Episode:God the Father—Relation to the Individual (Part 3)

From Symmetry of Soul


God is not only the determiner of destiny; he is man’s eternal destination. All nonreligious human activities seek to bend the universe to the distorting service of self; the truly religious individual seeks to identify the self with the universe and then to dedicate the activities of this unified self to the service of the universe family of fellow beings, human and superhuman.

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Keywords: Urantia, God, Religion, Salvation, Christianity

Summary by Kermit

Commentary after Review

We addressed the issue of how to relate to a revelation of truth consisting of nothing but words, when truth cannot be defined with words. Surely our relationship with these words will have to be approached in a way we have probably never before considered. We come up against situations where we are required to discern how it is that a statement may convey truth while appearing to violate fact. The revelation calls for a synthetic approach rather than an analytical one. Grow from fact finder to truth seeker to come into right relationship with this revelation.

We expanded on the physics of the Adjuster’s work in the mind as a catalyzer and focuser of other mind-spirit ministries. This indirect method of action arises from the Adjuster’s ability to more directly engage the morontia soul with which it shares an actual spirit nature in contrast with adjutant mind. One of the problems with seeking a more conscious awareness of the Adjuster’s presence and action lies in the very real risk of falsely attributing merely mindal phenomena to the Adjuster. Adjutant mind is capable of spectacular performances which amount to nothing more than figment masquerading as that which you seek.

We also revisited the dynamics of worship with respect to the role of the soul craving and initiating worship, the mind consenting to worship, and the Adjuster in conducting the worship. Adjutant mind craves reverence of unity, which the revelators tell us is not true worship.

5:4. God in Religion

Religion is a living and dynamic experience of an inner-life divinity attainment predicated on outer-life humanity service. Religion is not the quest for extraordinary experiences in the rarefied realms of mind, nor a passive fixity of the existential foundations of absolute dependence and surety of survival. Note the morality of evolutionary religion is a step above ethics, but still falls short of the higher standard of conformity with the cosmos. As previously mentioned many times, the authors use the words, moral and morality in a number of different ways.

The humanity service referred to above is a spiritual service of establishing enduring unity, lasting peace, and profound assurance first in yourself then fostering it in others. SoS in our Evolutionary Religion arc traced the progress from primitive times from polytheism to monotheism, through various stages to the enlightened comprehension of God as the reality of values, the substance of meanings, and the life of truth. Not only is God the determiner of destiny, he is man’s eternal destination. Early man’s religion begins as a material technique of dealing with the challenges of evolutionary existence. Such material techniques more properly belong to scientific pursuits and application. True religion becomes a spiritual technique of identifying the self with the universe through the inner-life patterning of spirit over mind—conformation with the cosmos combined with service to other creatures, human and superhuman.

Philosophy and art serve to lead man to transition from non-religious activity to religious activity in luring him unwittingly to contemplate spiritual realities and universe values and eternal meanings.

At this point in our section, the author focuses on established world religions and their different approaches to various elements of religion. The author compared specific religions and their particular viewpoints or emphases always culminating with the religion of Jesus as the fullest expression of all the elements of religion considered, proclaiming all these religions of value in that they are valid approaches to the religion of Jesus. Listen to the archive of the broadcast for specifics and note our commentary of the author’s precision in how they employ the triplet of truth, beauty, and goodness in one place and good, beautiful, and true in another.

The acme of purely evolutionary religion is an exalted anthropomorphism. In Christianity we see left handed praise for elevating the concept of anthropomorphism from the ideal of the human, to the transcendent and divine concept of the person of the glorified Christ, the highest anthropomorphism that man can ever conceive.

The section concludes with closer examination of Christianity in relation to Jesus’ religion. The Christian concept of God represents a combination of a righteous God (Hebrew), a God of wisdom (Greek), and Jesus’ God as a living friend, loving Father, the divine presence. Resulting inconsistencies are further aggravated by the fact that the early Christian doctrines were derived from the religious experiences of Philo, Jesus, and Paul.

In our study of the religious life of Jesus we are encouraged to view him positively in his righteousness, his loving service rather than his sinlessness. The great difficulty for so many Christians to recognize and accept that God loves even the wrongdoer testifies to the degree to which Jesus’ sinlessness is held as his signal virtue.

Notes by Brad

  • How important is it to memorize every word in the 5th ER literally?
    • If you do, unconsciously you're surely engaging to some degree as a sacred text. It is not a sacred text.
    • Yet if you don't, trying to remember the gist of a paper can let to massive distortions of meaning (old wineskins, preconceived opinions, etc)
      • For example, Some will swear the text supports reincarnation, despite a 5-second text search finding this described as "philosophically debilitating" [94:2.4]
    • Try to find the middle way. K=Maintain a living relationship with truth, which the text (words) helps foster as a pointer of sorts.


  • If you seek for the voice of god from a Thought adjuster, you will find it.
    • Yeah... but it'll be almost certainly a false adjuster. You can bet on it.
      • You will have generated this in your subjective mind, one of those vivid islands of heat. Dangerous!
    • You could fly off on a wild tangent for decades. Many have.
    • So we hope you agree with SoS that the TA's influence is a very subtle one. It mostly works with your soul, which is essentially unconscious. But the soul has spirit substance in it, which is why the TA can engage with it.
    • Try humility. One of the favorable conditions for being grown.


  • Service to others--doing something for them they really need done--with a reflective predicate ("is this what I ought to be doing?")
    • That's the way to ensure you aren't too self-focused, self-absorbed, self-loving. Serve others, but reflectively.
    • "Humanity service" as it says in Section 5's first paragraph here.
      • But what is the best humanity service? A soup kitchen?
      • Volunteering in a soup kitchen won't intrinsically help your inner life.
      • Can you serve mankind by helping them recognize their grace-given connection to unity? That's true humanity service.
      • That's what Jesus was trying to do, and what he wanted his apostles to do.
      • Spiritual service, not merely material service.


  • Let go
    • Building worship from the bottom-up won't work. that's the ghost cult. Let go and let it happen from above.
      • The reverence of unity is what your material self craves (at best). and reverence of unity is not worship.
    • Building a better self from the bottom up can't work. supply favorable conditions and be grown.
    • Just supply the willed context. Then let others and other selves do the work--they know the physics, you don't.
      • Consciously consent to allow to happen, superconsciously, what cannot possibly happen at your conscious level.


  • Try to get over that initial childlike thing where you find YOU the most fascinating thing in the universe.
    • That's child's play. Navel gazing. Playing with yourself.
    • "Me and my spiritual religious experiences and delightful, endlessly." This kind of thinking will actually lock out you of having an inner life. Making the universe all about yourself.
    • Try growing up.


  • Do you take your salvation for granted?
    • If you don't, your faith cannot truly be living.
    • If you don't, you'll serve yourself instead of others.
    • The ghost cult God and old wineskins and a large proportion of the world will tell you not to take your salvation for granted...


  • Remember: the upper domain of mind in the hourglass analogy is the only place you can truly and lastingly escape your genetic adjust-mind-self biases.


  • Nonreligious human activities seeking "to bend the universe to the distorting service of self."
    • Science is what's about "bending the universe". And it's okay. But it isn't religious.
    • Try finding religion that is not a "material technique."
    • Mind you, we need material ministers in this world. And social ministers.
    • But can you be a spiritual minister? Truly? And be okay when it appears almost no one is interested in such ministry?
      • Though opportunities, it seems, somehow always arise for you to try to be of spiritual service. If you have an insightful eye to see them.
    • Can you seek first the kingdom of heaven?
      • But this isn't false dichotomomy territory. This is not "seek first your introspective self experience." this is not "seek only the kingdom of heaven."
    • Can you add spiritual to the material? Without taking away something material that you are doing? Without feeling guilty about having material thoughts and needs?


  • By nature, we focus on matter, individual, temporal issues.
    • Can you allow yourself to be lured (inveigled--amazing word) into something grander?
    • Can you let the true doctors of philosophy in your life inveigle you into thinking better and higher?
    • Can the artist look at the things (the canvas, paint, marble) and figure out how to make them represent something beyond what they rotely are?


  • Talk about one of the key passages! [5:4.5]. The salvation schemes, summarized.
    • What do you find problematic in the world? Don't be surprised if your inevitable doctrine of salvation promises to save you from that difficulty.
    • Here on SoS we often discuss how the material self is problematic.
      • And the religion of Jesus is salvation from self.
      • The religion of Jesus is more than just a promise of salvation. It is salvation.
    • Islam arose out of a pressing need to deliver its people from foggy mystical concepts. But then it went too far and usually is expresses strong totalitarian leanings.
      • This author notes this parallels materialism and how it, through the renaissance, drew up out of the dark ages' mysticism. But then it went too far. (as [Paper 195] explains)


  • What is morality? A duty that is transcendent of individual others. That's morality--duty to the cosmos.
    • The authors of the 5th ER will sometime use the "poor-man's morality" sense in referring to taboos, folkways, and mores.
      • In evolution, there's a time when the taboo is the best and highest expression (albeit primitive) of morality.


  • There's nothing evil about "know yourself" or "know your God." These aims of past religions are fine, but are part of a larger synthesis.
    • This author likes how Jesus suggested "knowing God," instead of "know God." Knowing is more suggestive of a living, dynamic, ongoing phenomenon.
    • The subtle uses of know, knowledge, and knowing in [5:4.8] is food for some delightful reflection on the masterful use of language in the 5th ER.
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