P69:8, 5:5.13 Eternal survival of personality is wholly dependent on the choosing of the mortal mind, whose decisions determine the survival potential of the immortal soul. When the mind believes God and the soul knows God, and when, with the fostering Adjuster, they all desire God, then is survival assured. Limitations of intellect, curtailment of education, deprivation of culture, impoverishment of social status, even inferiority of the human standards of morality resulting from the unfortunate lack of educational, cultural, and social advantages, cannot invalidate the presence of the divine spirit in such unfortunate and humanly handicapped but believing individuals. The indwelling of the spirit constitutes the inception and insures the possibility of the potential of growth and survival of the immortal soul.
P70:1, 5:5.14 The ability of mortal parents to procreate is not predicated on their educational, cultural, social, or economic status. The union of the parental factors under natural conditions is quite sufficient to initiate offspring. A human mind discerning right and wrong and possessing the capacity to worship God, in union with a divine Adjuster, is all that is required in that mortal to initiate and foster the production of his immortal soul of survival qualities if such a spirit-endowed individual seeks God and sincerely desires to become like him and elects to live righteously.
Part I. The Central and Universe
Chapter 5: Section 6.
The God Of Personality
P70:2, 5:6.1 The Universal Father is the God of personalities. The domain of universe personality, from the lowest mortal and material creature of personality status to the highest persons of creator dignity, has its center and circumference in the Universal Father. God the Father is the Bestower and the conservator of every personality. And the Paradise Father is likewise the destiny of all those finite personalities who wholeheartedly choose to do the divine will, those who love God and long to be like him.
P70:3, 5:6.2 Personality is one of the unsolved mysteries of the universes. We are able to form adequate concepts of the factors entering into the make-up of various orders and levels of personality, but we do not fully comprehend the real nature of the personality itself. We clearly perceive the numerous factors which, when put together, constitute the vehicle for human personality, but we do not fully comprehend the nature and significance of such a finite personality.
P70:4, 5:6.3 Personality is potential in all creatures who possess a mind endowment ranging from the minimum of self-consciousness to the maximum of God-consciousness. But mind endowment alone is not personality, neither is spirit nor physical energy. Personality is that quality and value in cosmic reality that is exclusively bestowed by God the Father upon these living systems of the associated and coordinated energies of matter, mind, and spirit. Neither is personality a progressive achievement. Personality may be material or spiritual, but there either is personality or there is no personality. The other-than-personal never attains the level of the personal except by the direct act of the Paradise Father.
P70:5, 5:6.4 The bestowal of personality is the exclusive function of the Universal Father, the personalization of the living energy systems which he endows with the attributes of relative creative consciousness and the freewill control thereof . The fundamental attributes of human selfhood, as well as the absolute Adjuster nucleus of the human personality, are the bestowals of the Universal Father, acting in his exclusively personal domain of cosmic ministry.
P70:6, 5:6.5 The Adjusters of prepersonal status indwell numerous types of mortal creatures, thus insuring that these same beings may survive mortal death to personalize as morontial creatures with the potential of ultimate spirit attainment. For, when such a creature mind of personality endowment is indwelt by a fragment of the spirit of the eternal God, the prepersonal bestowal of the personal Father, then does this finite personality possess the potential of the divine and the eternal and aspire to a destiny akin to the Ultimate, even reaching out for a realization of the Absolute.
P71:1, 5:6.6 Capacity for divine personality is inherent in the prepersonal Adjuster; capacity for human personality is potential in the cosmic-mind endowment of the human being. But the experiential personality of mortal man is not observable as an active and functional reality until after the material life vehicle of the mortal creature has been touched by the liberating divinity of the Universal Father, being thus launched upon the seas of experience as a self-conscious and a (relatively) self-determinative and self-creative personality. The material self is truly and unqualifiedly personal.
P71:2, 5:6.7 The material self has personality and identity, temporal identity; the prepersonal spirit Adjuster also has identity, eternal identity. This material personality and this spirit pre-personality are capable of so uniting their creative attributes as to bring into existence the surviving identity of the immortal soul.
P71:3, 5:6.8 Having thus provided for the growth of the immortal soul and having liberated man's inner self from the fetters of absolute dependence on antecedent causation, the Father stands aside. Now, man having thus been liberated from the fetters of causation response, at least as pertains to eternal destiny, and provision having been made for the growth of the immortal self, the soul, it remains for man himself to will the creation or to inhibit the creation of this surviving and eternal self which is his for the choosing. No other being, force, creator, or agency in all the wide universe of universes can interfere to any degree with the absolute sovereignty of the mortal free will, as it operates within the realms of choice, regarding the eternal destiny of the personality of the choosing mortal. As pertains to eternal survival, God has decreed the sovereignty of the material and mortal will, and that decree is absolute.
P71:4, 5:6.9 The bestowal of creature personality confers relative liberation from slavish response to antecedent causation, and the personalities of all such moral beings, evolutionary or otherwise, are centered in the personality of the Universal Father. They are ever drawn towards his Paradise presence by that kinship of being which constitutes the vast and universal family circle and fraternal circuit of the eternal God. There is a kinship of divine spontaneity in all personality.
P71:5, 5:6.10 The personality circuit of the universe of universes is centered in the person of the Universal Father, and the Paradise Father is personally conscious of, and in personal touch with, all personalities of all levels of self-conscious existence. And this personality consciousness of all creation exists independently of the mission of the Thought Adjusters.
P71:6, 5:6.11 As all gravity is circuited in the Isle of Paradise, so is all personality circuited in the personal presence of the Universal Father and this circuit unerringly transmits the worship of all personalities to the Original and Eternal Personality.
P71:7, 5:6.12 Concerning those personalities who are not Adjuster indwelt: The attribute of choice-liberty is also bestowed by the Universal Father, and such persons are likewise embraced in the great circuit of divine love, the personality circuit of the Universal Father. God provides for the sovereign choice of all true personalities. No personal creature can be coerced into the eternal adventure.
P72:1, 5:6.13 God is your universe Father and all are his planetary children.
Part I. The Central and Universe
Chapter 6
The Infinite Spirit
P90:1, 8:0.1 Back in eternity, when the Universal Father's "first" infinite and absolute thought finds a perfect and adequate word for its divine expression, there ensues the supreme desire of both the Thought-God and the Word-God for a universal and infinite agent of mutual expression and combined action.
P90:2, 8:0.2 In the dawn of eternity both the Father and the Infinite Spirit become infinitely cognizant of their mutual interdependence, their eternal and absolute oneness; and therefore do they enter into an infinite and everlasting covenant of divine partnership. This never-ending compact is made for the execution of their united concepts throughout the entire circle of eternity; and ever since this eternity event the Fathe
r and the Infinite Spirit continue in this divine union.
P90:3, 8:0.3 We are now face to face with the eternity origin of the Infinite Spirit, the second part of Deity. The very instant that God the Father conceives an infinite action -- the execution of an absolute thought-plan -- that very moment, the Infinite Spirit springs full-fledged into existence.
P90:4, 8:0.4 In thus reciting the order of the origin of the Deities, we wish to enable you to think of their relationship. In reality they are both existent from eternity; they are existential. They are without beginning or ending of days; they are co-ordinate, supreme, ultimate, absolute, and infinite. They are and always have been and ever shall be.
Part I. The Central and Universe
Chapter 6: Section 1.
The God Of Action
P90:5, 8:1.1 In the eternity of the past, upon the personalization of the Infinite Spirit the divine personality cycle becomes perfect and complete. The God of Action is existent, and the vast stage of space is set for the stupendous drama of creation -- the universal adventure -- the divine panorama of the eternal ages.
P90:6, 8:1.2 The first act of the Infinite Spirit is the inspection and recognition of his divine Father. He, the Spirit, unqualifiedly identifies both of them. He is fully cognizant of their separate personalities and infinite attributes as well as of their combined nature and united function. Next, voluntarily, with transcendent willingness and inspiring spontaneity, pledges eternal loyalty to God the Father and acknowledges everlasting dependence upon God.
P90:7, 8:1.3 Inherent in the nature of this transaction and in mutual recognition of the personality independence of each and the executive unions, the cycle of eternity is established. The Paradise Unity is existent. The stage of universal space is set for the manifold and never-ending panorama of the creative unfolding of the purpose of the Universal Father by the execution of the God of Action, the executive agency for the reality performances of the Father-Unity creator partnership.
P91:1, 8:1.4 The God of Action functions and the dead vaults of space are astir. One billion perfect spheres flash into existence. Prior to this hypothetical eternity moment the space-energies inherent in Paradise are existent and potentially operative, but they have no actuality of being; neither can physical gravity be measured except by the reaction of material realities to its incessant pull. There is no material universe at this (assumed) eternally distant moment, but the very instant that one billion worlds materialize, there is in evidence gravity sufficient and adequate to hold them in the everlasting grasp of Paradise.
P91:2, 8:1.5 There now flashes through the creation of God the second form of energy. Thus the twofold gravity-embraced universe is touched with the energy of infinity and immersed in the spirit of divinity. In this way is the soil of life prepared for the consciousness of mind made manifest in the associated intelligence circuits of the Infinite Spirit.
P91:3, 8:1.6 Upon these seeds of potential existence, diffused throughout the central creation of God, the Father acts, and creature personality appears. Then does the presence of the Paradise Deities fill all organized space and begin effectively to draw all spirituality and spiritual beings toward Paradise.
P91:4, 8:1.7 The Infinite Spirit eternalizes concurrently with the birth of the Heaven worlds, this central universe being created by him and with him and in him in obedience to the combined concepts and united wills of the Father and the Spirit. The Infinite Spirit deitizes by this very act of conjoint creation, and he thus forever becomes the Conjoint Creator.
P91:5, 8:1.8 These are the grand and awful times of the creative expansion of the Father and the Spirit by, and in, the action of their conjoint associate and exclusive executive, the Second Source and Center. There exists no record of these stirring times. We have only the meager disclosures of the Infinite Spirit to substantiate these mighty transactions, and he merely verifies the fact that the central universe and all that pertains thereto eternalized simultaneously with his attainment of personality and conscious existence.
P91:6, 8:1.9 In brief, the Infinite Spirit testifies that, since he is eternal, so also is the central universe eternal. And this is the traditional starting point of the history of the universe of universes. Absolutely nothing is known, and no records are in existence, regarding any event or transaction prior to this stupendous eruption of creative energy and administrative wisdom that crystallized the vast universe which exists, and so exquisitely functions, at the center of all things. Beyond this event lie the unsearchable transactions of eternity and the depths of infinity -- absolute mystery.
P91:7, 8:1.10 And we thus portray the sequential origin of the Second Source and Center as an interpretative condescension to the time-bound and space-conditioned mind of mortal creatures. The mind of man must have a starting point for the visualization of universe history, and we have been directed to provide this technique of approach to the historic concept of eternity. In the material mind, consistency demands a First Cause; therefore do we postulate the Universal Father as the First Source and the Absolute Center of all creation, at the same time instructing all creature minds that the Spirit is coeternal with the Father in all phases of universe history and in all realms of creative activity. And we do this without in any sense being disregardful of the reality and eternity of the Isle of Paradise and of the Unqualified, Universal, and Deity Absolutes.
P92:1, 8:1.11 It is enough of a reach of the material mind of the children of time to conceive of the Father in eternity. We know that any child can best relate himself to reality by first mastering the relationships of the child-parent situation and then by enlarging this concept to embrace the family as a whole. Subsequently the growing mind of the child will be able to adjust to the concept of family relations, to relationships of the community, the race, and the world, and then to those of the universe.
Part I. The Central and Universe
Chapter 6: Section 2.
Nature Of The Infinite Spirit
P92:2, 8:2.1 The Conjoint Creator is from eternity and is wholly and without qualification one with the Universal Father. The Infinite Spirit reflects in perfection the nature of the Paradise Father.
P92:3, 8:2.2 The Third Source and Center is known by numerous titles: the Universal Spirit, the Supreme Guide, the Conjoint Creator, the Divine Executive, the Infinite Mind, the Spirit of Spirits, the Paradise Mother Spirit, the Conjoint Actor, the Final Coordinator, the Omnipresent Spirit, the Absolute Intelligence, the Divine Action; and on Earth he is sometimes confused with the cosmic mind.
P92:4, 8:2.3 God is spirit, but material creatures who tend towards the error of viewing matter as basic reality and mind, together with spirit, as postulates rooted in matter, would better comprehend the Third Source and Center if he were called the Infinite Reality, the Universal Organizer, or the Personality Coordinator.
P92:5, 8:2.4 The Infinite Spirit, as a universe revelation of divinity, is unsearchable and utterly beyond human comprehension. To sense the absoluteness of the Spirit, you need only contemplate the infinity of the Universal Father.
P92:6, 8:2.5 There is mystery indeed in the person of the Infinite Spirit. Of all aspects of the Father's nature, the Conjoint Creator most strikingly discloses his infinity. Even if the master universe eventually expands to infinity, the spirit presence, energy control, and mind potential of the Conjoint Actor will be found adequate to meet the demands of such a limitless creation.
P92:7, 8:2.6 Though in every way sharing the perfection, the righteousness, and the love of the Universal Father, the Infinite Spirit inclines towards mercy, thus becoming the mercy minister of the Paradise Deities to the grand universe. Ever and always -- universally and eternally -- the Spirit is a mercy minister, for the divine Spirit depicts the mercy of God.
P93:1, 8:2.7 It is not possible that the Spirit could have more of goodness than the Father since all goodness takes origin in the Father, but in the acts of the Spirit we can the better comprehend such goodness. The Father
's faithfulness is made very real to the spirit beings and the material creatures of the spheres by the loving ministry and ceaseless service of the personalities of the Infinite Spirit.
P93:2, 8:2.8 The Conjoint Creator inherits all the Father's beauty of thought and character of truth. And these sublime traits of divinity are coordinated in the near-supreme levels of the cosmic mind in subordination to the infinite and eternal wisdom of the unconditioned and limitless mind of the Second Source and Center.
Part I. The Central and Universe
Chapter 6: Section 3.
The Spirit Of Divine Ministry
P94:4, 8:4.1 Paralleling the physical universe Paradise gravity holds all things together in the spiritual universe. In and through all this material and spiritual creation there is a vast stage whereon the Infinite Spirit and his spirit offspring show forth the combined mercy, patience, and everlasting affection of the divine Father towards the intelligent children of their co-operative devising and making. Everlasting ministry to mind is the essence of the Spirit's divine character. And all the spirit offspring of the Conjoint Actor partake of this desire to minister, this divine urge to service.
P94:5, 8:4.2 God is love and mercy, the Spirit is ministry -- the ministry of divine love and endless mercy to all intelligent creation. The Spirit is the personification of the Father's love and mercy; in him are they eternally united for universal service. The Spirit is love applied to the creature creation, the love of the Father.
P94:6, 8:4.3 On Earth the Infinite Spirit is known as an omnipresent influence, a universal presence, but in Heaven you shall know him as a personal presence of actual ministry. Here the ministry of the Paradise Spirit is the exemplary and inspiring pattern for each of his co-ordinate Spirits and subordinate personalities ministering to the created beings on the worlds of time and space. In this divine universe he becomes the sympathetic and understanding spirit minister to every pilgrim of time traversing these perfect circles on high.