The British Study Edition of the Urantia Papers

^112:0.11 9. It is characterized by morality — awareness of relativity of relationship with other persons. It discerns conduct levels and choosingly discriminates between them.

^112:0.12 10. Personality is unique, absolutely unique: It is unique in time and space; it is unique in eternity and on Paradise; it is unique when bestowed — there are no duplicates; it is unique during every moment of existence; it is unique in relation to God — he is no respecter of persons, but neither does he add them together, for they are nonaddable — they are associable but nontotalable.

^112:0.13 11. Personality responds directly to other-personality presence.

^112:0.14 12. It is one thing which can be added to spirit, thus illustrating the primacy of the Father in relation to the Son. (Mind does not have to be added to spirit.)

^112:0.15 13. Personality may survive mortal death with identity in the surviving soul. The Adjuster and the personality are changeless; the relationship between them (in the soul) is nothing but change, continuing evolution; and if this change (growth) ceased, the soul would cease.

^112:0.16 14. Personality is uniquely conscious of time, and this is something other than the time perception of mind or spirit.

1. PERSONALITY AND REALITY

^112:1.1 Personality is bestowed by the Universal Father upon his creatures as a potentially eternal endowment. Such a divine gift is designed to function on numerous levels and in successive universe situations ranging from the lowly finite to the highest absonite, even to the borders of the absolute. Personality thus performs on three cosmic planes or in three universe phases:

^112:1.2 1. Position status. Personality functions equally efficiently in the local universe, in the superuniverse, and in the central universe.

^112:1.3 2. Meaning status. Personality performs effectively on the levels of the finite, the absonite, and even as impinging upon the absolute.

^112:1.4 3. Value status. Personality can be experientially realized in the progressive realms of the material, the morontial, and the spiritual.

^112:1.5 ¶ Personality has a perfected range of cosmic dimensional performance. The dimensions of finite personality are three, and they are roughly functional as follows:

^112:1.6 1. Length represents direction and nature of progression — movement through space and according to time — evolution.

^112:1.7 2. Vertical depth[1] embraces the organismal drives and attitudes, the varying levels of self-realization and the general phenomenon of reaction to environment.

^112:1.8 3. Breadth embraces the domain of co-ordination, association, and selfhood organization.

^112:1.9 ¶ The type of personality bestowed upon Urantia mortals has a potentiality of seven dimensions of self-expression or person-realization. These dimensional phenomena are realizable as three on the finite level, three on the absonite level, and one on the absolute level. On subabsolute levels this seventh or totality dimension is experiencible as the fact of personality. This supreme dimension is an associable absolute and, while not infinite, is dimensionally potential for subinfinite penetration of the absolute.

^112:1.10 The finite dimensions of personality have to do with cosmic length, depth, and breadth. Length denotes meaning; depth signifies value; breadth embraces insight — the capacity to experience unchallengeable consciousness of cosmic reality.

^112:1.11 On the morontia level all of these finite dimensions of the material level are greatly enhanced, and certain new dimensional values are realizable. All these enlarged dimensional experiences of the morontia level are marvellously articulated with the supreme or personality dimension through the influence of mota and also because of the contribution of morontia mathematics.

^112:1.12 Much trouble experienced by mortals in their study of human personality could be avoided if the finite creature would remember that dimensional levels and spiritual levels are not co-ordinated in experiential personality realization.

^112:1.13 ¶ Life is really a process which takes place between the organism (selfhood) and its environment. The personality imparts value of identity and meanings of continuity to this organismal-environmental association. Thus it will be recognized that the phenomenon of stimulus-response is not a mere mechanical process since the personality functions as a factor in the total situation. It is ever true that mechanisms are innately passive; organisms, inherently active.

^112:1.14 Physical life is a process taking place not so much within the organism as between the organism and the environment. And every such process tends to create and establish organismal patterns of reaction to such an environment. And all such directive patterns are highly influential in goal choosing.

^112:1.15 It is through the mediation of mind that the self and the environment establish meaningful contact. The ability and willingness of the organism to make such significant contacts with environment (response to a drive) represents the attitude of the whole personality.

^112:1.16 Personality cannot very well perform in isolation. Man is innately a social creature; he is dominated by the craving of belongingness. It is literally true, “No man lives unto himself.”

^112:1.17 But the concept of the personality as the meaning of the whole of the living and functioning creature means much more than the integration of relationships; it signifies the unification of all factors of reality as well as co-ordination of relationships. Relationships exist between two objects, but three or more objects eventuate a system, and such a system is much more than just an enlarged or complex relationship. This distinction is vital, for in a cosmic system the individual members are not connected with each other except in relation to the whole and through the individuality of the whole.

^112:1.18 In the human organism the summation of its parts constitutes selfhood — individuality — but such a process has nothing whatever to do with personality, which is the unifier of all these factors as related to cosmic realities.

^112:1.19 In aggregations parts are added; in systems parts are arranged. Systems are significant because of organization — positional values. In a good system all factors are in cosmic position. In a bad system something is either missing or displaced — deranged. In the human system it is the personality which unifies all activities and in turn imparts the qualities of identity and creativity.

2. THE SELF

^112:2.1 It would be helpful in the study of selfhood to remember:

^112:2.2 1. That physical systems are subordinate.

^112:2.3 2. That intellectual systems are co-ordinate.

^112:2.4 3. That personality is superordinate.

^112:2.5 4. That the indwelling spiritual force is potentially directive.

^112:2.6 ¶ In all concepts of selfhood it should be recognized that the fact of life comes first, its evaluation or interpretation later. The human child first lives and subsequently thinks about his living. In the cosmic economy insight precedes foresight.

^112:2.7 ¶ The universe fact of God’s becoming man has forever changed all meanings and altered all values of human personality. In the true meaning of the word, love connotes mutual regard of whole personalities, whether human or divine or human and divine. Parts of the self may