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The 5th Epochal Revelation
-The Urantia Papers
PAPER 23
THE SOLITARY MESSENGERS
23:0.1
SOLITARY Messengers are the personal and universal corps
of the Conjoint Creator; they are the first and senior
order of the Higher Personalities of the Infinite
Spirit. They represent the initial creative action of
the Infinite Spirit in solitary function for the purpose
of bringing into existence solitary personality spirits.
Neither the Father nor the Son directly participated in
this stupendous spiritualization.
23:0.2
These spirit messengers were personalized in a single
creative episode, and their number is stationary.
Although I have one of these extraordinary beings
associated with me on this present mission, I do not
know how many such personalities exist in the universe
of universes. I only know, from time to time, how many
are of registry-record as functioning for the time being
within the jurisdiction of our superuniverse. From the
last Uversa report I observe that there were almost
7,690 trillion Solitary Messengers then operating within
the boundaries of Orvonton; and I conjecture that this
is considerably less than one seventh of their total
number.
1. NATURE AND ORIGIN OF SOLITARY MESSENGERS
23:1.1
Immediately following the creation of the Seven Spirits
of the Havona Circuits the Infinite Spirit brought into
being the vast corps of Solitary Messengers. There is no
part of the universal creation which is pre-existent to
the Solitary Messengers except Paradise and the Havona
circuits; they have functioned throughout the grand
universe from near eternity. They are fundamental to the
divine technique of the Infinite Spirit for
self-revelation to, and personal contact with, the
far-flung creations of time and space.
23:1.2
Notwithstanding that these messengers are existent from
the near times of eternity, they are all aware of a
beginning of selfhood. They are conscious of time, being
the first of the creation of the Infinite Spirit to
possess such a time consciousness. They are the
first-born creatures of the Infinite Spirit to be
personalized in time and spiritualized in space.
23:1.3
These solitary spirits came forth in the dawn of time as
full-fledged and perfectly endowed spirit beings. They
are all equal, and there are no classes or subdivisions
founded on personal variation. Their classifications are
based wholly on the type of work to which they are
assigned from time to time.
23:1.4
Mortals start out as well-nigh material beings on the
worlds of space and ascend inward towards the Great
Centers; these solitary spirits start out at the center
of all things and crave assignment to the remote
creations, even to the individual worlds of the
outermost local universes and even on beyond.
23:1.5
Though denominated Solitary Messengers, they are not
lonesome spirits, for they truly like to work alone.
They are the only beings in all creation who can and do
enjoy a solitary existence, albeit they equally enjoy
association with the very few orders of universe
intelligence with whom they can fraternize.
23:1.6
Solitary Messengers are not isolated in their service;
they are constantly in touch with the wealth of the
intellect of all creation as they are capable of
"listening in" on all the broadcasts of the realms of
their sojourn. They can also intercommunicate with
members of their own immediate corps, those beings doing
the same kind of work in the same superuniverse. They
could communicate with others of their number, but they
have been directed by the council of the Seven Master
Spirits not to do so, and they are a loyal group; they
do not disobey or default. There is no record that a
Solitary Messenger ever stumbled into darkness.
23:1.7
The Solitary Messengers, like the Universe Power
Directors, are among the very few types of beings
operating throughout the realms who are exempt from
apprehension or detention by the tribunals of time and
space. They could be cited to appear before no one
except the Seven Master Spirits, but not in all the
annals of the master universe has this Paradise council
ever been called upon to adjudicate the case of a
Solitary Messenger.
23:1.8
These messengers of solitary assignment are a
dependable, self-reliant, versatile, thoroughly
spiritual, and broadly sympathetic group of created
beings derived from the Third Source and Center; they
operate by the authority of the Infinite Spirit resident
on the central Isle of Paradise and as personalized on
the headquarters spheres of the local universes. They
are constant partakers of the direct circuit emanating
from the Infinite Spirit, even when they function in the
local creations under the immediate influence of the
local universe Mother Spirits.
23:1.9
There is a technical reason why these Solitary
Messengers must travel and work alone. For short periods
and when stationary, they can collaborate in a group,
but when thus ensembled, they are altogether cut off
from the sustenance and direction of their Paradise
circuit; they are wholly isolated. When in transit, or
when operating in the circuits of space and the currents
of time, if two or more of this order are in close
proximity, both or all are thrown out of liaison with
the higher circulating forces. They are "short
circuited" as you might describe it in illustrative
symbols. Therefore they have inherent within them a
power of automatic alarm, a warning signal, which
unerringly operates to apprise them of approaching
conflicts and unfailingly keeps them sufficiently
separated as not to interfere with their proper and
effective functioning. They also possess inherent and
automatic powers which detect and indicate the proximity
of both the Inspired Trinity Spirits and the divine
Thought Adjusters.
23:1.10
These messengers possess no power of personality
extension or reproduction, but there is practically no
work of the universes in which they cannot engage, and
to which they cannot contribute something essential and
helpful. Especially are they the great timesavers for
those who are concerned in the administration of
universe affairs; and they assist us all, from the
highest to the lowest.
2. ASSIGNMENTS OF SOLITARY MESSENGERS
23:2.1
Solitary Messengers are not permanently attached to any
individual or group of celestial personalities. They are
on duty, always by assignment, and during such service
they work under the immediate supervision of those who
direct the realms of their attachment. Among themselves
they have neither organization nor government of any
kind; they are
Solitary Messengers.
23:2.2
Solitary Messengers are assigned by the Infinite Spirit
to the following seven divisions of service:
1. Messengers of the Paradise Trinity.
2. Messengers of the Havona Circuits.
3. Messengers of the Superuniverses.
4. Messengers of the Local Universes.
5. Explorers of Undirected Assignment.
6. Ambassadors and Emissaries of Special Assignment.
7. Revelators of Truth.
23:2.3
These spirit messengers are in every sense
interchangeable from one type of service to another;
such transfers are constantly taking place. There are no
separate orders of Solitary Messengers; they are
spiritually alike and in every sense equal. While they
are generally designated by number, they are known to
the Infinite Spirit by personal names. They are known to
the rest of us by the name or number designative of
their current assignment.
23:2.4
1. Messengers of
the Paradise Trinity. I am not permitted to reveal
much of the work of the group of messengers assigned to
the Trinity. They are the trusted and secret servants of
the Deities, and when intrusted with special messages
which involve the unrevealed policies and future conduct
of the Gods, they have never been known to divulge a
secret or betray the confidence reposed in their order.
And all this is related in this connection, not to
appear boastful of their perfection, but rather to point
out that the Deities can and do create
perfect beings.
23:2.5
The confusion and turmoil of Urantia do not signify that
the Paradise Rulers lack either interest or ability to
manage affairs differently. The Creators are possessed
of full power to make Urantia a veritable paradise, but
such an Eden would not contribute to the development of
those strong, noble, and experienced characters which
the Gods are so surely forging out on your world between
the anvils of necessity and the hammers of anguish. Your
anxieties and sorrows, your trials and disappointments,
are just as much a part of the divine plan on your
sphere as are the exquisite perfection and infinite
adaptation of all things to their supreme purpose on the
worlds of the central and perfect universe.
23:2.6
2. Messengers of
the Havona Circuits. Throughout the ascendant career
you will be vaguely, but increasingly, able to detect
the presence of the Solitary Messengers, but not until
you reach Havona will you recognize them unmistakably.
The first of the messengers you will see face to face
will be those of the Havona circuits.
23:2.7
Solitary Messengers enjoy special relations with the
natives of the Havona worlds. These messengers, who are
so functionally handicapped when associating with one
another, can and do have a very close and personal
communion with the Havona natives. But it is quite
impossible to convey to human minds the supreme
satisfactions consequent upon the contact of the minds
of these divinely perfect beings with the spirits of
such near-transcendent personalities.
23:2.8
3. Messengers of
the Superuniverses. The Ancients of Days, those
personalities of Trinity origin who preside over the
destinies of the seven superuniverses, those trios of
divine power and administrative wisdom, are bountifully
supplied with Solitary Messengers. It is only through
this order of messengers that the triune rulers of one
superuniverse can directly and personally communicate
with the rulers of another. Solitary Messengers are the
only available type of spirit intelligence -- aside,
possibly, from the Inspired Trinity Spirits -- that can
be dispatched from the headquarters of one superuniverse
directly to the headquarters of another. All other
personalities must make such excursions by way of Havona
and the executive worlds of the Master Spirits.
23:2.9
There are some kinds of information which cannot be
obtained either by Gravity Messengers, reflectivity, or
broadcast. And when the Ancients of Days would certainly
know these things, they must dispatch a Solitary
Messenger to the source of knowledge. Long before the
presence of life on Urantia the messenger now associated
with me was assigned on a mission out of Uversa to the
central universe -- was absent from the roll calls of
Orvonton for almost a million years but returned in due
time with the desired information.
23:2.10
There is no limitation upon the service of Solitary
Messengers in the superuniverses; they may function as
executioners of the high tribunals or as intelligence
gatherers for the good of the realm. Of all the
supercreations they most delight to serve in Orvonton
because here the need is greatest and the opportunities
for heroic effort are greatly multiplied. In the more
needy realms we all enjoy the satisfaction of a more
replete function.
23:2.11
4. Messengers of
the Local Universes. In the services of a local
universe there is no limit upon the functioning of the
Solitary Messengers. They are the faithful revealers of
the motives and intent of the local universe Mother
Spirit, although they are under the full jurisdiction of
the reigning Master Son. And this is true of all
messengers operating in a local universe, whether they
are traveling out directly from universe headquarters,
or whether they are acting temporarily in liaison with
Constellation Fathers, System Sovereigns, or Planetary
Princes. Before the concentration of all power in the
hands of a Creator Son at the time of his elevation as
sovereign ruler of his universe, these messengers of the
local universes function under the general direction of
the Ancients of Days and are immediately responsible to
their resident representative, the Union of Days.
23:2.12
5. Explorers of
Undirected Assignment. When the reserve corps of the
Solitary Messengers is overrecruited, there issues from
one of the Seven Supreme Power Directors a call for
exploration volunteers; and there is never a lack of
volunteers, for they delight to be dispatched as free
and untrammeled explorers, to experience the thrill of
finding the organizing nucleuses of new worlds and
universes.
23:2.13
They go forth to investigate the clues furnished by the
space contemplators of the realms. Undoubtedly the
Paradise Deities know of the existence of these
undiscovered energy systems of space, but they never
divulge such information. If the Solitary Messengers did
not explore and chart these newly organizing energy
centers, such phenomena would long remain unnoticed even
by the intelligences of adjacent realms. Solitary
Messengers, as a class, are highly sensitive to gravity;
accordingly they can sometimes detect the probable
presence of very small dark planets, the very worlds
which are best adapted to life experiments.
23:2.14
These messenger-explorers of undirected assignment
patrol the master universe. They are constantly out on
exploring expeditions to the uncharted regions of all
outer space. Very much of the information which we
possess of transactions in the realms of outer space, we
owe to the explorations of the Solitary Messengers as
they often work and study with the celestial
astronomers.
23:2.15
6. Ambassadors
and Emissaries of Special Assignment. Local
universes situated within the same superuniverse
customarily exchange ambassadors selected from their
native orders of sonship. But to avoid delay, Solitary
Messengers are frequently asked to go as ambassadors
from one local creation to another, to represent and
interpret one realm to another. For example: When a
newly inhabited realm is discovered, it may prove to be
so remote in space that a long time will pass before an
enseraphimed ambassador can reach this far-distant
universe. An enseraphimed being cannot possibly exceed
the velocity of 558,840 Urantia miles in one second of
your time. Massive stars, crosscurrents, and detours, as
well as attraction tangents, will all tend to retard
such speed so that on a long journey the velocity will
average about 550,000 miles per second.
23:2.16
When it develops that it will require hundreds of years
for a native ambassador to reach a far-distant local
universe, a Solitary Messenger is often asked to proceed
there immediately to act as ambassador ad interim.
Solitary Messengers can go in very short order, not
independently of time and space as do the Gravity
Messengers, but nearly so. They also serve in other
circumstances as emissaries of special assignment.
23:2.17
7. Revelators of
Truth. The Solitary Messengers regard the assignment
to reveal truth as the highest trust of their order. And
they function ever and anon in this capacity, from the
superuniverses to the individual planets of space. They
are frequently attached to commissions which are sent to
enlarge the revelation of truth to the worlds and
systems.
3. TIME AND SPACE SERVICES OF SOLITARY MESSENGERS
23:3.1
The Solitary Messengers are the highest type of perfect
and confidential personality available in all realms for
the quick transmission of important and urgent messages
when it is inexpedient to utilize either the broadcast
service or the reflectivity mechanism. They serve in an
endless variety of assignments, helping out the
spiritual and material beings of the realms,
particularly where the element of time is involved. Of
all orders assigned to the services of the superuniverse
domains, they are the highest and most versatile
personalized beings who can come so near to defying time
and space.
23:3.2
The universe is well supplied with spirits who utilize
gravity for purposes of transit; they can go anywhere
any time -- instanter -- but they are not persons.
Certain other gravity traversers are personal beings,
such as Gravity Messengers and Transcendental Recorders,
but they are not available to the super- and the local
universe administrators. The worlds teem with angels and
men and other highly personal beings, but they are
handicapped by time and space: The limit of velocity for
most nonenseraphimed beings is 186,280 miles of your
world per second of your time; the midway creatures and
certain others can, often do, attain double velocity --
372,560 miles per second -- while the seraphim and
others can traverse space at triple velocity, about
558,840 miles per second. There are, however, no transit
or messenger personalities who function between the
instantaneous velocities of the gravity traversers and
the comparatively slow speeds of the seraphim, except
the Solitary Messengers.
23:3.3
Solitary Messengers are, therefore, generally used for
dispatch and service in those situations where
personality is essential to the achievement of the
assignment, and where it is desired to avoid the loss of
time which would be occasioned by the sending of any
other readily available type of personal messenger. They
are the only definitely personalized beings who can
synchronize with the combined universal currents of the
grand universe. Their velocity in traversing space is
variable, depending on a great variety of interfering
influences, but the record shows that on the journey to
fulfill this mission my associate messenger proceeded at
the rate of 841,621,642,000 of your miles per second of
your time.
23:3.4
It is wholly beyond my ability to explain to the
material type of mind how a spirit can be a real person
and at the same time traverse space at such tremendous
velocities. But these very Solitary Messengers actually
come to, and go from, Urantia at these incomprehensible
speeds; indeed, the whole economy of universal
administration would be largely deprived of its personal
element were this not a fact.
23:3.5
The Solitary Messengers are able to function as
emergency lines of communication throughout remote space
regions, realms not embraced within the established
circuits of the grand universe. It develops that one
messenger, when so functioning, can transmit a message
or send an impulse through space to a fellow messenger
about one hundred light-years away as Urantia
astronomers estimate stellar distances.
23:3.6
Of the myriads of beings who co-operate with us in the
conduct of the affairs of the superuniverse, none are
more important in practical helpfulness and timesaving
assistance. In the universes of space we must reckon
with the handicaps of time; hence the great service of
the Solitary Messengers, who, by means of their personal
prerogatives of communication, are somewhat independent
of space and, by virtue of their tremendous transit
velocities, are so nearly independent of time.
23:3.7
I am at a loss to explain to Urantia mortals how the
Solitary Messengers can be without form and yet possess
real and definite personalities. Although they are
without that form which would naturally be associated
with personality, they do possess a spirit presence
which is discernible by all higher types of spirit
beings. The Solitary Messengers are the only class of
beings who seem to be possessed of well-nigh all the
advantages of a formless spirit coupled with all the
prerogatives of a full-fledged personality. They are
true persons, yet endowed with nearly all of the
attributes of impersonal spirit manifestation.
23:3.8
In the seven superuniverses, ordinarily -- but not
always -- everything which tends to increase any
creature's liberation from the handicaps of time and
space proportionately diminishes personality
prerogatives. Solitary Messengers are an exception to
this general law. They are in their activities all but
unrestricted in the utilization of any and all of the
limitless avenues of spiritual expression, divine
service, personal ministry, and cosmic communication. If
you could view these extraordinary beings in the light
of my experience in universe administration, you would
comprehend how difficult it would be to co-ordinate
superuniverse affairs were it not for their versatile
co-operation.
23:3.9
No matter how much the universe may enlarge, no more
Solitary Messengers will probably ever be created. As
the universes grow, the expanded work of administration
must be increasingly borne by other types of spirit
ministers and by those beings who take origin in these
new creations, such as the creatures of the Sovereign
Sons and the local universe Mother Spirits.
4. SPECIAL MINISTRY OF SOLITARY MESSENGERS
23:4.1
The Solitary Messengers seem to be personality
co-ordinators for all types of spirit beings. Their
ministry helps to make all the personalities of the
far-flung spiritual world akin. They contribute much to
the development, in all spirit beings, of a
consciousness of group identity. Every type of spirit
being is served by special groups of Solitary Messengers
who foster the ability of such beings to understand and
fraternize with all other types and orders, however
dissimilar.
23:4.2
The Solitary Messengers demonstrate such an amazing
ability to co-ordinate all types and orders of finite
personality -- even to make contact with the absonite
regime of the master universe overcontrollers -- that
some of us postulate that the creation of these
messengers by the Infinite Spirit is in some manner
related to the Conjoint Actor's bestowal of
Supreme-Ultimate Mind.
23:4.3
When a finaliter and a Paradise Citizen co-operate in
the trinitization of a "child of time and eternity" -- a
transaction involving the unrevealed mind potentials of
the Supreme-Ultimate -- and when such an unclassified
personality is dispatched to Vicegerington, a Solitary
Messenger (a conjectured personality repercussion of the
bestowal of such deity mind) is always assigned as
guardian-companion to such a creature-trinitized son.
This messenger accompanies the new son of destiny to the
world of his assignment and nevermore leaves
Vicegerington. When thus attached to the destinies of a
child of time and eternity, a Solitary Messenger is
forever transferred to the sole supervision of the
Architects of the Master Universe. What the future of
such an extraordinary association may be, we do not
know. For ages these partnerships of unique
personalities have continued to forgather on
Vicegerington, but not even a single pair has ever gone
forth therefrom.
23:4.4
Solitary Messengers are of stationary numbers, but the
trinitization of the sons of destiny is apparently an
unlimited technique. Since each trinitized son of
destiny has assigned to him a Solitary Messenger, it
appears to us that at some time in the remote future the
supply of messengers will become exhausted. Who will
take up their work in the grand universe? Will their
service be assumed by some new development among the
Inspired Trinity Spirits? Is the grand universe at some
remote period going to be more nearly administered by
Trinity-origin beings while the single- and dual-origin
creatures move on into the realms of outer space? If the
messengers return to their former service, will these
sons of destiny accompany them? Will the trinitizations
between finaliters and Paradise-Havoners cease when the
supply of Solitary Messengers has been absorbed as
guardian-companions of these sons of destiny? Are all
our efficient Solitary Messengers going to be
concentrated on Vicegerington? Are these extraordinary
spirit personalities going to be eternally associated
with these trinitized sons of unrevealed destiny? What
significance should we attach to the fact that these
couples forgathering on Vicegerington are under the
exclusive direction of those mighty mystery beings, the
Architects of the Master Universe? These and many
similar questions we ask ourselves, and ask numerous
other orders of celestial beings, but we do not know the
answers.
23:4.5
This transaction, together with many similar occurrences
in universe administration, unmistakably indicates that
the personnel of the grand universe, even that of Havona
and Paradise, is undergoing a definite and certain
reorganization in co-ordination with, and with reference
to, the vast energy evolutions now taking place
throughout the realms of outer space.
23:4.6
We incline to the belief that the eternal future will
witness phenomena of universe evolution which will far
transcend all that the eternal past has experienced. And
we anticipate such tremendous adventures, even as you
should, with keen relish and ever-heightening
expectation.
23:4.7
Presented by a Divine Counselor from Uversa.
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