a way of thinking which is specific to everyone and specific to each individual.
Cultural creatives are those individuals who are making a positive effort to bring about the best of humankind. This may be a homemaker at home who has an idea that can be useful in schools, and so goes to a school to share her idea and makes an impact on the curriculum of teaching techniques of some teachers, for instance. It may be an individual who has had an awareness or insight who has had a profound understanding of the global nature of humanity in the universe and the effect that one planet may have upon the whole universe, or it may be one individual in a community who says, “We must make a change, must make an effort.” Does this help?
MMc: Yes, it does; it certainly does. I find that not just the people who are going to head the design teams, but also the people that are working the design teams, working with the three core values on the schematic for sustainability, if they are conscientious in their questioning of the assumptions and discovering truisms, are going to do more than just that. They are going to learn how to think, how to ask questions and how to dialog.
CHARLES: Yes, cultural creatives are usually self-generative in nature and they have that “Ah-Ha” moment, they have an insight and they have the motivation and curiosity and the capacity to ask meaningful questions. Cultural creative techniques can be learned. They can be taught and they can be learned by others. You do not have to have a specific individual capacity that is innate to yourself and is self-generative. You can have all of these qualities, but when the cultural creative or someone around you brings you into their awareness and expands your consciousness then you become a cultural creative. The most critical part of our work is to begin to have cultural creatives have that “Ah-Ha” moment where they understand what we are talking about, and then are motivated to initiate their own local community design team, and teach people how to use that and explore it. They begin to examine their assumptions and their “Ah-Ha’s” and come to some truisms, and then seek others who are doing the same thing.
As much influence as all the new Midwayers on the planet are having upon individuals, it takes individuals to be self-motivated, using self-initiation to begin the process. We have told you repeatedly that your world will not be healed by miracle or divine fiat, but by the co-creative participations of individuals. We are coming down to that place where it requires an individual practice of social sustainability by an individual who is motivated to believe that they can have an impact on the world. These are individuals who have the assumption that they are sons and daughters of God, and are like-wise empowered, as God has empowered his Creator Sons, and can do something about their world in a creative manner.
This is the critical moment of your world: Do we have critical mass [such as] in the terms of a nuclear fusion? The question is, we are there already—the elements are there, they simply must come together to begin this perpetual engine of motivation, curiosity and creativity, and this is your response, not ours. It is your turn to respond. We have provided you with tremendous insight and materials, and we will be forthcoming with these instructions in a more palpable form for those who are unable to grasp what we are saying.
MMc: Forgive me, but the outcome of this plan to bring social sustainability to our planet is not completely assured.
CHARLES: That is correct.
MMc: I assume there are multiple scenarios some leading to success, others leading to failure. Would you walk us through one of those most likely to…
The critical moment in saving the planet
CHARLES: I did that in our last session, sir. Here is the critical moment: We cannot—and when I say “we” I am talking about billions upon billions of spiritual beings now active and inhabited on Urantia—we cannot, will not make decisions for you. You must decide. You must act on that decision to take action. We cannot force you to do that. We will not violate that universal rule even to save your planet.
MMc: Thank you. Last question: I have recently seen the expression, “service is a gift.” I can see here, discussing service in these design teams with you that the service to our world results in untold benefit to our world, and the people initiating the service gain immeasurably more by their participation. Is this typical?
Service
CHARLES: Yes, this is so. First you are the student, then you are the teacher and then you serve. When you begin to be the teacher, you are then in service and so once you have completed your work as a teacher, then how do you serve as an individual? Some of you are cultural creatives and you will form your own local design team, working on a topic or an assumption that you want to have clarified and you organize other individuals to do that. You teach them how to use the process after you have learned to use it yourself. Then you go out and begin working with your new understanding, your newly created concepts of a social organization and share that with other organizations. Do not be surprised if you are met with your own disappointment in the early stages, as few will understand what you are talking about or trying to get at, as their own assumptions must be examined and new ones created that support social sustainability. Service is the highest reward for its own doing. In serving you become more complete, you understand vicariously and empathically the behavior, actions of others and you strive in your service to be of greater service and effective in your service.
MMc: Thank you, Charles. Is there anything else you’d like to say to us before we close?
Only Urantians can make a difference
CHARLES: One moment. You may be overawed that we are speaking to you, that the words you are reading are to such a miniscule portion of your global civilization, that you could make any difference. However, only you can decide that. We truly know that you can make a difference. We work only through individuals. The Most Highs work through human organizations and structures, but within those organizations, only individuals can make a difference. It is the decisions you make to become involved to begin to work towards the healing of your planet and bringing light and higher consciousness and the vibration of higher consciousness into your world that will truly make a difference.
You make a difference. If you were one individual who only knew this material, out of billions of people, you would make a difference. You have the power, the capability, the capacity as a true son and daughter of God, to make a powerful difference in your world. Our words are for your empowerment, for your understanding of your capacity and capability. How you feel in reflection to others in your family or your social organizations or in your employment is not necessarily a part of what we are speaking of. You may feel less than other individuals, but inside, you are a super person, and super personality who has tremendous capability and power to change your world. You are a super person; believe it as though you had a cape behind your back and you could fly. You have immense capability to change your world, if only you would try. Thank you.
MMc: Thank you, Charles.
CHARLES: You are most welcome. Roxanne, do you have any questions?
Roxie: No, I haven’t come up with any more yet, but I appreciate your being with us today.
CHARLES: You are most welcome. I will close now, if you are of a mind?
MMc: Do you have any guidance for our next session?
CHARLES: I need not say anything at this time as the developments before your next meeting in the next two or three weeks will give you enough to think about and to generate questions. Thank you.
MMc: Thank you very much, Charles. We certainly do appreciate your being here, and for the wisdom that you bestow.
CHARLES: You are most welcome. We on this side do not feel the separation from you that you feel on your side from us, as we feel the wholeness of God’s universe that embraces you. Your separation is only your assumption that must be examined and to be replaced by the assumption and knowing that you are completely a part of God’s universe and that you are loved and accepted and you can be fully effective when you empower yourself with this understanding. We wish you good day and we anticipate that Monjoronson will speak to you in a few weeks. Thank you. Good day.
