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One comment for now: your comments do not seem to relate to what he wrote; you appear to be addressing your misunderstandings, not his meanings?
Well, that’s the problem isn’t it? I don’t understand his meanings, so of course I’m going to try to figure out what I don’t understand.
recall that for us (Adjuster-indwelt humans), our “memories” only survive the death of our psycho-somatic system in the form of a spirit transcript woven by the Adjuster:
Yeah, but . . . . The Adjuster keeps only the “spiritized factors of mind, memory, and creature personality’ (47:3.3).” The soul ” possesses all of the experiential memory of survival once held by the ancestral mortal mind and then resident in the morontia soul,” (110:7.5). Since the word mortal is applied to the physical life and not the morontia life (48:6.4), I think in 110:7.5 they are referring to the memorable events on earth with survival value.
113:3.4 And herein is revealed the reason why the seraphic guardian eventually becomes the personal custodian of the mind patterns, memory formulas, and soul realities of the mortal survivor during that interval between physical death and morontia resurrection.
The passive patterns of experiential memories are resident in the soul and after death they are activated by the returning Adjuster.
112:6.7 This evolving soul does, however, possess a continuing character derived from the decisions of its former associated adjutant mind, and this character becomes active memory when the patterns thereof are energized by the returning Adjuster.
112:6.8 The pattern of memory persists in the soul, but this pattern requires the presence of the former Adjuster to become immediately self-realizable as continuing memory. Without the Adjuster, it requires considerable time for the mortal survivor to re-explore and relearn, to recapture, the memory consciousness of the meanings and values of a former existence.
what really is it that the Life Carriers have built, that the Adjutant circuits can animate such biological systems?
Well I don’t have that question because it’s been explained in TUB that life animates, not the adjutants (36:6.6). Adjutants direct animating life on the course of its evolution (36:2.18). To be more specific, the Adjutants are superimposed upon the Master Physical Controllers who are mind in contact with the mechanical aspects of a living system (36:5.14).
36:6.6 We speak of life as “energy” and as “force,” but it is really neither. Force-energy is variously gravity responsive; life is not. Pattern is also nonresponsive to gravity, being a configuration of energies that have already fulfilled all gravity-responsive obligations. Life, as such, constitutes the animation of some pattern-configured or otherwise segregated system of energy — material, mindal, or spiritual.
36:2.18 Mind such as man comprehends is an endowment of the seven adjutant mind-spirits superimposed on the nonteachable or mechanical levels of mind by the agencies of the Infinite Spirit.The life patterns are variously responsive to these adjutants and to the different spirit ministries operating throughout the universes of time and space. The capacity of material creatures to effect spirit response is entirely dependent on the associated mind endowment, which, in turn, has directionized the course of the biologic evolution of these same mortal creatures.
36:5.14 These mind-adjutants of a local universe Mother Spirit are related to creature life of intelligence status much as the power centers and physical controllers are related to the nonliving forces of the universe. They perform invaluable service in the mind circuits on the inhabited worlds and are effective collaborators with the Master Physical Controllers, who also serve as controllers and directors of the preadjutant mind levels, the levels of nonteachable or mechanical mind.
And what is the relationship between (A) that measurable, “protoplasmic memory material” (101:6.4) and (B) the intellect that resides in the “rhythmic pulsations (117:5.7)” of that level of consciousness (36:5.4) of the Divine Minister?
I think all of the quotes I just gave you from paper 36 explain it. But perhaps you have a different definition for protoplasmic memory material than I do. Protoplasm is living. Life is an animating pattern for the energy within the protoplasm. The Master Physical Controllers are a mind energy which directs the mechanical non-teachable components of that life. Adjutant spirits are superimposed upon the Master Physical Conotrollers when the system is complex enough to begin learning. I believe memory requires some fundamental level of learning; I don’t think it can be mechanical. Protoplasmic memory is intellect itself, a level of consciousness, not a level of stored physical protoplasmic molecules kaleidoscopically arranged. Consciousness cannot be physical; it’s mindal. So, essentially I think you’re asking, “What is mind?” – No?
(1111.8) 101:6.4 The evolutionary type of knowledge is but the accumulation of protoplasmic memory material; this is the most primitive form of creature consciousness. Wisdom embraces the ideas formulated from protoplasmic memory in process of association and recombination, and such phenomena differentiate human mind from mere animal mind. Animals have knowledge, but only man possesses wisdom capacity.
Thanks Nigel for indulging me. It seems as though I’m disrespecting Bohm but I don’t mean it that way.
Here’s something I can’t wrap my mind around:
Bohm declares that there are many responses to memory and includes intelligence as one:
“We include in thought the intellectual, emotional, sensuous, muscular and physical responses of memory.”
If I’ve read that right, intellectual responses to memory are part of thought. Question: Can there be an intellectual response without intellect or intelligence. My answer is no.
So, then we are told that thought, which includes intellectual responses according to the above, is both mechanical and conditioned:
“We have thus put together all the basically mechanical and conditioned responses of memory under one word or symbol, i.e. thought, and we have distinguished this from the fresh, original and unconditioned response of intelligence (or intelligent perception) in which something new may arise.”
But look there at the end of that statement. He suddenly informs us that intelligence is not part of thought!!!! It’s some kind of new non-mechanical energy apart from thought. First he tells us intelligence is part of thought and then he says it isn’t. What’s up with that????
He repeats it here:
“The perception of whether or not any particular thoughts are relevant or fitting requires the operation of an energy that is not mechanical, an energy that we shall call intelligence.”
Now either intellect/intelligence is part of thought or it isn’t. Which one is it? What is he talking about? Maybe we should give him license and just remove the word intellectual from the list of responses to memory? That would fix his problem with logic, I think.
Personally I think his idea of thought is what TUB calls mind. Intelligence is an adjutant ministry.
Here’s another thing I don’t understand, and maybe it’s because I haven’t read the whole book, don’t know. Nigel, if you can explain it that would be great.
It seems to me that memory is the fundamental building block in Bohm’s schema. He defines various responses to memory with the word thought. If thought is a response to memory, then what is memory? Isn’t thought necessary for memory to exist in the first place? Or is he making memory a purely physical phenomenon?
In this quote we’re told that memory is formed through an intellectual process called recognition. Which means, I think, that memory is part of intelligence.
111:4.1 Recognition is the intellectual process of fitting the sensory impressions received from the external world into the memory patterns of the individual. Understanding connotes that these recognized sensory impressions and their associated memory patterns have become integrated or organized into a dynamic network of principles.
Hi Bonita,
First, apologies for my misuse of the word “animate“. As a child I learned that “to animate” [*] meant “to add mind to a living system”. After your comment, I went to the dictionary and found that this distinction did not carry over into English.
[*] from Latin animus (“the mind, in a great variety of meanings: the rational soul in man, intellect, consciousness, will, intention, courage, spirit, sensibility, feeling, passion, pride, vehemence, wrath, etc., the breath, life, soul”)
Regarding Bohm, the reason I brought up his work was simply the novelty (for me!) of the idea of the adjutant circuits enabling seven different “modes of perception into“ our inherent intellectual capacity. This (inherent, biological) capacity is what enables that sophisticated but more-or-less mechanical (kaleidoscopic) arrangement of “protoplasmic memory material”; the sort of sub-intelligent intellectual activity we find emerging in artificial “Generative Adversarial Networks” (link: GANS).
As we know, humans have the additional circuit “Wisdom (101:6.4)” with which to integrate and organize those arrangements!
(Regarding Bohm’s distinction between intelligence and intellect, philosophers have worked this over forever. Best we not confuse the two concepts!)
More importantly:
this probing of the nature, capacity and purpose of human mind got me thinking about the actual “birth of the soul“. From 133:6.5, we see that the birth of the soul is intimately connected with the arrival of the Adjuster,
“The divine spirit arrives simultaneously with the first moral activity of the human mind, and that is the occasion of the birth of the soul.” (1478.4, 133:6.5)
Question: does the Adjuster cause this morontia phenomenon?
In 111:2.10 we read about “the gradual birth of a soul“, due to “contactual spiritualization“.
Question: What role does the Adjuster play in this “gradual birth“?
(Thinking out loud,) since all references to soul birth and growth mention the crucial role of personal moral choice, my first thoughts go something like this: whereas the adjutant system makes it possible for us to discover, recognize and interpret, it takes a person, a wilful personality, to actually “choose“. When this choice is on a moral plane, there is some extraordinary repercussion that allows the Adjuster somehow to “spiritualize” that repercussion, and quite literally to weave it into the fabric of our soul. Which is why our souls are so breathtakingly lovely?
Thanks for continuing this exploration!
Nigel
“protoplasmic memory material”; the sort of sub-intelligent intellectual activity
I don’t think protoplasmic memory material is sub-intelligent. I think it is actual intelligence since memory requires recognition. See quote 111:4.1 in my last post.this probing of the nature, capacity and purpose of human mind got me thinking about the actual “birth of the soul“. From 133:6.5, we see that the birth of the soul is intimately connected with the arrival of the Adjuster,
Well, not all the time. It’s possible to have a soul without an Adjuster.
Question: does the Adjuster cause this morontia phenomenon?
No. The divine spirit they’re referring to in that quote is the Holy Spirit.
Question: What role does the Adjuster play in this “gradual birth“?
None at all. With the phrase contactual spiritualization they’re referring to the personal mind’s contact with the cosmic mind which is supermaterial. That, along with personality, assures evolution of the moral nature. Don’t forget that personality is intrinsically moral and is of supermaterial origin as well. They very carefully used the word spiritualization rather than spiritization. Spiritization is a function of the Adjuster.
Nigel Nunn wrote: Which is why our souls are so breathtakingly lovely?Our souls are so breathtakingly lovely because of the spirit presences who live there. Otherwise, the soul is imperfect but salvageable.
Bonita wrote:
“No. The divine spirit they’re referring to in that quote is the Holy Spirit.“
Sorry to have missed this in previous discussions. Can you point me to a few places where I can read about the involvement of the Holy Spirit with the birth of our soul?
PS: My reason for calling our souls “breathtakingly lovely“ was because I thought they were made (literally woven) by the Adjuster from the spiritualized repercussion of our finest choices… ?
thanks for any pointers!
Nigel
Can you point me to a few places where I can read about the involvement of the Holy Spirit with the birth of our soul?
Hope this helps. Let me know if you will.
In this quote it states that the Adjusters cannot arrive until the material mind has been encircuited by the Holy Spirit, which means the Holy Spirit is essential to the existence of the soul.
- 108:2.2 The Adjusters cannot invade the mortal mind until it has been duly prepared by the indwelling ministry of the adjutant mind-spirits and encircuited in the Holy Spirit. And it requires the co-ordinate function of all seven adjutants to thus qualify the human mind for the reception of an Adjuster.
In this quote it explains that the adjutants prepare the mind for the coming of the Holy Spirit. When all seven are functioning the individual enters the seventh psychic circle which includes the arrival of the personal presence of the Divine Minister, the Holy Spirit.
- 36:5.16 The adjutant mind-spirits are in no manner directly related to the diverse and highly spiritual function of the spirit of the personal presence of the Divine Minister, the Holy Spirit of the inhabited worlds; but they are functionally antecedent to, and preparatory for, the appearance of this very spirit in evolutionary man. The adjutants afford the Universe Mother Spirit a varied contact with, and control over, the material living creatures of a local universe, but they do not repercuss in the Supreme Being when acting on prepersonality levels.
In this quote it states that encircuitment by the Holy Spirit occurs with entrance into the seventh psychic circle.
- 110:6.13 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.
This next quote goes further to explain how the adjutants sponsor the mind prior to the arrival of the Holy Spirit, who is the next level of mind after the adjutant level. The supermind is a superadjutant manifestation of the personality of the Creative Spirit. It also states that the Holy Spirit is the first supermind endowment, which implies there are more to come. The quote also makes clear that the soul does not require the presence of the Adjuster.
- 103:0.1 ALL of man’s truly religious reactions are sponsored by the early ministry of the adjutant of worship and are censored by the adjutant of wisdom. Man’s first supermind endowment is that of personality encircuitment in the Holy Spirit of the Universe Creative Spirit; and long before either the bestowals of the divine Sons or the universal bestowal of the Adjusters, this influence functions to enlarge man’s viewpoint of ethics, religion, and spirituality. Subsequent to the bestowals of the Paradise Sons the liberated Spirit of Truth makes mighty contributions to the enlargement of the human capacity to perceive religious truths. As evolution advances on an inhabited world, the Thought Adjusters increasingly participate in the development of the higher types of human religious insight. The Thought Adjuster is the cosmic window through which the finite creature may faith-glimpse the certainties and divinities of limitless Deity, the Universal Father.
This next quote describes the hierarchy of mortal mind ministry beginning with the physical controllers, the adjutants and finally the Holy Spirit.
- 113:3.2 More especially can and does this seraphic guardian correlate the manifold agencies and influences of the Infinite Spirit, ranging from the domains of the physical controllers and the adjutant mind-spirits up to the Holy Spirit of the Divine Minister and to the Omnipresent Spirit presence of the Paradise Third Source and Center. Having thus unified and made more personal these vast ministries of the Infinite Spirit, the seraphim then undertakes to correlate this integrated influence of the Conjoint Actor with the spirit presences of the Father and the Son.
Here again the hierarchy of mind ministry is described. First the physical controllers, then the adjutants, and finally the supermind of the Creative Spirit.
- 36:5.15 Living mind, prior to the appearance of capacity to learn from experience, is the ministry domain of the Master Physical Controllers. Creature mind, before acquiring the ability to recognize divinity and worship Deity, is the exclusive domain of the adjutant spirits. With the appearance of the spiritual response of the creature intellect, such created minds at once become superminded, being instantly encircuited in the spirit cycles of the local universe Mother Spirit.
In this quote it explains that encircuitment of the personal presence of the Creative Spirit, the Holy Spirit, provides a new level of mind to the individual called the supermind. But this only happens after the worship craving spirit of worship and the wisdom desiring spirit of wisdom is active in the material mind.
- 92:0.4 3. The Holy Spirit–this is the initial supermind bestowal, and it unfailingly appears in all bona fide human personalities. This ministry to a worship-craving and wisdom-desiring mind creates the capacity to self-realize the postulate of human survival, both in theologic concept and as an actual and factual personality experience.
In this quote it explains the function of the supermind, the Holy Spirit. The personal presence of the Creative Spirit in the soul provides spiritual reason and soul intelligence.
- 101.3.2 Faith-insight, or spiritual intuition, is the endowment of the cosmic mind in association with the Thought Adjuster, which is the Father’s gift to man. Spiritual reason, soul intelligence, is the endowment of the Holy Spirit, the Creative Spirit’s gift to man. Spiritual philosophy, the wisdom of spirit realities, is the endowment of the Spirit of Truth, the combined gift of the bestowal Sons to the children of men. And the co-ordination and interassociation of these spirit endowments constitute man a spirit personality in potential destiny.
This quote describes the supermind as the liaison domain between the human mind and the Adjuster, meaning soul.
- 110:5.3 During the slumber season the Adjuster attempts to achieve only that which the will of the indwelt personality has previously fully approved by the decisions and choosings which were made during times of fully wakeful consciousness, and which have thereby become lodged in the realms of the supermind, the liaison domain of human and divine interrelationship.
In this quote it states that the ministry of the Holy Spirit is a mind ministry which facilitates recognition of the Adjuster.
- 34:5.4 When mind is thus endowed with the ministry of the Holy Spirit, it possesses the capacity for (consciously or unconsciously) choosing the spiritual presence of the Universal Father–the Thought Adjuster. But it is not until a bestowal Son has liberated the Spirit of Truth for planetary ministry to all mortals that all normal minds are automatically prepared for the reception of the Thought Adjusters. The Spirit of Truth works as one with the presence of the spirit of the Divine Minister. This dual spirit liaison hovers over the worlds, seeking to teach truth and to spiritually enlighten the minds of men, to inspire the souls of the creatures of the ascending races, and to lead the peoples dwelling on the evolutionary planets ever towards their Paradise goal of divine destiny.
Here again we are informed about the superadjutant endowment of the Creative Spirit, previously described as the Holy Spirit, in addition to the cosmic mind, is what we are left with after being weaned off adjutant mind ministry.
- 110:6.21 The seven circles embrace mortal experience extending from the highest purely animal level to the lowest actual contactual morontia level of self-consciousness as a personality experience. The mastery of the first cosmic circle signalizes the attainment of premorontia mortal maturity and marks the termination of the conjoint ministry of the adjutant mind-spirits as an exclusive influence of mind action in the human personality. Beyond the first circle, mind becomes increasingly akin to the intelligence of the morontia stage of evolution, the conjoined ministry of the cosmic mind and the superadjutant endowment of the Creative Spirit of a local universe.
In this quote we’re told that the soul is superadjutant, as is the Holy Spirit.
- 112:6.7 Mortal mind, prior to death, is self-consciously independent of the Adjuster presence; adjutant mind needs only the associated material-energy pattern to enable it to operate. But the morontia soul, being superadjutant, does not retain self-consciousness without the Adjuster when deprived of the material-mind mechanism. This evolving soul does, however, possess a continuing character derived from the decisions of its former associated adjutant mind, and this character becomes active memory when the patterns thereof are energized by the returning Adjuster.
In this next quote we are told that the adjutants minister to the physical level of intellect, but the ministry of the Holy Spirit is considered a different level of ministry, as explained prior, a superadjutant ministry. The adjutants register experience in the mind of Supremacy, but the personal presence of the Creative Spirit, aka Holy Spirit, is able to register experience in the person of Supremacy. The soul is a personal phenomenon. It is not possible to have a soul without a personality, therefore it requires the cooperation of both a mortal and divine personality. The Holy Spirit is the initial divine personality contribution to the soul, functioning long before the arrival of the other two representatives of the Trinity.
- 117:5.10 The mind-experience accumulations of the seven adjutant mind-spirits, in their ministry to the physical level of intellect, are a part of the local universe experience of the Divine Minister, and through this Creative Spirit they probably find registry in the mind of Supremacy. Likewise are mortal experiences with the Spirit of Truth and the Holy Spirit probably registered by similar techniques in the person of Supremacy.
This next quote specifies the role of the seraphim and why they are chosen as the guardians of the soul.
- 113:3.4 And herein is revealed the reason why the seraphic guardian eventually becomes the personal custodian of the mind patterns, memory formulas, and soul realities of the mortal survivor during that interval between physical death and morontia resurrection. None but the ministering children of the Infinite Spirit could thus function in behalf of the human creature during this phase of transition from one level of the universe to another and higher level. Even when you engage in your terminal transition slumber, when you pass from time to eternity, a high supernaphim likewise shares the transit with you as the custodian of creature identity and the surety of personal integrity.
PS: My reason for calling our souls “breathtakingly lovely“ was because I thought they were made (literally woven) by the Adjuster from the spiritualized repercussion of our finest choices… ?
The Adjusters thread spirit patterns on the morontia fabric of the soul but those patterns belong to them. We humans contribute, but we can destroy the thing if we want to. The Adjusters keep the good parts, the parts where we participated in doing God’s will. God will treasure that experience forever. We don’t have to, which makes the whole thing rather imperfect. Lovely yes, perfect no.
1:5.15 The absolute perfection of the infinite God would cause him to suffer the awful limitations of unqualified finality of perfectness were it not a fact that the Universal Father directly participates in the personality struggle of every imperfect soul in the wide universe who seeks, by divine aid, to ascend to the spiritually perfect worlds on high. This progressive experience of every spirit being and every mortal creature throughout the universe of universes is a part of the Father’s ever-expanding Deity-consciousness of the never-ending divine circle of ceaseless self-realization.
Hi Nigel, I’ve been thinking about your question concerning 133:6.5 and its reference to the divine spirit. I said that the divine spirit Jesus was referring to is the Holy Spirit. I said that because I am assuming he was describing the birth of the soul prior to Pentecost when not all people automatically received Adjusters upon entering the seventh psychic circle. If for some reason he was referring only to Adjuster indwelt souls, then the divine spirit he spoke of would be the Adjuster. Either way, the soul is distinct from the divine spirit who indwells it, regardless of the spirit’s source. The soul is a co-created entity initiated by the first moral activity of the human material mind which results in encircuitment by the Holy Spirit, its initial source of spirit input necessary to create morontia substance. The Holy Spirit is also the necessary lens by which the Adjuster is recognized whenever he does arrive (34:5.4).
(1478.4) 133:6.5 “The soul is the self-reflective, truth-discerning, and spirit-perceiving part of man which forever elevates the human being above the level of the animal world. Self-consciousness, in and of itself, is not the soul. Moral self-consciousness is true human self-realization and constitutes the foundation of the human soul, and the soul is that part of man which represents the potential survival value of human experience. Moral choice and spiritual attainment, the ability to know God and the urge to be like him, are the characteristics of the soul. The soul of man cannot exist apart from moral thinking and spiritual activity. A stagnant soul is a dying soul. But the soul of man is distinct from the divine spirit which dwells within the mind. The divine spirit arrives simultaneously with the first moral activity of the human mind, and that is the occasion of the birth of the soul.
34:5.4 When mind is thus endowed with the ministry of the Holy Spirit, it possesses the capacity for (consciously or unconsciously) choosing the spiritual presence of the Universal Father–the Thought Adjuster.
When you asked this:
Question: does the Adjuster cause this morontia phenomenon?
I should say that it is my understanding that the morontia substance of the soul is created by two sources, one material and one spiritual. The initial spiritual source is the Holy Spirit regardless if a soul becomes indwelt by an Adjuster. Once an Adjuster arrives, he works as one with the Holy Spirit, and also the Spirit of Truth once he is poured out upon all flesh, to provide the spiritual source for the ongoing morontial substance of the soul. If the Holy Spirit is not the initial source of spiritual material contributing to the birth of the soul, then prior to Pentecost there would have been people walking around without souls.
As I understand it, to be considered a bona fide human being there must be a soul. Until a soul is born, when only 6 adjutants are present, the individual is considered superanimal. Presence of the seventh adjutant indicates the presence of purposeful moral activity which immediately brings the Holy Spirit who establishes the morontia soul and qualifies the individual as human. From that point on soul growth occurs “in and of itself” unless it’s specifically inhibited.
I would say that Cain had a soul even though he killed his half-brother in a fit of rage. I say that because he was constantly arguing with Abel about the value of their vocations and offerings to the priests. It was not the arguing but the search for value that seems indicative of an active adjutant of wisdom and thus some level of soul presence – the desire to find “the best” (see 103:01 below). And it would be Cain’s eventual desire for divine guidance (the best of the best), that brought an Adjuster. I don’t think Cain would have sought divine guidance without having a soul urging him on. So, I guess what I’m saying is that I believe Cain initially had a soul without an Adjuster like described in 103:0.1:
103:0.1 All of man’s truly religious reactions are sponsored by the early ministry of the adjutant of worship and are censored by the adjutant of wisdom. Man’s first supermind endowment is that of personality encircuitment in the Holy Spirit of the Universe Creative Spirit; and long before either the bestowals of the divine Sons or the universal bestowal of the Adjusters, this influence functions to enlarge man’s viewpoint of ethics, religion, and spirituality.
Hopefully I’m making myself clearer and not just yakking.
Bonita wrote:
“Hopefully I’m making myself clearer…”
Hi Bonita – actually, I think your insights are intensifying the magnificent mystery of our morontia souls
(189.6, 16:4.5) “Unquestionably […] we are face to face with certain of the unrevealed activities of the Master Spirits. Who, aside from these ancestors of both physical controllers and spirit ministers, could have contrived so to combine and associate material and spiritual energies as to produce a hitherto nonexistent phase of universe reality — morontia substance and morontia mind?“
Lots to ponder! I’ll add some quotes and notes soon,
Nigel
Thanks Nigel and André. I’d like to clarify even more.Presence of the seventh adjutant indicates the presence of purposeful moral activity which immediately brings the Holy Spirit who establishes the morontia soul and qualifies the individual as human.
A bona fide human being also has personality. We’re not told when the personality arrives, but we do know that it develops and refines its volition until finally entering the seventh psychic circle. It is here where the mind gets its “human bona fides” and where the personality is recognized in the universe as having the potential for spiritual individuality. Just wanted to be clearer . . .
Bonita,
I understand Thought Adjusters volunteer for service. Given God’s ability to observe human genetics and history, is it possible personality arrives with unique sperm-ovum fertilization? The life forces are always there; life only comes from life; so new life is potential in sexual intercourse. If unique personality is given to living beings, it seems likely personality is granted to the new potential infant at fertilization. This unique combination deserves (is granted) unique personality. Why would God defer personality until birth?
This question sheds new light on the abortion debate.
Hi Mark,
I spent a lot of time pouring through TUB and never satisfied the question as to when personality arrives. I have my own beliefs but that’s all they are – beliefs. The potential for personality is not the same as personality. They tell us that there either is personality or there isn’t, yet in one quote they say in some animals there is “little or no personality”. What the heck does that mean after they say there either is or isn’t personality, with no mention of a “little”? So, with that statement I became thoroughly confused and decided I don’t know squat about this.
5:6.3 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.
109:4.2 Animals do, in a crude way, communicate with each other, but there is little or no personality in such primitive contact. Adjusters are not personality; they are prepersonal beings. But they do hail from the source of personality, and their presence does augment the qualitative manifestations of human personality; especially is this true if the Adjuster has had previous experience.
But to be philosophical, we can play with various ideas. We are told that personality is something completely separate from mind and body. It seems to me that there has to be enough of a mind-body system present in order for a personality to unify it, since that is its purpose. What the threshold for that is I couldn’t tell you. Two cells? Kinda doubt it, but a few hundred or several thousand cells? More likely. They do tell us that the potential for personality requires a mind capable of self-consciousness. How many brain cells does an embryo need to establish consciousness? I don’t think anyone knows yet.
80% of miscarriages occur around 6-8 weeks gestation when both lobes of the cerebrum are usually being formed. I’ve always wondered if all those miscarriages had personalities that remain attached to their parents in the next life. If so, I have one waiting for me. But I tend to think not, that perhaps something goes wrong with cerebral growth, preventing a budding consciousness, and personality never gets bestowed. But then they tell us the liaison of the adjutants and the cosmic mind is sufficient to build a body for a personality, so I really have no clue.
42:12.11 The liaison of the cosmic mind and the ministry of the adjutant mind-spirits evolve a suitable physical tabernacle for the evolving human being.
I don’t think the timing of personality arrival is ever mentioned anywhere in TUB. Frankly, I don’t think the revelators want to reveal it, if they actually know it themselves. After all, no one has any clue where the personality is between death and resurrection. They probably don’t know where personality is between conception and birth either. Just a wild guess though. I think arguments can be made for a variety of different scenarios. It’s a mystery.
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