© 2012 Sheila Keenelund
© 2012 Association Francophone des Lecteurs du Livre d'Urantia
| Paul and the Eternal Feminine (3) | Le Lien Urantien — Issue 58 — Spring 2012 | Maxien Quiz No. 9 The Questions |
¶ Concepts in the philosophy of the universe gleaned from The Urantia Book
The following relationships between matter and spirit are brought to light by epochal revelation and are intended to encourage the unity of intelligent understanding of the universe. During our lifetimes, we have seen and experienced our increasing ability to cooperate with one another based on similar ideals. Now we must go further. As leaders of the fifth epochal revelation, we are called to encourage a united philosophy of the universe. Our efforts, person by person, will be the first steps toward overcoming the philosophical chaos and spiritual stagnation that we witness almost daily in our community and in our world. Unity of spirit is reflected in unified leadership, and unified leadership inspires those who follow to elevate their religious level.
Common Ground from Which to Lead: Below are insights gleaned from The Urantia Book that are fundamental if we are to move in the direction of a united philosophy. Read each of these concepts with an open mind. Be aware of your thoughts and feelings as you read them. How does each of these concepts fit into your world philosophy? Consider how it relates to your experience and understanding of God and your spiritual journey. Try to move from simply recognizing the concept to appreciating it at the deepest level of your being. Examine any feelings of resistance as you read a concept. Do you tend to avoid or reject it? Does it challenge a long-held belief? If so, ask yourself why. Examine the doubts and arguments that arise; consider the answers; be aware of how your body reacts; seek guidance. When you have gone through this time-consuming practice, you will have discovered new insights and experienced new emotions that will add dimension to your philosophy of the universe.
- There are two types of universe reality: deified and non-deified. Deified reality is anything that has a mind and can be personalized and non-deified reality ranges from force to physical matter.
- The Eternal Deity exists in the union of the three Paradise personalities (the Trinity) in the presence of Paradise (impersonal, undeified reality—source-center of all physical energy-force.)
- The Trinity consists of:
- a. The Universal Father (origin and destiny of all personalities),
- b. The Eternal Son (center of gravity of spirit which attracts towards Paradise all actualized spirit values, all energies and all realities) and,
- c. The Infinite Spirit (center of mental gravity and manipulator of the forces and energies of Paradise.)
- God is spirit but Heaven is not. Spirit is always mental and always has an identity. Heaven is a material sphere, it is the geographical center of infinity and the place of residence of the eternal God.
- The personality, whether human or divine, exhibits self-consciousness and free will, functioning in a union of mind and spirit in the presence of living energy. The difference between the human personality and the divine personality is revealed by the level of harmony that exists in them. The divine personality, operating from Paradise, is unity. The human personality operating in a physical world experiences a great gap between material and spiritual existence.
- The Universal Father is both transcendent and immanent. God is transcendent because he can be found and recognized on Paradise by ascending mortals. God is immanent because his spirit indwells the human mind.
- Every normal-minded human is given the gift of the indwelling Spirit, a prepersonal fragment of the Universal Father which is eternal and spiritualizes the mind. This gift is the greatest manifestation of the Father’s love for mortals.
- The Inner Spirits can cross time and space instantly, without any constraints. They never lose their consciousness and are fully conscious when inhabiting the human mind.
- Mind is not inherent in energy although energy responds to mind. Mind can be superimposed on energy, but consciousness is not inherent at the purely material level.
- Material energies and spiritual energies are not two ends of the same spectrum.
- God does not personally administer the universes of time and space. There is a vast and complex organization that administers the multiple levels of the universe and guides humanity in upward evolution toward God in Paradise.
- A divine Plan of creation and organization of the universe guides the materialization of the grand universe, its physical organization and its administration.
- The Trinity personalities, operating together or individually, create associated spirit beings to assist them in the manifestation of the divine Purpose and Plan.
- The grand universe, of which the “visible” worlds are but a portion of the universe, may be roughly illustrated as a wheel divided into seven multilevel superuniverses, with Paradise at the center. A local universe is a primitive unit in a superuniverse which consists of three stages of reality: matter, Morontia, and spirit.
- “Morontia” is a new term that denotes an intermediate level of reality between the material level and the spiritual level of creation.
- The Universal Father (1st Person of the Trinity) never functions personally as creator except with the Eternal Son (2nd Person of the Trinity). The Father and the Eternal Son together create the “Creator Sons” who fully embody and express the divinity of their creators. The Creator Sons are responsible for the design, creation, construction and administration of the local universes, which includes the entire life plans of their respective realms. The Creator Son of our local universe incarnated on our planet as Jesus of Nazareth. He bestowed Himself on Earth to gain full sovereignty over his creation and to end the uprising of a planetary rebellion. Jesus is a Creator Son of God and is not the second person of the Trinity.
- The Creator Sons are accompanied by the Creative Daughters of the Infinite Spirit (3rd person of the Trinity). These Creator Daughters are destined to become the Mother Spirits of the new local universe and are often known on the individual worlds as the Holy Spirit.
- The Creator Son and the Mother Spirit of the local universe create a variety of beings who serve to manage and minister to their creation.
- a. The Lanonandek Sons of a local universe are involved in the administration of systems and planets as Systemic and Planetary Sovereigns. Lucifer and Satan were two Lanonandek Sons who fomented planetary rebellion and impacted the spiritual and social development of our planet.
- b. The Life Carriers are an order of local universe Sons who sustain life on evolving worlds. Life, therefore, does not appear spontaneously on a planet. The Life Carriers are the transporters, disseminators, and guardians of life.
- c. The seven adjutant mind-spirits are the feedback circuit to the cosmic mind and influence the development of the framework of conscious thought.
- d. Adam and Eve are the names by which the Material Sons and Daughters of a local universe are known. They are responsible for the biological and spiritual planetary upliftment of will-endowed creatures.
- e. The Melchizedek Sons are primarily concerned with the vast organization of education and training in the local universe.
- Spiritual beings and ascending spirits live and work on physical spheres of material reality.
- The soul and the inner Spirit are two different entities evolving together—the inner Spirit is immortal, the soul is potentially immortal.
- The human personality is a living system of physical and mental energy of which the inner Spirit is the nucleus.
- The Supreme (evolutionary experiential Deity) is not the Universal Father (eternal existential Deity). God the Father can be found by any individual who has attained the divine level of Godlikeness, but God the Supreme will never be discovered personally by any creature until that distant time when, through the universal attainment of perfection, all creatures will find him simultaneously.
- A planet is considered inhabited by humans when biological evolution reaches the level where the being can make an intelligent moral choice.
- A human being consists of form, mind, spirit and soul, unified by the personality. The indwelling Spirit enters into partnership with the mind to produce and maintain the growth of the soul and the immortality of the human personality.
- The endowment of the indwelling Spirit allows the meta-meaning of morality to evolve, it informs our recognition of universal good and evil, and triggers our awareness of the presence of the Father’s Spirit.
- Civilization depends directly on the efficient functioning of the family unit.
- Salvation is the technique of evolution of the human mind from association with matter to union with spirit.
- Human souls had no previous existence.
- There is no return of the soul for another life on this planet. Evolution takes us forward, not backward.
- Survival of death is possible for those who harbor the smallest glimmer of faith in a higher reality and participate in moral activities that provide relative love, joy, peace, and goodness.
- Survival of death is the continued existence of the soul-personality in new form, in association with the indwelling Spirit, through the transfer of the seat of individual identity from the material intellect to the morontia soul system.
- Survival in death does not imply uninterrupted consciousness. There is a period of unconsciousness between death and resurrection.
- The time required before resurrection and our arrival on a particular heavenly world on which we begin our adventure to Paradise depends on our degree of self-control and the spiritual progress we have made on Earth.
- Resurrection is synonymous with repersonalization or reassembly of the parts that previously constituted the human personality. We are reborn on a higher level of existence in the universe which is generally referred to as heaven.
- There is no hell. The final and deliberate rejection of God is literally suicidal for the soul and consequently the human personality is extinguished.
- Eternal life or immortality is not synonymous with survival after death. Eternal life depends on the progressive development of the soul and is obtained by the fusion of the human soul with the immortal inner Spirit.
- The central plan for the life and administration of the universes of time and space involves the elevation of free-will creatures to the destiny of perfection of the Paradise Father.
- Divine judgment is well represented by the symbol of the scales of Justice. Progress toward perfection is rewarded with advancement while resistance is treated with justice and mercy.
- Each planetary epoch ends with a judgment of the kingdom by an assigned Son of God and includes a planetary roll call. The general resurrection of the dead does not mean that the dead will awaken with their flesh and blood bodies made immortal.
- Resurrected mortals are generally not permitted to visit their home planet or communicate with that realm until the end of the current dispensation.
- There will be a return of Christ, but when? The timing is unknown.
- Humanity’s disrespect for the Earth, as well as widespread violence, do not indicate the coming of an age of enlightenment or an apocalypse; rather, they reflect a fragmentary global vision incapable of effectively supporting the life of human brotherhood.
Please email your comments and suggestions to: skl@sheilakeenelund.com
Sheila Keenelund
| Paul and the Eternal Feminine (3) | Le Lien Urantien — Issue 58 — Spring 2012 | Maxien Quiz No. 9 The Questions |