LESSON 1: Spirit Foundation & Support Infrastructure

Spirit foundation: The sevenfold spirit influence

Holy Spirit in the Bible

The terms Holy Spirit, Holy Ghost, and the Spirit of God are used somewhat interchangeably in the Bible. These designations cover the references in the Urantia Book of the following different Spirit realities:

1. Personality circuit of the Universal Father.
2. The spirit circuit of the Eternal Son.
3. The omnipresence of the Infinite Spirit.
4. The Thought Adjuster bestowals of the Father.
5. The Holy Spirit presence of the local universe Mother Spirit.
6. The Spirit of Truth.
7. The seven adjutant mind-spirits of the local universe mind endowment.
   

Some main attributes of Spirit are (with Biblical references):

• Spirit has creative functions
  And the Spirit of God was moving over the face of the waters. Genesis 1:2.
  When thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created; and thou renewest the face of the ground. Psalm 104:30.
  The spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life. Job 33:4.
  
  
• Spirit imparts intelligence and ability
  And he has filled him with the Spirit of God, with ability, with intelligence, with knowledge, and with all craftsmanship. Exodus 35:31.
  Thou gavest thy good Spirit to instruct them. Nehemiah 9:20.
  But it is the spirit in a man, the breath of the Almighty, that makes him understand. Job 32:8.
  But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things. John 14:26.
  
  
• Spirit provides endowments
  The spirit of man is the lamp of the Lord, searching all his innermost parts. Proverbs 20:27.
  Let thy good spirit lead me on a level path. Psalm 143:10.
  The spirit of the Lord speaks by me, his word is upon my tongue. 2 Samuel 23:2.
  But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. Acts 1:8.
  
  
• Spirit establishes Divine presence
  For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. 1 Corinthians 2:10.
  In him you also, who...were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit. Ephesians 1:13.
  Whither shall I go from thy Spirit? Or whither shall I flee from thy presence? Psalm 139:7.
  Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me. Psalm 51:10.
  
  
• Spirit gets poured out upon all flesh
  I will pour out my spirit on all flesh. Joel 2:28.
  I will pour out my Spirit; and they shall prophesy. Acts 2:18.
  The Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word. Acts 10:44.
  

The Urantia Book expands our comprehension of Spirit

In a way, mankind is subject to the double influence of the sevenfold appeal of the universe spirit influences. The early evolutionary races of mortals are subject to the progressive contact of the seven adjutant mind-spirits of the local universe Mother Spirit. As man progresses upward in the scale of intelligence and spiritual perception, there eventually come to hover over him and dwell within him the seven higher spirit influences.
And these seven spirits of the advancing worlds are:

1. The bestowed spirit of the Universal Father — the Thought Adjusters.
2. The spirit presence of the Eternal Son — the spirit gravity of the universe of universes and the certain channel of all spirit communion.
3. The spirit presence of the Infinite Spirit — the universal spirit-mind of all creation, the spiritual source of the intellectual kinship of all progressive intelligences.
4. The spirit of the Universal Father and the Creator Son — the Spirit of Truth, generally regarded as the spirit of the Universe Son.
5. The spirit of the Infinite Spirit and the Universe Mother Spirit — the Holy Spirit, generally regarded as the spirit of:
6. The mind-spirit of the Universe Mother Spirit — the seven adjutant mind-spirits of the local universe.
7. The spirit of the Father, Sons, and Spirits — the new-name spirit of the ascending mortals of the realms after the fusion of the mortal spirit-born soul with the Paradise Thought Adjuster and after the subsequent attainment of the divinity and glorification of the status of the Paradise Corps of the Finality. 

There are three distinct spirit circuits in the local universe of Nebadon (the first three Spirits in the above list are part of circuits originating beyond the boundaries of Nebadon):

1. The bestowal spirit of the Creator Son, the Comforter, the Spirit of Truth.
2. The spirit circuit of the Divine Minister, the Holy Spirit.
3. The intelligence-ministry circuit, including the more or less unified activities but diverse functioning of the seven adjutant mind-spirits. These are the 7 spirits mentioned in the Book of Revelation.

The Urantia Book names these seven adjutant mind-spirits of the Book of Revelation.
These spirits function in the human mind in accordance with its capacity of receptivity.

1. Spirit of Intuition.
2. Spirit of Understanding.
3. Spirit of Courage.
4. Spirit of Knowledge.
5. Spirit of Counsel.
6. Spirit of Worship.
7. Spirit of Wisdom.
   

This simple chart illustrates the relationships between these various Spirits. In combination they form the Spiritual infrastructure which guides all intelligent life to discover itself and the very source of life and creation. Spirits-chart.pdf

A solid Spiritual foundation provides the Divine downreach to man, but does not begin and end merely in the Spirit realm. Man finds himself in the mortal-physical realm, and as such must also provide his own upreach to Divinity through his own initiatives, and co-creative efforts in response to the gentle and loving promptings of his Spirit helpers. One such co-creative initiative is known as A Spiritual Bill of Rights for Humanity.

This Spiritual Bill of Rights can help prepare the way for many to discover their own relationship with the Creator, regardless of their religious status. The principles of spiritual freedom they offer encourage people to consider perspectives beyond their own tradition, and express truth from their own personal experience. Go to: A Spiritual Bill of Rights

/media/bdg/Busy Bee/My Passport backup/Urantia/UB studies/Holy Spirit.pdf
/media/bdg/Busy Bee/My Passport backup/Urantia/UB studies/Spirit of Truth.pdf
/media/bdg/Busy Bee/My Passport backup/Urantia/UB studies/Thought Adjusters.pdf

Lots of stuff in this one:
/media/bdg/Busy Bee/My Passport backup/Urantia/UB studies/Religious Experience.pdf

Discourse on the mind by Jessona in the GLoW Stillness category -- edit and summarize it accordingly

Tom: As we get older at least some of our minds seem to diminish like our bodies whether through improper diet or lack of use of the mind or overuse of it or substance abuse. Our text in the Rodan papers says the master's worshipful practice brings relaxation that renews the mind. Does the mind need renewing? I thought the mind was a circuit from the Mother Spirit that's perfect. It's the brain that's not functioning. Is stillness able to renew the mind to overcome deterioration?

Jessona: It is helpful. I must place it in context in that your mind has a physical receptive mechanism that is your brain which is intimately associated with all else that is your body, and it is the body which is first to run out of its energy, its life force, to deteriorate. Since the mind must use this receptive organ to engage into your physical form and enact events initiated by your will in this world, it becomes hampered as the physical dimension of your mental, mindal, makeup declines. Relaxation renews the mind because it refreshes the brain. When the neural circuits are able to reset themselves through passivity, through the release of the tension of grappling with thought and method and events and their coordination, the mind is able to turn away from the outward focus and to be attracted to the inner impulses of the Divine Monitor.  Relaxation in a sense closes the door on the noise of the outer world so that you can hear the subtle sounds of the spirit dimension.

The mind itself does not degenerate; the platform upon which the mind rests undergoes deterioration. Your mind is circuit-like, and as you age your patterns of thinking will remain, though your effectiveness at thinking may slip away.

I will return to my lesson and point out that the effort to be still and know that I am God is a knowledge that is grounded in awareness and not grounded in thinking, that stream of constructed expression of awareness. The knowledge or perhaps better the awareness of God subsequently is developed into a stream of thought often aided by a stream of words that express that knowledge. The awareness is in the mind; the expression is composed in the craft-room of the brain. You may encounter difficulty as your biologic form will deteriorate, for physical life is of a finite duration.

Your mind will never lose its patterns of thinking that it developed in the experience of the physical life.  When you receive your morontia vehicle, you will receive the new mind circuit, but your patterns of thought will be installed in this circuit, and you will continue the consciousness that you had prior to your death. In a sense, your operating system will change, but your software will be reinstalled. Then your work begins to transform these patterns of thought that were born in your nativity life on an evolutionary world into those
morontia patterns that will elevate you in awareness to this pure spirit form of consciousness. That, my friend, is a great task.

To aid in the preservation of the organ through which your mind functions it is good to practice those habits of health and well-being, be it nutritionally, be it through activity, and be it through the exercise of thinking, of problem solving, of wrestling in the mind conceptually.  This will burn the rust off the circuits or at least prevent further rust development.

The Spirit of Truth — The Comforter

"And so did the bestowal of the Spirit of Truth bring to the world and its peoples the last of the spirit endowment designed to aid in the ascending search for God.” Urantia Book 194:2.20