What is the Teaching Mission?

In general, it is an avenue of personal spiritual experience. Individuals, in their private devotions, may experience contact with supermortal guides, or "teachers." We believe that there are a host of intelligent, loving, celestial agencies ministering to our world. One such group of celestial beings who work together for humanity's spiritual progress call themselves teachers of the "Teaching Mission" or the "Correcting Time." The Correcting Time is said to encompass roughly the next millennium of human history, a time of correcting the consequences of certain calamities and deprivations of the past, and a time of fostering an era of heightened spiritual progress in the future — the era of "light and life" on Earth.

Who are the teachers?

Many contemporary people are discovering contact with spiritual guides. The tremendous upsurge in reported contact with angels and other heavenly beings is indicative of new openings for communion with angelic types of ministry to our world. The particular contacts from on High whom we call "teachers" are non-material spiritual beings, friends from heaven. They are advanced enough in their own spiritual growth and cosmic evolution to be a lofty inspiration to us; and yet, they remain greatly empathetic and supportive of our personal struggles with soul growth. These teachers present and amplify the revelations and truths discussed in The Urantia Book. This book teaches that each and every human mortal is a potentially immortal faith-son or faith-daughter of God. We are each an honored member of a well-nigh limitless cosmic family. We are spiritual brothers and sisters held in the infinite love of one Divine Cosmic Parent, Mother and Father combined.

Who are we?

We who participate on the human side of the Teaching Mission are ordinary human beings who simply aspire to bring more of truth, beauty, and goodness into our world. We hail from diverse walks of life and various locations. We vary widely in our backgrounds and cultural, political, and philosophical views; but, we are united in our spiritual quest for more of God's love and more opportunities to share this love and friendship with our fellows. Some of us attend informal groups where teacher communications are shared and discussed.

Who is able to make contact with celestial teachers?

Anyone who sincerely desires teacher contact will have that opportunity, regardless of race or gender, educational background, social or economic status, national origin, or religious beliefs. We are told that if every one of the billions of inhabitants on our planet sought a personal teacher, one would certainly be provided for each seeker.

How do I receive the gift of a personal teacher?

This is a very intimate matter between you and your Deity. In your personal prayer time or meditation, simply ask your heavenly Father-Mother for a personal teacher, and trust that even though you may not readily sense a teacher's presence, one will surely be there for you. Many of us suffer, consciously or unconsciously, from a sense of perceived shame and unworthiness. In truth, there is no mortal on Earth who is unworthy of divine affection. Our teachers view us with great respect and see it as an honor to work with us. Some of us have to swallow hard to accept the enormity of this gift and not fear this loving contact. Time and daily "stillness practice," a term used by the teachers to refer to quiet meditation that provides the reconciliation between how we tend to value ourselves, and how the teachers value us, and hope we will eventually value ourselves also.

What do teachers do for mankind?

Teachers provide spiritual guidance to individuals or groups who voluntarily seek their assistance. Most of us would agree that the paramount purpose of the teachers is to aid us in getting in touch with the Spark of Deity within each person, the "still small voice of God" that indwells the human heart-mind. Teachers are also heavenly friends who love us dearly and often accompany us on our life adventures. They encourage us and inspire us. They remind us of spiritual truths we cherish; they help keep us spiritually focused. Teachers offer faith reassurances of the unswerving love of our divine Parent for each individual, regardless of his or her worldly status. Teachers elevate and accelerate our hopes for a better world and augment God-consciousness among all peoples.

What teachers do not do

While it would be presumptuous to delimit teacher action, most of us who have been receiving this contact for some years have drawn the following conclusions:

Teachers do not violate personal free-will. They never violate the sanctity of our minds, our souls, our earthly opportunities, or our life choices. Their action in relation to anyone is always subject to personal informed consent.
While teachers are lovingly open to all of our questions, they do not encourage "curiosity questions," that is, questions that do not relate directly to our personal and individual spiritual growth. They rarely, if ever, engage in material predictions.
Teachers are not in the business of miracle-working, empirical proofs, power-brokering, sparking fads, encouraging extraordinary sensory experiences, dictating how we should live, shaming us, or otherwise acting or communicating in a manner that would in any way deprive anyone of the step-by-step faith adventure each of us must freely choose to climb the mountains of spiritual attainment.
Teachers are not intermediaries to God. We do not pray to our teachers nor do we worship them. They are not our rulers or overlords. They do not judge us. They help us to avoid many distractions from our goals of wisely loving and selflessly serving. They keep us on track to pursue stillness and small kindnesses each day. They are our friends, our near-of-kin. We love and respect them enormously.
Teachers do not charge fees for their spiritual services. Love and inspiration are freely given. Most of us feel that this is a good model for anyone involved in this Mission as well.

How do I know I am having teacher contact and understand messages correctly?

We are told that teacher contact is best accomplished by way of regular, daily, stillness meditation—quieting the mind for up to twenty minutes of silent communion once or twice each day.

There is an experience of "otherness," subtle for some, more pronounced for others, that distinguishes teacher communication from one's own thoughts and projections. Some teachers suggest that we ask these questions about a supposed teacher communication or transmission to assess its veracity and sharpen our powers of discernment:

a) Does the communication come with respect for my free-will dignity?
b) Is it compatible with the teachings of The Urantia Book?
c) Will heeding a message result in my bearing "spiritual fruit"?
d) Does the transmission come with God's love?
e) Does it have the ring of truth?

How do teachers communicate with humans?

For a consenting individual, a teacher makes mind-to-mind contact in a gentle and utterly respectful manner. The teachers' respect for our free-will dignity is awe-inspiring. Since we do not really know the mechanism of communication, we can hypothesize a kind of celestial internet of minds. Imagine our World Wide Web carried to the utmost limits of virtual advancement and refinement on a universal and cosmic scale. Teachers seem to be able to project their presences and communications from nearby or over astronomic distances without delay or glitches. They know when we do and do not desire contact.

What is transmitting/receiving?

Certain constitutionally-favored individuals may, by luck of the draw, have a natural capacity to discern and communicate teacher messages. Typically, a transmitter (T/R) speaks the teacher's message more or less concurrently with its reception in the transmitter's mind. There are many ways a transmitter might receive a message — as words, concepts, images, feelings, or something quite beyond words. Receiving and transmitting seems also to be a learnable skill. We are all encouraged to practice transmitting, not worrying about errors, and having faith in our seemingly muddy efforts. Growing spiritual awareness and regular stillness meditation counterpoised by service-motivated small kindnesses are the hallmarks of the transmitter side of the teacher connection.

Are teacher transmissions infallible?

Definitely not. Teachers are fallible, but less so than mortals. Although teachers are no doubt able to communicate more directly or unequivocally, they prefer to employ the ever-so-flawed mortal conduit, a partnership in communication and faith. This leaves the understanding, interpretation, and veracity of any transmission entirely up to the faith discernment of each individual involved. It is the responsibility of each individual to decide if a communication resonates with the spirit of truth in one's own heart. Teachers may even allow themselves to be misquoted by a fallible T/R rather than interfere with the vital faith-grasp each of us must acquire in our struggles to be confident in our apprehension of truth.

Are teachers involved in healing?

We believe so. The teachers ask us to view "healing" as it applies to our physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual selves. They tell us that God's spiritual healing energy is available to anyone sincerely searching and receptive. To limit the modalities (e.g., touch, music, nature, substances, visualizations, etc.) of this healing would be presumptuous. Again, it is up to the individual's discernment on a very personal level. Teachers convey that, as with transmitting, the innate capacity to be a conduit, for say, laying-on-of-hands healing, varies from person to person. As with prayer, sincerity and clear intent help. However, being healed or not should not be interpreted as teacher approval or disapproval; they love us all, regardless of our limitations. Healing in association with teachers is rarely of the sudden or miraculous kind. The process is often slow, subtle, and empowers faith and patience. Nevertheless, there is discussion and experimentation with many aspects of healing in the Teaching Mission. "Seek and you surely shall receive; joy is your abiding destiny."

What of caution and skepticism?

We generally regard respectful skepticism as a healthy approach to becoming familiar with the Teaching Mission. We aspire to unity, not uniformity. We do not all think alike. Each of us may hold a different, even opposite, opinion regarding this Mission in the whole or in any particular. Experiential religion means that truth is individually and personally discovered via a process of inner-seeking. Many of us have surmounted hills of doubt and continue to climb out of valleys of uncertainty and skepticism. We respect the individual's right to his or her own boundaries of belief and acceptance. Certainly our teachers do likewise. The issue is not whether or not you are doubtful or cautious; rather, do you persevere in your search, do you continue to seek with an open mind and heart? If there is truth here, sooner or later you will know. As one of our great teachers has said, "In the stillness reside the answers to all questions."

Editor's note: This page offers excerpts from The Nordan Symposia

Historical accounts of the Teaching Mission

The Light and Life web site offers several E-books detailing the history of the Teaching Mission initiative.
https://www.lightandlife.com/e-book-page.html