© 2012 Jean Royer
© 2012 French-speaking Association of Readers of the Urantia Book
In the mortal minds of Urantia—that being the name of your world—there exists great confusion as to the meaning of such terms as God, divinity, and deity.
It is indeed mental, a term that will need to be defined itself. A first definition is given on page 8. The thinking, perceiving and feeling mechanism of the human organism. The total of conscious and unconscious experience. Intelligence associated with emotional life rising to the level of the spirit through worship and wisdom.
The word mechanism here translates the English “mechanism”, perhaps more complex than it may seem at first glance. The OED (Oxford English Dictionary) gives as its first meaning: The structure or mutual adaptation of parts, in a machine or something comparable to a machine, whether material or immaterial.
Darwin speaks of the mechanism of the flower. Le Robert says in sense 2: Mode of operation of a machine or of what is assimilated to a machine. It is perhaps in this sense that the term mechanism should be understood.
What do we assimilate here to a machine? The human organism in its own functions of thinking, perceiving and feeling, that is to say first of all the mode of functioning of the brain in terms of thought, but also the sense organs which allow us to perceive and, through the glands producing, among other things, hormones, to feel. Both perception and feeling are analyzed by the brain. There is no thought without perception.
Let us not forget that all this forms an experience in this mind, a term that we will find throughout the reading of the Urantia Book. This experience can be conscious or unconscious. Here we return to psychological analysis, but in a simplified way. The revelators do not embark on the explanation of the other levels of consciousness that are the subconscious and the superconscious. This is indeed a guide to definitions that will be completed later in the book.
Intelligence is the part called “intellect” but associated with emotional life. It will therefore be necessary to distinguish the intellectual aspect which is the pure thinking part, let’s call it logic, from the mental which also includes the whole sentimental aspect whether it is conscious or unconscious. We can therefore say that the mind is intelligent and that it rises to the level of the spirit by two aids, the “adjuvats” which are adoration and wisdom.
Spirit is in turn briefly defined on page 8: The divine spirit which indwells the mind of man—the Thought Adjuster. This immortal spirit is prepersonal—it is not a personality, although it is destined to become a part of the personality of the surviving mortal creature.
The revelators here limit themselves to the explanation of the spirit in man, they do not deal at all with what the spirit is as a level of existence. This spirit is divine, we will not know what is hidden behind this word, at least not yet although we are given a name, that of Thought Adjuster. This Thought Adjuster inhabits the mind, which obliges us to formally distinguish the mind from thought. Thought is the product of the mind or can we say the mind produces thought. And in this mind there is a divine entity which adjusts this thought.
This spirit is immortal, because divine, as opposed to man who is mortal. Prepersonal is not explained here, except that it is proposed as an antonym of personal and that personality is defined on page 9, first negatively since we are told: The personality of mortal man is neither body, nor mind, nor spirit, nor is it the soul.
Then more positively: Personality is the only unchanging reality in the ever-changing experience of a creature; and it unifies all other associated factors of individuality. 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.
All the usual ingredients that make up a human being are present, including the body, here referred to as “matter,” and the soul, the definition of which is also given to us on page 8: “The soul of man is an experiential acquisition. As a mortal creature chooses to ”do the will of the Father in heaven,“ the spirit within becomes the father of a new reality in human experience. The mortal, material mind is the mother of this same emerging reality. The substance of this new reality is neither material nor spiritual—it is morontia. It is the emerging, immortal soul destined to survive physical death and begin the ascent to Paradise.”
It should be noted that this is the third time that we find the word experience and that it is accompanied by the corresponding adjective, experiential. We also find the adjective morontial which corresponds to the neologism morontia. This term is partially explained on page 9: Morontia is a term designating a vast intermediate level between the material and the spiritual. It can designate personal or impersonal realities, living or non-living energies. The warp of the morontia fabric is spiritual, its weft is material.
Mortals: this is the most common term to designate men whether from this planet or other planets.
Urantia: first mention of the name given to our world, the one we call Earth. We can ask ourselves the question of who gave this name. Is it the first name given by the Life Carriers? By the hundred of Caligastia? Or the name under which the planet is recorded in the annals of Satania? Let us also note that it is the term world that is used and not the term planet. There is perhaps a nuance that deserves to be explained. From the outset, the revelators will, from the first page, situate Urantia in the universe, because the fifth revelation distinguishes itself from the others by inviting us to become aware of our condition as cosmic citizens.
There is great confusion, refers to all the civilizations on our planet, whether in space or in time.
God: Chapter II of pages 3 et 4 is devoted to explaining what the revelators mean by this word. And for a good part, it is indeed revelation.
Divinity and Deity are covered in Chapter I on pages 2 and 3.
This first sentence of the Urantia Book gives us ample food for thought, even if we stop at the first level, because we can clearly see that each term analyzed leads, if desired, to other terms to analyze. Moreover, as we have noticed, the introduction is only a guide to definitions and it is obvious that it is necessary to complete this approach with a deeper understanding that we will find in the body of the book itself. It is an “experience”, material, mental and spiritual that each person must do alone but also in a study group.
Jean Royer