© 2019 Claude Flibotte
© 2019 French-speaking Association of Readers of the Urantia Book
| On the First Moments of Survival | Le Lien Urantien — Issue 88 — December 2019 | When Are We Granted Personality? |
This question has come up often in our study group discussions. We know that it is a gift from our Heavenly Father (UB 112:1.1), a statement often repeated in The Urantia Book. But when does the Father give us this wonderful gift?
Before delving deeper into this question, let’s take a moment to clearly distinguish between identity and personality. The following quote describes very well what identity is.
In the human organism the summation of its parts constitutes selfhood—individuality—but such a process has nothing whatever to do with personality, which is the unifier of all these factors as related to cosmic realities. (UB 112:1.18)
This identity or individuality we acquire at our birth through the possession of a physical body, once elaborated by the patient work of the Life Carriers according to the specifications of the Creator Son, and the granting of a material mental circuit temporarily courtesy of the Divine Minister of our universe.
Personality, although indefinable according to the developers (UB 16:8.2), has the function of unifying the sum of the parts and activities which constitutes individuality in order to provide it with the qualities of identity and creativity.
In aggregations parts are added; in systems parts are arranged. Systems are significant because of organization—positional values. In a good system all factors are in cosmic position. In a bad system something is either missing or displaced—deranged. In the human system it is the personality which unifies all activities and in turn imparts the qualities of identity and creativity. (UB 112:1.19)
Well, now that we have differentiated identity and personality, the question remains, when do we acquire this personality? The following quotation clearly shows us that it does not come at the same time as the Adjuster
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. (UB 16:8.3)
Now that this fact is established, I think the following quote gives us an excellent solution.
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. (UB 16:8.6)
It is therefore self-awareness that allows us to know that we are a person and not just an animal without personality. This self-awareness means that this individual previously counted as part of the animal kingdom has risen to the status of human being through the use of the sixth adjutant, the adjutant mental circuit of worship and even better through the practice of wisdom with the seventh adjutant mental circuit. This is the great distinction made between the animal who is conscious and in interaction with his environment and the man who is conscious of being conscious, thus transcending his animal nature and opening the way to divine potentials. This first potential is expressed by accessibility to the spiritual circuit of the Divine Minister, the Holy Spirit.
We know that the Universal Father delegated the maximum of his creative powers to his Eternal Son and to the Infinite Spirit and that they in turn handed over the responsibility of creating the universes, outside Havona, to the Creator Sons and their companions, the Divine Ministers. Personality being of a divine nature and originating from the Father would therefore be conferred on us through the Divine Minister acting on behalf of this same Universal Father.
In conclusion, personality is a gift from the Universal Father transmitted to man during his encircuitment in the Holy Spirit. Personality being of divine nature, it is a super qualification whose function is to unify the sum of the parts and activities of individuality. Its uniqueness being that personality is conditioned and qualified by the nature and qualities of the associated energies of a material, mental and spiritual nature which constitute the organic vehicle for the manifestation of personality. It is probable that personality is different for each universe which would explain its varied, while being original and exclusive (UB 16:8.3). The revelators describe the Urantian personality to us like this:
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: (UB 16:8.15)
The higher concepts of universe personality imply: identity, self-consciousness, self-will, and possibility for self-revelation. And these characteristics further imply fellowship with other and equal personalities, such as exists in the personality associations of the Paradise Deities. And the absolute unity of these associations is so perfect that divinity becomes known by indivisibility, by oneness. “The Lord God is one.” Indivisibility of personality does not interfere with God’s bestowing his spirit to live in the hearts of mortal men. Indivisibility of a human father’s personality does not prevent the reproduction of mortal sons and daughters. (UB 1:7.6)
Claude Flibotte — Sainte-Julie
New Online Search Engine for The Urantia Book
The new Urantia Book search engine is now operational on the Spanish, Portuguese and French websites of the Urantia Foundation (urantia.org).
You can customize your search results based on the order they appear in the book or their relevance. You can also select “all search words” or “exact match” — no more Boolean instructions. For more helpful tips, just click the icon to the right of the search box. We hope this new engine helps you in your book study!
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| On the First Moments of Survival | Le Lien Urantien — Issue 88 — December 2019 | When Are We Granted Personality? |