LESSON 1: Spirit Foundation & Support Infrastructure

Spirit foundation: The sevenfold spirit influence

Holy Spirit in the Bible

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:

Personality circuit of the Universal Father.
The spirit circuit of the Eternal Son.
The omnipresence of the Infinite Spirit.
The Thought Adjuster bestowals of the Father.
The Holy Spirit presence of the local universe Mother Spirit.
The Spirit of Truth.
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 mindspirits 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:

The bestowed spirit of the Universal Father — the Thought Adjusters.
The spirit presence of the Eternal Son — the spirit gravity of the universe of universes and the certain channel of all spirit communion.
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.
The spirit of the Universal Father and the Creator Son — the Spirit of Truth, generally regarded as the spirit of the Universe Son.
The spirit of the Infinite Spirit and the Universe Mother Spirit — the Holy Spirit, generally regarded as the spirit of:
The mind-spirit of the Universe Mother Spirit — the seven adjutant mind-spirits of the local universe.
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):

The bestowal spirit of the Creator Son, the Comforter, the Spirit of Truth.
The spirit circuit of the Divine Minister, the Holy Spirit.
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.

Spirit of Intuition.
Spirit of Understanding.
Spirit of Courage.
Spirit of Knowledge.
Spirit of Counsel.
Spirit of Worship.
Spirit of Wisdom.

A 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

The domain of human personality.
Personality always seeks unification.
“The relative free will which characterizes the self-consciousness of human personality is involved in:
“1. Moral decision, highest wisdom.
“2. Spiritual choice, truth discernment.
“3. Unselfish love, brotherhood service.
“4. Purposeful co-operation, group loyalty.
“5. Cosmic insight, the grasp of universe meanings.
“6. Personality dedication, wholehearted devotion to doing the
Father’s will.
“7. Worship, the sincere pursuit of divine values and the
wholehearted love of the divine Value-Giver.” (194.7) 16:8.7

Personality is difficult to define — but it is recognized as functioning on diverse levels:
1. Physical level — the physique.
2. Intellectual level — the mind.
3. Emotional level — temperament.
4. Social level — ethical disposition.
5. Moral level — the character.

THE PURPOSE OF LIFE
There is in the mind of the Creator a plan which embraces every creature of all the vast domains of the universe, and this plan is an eternal purpose of boundless opportunity, unlimited progress, and endless life.

Love of adventure, curiosity, and dread of monotony — these traits inherent in evolving human nature — were not put there just to aggravate and annoy you during your short time on earth, but rather to suggest to you that death is only the beginning of an endless career of adventure, an everlasting life of anticipation, an eternal voyage of discovery.

Throughout the eternal career you will never encounter monotony of inaction or stagnation of personality. Progress is made possible by inherent motion, advancement grows out of the capacity for action, and achievement is the child of imaginative adventure. But inherent in this capacity for achievement is the responsibility of ethics, the necessity for recognizing that the world and the universe are filled with a multitude of differing types of beings. All of this magnificent creation, including yourself, was not made just for you.

Ascending mortals gradually progress from the physical to the spiritual. As they progress, they serve on countless assignments in association with their teachers and in company with their more advanced and senior fellows.

If you are a willing learner, if you want to attain spirit levels and reach divine heights, if you sincerely desire to reach the eternal goal, then you will be gently and lovingly led along the pathway of spiritual progress. Every step you take must be one of willingness, intelligent and cheerful co-operation. This process is never tainted with coercion nor compromised by compulsion.

The mortals of the realms of time and space may differ greatly in innate abilities and intellectual endowment, they may enjoy environments exceptionally favorable to social advancement and moral progress, or they may suffer from the lack of almost every human aid to culture and supposed advancement in the arts of civilization; but the possibilities for spiritual progress in the ascension career are equal to all; increasing levels of spiritual insight and cosmic meanings are attained quite independently of all such environmental differences.

The pursuit of the ideal is a continuous effort before death and after. The life after death is no different in the essentials than the mortal existence. Everything we do in this life which is good contributes directly to the enhancement of the future life. Real religion does not foster moral and spiritual laziness by encouraging the vain hope of having all the virtues of a noble character bestowed upon you as a result of passing through the portals of natural death. True religion does not belittle one’s efforts to progress during the mortal life. Every mortal gain is a direct contribution to the enrichment of the first stages of the immortal survival experience.

PERSONAL RELIGION
Every different culture of humanity has its own unique religious perspective on human existence,
and these religions can never come to intellectual unification. Human unity can only be achieved
through the religion of the spirit. Human minds may differ, but all humanity is indwelt by the
same spirit. The hope of human unity can only be realized when the divergent religions become
transformed by the unifying and ennobling religion of the spirit -- the religion of personal
spiritual experience.

The religions of authority can only divide people and set them against each other; the religion of
the spirit will progressively draw people together and cause them to become understandingly
sympathetic with one another. The religions of authority require uniformity in belief, but this is
impossible to realize in the present state of the world. The religion of the spirit requires only
unity of experience -- uniformity of destiny -- making full allowance for diversity of belief. The
religion of the spirit requires only uniformity of insight, not uniformity of viewpoint and outlook.
The religions of authority crystallize their beliefs into lifeless creeds; the religion of the spirit
grows into the increasing joy of loving service.

The philosophic elimination of religious fear and the steady progress of science add greatly to
the end of false gods and to the eventual destruction of that ignorance and superstition which so
long obscured the living Creator of eternal love. The relation between the creature and the
Creator is a living experience, a dynamic religious faith, which is not subject to precise
definition. To isolate part of life and call it religion is to disintegrate life and to distort religion.
Religious convictions may be arrived at through wise reasoning, but the individual becomes
certain only through personal experience.

MARKS OF RELIGIOUS LIVING

The religionist is conscious of universe citizenship and aware of contact with the supernatural. 100:6.3
The most amazing earmarks of religion are dynamic peace and cosmic poise. 100:6.6
Genuine religious experience is evidenced by twelve characteristics.
1. Causes ethics and morals to progress despite inherent animalistic tendencies.
2. Produces sublime trust in the goodness of God in the face of bitter disappointment and crushing defeat.
3. Generates profound courage and confidence despite natural adversity and physical calamity.
4. Exhibits inexplicable poise and sustaining tranquility notwithstanding baffling diseases and acute physical suffering.
5. Maintains a mysterious composure of personality in the face of maltreatment and the rankest injustice.
6. Maintains a divine trust in ultimate victory in spite of the cruelties of seemingly blind fate and the apparent utter indifference of natural forces to human welfare.
7. Persists in the unswerving belief in God despite all contrary demonstrations of logic and successfully withstands all other intellectual sophistries.
8. Exhibits undaunted faith in the soul’s survival regardless of the deceptive teachings of false science and the persuasive delusions of unsound philosophy.
9. Lives and triumphs irrespective of the crushing overload of the complex and partial civilizations of modern times.
10. Contributes to the survival of altruism in spite of human selfishness, social antagonisms, industrial greeds, and political maladjustments.
11. Steadfastly adheres to a sublime belief in universe unity and divine guidance regardless of the perplexing presence of evil and sin.
12. Goes right on worshipping God in spite of anything and everything. Declares: “Even though he slay me, yet will I serve him.” 101:3.4