The Soul- An Experiential Acquirement

34 posts · 5 participants · started Sep 29, 2014, 5:53 PM

1. B

   BonitaParticipant
   Oct 7, 2014, 3:07 PM

   Mara wrote:  Always will we be dependent upon experience.  Never will we be experiential and existential.

   I’m wondering about fusion.  Isn’t fusion a synthesis of the existential and experiential?  (107:2.7) I realize that doesn’t make a fused mortal Absolute though, so it must be a different level of reality.  The whole ascension career involves the comprehension of the relationships between the existential and experiential levels of reality.

   106:0.1 It is not enough that the ascending mortal should know something of the relations of Deity to the genesis and manifestations of cosmic reality; he should also comprehend something of the relationships existing between himself and the numerous levels of existential and experiential realities, of potential and actual realities. Man’s terrestrial orientation, his cosmic insight, and his spiritual directionization are all enhanced by a better comprehension of universe realities and their techniques of interassociation, integration, and unification.

2. M

   MaraParticipant
   Oct 8, 2014, 3:17 AM

   Bonita wrote:   I’m wondering about fusion. Isn’t fusion a synthesis of the existential and experiential? (107:2.7)

   The reference you cite is this one:

   101:6:6    With man, the eventual fusion and resultant oneness with the indwelling Adjuster — the personality synthesis of man and the essence of God — constitute him, in potential, a living part of the Supreme and insure for such a onetime mortal being the eternal birthright of the endless pursuit of finality of universe service for and with the Supreme.

   Our Paradise Father has given each of us a unique personality.  He has given each a fragment of himself.  The revelators ask this question:

   112:7:9   Has the triumphant Adjuster won personality by the magnificent service to humanity, or has the valiant human acquired immortality through sincere efforts to achieve Adjusterlikeness? It is neither; but they together have achieved the evolution of a member of one of the unique orders of the ascending personalities of the Supreme, one who will ever be found serviceable, faithful, and efficient, a candidate for further growth and development, ever ranging upward and never ceasing the supernal ascent until the seven circuits of Havona have been traversed and the onetime soul of earthly origin stands in worshipful recognition of the actual personality of the Father on Paradise.

   Upon fusion each becomes a member of one of the unique orders of ascending personalities.  I hope you find this interesting:

   12:7:13   When once an Adjuster fuses with an ascending mortal, the number of that Adjuster is stricken from the records of the superuniverse. What happens on the records of Divinington, I do not know, but I surmise that the registry of that Adjuster is removed to the secret circles of the inner courts of Grandfanda, the acting head of the Corps of the Finality.

   Ascension is all about achievement, attainment and actual experience.  Even Adjusters, prior to fusion acquire experience of necessity in the work they do, as denoted by the orders described to us:  Virgin Adjusters, Advanced Adjusters, Supreme Adjusters and others.

   And of personality, changeless they say in the midst of change, we find this nugget:

   75:8:7 . . . .  But in our evolving universe of relative perfection and imperfection we rejoice that disagreement and misunderstanding are possible, for thereby is evidenced the fact and the act of personality in the universe. And if our creation is an existence dominated by personality, then can you be assured of the possibilities of personality survival, advancement, and achievement; we can be confident of personality growth, experience, and adventure. What a glorious universe, in that it is personal and progressive, not merely mechanical or even passively perfect!

   Personality achieves, grows, experiences and survives.

   The existential idea is in the I AM.  The mortal ascension plan seems to be entirely experiential with the grace of God.
3. N

   nelsongParticipant
   Oct 9, 2014, 1:01 AM

   I think fluidic space has it backwards but at least they have a handle on their souls, more so than I do. :)

4. M

   MaraParticipant
   Oct 9, 2014, 4:36 PM

   nelsong wrote:I think fluidic space has it backwards but at least they have a handle on their souls, more so than I do. :)

   Tongue-in-cheek nelsong?

   God cannot personally know imperfection as his own experience.  (2:2:6) The ascendent experience of mortals is a progressive, gradual and inward  climb to Paradise.  Both the morontia scheme of mortal progression (starting with the birth of the soul) as well as the spirit scheme of mortal progression is experiential by actual participation in every step of the way.

   48:8:2    There is a definite and divine purpose in all this morontia and subsequent spirit scheme of mortal progression, this elaborate universe training school for ascending creatures. It is the design of the Creators to afford the creatures of time a graduated opportunity to master the details of the operation and administration of the grand universe, and this long course of training is best carried forward by having the surviving mortal climb up gradually and by actual participation in every step of the ascent.

5. B

   BonitaParticipant
   Oct 10, 2014, 2:01 PM

   The point I was trying to make is that upon fusion the Adjuster translates from the existential level to the experiential level, meanwhile retaining ALL of his existential nature.  This means that all of us, even before fusion, have an existential nucleus to our being which we have limited access to through the soul.  Upon fusion we have open access to the existential level for eternity.  Fused individuals are experiential-existential beings living an experiential existence.  Adjusters, after fusion, are existential-experiential beings living an existential experience.

   Souls grow in perfection, or divinity attainment, and even after fusion there are infinite opportunities for more experience which adds to the further fullness of one’s perfection potential or divinity status.  There is always more.

   107:4.7   Can you really realize the true significance of the Adjuster’s indwelling? Do you really fathom what it means to have an absolute fragment of the absolute and infinite Deity, the Universal Father, indwelling and fusing with your finite mortal natures? When mortal man fuses with an actual fragment of the existential Cause of the total cosmos, no limit can ever be placed upon the destiny of such an unprecedented and unimaginable partnership. In eternity, man will be discovering not only the infinity of the objective Deity but also the unending potentiality of the subjective fragment of this same God. Always will the Adjuster be revealing to the mortal personality the wonder of God, and never can this supernal revelation come to an end, for the Adjuster is of God and as God to mortal man.

   56:9.9 Existential status in eternity implies existential self-consciousness of infinity, even though another eternity may be required to experience self-realization of the experiential potentialities inherent in an infinity eternity — an eternal infinity.

6. M

   MaraParticipant
   Oct 10, 2014, 2:54 PM

   Bonita wrote:   The point I was trying to make is . . . .

   Thanks for explicating your point.  Here is a supporting reference from the part of the book about the different orders of Adjusters.

   107:2:7   6. Fused Adjusters — finaliters — those who have become one with the ascending creatures of the superuniverses, the eternity partners of the time ascenders of the Paradise Corps of the Finality. Thought Adjusters ordinarily become fused with the ascending mortals of time, and with such surviving mortals they are registered in and out of Ascendington; they follow the course of ascendant beings. Upon fusion with the ascending evolutionary soul, it appears that the Adjuster translates from the absolute existential level of the universe to the finite experiential level of functional association with an ascending personality. While retaining all of the character of the existential divine nature, a fused Adjuster becomes indissolubly linked with the ascending career of a surviving mortal.

   I am pointing out the fact that fusion and ascension are potentials by design and the design requires experience to achieve, according to God’s plans and purposes.
7. B

   BonitaParticipant
   Oct 10, 2014, 3:29 PM

   Experience is critical for growth of the soul.  We are told that it’s not so much what we learn from experience but that we have the actual “experience of living” (39:4.13).  The “experience of living” is vital, which is why Michael incarnated.   So, what is it about this “experience of living”?  Why is it so important?

8. B

   BonitaParticipant
   Oct 13, 2014, 4:28 PM

   I guess no one is interested in this topic.  Too bad I guess.

   Jesus said that the supreme experience of living is to become acquainted with other people and to learn about them and their problems.(130:2.6) I think he said this because it provides the moral soil for decision making.  If you avoid other people and their problems, you avoid opportunities for soul growth. 

9. N

   nelsongParticipant
   Oct 13, 2014, 8:06 PM

   The “experience of living” is vital, which is why Michael incarnated.

   Interesting point here: Do you think that Jesus learned (as in soul growth) from his experience of living on Urantia? Seems to me that it is not likely within the context of the above topic.

   More likely he experienced the necessary experience of living while revealing his Father which in turn helped those who experienced personal relationship with him (as well as many generations that followed – impersonally – like you and I through this revelation) to have soul growth as part of the experience of living.

    

    

10. B

    BonitaParticipant
    Oct 13, 2014, 9:53 PM

    nelsong wrote:

    Do you think that Jesus learned (as in soul growth) from his experience of living on Urantia?

    I’m not sure if I’m understanding your question.  Jesus did have a soul (144:4.4; 150:7.1; 168:0.10; 173:1.6; 181:1.8; 182:3.2; 182:3.9; 188:3.4; 196:0.10). His soul was born during his fifth year when he received his Adjuster and it began to grow like any other soul (123:2.1).  His soul evolved through the seven psychic circles which require decision making within the experience of living (129:4.1).  When he completed those circles (134:8.4), he would have fused with his Adjuster; but instead, at his baptism his Adjuster departed to be personalized as its own person, without Jesus’ soul (129;4.2; 136:2.3).  I believe Jesus’ soul stayed with him until mortal death, which is when he commended his spirit (soul) to his Father (188:3.4; 188:3.8)  Jesus had to go through what an average Urantian citizen goes through on all levels of experience (127:5.4; 129:4.3; 129:4.5).  Had he not done that, he would not have fulfilled his bestowal (20:6.6; 128:1.1; 128:7.6)).

11. M

    MaraParticipant
    Oct 15, 2014, 3:55 PM

    nelsong wrote:

    Do you think that Jesus learned (as in soul growth) from his experience of living on Urantia?

    Yes, he certainly did.  Consider these comments about Jesus’ experience when he was 12 years old, going on 13:

    127:6:12  Jesus is rapidly becoming a man, not just a young man but an adult. He has learned well to bear responsibility. He knows how to carry on in the face of disappointment. He bears up bravely when his plans are thwarted and his purposes temporarily defeated. He has learned how to be fair and just even in the face of injustice. He is learning how to adjust his ideals of spiritual living to the practical demands of earthly existence. He is learning how to plan for the achievement of a higher and distant goal of idealism while he toils earnestly for the attainment of a nearer and immediate goal of necessity. He is steadily acquiring the art of adjusting his aspirations to the commonplace demands of the human occasion. He has very nearly mastered the technique of utilizing the energy of the spiritual drive to turn the mechanism of material achievement. He is slowly learning how to live the heavenly life while he continues on with the earthly existence. More and more he depends upon the ultimate guidance of his heavenly Father while he assumes the fatherly role of guiding and directing the children of his earth family. He is becoming experienced in the skillful wresting of victory from the very jaws of defeat; he is learning how to transform the difficulties of time into the triumphs of eternity.

    Thirteen years later Jesus laid down his tools and went to the Jordan river to present himself to John the baptist who was baptizing penitents.  The following comments pertain, in part, to the soul of Jesus.

     

    136:2:3   Ordinarily, when a mortal of the realm attains such high levels of personality perfection, there occur those preliminary phenomena of spiritual elevation which terminate in eventual fusion of the matured soul of the mortal with its associated divine Adjuster. And such a change was apparently due to take place in the personality experience of Jesus of Nazareth on that very day when he went down into the Jordan with his two brothers to be baptized by John. This ceremony was the final act of his purely human life on Urantia, and many superhuman observers expected to witness the fusion of the Adjuster with its indwelt mind, but they were all destined to suffer disappointment. Something new and even greater occurred. As John laid his hands upon Jesus to baptize him, the indwelling Adjuster took final leave of the perfected human soul of Joshua ben Joseph. And in a few moments this divine entity returned from Divinington as a Personalized Adjuster and chief of his kind throughout the entire local universe of Nebadon. Thus did Jesus observe his own former divine spirit descending on its return to him in personalized form. And he heard this same spirit of Paradise origin now speak, saying, “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.” And John, with Jesus‘ two brothers, also heard these words. John’s disciples, standing by the water’s edge, did not hear these words, neither did they see the apparition of the Personalized Adjuster. Only the eyes of Jesus beheld the Personalized Adjuster.
12. B

    BonitaParticipant
    Oct 16, 2014, 3:53 PM

    3:5.16  Everything divine which the human mind grasps and the human soul acquires is an experiential attainment; it is a reality of personal experience and is therefore a unique possession . . . 

    5:6.8 . . . provision having been made for the growth of the immortal self, the soul, it remains for man himself to will the creation or to inhibit the creation of this surviving and eternal self which is his for the choosing.

    The mind grasps and the soul acquires.  That is such a wonderful image for me.  My mind is designed to grasp what my soul desires for its growth, like a mother hen feeding her baby chick.  It’s up to me and my mind to grasp at truth, beauty and goodness, to grind and chew it up as an actual living experience, which then feeds my soul, a place where these wonderful experiences remain forever.  It’s such a fantastically beautiful concept.

13. B

    BonitaParticipant
    Oct 22, 2014, 2:40 PM

    5:0.1 Man does not have to go farther than his own inner experience of the soul’s contemplation of this spiritual-reality presence to find God and attempt communion with him.

    . . .  the soul’s contemplation  . . .  Hmmm.  Does anyone know how the soul contemplates? It must have a mind of its own in order to do that, don’t you think?  It must be the supermind, the Holy Spirit.  And contemplating . . . isn’t that sort of philosophical?  Wouldn’t that have something to do with the Spirit of Truth?  So the inner experience of the soul’s contemplation is an experience of the Holy Spirit and the Spirit of Truth.  How beautiful and true. It’s all good.

14. B

    BonitaParticipant
    Oct 28, 2014, 4:27 PM

    The self-consciousness of the human adjutant mind is independent of Adjuster presence. The soul, being superadjutant requires the presence of the Adjuster for self-consciousness when deprived of the material mind.  The soul also has character derived from decisions made by the adjutant mind. (112:6.7)

Reply on the current forum