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Well said Bradly. Mark quoted Jesus (159:3.7) but didn’t seem to notice the last sentence:
Well actually, I did notice Bonita – please see my post #29519.
Thank you Bradley and Bonita for your input. I am familiar with your ideas and ideals and agree with almost everything you say. Like yourselves, I have spent much time in the consideration of prayer and worship, and I am quite familiar with the many quotes you have garnered from the book. Furthermore, I am happy to say that I share many of your rewarding personal experiences in spiritual growth. It certainly was not my intention to portray a vision of pessimism and eternal hardship.
Neither do I deny that prayer is easy. As you say, even a child can do it. But the ability to imagine and converse with an alter ego does not necessarily impart any significant degree of spiritual growth. Some people worship rocks and trees, which I imagine is also relatively easy to do. But, as you know, real change comes from worshiping the personality and divinity factors of our highest concept of Deity, a concept of reality that continually evolves.
There will always exist varying degrees of effective communion and contact with the Father’s Spirit, just as we observe when Jesus progresses in harmony and contact with his Adjuster as he matures. One of the reasons I began this thread is to probe this very process.
And just as Jesus went through his trials and tribulations (126-127), any real spiritual growth obtained through prayer and worship is quite likely to entail periods of confusion and uncertainty before arriving at any true peace of mind.
I take TUB’s advice seriously when it comes to the alter ego approach to practicing the presence of God. They tell us it is the most effective way, and I think it is the best way. The alter ego approach is not a form of worship, it’s a form of fellowship, and it is not the same as worshipping trees and rocks. You can’t fellowship with trees and rocks. The alter ego is a person, rocks and trees are not. Fellowship with a person, even an imagined one, is critical to learning to recognize the presence of Deity – a person – living in your head. The person we most readily recognize is Jesus (Spirit of Truth), since he lived among us.
I don’t believe that confusion and uncertainty are a prerequisite for peace of mind. Those things come regardless of one’s state of mind, peaceful or not. It’s the attitude with which you approach confusion and uncertainty which provides the peace of mind, not the act of going through those things. Attitude is the starting point; recall the sermon on the mount and the four faith/beautiful attitudes (beatitudes). Happy are the humble; happy are those hungry for righteousness; happy are the meek; happy are the pure in heart. Happy, happy, happy, happy!
Approaching confusion and uncertainty with a happy (thankful) and hopeful attitude is the very thing that clears it up. Hopeful because you know there’s an answer; happy because you know you have a person living in your head who will definitely, without a shadow of a doubt, share it with you. That’s got to make you happy despite it all. Yes, it takes a little effort to maintain those four beautiful attitudes, but it’s not hard. The yoke is easy and the burden light. The effort is simply maintaining a willingness to be happy, how hard can that be? So many guilt-ridden, Jesus believing people are miserably unhappy. It shouldn’t be, and the excuse of being “so hard”, is not an excuse, it’s a scape-goat people have been trained to use in this backward facing world. We have so many gifts, so very, very many.
I would say, if you don’t have peace of mind, I don’t think you’re really fellowshipping with Jesus (Spirit of Truth). If your alter ego is the person living in your head and you recognize that person to be Jesus, then you have peace of mind, and that’s a fact. It’s easy, you exchange your mind (ego) for the mind of Jesus (alter ego). Happiness despite the confusion of having to live in an imperfect world. Mind transformed, life simplified, burden lifted. Kaboom!
100:7.18 Jesus was the perfectly unified human personality. And today, as in Galilee, he continues to unify mortal experience and to co-ordinate human endeavors. He unifies life, ennobles character, and simplifies experience. He enters the human mind to elevate, transform, and transfigure it. It is literally true: “If any man has Christ Jesus within him, he is a new creature; old things are passing away; behold, all things are becoming new.”
(2065.7) 194:3.19 The coming of the Spirit of Truth purifies the human heart and leads the recipient to formulate a life purpose single to the will of God and the welfare of men. The material spirit of selfishness has been swallowed up in this new spiritual bestowal of selflessness. Pentecost, then and now, signifies that the Jesus of history has become the divine Son of living experience. The joy of this outpoured spirit, when it is consciously experienced in human life, is a tonic for health, a stimulus for mind, and an unfailing energy for the soul.
150:3.7 The only means of communion with the spiritual world is embraced in the spirit endowment of mankind, the indwelling spirit of the Father, together with the outpoured spirit of the Son and the omnipresent influence of the Infinite Spirit.
141:7.5 Jesus made it plain that he had come to establish personal and eternal relations with men which should forever take precedence over all other human relationships. And he emphasized that this intimate spiritual fellowship was to be extended to all men of all ages and of all social conditions among all peoples. The only reward which he held out for his children was: in this world — spiritual joy and divine communion; in the next world — eternal life in the progress of the divine spirit realities of the Paradise Father.
p31:1 1:7.1 When Jesus talked about “the living God,” he referred to a personal Deity—the Father in heaven. The concept of the personality of Deity facilitates fellowship; it favors intelligent worship; it promotes refreshing trustfulness. Interactions can be had between nonpersonal things, but not fellowship. The fellowship relation of father and son, as between God and man, cannot be enjoyed unless both are persons. Only personalities can commune with each other, albeit this personal communion may be greatly facilitated by the presence of just such an impersonal entity as the Thought Adjuster.
(2061:02) 194:2.4 Do not make the mistake of expecting to become strongly intellectually conscious of the outpoured Spirit of Truth. The spirit never creates a consciousness of himself, only a consciousness of Michael, the Son. From the beginning Jesus taught that the spirit would not speak of himself. The proof, therefore, of your fellowship with the Spirit of Truth is not to be found in your consciousness of this spirit but rather in your experience of enhanced fellowship with Michael.
But the ability to imagine and converse with an alter ego does not necessarily impart any significant degree of spiritual growth
I don’t know how you can say that when TUB specifically states that the alter ego approach, the more effective approach, to Deity evolves into an actual face-to -face with him. Isn’t evolution part of growth? They tell us the alter ego is part of enlightened prayer. Who wouldn’t want to practice enlightened prayer?
(997.5) 91:3.7 Enlightened prayer must recognize not only an external and personal God but also an internal and impersonal Divinity, the indwelling Adjuster. It is altogether fitting that man, when he prays, should strive to grasp the concept of the Universal Father on Paradise; but the more effective technique for most practical purposes will be to revert to the concept of a near-by alter ego, just as the primitive mind was wont to do, and then to recognize that the idea of this alter ego has evolved from a mere fiction to the truth of God’s indwelling mortal man in the factual presence of the Adjuster so that man can talk face to face, as it were, with a real and genuine and divine alter ego that indwells him and is the very presence and essence of the living God, the Universal Father.
Not only enlightened, but the alter ego form of praying is simple. Mankind has been doing it for millennia. It works because it is simple and also because it is part of divine mind ministry which urges our evolution.
(997.2) 91:3.4 The simple prayer of faith evidences a mighty evolution in human experience whereby the ancient conversations with the fictitious symbol of the alter ego of primitive religion have become exalted to the level of communion with the spirit of the Infinite and to that of a bona fide consciousness of the reality of the eternal God and Paradise Father of all intelligent creation.
I think if you try to fight against the alter ego approach to Deity, you do so at your own peril. You’re fighting against your own nature which is driving and urging you to grow and evolve. The alter ego form of praying is actually the road to spiritual growth. It’s the way to personality unification and circle progress.
(998.4) 91:5.1 In ancestor worship, prayer leads to the cultivation of ancestral ideals. But prayer, as a feature of Deity worship, transcends all other such practices since it leads to the cultivation of divine ideals. As the concept of the alter ego of prayer becomes supreme and divine, so are man’s ideals accordingly elevated from mere human toward supernal and divine levels, and the result of all such praying is the enhancement of human character and the profound unification of human personality.
Who wouldn’t want to use the most efficient approach to one’s own reserve powers of human nature? The reserve powers are really soul powers which are derived from the unconscious superconscious. Tapping into those powers and utilizing them leads to true happiness.
(999.7) 91:6.4 Prayer, even as a purely human practice, a dialogue with one’s alter ego, constitutes a technique of the most efficient approach to the realization of those reserve powers of human nature which are stored and conserved in the unconscious realms of the human mind. Prayer is a sound psychologic practice, aside from its religious implications and its spiritual significance. It is a fact of human experience that most persons, if sufficiently hard pressed, will pray in some way to some source of help.
(1097.7) 100:4.3 But the great problem of religious living consists in the task of unifying the soul powers of the personality by the dominance of LOVE. Health, mental efficiency, and happiness arise from the unification of physical systems, mind systems, and spirit systems. Of health and sanity man understands much, but of happiness he has truly realized very little. The highest happiness is indissolubly linked with spiritual progress. Spiritual growth yields lasting joy, peace which passes all understanding.
I think it unwise to decry the most effective and most efficient approach to Deity available to us.
There will always exist varying degrees of effective communion and contact with the Father’s Spirit, just as we observe when Jesus progresses in harmony and contact with his Adjuster as he matures. One of the reasons I began this thread is to probe this very process.
The process you’re referring to is the psychic circles. Adjuster contact improves with circle progress. Prayer is part of circle progress. The alter ego approach is the most effective and efficient form of the prayer of faith.
113:1.6 You start out in your mind of mortal investment in the seventh circle and journey inward in the task of self-understanding, self-conquest, and self-mastery; and circle by circle you advance until (if natural death does not terminate your career and transfer your struggles to the mansion worlds) you reach the first or inner circle of relative contact and communion with the indwelling Adjuster.
110:6.5 The Adjusters are always near you and of you, but rarely can they speak directly, as another being, to you. Circle by circle your intellectual decisions, moral choosings, and spiritual development add to the ability of the Adjuster to function in your mind; circle by circle you thereby ascend from the lower stages of Adjuster association and mind attunement, so that the Adjuster is increasingly enabled to register his picturizations of destiny with augmenting vividness and conviction upon the evolving consciousness of this God-seeking mind-soul.
110:7.9 While the voice of the Adjuster is ever within you, most of you will hear it seldom during a lifetime. Human beings below the third and second circles of attainment rarely hear the Adjuster’s direct voice except in moments of supreme desire, in a supreme situation, and consequent upon a supreme decision.
Worship comes from the soul, not the mind, which is why we’re not fully conscious of worshipping, at least not until we get to a certain level of soul growth and soul-consciousness. So, it’s soul consciousness that requires effort, but that is not because prayer is difficult, but because soul growth is difficult, since it requires difficult decision making.
(66.3) 5:3.7 Sincere worship connotes the mobilization of all the powers of the human personality under the dominance of the evolving soul and subject to the divine directionization of the associated Thought Adjuster. The mind of material limitations can never become highly conscious of the real significance of true worship. Man’s realization of the reality of the worship experience is chiefly determined by the developmental status of his evolving immortal soul. The spiritual growth of the soul takes place wholly independently of the intellectual self-consciousness.
Thanks for the topic Mark…I am learning so much…especially about the differences between prayer and worship and how they are related.
Thank you Bonita for your tireless efforts to help clarify, integrate, and unify the Teachings for us all here….your insights are so valuable and have helped me to learn that worship is a soul function rather than mortal minded in origin. Worship is aided by our conscious adoration and ‘reach’ for God…but it is the morontia mind (soul) that truly engages in worship….and this combination of personality will to worship that makes it happen….reflexively.
This makes me question my previous understanding, or lack thereof, of this ACT of will and reflex of soul to approach God through adoration and love. It also reminds me of how my understanding of faith has changed recently…and the importance of the love-response related thereto. I placed far too rigorous a definition that diminished the full spectrum of feelings and behaviors that demonstrate faith, and thusly, limited the functionality and power and source and acts of faith in my fellow beings.
If the very first human beings, one step removed from the animal kingdom, in total ignorance and no little barbarity, can receive TA’s by faith (of any definition) and can worship by the growth of soul and the yearning to respond to the spirit within….then it is wrong to today place so many restrictions and personal limits of the faith experience in others….if not conscious to them how then do I measure and determine the worthiness and faith experience of any other?
5:3.8 (66.4) The worship experience consists in the sublime attempt of the betrothed Adjuster to communicate to the divine Father the inexpressible longings and the unutterable aspirations of the human soul — the conjoint creation of the God-seeking mortal mind and the God-revealing immortal Adjuster. Worship is, therefore, the act of the material mind’s assenting to the attempt of its spiritualizing self, under the guidance of the associated spirit, to communicate with God as a faith son of the Universal Father. The mortal mind consents to worship; the immortal soul craves and initiates worship; the divine Adjuster presence conducts such worship in behalf of the mortal mind and the evolving immortal soul. True worship, in the last analysis, becomes an experience realized on four cosmic levels: the intellectual, the morontial, the spiritual, and the personal — the consciousness of mind, soul, and spirit, and their unification in personality.
Thanks Bradly. I’m so glad you find my persistent expounding useful and not annoying. I’m passionate on this subject. There’s lots more to say about it too. I could go on and on. I never know when to stop.
Annoying?….haha…surely you jest!
I am fascinated…and somewhat confused….by the consideration that worship is a natural and reflexive/responsive activity of soul, not mind so much. If so (or if my understanding is correct), then my soul and TA could be engaged in worship without any real subjective cognition?
I also understand, now, that one may exercise/express/experience faith without knowledge of that too. These are not subjective cognition. Prayer is cognitive for sure. But the soul’s worship?
Annoying?….haha…surely you jest!
I am fascinated…and somewhat confused….by the consideration that worship is a natural and reflexive/responsive activity of soul, not mind so much. If so (or if my understanding is correct), then my soul and TA could be engaged in worship without any real subjective cognition? I also understand, now, that one may exercise/express/experience faith without knowledge of that too. These are not subjective cognition. Prayer is cognitive for sure. But the soul’s worship?The only thing the material mind has to do is desire and give consent to worship. This can be simply responding to the spirit of worship, or to a much higher desire coming from the soul. Much depends on whether there is soul consciousness, and this is determined by spiritual progress in the psychic circles. Worship can be conscious if you’re fortunate to have soul consciousness and are thereby able to utilize the Holy Spirit’s supermind to some degree. I think there are plenty of people who have at least a budding soul consciousness. I’m not really explaining this very well, sorry.
(379.4) 34:5.4 When mind is thus endowed with the ministry of the Holy Spirit, it possesses the capacity for (consciously or unconsciously) choosing the spiritual presence of the Universal Father — the Thought Adjuster.
We are told that doing God’s will can also be conscious or unconscious. Those who are unconsciously following the Adjuster’s lead are faithful, don’t you think?
(1176.4) 107:0.4Father. Every mortal who is consciously or unconsciously following the leading of his indwelling Adjuster is living in accordance with the will of God. Consciousness of Adjuster presence is consciousness of God’s presence.
I am fascinated…and somewhat confused….by the consideration that worship is a natural and reflexive/responsive activity of soul, not mind so much.
Do you remember this quote:
p1282:1 117:3.6 Mortal man, being a creature, is not exactly like the Supreme Being, who is deity, but man’s evolution does in some ways resemble the growth of the Supreme. Man consciously grows from the material toward the spiritual by the strength, power, and persistency of his own decisions; he also grows as his Thought Adjuster develops new techniques for reaching down from the spiritual to the morontial soul levels; and once the soul comes into being, it begins to grow in and of itself.
Worship is nourishment for the soul. As long as you don’t resist, the soul, which craves worship, will initiate it. At a certain point in soul growth, the soul becomes conscious of both its parents, the material mind and the Adjuster. This is when the soul begins to foster a mind function which encourages spirit dominance of the material mind. This is part of soul-consciousness, and it results in increasing awareness of the supermaterial activities of the Adjuster, such as worship.
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.
5:2.5 As the soul of joint mind and Adjuster creation becomes increasingly existent, there also evolves a new phase of soul consciousness which is capable of experiencing the presence, and of recognizing the spirit leadings and other supermaterial activities, of the Mystery Monitors.
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