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I think I have got it now! “Man experiences matter in his mind; he experiences spiritual reality in the soul but becomes conscious of this experience in his mind.”
103:6.6 (1136.1) Always must man’s inner spirit depend for its expression and self-realization upon the mechanism and technique of the mind. Likewise must man’s outer experience of material reality be predicated on the mind consciousness of the experiencing personality. Therefore are the spiritual and the material, the inner and the outer, human experiences always correlated with the mind function and conditioned, as to their conscious realization, by the mind activity. Man experiences matter in his mind; he experiences spiritual reality in the soul but becomes conscious of this experience in his mind. The intellect is the harmonizer and the ever-present conditioner and qualifier of the sum total of mortal experience. Both energy-things and spirit values are colored by their interpretation through the mind media of consciousness.
The more closely man approaches God through love, the greater the reality — actuality — of that man. 117:4.14 (1285.3)
Not to interrupt the beautiful flow here, Angela mentioned flow charts. Try googling ‘urantia book flow chart’. Readers have been busy!
Is this a reliable site for TUB flow charts, Rick?
http://www.squarecircles.com/studyaids/studyaids.htm
This one I find very helpful, Angela: http://www.nebadon.info/ And it is “clickable”. Clicking on the box takes you to the source text.
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Richard E Warren
One of my favorites Rick!! You can spend a lot of time there gaining perspective. Don’t miss the Paradise and Orvonton buttons upper left corner too!
Alright so religious growth takes place in the superconscious. Is this the same as being “conscious of the meaning of meanings” and being “self-conscious of insight”? And does superconsciousness give us “enhancement of insights, elevation of ideals, and settledness of goals”?
I think that’s the definition of philosophy. Meanings are a mind level phenomenon which transcends the level of things, facts, science, etc.. Values are a supermind level phenomena which transcends the philosophical level of ideas. The superconscious transcends even the supermind level; it lightly touches, or overlaps, the borderland of it. Superconscious is defined as consciousness of consciousness. Philosophy is defined as the observation of the self observing. Religious experience is the recognition of the reality of the observation of the self observing. Crazy huh?
p1228:7 112:2.8 In science the human self observes the material world; philosophy is the observation of this observation of the material world; religion, true spiritual experience, is the experiential realization of the cosmic reality of the observation of the observation of all this relative synthesis of the energy materials of time and space.
130:4.9 Only in degree does man possess mind above the animal level aside from the higher and quasi-spiritual ministrations of intellect. Therefore animals (not having worship and wisdom) cannot experience superconsciousness, consciousness of consciousness. The animal mind is only conscious of the objective universe.
Then, if you’re not adequately confused by all of that, there’s the psychological definition of religious experience:
p1105:1 101:1.4 Religion lives and prospers, then, not by sight and feeling, but rather by faith and insight. It consists not in the discovery of new facts or in the finding of a unique experience, but rather in the discovery of new and spiritual meanings in facts already well known to mankind. The highest religious experience is not dependent on prior acts of belief, tradition, and authority; neither is religion the offspring of sublime feelings and purely mystical emotions. It is, rather, a profoundly deep and actual experience of spiritual communion with the spirit influences resident within the human mind, and as far as such an experience is definable in terms of psychology, it is simply the experience of experiencing the reality of believing in God as the reality of such a purely personal experience.
Great flow chart, Rick! I have already lost time (unaware of its passage) exploring connecting lines below the “Planetary Level”. I am sure there is hidden meaning in those lines — knowledge that we will gain some access to in time.
This is a wonderful summation, Bonita:
p1228:7 112:2.8 In science the human self observes the material world; philosophy is the observation of this observation of the material world; religion, true spiritual experience, is the experiential realization of the cosmic reality of the observation of the observation of all this relative synthesis of the energy materials of time and space.
What does it mean to experience the “realization of the cosmic reality” as it applies to being “conscious of the meaning of meanings” and being “self-conscious of insight”? The mind explodes!
I think it means that unconscious soul growth is the product of consciously cultivating our relation to and inward progression towards the central universe. Our consciousness of this infinite progress gives additional meaning to every genuine religious experience. We are compelled all the more to share revelation-inspired love with God and with other people, knowing that we share this vast unfathomable cosmic reality bound together by love.
Indulge me, I’m philosophising — but isn’t our own conscious religious experience an ever-expanding awareness of connection upon connection and layer of meaning upon layer of meaning,
as we progress through the seven circles.Thinking on “the factors of religious growth”:
100:1.8 (1095.3) Religious habits of thinking and acting are contributory to the economy of spiritual growth. One can develop religious predispositions toward favorable reaction to spiritual stimuli, a sort of conditioned spiritual reflex. Habits which favor religious growth embrace cultivated sensitivity to divine values, recognition of religious living in others, reflective meditation on cosmic meanings, worshipful problem solving, sharing one’s spiritual life with one’s fellows, avoidance of selfishness, refusal to presume on divine mercy, living as in the presence of God. The factors of religious growth may be intentional, but the growth itself is unvaryingly unconscious.
Worship and reflection is met with revelation, right? As we meditate on cosmic meaning we become ever more mindful of our relationship to cosmic reality. As we cultivate sensitivity to divine values we overcome barriers to understanding cosmic values.
I think this is our conscious “realization of the cosmic reality” that is the “consciousness of the meaning of meanings”. We are unconscious of our soul’s progress but we can fathom some elements of the interconnection between ourselves and the rest of creation if we have help. We have a long and wonder-filled journey ahead.
The more closely man approaches God through love, the greater the reality — actuality — of that man. 117:4.14 (1285.3)
I am just reading that the psychic circles are probably not relevant to my discussion above — strike that reference.
110:6.19 (1211.4) There is only an indirect relation between cosmic-circle attainment and actual spiritual religious experience; such attainments are reciprocal and therefore mutually beneficial. Purely spiritual development may have little to do with planetary material prosperity, but circle attainment always augments the potential of human success and mortal achievement.
The more closely man approaches God through love, the greater the reality — actuality — of that man. 117:4.14 (1285.3)
Angela wrote: What does it mean to experience the “realization of the cosmic reality” as it applies to being “conscious of the meaning of meanings” and being “self-conscious of insight”? The mind explodes!Yeah, exactly! I hear yah. Here’s the way I understand it, for what it’s worth: Experience is something more than thinking, even though an experience can occur in the mind. Experiencing cosmic reality rocks the whole self, all parts recognize and react to the gravity of it. It has to involve the personality especially. The experience of realizing cosmic reality is a form of religious experience and it changes things. It reorients the attitude toward a new view of reality, and because it’s true and real, is able to be lived and acted out. The acting out part has to do with fruits of the spirit. Is this making any sense, or am I making it murkier?
The meanings of meanings is spiritual insight and spiritual insight is God-consciousness. One can be God-conscious, aware that God exists intellectually, with the mind, but the experience of God-consciousness is spiritual insight into the soul where the experience takes place. The soul is where the presence of God is, as well as the personality presence of the Holy Spirit and Spirit of Truth. Religious experience is basically a personality-to-personality phenomenon at its heart. You bang up against spiritual reality, recognize it and wholly adopt it as part of your personality and bingo! You’ve been invaded by divinity and have become more real. (Alright, so maybe you don’t actually bang into it, but you definitely wake up to it, relate to it and identify your personality with it (which isn’t an “it” at all). Also, you have to be looking for it in the first place in order to “see” it . . . reality that is . . . which is not an “it,” but God.)
p2095:4 196:3.17 Every time man makes a reflective moral choice, he immediately experiences a new divine invasion of his soul. Moral choosing constitutes religion as the motive of inner response to outer conditions. But such a real religion is not a purely subjective experience. It signifies the whole of the subjectivity of the individual engaged in a meaningful and intelligent response to total objectivity—the universe and its Maker.
Angela wrote: Indulge me, I’m philosophising — but isn’t our own conscious religious experience an ever-expanding awareness of connection upon connection and layer of meaning upon layer of meaning, as we progress through the seven circles.The psychic, or cosmic circles, are more than awareness of connections, it’s about attuning to reality and deciding to identify with it, which occurs when you decide to act upon it. You can be aware intellectually and not choose to act on it, or not choose to discover higher values/ideals. The psychic circles require decision-action, and lots of it. The reason why they use the word “indirectly” in quote 110:6.19 is because you can have a spiritual experience at any circle level and have it change your orientation to reality, but progress in the circles requires repeated decision making, which is not entirely dependent upon spiritual religious experience.
Angela wrote: Worship and reflection is met with revelation, right? As we meditate on cosmic meaning we become ever more mindful of our relationship to cosmic reality. As we cultivate sensitivity to divine values we overcome barriers to understanding cosmic values.Well, I guess it depends on what you’re worshipping and reflecting on. If you’re worshipping and reflecting on your feelings, then maybe not. I don’t think you can ever become conscious of true worship though, possibly only the desire for it. Reflection, on the other hand, is definitely useful if it’s directed properly, as you say, on reality. I could reflect on myself and my feelings if my entire cosmic reality is wrapped up in myself and my navel . . . just sayin’. True reflection would be exercising one’s powers of discrimination on all three levels of cosmic reality: causation, duty and spiritual, then discovering, recognizing, interpreting and choosing higher and higher meanings and values, right?
Are you’re talking about auto-revelation? I don’t think we are always conscious of auto-revelation since it is Adjuster derived. But we definitely can attune our inner sight in such a way that is directed toward discovering it. Prayer, or prayerful reflection and meditation work nicely for that. Prayer has to be person-to-person though, even though you have to accept on faith alone that the other divine person is there listening and responding, albeit on a different level than you’re conscious of. Whole hearted desire alone is enough to make changes on superconscious levels, which will bear fruit in their own time.
143:7.4 Prayer is designed to make man less thinking but more realizing; it is not designed to increase knowledge but rather to expand insight.
p1216:6 111:1.5 And it is not so much what mind comprehends as what mind desires to comprehend that insures survival; it is not so much what mind is like as what mind is striving to be like that constitutes spirit identification. It is not so much that man is conscious of God as that man yearns for God that results in universe ascension. What you are today is not so important as what you are becoming day by day and in eternity.
Bonita wrote:
Experiencing cosmic reality rocks the whole self, all parts recognize and react to the gravity of it.
Really thrilled to be understood in this. I would like to add something else. We are told that we are only given to understand what we are able to comprehend as the moment arises. The progress that we achieve on this inward journey — that unfathomable experiencing of the “realization of the cosmic reality” — is always enlarging our capacity for understanding and for experiencing. We start to become aware of what real happiness is, we love openly (and as an expression of God’s love), our faith multiplies (that surety of knowing). These are all conscious experiences of God-consciousness. They have tangible effects and will contribute to our experience of “realization of the cosmic reality”.
I would rather not resort to examples because they always fall short of what I am intending to convey. The scope of the idea becomes limited to the example. But here goes.
All of us are in constant communication with our thought adjusters, we are just not hearing them in our conscious mind – yet. (Although there are some who have reached the first circle and are engaged in this conscious conversation already.) Our struggle to understand the TUB will augment this connection. In a way we are tuning in, so we more frequently make a free-will choice to act on our Adjuster’s direction, perhaps even without realising that this is what we are doing.
Think of the growth of our experience of the “realization of cosmic reality” when we do reach the first circle. The cosmic reality is populated by personalities that we cannot yet conceive. How many inhabited planets are there? Consider that their experience of reality is vastly diverse to ours. There is an extra dimension to meaning in that experience of realisation. Our soul will be exposed to mind-expanding reality — an ever-expanding awareness of connection upon connection and layer of meaning upon layer of meaning that lies before us as we progress on our inward journey. Although we are not yet ‘in’ the experience, we are aware of this future. It is a certainty. The awareness of it is itself a conscious exercise in mind-expansion. At the moment it is both material and spiritual.
The more closely man approaches God through love, the greater the reality — actuality — of that man. 117:4.14 (1285.3)
I can accept your example, Angela, with a few exceptions. You said:
Angela wrote: All of us are in constant communication with our thought adjusters, we are just not hearing them in our conscious mind – yet. (Although there are some who have reached the first circle and are engaged in this conscious conversation already.)I agree that the Adjuster is in constant communication with our souls, but our conscious minds are not always in constant communication with our souls. Those who pray without ceasing and practice the continual presence of God are perhaps in constant communication, if not at least striving for it. We may not be entirely conscious of this communication, but we can be conscious of striving for it.
It’s my understanding that high circlers have also reached a high level of soul consciousness . . . have been able to reach the borderland of the soul, the area in which the Adjuster has the ability to down grasp from the superconscious. It is in the soul where Adjuster contact is made, not in the conscious material mind. And that’s why translation of a soul-level experience to the material consciousness is really not entirely possible. One may be conscious of contact, and may have reached a workable understanding (Spirit of Truth action), but that’s about it. When someone tells me that their Adjuster said this or that, I know they’re full of bunk because true Adjuster communication is generally not translatable. Also, once a high circling person attains a certain level of soul consciousness, (which is low-level morontia consciousness) there are other mind ministries provided which overlap and assist. The soul develops a function which assists the material mind in discovering new meanings for divine values. And incidentally, soul-consciousness is not the material mind being conscious of the soul, it’s the soul becoming conscious of the existence of the material mind, which is its incentive to foster growth of that mind function. The soul grows in and of itself, it is minded.
p1219:3 111:3.4 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.
5:2.6 The entire experience of Adjuster communion is one involving moral status, mental motivation, and spiritual experience. The self-realization of such an achievement is mainly, though not exclusively, limited to the realms of soul consciousness, but the proofs are forthcoming and abundant in the manifestation of the fruits of the spirit in the lives of all such inner-spirit contactors.
110:6.16 Perhaps these psychic circles of mortal progression would be better denominated cosmic levels — actual meaning grasps and value realizations of progressive approach to the morontia consciousness of initial relationship of the evolutionary soul with the emerging Supreme Being. And it is this very relationship that makes it forever impossible fully to explain the significance of the cosmic circles to the material mind.
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