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The 5th Epochal Revelation
-The Urantia Papers
PAPER 12
THE UNIVERSE OF UNIVERSES
12:0.1
THE immensity of the far-flung creation of the Universal
Father is utterly beyond the grasp of finite
imagination; the enormousness of the master universe
staggers the concept of even my order of being. But the
mortal mind can be taught much about the plan and
arrangement of the universes; you can know something of
their physical organization and marvelous
administration; you may learn much about the various
groups of intelligent beings who inhabit the seven
superuniverses of time and the central universe of
eternity.
12:0.2
In principle, that is, in eternal potential, we conceive
of material creation as being infinite because the
Universal Father is actually infinite, but as we study
and observe the total material creation, we know that at
any given moment in time it is limited, although to your
finite minds it is comparatively limitless, virtually
boundless.
12:0.3
We are convinced, from the study of physical law and
from the observation of the starry realms, that the
infinite Creator is not yet manifest in finality of
cosmic expression, that much of the cosmic potential of
the Infinite is still self-contained and unrevealed. To
created beings the master universe might appear to be
almost infinite, but it is far from finished; there are
still physical limits to the material creation, and the
experiential revelation of the eternal purpose is still
in progress.
1. SPACE LEVELS OF THE MASTER UNIVERSE
12:1.1
The universe of universes is not an infinite plane, a
boundless cube, nor a limitless circle; it certainly has
dimensions. The laws of physical organization and
administration prove conclusively that the whole vast
aggregation of force-energy and matter-power functions
ultimately as a space unit, as an organized and
co-ordinated whole. The observable behavior of the
material creation constitutes evidence of a physical
universe of definite limits. The final proof of both a
circular and delimited universe is afforded by the, to
us, well-known fact that all forms of basic energy ever
swing around the curved path of the space levels of the
master universe in obedience to the incessant and
absolute pull of Paradise gravity.
12:1.2
The successive space levels of the master universe
constitute the major divisions of pervaded space --
total creation, organized and partially inhabited or yet
to be organized and inhabited. If the master universe
were not a series of elliptical space levels of lessened
resistance to motion, alternating with zones of relative
quiescence, we conceive that some of the cosmic energies
would be observed to shoot off on an infinite range, off
on a straight-line path into trackless space; but we
never find force, energy, or matter thus behaving; ever
they whirl, always swinging onward in the tracks of the
great space circuits.
12:1.3
Proceeding outward from Paradise through the horizontal
extension of pervaded space, the master universe is
existent in six concentric ellipses, the space levels
encircling the central Isle:
1. The Central Universe -- Havona.
2. The Seven Superuniverses.
3. The First Outer Space Level.
4. The Second Outer Space Level.
5. The Third Outer Space Level.
6. The Fourth and Outermost Space Level.
12:1.4
Havona, the
central universe, is not a time creation; it is an
eternal existence. This never-beginning, never-ending
universe consists of one billion spheres of sublime
perfection and is surrounded by the enormous dark
gravity bodies. At the center of Havona is the
stationary and absolutely stabilized Isle of Paradise,
surrounded by its twenty-one satellites. Owing to the
enormous encircling masses of the dark gravity bodies
about the fringe of the central universe, the mass
content of this central creation is far in excess of the
total known mass of all seven sectors of the grand
universe.
12:1.5
The
Paradise-Havona System, the eternal universe
encircling the eternal Isle, constitutes the perfect and
eternal nucleus of the master universe; all seven of the
superuniverses and all regions of outer space revolve in
established orbits around the gigantic central
aggregation of the Paradise satellites and the Havona
spheres.
12:1.6
The Seven
Superuniverses are not primary physical
organizations; nowhere do their boundaries divide a
nebular family, neither do they cross a local universe,
a prime creative unit. Each superuniverse is simply a
geographic space clustering of approximately one seventh
of the organized and partially inhabited post-Havona
creation, and each is about equal in the number of local
universes embraced and in the space encompassed.
Nebadon, your
local universe, is one of the newer creations in
Orvonton, the
seventh superuniverse.
12:1.7
The Grand
Universe is the present organized and inhabited
creation. It consists of the seven superuniverses, with
an aggregate evolutionary potential of around seven
trillion inhabited planets, not to mention the eternal
spheres of the central creation. But this tentative
estimate takes no account of architectural
administrative spheres, neither does it include the
outlying groups of unorganized universes. The present
ragged edge of the grand universe, its uneven and
unfinished periphery, together with the tremendously
unsettled condition of the whole astronomical plot,
suggests to our star students that even the seven
superuniverses are, as yet, uncompleted. As we move from
within, from the divine center outward in any one
direction, we do, eventually, come to the outer limits
of the organized and inhabited creation; we come to the
outer limits of the grand universe. And it is near this
outer border, in a far-off corner of such a magnificent
creation, that your local universe has its eventful
existence.
12:1.8
The Outer Space
Levels. Far out in space, at an enormous distance
from the seven inhabited superuniverses, there are
assembling vast and unbelievably stupendous circuits of
force and materializing energies. Between the energy
circuits of the seven superuniverses and this gigantic
outer belt of force activity, there is a space zone of
comparative quiet, which varies in width but averages
about four hundred thousand light-years. These space
zones are free from star dust -- cosmic fog. Our
students of these phenomena are in doubt as to the exact
status of the space-forces existing in this zone of
relative quiet which encircles the seven superuniverses.
But about one-half million light-years beyond the
periphery of the present grand universe we observe the
beginnings of a zone of an unbelievable energy action
which increases in volume and intensity for over
twenty-five million light-years. These tremendous wheels
of energizing forces are situated in the first outer
space level, a continuous belt of cosmic activity
encircling the whole of the known, organized, and
inhabited creation.
12:1.9
Still greater activities are taking place beyond these
regions, for the Uversa physicists have detected early
evidence of force manifestations more than fifty million
light-years beyond the outermost ranges of the phenomena
in the first outer space level. These activities
undoubtedly presage the organization of the material
creations of the second outer space level of the master
universe.
12:1.10
The central universe is the creation of eternity; the
seven superuniverses are the creations of time; the four
outer space levels are undoubtedly destined to
eventuate-evolve the ultimacy of creation. And there are
those who maintain that the Infinite can never attain
full expression short of infinity; and therefore do they
postulate an additional and unrevealed creation beyond
the fourth and outermost space level, a possible
ever-expanding, never-ending universe of infinity. In
theory we do not know how to limit either the infinity
of the Creator or the potential infinity of creation,
but as it exists and is administered, we regard the
master universe as having limitations, as being
definitely delimited and bounded on its outer margins by
open space.
2. THE DOMAINS OF THE UNQUALIFIED ABSOLUTE
12:2.1
When Urantia astronomers peer through their increasingly
powerful telescopes into the mysterious stretches of
outer space and there behold the amazing evolution of
almost countless physical universes, they should realize
that they are gazing upon the mighty outworking of the
unsearchable plans of the Architects of the Master
Universe. True, we do possess evidences which are
suggestive of the presence of certain Paradise
personality influences here and there throughout the
vast energy manifestations now characteristic of these
outer regions, but from the larger viewpoint the space
regions extending beyond the outer borders of the seven
superuniverses are generally recognized as constituting
the domains of the Unqualified Absolute.
12:2.2
Although the unaided human eye can see only two or three
nebulae outside the borders of the superuniverse of
Orvonton, your telescopes literally reveal millions upon
millions of these physical universes in process of
formation. Most of the starry realms visually exposed to
the search of your present-day telescopes are in
Orvonton, but with photographic technique the larger
telescopes penetrate far beyond the borders of the grand
universe into the domains of outer space, where untold
universes are in process of organization. And there are
yet other millions of universes beyond the range of your
present instruments.
12:2.3
In the not-distant future, new telescopes will reveal to
the wondering gaze of Urantian astronomers no less than
375 million new galaxies in the remote stretches of
outer space. At the same time these more powerful
telescopes will disclose that many island universes
formerly believed to be in outer space are really a part
of the galactic system of Orvonton. The seven
superuniverses are still growing; the periphery of each
is gradually expanding; new nebulae are constantly being
stabilized and organized; and some of the nebulae which
Urantian astronomers regard as extragalactic are
actually on the fringe of Orvonton and are traveling
along with us.
12:2.4
The Uversa star students observe that the grand universe
is surrounded by the ancestors of a series of starry and
planetary clusters which completely encircle the present
inhabited creation as concentric rings of outer
universes upon universes. The physicists of Uversa
calculate that the energy and matter of these outer and
uncharted regions already equal many times the total
material mass and energy charge embraced in all seven
superuniverses. We are informed that the metamorphosis
of cosmic force in these outer space levels is a
function of the Paradise force organizers. We also know
that these forces are ancestral to those physical
energies which at present activate the grand universe.
The Orvonton power directors, however, have nothing to
do with these far-distant realms, neither are the energy
movements therein discernibly connected with the power
circuits of the organized and inhabited creations.
12:2.5
We know very little of the significance of these
tremendous phenomena of outer space. A greater creation
of the future is in process of formation. We can observe
its immensity, we can discern its extent and sense its
majestic dimensions, but otherwise we know little more
about these realms than do the astronomers of Urantia.
As far as we know, no material beings on the order of
humans, no angels or other spirit creatures, exist in
this outer ring of nebulae, suns, and planets. This
distant domain is beyond the jurisdiction and
administration of the superuniverse governments.
12:2.6
Throughout Orvonton it is believed that a new type of
creation is in process, an order of universes destined
to become the scene of the future activities of the
assembling Corps of the Finality; and if our conjectures
are correct, then the endless future may hold for all of
you the same enthralling spectacles that the endless
past has held for your seniors and predecessors.
3. UNIVERSAL GRAVITY
12:3.1
All forms of force-energy -- material, mindal, or
spiritual -- are alike subject to those grasps, those
universal presences, which we call gravity. Personality
also is responsive to gravity -- to the Father's
exclusive circuit; but though this circuit is exclusive
to the Father, he is not excluded from the other
circuits; the Universal Father is infinite and acts over
all four
absolute-gravity circuits in the master universe:
1. The Personality Gravity of the Universal Father.
2. The Spirit Gravity of the Eternal Son.
3. The Mind Gravity of the Conjoint Actor.
4. The Cosmic Gravity of the Isle of Paradise.
12:3.2
These four circuits are not related to the nether
Paradise force center; they are neither force, energy,
nor power circuits. They are absolute
presence
circuits and like God are independent of time and space.
12:3.3
In this connection it is interesting to record certain
observations made on Uversa during recent millenniums by
the corps of gravity researchers. This expert group of
workers has arrived at the following conclusions
regarding the different gravity systems of the master
universe:
12:3.4
1. Physical
Gravity. Having formulated an estimate of the
summation of the entire physical-gravity capacity of the
grand universe, they have laboriously effected a
comparison of this finding with the estimated total of
absolute gravity presence now operative. These
calculations indicate that the total gravity action on
the grand universe is a very small part of the estimated
gravity pull of Paradise, computed on the basis of the
gravity response of basic physical units of universe
matter. These investigators reach the amazing conclusion
that the central universe and the surrounding seven
superuniverses are at the present time making use of
only about five per cent of the active functioning of
the Paradise absolute-gravity grasp. In other words: At
the present moment about ninety-five per cent of the
active cosmic-gravity action of the Isle of Paradise,
computed on this totality theory, is engaged in
controlling material systems beyond the borders of the
present organized universes. These calculations all
refer to absolute gravity; linear gravity is an
interactive phenomenon which can be computed only by
knowing the actual Paradise gravity.
12:3.5
2. Spiritual
Gravity. By the same technique of comparative
estimation and calculation these researchers have
explored the present reaction capacity of spirit gravity
and, with the co-operation of Solitary Messengers and
other spirit personalities, have arrived at the
summation of the active spirit gravity of the Second
Source and Center. And it is most instructive to note
that they find about the same value for the actual and
functional presence of spirit gravity in the grand
universe that they postulate for the present total of
active spirit gravity. In other words: At the present
time practically the entire spirit gravity of the
Eternal Son, computed on this theory of totality, is
observable as functioning in the grand universe. If
these findings are dependable, we may conclude that the
universes now evolving in outer space are at the present
time wholly nonspiritual. And if this is true, it would
satisfactorily explain why spirit-endowed beings are in
possession of little or no information about these vast
energy manifestations aside from knowing the fact of
their physical existence.
12:3.6
3. Mind Gravity.
By these same principles of comparative computation
these experts have attacked the problem of mind-gravity
presence and response. The mind unit of estimation was
arrived at by averaging three material and three
spiritual types of mentality, although the type of mind
found in the power directors and their associates proved
to be a disturbing factor in the effort to arrive at a
basic unit for mind-gravity estimation. There was little
to impede the estimation of the present capacity of the
Third Source and Center for mind-gravity function in
accordance with this theory of totality. Although the
findings in this instance are not so conclusive as in
the estimates of physical and spirit gravity, they are,
comparatively considered, very instructive, even
intriguing. These investigators deduce that about
eighty-five per cent of the mind-gravity response to the
intellectual drawing of the Conjoint Actor takes origin
in the existing grand universe. This would suggest the
possibility that mind activities are involved in
connection with the observable physical activities now
in progress throughout the realms of outer space. While
this estimate is probably far from accurate, it accords,
in principle, with our belief that intelligent force
organizers are at present directing universe evolution
in the space levels beyond the present outer limits of
the grand universe. Whatever the nature of this
postulated intelligence, it is apparently not
spirit-gravity responsive.
12:3.7
But all these computations are at best estimates based
on assumed laws. We think they are fairly reliable. Even
if a few spirit beings were located in outer space,
their collective presence would not markedly influence
calculations involving such enormous measurements.
12:3.8
Personality
Gravity is noncomputable. We recognize the circuit,
but we cannot measure either qualitative or quantitative
realities responsive thereto.
4. SPACE AND MOTION
12:4.1
All units of cosmic energy are in primary revolution,
are engaged in the execution of their mission, while
swinging around the universal orbit. The universes of
space and their component systems and worlds are all
revolving spheres, moving along the endless circuits of
the master universe space levels. Absolutely nothing is
stationary in all the master universe except the very
center of Havona, the eternal Isle of Paradise, the
center of gravity.
12:4.2
The Unqualified Absolute is functionally limited to
space, but we are not so sure about the relation of this
Absolute to motion. Is motion inherent therein? We do
not know. We know that motion is not inherent in space;
even the motions
of space are not innate. But we are not so sure
about the relation of the Unqualified to motion. Who, or
what, is really responsible for the gigantic activities
of force-energy transmutations now in progress out
beyond the borders of the present seven superuniverses?
Concerning the origin of motion we have the following
opinions:
12:4.3
1. We think the Conjoint Actor initiates motion
in space.
12:4.4
2. If the Conjoint Actor produces the motions
of space, we
cannot prove it.
12:4.5
3. The Universal Absolute does not originate initial
motion but does equalize and control all of the tensions
originated by motion.
12:4.6
In outer space the force organizers are apparently
responsible for the production of the gigantic universe
wheels which are now in process of stellar evolution,
but their ability so to function must have been made
possible by some modification of the space presence of
the Unqualified Absolute.
12:4.7
Space is, from the human viewpoint, nothing -- negative;
it exists only as related to something positive and
nonspatial. Space is, however, real. It contains and
conditions motion. It even moves. Space motions may be
roughly classified as follows:
12:4.8
1. Primary motion -- space respiration, the motion of
space itself.
12:4.9
2. Secondary motion -- the alternate directional swings
of the successive space levels.
12:4.10
3. Relative motions -- relative in the sense that they
are not evaluated with Paradise as a base point. Primary
and secondary motions are absolute, motion in relation
to unmoving Paradise.
12:4.11
4. Compensatory or correlating movement designed to
co-ordinate all other motions.
12:4.12
The present relationship of your sun and its associated
planets, while disclosing many relative and absolute
motions in space, tends to convey the impression to
astronomic observers that you are comparatively
stationary in space, and that the surrounding starry
clusters and streams are engaged in outward flight at
ever-increasing velocities as your calculations proceed
outward in space. But such is not the case. You fail to
recognize the present outward and uniform expansion of
the physical creations of all pervaded space. Your own
local creation (Nebadon) participates in this movement
of universal outward expansion. The entire seven
superuniverses participate in the two-billion-year
cycles of space respiration along with the outer regions
of the master universe.
12:4.13
When the universes expand and contract, the material
masses in pervaded space alternately move against and
with the pull of Paradise gravity. The work that is done
in moving the material energy mass of creation is
space work
but not
power-energy work.
12:4.14
Although your spectroscopic estimations of astronomic
velocities are fairly reliable when applied to the
starry realms belonging to your superuniverse and its
associate superuniverses, such reckonings with reference
to the realms of outer space are wholly unreliable.
Spectral lines are displaced from the normal towards the
violet by an approaching star; likewise these lines are
displaced towards the red by a receding star. Many
influences interpose to make it appear that the
recessional velocity of the external universes increases
at the rate of more than one hundred miles a second for
every million light-years increase in distance. By this
method of reckoning, subsequent to the perfection of
more powerful telescopes, it will appear that these
far-distant systems are in flight from this part of the
universe at the unbelievable rate of more than thirty
thousand miles a second. But this apparent speed of
recession is not real; it results from numerous factors
of error embracing angles of observation and other
time-space distortions.
12:4.15
But the greatest of all such distortions arises because
the vast universes of outer space in the realms next to
the domains of the seven superuniverses, seem to be
revolving in a direction opposite to that of the grand
universe. That is, these myriads of nebulae and their
accompanying suns and spheres are at the present time
revolving clockwise about the central creation. The
seven superuniverses revolve about Paradise in a
counterclockwise direction. It appears that the second
outer universe of galaxies, like the seven
superuniverses, revolves counterclockwise about
Paradise. And the astronomic observers of Uversa think
they detect evidence of revolutionary movements in a
third outer belt of far-distant space which are
beginning to exhibit directional tendencies of a
clockwise nature.
12:4.16
It is probable that these alternate directions of
successive space processions of the universes have
something to do with the intramaster universe gravity
technique of the Universal Absolute, which consists of a
co-ordination of forces and an equalization of space
tensions. Motion as well as space is a complement or
equilibrant of gravity.
5. SPACE AND TIME
12:5.1
Like space, time is a bestowal of Paradise, but not in
the same sense, only indirectly. Time comes by virtue of
motion and because mind is inherently aware of
sequentiality. From a practical viewpoint, motion is
essential to time, but there is no universal time unit
based on motion except in so far as the Paradise-Havona
standard day is arbitrarily so recognized. The totality
of space respiration destroys its local value as a time
source.
12:5.2
Space is not infinite, even though it takes origin from
Paradise; not absolute, for it is pervaded by the
Unqualified Absolute. We do not know the absolute limits
of space, but we do know that the absolute of time is
eternity.
12:5.3
Time and space are inseparable only in the time-space
creations, the seven superuniverses. Nontemporal space
(space without time) theoretically exists, but the only
truly nontemporal place is Paradise
area.
Nonspatial time (time without space) exists in mind of
the Paradise level of function.
12:5.4
The relatively motionless midspace zones impinging on
Paradise and separating pervaded from unpervaded space
are the transition zones from time to eternity, hence
the necessity of Paradise pilgrims becoming unconscious
during this transit when it is to culminate in Paradise
citizenship. Time-conscious
visitors can
go to Paradise without thus sleeping, but they remain
creatures of time.
12:5.5
Relationships to time do not exist without motion in
space, but consciousness of time does. Sequentiality can
consciousize time even in the absence of motion. Man's
mind is less time-bound than space-bound because of the
inherent nature of mind. Even during the days of the
earth life in the flesh, though man's mind is rigidly
space-bound, the creative human imagination is
comparatively time free. But time itself is not
genetically a quality of mind.
12:5.6
There are three different levels of time cognizance:
12:5.7
1. Mind-perceived time -- consciousness of sequence,
motion, and a sense of duration.
12:5.8
2. Spirit-perceived time -- insight into motion Godward
and the awareness of the motion of ascent to levels of
increasing divinity.
12:5.9
3. Personality
creates a unique time sense out of insight into
Reality plus a consciousness of presence and an
awareness of duration.
12:5.10
Unspiritual animals know only the past and live in the
present. Spirit-indwelt man has powers of prevision
(insight); he may visualize the future. Only
forward-looking and progressive attitudes are personally
real. Static ethics and traditional morality are just
slightly superanimal. Nor is stoicism a high order of
self-realization. Ethics and morals become truly human
when they are dynamic and progressive, alive with
universe reality.
12:5.11
The human personality is not merely a concomitant of
time-and-space events; the human personality can also
act as the cosmic cause of such events.
6. UNIVERSAL OVERCONTROL
12:6.1
The universe is nonstatic. Stability is not the result
of inertia but rather the product of balanced energies,
co-operative minds, co-ordinated morontias, spirit
overcontrol, and personality unification. Stability is
wholly and always proportional to divinity.
12:6.2
In the physical control of the master universe the
Universal Father exercises priority and primacy through
the Isle of Paradise; God is absolute in the spiritual
administration of the cosmos in the person of the
Eternal Son. Concerning the domains of mind, the Father
and the Son function co-ordinately in the Conjoint
Actor.
12:6.3
The Third Source and Center assists in the maintenance
of the equilibrium and co-ordination of the combined
physical and spiritual energies and organizations by the
absoluteness of his grasp of the cosmic mind and by the
exercise of his inherent and universal physical- and
spiritual-gravity complements. Whenever and wherever
there occurs a liaison between the material and the
spiritual, such a mind phenomenon is an act of the
Infinite Spirit. Mind alone can interassociate the
physical forces and energies of the material level with
the spiritual powers and beings of the spirit level.
12:6.4
In all your contemplation of universal phenomena, make
certain that you take into consideration the
interrelation of physical, intellectual, and spiritual
energies, and that due allowance is made for the
unexpected phenomena attendant upon their unification by
personality and for the unpredictable phenomena
resulting from the actions and reactions of experiential
Deity and the Absolutes.
12:6.5
The universe is highly predictable only in the
quantitative or gravity-measurement sense; even the
primal physical forces are not responsive to linear
gravity, nor are the higher mind meanings and true
spirit values of ultimate universe realities.
Qualitatively, the universe is not highly predictable as
regards new associations of forces, either physical,
mindal, or spiritual, although many such combinations of
energies or forces become partially predictable when
subjected to critical observation. When matter, mind,
and spirit are unified by creature personality, we are
unable fully to predict the decisions of such a freewill
being.
12:6.6
All phases of primordial force, nascent spirit, and
other nonpersonal ultimates appear to react in
accordance with certain relatively stable but unknown
laws and are characterized by a latitude of performance
and an elasticity of response which are often
disconcerting when encountered in the phenomena of a
circumscribed and isolated situation. What is the
explanation of this unpredictable freedom of reaction
disclosed by these emerging universe actualities? These
unknown, unfathomable unpredictables -- whether
pertaining to the behavior of a primordial unit of
force, the reaction of an unidentified level of mind, or
the phenomenon of a vast preuniverse in the making in
the domains of outer space -- probably disclose the
activities of the Ultimate and the presence-performances
of the Absolutes, which antedate the function of all
universe Creators.
12:6.7
We do not really know, but we surmise that such amazing
versatility and such profound co-ordination signify the
presence and performance of the Absolutes, and that such
diversity of response in the face of apparently uniform
causation discloses the reaction of the Absolutes, not
only to the immediate and situational causation, but
also to all other related causations throughout the
entire master universe.
12:6.8
Individuals have their guardians of destiny; planets,
systems, constellations, universes, and superuniverses
each have their respective rulers who labor for the good
of their domains. Havona and even the grand universe are
watched over by those intrusted with such high
responsibilities. But who fosters and cares for the
fundamental needs of the master universe as a whole,
from Paradise to the fourth and outermost space level?
Existentially such overcare is probably attributable to
the Paradise Trinity, but from an experiential viewpoint
the appearance of the post-Havona universes is dependent
on:
1. The Absolutes in potential.
2. The Ultimate in direction.
3. The Supreme in evolutionary co-ordination.
4. The Architects of the Master Universe in
administration prior to the appearance of specific
rulers.
12:6.9
The Unqualified Absolute pervades all space. We are not
altogether clear as to the exact status of the Deity and
Universal Absolutes, but we know the latter functions
wherever the Deity and Unqualified Absolutes function.
The Deity Absolute may be universally present but hardly
space present. The Ultimate is, or sometime will be,
space present to the outer margins of the fourth space
level. We doubt that the Ultimate will ever have a space
presence beyond the periphery of the master universe,
but within this limit the Ultimate is progressively
integrating the creative organization of the potentials
of the three Absolutes.
7. THE PART AND THE WHOLE
12:7.1
There is operative throughout all time and space and
with regard to all reality of whatever nature an
inexorable and impersonal law which is equivalent to the
function of a cosmic providence. Mercy characterizes
God's attitude of love for the individual; impartiality
motivates God's attitude toward the total. The will of
God does not necessarily prevail in the part -- the
heart of any one personality -- but his will does
actually rule the whole, the universe of universes.
12:7.2
In all his dealings with all his beings it is true that
the laws of God are not inherently arbitrary. To you,
with your limited vision and finite viewpoint, the acts
of God must often appear to be dictatorial and
arbitrary. The laws of God are merely the habits of God,
his way of repeatedly doing things; and he ever does all
things well. You observe that God does the same thing in
the same way, repeatedly, simply because that is the
best way to do that particular thing in a given
circumstance; and the best way is the right way, and
therefore does infinite wisdom always order it done in
that precise and perfect manner. You should also
remember that nature is not the exclusive act of Deity;
other influences are present in those phenomena which
man calls nature.
12:7.3
It is repugnant to the divine nature to suffer any sort
of deterioration or ever to permit the execution of any
purely personal act in an inferior way. It should be
made clear, however, that,
if, in the
divinity of any situation, in the extremity of any
circumstance, in any case where the course of supreme
wisdom might indicate the demand for different conduct
-- if the demands of perfection might for any reason
dictate another method of reaction, a better one, then
and there would the all-wise God function in that better
and more suitable way. That would be the expression of a
higher law, not the reversal of a lower law.
12:7.4
God is not a habit-bound slave to the chronicity of the
repetition of his own voluntary acts. There is no
conflict among the laws of the Infinite; they are all
perfections of the infallible nature; they are all the
unquestioned acts expressive of faultless decisions. Law
is the unchanging reaction of an infinite, perfect, and
divine mind. The acts of God are all volitional
notwithstanding this apparent sameness. In God there "is
no variableness neither shadow of changing." But all
this which can be truly said of the Universal Father
cannot be said with equal certainty of all his
subordinate intelligences or of his evolutionary
creatures.
12:7.5
Because God is changeless, therefore can you depend, in
all ordinary circumstances, on his doing the same thing
in the same identical and ordinary way. God is the
assurance of stability for all created things and
beings. He is God; therefore he changes not.
12:7.6
And all this steadfastness of conduct and uniformity of
action is personal, conscious, and highly volitional,
for the great God is not a helpless slave to his own
perfection and infinity. God is not a self-acting
automatic force; he is not a slavish law-bound power.
God is neither a mathematical equation nor a chemical
formula. He is a freewill and primal personality. He is
the Universal Father, a being surcharged with
personality and the universal fount of all creature
personality.
12:7.7
The will of God does not uniformly prevail in the heart
of the God-seeking material mortal, but if the time
frame is enlarged beyond the moment to embrace the whole
of the first life, then does God's will become
increasingly discernible in the spirit fruits which are
borne in the lives of the spirit-led children of God.
And then, if human life is further enlarged to include
the morontia experience, the divine will is observed to
shine brighter and brighter in the spiritualizing acts
of those creatures of time who have begun to taste the
divine delights of experiencing the relationship of the
personality of man with the personality of the Universal
Father.
12:7.8
The Fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man present
the paradox of the part and the whole on the level of
personality. God loves
each
individual as an individual child in the heavenly
family. Yet God thus loves
every
individual; he is no respecter of persons, and the
universality of his love brings into being a
relationship of the whole, the universal brotherhood.
12:7.9
The love of the Father absolutely individualizes each
personality as a unique child of the Universal Father, a
child without duplicate in infinity, a will creature
irreplaceable in all eternity. The Father's love
glorifies each child of God, illuminating each member of
the celestial family, sharply silhouetting the unique
nature of each personal being against the impersonal
levels that lie outside the fraternal circuit of the
Father of all. The love of God strikingly portrays the
transcendent value of each will creature, unmistakably
reveals the high value which the Universal Father has
placed upon each and every one of his children from the
highest creator personality of Paradise status to the
lowest personality of will dignity among the savage
tribes of men in the dawn of the human species on some
evolutionary world of time and space.
12:7.10
This very love of God for the individual brings into
being the divine family of all individuals, the
universal brotherhood of the freewill children of the
Paradise Father. And this brotherhood, being universal,
is a relationship of the whole. Brotherhood, when
universal, discloses not the
each
relationship, but the
all
relationship. Brotherhood is a reality of the total and
therefore discloses qualities of the whole in
contradistinction to qualities of the part.
12:7.11
Brotherhood constitutes a fact of relationship between
every personality in universal existence. No person can
escape the benefits or the penalties that may come as a
result of relationship to other persons. The part
profits or suffers in measure with the whole. The good
effort of each man benefits all men; the error or evil
of each man augments the tribulation of all men. As
moves the part, so moves the whole. As the progress of
the whole, so the progress of the part. The relative
velocities of part and whole determine whether the part
is retarded by the inertia of the whole or is carried
forward by the momentum of the cosmic brotherhood.
12:7.12
It is a mystery that God is a highly personal
self-conscious being with residential headquarters, and
at the same time personally present in such a vast
universe and personally in contact with such a well-nigh
infinite number of beings. That such a phenomenon is a
mystery beyond human comprehension should not in the
least lessen your faith. Do not allow the magnitude of
the infinity, the immensity of the eternity, and the
grandeur and glory of the matchless character of God to
overawe, stagger, or discourage you; for the Father is
not very far from any one of you; he dwells within you,
and in him do we all literally move, actually live, and
veritably have our being.
12:7.13
Even though the Paradise Father functions through his
divine creators and his creature children, he also
enjoys the most intimate inner contact with you, so
sublime, so highly personal, that it is even beyond my
comprehension -- that mysterious communion of the Father
fragment with the human soul and with the mortal mind of
its actual indwelling. Knowing what you do of these
gifts of God, you therefore know that the Father is in
intimate touch, not only with his divine associates, but
also with his evolutionary mortal children of time. The
Father indeed abides on Paradise, but his divine
presence also dwells in the minds of men.
12:7.14
Even though the spirit of a Son be poured out upon all
flesh, even though a Son once dwelt with you in the
likeness of mortal flesh, even though the seraphim
personally guard and guide you, how can any of these
divine beings of the Second and Third Centers ever hope
to come as near to you or to understand you as fully as
the Father, who has given a part of himself to be in
you, to be your real and divine, even your eternal,
self?
8. MATTER, MIND, AND SPIRIT
12:8.1
"God is spirit," but Paradise is not. The material
universe is always the arena wherein take place all
spiritual activities; spirit beings and spirit ascenders
live and work on physical spheres of material reality.
12:8.2
The bestowal of cosmic force, the domain of cosmic
gravity, is the function of the Isle of Paradise. All
original force-energy proceeds from Paradise, and the
matter for the making of untold universes now circulates
throughout the master universe in the form of a
supergravity presence which constitutes the force-charge
of pervaded space.
12:8.3
Whatever the transformations of force in the outlying
universes, having gone out from Paradise, it journeys on
subject to the never-ending, ever-present, unfailing
pull of the eternal Isle, obediently and inherently
swinging on forever around the eternal space paths of
the universes. Physical energy is the one reality which
is true and steadfast in its obedience to universal law.
Only in the realms of creature volition has there been
deviation from the divine paths and the original plans.
Power and energy are the universal evidences of the
stability, constancy, and eternity of the central Isle
of Paradise.
12:8.4
The bestowal of spirit and the spiritualization of
personalities, the domain of spiritual gravity, is the
realm of the Eternal Son. And this spirit gravity of the
Son, ever drawing all spiritual realities to himself, is
just as real and absolute as is the all-powerful
material grasp of the Isle of Paradise. But
material-minded man is naturally more familiar with the
material manifestations of a physical nature than with
the equally real and mighty operations of a spiritual
nature which are discerned only by the spiritual insight
of the soul.
12:8.5
As the mind of any personality in the universe becomes
more spiritual -- Godlike -- it becomes less responsive
to material gravity. Reality, measured by
physical-gravity response, is the antithesis of reality
as determined by quality of spirit content.
Physical-gravity action is a quantitative determiner of
nonspirit energy; spiritual-gravity action is the
qualitative measure of the living energy of divinity.
12:8.6
What Paradise is to the physical creation, and what the
Eternal Son is to the spiritual universe, the Conjoint
Actor is to the realms of mind -- the intelligent
universe of material, morontial, and spiritual beings
and personalities.
12:8.7
The Conjoint Actor reacts to both material and spiritual
realities and therefore inherently becomes the universal
minister to all intelligent beings, beings who may
represent a union of both the material and spiritual
phases of creation. The endowment of intelligence, the
ministry to the material and the spiritual in the
phenomenon of mind, is the exclusive domain of the
Conjoint Actor, who thus becomes the partner of the
spiritual mind, the essence of the morontia mind, and
the substance of the material mind of the evolutionary
creatures of time.
12:8.8
Mind is the technique whereby spirit realities become
experiential to creature personalities. And in the last
analysis the unifying possibilities of even human mind,
the ability to co-ordinate things, ideas, and values, is
supermaterial.
12:8.9
Though it is hardly possible for the mortal mind to
comprehend the seven levels of relative cosmic reality,
the human intellect should be able to grasp much of the
meaning of three functioning levels of finite reality:
12:8.10
1. Matter.
Organized energy which is subject to linear gravity
except as it is modified by motion and conditioned by
mind.
12:8.11
2. Mind.
Organized consciousness which is not wholly subject to
material gravity, and which becomes truly liberated when
modified by spirit.
12:8.12
3. Spirit.
The highest personal reality. True spirit is not subject
to physical gravity but eventually becomes the
motivating influence of all evolving energy systems of
personality dignity.
12:8.13
The goal of existence of all personalities is spirit;
material manifestations are relative, and the cosmic
mind intervenes between these universal opposites. The
bestowal of mind and the ministration of spirit are the
work of the associate persons of Deity, the Infinite
Spirit and the Eternal Son. Total Deity reality is not
mind but spirit-mind -- mind-spirit unified by
personality. Nevertheless the absolutes of both the
spirit and the thing converge in the person of the
Universal Father.
12:8.14
On Paradise the three energies, physical, mindal, and
spiritual, are co-ordinate. In the evolutionary cosmos
energy-matter is dominant except in personality, where
spirit, through the mediation of mind, is striving for
the mastery. Spirit is the fundamental reality of the
personality experience of all creatures because God is
spirit. Spirit is unchanging, and therefore, in all
personality relations, it transcends both mind and
matter, which are experiential variables of progressive
attainment.
12:8.15
In cosmic evolution matter becomes a philosophic shadow
cast by mind in the presence of spirit luminosity of
divine enlightenment, but this does not invalidate the
reality of matter-energy. Mind, matter, and spirit are
equally real, but they are not of equal value to
personality in the attainment of divinity. Consciousness
of divinity is a progressive spiritual experience.
12:8.16
The brighter the shining of the spiritualized
personality (the Father in the universe, the fragment of
potential spirit personality in the individual
creature), the greater the shadow cast by the
intervening mind upon its material investment. In time,
man's body is just as real as mind or spirit, but in
death, both mind (identity) and spirit survive while the
body does not. A cosmic reality can be nonexistent in
personality experience. And so your Greek figure of
speech -- the material as the shadow of the more real
spirit substance -- does have a philosophic
significance.
9. PERSONAL REALITIES
12:9.1
Spirit is the basic personal reality in the universes,
and personality is basic to all progressing experience
with spiritual reality. Every phase of personality
experience on every successive level of universe
progression swarms with clues to the discovery of
alluring personal realities. Man's true destiny consists
in the creation of new and spirit goals and then in
responding to the cosmic allurements of such supernal
goals of nonmaterial value.
12:9.2
Love is the secret of beneficial association between
personalities. You cannot really know a person as the
result of a single contact. You cannot appreciatingly
know music through mathematical deduction, even though
music is a form of mathematical rhythm. The number
assigned to a telephone subscriber does not in any
manner identify the personality of that subscriber or
signify anything concerning his character.
12:9.3
Mathematics, material science, is indispensable to the
intelligent discussion of the material aspects of the
universe, but such knowledge is not necessarily a part
of the higher realization of truth or of the personal
appreciation of spiritual realities. Not only in the
realms of life but even in the world of physical energy,
the sum of two or more things is very often something
more than, or
something
different from, the predictable additive
consequences of such unions. The entire science of
mathematics, the whole domain of philosophy, the highest
physics or chemistry, could not predict or know that the
union of two gaseous hydrogen atoms with one gaseous
oxygen atom would result in a new and qualitatively
superadditive substance -- liquid water. The
understanding knowledge of this one physiochemical
phenomenon should have prevented the development of
materialistic philosophy and mechanistic cosmology.
12:9.4
Technical analysis does not reveal what a person or a
thing can do. For example: Water is used effectively to
extinguish fire. That water will put out fire is a fact
of everyday experience, but no analysis of water could
ever be made to disclose such a property. Analysis
determines that water is composed of hydrogen and
oxygen; a further study of these elements discloses that
oxygen is the real supporter of combustion and that
hydrogen will itself freely burn.
12:9.5
Your religion is becoming real because it is emerging
from the slavery of fear and the bondage of
superstition. Your philosophy struggles for emancipation
from dogma and tradition. Your science is engaged in the
agelong contest between truth and error while it fights
for deliverance from the bondage of abstraction, the
slavery of mathematics, and the relative blindness of
mechanistic materialism.
12:9.6
Mortal man has a spirit nucleus. The mind is a
personal-energy system existing around a divine spirit
nucleus and functioning in a material environment. Such
a living relationship of personal mind and spirit
constitutes the universe potential of eternal
personality. Real trouble, lasting disappointment,
serious defeat, or inescapable death can come only after
self-concepts presume fully to displace the governing
power of the central spirit nucleus, thereby disrupting
the cosmic scheme of personality identity.
12:9.7
Presented by a Perfector of Wisdom acting by authority
of the Ancients of Days.
*
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