© 1997 Jean-Claude Romeuf
© 1997 French-speaking Association of Readers of the Urantia Book
Those who feel an irresistible attraction to mystery can be enthusiastic about the permanent and daily miracle of the gift of personality.
This gift from the Father is in itself incomprehensible, but it is possible to observe its effects and foresee its goals. We may not understand magnetism but know its applications.
From the outset, our first observation is that personality makes the one to whom it is conferred the only son of the Universal Father. In the entire immense universe which surrounds us, we have the right to say: “There are no two beings like me”.
From this statement, which may seem pretentious, comes the second observation allowing us to recognize as a unique brother, any being other than oneself, both different and similar in certain identifiable aspects. It is from the personality that, from a common paternity, the Universal Brotherhood will be born.
The gift of personality is also the necessary and obligatory condition for the coming of the thought adjusters. This second endowment from the Universal Father will enable each being endowed with personality to obtain the status of a potential permanent citizen of the universe of universes. These two paternal realities are intended to be closely related yet differentiated at the beginning of life until they become conflated and can no longer be dissociated at the moment of fusion.
Being a temporary or permanent citizen of the universe of universes does not prevent the need for a means of recognition. Relationships with the surrounding environment or personalities other than oneself require a method of communication. This role will be fulfilled by the personality’s identification sheet: identity.
Identity will be active on levels that can be schematically divided into three, although they are intimately linked despite our unfortunate habit of completely differentiating them.
Throughout spiritual growth, the soul will increasingly become the mirror reflecting the real and divine identity of the personality. In other words, the closer we get to Paradise, the more sincere the reflection of our Self will be: we will be recognized more and more as we are in divinity.
Personality and Identity are therefore closely linked and the tendency is sometimes to confuse them. However, they form an inseparable entity: the Person.
But, we cannot say that:
Person = personality + identity
It is more correct to say that personality corresponds to the invariant character of the person. It does not change in the presence of change: in a billion years, I will be me. It is coordinating and unifying.
Identity, on the contrary, demarcates the variable and evolutionary character of the person. In one day, in ten years, my body will have aged, my emotional character will have changed, my knowledge will be superior, the relations with my adjuster will have improved (at least I hope so), my soul will have grown. In summary, my identity will have changed, but I will always be the same personality.
Until it has merged with the personality, the adjuster can be considered an integral part of the identity that is subject to change. Then, after the fusion, the adjuster and the man become one to such an extent that it seems impossible to differentiate the human from the divine. At this point, the personality is no longer in danger of major failure: its survival is assured.
However, the soul which then corresponds to the identifiable totality of the person will continue to grow and climb the superuniversal, Havonian and paradisiacal ladders.
The image that she will send back of herself will be more and more in harmony with the image of her own greatness, that is to say with the level of divinity that she will have acquired through experience and loyalty.
Right now, on Urantia, our identity serves as a mask for us.
Behind an attitude, a behavior, we can hide what we are or make people believe what we are not. We can make ourselves more beautiful, better: the kiss of Judas is still on our lips.
As one follows the leadings of the Adjuster, becoming more and more sincere and choosing the path of beauty, truth, and goodness, one stores up divinity. This is the only light that will ever be seen in one’s eyes, for divinity illumines the personality.
Divinity is the future of personality. Without it, there is no growth possible. Divinity is the reflective mirror in which the greatness of personality is ignited. Identity is destined to be replaced by divinity.
Jean-Claude Romeuf