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The
Story of Everything
An
abridged edition of The Urantia Book
Paper
112: Personality Survival
While we cannot adequately define personality, it is helpful to know that personality is bestowed by God, is relatively creative, unifies the identity of living energy systems, is changeless, discriminates between levels of conduct, is unique, and is capable of responding to other personalities. The Adjuster and the personality are both changeless, but the relationship between them is nothing but change.
Life is a process that takes place between an organism and its environment. Personality impacts life by imparting values and meanings into the life process. In humans, personality unifies all activity and confers identity and creativity. Humans are spiritual beings; the unity of self and the self-consciousness of personality are endowments of the supermaterial world. The purpose of cosmic evolution is to achieve unity of personality through increasing spirit dominance and increasing response to the indwelling fragment of God.
The material self is dependent during the physical life on the continuing function of the material life vehicle. Mortals transcend death by transferring the seat of their personality identities from the material body to the more enduring morontia soul. This transfer is effected by sincerity, persistence, and steadfastness of God-seeking decisions.
There are three kinds of death. Spiritual death happens when a person rejects survival. Mind death takes place when the body continues to function after the essential mind circuits have been destroyed. Physical death occurs when both body and mind cease to function.
After physical death, two nonmaterial pieces of a surviving personality persist: memory transcripts and the immortal soul. The Thought Adjuster carries the mortal's memory transcripts to Divinington, while the soul is remanded to the care of the seraphim. Temporarily after death, the Thought Adjuster loses personality and the mortal loses identity until they can be reunited in a new manifestation on the mansion worlds. A mortal is repersonalized on the mansion worlds either at the end of a dispensation or within three "periods." Reassembly of the parts of a onetime material being involves the fabrication of a suitable form, the return of the Adjuster, and the bestowal of the soul into the awaiting morontia form by the seraphic custodian.
Selfhood persists in spite of a continuous change in all of the factors of self. In physical life, changes are gradual. At death and depersonalization, the change is sudden. Human life is endless change unified by the stability of the unchanging personality.
The universe government always manifests patience, tolerance, and mercy. If there is ever any doubt as to the advisability of allowing a mortal to advance, the universe government invariably rules in the favor of the individual. Will creatures must be given one true opportunity to make their final choice about the eternal life; the soul of each person is allowed to fully reveal its true intent and purpose.
There is much about our mortal lives that we will not remember in the future. Our Adjusters will retain only those memories and experiences which are essential to the universe career. Much of material experience will pass away, but personality and relationships between personalities will persist. We will always remember, and be remembered by, the people known in this life. On the mansion worlds, personalities are revealed for the first time apart from material flesh. In physical life, one may be outwardly beautiful while inwardly ugly, but in the morontia form and higher levels, outward appearance varies in accordance with the inner nature.
Mortals pass through a relatively short and intense testing period. On the evolutionary worlds, survival decisions are formed; in the morontia state, survival decisions are confirmed; at the spiritual level, survival decisions have been made. Fusion with the indwelling Adjuster usually happens within the local system when there has been a final and irrevocable choice for the eternal career. After fusion, there is never any doubt as to the eternal career of such a personality.
After passing through the local universe, ascenders meet the local universe sovereign who grants credentials for the quest for the Universal Father. Fused mortals become a member of a unique order of ascending personalities who are ever serviceable, faithful, and efficient; never ceasing to ascend until they stand in the presence of the Father on Paradise.
Mortals have every opportunity to determine their own destiny. The cosmos is an infinitely integrated aggregation of units, all of which are subject to the destiny of the whole. Those units that are personal are endowed with the choice of destiny acceptance or rejection. Personality will attain Deity destiny, but humans must choose whether or not to be present at the attainment of such destiny.