© 2024 Éric Tarissan
© 2024 Urantia Association of Quebec
Eric Tarissan
Quebec
Recently I saw a book called “THE 7 QUESTIONS.” I picked it up, opened it, and on the first page there were the seven questions. The first question was, “Who is God?”
And here is what I replied to the person to whom the book belonged:
What a deep, existential, eternal and interesting question!
For as long as I can remember, church and family have always been present in my life. Also having a brother and sister ten years older than me, I had, even before I began to think, the example of the perfect family who go to church and behave as good citizens of this world. Therefore, for as long as I can remember, at least unconsciously at first, God seemed a mystery to me. Who was he really? What was the nature of his identity, his essence and his personality?
And then, could we really attribute to its infinite perfection the fact that it was clothed with a personality or, at the very least, that its essence could have been endowed with an identity?
When you think about it, God, ultimately, could not have anything other than a personality that was infinite, perfect, and absolute. In short, a personality that did not have the faults or imperfections of people. A personality that could be nothing less than the Source of all others.
But before going further, it is important to note about God that some people say of Him that He cannot be defined, described or explained without immediately diminishing His perfection and absoluteness; demonstrating in this way that God cannot be explained or understood since the reality of His infinite perfect personality goes well beyond the reality of our understanding, since it is beyond the reach of any conceptualization and even the limits of imagination.
But it would be a real shame to stop there, under the pretext that any description we can make is doomed to remain below its infinite perfection. Because it will always be possible, in a spiritual, progressive, logical and objective way and despite all our limitations, to go much further than these few words.
That being said, let us continue with a sure and revealing step, this divine description.
We spoke of the infinite personality of God, while asking ourselves if the latter, in his perfection and absoluteness, also needed an additional personality and, if so, what would be its use, its reason for being and its function?
As I pondered these questions, I remembered that God was never alone, forming with the Eternal Son and the Infinite Spirit the existential Trinity and, therefore, they never existed without each other. In other words, God could never have been the Father of the Son without being a “Father-sons”. The Trinity thus representing the first family unit.
And to summarize this thesis, we will quickly realize that neither Truth, nor Consciousness and nor Love could exist if there was not first the personality to live them, to experience them and to appreciate their infinite and living value.
Finally, I could perceive, feel and truly understand that God was first and foremost a personality. But not just any personality—oh no!
When studying the nature of God, the first thing that comes to mind is that it is spiritual. Consequently, God being Spirit, He is neither material nor temporal. Not being subject to these limiting parameters nor constrained by these spatiotemporal realities, His Spirit, free and volitional, can therefore exist everywhere and without limits, and present Himself as being the Infinite. The Infinite is no longer an inconceivable abstract concept, but rather a paternal, perfect, living, conscious and Loving Personality. Moreover, the fact of being unlimited and endless, nothing can therefore exist outside of Him. In fact, it would be much more accurate to say that “outside of Him” nothing exists since He is everywhere. And this infinity makes this personality a unique and therefore absolute reality.
Realizing that God is spontaneously everywhere at the same time helped me understand his omnipresence aboard his own infinity. An infinity which, through its benevolent conscious presence of EVERYTHING, could not help but know that we would all end up tasting it… — his true, living, absolute Love, and, for us, forever inconceivable and inexhaustible.
Then I realized that the word Deity became more accurate and adequate than the simple qualifier of “personality”. Since the word Deity, by its definition, could in a single word, designate any one or even all three Deities at once, that are the Father, the Son and the Spirit who, interestingly, share together, simultaneously and personally the same infinity. Thus revealing that infinity does not prevent other personalities, equally infinite, from coexisting while remaining distinct and unique.
But the Perfection of God cannot be restricted to these few qualities of a natural, spiritual and personal order, without having and expressing them all, otherwise, not only would perfection be a myth, but reality itself would never have seen the light of day. And all these qualities contained in, by and thanks to the Truth, Consciousness and Love of God, also had to coexist, contain and, who knows, perhaps, Be this Energy. Making God a Deity at once omnipresent, omniscient and omnipotent. In its fullness, a loving and all-powerful Deity.
The most interesting thing about its infinity (or infinity in general) is that even when dividing infinity, infinity remains infinite. And even when dividing infinity by infinity, or by infinity, infinity still remains infinite!
Which explains that even if the universe were to eternally continue its expansion to become infinite; God would always possess infinitely enough energy to provide for the infinite needs of such a universe. Not only that! - God will always possess infinitely much life, personality, consciousness, truth and love to provide for the infinite needs of an infinite quantity of personalities. In short, God clearly presents Himself as the Cause without cause. An existential personality without beginning or end, being both the Creator and the Destiny of EVERYTHING and EVERYONE.
God is therefore the Infinite and Unique giver of the personality. This personality which has this divine quality of being able to create infinitely and eternally, as many unique relationships with as many personalities. In other words, we will never finish entering into relationships with other personalities and, to the extent that we progress, that we realize ourselves eternally and divinely towards this infinite perfection, in the same way our relationships will grow, deepen and emancipate themselves in peace, joy and love.
You see, it is precisely thanks to Perfection and Infinity (which are the Deities of the Trinity), which makes eternal and limitless this individual, personal and relational experience of discovery of Truth, Consciousness and Love, that we will never finish making the experiential discovery allowing us to realize ourselves.
Thank you, Father, for Being Infinite, Perfect and Absolute for having eternally and perfectly planned everything, making possible for ALL and for ALL, this eternal and divine experience of progression and endless realization, in You, by You, with You and Thanks to You.
Thank you, Father, for truly living in each of us, and for giving us EVERYTHING to make all this, and more, eternally possible.
Thank you for giving us ALL these seven universal realities which are:
- Life (on three levels: physical, mental and spiritual);
- A mind that is both thinking, feeling (for all emotions) and perceiving (making possible intuition, the voice of conscience or spiritual clairvoyance
- A free will, making it possible to make meaningful choices such as praying, meditating, worshipping, giving back and doing good in passing. Thus compelling our minds, in carrying out such decisions, to be conscious of them; nourishing and watering our souls, while expanding and elevating our consciousness towards You each time;
- An ego (whose function is to identify itself) thus makes it possible to create our true identity as sons and daughters of God. Men and women of God in the making, because You are the only experience in the entire universe of which we can never tire, since You are not only without beginning or end, eternal and infinite; but also the most real of all facts (living in each of us), the most living of values (Love) and the greatest of all friends (since ALWAYS present). So that if there is one thing about which I am certain of not being mistaken, it is YOU;
- A soul, thus making possible and seamless, my potentially endless continuity, in the discovery of your personality and the relationship that I have with You, which is only Truth and Love, in a perfect, absolute and living Consciousness;
- A personality making each of us unique beings (like You), participating through our ever more significant, real and authentic decisions and actions, to establish on earth your Kingdom of Peace and Joy, of Justice and Mercy, of Love and Gladness — thus realizing more and more and better and better by “my” will, to do YOUR Will. Thus participating in a completely free, voluntary and personal way, in the ministry of your Mercy which is nothing other than Love in Action, of which You are the living, conscious and infinite Source.
- Finally, thank you Father, for having given me a pure and living fragment of your Spirit which each day guides me, inspires me and enlightens me on the endless path which leads me to YOU, and thanks to which I can, without any limit, give back your Love.
This morning, as I reread this description of God, I realized that there is still much to be said and discovered about the Father of ALL of us. Reminding myself once again that at any moment in the eternal future, there will always be an infinitely greater part of God that we will still not know, and that it will be so eternally. Furthermore, we can never get lost on board the infinite, since it will always be the perfect, loving, conscious, benevolent personality of our Father of ALL, good, beautiful, just, and true. But we must not forget that we are ALL connected to the three persons of the Trinity. To the Father by the circuit of personality that connects us all; to the Spirit by the circuit of mind that connects us all; and to the Son, by his Spirit of Truth who, whenever there are at least two of us together, in relationship or communion, He is present with us. Whether this relationship is made with another personality or even with our Adjuster (with whom it is so pleasant to maintain and pursue this inexhaustible, divine and authentic relationship when we meditate, worship or pray in the extension of our soul - which also connects us all) and with Jesus Christ-Michael who is still and always present.
To conclude, I cannot help but share my joy in realizing that our universe (just like all the personalities that inhabit and evolve in it) is not cooling down by scattering into the void of space towards a cold death, where everything will die out in a dull and total immobility; or (and even less), towards a so-called hypothetical return, as astronomers speculate in their lack of perspective and knowledge of infinite reality. No, none of this will happen!
In truth, and for anyone who knows God and his infinite Perfection, the universe will never cease to eternally expand, progressing unceasingly towards this Perfection and this Infinity from which it comes (just like us), and to which it is intimately and inseparably connected and linked - like all the personalities who move there, progressing towards this infinite Perfection which are Life, Truth, Consciousness and Love of which you now have a good idea of the personality which is its Source.
Sincerely, amicably and fraternally!