A philosophy of living
At the end of Paper 2 a Divine Counselor states, "The religious challenge of this age is to those far-seeing and forward-looking men and women of spiritual insight who will dare to construct a new and appealing philosophy of living out of the enlarged, and exquisitely integrated modern concepts of cosmic truth, universe beauty, and divine goodness."
Let's take a careful look at the project of constructing this philosophy of living.
The first well-developed contribution to such a philosophy is Living in Truth, Beauty, and Goodness (Cascade Books, 2016) by Jeffrey Wattles. Here are documents that bridge between that book and The Urantia Book.
Preface: On experiential education
Introduction: The significance of this philosophy
1. The truths of science in a philosophy of living--scientific living
4. Living amid the beauties of nature
7. The grandeur of genuine character achievement.
We must not allow the complexities of the new philosophy to obscure the way of simplicity!
As an extension of the document on experiential education mentioned above, I would offer one that may help people select their growth project: Got a pet evil?
Struggling with the concept of cosmic truth and need a couple of practical examples?
The new philosophy must be appealing as well as new and uplifting. For that, those of us who aspire to live it must life lives that attract inquiry. And we need many expressions of the philosophy in short, accessible form. Here's one attempt (from many years ago).
For more extensive resources on some of these topics . . . the new philosophy of living prepares us for the morontia schools of thinking, feeling, and doing.
The concept of cosmic truth embraces the truths of science, philosophy, and spiritual experience.
The concept of universe beauty embraces the beauties of the physical creation . . . and the charm of intellectual art.
The concept of divine goodness embraces modern religion's moral mandates and the grandeur of genuine character achievement.
One sentence defines the core of the construction project.
Below are the paragraphs that sketch the amazing new philosophy.
The great mistake of the Hebrew religion was its failure to associate the goodness of God with the factual truths of science and the appealing beauty of art. As civilization progressed, and since religion continued to pursue the same unwise course of overemphasizing the goodness of God to the relative exclusion of truth and neglect of beauty, there developed an increasing tendency for certain types of men to turn away from the abstract and dissociated concept of isolated goodness. The overstressed and isolated morality of modern religion, which fails to hold the devotion and loyalty of many twentieth-century men, would rehabilitate itself if, in addition to its moral mandates, it would give equal consideration to the truths of science, philosophy, and spiritual experience, and to the beauties of the physical creation, the charm of intellectual art, and the grandeur of genuine character achievement.
The religious challenge of this age is to those farseeing and forward-looking men and women of spiritual insight who will dare to construct a new and appealing philosophy of living out of the enlarged and exquisitely integrated modern concepts of cosmic truth, universe beauty, and divine goodness. Such a new and righteous vision of morality will attract all that is good in the mind of man and challenge that which is best in the human soul. Truth, beauty, and goodness are divine realities, and as man ascends the scale of spiritual living, these supreme qualities of the Eternal become increasingly co-ordinated and unified in God, who is love.
All truth — material, philosophic, or spiritual — is both beautiful and good. All real beauty — material art or spiritual symmetry — is both true and good. All genuine goodness — whether personal morality, social equity, or divine ministry — is equally true and beautiful. Health, sanity, and happiness are integrations of truth, beauty, and goodness as they are blended in human experience. Such levels of efficient living come about through the unification of energy systems, idea systems, and spirit systems.
Truth is coherent, beauty attractive, goodness stabilizing. And when these values of that which is real are co-ordinated in personality experience, the result is a high order of love conditioned by wisdom and qualified by loyalty. The real purpose of all universe education is to effect the better co-ordination of the isolated child of the worlds with the larger realities of his expanding experience. Reality is finite on the human level, infinite and eternal on the higher and divine levels. (2:7/43)