658 lines
39 KiB
Plaintext
658 lines
39 KiB
Plaintext
Urantia Book Paper 5 God's Relation To The Individual
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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 5 God's Relation To The Individual
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Introduction
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IF THE finite mind of man is unable to comprehend how so great and so majestic
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a God as the Universal Father can descend from his eternal abode in infinite
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perfection to fraternize with the individual human creature, then must such a
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finite intellect rest assurance of divine fellowship upon the truth of the fact
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that an actual fragment of the living God resides within the intellect of every
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normal-minded and morally conscious Urantia mortal. The indwelling Thought
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Adjusters are a part of the eternal Deity of the Paradise Father. Man does not
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have to go farther than his own inner experience of the soul's contemplation of
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this spiritual-reality presence to find God and attempt communion with him.
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God has distributed the infinity of his eternal nature throughout the
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existential realities of his six absolute co-ordinates, but he may, at any
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time, make direct personal contact with any part or phase or kind of creation
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through the agency of his prepersonal fragments. And the eternal God has also
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reserved to himself the prerogative of bestowing personality upon the divine
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Creators and the living creatures of the universe of universes, while he has
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further reserved the prerogative of maintaining direct and parental contact
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with all these personal beings through the personality circuit.
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1. THE APPROACH TO GOD
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The inability of the finite creature to approach the infinite Father is
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inherent, not in the Father's aloofness, but in the finiteness and material
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limitations of created beings. The magnitude of the spiritual difference
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between the highest personality of universe existence and the lower groups of
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created intelligences is inconceivable. Were it possible for the lower orders
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of intelligence to be transported instantly into the presence of the Father
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himself, they would not know they were there. They would there be just as
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oblivious of the presence of the Universal Father as where they now are. There
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is a long, long road ahead of mortal man before he can consistently and within
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the realms of possibility ask for safe conduct into the Paradise presence of
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the Universal Father. Spiritually, man must be translated many times before he
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can attain a plane that will yield the spiritual vision which will enable him
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to see even any one of the Seven Master Spirits.
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Our Father is not in hiding; he is not in arbitrary seclusion. He has mobilized
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the resources of divine wisdom in a never-ending effort to reveal himself to
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the children of his universal domains. There is an infinite grandeur and an
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inexpressible generosity connected with the majesty of his love which causes
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him to yearn for the association of every created being who can comprehend,
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love, or
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top of page - 63
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approach him; and it is, therefore, the limitations inherent in you,
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inseparable from your finite personality and material existence, that determine
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the time and place and circumstances in which you may achieve the goal of the
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journey of mortal ascension and stand in the presence of the Father at the
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center of all things.
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Although the approach to the Paradise presence of the Father must await your
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attainment of the highest finite levels of spirit progression, you should
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rejoice in the recognition of the ever-present possibility of immediate
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communion with the bestowal spirit of the Father so intimately associated with
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your inner soul and your spiritualizing self.
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The mortals of the realms of time and space may differ greatly in innate
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abilities and intellectual endowment, they may enjoy environments exceptionally
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favorable to social advancement and moral progress, or they may suffer from the
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lack of almost every human aid to culture and supposed advancement in the arts
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of civilization; but the possibilities for spiritual progress in the ascension
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career are equal to all; increasing levels of spiritual insight and cosmic
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meanings are attained quite independently of all such sociomoral differentials
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of the diversified material environments on the evolutionary worlds.
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However Urantia mortals may differ in their intellectual, social, economic, and
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even moral opportunities and endowments, forget not that their spiritual
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endowment is uniform and unique. They all enjoy the same divine presence of the
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gift from the Father, and they are all equally privileged to seek intimate
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personal communion with this indwelling spirit of divine origin, while they may
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all equally choose to accept the uniform spiritual leading of these Mystery
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Monitors.
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If mortal man is wholeheartedly spiritually motivated, unreservedly consecrated
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to the doing of the Father's will, then, since he is so certainly and so
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effectively spiritually endowed by the indwelling and divine Adjuster, there
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cannot fail to materialize in that individual's experience the sublime
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consciousness of knowing God and the supernal assurance of surviving for the
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purpose of finding God by the progressive experience of becoming more and more
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like him.
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Man is spiritually indwelt by a surviving Thought Adjuster. If such a human
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mind is sincerely and spiritually motivated, if such a human soul desires to
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know God and become like him, honestly wants to do the Father's will, there
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exists no negative influence of mortal deprivation nor positive power of
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possible interference which can prevent such a divinely motivated soul from
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securely ascending to the portals of Paradise.
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The Father desires all his creatures to be in personal communion with him. He
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has on Paradise a place to receive all those whose survival status and
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spiritual nature make possible such attainment. Therefore settle in your
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philosophy now and forever: To each of you and to all of us, God is
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approachable, the Father is attainable, the way is open; the forces of divine
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love and the ways and means of divine administration are all interlocked in an
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effort to facilitate the advancement of every worthy intelligence of every
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universe to the Paradise presence of the Universal Father.
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The fact that vast time is involved in the attainment of God makes the presence
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and personality of the Infinite none the less real. Your ascension is a part of
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the circuit of the seven superuniverses, and though you swing around it
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countless times, you may expect, in spirit and in status, to be ever swinging
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inward. You can depend upon being translated from sphere to sphere, from the
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outer circuits
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top of page - 64
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ever nearer the inner center, and some day, doubt not, you shall stand in the
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divine and central presence and see him, figuratively speaking, face to face.
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It is a question of the attainment of actual and literal spiritual levels; and
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these spiritual levels are attainable by any being who has been indwelt by a
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Mystery Monitor, and who has subsequently eternally fused with that Thought
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Adjuster.
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The Father is not in spiritual hiding, but so many of his creatures have hidden
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themselves away in the mists of their own willful decisions and for the time
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being have separated themselves from the communion of his spirit and the spirit
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of his Son by the choosing of their own perverse ways and by the indulgence of
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the self-assertiveness of their intolerant minds and unspiritual natures.
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Mortal man may draw near God and may repeatedly forsake the divine will so long
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as the power of choice remains. Man's final doom is not sealed until he has
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lost the power to choose the Father's will. There is never a closure of the
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Father's heart to the need and the petition of his children. Only do his
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offspring close their hearts forever to the Father's drawing power when they
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finally and forever lose the desire to do his divine will--to know him and to
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be like him. Likewise is man's eternal destiny assured when Adjuster fusion
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proclaims to the universe that such an ascender has made the final and
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irrevocable choice to live the Father's will.
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The great God makes direct contact with mortal man and gives a part of his
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infinite and eternal and incomprehensible self to live and dwell within him.
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God has embarked upon the eternal adventure with man. If you yield to the
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leadings of the spiritual forces in you and around you, you cannot fail to
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attain the high destiny established by a loving God as the universe goal of his
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ascendant creatures from the evolutionary worlds of space.
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2. THE PRESENCE OF GOD
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The physical presence of the Infinite is the reality of the material universe.
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The mind presence of Deity must be determined by the depth of individual
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intellectual experience and by the evolutionary personality level. The
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spiritual presence of Divinity must of necessity be differential in the
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universe. It is determined by the spiritual capacity of receptivity and by the
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degree of the consecration of the creature's will to the doing of the divine
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will.
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God lives in every one of his spirit-born sons. The Paradise Sons always have
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access to the presence of God, "the right hand of the Father," and all of his
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creature personalities have access to the "bosom of the Father." This refers to
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the personality circuit, whenever, wherever, and however contacted, or
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otherwise entails personal, self-conscious contact and communion with the
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Universal Father, whether at the central abode or at some other designated
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place, as on one of the seven sacred spheres of Paradise.
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The divine presence cannot, however, be discovered anywhere in nature or even
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in the lives of God-knowing mortals so fully and so certainly as in your
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attempted communion with the indwelling Mystery Monitor, the Paradise Thought
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Adjuster. What a mistake to dream of God far off in the skies when the spirit
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of the Universal Father lives within your own mind!
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It is because of this God fragment that indwells you that you can hope, as you
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progress in harmonizing with the Adjuster's spiritual leadings, more fully to
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discern the presence and transforming power of those other spiritual influences
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that surround you and impinge upon you but do not function as an integral part
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of
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top of page - 65
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you. The fact that you are not intellectually conscious of close and intimate
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contact with the indwelling Adjuster does not in the least disprove such an
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exalted experience. The proof of fraternity with the divine Adjuster consists
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wholly in the nature and extent of the fruits of the spirit which are yielded
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in the life experience of the individual believer. "By their fruits you shall
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know them."
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It is exceedingly difficult for the meagerly spiritualized, material mind of
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mortal man to experience marked consciousness of the spirit activities of such
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divine entities as the Paradise Adjusters. As the soul of joint mind and
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Adjuster creation becomes increasingly existent, there also evolves a new phase
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of soul consciousness which is capable of experiencing the presence, and of
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recognizing the spirit leadings and other supermaterial activities, of the
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Mystery Monitors.
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The entire experience of Adjuster communion is one involving moral status
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mental motivation, and spiritual experience. The self-realization of such an
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achievement is mainly, though not exclusively, limited to the realms of soul
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consciousness, but the proofs are forthcoming and abundant in the manifestation
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of the fruits of the spirit in the lives of all such inner-spirit contactors.
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3. TRUE WORSHIP
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Though the Paradise Deities, from the universe standpoint, are as one, in their
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spiritual relations with such beings as inhabit Urantia they are also three
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distinct and separate persons. There is a difference between the Godheads in
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the matter of personal appeals, communion, and other intimate relations. In the
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highest sense, we worship the Universal Father and him only. True, we can and
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do worship the Father as he is manifested in his Creator Sons, but it is the
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Father, directly or indirectly, who is worshiped and adored.
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Supplications of all kinds belong to the realm of the Eternal Son and the Son's
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spiritual organization. Prayers, all formal communications, everything except
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adoration and worship of the Universal Father, are matters that concern a local
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universe; they do not ordinarily proceed out of the realm of the jurisdiction
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of a Creator Son. But worship is undoubtedly encircuited and dispatched to the
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person of the Creator by the function of the Father's personality circuit. We
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further believe that such registry of the homage of an Adjuster-indwelt
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creature is facilitated by the Father's spirit presence. There exists a
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tremendous amount of evidence to substantiate such a belief, and I know that
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all orders of Father fragments are empowered to register the bona fide
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adoration of their subjects acceptably in the presence of the Universal Father.
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The Adjusters undoubtedly also utilize direct prepersonal channels of
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communication with God, and they are likewise able to utilize the
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spirit-gravity circuits of the Eternal Son.
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Worship is for its own sake; prayer embodies a self- or creature-interest
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element; that is the great difference between worship and prayer. There is
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absolutely no self-request or other element of personal interest in true
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worship; we simply worship God for what we comprehend him to be. Worship asks
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nothing and expects nothing for the worshiper. We do not worship the Father
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because of anything we may derive from such veneration; we render such devotion
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and engage in such worship as a natural and spontaneous reaction to the
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recognition of the Father's matchless personality and because of his lovable
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nature and adorable attributes.
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The moment the element of self-interest intrudes upon worship, that instant
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devotion translates from worship to prayer and more appropriately should be di-
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top of page - 66
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rected to the person of the Eternal Son or the Creator Son. But in practical
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religious experience there exists no reason why prayer should not be addressed
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to God the Father as a part of true worship.
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When you deal with the practical affairs of your daily life, you are in the
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hands of the spirit personalities having origin in the Third Source and Center;
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you are co-operating with the agencies of the Conjoint Actor. And so it is: You
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worship God; pray to, and commune with, the Son; and work out the details of
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your earthly sojourn in connection with the intelligences of the Infinite
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Spirit operating on your world and throughout your universe.
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The Creator or Sovereign Sons who preside over the destinies of the local
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universes stand in the place of both the Universal Father and the Eternal Son
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of Paradise. These Universe Sons receive, in the name of the Father, the
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adoration of worship and give ear to the pleas of their petitioning subjects
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throughout their respective creations. To the children of a local universe a
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Michael Son is, to all practical intents and purposes, God. He is the local
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universe personification of the Universal Father and the Eternal Son. The
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Infinite Spirit maintains personal contact with the children of these realms
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through the Universe Spirits, the administrative and creative associates of the
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Paradise Creator Sons.
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Sincere worship connotes the mobilization of all the powers of the human
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personality under the dominance of the evolving soul and subject to the divine
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directionization of the associated Thought Adjuster. The mind of material
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limitations can never become highly conscious of the real significance of true
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worship. Man's realization of the reality of the worship experience is chiefly
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determined by the developmental status of his evolving immortal soul. The
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spiritual growth of the soul takes place wholly independently of the
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intellectual self-consciousness.
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The worship experience consists in the sublime attempt of the betrothed
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Adjuster to communicate to the divine Father the inexpressible longings and the
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unutterable aspirations of the human soul--the conjoint creation of the
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God-seeking mortal mind and the God-revealing immortal Adjuster. Worship is,
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therefore, the act of the material mind's assenting to the attempt of its
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spiritualizing self, under the guidance of the associated spirit, to
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communicate with God as a faith son of the Universal Father. The mortal mind
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consents to worship; the immortal soul craves and initiates worship; the divine
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Adjuster presence conducts such worship in behalf of the mortal mind and the
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evolving immortal soul. True worship, in the last analysis, becomes an
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experience realized on four cosmic levels: the intellectual, the morontial, the
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spiritual, and the personal--the consciousness of mind, soul, and spirit, and
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their unification in personality.
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4. GOD IN RELIGION
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The morality of the religions of evolution drives men forward in the God quest
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by the motive power of fear. The religions of revelation allure men to seek for
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a God of love because they crave to become like him. But religion is not merely
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a passive feeling of "absolute dependence" and "surety of survival"; it is a
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living and dynamic experience of divinity attainment predicated on humanity
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service.
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The great and immediate service of true religion is the establishment of an
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enduring unity in human experience, a lasting peace and a profound assurance.
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top of page - 67
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With primitive man, even polytheism is a relative unification of the evolving
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concept of Deity; polytheism is monotheism in the making. Sooner or later, God
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is destined to be comprehended as the reality of values, the substance of
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meanings, and the life of truth.
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God is not only the determiner of destiny; he is man's eternal destination. All
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nonreligious human activities seek to bend the universe to the distorting
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service of self; the truly religious individual seeks to identify the self with
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the universe and then to dedicate the activities of this unified self to the
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service of the universe family of fellow beings, human and superhuman.
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The domains of philosophy and art intervene between the nonreligious and the
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religious activities of the human self. Through art and philosophy the
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material-minded man is inveigled into the contemplation of the spiritual
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realities and universe values of eternal meanings.
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All religions teach the worship of Deity and some doctrine of human salvation.
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The Buddhist religion promises salvation from suffering, unending peace; the
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Jewish religion promises salvation from difficulties, prosperity predicated on
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righteousness; the Greek religion promised salvation from disharmony, ugliness,
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by the realization of beauty; Christianity promises salvation from sin,
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sanctity; Mohammedanism provides deliverance from the rigorous moral standards
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of Judaism and Christianity. The religion of Jesus is salvation from self,
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deliverance from the evils of creature isolation in time and in eternity.
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The Hebrews based their religion on goodness; the Greeks on beauty; both
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religions sought truth. Jesus revealed a God of love, and love is all-embracing
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of truth, beauty, and goodness.
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The Zoroastrians had a religion of morals; the Hindus a religion of
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metaphysics; the Confucianists a religion of ethics. Jesus lived a religion of
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service. All these religions are of value in that they are valid approaches to
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the religion of Jesus. Religion is destined to become the reality of the
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spiritual unification of all that is good, beautiful, and true in human
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experience.
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The Greek religion had a watchword "Know yourself"; the Hebrews centered their
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teaching on "Know your God"; the Christians preach a gospel aimed at a
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"knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ"; Jesus proclaimed the good news of
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"knowing God, and yourself as a son of God." These differing concepts of the
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purpose of religion determine the individual's attitude in various life
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situations and foreshadow the depth of worship and the nature of his personal
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habits of prayer. The spiritual status of any religion may be determined by the
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nature of its prayers.
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The concept of a semihuman and jealous God is an inevitable transition between
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polytheism and sublime monotheism. An exalted anthropomorphism is the highest
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attainment level of purely evolutionary religion. Christianity has elevated the
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concept of anthropomorphism from the ideal of the human to the transcendent and
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divine concept of the person of the glorified Christ. And this is the highest
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anthropomorphism that man can ever conceive.
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The Christian concept of God is an attempt to combine three separate teachings:
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1. The Hebrew concept--God as a vindicator of moral values, a righteous God.
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2. The Greek concept--God as a unifier, a God of wisdom.
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top of page - 68
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3. Jesus' concept--God as a living friend, a loving Father, the divine
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presence.
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It must therefore be evident that composite Christian theology encounters great
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difficulty in attaining consistency. This difficulty is further aggravated by
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the fact that the doctrines of early Christianity were generally based on the
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personal religious experience of three different persons: Philo of Alexandria,
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Jesus of Nazareth, and Paul of Tarsus.
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In the study of the religious life of Jesus, view him positively. Think not so
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much of his sinlessness as of his righteousness, his loving service. Jesus
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upstepped the passive love disclosed in the Hebrew concept of the heavenly
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Father to the higher active and creature-loving affection of a God who is the
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Father of every individual, even of the wrongdoer.
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5. THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF GOD
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Morality has its origin in the reason of self-consciousness; it is superanimal
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but wholly evolutionary. Human evolution embraces in its unfolding all
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endowments antecedent to the bestowal of the Adjusters and to the pouring out
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of the Spirit of Truth. But the attainment of levels of morality does not
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deliver man from the real struggles of mortal living. Man's physical
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environment entails the battle for existence; the social surroundings
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necessitate ethical adjustments; the moral situations require the making of
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choices in the highest realms of reason; the spiritual experience (having
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realized God) demands that man find him and sincerely strive to be like him.
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Religion is not grounded in the facts of science, the obligations of society,
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the assumptions of philosophy, or the implied duties of morality. Religion is
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an independent realm of human response to life situations and is unfailingly
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exhibited at all stages of human development which are postmoral. Religion may
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permeate all four levels of the realization of values and the enjoyment of
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universe fellowship: the physical or material level of self-preservation; the
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social or emotional level of fellowship; the moral or duty level of reason; the
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spiritual level of the consciousness of universe fellowship through divine
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worship.
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The fact-seeking scientist conceives of God as the First Cause, a God of force.
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The emotional artist sees God as the ideal of beauty, a God of aesthetics. The
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reasoning philosopher is sometimes inclined to posit a God of universal unity,
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even a pantheistic Deity. The religionist of faith believes in a God who
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fosters survival, the Father in heaven, the God of love.
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Moral conduct is always an antecedent of evolved religion and a part of even
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revealed religion, but never the whole of religious experience. Social service
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is the result of moral thinking and religious living. Morality does not
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biologically lead to the higher spiritual levels of religious experience. The
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adoration of the abstract beautiful is not the worship of God; neither is
|
||
exaltation of nature nor the reverence of unity the worship of God.
|
||
|
||
Evolutionary religion is the mother of the science, art, and philosophy which
|
||
elevated man to the level of receptivity to revealed religion, including the
|
||
bestowal of Adjusters and the coming of the Spirit of Truth. The evolutionary
|
||
picture of human existence begins and ends with religion, albeit very different
|
||
qualities of religion, one evolutional and biological, the other revelational
|
||
|
||
top of page - 69
|
||
|
||
and periodical. And so, while religion is normal and natural to man, it is also
|
||
optional. Man does not have to be religious against his will.
|
||
|
||
Religious experience, being essentially spiritual, can never be fully
|
||
understood by the material mind; hence the function of theology, the psychology
|
||
of religion. The essential doctrine of the human realization of God creates a
|
||
paradox in finite comprehension. It is well-nigh impossible for human logic and
|
||
finite reason to harmonize the concept of divine immanence, God within and a
|
||
part of every individual, with the idea of God's transcendence, the divine
|
||
domination of the universe of universes. These two essential concepts of Deity
|
||
must be unified in the faith-grasp of the concept of the transcendence of a
|
||
personal God and in the realization of the indwelling presence of a fragment of
|
||
that God in order to justify intelligent worship and validate the hope of
|
||
personality survival. The difficulties and paradoxes of religion are inherent
|
||
in the fact that the realities of religion are utterly beyond the mortal
|
||
capacity for intellectual comprehension.
|
||
|
||
Mortal man secures three great satisfactions from religious experience, even in
|
||
the days of his temporal sojourn on earth:
|
||
|
||
1. Intellectually he acquires the satisfactions of a more unified human
|
||
consciousness.
|
||
|
||
2. Philosophically he enjoys the substantiation of his ideals of moral values.
|
||
|
||
3. Spiritually he thrives in the experience of divine companionship, in the
|
||
spiritual satisfactions of true worship.
|
||
|
||
God-consciousness, as it is experienced by an evolving mortal of the realms,
|
||
must consist of three varying factors, three differential levels of reality
|
||
realization. There is first the mind consciousness--the comprehension of the
|
||
idea of God. Then follows the soul consciousness--the realization of the ideal
|
||
of God. Last, dawns the spirit consciousness--the realization of the spirit
|
||
reality of God. By the unification of these factors of the divine realization,
|
||
no matter how incomplete, the mortal personality at all times overspreads all
|
||
conscious levels with a realization of the personality of God. In those mortals
|
||
who have attained the Corps of the Finality all this will in time lead to the
|
||
realization of the supremacy of God and may subsequently eventuate in the
|
||
realization of the ultimacy of God, some phase of the absonite
|
||
superconsciousness of the Paradise Father.
|
||
|
||
The experience of God-consciousness remains the same from generation to
|
||
generation, but with each advancing epoch in human knowledge the philosophic
|
||
concept and the theologic definitions of God must change. God-knowingness,
|
||
religious consciousness, is a universe reality, but no matter how valid (real)
|
||
religious experience is, it must be willing to subject itself to intelligent
|
||
criticism and reasonable philosophic interpretation; it must not seek to be a
|
||
thing apart in the totality of human experience.
|
||
|
||
Eternal survival of personality is wholly dependent on the choosing of the
|
||
mortal mind, whose decisions determine the survival potential of the immortal
|
||
soul. When the mind believes God and the soul knows God, and when, with the
|
||
fostering Adjuster, they all desire God, then is survival assured. Limitations
|
||
of intellect, curtailment of education, deprivation of culture, impoverishment
|
||
of social status, even inferiority of the human standards of morality resulting
|
||
from the unfortunate lack of educational, cultural, and social advantages,
|
||
cannot invalidate the presence of the divine spirit in such unfortunate and
|
||
humanly handicapped but believing individuals. The indwelling of the Mystery
|
||
Monitor con-
|
||
|
||
top of page - 70
|
||
|
||
stitutes the inception and insures the possibility of the potential of growth
|
||
and survival of the immortal soul.
|
||
|
||
The ability of mortal parents to procreate is not predicated on their
|
||
educational, cultural, social, or economic status. The union of the parental
|
||
factors under natural conditions is quite sufficient to initiate offspring. A
|
||
human mind discerning right and wrong and possessing the capacity to worship
|
||
God, in union with a divine Adjuster, is all that is required in that mortal to
|
||
initiate and foster the production of his immortal soul of survival qualities
|
||
if such a spirit-endowed individual seeks God and sincerely desires to become
|
||
like him, honestly elects to do the will of the Father in heaven.
|
||
|
||
6. THE GOD OF PERSONALITY
|
||
|
||
The Universal Father is the God of personalities. The domain of universe
|
||
personality, from the lowest mortal and material creature of personality status
|
||
to the highest persons of creator dignity and divine status, has its center and
|
||
circumference in the Universal Father. God the Father is the bestower and the
|
||
conservator of every personality. And the Paradise Father is likewise the
|
||
destiny of all those finite personalities who wholeheartedly choose to do the
|
||
divine will, those who love God and long to be like him.
|
||
|
||
Personality is one of the unsolved mysteries of the universes. We are able to
|
||
form adequate concepts of the factors entering into the make-up of various
|
||
orders and levels of personality, but we do not fully comprehend the real
|
||
nature of the personality itself. We clearly perceive the numerous factors
|
||
which, when put together, constitute the vehicle for human personality, but we
|
||
do not fully comprehend the nature and significance of such a finite
|
||
personality.
|
||
|
||
Personality is potential in all creatures who possess a mind endowment ranging
|
||
from the minimum of self-consciousness to the maximum of God-consciousness. But
|
||
mind endowment alone is not personality, neither is spirit nor physical energy.
|
||
Personality is that quality and value in cosmic reality which is exclusively
|
||
bestowed by God the Father upon these living systems of the associated and
|
||
co-ordinated energies of matter, mind, and spirit. Neither is personality a
|
||
progressive achievement. Personality may be material or spiritual, but there
|
||
either is personality or there is no personality. The other-than-personal never
|
||
attains the level of the personal except by the direct act of the Paradise
|
||
Father.
|
||
|
||
The bestowal of personality is the exclusive function of the Universal Father,
|
||
the personalization of the living energy systems which he endows with the
|
||
attributes of relative creative consciousness and the freewill control thereof.
|
||
There is no personality apart from God the Father, and no personality exists
|
||
except for God the Father. The fundamental attributes of human selfhood, as
|
||
well as the absolute Adjuster nucleus of the human personality, are the
|
||
bestowals of the Universal Father, acting in his exclusively personal domain of
|
||
cosmic ministry.
|
||
|
||
The Adjusters of prepersonal status indwell numerous types of mortal creatures,
|
||
thus insuring that these same beings may survive mortal death to personalize as
|
||
morontia creatures with the potential of ultimate spirit attainment. For, when
|
||
such a creature mind of personality endowment is indwelt by a fragment of the
|
||
spirit of the eternal God, the prepersonal bestowal of the personal Father,
|
||
then does this finite personality possess the potential of the divine and the
|
||
eternal and aspire to a destiny akin to the Ultimate, even reaching out for a
|
||
realization of the Absolute.
|
||
|
||
top of page - 71
|
||
|
||
Capacity for divine personality is inherent in the prepersonal Adjuster;
|
||
capacity for human personality is potential in the cosmic-mind endowment of the
|
||
human being. But the experiential personality of mortal man is not observable
|
||
as an active and functional reality until after the material life vehicle of
|
||
the mortal creature has been touched by the liberating divinity of the
|
||
Universal Father, being thus launched upon the seas of experience as a
|
||
self-conscious and a (relatively) self-determinative and self-creative
|
||
personality. The material self is truly and unqualifiedly personal.
|
||
|
||
The material self has personality and identity, temporal identity; the
|
||
prepersonal spirit Adjuster also has identity, eternal identity. This material
|
||
personality and this spirit prepersonality are capable of so uniting their
|
||
creative attributes as to bring into existence the surviving identity of the
|
||
immortal soul.
|
||
|
||
Having thus provided for the growth of the immortal soul and having liberated
|
||
man's inner self from the fetters of absolute dependence on antecedent
|
||
causation, the Father stands aside. Now, man having thus been liberated from
|
||
the fetters of causation response, at least as pertains to eternal destiny, and
|
||
provision having been made for the growth of the immortal self, the soul, it
|
||
remains for man himself to will the creation or to inhibit the creation of this
|
||
surviving and eternal self which is his for the choosing. No other being,
|
||
force, creator, or agency in all the wide universe of universes can interfere
|
||
to any degree with the absolute sovereignty of the mortal free will, as it
|
||
operates within the realms of choice, regarding the eternal destiny of the
|
||
personality of the choosing mortal. As pertains to eternal survival, God has
|
||
decreed the sovereignty of the material and mortal will, and that decree is
|
||
absolute.
|
||
|
||
The bestowal of creature personality confers relative liberation from slavish
|
||
response to antecedent causation, and the personalities of all such moral
|
||
beings, evolutionary or otherwise, are centered in the personality of the
|
||
Universal Father. They are ever drawn towards his Paradise presence by that
|
||
kinship of being which constitutes the vast and universal family circle and
|
||
fraternal circuit of the eternal God. There is a kinship of divine spontaneity
|
||
in all personality.
|
||
|
||
The personality circuit of the universe of universes is centered in the person
|
||
of the Universal Father, and the Paradise Father is personally conscious of,
|
||
and in personal touch with, all personalities of all levels of self-conscious
|
||
existence. And this personality consciousness of all creation exists
|
||
independently of the mission of the Thought Adjusters.
|
||
|
||
As all gravity is circuited in the Isle of Paradise, as all mind is circuited
|
||
in the Conjoint Actor and all spirit in the Eternal Son, so is all personality
|
||
circuited in the personal presence of the Universal Father, and this circuit
|
||
unerringly transmits the worship of all personalities to the Original and
|
||
Eternal Personality.
|
||
|
||
Concerning those personalities who are not Adjuster indwelt: The attribute of
|
||
choice-liberty is also bestowed by the Universal Father, and such persons are
|
||
likewise embraced in the great circuit of divine love, the personality circuit
|
||
of the Universal Father. God provides for the sovereign choice of all true
|
||
personalities. No personal creature can be coerced into the eternal adventure;
|
||
the portal of eternity opens only in response to the freewill choice of the
|
||
freewill sons of the God of free will.
|
||
|
||
top of page - 72
|
||
|
||
And this represents my efforts to present the relation of the living God to the
|
||
children of time. And when all is said and done, I can do nothing more helpful
|
||
than to reiterate that God is your universe Father, and that you are all his
|
||
planetary children.
|
||
|
||
[This is the fifth and last of the series presenting the narrative of the
|
||
Universal Father by a Divine Counselor of Uversa.]
|
||
|
||
top of page - 73
|
||
|
||
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
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
|
||
|
||
<EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD>Ŀ
|
||
<EFBFBD> // <20> <20> <20> <20> <20>
|
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<EFBFBD> God's Relation <20> The Eternal Son <20> Urantia Book <20> Search <20> SiteMap! <20>
|
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<EFBFBD> ... <20> <20> PA... <20> <20> <20>
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//
|
||
|
||
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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<EFBFBD> <20> <20> <20> <20> <20> <20> SPIRITWEB ORG (info@spiritweb.org), <20> <20>
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<EFBFBD> <20> <20> <20> <20> <20> <20> http://www.spiritweb.org <20> <20>
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<EFBFBD> <20> <20> <20> <20> <20> <20> Webmaster <webmaster@spiritweb.org> <20> <20>
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