PERSONAL GROWTH: THE
SEVEN PSYCHIC CIRCLES
Neal Waldrop
The Urantian Journal of Urantia Brotherhood
Winter, 1978
The article printed here is part of a paper presented at the Second Central Atlantic Conference of Urantia Book readers, Rockville, Maryland, on October 28, 1978.
Our total-personality growth - our progressive attainment of the seven psychic circles - is and must be immensely influenced by the types of mind and spirit ministry which other speakers are discussing today. From the seventh to the third circle our mindal growth involves ever-intensified functioning of the adjutant mind-spirits, the spirits of intuition, understanding, courage, knowledge, counsel, worship, and wisdom.
The Holy Spirit and the Spirit of Truth foster our spiritual growth as we ascend the seven psychic circles. Further, we are told that "Circle by circle your intellectual decisions, moral choosings, and spiritual development add to the ability of the Adjuster to function in your mind; circle by circle you thereby ascend from the lower stages of Adjuster association and mind attunement, so that the Adjuster is increasingly enabled to register his picturizations of destiny with augmenting vividness and conviction upon the evolving consciousness of this God-seeking mind-soul." (*1209:6)
Nevertheless, we are informed that most of us will hear the Adjuster's voice "seldom during a lifetime." (*1213:5), and that "Human beings below the third and second circles of attainment rarely hear the Adjuster's direct voice except in moments of supreme desire, in a supreme situation, and consequent upon a supreme decision.' (*1213:5)
Seraphic ministry to us is directly related to circle attainment. When we reach the third circle we receive personal guardians, resulting in ". . . an unmistakable improvement in all phases of cosmic achievement and spiritual development." (*1210:9)
But all of this growth is for the benefit of others as well, not merely for our own personal satisfaction: "The universe is a whole; no thing or being exists or lives in isolation. Self -realization is potentially evil if it is antisocial. It is literally true: 'No man lives by himself.' Cosmic socialization constitutes the highest form of personality unification. Said Jesus: 'He who would be greatest among you, let him become server of all.' f' (*647:6) If we truly desire to serve, our growth through the psychic circles will be of enhanced benefit to others: "the successful traversal of these levels demands the harmonious functioning of the entire personality. . . " (* 1209:4); and, as a result, ". . circle attainment always augments the potential of human success and mortal achievement." (*1211:5)
Nature of the Seven Psychic Circles
The exact nature of the seven psychic circles is highly personal. For each individual, the levels vary; they appear to be determined by each human being's capacity for growth. In any case these attainment levels relate to balanced growth of the whole person - growth in material, intellectual, and spiritual terms. Or, phrased in another way, the seven psychic circles have to do with personality status, mind attainment, soul growth, and Adjuster attunement. In yet another passage we are told that the seven psychic circles are levels of associated intellectual, social, spiritual, and cosmic-insight values.
All aspects of personal growth should occur simultaneously, in proper proportion: "When the development of the intellectual nature proceeds faster than that of the spiritual, such a situation renders communication with the Thought Adjuster both difficult and dangerous. Likewise, overspiritual development tends to produce a fanatical and perverted interpretation of the spirit leadings of the divine indweller. Lack of spiritual capacity makes it very difficult to transmit to such a material intellect the spiritual truths resident in the higher superconsciousness. 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." (*1209:5)
A human being enters the seventh circle as a child (at about the age of five), when he or she learns the difference between right and wrong. At this point the Holy Spirit and the Spirit of Truth function, and the Thought Adjuster arrives to indwell the mind.
The events which characterize entry into the sixth, fifth, and fourth circles are not described in The Urantia Book. As previously mentioned, personal seraphic guardians are assigned upon a human being's entry into the third circle: "When a mortal mind breaks through the inertia of animal legacy and attains the third circle of human intellectuality and acquired spirituality. . . " (*1242:4) Another result of attaining the third circle is that the mortal acquires advanced standing, becoming qualified for repersonalization on the mansion worlds on the third day after natural death, rather than remaining in the category of those who will be repersonalized in a dispensational or special resurrection.
The first circle ". . represents the highest possible realization of mind-Adjuster relationship in the human experience prior to the liberation of the evolving morontia soul from the habiliments of the material body. Concerning mind, emotions, and cosmic insight, this achievement of the first psychic circle is the nearest possible approach of material mind and spirit Adjuster in human experience." (*1210:10)
Let me pause here and confess that if it is perfectly clear to you just exactly what the seven psychic circles represent, then you have the advantage over me. Perhaps we could look at the seven psychic circles as embodying a human being's total potential for personal growth. Then, if we wanted to advance a rash speculation, we might say that each circle corresponds to one-seventh of each person's total potential. According to this model we would enter the third circle when we had already actualized four-sevenths of our human potential.
However, I very much doubt that the seven psychic circles divide total human potential into slices which are precisely equal in a mathematical sense. The model should not be pushed too far, but perhaps you will also find it useful.
More importantly, The Urantia Book suggests that we might understand the seven psychic circles as ". . cosmic levels - actual meaning grasps and value realizations of progressive approach to the morontia consciousness of initial relationship of the evolutionary soul with the emerging Supreme Being." (* 1211:2) Thus, attainment of the psychic circles requires substantial effort on our part: "The motivation of faith makes experiential the full realization of man's sonship with God, but action, completion of decisions, is essential to the evolutionary attainment of consciousness of progressive kinship with the cosmic actuality of the Supreme Being. Faith transmutes potentials to actuals in the spiritual world, but potentials become actuals in the finite realms of the Supreme only by and through the realization of choice-experience." (*1211:3) Or, to put this in simpler terms, we grow in the seven psychic circles by drawing close to God's plan for the evolution of our planet and the universe of universes; by making clear decisions which show our acceptance of our duty to serve; and by putting these decisions into action for the benefit of all. In the long run these life patterns lead to augmenting vision - man's ". . increased understanding of the world in which he lives; his enlarging capacity for the comprehension of the material facts of time, the meaningful ideas of thought, and the valuable ideals of spiritual insight." (*1306:2)
These same life patterns also eventually produce increasing control - ". . the gradual accumulation of the knowledge of the laws of the material world, the purposes of spiritual existence, and the possibilities of the philosophic co-ordination of these two realities." (*1306:3)
To conclude our discussion of the nature of the seven circles, it is important for us to understand that we have plenty of time to achieve them: either in this life or in the next: "Though the cosmic circles of personality growth must eventually be attained, if, through no fault of your own, the accidents of time and the handicaps of material existence prevent your mastering these levels on your native planet, if your intentions and desires are of survival value, there are issued the decrees of probation extension. You will be afforded additional time in which to prove yourself." (*1233:3)
-Neal A. Waldrop III Washington, D. C.
A Service of
The Urantia Book
Fellowship