© 1996 Jeanmarie Chaise
© 1996 French-speaking Association of Readers of the Urantia Book
| Infallible cosmic compass | Le Lien Urantien — Issue 1 — Summer 1996 | The Adjuster according to C.G. Jung |
The writers of the Urantia Book tell us that they are not capable of defining personality. This is therefore not the goal we will set for ourselves, at least not until we are much further along in our spiritual evolution. They also tell us that even when we have reached Sonarington it will remain an enigma to us. However, they never stop talking to us about it, and it is by reading and rereading them that we will gradually form an increasingly close idea of what it is, our reality, the true mystery of our existence.
They tell us that “thanks to the action of the Universal Father, the personality functions in, on, and with a set of material, mental, spiritual energies whose interassociation constitutes a mechanism” UB 16:8.2. This mechanism is therefore similar to individuality, and when the latter is deprived of personality, it nonetheless remains a material, mental and spiritual entity. The personality is therefore an elusive unifier and coordinator, but it is something else as well.
They tell us in fact and often what personality is not. It is not individuality, as we have just seen; but what does it have to do with the breath of life? because they tell us that the latter “is in reality a process which takes place between the organism (individuality) and its environment”, and that personality communicates values of identity and meanings of continuity to this association of an organism and an environment (UB 112:1.13). Let us admit that between this vital “process” and this personal “communication of values of identity and meanings of continuity”, the human mind is hardly likely to detect a very great difference. What is the action of the bearers of life in relation to the gift of personality of the Father? (That is the question!)
They also tell us that “the phenomenon of stimulation-reaction is not a simple mechanical process, since the personality functions as a factor in the total situation” (UB 112:1.13). And here the reasoning fails, because the “mechanism” of 194a above seemed to me to be quite mechanical as it was described to me. Moreover, the English word “mechanism” left me with no doubt. So why is this “stimulation-reaction mechanism” here deemed “not simply mechanical”? What is mechanical about the breath of life? Could it be that the interventionist role of the personality has nothing mechanical about it?
I am inclined to think this radically, especially since they then tell us: “It always remains true that mechanisms are naturally passive and organisms, naturally active”. UB 112:1.13
I deduce from this that the fundamental role of personality in relation to individuality is to transform this passive individualized mechanism into an active personalized organism.
I am fairly confident in my reasoning, but if anyone finds a flaw in it or finds something to complete it, I would be quite happy if they would follow up on my thoughts.
Jeanmarie
| Infallible cosmic compass | Le Lien Urantien — Issue 1 — Summer 1996 | The Adjuster according to C.G. Jung |