Foreword

0:5.1Per­son­al­ity is a level of de­i­fied re­al­ity and ranges from the mor­tal and mid­wayer level of the higher mind ac­ti­va­tion of wor­ship and wis­dom up through the mor­ontial and spir­i­tual to the at­tain­ment of fi­nal­ity of per­son­al­ity sta­tus. That is the evo­lu­tion­ary as­cent of mor­tal- and kin­dred-crea­ture per­son­al­ity, but there are nu­mer­ous other or­ders of uni­verse per­son­al­i­ties.

0:5.2Re­al­ity is sub­ject to uni­ver­sal ex­pan­sion, per­son­al­ity to in­fi­nite di­ver­si­fi­ca­tion, and both are ca­pa­ble of well-nigh un­lim­ited De­ity co-or­di­na­tion and eter­nal sta­bi­liza­tion. While the meta­mor­phic range of non­per­sonal re­al­ity is def­i­nitely lim­ited, we know of no lim­i­ta­tions to the pro­gres­sive evo­lu­tion of per­son­al­ity re­al­i­ties.

0:5.3On at­tained ex­pe­ri­en­tial lev­els all per­son­al­ity or­ders or val­ues are as­so­cia­ble and even co­cre­a­tional. Even God and man can co­ex­ist in a uni­fied per­son­al­ity, as is so ex­qui­sitely demon­strated in the pres­ent sta­tus of Christ Mi­chael—Son of Man and Son of God.

0:5.4All subin­fi­nite or­ders and phases of per­son­al­ity are as­so­cia­tive at­tain­ables and are po­ten­tially co­cre­a­tional. The preper­sonal, the per­sonal, and the super­per­sonal are all linked to­gether by mu­tual po­ten­tial of co-or­di­nate at­tain­ment, pro­gres­sive achieve­ment, and co­cre­a­tional ca­pac­ity. But never does the im­per­sonal di­rectly trans­mute to the per­sonal. Per­son­al­ity is never spon­ta­neous; it is the gift of the Par­a­dise Fa­ther. Per­son­al­ity is super­im­posed upon en­ergy, and it is as­so­ci­ated only with liv­ing en­ergy sys­tems; iden­tity can be as­so­ci­ated with non­liv­ing en­ergy pat­terns.

0:5.5The Uni­ver­sal Fa­ther is the se­cret of the re­al­ity of per­son­al­ity, the be­stowal of per­son­al­ity, and the des­tiny of per­son­al­ity. The Eter­nal Son is the ab­so­lute per­son­al­ity, the se­cret of spir­i­tual en­ergy, mor­ontia spir­its, and per­fected spir­its. The Con­joint Ac­tor is the spirit-mind per­son­al­ity, the source of in­tel­li­gence, rea­son, and the uni­ver­sal mind. But the Isle of Par­a­dise is non­per­sonal and ex­traspir­i­tual, be­ing the essence of the uni­ver­sal body, the source and cen­ter of phys­i­cal mat­ter, and the ab­so­lute mas­ter pat­tern of uni­ver­sal ma­te­rial re­al­ity.

0:5.6These qual­i­ties of uni­ver­sal re­al­ity are man­i­fest in Uran­tian hu­man ex­pe­ri­ence on the fol­low­ing lev­els:

0:5.71. Body. The ma­te­rial or phys­i­cal or­gan­ism of man. The liv­ing elec­tro­chem­i­cal mech­a­nism of an­i­mal na­ture and ori­gin.

0:5.82. Mind. The think­ing, per­ceiv­ing, and feel­ing mech­a­nism of the hu­man or­gan­ism. The to­tal con­scious and un­con­scious ex­pe­ri­ence. The in­tel­li­gence as­so­ci­ated with the emo­tional life reach­ing up­ward through wor­ship and wis­dom to the spirit level.

0:5.93. Spirit. The di­vine spirit that in­dwells the mind of man—the Thought Ad­juster. This im­mor­tal spirit is preper­sonal—not a per­son­al­ity, though des­tined to be­come a part of the per­son­al­ity of the sur­viv­ing mor­tal crea­ture.

0:5.104. Soul. The soul of man is an ex­pe­ri­en­tial ac­quire­ment. As a mor­tal crea­ture chooses to “do the will of the Fa­ther in heaven,” so the in­dwelling spirit be­comes the fa­ther of a new re­al­ity in hu­man ex­pe­ri­ence. The mor­tal and ma­te­rial mind is the mother of this same emerg­ing re­al­ity. The sub­stance of this new re­al­ity is nei­ther ma­te­rial nor spir­i­tual—it is mor­ontial. This is the emerg­ing and im­mor­tal soul which is des­tined to sur­vive mor­tal death and be­gin the Par­a­dise as­cen­sion.

0:5.11Per­son­al­ity. The per­son­al­ity of mor­tal man is nei­ther body, mind, nor spirit; nei­ther is it the soul. Per­son­al­ity is the one change­less re­al­ity in an oth­er­wise ever-chang­ing crea­ture ex­pe­ri­ence; and it uni­fies all other as­so­ci­ated fac­tors of in­di­vid­u­al­ity. The per­son­al­ity is the unique be­stowal which the Uni­ver­sal Fa­ther makes upon the liv­ing and as­so­ci­ated en­er­gies of mat­ter, mind, and spirit, and which sur­vives with the sur­vival of the mor­ontial soul.

0:5.12Mor­ontia is a term des­ig­nat­ing a vast level in­ter­ven­ing be­tween the ma­te­rial and the spir­i­tual. It may des­ig­nate per­sonal or im­per­sonal re­al­i­ties, liv­ing or non­liv­ing en­er­gies. The warp of mor­ontia is spir­i­tual; its woof is phys­i­cal.