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

Paper 9 explores the nature, attributes, and functions of the Infinite Spirit, the Third Person of Deity who came into existence when the Universal Father and Eternal Son united in a divine act of creation. The Infinite Spirit completes the Trinity and serves as the universal coordinator, manipulator of energy, source of mind, and spiritual minister to all creation. This paper outlines how the Infinite Spirit's unique capabilities bridge the realms of spirit and matter, allowing for the proper functioning of the entire universe.

The Infinite Spirit possesses remarkable attributes, including the ability to manipulate cosmic forces, provide the gift of mind to all creatures, and minister love and mercy throughout the universes. Through the Infinite Spirit's many created personalities—from the Seven Master Spirits to the countless ministering spirits—the Third Source and Center extends his influence throughout all levels of reality. The paper concludes by explaining how these spirit beings constitute a living ladder by which mortal beings can ascend from material existence toward spiritual perfection.

When the Universal Father and Eternal Son united in the presence of Paradise, they personalized the Conjoint Actor as unlimited spirituality coordinated with absolute mind and equipped with unique abilities to manipulate energy. This event completed the Father's liberation from the constraints of centralized perfection and the limitations of absolute personality, allowing for greater divine expression.

The Infinite Spirit possesses unique abilities to synthesize and coordinate all existing universe energies, spirits, and intellects. As a universal minister, the Spirit unceasingly provides the Son's mercy and the Father's love while maintaining harmony with the just and righteous nature of the Paradise Trinity. The Infinite Spirit pervades all space, indwells the circle of eternity, and shares the perfection and changelessness of the Father and Son.

The Third Source and Center is known by various names that reflect his relationships and functions: God the Spirit (equal to the Father and Son), the Infinite Spirit (an omnipresent spiritual influence), the Universal Manipulator (ancestor of power-control beings), the Conjoint Actor (representative of the Father-Son partnership), the Absolute Mind (source of intellect), and the God of Action (originator of motion and change). These names indicate his multifaceted nature and diverse roles in universe affairs.

The Infinite Spirit embodies the fullness of the combined concepts of the Father and Son, functioning as a universal coordinator and minister of unlimited cooperation. He is the Deity repository of the Father's thought and Son's word, eternally mindful of Paradise's material absoluteness. The Conjoint Actor shares the Father's omnipresence and the omniscience of both the Father and Son, while being truly omnipotent in the realm of mind. He is supremely competent to minister love and mercy, possessing the supernal kindness and merciful affection inherited from the Original and Eternal Son.

God exists as spirit in three distinct ways: as pure spirit in himself, as unqualified spirit in the Son, and as spirit allied with mind in the Conjoint Actor. The Infinite Spirit complements the Eternal Son just as the Son complements the Universal Father. The Infinite Spirit is a personalized spiritualization of both the Father and Son, creating a divine completion of their relationship.

Multiple spiritual connections link the people of Urantia directly with the Paradise Deities. These include the Thought Adjusters' direct connection to the Father, the spiritual-gravity influence of the Son, and the spiritual presence of the Conjoint Creator. Humans can also recognize the universal spirit of the Eternal Son and experience the beneficial influence of the Infinite Spirit through the Holy Spirit bestowed upon mankind. All these divine spirits work in perfect unity to elevate and spiritualize mortals.

The Isle of Paradise is the source and substance of physical gravity, a fundamental and dependable force throughout the physical universe. This gravity can only be modified or annulled by forces conjointly sponsored by the Father and Son that are functionally associated with the Third Source and Center, demonstrating the interconnected nature of Paradise and the divine personalities.

The Infinite Spirit possesses a unique ability called antigravity, which can withstand the pull of material gravity and is transmissible to certain higher personalities. The Conjoint Actor is not energy itself but rather the manipulator of energy—creating action, motion, change, coordination, stabilization, and equilibrium. The universe is permeated by power-control creatures of the Third Source who regulate and stabilize physical energies, functioning as representatives of the God of Action to activate the patterns of Paradise in the physical creation.

The Third Source and Center possesses a distinct intellectual nature separate from his physical and spiritual attributes. This mind aspect is not independently contactable but can be intellectually associated with his other manifestations. Mind is inseparable from the personality of God the Spirit and essential to his function within the universe.

The absolute mind of the Third Person is infinite and transcends the mind circuits of the universe of universes. The Infinite Spirit distributes mind to the grand universe through the Seven Master Spirits, who provide the cosmic mind to each superuniverse with its own variant type. Infinite mind is independent of time, while cosmic mind becomes increasingly conditioned by both time and space limitations as it functions at lower levels. Mind establishes meaningful relationships between energy and spirit, transmuting spiritual values into intellectual meanings.

The Third Source and Center has infinite mind potential, capable of endowing limitless numbers of creatures with suitable minds regardless of how much the universe might expand. He rules supreme in the domain of created mind, which is exclusively originated by him. Even the Father fragments (Thought Adjusters) cannot indwell mortal minds until the Infinite Spirit has prepared the way.

The Infinite Spirit can bestow mind upon a wide range of life forms through his creative and creature associates. He ministers to human and subhuman intellect through the adjutants of local universes and to the lowest nonexperiencing entities through the physical controllers. Human mind is an individualized circuit of cosmic mind bestowed in a local universe by a Creative Daughter of the Third Source. While intellect has animal origins and mind is divine in destination, mortal mind is currently a compromise between thought perfection and evolving human nature.

The Third Source and Center is personally conscious of every mind in creation and maintains perfect contact with all these creatures through the absolute mind-gravity circuit. This circuit is focused in the Third Source and Center and forms part of the personal consciousness of the Infinite Spirit, demonstrating his comprehensive awareness of all intellectual activity throughout the universe.

Just as the Father draws all personality to himself and the Son attracts all spiritual reality, the Conjoint Actor exerts a drawing power on all minds, dominating and controlling the universal mind circuit. All genuine intellectual values and divine thoughts are unerringly drawn into this absolute circuit of mind. Mind gravity can operate independently of material and spiritual gravity, though when all three are associated, personality gravity may embrace physical or morontial creatures, highlighting the complex interrelationships between these fundamental cosmic forces.

The Conjoint Actor possesses the remarkable ability to coordinate all levels of universe reality, enabling the simultaneous recognition of mental, material, and spiritual factors. This phenomenon of universe reflectivity allows for seeing, hearing, sensing, and knowing all things as they happen throughout a superuniverse, with this information focused at any desired point, operating in perfection on the headquarters worlds of the seven superuniverses.

Reflectivity represents the most complex interassociation of all phases of existence, uniquely unifying the three fundamental aspects of reality: spirit lines traced to the Son, physical energy to Paradise, and mind to the Third Source. This extraordinary capability enables universe rulers to know about remote conditions instantaneously as they occur. While much of reflectivity's technique is understood, some phases remain mysterious, particularly the relationship between the finite cosmic mind and the divine absolute mind, which appears to be evolving in the experiential mind of the Supreme Being.

The Infinite Spirit possesses the full ability to transmit many of his powers and prerogatives to his coordinate and subordinate personalities and agencies. His first Deity-creating act produced the Seven Master Spirits of Paradise, who distribute the Infinite Spirit's influence throughout the universes and who act through seven Reflective Spirits at the capital of each superuniverse.

The Infinite Spirit continues his creative work by producing Creative Spirits who become close associates of Creator Sons in local universes. Just as it is necessary to distinguish between the Eternal Son and Creator Sons, it is important to differentiate between the Infinite Spirit and the Creative Spirits who coordinate local universes. The Third Source is represented throughout the grand universe by a vast array of ministering spirits, messengers, teachers, adjudicators, and supervisors, forming a hierarchy that serves as a living ladder whereby mortal humans can climb from chaos to glory.