Rob Mastroianni's Urantia Concepts
Introduction
Deeply contemplative academic research into the meanings and values of the Fifth Epochal Revelation—the Urantia Papers—is a form of spiritual practice, reflective of the three major steps leading to the awareness of the personal presence of our Heavenly Father in the ascendant life.
Let's look closely at the concepts of Meaning and Value; Meditation, Prayer and Worship; Truth, Beauty and Goodness; and Thought Adjusters. We'll discuss the definition of the terms (Fact), and how the Urantia Book uses the words with respect to conceptual frameworks and relatively within those frameworks (Knowledge). We'll expand our understanding of the importance of these concepts to spiritual growth and how that very growth will change and expand our comprehension of these terms (Wisdom). And we'll reflect upon our new understanding, appreciating how we might wisely apply this knowledge as we evaluate the potentials of our lives and choose paths that glorify God (Living Truth).
Concepts
Organizing Threads of Understanding
Rob's Story
I first chanced across the Urantia Book in the late 1970's as it lay on a coffee table at a friend’s home. Over the next several years I read it often, treating it mostly as a wonderful spiritual science fiction story.
I had been a student of religion - really a seeker of truth - since my youth. I became dissatisfied with Christianity when I was only ten years old and found myself unable to accept the concept of purgatory - I just couldn't believe God would punish His innocent children in that manner. As with many of us UB readers, the more I read, the more I became convinced that I'd never run across a religious text with such depths of spiritual truth, even if the rather explicit description of the universe and creation was something I would only be able to accept with a leap of faith. Gradually I begin to realize that the Urantia book could only have been written with divine spiritual guidance and I made that leap.
Now many years later I am happy to be part of the Hawaii Islands Urantia Readers Group and find myself firmly on the ascension path, a son of God. I am so thankful for this revelation, and the peace and joy that it has brought me. I start each day's prayer with "Thank you, Father, for these days."
The past several years have been very eventful in my life. In 2019, after more than forty years, I retired from the practice of medicine. I have also been blessed with a beautiful loving personal relationship. Geri Johnson and I were married August 2020. Geri is a wonderfully devout child of God, an Associate Trustee of the Urantia Foundation and a delightful and dedicated partner in our mutual ministry to share the Master’s gospel as taught in the Urantia Book. We are active members in the development of the Teacher Education Program, striving to create a teacher training school for the Urantia community. We also work with Urantia University, Inc. in offering a weekly guided discussion group on The Life and Teachings of Jesus, a sequential study of each paper of Part IV of TUB.