The Cosmic Citizen

This week we continue our study of Urantia Paper 10, The Paradise Trinity. We'll be reading and discussing Section 7. The Overcontrol of Supremacy. In part, we will learn that The Supreme Being appears to reflect the attitude of the Trinity, but he is something less than the Trinity functioning in the finite universes. The overcontrol of the Supreme is not wholly predictable. Some events-accidents, disasters, illnesses-may or may not be correlated with the workings of the Supreme Being, but it is certain that all difficult situations inevitably accrue to the welfare and progress of the universes. As things appear to mortals, the Paradise Trinity, like the Supreme Being, is concerned only with the total planet, the total universe, the total superuniverse. Human beings will not always be able to understand how the acts of the Trinity work for the good of individual mortals. (Except taken from The Story of Everything, a synopsis of The Urantia Book by Michelle Klimesh.)  Section 7. The Overtcontrol of Supremacy, is reasonably short, so we may even be able to get to Section 8. The Trinity Beyond the Finite, as well. That would wrap up Paper 10. As always, it will be a great discussion and we hope you will join in!

This week we continue our study of Urantia Paper 10, The Paradise Trinity. We'll be reading and discussing Section 6. The Stationary Sons of the Trinity. Reading this section, we discover that all law takes origin in God, the First Source and Center. God is law. This suggests that law is fundamental to the divine order and reflects the nature of the Creator. The administration of law is associated with the Second Source and Center, emphasizing the role of governance and order in the universe. The Third Source and Center is responsible for revealing law. This implies that understanding and awareness of law are part of divine revelation. The application of law, justice, is carried out by the Trinity. Justice is inherent in the sovereignty of the Paradise Trinity; it is the Trinity's response to the attributes of the Father's love, the Son's mercy, and the Spirit's ministry. Justice is always a group function, never a personal one. It is not merely a human construct but a divine principle. We will read that judgment, the application of justice, is the work of the Stationary Sons of the Trinity: the Trinitized Secrets of Supremacy, Eternals of Days, Ancients of Days, Perfections of Days, Recents of Days, Unions of Days, Faithfuls of Days, Perfectors of Wisdom, Divine Counselors, and Universal Censors. These children of the Trinity are specifically designed to represent the collective attitude of Deity in the domains of justice. The concept of law encompasses divine origins, revelation, justice, and collective responsibility.  Please join us as we take another deep dive to consider these and many other ideas, while studying The Stationary Sons of the Trinity. See you there!

This week, the Cosmic Citizen crew will be reading Urantia Paper 10, The Paradise Trinity, Section 5. Functions of the Trinity. We had hoped to get to this section last week, along with Section 4 of Paper 10, but we got into such a fantastic conversation (as usually happens) that we ran out of time. So, this week we are on to Section 5, and of course, as always, it will be deep. But hopefully, together we'll find the new meanings and values that we desire to know about the First, Second, and Third Sources of ALL that is; the tremendous creative sources of our mighty cosmos. Last week we read that The Trinity is an association of persons functioning in a non-personal way, somewhat like the way a corporation functions as a non-personal entity subject to the personal will of its officers. This week will discover the attitudes and functions of the Paradise Trinity. Consider this: 10:5.2.The functions of the Paradise Trinity are not simply the sum of the Father's apparent endowment of divinity plus those specialized attributes that are unique in the personal existence of the Son and the Spirit. The Trinity association of the three Paradise Deities results in the evolution, eventuation, and deitization of new meanings, values, powers, and capacities for universal revelation, action, and administration. Living associations, human families, social groups, or the Paradise Trinity are not augmented by mere arithmetical summation. The group potential is always far in excess of the simple sum of the attributes of the component individuals. In summary, the Trinity is a dynamic force that generates more than the sum of its parts, enriching the cosmos with new dimensions of meaning and power. We hope you can join us for another fascinating study of The Paradise Trinity.

This week Andre, Chuck, Pam and Paula will be studying Urantia Paper 10, The Paradise Trinity. We'll focus on Section 4. The Trinity Union of Deity and hopefully Section 5. Functions of the Trinity. The Trinity is an association of persons functioning in a nonpersonal way, somewhat like the way a corporation functions as a nonpersonal entity subject to the personal will of its officers. Functions of the Paradise Trinity include justice administration, coordinate actions, and cosmic overcontrol. The Trinity is not merely the sum of the attributes of the Father, Son, and Spirit. Law originates in the First Source and Center (God), the administration of law inheres in the Second Source and Center (the Eternal Son), and the revelation of law is the function of the Third Source and Center (The Infinite Spirit). Justice is the Trinity's response to the attributes of the Father's love, the Son's mercy, and the Spirit's ministry. Justice is always a group function, never a personal one. Here is a sample of what we will be reading: 10:4.4. The Paradise Trinity is real. It exists as the Deity union of Father, Son, and Spirit; yet the Father, the Son, or the Spirit, or any two of them, can function in relation to this selfsame Paradise Trinity. The Father, Son, and Spirit can collaborate in a non-Trinity manner, but not as three Deities. As persons they can collaborate as they choose, but that is not the Trinity. 10:5.2. Living associations, human families, social groups, or the Paradise Trinity are not augmented by mere arithmetical summation. The group potential is always far in excess of the simple sum of the attributes of the component individuals. This amazing paper is theology at its best! We hope you can join us!

This week Andre, Chuck, and Paula will be studying Urantia Paper 10, The Paradise Trinity, and we'll focus on Section 3. The Three Persons of Diety. There are three Positive and Divine Personalizations of Deity. God the Father: The First Source and Center. God the Son: The Eternal Son, who sustains an indispensable relationship to the Father. And God the Spirit: The Infinite Spirit. These three perfect and equal beings complete the existential personalization of Deity. Together, they form a unity that rests eternally upon the absolute foundations of divine oneness.  Here are two interesting paragraphs that we'll be contemplating: Notwithstanding there is only one Deity, there are three positive and divine personalizations of Deity. Regarding the endowment of man with the divine Adjusters, the Father said: "Let us make mortal man in our own image." Repeatedly throughout the Urantian writings there occurs this reference to the acts and doings of plural Deity, clearly showing recognition of the existence and working of the three Sources and Centers. (10:3.1) The Universal Father, prior to his self-willed divestment of the personality, powers, and attributes which constitute the Son and the Spirit, seems to have been (philosophically considered) an unqualified, absolute, and infinite Deity. But such a theoretical First Source and Center without a Son could not in any sense of the word be considered the Universal Father; fatherhood is not real without sonship. Furthermore, the Father, to have been absolute in a total sense, must have existed at some eternally distant moment alone. But he never had such a solitary existence; the Son and the Spirit are both coeternal with the Father. The First Source and Center has always been, and will forever be, the eternal Father of the Original Son and, with the Son, the eternal progenitor of the Infinite Spirt. (10:3.5.) We hope you can join us!

This week on The Cosmic Citizen we will continue our study of Urantia Paper 10, The Paradise Trinity, with Section 2. Deity Personalization and maybe we'll get to Section 3. The Three Persons of Deity. Last week we talked a little bit about the author of Paper 10, a Universal Censor. We read that, "These unique beings are the judgment of Deity. They are not merely reflective of the decisions of perfection; they are the judgment of the Paradise Trinity. Even the Ancients of Days do not sit in judgment except in association with the Universal Censors." (19:4.1) We also read, "The Censors are universe totaling personalities. When a thousand witnesses have given testimony—or a million—when the voice of wisdom has spoken and the counsel of divinity has recorded, when the testimony of ascendant perfection has been added, then the Censor functions, and there is immediately revealed an unerring and divine totaling of all that has transpired; and such a disclosure represents the divine conclusion, the sum and substance of a final and perfect decision. Therefore, when a Censor has spoken, no one else may speak, for the Censor has depicted the true and unmistakable total of all that has gone before. When he speaks, there is no appeal." (19:4.5) How enthralling it is to read Paper 10, and the assessment of the Trinity, from such a being! This paper is nothing if not enthralling. The Universal Father, the Eternal Son, and the Infinite Spirit are unique persons, each is original, and all are united. They can act personally and collectively in seven possible combinations: Father alone, Son alone, Spirit alone, Father-Son, Father-Spirit, Son-Spirit, and Father-Son-Spirit. It is inevitable then, that the universe appears in seven variations of values, meanings, and personalities. Join us as we explore these Pillars of Creation...the Trinity!

This week we start a brand new paper, Urantia Paper 10 - The Paradise Trinity! Will read the preamble to the paper and then Section 1 - 1. Self-Distribution of the First Source and Center. If you been following along with us, you know that about a year ago we started with Urantia Paper 1 and we have continued to study paper by paper from there. We've studied 9 Urantia Papers in that time, which gave marvelous explanations of the three Paradise Deities, including the Universal Father, the Eternal Son, and the Infinite Spirit.  We come now to The Paradise Trinity. The existence of the Paradise Trinity is the one inescapable inevitability in universe affairs. The concept of Trinity combines the absolute unity of Deity with the voluntary liberation that is inherent in God's threefold personalization. The Paradise Trinity is an eternal association of Deities that facilitates the Father’s escape from personality absolutism. Just think about that! This enables the Father to express his infinite personal will while transcending the limitations inherent in primacy, perfection, changelessness, eternity, universality, absoluteness, and infinity. The Paradise Trinity harmonizes the infinite personal will of God with the absoluteness of Deity, allowing for the full expression of divine nature. Consider this tidbit from Section 1: 10:1.1.It would seem that the Father, back in eternity, inaugurated a policy of profound self-distribution. There is inherent in the selfless, loving, and lovable nature of the Universal Father something which causes him to reserve to himself the exercise of only those powers and that authority which he apparently finds it impossible to delegate or to bestow. Are you intrigued? We hope so, and we hope you will join us for another great study from The Urantia Book.

Our final episode on the Infinite Spirit and on the three Primary Persons of the Paradise Trinity. What could be more appropriate than talking about the Infinite Spirit's diverse family. The Infinite Spirit possesses full power to transmit many of his powers and prerogatives to his co-ordinate and subordinate personalities and agencies. The first Deity-creating act of the Infinite Spirit, functioning apart from the Trinity but in some unrevealed association with the Father and the Son, personalized in the existence of the Seven Master Spirits of Paradise, the distributors of the Infinite Spirit to the universes. 9:8.1–2 (105.6–7)   ...Every time the Universal Father and the Eternal Son become parent to a Creator Son, the Infinite Spirit becomes ancestor to a local universe Creative Spirit who becomes the close associate of that Creator Son in all subsequent universe experience. 9:8.4 (106.2) ...Personality of the finite-creature variety is characterized by: (106.5) 9:8.7 1. Subjective self-consciousness.   2. Objective response to the Father’s personality circuit. ... The Father bestows personality by his personal free will. Why he does so we can only conjecture; how he does so we do not know. Neither do we know why the Third Source bestows non-Father personality, but this the Infinite Spirit does in his own behalf, in creative conjunction with the Eternal Son and in numerous ways unknown to you. The Infinite Spirit can also act for the Father in the bestowal of First Source personality. 9:8.6–8,10 (106.4–6, 8) (107.13) 9:8.25 The spirit personalities of the vast family of the Divine and Infinite Spirit are ... the living ladder whereby mortal man climbs from chaos to glory. Join us for a wonderful exploration of the family of the Infinite Spirit! http://tobtr.com/12345135

This week we will be studying Urantia Paper 9—Relation of Infinite Spirit to the Universe—§7. So far, we've learned that the Infinite Spirit is a universal and divine minister who unceasingly ministers the Eternal Son’s mercy and the Universal Father’s love. He harmonizes with the stable, unvarying, and righteous justice of the Paradise Trinity. The influence and personalities of the Infinite Spirit draw ever near to us and truly understand our experiences. No being can escape eventual relationship with him; he is the correlator of all reality. He co-ordinates all existing universe energies, spirits, and intellects. This week we will dive into Universe Reflectivity. The Spirit coordinates all levels of universe actuality through the phenomenon of universe reflectivity. He has the power to see, hear, sense, and know all things as they transpire, and to reflect this knowledge to any desired point. Reflectivity is the most complex inter-association of phases of existence in creation. There is a unique unification of spirit, energy, and mind in reflectivity which enables the universe rulers to know about remote conditions throughout the universes instantaneously. Consider this: 9:7.2.The phenomenon of reflectivity, as it is disclosed on the superuniverse headquarters worlds in the amazing performances of the reflective personalities there stationed, represents the most complex interassociation of all phases of existence to be found in all creation. Lines of spirit can be traced back to the Son, physical energy to Paradise, and mind to the Third Source; but in the extraordinary phenomenon of universe reflectivity there is a unique and exceptional unification of all three, so associated as to enable the universe rulers to know about remote conditions instantaneously, simultaneously with their occurrence. Wow! Join us as we ponder the amazing phenomenon of Universe Reflectivity!

The Cosmic Crew is back this week with our study of Urantia Paper 9, Section 6, The Mind-Gravity Circuit! 9:6.1.The Third Source and Center, the universal intelligence, is personally conscious of every mind, every intellect, in all creation, and he maintains a personal and perfect contact with all these physical, morontial, and spiritual creatures of mind endowment in the far-flung universes. All these activities of mind are grasped in the absolute mind-gravity circuit which focalizes in the Third Source and Center and is a part of the personal consciousness of the Infinite Spirit. That's the beginning of Paper 9, Section 6, The Mind-Gravity Circuit, and from there, well, some would say, it'll "blow your mind." Here are some of the intriguing points we will be exploring: The Infinite Spirit (The third person of the Trinity) operates specifically wherever and whenever energy and spirit associate and interact.The Father draws all personality to himself, The Son attracts all spiritual reality, The Conjoint Actor exercises a drawing power on all minds.He unqualifiedly dominates and controls the universal mind circuit.All true and genuine intellectual values, all divine thoughts and perfect ideas, are unerringly drawn into this absolute circuit of mind.Mind gravity can function independently of material and spiritual gravity.Pure mind is subject only to the universal gravity grasp of the Conjoint Actor. The mind-gravity circuit is dependable; it emanates from the Third Person of Deity on Paradise.The Infinite Spirit is the perfect expression of the mind of the Creator to all creatures. As you can tell, there is so much in this section to ponder. We hope you'll join us as we journey deeper into The Infinite Spirit and Mind-Gravity.