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Self-consciousness is a feature of personality. But of course, personality must have mind in order to utilize that feature.
1:7.6 The higher concepts of universe personality imply: identity, self-consciousness, self-will, and possibility for self-revelation.
Faith is a gift. All we have to do is recognize it and choose it. That takes a willing mind along with a personality which is both conscious of itself and conscious of another self living inside its mind.
Recognition of the gift of faith is by spiritual insight. Spiritual insight is also a gift. All we have to do is cooperate with the mind and spirit forces that are all conspiring to bring us wholly into the universe family. On most planets this is a natural, uncomplicated, gradual process of education. On this planet it’s swimming against the current. Not impossible . . . completely doable.
And fear is given to us for survival purposes. Like everything else, fear is supposed to evolve. Uhhh, there’s a quote for that somewhere. I posted it a few months ago. Grunt, grunt . . . digging through stuff . . . okay here’s one:
102:5.2 This same purposive supremacy is shown in the evolution of mind ideation when primitive animal fear is transmuted into the constantly deepening reverence for God and into increasing awe of the universe. Primitive man had more religious fear than faith, and the supremacy of spirit potentials over mind actuals is demonstrated when this craven fear is translated into living faith in spiritual realities.
And here’s the other:
149.6.3 “The ‘fear of the Lord’ has had different meanings in the successive ages, coming up from fear, through anguish and dread, to awe and reverence. And now from reverence I would lead you up, through recognition, realization, and appreciation, to love. When man recognizes only the works of God, he is led to fear the Supreme; but when man begins to understand and experience the personality and character of the living God, he is led increasingly to love such a good and perfect, universal and eternal father. And it is just this changing of the relation of man to God that constitutes the mission of the son of Man on earth.
It is assumed that faith is the ONLY antidote to fear.
Don’t you think that knowledge and understanding are also antidotes for fear? I mean humans used to be scared to death of fire until they learned to harness it and control it. People still turn things they don’t understand into boogey men. (Like the weather.) But it’s not always true that the more you understand something the less fearful it becomes, however it can change behavior. For instance, the more we understand nuclear war, the more we fear it happening, and that fear keeps us in check . . . I think.
Science has done a lot to allay fears because it identifies the threat. It’s easier to make a decision whether to flee or hold your ground if you understand the threat. Anxiety, on the other hand, by definition means that the threat is NOT identifiable or understood. Anxiety is when you think there’s a threat but you have no idea what it is or how to deal with it. That’s the real modern problem, I think. People are freaking out about stuff and they have no idea what it is they’re really freaking out about. There, I think, is where faith can help a great deal.
48:4.6 2. Current humor. The senselessness of much that so often causes us serious concern, the joy at discovering the unimportance of much of our serious personal anxiety. We are most appreciative of this phase of humor when we are best able to discount the anxieties of the present in favor of the certainties of the future.
I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but the talking heads you see on TV who are freaking out about every little thing, are totally humorless, no sense of humor whatsoever . . . so intensely serious . . . every little thing is critically important . . . a matter of life or death. That’s what happens when you don’t understand the threat . . . a very exhausting way to live . . . but I digress.
Humor’s an emotion, right?
It is assumed that faith is the ONLY antidote to fear.
Don’t you think that knowledge and understanding are also antidotes for fear? I mean humans used to be scared to death of fire until they learned to harness it and control it. People still turn things they don’t understand into boogey men. (Like the weather.) But it’s not always true that the more you understand something the less fearful it becomes, however it can change behavior. For instance, the more we understand nuclear war, the more we fear it happening, and that fear keeps us in check . . . I think. Science has done a lot to allay fears because it identifies the threat. It’s easier to make a decision whether to flee or hold your ground if you understand the threat. Anxiety, on the other hand, by definition means that the threat is NOT identifiable or understood. Anxiety is when you think there’s a threat but you have no idea what it is or how to deal with it. That’s the real modern problem, I think. People are freaking out about stuff and they have no idea what it is they’re really freaking out about. There, I think, is where faith can help a great deal.
48:4.6 2. Current humor. The senselessness of much that so often causes us serious concern, the joy at discovering the unimportance of much of our serious personal anxiety. We are most appreciative of this phase of humor when we are best able to discount the anxieties of the present in favor of the certainties of the future.
I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but the talking heads you see on TV who are freaking out about every little thing, are totally humorless, no sense of humor whatsoever . . . so intensely serious . . . every little thing is critically important . . . a matter of life or death. That’s what happens when you don’t understand the threat . . . a very exhausting way to live . . . but I digress. Humor’s an emotion, right?
my son is a good Christian and he’s so good that there is a paralysis there, preventing knowledge and understanding, a fear of sorts I suppose.
love the current humor quote and it’s interesting that Sadler did not talk about humor in his discussions of emotions. Maybe humor is more of a super emotion that helps put perspective into all of the others, something our animal cousins can’t do.
fight or flight is still part of us regardless of how much knowledge and understanding we think we have. It can happen before we have time to think about it. The decision to fight implies faith, no?
the fear of dying is powerful but not absolute. Get past it and perspective is quite different.
and don’t let talking heads know someone out here thinks we can’t control weather. Sure to arouse some emotions😊
The decision to fight implies faith, no?
That’s an interesting thing to say. Not sure. Doesn’t it depend on what you’re fighting and how you’re fighting it? I know we’re supposed to be aggressive with our faith, but I think they mean unafraid and courageous in facing the vicissitudes of life, going the second and third mile, stuff like that. Right? Even fighting doubt and fear depends on how you go about it. Doesn’t faith erase the need for fighting doubt and fear?
It’s like emotions and feelings. TUB tells us conflicting things, but if you really ponder on it, things comes together and begin to make sense. For instance, in one instance the revelators tell us that the divine spirit does not make contact with by feelings or emotions, but later Jesus tells us that we should increasingly grow in the ability to feel the presence of God. Then we are told that strong feelings of emotion are not always the leading of the divine spirit, yet we are also told that spiritual values are felt by the knowing mind. We are also told that neither logic, emotions or feelings are part of religious experience yet we all know that religious experiences often result in some kind of spiritual emotion or feeling. I’ve come to the conclusion that, like everything else in the universe, emotions evolve. If emotions are reactions to the environment (outer and inner), then it looks like we’re supposed to evolve our reactions.
Another thing about humor. Primitive people were humorless. This makes me think that humorless people today are primitive thinkers. We know that Adam and Eve gave us the funny bone . . . the gift of humor. I’m guessing some people got more of their DNA than others. Either that, or they are taking themselves and their issues way, way too seriously. I’ve noticed that people who scream for the right to use their creative imagination, another gift from Adam and Eve, seem to show the least amount of humor. So too the moralizers, who are so quick to push the report button. Then, of course, there are those with a warped sense of humor . . . oops.
63:4.2 They were exceedingly imitative, but the play instinct was only slightly developed, and the sense of humor was almost entirely absent. Primitive man smiled occasionally, but he never indulged in hearty laughter. Humor was the legacy of the later Adamic race.
48:4.13 You of Urantia have allowed much that is at once vulgar and unkind to become confused with your humor, but on the whole, you are to be congratulated on a comparatively keen sense of humor. Some of your races have a rich vein of it and are greatly helped in their earthly careers thereby. Apparently you received much in the way of humor from your Adamic inheritance, much more than was secured of either music or art.
48:4.15 Humor is the divine antidote for exaltation of ego.
The decision to fight implies faith, no?
That’s an interesting thing to say. Not sure. Doesn’t it depend on what you’re fighting and how you’re fighting it? I know we’re supposed to be aggressive with our faith, but I think they mean unafraid and courageous in facing the vicissitudes of life, going the second and third mile, stuff like that. Right? Even fighting doubt and fear depends on how you go about it. Doesn’t faith erase the need for fighting doubt and fear? It’s like emotions and feelings. TUB tells us conflicting things, but if you really ponder on it, things comes together and begin to make sense. For instance, in one instance the revelators tell us that the divine spirit does not make contact with by feelings or emotions, but later Jesus tells us that we should increasingly grow in the ability to feel the presence of God. Then we are told that strong feelings of emotion are not always the leading of the divine spirit, yet we are also told that spiritual values are felt by the knowing mind. We are also told that neither logic, emotions or feelings are part of religious experience yet we all know that religious experiences often result in some kind of spiritual emotion or feeling. I’ve come to the conclusion that, like everything else in the universe, emotions evolve. If emotions are reactions to the environment (outer and inner), then it looks like we’re supposed to evolve our reactions. Another thing about humor. Primitive people were humorless. This makes me think that humorless people today are primitive thinkers. We know that Adam and Eve gave us the funny bone . . . the gift of humor. I’m guessing some people got more of their DNA than others. Either that, or they are taking themselves and their issues way, way too seriously. I’ve noticed that people who scream for the right to use their creative imagination, another gift from Adam and Eve, seem to show the least amount of humor. So too the moralizers, who are so quick to push the report button. Then, of course, there are those with a warped sense of humor . . . oops.
63:4.2 They were exceedingly imitative, but the play instinct was only slightly developed, and the sense of humor was almost entirely absent. Primitive man smiled occasionally, but he never indulged in hearty laughter. Humor was the legacy of the later Adamic race. 48:4.13 You of Urantia have allowed much that is at once vulgar and unkind to become confused with your humor, but on the whole, you are to be congratulated on a comparatively keen sense of humor. Some of your races have a rich vein of it and are greatly helped in their earthly careers thereby. Apparently you received much in the way of humor from your Adamic inheritance, much more than was secured of either music or art. 48:4.15 Humor is the divine antidote for exaltation of ego.
the decision to fight means you have a reasonable chance to survive or win, (faith) some reason to take a stand, some value worth the risk. otherwise you may crawl in a hole and hide?? That may be a faith thing too.
in regard to feelings and emotions we are assuming they are one and the same??
i can view emotions as a response to instincts that are Rooted in our DNA. But we can make a choice as to how we respond to instincts, we can control our emotions so yeah, evolution is possible.
in regard to feelings and emotions we are assuming they are one and the same??
I don’t make that assumption. Here’s my very first post on this thread:
Bonita wrote: As I understand it, emotions are cognitive interpretations of feelings and urges. Emotions can be learned and unlearned. Emotions can be positive and negative. Emotions can be divine and human. Jesus described four faith attitudes which I believe to be the learned, positive and divine emotions which make up the character of a balanced personality.
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