© 1996 Jacques Dupont
© 1996 French-speaking Association of Readers of the Urantia Book
| Artistic conception of the Master Universe (2) Artistic conception of the Master Universe (2) | Le Lien Urantien — Issue 3 — Winter 1996 | Bruno Bettelheim and our anguished era |
The Book makes it clear that a complete revelation would hardly be desirable. It is better that men not receive excessive revelation; it stifles the imagination and would deprive the thinkers of the next millennium of creative speculation. (See UB 0:1.2)
Let us follow this invitation and attempt to approach the personality although it is “one of the unfathomed mysteries of the universe” (UB 5:6.2), let us endeavor to discover, through the details provided in the Book, the meanings within our reach.
First, let’s try to define personality and present its basic characteristics.
Secondly, we will seek to determine the moment when the gift of personality takes place.
Thirdly, we will talk about the secondary characteristics (although of very high importance) of the personality.
Definition of personality in Robert: What makes the individuality of a legal person.
Psycho: Function by which a conscious individual grasps himself as a self, as a unique and permanent subject.
In the URANTIA Book the word ‘personality’ meets this definition, but in addition, it gives its origin and specifies its function.
Personality is the unique gift bestowed by the Universal Father upon the living and associated energies of matter, mind, and spirit, and which survives with the survival of the morontia soul. (See p.9)
Being a gift, the personality has no identity, it takes on the identity of the organism to which it is conferred, that of the ascender, to finally take on the identity of the Adjuster after its fusion with the evolving soul which will also lose its identity to take on that of the Adjuster.
Personality is a quality. Let’s make the analogy on the physical level with skill - To a clumsy person trying in vain to assemble a few diverse objects, give him skill, he will then be able to achieve what he conceives in thought. Skill is a unifying quality of movements which has no identity, it belongs to the one who possesses it.
Likewise on the intellectual and spiritual levels, personality is a harmonizing quality in the actualization of the person’s potential.
Personality is the only invariant reality in a creature’s constantly changing experience; and it unifies all other associated factors of individuality.
The gift of personality connects the cosmic mind to the human mind, empowering it to grasp scientific, moral and spiritual insights. (UB 16:8.15) The action of the cosmic mind creates reflective thought, it is independent of instinctive reactions to the Adjutant Mind Spirits.
The gift of personality engenders: self-awareness and the relative free will associated with it (UB 16:8.5).
It is the appearance of an internal organ of perception allowing the individual to see himself, to observe himself, to grasp his surroundings… to understand himself, to form a philosophy of life, which leads him to create the language to express it.
Free will gives the individual the ability to choose, making him responsible for himself.
The arrival of personality constitutes the beginning of the human in relation to the animal:
“My son, I have already told you much about the mind of man and the divine spirit that lives therein, but now let me emphasize that self-consciousness is a reality. When any animal becomes self-conscious, it becomes a primitive man. Such an attainment results from a co-ordination of function between impersonal energy and spirit-conceiving mind, and it is this phenomenon which warrants the bestowal of an absolute focal point for the human personality, the spirit of the Father in heaven.” (UB 133:7.6)
This is the beginning of the human experience — this is the moment when the organism, becoming aware of itself, begins to decide its action, when, thanks to its connection to the cosmic mind, it begins to gradually substitute ‘austere self-control’ for the instinctive influence of the Adjutant Mental Spirits. This is the beginning of the human drama which leads, through a succession of separations and readjustments, to the formation of the soul, to the second birth, to the growth of the soul, to survival, and to freedom.
How did 2 lemurs become the first 2 human beings?
Let’s start with the precursor lemurs:
“The members of this new species had the largest brains for their size of any animal that had theretofore existed on earth. They experienced many of the emotions and shared numerous instincts which later characterized primitive man, being highly curious and exhibiting considerable elation when successful at any undertaking. Food hunger and sex craving were well developed, and a definite sex selection was manifested in a crude form of courtship and choice of mates. They would fight fiercely in defense of their kindred and were quite tender in family associations, possessing a sense of self-abasement bordering on shame and remorse. They were very affectionate and touchingly loyal to their mates, but if circumstances separated them, they would choose new partners.” (UB 62:2.3)
The important point to clarify is that the impulses of these attitudes are the responses to the first five Adjutant Mental Spirits - they are purely instinctive - they are not the responses to a decision of the personality which does not yet exist…
The tender look of a wounded doe or an affectionate dog characterizes the highest degree of instinctive evolution, which makes one say that all they lack is speech - but that is sentimentality.
“And now, after almost nine hundred generations of development, covering about twenty-one thousand years from the origin of the dawn mammals, the Primates suddenly gave birth to two remarkable creatures, the first true human beings.” (UB 62:4.6)
“We had been watching the twins develop mentally through our observation of the functioning of the seven adjutant mind-spirits assigned to Urantia at the time of our arrival on the planet. Throughout the long evolutionary development of planetary life, these tireless mind ministers had ever registered their increasing ability to contact with the successively expanding brain capacities of the progressively superior animal creatures.”
“At first only the spirit of intuition could function in the instinctive and reflex behavior of the primordial animal life. With the differentiation of higher types, the spirit of understanding was able to endow such creatures with the gift of spontaneous association of ideas. Later on we observed the spirit of courage in operation; evolving animals really developed a crude form of protective self-consciousness. Subsequent to the appearance of the mammalian groups, we beheld the spirit of knowledge manifesting itself in increased measure. And the evolution of the higher mammals brought the function of the spirit of counsel, with the resulting growth of the herd instinct and the beginnings of primitive social development.”
“Increasingly, on down through the dawn mammals, the mid-mammals, and the Primates, we had observed the augmented service of the first five adjutants. But never had the remaining two, the highest mind ministers, been able to function in the Urantia type of evolutionary mind.”
“Imagine our joy one day—the twins were about ten years old—when the spirit of worship made its first contact with the mind of the female twin and shortly thereafter with the male. We knew that something closely akin to human mind was approaching culmination; and when, about a year later, they finally resolved, as a result of meditative thought and purposeful decision, to flee from home and journey north, then did the spirit of wisdom begin to function on Urantia and in these two now recognized human minds.” (UB 62:6.2-5)
How can we observe this first contact today? — Is it when the child begins to feel secure with his doll, his teddy bear or a simple piece of cloth, acting as a fetish? which is observable at the age of 18 months to within 6 months.
“1. *The adjutant of worship—*the appearance in animal consciousness of superanimal potentials for reality perception. This might be termed the primordial human instinct for Deity.” (UB 92:0.2)
It is the triggering of the search for God, the feeling of depending on something beyond you -It is the embryo of love -
“Imagine our joy one day—the twins were about ten years old—when the spirit of worship made its first contact with the mind of the female twin and shortly thereafter with the male. We knew that something closely akin to human mind was approaching culmination; and when, about a year later, they finally resolved, as a result of meditative thought and purposeful decision, to flee from home and journey north, then did the spirit of wisdom begin to function on Urantia and in these two now recognized human minds.” (UB 62:6.5)
Now the bestowal of personality is prior to the bestowal of Thought Adjusters 194.3, which occurs around age 5—so it is approximately between age 1 and age 5 that the bestowal of personality takes place.
Personality appears when for the first time the child says ‘I’ while thinking it. — Is this the moment when the child regularly answers ‘no’ to all the propositions made to him?
“The personality circuit of the universe of universes is centered in the person of the Universal Father, and the Paradise Father is personally conscious of, and in personal touch with, all personalities of all levels of self-conscious existence. And this personality consciousness of all creation exists independently of the mission of the Thought Adjusters.” (UB 5:6.10)
The arrival of the personality determines the moment when evolution ceases to depend on instinctive mental reactions to the Adjutant Mental Spirits to be progressively subject to the free will of the personality.
It is useful to remember that free will is respected in an absolute way, we have the example with Eve. Free will gives the choice to follow or not to follow the will of the Father.
The unchanging personality, gift of the Father, orchestrates the maturation of the individual. What changes - what grows is the moral character. (UB 140:4.7) The effect of the personality will be total on the finaliter but, throughout the individual’s journey its effect is progressive and goes through 3 well-defined stages.
“What is loyalty? It is the fruit of an intelligent appreciation of universe brotherhood; one could not take so much and give nothing. As you ascend the personality scale, first you learn to be loyal, then to love, then to be filial, and then may you be free; but not until you are a finaliter, not until you have attained perfection of loyalty, can you self-realize finality of liberty.” (UB 39:4.11)
In the Book, the same word ‘personality’ is used in the three senses corresponding to these three stages:
Finally, after his fusion with his Adjuster, he is authentically a son of God, he is filial, his personality has meaning 1, he tastes freedom.
“Capacity for divine personality is inherent in the prepersonal Adjuster; capacity for human personality is potential in the cosmic-mind endowment of the human being. But the experiential personality of mortal man is not observable as an active and functional reality until after the material life vehicle of the mortal creature has been touched by the liberating divinity of the Universal Father, being thus launched upon the seas of experience as a self-conscious and a (relatively) self-determinative and self-creative personality. The material self is truly and unqualifiedly personal.” (UB 5:6.6)
Personality P (meaning -1-) is devoid of identity
Personality (meaning -2- and meaning -3-) has an identity, that of the individual to whom it is conferred.
“The Adjuster is not trying to control your thinking, as such, but rather to spiritualize it, to eternalize it. Neither angels nor Adjusters are devoted directly to influencing human thought; that is your exclusive personality prerogative. The Adjusters are dedicated to improving, modifying, adjusting, and co-ordinating your thinking processes; but more especially and specifically they are devoted to the work of building up spiritual counterparts of your careers, morontia transcripts of your true advancing selves, for survival purposes.” (UB 110:2.3)
Man is truly the architect of his own eternal destiny. 1135.0
“Evolutionary mind is only fully stable and dependable when manifesting itself upon the two extremes of cosmic intellectuality—the wholly mechanized and the entirely spiritualized. Between the intellectual extremes of pure mechanical control and true spirit nature there intervenes that enormous group of evolving and ascending minds whose stability and tranquillity are dependent upon personality choice and spirit identification.” (UB 111:1.7)
(This is the conflict zone where almost all of us are, and we will remain there until we have understood these always the same recurring lessons of life)
Personality is characterized by morality — awareness of the relativity of relationships with other people. It discerns levels of conduct and makes a judicious choice among them. (UB 112:0.11)
“Human happiness is achieved only when the ego desire of the self and the altruistic urge of the higher self (divine spirit) are co-ordinated and reconciled by the unified will of the integrating and supervising personality. The mind of evolutionary man is ever confronted with the intricate problem of refereeing the contest between the natural expansion of emotional impulses and the moral growth of unselfish urges predicated on spiritual insight—genuine religious reflection.” (UB 103:5.5)
“When man fails to discriminate the ends of his mortal striving, he finds himself functioning on the animal level of existence. He has failed to avail himself of the superior advantages of that material acumen, moral discrimination, and spiritual insight which are an integral part of his cosmic-mind endowment as a personal being.” (UB 16:7.5)
The personality is unique, absolutely unique — there are no identical personalities — (there is a gulf which separates the personality of man from that of woman) — (see UB 112:0.10 and UB 82:1.1)) — This sheds light on the “do not judge”, one personality cannot judge another personality.
If the personality has the prerogative to exercise the volitional choice to identify with reality, and if this choice is sincere and free, then the evolving personality must also have the possible choice to disorient, dislocate and destroy itself. The cosmic possibility of self-destruction cannot be avoided if the evolving personality is to be truly free in the exercise of its finite will. (UB 118:7.7)
“If this were a mechanistic universe, if the First Great Source and Center were only a force and not also a personality, if all creation were a vast aggregation of physical matter dominated by precise laws characterized by unvarying energy actions, then might perfection obtain, even despite the incompleteness of universe status. There would be no disagreement; there would be no friction. But in our evolving universe of relative perfection and imperfection we rejoice that disagreement and misunderstanding are possible, for thereby is evidenced the fact and the act of personality in the universe. And if our creation is an existence dominated by personality, then can you be assured of the possibilities of personality survival, advancement, and achievement; we can be confident of personality growth, experience, and adventure. What a glorious universe, in that it is personal and progressive, not merely mechanical or even passively perfect!” (UB 75:8.7)
Effective state rule only came with the arrival of a chief with full executive authority. Man found that effective government could be had only by conferring power on a personality, not by endowing an idea. (UB 70:6.1)
“7. The Evolutionary Mortals of the Ascending Career. Havona is the home of the pattern personality of every mortal type and the home of all superhuman personalities of mortal association who are not native to the creations of time.” (UB 14:6.37)
“Personality is not simply an attribute of God; it rather stands for the totality of the co-ordinated infinite nature and the unified divine will which is exhibited in eternity and universality of perfect expression. Personality, in the supreme sense, is the revelation of God to the universe of universes.” (UB 1:5.13)
It is the Personality of God, who controls the universe of universes
I thank in advance those who would like to share their point of view with me.
January 21, 1996
Jacques Dupont — Recloses
| Artistic conception of the Master Universe (2) Artistic conception of the Master Universe (2) | Le Lien Urantien — Issue 3 — Winter 1996 | Bruno Bettelheim and our anguished era |