© 2023 Claude Flibotte
© 2023 Urantia Association of Quebec
Claude Flibotte
Sainte-Julie
From my study on personality, these three events emerged concerning personality, its origin, its function in relation to its constitution and its destiny.
¶ Origin
- Personality is that quality in reality which is bestowed by the Universal Father himself or by the Conjoint Actor, acting for the Father. (UB 112:0.3)
It is undeniable that personality is a direct gift from the Universal Father. This fact is mentioned repeatedly in The Urantia Book. However, it is unusual to hear readers of that book point out that personality is also transmitted by the Conjoint Actor acting for the Father as mentioned in quote UB 112:0.3.
Personally, I think that this way of imparting personality is the method the Father uses all the time except when he personalizes an Adjuster who has performed immense service in the realm of time and space. Is it not written that the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are but ONE? Since the Father is the idea-God, the Son is the expression-God of that Father, and the Spirit is the action-God of the Father-Son, it is quite conceivable that the Father would impart personality through the agency of the action-God.
When the three paradisiacal deities proceeded to a creation, the perfect universe of Havona came about. This universe of things and beings is the perfect model for all past, present and future creations, and for good reason, because it is a creation of perfect divinities! This means that these three deities cannot create on the subabsolute levels, or at least they do not, because they would still create perfect things and beings like Havona. So, to do this, they created the Creator Sons and the Creative Spirits who are subabsolute, and able to create on these levels. More precisely, during this second age of the universe, on the level of the finite.
In each local universe, a Divine Minister, daughter of the Infinite Spirit, has the mission of transmitting life, providing a mental circuit and ministering to the adjutant spirit-minds and the Holy Spirit to every potentially human creature in order to spiritualize this mental circuit sufficiently to make it suitable for the reception of a Thought Adjuster. My understanding of the revelations contained in The Urantia Book is that in this mental circuit received from the Divine Minister is found, in potential, everything that is necessary to produce a human endowed with his personality, a future finaliter, like a simple apple seed where is found, in potential, the mature apple tree full of ripe fruit. It only takes time and vital experience for the two to reach their destiny!
¶ Function
What personality is and its function is very well described in quotes UB 112:0.3 to UB 112:0.16. We can have a good definition of what the personality of man is at quote UB 0:5.11, then understand that the attributes of human individuality and the Absolute Adjuster form the core of this personality at quote UB 5:6.4, and know that self-consciousness and free will characterize this human personality in quotes UB 16:8.5 to 14. However, I would like to draw your attention to the following quote:
Personality inherently reaches out to unify all constituent realities. The infinite personality of the First Source and Center, the Universal Father, unifies all seven constituent Absolutes of Infinity; and the personality of mortal man, being an exclusive and direct bestowal of the Universal Father, likewise possesses the potential of unifying the constituent factors of the mortal creature. Such unifying creativity of all creature personality is a birthmark of its high and exclusive source and is further evidential of its unbroken contact with this same source through the personality circuit, by means of which the personality of the creature maintains direct and sustaining contact with the Father of all personality on Paradise. (UB 56:4.2)
The words in bold are mine and they emphasize what I would like to speak to you about. The personality of the Universal Father is the first personality to be actualized and is the origin of all personalities. It is an infinite personality which allows it to infinitely create all other personalities unlike the Eternal Son who is endowed with the absolute personality, preventing it from creating persons, but only beings other than personal (UB 6:5.3). The First Source and Center being the Causeless Cause and the cause of all actual or potential realities, its personality as the Universal Father, is found to unify the seven Absolutes of Infinity which are the three Paradise Deities, the Isle of Paradise and the three Absolutes of Potentialities. As emphasized by the adage that “as above, so below” attributed to Hermes Trismegistus, the human personality unifies all the factors constituting our identity. Thus, our personality is the “shadow-image projected in space-time of the personality of the Divine creator” UB 1:6.1.
This unification of our personality, we will have to realize it on the finite level by the experience of reaching, firstly, the supreme divinity conquering the perfection of loyalty in Paradise, then the ultimate perfection on the absolute level of transcended time and space to finally, in the distant future, partially taste the absolute perfection of the infinite cosmos.
¶ Destiny
The Universal Father, the father of all personalities, unifies all that is or will be a reality as we have seen in the chapter on the function of the personality. Since the Father is the author of all personalities, he is also the cause of the personality gravity circuit in which all personalities are centered and seek to return to their origin.
Personality is unique, absolutely unique: It is unique in time and space; it is unique in eternity and on Paradise; it is unique when bestowed—there are no duplicates; it is unique during every moment of existence; it is unique in relation to God—he is no respecter of persons, but neither does he add them together, for they are nonaddable—they are associable but nontotalable. (UB 112:0.12)
So what are we to understand from this quote where it says that personalities are not addable, but that they are associable, but not totalizable? Since the personality is a deified reality (UB 0:5.1) and its function is unification, and they all come from the Universal Father, their common origin, it stands to reason that in the mind’s vision of all that is ONE, they cannot be added or totalizable. However, since each personality is original and real, they can be associable by constantly seeking to reflect the divine perfection of Deity and its diversity.
¶ Conclusion
Of all the quotes concerning personality, I believe that these three quotes UB 56:4.2, UB 112:0.3 and UB 112:0.12 are the most important to get a better idea of what it is. Personality will always be a mystery to us, subabsolute beings, because we will never fully understand the Infinite Father, but I think that with the help of these revelations, the veil of mystery will have been lifted somewhat! ■