Renowned Readers of The Urantia Book
Please start by watching the video. It’s the introduction to this project which isn’t repeated in writing here. I share about the project at the start and the end, and the video also features comments from three Urantia Book readers and my former academic supervisor at Stockholm University.
You can support this project through its GoFundMe campaign (you’ll find information specifically related to the campaign by scrolling down).
The story behind this photo of Willie Nelson holding a Urantia Book can be found below.
A Compelling Contrast
“It’s really amazing to think how much influence the revelation is having on popular culture, unbeknownst even to those with whom it’s popular.” Paula Thompson
There’s a compelling contrast in the fact that The Urantia Book has received so little public attention and relatively few people have found and taken interest in it, while a surprising number of famous musicians, artists, authors, and so forth have been attracted to and inspired by it.
This forthcoming publication provides extensively researched and fascinating biographical sketches of numerous pioneers and legends who have read The Urantia Book, in addition to an impressive panoramic view of the revelation’s influence on the broader culture.
Stories that Spark Interest
Stories of the masterfully talented people who’ve read The Urantia Book will intrigue fans and seekers who will wonder why it has attracted so many outstanding individuals. For example, Jimi Hendrix and Jerry Garcia fans can discover the vivid afterlife descriptions of our cosmic destiny that these rock icons envisioned and may have believed in.
I often mention musicians, but there are also many successful creatives in a variety of other fields. For instance, when it comes to authors, several of the most acclaimed fiction writers and many of the most influential personal development gurus of the Boomer generation have been influenced by The Urantia Book.
Carlos Santana and Jerry Garcia - two lifelong Urantia Book readers
The Woodstock Generation
Most of the famous and influential people covered in this research are of the Baby Boomer generation – also dubbed the “Woodstock Generation.” Quite a number of famous musicians who performed at that iconic festival read The Urantia Book, and readers and seekers who experienced that momentous era are especially poised to appreciate this research on famous artists of their generation (one reason why I consider it essential to publish soon).
Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, and certain other celebrities are still relatively well-known among younger people (yes, it appears that Dylan reads The Urantia Book). Yet many young folks aren’t familiar with stars of previous generations, such as Merle Haggard or actor Eddie Albert. I was previously unfamiliar with most of the celebrities I’ve researched, making this an exciting journey of discovery. I contextualize the findings so that all generations can better appreciate these bright souls’ fascinating roles in our cultural history.
Urantia Book enthusiast Jimi Hendrix at Woodstock:
Academic Genre
This project began as my 220-page master’s thesis, which includes sections on The Urantia Book’s origin, contents, readership, and broader cultural influence. Other sections present the uniqueness of The Urantia Book in a comparative context, demonstrating why scholars and journalists are mistaken when categorizing it as “New Age” or a “UFO religion.” Several Stockholm University professors who read my thesis insisted that I need to publish this “compelling” research.
After completing the thesis, I continued to research famous Urantia Book readers. At over 600 pages and close to completion, this has become the most extensive section of the manuscript. Much of the manuscript could be viewed as an encyclopedia of sorts of The Urantia Book’s widespread cultural influence. I’ve maintained an academic format, presenting findings from a neutral point of view and meticulously citing sources (it has nearly three thousand footnotes).
As academic and media attention regarding The Urantia Book increases, this research will prove a valuable resource, providing balanced, nuanced, and reliable information.
“Buried in the map”
Two non-reader friends recently spoke in a video interview about why they’re excited about this research.
“Everyone I’ve talked to about it seems really interested in it. And I think the reason is it seems to have had such a widespread influence in so many different aspects and with so many people that other people have heard of. It’s like there’s been this undercurrent affecting culture for decades and decades that barely anyone has heard about, and yet all these famous people have heard about it. So, you get this feeling that we’re like missing out on some kind of big secret… It’s like finding out that there’s a whole other chemical element that’s composing our world that we should have known about the whole time.” – Johnathan
“When it’s like, ‘this fellow, and this fellow, and that group, and this, and this...’ It’s like, ‘What the f. is this?!’ Because no one knows anything about The Urantia Book. It’s just so out of the map. And then suddenly you realize, ‘Oh, it’s actually on the map. It’s like buried in the map.’” – Mats
Personal Connections
My lifelong passion for getting to know other Urantia Book readers has facilitated this research and enriched my life immeasurably.
I spent much of my twenties focusing on supporting young readers, learning so much from visiting countless Urantia students near and far. I continue to travel to gatherings and conferences every year because of these cherished friendships and to help contribute.
I deeply appreciate you all and thank you for inspiring me with your dedication, service, and faith.
If you have information that might add new aspects to this research or would like to help in other ways, I’d be grateful to hear from you!
Subscribe to my Youtube channel if you’d like to see Urantia-related interviews such as this one, where Gard Jameson shares about Eva Gabor, Eddie Albert, and others. You can also find an hour-long interview about this project here:
Support this project through GoFundMe.
A young reader event ten years ago in Boulder, Colorado. The years in my twenties when I focused on "UBYouth" work were about a decade prior to this mini-conference.
Daniel Amyx is a Urantia Book student who has followed and supported this project for many years. He writes:
“Michael MacIsaac has painstakingly researched the actors, authors, musicians, scientists, and others whose names appear in these pages. This work has taken nearly two decades to come to this point, and you will see, the effort has been so worth it. You will be delightfully surprised (if not shocked) as you discover how The Urantia Book inspired celebrities whose work and creativity have contributed to your life in some way or another. To me, the combined efforts of all these people have created a subtle web of spiritual support that underlies and fosters the growth of those who dare look beyond the mundane.” Oct 2021
Willie Nelson and The Urantia Book
I shared a photograph of Willie Nelson being given a copy of The Urantia Book and thought I'd let you know the story behind it. The photo also features the country musician and songwriter William “Flash” Gordon, who was giving Willie Nelson the book. The picture was taken in 1979 when Gordon was playing at Willie Nelson's annual 4th of July picnic in 1979, at Pedernales Country Club in Austin, Texas. William Gordon toured with many country artists and co-wrote the Hank Williams Jr. song "In the Arms of Cocaine". The renowned country songwriter Hal Bynum had turned William Gordon on to the book.
Hal Bynum had asked Lee Rector to deliver the book to Willie Nelson, and Lee gave it to William Gordon so that he could take a picture of Willie Nelson holding the book. There was a personal note from Hal Bynum folded in the book. Bynum wrote over 200 songs for popular country musicians, including Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, and Jim Reeves. His biggest hit was “Lucille”, which he co-wrote with Roger Bowling. Kenny Rogers' version of the song was an enormous hit. Hal Bynum's connections in the industry helped him directly or indirectly introduce The Urantia Book to scores of musicians and songwriters.
Lee Rector, who took the picture, had also indirectly been introduced to The Urantia Book by Hal Bynum. Rector was there to interview Willie Nelson for a cover story in Music City News. Nashville is commonly known as Music City, and it is said to be the US's second-largest music production center (after NYC, 3rd largest by some measures). As editor of Nashville’s primary music news source, Lee Rector was also very well connected and introduced many people in the music industry to the book. He helped lead a vibrant study group that was attended by many accomplished musicians and songwriters, and he’s been tremendously helpful with this research.
Lee Rector recalls the "piercing eyeball to eyeball look that Willie gave everyone (and still does)" that the picture captures. William Gordon recalls: "Willie told me that he had read the book several times and he already had one. But I told him to keep it and pass it on to an interested party." Gordon says he then told Willie Nelson “about the part in the book on page 500 about music playing a part in changing the world. I told him they were talking about him.”
Like other famous musicians, Willie Nelson was fascinated by the section on the celestial musicians. A friend who went on tour with Willie Nelson a decade later told me Willie liked to talk about those passages that Wiliam Gordon had paraphrased to him. “But be not discouraged; some day a real musician may appear on Urantia, and whole peoples will be enthralled by the magnificent strains of his melodies. One such human being could forever change the course of a whole nation, even the entire civilized world.”
Willie Nelson reportedly turned a lot of people on to The Urantia Book and read it with some who are as iconic as he is. You will find much more of this story and many others in the pages of my forthcoming book.
Merle Haggard and Willie Nelson shared five decades of friendship and had a common interest in The Urantia Book.
James Woodward Writes:
“I remember the first time I met Michael MacIsaac. The year was 1997 and we were both attending a Urantia conference in Southern California. During one of my airport pickups I gathered the usual group of… ahem… older people, but among them was a young man, very tall, and very friendly. He obviously had a very keen interest in The Urantia Book, knew its contents well, and enjoyed meeting people and making friends. We got to know each other better at many more conferences over the years. I still respect his ability—a gift really—to connect with people he has never met.
Our paths intertwined more when I began to work at Urantia Foundation and would help Mike in his youth tours, rounding up younger readers for conferences and road trips, hosting them at the foundation when they passed through Chicago on their gypsy spiritual adventures. My respect for Michael grew as I saw him devote so much of his time and energy to getting his Urantia Book peers engaged with each other—and encouraging them in deep study of The Urantia Book.
Those of us who have been part of the Urantia community for a long time knew of rumors of famous people who read The Urantia Book. Those rumors became real to me when I heard first-hand accounts of such tales and even spoke with some of them. It was in the early 2000s when Michael told me that he had begun researching famous readers as part of his master’s thesis. Soon we were sharing stories and “leads,” some of which turned out to be verifiable. Over the years he's shared many of his finds with me, and I shared tips that came my way. Michael’s project expanded—his writing and research got more precise and academic, and his list grew… and grew. To say that Michael has been tenacious in his unique “hobby” would be an understatement!
It has been a true joy to share the ride with Mike in a small way. His devotion to the quest has never flagged; even now he sends me drafts, “Urantia Book bios” of freshly discovered people of note with the enthusiasm of a passionate collector. My own interest in sleuthing out possible Urantia Book enthusiasts has been part of the fun, but mostly it has been observing Michael’s passion. Perhaps this forthcoming book of Mike’s research will advance the visibility and appreciation of The Urantia Book. I can’t say his book is going to be big, but I can say that it’s going to play a unique role in the social outworking / public awareness of a self-described epochal revelation.”
Gard Jameson talks about Eva Gabor, Eddie Albert, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, and The Urantia Book
Eddie Albert and Eva Gabor, who starred playing a married couple on the hit TV show Green Acres. The hugely popular show began in 1965 and 170 episodes aired in total, over the course of six seasons.
More Examples of Reader Musicians I've Researched
This is the grave monument of Karlheinz Stockhausen (1928 – 2007). He is one of the most renowned, groundbreaking, and influential composers of the 20th and early 21st centuries. He would tell his students the book was required reading and it strongly influenced his compositions. As with Willie Nelson, the person who gave Stockhausen The Urantia Book reportedly told him he was the person they were talking about who would change the world with music.
Karlheinz Stockhausen teaching:
The groundbreaking jazz legend Ornette Coleman (1930 - 2015) signed this Urantia Book which he gave to a record executive in 1977.
Artist Frederick Brown, Ornette Coleman and President Bill Clinton, next to Brown’s portrait of Ornette.
Dan Amyx took this photo at a Moody Blues concert. Urantia Book influences can be found in the work of many of the most legendary progressive rock bands.
Joep Beving and Cameron Graves are two renowned composer pianists whose work is influenced by The Urantia Book. It has been exciting to interview and research them and to see how they're fast becoming musical legends of my generation.
Thank you for taking the time to learn about this. I’d be grateful if you'd share this with reader friends who might be interested.