30 - The Pleasure vs. the Pain Principle - Divine Inner Happiness Knows No Fear
the pleasure vs the pain principle
The Pleasure vs. the Pain Principle
Divine Inner Happiness Knows No Fear
The Great Question Number Nine
9. Is pleasure—the satisfaction of happiness—desirable? Then must man live in a world where the alternative of pain and the likelihood of suffering are ever-present experiential possibilities.
9. Is pleasure—the satisfaction of happiness—desirable? Then must man live in a world where the alternative of pain and the likelihood of suffering are ever-present experiential possibilities.
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.
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.
Self-mastery equals self-governance. Thus, self-governance equals self-mastery.
Stop yourself for just a few moments to consider--really consider...- How much about "self-governance" do you really know, understand and practice in your daily life?
- Can the individual child of God complete the seven psychic circles without learning to consistently and right-use-ly "govern the mortal hue-manimal self?"
In my view...the answers to the above questions are...- I am learning about self-governance, but have not experientially achieved full self-governance, yet.
- No. The individual child of God cannot complete both the seven psychic circles and the "subtle and sublime" levels of Thought Adjuster communication and cooperation without achieving perfected self-governance.
Other Questions to Consider and Answer...- Is self-mastery equivalent to self-governance?
- How could self-mastery NOT be equivalent to self-governance?
Across the ages...the simple message Jesus of Nazareth lived and taught, by example...has become polluted...and thereby...distorted...and...complicated...
And so, I ask you...
- What is "complicated" about choosing to become the change you desire to see manifest in the world around you...to live every day...striving to become and be...your "truest" best self?
- And do you perceive Jesus' exhortation to self-governance in the following passage?
- How much about "self-governance" do you really know, understand and practice in your daily life?
- Can the individual child of God complete the seven psychic circles without learning to consistently and right-use-ly "govern the mortal hue-manimal self?"
- I am learning about self-governance, but have not experientially achieved full self-governance, yet.
- No. The individual child of God cannot complete both the seven psychic circles and the "subtle and sublime" levels of Thought Adjuster communication and cooperation without achieving perfected self-governance.
Other Questions to Consider and Answer...
- Is self-mastery equivalent to self-governance?
- How could self-mastery NOT be equivalent to self-governance?
Across the ages...the simple message Jesus of Nazareth lived and taught, by example...has become polluted...and thereby...distorted...and...complicated...
- What is "complicated" about choosing to become the change you desire to see manifest in the world around you...to live every day...striving to become and be...your "truest" best self?
- And do you perceive Jesus' exhortation to self-governance in the following passage?
143:2.3 “Verily, verily, I say to you, he who rules his own self is greater than he who captures a city. Self-mastery is the measure of man's moral nature and the indicator of his spiritual development. In the old order you fasted and prayed; as the new creature of the rebirth of the spirit, you are taught to believe and rejoice. In the Father's kingdom you are to become new creatures; old things are to pass away; behold I show you how all things are to become new. And by your love for one another you are to convince the world that you have passed from bondage to liberty, from death into life everlasting."
Indeed, Jesus is talking about self-governance. And indeed, every one of the twenty-eight principles is a philosophical rule leading to self-governance--self-mastery--true character--full soul maturity--the "fully conscious morontia mortal-mind-identity and divine spirit-being and personality unified.
"Only one who devotes himself to a cause with his whole strength and soul can be a true master. For this reason, mastery demands all of a person." -Albert Einstein
- Can you maintain the high spiritual estate of inner pleasure--the satisfaction of happiness, while pain and suffering are also present in your experience?
- Can you maintain the high spiritual estate of inner pleasure--the satisfaction of happiness, while pain and suffering are also present in your experience?
Trustworthiness, Loyalty, and Cosmic Nobility
On January 3rd of 2021, I wrote the following:
The True Measure of Trustworthiness is Self-Mastery
(Written January 3rd, 2021)
You hold onto old programming...anecdotal beLIEfs...
as though your daydream world might come to an end without them
your virtual hue-manimal speedily ends in relief...
your virtual beLIEfs, in fact, soul growth...rejects and condemns...
You spend almost all of your life in meaningless chatter...
your selfish thoughts and evil deeds done cheaply in secret...
the cost: a long healthy life greatly shortened...doesn't matter...
lifelong you seek 'symptom treatment'--nothing but concealment...
On a scale of one to ten--character of perfect poise
is far greater than the sum of its parts... tenacity...
required to let go of all physical mechanism noise...
the true measure of trustworthiness is self-mastery
So, why do you hold onto petty character weakness?
and yes, you choose your character defects, same as your strengths
your hue-man stress results from unwillingness to confess
stubborn refusal to change is your low-bar wave-lengths...
Fear--vision distorter... prejudice--the wall it creates...
a decisive character growing into mature soul,
increasingly sincere, trusts, and never hesitates
to embrace greater love of greater truth--the mortal goal...
On a scale of one to ten--character of perfect poise
is far greater than the sum of its parts... tenacity...
required to let go of all physical mechanism noise...
the true measure of trustworthiness is self-mastery
Copyright Timothy Ray Walls 2021
In Paper 111 - THE ADJUSTER AND THE SOUL - we read...
Since this inner life of man is truly creative, there rests upon each person the responsibility of choosing as to whether this creativity shall be spontaneous and wholly haphazard or controlled, directed, and constructive. How can a creative imagination produce worthy children when the stage whereon it functions is already preoccupied by prejudice, hate, fears, resentments, revenge, and bigotries?
The Urantia Book (111:4.9)
It is fear, intellectual pride, assuming-presuming, prejudice, hate, resentments, revenge and bigotries which carry over from circle to circle and are typically still present when the first psychic circle has been attained.
The primary "deficiencies of character" obscure--demean and degrade trustworthiness, loyalty and cosmic nobility.
And until these primary "deficiencies of character" are completely eradicated--replaced by their "true character virtues...- spiritual courage replacing fear,
- humility replacing intellectual pride,
- speaking the truth instead of assuming-presuming,
- fairness, inclusion and brotherhood replacing prejudice,
- unselfishly serving love replacing hate,
- forgiveness replacing revenge,
- and tolerance and acceptance replacing bigotries,
true self-governance--self-mastery and true character is not fully realized.
In Paper 160 - RODAN OF ALEXANDRIA - we read...
The Urantia Book (111:4.9)
- spiritual courage replacing fear,
- humility replacing intellectual pride,
- speaking the truth instead of assuming-presuming,
- fairness, inclusion and brotherhood replacing prejudice,
- unselfishly serving love replacing hate,
- forgiveness replacing revenge,
- and tolerance and acceptance replacing bigotries,
Successful living is nothing more or less than the art of the mastery of dependable techniques for solving common problems. The first step in the solution of any problem is to locate the difficulty, to isolate the problem, and frankly to recognize its nature and gravity. The great mistake is that, when life problems excite our profound fears, we refuse to recognize them. Likewise, when the acknowledgment of our difficulties entails the reduction of our long-cherished conceit, the admission of envy, or the abandonment of deep-seated prejudices, the average person prefers to cling to the old illusions of safety and to the long-cherished false feelings of security. Only a brave person is willing honestly to admit, and fearlessly to face, what a sincere and logical mind discovers.
The Urantia Book (160:1.7)
In Paper 28 - Ministering Spirits of the Superuniverses - we further read...
You will first encounter these beings on the mansion worlds, and they will there instruct you in the advantageous use of that which you call “time,” both in its positive employment, work, and in its negative utilization, rest. Both uses of time are important.
4. The Solemnity of Trust. Trust is the crucial test of will creatures. Trustworthiness is the true measure of self-mastery, character. These seconaphim accomplish a double purpose in the economy of the superuniverses: They portray to all will creatures the sense of the obligation, sacredness, and solemnity of trust. At the same time they unerringly reflect to the governing authorities the exact trustworthiness of any candidate for confidence or trust.
On Urantia, you grotesquely essay to read character and to estimate specific abilities, but on Uversa we actually do these things in perfection. These seconaphim weigh trustworthiness in the living scales of unerring character appraisal, and when they have looked at you, we have only to look at them to know the limitations of your ability to discharge responsibility, execute trust, and fulfill missions. Your assets of trustworthiness are clearly set forth alongside your liabilities of possible default or betrayal.
It is the plan of your superiors to advance you by augmented trusts just as fast as your character is sufficiently developed to gracefully bear these added responsibilities, but to overload the individual only courts disaster and insures disappointment. And the mistake of placing responsibility prematurely upon either man or angel may be avoided by utilizing the ministry of these infallible estimators of the trust capacity of the individuals of time and space. These seconaphim ever accompany Those High in Authority, and never do these executives make assignments until their candidates have been weighed in the secoraphic balances and pronounced “not wanting.”
The Urantia Book (28:6.12, 28:6.13, 28:6.14, and 28:6.15)
You understand that just as...- the spirit of intuition,
- the spirit of understanding,
- the spirit of courage,
- the spirit of knowledge,
- the spirit of counsel, and
- the spirit of worship
all become one in the overcontrol of wisdom...so all of the virtues of true character are summed up in the individual child of God's attainment to trustworthiness. "Trustworthiness is the true measure of self-mastery, character."
- the spirit of intuition,
- the spirit of understanding,
- the spirit of courage,
- the spirit of knowledge,
- the spirit of counsel, and
- the spirit of worship
"There are three constants in life...change, choice and principles." -Stephen Covey
The Deeper Meaning of the Twenty-eight Principles of High Mortal Philosophy
Along my journey of embracing the twenty-eight principles of high mortal philosophy, I began to look at them as points of contact (like plug ends) that could engage with the Adjutant Mind spirits (the Power-source).
It is said that the neural energy-system is both sender and receiver. But with regard to the engaging with (plugging into) the seven Adjutant Mind spirits, the neural energy-system network is receiving the impulses of the Adjutant Mind spirits.
The twenty-eight principles are like "specialized outlets," where the interface between the neural energy-system and the seven Adjutant Mind spirits occurs.
And it is no "mere coincidence" that there are only twenty-eight of these high principles of mortal philosophy. Nor is it "mere coincidence" that these twenty-eight principles are divisible by seven, resulting in seven groups of four principles each.
The twenty-eight principles are the summation of "living the principled life" which lead to being "spirit-led" and "bearing the fruits of the spirit."
5:2.6 The entire experience of Adjuster communion is one involving moral status, mental motivation, and spiritual experience. The self-realization of such an achievement is mainly, though not exclusively, limited to the realms of soul consciousness, but the proofs are forthcoming and abundant in the manifestation of the fruits of the spirit in the lives of all such inner-spirit contactors.
- And what does this summation of the twenty-eight principles look like, when embraced and internalized, leading to the bearing of the fruits of the spirit?
- And what does this summation of the twenty-eight principles look like, when embraced and internalized, leading to the bearing of the fruits of the spirit?
34:6.13 The consciousness of the spirit domination of a human life is presently attended by an increasing exhibition of the characteristics of the Spirit in the life reactions of such a spirit-led mortal, “for the fruits of the spirit are love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance.” Such spirit-guided and divinely illuminated mortals, while they yet tread the lowly paths of toil and in human faithfulness perform the duties of their earthly assignments, have already begun to discern the lights of eternal life as they glimmer on the faraway shores of another world; already have they begun to comprehend the reality of that inspiring and comforting truth, “The kingdom of God is not meat and drink but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.” And throughout every trial and in the presence of every hardship, spirit-born souls are sustained by that hope which transcends all fear because the love of God is shed abroad in all hearts by the presence of the divine Spirit.
The Deeper Meaning of the "Fruits of the Spirit"
The fruits of the spirit--love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance are all the actuality of the righteous (right-use) true character child of our Paradise Father.
Now, ask yourself...
- How much of love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance--righteousness (right-useness) of personal power do I manifest toward myself and outwardly toward the children of my Paradise Father?
And the attainment to perfected trustworthiness represents the acme--the absolute pinnacle of achievement--the realization of the "goal of hue-man existence," wherein the most "subtle and sublime" levels of Thought Adjuster attunement (at-one-ment) are the "living value" of the ascending son of God actualized as a "cosmic reality."
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."
đź’—
- 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."
đź’—
Supplemental Reading
- What are the four cosmic dimensions of personality unification?
1. Body 1. self-correction 2. Mind 2. self-discipline / self-control3. 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.
- 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.
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