831 lines
47 KiB
Plaintext
831 lines
47 KiB
Plaintext
Urantia Book Paper 16 The Seven Master Spirits
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SPIRITWEB ORG, PROMOTING SPIRITUAL CONSCIOUSNESS ON THE INTERNET.
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Subjects Archive The Urantia Book Urantia Book PART I: The Central and Super
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Universes : The Universal Father The Nature Of God The Attributes Of God God's
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Relation To The Universe God's Relation To The Individual The Eternal Son
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Relation Of The Eternal Son To The Universe The Infinite Spirit Relation Of The
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Infinite Spirit To The Universe The Paradise Trinity The Eternal Isle Of
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Paradise The Universe Of Universes The Sacred Spheres Of Paradise The Central
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And Divine Universe The Seven Superuniverses The Seven Master Spirits The Seven
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Supreme Spirit Groups The Supreme Trinity Personalities The Co-ordinate
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Trinity-origin Beings The Paradise Sons Of God The Paradise Creator Sons The
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Trinitized Sons Of God The Solitary Messengers Higher Personalities Of The
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Infinite Spirit The Messenger Hosts Of Space Ministering Spirits Of The Central
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Universe Ministry Of The Primary Supernaphim Ministering Spirits Of The
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Superuniverses The Universe Power Directors Personalities Of The Grand Universe
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The Corps Of The Finality
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Paper 16 The Seven Master Spirits
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Introduction
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THE Seven Master Spirits of Paradise are the primary personalities of the
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Infinite Spirit. In this sevenfold creative act of self-duplication the
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Infinite Spirit exhausted the associative possibilities mathematically inherent
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in the factual existence of the three persons of Deity. Had it been possible to
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produce a larger number of Master Spirits, they would have been created, but
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there are just seven associative possibilities, and only seven, inherent in
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three Deities. And this explains why the universe is operated in seven grand
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divisions, and why the number seven is basically fundamental in its
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organization and administration.
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The Seven Master Spirits thus have their origin in, and derive their individual
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characteristics from, the following seven likenesses:
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1. The Universal Father.
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2. The Eternal Son.
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3. The Infinite Spirit.
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4. The Father and the Son.
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5. The Father and the Spirit.
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6. The Son and the Spirit.
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7. The Father, Son, and Spirit.
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We know very little about the action of the Father and the Son in the creation
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of the Master Spirits. Apparently they were brought into existence by the
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personal acts of the Infinite Spirit, but we have been definitely instructed
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that both the Father and the Son participated in their origin.
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In spirit character and nature these Seven Spirits of Paradise are as one, but
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in all other aspects of identity they are very unlike, and the results of their
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functioning in the superuniverses are such that the individual differences of
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each are unmistakably discernible. All the afterplans of the seven segments of
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the grand universe--and even the correlative segments of outer space--have been
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conditioned by the other-than-spiritual diversity of these Seven Master Spirits
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of supreme and ultimate supervision.
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The Master Spirits have many functions, but at the present time their
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particular domain is the central supervision of the seven superuniverses. Each
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Master Spirit maintains an enormous force-focal headquarters, which slowly
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circulates around the periphery of Paradise, always maintaining a position
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opposite the superuniverse of immediate supervision and at the Paradise focal
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point of its specialized power control and segmental energy distribution. The
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radial boundary lines of any one of the superuniverses do actually converge at
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the Paradise headquarters of the supervising Master Spirit.
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top of page - 185
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1. RELATION TO TRIUNE DEITY
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The Conjoint Creator, the Infinite Spirit, is necessary to the completion of
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the triune personalization of undivided Deity. This threefold Deity
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personalization is inherently sevenfold in possibility of individual and
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associative expression; hence the subsequent plan to create universes inhabited
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by intelligent and potentially spiritual beings, duly expressive of the Father,
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Son, and Spirit, made the personalization of the Seven Master Spirits
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inescapable. We have come to speak of the threefold personalization of Deity as
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the absolute inevitability, while we have come to look upon the appearance of
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the Seven Master Spirits as the subabsolute inevitability.
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While the Seven Master Spirits are hardly expressive of threefold Deity, they
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are the eternal portrayal of sevenfold Deity, the active and associative
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functions of the three ever-existent persons of Deity. By and in and through
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these Seven Spirits, the Universal Father, the Eternal Son, or the Infinite
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Spirit, or any dual association, is able to function as such. When the Father,
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the Son, and the Spirit act together, they can and do function through Master
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Spirit Number Seven, but not as the Trinity. The Master Spirits singly and
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collectively represent any and all possible Deity functions, single and
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several, but not collective, not the Trinity. Master Spirit Number Seven is
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personally nonfunctional with regard to the Paradise Trinity, and that is just
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why he can function personally for the Supreme Being.
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But when the Seven Master Spirits vacate their individual seats of personal
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power and superuniverse authority and assemble about the Conjoint Actor in the
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triune presence of Paradise Deity, then and there are they collectively
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representative of the functional power, wisdom, and authority of undivided
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Deity--the Trinity--to and in the evolving universes. Such a Paradise union of
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the primal sevenfold expression of Deity does actually embrace, literally
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encompass, all of every attribute and attitude of the three eternal Deities in
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Supremacy and in Ultimacy. To all practical intents and purposes the Seven
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Master Spirits do, then and there, encompass the functional domain of the
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Supreme-Ultimate to and in the master universe.
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As far as we can discern, these Seven Spirits are associated with the divine
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activities of the three eternal persons of Deity; we detect no evidence of
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direct association with the functioning presences of the three eternal phases
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of the Absolute. When associated, the Master Spirits represent the Paradise
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Deities in what may be roughly conceived as the finite domain of action. It
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might embrace much that is ultimate but not absolute.
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2. RELATION TO THE INFINITE SPIRIT
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Just as the Eternal and Original Son is revealed through the persons of the
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constantly increasing number of divine Sons, so is the Infinite and Divine
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Spirit revealed through the channels of the Seven Master Spirits and their
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associated spirit groups. At the center of centers the Infinite Spirit is
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approachable, but not all who attain Paradise are immediately able to discern
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his personality and differentiated presence; but all who attain the central
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universe can and do immediately commune with one of the Seven Master Spirits,
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the one presiding over the superuniverse from which the newly arrived space
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pilgrim hails.
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top of page - 186
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To the universe of universes the Paradise Father speaks only through his Son,
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while he and the Son conjointly act only through the Infinite Spirit. Outside
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of Paradise and Havona the Infinite Spirit speaks only by the voices of the
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Seven Master Spirits.
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The Infinite Spirit exerts an influence of personal presence within the
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confines of the Paradise-Havona system; elsewhere his personal spirit presence
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is exerted by and through one of the Seven Master Spirits. Therefore is the
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superuniverse spirit presence of the Third Source and Center on any world or in
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any individual conditioned by the unique nature of the supervisory Master
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Spirit of that segment of creation. Conversely, the combined lines of spirit
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force and intelligence pass inward to the Third Person of Deity by way of the
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Seven Master Spirits.
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The Seven Master Spirits are collectively endowed with the supreme-ultimate
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attributes of the Third Source and Center. While each one individually partakes
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of this endowment, only collectively do they disclose the attributes of
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omnipotence, omniscience, and omnipresence. No one of them can so function
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universally; as individuals and in the exercise of these powers of supremacy
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and ultimacy each is personally limited to the superuniverse of immediate
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supervision.
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All of everything which has been told you concerning the divinity and
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personality of the Conjoint Actor applies equally and fully to the Seven Master
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Spirits, who so effectively distribute the Infinite Spirit to the seven
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segments of the grand universe in accordance with their divine endowment and in
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the manner of their differing and individually unique natures. It would
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therefore be proper to apply to the collective group of seven any or all of the
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names of the Infinite Spirit. Collectively they are one with the Conjoint
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Creator on all subabsolute levels.
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3. IDENTITY AND DIVERSITY OF THE MASTER SPIRITS
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The Seven Master Spirits are indescribable beings, but they are distinctly and
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definitely personal. They have names, but we elect to introduce them by number.
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As primary personalizations of the Infinite Spirit, they are akin, but as
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primary expressions of the seven possible associations of triune Deity, they
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are essentially diverse in nature and this diversity of nature determines their
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differential of superuniverse conduct. These Seven Master Spirits may be
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described as follows:
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Master Spirit Number One. In a special manner this Spirit is the direct
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representation of the Paradise Father. He is a peculiar and efficient
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manifestation of the power, love, and wisdom of the Universal Father. He is the
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close associate and supernal adviser of the chief of Mystery Monitors, that
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being who presides over the College of Personalized Adjusters on Divinington.
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In all associations of the Seven Master Spirits, it is always Master Spirit
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Number One who speaks for the Universal Father.
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This Spirit presides over the first superuniverse and, while unfailingly
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exhibiting the divine nature of a primary personalization of the Infinite
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Spirit, seems more especially to resemble the Universal Father in character. He
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is always in personal liaison with the seven Reflective Spirits at the
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headquarters of the first superuniverse.
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top of page - 187
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Master Spirit Number Two. This Spirit adequately portrays the matchless nature
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and charming character of the Eternal Son, the first-born of all creation. He
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is always in close association with all orders of the Sons of God whenever they
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may happen to be in the residential universe as individuals or in joyous
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conclave. In all the assemblies of the Seven Master Spirits he always speaks
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for, and in behalf of, the Eternal Son.
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This Spirit directs the destinies of superuniverse number two and rules this
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vast domain much as would the Eternal Son. He is always in liaison with the
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seven Reflective Spirits situated at the capital of the second superuniverse.
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Master Spirit Number Three. This Spirit personality especially resembles the
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Infinite Spirit, and he directs the movements and work of many of the high
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personalities of the Infinite Spirit. He presides over their assemblies and is
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closely associated with all personalities who take exclusive origin in the
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Third Source and Center. When the Seven Master Spirits are in council, it is
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Master Spirit Number Three who always speaks for the Infinite Spirit.
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This Spirit is in charge of superuniverse number three, and he administers the
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affairs of this segment much as would the Infinite Spirit. He is always in
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liaison with the Reflective Spirits at the headquarters of the third
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superuniverse.
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Master Spirit Number Four. Partaking of the combined natures of the Father and
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the Son, this Master Spirit is the determining influence regarding Father-Son
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policies and procedures in the councils of the Seven Master Spirits. This
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Spirit is the chief director and adviser of those ascendant beings who have
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attained the Infinite Spirit and thus have become candidates for seeing the Son
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and the Father. He fosters that enormous group of personalities taking origin
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in the Father and the Son. When it becomes necessary to represent the Father
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and the Son in the association of the Seven Master Spirits, it is always Master
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Spirit Number Four who speaks.
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This Spirit fosters the fourth segment of the grand universe in accordance with
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his peculiar association of the attributes of the Universal Father and the
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Eternal Son. He is always in personal liaison with the Reflective Spirits of
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the headquarters of the fourth superuniverse.
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Master Spirit Number Five. This divine personality who exquisitely blends the
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character of the Universal Father and the Infinite Spirit is the adviser of
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that enormous group of beings known as the power directors, power centers, and
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physical controllers. This Spirit also fosters all personalities taking origin
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in the Father and the Conjoint Actor. In the councils of the Seven Master
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Spirits, when the Father-Spirit attitude is in question, it is always Master
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Spirit Number Five who speaks.
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This Spirit directs the welfare of the fifth superuniverse in such a way as to
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suggest the combined action of the Universal Father and the Infinite Spirit. He
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is always in liaison with the Reflective Spirits at the headquarters of the
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fifth superuniverse.
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Master Spirit Number Six. This divine being seems to portray the combined
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character of the Eternal Son and the Infinite Spirit. Whenever the creatures
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jointly created by the Son and the Spirit forgather in the central universe, it
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is this Master Spirit who is their adviser; and whenever, in the councils of
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the Seven Master Spirits, it becomes necessary to speak conjointly for the
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Eternal Son and the Infinite Spirit, it is Master Spirit Number Six who
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responds.
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top of page - 188
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This Spirit directs the affairs of the sixth superuniverse much as would the
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Eternal Son and the Infinite Spirit. He is always in liaison with the
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Reflective Spirits at the headquarters of the sixth superuniverse.
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Master Spirit Number Seven. The presiding Spirit of the seventh superuniverse
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is a uniquely equal portrayal of the Universal Father, the Eternal Son, and the
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Infinite Spirit. The Seventh Spirit, the fostering adviser of all triune-origin
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beings, is also the adviser and director of all the ascending pilgrims of
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Havona, those lowly beings who have attained the courts of glory through the
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combined ministry of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit.
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The Seventh Master Spirit is not organically representative of the Paradise
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Trinity; but it is a known fact that his personal and spiritual nature is the
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Conjoint Actor's portraiture in equal proportions of the three infinite persons
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whose Deity union is the Paradise Trinity, and whose function as such is the
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source of the personal and spiritual nature of God the Supreme. Hence the
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Seventh Master Spirit discloses a personal and organic relationship to the
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spirit person of the evolving Supreme. Therefore in the Master Spirit councils
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on high, when it becomes necessary to cast the ballot for the combined personal
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attitude of the Father, Son, and Spirit or to depict the spiritual attitude of
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the Supreme Being, it is Master Spirit Number Seven who functions. He thus
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inherently becomes the presiding head of the Paradise council of the Seven
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Master Spirits.
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No one of the Seven Spirits is organically representative of the Paradise
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Trinity, but when they unite as sevenfold Deity, this union in a deity
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sense--not in a personal sense--equivalates to a functional level associable
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with Trinity functions. In this sense the "Sevenfold Spirit" is functionally
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associable with the Paradise Trinity. It is also in this sense that Master
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Spirit Number Seven sometimes speaks in confirmation of Trinity attitudes or,
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rather, acts as spokesman for the attitude of the Sevenfold-Spirit-union
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regarding the attitude of the Threefold-Deity-union, the attitude of the
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Paradise Trinity.
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The multiple functions of the Seventh Master Spirit thus range from a combined
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portraiture of the personal natures of the Father, Son, and Spirit, through a
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representation of the personal attitude of God the Supreme, to a disclosure of
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the deity attitude of the Paradise Trinity. And in certain respects this
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presiding Spirit is similarly expressive of the attitudes of the Ultimate and
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of the Supreme-Ultimate.
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It is Master Spirit Number Seven who, in his multiple capacities, personally
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sponsors the progress of the ascension candidates from the worlds of time in
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their attempts to achieve comprehension of the undivided Deity of Supremacy.
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Such comprehension involves a grasp of the existential sovereignty of the
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Trinity of Supremacy so co-ordinated with a concept of the growing experiential
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sovereignty of the Supreme Being as to constitute the creature grasp of the
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unity of Supremacy. Creature realization of these three factors equals Havona
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comprehension of Trinity reality and endows the pilgrims of time with the
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ability eventually to penetrate the Trinity, to discover the three infinite
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persons of Deity.
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The inability of the Havona pilgrims fully to find God the Supreme is
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compensated by the Seventh Master Spirit, whose triune nature in such a
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peculiar manner is revelatory of the spirit person of the Supreme. During the
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present universe age of the noncontactability of the person of the Supreme,
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Master Spirit Number Seven functions in the place of the God of ascendant
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creatures
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top of page - 189
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in the matter of personal relationships. He is the one high spirit being that
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all ascenders are certain to recognize and somewhat comprehend when they reach
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the centers of glory.
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This Master Spirit is always in liaison with the Reflective Spirits of Uversa,
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the headquarters of the seventh superuniverse, our own segment of creation. His
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administration of Orvonton discloses the marvelous symmetry of the co-ordinate
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blending of the divine natures of Father, Son, and Spirit.
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4. ATTRIBUTES AND FUNCTIONS OF THE MASTER SPIRITS
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The Seven Master Spirits are the full representation of the Infinite Spirit to
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the evolutionary universes. They represent the Third Source and Center in the
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relationships of energy, mind, and spirit. While they function as the
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co-ordinating heads of the universal administrative control of the Conjoint
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Actor, do not forget that they have their origin in the creative acts of the
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Paradise Deities. It is literally true that these Seven Spirits are the
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personalized physical power, cosmic mind, and spiritual presence of the triune
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Deity, "the Seven Spirits of God sent forth to all the universe."
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The Master Spirits are unique in that they function on all universe levels of
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reality excepting the absolute. They are, therefore, efficient and perfect
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supervisors of all phases of administrative affairs on all levels of
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superuniverse activities. It is difficult for the mortal mind to understand
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very much about the Master Spirits because their work is so highly specialized
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yet all-embracing, so exceptionally material and at the same time so
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exquisitely spiritual. These versatile creators of the cosmic mind are the
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ancestors of the Universe Power Directors and are, themselves, supreme
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directors of the vast and far-flung spirit-creature creation.
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The Seven Master Spirits are the creators of the Universe Power Directors and
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their associates, entities who are indispensable to the organization, control,
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and regulation of the physical energies of the grand universe. And these same
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Master Spirits very materially assist the Creator Sons in the work of shaping
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and organizing the local universes.
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We are unable to trace any personal connection between the cosmic-energy work
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of the Master Spirits and the force functions of the Unqualified Absolute. The
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energy manifestations under the jurisdiction of the Master Spirits are all
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directed from the periphery of Paradise; they do not appear to be in any direct
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manner associated with the force phenomena identified with the nether surface
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of Paradise.
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Unquestionably, when we encounter the functional activities of the various
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Morontia Power Supervisors, we are face to face with certain of the unrevealed
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activities of the Master Spirits. Who, aside from these ancestors of both
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physical controllers and spirit ministers, could have contrived so to combine
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and associate material and spiritual energies as to produce a hitherto
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nonexistent phase of universe reality--morontia substance and morontia mind?
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Much of the reality of the spiritual worlds is of the morontia order, a phase
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of universe reality wholly unknown on Urantia. The goal of personality
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existence is spiritual, but the morontia creations always intervene, bridging
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the gulf between the material realms of mortal origin and the superuniverse
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spheres of advancing spiritual status. It is in this realm that the Master
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Spirits make their great contribution to the plan of man's Paradise ascension.
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top of page - 190
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The Seven Master Spirits have personal representatives who function throughout
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the grand universe; but since a large majority of these subordinate beings are
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not directly concerned with the ascendant scheme of mortal progression in the
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path of Paradise perfection, little or nothing has been revealed about them.
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Much, very much, of the activity of the Seven Master Spirits remains hidden
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from human understanding because in no way does it directly pertain to your
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problem of Paradise ascent.
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It is highly probable, though we cannot offer definite proof, that the Master
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Spirit of Orvonton exerts a decided influence in the following spheres of
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activity:
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1. The life-initiation procedures of the local universe Life Carriers.
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2. The life activations of the adjutant mind-spirits bestowed upon the worlds
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by a local universe Creative Spirit.
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3. The fluctuations in energy manifestations exhibited by the
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linear-gravity-responding units of organized matter.
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4. The behavior of emergent energy when fully liberated from the grasp of the
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Unqualified Absolute, thus becoming responsive to the direct influence of
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linear gravity and to the manipulations of the Universe Power Directors and
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their associates.
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5. The bestowal of the ministry spirit of a local universe Creative Spirit,
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known on Urantia as the Holy Spirit.
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6. The subsequent bestowal of the spirit of the bestowal Sons, on Urantia
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called the Comforter or the Spirit of Truth.
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7. The reflectivity mechanism of the local universes and the superuniverse.
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Many features connected with this extraordinary phenomenon can hardly be
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reasonably explained or rationally understood without postulating the activity
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of the Master Spirits in association with the Conjoint Actor and the Supreme
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Being.
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Notwithstanding our failure adequately to comprehend the manifold workings of
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the Seven Master Spirits, we are confident there are two realms in the vast
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range of universe activities with which they have nothing whatever to do: the
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bestowal and ministry of the Thought Adjusters and the inscrutable functions of
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the Unqualified Absolute.
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5. RELATION TO CREATURES
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Each segment of the grand universe, each individual universe and world, enjoys
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the benefits of the united counsel and wisdom of all Seven Master Spirits but
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receives the personal touch and tinge of only one. And the personal nature of
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each Master Spirit entirely pervades and uniquely conditions his superuniverse.
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Through this personal influence of the Seven Master Spirits every creature of
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every order of intelligent beings, outside of Paradise and Havona, must bear
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the characteristic stamp of individuality indicative of the ancestral nature of
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some one of these Seven Paradise Spirits. As concerns the seven superuniverses,
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each native creature, man or angel, will forever bear this badge of natal
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identification.
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top of page - 191
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The Seven Master Spirits do not directly invade the material minds of the
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individual creatures on the evolutionary worlds of space. The mortals of
|
|
Urantia do not experience the personal presence of the mind-spirit influence of
|
|
the Master Spirit of Orvonton. If this Master Spirit does attain any sort of
|
|
contact with the individual mortal mind during the earlier evolutionary ages of
|
|
an inhabited world, it must occur through the ministry of the local universe
|
|
Creative Spirit, the consort and associate of the Creator Son of God who
|
|
presides over the destinies of each local creation. But this very Creative
|
|
Mother Spirit is, in nature and character, quite like the Master Spirit of
|
|
Orvonton.
|
|
|
|
The physical stamp of a Master Spirit is a part of man's material origin. The
|
|
entire morontia career is lived under the continuing influence of this same
|
|
Master Spirit. It is hardly strange that the subsequent spirit career of such
|
|
an ascending mortal never fully eradicates the characteristic stamp of this
|
|
same supervising Spirit. The impress of a Master Spirit is basic to the very
|
|
existence of every pre-Havona stage of mortal ascension.
|
|
|
|
The distinctive personality trends exhibited in the life experience of
|
|
evolutionary mortals, which are characteristic in each superuniverse, and which
|
|
are directly expressive of the nature of the dominating Master Spirit, are
|
|
never fully effaced, not even after such ascenders are subjected to the long
|
|
training and unifying discipline encountered on the one billion educational
|
|
spheres of Havona. Even the subsequent intense Paradise culture does not
|
|
suffice to eradicate the earmarks of superuniverse origin. Throughout all
|
|
eternity an ascendant mortal will exhibit traits indicative of the presiding
|
|
Spirit of his superuniverse of nativity. Even in the Corps of the Finality,
|
|
when it is desired to arrive at or to portray a complete Trinity relationship
|
|
to the evolutionary creation, always a group of seven finaliters is assembled,
|
|
one from each superuniverse.
|
|
|
|
6. THE COSMIC MIND
|
|
|
|
The Master Spirits are the sevenfold source of the cosmic mind, the
|
|
intellectual potential of the grand universe. This cosmic mind is a subabsolute
|
|
manifestation of the mind of the Third Source and Center and, in certain ways,
|
|
is functionally related to the mind of the evolving Supreme Being.
|
|
|
|
On a world like Urantia we do not encounter the direct influence of the Seven
|
|
Master Spirits in the affairs of the human races. You live under the immediate
|
|
influence of the Creative Spirit of Nebadon. Nevertheless these same Master
|
|
Spirits dominate the basic reactions of all creature mind because they are the
|
|
actual sources of the intellectual and spiritual potentials which have been
|
|
specialized in the local universes for function in the lives of those
|
|
individuals who inhabit the evolutionary worlds of time and space.
|
|
|
|
The fact of the cosmic mind explains the kinship of various types of human and
|
|
superhuman minds. Not only are kindred spirits attracted to each other, but
|
|
kindred minds are also very fraternal and inclined towards co-operation the one
|
|
with the other. Human minds are sometimes observed to be running in channels of
|
|
astonishing similarity and inexplicable agreement.
|
|
|
|
There exists in all personality associations of the cosmic mind a quality which
|
|
might be denominated the "reality response." It is this universal cosmic
|
|
endowment of will creatures which saves them from becoming helpless victims of
|
|
the implied a priori assumptions of science, philosophy, and religion. This
|
|
|
|
top of page - 192
|
|
|
|
reality sensitivity of the cosmic mind responds to certain phases of reality
|
|
just as energy-material responds to gravity. It would be still more correct to
|
|
say that these supermaterial realities so respond to the mind of the cosmos.
|
|
|
|
The cosmic mind unfailingly responds (recognizes response) on three levels of
|
|
universe reality. These responses are self-evident to clear-reasoning and
|
|
deep-thinking minds. These levels of reality are:
|
|
|
|
1. Causation--the reality domain of the physical senses, the scientific realms
|
|
of logical uniformity, the differentiation of the factual and the nonfactual,
|
|
reflective conclusions based on cosmic response. This is the mathematical form
|
|
of the cosmic discrimination.
|
|
|
|
2. Duty--the reality domain of morals in the philosophic realm, the arena of
|
|
reason, the recognition of relative right and wrong. This is the judicial form
|
|
of the cosmic discrimination.
|
|
|
|
3. Worship--the spiritual domain of the reality of religious experience, the
|
|
personal realization of divine fellowship, the recognition of spirit values,
|
|
the assurance of eternal survival, the ascent from the status of servants of
|
|
God to the joy and liberty of the sons of God. This is the highest insight of
|
|
the cosmic mind, the reverential and worshipful form of the cosmic
|
|
discrimination.
|
|
|
|
These scientific, moral, and spiritual insights, these cosmic responses, are
|
|
innate in the cosmic mind, which endows all will creatures. The experience of
|
|
living never fails to develop these three cosmic intuitions; they are
|
|
constitutive in the self-consciousness of reflective thinking. But it is sad to
|
|
record that so few persons on Urantia take delight in cultivating these
|
|
qualities of courageous and independent cosmic thinking.
|
|
|
|
In the local universe mind bestowals, these three insights of the cosmic mind
|
|
constitute the a priori assumptions which make it possible for man to function
|
|
as a rational and self-conscious personality in the realms of science,
|
|
philosophy, and religion. Stated otherwise, the recognition of the reality of
|
|
these three manifestations of the Infinite is by a cosmic technique of
|
|
self-revelation. Matter-energy is recognized by the mathematical logic of the
|
|
senses; mind-reason intuitively knows its moral duty; spirit-faith (worship) is
|
|
the religion of the reality of spiritual experience. These three basic factors
|
|
in reflective thinking may be unified and co-ordinated in personality
|
|
development, or they may become disproportionate and virtually unrelated in
|
|
their respective functions. But when they become unified, they produce a strong
|
|
character consisting in the correlation of a factual science, a moral
|
|
philosophy, and a genuine religious experience. And it is these three cosmic
|
|
intuitions that give objective validity, reality, to man's experience in and
|
|
with things, meanings, and values.
|
|
|
|
It is the purpose of education to develop and sharpen these innate endowments
|
|
of the human mind; of civilization to express them; of life experience to
|
|
realize them; of religion to ennoble them; and of personality to unify them.
|
|
|
|
7. MORALS, VIRTUE, AND PERSONALITY
|
|
|
|
Intelligence alone cannot explain the moral nature. Morality, virtue, is
|
|
indigenous to human personality. Moral intuition, the realization of duty, is a
|
|
component of human mind endowment and is associated with the other inalienables
|
|
of human nature: scientific curiosity and spiritual insight. Man's mentality
|
|
|
|
top of page - 193
|
|
|
|
far transcends that of his animal cousins, but it is his moral and religious
|
|
natures that especially distinguish him from the animal world.
|
|
|
|
The selective response of an animal is limited to the motor level of behavior.
|
|
The supposed insight of the higher animals is on a motor level and usually
|
|
appears only after the experience of motor trial and error. Man is able to
|
|
exercise scientific, moral, and spiritual insight prior to all exploration or
|
|
experimentation.
|
|
|
|
Only a personality can know what it is doing before it does it; only
|
|
personalities possess insight in advance of experience. A personality can look
|
|
before it leaps and can therefore learn from looking as well as from leaping. A
|
|
nonpersonal animal ordinarily learns only by leaping.
|
|
|
|
As a result of experience an animal becomes able to examine the different ways
|
|
of attaining a goal and to select an approach based on accumulated experience.
|
|
But a personality can also examine the goal itself and pass judgment on its
|
|
worth-whileness, its value. Intelligence alone can discriminate as to the best
|
|
means of attaining indiscriminate ends, but a moral being possesses an insight
|
|
which enables him to discriminate between ends as well as between means. And a
|
|
moral being in choosing virtue is nonetheless intelligent. He knows what he is
|
|
doing, why he is doing it, where he is going, and how he will get there.
|
|
|
|
When man fails to discriminate the ends of his mortal striving, he finds
|
|
himself functioning on the animal level of existence. He has failed to avail
|
|
himself of the superior advantages of that material acumen, moral
|
|
discrimination, and spiritual insight which are an integral part of his
|
|
cosmic-mind endowment as a personal being.
|
|
|
|
Virtue is righteousness--conformity with the cosmos. To name virtues is not to
|
|
define them, but to live them is to know them. Virtue is not mere knowledge nor
|
|
yet wisdom but rather the reality of progressive experience in the attainment
|
|
of ascending levels of cosmic achievement. In the day-by-day life of mortal
|
|
man, virtue is realized by the consistent choosing of good rather than evil,
|
|
and such choosing ability is evidence of the possession of a moral nature.
|
|
|
|
Man's choosing between good and evil is influenced, not only by the keenness of
|
|
his moral nature, but also by such influences as ignorance, immaturity, and
|
|
delusion. A sense of proportion is also concerned in the exercise of virtue
|
|
because evil may be perpetrated when the lesser is chosen in the place of the
|
|
greater as a result of distortion or deception. The art of relative estimation
|
|
or comparative measurement enters into the practice of the virtues of the moral
|
|
realm.
|
|
|
|
Man's moral nature would be impotent without the art of measurement, the
|
|
discrimination embodied in his ability to scrutinize meanings. Likewise would
|
|
moral choosing be futile without that cosmic insight which yields the
|
|
consciousness of spiritual values. From the standpoint of intelligence, man
|
|
ascends to the level of a moral being because he is endowed with personality.
|
|
|
|
Morality can never be advanced by law or by force. It is a personal and
|
|
freewill matter and must be disseminated by the contagion of the contact of
|
|
morally fragrant persons with those who are less morally responsive, but who
|
|
are also in some measure desirous of doing the Father's will.
|
|
|
|
Moral acts are those human performances which are characterized by the highest
|
|
intelligence, directed by selective discrimination in the choice of superior
|
|
ends as well as in the selection of moral means to attain these ends. Such
|
|
conduct is virtuous. Supreme virtue, then, is wholeheartedly to choose to do
|
|
the will of the Father in heaven.
|
|
|
|
top of page - 194
|
|
|
|
8. URANTIA PERSONALITY
|
|
|
|
The Universal Father bestows personality upon numerous orders of beings as they
|
|
function on diverse levels of universe actuality. Urantia human beings are
|
|
endowed with personality of the finite-mortal type, functioning on the level of
|
|
the ascending sons of God.
|
|
|
|
Though we can hardly undertake to define personality, we may attempt to narrate
|
|
our understanding of the known factors which go to make up the ensemble of
|
|
material, mental, and spiritual energies whose interassociation constitutes the
|
|
mechanism wherein and whereon and wherewith the Universal Father causes his
|
|
bestowed personality to function.
|
|
|
|
Personality is a unique endowment of original nature whose existence is
|
|
independent of, and antecedent to, the bestowal of the Thought Adjuster.
|
|
Nevertheless, the presence of the Adjuster does augment the qualitative
|
|
manifestation of personality. Thought Adjusters, when they come forth from the
|
|
Father, are identical in nature, but personality is diverse, original, and
|
|
exclusive; and the manifestation of personality is further conditioned and
|
|
qualified by the nature and qualities of the associated energies of a material,
|
|
mindal, and spiritual nature which constitute the organismal vehicle for
|
|
personality manifestation.
|
|
|
|
Personalities may be similar, but they are never the same. Persons of a given
|
|
series, type, order, or pattern may and do resemble one another, but they are
|
|
never identical. Personality is that feature of an individual which we know,
|
|
and which enables us to identify such a being at some future time regardless of
|
|
the nature and extent of changes in form, mind, or spirit status. Personality
|
|
is that part of any individual which enables us to recognize and positively
|
|
identify that person as the one we have previously known, no matter how much he
|
|
may have changed because of the modification of the vehicle of expression and
|
|
manifestation of his personality.
|
|
|
|
Creature personality is distinguished by two self-manifesting and
|
|
characteristic phenomena of mortal reactive behavior: self-consciousness and
|
|
associated relative free will.
|
|
|
|
Self-consciousness consists in intellectual awareness of personality actuality;
|
|
it includes the ability to recognize the reality of other personalities. It
|
|
indicates capacity for individualized experience in and with cosmic realities,
|
|
equivalating to the attainment of identity status in the personality
|
|
relationships of the universe. Self-consciousness connotes recognition of the
|
|
actuality of mind ministration and the realization of relative independence of
|
|
creative and determinative free will.
|
|
|
|
The relative free will which characterizes the self-consciousness of human
|
|
personality is involved in:
|
|
|
|
1. Moral decision, highest wisdom.
|
|
|
|
2. Spiritual choice, truth discernment.
|
|
|
|
3. Unselfish love, brotherhood service.
|
|
|
|
4. Purposeful co-operation, group loyalty.
|
|
|
|
5. Cosmic insight, the grasp of universe meanings.
|
|
|
|
6. Personality dedication, wholehearted devotion to doing the Father's will.
|
|
|
|
top of page - 195
|
|
|
|
7. Worship, the sincere pursuit of divine values and the wholehearted love of
|
|
the divine Value-Giver.
|
|
|
|
The Urantia type of human personality may be viewed as functioning in a
|
|
physical mechanism consisting of the planetary modification of the Nebadon type
|
|
of organism belonging to the electrochemical order of life activation and
|
|
endowed with the Nebadon order of the Orvonton series of the cosmic mind of
|
|
parental reproductive pattern. The bestowal of the divine gift of personality
|
|
upon such a mind-endowed mortal mechanism confers the dignity of cosmic
|
|
citizenship and enables such a mortal creature forthwith to become reactive to
|
|
the constitutive recognition of the three basic mind realities of the cosmos:
|
|
|
|
1. The mathematical or logical recognition of the uniformity of physical
|
|
causation.
|
|
|
|
2. The reasoned recognition of the obligation of moral conduct.
|
|
|
|
3. The faith-grasp of the fellowship worship of Deity, associated with the
|
|
loving service of humanity.
|
|
|
|
The full function of such a personality endowment is the beginning realization
|
|
of Deity kinship. Such a selfhood, indwelt by a prepersonal fragment of God the
|
|
Father, is in truth and in fact a spiritual son of God. Such a creature not
|
|
only discloses capacity for the reception of the gift of the divine presence
|
|
but also exhibits reactive response to the personality-gravity circuit of the
|
|
Paradise Father of all personalities.
|
|
|
|
9. REALITY OF HUMAN CONSCIOUSNESS
|
|
|
|
The cosmic-mind-endowed, Adjuster-indwelt, personal creature possesses innate
|
|
recognition-realization of energy reality, mind reality, and spirit reality.
|
|
The will creature is thus equipped to discern the fact, the law, and the love
|
|
of God. Aside from these three inalienables of human consciousness, all human
|
|
experience is really subjective except that intuitive realization of validity
|
|
attaches to the unification of these three universe reality responses of cosmic
|
|
recognition.
|
|
|
|
The God-discerning mortal is able to sense the unification value of these three
|
|
cosmic qualities in the evolution of the surviving soul, man's supreme
|
|
undertaking in the physical tabernacle where the moral mind collaborates with
|
|
the indwelling divine spirit to dualize the immortal soul. From its earliest
|
|
inception the soul is real; it has cosmic survival qualities.
|
|
|
|
If mortal man fails to survive natural death, the real spiritual values of his
|
|
human experience survive as a part of the continuing experience of the Thought
|
|
Adjuster. The personality values of such a nonsurvivor persist as a factor in
|
|
the personality of the actualizing Supreme Being. Such persisting qualities of
|
|
personality are deprived of identity but not of experiential values accumulated
|
|
during the mortal life in the flesh. The survival of identity is dependent on
|
|
the survival of the immortal soul of morontia status and increasingly divine
|
|
value. Personality identity survives in and by the survival of the soul.
|
|
|
|
Human self-consciousness implies the recognition of the reality of selves other
|
|
than the conscious self and further implies that such awareness is mutual; that
|
|
the self is known as it knows. This is shown in a purely human manner in man's
|
|
social life. But you cannot become so absolutely certain of a fellow being's
|
|
reality as you can of the reality of the presence of God that lives within you.
|
|
|
|
top of page - 196
|
|
|
|
The social consciousness is not inalienable like the God-consciousness; it is a
|
|
cultural development and is dependent on knowledge, symbols, and the
|
|
contributions of the constitutive endowments of man--science, morality, and
|
|
religion. And these cosmic gifts, socialized, constitute civilization.
|
|
|
|
Civilizations are unstable because they are not cosmic; they are not innate in
|
|
the individuals of the races. They must be nurtured by the combined
|
|
contributions of the constitutive factors of man--science, morality, and
|
|
religion. Civilizations come and go, but science, morality, and religion always
|
|
survive the crash.
|
|
|
|
Jesus not only revealed God to man, but he also made a new revelation of man to
|
|
himself and to other men. In the life of Jesus you see man at his best. Man
|
|
thus becomes so beautifully real because Jesus had so much of God in his life,
|
|
and the realization (recognition) of God is inalienable and constitutive in all
|
|
men.
|
|
|
|
Unselfishness, aside from parental instinct, is not altogether natural; other
|
|
persons are not naturally loved or socially served. It requires the
|
|
enlightenment of reason, morality, and the urge of religion, God-knowingness,
|
|
to generate an unselfish and altruistic social order. Man's own personality
|
|
awareness, self-consciousness, is also directly dependent on this very fact of
|
|
innate other-awareness, this innate ability to recognize and grasp the reality
|
|
of other personality, ranging from the human to the divine.
|
|
|
|
Unselfish social consciousness must be, at bottom, a religious consciousness;
|
|
that is, if it is objective; otherwise it is a purely subjective philosophic
|
|
abstraction and therefore devoid of love. Only a God-knowing individual can
|
|
love another person as he loves himself.
|
|
|
|
Self-consciousness is in essence a communal consciousness: God and man, Father
|
|
and son, Creator and creature. In human self-consciousness four
|
|
universe-reality realizations are latent and inherent:
|
|
|
|
1. The quest for knowledge, the logic of science.
|
|
|
|
2. The quest for moral values, the sense of duty.
|
|
|
|
3. The quest for spiritual values, the religious experience.
|
|
|
|
4. The quest for personality values, the ability to recognize the reality of
|
|
God as a personality and the concurrent realization of our fraternal
|
|
relationship with fellow personalities.
|
|
|
|
You become conscious of man as your creature brother because you are already
|
|
conscious of God as your Creator Father. Fatherhood is the relationship out of
|
|
which we reason ourselves into the recognition of brotherhood. And Fatherhood
|
|
becomes, or may become, a universe reality to all moral creatures because the
|
|
Father has himself bestowed personality upon all such beings and has
|
|
encircuited them within the grasp of the universal personality circuit. We
|
|
worship God, first, because he is, then, because he is in us, and last, because
|
|
we are in him.
|
|
|
|
Is it strange that the cosmic mind should be self-consciously aware of its own
|
|
source, the infinite mind of the Infinite Spirit, and at the same time
|
|
conscious of the physical reality of the far-flung universes, the spiritual
|
|
reality of the Eternal Son, and the personality reality of the Universal
|
|
Father?
|
|
|
|
[Sponsored by a Universal Censor from Uversa.]
|
|
|
|
top of page - 197
|
|
|
|
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
Subjects Archive The Urantia Book Urantia Book PART I: The Central and Super
|
|
Universes : The Universal Father The Nature Of God The Attributes Of God God's
|
|
Relation To The Universe God's Relation To The Individual The Eternal Son
|
|
Relation Of The Eternal Son To The Universe The Infinite Spirit Relation Of The
|
|
Infinite Spirit To The Universe The Paradise Trinity The Eternal Isle Of
|
|
Paradise The Universe Of Universes The Sacred Spheres Of Paradise The Central
|
|
And Divine Universe The Seven Superuniverses The Seven Master Spirits The Seven
|
|
Supreme Spirit Groups The Supreme Trinity Personalities The Co-ordinate
|
|
Trinity-origin Beings The Paradise Sons Of God The Paradise Creator Sons The
|
|
Trinitized Sons Of God The Solitary Messengers Higher Personalities Of The
|
|
Infinite Spirit The Messenger Hosts Of Space Ministering Spirits Of The Central
|
|
Universe Ministry Of The Primary Supernaphim Ministering Spirits Of The
|
|
Superuniverses The Universe Power Directors Personalities Of The Grand Universe
|
|
The Corps Of The Finality
|
|
|
|
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