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Meredith Sprunger's Synopsis of The Urantia Book
Synopsis of Paper 111
THE ADJUSTER AND THE SOUL

1. The presence of the divine Adjuster in the human mind makes it forever impossible for either science or philosophy to attain a satisfactory comprehension of the evolving soul of the human personality. The morontia soul is the child of the universe and may be really known only through cosmic insight and spiritual discovery.

2.  The Chinese ...recognized two aspects of a human being, the yang and the yin, the soul and the spirit. The Egyptians and many African tribes also believed in two factors, the ka and the ba; the soul was not usually believed to be pre‑existent, only the spirit.

3.  Material mind is the arena in which human personalities live, are self‑conscious, make decisions, choose God or forsake him, eternalize or destroy themselves ...Mind is about all you have of universe reality that is subject to your will, and the soul—the morontia self—will faithfully portray the harvest of the temporal decisions which the mortal self is making.

4.  It is not so much what mind comprehends as what mind desires to comprehend that insures survival ...What you are today is not so important as what you are becoming day by day and in eternity.

5.  Man does not passively, slavishly, surrender his will to the Adjuster. Rather does he actively, positively, and co‑operatively choose to follow the Adjuster leading when and as such leading consciously differs from the desires and impulses of the natural mortal mind ...Mind is your ship, the Adjuster is your pilot, the human will is captain.

6.  These three antecedents of the morontia human soul are:

1. The human mind
2. The divine spirit
3. The relationship between material mind and divine spirit

The midway creatures have long denominated this evolving soul of man the mid‑mind in contradistinction to the lower or material mind and the higher or cosmic mind.

7.  At any time before fusion with the Adjuster the evolving and ascending creature can choose to forsake the will of the Paradise Father. Fusion with the Adjuster signalizes the fact that the ascending mortal has eternally and unreservedly chosen to do the Father's will.

8.  As terrestrial mortal growth proceeds, this self, with its priceless powers of choice, becomes increasingly identified with the emerging morontia‑soul entity...The soul becomes increasingly conscious of both the mind and the Adjuster as associated identities, proportional to its own evolutionary growth.

9.  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.

10. The advances of true civilization are all born in this inner world of mankind. It is only the inner life that is truly creative. Civilization can hardly progress when the majority of the youth of any generation devote their interests and energies to the materialistic pursuits of the sensory or outer world...Civilization is in danger when youth neglect to interest themselves in ethics, sociology, eugenics, philosophy, the fine arts, religion, and cosmology.

11. Happiness and joy take origin in the inner life ...You cannot completely control the external world—environment. It is the creativity of the inner world that is most subject to your direction because there your personality is so largely liberated from the fetters of the laws of antecedent causation. There is associated with personality a limited sovereignty of will.

12. Since this inner life of man is truly creative, there rests upon each person the responsibility of choosing as to whether this creativity shall be spontaneous and wholly haphazard or controlled, directed, and constructive. How can a creative imagination produce worthy children when the stage whereon it functions is already preoccupied by prejudice, hate, fears, resentments, revenge, and bigotries?

13. Ideas may take origin in the stimuli of the outer world, but ideals are born only in the creative realms of the inner world. Today the nations of the world are directed by men who have a superabundance of ideas, but they are poverty‑stricken in ideals. That is the explanation of poverty, divorce, war, and racial hatreds.

14. Inner creativity contributes to ennoblement of character through personality integration and selfhood unification. It is forever true: The past is unchangeable; only the future can be changed by the ministry of the present creativity of the inner self.

15. The doing of the will of God is nothing more or less than an exhibition of creature willingness to share the inner life with God with the very God who has made such a creature life of inner meaning‑value possible. Sharing is Godlike—divine.

16. Peace in this life, survival in death, perfection in the next life, service in eternity—all these are achieved (in spirit) now when the creature personality consents—chooses—to subject the creature will to the Father's will. And already has the Father chosen to make a fragment of himself subject to the will of the creature personality. Such a creature choice is not a surrender of will. It is a consecration of will, an expansion of will, a glorification of will, a perfection of will.

17. The mortal dilemma consists in the double fact that man is in bondage to nature while at the same time he possesses a unique liberty—freedom of spiritual choice and action.. Such a paradox is inseparable from temptation, potential evil, decisional errors, and when self becomes proud and arrogant, sin may evolve.

18. Man can find the love of God without facts, and man can discover the laws of God without love, but man can never begin to appreciate the infinite symmetry, the supernal harmony, the exquisite repleteness of the all‑inclusive nature of the First Source and Center until he has found divine law and divine love and has experientially unified these in his own evolving cosmic philosophy.

19. Of all the dangers which beset man's mortal nature and jeopardize his spiritual integrity, pride is the greatest. Courage is valorous, but egotism is vainglorious and suicidal. Reasonable self‑confidence is not to be deplored. Man's ability to transcend himself is the one thing which distinguishes him from the animal kingdom. Pride is deceitful, intoxicating, and sin‑breeding whether found in an individual, a group, a race, or a nation. It is literally true, "Pride goes before a fall."

20. Uncertainty with security is the essence of the Paradise adventure ...May I admonish you to heed the distant echo of the Adjuster's faithful call to your soul? The indwelling Adjuster cannot stop or even materially alter your career struggle of time ...But you could, if you only would—as you work and worry, as you fight and toil—permit the valiant Adjuster to fight with you and for you ...Why do you refuse to be enlightened and inspired by the universe viewpoint while you toil amidst the handicaps of time and flounder in the maze of uncertainties which beset your mortal life journey?

Discussion Questions

1. What is the key to mastering our minds and shaping our destiny?

2. Why does present day psychology and theology have so little to say about the soul?

3. How can we use the mid-mind of the soul in our thinking?

4. Are three quarters of our youth engaged in materialistic work or professions?

5. If happiness and joy take origin in the inner life, how can we change our thinking if we are unhappy or depressed?

6. How do we distinguish self-confidence from pride and egotism?

7. How can we live in the vicissitudes of our material lives and at the same time live in the realities of spiritual values and destiny?


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