British historian Arnold Toynbee in his 12-volume magnum opus, A Study of History, ventured the fact that great civilizations do not just suddenly capitulate. Instead, they wither internally from the inside out, simply because ethics cease to advance. Ethics is a crucial aspect of worldviews, and Toynbee goes on to say that a civilization is doomed to collapse if the metaphysical theory [spiritual frame of reference] on which the civilization is founded cannot support progress.
You may well ask, what does a spiritual frame of reference have to do with social progress?
Ethical codes are traditionally closely tied to religion. Essentially, religion is the personal progressive experience of knowing and finding God which begins with the first hint of faith. True religion fosters the development of God-consciousness which transforms the individual into the image and likeness of God – that is, true religion cultivates the loving, wise, and unselfish attitude that promotes unity among people and unconditional social service – essential to the advancement of ethics and ultimately, civilization.
Ethics, therefore, may be said to be the external social mirror that faithfully reflects the otherwise unobservable inner progress of spiritual development. Spiritual development (spirituality) is reflected in ethical lives laced with reverence, love, objectiveness, inclusiveness, and selfless reasoning. Selflessness, however, aside from parental instinct, is not altogether natural; other persons are not naturally loved or socially served. Growth in the increased capacity for selflessness requires progress in meanings and the realization of their cosmic inter-relatedness. This in turn sharpens moral awareness and increases attunement to spirit guidance, thus elevating the quality of our interactions with others.
To generate an unselfish and altruistic social order requires a society enlightened with reason, morality, and the urge to know God. It also requires the shared recognition that with each advancing epoch in human knowledge the philosophic concept and the theologic definitions of God must change, so that an enlarged consciousness of the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man may be developed.
The problem is that current theologies defining God are thought of by its proponents to be accurate and complete, even infallible. The Western world, taken as consisting of Europe, the Americas, Australia-New Zealand and (in part) South Africa and Philippines, remains predominantly Christian, although Judaism and Islam have historically been associated with the Western Hemisphere. The fact that there is so much fragmentation within each religion, so much discord and violence, and the deterioration of ethical behavior in western society, that should have all wondering why the worldviews of these long-standing religions are still failing to transform society and foster unity?
When theology rigidly resists change or revision, it loses its flexibility to advance its concepts. As the concepts of God stagnate, the worldview becomes a doctrine instead of a life, diluting the creative and life-giving power of truth to improve character. When the truth in theology is crystallized, it fosters division and confusion. When the concept of God ceases to grow, the understanding of God becomes irrevocably established and forever fixed, enslaving the spiritual nature and curtailing transformation, often leading even the most faithful to betray themselves into the clutches of bigotry, fanaticism, superstition, intolerance, and the most atrocious cruelties – all in the name of God.
The ultimate measure of any theology rests in its ability to transform character so that believers in every generation may consistently lead ethical lives that are laced with reverence, love, objectiveness, inclusiveness and selfless reasoning. The achievement of this personal high standard is dependent in the progressive discovery of new and higher cosmic meanings that facilitate the kaleidoscopic adjustments in the comprehension of God which elevate consciousness and understanding of God and the universe. Only when spiritual frames of reference are increasingly aligned with higher truths, can unity in understanding be fostered and the appreciation of the morality of interpersonal relationships grow. Only a shared spiritual frame of reference vibrant with universe meanings and spirit realities can keep “society from falling apart, ameliorate human suffering, promote human flourishing, resolve conflicts of interest in just and orderly ways, assign praise and blame, reward the good and punish the guilty.” [1]
How then, can the demise of Western Civilization be avoided?
Western Civilization has been predominantly influenced by the Christian theology. The Christian religion is the religion about the life and teachings of Christ but is based upon the theology of Judaism, modified further through the assimilation of certain Zoroastrian teachings and Greek philosophy, and formulated primarily by three individuals: Philo, Peter, and Paul. While Christianity contains more of Jesus’ gospel than any other religion, it does also contain much that Jesus did not teach. Aside from the incorporation of many teachings from the Persian mysteries and much of the Greek philosophy into early Christianity, two great mistakes were made:
1. The effort to connect the gospel teaching directly onto the Jewish theology, as illustrated by the Christian doctrines of the atonement—the teaching that Jesus was the sacrificed Son who would satisfy the Father’s stern justice and appease the divine wrath. These teachings originated in a praiseworthy effort to make the gospel of the kingdom more acceptable to disbelieving Jews. Though these efforts failed as far as winning the Jews was concerned, they did not fail to confuse and alienate many honest souls in all subsequent generations.
2. The second great blunder of Jesus’ early followers, and one which all subsequent generations have persisted in perpetuating, was to organize the Christian teaching so completely about the person of Jesus rather than his saving message: the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man, The overemphasis of the personality of Jesus in the theology of Christianity has worked to obscure his teachings, and all of this has made it increasingly difficult for Jews, Muslims, Hindus, and other Eastern religionists to accept the teachings of Jesus. As the teachings of Jesus became Occidentalized, they lost in the process their potentially universal appeal to all races and kinds of people.
Christianity has done a great service for this world, but its theology has suffered from the absorption of much erroneous human philosophy. The Christian concept of God has been crystallized so its theology has been increasingly losing the spiritual power to effect the transformation which can support progress. Christianity today is secularized and subdivided, daring to lower its ideals before the challenge of human greed, war-madness, and the lust for power; Today, institutionalized Christianity has become an organic part of the political and social structure of Western civilization. The modern Christian church is not such a brotherhood of dynamic believers as Jesus commissioned continuously to effect the spiritual transformation of successive generations of humankind.
If Western Civilization is to thrive, the predominant Christian frame of reference must be open to the discovery of new meanings; it must be willing to revise its doctrines and metanarratives some of which are inaccurate, even erroneous. Modern culture must become spiritually baptized with a new revelation of Jesus’ life and illuminated with a new understanding of his gospel of eternal salvation. To transform humanity and the world; to experience the full blossoming of religious brotherhood requires the discovery of new meanings in ancient wisdom while stretching the boundaries of modern knowledge.
There is currently a gap between human thinking—which evolves—and cosmic truth, which is revealed. In this regard, therefore, the only influence, (other than the slowly advancing mores) that can modify and advance the dogmas of religion is revelation, specifically epochal revelation, the latest found in The Urantia Book. The ability of a particular spiritual frame of reference to foster social progress and collective peace is entirely dependent on the accuracy and depth of its concepts. A spiritual frame of reference that is laced with the teachings of the latest epochal revelation, add depth, breadth, and perspective, increasing consistency in concepts and promoting unity of thought. When actions are reset based on this elevated understanding, they become increasingly selfless and socially far-reaching.
