Paper 9 Overview: Relation of the Infinite Spirit to the Universe

Paper 9 details the multifaceted nature and cosmic functions of the Infinite Spirit, the Third Person of Deity who emerged through the union of the Universal Father and the Eternal Son in the presence of Paradise. This personalization manifested as unlimited spirituality coordinated with absolute mind and endowed with unique prerogatives for energy manipulation. The Infinite Spirit completes the existential Trinity, providing the essential synthesis that enables the Father's liberation from centralized perfection and personality absolutism, while introducing unprecedented capacities for universal coordination, cosmic mind bestowal, and spiritual ministry throughout the grand universe.

The paper systematically examines the Infinite Spirit's attributes, operational domains, and functional mechanisms, including his omnipresence, energy manipulation capabilities, absolute mind, and the diverse personalities he has created to extend his influence. Through complex phenomena such as mind-gravity, universe reflectivity, and the bestowal of varied forms of intellect, the Infinite Spirit establishes himself as indispensable to cosmic functionality. As the universal coordinator and minister of unlimited cooperation, he perpetually serves as the repository of the Father's thought and the Son's word, maintaining eternal awareness of Paradise's material absoluteness while ministering the Son's mercy and Father's love throughout all realms of existence.

A remarkable cosmic event occurred when, in Paradise's presence, the Universal Father and Eternal Son united to personalize themselves, bringing forth the Conjoint Actor personalized as unlimited spirituality coordinated with absolute mind and equipped with unique energy-manipulation prerogatives. This unprecedented emergence completed the Father's liberation from the constraints of centralized perfection and the limitations inherent in personality absolutism, revealing itself through the extraordinary creative capacity of the Conjoint Creator to generate beings perfectly suited to serve as ministering spirits even to material creatures in evolving universes.

The Father embodies infinite love, volition, and spiritual thought as the universal upholder; the Son manifests infinite wisdom, truth, and spiritual expression as the universal revealer; while Paradise itself represents infinite potential for force endowment and energy dominance as the universal stabilizer. The Conjoint Actor, possessing unique prerogatives of synthesis, demonstrates infinite capacity to coordinate all existing universe energies, spirits, and intellects, functioning as the universal unifier of the diverse energies and creations arising from the divine plan and eternal purpose of the Universal Father. The Infinite Spirit, as a universal and divine minister, unceasingly provides the Son's mercy and Father's love in harmony with the Paradise Trinity's stable, unvarying, and righteous justice, manifesting as an ever-present influence whose personalities truly understand and remain perpetually near to all beings.

The Third Source and Center is identified by numerous designations that indicate his relational nature and functional roles: as God the Spirit, he exists as the personality coordinate and divine equal of God the Son and God the Father; as the Infinite Spirit, he manifests as an omnipresent spiritual influence; as the Universal Manipulator, he serves as the progenitor of power-control creatures and the activator of cosmic forces; as the Conjoint Actor, he functions as the joint representative and executive partner of the Father-Son; as the Absolute Mind, he constitutes the source of intellectual endowment throughout the universes; and as the God of Action, he appears as the apparent ancestor of motion, change, and relationship, with each designation revealing a distinct aspect of his multidimensional nature.

The attributes of the Third Source and Center derive variously from the Father, from the Son, and from qualities unique to himself that emerge from the Father-Son partnership that eternalized him, functioning in recognition of Paradise's absoluteness and embodying the fullness of their combined infinite concepts. When contemplating the universe, one should conceptualize the Father as an original creator, the Son as a spiritual administrator, and the Third Source and Center as a universal coordinator facilitating unlimited cooperation among all reality levels. The Conjoint Actor correlates all actual reality as the Deity repository of the Father's thought and the Son's word, eternally mindful of the material absoluteness of Paradise, operating not merely as the Son's infinite spirit representative but as the universal manipulator of Paradise forces and energies, thereby creating the universal and absolute mind. He manifests throughout the grand universe as a distinct personality, especially in higher spheres of spiritual values, physical-energy relationships, and true mind meanings, always expressing the nature of the First Source and Center.

God manifests as spirit in a threefold manner: as himself, as unqualified spirit in the Son, and as spirit allied with mind in the Conjoint Actor. Beyond these spiritual realities, we discern levels of experiential spirit phenomena—including the spirits of the Supreme Being, Ultimate Deity, and Deity Absolute—which expand our understanding of spirit manifestation throughout the cosmos. The Infinite Spirit complements the Eternal Son just as the Son complements the Universal Father, with the Eternal Son representing a spiritualized personalization of the Father and the Infinite Spirit embodying a personalized spiritualization of both the Eternal Son and Universal Father.

Multiple untrammeled lines of spiritual force and sources of supermaterial power connect the inhabitants of Urantia directly with the Paradise Deities, including the Thought Adjusters' direct connection to the Universal Father, the widespread influence of the spiritual-gravity urge of the Eternal Son, and the spiritual presence of the Conjoint Creator. An essential distinction exists between the spirit of the Son and the spirit of the Spirit, as the Third Person can function spiritually either as mind plus spirit or as pure spirit. Urantians benefit not only from these Paradise presences but also from the spiritual influences and activities of local and superuniverse beings: an endless array of loving personalities who continuously guide those of true purpose and honest heart toward divine ideals and supreme perfection. Material creatures can recognize the universal spirit of the Eternal Son, experience the beneficence of the Infinite Spirit through the Holy Spirit bestowed upon mankind, and achieve some consciousness of the Adjusters, the presence of the Universal Fathe, with all these divine spirits working in perfect unison for mortal ascension and spiritualization.

The Isle of Paradise constitutes the source and substance of physical gravity, one of the most real and eternally dependable phenomena in the physical universe of universes. This fundamental force cannot be modified or annulled except through forces and energies conjointly sponsored by the Father and Son, which have been entrusted to and functionally associated with the Third Source and Center, demonstrating the intricate interrelationship between Paradise and the divine personalities in the cosmic economy. The Infinite Spirit possesses a unique and remarkable power of antigravity which, while not functionally present in either the Father or Son, is revealed in the Conjoint Actor's personal reactions to certain universe relationships and can be transmitted to certain higher personalities.

Antigravity operates by nullifying gravity within a local frame through the exercise of equal force presence, functioning solely in relation to material gravity rather than through mind action (analogous to a gyroscope's gravity-resistant behavior though fundamentally different in causation). The Conjoint Creator transcends conventional force relationships by displaying powers that transcend force and neutralize energy through various mechanisms, including slowing energy to the point of materialization. Rather than being energy itself or its source or destination, the Conjoint Creator functions as energy's manipulator, initiating action, motion, change, modification, coordination, stabilization, and equilibrium among cosmic forces. The universe is permeated by power-control creatures of the Third Source, including physical controllers, power directors, and power centers who regulate and stabilize physical energies using various attributes including antigravity. While these material activities appear to relate the God of Action to Paradise, the Conjoint Actor operates personally for the Father and Son rather than in response to Paradise, which although central to physical function, remains impersonal. The Conjoint Actor's actions represent his own volitional choices rather than reflections or derivatives of external influences.

The Third Source and Center possesses a distinct intellectual nature that differs from physical and spiritual attributes, a quality that, while not directly contactable, can be intellectually associated with other manifestations, though it never functions independently of physical or spiritual expressions. This absolute mind is inseparable from the personality of God the Spirit, forming an integral aspect of his being that defies separation from energy or spirit in functional entities. Mind itself is not inherent in energy; rather, energy becomes receptive and responsive to mind's influence. Conversely, mind need not be added to pure spirit, which inherently possesses consciousness and self-identification, always embodying intelligence in some form—whether premind, supermind, or spirit mind—and consistently performing functions equivalent to thinking and knowing.

The Conjoint Creator achieves absolute status exclusively in the domain of mind and universal intelligence, possessing infinite mind that utterly transcends the active mind circuits operating throughout the universe of universes. The mind endowment of the seven superuniverses derives from the Seven Master Spirits, primary personalities of the Conjoint Creator, who distribute cosmic mind throughout the grand universe, with each local universe pervaded by a variant of the superuniverse's cosmic mind type. Infinite mind exists independent of time, while ultimate mind transcends temporal limitations, and cosmic mind operates conditionally within time's constraints. Similarly, while the Infinite Mind functions independently of space, intellect at lower functional levels must increasingly accommodate spatial limitations. Cosmic force responds to mind just as mind responds to spirit, establishing a functional hierarchy where energy represents thing, mind signifies meaning, and spirit embodies value, with mind establishing those relative relationships between energy and spirit that suggest eternal kinship.

The Third Source and Center possesses infinite mind capacity, ensuring that regardless of how extensively the universe might expand, his mind potential would remain adequate to endow limitless numbers of creatures with suitable minds and other intellectual prerequisites. In the domain of created mind, the Third Person maintains absolute sovereignty as the exclusive originator of creature intellect throughout creation. Even the Father fragments (Thought Adjusters) cannot indwell human minds until the Infinite Spirit has properly prepared the way through his mind action and spiritual function, demonstrating the essential preparatory role the Third Source plays in enabling other divine influences to operate within mortal consciousness.

Through his creative and creature associates, the Third Source ministers to minds across an extraordinarily diverse spectrum of life, from human and subhuman intellect via the adjutants of local universes to the most primitive types of living beings through the physical controllers. This comprehensive mind ministry, consistently directed by mind-spirit or mind-energy personalities, demonstrates the Infinite Spirit's remarkable versatility in intellectual bestowal. Evolutionary creatures find it more natural to comprehend the Infinite Spirit than either the Eternal Son or Universal Father, precisely because the Third Person constitutes the source of cosmic mind and functions as an ancestor to human intellect. However, not all mental phenomena should be considered divine despite the Third Person's role as mind's source; human intellect stems from the material origins of animal races, and universe intelligence represents an imperfect revelation of God as mind, just as physical nature incompletely reveals Paradise's beauty and harmony. On Urantia, mind exists as a compromise between thought perfection and evolving human mentality, following a sublime evolutionary plan that mortals have yet to fully realize, often marring their minds through insincerity, searing them with unrighteousness, subjecting them to animal fear, and distorting them through useless anxiety.

The Third Source and Center maintains perfect and complete consciousness of every mind, intellect, and thinking entity throughout all creation, sustaining personal and uninterrupted contact with these beings through the absolute mind-gravity circuit that focuses in him and constitutes an integral component of his personal consciousness. Similar to how the Father draws all personality to himself and the Son attracts all spiritual reality, the Conjoint Actor exerts a drawing power on all minds, unqualifiedly dominating and controlling the universal mind circuit and unerringly attracting all genuine intellectual values, divine thoughts, and perfect ideas into this absolute mental pathway.

Mind gravity operates independently of both material and spiritual gravity, though when these forces converge, personality gravity may encompass physical or morontial creatures, whether finite or absonite. Significantly, the endowment of mind, even in impersonal beings, qualifies them for thought and consciousness despite lacking personality. While the interaction of spirit, mind, and material gravity is not prerequisite for personality gravity's manifestation, as the Father's circuit may encompass mind-material beings unresponsive to spirit or mind-spirit beings unresponsive to material gravity, the spiritual aspects of creature mind unfailingly respond to the Eternal Son's spirit-gravity pull just as material features respond to the material universe's gravity urge. Cosmic mind, when not associated with either energy or spirit, responds exclusively to the Conjoint Actor's universal gravity grasp, with pure mind demonstrating close kinship to infinite mind. The mind-gravity circuit emanates dependably from the Third Person of Deity on Paradise, but not all observable mind function proves predictable due to a paralleling presence whose function remains unpredictable—possibly attributable to the Universal Absolute's influence or to the Supreme Being's incompleteness.

The Conjoint Actor possesses the extraordinary ability to coordinate all levels of universe actuality in a manner that facilitates simultaneous recognition of mental, material, and spiritual factors. This phenomenon of universe reflectivity, a unique and inexplicable power to see, hear, sense, and know all things as they transpire throughout a superuniverse and to focus this information at any desired point, operates with perfect efficiency on each of the headquarters worlds of the seven superuniverses. It functions throughout all sectors and within the boundaries of local universes before ultimately focalizing on Paradise.

The reflectivity phenomenon, as demonstrated through the remarkable performances of reflective personalities stationed on superuniverse headquarters worlds, represents the most complex interassociation of all existential phases. While spirit lines can be traced back to the Son, physical energy to Paradise, and mind to the Third Source, reflectivity uniquely unifies all three in an exceptional association that enables universe rulers to gain instantaneous knowledge about remote conditions simultaneously with their occurrence. Although much of reflectivity's technique is comprehensible, certain phases remain perplexing despite our understanding that the Conjoint Actor serves as the universe center of the mind circuit, functions as the cosmic mind's ancestor, and operates under the absolute mind gravity of the Third Source. Furthermore, the cosmic mind circuits influence all known existence's intellectual levels, containing universal space reports that focus in the Seven Master Spirits and converge in the Third Source. The relationship between finite cosmic mind and divine absolute mind appears to be evolving within the Supreme's experiential mind, initially bestowed upon the Supreme by the Infinite Spirit at time's dawn, suggesting that certain reflectivity aspects may be explained only by postulating activity of the Supreme Mind. This indicates that reflectivity potentially represents partial contact with the consciousness of the emergent Supreme Being.

The Infinite Spirit possesses comprehensive ability to transmit many of his powers and prerogatives to his coordinate and subordinate personalities and agencies, extending his influence throughout creation through these diverse representatives. His first independent Deity-creating act, functioning apart from the Trinity but in unrevealed association with the Father and Son, resulted in the personalization of the Seven Master Spirits of Paradise—the primary distributors of the Infinite Spirit's influence to the universes. Rather than maintaining direct representation at superuniverse headquarters, each of these seven creations depends on one Paradise Master Spirit who operates through seven Reflective Spirits stationed at the superuniverse capital.

The Infinite Spirit's continuing creative activity manifests in the production of Creative Spirits who emerge whenever the Universal Father and Eternal Son become parents to a Creator Son, with each Creative Spirit becoming the close associate of that Creator Son in all subsequent universe experiences. Just as distinguishing between the Eternal Son and Creator Sons is necessary, differentiating between the Infinite Spirit and Creative Spirits, the local universe coordinators of Creator Sons, proves equally essential for understanding the universe's administrative structure. The Third Source is represented throughout the grand universe by a vast array of ministering spirits, messengers, teachers, adjudicators, helpers, and supervisors of physical, morontial, and spiritual circuits. Personality in the finite-creature context is characterized by subjective self-consciousness and objective response to the Father's personality circuit, with Creator personalities, creature personalities, and Third Source personalities (beings personal to the Infinite Spirit but not unqualifiedly personal to creatures) forming distinct categories within the universe's personal ecology. The Infinite Spirit's functional family divides into three great groups: the Supreme Spirits (including the Master Spirits of Paradise, Reflective Spirits of the Superuniverses, and Creative Spirits of the Local Universes), the Power Directors (control creatures and agencies functioning throughout organized space), and the Personalities of the Infinite Spirit (Higher Personalities, Messenger Hosts of Space, and Ministering Spirits of Time). Collectively, these spirit personalities of the Divine and Infinite Spirit's vast family are forever dedicated to ministering God's love and the Son's mercy to all intelligent creatures, forming the living ladder whereby mortal man ascends from chaos to glory in his evolutionary journey.