Values

Question: In reading through The Urantia Book on meanings and values, I find that meanings and values
are generally associated with things, and that a rough projection of the universe would be that the universe consists of things, meanings and values. I know what things are. I went to the dictionary to learn what meanings are, and it defined the noun “meaning” as “that which is intended or signified,” with the synonyms to be found under the word “purpose”. I also looked into the dictionary for “values” and it defines values as the order of importance or the sequence of things. The Urantia Book says one can add values to meanings as well. Can you comment on my understanding of “things” as being objects, whether they are spiritual, physical, or morontial; as “meanings” being the significance or purpose of these objects; and “values” being the relative degree of importance of either things or meanings. Could you comment on that?

Answer:

• Things are material, supermaterial, are objects, are receptacles, are systems, are patterns, and are matrixes.
• Meanings are the use of these matrixes.
• Values are how these meanings relate to the will of God.
  

Question: Can there be any “value” by itself, without evaluating a thing or a meaning - just a value?

Answer: Pure value?

Student: Yes. In other words, can you take a six and not relate it to a four and a five and a seven and an eight?

Answer: Not in that context because if you cannot relate it to the others then it will not be of that value. Values can be relative but supreme values can be existential when matrixes, meanings, and values are
all in a realm of non-space, non-time, then values can be pure and by itself. But this has no meaning when explained in this linear fashion. It is beyond your comprehension as of now.

Question: Is it correct to think of relationships as things, that these relationships are not only things but they have a meaning, and that their meaning is extremely high on the scale of values?

Rayson: Relationships?

Student: Interpersonal relationships.

Answer: Personal relationships are very high, of very high value, yes.

I know your phrase that cautions against putting all eggs in one basket; this has merit in the caution to not over commit oneself, denying other possibilities that exist in the ever-moving events of time that may alter the course that will lead you to your goal.

You seek the values of eternity which give deeper meaning to your life and the implications of the great ascension that lies before you. The very course of your ascension is itself variable because every effort any one of us makes further defines the course that all may take. As you receive greater appreciation of these
eternal values, you are establishing them concretely in time. You are making them alive; you are animating those very standards of deity that have stood forever.

Our Master taught us to serve, because the most valuable element in all the universes is personality.  Though every personality is colored differently with traits and inclinations that express uniqueness, everyone is a cherished possession in the Father's basket. While you seek to have and possess the values of
spirit, you are, in the very effort, becoming valuable.

The master finished his life on earth with the words, "It is finished." This culmination of effort on his part created tenfold new potentials that are only now, centuries later, beginning to be effective on a worldwide scale. He is not done; he has only expanded his troops to include thousands. His effort to reach all his
children is not, as your history has portrayed, to win the great battle against evil and possess all he can before all the rest are lost. No. He desires to reach everyone because, in his view, all belong to him. It is his passion that all know deeply, to the depths of their souls, this very truth. It is to your charge that you present him in your lives, not as an objective, external that you describe but as a vivid internal demonstration that you are. You are embryos of an eternal life. You are infused with Michael's presence; the vitality you have today is only expanding in your development.

If you could organize in your thinking the intervals of time that lie between your birth as a human and your attainment of Paradise, you would come to greater appreciate how very near you are to the morontia experience; it is but one broken shell away. Michael has demonstrated the path whereby you may attain this state of being, and he returned to you to prove beyond any doubt its existence.

Minearisa: It can be stated that every aspect of creation has some value. There is nothing in the universe which exists that is valueless, that has no value. The time-space level of finitude is an attempt in process to replicate the perfection of the Central Universe, but with an additional aspect of freewill participation by nearly infinite orders of intelligent will creatures in that completed perfection. Every aspect of this evolving finitude, this growing finite, God the Supreme, has relative degrees of value. 

The statement, "That which has value is differentiated from that which is value," in my understanding means that ultimately that which is value is none other than our Father, the Creator God of all things and beings. It is my understanding that it was this ability to differentiate between that which is value and that which has value, on the part of Jesus and along with his commitment to that difference, that allowed the Master to achieve human perfection; to live a perfected human life. For while he recognized relative value in family, in recreation, in work, in good health, in interpersonal relationships, he knew that value itself was God and that his relationship as a mortal man to that Source of all relative values would put his life in the proper perspective. 

There is also potential value in itself in personal relationships because personality is a gift/reality of God, God being triune in relationship. Therefore value in itself may also embrace relationships between personalities when these relationships recognize their true relationship to each other as sons and daughters of God. These relationships, then, become value in themselves. They are not of relative value; they approach absolute value. That is why, from your mortal career, what really will last and which is counterparted by your Thought Adjuster are those things which are value, your personal relationships with each other and with your indwelling Monitor. Other things that have value will fall away in the ascension career. You will gradually let go of those things which have less value as you achieve the journey to Value Itself. 

Alexsus: An example which may help clarify would be a rose. Anything which embodies truth, beauty, and goodness are value. The rose indeed embodies beauty. It is value. The thorns which upon the stem of a rose are of value because they serve to protect that which is value.

Virginia: I am sitting here frankly trying to understand myself what all that has been said. But as I am thinking about this, could it be said that, that which has value is the only thing that will lead us to that which is value. And that's why, am I summing up what you said, Minearisa, and that value is only found in relationships that reflect honesty, goodness, and beauty?

Minearisa: Sometimes the appreciation of that which has value acts as a lure to bring people to an awareness of Value itself, God, the author of truth, beauty, and goodness, and of personality and hence of personal interactions and relationships. 

But sometimes that which has value becomes idolized and takes the place of that which is value. Many examples are obvious. Your culture has, in fact, made an idol of wealth, power, knowledge, self-sufficiency, egoism, and the list could continue. By themselves, all these things have relative value, but they are not God. They are not of spirit essence, but are combinations of material and mindal reality. 

To know and worship God is the greatest experience that any of His creation can enjoy. To do this is to fully experience absolute value. When this experience has become a part of you its essence is so clearly "value itself" that it puts all the other things into a relative cast. The striving for honor among peers, the competition for glory and power, all of these things are seen to be in a different league. The reason for differentiating what is value from what has value is to make clear the nature of idolatry, to say you have not experienced value itself until you have fallen in adoration and worship at the feet of God and experienced the thrill of your existence as His child and the wonder of your brotherhood/sisterhood with all other intelligent beings. This is value itself. The color of your clothing, the makeup on your face, the size of your muscles, the achievements of your mind, the esteem of your peers, these are of value but they are not value itself. 

Virginia: Your last statement kind of threw me for a loop because I didn't expect you to end it with saying these are of value. Because those are the things I am trying hard not to be a part of because I want to dismiss myself from that focus.  

Minearisa: But, you see, they are of relative value. They are not equal. There is a place for these things in an earlier part of your life. They are natural human desires. There is nothing wrong with them in themselves until they assume the idolatrous role of value itself, which they are not. So, as you progress, and esteem them as less worthy of your energy and devotion so do you move in ascension toward the Source. 

Remember the book teaches the greatest joy on Paradise is worship. So powerful is this experience that is requires the Conductors of Worship to control it. It is, for you mortals, a rare experience to worship, although you attempt it. I recommend that you take the time to spend in contemplation of God, the Trinity, whose purpose you are a part of. 

Jesus knew where value lay. He knew what value was and is. The hoot of an owl has value for it produces fright in its prey and they move so the owl can obtain its dinner. 

What is value is this mighty creation and plan in the mind of God which is unfolding as you participate by your free will choice in His family and embrace all your brothers and sisters as His children.