Reaching Upward
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Our physical body is the most visible component of our being, but there is much more to us than meets the eye. Our physical body is constantly making demands on our consciousness; it is impossible to fully ignore its incessant calls. Because of this we have difficulty believing there is anything non-physical about us. However, the fact that our mind can explore our physical being is a hint that mind is somewhat beyond the physical; a purely physical entity could not comprehend self-examination. We look at our hand and understand its usefulness as a unit, we understand its purpose. And so our body has a purpose: to create and nurture a soul having the potential of existing into all future eternity.
We discuss a new way of considering the human body. The most common understanding of our physical self is that the body is all there is to our being. The Urantia Book presents a widely different description. The human body is a physical mechanism utilized by our indwelling spark of God (our Thought Adjuster) and our God given personality to produce and nurture our potentially eternal self: our soul. The growth of the soul comes about by means of our free will decisions; if they are in harmony with God’s will our soul grows, otherwise it stagnates. We are assisted by our guardian angels, the Spirit of Truth, the Adjutant Mind Spirits, and other spirit entities.
Body
Our total being has several components. The first of these is naturally our body which is the material or physical organism of man. The living electrochemical mechanism of animal nature and origin. (8.7)[1] Next is our mind which is discussed briefly in the next section. Then there is the spirit, the spark of God dwelling within each of us. Finally there is our soul which comes into being and grows by means of our spiritual free will decisions. During life in the flesh our soul is in an embryonic state. (744.8) But this not all; there is also our personality given to us by God. Each personality is unique; it defines us as a specific entity. The personality permeates all of our being and our actions; unifying everything we do. (1225.7)
Mortal man is a machine, a living mechanism; his roots are truly in the physical world of energy. Many human reactions are mechanical in nature; much of life is machinelike. But man, a mechanism, is much more than a machine; he is mind endowed and spirit indwelt…. (1301.7)
Our body is our physical reality but is not our total being. Our society has discounted spiritual reality for centuries at its peril; the time has come for citizens of Earth to realize we must base our existence on our Heavenly Father, His love and guidance.
On a material world you think of a body as having a spirit, but we regard the spirit as having a body. The material eyes are truly the windows of the spirit-born soul. The spirit is the architect, the mind is the builder, the body is the material building. (483.12)
Time to examine the builder.
Mind
It is in the mind where we make decisions, explore our surroundings, make plans, and choose to do God’s will (or otherwise). The nature of our mind defines who we are and who we wish to become. In the mind our free will choices have the greatest effect; it is here that our choice to seek eternal life by following the God-given guidance that each mortal receives has its beginning and is nurtured, resulting in a growing awareness of our Heavenly Father. In a way the mind acts as a bridge between our current physical existence and our future spirit experience.
This discussion is based mainly on “Mind Arena of Choice” starting at 1216.2.
Material mind is the arena in which human personalities live, are self-conscious, make decisions, choose God or forsake him, eternalize or destroy themselves. (1216.4)
Our mind is a precious resource, we would do well to exercise it and guide it into productive channels. Too often we pursue frivolous thoughts, excess gratification, or selfishness. Our mind is the gateway into a wider reality if we are sincerely seeking to find God and become more like Him by choosing to do His will at each opportunity.
Our entire life is lived primarily within our mind. We think, react, yearn, and plan within our mind. Also, when we interact with sisters and brothers we get a glimpse of what their mind is like by observing their speech and actions. Our mind is certainly the core of our consciousness; it is where we make decisions that may have a significant bearing on our possibility of life eternal.
And it is not so much what mind comprehends as what mind desires to comprehend that insures survival; it is not so much what mind is like as what mind is striving to be like that constitutes spirit identification. (1216.6)
In the final analysis, we become what we wish to become. Be careful what you wish for. If we are reaching out for God we have the possibility of actually communicating with the God fragment within, our personal Thought Adjuster; if instead we are reaching for something less, we attain something less. If we have life eternal as our goal there may be no end to our growth.
Mind is your ship, the Adjuster is your pilot, the human will is captain. The master of the mortal vessel should have the wisdom to trust the divine pilot to guide the ascending soul into the morontia harbors of eternal survival. (1217.4)
Our mind is the ship carrying our total being and is where we live, breathe, and have our awareness. The mortal will is the controlling factor where the mind gives orders to the rest of the ship. The captain of the ship must be aware of dangers and protect the ship from them. In troublous waters it is vital to have someone who knows the dangers and how to avoid them. Our Thought Adjuster is the best pilot available, but the captain (our mind, our free will choices) has to learn how to listen to and follow the guidance of the pilot. This knowing of God’s will grows as we get a feel of the process; the more we honestly follow His will, the easier it becomes the next time.
Unaided mind is impotent to influence anything material save its own physical mechanism, with which it is inescapably linked. (1222.4)
This opens the possibility of our mind having some influence over our physical mechanism; this topic is also discussed elsewhere in The Urantia Book. (1275.5) That is a topic for another day.
Physical Mechanism
A mechanism is a system of parts working together to form a collective unit. Therefore, a physical mechanism is something physical which contains many parts that all work together forming one unit; in this case our mortal body, our physical reality. It is truly remarkable how well our various components (generally) work together; the human body is a well-designed mechanism. The way all these parts work together makes it unthinkable it came into being by happenstance. We generally think of a machine when considering a mechanism but everything in our body does work together exactly like a mechanism.
For example: Adam lived for 530 years; he died of what might be termed old age. His physical mechanism simply wore out…. (852.4) His body, his physical mechanism, stopped working.
And again, when Machiventa Melchizedek was present on Earth with a physical body, he terminated his mission after ninety-four years because had he remained for any long period on earth, his physical mechanism would have gradually deteriorated. (1015.6) That is what happens to our bodies after a certain length of time; they wear out. The same thing happens to our mechanical mechanisms; our cars, trucks, and such wear out.
Considering our body as being a physical mechanism emphasizes that it is only a physical component of our being, it does not take into consideration our nonphysical mind, nor our indwelling spark of God, our Thought Adjuster; it also does not include our personality.
While we cannot say our body is insignificant, we certainly can say our physical mechanism is not all there is to anybody.
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All references are to The Urantia Book in the format page.paragraph for the one column edition. ↑