It is necessary to understand the phrase "Personality may be material or spiritual" in the context of the entire paragraph, which makes it clear that personality is bestowed upon either a material or spiritual being. Personality must be associated with spiritual or physical energy, but it is not a manifestation of energy, either physical or spiritual. See 42:12.2, 112:0.2.

Original Paragraph:

^{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 which is exclusively bestowed by God the Father upon these living systems of the associated and co-ordinated 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.