© 1988 Henry Begemann
© 1988 ANZURA, Australia & New Zealand Urantia Association
“Personalization” means in my opinion: making or being made personal or a person. This happens for the first time when the Father bestows personality on a living organism with mind. Personality is one of the fundamental mysteries of the universe, but having its origin in the First Source and Centre, and being able to function on the absolute level while always remaining unchanged, we may infer that this majestic personality does not know itself, at least not fully. Its universe career serves to realize itself.
From this process we may infer that personality needs personalization, or identification, for self-realization. The whole universe, except the existential, needs experience and is based on that. Personality, not knowing itself, identifies itself with the organism and mind on which it is bestowed. Though this “self”-knowledge is (on our level) for the greater part erroneous, it is unavoidable and necessary. Nevertheless there is a complementary process going on, identifying with the soul. This shows that personalization is not an end in itself, it is a means to an end.
Identification with the mind-organism is automatic, identification with the soul is a struggle. Decisions, more decisions, and still more decisions… The lessons of a level must be learned before the next level can be attained. The universe is not in haste, it works slowly but thoroughly.
If a learning period has not been sufficiently successful, the process must and will be repeated. Personality has that quality through which it can be added to an organism with mind and adapt to that. The repetition of the process results in re-personalization. It depends on the identity how many times this will be repeated. The chain of personalizations may be long and arduous. Jesus admonished and taught salvation from this process, from this life to which people through mistaken evaluation attach so strongly. The end of this “first life” nearly always is survival, but we can only recognize this if we extend our horizon to cover the whole of the first life (138.3.3), which we can do only by faith. The eye of the flesh sees quite differently, the eye of faith sees that the Father’s plan will succeed. His will is that nobody should be lost, that all should find salvation. And he is a patient, wise Father.
Repersonalization may resemble a bit the doctrine of reincarnation, but there are essential differences. Repersonalization starts out from the personality; reincarnation from the identity. The centre of the identity, the “I”, is in the mind. In reincarnation it is repeatedly the same mind, the same “ I ”, that supposedly incarnates. But The URANTIA Book teaches that the mind is mortal, it cannot survive, because on the mansion worlds we get a new mind, a morontia mind.
If Henry Begemann, the person with whom my personality has identified itself, should not survive, he will cease to exist, will never return. But this does not implicitly mean that the personality behind the identity loses its possibility to re-identify itself with another organism with mind, thereby becoming quite another person. Cessation of life is not perse eternal extinction, thank God! It may come to that, but as far as I can see only in exceptional cases, which the procedures of page 37 sufficiently demonstrate.
Another difference with reincarnation is that the identity can only survive in the soul, which is an emerging morontia entity, though only embryonic in this life here. Hence the unavoidable necessity for survival is, to shift the centre of the identity gradually from mind to soul. This teaching with all its implications does not agree with people who are so fond of reincarnation.
Repersonalization is a universal scheme. It goes on on the mansion worlds, the first one there being called ‘resurrection’. The resurrected identity is a new man, or person, with different functional powers; but through restored memory by the same Adjuster, the same identity.
The interpretation of soul-migration is at variance with the fact that we get a Though Adjuster at the age between 5 and 6. Only then a new soul comes into existence, the child of another Adjuster and another mortal mind. The soul cannot live without its parents, especially without its divine parent. The soul is mortal, with the potential of becoming immortal.
That what is gained through a life-experience, and which is of eternity-value, becomes the possession of the Adjuster. But personality itself, the unchanging and unchangeable factor behind the identity, also has a kind of memory, though not the computerlike memory of the mind. Personality, for instance, can recognize personality. Comp. p. 451. A life’s experience is functional in that it affords the personality the opportunity to realize itself to a certain (small) extent. Everything that is truly gained is an abiding possession of the personality, which may explain in part the differential between between personalities.
Our book does not deal consecutively and extensively with this subject, and for obvious reasons. Many people are not averse at all to the material life and its pleasures. To teach them a repetition of this life would be stupid, Therefore, we also have to be careful. Our book concentrates on survival, but the sincere student will find the answers to his many questions in this field, because he is only interested in this earth life insofar it can prepare him for the next.
Of course there will remain questions, but living truth is expanding and deepening truth. The great teacher is within us.
Henry Begemann, Wassenaar, The Netherlands