THE SPIRIT OF BESTOWAL
THE INFINITE SPIRIT |
CEDOMIL
VUGRINCIC, M.D., Ph.D. |
In the
previous Interim-Papers we have reviewed the meanings of the TRUE WORSHIP of
the Paradise Universal Father, the PRAYER SUPPLICATIONS to the realms of the
Paradise Eternal Son and His Spirit of Truth, and qualified PRAYER
REALIZATIONS by the spirit agencies of the Holy Spirit, the Mind of the
Paradise Conjoint Actor. The following
Interim-Paper is devoted to further enlightenment about the true nature of
God.
*** THE
URANTIA BOOK—PAPER 9 009:1
ATTRIBUTES OF THE THIRD SOURCE AND CENTER 9:1.1 The Third Source and
Center is known by many names, all designative of relationship and
in recognition of function: As God the Spirit,
he is the personality
co-ordinate and divine equal of God the Son
and God the Father.
As the Infinite Spirit,
he is an omnipresent spiritual influence. As the Universal Manipulator, he is
the ancestor of the power-control creatures and the activator of the cosmic
forces of space. As the Conjoint Actor,
he is the joint representative and partnership executive of the Father-Son.
As the Absolute Mind,
he is the source of the endowment of intellect throughout the universes. As
the God of Action,
he is the apparent ancestor of motion, change, and relationship. 9:1.2 Some of the attributes of the
Third Source and Center are derived from the Father, some from the Son, while
still others are not observed to be actively and personally present in either
the Father or the Son—attributes that can hardly be explained except by
assuming that the Father-Son partnership which eternalizes the Third Source
and Center consistently functions in consonance with, and in recognition of,
the eternal fact of the absoluteness of Paradise.
The Conjoint Creator
embodies the fullness of the combined and infinite concepts of the First and
Second Persons of Deity. 9:1.3 While you envisage the Father as
an original creator and the Son as a spiritual administrator, you should
think of the Third Source and Center as a universal co-ordinator,
a minister of unlimited co-operation. The Conjoint Actor is the correlator of all actual reality; he is the Deity
repository of the Father's thought and the Son's word and in action is
eternally regardful of the material absoluteness of the central Isle. The Paradise Trinity
has ordained the universal order of progress, and the providence of God is
the domain of the Conjoint Creator and the evolving Supreme Being. No actual
or actualizing reality can escape eventual relationship with the Third Source
and Center. 9:1.4 The Universal Father
presides over the realms of pre-energy, prespirit,
and personality; the Eternal Son
dominates the spheres of spiritual activities; the presence of the Isle of Paradise
unifies the domain of physical energy and materializing power; the Conjoint
Actor operates not only as an infinite spirit representing the Son but also
as a universal manipulator of the forces and energies of Paradise, thus
bringing into existence the universal and absolute mind. The Conjoint Actor
functions throughout the grand universe
as a positive and distinct personality, especially in the higher spheres of
spiritual values,
physical-energy relationships, and true mind meanings.
He functions specifically wherever and whenever energy and spirit associate
and interact; he dominates all reactions with mind, wields great power in the
spiritual world, and exerts a mighty influence over energy and matter. At all
times the Third Source is expressive of the nature of the First Source and
Center. 9:1.5 The Third Source and Center
perfectly and without qualification shares the omnipresence
of the First Source and Center, sometimes being called the Omnipresent
Spirit. In a peculiar and very personal manner the God of mind shares the omniscience
of the Universal Father and his Eternal Son; the knowledge of the Spirit is
profound and complete. The Conjoint Creator manifests certain phases of the omnipotence
of the Universal Father but is actually omnipotent only in the domain of
mind. The Third Person of
Deity is the intellectual center and the universal administrator
of the mind realms; herein is he absolute—his sovereignty
is unqualified. 9:1.6 The Conjoint Actor seems to be motivated by the
Father-Son partnership, but all his actions appear to recognize the
Father-Paradise relationship. At times and in certain functions he seems to
compensate for the incompleteness of the development of the experiential
Deities— God the Supreme
and God the Ultimate. 9:1.7 And herein is an infinite mystery:
That the Infinite simultaneously revealed his infinity in the Son and as
Paradise, and then there springs into existence a being equal to God in divinity,
reflective of the Son's spiritual nature, and capable of activating the
Paradise pattern, a being provisionally subordinate in sovereignty but in
many ways apparently the most versatile in action. And such apparent
superiority in action is disclosed in an attribute of the Third Source and
Center which is superior even to physical gravity—the
universal manifestation of the Isle of Paradise. 9:1.8 In addition to this supercontrol of energy and things physical, the Infinite
Spirit is superbly endowed with those attributes of patience, mercy, and love
which are so exquisitely revealed in his spiritual ministry. The Spirit is
supremely competent to minister love and to overshadow justice with mercy.
God the Spirit possesses all the supernal kindness and merciful affection of
the Original and Eternal Son. The universe of your origin is being forged out
between the anvil of justice and the hammer of suffering; but those who wield
the hammer are the children of mercy, the spirit offspring of the Infinite
Spirit. |