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Urantia Book Paper 8 The Infinite Spirit
SPIRITWEB ORG, PROMOTING SPIRITUAL CONSCIOUSNESS ON THE INTERNET.
Subjects Archive The Urantia Book Urantia Book PART I: The Central and Super
Universes : The Universal Father The Nature Of God The Attributes Of God God's
Relation To The Universe God's Relation To The Individual The Eternal Son
Relation Of The Eternal Son To The Universe The Infinite Spirit Relation Of The
Infinite Spirit To The Universe The Paradise Trinity The Eternal Isle Of
Paradise The Universe Of Universes The Sacred Spheres Of Paradise The Central
And Divine Universe The Seven Superuniverses The Seven Master Spirits The Seven
Supreme Spirit Groups The Supreme Trinity Personalities The Co-ordinate
Trinity-origin Beings The Paradise Sons Of God The Paradise Creator Sons The
Trinitized Sons Of God The Solitary Messengers Higher Personalities Of The
Infinite Spirit The Messenger Hosts Of Space Ministering Spirits Of The Central
Universe Ministry Of The Primary Supernaphim Ministering Spirits Of The
Superuniverses The Universe Power Directors Personalities Of The Grand Universe
The Corps Of The Finality
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Paper 8 The Infinite Spirit
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Introduction
BACK in eternity, when the Universal Father's "first" infinite and absolute
thought finds in the Eternal Son such 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.
In the dawn of eternity both the Father and the Son 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 all of the circle of eternity; and ever since this
eternity event the Father and the Son continue in this divine union.
We are now face to face with the eternity origin of the Infinite Spirit, the
Third Person of Deity. The very instant that God the Father and God the Son
conjointly conceive an identical and infinite action--the execution of an
absolute thought-plan--that very moment, the Infinite Spirit springs
full-fledgedly into existence.
In thus reciting the order of the origin of the Deities, I do so merely to
enable you to think of their relationship. In reality they are all three
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. And they are three
distinctly individualized but eternally associated persons, God the Father, God
the Son, and God the Spirit
1. THE GOD OF ACTION
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.
The first act of the Infinite Spirit is the inspection and recognition of his
divine parents, the Father-Father and the Mother-Son. 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, the Third Person of Deity, notwithstanding his equality with the
First and Second Persons, pledges eternal loyalty to God the Father and
acknowledges everlasting dependence upon God the Son.
Inherent in the nature of this transaction and in mutual recognition of the
personality independence of each and the executive union of all three, the
cycle
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of eternity is established. The Paradise Trinity 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 through the
personality of the Eternal Son and by the execution of the God of Action, the
executive agency for the reality performances of the Father-Son creator
partnership.
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.
There now flashes through the creation of the Gods the second form of energy,
and this outflowing spirit is instantly grasped by the spiritual gravity of the
Eternal Son. 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.
Upon these seeds of potential existence, diffused throughout the central
creation of the Gods, 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 things and beings Paradiseward.
The Infinite Spirit eternalizes concurrently with the birth of the Havona
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 Son.
The Third Person deitizes by this very act of conjoint creation, and he thus
forever becomes the Conjoint Creator.
These are the grand and awful times of the creative expansion of the Father and
the Son by, and in, the action of their conjoint associate and exclusive
executive, the Third 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.
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.
And we thus portray the sequential origin of the Third 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 I have been directed to provide this
technique of approach to the historic concept of eternity. In the material
mind, consistency
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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 Son and the Spirit are 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.
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, the superuniverse, even the
universe of universes.
2. NATURE OF THE INFINITE SPIRIT
The Conjoint Creator is from eternity and is wholly and without qualification
one with the Universal Father and the Eternal Son. The Infinite Spirit reflects
in perfection not only the nature of the Paradise Father but also the nature of
the Original Son.
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 Co-ordinator, the Omnipresent Spirit, the Absolute Intelligence, the
Divine Action; and on Urantia he is sometimes confused with the cosmic mind.
It is altogether proper to denominate the Third Person of Deity the Infinite
Spirit, for 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
Co-ordinator.
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 and stand in awe
of the eternity of the Original Son.
There is mystery indeed in the person of the Infinite Spirit but not so much as
in the Father and the Son. 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.
Though in every way sharing the perfection, the righteousness, and the love of
the Universal Father, the Infinite Spirit inclines towards the mercy attributes
of the Eternal Son, 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, as the divine Sons reveal the love of God, so the divine
Spirit depicts the mercy of God.
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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 and the
Son's constancy are 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.
The Conjoint Creator inherits all the Father's beauty of thought and character
of truth. And these sublime traits of divinity are co-ordinated 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 Third Source and
Center.
3. RELATION OF THE SPIRIT TO THE FATHER AND THE SON
As the Eternal Son is the word expression of the "first" absolute and infinite
thought of the Universal Father, so the Conjoint Actor is the perfect execution
of the "first" completed creative concept or plan for combined action by the
Father-Son personality partnership of absolute thought-word union. The Third
Source and Center eternalizes concurrently with the central or fiat creation,
and only this central creation is eternal in existence among universes.
Since the personalization of the Third Source, the First Source no more
personally participates in universe creation. The Universal Father delegates
everything possible to his Eternal Son; likewise does the Eternal Son bestow
all possible authority and power upon the Conjoint Creator.
The Eternal Son and the Conjoint Creator have, as partners and through their
co-ordinate personalities, planned and fashioned every post-Havona universe
which has been brought into existence. The Spirit sustains the same personal
relation to the Son in all subsequent creation that the Son sustains to the
Father in the first and central creation.
A Creator Son of the Eternal Son and a Creative Spirit of the Infinite Spirit
created you and your universe; and while the Father in faithfulness upholds
that which they have organized, it devolves upon this Universe Son and this
Universe Spirit to foster and sustain their work as well as to minister to the
creatures of their own making.
The Infinite Spirit is the effective agent of the all-loving Father and the
all-merciful Son for the execution of their conjoint project of drawing to
themselves all truth-loving souls on all the worlds of time and space. The very
instant the Eternal Son accepted his Father's plan of perfection attainment for
the creatures of the universes, the moment the ascension project became a
Father-Son plan, that instant the Infinite Spirit became the conjoint
administrator of the Father and the Son for the execution of their united and
eternal purpose. And in so doing the Infinite Spirit pledged all his resources
of divine presence and of spirit personalities to the Father and the Son; he
has dedicated all to the stupendous plan of exalting surviving will creatures
to the divine heights of Paradise perfection.
The Infinite Spirit is a complete, exclusive, and universal revelation of the
Universal Father and his Eternal Son. All knowledge of the Father-Son
partnership must be had through the Infinite Spirit, the conjoint
representative of the divine thought-word union.
The Eternal Son is the only avenue of approach to the Universal Father, and the
Infinite Spirit is the only means of attaining the Eternal Son. Only by the
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patient ministry of the Spirit are the ascendant beings of time able to
discover the Son.
At the center of all things the Infinite Spirit is the first of the Paradise
Deities to be attained by the ascending pilgrims. The Third Person enshrouds
the Second and the First Persons and therefore must always be first recognized
by all who are candidates for presentation to the Son and his Father.
And in many other ways does the Spirit equally represent and similarly serve
the Father and the Son.
4. THE SPIRIT OF DIVINE MINISTRY
Paralleling the physical universe wherein Paradise gravity holds all things
together is the spiritual universe wherein the word of the Son interprets the
thought of God and, when "made flesh," demonstrates the loving mercy of the
combined nature of the associated Creators. But 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 parents 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.
God is love, the Son is 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 the Son's mercy; in him are they
eternally united for universal service. The Spirit is love applied to the
creature creation, the combined love of the Father and the Son.
On Urantia the Infinite Spirit is known as an omnipresent influence, a
universal presence, but in Havona 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 the Infinite Spirit fully participated in the
seven transcendental appearances of the Eternal Son; likewise did he
participate with the original Michael Son in the seven bestowals upon the
circuits of Havona, thereby becoming the sympathetic and understanding spirit
minister to every pilgrim of time traversing these perfect circles on high.
When a Creator Son of God accepts the creatorship charge of responsibility for
a projected local universe, the personalities of the Infinite Spirit pledge
themselves as the tireless ministers of this Michael Son when he goes forth on
his mission of creative adventure. Especially in the persons of the Creative
Daughters, the local universe Mother Spirits, do we find the Infinite Spirit
devoted to the task of fostering the ascension of the material creatures to
higher and higher levels of spiritual attainment. And all this work of creature
ministry is done in perfect harmony with the purposes, and in close association
with the personalities, of the Creator Sons of these local universes.
As the Sons of God are engaged in the gigantic task of revealing the Father's
personality of love to a universe, so is the Infinite Spirit dedicated to the
unending ministry of revealing the combined love of the Father and the Son to
the individual minds of all the children of each universe. In these local
creations the
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Spirit does not come down to the material races in the likeness of mortal flesh
as do certain of the Sons of God, but the Infinite Spirit and his co-ordinate
Spirits do downstep themselves, do joyfully undergo an amazing series of
divinity attenuations, until they appear as angels to stand by your side and
guide you through the lowly paths of earthly existence.
By this very diminishing series the Infinite Spirit does actually, and as a
person, draw very near to every being of the animal-origin spheres. And all
this the Spirit does without in the least invalidating his existence as the
Third Person of Deity at the center of all things.
The Conjoint Creator is truly and forever the great ministering personality,
the universal mercy minister. To comprehend the ministry of the Spirit, ponder
the truth that he is the combined portrayal of the Father's unending love and
of the Son's eternal mercy. The Spirit's ministry is not, however, restricted
solely to the representation of the Eternal Son and the Universal Father. The
Infinite Spirit also possesses the power to minister to the creatures of the
realm in his own name and right; the Third Person is of divine dignity and also
bestows the universal ministry of mercy in his own behalf.
As man learns more of the loving and tireless ministry of the lower orders of
the creature family of this Infinite Spirit, he will all the more admire and
adore the transcendent nature and matchless character of this combined Action
of the Universal Father and the Eternal Son. Indeed is this Spirit "the eyes of
the Lord which are ever over the righteous" and "the divine ears which are ever
open to their prayers."
5. THE PRESENCE OF GOD
The outstanding attribute of the Infinite Spirit is omnipresence. Throughout
all the universe of universes there is everywhere present this all-pervading
spirit, which is so akin to the presence of a universal and divine mind. Both
the Second Person and the Third Person of Deity are represented on all worlds
by their ever-present spirits.
The Father is infinite and is therefore limited only by volition. In the
bestowal of Adjusters and in the encircuitment of personality, the Father acts
alone, but in the contact of spirit forces with intelligent beings, he utilizes
the spirits and personalities of the Eternal Son and the Infinite Spirit. He is
at will spiritually present equally with the Son or with the Conjoint Actor; he
is present with the Son and in the Spirit. The Father is most certainly
everywhere present, and we discern his presence by and through any and all of
these diverse but associated forces, influences, and presences.
In your sacred writings the term Spirit of God seems to be used interchangeably
to designate both the Infinite Spirit on Paradise and the Creative Spirit of
your local universe. The Holy Spirit is the spiritual circuit of this Creative
Daughter of the Paradise Infinite Spirit. The Holy Spirit is a circuit
indigenous to each local universe and is confined to the spiritual realm of
that creation; but the Infinite Spirit is omnipresent.
There are many spiritual influences, and they are all as one. Even the work of
the Thought Adjusters, though independent of all other influences, unvaryingly
coincides with the spirit ministry of the combined influences of the Infinite
Spirit and a local universe Mother Spirit. As these spiritual presences operate
in the
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lives of Urantians, they cannot be segregated. In your minds and upon your
souls they function as one spirit, notwithstanding their diverse origins. And
as this united spiritual ministration is experienced, it becomes to you the
influence of the Supreme, "who is ever able to keep you from failing and to
present you blameless before your Father on high."
Ever remember that the Infinite Spirit is the Conjoint Actor; both the Father
and the Son are functioning in and through him; he is present not only as
himself but also as the Father and as the Son and as the Father-Son. In
recognition of this and for many additional reasons the spirit presence of the
Infinite Spirit is often referred to as "the spirit of God."
It would also be consistent to refer to the liaison of all spiritual ministry
as the spirit of God, for such a liaison is truly the union of the spirits of
God the Father, God the Son, God the Spirit, and God the Sevenfold even the
spirit of God the Supreme.
6. PERSONALITY OF THE INFINITE SPIRIT
Do not allow the widespread bestowal and the far-flung distribution of the
Third Source and Center to obscure or otherwise detract from the fact of his
personality. The Infinite Spirit is a universe presence, an eternal action, a
cosmic power, a holy influence, and a universal mind; he is all of these and
infinitely more, but he is also a true and divine personality.
The Infinite Spirit is a complete and perfect personality, the divine equal and
co-ordinate of the Universal Father and the Eternal Son. The Conjoint Creator
is just as real and visible to the higher intelligences of the universes as are
the Father and the Son; indeed more so, for it is the Spirit whom all ascenders
must attain before they may approach the Father through the Son.
The Infinite Spirit, the Third Person of Deity, is possessed of all the
attributes which you associate with personality. The Spirit is endowed with
absolute mind: "The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God."
The Spirit is endowed not only with mind but also with will. In the bestowal of
his gifts it is recorded: "But all these works that one and the selfsame
Spirit, dividing to every man severally and as he wills."
"The love of the Spirit" is real, as also are his sorrows; therefore "Grieve
not the Spirit of God." Whether we observe the Infinite Spirit as Paradise
Deity or as a local universe Creative Spirit, we find that the Conjoint Creator
is not only the Third Source and Center but also a divine person. This divine
personality also reacts to the universe as a person. The Spirit speaks to you,
"He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says." "The Spirit himself
makes intercession for you." The Spirit exerts a direct and personal influence
upon created beings, "For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the
sons of God."
Even though we behold the phenomenon of the ministry of the Infinite Spirit to
the remote worlds of the universe of universes, even though we envisage this
same co-ordinating Deity acting in and through the untold legions of the
manifold beings who take origin in the Third Source and Center, even though we
recognize the omnipresence of the Spirit, nonetheless, we still affirm that
this same Third Source and Center is a person, the Conjoint Creator of all
things and all beings and all universes.
In the administration of universes the Father, Son, and Spirit are perfectly
and eternally interassociated. Though each is engaged in a personal ministry to
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all creation, all three are divinely and absolutely interlocked in a service of
creation and control which forever makes them one.
In the person of the Infinite Spirit the Father and the Son are mutually
present, always and in unqualified perfection, for the Spirit is like the
Father and like the Son, and also like the Father and the Son as they two are
forever one.
[Presented on Urantia by a Divine Counselor of Uversa commissioned by the
Ancients of Days to portray the nature and work of the Infinite Spirit.]
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Subjects Archive The Urantia Book Urantia Book PART I: The Central and Super
Universes : The Universal Father The Nature Of God The Attributes Of God God's
Relation To The Universe God's Relation To The Individual The Eternal Son
Relation Of The Eternal Son To The Universe The Infinite Spirit Relation Of The
Infinite Spirit To The Universe The Paradise Trinity The Eternal Isle Of
Paradise The Universe Of Universes The Sacred Spheres Of Paradise The Central
And Divine Universe The Seven Superuniverses The Seven Master Spirits The Seven
Supreme Spirit Groups The Supreme Trinity Personalities The Co-ordinate
Trinity-origin Beings The Paradise Sons Of God The Paradise Creator Sons The
Trinitized Sons Of God The Solitary Messengers Higher Personalities Of The
Infinite Spirit The Messenger Hosts Of Space Ministering Spirits Of The Central
Universe Ministry Of The Primary Supernaphim Ministering Spirits Of The
Superuniverses The Universe Power Directors Personalities Of The Grand Universe
The Corps Of The Finality
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