Paper 1 Overview: The Universal Father

The Universal Father is the God of all creation and is known as the First Source and Center of all things and beings. God created the universe for intelligent beings who could know him, receive his love, and love him in return. The Creator wants his creatures to become more like him in their own spheres as he is in his infinite sphere.

God has commanded all his children to strive for perfection, saying "Be you perfect, even as I am perfect." This journey toward God is the supreme adventure for all beings in time and space, leading them to higher levels of spiritual values and understanding of true meaning in the universe.

The Universal Father is the Creator, Controller, and Upholder of everything in the universe. The concept of the one true God helped humans understand him as both creator and controller. God made countless planetary systems for different intelligent creatures who could know him, receive divine love, and return that love.

All worlds that are spiritually awakened know and worship the Universal Father. God asks all his children to become perfect as he is perfect, a command that has been shared across the universes through time. Humans can strive for and reach the divine goal God has set, becoming perfect in their own way just as God is perfect in his infinite way.

God the Father is known by many names throughout the universes, with the most common being First Source and Universe Center. The Creator has never revealed himself by name, only by nature, and we call him Father because of our relationship with him.

God never forces anyone to recognize or worship him. We must choose to love and worship him freely from our hearts. Our gift to God is choosing to follow his will, which is true worship and brings joy to the loving nature of our Creator Father.

God is the first spiritual reality, the source of truth, and exists throughout all material realms. He is a personality to all created beings and the First Source of eternal reality in the universe. God is not just an idea or concept but a true saving person and loving Father to all who seek peace and survival.

The indwelling divine presence in human minds proves God exists through: our ability to know God, our desire to find God, and our wish to be like God. Scientific experiments cannot prove God, but those who experience him can know he is real. Faith, philosophy, and religious experience all support that God is reasonable and essential for any hope of survival.

God is pure spirit and a universal spiritual presence. He is the infinite, eternal, immortal, invisible, and only true God. Even though we are his children, we should not think God has a physical form like ours. Spirit beings are real even though we cannot see them with human eyes.

The Universal Father is not hiding from us but is invisible because no mortal could see him and survive. The glory of God's presence is beyond what material beings can approach. We don't need physical eyes to see God but can discern him through faith and spiritual insight.

God's perfect and infinite nature makes him a mystery to finite beings. The greatest mystery is how God can dwell within mortal minds. This divine presence in human minds is the most profound of all universe mysteries.

Our bodies are "temples of God" with a fragment of God himself dwelling within us. When our physical bodies die, this divine spirit returns to God. This spirit fragment is meant to become one with us if we survive beyond mortal death. This is part of God's plan for each person.

God's infinity should not make us forget that he is a personality. The Universal Father is the highest example of divine personality and is the source of personality throughout creation. God is truly a personality, though his infinite nature puts him beyond the full understanding of material beings.

God is not hiding from his creatures but dwells in light no material being can approach. Even though we cannot see God physically, we can rejoice that he is a person. We should have faith that the Universal Father loves the world and provides for our spiritual growth.

Human personality is like a shadow of the Creator's divine personality. God appears differently to different beings: to science he is a cause, to philosophy an idea, to religion a loving person. Our understanding of God improves as we grow spiritually, and will only be complete when we reach Paradise.

God's presence indwelling the human mind proves he exists, but we can only truly understand his personality through spiritual experience. To know a divine personality requires that we dedicate all our personal qualities to the effort. The more we understand ourselves and others, the more we will want to know God.

When Jesus talked about "the living God," he meant a personal God who is our Father in heaven. The personal nature of God makes it possible to have a relationship with him, to worship him intelligently, and to trust him. Only personalities can have true fellowship with each other.

The idea that God is a person helps us achieve union with him through spiritual communion. This relationship is not like a drop of water merging with the ocean but is a personal connection between beings. Truth and beauty might exist without personality, but divine goodness can only be understood through a personal God who can love and be loved.