Paper 5 Overview: God's Relation to the Individual

Paper 5 explores the profound relationship between the infinite God and finite human beings. It explains how the Universal Father establishes personal communion with individuals through the indwelling Thought Adjusters, which are actual fragments of God residing within the human mind. These divine fragments enable humans to find God through their own spiritual experience rather than requiring them to seek him in distant realms.

The paper emphasizes that despite limitations in human comprehension, all individuals have equal spiritual opportunities regardless of their intellectual, social, or cultural circumstances. It distinguishes between true worship and prayer, clarifies how God's presence manifests in different ways, and explains how personality is God's special gift to each of us that enables the potential for eternal survival.

When the finite human mind struggles to understand how the majestic Universal Father can personally connect with individual creatures, it should find comfort in the fact that a fragment of the living God dwells within each normal-minded and morally conscious person. These indwelling Thought Adjusters are the very essence of the eternal Deity of the Paradise Father, making it possible for humans to find God through their own inner experience.

God has distributed his infinite nature throughout the universe by way of his six absolute co-ordinates. Yet, he maintains the ability to make direct personal contact with any part of creation through his prepersonal fragments. The Universal Father has reserved the prerogative of bestowing personality upon divine Creators and living creatures while maintaining direct parental contact with all these personal beings through the personality circuit.

The challenge of approaching the infinite Father stems not because God is hiding from us but because of the inherent limitations of finite, material beings to perceive the infinite. The spiritual gap between the highest universe personalities and lower groups of created intelligences is immeasurably vast, making it impossible for lesser orders to comprehend God's presence even if they were transported directly before him. Humans must undergo numerous spiritual transformations before attaining the level of spiritual vision required to perceive any one of the Seven Master Spirits.

The Father continually seeks to reveal himself, mobilizing all resources of divine wisdom to connect with his universal children. His love shows infinite grandeur and generosity, causing him to yearn for association with every one of his created beings. It is our own finite limitations that determine when and how we may achieve the goal of mortal ascension and stand in the divine presence.

The divine presence manifests in multiple ways throughout the universe. The physical presence of the Infinite constitutes the reality of the material universe. The mind presence of Deity varies according to individual intellectual development and evolutionary personality level. The spiritual presence of Divinity necessarily differs throughout the universe based on individual spiritual receptivity and willingness to do the divine will.

God lives within each of his spirit-born children, with Paradise Sons having direct access to "the right hand of the Father." But all creature personalities can access the "bosom of the Father" through the personality circuit. The most certain way to experience God's presence is not through nature or external searching but through communion with the indwelling Mystery Monitor, the Paradise Thought Adjuster, who is the reality of God's presence within.

While the Paradise Deities function as one from a universe perspective, in their spiritual relations with beings like humans, they operate as three distinct persons. Different approaches apply when making personal appeals, communion, and other intimate relations. In the highest sense, worship is directed to the Universal Father alone, either directly or as manifested through his Creator Sons, such as Jesus.

Worship fundamentally differs from prayer in that worship contains no element of self-interest—it is purely for its own sake. True worship asks nothing and expects nothing for the worshiper; it arises as a natural and spontaneous reaction to recognizing the Father's matchless personality and loving nature. Prayer, which contains self-interest elements, is more appropriately directed to the Eternal Son or Creator Son, although practical religious experience often combines both.

The religions of evolution often motivate the quest for God through fear, while revealed religion attracts truth seekers to a God of love whom they desire to be like. True religion goes beyond passive dependence or mere survival assurance; it constitutes a living, dynamic experience of divinity realization through service to humanity. Religion provides unity, peace, and assurance in human experience.

Different religious traditions emphasize various aspects of divinity: the Hebrew religion focused on goodness, the Greek on beauty, while both sought truth. Jesus revealed a God of love that encompasses all three qualities. Various world religions offer different paths to salvation: Buddhism promises deliverance from suffering, Judaism from difficulties, and Christianity assures deliverance from sin, while the religion of Jesus provides salvation from self and the isolation of creature existence. Religious beliefs shape individual attitudes and determine the depth of worship and prayer habits.

Morality originates in self-consciousness and represents an evolutionary advancement, but moral attainment alone cannot eliminate life's fundamental struggles. Humans face physical challenges that require survival efforts, social environments that necessitate ethical adjustments, moral situations that demand reasoned choices, and spiritual experiences that compel them to seek God and strive to become like him.

Religion exists independently from science, societal obligations, philosophy, and moral duties. It represents a unique realm of human response to life situations that appears at all postmoral stages of development. Religious experience provides three major satisfactions: intellectual (a more unified consciousness), philosophical (substantiation of moral values), and spiritual (divine companionship and worship). God-consciousness involves three differential levels: mind consciousness of God's idea, soul consciousness of God's ideal, and spirit consciousness of God's reality.

The Universal Father bestows and maintains personality throughout the universe. Personality remains one of the great unsolved mysteries; while we understand various factors that constitute the vehicle for human personality, we don't fully comprehend its essential nature. Personality is not progressive or evolutionary but is directly bestowed by God upon living systems incorporating matter, mind, and spirit. God is personally conscious of every one of his children.

The Father has arranged for personality survival by providing indwelling Adjusters that can unite with the human mind to create an immortal soul. God has granted humans absolute sovereignty of free will regarding their eternal destiny. No being or force in the universe can interfere with an individual's choice to accept or reject eternal survival. The Father provides for and respects the sovereign choice of all true personalities, as the portal to eternity opens only in response to the freewill choice of God's freewill sons and daughters.