Changes

*(Uniqueness and individuality)

*(Uniqueness and individuality)

   

   

So, my [[children]]: you are all of this and you live with this [[complexity]] within and without.  You are correct in your introduction.  Your [[personality]] is a direct [[creation]] of [[God]]’s.  Your [[individuality]] is what you have slowly [[earned]] as a way of [[expressing]] all of this [[complexity]] I just mentioned.  You are [[learning]] how to [[express]] yourself.  Every baby, every child, every adolescent grows up in the [[shadow]] of greater [[authority]] with an [[automatic]] [[acceptance]] of its [[realities]], and yet too, from questioning these given-at-[[birth]] [[realities]], you [[emerge]] as [[individuals]] by bringing this [[acceptance]] into [[conscious]] [[choice]].  This is a slow and not always [[successful]] [[development]], yet the [[story]] of the [[effort]] is another kind of [[soul]] [[wealth]] you [[possess]].

So, my [[children]]: you are all of this and you live with this [[complexity]] within and without.  You are correct in your introduction.  Your [[personality]] is a direct [[creation]] of [[God]]’s.  Your [[individuality]] is what you have slowly [[earned]] as a way of [[expressing]] all of this [[complexity]] I just mentioned.  You are [[learning]] how to [[express]] yourself.  Every baby, every child, every adolescent grows up in the [[shadow]] of greater [[authority]] with an [[automatic]] [[acceptance]] of its [[realities]], and yet too, from questioning these given-at-[[birth]] [[realities]], you [[emerge]] as [[individuals]] by bringing this [[acceptance]] into [[conscious]] [[choice]].  This is a slow and not always successful [[development]], yet the [[story]] of the [[effort]] is another kind of [[soul]] [[wealth]] you [[possess]].

   

   

This acquirement of yours, this [[individuality]] you can [[perceive]] in each other, this [[quality]] of [[soul]] you call [[character]]; I think that you’ll [[agree]] that there’s nowhere you can go to buy [[character]].  You have to [[earn]] it.  And it is [[earned]] only through [[experience]].  Today you get so much from your [[books]] and [[reading]], from your TV and [[movies]] and [[internet]], yet [[character]] is mainly based on [[personal]] direct [[experience]] with other [[persons]] and with [[physical]] [[reality]] itself.  [[Character]] also means the [[abilities]] you’ve acquired as an [[individual]] as you [[emerged]] from all the [[groups]] in which you were raised.  The [[spiritual]] [[process]] itself--[[God]] [[ordained]]--the [[progress]] of [[individual]] [[maturity]]--is [[universal]] among all [[personal]] [[beings]].

This acquirement of yours, this [[individuality]] you can [[perceive]] in each other, this [[quality]] of [[soul]] you call [[character]]; I think that you’ll [[agree]] that there’s nowhere you can go to buy [[character]].  You have to [[earn]] it.  And it is [[earned]] only through [[experience]].  Today you get so much from your [[books]] and [[reading]], from your TV and [[movies]] and [[internet]], yet [[character]] is mainly based on [[personal]] direct [[experience]] with other [[persons]] and with [[physical]] [[reality]] itself.  [[Character]] also means the [[abilities]] you’ve acquired as an [[individual]] as you [[emerged]] from all the [[groups]] in which you were raised.  The [[spiritual]] [[process]] itself--[[God]] [[ordained]]--the [[progress]] of [[individual]] [[maturity]]--is [[universal]] among all [[personal]] [[beings]].

In the more [[primitive]] [[tribal]] [[societies]], [[surrounded]] by other tribes like [[bubbles]] in foam, and [[being]] [[intrinsically]] ferocious, and territorial, and involved in near incessant [[warfare]]: at that [[stage]] of immature [[social]] [[culture]] very little [[individuality]] can--[[literally]]--be afforded.  In a way it’s just too expensive.  The whole [[tribe]] has to be, and throughout [[history]] has been locked down into a thousand and one [[taboos]] that [[control]] almost every [[waking]] [[moment]] of their members’ lives.  As your [[Urantia Book]] notes: the [[tribal]] marks upon [[individuals]] often involved a lot of very [[painful]] cutting, yet this [[identification]] was considered [[absolute]] ([[necessity]]) for [[security]].  These [[tribal]] marks [[signified]] to the other tribes that if any harm was done to you, you had your whole tribe’s backing for revenge, to avenge your [[death]].

In the more [[primitive]] [[tribal]] [[societies]], [[surrounded]] by other tribes like [[bubbles]] in foam, and [[being]] [[intrinsically]] ferocious, and territorial, and involved in near incessant [[warfare]]: at that [[stage]] of immature [[social]] [[culture]] very little [[individuality]] can--[[literally]]--be afforded.  In a way it’s just too expensive.  The whole [[tribe]] has to be, and throughout [[history]] has been locked down into a thousand and one [[taboos]] that [[control]] almost every [[waking]] [[moment]] of their members’ lives.  As your [[Urantia Book]] notes: the [[tribal]] marks upon [[individuals]] often involved a lot of very [[painful]] cutting, yet this [[identification]] was considered [[absolute]] ([[necessity]]) for [[security]].  These [[tribal]] marks [[signified]] to the other tribes that if any harm was done to you, you had your whole tribe’s backing for revenge, to avenge your [[death]].

   

   

Only bit by bit by living [[experience]], [[gradually]], as tribes became [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_state city states], then [[Nationalism|nation states]] and [[empire]]s, right up to the [[present]] day; more and more are [[societies]] able to afford greater [[individuality]].  As you look around your world today, still, here in 2010, you can see almost this entire [[spectrum]] on the [[planet]], from [[primitive]] near-[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paleolithic stone-age] [[tribes]], up through [[autocratic]] [[societies]] in which only a small amount of [[individuality]] is [[tolerated]]; up to the point where, in some of the more [[technologically]] developed, [[democratic]] [[cultures]], you have what you might call a blossoming--I could even say--a [[flamboyance]] (Michael chuckles)--a flamboyance of [[individuality]] in all aspects of peoples’ lives: [[homes]] and furnishings, [[personal]] [[possessions]], [[social]] class and standing, [[physical]] presentation through [[dress]] and [[style]], [[mind]] and [[creative]] [[spirit]] presentation through [[invention]] and [[art]]; on and on…

Only bit by bit by living [[experience]], [[gradually]], as tribes became [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_state city states], then [[Nationalism|nation states]] and [[empire]]s, right up to the [[present]] day; more and more are [[societies]] able to afford greater [[individuality]].  As you look around your world today, still, here in 2010, you can see almost this entire [[spectrum]] on the [[planet]], from [[primitive]] near-[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paleolithic stone-age] [[tribes]], up through [[autocratic]] [[societies]] in which only a small amount of [[individuality]] is [[tolerated]]; up to the point where, in some of the more [[technologically]] developed, [[democratic]] [[cultures]], you have what you might call a blossoming--I could even say--a [[flamboyance]] (Michael chuckles)--a flamboyance of [[individuality]] in all aspects of peoples’ lives: [[homes]] and furnishings, [[personal]] [[possessions]], [[social]] class and standing, [[physical]] presentation through [[dress]] and style, [[mind]] and [[creative]] [[spirit]] presentation through [[invention]] and [[art]]; on and on…

===='''''[[Maturity]]''''', '''''[[Expression]]'''''====

===='''''[[Maturity]]''''', '''''[[Expression]]'''''====