6 - The 6th of the 28 Principles in The Urantia Book
the 6th of the 28 principles in the urantia book
The 6th of the
28 Principles in The Urantia Book
The Great Question Number Two
2. Is altruism—service of one’s fellows—desirable? Then must life experience provide for encountering situations of social inequality.
The Great Goal of Hue-manimal Existence
It is to the mind of perfect poise, housed in a body of clean habits, stabilized neural energies, and balanced chemical function—when the physical, mental, and spiritual powers are in triune harmony of development—that a maximum of light and truth can be imparted with a minimum of temporal danger or risk to the real welfare of such a being. By such a balanced growth does man ascend the circles of planetary progression one by one, from the seventh to the first.
On the Path to Understanding the "Mastery of Self"
It is accurate to say that "understanding" the 28 principles of "high mortal philosophy" found in Paper 48, The Morontia Life required the asking of many questions and not a small amount of meditative thinking on them.
However, the real and true understanding of them came from "internalizing them," lifting them off the printed page through "memorization," and subsequently experiencing them in direct challenges in relationships with fellow children of God.
In thinking about the 6th of the 28 principles in The Urantia Book...there are most obvious questions which ought to immediate formulate in the mind; these questions are:
- Are you abusing the privileges you enjoy?
- Are you licensing liberty for others and yourself?
- Do you seek and possess power for self-aggrandizement -- the power of wealth accumulation (often by ill-gotten means), the power of economic and mind-control over the lives of fellow children of God?
- Is the life you are living the "mark of a highly civilized" child of our Paradise Father?
48:7.8 6. To enjoy privilege without abuse, to have liberty without license, to have power and steadfastly refuse to use it for self-aggrandizement--these are the marks of high civilization.
Turning this Principle into a Personal "I am" Declaration
I am steadfast in self-discipline and self-control--the individual "living example" of "high civilization."
Always remember: it is not possible to grow into the "living spiritual value" contained within an intellectual principle typed onto a page; you must "internalize" the principle by converting it into a personal "I am" declaration of the person you desire to become.
Why is this 6th Principle all about Self-discipline and Self-control?
Firstly, the mastery of the "character deficiencies" of the hue-
manimal self is implied in this principle, but only delineates the next step in self-correction of the character deficiency, self-discipline and self-control.
- When you look out at the world around you in its present state, what do you observe?
- Do you see sincerity, honesty, uprightness (dignity of self-conduct), righteousness (right use of personal power), manifest true character and overt spirituality?
- Do you see the whole of the hue-man children of God growing into a perfected state--the "moment by moment and day by day decisions and actions which will bring us into an "era of light and life" in the near tomorrow of hue-man spiritual destiny?
- Do you see a hue-man civilization that is at war with itself--tearing itself apart at the very strands of the fabric of the nuclear family and cultural heritage which have held civilization together through 10,000 centuries of evolutionary history?
- Do you see a government(s) domestic and foreign, at every level of governance as abusing its privilege to represent the masses, licensing liberty to the masses while excluding itself and its office holders, and abusing its power by foisting continual propaganda through mainstream media outlets to the point of "absolute power?"
- What do you see when you look at yourself both in the physical mirror and in the mirror of mind?
- Do you respect and love yourself of up to equal measure or more respect and love you have for your fellow children of God?
156:5.14. It is not possible to respect yourself more than you love your neighbor; the one is the measure of the capacity for the other.Read the whole of Section 5 -- Jesus' Teaching at Tyre.
Some questions Jesus posed to his apostles during this instruction:
- 156:5.15 As the days pass, every true believer becomes more skillful in alluring his fellows into the love of eternal truth. Are you more resourceful in revealing goodness to humanity today than you were yesterday?
- Are you a better righteousness recommender this year than you were last year?
- Are you becoming increasingly artistic in your technique of leading hungry souls into the spiritual kingdom?
- As you grow older in years and more experienced in the affairs of the kingdom, are you becoming more tactful in dealing with troublesome mortals and more tolerant in living with stubborn associates?
Is Prayer for Others and Worship of the Paradise Father an Integral Part of Self-discipline and Self-control?
It takes spiritual courage to fearlessly question and face both small and great challenges of surviving and bettering the lives of fellow children of God including one's own.
Spiritual courage is required to correct one's own "character deficiencies." Repeated daily correcting of one's own character deficiencies become self-discipline and self-control.
Prayer for the betterment of others -- their spiritual welfare, protection and increasing self-direction to the indwelling divine Thought Adjuster, followed by a period of "quieting the mind," is a highly effective and integral part of self-correction, self-discipline and self-control.
131:7.3. ...If you are not right on the inside, it is useless to pray for that which is on the outside.
- Are YOU steadfast in self-discipline and self-control?
- Are YOU the "living example" of high civilization?
91:8.8. Modern man is perplexed by the thought of talking things over with God in a purely personal way. Many have abandoned regular praying; they only pray when under unusual pressure – in emergencies. Man should be unafraid to talk to God, but only a spiritual child would undertake to persuade, or presume to change, God.
A spiritually mature soul does not "undertake to persuade, or presume to change, God."
The 6th of the 28 principles in The Urantia Book is about "self-discipline and self-control", of one's character deficiencies.
To me, what is clearly implied in this principle is that many, if not most will, when challenged by difficulties, cower in fear and settle for living a mediocre existence of non questioning and self-imprisonment with his and her beLIEf system.
There is nothing either remarkable or great which characterizes such a robotic existence held in the iron grip of fear to challenge one's own mediocrity.
Pray for More Self-Mastery
Remember, even if prayer does not change God, it very often effects great and lasting changes in the one who prays in faith and confident expectation. Prayer has been the ancestor of much peace of mind, cheerfulness, calmness, courage, self-mastery, and fair-mindedness in the men and women of the evolving races. ~ The Urantia Book, (91:4.5)
Trust is the crucial test of will creatures. Trustworthiness is the true measure of self-mastery, character. ~ The Urantia Book, (28:6.13)
Circle Attainment and Self-Mastery
In the ministry to so-called normal beings, seraphic assignments are made in accordance with the human attainment of the circles of intellectuality and spirituality. You start out in your mind of mortal investment in the seventh circle and journey inward in the task of self-understanding, self-conquest, and self-mastery; and circle by circle you advance until (if natural death does not terminate your career and transfer your struggles to the mansion worlds) you reach the first or inner circle of relative contact and communion with the indwelling Adjuster. ~ The Urantia Book, (113:1.6)
The 6th of the 28 principles in The Urantia Book correlates to the individual child of God vibrationally responding to the marshalling impulse of the second (2nd) Adjutant Mind spirit of Understanding. The 6th principle is the sixth of the first eight principles, which are the generalized requirements to experientially master the sixth psychic circle of experiential spiritual understanding, also corresponding the 2nd planetary age and the 2nd Mansion Training World educational and socialization equivalency requirements.
The Great Goal of Hue-man Attainment
- I am the mind of perfect poise.
- I am housed in a body of clean habits, and clear and pure thinking.
- I am stabilized in neural energies.
- I am balanced in chemical function.
- I am ever-momentarily transferring all mortal experiential meanings and values into the unifying whole.
- I am ever-momentarily unifying the physical, mental, and spiritual powers with the "I am that I am" personality.
- I am ever-momentarily giving you, my indwelling divine partner and Thought Controller, my most honest, sincere, and dedicated cooperation in attaining to "supremacy of spirit domination over mind and matter."
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Supplemental Reading
- What are the four cosmic dimensions of personality unification?
1. Body 1. self-correction
2. Mind 2. self-discipline / self-control
3. Soul 3. self-direction to spirit-leading,
4. Spirit 4. self-mastery
Personality unity self-realizes supremacy of spirit domination over mind and matter.
What is your definition of religion?
How do you define 'your religion?'
How do you keep your religion...pure...?
Personal religion must be kept uncontaminated by:
1. maintaining a self-corrective philosophy of daily living.
2. maintaining non-involvement and impartiality with regard to all social, economic, and political alliances.
3. seeking out and maintaining creative, comforting, and love-expanding relations with one's fellow beings.
4. enhancing personal progress of spiritual insight and the appreciation of cosmic values.
5. prevention of fanaticism by the compensations of the scientific mental attitude.
What is a character deficiency?
What is self-correction of a character-deficiency?
What are the steps involved in correcting one's own character-deficiencies?
What replaces a character-deficiency?
Does a character-deficiency automatically disappear when one is exercising self-correction, self-control and self-direction?
1. Self-correction.
99:3.7 The great weakness of all this unrecognized and unconscious type of religious activity is that it is unable to profit from open religious criticism and thereby attain to profitable levels of self-correction. It is a fact that religion does not grow unless it is disciplined by constructive criticism, amplified by philosophy, purified by science, and nourished by loyal fellowship.
2. Self-control.
54:1.6 True liberty is the associate of genuine self-respect; false liberty is the consort of self-admiration. True liberty is the fruit of self-control; false liberty, the assumption of self-assertion. Self-control leads to altruistic service; self-admiration tends towards the exploitation of others for the selfish aggrandizement of such a mistaken individual as is willing to sacrifice righteous attainment for the sake of possessing unjust power over his fellow beings.
3. Self-direction.
36:5.8. 3. The spirit of courage—the fidelity endowment—in personal beings, the basis of character acquirement and the intellectual root of moral stamina and spiritual bravery. When enlightened by facts and inspired by truth, this becomes the secret of the urge of evolutionary ascension by the channels of intelligent and conscientious self-direction.
4. Supremacy of spirit domination over mind and matter.
109:3.2 ...comparatively few will elect to ascend the moral heights beyond the hills of self-mastery and character acquirement to attain the higher levels of emerging spirituality.
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