Attitude

[Vern]

It’s the 7th May here in Canberra today and the daily though gem is all about attitude.

God answers

the soul’s attitude,

not the words

[Paper 91:8.12, page 1002:4]

In communing with the Father, attitude matters. It flavours the soul. Gives a fragrance all its own.

Words are irrelevant. How well is this aspect of attitude understood? I wonder?

 

[Vern]

I came across this just now and immediately thought of a conversation I had today with my good friend William Wentworth on the various definitions of “faith”—there are many in The Urantia Book—this one goes to the “attitude of the soul.” The element of “duty” in the description I thought was significant as our parent’s generation put great importance on duty as an indicator of a stable, dependable, personality. Evolutionary duty which is consolidated in the “attitude of the soul”—arrival at the certain consciousness of God.

The description employs reason to go to that place where to doubt God would be an act of falsehood, to distrust or doubt would be to attempt to be untrue to what is most real.

 

Faith unites moral insight with conscientious discriminations of values, and the pre-existent evolutionary sense of duty completes the ancestry of true religion. The experience of religion eventually results in the certain consciousness of God and in the undoubted assurance of the survival of the believing personality.  ^{[Paper 101:1.6, page 1105.3]}

Thus it may be seen that religious longings and spiritual urges are not of such a nature as would merely lead men to want to believe in God, but rather are they of such nature and power that men are profoundly impressed with the conviction that they ought to believe in God. The sense of evolutionary duty and the obligations consequent upon the illumination of revelation make such a profound impression upon man’s moral nature that he finally reaches that position of mind and that attitude of soul where he concludes that he has no right not to believe in God. The higher and superphilosophic wisdom of such enlightened and disciplined individuals ultimately instructs them that to doubt God or distrust his goodness would be to prove untrue to the realest and deepest thing within the human mind and soul — the divine Adjuster. ^{[paper 101:1.7, page 1105.4]}

 

[Vern]

Prayer is the attitude of the soul.

“Prayer is entirely a personal and spontaneous expression of the attitude of the soul toward the spirit; prayer should be the communion of sonship and the expression of fellowship. Prayer, when indited by the spirit, leads to co-operative spiritual progress. The ideal prayer is a form of spiritual communion which leads to intelligent worship. True praying is the sincere attitude of reaching heavenward for the attainment of your ideals. ^{[Paper 144:2.2, page 1618.6]}

“Prayer is the breath of the soul and should lead you to be persistent in your attempt to ascertain the Father’s will. If any one of you has a neighbor, and you go to him at midnight and say: ‘Friend, lend me three loaves, for a friend of mine on a journey has come to see me, and I have nothing to set before him’; and if your neighbor answers, ‘Trouble me not, for the door is now shut and the children and I are in bed; therefore I cannot rise and give you bread,’ you will persist, explaining that your friend hungers, and that you have no food to offer him. I say to you, though your neighbor will not rise and give you bread because he is your friend, yet because of your importunity he will get up and give you as many loaves as you need. If, then, persistence will win favors even from mortal man, how much more will your persistence in the spirit win the bread of life for you from the willing hands of the Father in heaven. Again I say to you: Ask and it shall be given you; seek and you shall find; knock and it shall be opened to you. For every one who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks the door of salvation will be opened. ^{[Paper 144:2.3, page 1619.1]}

Our Father delights in assisting his children in their soul growth, ask with confidence, for he stands ready to augment spiritual capacity and whet the hunger for truth and enhance wisdom, open the heart to welcome a brother or a sister who currently stands at the threshold of the  kingdom.

 

[Vern]

A tenderhearted attitude is the mark of courage.

1. “Happy are they who mourn, for they shall be comforted.” So-called common sense or the best of logic would never suggest that happiness could be derived from mourning. But Jesus did not refer to outward or ostentatious mourning. He alluded to an emotional attitude of tenderheartedness. It is a great error to teach boys and young men that it is unmanly to show tenderness or otherwise to give evidence of emotional feeling or physical suffering. Sympathy is a worthy attribute of the male as well as the female. It is not necessary to be calloused in order to be manly. This is the wrong way to create courageous men. The world’s great men have not been afraid to mourn. Moses, the mourner, was a greater man than either Samson or Goliath. Moses was a superb leader, but he was also a man of meekness. Being sensitive and responsive to human need creates genuine and lasting happiness, while such kindly attitudes safeguard the soul from the destructive influences of anger, hate, and suspicion.^{[Paper140:5.16, page 1575.1]}

A kindly attitude safeguards the soul from destructive influences.

[Mara]

It’s human to have a bad attitude once in a while.  How quickly can you convert it to a constructive attitude and into creative avenues?  How quickly can you get over yourself?  How quickly can you learn from it?

 

(P.1220 – §8) Since this inner life of man is truly creative, there rests upon each person the responsibility of choosing as to whether this creativity shall be spontaneous and wholly haphazard or controlled, directed, and constructive. How can a creative imagination produce worthy children when the stage whereon it functions is already preoccupied by prejudice, hate, fears, resentments, revenge, and bigotries?

 

How quickly can you deliver yourself from from all grudges, grievances, anger, and the lust for selfish power and revenge?

 

P.1590 – §3 Jesus portrayed conquest by sacrifice, the sacrifice of pride and selfishness. By showing mercy, he meant to portray spiritual deliverance from all grudges, grievances, anger, and the lust for selfish power and revenge. And when he said, “Resist not evil,” he later explained that he did not mean to condone sin or to counsel fraternity with iniquity. He intended the more to teach forgiveness, to “resist not evil treatment of one’s personality, evil injury to one’s feelings of personal dignity.”

 

How quickly can you forgive others for the wrongs you perceive have been done to you?  I say, get over it.  Get over yourself.

[Vern]

Hi Mara

Thanks for adding you voice to this topic.

I note your contribution is cautionary in that in our present state of imperfection a bad attitude definitely inhibits soul growth. That’s why having a kindhearted disposition is such a safeguard against “…the destructive influences of anger, hate, and suspicion.” ^{[Paper140:5.16, page 1575.1]}

Attitude is everything when it comes to soul survival, for as stated at the start of the topic “God answers the soul’s attitude, not the words.” [Paper 91:8.12, page 1002:4]

In the section on the Remote Repercussions of Sin the connection between sin identification—attitude—and consequences as they affect personal associations is mentioned. The plight of one personality must be shared by all. That’s how it is in a family of diverse and unique personalities.

If our connection to the Father is a matter of attitude, then conversely, the degree of departure from co-operation with the Father’s will, is the shift in attitude towards self importance, selfishness, sin—unreality. Personality survival is jeopardised when the attitude of the whole being, identifies with sin. Sin, being the attitude of the person to reality.

Sin is never purely local in its effects. The administrative sectors of the universes are organismal; the plight of one personality must to a certain extent be shared by all. Sin, being an attitude of the person toward reality, is destined to exhibit its inherent negativistic harvest upon any and all related levels of universe values. But the full consequences of erroneous thinking, evil-doing, or sinful planning are experienced only on the level of actual performance. The transgression of universe law may be fatal in the physical realm without seriously involving the mind or impairing the spiritual experience. Sin is fraught with fatal consequences to personality survival only when it is the attitude of the whole being, when it stands for the choosing of the mind and the willing of the soul. ^{[Paper 67:7.4, page 761.3]}

We must remember that the context of this passage was with regard to the consequences of the Lucifer Rebellion. How, even though we have suffered the resultant physical consequences of this calamity, the sin of one being cannot rob another, when it comes to personal soul growth, based as it is on freedom of choice. To actively choose to do the will of the Father is a divine right. Courageously maintain the attitude of confident self-aware sonship; “it is my will that your will be done.” Avers the divine right of personality survival.

Evil and sin visit their consequences in material and social realms and may sometimes even retard spiritual progress on certain levels of universe reality, but never does the sin of any being rob another of the realization of the divine right of personality survival. Eternal survival can be jeopardized only by the decisions of the mind and the choice of the soul of the individual himself. ^{[Paper 67:7.5, page 761.4]}

 

[Mara]

Vern wrote: Prayer is the attitude of the soul.

“Prayer is entirely a personal and spontaneous expression of the attitude of the soul toward the spirit.” (page 1618.6)   Here is a bit about ethical praying: when the prayer asks nothing for oneself or anyone else, such soul attitudes gravitate to true worship levels.

(P.998 – §1) In all your praying be fair; do not expect God to show partiality, to love you more than his other children, your friends, neighbors, even enemies. But the prayer of the natural or evolved religions is not at first ethical, as it is in the later revealed religions. All praying, whether individual or communal, may be either egoistic or altruistic. That is, the prayer may be centered upon the self or upon others. When the prayer seeks nothing for the one who prays nor anything for his fellows, then such attitudes of the soul tend to the levels of true worship. Egoistic prayers involve confessions and petitions and often consist in requests for material favors. Prayer is somewhat more ethical when it deals with forgiveness and seeks wisdom for enhanced self-control.

Jesus never taught spiritual self-examination, religious introspection, or character building.  He taught character growth.  ” But Jesus said nothing which would proscribe self-analysis as a prevention of conceited egotism.” (140:8:27)  We are working on self-understanding, self-conquest and self-mastery.

P.1242 – §1 <snipped>  You start out in your mind of mortal investment in the seventh circle and journey inward in the task of self-understanding, self-conquest, and self-mastery; and circle by circle you advance until (if natural death does not terminate your career and transfer your struggles to the mansion worlds) you reach the first or inner circle of relative contact and communion with the indwelling Adjuster.

[Mara]

“Jesus brought to God, as a man of the realm, the greatest of all offerings: the consecration and dedication of his own will to the majestic service of doing the divine will. Jesus always and consistently interpreted religion wholly in terms of the Father’s will. When you study the career of the Master, as concerns prayer or any other feature of the religious life, look not so much for what he taught as for what he did. Jesus never prayed as a religious duty. To him prayer was a sincere expression of spiritual attitude, a declaration of soul loyalty, a recital of personal devotion, an expression of thanksgiving, an avoidance of emotional tension, a prevention of conflict, an exaltation of intellection, an ennoblement of desire, a vindication of moral decision, an enrichment of thought, an invigoration of higher inclinations, a consecration of impulse, a clarification of viewpoint, a declaration of faith, a transcendental surrender of will, a sublime assertion of confidence, a revelation of courage, the proclamation of discovery, a confession of supreme devotion, the validation of consecration, a technique for the adjustment of difficulties, and the mighty mobilization of the combined soul powers to withstand all human tendencies toward selfishness, evil, and sin. He lived just such a life of prayerful consecration to the doing of his Father’s will and ended his life triumphantly with just such a prayer. The secret of his unparalleled religious life was this consciousness of the presence of God; and he attained it by intelligent prayer and sincere worship–unbroken communion with God–and not by leadings, voices, visions, or extraordinary religious practices.” (196:0:10)

[Mark Kurtz]

Has anyone noticed the teachings of Jesus are appealing and comprehendible by man or woman?  In this piece just posted by Mara, there is not even a hint of gender bias  Knowing more of the great human life model in Jesus, no woman of any religion can honestly say Jesus was a man’s man.  His prayers were genderless appeals to the Original Personality.  What a hero is he!

[Vern]

Hi Mara hi Mark

Yes, when the focus is on the value of the person, gender is irrelevant.

To him [Jesus] prayer was a sincere expression of spiritual attitude… [Paper 196:0:10, page 2088:5]

In this respect we are wise to follow, such that prayer for each of us, can become:

1. a declaration of soul loyalty,
2. a recital of personal devotion,
3. an expression of thanksgiving,
4. an avoidance of emotional tension,
5. a prevention of conflict,
6. an exaltation of intellection,
7. an ennoblement of desire,
8. a vindication of moral decision,
9. an enrichment of thought,
10. an invigoration of higher inclinations,
11. a consecration of impulse,
12. a clarification of viewpoint,
13. a declaration of faith,
14. a transcendental surrender of will,
15. a sublime assertion of confidence,
16. a revelation of courage,
17. the proclamation of discovery,
18. a confession of supreme devotion,
19. the validation of consecration,
20. a technique for the adjustment of difficulties, and;
21. the mighty mobilization of the combined soul powers to withstand all human tendencies toward selfishness, evil, and sin.

 

[Mara]

In Jesus’ thirtieth year (A.D. 24) and before he went off to the Caspian Sea area with a caravan, his “Adjuster had been actively engaged in reorganizing the thinking and in rehearsing the mind for the great events” that were in the near future for him and consequently for us.  I mention this, as it pertains to his great change in attitude. . .

 

134:1:7   This was one of the more unusual years in the inner experience of the Son of Man; great progress was made in effecting working harmony between his human mind and the indwelling Adjuster. The Adjuster had been actively engaged in reorganizing the thinking and in rehearsing the mind for the great events which were in the not then distant future. The personality of Jesus was preparing for his great change in attitude toward the world. These were the in-between times, the transition stage of that being who began life as God appearing as man, and who was now making ready to complete his earth career as man appearing as God.

Adjusters never fail, but we have the ability to thwart God’s plan for us, even if it’s only for a while.. The success of Adjusters depends upon us.

110:3:2    The success of your Adjuster in the enterprise of piloting you through the mortal life and bringing about your survival depends not so much on the theories of your beliefs as upon your decisions, determinations, and steadfast faith. All these movements of personality growth become powerful influences aiding in your advancement because they help you to co-operate with the Adjuster; they assist you in ceasing to resist. Thought Adjusters succeed or apparently fail in their terrestrial undertakings just in so far as mortals succeed or fail to co-operate with the scheme whereby they are to be advanced along the ascending path of perfection attainment. The secret of survival is wrapped up in the supreme human desire to be Godlike and in the associated willingness to do and be any and all things which are essential to the final attainment of that overmastering desire.

 

I think we are given an assignment or many assignments in life, and it is upon our shoulders to do our best and do whatever it takes to perfect our human relationships, as God would have us do.

 

174:1:5  “Your inability or unwillingness to forgive your fellows is the measure of your immaturity, your failure to attain adult sympathy, understanding, and love. You hold grudges and nurse vengefulness in direct proportion to your ignorance of the inner nature and true longings of your children and your fellow beings. Love is the outworking of the divine and inner urge of life. It is founded on understanding, nurtured by unselfish service, and perfected in wisdom.”

 

[Vern]

Hi Mara

Thanks for sharing this.

Yes, Jesus did modify his attitude accordingly as he became increasingly conscious of his mission in response to his own personal transformation from the factual incarnation as a mortal to that man stepping forth as God. In truth stating; …he who has seen me has seen the Father.

“Nevertheless, I tell you that the Father and I are one. He who has seen me has seen the Father.” ^{[Paper 157:6.13, page 1750:7]}

Simply stated, If God was a man, that man is Jesus.

 

It is decisions, determinations, and steadfast faith which powerfully influence your advancement because they help you to co-operate with the Adjuster; they assist you in ceasing to resist.

Co-opertion with your unique Divine plan is simply the wholehearted acceptance of sonship with the Father.

[Vern]

Consider the attitude of true worship.

Silent receptivity is the “listening” attitude of the soul that meanings too deep for words can gain registry. This is well emphasised in point No. 16 by Jesus on his teaching “At Jotapata” on prayer.

16. Jesus taught his followers that, when they had made their prayers to the Father, they should remain for a time in silent receptivity to afford the indwelling spirit the better opportunity to speak to the listening soul. The spirit of the Father speaks best to man when the human mind is in an attitude of true worship. We worship God by the aid of the Father’s indwelling spirit and by the illumination of the human mind through the ministry of truth. Worship, taught Jesus, makes one increasingly like the being who is worshiped. Worship is a transforming experience whereby the finite gradually approaches and ultimately attains the presence of the Infinite. ^{[Paper 146:2.17, page 1641.1]}

Worship makes one increasingly like the being who is worshiped.

[Vern]

At the start of this topic a question was posed.

Are words irrelevant when communing with the Father?

As life is a faith adventure and faith is concerned only with the grasp of ideal “values” words fail to adequately qualify feelings that lie too deep for words.

That faith is concerned only with the grasp of ideal values is shown by the New Testament definition which declares that faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. ^{[Paper99:5.8, page 1091:7]}

Values can be shared by believers. Spiritual unity is established without compromising individuality of personal religious experience when values are shared.

Primitive man made little effort to put his religious convictions into words. His religion was danced out rather than thought out. Modern men have thought out many creeds and created many tests of religious faith. Future religionists must live out their religion, dedicate themselves to the wholehearted service of the brotherhood of man. It is high time that man had a religious experience so personal and so sublime that it could be realized and expressed only by “feelings that lie too deep for words.” ^{[Paper 99:5.9, page 1091:8]}

 

[Vern]

Just because you say it, does not make it so.

Action speaks louder than words.

[Author]

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