© 2007 George Park
© 2007 The Urantia Book Fellowship
The following was presented at The Urantia Book Fellowship International Conference, Villanova University, July 31, 2005.
The Urantia Book reveals a spiritual concept of personality which is new to mankind. We are aware of personality, but man has never conceived of personality as a reality in and of itself. We see the differences between form, substance, and essence, but man has failed to recognize the independent reality of personal presence. Our idea of personality is but a candle in the night; some truth may be discovered by the light of a candle, but the sun reveals a whole world of truth in the awakening of a new day. Prior to this revelation, man’s highest concept of reality was spirit. Subsequent to this revelation, the primacy of personality over spirit will be known. In the age now dawning, man will begin to appreciate the Divine Counselor’s statement, “Personality, in the supreme sense, is the revelation of God to the universe of universes.” [UB 1:5.13]
The pre-eminent goal of the fourth epochal revelation was to reveal the personal character of God. In his Discourse on Job, Jesus tells John, “[Job] longed for some soul-satisfying revelation of the personal character of the Eternal. And that is our mission on earth.” [UB 148:6.10] The midwayers inform us: “With the one exception— the declaration that ‘God is spirit’— Jesus never referred to Dity in any manner other than in terms descriptive of his own personal relationship with the First Source and Center of Paradise.” [UB 169:4.6] In his teachings, Jesus limits himself to a description of the personal character of the spirit Father. Melchizedek initiates the age of the righteous servants of the Lord God. Jesus inaugurated the age of the faith-sons of God the Father.
The pre-eminent goal of the fifth epochal revelation is to reveal the reality of the personality of God. Jesus declares, “God is spirit” [UB 143:5.6] The Divine Counselor declares, “God is personality.” [UB 1:5.7] To know God as spirit is to experience the leading of the spirit. To see the personality of God is to behold his Paradise Creator Son, who says to Phillip, “Again do I declare: He who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you then say, Show us the Father?” [UB 180:3.9] Jesus lives the spiritual will of the Father, but he is also the revelation of the Father’s personality.
Jesus is a divinely perfect reflection of the Father. In the first paper the Divine Counselor instructs us, “. . . the Universal Father is in every way divinely present in the Creator Sons.” [UB 1:5.6] The midwayers refer to Jesus as “the Father incarnate.” [UB 182:1.9] It is not the infinite being of God which is incarnated in Jesus but the divine presence of the Father’s personality.
We think of ourselves as human beings, but revelation sees man as a human being upon which the Father bestows eternal personality and a fragment of his infinite being, the Thought Adjuster. The Father gives his spirit not to human being but to his child, human personality. The spiritual concept of the reality of personality has epochal significance because it expands the gospel from a proclamation of salvation through faith to include the revelation that man is a personality-son of the Father and an experiential-son of the Supreme. Human being dwells for but a short time upon the face of this good earth, but human personality inhabits the circle of eternity. A Universal Censor tells us,
“Urantia human beings are endowed with personality of the finite-mortal type, functioning on the level of the ascending sons of God.” [UB 16:8.1] Man has never thought of himself as a son of God because God and man are opposites of being; but personality is not being. The being of the seed is not the being of the flower. Being cannot ascend but personal identity can and does. Personal identity can ascend because man is a divinely indwelt personality-son of the Universal Father living within the universe of the Supreme Being.
What do we see, when we see the personality of Jesus? In the Foreword we are told that personality is not spirit, mind, body, or the soul. [UB 0:5.11] The Divine Counselor tells us, “Personality is superimposed upon energy, and it is associated only with living energy systems.” [UB 0:5.4] “The personality is the unique bestowal which the Universal Father makes upon the living and associated energies of matter, mind, and spirit . . .” [UB 0:5.11] Personality is superimposed upon living energy, but what is it? A Solitary Messenger tells us in the paper on Personality Survival: “Personality, while devoid of identity, can unify the identity of any living energy system.” [UB 112:0.7] If personality is devoid of identity, it is devoid of energy, of being. This is confirmed by the section on Universal Gravity in paper 12. A Perfector of Wisdom describes how researchers on Uversa are able to estimate the magnitude of absolute gravity active in the master universe for the circuits of spirit, mind, and matter. The Perfector of Wisdom then tells us: “Personality Gravity is noncomputable. We recognize the circuit, but we cannot measure either qualitative or quantitative realities respon sive thereto.” [UB 12:3.12] The reality of personality cannot be a type of energy because it cannot be divided, measured, or increased. Being exists and has measurable energy-reality. Personality is a presence-in-the-universe superimposed upon living energy, but it has no being; it does not exist.
This concept has no precedent in human thought. We understand that illusions can be subjectively real without having any objective existence, but man has never conceived of an actual objective reality that does not exist. Philosophy has speculated that non-being is potential existence, but never that non-being can be an actual objective reality. We recognize that being may be present or absent, but man has never imagined that personal presence is something more than the spatial proximity of personal being. Personality is neither existential nor pre-existential; it is a super-existential presence superimposed upon living being.
If the reality of personality is super-existential, how can we know it is real? I know something exists if I can observe it, but personality does not exist. There is a fundamental law of consciousness known to philosophy which might be called the law of observation. A Solitary Messenger formulates it this way: “The observer cannot be the thing observed.” [UB 112:2.12] Under this law of consciousness, we cannot observe personality because personality is the observer and personality is not a thing. But there is more to personal experience than the law of observation. In the paper on the Seven Master Spirits, a Universal Censor says, “Creature personality is distinguished by two self-manifesting and characteristic phenomena of mortal reactive behavior: self-consciousness and associated relative free will.” [UB 16:8.5] Self-consciousness transcends the law of observation; the self-conscious observer is reflectively aware of the thing observed. Free will transcends the laws of being; free will is a first cause.
Man has never been able to reconcile his persistent belief that he has free will with his persistent conviction that things happen for a reason. In a universe where events only happen according to the laws of being, free will is impossible; the chain of causality cannot be broken. Free will is the power to choose a purpose and to act upon it. There is no free will if choice is coerced by the causal laws of being, if choice is completely predetermined by circumstances. Neither is there free will if things happen for no reason; randomness is not choice. Free will can only escape from the predetermination of law and the meaninglessness of chaos if it transcends the causality of being, if it originates above that which exists. Free will is possible because it is a characteristic of personality, and personality is super-existential. We can understand why free will is possible, even if we do not understand how free will can affect the causal chain of existential events. Will acts within the laws of being. Free will is a first cause, a reason unto itself. Free will involves knowledge, wisdom, and insight, but, ultimately, the final reason for choice is simply that I so choose. The free will of human personality is relatively creative. The free will of the Father is absolute and infinitely creative.
Self-consciousness is an undeniable reality, but our understanding of it is confused. In self-consciousness I observe things and I observe that I observe things. But the very essence of “I” is unity, so I must be either the observer of phenomena or the observer of the observer of phenomena. Yet, I know that I am both. There is a profoundly mysterious sort of reflection occurring in self-consciousness where I am, in some way, separate from and aware of the self while, at the very same time, I am the self. This contravenes the law of observation since I observe I observing. Consciousness is real because I observe things. This mysterious reflectivity is real because I self-consciously observe “I”. Since the law of observation is valid, this mysterious reflectivity must be an awareness which transcends the consciousness of observation.
Personality transcends being and this mysterious reflectivity transcends the law of observation. Being spiritual, mindal, or material is energy-reality and has a location in space. Consciousness is an energy manifestation of being which relates the observer to an object. Personality is a super-existential presence that can be in more than one place at the same time because it transcends the energy-realities of space. The living unification of free will with multiple centers of conscious observation is the awareness of reflective consciousness. It is impossible to say that personality is either here or there because personality is self-conscious. It is impossible to deny the unity of the moral free will because personality is one. Reflective consciousness is a transcendent awareness superimposed upon the conscious centers of observation manifest in personal being.
Reflective consciousness appears to be a consequence of the association of the experiential personality, the existential Mystery Monitor, and the cosmic mind potentials inherent in the human intellect. [UB 16:9.1], [UB 16:6.4], [UB 16:6.10], [UB 16:9.11] Reflective consciousness is a threefold awareness centered in the being of the soul. In his Discourse on the Soul, Jesus tells us: “The soul is the self-reflective, truth-discerning, and spirit-perceiving part of man … Self-consciousness, in and of itself, is not the soul. Moral self-consciousness is true human self-realization and constitutes the foundation of the human soul” [UB 133:6.5] Reflective consciousness integrates moral free will with threefold being in the reality of self-consciousness. The personality’s reflective unification of moral free will, superconscious insight, self-conscious wisdom, and conscious reason is the reality of moral self-consciousness.
Man is created in the image of the Supreme. The instantaneous reflectivity circuits of the grand universe are part of the consciousness of the Supreme Being and are derived from the cosmic mind of the seven Master Spirits and the absolute mind of the Third Source and Center. UB 9:7 There is a direct connection between the morally reflective self-consciousness of man and the universe reflectivity of the Supreme. “The act is ours, the consequences God’s.” [UB 117:5.5]
Living being is conscious. Personality is morally reflective. To see being is to observe. To see personality is to reflect. Being manifests will, the power to do. Personality manifests moral free will, the power to be. Being acts. Personality chooses. Being reacts. Personality creates. Being is existential. Personality transcends being. Being is aware of things, meanings, and values. Personality is reflectively aware of three-fold self-consciousness, and other personality presence. Reason thinks. Wisdom judges. Insight realizes. Personality reflectively experiences. Reflective consciousness is the foundation of the cosmic consciousness of personality; it is the potential for the experiential unification of cosmic insights inherent in the human intellect.
In Paper 5 the Divine Counselor describes “seeing” personality: 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. [UB 5:5.11]
God-consciousness is the realization of the personality of God. Man has long recognized the existence of different levels of consciousness, but metaphysics and theology have failed to discover the reality of reflective consciousness. Man has conceived of God as a spirit consciousness, but not as a reflective consciousness who embraces spirit consciousness. We cannot relate to pure spirit consciousness; if we could, we would know the mindedness of the divine Adjuster. We can relate to the reflective consciousness of the personality of God because we are personalities. We have insight into personality, but we do not have a clear intellectual awareness of personality. In the paper on the Seven Master Spirits, a Universal Censor tells us, “Self-consciousness consists in intellectual awareness of personality actuality.” [UB 16:8.6] Intellectual awareness of personality actuality can be expanded through the effort to express the meanings concealed within the declaration, “I am.”
“I am” is the self-conscious realization of reality. To say “I am” is to realize the truth that I am and the fact that reality is. This realization is an unchallengeable insight. Logic concludes that I must be before I can be aware of reality. Reason deduces that since I am the cause of the statement “I am,” I must be. Insight, logic, and reason all agree; it is absolutely true that I am and reality is whenever I am aware that I am.
“I am” is moral awareness of the self as a reality distinct from other selves and from the universe. I am the self; I am not others or the universe. I am morally aware that I live with others in an objective universe.
“I am” is expressed by the self. Since I am aware of the self expressing “I am,” I must be different from the self. The observer of the self cannot be the self. To be morally aware of the self is to realize separation from the self. Since I am an irreducible unity, I am the moral observer of the self who observes the universe. I live in the universe through the being of the self.
In declaring, “I am,” I am certain that I am, but I assert nothing about what I am, about the self. “I am” is unqualified by any predicate of being. “I am” refers to the “I” who is morally aware of the self. I can only be certain that a thing exists if I actually observe it. I cannot be certain that this “moral I” exists because this “I” can never be an object of observation. Since I know this “I” is real but I can never actually observe its existence, I must conceive of this “I” as a reality which does not necessarily exist, as a real personal presence which is independent of being–personality.
“I am” is the self’s awareness of the presence of personality. I do not observe personality, but I do have an intellectual awareness of the final unity of moral free will. I conceive of all of experience as being reflected towards a final focal point of free will awareness. I intellectually know the presence of a moral free will that observes, evaluates, and chooses among the countless phenomena of experience.
“I am” is the reflective awareness of a threefold consciousness. I realize the truth of “I am.” I understand the meaning of “I am.” I know the expression, “I am.” I am aware of thing, meaning, and value and of their unification in experience. I am reflectively aware of the threefold reality of the truth of the meaning of the expression, “I am.”
“I am” is the reflective synthesis of personality and self. Personality intuitively sees its reflection in the self; “I am the self.” The self intellectually knows its reflection in the final unity of personality-awareness; “I am.” Personality is morally aware of the whole self; “I am one and I am the threefold self.” Moral character is the mastery of the threefold self by the reflective free will of personality.
“I am” is a qualified absolute truth; it is absolutely true that I am and reality is whenever I am aware that I am. Only an absolute could dare to be dogmatic in an evolving universe. A Solitary Messenger informs us that human personality has an absolute dimension of self-expression. This Solitary Messenger goes on to say, “On subabsolute levels this seventh or totality dimension is experiencible as the fact of personality.” [UB 112:1.9] The absolute and eternal truth of I am” is the absolute self-expression of the fact of personality. Absolute truth and fact are one in “I am.”
The absolute truth of personality is verifiable in personal experience. The supreme authority of personal experience is supported by a Melchizedek in paper 102: “If science, philosophy, or sociology dares to become dogmatic in contending with the prophets of true religion, then should God-knowing men reply to such unwarranted dogmatism with that more farseeing dogmatism of the certainty of personal spiritual experience, ‘I know what I have experienced because I am a son of I AM.’” [UB 102:7.7] If I am absolutely certain that I am personality, I can be absolutely certain that God is personality. The existence of God, his spiritual nature, and his divine character are only discoverable through faith, but the truth of his personality is present to the morally reflective self-consciousness. The intellectual realization of the personality of God complements the faith-insight of the spirit of God. The Universal Father is the object of worship for the spiritual insight of faith. The concept of the I AM is the object of wisdom for the spiritualizing intellect. The I AM is the identity of the Universal Father, who reveals to Moses that his name is I AM. Where before man could only rely on blind faith in the goodness of God, revelation now gives man the divine vision with which to behold the personality of God.
For just the fifth time in planetary history, we are crossing the threshold into a new epoch of human life, the nature of which is now apparent. Everywhere we look, we see institutional and traditional authorities being overthrown by the authority of personal experience. Authority is aggressively questioned at every turn. It is no longer enough to say, “This is the way it has always been.” The diminishing influence of ecclesiastical, cultural, and social authorities leaves a vacuum which will be filled by either a resurgence of authoritarianism or by a living philosophy. There is an absolute truth universally accessible to man: man can discover for himself the absolute truth of personality. This is the cosmic fulcrum upon which man can leverage a universal philosophy of living; a philosophy that transcends sectarian, cultural, and social differences because it arises from cosmic insights inherent in all reflective intellects. [UB 16:6.6-8]
The Urantia Book inaugurates the age of the ascending sons of God the Supreme. We are just now entering an age of great spiritual adventure and discovery. An age in which the faith-sons of the Father venture forth beyond the traditional borders of self-consciousness into the mysterious realms of reflective consciousness in search of the personality of God. An age in which the cosmically minded citizens of Urantia will increasingly declare, “I know what I experience because I am a son of I AM.”
Animals are aware. Man is awake. The soul awakens to moral self-consciousness in the light of reflective consciousness. Personality is a true presence-in-the-universe, but the effective presence of personality depends upon the moral choices and completed decisions of the reflective free will. Experience is ever new in the everlasting now of reflective consciousness. Cosmic consciousness is the flowering of reflective consciousness and the goal of the experiential sons of the Supreme.
I encountered the book in 1971 and after joining Helena Sprague’s study group, became a founding member of the Connecticut Society. I have presented at a number of conferences including IC ’05 and the Urmia Retreat two years ago.
Only a person can love and be loved. [UB 1:7.3]