© 2015 Georges Michelson-Dupont
© 2015 French-speaking Association of Readers of the Urantia Book
The definitions of “consciousness” found in classical or philosophical dictionaries differ among themselves depending on whether they come from philosophy, psychology, psychiatry or the general sense, but all are more or less vague or incomplete, some confusing the mind with the spirit, others making no difference between consciousness and self-consciousness. The Urantia Book has the merit of clarifying these notions which are so important for understanding the origin of what we call “consciousness”, the evolutionary mechanism which allows us to apprehend the three domains of material, intellectual and spiritual reality and the transcendent goal of these endowments which is to know God, to love him and to seek to do his will.
¶ Awareness
The Urantia Book recognizes several kinds of consciousness.
Consciousness is a mental mechanism allowing a creature to interpret and react to stimuli caused by its vital needs and by its environment at a given moment.
The 5 senses bring up information which, interpreted, calibrated and made conscious by the 5 adjutant mental spirits which give them meaning. Then, these meanings pass through filters such as the genetic, gregarious and instinctive influences of the species and the memory of past experiences.
At the end of the process, the animal will react with a purely instinctive and unreflective action. This kind of consciousness is at the reflex level and induces instinctive reactions of an animal nature.
My cat goes in search of food when he is hungry and he knows how to let me know. (His body sends an electrochemical signal of need for energy to his brain on the nerve networks, this information via the cerebellum goes up through the neurosynaptic networks of the brain where it is confronted with his experiential memory and gives it a “meaning”. Then, the mental mind adjunct to intuition (UB 36:5.6) brings out this meaning in the mind: the need for food associated with the experience that it is the master who feeds him. It is this meaning that will lead him to react and “demand” from his master.
¶ Animal Consciousness
We recognize in this process that it is not purely material and electrochemical and that the intervention of a superhuman ministry, that of the Creative Spirit of the local universe, is necessary to bring out a “meaning” in the mind.
Devoid of personality, the animal has no free will or self-awareness. It cannot discriminate between values and judge the merits of an act.
The animal mental system is purely reactive. It can be taught through feedback only.
“The selective response of an animal is limited to the motor level of behavior. The supposed insight of the higher animals is on a motor level and usually appears only after the experience of motor trial and error. Man is able to exercise scientific, moral, and spiritual insight prior to all exploration or experimentation.” ([UB 16:7.2)
“As a result of experience an animal becomes able to examine the different ways of attaining a goal and to select an approach based on accumulated experience. But a personality can also examine the goal itself and pass judgment on its worth-whileness, its value. Intelligence alone can discriminate as to the best means of attaining indiscriminate ends, but a moral being possesses an insight which enables him to discriminate between ends as well as between means. And a moral being in choosing virtue is nonetheless intelligent. He knows what he is doing, why he is doing it, where he is going, and how he will get there.” ([UB 16:7.4)
¶ Self-awareness
The bestowal of personality by the Universal Father, the Father of personalities, endows the creature with a series of attributes, abilities and awarenesses:
Attributes:
“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)
Self-will, relative free will characterizes self-consciousness. The Urantia Book teaches us that it is engaged in the following cases: [UB 16:8.8] and following
- Moral decision, the highest wisdom.
- Spiritual choice, discernment of truth.
- Selfless love, brotherly service.
- Intentional cooperation, group loyalty.
- Cosmic insight, understanding of universal meanings.
- Consecration of personality, devotion to doing the will of the Father with all heart.
- Worship, when one sincerely pursues divine values and loves with all one’s heart the divine Giver of Values.
Abilities:
The endowment of personality also causes an enhancement of the capacities of the animal mind by becoming sensitive to the cosmic mind. The animal mind becomes truly human and responds unerringly on three levels of universe reality: causality, duty and worship. [Voir UB 16:6.5 for more details]
“These scientific, moral, and spiritual insights, these cosmic responses, are innate in the cosmic mind, which endows all will creatures. The experience of living never fails to develop these three cosmic intuitions; they are constitutive in the self-consciousness of reflective thinking. But it is sad to record that so few persons on Urantia take delight in cultivating these qualities of courageous and independent cosmic thinking.” ([UB 16:6.9)
Awareness:
Self-consciousness superimposes itself on purely animal consciousness. It leads to awareness of the last two adjutant mental spirits.
“When modern man wonders at the presentation of so much in the scriptures of different religions that may be regarded as obscene, he should pause to consider that passing generations have feared to eliminate what their ancestors deemed to be holy and sacred. A great deal that one generation might look upon as obscene, preceding generations have considered a part of their accepted mores, even as approved religious rituals. A considerable amount of religious controversy has been occasioned by the never-ending attempts to reconcile olden but reprehensible practices with newly advanced reason, to find plausible theories in justification of creedal perpetuation of ancient and outworn customs.”
“When modern man wonders at the presentation of so much in the scriptures of different religions that may be regarded as obscene, he should pause to consider that passing generations have feared to eliminate what their ancestors deemed to be holy and sacred. A great deal that one generation might look upon as obscene, preceding generations have considered a part of their accepted mores, even as approved religious rituals. A considerable amount of religious controversy has been occasioned by the never-ending attempts to reconcile olden but reprehensible practices with newly advanced reason, to find plausible theories in justification of creedal perpetuation of ancient and outworn customs.” ([UB 92:2.3)
Personality and its associated attributes, abilities, and awarenesses give the creature the ability to grow through experience with the three realms of reality, matter, mind, and spirit. Personality thus proves to be the mechanism by which God will be able to make subsequent contact with His creature and thus enable it to choose to do His will and become perfect as He Himself is perfect.
The Urantia Book gives the following definition of self-awareness:
“Self-awareness consists of intellectually realizing the actuality of the personality. It includes the ability to recognize the reality of other personalities. It denotes that one is capable of individualized experience in and with cosmic realities, which is equivalent to achieving identity status in the personality relationships of the universe. Self-awareness involves recognizing the actuality of the ministry of mind and realizing the relative independence of creative and determining free will.”
The whole of these intellectual processes constitutes the “inner life” in opposition to the outer life and it is through the decisions of the personality that man builds or destroys himself. Thus, the process that we call “experience” takes place in self-consciousness, the inner life of mortal man. The phenomenon of the functioning of free will in the inner life can be described in seven significant stages:
Emergence. — This may be the awareness of an external situation requiring a choice of values to arbitrate or imagination, the development of new ideas. We recognize in this that the personality is creative. We have seen above the seven possible cases in which free will is involved.
Judgment. — Judging, evaluating ideas, situations, behaviors. It is still necessary that the judgment be clear and in conformity with the truth, sensitivity to the Spirit of Truth and the Holy Spirit. The word judgment covers two notions: that of justice and that of fairness. A bad judgment always brings with it a procession of negative consequences.
“There is a direct relationship between maturity and the unit of time consciousness in any given intellect. The time unit may be a day, a year, or a longer period, but inevitably it is the criterion by which the conscious self evaluates the circumstances of life, and by which the conceiving intellect measures and evaluates the facts of temporal existence.” ([UB 118:1.3)
The choice. — After having brought out the idea, after having evaluated and judged it, it is necessary to choose among the possibilities offered. This step requires being in possession of the right information. When man chooses, he determines himself in relation to a situation; he must do it well because it is his whole being that he engages!
“There is nothing that man can give to God except this choice to conform to the will of the Father, and the decisions thus made by the intelligent and willing creatures in the universes constitute the reality of that true worship which so fully satisfies the love-dominated nature of the Creator Father.” [UB 1:1.2]
Such an intelligent choice requires that man make the adjustments of his will and the transformations in his mind which will allow him to let himself be taught and ultimately guided by the spirit.
The decision. — I place my choice in time and space. It is an act of will. The decision disciplines me because it commits me to keeping it firm.
“5. The Transporters. These are the transport seraphim who function in the local systems. In Satania, your system, they carry passengers back and forth from Jerusem and otherwise serve as interplanetary transporters. Seldom does a day pass in which a transport seraphim of Satania does not deposit some student visitor or some other traveler of spirit or semispirit nature on the shores of Urantia. These very space traversers will sometime carry you to and from the various worlds of the system headquarters group, and when you have finished the Jerusem assignment, they will carry you forward to Edentia. But under no circumstances will they carry you backward to the world of human origin. A mortal never returns to his native planet during the dispensation of his temporal existence, and if he should return during a subsequent dispensation, he would be escorted by a transport seraphim of the universe headquarters group.” ([UB 39:4.15)
Execution. — I put the decision into action and I act. Action implies method, organization, control. Energy, thought and spirit mix in action. The power of execution gives experience and growth, the actualization of potentials.
“With God the Father, the great relationship is sonship. With God the Supreme, achievement is the prerequisite to status; one must do something as well as be something.” [UB 115:0.1]
Doing something does not necessarily mean acting on the outside,
Disinterested love. — In fact, this power can become a director and strongly influence the preceding processes. When love becomes the driving force of human actions, the personality becomes attractive!
“To finite man truth, beauty, and goodness embrace the full revelation of divinity reality. As this love-comprehension of Deity finds spiritual expression in the lives of God-knowing mortals, there are yielded the fruits of divinity: intellectual peace, social progress, moral satisfaction, spiritual joy, and cosmic wisdom. The advanced mortals on a world in the seventh stage of light and life have learned that love is the greatest thing in the universe—and they know that God is love.” ([UB 56:10.20)
Evaluation and progression. — Is the result of my action consistent with what I expected? By evaluating I give myself the ability to progress. Without an honest evaluation there is stagnation.
““I have come into this world to do the will of my Father and to reveal his loving character to all mankind. That, my brethren, is my mission. And this one thing I will do, regardless of the misunderstanding of my teachings by Jews or gentiles of this day or of another generation. But you should not overlook the fact that even divine love has its severe disciplines. A father’s love for his son oftentimes impels the father to restrain the unwise acts of his thoughtless offspring. The child does not always comprehend the wise and loving motives of the father’s restraining discipline. But I declare to you that my Father in Paradise does rule a universe of universes by the compelling power of his love. Love is the greatest of all spirit realities. Truth is a liberating revelation, but love is the supreme relationship. And no matter what blunders your fellow men make in their world management of today, in an age to come the gospel which I declare to you will rule this very world. The ultimate goal of human progress is the reverent recognition of the fatherhood of God and the loving materialization of the brotherhood of man.” ([UB 143:1.4)
This intellectual modus operandi of man takes place within a mental framework within which self-consciousness takes place. However, the human mind does not create real values; human experience does not provide clairvoyance of the universe. Something more is therefore needed for man to access the consciousness of God.
¶ God Consciousness
The finality of the divine plan of ascension for us mortals is contained in the supreme mandate of the Universal Father:
“Be perfect, as I am perfect.”
The Divine Counselor states that:
“This magnificent and universal injunction to strive for the attainment of the perfection of divinity is the first duty, and should be the highest ambition, of all the struggling creature creation of the God of perfection. This possibility of the attainment of divine perfection is the final and certain destiny of all man’s eternal spiritual progress.” ([UB 1:0.4)
“Urantia mortals can hardly hope to be perfect in the infinite sense, but it is entirely possible for human beings, starting out as they do on this planet, to attain the supernal and divine goal which the infinite God has set for mortal man; and when they do achieve this destiny, they will, in all that pertains to self-realization and mind attainment, be just as replete in their sphere of divine perfection as God himself is in his sphere of infinity and eternity. Such perfection may not be universal in the material sense, unlimited in intellectual grasp, or final in spiritual experience, but it is final and complete in all finite aspects of divinity of will, perfection of personality motivation, and God-consciousness.” ([UB 1:0.5)
The gift of personality by the Universal Father constitutes the mechanism by which and with which man becomes conscious of himself and thus establishes meaningful relationships with other creatures. But man alone, a subabsolute and finite creature, cannot know God, an absolute and infinite being. It is therefore necessary that the Infinite reveal itself to the finite and God to man.
And now the Infinite comes to inhabit the ascending mortal creature in the form of a fragment of himself, the Mystery Monitor. He represents: “the will of God far away in the universes.”
"The actuality of God’s existence is demonstrated in human experience by the divine indwelling presence, the Spirit Monitor sent from Paradise to live in the mortal mind of man, and to aid him in developing there the immortal soul destined to survive eternally. The presence of this divine Adjuster in the human mind is revealed by three experiential phenomena:
- The intellectual capacity to know God — God consciousness.
- The spiritual impulse to find God—the search for God.
- The intense desire of the personality to be like God—the sincere desire to do the will of God.” [UB 1:2.3]
It follows that all human progress toward perfection is the fruit of intelligent cooperation with the indwelling Spirit. In the process of choice, man must graciously make adjustments of his will and transformations in his mind by which he allows himself to be inspired and ultimately guided by the Spirit.
“When a moral being chooses to be unselfish when confronted by the urge to be selfish, that is primitive religious experience. No animal can make such a choice; such a decision is both human and religious. It embraces the fact of God-consciousness and exhibits the impulse of social service, the basis of the brotherhood of man. When mind chooses a right moral judgment by an act of the free will, such a decision constitutes a religious experience.” ([UB 103:2.8)
In the phenomenon of the expansion of God consciousness in human experience the Indwelling Adjuster is really the spiritual link which unites the creature with the Creator.
“It is the Adjuster who creates within man that unquenchable yearning and incessant longing to be like God, to attain Paradise, and there before the actual person of Deity to worship the infinite source of the divine gift. The Adjuster is the living presence which actually links the mortal son with his Paradise Father and draws him nearer and nearer to the Father. The Adjuster is our compensatory equalization of the enormous universe tension which is created by the distance of man’s removal from God and by the degree of his partiality in contrast with the universality of the eternal Father.” ([UB 107:0.5)
The consciousness of being indwelt by an Adjuster is really the unshakable conviction that God lives in us, with us, and that he really shares our joys and sorrows.
Since the bestowal of our Creator Son, all normally minded Urantians have a Thought Adjuster and are therefore intellectually aware of the existence of God. How ironic it is to hear an atheist deny the existence of God when he himself is aware of it!
“3. The personality craving to be like God—the wholehearted desire to do the Father’s will.” ([UB 1:2.6)
Georges Michelson-Dupont. Reclosed