© 2007 Marlène and Georges Michelson-Dupont
© 2007 French-speaking Association of Readers of the Urantia Book
Dear friends,
The meeting of our association in Lumières was truly very fraternal and we would like to thank not only all those who, from near or far, prepared its progress but also all the participants. The ideal weather conditions and the magic of the place also contributed to the success of this meeting.
The relatively complex and difficult themes of Ego, Self, Identity and Personality were well presented. The idea of having established a common thread for our meetings, namely the study of MAN and how he functions, is, in my opinion, excellent. It is an attempt to answer the fundamental existential questions that every human being should ask himself: who am I, where do I come from, and what is the purpose of my existence.
The presentations of the four speakers highlighted the profound divergences between the approaches of philosophy, sociology and psychoanalysis. Indeed, psychoanalysis is based on the clinical observation of the behavior and tendencies of the individual. Philosophy seeks to study the individual from the aspect of reason and sociology analyzes his behavior in society, each providing only a fragmented vision of the reality of what man is and above all does not answer his fundamental and legitimate questions, the compartmentalization of disciplines and the specificity of the vocabulary contributing to accentuating this impression.
Faced with such a situation we remain perplexed.
Only Revelation answers these questions. It affirms that the patient of psychoanalysis, the subject of philosophy and social man are one and the same reality: a son of God, a creature endowed with personality and free will, whose origin is divine; capable of progressing thanks to his choices and of finally resembling his Creator: perfect and immortal.
In religion man can live his faith in God but it is in Revelation that he finds the synthesis of science, philosophy and religion. It effectively answers all his distressing questions. Revelation makes him discover his origin, his history and his destiny, It broadens his field of consciousness to include the entire universe and beyond. He acquires this cosmic point of view which makes him live his life as an adventure of endless progress even in the worst difficulties: he KNOWS that God lives in him and that he is his potentially immortal PARTNER in this spiritual ascension.
The subject of the study allows us to clarify the notions of Self, Ego and Identity which are used in the book of URANTIA. They have nothing to do with those of psychoanalysis, philosophy or traditional religion. We therefore propose to first make an inventory of the words and their content and in the next Link to answer the question of whether the SELF or the Ego can be a hindrance to our spiritual progression. These notions
The SELF is everything that makes us up, what we are, everything that God has given us to live and progress to Paradise in his presence and even beyond, which implies that our material SELF becomes morontial then spiritual. Let us note in passing that synonyms of the word Self are often used in the URANTIA book such as “INDIVIDUAL”, “INDIVIDUALITY”, “PERSON” or “CREATURE” depending on the context. The original English text uses the word SELF which translates into French as ME and the word SELFHOOD which was translated as INDIVIDUALITY.
The ME is therefore an assembly of several realities (UB 112:2.14).
A body with its energies, its essential tissues of animal origin. “8.7 1. The body. The material or physical organism of man. The living electrochemical mechanism of animal nature and origin.” Its physical components are products of heredity, identical in nature but variable in quality and efficiency to the extent that they are subject to antecedent causes. During our repersonalization we will receive a morontia body whose appearance will change as we progress from world to world. On leaving our local universe we will receive a spiritual body (an envelope) which will also change by reflecting more and more our true character.
A mind, “(UB 0:5.8) 2. The thinking, perceiving and feeling mechanism of the human organism. The total of conscious and unconscious experience. The intelligence associated with emotional life rising to the level of spirit through worship and wisdom.
Our mind is innately endowed with sensitivity to causality, duty and worship which gives it the ability to choose between what is good and what is evil.
It is the product of several factors which are: our family environment, our social environment, our education and the weight of cultural and racial traditions. Nevertheless it is “the arena of choice”, of the sovereign choice of the personality. The better it is enlightened by the truth, the better the decisions will be. Like our body, we will receive a morontia mind during our repersonalization on the first world of mansions then an individualized form of the cosmic mind when leaving the local universe.
A Thought Adjuster (UB 0:5.7) “The divine spirit that indwells the mind of man. This immortal spirit is prepersonal—it is not a personality, although it is destined to become a part of the personality of the mortal creature that survives.” This divine fragment is unchanging. It embodies our divine heritage: the plan that God has worked out for each of us. It is our guide and continually seeks to spiritualize our thoughts. It builds a spiritual counterpart to all our actions that it will restore to us upon repersonalization. It is our spiritual SELF
A Soul (UB 0:5.10) “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 Paradise ascension.”
A personality. (UB 0:5.11) “The personality of mortal man is neither body, mind, nor spirit; neither is it the soul. 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.” It possesses a relatively sovereign free will which no being (not even God) can force or violate. It is engaged in the realm of values. (UB 16:8.3) “… but personality is varied, original, and exclusive, and the manifestation of personality is further conditioned by the nature and qualities of the associated energies of a material, mental, and spiritual nature which constitute the organic vehicle for personality manifestation.”
An Identity. It is in fact what we are, what characterizes us and what we retain of ourselves throughout our progression, from our native planet to Paradise and beyond in eternity. (UB 5:6.7) The material self has a personality and an identity, a temporal identity. The prepersonal spirit Adjuster also has an identity, an eternal identity. This material personality and this spiritual prepersonality are capable of uniting their creative attributes in such a way as to give birth to the surviving identity of the immortal soul. » Note that identity can also be an attribute of something nonpersonal such as a group of people, an animal or even a local universe (UB 15:9.15)
An Ego. The Ego is the material ME. It is the hereditary animal part of our ME. It is demanding and selfish but nevertheless necessary for the construction of our being. (UB 131:6.2) “The ego is the invincible enemy of man and manifests itself in the aspect of the four greatest human passions: anger, pride, deception and greed. Man’s greatest victory is his triumph over himself.”
Second part in the next link.
Marlène & Georges Michelson-Dupont