© 1980 George Park, Connie Rubino
© 1980 The Urantia Book Fellowship (formerly Urantia Brotherhood)
The concept of personality is one of the most intriguing presented to us by our spiritual teachers in the pages of The URANTIA Book. The fascination aroused by this concept is due to more than man’s rather strong tendency towards narcissism. “The more completely man understands himself and appreciates the personality values of his fellows, the more he will crave to know the Original Personality, and the more earnestly such a God-knowing human will strive to become like the Original Personality.” (UB 1:6.6) “When all is said and done, the Father idea is still the highest human concept of God.” (UB 196:3.35)
In addition to its high value, the concept of personality is also the most profound of all concepts presented to us (at least in the opinion of this reader). Nothing is more immediate and simple than the experiential fact of the presence of the value-feeling of our own personality or the personalities of others. But the attempt to grasp the reality of personality as an intellectual concept very quickly reveals the infinite depth beneath this simple surface. Although there is much about the concept of personality which is somewhat difficult of comprehension, nevertheless, the potential spiritual discoveries resulting from the study of this concept recommend the effort. “Effort does not always produce joy, but there is no happiness without intelligent effort.” (UB 48:7.10)
— George Park
Hampton, Connecticut
A child possesses a quality much like that of a blank piece of paper on which every passer-by writes something. Sometimes, as adults, we may not realize how great an influence we can be and have been.
Jesus, when speaking to John Mark explained that “A human being’s entire afterlife is enormously influenced by what happens during the first few years of existence.” (UB 177:2.5) What devastating effects can and have come from those first few years, if they are wrought with negative impressions, which are, in the main, caused by grown-up, mistreated children.
During what most parents consider everyday routine in the home or outside, time and again the thoughtlessness occurs. The situation is one in which a child asks a sincere question of a parent, grandparent, or adult acquaintance and receives a response that makes one wonder if that adult had ever considered the fact that a child is also a human being, with an inquisitive mind and an open and trusting heart.
— Connie Rubino
W. Paterson, New Jersey
“Without God and except for his great and central person, there would be no personality throughout all the vast universe of universes. God is personality.” (UB 1:5.7)