Contents of this Study

The Nature and Consequences of Free-Will Choice

In so far as man's evolving morontia soul becomes permeated by truth, beauty, and goodness as the value-realization of God-consciousness, such a resultant being becomes indestructible. If there is no survival of eternal values in the evolving soul of man, then mortal existence is without meaning, and life itself is a tragic illusion. But it is forever true: What you begin in time you will assuredly finish in eternity--if it is worth finishing. [UB 111:3:7 (1219:6)]

Our creature personalities unify the identity of our material, mindal, and spiritual natures into one unity of being, and our personal wills are relatively free in the determination of our volitional actions. Our creative and determinative free will is relatively independent of all other universal influence. In fact, there are local universe policies enforced to protect against the infringement of the moral free will of personal creatures.

From the metaphysical point of view the life of each finite self is a unique contribution to the fulfillment of the general purpose of God. When I will, God wills in me, and my act is part of the divine life. [Josiah Royce (b. 1855)]

The Paradise Father has ordained this liberty of choice as determined by the exercise of creature will and intelligent decision-making. In doing so, we are granted the supernal gift of experiencing the contribution of some cosmic value to the time-space creations that is both personal and unique (even as we are personal and unique). We become freewill participants "in the long evolutionary struggle to attain the status of light and life both individually and collectively." [UB 54:2:3 (614:8)] Sharing our natures with the Father of free will, all children of the Universal Father are endowed with a measure of divine spontaneity of freewill action. By seeking to carry out the Father's will, we become partners with the Creator Sons of time and space in the adventurous endeavor for the attainment of supreme perfection.

Mortal freewill choice for the doing of the Father's will and thus embarking on a path to eternal life is the supreme mandate of time and space. Nothing in all of creation can abrogate against this liberty of personal choice. We can align our will to the Father's will, or we can turn aside and proceed with our lives solely determined by our own free will. It is our choice to make. If we choose to forsake the living presence of our Paradise Father's spirit within the deepest part of our mortal being, this we can choose. However, this personal choice of turning our face from the Father's presence means that we have refused the greatest give that can be offered a mortal being of free will - we abandon our deepest friend and loving Father. Meanwhile, the Father waits patiently.

Mortal man may draw near God and may repeatedly forsake the divine will so long as the power of choice remains. Man's final doom is not sealed until he has lost the power to choose the Father's will. There is never a closure of the Father's heart to the need and the petition of his children. Only do his offspring close their hearts forever to the Father's drawing power when they finally and forever lose the desire to do his divine will--to know him and to be like him. [UB 5:1:10 (64:2)]

On the other hand, when it concerns the scope of our far-reaching future and path of personal growth, we are somewhat limited in our self-determination. These restrictions and limits are intended to constrain our actions from hurting our fellows and ourselves. The laws and mandates of creation sets predetermined restraints, controls, and limits on the far-reaching ramifications of the unfettered creature free will. Still, given these necessary considerations, we may choose freely within these relative restrictions that have been determined to be in our best interests, and these choices are relatively final on the finite level.

Relative free will is operative on six levels of human consciousness: [UB 16:8:8-14 (194:8-14)]

1.      Moral decision, highest wisdom

2.      Spiritual choice, truth discernment

3.      Unselfish love, brotherhood service

4.      Purposeful co-operation, group loyalty

5.      Cosmic insight, the grasp of universe meanings

6.      Personality dedication, wholehearted devotion to doing the Father's will

7.      Worship, the sincere pursuit of divine values and the wholehearted love of the divine Value-Giver

Because the imperfect creature can exercise free will in the choosing of good or evil, the possibility and even the probability of error and sin arises. This possibility is inevitable if creature will is to be truly free. Giving free license to mortal will within time-conditioned space is tantamount to providing for the very real possibility of sin, and sin results when the spiritually immature freewill creature takes full liberty of this freedom of choice while at the same time failing to pay reverence to his supreme duties and cosmic responsibilities.

Therefore is there increased safety in narrowing the limits of personality choice throughout the lower levels of existence. Choice becomes increasingly liberated as the universes are ascended; choice eventually approximates divine freedom when the ascending personality achieves divinity of status, supremacy of consecration to the purposes of the universe, completion of cosmic-wisdom attainment, and finality of creature identification with the will and the way of God. [UB 118:7:8 (1301:5)]

The reality of sin, however, does not affect in any way a creature's freewill choice for undertaking the ascendancy career. This choice would remain unaffected in its critical importance and impact, even if all such choices were to be made in a perfect world free of sin and error. However, do not believe that unfortunate life circumstances and environment can ever hurt our chances to make an honest and real choice for accepting the adventure of mortal ascendancy. We contain deep within our being the divine spirit of our Paradise Father, and this presence insures that all mortal souls will have the same fair chance to accept the gift of salvation. The Father's indwelling spirit is the offered guarantee of personality survival. This divine spirit reveals to the mortal of indwelling the true meanings and values of living, and these elevated spiritual standards facilitate the proper personal life choices between good and evil. A seemingly poor deal of the cards in life can have no impact on our opportunity to become perfect even as the Father is perfect.

Non-Impacting Life Circumstance on Survival-Choice [UB 5:5:13 (69:8]

        Limitations of intellect

        Curtailment of education

        Deprivation of culture

        Impoverishment of social status

        Inferiority of the human standards of morality

By allowing for the possibility of sin in the world, a stark contrast is provided to highlight the ultimate benefits of goodness, considering that the overall effect of sin and evil is to accentuate even more clearly the consummate good that results on the whole. Our spiritual growth relies on the maturing of our voluntary choices of goodness thus diminishing the possibilities for evil.

While it is all too true that good cannot come of evil to the one who contemplates and performs evil, it is equally true that all things (including evil, potential and manifest) work together for good to all beings who know God, love to do his will, and are ascending Paradiseward according to his eternal plan and divine purpose. [UB 54:4:7 (616:6)]

Regarding the creature choice for eternal survival, the material and mortal free will is absolutely sovereign. It is man's spiritual heritage to possess sovereign free will for shaping his eternal destiny. We are true and creative architects of our destinies. Our choices are not predestined or foreordained. We may exercise the powers of our own self-creation or self-destruction. We are sovereign in the determination of our own destiny.

Having thus provided for the growth of the immortal soul and having liberated man's inner self from the fetters of absolute dependence on antecedent causation, the Father stands aside. Now, man having thus been liberated from the fetters of causation response, at least as pertains to eternal destiny, and provision having been made for the growth of the immortal self, the soul, it remains for man himself to will the creation or to inhibit the creation of this surviving and eternal self which is his for the choosing. No other being, force, creator, or agency in all the wide universe of universes can interfere to any degree with the absolute sovereignty of the mortal free will, as it operates within the realms of choice, regarding the eternal destiny of the personality of the choosing mortal. As pertains to eternal survival, God has decreed the sovereignty of the material and mortal will, and that decree is absolute. [UB 5:6:6 (71:3)]

When we enact a freewill judgment for making a moral choice, this process of decision-making creates a religious experience that reveals the true values and ideals of living. Religious insights can arise only out of inevitable personal conflict and perplexity. The determined choosing and adopting of elevated values begins to reveal superior meanings, and this habitual process develops healthier, more spiritual patterns of thought and lifestyle. These new standards of values are indicative of spiritual attainment and personality alignment. On the other hand, an avoidance of making difficult life-choices puts us in jeopardy of spiritual stagnation.

The Thought Adjusters would like to change your feelings of fear to convictions of love and confidence; but they cannot mechanically and arbitrarily do such things; that is your task. In executing those decisions which deliver you from the fetters of fear, you literally supply the psychic fulcrum on which the Adjuster may subsequently apply a spiritual lever of uplifting and advancing illumination. [UB 108:5:8 (1192:3)]

All true personalities who have their origin in the Universal Father are provided with the sovereign choice for seeking the eternal adventure of participating in the Father's purposes and plans. Neither threats nor force can truly alter personal free will for desiring to do the Father's will. The indwelling Thought Adjuster may offer an assortment of elevated spirit-values for possible mortal choosing Nevertheless, this spirit-value sorter will never coerce freewill choosing. This indwelling interpreter and unifier "refuses to compel man to think a single thought or to perform a single act against the choosing of man's own will." [UB 66:8:6 (753:2)]

No personal creature can be coerced into the eternal adventure; the portal of eternity opens only in response to the freewill choice of the freewill sons of the God of free will. [UB 5:6:10 (71:7)]

Upon the termination of our mortal life in the flesh, there will be a certain and sure reckoning of our life endowments and stewardships on the mansion worlds. The sovereign Judges of the time-space creations are mandated to make sure that only an act of eternal choice status can influence the opportunity for mortal survival. Only when a mortal candidate for ascension reveals his true intents and purposes can the decree of judgment be made. Universal Censors provide a perfect reflection of the innermost attitude of such an ascension candidate.

In some way not fully understood, the Universal Censors are able to gain possession of an epitome of the human life as it is embodied in the Adjuster's duplicate transcription of the spiritual values and morontia meanings of the indwelt mind. The Censors are able to appropriate the Adjuster's version of the deceased human's survival character and spiritual qualities, and all this data, together with the seraphic records, is available for presentation at the time of the adjudication of the individual concerned. This information is also used to confirm those superuniverse mandates which make it possible for certain ascenders immediately to begin their morontia careers, upon mortal dissolution to proceed to the mansion worlds ahead of the formal termination of a planetary dispensation. [UB 112:4:2 (1231:2)]

The greatest gift we can give back to our loving Father in heaven is to make our freewill and wholehearted choice to carry out his will. This gift of ours is of greater importance and value than we can ever realize. By giving the Father our full and dedicated services, we automatically become his front-line ambassadors. We become his nearest and by far most effective servants to ministering to all of his personal children, and in ministering to our brothers and sisters, we are serving at the same time God the Father. We positively alter the odds for bringing the Father's creation to light and life. We accelerate the flow of all cosmic reality to the carrying out of his eternal purposes. In addition, we do all of this uniquely and originally within his divine plan. We do this in a way that ultimately shatters any hint of mechanistic cosmic determinism.

And it is this very power of choice, the universe insignia of freewill creaturehood, that constitutes man's greatest opportunity and his supreme cosmic responsibility. Upon the integrity of the human volition depends the eternal destiny of the future finaliter; upon the sincerity of the mortal free will the divine Adjuster depends for eternal personality; upon the faithfulness of mortal choice the Universal Father depends for the realization of a new ascending son; upon the steadfastness and wisdom of decision-actions the Supreme Being depends for the actuality of experiential evolution. [UB 112:5:5 (1233:1)]

Death and Resurrection

But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by the Spirit that dwelleth in you.

For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.

For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.

Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.
[Romans 8:11,14,15, 26]

Upon the physical death of the mortal creature, the Thought Adjuster takes protective custody of only those memories and experiences that are essential to the subsequent universe career of such a surviving ascender. The Seraphic Guardian, in turn, "becomes the personal custodian of the mind patterns, memory formulas, and soul realities of the mortal survivor during that interval between physical death and morontia resurrection." [UB 113:3:4 (1244:5)]The Destiny Guardian faithfully conserves for the mortal survivor these identity specifications in preparation for the resurrection of a faithful morontia entity of this human soul. Those mortal memories completely void of any spiritual meaning or morontia value will perish with the passing away of the material brain. In the case of the creature memories of interassociation and relationships with other living personalities, these memories always entail some level of cosmic value, and these will persist.

The Thought Adjuster takes custody of only those memories and experiences that are essential to the ascendant mortal's universe career. Those experiences lacking in morontia value will pass away with the mortal frame. We are told, "mortal memory of personality relationships has cosmic value and will persist." [UB 112:5:22 (1235:4)]The mortal mind transcripts and active creature memory patterns are spiritualized from material-to-spirit levels by the Thought Adjusters who, upon mortal death, take possession of these as a solemn trust. The creature mind-matrix and the passive potentials of identity are entrusted to the seraphic destiny guardians as these are present in the morontia soul of such a mortal being. The destiny guardians faithfully conserve for the mortal survivor:

         Records

         Identity specifications

         Morontia entity of the human soul

From this mortal life to the next level of mansion world experience and even beyond, the mind of the committed ascender must pass from matter identification through the various phases of morontia identity to the supreme universe status of spirit identification. The intuitive instincts of material mind that provided for the reasoned knowledge of mortal experience gives way to the intuitive insights of the spirit.

 

And even as a worker in gold, taking an old ornament, molds it into a form newer and fairer, even so the Soul, leaving the body and unwisdom behind, goes into a form newer and fairer: a form like that of the ancesters in heaven, or of the celestial beings, or of the gods of light, or of the Lord of Creation, or of Brahma the Creator supreme, or a form other beings. [The Supreme Teaching (Death)]

Fusion

Can you really realize the true significance of the Adjuster's indwelling? Do you really fathom what it means to have an absolute fragment of the absolute and infinite Deity, the Universal Father, indwelling and fusing with your finite mortal natures? When mortal man fuses with an actual fragment of the existential Cause of the total cosmos, no limit can ever be placed upon the destiny of such an unprecedented and unimaginable partnership. In eternity, man will be discovering not only the infinity of the objective Deity but also the unending potentiality of the subjective fragment of this same God. Always will the Adjuster be revealing to the mortal personality the wonder of God, and never can this supernal revelation come to an end, for the Adjuster is of God and as God to mortal man. [UB 107:4:7 (1181:3)]

The indwelling of Adjusters in the minds of man is a great mystery of the Paradise Father. How can the Father fragment the most primal and absolute part of his Deity nature, and how can these immortal spirit presences of the Father join in eternal union with the soul of the fused mortal?

There are three stages in the relationships of Adjusters with their human subjects:

(1)   Mortal entry into the third psychic circle of cosmic achievement

        Insures Adjuster's self-determination and increased functioning

(2)   Mortal attainment of the first and innermost psychic circle

        Opens up lines of intercommunication

(3)   Final and eternal fusion

        Eternal union with God

Fusion commences when the mortal being of indwelling makes a final and irrevocable choice for doing the Father's will and embarking on the Paradise ascension adventure. Upon the eternal fusion of the evolving mortal soul and the divine Adjuster, the differential natures of finite personal creature and the divine prepersonal fragment of the Universal Father become forever as one. Each now shares in full with the other their complementary qualities of being. Each shares all of the experience and values of the other. Each now shares the eternal past with the eternal future. Everything that was once human in the evolving soul and everything that was divine in the Adjuster is now unified in this new ascending personality. They are eternally fused, and no amount of time all the way to eternity will ever separate them again.

There is a bridge between time and Eternity; and this bridge is Atman, the Spirit of man. Neither day nor night cross that bridge, nor old age, nor death nor sorrow. [Chandogya Upanishad (Part 8)]

The prepersonal Thought Adjuster gains from the personal mortal creature the experience of personality reality, though the mortal takes priority in all instances of personality interaction. The Adjuster gains from the ancestral mortal mind and the fully developed morontia soul the experiential memory of survival. The Adjuster also is given the opportunity to liberate a channel to the universe of universes for revealing the divine and infinite nature of Deity. The mortal creature immediately gains all of the experiential memory of the Adjuster's previous indwellings. Together, this eternal union of divine spirit with the mind and soul of mortal personality produces a new unity of being for these fusion partners that never again can be distinguished apart from one another.

Shared Natures of Adjuster/Mortal Fusion Partners[UB 110:1:4 (1204:4)]

        Morontia Oneness

        Supernal Harmony

        Cosmic Co-ordination

        Divine Attunement

        Celestial Fusion

        Never-Ending Blending of Identity

        Oneness of Being

As the potential mortal finaliter ascends inward on his spiritualizing path to Paradise, he will gradually assimilate all of the "meanings and values which the divine Monitor carries forward from the eternity of the past." [UB 110:7:5 (1212:7)] The Adjuster will endlessly disclose eternal actualities to the mortal ascender that were only potential in the pre-fusion mortal creature. The Adjuster will progressively disclose new values and meanings to the maturing spirit ascender at each elevated step in the long pathway to Paradise. Because the Adjuster is of origin in eternity, the potential for an endless ongoing process of spiritual disclosure will be never-ending.

Natures Imparted to the Mortal Fusion Partner [UB 112:7:1 (1237:4)]

The actualization of mortal-Adjuster fusion is a confirmation of that ascension candidate's attaining Paradise. Although this attainment will require passage of time to accomplish, from the perspective of eternity the mortal ascender is accorded this recognition by virtue of the fusion act.

  What dignity of destiny and glory of attainment await every one of you! Do you fully appreciate what has been done for you? Do you comprehend the grandeur of the heights of eternal achievement which are spread out before you?--even you who now trudge on in the lowly path of life through your so-called "vale of tears"? [UB 40:7:5 (449:3)]

Paradise Ascension

 Though you cannot find God by searching, if you will submit to the leading of the indwelling spirit, you will be unerringly guided, step by step, life by life, through universe upon universe, and age by age, until you finally stand in the presence of the Paradise personality of the Universal Father. [UB 2:5:5 (39:4)]

One day in the future of our long pilgrimage to Paradise in search of our heavenly Father, we will gaze backward along the traveled path of our spiritual journey and we will fondly reminisce on our previous worlds of achievement. Ahead lies our fresh path of ascendancy to Paradise in search of the Father. Every step we take on the path to perfection augments our personal being. We grow in our appreciation for truth, beauty, and goodness. We gain enhanced recognition for divine meanings and spiritual values.

You humans have begun an endless unfolding of an almost infinite panorama, a limitless expanding of never-ending, ever-widening spheres of opportunity for exhilarating service, matchless adventure, sublime uncertainty, and boundless attainment. When the clouds gather overhead, your faith should accept the fact of the presence of the indwelling Adjuster, and thus you should be able to look beyond the mists of mortal uncertainty into the clear shining of the sun of eternal righteousness on the beckoning heights of the mansion worlds of Satania. [UB 108:6:8 (1194:1)]

We are told we will always be able to look back and appreciate with joy the earlier stages of our former existence. Our task has always been to become perfect in our personal identity just as the Paradise Father is absolutely perfect in his. In our own perfection, we will be able to find God. Having found God, we will have attained the supreme progression of spirit realization. We will experience the fullness of worshipful delight and richness of ministering desire.

Step by step, life by life, world by world, the ascendant career has been mastered, and the goal of Deity has been attained. Survival is complete in perfection, and perfection is replete in the supremacy of divinity. Time is lost in eternity; space is swallowed up in worshipful identity and harmony with the Universal Father. The broadcasts of Havona flash forth the space reports of glory, the good news that in very truth the conscientious creatures of animal nature and material origin have, through evolutionary ascension, become in reality and eternally the perfected sons of God. [26:9:4 (295:2)]

Our Father in heaven has created us for a purpose, and in accordance with his boundless love and infinite wisdom, he has laid out a plan for our lives and our destinies. He has indwelt the deepest part of our personal beings with a fragment of his most primal being, and this indwelling is the Father's promise and assurance that perfection attainment is ours for the taking. This gift of life and purpose is of unqualified value, and all we have to do to earn this gift is to receive it gladly. The drawing power of the Father's love has taken us from our beginnings of mortal existence and calls us to the Deity embrace. We have participated in doing the Father's will and we have contributed to carrying out his universal plans and divine purposes. We have been made important participants in this enormous undertaking. We have gained a divine sense of cosmic consciousness. We have become universe minded. We now begin to sense that a glorious destiny awaits us in our progressive Paradise ascension, and we become once again spiritually rejuvenated in our enthusiasm for the opportunities of advancement that lie ahead.

The goal of eternity is ahead! The adventure of divinity attainment lies before you! The race for perfection is on! whosoever will may enter, and certain victory will crown the efforts of every human being who will run the race of faith and trust, depending every step of the way on the leading of the indwelling Adjuster and on the guidance of that good spirit of the Universe Son, which so freely has been poured out upon all flesh. [UB 32:5:8 (365:4)]

The ascendant mortal is enabled to attain Deity, to achieve Paradise, and to know the Father through the dual ministry of the mind gravity of the Infinite Spirit and the spirit gravity of the Eternal Son. Upon the attainment of Paradise, the ascending mortal personality has become perfectly identified with the true spirit values of "the light of life" and the supreme qualities of truth, beauty, and goodness. The inherent goodness of such a spiritualized personality has become divinely complete and spiritually replete through the progressive experience of spiritual consciousness. Eternity of life and divinity of status are now so fully realized that "there remains no possibility that such a righteous spirit would cast any negative shadow of potential evil when exposed to the searching luminosity of the divine light of the infinite Rulers of Paradise." [UB 132:2:9 (1458:6)]These children of God can at last rejoice in their triumphant struggles against the partial shadows of existence.

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