© 2016 French-speaking Association of Readers of the Urantia Book
When is the personality functional?
We are not going to attempt to define personality, but rather to understand when and how we can use personality on this planet. Before doing so we must make two preliminary remarks.
| Personality is unique (UB 112:0.12) | Adjusters are all identical in nature (UB 16:8.3) |
| It is invariant (UB 0:5.11) | They gain experience (UB 40:5.10) |
| It responds to gravity (UB 12:3.1) | They predate the appearance of gravity (UB 107:6.6) |
| It is superimposed on energy (UB 0:5.4) | They are pure energy (UB 42:11.1) |
| It can be added to the spirit (UB 112:0.14) | They are pure spirit (UB 42:11.1) |
“Personality is a unique endowment of original nature whose existence is independent of, and antecedent to, the bestowal of the Thought Adjuster. Nevertheless, the presence of the Adjuster does augment the qualitative manifestation of personality. Thought Adjusters, when they come forth from the Father, are identical in nature, but personality is diverse, original, and exclusive; and the manifestation of personality is further conditioned and qualified by the nature and qualities of the associated energies of a material, mindal, and spiritual nature which constitute the organismal vehicle for personality manifestation.” (UB 16:8.3)
Granted that it will be impossible to discuss the role of the personality without having to make constant reference to the role of the Adjuster, we will nevertheless try.
The first question many people ask is: When do humans have personality?
There is no easy answer to this question, but a few remarks may help us.
Let it be clearly understood that the personality coming from the Father is eternal; the Father, not being subject to time, can very well have chosen to give it at any moment, even outside of time.
“That which comes from the Father is like the Father eternal, and this is just as true of personality, which God gives by his own freewill choice, as it is of the divine Thought Adjuster, an actual fragment of God. Man’s personality is eternal but with regard to identity a conditioned eternal reality. Having appeared in response to the Father’s will, personality will attain Deity destiny, but man must choose whether or not he will be present at the attainment of such destiny. In default of such choice, personality attains experiential Deity directly, becoming a part of the Supreme Being. The cycle is foreordained, but man’s participation therein is optional, personal, and experiential.” (UB 112:5.2)
Therefore we cannot estimate a time when this personality per se would be given, all we can do is try to find when a given personality is functional.
“Personality is a unique endowment of original nature whose existence is independent of, and antecedent to, the bestowal of the Thought Adjuster. Nevertheless, the presence of the Adjuster does augment the qualitative manifestation of personality. Thought Adjusters, when they come forth from the Father, are identical in nature, but personality is diverse, original, and exclusive; and the manifestation of personality is further conditioned and qualified by the nature and qualities of the associated energies of a material, mindal, and spiritual nature which constitute the organismal vehicle for personality manifestation.” (UB 16:8.3)
From a historical point of view we can consider that two dates mark the evolution of personality on this planet:
The first is located a million years ago or more exactly 993476 years ago (in 2002) when Urantia was recognized as an inhabited planet, a planet which had produced a mind of volitional dignity (UB 62:7.1)
The twins were then around ten years old, but we should be careful not to take this age as a reference, because it was something exceptional which also modified the conditions of the receptivity of the personality as we can understand from this quote:
“There was an immediate and new order of mobilization of the seven adjutant mind-spirits. We were alive with expectation; we realized that the long-waited-for hour was approaching; we knew we were upon the threshold of the realization of our protracted effort to evolve will creatures on Urantia.” (UB 62:6.6)
From now on the personality potential is part of the mental potential of a particular lineage. The descendants of Andon and Fonta will all receive a personality, automatically, so to speak.
The second date is A.D. 30, when Jesus, by bestowing the Spirit of Truth, gave every normal mind on this planet the opportunity to receive a Thought Adjuster.
“The universe fact of God’s becoming man has forever changed all meanings and altered all values of human personality. In the true meaning of the word, love connotes mutual regard of whole personalities, whether human or divine or human and divine. Parts of the self may function in numerous ways—thinking, feeling, wishing—but only the co-ordinated attributes of the whole personality are focused in intelligent action; and all of these powers are associated with the spiritual endowment of the mortal mind when a human being sincerely and unselfishly loves another being, human or divine.” (UB 112:2.7)
Question: When does the Thought Adjuster arrive, at least in our day, since the bestowal of the Spirit of Truth?
Answer: Adjusters join their human subject on Urantia on the average just before he is six years old. In the present generation the average figure is five years, ten months, and four days, that is, after 2134 days of the child’s earth life. UB 108:2.1
Deduction: We can therefore say that personality generally appears before the age of six. Let us say that this is the upper limit, but what is the lower limit? Can we be more precise? Perhaps if we consider the following factors: (Remember that we are here going to examine factors relating to a functional personality and not to a theoretical personality which, having its origin in the Father, can be considered timeless.)
Personality, at least in humans, is linked to the possession of a mind.
“Personality. The personality of mortal man is neither body, mind, nor spirit; neither is it the soul. Personality is the one changeless reality in an otherwise ever-changing creature experience; and it unifies all other associated factors of individuality. The personality is the unique bestowal which the Universal Father makes upon the living and associated energies of matter, mind, and spirit, and which survives with the survival of the morontial soul.” (UB 0:5.11)
“The physiologic equipment and the anatomic structure of all new orders of life are in response to the action of physical law, but the subsequent endowment of mind is a bestowal of the adjutant mind-spirits in accordance with innate brain capacity. Mind, while not a physical evolution, is wholly dependent on the brain capacity afforded by purely physical and evolutionary developments.” (UB 58:6.7)
The last sentence in particular deserves our attention, for to have brain capacity one must first have a brain and that brain, if it is to receive personality, which is a level of “deified reality” must be developed enough to be contacted by the spirit of worship and wisdom. We cannot be absolutely sure, but the revelators seem to indicate that personality is first potential before it is functional. Perhaps it would be better to say qualified than potential, for the expression “potential personality” is mostly used in reference to the Thought Adjuster. Perhaps it would be better to refer to beginnings, existences and destinies or initiators to realizers and consumers since the role of personality allows for an integration of reality just as the Trinity of Trinities does although on a different level of course. They speak of mature personality.
“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)
Again, the last sentence has been interpreted in various ways depending on the value one is willing to give to the terms “material self”.
“Personality is potential in all creatures who possess a mind endowment ranging from the minimum of self-consciousness to the maximum of God-consciousness. But mind endowment alone is not personality, neither is spirit nor physical energy. Personality is that quality and value in cosmic reality which is exclusively bestowed by God the Father upon these living systems of the associated and co-ordinated energies of matter, mind, and spirit. Neither is personality a progressive achievement. Personality may be material or spiritual, but there either is personality or there is no personality. The other-than-personal never attains the level of the personal except by the direct act of the Paradise Father.” (UB 5:6.3)
“Mortal man is more than figuratively made in the image of God. From a physical standpoint this statement is hardly true, but with reference to certain universe potentialities it is an actual fact. In the human race, something of the same drama of evolutionary attainment is being unfolded as takes place, on a vastly larger scale, in the universe of universes. Man, a volitional personality, becomes creative in liaison with an Adjuster, an impersonal entity, in the presence of the finite potentialities of the Supreme, and the result is the flowering of an immortal soul. In the universes the Creator personalities of time and space function in liaison with the impersonal spirit of the Paradise Trinity and become thereby creative of a new power potential of Deity reality.” (UB 117:3.5)
It is interesting to note that from a cosmic point of view the body deprived of the volitional mind is no longer human.(UB 112:3.3) Indeed, although the human personality transcends its constituent fragments, it depends on them for this functional identity.(UB 112:5.14)
Please note the use of the adjective functional although here it refers to identity.
We would go so far as to argue that a functional volitional mind does not exist prior to the actual birth of a child, even though we know “that a child exists approximately nine months before experiencing birth.” (UB 103:2.1)
To corroborate this point of view, let us note that:
“The Worlds of the Archangels. The seventh group of the encircling Salvington worlds, with their associated satellites, is assigned to the archangels. Sphere number one and all of its six tributary satellites are occupied by the personality record keepers. This enormous corps of recorders busy themselves with keeping straight the record of each mortal of time from the moment of birth up through the universe career until such an individual either leaves Salvington for the superuniverse regime or is “blotted out of recorded existence” by the mandate of the Ancients of Days.” (UB 37:3.7)
This, we think, should mean that at least to the record keepers, but not necessarily to us, personality is not deemed functional before birth.
There is yet another fact worth noting, namely:
“Children who die when too young to have Thought Adjusters are repersonalized on the finaliter world of the local systems concomitant with the arrival of either parent on the mansion worlds. A child acquires physical entity at mortal birth, but in the matter of survival all Adjusterless children are reckoned as still attached to their parents.” (UB 49:6.12)
Here the revelators use the expression “physical entity” but make no mention of the personality. Is this because the personality is not considered functional and the child is considered still dependent on the personality of its parents? But then this raises many questions among which one would find: what happens to a child without an Adjuster whose parents do not survive? Will its potential personality be given to another child or will it be integrated without experience into the Supreme Being? And what use is a personality without experience to the Supreme Being?
We can also consider what is happening on the mansion worlds, we are told:
“The Adjuster-indwelt children and youths on the finaliter world are also reared in families of five, ranging in ages from six to fourteen; approximately, these families consist of children whose ages are six, eight, ten, twelve, and fourteen. Any time after sixteen, if final choice has been made, they translate to the first mansion world and begin their Paradise ascent. Some make a choice before this age and go on to the ascension spheres, but very few children under sixteen years of age, as reckoned by Urantia standards, will be found on the mansion worlds.” (UB 47:2.5)
What does this mean? It seems that on these worlds, to function fully, the personality needs time for reasonable choice and is rarely effective before the age of 16. It would seem reasonable to think that an identical amount of time is needed for an average personality on earth.
Part Two: How
We know the destiny of the personality: coming from the Father it is destined to return to the Father.
“The Universal Father is the secret of the reality of personality, the bestowal of personality, and the destiny of personality. The Eternal Son is the absolute personality, the secret of spiritual energy, morontia spirits, and perfected spirits. The Conjoint Actor is the spirit-mind personality, the source of intelligence, reason, and the universal mind. But the Isle of Paradise is nonpersonal and extraspiritual, being the essence of the universal body, the source and center of physical matter, and the absolute master pattern of universal material reality.” (UB 0:5.5)
The question is: what is it doing in our life on this planet? Its main function, but not the only one, seems to be to unify the identity of every living energy system. (UB 0:5.11)
What does it unify? It unifies matter, mind and spirit as they are actualized in human experience. (UB 56:10.15)
How does she do it? Coming from the Father who is unity (UB 56:1.4) she reacts to the Father’s personality circuit ( VI.3) and this can explain why she reacts directly to the presence of another personality. (UB 112:0.13)
It manifests itself in forms
In contrast to the aspect of the total, pattern discloses the individual aspect of energy and of personality. Personality or identity forms are patterns resultant from energy (physical, spiritual, or mindal) but are not inherent therein. That quality of energy or of personality by virtue of which pattern is caused to appear may be attributed to God—Deity—to Paradise force endowment, to the coexistence of personality and power. (UB 0:6.12)
For example :
“To a certain extent, the appearance of the material body-form is responsive to the character of the personality identity; the physical body does, to a limited degree, reflect something of the inherent nature of the personality. Still more so does the morontia form. In the physical life, mortals may be outwardly beautiful though inwardly unlovely; in the morontia life, and increasingly on its higher levels, the personality form will vary directly in accordance with the nature of the inner person. On the spiritual level, outward form and inner nature begin to approximate complete identification, which grows more and more perfect on higher and higher spirit levels.” (UB 112:6.3)
“Creature personality is distinguished by two self-manifesting and characteristic phenomena of mortal reactive behavior: self-consciousness and associated relative free will.” (UB 16:8.5)
“Self-consciousness consists in intellectual awareness of personality actuality; it includes the ability to recognize the reality of other personalities. It indicates capacity for individualized experience in and with cosmic realities, equivalating to the attainment of identity status in the personality relationships of the universe. Self-consciousness connotes recognition of the actuality of mind ministration and the realization of relative independence of creative and determinative free will.” (UB 16:8.6)
Self-awareness concerns first the subject himself. A child is aware of his own existence before being aware of the existence of others. The mother herself may not be perceived as having a separate existence until four months, which is, according to Piaget, the beginning of the third stage of development, (the first two being the stage of reflexes and the stage of habits). JM Baldwin described these first two stages as being “adualistic”, a time when there are probably no boundaries between the inner world as the child experiences it and external realities. (See The Psychology of the Child by Jean Piaget and Bärbel Inhelder-PUF 1966)
However The Urantia Book seems to imply an innate ability. (cf. UB 16:9.7)
“Unselfishness, aside from parental instinct, is not altogether natural; other persons are not naturally loved or socially served. It requires the enlightenment of reason, morality, and the urge of religion, God-knowingness, to generate an unselfish and altruistic social order. Man’s own personality awareness, self-consciousness, is also directly dependent on this very fact of innate other-awareness, this innate ability to recognize and grasp the reality of other personality, ranging from the human to the divine.” (UB 16:9.7)
If we believe these psychologists, then the personality could hardly be functional before four years. But then things develop very quickly, space, movement, relationship seem to progress simultaneously. This must be what The Urantia Book calls reaching identity status in the personality relationships of the universe. (UB 16:8.6) This process will not end, at least not until we have become finaliters. The recognition of the actuality of mental ministry would imply, we think, not only an anatomically completed brain but also the formation of neural connections and we know that there are more changes in the brain during the first six months after birth than at any other period of development. (See The Unknown Brain Collection Bouquin Robert Laffont 1993)
Another point of convergence could be found by comparing phylogenesis and ontogeny. We know the order of “contractibility” of the different minds-minds.
“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.” (UB 62:6.3)
For the spirits of worship and wisdom to operate we must have a brain whose capacity is at least equivalent to that of higher mammals and this cannot be done before the neocortex has been formed, however, the neocortex only begins to form after the embryonic stage, that is to say after 8 weeks.
But there is also a connection between personality and language. Jesus said:
“That afternoon Jesus and Ganid had both enjoyed playing with a very intelligent shepherd dog, and Ganid wanted to know whether the dog had a soul, whether it had a will, and in response to his questions Jesus said: “The dog has a mind which can know material man, his master, but cannot know God, who is spirit; therefore the dog does not possess a spiritual nature and cannot enjoy a spiritual experience. The dog may have a will derived from nature and augmented by training, but such a power of mind is not a spiritual force, neither is it comparable to the human will, inasmuch as it is not *reflective—*it is not the result of discriminating higher and moral meanings or choosing spiritual and eternal values. It is the possession of such powers of spiritual discrimination and truth choosing that makes mortal man a moral being, a creature endowed with the attributes of spiritual responsibility and the potential of eternal survival.” Jesus went on to explain that it is the absence of such mental powers in the animal which makes it forever impossible for the animal world to develop language in time or to experience anything equivalent to personality survival in eternity. As a result of this day’s instruction Ganid never again entertained belief in the transmigration of the souls of men into the bodies of animals.” (UB 130:2.8)
If babbling begins around four months, the first words are generally heard around eight months and sometimes much later, but the acquisition of new words is then a terribly rapid process.
Why then do some parents, mainly mothers, believe they perceive the personality of their own child even before the four months mentioned above? (Some even say from conception). In our opinion, this is perhaps due to verbal confusion and traditional usage.
They (or rather, they) can indeed sense the identity of the child since this changing identity is contained in the genes and therefore present from the moment of conception; but there is also perhaps another reason which we have already noted in Part I. A child acquires its physical entity at its earthly birth, but, for survival purposes, all children without an Adjuster are counted as still attached to their parents. (UB 49:6.12)
There could therefore be an “adombration” (Anglicism which means to vaguely prefigure the personality of the mother which acts as protection for the non-yet functional personality of the child. It is hardly surprising that the special relationship which is formed during the nine months of gestation influences her perception of something which is part of herself.
“The relative free will which characterizes the self-consciousness of human personality is involved in:”
The relative free will which characterizes the self-consciousness of human personality is involved in: (UB 16:8.7)
The first moral decision, at least on this planet and since Pentecost, is generally made around age 5. We know that: The presence of the Adjuster does indeed increase the qualitative manifestation of the personality. [UB 16:8.3]
Here again, if moral decision is a manifestation of the self-consciousness of the human personality, we must admit that full personality functioning cannot be felt long before the arrival of the Thought Adjuster.
“2. Spiritual choice, discernment of truth.”
Of course, we might admit that spiritual choice may be antecedent to the coming of the Adjuster, (and even in primitive civilizations it is the cause of the coming of the Adjuster) but is not spiritual choice related in some way to moral choice? What can discernment of truth be if it is not related in some way to spiritual choice?
“3. Selfless love, brotherly service.”
These two qualities require a sense of moral choice. Love your neighbor as yourself (UB 131:2.11) must be completed by: If you love your companions it is because you have discovered their value. (UB 100:4.3) Furthermore, fraternal service presupposes a kind of independence which is hardly accessible to a very young child.
“4. Intentional cooperation, group loyalty.”
In general we understand this as part of the education that a child receives from his first days at school and which develops in society under the general term of socialization. Only, here, it is not a simple external adaptation to group conditions, it is an internal feeling linked to what the book calls the gravity of personality.
“5. Cosmic insight, the understanding of universal meanings.”
My feeling is that very early a child acquires a sense of cosmic insight. It is sometimes said that humans are spontaneously and universally struck by the beauty of a field of flowers, by a rainbow, by a waterfall, by a child’s smile, by the sparkle of a gemstone, and by a sky studded with stars. Naturally, the child has no developed concept of what he perceives as beautiful, but he senses that there is something there that goes far beyond what he can grasp. This is not very different from the attitude of adults in worship. In fact, it probably denotes contact with the spirit of worship.
“6. Consecration of the personality, the devotion to doing the will of the Father with all heart.”
This consecration, this devotion, must start from a vague feeling and rise to fusion, or even beyond. Let us remember that:
“The pilgrim lands on the receiving planet of Havona, the pilot world of the seventh circuit, with only one endowment of perfection, perfection of purpose. The Universal Father has decreed: “Be you perfect, even as I am perfect.” That is the astounding invitation-command broadcast to the finite children of the worlds of space. The promulgation of that injunction has set all creation astir in the co-operative effort of the celestial beings to assist in bringing about the fulfillment and realization of that tremendous command of the First Great Source and Center.” (UB 26:4.12)
But to demonstrate a whole-hearted decision to do the Father’s will, don’t we need to know what the Father’s will is? Doing the Father’s will has been the subject of many conferences, if not the subject of ALL conferences. Others have dealt with, and will deal with, this subject much better than I could, and I would simply like to give you a few quotes that particularly struck me.
“The Corps of the Finality embrace, among others, those mortals of time and space who have attained perfection in all that pertains to the will of God. As creatures and within the limits of creature capacity they fully and truly know God. Having thus found God as the Father of all creatures, these finaliters must sometime begin the quest for the superfinite Father. But this quest involves a grasp of the absonite nature of the ultimate attributes and character of the Paradise Father. Eternity will disclose whether such an attainment is possible, but we are convinced, even if the finaliters do grasp this ultimate of divinity, they will probably be unable to attain the superultimate levels of absolute Deity.” (UB 10:8.7)
“The will of God does not uniformly prevail in the heart of the God-seeking material mortal, but if the time frame is enlarged beyond the moment to embrace the whole of the first life, then does God’s will become increasingly discernible in the spirit fruits which are borne in the lives of the spirit-led children of God. And then, if human life is further enlarged to include the morontia experience, the divine will is observed to shine brighter and brighter in the spiritualizing acts of those creatures of time who have begun to taste the divine delights of experiencing the relationship of the personality of man with the personality of the Universal Father.” (UB 12:7.7)
“The keys of the kingdom of heaven are: sincerity, more sincerity, and more sincerity. All men have these keys. Men use them—advance in spirit status—by decisions, by more decisions, and by more decisions. The highest moral choice is the choice of the highest possible value, and always—in any sphere, in all of them—this is to choose to do the will of God. If man thus chooses, he is great, though he be the humblest citizen of Jerusem or even the least of mortals on Urantia.” (UB 39:4.14)
“Any mortal who has seen a Creator Son has seen the Universal Father, and he who is indwelt by a divine Adjuster is indwelt by the Paradise Father. Every mortal who is consciously or unconsciously following the leading of his indwelling Adjuster is living in accordance with the will of God. Consciousness of Adjuster presence is consciousness of God’s presence. Eternal fusion of the Adjuster with the evolutionary soul of man is the factual experience of eternal union with God as a universe associate of Deity.” (UB 107:0.4)
“The doing of the will of God is nothing more or less than an exhibition of creature willingness to share the inner life with God—with the very God who has made such a creature life of inner meaning-value possible. Sharing is Godlike—divine. God shares all with the Eternal Son and the Infinite Spirit, while they, in turn, share all things with the divine Sons and spirit Daughters of the universes.” (UB 111:5.1)
“This choosing of the Father’s will is the spiritual finding of the spirit Father by mortal man, even though an age must pass before the creature son may actually stand in the factual presence of God on Paradise. This choosing does not so much consist in the negation of creature will—“Not my will but yours be done”—as it consists in the creature’s positive affirmation: “It is my will that your will be done.” And if this choice is made, sooner or later will the God-choosing son find inner union (fusion) with the indwelling God fragment, while this same perfecting son will find supreme personality satisfaction in the worship communion of the personality of man and the personality of his Maker, two personalities whose creative attributes have eternally joined in self-willed mutuality of expression—the birth of another eternal partnership of the will of man and the will of God.” (UB 111:5.6)
“TO THE extent that we do the will of God in whatever universe station we may have our existence, in that measure the almighty potential of the Supreme becomes one step more actual. The will of God is the purpose of the First Source and Center as it is potentialized in the three Absolutes, personalized in the Eternal Son, conjoined for universe action in the Infinite Spirit, and eternalized in the everlasting patterns of Paradise. And God the Supreme is becoming the highest finite manifestation of the total will of God.” (UB 117:0.1)
“This was a conference which lasted well into the night, in the course of which the young man requested Jesus to tell him the difference between the will of God and that human mind act of choosing which is also called will. In substance Jesus said: The will of God is the way of God, partnership with the choice of God in the face of any potential alternative. To do the will of God, therefore, is the progressive experience of becoming more and more like God, and God is the source and destiny of all that is good and beautiful and true. The will of man is the way of man, the sum and substance of that which the mortal chooses to be and do. Will is the deliberate choice of a self-conscious being which leads to decision-conduct based on intelligent reflection.” (UB 130:2.7)
“I will no longer be satisfied to believe that God is the Father of all my people; I will henceforth believe that he is also my Father. Always will I try to worship God with the help of the Spirit of Truth, which is my helper when I have become really God-knowing. But first of all I am going to practice worshiping God by learning how to do the will of God on earth; that is, I am going to do my best to treat each of my fellow mortals just as I think God would like to have him treated. And when we live this sort of a life in the flesh, we may ask many things of God, and he will give us the desire of our hearts that we may be the better prepared to serve our fellows. And all of this loving service of the children of God enlarges our capacity to receive and experience the joys of heaven, the high pleasures of the ministry of the spirit of heaven. (UB 131:10.5)
“When you are the subjects of this kingdom, you indeed are made to hear the law of the Universe Ruler; but when, because of the gospel of the kingdom which I have come to declare, you faith-discover yourselves as sons, you henceforth look not upon yourselves as law-subject creatures of an all-powerful king but as privileged sons of a loving and divine Father. Verily, verily, I say to you, when the Father’s will is your law, you are hardly in the kingdom. But when the Father’s will becomes truly your will, then are you in very truth in the kingdom because the kingdom has thereby become an established experience in you. When God’s will is your law, you are noble slave subjects; but when you believe in this new gospel of divine sonship, my Father’s will becomes your will, and you are elevated to the high position of the free children of God, liberated sons of the kingdom.” (UB 141:2.2)
“The effort toward maturity necessitates work, and work requires energy. Whence the power to accomplish all this? The physical things can be taken for granted, but the Master has well said, “Man cannot live by bread alone.” Granted the possession of a normal body and reasonably good health, we must next look for those lures which will act as a stimulus to call forth man’s slumbering spiritual forces. Jesus has taught us that God lives in man; then how can we induce man to release these soul-bound powers of divinity and infinity? How shall we induce men to let go of God that he may spring forth to the refreshment of our own souls while in transit outward and then to serve the purpose of enlightening, uplifting, and blessing countless other souls? How best can I awaken these latent powers for good which lie dormant in your souls? One thing I am sure of: Emotional excitement is not the ideal spiritual stimulus. Excitement does not augment energy; it rather exhausts the powers of both mind and body. Whence then comes the energy to do these great things? Look to your Master. Even now he is out in the hills taking in power while we are here giving out energy. The secret of all this problem is wrapped up in spiritual communion, in worship. From the human standpoint it is a question of combined meditation and relaxation. Meditation makes the contact of mind with spirit; relaxation determines the capacity for spiritual receptivity. And this interchange of strength for weakness, courage for fear, the will of God for the mind of self, constitutes worship. At least, that is the way the philosopher views it.” (UB 160:3.1)
In conclusion and provisionally, we might note that the revelators were unwilling (or perhaps unable) to give us details about the exact moment of the granting of personality and we should respect this omission. We ourselves have arrived at a very wide range as to the functionality of the personality between a minimum of 8 weeks and a maximum of 16 years, the latter figure referring to full functionality. But it seems much more reasonable to give credit to the record keepers and to reduce this range to between birth and 6 years by noting that the revelators have given us many indications as to the functional way in which this personality acts.
So let’s give the final word to the book itself:
“Peace in this life, survival in death, perfection in the next life, service in eternity—all these are achieved (in spirit) now when the creature personality consents—chooses—to subject the creature will to the Father’s will. And already has the Father chosen to make a fragment of himself subject to the will of the creature personality.” (UB 111:5.4)
“The sum total of personality realization on a material world is contained within the successive conquest of the seven psychic circles of mortal potentiality. Entrance upon the seventh circle marks the beginning of true human personality function. Completion of the first circle denotes the relative maturity of the mortal being. Though the traversal of the seven circles of cosmic growth does not equal fusion with the Adjuster, the mastery of these circles marks the attainment of those steps which are preliminary to Adjuster fusion.” (UB 110:6.1)
“The seventh circle. This level is entered when human beings develop the powers of personal choice, individual decision, moral responsibility, and the capacity for the attainment of spiritual individuality. This signifies the united function of the seven adjutant mind-spirits under the direction of the spirit of wisdom, the encircuitment of the mortal creature in the influence of the Holy Spirit, and, on Urantia, the first functioning of the Spirit of Truth, together with the reception of a Thought Adjuster in the mortal mind. Entrance upon the seventh circle constitutes a mortal creature a truly potential citizen of the local universe.” (UB 110:6.13)
This is the personality as it is included in the Father’s plan of progressive achievement.
“1. The Plan of Progressive Attainment. This is the Universal Father’s plan of evolutionary ascension, a program unreservedly accepted by the Eternal Son when he concurred in the Father’s proposal, “Let us make mortal creatures in our own image.” This provision for upstepping the creatures of time involves the Father’s bestowal of the Thought Adjusters and the endowing of material creatures with the prerogatives of personality.” (UB 7:4.4)