© 2012 Meredith J. Sprunger
© 2012 Association Francophone des Lecteurs du Livre d'Urantia
¶ 6. Personal temporal realities: our material body and our material brain-mind
The human body and mind are rooted in the electrochemical nature of matter and are the products of organic evolution. We are both the creation of past history and individuals in the process of becoming. Heredity determines most of the tendencies, potentials, and limitations of our body, mind, emotional temperament, and general behavior. The divine creative process uses this evolutionary methodology to enact the potential for the personal-volitional soul’s growth and spiritual development.
Human beings are dynamic organisms. Most psychological-affective reactions and experiences are determined by biochemical conditions. Likewise, mental-emotional attitudes can influence physical conditions, including the autonomic nervous system which regulates such things as heart rate, blood pressure, and hormonal secretions. The human brain-body is a holistic bio-electrochemical organism endowed with a mind and inhabited by the spirit.
Although the animal instincts we have inherited cannot be eradicated, they can be modified and our mental and emotional reactions to such urges can be significantly changed. Although finite mortals are far from perfect and should never be considered infallible, our natural urges, appetites and impulses are not inherently in conflict with higher ethical behavior and spiritual development. Indeed, we have inherited a solid psychological foundation for moral and spiritual growth. Various forms of ethical behavior, such as cooperation, charitable activities and spiritual seeking tendencies, such as the attraction to the unknown and the desire for worship, have been partially programmed into our genes.
We should not be discouraged because we are finite and human beings. The fact that we are mortal sons and daughters of God, the humblest intelligent beings with potential for survival, should fill us with joy and anticipation, for our finiteness makes us realize that we are the recipients of a virtually unlimited potential field of spiritual growth. An eternity and infinity lies before us in which we discover the destiny that the Universal Father has reserved for us.
Heredity may limit the rate of our soul growth and the unification of our personality in our mortal lives, but it cannot prevent our salvation and our upward career. This determination is found in our decisions of free choice of faith and sincere desires. Just as the water lily sinks its roots in the mud of the lake bottom raising its snow-white head in the sunlight, so mankind, though having its origin in the soil of human nature, can by faith and psychological orientation live in the sunshine of truth, beauty and goodness and produce the ennobling fruits of the spirit.
Although human consciousness and mental activity are made possible by the electrochemical activity of the brain and neural system, the significant crucial capacity of the mortal mind is its spiritual identity potential. Although the material mind is not spiritual in nature, it is the host of the God Spark and the gateway to the development of the spiritual aspects of the superconscious mind and soul. The psychological activities of our mind, soul, and Inner Spirit are closely intraassociated and cannot usually be consciously differentiated. Scientific knowledge of the higher functions of our mind is still very limited. There are, however, distinct subjective stages, psychic progressions, or psychological levels of cosmic consciousness associated with spiritual attainments.
Beginning with faith and trust, our decisions direct our superconscious growth and personality competence. At a critical point in our spiritual journey we dedicate our lives to God and thus establish our spiritual identity and purpose. Priorities and values are restructured. Our lives are motivated and directed by truth, beauty, and goodness—God. As we are dominated by love and service, our personality attains spiritual maturity. When personality-soul development reaches the highest level in a high degree of God-consciousness it follows that it manifests itself in integrity and wisdom of character. We approach unity with the Indwelling Spirit.
Because of the dual motivation of our animal inclinations and our spirit guides, inner conflicts and ambivalences are inevitable. Who we are today is not as important as where we are going and what we desire to become. With our cooperation, spirit is the certain victor in this struggle. We should never lose sight of the evolutionary nature of human growth and development. As we strive to achieve a harmonious and holistic integration of physical, emotional-mental, and social-environmental systems, our spiritual development is greatly facilitated.
Throughout the entire process of personality development, our mind plays a key and determining role. Our mind is about the only entity in the universe subject to our will and ultimate control. It is in our psychological world that we live, move, and form our being. We can distort, distort, and corrupt our mind with evil and sin, or we can make it true, noble, and wise as we direct and harmonize it with spiritual reality.
Discipline and psychological control are the path to all human achievement. We need to build adequate intellectual and moral foundations before we can achieve professional and social competence and spiritual growth. In human life the most important goal is mastery of the mind through dominance of the spirit. All other worthwhile realities follow. Character and achievement, civilization and culture, are the fruits of the quality of our inner life.
When the mechanism of our physical life dies, our body and mind cease to function because we no longer need them. They have served as the material scaffolding necessary for the construction of a more lasting creation. All that had value in our mortal life, our identity and continuity, has been transferred to our semi-spiritual soul and, under the care of the Father’s Indwelling Spirit, we continue on to greater adventures and receive education on a higher universal level where we will be given a body and mind more adequate to continue our ascending career.
¶ Summary of the presentation
The field of action of spiritual psychology is the human mind. Although our animal-based body-mind is an ephemeral phenomenon, it represents a scaffolding that we use to build a more lasting edifice of spiritual inspiration. The mind is the arena in which we live today and our hope for the future. Although the human mind is limited and fallible, its potentials are quite adequate for a satisfying mortal life, identifying with spiritual reality and cooperating in the evolution of an immortal soul. The aim of spiritual psychology is to set in motion those mental processes by which we master our minds through the domination of spiritual values, making them noble, wise and loving.
¶ 7. Planetary realities: The total ecological environment
We live in a total ecological environment with physical, social, cultural and spiritual aspects. Earth and water, atmosphere and stratosphere, soil and microorganisms, plants and animals, the earth and all its inhabitants, live together in intradependent and interdependent relationships. These dependencies can be deep and immediate or distant and cumulative. Our planet is an ecosystem where everything that exists is in relationship with everything else. These organic organisms can be symbiotic or antagonistic.
Selfish, self-centered, and subservient relationships among people and natural resources are ultimately self-defeating and suicidal. They lead to evil, sin, suffering, and sorrow. Relationships of cooperation, protection, appreciation, synergy, and love among people and natural resources are related to spiritual development and growth. Although the inner world of the mind and the outer world of the environment are very different, they can be harmonized through spiritual perception and human wisdom.
Human beings were not created to live in isolation; we have a constant need of the stimulation and support of companionship. Everything of value in society and culture has its roots in family relationships and small groups. Although cultural evolution is the product of the inner world of mind and spirit, its growth depends on the creative direction and wise structure of social institutions.
In critical economic-social situations, moral power and spiritual energy distinguish between governmental collapse and stability of social, economic and political structures and their growth. A vibrant faith in the truths of the Father-Mother concept of God and the brother-sister concept of all peoples, will gradually elevate the civilization of the world to higher and higher spiritual and cultural levels. Religion, a first-hand experience of God, is meant to change and master the environment. A static second-hand religion, however, is dominated by its environment. Whenever and wherever mankind has had a living faith in spiritual realities, they have transformed its society and environment.
As a planet and as individuals, we live, move, and have our being in the immanence of the Supreme. Indeed, the entire universe is an ecological, responsive, living organism. As the German philosopher Hegel envisioned, the cosmos functions as an integrated system. Universal laws are directed by circuits of supreme intelligence; the energy pathways of space nourish material creation; and the evolutionary overcontrol of a wise Regulator keeps the universe in dynamic, creative tension to fulfill the loving intentions of Supreme unfoldment for all creation. We live in a supportive, friendly universe controlled by an infinitely wise and loving Universal Father.
¶ Summary of the presentation
We live in a total ecological environment that has physical, social, cultural and spiritual aspects. The entire universe is a responsive, living, ecological organism. Selfish, self-centered, subservient relationships with people and natural resources are ultimately self-defeating and suicidal. We exist in a friendly, supportive universe controlled by an infinitely wise and loving Father.
The seven fundamental realities of experience must be discerned, recognized, and reasonably understood before spiritual psychological activities can be effective. They are the context in which the principles of spiritual psychology operate. The truths in our relationship to these realities are permanent; the facts associated with our understanding of the foundations of our experience are in constant progressive change.
(to be continued)
Meredith J. Sprunger
