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The material intellect is present long before we self-consciously realize that it is the temporal seat of our personal identity. By analogy we might suppose that the soul is present long before we are “born again” and self-consciously realize that it is the potentially eternal seat of our personal identity.
I think what they’re talking about is recognition of the soul, or soul-consciousness, and a commitment to live a “soul-conscious” life. This goes with the definition:
34:6.7 Those who have received and recognized the indwelling of God have been born of the Spirit. “You are the temple of God, and the spirit of God dwells in you.” It is not enough that this spirit be poured out upon you; the divine Spirit must dominate and control every phase of human experience.
Those who recognize the presence of God within the soul and allow him to dominate their will . . . I will that thy will be done . . . are those who are born again, or reborn in the spirit. There are people who do not recognize the presence of God within or commit themselves to doing God’s will even though they have souls. Being born again simply means making a conscious pact of loyalty to the process of being perfected by the Perfecter.
Elsewhere in TUB we’re told that those who have been born of the spirit are the faith-sons of God (34:6.4). To be a faith-son requires recognition of the Father. Again, the word recognition. We’re also told that faith-sons work on intellectual and spiritual levels far above the physical level (34:7.7), which I understand to be the soul-level of consciousness.
We also are told what Jesus said to the afraid boy, Fortune, concerning being born again, or “born of the spirit”. He said that rebirth causes a readjustment to life within which then results in a readjustment to the universe without (130:6.4). It is my opinion that this readjustment comes from the awakening of recognition of the presence of God within the soul, the Adjuster.
130:6.4 “This day, my son, you are to be reborn, re-established as a man of faith, courage, and devoted service to man, for God’s sake. And when you become so readjusted to life within yourself, you become likewise readjusted to the universe; you have been born again – born of the spirit – and henceforth will your whole life become one of victorious accomplishment. Trouble will invigorate you; disappointment will spur you on; difficulties will challenge you; and obstacles will stimulate you. Arise, young man! Say farewell to the life of cringing fear and fleeing cowardice. Hasten back to duty and live your life in the flesh as a son of God, a mortal dedicated to the ennobling service of man on earth and destined to the superb and eternal service of God in eternity.”
Yes, religion is functional in the mind and experienced by the personality before it becomes conscious, but what is the definition of religion in this case? I believe they are referring to the pursuit of values. Mind ministry, unless thwarted, naturally draws thoughts spiritward. The spirit of worship (6th adjutant) is the source of the religious impulse (36:5.11). Long before the coming of the Holy Spirit and the birth of the soul, the mind of an individual has natural religious urges due to this ministry. Yet, this does not qualify as being born of the spirit until the Holy Spirit actually arrives in the mind with the birth of the soul. Rebirth is when the individual recognizes that it has happened and chooses to embrace it. It may occur suddenly or gradually. It may take a few years or a whole lifetime, but when it happens there is a major readjustment to reality because it signals entrance into the kingdom of heaven and faith-son status. That is your re-birthday.
103:2.1 Religion is functional in the human mind and has been realized in experience prior to its appearance in human consciousness. A child has been in existence about nine months before it experiences birth. But the “birth” of religion is not sudden; it is rather a gradual emergence. Nevertheless, sooner or later there is a “birth day.” You do not enter the kingdom of heaven unless you have been “born again” — born of the Spirit. Many spiritual births are accompanied by much anguish of spirit and marked psychological perturbations, as many physical births are characterized by a “stormy labor” and other abnormalities of “delivery.” Other spiritual births are a natural and normal growth of the recognition of supreme values with an enhancement of spiritual experience, albeit no religious development occurs without conscious effort and positive and individual determinations. Religion is never a passive experience, a negative attitude. What is termed the “birth of religion” is not directly associated with so-called conversion experiences which usually characterize religious episodes occurring later in life as a result of mental conflict, emotional repression, and temperamental upheavals.
Jesus explained that being reborn means entering the kingdom of heaven:
141:6.4 That night Jesus discoursed to the apostles on the new life in the kingdom. He said in part: “When you enter the kingdom, you are reborn. You cannot teach the deep things of the spirit to those who have been born only of the flesh; first see that men are born of the spirit before you seek to instruct them in the advanced ways of the spirit. Do not undertake to show men the beauties of the temple until you have first taken them into the temple. Introduce men to God and as the sons of God before you discourse on the doctrines of the fatherhood of God and the sonship of men. Do not strive with men—always be patient. It is not your kingdom; you are only ambassadors. Simply go forth proclaiming: This is the kingdom of heaven—God is your Father and you are his sons, and this good news, if you wholeheartedly believe it, is your eternal salvation.”
Note he mentions wholeheartedness which implies a level of committed consciousness to live as a faith-son in the kingdom. This now becomes TRUE religion, rather than the adjutant religious impulse. True religion is the religion of the spirit, and that spirit lives within the soul. Soul-consciousness is mindful living, religious living, living in the presence of God, recognition of the Spirit within and a committed personal relationship with him.
155:6.3 I have called upon you to be born again, to be born of the spirit. I have called you out of the darkness of authority and the lethargy of tradition into the transcendent light of the realization of the possibility of making for yourselves the greatest discovery possible for the human soul to make—the supernal experience of finding God for yourself, in yourself, and of yourself, and of doing all this as a fact in your own personal experience. And so may you pass from death to life, from the authority of tradition to the experience of knowing God; thus will you pass from darkness to light, from a racial faith inherited to a personal faith achieved by actual experience; and thereby will you progress from a theology of mind handed down by your ancestors to a true religion of spirit which shall be built up in your souls as an eternal endowment.
Jesus’ parable of the carpenter is about being born of the spirit. In it he tells us that the only way to produce the fruits of the spirit is to be born of the spirit, taught by the spirit and live a spirit-filled life, sharing it with others. He also mentions the re-created mind, which I believe is the readjusted mind as explained to Fortune.
156:5.2 It was during this same sermon that Jesus made use of his first and only parable having to do with his own trade – carpentry. In the course of his admonition to “Build well the foundations for the growth of a noble character of spiritual endowments,” he said: “In order to yield the fruits of the spirit, you must be born of the spirit. You must be taught by the spirit and be led by the spirit if you would live the spirit-filled life among your fellows. But do not make the mistake of the foolish carpenter who wastes valuable time squaring, measuring, and smoothing his worm-eaten and inwardly rotting timber and then, when he has thus bestowed all of his labor upon the unsound beam, must reject it as unfit to enter into the foundations of the building which he would construct to withstand the assaults of time and storm. Let every man make sure that the intellectual and moral foundations of character are such as will adequately support the superstructure of the enlarging and ennobling spiritual nature, which is thus to transform the mortal mind and then, in association with that re-created mind, is to achieve the evolvement of the soul of immortal destiny. Your spirit nature – the jointly created soul – is a living growth, but the mind and morals of the individual are the soil from which these higher manifestations of human development and divine destiny must spring. The soil of the evolving soul is human and material, but the destiny of this combined creature of mind and spirit is spiritual and divine.”
Here’s another quote describing the business of rebirth and being re-created:
160:1.14 In a continually changing world, in the midst of an evolving social order, it is impossible to maintain settled and established goals of destiny. Stability of personality can be experienced only by those who have discovered and embraced the living God as the eternal goal of infinite attainment. And thus to transfer one’s goal from time to eternity, from earth to Paradise, from the human to the divine, requires that man shall become regenerated, converted, be born again; that he shall become the re-created child of the divine spirit; that he shall gain entrance into the brotherhood of the kingdom of heaven. All philosophies and religions which fall short of these ideals are immature. The philosophy which I teach, linked with the gospel which you preach, represents the new religion of maturity, the ideal of all future generations. And this is true because our ideal is final, infallible, eternal, universal, absolute, and infinite.
Sorry for the length of this. I have a massive amount of material having written about this in my book on the Holy Spirit. I could go on all day, but have to get some things done. Also, don’t have time to edit this right now, so if there are some grammatical or spelling errors, please forgive. Get to it later.
Thank you George!!!…and Bonita….for exploring the differences in being born in the Spirit and being born again…I think they are significant too!
I do think that one might respond to the Spirt within and the truth-reality of love and make substantial progress in the circles and in soul growth…but there is certain point of leverage acquired and added when the mind becomes truly conscious of God within and recognizes the inherent relationship potential and consciously and purposefully chooses to commit one’s being and one’s choices (motives, intentions, priorities, relationships, etc. at the intersections of decisions in time) to this Spiritual Reality….something that must be discerned, realized, and embraced with cognition and purpose for the powers of personal transformation to be fully engaged and activated and done so by a faith-trust in God and that relationship of both source and destiny.
What I mean is that I think a person might actually begin the transfer of the seat of identity from the material to the spiritual even without a conscious commitment to God. However, much is left in-potential and left unrealized until that commitment point….which I believe precedes and predates that “final” and irrevocable decision which can only result as a function of faith…faith in God and far more than a life experience of duty, loyalty, love, and even service. This conscious choice of personal commitment seems to be an elemental requirement for certain levels of growth.
110:6.17 (1211.2) The motivation of faith makes experiential the full realization of man’s sonship with God, but action, completion of decisions, is essential to the evolutionary attainment of consciousness of progressive kinship with the cosmic actuality of the Supreme Being. Faith transmutes potentials to actuals in the spiritual world, but potentials become actuals in the finite realms of the Supreme only by and through the realization of choice-experience. But choosing to do the will of God joins spiritual faith to material decisions in personality action and thus supplies a divine and spiritual fulcrum for the more effective functioning of the human and material leverage of God-hunger. Such a wise co-ordination of material and spiritual forces greatly augments both cosmic realization of the Supreme and morontia comprehension of the Paradise Deities.
110:6.18 (1211.3) The mastery of the cosmic circles is related to the quantitative growth of the morontia soul, the comprehension of supreme meanings. But the qualitative status of this immortal soul is wholly dependent on the grasp of living faith upon the Paradise-potential fact-value that mortal man is a son of the eternal God. Therefore does a seventh circler go on to the mansion worlds to attain further quantitative realization of cosmic growth just as does a second or even a first circler.
What I mean is that I think a person might actually begin the transfer of the seat of identity from the material to the spiritual even without a conscious commitment to God.
I suspect there is something to what you suggest. This appears to be supported in the same paragraph I cited previously.
A child has been in existence about nine months before it experiences birth. But the “birth” of religion is not sudden; it is rather a gradual emergence. Nevertheless, sooner or later there is a “birth day.” You do not enter the kingdom of heaven unless you have been “born again”—born of the Spirit.(103:2.1)
It seems that we progress spiritually – the soul grows – for some time before the soul suddenly realizes that it was born of the spirit and is reborn of the spirit. By analogy, we are intellectually self-conscious for some time before we realize that we are intellectually self-conscious. But before we realize this, where is the seat of our personal identity? As children we appear to first identify our bodies as our personal identities and only gradually come to personally identify more with the intellect more than with the body. Does something similar happen where we gradually come to personally identify with the soul more than we do with the intellect? It makes sense to me that this transfer of personal identity from intellect to soul is gradual, but that this progression also requires an unwavering faith. The Father does not spiritualize us against our wills or without our knowledge.
I don’t want to add any unnecessary confusion to this topic, but I would like to suggest that there is a certain potential for error associated with this reasoning by analogy, as well as with any sort of intellectual analysis of spiritual experience. A classic example of this is Plato’s analogy of the cave. While there is a significant truth in this analogy of the intellectual as a shadowy image of the spiritual, there is also a significant distortion of truth; spiritual consciousness is fundamentally different from intellectual consciousness.
The intellectual approach to the spiritual level inevitably abstracts specific spiritual values from the unitary reality of morontia (soul) consciousness. There is the danger of mistaking these abstract realities recognized by the intellect for the concrete reality of the spiritual consciousness of the soul. There is a profound difference between the intellectual awareness of spiritual values and the soul’s awareness of them. This difference is, by and large, mysterious and ineffable because language is the primary means of intellectual thought. I am in the habit of constantly myself that no amount of philosophical analysis can ever truly understand what it means to be born again, because this is a personal experience which occurs in soul-consciousness, not in intellectual-consciousness.
Bradly wrote: What I mean is that I think a person might actually begin the transfer of the seat of identity from the material to the spiritual even without a conscious commitment to God.For sure. We’re told that progress and growth, evolution of the soul, will occur if not consciously inhibited (it grows in and of itself). But what I was reacting to in your former post is the idea that the child enters the seventh psychic circle without making a conscious decision. I just want to make sure that we’re on the same page about that. The seventh psychic circle is synonymous with soul birth. The two are one and the same event, and that event requires a conscious, deliberate moral decision. No one gets into the circle system without a conscious decision and no one progresses in the circle system without making more and more conscious decisions. A sincere decision is a conscious decision.
So back to growth: The soul grows in and of itself, it grows regardless of what’s going on in the intellect of the mortal mind, as long as sincere decisions are being made. In other words, early on it grows without the necessity of a re-birth of the re-created mind. However, there occurs a point where the soul eventually becomes aware of its partners and then, I believe, it becomes more critical to make that commitment, to recognize the soul and the Spirit who dwells within and start cooperating with him.
Recall that there are three levels of God-consciousness: consciousness of the idea; consciousness of the ideal; consciousness of the spirit reality (5:5.11). Prior to the birth of the soul the higher adjutants provide consciousness of the idea. Upon entering the seventh psychic circle and birth of the soul there develops (grows) a consciousness of the ideal. I think this is where we start to recognize the higher mind and begin to realize the importance of morals and the role they play. As the mind matures and the soul grows, so should moral fiber along with the desire for golden rule living. But this is not rebirth, there is more to come.
Recall that insight is discovery, recognition, interpretation and choice, or decision. Consciousness of the spirit reality of God within the soul is something that comes at a time in soul growth when it’s almost impossible to ignore it any longer. The choice becomes obvious and there develops a phase of consciousness that persistently and constantly knocks at the door of the material mind. When the individual answers that call, opens the door and explores the inner chamber, I think we can call it re-birth, an acceptance of soul-consciousness and all it entails. Recall that when the soul has grown to a certain point it begins to have its very own consciousness. It’s a morontia consciousness and its thoughts lean toward mota. I think this can only happen if the personality has attained at least a few psychic circles.
111:3.4 The soul becomes increasingly conscious of both the mind and the Adjuster as associated identities, proportional to its own evolutionary growth.
This reminds me of the quote about the three development stages we go through in our relationship with the Adjuster. From entering the seventh circle until about 20 years old the Adjusters are Thought Changers. They work to change the direction of thinking toward the soul. Then, around forty they start making adjustments to thoughts that make it to the soul. This is the work of recreating and readjusting the mind the way Jesus referred to. Somewhere around this point the average person should start to become aware of something going on inside the mind. Unless they’re not cooperating at all, I would think that most people at this point in life start to sense the onus of maturity and the benefits of self-control. Then there comes the time called the “attainment of discretion” at which time the TA starts to control thoughts, the Thought Controller. I think this happens only if the person becomes aware of the relationship, begins to recognize the presence of Spirit and submits to the idea that cooperating is the better way to live. I would think that Thought Controllers are partners with faith-sons already in the kingdom, which would make them reborn, or “born again” or born of the spirit.
07:0.7 On the evolutionary worlds, will creatures traverse three general developmental stages of being: From the arrival of the Adjuster to comparative full growth, about twenty years of age on Urantia, the Monitors are sometimes designated Thought Changers. From this time to the attainment of the age of discretion, about forty years, the Mystery Monitors are called Thought Adjusters. From the attainment of discretion to deliverance from the flesh, they are often referred to as Thought Controllers. These three phases of mortal life have no connection with the three stages of Adjuster progress in mind duplication and soul evolution.
This might be a human brain function: paper 112:3.3 talks about intellectual death and how “higher Adjutants” ministry is disrupted because the brain is damaged or otherwise aberrated and goes on to state:” And again, this is death, irrespective of the continuing function of the living mechanism of the living body. The body minus the volitional mind is no longer human,
volition is ours, our determination, our will.
When the body is deprived of the volitional mind the personality has no mechanism for self-consciousness nor means to exercise free will. In that case the personality can no longer function. The body without personality and its self-conscious free will is subhuman, in other words, part of the animal world. A physical energy system without personality is not a person but an animal. The individual has died even though the body may still be alive. The body does not need the brain to stay alive as long as the brainstem is intact and someone feeds it and monitors breathing, as in the case of keeping bodies alive for organ harvest after brain death. No one knows what happens to the personality after death, but they do know what happens to the soul and the Adjuster and how the individual is put back together on mansion world one.
112:3.3 2. Intellectual (mind) death. When the vital circuits of higher adjutant ministry are disrupted through the aberrations of intellect or because of the partial destruction of the mechanism of the brain, and if these conditions pass a certain critical point of irreparability, the indwelling Adjuster is immediately released to depart for Divinington. On the universe records a mortal personality is considered to have met with death whenever the essential mind circuits of human will-action have been destroyed. And again, this is death, irrespective of the continuing function of the living mechanism of the physical body. The body minus the volitional mind is no longer human, but according to the prior choosing of the human will, the soul of such an individual may survive.
112:5.15 During the transit of surviving mortals from the world of origin to the mansion worlds, whether they experience personality reassembly on the third period or ascend at the time of a group resurrection, the record of personality constitution is faithfully preserved by the archangels on their worlds of special activities. These beings are not the custodians of personality (as the guardian seraphim are of the soul), but it is nonetheless true that every identifiable factor of personality is effectually safeguarded in the custody of these dependable trustees of mortal survival. As to the exact whereabouts of mortal personality during the time intervening between death and survival, we do not know.
Personality is pattern. Without mind it cannot be conscious; it cannot think; it cannot make choices; and without an energy system to energize, it cannot act.
When the body is deprived of the volitional mind the personality has no mechanism for self-consciousness nor means to exercise free will. In that case the personality can no longer function. The body without personality and its self-conscious free will is subhuman, in other words, part of the animal world. A physical energy system without personality is not a person but an animal. The individual has died even though the body may still be alive. The body does not need the brain to stay alive as long as the brainstem is intact and someone feeds it and monitors breathing, as in the case of keeping bodies alive for organ harvest after brain death. No one knows what happens to the personality after death, but they do know what happens to the soul and the Adjuster and how the individual is put back together on mansion world one.
112:3.3 2. Intellectual (mind) death. When the vital circuits of higher adjutant ministry are disrupted through the aberrations of intellect or because of the partial destruction of the mechanism of the brain, and if these conditions pass a certain critical point of irreparability, the indwelling Adjuster is immediately released to depart for Divinington. On the universe records a mortal personality is considered to have met with death whenever the essential mind circuits of human will-action have been destroyed. And again, this is death, irrespective of the continuing function of the living mechanism of the physical body. The body minus the volitional mind is no longer human, but according to the prior choosing of the human will, the soul of such an individual may survive. 112:5.15 During the transit of surviving mortals from the world of origin to the mansion worlds, whether they experience personality reassembly on the third period or ascend at the time of a group resurrection, the record of personality constitution is faithfully preserved by the archangels on their worlds of special activities. These beings are not the custodians of personality (as the guardian seraphim are of the soul), but it is nonetheless true that every identifiable factor of personality is effectually safeguarded in the custody of these dependable trustees of mortal survival. As to the exact whereabouts of mortal personality during the time intervening between death and survival, we do not know.
Personality is pattern. Without mind it cannot be conscious; it cannot think; it cannot make choices; and without an energy system to energize, it cannot act.
so if our volitional mind is not our physical brain functioning to make willful, determined choices then does our volition originate from our personality and this personality driven volition is more about the will to make choices??
so if our volitional mind is not our physical brain functioning to make willful, determined choices then does our volition originate from our personality and this personality driven volition is more about the will to make choices??
The physical brain is not responsible for volition. All the physical brain does is fire off electrochemical impulses in response to adjutant mind ministry. Actual free-will choice, or volition, is a power that belongs to solely to the personality. The personality responds to mind ministry, decides then acts.
16:8.5 Creature personality is distinguished by two self-manifesting and characteristic phenomena of mortal reactive behavior: self-consciousness and associated relative free will.
5:6.9 The bestowal of creature personality confers relative liberation from slavish response to antecedent causation, and the personalities of all such moral beings, evolutionary or otherwise, are centered in the personality of the Universal Father.
Animals don’t have volition because it requires reflective thought (higher mind ministry). Jesus explained that the type of will an animal has is derived from nature in which the animal mind is guided by the lower adjutant type instincts and urges. Animals become human when the spirit of wisdom begins to function as described in TUB with Andon and Fonta.
130.2.8 That afternoon Jesus and Ganid had both enjoyed playing with a very intelligent shepherd, and Ganid wanted to know whether the dog had a soul, whether it had a will, and in response to his questions Jesus said: “The dog has a mind which can know material man, his master, but cannot know God, who is spirit; therefore the dog does not possess a spiritual nature and cannot enjoy a spiritual experience. The dog may have a will derived from nature and augmented by training, but such a power of mind is not a spiritual force, neither is it comparable to the human will, inasmuch as it is not reflective — it is not the result of discriminating higher and moral meanings or choosing spiritual and eternal values. It is the possession of such powers of spiritual discrimination and truth choosing that makes mortal man a moral being, a creature endowed with the attributes of spiritual responsibility and the potential of eternal survival.” Jesus went on to explain that it is the absence of such mental powers in the animal which makes it forever impossible for the animal world to develop language in time or to experience anything equivalent to personality survival in eternity. As a result of this day’s instruction Ganid never again entertained belief in the transmigration of the souls of men into the bodies of animals.
Just want you to know Bonita (and certainly others that contribute) that I really appreciate the time you put into digging up all of this information and putting it together.
it all lets me realize how much effort it takes to really study and interpret this revelation.
cant see doing it alone.
cant see doing it alone.
I’ve been studying alone for decades. It’s fun to share what you learn though. I have written so much on so many TUB subjects now it’s a bit crazy how much material I have accumulated. I’ll tell you, I could not do it without computers. I have a great system going that helps me organize everything . . . like a peripheral brain. So glad you find it useful. Most people are annoyed by it. I’ve been called a Frandalank.
This might be a human brain function: paper 112:3.3 talks about intellectual death and how “higher Adjutants” ministry is disrupted because the brain is damaged or otherwise aberrated and goes on to state:” And again, this is death, irrespective of the continuing function of the living mechanism of the living body. The body minus the volitional mind is no longer human, volition is ours, our determination, our will.
It would seem that the key word in the context of (112:3.3) is “aberrations” followed by “because of the partial destruction of the mechanism of the brain”, where as one example in a human, would be “dementia”, primarily from old age or from unhealthy practices or habits, which can damage portions of the physical brain, where another example would be damage to the neuroglial cells.
The definition of “dementia” in medicine is as follows: “Deterioration of intellectual faculties, such as memory, concentration, and judgment, resulting from an organic disease or a disorder of the brain, and often accompanied by emotional disturbance and personality changes.”
This would alter the “volitional mind” in a way where the “aberrations” or the cause of them, alters a persons free-will reasoning, where in some cases may be deemed as an altered state of thinking or delusional, to a point of being unintelligible to others. As for “no longer human,” this might imply that a person suffering from “Intellectual (mind) death” has no value, and depending on cause, may not be reversible, and if this is the only indicator of “death”, is the UB implying that there is no hope for such a person and should be discarded, premature to physical death?
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