-
Posts
-
I should also add that the morontia avenue is the means by which our hopes and prayers become born of the spirit.
168:4.10 7. No prayer can hope for an answer unless it is born of the spirit and nurtured by faith.
If values are concealed within facts; if only the eye of the soul which has been “born of the spirit” can see those values within facts; if the spirit-born eye of the soul is provided by the Holy Spirit; then wouldn’t she be the Spirit of Concealed Value? The eye-opener to a new birth? Being born of the spirit means entering the temple of the Holy Spirit by means of the morontia avenue. Jesus said folks need to be redirected from the flesh toward the morontia avenue which leads to the temple before anything can be done to enlighten them (open their eyes) . The morontia avenue seems to be a rebirthing approach to the inner temple.
p1592:6 141:6.4 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.
Based on the last quote in this Paper, I believe religion is that experience which makes each of us feel like we ‘belong’ to a grand reality and scheme of existence that is eternal, safe, and adventurous! It is that experience which convinces us that life is not random, based on chaos, and is not mechanistic or certainly not merely or simply mechanistic but has a purpose and plan and is a managed system of reality.
Now, this is a simple concept and reality to believe for celestials and mortals born in the later mortal epochs and especially light and life. But consider this challenge for those of us who are born and raised on such a world as this in such a time. Material evidence of mortal realities would certainly indicate that life is randomly chaotic and unfriendly and if not that, then it is cruel and harsh.
But those born on this world have such a successful ministry of love and assurance, that we believe Spirit and strive to perfect, no matter how humbly and erratic our results…as infants and toddlers and children in God’s kingdom….still do we stand, toddle, walk, and even run as children of the Spirit. I think the Real Nature of Religion must include its power to transform those who, in many ways, are not even aware of such transformative growth!! The tadpole pool-ministry accomplishes far more than the constituent tadpoles are aware of.
We are now born in the Spirit automatically with the trifecta power of the endowments and ministries of the Father, Mother, and Son. Even before Pentecost the Holy Spirit also delivered the morontial avenue of spiritualization by spirit insight and the wisdom to discover meanings and values and embrace ideals as well as ideas. Religion not only explains the visual world but also integrates the realities of self awareness and other awareness with environmental awareness and time awareness….there really is so much difference between people and animals…religion is that which truly and satisfactorily explains these differences. Religion is human. It is the human experience and method of knowing and belonging to universe reality….religion is the proof of differentiation and belonging.
That is when religion is real and true….and based on faith assurance and truth assurance….which will lead to sufficient growth that facts and knowledge complete our eventual transformation into fused beings and finaliters….the union of the greatest and the least in experience, wisdom, and faith – a most unique expression of experience…and one which does not begin with knowledge and understanding as with or celestial cousins but one which begins with blind faith as material children of time.
101:10.5 (1116.6) The purpose of religion is not to satisfy curiosity about God but rather to afford intellectual constancy and philosophic security, to stabilize and enrich human living by blending the mortal with the divine, the partial with the perfect, man and God. It is through religious experience that man’s concepts of ideality are endowed with reality.
101:10.6 (1116.7) Never can there be either scientific or logical proofs of divinity. Reason alone can never validate the values and goodnesses of religious experience. But it will always remain true: Whosoever wills to do the will of God shall comprehend the validity of spiritual values. This is the nearest approach that can be made on the mortal level to offering proofs of the reality of religious experience. Such faith affords the only escape from the mechanical clutch of the material world and from the error distortion of the incompleteness of the intellectual world; it is the only discovered solution to the impasse in mortal thinking regarding the continuing survival of the individual personality. It is the only passport to completion of reality and to eternity of life in a universal creation of love, law, unity, and progressive Deity attainment.
101:10.7 (1117.1) Religion effectually cures man’s sense of idealistic isolation or spiritual loneliness; it enfranchises the believer as a son of God, a citizen of a new and meaningful universe. Religion assures man that, in following the gleam of righteousness discernible in his soul, he is thereby identifying himself with the plan of the Infinite and the purpose of the Eternal. Such a liberated soul immediately begins to feel at home in this new universe, his universe.
101:10.8 (1117.2) When you experience such a transformation of faith, you are no longer a slavish part of the mathematical cosmos but rather a liberated volitional son of the Universal Father. No longer is such a liberated son fighting alone against the inexorable doom of the termination of temporal existence; no longer does he combat all nature, with the odds hopelessly against him; no longer is he staggered by the paralyzing fear that, perchance, he has put his trust in a hopeless phantasm or pinned his faith to a fanciful error.
101:10.9 (1117.3) Now, rather, are the sons of God enlisted together in fighting the battle of reality’s triumph over the partial shadows of existence. At last all creatures become conscious of the fact that God and all the divine hosts of a well-nigh limitless universe are on their side in the supernal struggle to attain eternity of life and divinity of status. Such faith-liberated sons have certainly enlisted in the struggles of time on the side of the supreme forces and divine personalities of eternity; even the stars in their courses are now doing battle for them; at last they gaze upon the universe from within, from God’s viewpoint, and all is transformed from the uncertainties of material isolation to the sureties of eternal spiritual progression. Even time itself becomes but the shadow of eternity cast by Paradise realities upon the moving panoply of space.
Hi Bonita and Bradley, What a great exploration into this topic! Bonita, regarding your question on “morontia avenue“, since morontia implies soul-level activity, maybe this avenue implies those actual unavoidable stages of morontial progress, from human tadpole to spirit frog? On the other hand, “religious experience” implies a state that can be experienced at any stage. This seems closely related to the fact that a seventh circler can experience love (and personal assurance) just as deeply as a first circler, despite the difference in their “stage”, or steps along that “morontia avenue“.
PS: regarding how our local down-stepped personalization of the Infinite Spirit (Divine Minister) might be seen as serving as Spirit of Fact (complementing her beloved as “Spirit of Truth”) my cow-birthing recycling of that curious term had to do with what you just described as our “increasing acuity for recognition of the reality reflex“. In other words, insight into the way things really are (facts of reality) as made accessible (discoverable) by the three cosmic intuitions, which are in turn made (beautifully and appropriately!) accessible by our local universe “foster mother”. I’ve not read through the whole of this excellent thread, so this is just a response to the last few posts. with thanks — Nigel
Now that this entire Paper has been posted, I’d like to cast backward and forward to consider other related concepts – both new and already considered. One of those I find interesting is the concept of “insight”. It is related to the ministry of the Adjutants and the TA’s and the Spirit of Truth and Cosmic Mind and experiential wisdom…all of those related to Religion In Human Experience and The Real Nature of Religion. We are told that while human wisdom must experientially evolve, spiritual insight is a gift. I assume a gift of personal revelation (truth assurance) or of faith assurance as gifted by the Holy Spirit and the Adjutants is the source of many such spiritual insights.
Insight comes in multiple forms; the following list are descriptors listed and multiple forms of the word “insight”- intellectual/wisdom; spiritual; religious; prevision; worship; cosmic; divine/Deity; universe; mota; moral; morontia; superhuman; human; and spirit insight!
(1122.1) 102:3.5 Science, knowledge, leads to fact consciousness; religion, experience, leads to value consciousness; philosophy, wisdom, leads to co-ordinate consciousness; revelation (the substitute for morontia mota) leads to the consciousness of true reality; while the co-ordination of the consciousness of fact, value, and true reality constitutes awareness of personality reality, maximum of being, together with the belief in the possibility of the survival of that very personality.*
(1122.8) 102:3.12 The pursuit of knowledge constitutes science; the search for wisdom is philosophy; the love for God is religion; the hunger for truth is a revelation. But it is the indwelling Thought Adjuster that attaches the feeling of reality to man’s spiritual insight into the cosmos.
(1122.9) 102:3.13 In science, the idea precedes the expression of its realization; in religion, the experience of realization precedes the expression of the idea. There is a vast difference between the evolutionary will-to-believe and the product of enlightened reason, religious insight, and revelation — the will that believes.
Notice above that the yearn, thirst, and hunger for truth IS a revelation! Now there’s an insight for you!
“Insight” is a must-study concept with over 150 quotes to review in many different Papers and related to many different concepts and teachings…especially those on revelation, faith, and personal religious experience! Like true religious experience and circle progress and spiritualization, insight is not subject to or limited by our socio/economic or educational/intellectual capacity – the uneducated and less intelligent still can and do experience all forms of insight…especially spiritual insight.
By the way, “spiritual insight” is the most frequently presented form or type of insight in the 150+ quotes on “insight”.
I look forward to further study and discussion of The Real Nature of Relgion!
PS: cow-birthing????
Bradly wrote:I assume a gift of personal revelation (truth assurance) or of faith assurance as gifted by the Holy Spirit and the Adjutants is the source of many such spiritual insights.Are you saying that the adjutants are a source of faith assurance and spiritual insight?Bonita wrote (April 22 1:37 pm):
“I believe the Holy Spirit and her overlap with the adjutant of wisdom is actually the morontia avenue to soul consciousness.”
Maybe this overlap is the door which opens onto that avenue? Remember how they describe the adjutants as “a level of consciousness” of the Divine Minister (36:5.4, 402.1). Can we think of “Holy Spirit“ as another of her levels of consciousness, in which she serves as “Spirit of Value”, that nipple of morontia deliciousness towards which she draws the wisdom-integrated urges of her adjutants? Such an image reveals how she makes possible both our subconscious and (initial) superconscious motivations; how she fully encapsulates, embraces and evolves us, from newborn bundle of reactive urges, all the way to incarnate morontia responder.
But keep in mind that, while the Divine Minister — as “Spirit of Value” — gently nudges her human wards along this morontia avenue, she still wears that old hard-hat, required when, as “Spirit of Engineer“, she worked with Power Directors to evolve Nebadon from construction site to local universe!
Bradley, your great comment on perspective got me thinking about the ever increasing patches of the landscape of reality the Divine Mins makes available (and accessible): first, via those rhythmic pulsations of her adjutants, later via the mind systems appropriate for those “570 morontia bodies” (542.2, 48:1.5) we learn to drive along that morontia avenue. All the while, our awareness being increasingly lit up by her stereoscopic mota.
Regarding the term “Spirit of Fact“ (another of her “levels of consciousness“?), since this short-hand version may be misinterpreted, maybe a better turn of phrase could be “Spirit of Insight into Reality”, or “Spirit of Insight into the Way Things Are”? (PS: any such role would of course be impregnated by the meaning and value she drapes over all such facts!!) I suggested this only because of the way she serves as our local personalization of the Infinite Spirit, making accessible (discoverable) the actual facts of personal, mathematical and moral reality. Of course, if one were to confuse such “facts of reality” with “human factual knowledge”, then such a straw man grows pale and withers even when contrasted with the shallow depths of human religious experience. But when we reflect on the context of the fact of that religious experience (as Bradley suggested), we get a different flavor.
Regarding the concept of fact, recall that original motivation — so deeply embedded in time-dependent reality — by the Universal Father: “Be you therefore perfect.” As a word, “perfect” is the Latin-derived concept for “thoroughly made” (per facio). So in this context, perfection can be seen as the experiential completion of some necessary, pre-echoed ACTUAL in those (necessary) transcendental foundations, mentioned here (1170.1, 106:7.8)
Bonita wrote (March 25, 5:22 pm):
“I think of epochal revelation as a means of upstepping the theatre in which personal revelation takes place. One type of revelation leads to planetary light and life, the other to personal light and life, and both are very much inter-dependent.”
Excellent observation!
All I’ve got for now. Still recovering from working though this book-worthy thread!!
Nigel
I think there is an element of risk in equating the function of the Holy Spirit with the Creative Spirit, just as there is a risk of equating the function of the Spirit of Truth with the Creator Son. I don’t believe the Spirit of Truth is as much concerned with sharing his experience of creating a universe than with revealing individual insight into how to spiritualize and stabilize it. Likewise, the Holy Spirit has a specific function related to the souls of her creatures. Like the Spirit of Truth, the Holy Spirit is a personal presence by which she bestows upon the individual soul, a personal and superadjutant intelligence. She too is involved in the individual spiritualization of her creation through supermind ministry and spirit personality presence.
The Holy Spirit is not synonymous with the Creative Spirit/Divine Minister, although it is a personal spiritual circuit which originates from her. The difference between the level of consciousness we call the Holy Spirit and the level of consciousness we call the adjutants is not only the level of mind (morontia vs. material) but also the addition of her personal presence. The Holy Spirit is confined to the spiritual realm of her creation and this realm is part of the soul, the soul intelligence, the spiritualized mind. The adjutants are not in the spiritual realm, nor is the material mind, but thankfully divine wisdom has provided a gateway from one realm to the other due to the overlap of mind ministry. The adjutant of wisdom overlaps the spiritual realm of the Holy Spirit. I think this is the morontia avenue which is made available to us.
(403.4) 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.
(95.6) 8:5.3 In your sacred writings the term Spirit of God seems to be used interchangeably to designate both the Infinite Spirit on Paradise and the Creative Spirit of your local universe. The Holy Spirit is the spiritual circuit of this Creative Daughter of the Paradise Infinite Spirit. The Holy Spirit is a circuit indigenous to each local universe and is confined to the spiritual realm of that creation; but the Infinite Spirit is omnipresent.
I can’t really stress enough how important it is to recognize the fact that it is not possible to grow the soul without personality involvement. The human personality must be willing to relate to a spirit personality, to engage in a growing/progressing relationship. You can call that relationship anything you like, but TUB calls it sonship. The soul is essentially a relationship, hence it requires a personality presence, and that personality must be one of Deity. Deity, and I believe only Deity, can reveal true divinity, superhuman realities, to the associated personality
112:2.8 All mortal concepts of reality are based on the assumption of the actuality of human personality; all concepts of superhuman realities are based on the experience of the human personality with and in the cosmic realities of certain associated spiritual entities and divine personalities. Everything nonspiritual in human experience, excepting personality, is a means to an end. Every true relationship of mortal man with other persons – human or divine – is an end in itself. And such fellowship with the personality of Deity is the eternal goal of universe ascension.
The Holy Spirit is Deity and perhaps if people don’t like calling her by her name, they could call her the Spirit of Personal Divinity Revelation. Recall that divinity is quality, not quantity. Facts are quantity. Divinity is the unifying and coordinating quality of Deity.
0:1.16-17 Divinity is the characteristic, unifying, and co-ordinating quality of Deity. Divinity is creature comprehensible as truth, beauty, and goodness; correlated in personality as love, mercy, and ministry; disclosed on impersonal levels as justice, power, and sovereignty.
The Holy Spirit is that initial spiritual personality presence of an actual Deity on the morontia level of mind ministry which must precede the Adjuster and the Spirit of Truth. The Holy Spirit is necessary in order to urge the human personality to identify with a morontia level vehicle for personality survival. The personality must choose to relate to her. Personality, being a pattern, is not responsive to linear, mind or spiritual gravity. It cannot be unwittingly drawn by gravity, (personality gravity works differently), because to do so would be contrary to free will. The personality must choose to go the way of mind and spirit gravity, and it does this with the urging and prodding of mind and spirit ministry. But the personality must, by its own desire, discover, recognize, interpret and choose this way. They call it spiritual insight.
The Holy Spirit’s ministry is confined to the spiritual realm of her creation and more specifically to the spiritual realm of mind ministry, which is the individual soul. Human personality participates in this spiritual realm of mind ministry through spiritual insight. The Holy Spirit is known as the Creative Spirit’s initial supermind endowment to the soul which also includes the personality presence of the Creative Spirit; the Holy Spirit is not just a part of her consciousness. This is necessary because our personalities require another personality in order to form a relationship for growth. Personality cannot be left out of the equation.
103:01 . . . Man’s first supermind endowment is that of personality encircuitment in the Holy Spirit of the Universe Creative Spirit; . . .
The Holy Spirit’s ministry to the soul enlarges the capacity to perceive spiritual truths. Spiritual truth can only be experienced in the soul. I say experienced because it is a living divine phenomenon which requires a living relationship with deity, the source of divinity. Truth can only be discerned by spirit-mind, which is the supermind of the soul, the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of Truth is dependent upon the Holy Spirit/supermind for his ability to reveal truth, which is always a revelation, to the relational, experiencing, growing and ever-changing soul.
130:4.10 Knowledge is the sphere of the material or fact-discerning mind. Truth is the domain of the spiritually endowed intellect that is conscious of knowing God.
The supermind also plays a role in the sanctification of thought. It is the place where our free-will decisions and choices can be consciously lodged for use by the Adjuster. Essentially, the supermind is the soul arena; it is the mental arena provided for creature personality which is capable of hosting its relationship to Creator personality. This is why the Holy Spirit is not only a supermind (superadjutant mind), but also a personality presence. Creator personality presence along with spirit-mind ministry allows creature personality to mentally coordinate all levels of reality in a spiritual direction towards the quality of Deity – divinity.
Sorry to go on so much. I wrote a book about this and so I’ve spent a very long time studying it, which means I have tons and tons to share. I also never know when to shut up.
Bradly wrote:I assume a gift of personal revelation (truth assurance) or of faith assurance as gifted by the Holy Spirit and the Adjutants is the source of many such spiritual insights.Are you saying that the adjutants are a source of faith assurance and spiritual insight?101:5.13 [Part III]
Evolutionary religion provides only the assurance of faith and the confirmation of conscience; revelatory religion provides the assurance of faith plus the truth of a living experience in the realities of revelation. The third step in religion, or the third phase of the experience of religion, has to do with the morontia state, the firmer grasp of mota. Increasingly in the morontia progression the truths of revealed religion are expanded; more and more you will know the truth of supreme values, divine goodnesses, universal relationships, eternal realities, and ultimate destinies.101:5.14 [Part III]
Increasingly throughout the morontia progression the assurance of truth replaces the assurance of faith. When you are finally mustered into the actual spirit world, then will the assurances of pure spirit insight operate in the place of faith and truth or, rather, in conjunction with, and superimposed upon, these former techniques of personality assurance.I am interested in your perspective here Bonita….
And regarding the Holy Spirit….Nigel said this topic is “book worthy”….so please go ahead and take us deeper into the topic of the Holy Spirit!! How is the Holy Spirit related to the Adjutants…and faith assurance and insight?
Bradly, are you saying that the adjutants are the source of faith assurance in evolutionary religion? I’m not getting the connection between your words and the quotes.
Yes….I think so…tentatively. As I understand the UB, faith assurance comes from our evolutionary religious experience and ministry by the adjutants. Truth assurance comes from the TA’s personal revelation ministry and both are augmented by the Spirit of Truth ministry.
As to the source of insight…I think there are multiple agencies for that….including spiritual insights. But I’m really just beginning my study of the nature and source and utility/function and effects of insight. Here’s a few quotes I found to consider:
12:8.4 [Part I]
The bestowal of spirit and the spiritualization of personalities, the domain of spiritual gravity, is the realm of the Eternal Son. And this spirit gravity of the Son, ever drawing all spiritual realities to himself, is just as real and absolute as is the all-powerful material grasp of the Isle of Paradise. But material-minded man is naturally more familiar with the material manifestations of a physical nature than with the equally real and mighty operations of a spiritual nature which are discerned only by the spiritual insight of the soul.16:6.8 [Part I]
3. Worship — the spiritual domain of the reality of religious experience, the personal realization of divine fellowship, the recognition of spirit values, the assurance of eternal survival, the ascent from the status of servants of God to the joy and liberty of the sons of God. This is the highest insight of the cosmic mind, the reverential and worshipful form of the cosmic discrimination.16:7.1 [Part I]
Intelligence alone cannot explain the moral nature. Morality, virtue, is indigenous to human personality. Moral intuition, the realization of duty, is a component of human mind endowment and is associated with the other inalienables of human nature: scientific curiosity and spiritual insight. Man’s mentality far transcends that of his animal cousins, but it is his moral and religious natures that especially distinguish him from the animal world.16:7.2 [Part I]
The selective response of an animal is limited to the motor level of behavior. The supposed insight of the higher animals is on a motor level and usually appears only after the experience of motor trial and error. Man is able to exercise scientific, moral, and spiritual insight prior to all exploration or experimentation.16:7.3 [Part I]
Only a personality can know what it is doing before it does it; only personalities possess insight in advance of experience. A personality can look before it leaps and can therefore learn from looking as well as from leaping. A nonpersonal animal ordinarily learns only by leaping.Me here: Papers 102-112 deal with the concept of insight in greater detail….but it appears that insight of all forms comes by mind and supermind, personality, the adjutants, the Holy Spirit, the soul itself (the morontia avenue?), and is then supercharged and fine tuned by personal revelation and the relationship between the human mind and the TA.
Mortal mind may have both intuition and insight prior to soul – including, I think, religious, moral, and worship insight (and, perhaps, even more forms of insight). But the birth of soul delivers more forms of and greater powers of insight. ‘Spiritual insight’ seems, by the text, to primarily (or exclusively?) be derived by, from, and through the ministry of the TA and the mortal’s relationship with the TA. Lots of moving parts and contributory factors to all forms of insight I think!
How is insight connected to meaning and value? Insight is truth related and not fact or knowledge related? Or is it that the very definition of insight might be truth, beauty, and goodness – or meaning and value? It is the intersection of relationship between minds or beings and between beings and facts. Insight deals with the interrelatedness of all things and all beings. It transcends philosophy in its power to unify, integrate, and understand reality with meanings and values….and thus are there multiple forms and levels of insight…each leading in its way to a greater understanding and perspective of universe realities at every level of reality….or so I understand….so far! = )
103:0.1 [Part III]
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.As I understand the UB, faith assurance comes from our evolutionary religious experience and ministry by the adjutants. Truth assurance comes from the TA’s personal revelation ministry and both are augmented by the Spirit of Truth ministry.
I think the words are confusing. First and foremost faith is a gift directly from God. It’s a personal gift which accompanies sonship and is bestowed person-to-person. The adjutants do not give the gift of faith, they urge the individual to find it. In other words, the adjutants provide the impulse, or instinct to look for Deity who has already bestowed the gift of faith. I’m reminded of the quote which tells us that the desire to find God is proof that he has already found us. Faith assurance is not faith itself, but the method of evolutionary religion. It’s the technique by which we assure the continued growth, or evolution, of religion.
Paper 92 gives a good explanation of the method, but you’ll notice it does not mention faith. Faith is a gift from Deity whereas faith-assurance is the method of evolutionary religious living which is meant to progress to higher levels.
(1003.1) 92:0.1 Man possessed a religion of natural origin as a part of his evolutionary experience long before any systematic revelations were made on Urantia. But this religion of natural origin was, in itself, the product of man’s superanimal endowments. Evolutionary religion arose slowly throughout the millenniums of mankind’s experiential career through the ministry of the following influences operating within, and impinging upon, savage, barbarian, and civilized man:
(1003.2) 92:0.2 1. The adjutant of worship — the appearance in animal consciousness of superanimal potentials for reality perception. This might be termed the primordial human instinct for Deity.
(1003.3) 92:0.3 2. The adjutant of wisdom — the manifestation in a worshipful mind of the tendency to direct its adoration in higher channels of expression and toward ever-expanding concepts of Deity reality.
(1003.4) 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.
(1003.5) 92:0.5 The co-ordinate functioning of these three divine ministrations is quite sufficient to initiate and prosecute the growth of evolutionary religion. These influences are later augmented by Thought Adjusters, seraphim, and the Spirit of Truth, all of which accelerate the rate of religious development. These agencies have long functioned on Urantia, and they will continue here as long as this planet remains an inhabited sphere. Much of the potential of these divine agencies has never yet had opportunity for expression; much will be revealed in the ages to come as mortal religion ascends, level by level, toward the supernal heights of morontia value and spirit truth.
In regards to spiritual insight I accumulated a short list of descriptions from TUB:
1. that faculty of human personality which accrues as a consequence of the presence of the God-revealing Thought Adjuster in the God-hungry mortal mind. p1105:2 101:1.5
2. the mind of the spirit. p78:7 6:6.4
3. God-consciousness. p1001:3 91:7.5
4. inner and spiritual communion. p1104:6 101:1.3
5. genuine religious reflection. p1134:3 103:5.5
6. Moral evaluation with a religious meaning. p2095:1 196:3.14
7. a gift p1109:03 101:4.2
I think the most important thing to realize is that spiritual insight is a gift. There’s nothing you can do to earn insight except to discover, recognize, interpret and choose to do God’s will. And the method for that is the pursuit of truth, beauty and goodness.
(2094.9) 196:3.10 The human mind does not create real values; human experience does not yield universe insight. Concerning insight, the recognition of moral values and the discernment of spiritual meanings, all that the human mind can do is to discover, recognize, interpret, and choose.
(2076.5) 195:5.14 In religion, Jesus advocated and followed the method of experience, even as modern science pursues the technique of experiment. We find God through the leadings of spiritual insight, but we approach this insight of the soul through the love of the beautiful, the pursuit of truth, loyalty to duty, and the worship of divine goodness. But of all these values, love is the true guide to real insight.
The source of spiritual insight is God, whether it be the Holy Spirit, Spirit of Truth or Adjuster it doesn’t matter. Spiritual insight is different than intellectual insight, because it results from the personality presence of spirit beings within the soul. Think of the term, spiritual luminosity:
(9.10) 0:6.8 Mind is a phenomenon connoting the presence-activity of living ministry in addition to varied energy systems; and this is true on all levels of intelligence. In personality, mind ever intervenes between spirit and matter; therefore is the universe illuminated by three kinds of light: material light, intellectual insight, and spirit luminosity.
(10.1) 0:6.9 Light — spirit luminosity — is a word symbol, a figure of speech, which connotes the personality manifestation characteristic of spirit beings of diverse orders. This luminous emanation is in no respect related either to intellectual insight or to physical-light manifestations.
(140.11) 12:8.15 In cosmic evolution matter becomes a philosophic shadow cast by mind in the presence of spirit luminosity of divine enlightenment, but this does not invalidate the reality of matter-energy. Mind, matter, and spirit are equally real, but they are not of equal value to personality in the attainment of divinity. Consciousness of divinity is a progressive spiritual experience.
. . . . Then there’s also cosmic insight which is akin to spiritual insight. It’s defined as
(194.12) 16:8.12 5. Cosmic insight, the grasp of universe meanings.
(806.12) 71:7.12 7. Cosmic insight — spiritual discernment.
Said enough . . . done for now.
Maybe this overlap is the door which opens onto that avenue? Remember how they describe the adjutants as “a level of consciousness” of the Divine Minister (36:5.4, 402.1). Can we think of “Holy Spirit“ as another of her levels of consciousness, in which she serves as “Spirit of Value”, that nipple of morontia deliciousness towards which she draws the wisdom-integrated urges of her adjutants?
I’ve often said that the spirits of worship and wisdom are the gateway to the soul, which is essentially the doorway into the morontia avenue. The higher adjutants bridge the gulf between the material and the morontia. But I’ve never thought of the Holy Spirit drawing the adjutants upward. The Holy Spirit doesn’t actually show up until all the adjutants have done their work. Recall that the Holy Spirit, although a part of the Universe Mother Spirit, has different functions than she.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.
I think the spirit of wisdom has the drawing power and applies it to all the other adjutants, particularly the fifth. It coordinates, integrates and unifies all that is worthy from the lower adjutants and offers it to the Holy Spirit who graciously reaches down to receive it. The spirit of wisdom is the director of all the others and it directs, or pushes, its package upward toward spirit. It’s a similar image to the one you draw but leaves out the notion that the Holy Spirit actually reaches down into the material mind to influence it, she does not. The Holy Spirit is a ministry for the soul alone, not the material mind, even though she overlaps with the higher adjutants which abut the lower borderland of the soul. Her drawing power would actually be the gift of spirit-born faith, which can only come from Deity.(402.9) 36:5.12 7. The spirit of wisdom — the inherent tendency of all moral creatures towards orderly and progressive evolutionary advancement. This is the highest of the adjutants, the spirit co-ordinator and articulator of the work of all the others. This spirit is the secret of that inborn urge of mind creatures which initiates and maintains the practical and effective program of the ascending scale of existence; that gift of living things which accounts for their inexplicable ability to survive and, in survival, to utilize the co-ordination of all their past experience and present opportunities for the acquisition of all of everything that all of the other six mental ministers can mobilize in the mind of the organism concerned. Wisdom is the acme of intellectual performance. Wisdom is the goal of a purely mental and moral existence.
(1210.8) 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.
(1237.1) 112:6.9 . . . In the choosing of truth, beauty, and goodness, the mortal mind enters upon its premorontia universe career under the tutelage of the seven adjutant mind-spirits unified under the direction of the spirit of wisdom.
(739.3) 65:7.7 The adjutants function exclusively in the evolution of experiencing mind up to the level of the sixth phase, the spirit of worship. At this level there occurs that inevitable overlapping of ministry — the phenomenon of the higher reaching down to co-ordinate with the lower in anticipation of subsequent attainment of advanced levels of development. And still additional spirit ministry accompanies the action of the seventh and last adjutant, the spirit of wisdom. Throughout the ministry of the spirit world the individual never experiences abrupt transitions of spirit co-operation; always are these changes gradual and reciprocal.
No doubt, as the soul grows that “nipple of morontia deliciousness” is utilized by the soul to foster a material, adjutant mind function which coordinates mind level meanings with soul level values. This being a soul-mind function, it would by definition involve the Holy Spirit who is the soul’s intellect. It would also have to involve the Adjuster who is responsible for the soul’s self-consciousness since the fostering is a conscious act of the soul. Presumably the decision to foster would have to be initiated by the associated personality which has begun to transfer its identity to the soul.
111:3.4 Both the human mind and the divine Adjuster are conscious of the presence and differential nature of the evolving soul — the Adjuster fully, the mind partially. The soul becomes increasingly conscious of both the mind and the Adjuster as associated identities, proportional to its own evolutionary growth. The soul partakes of the qualities of both the human mind and the divine spirit but persistently evolves toward augmentation of spirit control and divine dominance through the fostering of a mind function whose meanings seek to co-ordinate with true spirit value.
(1236.5) 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.
Such an image reveals how she makes possible both our subconscious and (initial) superconscious motivations; how she fully encapsulates, embraces and evolves us, from newborn bundle of reactive urges, all the way to incarnate morontia responder.
I’m not certain about this, but everything I’ve read and all my reflection on the subject has lead me to believe that the subconscious is a purely material, adjutant level function of the human mind. I could be wrong, but I really cannot assign any of the stuff that bubbles under the surface of my conscious mind to the Holy Spirit. If the Holy Spirit is responsible for subconscious motivations, or makes them possible, then our subconscious motivations would be born of the spirit. I have a hard time imaging that. What do others think?
Bonita,
I agree with you that the subconscious is purely material. I believe this quote (and others) from TUB support that idea.
100:1.9(1095.4) The unconscious nature of religious growth does not, however, signify that it is an activity functioning in the supposed subconscious realms of human intellect; rather does it signify creative activities in the superconscious levels of mortal mind. The experience of the realization of the reality of unconscious religious growth is the one positive proof of the functional existence of the superconsciousness.
In fact, I would go so far as to say that the ‘subconscious’ is a concept unique to humans; perhaps even unique to Urantia or to our local system of Satania.
Odd….there are very few quotes with “subconscious” as a term or concept…and no clear definition. But it appears that all mortal memory resides within the subconscious while all memories of truth, beauty, and goodness also go to soul and the Supreme. Here’s the most relevant quotes (others go to Judas’ state of mind related to resentment, disappointment, etc.):
91:2.6 (996.4) During the earlier times of racial evolution and even at the present time, in the day-by-day experience of the average mortal, prayer is very much a phenomenon of man’s intercourse with his own subconscious. But there is also a domain of prayer wherein the intellectually alert and spiritually progressing individual attains more or less contact with the superconscious levels of the human mind, the domain of the indwelling Thought Adjuster. In addition, there is a definite spiritual phase of true prayer which concerns its reception and recognition by the spiritual forces of the universe, and which is entirely distinct from all human and intellectual association.
91:3.5 (997.3) Aside from all that is superself in the experience of praying, it should be remembered that ethical prayer is a splendid way to elevate one’s ego and reinforce the self for better living and higher attainment. Prayer induces the human ego to look both ways for help: for material aid to the subconscious reservoir of mortal experience, for inspiration and guidance to the superconscious borders of the contact of the material with the spiritual, with the Mystery Monitor.
91:7.4 (1000.5) The human mind may perform in response to so-called inspiration when it is sensitive either to the uprisings of the subconscious or to the stimulus of the superconscious. In either case it appears to the individual that such augmentations of the content of consciousness are more or less foreign. Unrestrained mystical enthusiasm and rampant religious ecstasy are not the credentials of inspiration, supposedly divine credentials.
I would think the subconscious has a lot to do with certain forms of insight, wisdom, judgement, discernment, material problem solving, and other practical, human matters. But perhaps not so much….Here’s a link to the key word search for “conscious OR consciousness” and there’s a ton of those!! So what is the subconscious? And its purpose? If the brain is a memory/hard drive/processor, is that all our conscious or is some of it our subconscious?
And here’s link to “superconscious”:
Thanks for joining in Keryn. I’ve been thinking about what you said in regards to humans being the only creatures with a subconscious. I don’t know if that’s true or not, it could be, but I wonder about dreams. By definition the subconscious realm of the human mind is unconscious. Other than lucid dreams, where the mind is conscious, dreaming essentially occurs when we’re unconscious which suggests that the material in dreams comes primarily from the subconscious. So here’s my point: If dogs, and sometimes cats dream, what is the source of those dreams? Wouldn’t it be a subconscious? Just thinking out loud here. I don’t have the answers.
But it appears that all mortal memory resides within the subconscious . . .
I don’t think that’s entirely true. Adjuster memory is intact and the Adjuster is superconscious. I think some human material memory does not exist in the subconscious but is tucked away in the semi-conscious realm of the brain. Here’s why I say that: We can recall the past without having to do anything extraordinary, unless you’re like me, beginning to discover the effects of a gentle senile decay, but I digress. Anyway, unlike regular background memory, to recall something buried in the subconscious a person has to do something extraordinary to retrieve it – like being hypnotized or go into a trance. At least that’s true until the the stuff in the subconscious coagulates into a mass large enough to pop up into consciousness (like what happened to Judas).
So I think there are different types of material memories, those easily recollected memories used for the advance of wisdom located in the background of the conscious mind, and the less recallable, probably not yet wisdom-identified memories buried in the unconscious, subconscious mind. (Recall that both the subconscious and superconscious are primarily unconscious, although all levels of mind overlap somewhat.)
This is all on the level of speculation though. I’m not married to any of it and I’m open to other opinions on the matter. Anyone?
I did not mean that all memories ONLY reside in the subconscious but that the subconscious is the ultimate repository for memories – including suppressed, repressed, ‘forgotten’, trivial, random, apparently irrelevant, childhood, emotion based, traumatic, etc. Dreams and hypnosis seem to reveal those in some fashion. There’s also the olfactory or smell conjuring of imbedded memories (research indicates odors have a powerful memory recall influence in some ways stronger than visual triggers even).
I don’t know if its dream related….but I’ve often gone to sleep with a vexing problem, conundrum, or paradox of confusion, consternation, and perplexion which seems to find resolution or solution in the morning. The mind seems able to consider problems and develop perspective while unconscious….how is that related? How does intuition enter our minds? Is insight and intuition related?
I only hope to consider these issues and questions relative to the role of the subconscious, especially related to insight and experiential wisdom potentials regarding mortal mind. How does the TA approach us and our eventual consciousness while we sleep and are unconscious? Does the subconscious work to serve this ministry in some way? The superconscious is where we do our highest and spiritualized thinking, but is that the actual arena for TA communication? Or is the superconscious the avenue for prayer, worship, and communion?
How do the various levels of consciousness work in relation to our religious experience, with each other (sub, normal, super, un), and with the ministries of the Holy Spirit, Adjutants, TA’s, and Spirit of Truth?
While the subconscious appears to be the arena whereby Judas gave birth to and nourished his resentments, angers, and ultimate betrayal…I would suggest it is also the environ in which motives, intentions, and priorities are worked out with prior acts and emotional results of prior acts – guilt, remorse, achievement, reward – mingle and coalesce into behavioral patterns.
And what of instinctual or reactionary behaviors where cognition and thinking are not the sources of reactions and choices? From whence comes these? Is prejudice thoughtful or cognitive? Or a base ego driven reaction driven by instinctual self importance?
Despite the lack of attention to the subconscious in the UB, I wonder its role in maturation and experience and free will….is it a help or a hinder? Ultimately, I think it is less than desirable as any primary source of behavioral motivation and is a place that allows us to attempt to forget or simply ignore important data that we cannot or do not wish to cope with or acknowledge…kind of a trash bin which occasionally gets a baby with its bathwater dump. It is a weird stew of emotions and memories that yield up bizarre dreams and unpredictable behaviors which may influence character and self determination by its collective aggregation….but that’s just a most uninformed opinion!!
Login to reply to this topic.
Not registered? Sign up here.