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Religion In Human Experience – Paper 100

235 posts · 9 participants · started Jan 7, 2018, 4:53 PM

BradlyParticipant
Feb 15, 2018, 4:30 PM
Yes…what a powerful self-realization and moment of humility by the most powerful human on the planet….true discernment and illustrative of the noble character of the Master prior to his public ministry and transfiguration even.

While composing my prior post, I got to thinking about the parable of the talents. As I said, being quite the student of the Jesusonian Gospel and 4th Epochal Revelation as it is recorded in the KJV in my youth, I found the UB so helpful….not only in its detail and expansion of the story and teachings of Jesus but also in the teachings about the inner light and life and spirit and mind ministries and networks that truly wire us each and all spiritually and most definitively in our dual natures. Our spiritual life is not unnatural but just the opposite, it is completely natural and even more powerful than the material nature….for those who listen, respond, and seek this reality.

I think the parable of the talents teaches us that the “return” ON our talents (as opposed to the return OF our talent to its bestower) is simply a function of our pursuit of the spirit led life. It does not require great intellect or cleverness or risk taking….it only requires loyalty and confidence – that is the vehicle of investment of our talent(s), be they many or few, large or small.

102:3.3 (1121.5) Material feelings, human emotions, lead directly to material actions, selfish acts. Religious insights, spiritual motivations, lead directly to religious actions, unselfish acts of social service and altruistic benevolence.

When our “mode of living” is determined by and defined by our religious life, insights, and motivations within, then do we automatically and directly begin to bear the fruits of the Spirit which always… “lead directly to religious actions, unselfish acts of social service and altruistic benevolence”….at home, work, community, and world!!

The parable is NOT about what to do or when or to whom or how much or how often….the parable of the talents is about a religious philosophy of living and our mode of daily living….day by day as we pass by. Reading this Paper dissolved all the mystery as what I was to do and how I was to invest my talent(s). And it absolved me from any concern as to the amount of ‘return’ I might deliver by my earnest and sincere efforts, no matter how meager or how grand. What a relief!!! I am not measured by how many souls I ‘save’ or how many good deeds I perform or the great and glorious outcomes of my service or even the wisdom I employ or success I might achieve. My return is in the hands of God….only the act and the sincerity are mine – the outcomes are God’s. I lost so much confusion and doubt and anxiety by this simple understanding….finally!

Such recognition was immediately rewarded by this truth and its personal realization over time:

100:6.6 (1101.1) One of the most amazing earmarks of religious living is that dynamic and sublime peace, that peace which passes all human understanding, that cosmic poise which betokens the absence of all doubt and turmoil. Such levels of spiritual stability are immune to disappointment. Such religionists are like the Apostle Paul, who said: “I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else shall be able to separate us from the love of God.”

100:6.7 (1101.2) There is a sense of security, associated with the realization of triumphing glory, resident in the consciousness of the religionist who has grasped the reality of the Supreme, and who pursues the goal of the Ultimate.

Glory Be!

"Live loyally today—grow—and tomorrow will attend to itself. The quickest way for a tadpole to become a frog is to live loyally each moment as a tadpole."
BonitaParticipant
Feb 15, 2018, 5:49 PM

Bradly wrote:

I am not measured by how many souls I ‘save’ or how many good deeds I perform or the great and glorious outcomes of my service or even the wisdom I employ or success I might achieve. My return is in the hands of God….only the act and the sincerity are mine – the outcomes are God’s. I lost so much confusion and doubt and anxiety by this simple understanding….finally!

This is exactly what I’ve been saying for over a decade now whenever the topic of service comes up, or when people chastise the UB community for not doing enough. You’re exactly right. The act is ours, the consequences are God’s. But it’s the act that so many get hung up on, trying to determine what’s righteous and what is not. Sincerity is what matters most. Sure, one can act sincerely and still do the wrong thing, sincerity can still cause pain, but that’s what evolution is all about. We should not be afraid of making mistakes, but we should be very afraid of being insincere.

p103:5 9:5.7 Too often, all too often, you mar your minds by insincerity and sear them with unrighteousness; you subject them to animal fear and distort them by useless anxiety. Therefore, though the source of mind is divine, mind as you know it on your world of ascension can hardly become the object of great admiration, much less of adoration or worship. The contemplation of the immature and inactive human intellect should lead only to reactions of humility.

48:5.8 One of the purposes of the morontia career is to effect the permanent eradication from the mortal survivors of such animal vestigial traits as procrastination, equivocation, insincerity, problem avoidance, unfairness, and ease seeking. The mansonia life early teaches the young morontia pupils that postponement is in no sense avoidance. After the life in the flesh, time is no longer available as a technique of dodging situations or of circumventing disagreeable obligations.

Sincerity is the key to the kingdom (39:4.14) and even when we finally make it to Paradise, we have only mastered a sublime sincerity, the perfection of purpose. (26:4.13). Sincerity is what Jesus meant by a pure heart (140:8.20). Sincerity is also wedded to faith (158:5.2; 170:2.21), and to worship (16:8.14). I think sincerity is crucial.
BradlyParticipant
Feb 15, 2018, 10:08 PM
100:6.7 (1101.2) There is a sense of security, associated with the realization of triumphing glory, resident in the consciousness of the religionist who has grasped the reality of the Supreme, and who pursues the goal of the Ultimate.

100:6.8 (1101.3) Even evolutionary religion is all of this in loyalty and grandeur because it is a genuine experience. But revelatory religion is excellent as well as genuine. The new loyalties of enlarged spiritual vision create new levels of love and devotion, of service and fellowship; and all this enhanced social outlook produces an enlarged consciousness of the Fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man.

100:6.9 (1101.4) The characteristic difference between evolved and revealed religion is a new quality of divine wisdom which is added to purely experiential human wisdom. But it is experience in and with the human religions that develops the capacity for subsequent reception of increased bestowals of divine wisdom and cosmic insight.

As students of the Papers we know that revelatory revelation comes in two forms – personal and epochal – to the each and to the all (but not to the one for another or others). And we know that personal revelation has been empowered and personalized the past 2000 years by the Son’s Spirit – the Spirit of Truth. Those whose religious experience is guided by the creeds and doctrines of evolutionary/institutional religion are also influenced by personal revelation and the work of the God Fragment/TA and the Spirit of Truth and the Holy Spirit. Our personal religious experience is multi-faceted and unique to our own mind, soul, and being….we each must traverse the 7 psychic circles in our own way and time.

One of the effects of this experience, we are told above, is an enlarged spiritual vision and an enhanced social outlook resulting in an enlarged consciousness of our parent/child relationship, a personal relationship based in love, with God and also an enlarged concept or consciousness of the brotherhood of all humanity. Anyone who claims to be religious and yet does not have such an expanded concept and consciousness may not be having a “genuine” religious experience at all. This insight and realization will and must change one’s perspective of the world in which we live and the people who live on this world…both. If our religious experience does not change us and transform our attitude and views and our motives and priorities, then we must wonder how genuine is our experience and how sincere is our religion.

Notice there is a new “quality” of divine wisdom with revelation – both personal and epochal but perhaps especially so for epochal? Epochal revelation is given to reduce confusions and eliminate errors of evolutionary religion…and also personal revelation as limited and distorted by human experience and material mindedness.

Also it should be noted above that only experience in and with Religion In Human Experience that develops additional capacity for “subsequent reception of increased bestowals of divine wisdom and cosmic insight”. I recall we are told that a pint cannot hold a quart! But evidently a pint container can grow into a quart with time and experience and the growth of wisdom….especially when we can receive, discern, and utilize divine wisdom as it is received. This is a lesson on the progressive nature of Religion In Human Experience. There should be growth…growth of the fruits of the spirit, growth in the size of the branch, and more fruit…the pint growing into the quart and then the gallon, etc.

The next and final section of Paper 100 examines the attributes of Religion in Jesus’ Experience as a human….The Acme of Religious Living.

7. The Acme of Religious Living

100:7.1 (1101.5) Although the average mortal of Urantia cannot hope to attain the high perfection of character which Jesus of Nazareth acquired while sojourning in the flesh, it is altogether possible for every mortal believer to develop a strong and unified personality along the perfected lines of the Jesus personality. The unique feature of the Master’s personality was not so much its perfection as its symmetry, its exquisite and balanced unification. The most effective presentation of Jesus consists in following the example of the one who said, as he gestured toward the Master standing before his accusers, “Behold the man!”

I suggest this is a good time to read Paper 196 again! Section 7 and Paper 196 compliment each other so.

The Faith of Jesus

196:0.1 (2087.1) JESUS enjoyed a sublime and wholehearted faith in God. He experienced the ordinary ups and downs of mortal existence, but he never religiously doubted the certainty of God’s watchcare and guidance. His faith was the outgrowth of the insight born of the activity of the divine presence, his indwelling Adjuster. His faith was neither traditional nor merely intellectual; it was wholly personal and purely spiritual.

196:0.4 (2087.4) In the Master’s life on Urantia, this and all other worlds of the local creation discover a new and higher type of religion, religion based on personal spiritual relations with the Universal Father and wholly validated by the supreme authority of genuine personal experience….

196:1.3 (2090.4) To “follow Jesus” means to personally share his religious faith and to enter into the spirit of the Master’s life of unselfish service for man. One of the most important things in human living is to find out what Jesus believed, to discover his ideals, and to strive for the achievement of his exalted life purpose. Of all human knowledge, that which is of greatest value is to know the religious life of Jesus and how he lived it.

"Live loyally today—grow—and tomorrow will attend to itself. The quickest way for a tadpole to become a frog is to live loyally each moment as a tadpole."
BonitaParticipant
Feb 16, 2018, 12:20 PM
100:6.7 (1101.2) There is a sense of security, associated with the realization of triumphing glory, resident in the consciousness of the religionist who has grasped the reality of the Supreme, and who pursues the goal of the Ultimate.

What does it mean to grasp the reality of the Supreme?

100:6.9 (1101.4) The characteristic difference between evolved and revealed religion is a new quality of divine wisdom which is added to purely experiential human wisdom. But it is experience in and with the human religions that develops the capacity for subsequent reception of increased bestowals of divine wisdom and cosmic insight.

What’s the difference between divine wisdom and experiential human wisdom? How are they recognized?
BradlyParticipant
Feb 16, 2018, 12:54 PM

Bonita wrote:

100:6.7 (1101.2) There is a sense of security, associated with the realization of triumphing glory, resident in the consciousness of the religionist who has grasped the reality of the Supreme, and who pursues the goal of the Ultimate.

What does it mean to grasp the reality of the Supreme?

100:6.9 (1101.4) The characteristic difference between evolved and revealed religion is a new quality of divine wisdom which is added to purely experiential human wisdom. But it is experience in and with the human religions that develops the capacity for subsequent reception of increased bestowals of divine wisdom and cosmic insight.

What’s the difference between divine wisdom and experiential human wisdom? How are they recognized?

On the first question: philosophically, I think it might mean the personal comprehension that there is potential, that decisions and choices affect future outcomes…that destiny is not fate or predetermined but depends upon now and today…that what we choose and do now matters….that the universe contains non-mechanical realities whose future depends upon now. Which delivers a profound paradox to the mind which believes that God is fixed and unchangeable and infinite and eternally timeless….sort of unimaginable and unapproachable and impersonal I think. How does God become personal? How does God reside in time and motion? How do potentials exist rather than absolutes only? How is that and them who are now perfected and complete create and manage that which is not?

I think God the Supreme is a necessary and functional concept-bridge to explain time and space in relation to eternity and infinity. But the UB shows us the Supreme is far more than a mere concept-bridge but is the explanation for both potential and progress in time wherein and whereby Deity is integrated and inserted and insinuated into the creations of Deity and is so in participatory and evolutionary and progressive eventuations of realized potential which forever then is an engine for the creation and realization of ever more potential for future realization….a perpetual creator of potential and realization of potential of time and space within and into eternity and infinity.

(Okay, brain hurts now…I wouldn’t be surprised if that doesn’t make any sense at all….hahahaha. But you asked! I actually thought about this a lot before the UB found me and gave me an answer too obvious and reasonable to dispute or doubt…made perfect sense to me and made reality perception replete and satisfying for me! Experiential God simply had to exist to unify seemingly oppositional and contradictory aspects of reality perception and personal experience and a personal relationship with God by a being existing in time and space…or so I perceived this conundrum and paradox of Godhood.)

As to the second question, I will only offer some text for now (interestingly, both questions are integrally related I think):

19:2.3 (216.1) Wherever and whenever a Perfector of Wisdom functions, there and then divine wisdom functions. There is actuality of presence and perfection of manifestation in the knowledge and wisdom represented in the doings of these mighty and majestic personalities. They do not reflect the wisdom of the Paradise Trinity; they are that wisdom. They are the sources of wisdom for all teachers in the application of universe knowledge; they are the fountains of discretion and the wellsprings of discrimination to the institutions of learning and discernment in all universes.

19:2.4 (216.2) Wisdom is twofold in origin, being derived from the perfection of divine insight inherent in perfect beings and from the personal experience acquired by evolutionary creatures. The Perfectors of Wisdom are the divine wisdom of the Paradise perfection of Deity insight. Their administrative associates on Uversa, the Mighty Messengers, Those without Name and Number, and Those High in Authority, when acting together, are the universe wisdom of experience. A divine being can have perfection of divine knowledge. An evolutionary mortal can sometime attain perfection of ascendant knowledge, but neither of these beings alone exhausts the potentials of all possible wisdom. Accordingly, whenever in the conduct of the superuniverse it is desired to achieve the maximum of administrative wisdom, these perfectors of the wisdom of divine insight are always associated with those ascendant personalities who have come up to the high responsibilities of superuniverse authority through the experiential tribulations of evolutionary progression.

19:2.5 (216.3) The Perfectors of Wisdom will always require this complement of experiential wisdom for the completion of their administrative sagacity. But it has been postulated that a high and hitherto unattained level of wisdom may possibly be achieved by the Paradise finaliters after they are sometime inducted into the seventh stage of spirit existence. If this inference is correct, then would such perfected beings of evolutionary ascent undoubtedly become the most effective universe administrators ever to be known in all creation. I believe that such is the high destiny of finaliters.

"Live loyally today—grow—and tomorrow will attend to itself. The quickest way for a tadpole to become a frog is to live loyally each moment as a tadpole."
BonitaParticipant
Feb 16, 2018, 2:41 PM

Bradly wrote:

On the first question: philosophically, I think it might mean the personal comprehension that there is potential, that decisions and choices affect future outcomes…that destiny is not fate or predetermined but depends upon now and today…that what we choose and do now matters….that the universe contains non-mechanical realities whose future depends upon now. Which delivers a profound paradox to the mind which believes that God is fixed and unchangeable and infinite and eternally timeless….sort of unimaginable and unapproachable and impersonal I think. How does God become personal? How does God reside in time and motion? How do potentials exist rather than absolutes only? How is that and them who are now perfected and complete create and manage that which is not?

Very interesting and not at all what I was thinking, although what you say is related. You say philosophically, but I interpreted the quote to mean actually experiencing the reality of the Supreme. I don’t think grasping the reality of the Supreme philosophically gives as much security as does the consciousness of actual experience. I guess I’m asking, what is it in the consciousness of the religionist about the reality of the Supreme that gives such a sense of security and sense of triumphant glory? Here’s the quote again:

100:6.7 (1101.2) There is a sense of security, associated with the realization of triumphing glory, resident in the consciousness of the religionist who has grasped the reality of the Supreme, and who pursues the goal of the Ultimate.

They do tell us that the psychic circles are, ” . . . meaning grasps and value realizations of progressive approach to the morontia consciousness of initial relationship of the evolutionary soul with the emerging Supreme Being.” (110:6.16) They also tell us that those in the higher circles are more conscious of, ” . . . experiential relation to the Supreme Being- universe citizenship.” (110:6.16)

So, they’re telling us that grasping the reality of the Supreme has something to do with morontia consciousness, which I interpret to mean some kind of soul consciousness. I would think it also has to do with the recognition of the interrelatedness of all three levels of reality, which is another way of saying, ” . . . elliptic symmetry of reality and [with] the essential curvature of all relation concepts.” (103:6.14) Naturally, this would also include the realization that the Spirit of Truth is the revealer of all true relations of things and beings (56:10.13), since he is himself a revelation of the Supreme (33:2.4; 101:6.5; 117:1.8; 117:3.4; 119:8.3; 119:8.7; 120:0.7)).

So in a nutshell, I think anyone who is conscious of the experience of fellowshipping with Michael is also conscious of the reality of the Supreme, at least on some level. Such a consciousness would naturally include relations to things and persons, he being the one who directs the loving contact of all persons, which all leads to awareness of cosmic citizenship. Also, I think progress in the psychic circles would increase the enhancement mentioned below. And wouldn’t that relationship experience provide abundant security and triumphant glory as well?

194:2.4 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.
BradlyParticipant
Feb 16, 2018, 3:37 PM

Bonita wrote:

So in a nutshell, I think anyone who is conscious of the experience of fellowshipping with Michael is also conscious of the reality of the Supreme, at least on some level. Such a consciousness would naturally include relations to things and persons, he being the one who directs the loving contact of all persons, which all leads to awareness of cosmic citizenship. Also, I think progress in the psychic circles would increase the enhancement mentioned below. And wouldn’t that relationship experience provide abundant security and triumphant glory as well?

194:2.4 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.

Exactly!! I did not mean to merely intellectualize or speak in the abstract…I personally had experienced God within….the whisper, the confirmer, the comforter, the personal embrace, the love of God within….as Jesus said I should and would….by faith and by attentiveness within. But, I was also taught and also believed God was infinite, eternal, absolute, and beyond my comprehension or approach. A paradox….resolved only by the Supreme. If one has felt or otherwise experienced God and the Spirit within, one has indeed experienced the reality of the Supreme for the Supreme is integral and central to the spirit ministries within mind and of soul.

"Live loyally today—grow—and tomorrow will attend to itself. The quickest way for a tadpole to become a frog is to live loyally each moment as a tadpole."
BonitaParticipant
Feb 16, 2018, 4:17 PM
They tell us that the Adjuster is the secret behind the realization of the existence of the Supreme (101:6.2). Isn’t the Supreme the result of the interrelationship between the existential and the experiential? The Adjuster is the existential portion of our experiential existence. The soul is the result of that interrelationship, and it’s the soul which is involved in evolving the Supreme. I think it’s all about the soul, that’s where discovery and recognition take place. Then, the Spirit of Truth reveals the meaning of it all to the mind so the personality can act on it, which contributes to the evolution of the Supreme, by making “thy kingdom come, on earth as it is in heaven”. (Which is where your philosophy on potentials and actuals come in.)

They also tell us that the evolution of the Supreme is dependent upon every wisdom-action of every personality (117:4.1). I would think that such wisdom-action begins with the revelation of divine wisdom in the soul. I think TUB defines wisdom as, ” . . . knowledge directed by experiential reason and illuminated by divine revelation.”(92:2.1) There seems to be two components to wisdom, but I think the inner component is meant to illuminate the outer component, to guide action. Otherwise, I think we’d be functioning on the animal level and not contributing to the Supreme. It is interesting that only the two upper adjutants, worship and wisdom, resonate in the Supreme.
BradlyParticipant
Feb 17, 2018, 2:02 PM
Thanks for bringing the Supreme into this discussion of Religion In Human Experience! I found this….

115:0.1 (1260.1) WITH God the Father, sonship is the great relationship. With God the Supreme, achievement is the prerequisite to status — one must do something as well as be something.

….which got me to thinking: our personal and religious quest is to discern meanings and discover values which requires both sincerity and the act of choosing/deciding within while facing the intersections of circumstance, situation, incident, and relationship….one must do something and be something both…a sincere faith child acting as such! Faith is an expression or an action – acting upon belief….in other words Religion In Human Experience is in no way a passive thing….one must do something and be about the doing and the living to have such experience and to grow soul and to develop wisdom. And while the sincere religionist is seeking meaning and value (doing), apparently we are also becoming and actualizing meaning and value! The soul aggregates and integrates our personalized meaning and value and all of that goes to the Supreme whereby our achievements contribute TO the Supreme and all of creation….we gain meaning and value by its discovery!

By our simple existence are we cherished and valued by God the Father/Parent but only by what we righteously choose and do may we contribute value and meaning to the experiential creation and the Supreme. Which means our value IN creation increases as we traverse the circles, gain wisdom, become more effective in our loving service ministry, gain power and purpose by eternal fusion, and gain universe experience through time and by disappointment, failure, achievement, success, etc., and become ever more educated and knowledgeable in universe reality and affairs, or more simply stated – as we grow in the Spirit. Isn’t this truth and fact what delivers the need for our loyalty? Isn’t this the core of our duty?

Reality is a function of and based upon love and endless service adventures. The each in loving service to the all so that none be isolated or abandoned or without or in need or suffering or lonely or destitute or without value or without purpose….or without love. Are not all problems for all beings eliminated by such a reality? Are not all needs met for all by such a truth? One must simply embrace reality to realize reality for ourselves…and for all others too.

We are taught there different levels of love from the self serving level of the Golden Rule to brotherly to fatherly to Divine levels. But the greater levels do not dismiss or trivialize the lesser levels, so that which is the greatest love still delivers that which is best for self does it not? What is best for me? The loyalty, love, and service of the each to all others. What delivers the fruit of the vine (Spirit) from which I am most blessed and nourished? What best eliminates fear, loneliness, suffering in the each? The loyalty, love, and service the each provides to others. Self is best served by its self forgetting service to others. To be most loved give love. Or so I see it?

The analogy of the fruit upon the branch attached to the vine does not quite illustrate the whole story I do not think….for the fruit of each branch also feeds the vine and all other branches too. It is a circulatory system. But it is an ever growing and enlarging and perfecting system. The fruit of the Spirit that each branch grows becomes a greater and greater harvest of fruit with an ever increasing effect on those individually near to hand and to all others collectively….all such fruit feeds ourselves and all others and certain others. As the branch grows in diameter and strength, the more fruit does it bear…and the better the fruit borne of that branch over time.

And we are taught that our steps and paths are influenced and guided by TA and angels to those intersections of decision and expression which helps us grow and helps us serve…both…if we pay attention and learn to discern opportunities – to discover meanings and value while we also seek moments and opportunities to serve others in love….and by this religious experience do we feast on the fruit of the vine, and we grow that fruit, and we deliver its nourishment to others, and do we also contribute to the strength of the vine itself!

116:0.3 (1268.3) Experiential growth implies creature-Creator partnership — God and man in association. Growth is the earmark of experiential Deity: Havona did not grow; Havona is and always has been; it is existential like the everlasting Gods who are its source. But growth characterizes the grand universe.

116:0.4 (1268.4) The Almighty Supreme is a living and evolving Deity of power and personality. His present domain, the grand universe, is also a growing realm of power and personality. His destiny is perfection, but his present experience encompasses the elements of growth and incomplete status.

116:1.1 (1268.6) The experience of every evolving creature personality is a phase of the experience of the Almighty Supreme. The intelligent subjugation of every physical segment of the superuniverses is a part of the growing control of the Almighty Supreme. The creative synthesis of power and personality is a part of the creative urge of the Supreme Mind and is the very essence of the evolutionary growth of unity in the Supreme Being.

116:3.4 (1271.2) 3. The indwelling presences of the First Source and Center. Mind unifies spirit causations with energy reactions; bestowal ministry unifies divinity descensions with creature ascensions; and the indwelling fragments of the Universal Father actually unify the evolving creatures with God on Paradise. There are many such presences of the Father which indwell numerous orders of personalities, and in mortal man these divine fragments of God are the Thought Adjusters. The Mystery Monitors are to human beings what the Paradise Trinity is to the Supreme Being. The Adjusters are absolute foundations, and upon absolute foundations freewill choice can cause to be evolved the divine reality of an eternaliter nature, finaliter nature in the case of man, Deity nature in God the Supreme.

116:7.6 (1276.7) Man’s urge for Paradise perfection, his striving for God-attainment, creates a genuine divinity tension in the living cosmos which can only be resolved by the evolution of an immortal soul; this is what happens in the experience of a single mortal creature. But when all creatures and all Creators in the grand universe likewise strive for God-attainment and divine perfection, there is built up a profound cosmic tension which can only find resolution in the sublime synthesis of almighty power with the spirit person of the evolving God of all creatures, the Supreme Being.

117:0.1 (1278.1) TO THE extent that we do the will of God in whatever universe station we may have our existence, in that measure the almighty potential of the Supreme becomes one step more actual. The will of God is the purpose of the First Source and Center as it is potentialized in the three Absolutes, personalized in the Eternal Son, conjoined for universe action in the Infinite Spirit, and eternalized in the everlasting patterns of Paradise. And God the Supreme is becoming the highest finite manifestation of the total will of God.

Me here: All creatures, high and low, contribute to reality and all actualize potential and all add more potential by our contributions and actualization. There is no beach without grains of sand and there is no ocean without drops of water….the Supreme is the beach and also the ocean and encompasses all beings in its totality…but also directs the currents and waves and wind….the Supreme grows in size and power….one grain of sand and one drop of water at a time….by all free will choices in all of time. Or so I understand….

"Live loyally today—grow—and tomorrow will attend to itself. The quickest way for a tadpole to become a frog is to live loyally each moment as a tadpole."
BonitaParticipant
Feb 17, 2018, 3:14 PM
But then there’s this quote:

(31.2) 1:7.2 Man does not achieve union with God as a drop of water might find unity with the ocean. Man attains divine union by progressive reciprocal spiritual communion, by personality intercourse with the personal God, by increasingly attaining the divine nature through wholehearted and intelligent conformity to the divine will. Such a sublime relationship can exist only between personalities.
BonitaParticipant
Feb 17, 2018, 6:10 PM
115:0.1 (1260.1) WITH God the Father, sonship is the great relationship. With God the Supreme, achievement is the prerequisite to status — one must do something as well as be something.

I think it’s worthwhile to mention that doing something does not necessarily mean running out to convert the heathens, save souls, feed the poor and house the homeless. The section that follows the above quote is about mind structure, the relativity of conceptual frames of reference toward reality. Thinking is a form of doing in that it naturally precedes action. Thoughtless action, or misguided action can be evil. Getting the evil out of one’s thinking would be the first step towards doing, in my opinion, and that can only happen by staying connected to the fruit vine.

By doing, I think they mean for us to avoid the trap of navel gazing or the comfort of standardized ideologies. Ideas are supposed to be gathered together to form supernal ideals, then and only then, through spiritual insight, are they validated and made actionable. But, the ideas come first. Blind doing is not the ticket, nor is all well-intentioned doing. Doing needs to be enlightened in order to repercuss in the Supreme. Sometimes this means waiting for the proper time, like Jesus always did.

p1120:4  102:2.7 Evolutionary man does not naturally relish hard work. To keep pace in his life experience with the impelling demands and the compelling urges of a growing religious experience means incessant activity in spiritual growth, intellectual expansion, factual enlargement, and social service. There is no real religion apart from a highly active personality. Therefore do the more indolent of men often seek to escape the rigors of truly religious activities by a species of ingenious self-deception through resorting to a retreat to the false shelter of stereotyped religious doctrines and dogmas. But true religion is alive. Intellectual crystallization of religious concepts is the equivalent of spiritual death. You cannot conceive of religion without ideas, but when religion once becomes reduced only to an idea, it is no longer religion; it has become merely a species of human philosophy.

p1113:7  101:7.1 An idea is only a theoretical plan for action, while a positive decision is a validated plan of action. A stereotype is a plan of action accepted without validation. The materials out of which to build a personal philosophy of religion are derived from both the inner and the environmental experience of the individual.

p1112:3 101:6.7 Revelation teaches mortal man that, to start such a magnificent and intriguing adventure through space by means of the progression of time, he should begin by the organization of knowledge into idea-decisions; next, mandate wisdom to labor unremittingly at its noble task of transforming self-possessed ideas into increasingly practical but nonetheless supernal ideals, even those concepts which are so reasonable as ideas and so logical as ideals that the Adjuster dares so to combine and spiritize them as to render them available for such association in the finite mind as will constitute them the actual human complement thus made ready for the action of the Truth Spirit of the Sons, the time-space manifestations of Paradise truth—universal truth. The co-ordination of idea-decisions, logical ideals, and divine truth constitutes the possession of a righteous character, the prerequisite for mortal admission to the ever-expanding and increasingly spiritual realities of the morontia worlds.

118.6.6  In the mortal life, paths of differential conduct are continually opening and closing, and during the times when choice is possible the human personality is constantly deciding between these many courses of action. Temporal volition is linked to time, and it must await the passing of time to find opportunity for expression. Spiritual volition has begun to taste liberation from the fetters of time, having achieved partial escape from time sequence, and that is because spiritual volition is self-identifying with the will of God.
BonitaParticipant
Feb 17, 2018, 6:17 PM

Bradly wrote:

The analogy of the fruit upon the branch attached to the vine does not quite illustrate the whole story I do not think….for the fruit of each branch also feeds the vine and all other branches too. It is a circulatory system. But it is an ever growing and enlarging and perfecting system.

I think I know what you’re saying here, but not sure. Are you talking about the great circuit of love:

117:6.10 All true love is from God, and man receives the divine affection as he himself bestows this love upon his fellows. Love is dynamic. It can never be captured; it is alive, free, thrilling, and always moving. Man can never take the love of the Father and imprison it within his heart. The Father’s love can become real to mortal man only by passing through that man’s personality as he in turn bestows this love upon his fellows. The great circuit of love is from the Father, through sons to brothers, and hence to the Supreme. The love of the Father appears in the mortal personality by the ministry of the indwelling Adjuster. Such a God-knowing son reveals this love to his universe brethren, and this fraternal affection is the essence of the love of the Supreme.

Spiritual fruits are the different flavors of the love grape:

p1946:3 180:2.5 When there exists this living connection between divinity and humanity, if humanity should thoughtlessly and ignorantly pray for selfish ease and vainglorious accomplishments, there could be only one divine answer: more and increased bearing of the fruits of the spirit on the stems of the living branches. When the branch of the vine is alive, there can be only one answer to all its petitions: increased grape bearing. In fact, the branch exists only for, and can do nothing except, fruit bearing, yielding grapes. So does the true believer exist only for the purpose of bearing the fruits of the spirit: to love man as he himself has been loved by God—that we should love one another, even as Jesus has loved us.
BradlyParticipant
Feb 18, 2018, 1:35 PM
Thanks Bonita for your illuminations and clarifications and related text….always helpful and appreciated. Indeed the value of what we do is first, and primarily I think, determined by our sincerity of motive and righteous intent but also by the experiential wisdom, derived from both revelation and reasoned experience response – this reasoned and revealed wisdom applied to our sincerity is progressively ever more effect-ive and increasingly becomes an expression of our own unique experience in personal religion. As we traverse the Circles and gain experience upon and after fusion, our sincerity grows in effect and in range of effect I think by gains in wisdom. Thus the quest for meaning and value never ceases or subsides and neither does its expressions by each ascendant being or by the Supreme.

And yes, I was attempting to describe the great circuit of love…which is still not yet completed by the Supreme’s reception either since that love flow and circuit continues onward to and through the vine as well…to the each and the all….in Paradise and in time and for eternity….love never stops its perpetual motion. Neither is its power diminished by those who refuse it by refusing to freely give it – those who have chosen separation and disconnection from the circuit and flow; rather is the flow increased and energized and amplified by every open circuit connection that gives love to others. Always actualizing prior potentials and thusly creating new potentials for future eventuations and realizations and actualization in reality.

Interesting how effect and value only requires righteous sincerity but wisdom adds an important quality to both over time that increasingly stabilizes the one and the all …..but however less wise or more wise righteous sincerity might be in its act, its effect and outcomes are positive universally within the one and throughout the all….and endless feedback loop finding amplification, harmonization, directionalization, and application by the Supreme.

117:0.4 (1278.4) The parts and individuals of the grand universe evolve as a reflection of the total evolution of the Supreme, while in turn the Supreme is the synthetic cumulative total of all grand universe evolution. From the mortal viewpoint both are evolutionary and experiential reciprocals.

Paper 100 ends with a study and recital of those attributes the Master demonstrated for us to behold, examine, and consider as inspiration for our own ideals and personal embrace and expression. It’s always been important to me how very sincere Jesus was in every intersection of relationship, situation, and circumstance. How balanced was/is this person always….poised indeed. While he felt the full spectrum of emotions, only compassion ever overcame him I think….all others were fully mastered at a young age. Always it seemed, he lived in the very presence of God and felt always unafraid of any and all repercussions to personal decisions and the free will choices made in sincerity…no matter the lack of experience or wisdom which may have attended such choices. A study of Jesus most certainly leads the tadpole to the humble acknowledgement of personal progress still to come.

“Behold the man!”

100:7.2 (1101.6) The unfailing kindness of Jesus touched the hearts of men, but his stalwart strength of character amazed his followers. He was truly sincere; there was nothing of the hypocrite in him. He was free from affectation; he was always so refreshingly genuine. He never stooped to pretense, and he never resorted to shamming. He lived the truth, even as he taught it. He was the truth. He was constrained to proclaim saving truth to his generation, even though such sincerity sometimes caused pain. He was unquestioningly loyal to all truth.

100:7.3 (1101.7) But the Master was so reasonable, so approachable. He was so practical in all his ministry, while all his plans were characterized by such sanctified common sense. He was so free from all freakish, erratic, and eccentric tendencies. He was never capricious, whimsical, or hysterical. In all his teaching and in everything he did there was always an exquisite discrimination associated with an extraordinary sense of propriety.

100:7.4 (1102.1) The Son of Man was always a well-poised personality. Even his enemies maintained a wholesome respect for him; they even feared his presence. Jesus was unafraid. He was surcharged with divine enthusiasm, but he never became fanatical. He was emotionally active but never flighty. He was imaginative but always practical. He frankly faced the realities of life, but he was never dull or prosaic. He was courageous but never reckless; prudent but never cowardly. He was sympathetic but not sentimental; unique but not eccentric. He was pious but not sanctimonious. And he was so well-poised because he was so perfectly unified.

"Live loyally today—grow—and tomorrow will attend to itself. The quickest way for a tadpole to become a frog is to live loyally each moment as a tadpole."
BradlyParticipant
Feb 19, 2018, 9:49 PM
2:0.2 (33.2) The nature of God can be studied in a revelation of supreme ideas, the divine character can be envisaged as a portrayal of supernal ideals, but the most enlightening and spiritually edifying of all revelations of the divine nature is to be found in the comprehension of the religious life of Jesus of Nazareth, both before and after his attainment of full consciousness of divinity.

2:6.4 (41.2) The concept of God as a king-judge, although it fostered a high moral standard and created a law-respecting people as a group, left the individual believer in a sad position of insecurity respecting his status in time and in eternity. The later Hebrew prophets proclaimed God to be a Father to Israel; Jesus revealed God as the Father of each human being. The entire mortal concept of God is transcendently illuminated by the life of Jesus. Selflessness is inherent in parental love. God loves not like a father, but as a father. He is the Paradise Father of every universe personality.

102:8.7 (1128.3) But religion is never enhanced by an appeal to the so-called miraculous. The quest for miracles is a harking back to the primitive religions of magic. True religion has nothing to do with alleged miracles, and never does revealed religion point to miracles as proof of authority. Religion is ever and always rooted and grounded in personal experience. And your highest religion, the life of Jesus, was just such a personal experience: man, mortal man, seeking God and finding him to the fullness during one short life in the flesh, while in the same human experience there appeared God seeking man and finding him to the full satisfaction of the perfect soul of infinite supremacy. And that is religion, even the highest yet revealed in the universe of Nebadon — the earth life of Jesus of Nazareth.

We are taught that the story of Jesus’ life in Part IV is a story of Religion In Human Experience. Jesus was first the Son of Man and was a natural born mortal of the realm before his eventual transfiguration and glorious attainment of his Master Son status while still among us mortals. His life exemplifies that profound trust, assurance, and confidence in God’s love and care and the fruits of the Spirit which comes to every faith child and branch of the vine. His life truly can be our inspiration and guide in our own religious experience. So when reading about Jesus, consider his truths for our own and his example as a very human illustration of the inner life we may each and all embrace for ourselves.

And while it is true some mortals are disappointed in one another and fearful for human destiny, Jesus had a great, even unshakeable confidence in humankind….he believed in us and our nature and had absolute confidence in God’s paternal and Divine love for each and every child in creation. Jesus saw the inner light whether bright or but a flicker and truly enjoyed other people and was kind and generous, not from duty, but from genuine affection of the human spirit and light within us each in our own personal and unique ways.

Paper 100 Continues:

100:7.5 (1102.2) Jesus’ originality was unstifled. He was not bound by tradition or handicapped by enslavement to narrow conventionality. He spoke with undoubted confidence and taught with absolute authority. But his superb originality did not cause him to overlook the gems of truth in the teachings of his predecessors and contemporaries. And the most original of his teachings was the emphasis of love and mercy in the place of fear and sacrifice.

100:7.6 (1102.3) Jesus was very broad in his outlook. He exhorted his followers to preach the gospel to all peoples. He was free from all narrow-mindedness. His sympathetic heart embraced all mankind, even a universe. Always his invitation was, “Whosoever will, let him come.”

100:7.7 (1102.4) Of Jesus it was truly said, “He trusted God.” As a man among men he most sublimely trusted the Father in heaven. He trusted his Father as a little child trusts his earthly parent. His faith was perfect but never presumptuous. No matter how cruel nature might appear to be or how indifferent to man’s welfare on earth, Jesus never faltered in his faith. He was immune to disappointment and impervious to persecution. He was untouched by apparent failure.

100:7.8 (1102.5) He loved men as brothers, at the same time recognizing how they differed in innate endowments and acquired qualities. “He went about doing good.”

100:7.9 (1102.6) Jesus was an unusually cheerful person, but he was not a blind and unreasoning optimist. His constant word of exhortation was, “Be of good cheer.” He could maintain this confident attitude because of his unswerving trust in God and his unshakable confidence in man. He was always touchingly considerate of all men because he loved them and believed in them. Still he was always true to his convictions and magnificently firm in his devotion to the doing of his Father’s will.

"Live loyally today—grow—and tomorrow will attend to itself. The quickest way for a tadpole to become a frog is to live loyally each moment as a tadpole."
BradlyParticipant
Feb 21, 2018, 11:14 PM
Even in the Bible, in such an abbreviated rendition of Jesus and his character revealed to us there, Jesus was so admired, beloved, and respected by those who wrote of him and there was such trust, courage, and strength in those teachings attributed to and quoted of him. It’s always been remarkable to me how so many since then could fall so in love with this person. Now, with the Papers before us, it is revealed to us that Jesus’ nobility and grandeur of character was in so many ways his purely human being as the fruits of the Spirit led life and a quite normal experience with and of Religion In Human Experience. In many ways, to me at least, this is the greatest of all teachings in the UB…how grand and glorious is our normal spirit nature as mortals of the realm, even upon this world, the world of the cross….now, the Shrine of Nebadon.

100:7.10 (1102.7) The Master was always generous. He never grew weary of saying, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” Said he, “Freely you have received, freely give.” And yet, with all of his unbounded generosity, he was never wasteful or extravagant. He taught that you must believe to receive salvation. “For every one who seeks shall receive.”

100:7.11 (1102.8) He was candid, but always kind. Said he, “If it were not so, I would have told you.” He was frank, but always friendly. He was outspoken in his love for the sinner and in his hatred for sin. But throughout all this amazing frankness he was unerringly fair.

100:7.12 (1102.9) Jesus was consistently cheerful, notwithstanding he sometimes drank deeply of the cup of human sorrow. He fearlessly faced the realities of existence, yet was he filled with enthusiasm for the gospel of the kingdom. But he controlled his enthusiasm; it never controlled him. He was unreservedly dedicated to “the Father’s business.” This divine enthusiasm led his unspiritual brethren to think he was beside himself, but the onlooking universe appraised him as the model of sanity and the pattern of supreme mortal devotion to the high standards of spiritual living. And his controlled enthusiasm was contagious; his associates were constrained to share his divine optimism.

100:7.13 (1103.1) This man of Galilee was not a man of sorrows; he was a soul of gladness. Always was he saying, “Rejoice and be exceedingly glad.” But when duty required, he was willing to walk courageously through the “valley of the shadow of death.” He was gladsome but at the same time humble.

Are not these attributes quite human in those guided by love and the Spirit within? I think they are….yes.

100:7.15 (1103.3) His courage was magnificent, but he was never foolhardy. His watchword was, “Fear not.” His bravery was lofty and his courage often heroic. But his courage was linked with discretion and controlled by reason. It was courage born of faith, not the recklessness of blind presumption. He was truly brave but never audacious.

100:7.16 (1103.4) The Master was a pattern of reverence. The prayer of even his youth began, “Our Father who is in heaven, hallowed be your name.” He was even respectful of the faulty worship of his fellows. But this did not deter him from making attacks on religious traditions or assaulting errors of human belief. He was reverential of true holiness, and yet he could justly appeal to his fellows, saying, “Who among you convicts me of sin?”

100:7.17 (1103.5) Jesus was great because he was good, and yet he fraternized with the little children. He was gentle and unassuming in his personal life, and yet he was the perfected man of a universe. His associates called him Master unbidden.

100:7.18 (1103.6) 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.”

Thanks to all who have joined in or followed along….now and in time to come. May we all be encouraged and inspired as we consider the transformative power and Divine assistance and guidance for Religion In Human Experience. Embrace the reality. Trust in the WAY – the Tadpole Way!!

"Live loyally today—grow—and tomorrow will attend to itself. The quickest way for a tadpole to become a frog is to live loyally each moment as a tadpole."

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