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The 5th Epochal Revelation
-The Urantia Papers
PAPER 105
DEITY AND REALITY
105:0.1
TO EVEN high orders of universe intelligences infinity
is only partially comprehensible, and the finality of
reality is only relatively understandable. The human
mind, as it seeks to penetrate the eternity-mystery of
the origin and destiny of all that is called
real, may
helpfully approach the problem by conceiving
eternity-infinity as an almost limitless ellipse which
is produced by one absolute cause, and which functions
throughout this universal circle of endless
diversification, ever seeking some absolute and infinite
potential of destiny.
105:0.2
When the mortal intellect attempts to grasp the concept
of reality totality, such a finite mind is face to face
with infinity-reality; reality totality
is infinity
and therefore can never be fully comprehended by any
mind that is subinfinite in concept capacity.
105:0.3
The human mind can hardly form an adequate concept of
eternity existences, and without such comprehension it
is impossible to portray even our concepts of reality
totality. Nevertheless, we may attempt such a
presentation, although we are fully aware that our
concepts must be subjected to profound distortion in the
process of translation-modification to the comprehension
level of mortal mind.
1. THE PHILOSOPHIC CONCEPT OF THE I AM
105:1.1
Absolute primal causation in infinity the philosophers
of the universes attribute to the Universal Father
functioning as the infinite, the eternal, and the
absolute I AM.
105:1.2
There are many elements of danger attendant upon the
presentation to the mortal intellect of this idea of an
infinite I AM since this concept is so remote from human
experiential understanding as to involve serious
distortion of meanings and misconception of values.
Nevertheless, the philosophic concept of the I AM does
afford finite beings some basis for an attempted
approach to the partial comprehension of absolute
origins and infinite destinies. But in all our attempts
to elucidate the genesis and fruition of reality, let it
be made clear that this concept of the I AM is, in all
personality meanings and values, synonymous with the
First Person of Deity, the Universal Father of all
personalities. But this postulate of the I AM is not so
clearly identifiable in undeified realms of universal
reality.
105:1.3
The I AM is the
Infinite; the I AM is also infinity. From the
sequential, time viewpoint, all reality has its origin
in the infinite I AM, whose solitary existence in past
infinite eternity must be a finite creature's premier
philosophic postulate. The concept of the I AM connotes
unqualified
infinity, the undifferentiated reality of all that
could ever be in all of an infinite eternity.
105:1.4
As an existential concept the I AM is neither deified
nor undeified, neither actual nor potential, neither
personal nor impersonal, neither static nor dynamic. No
qualification can be applied to the Infinite except to
state that the I AM
is. The
philosophic postulate of the I AM is one universe
concept which is somewhat more difficult of
comprehension than that of the Unqualified Absolute.
105:1.5
To the finite mind there simply must be a beginning, and
though there never was a real beginning to reality,
still there are certain source relationships which
reality manifests to infinity. The prereality,
primordial, eternity situation may be thought of
something like this: At some infinitely distant,
hypothetical, past-eternity moment, the I AM may be
conceived as both thing and no thing, as both cause and
effect, as both volition and response. At this
hypothetical eternity moment there is no differentiation
throughout all infinity. Infinity is filled by the
Infinite; the Infinite encompasses infinity. This is the
hypothetical static moment of eternity; actuals are
still contained within their potentials, and potentials
have not yet appeared within the infinity of the I AM.
But even in this conjectured situation we must assume
the existence of the possibility of self-will.
105:1.6
Ever remember that man's comprehension of the Universal
Father is a personal experience. God, as your spiritual
Father, is comprehensible to you and to all other
mortals; but your
experiential worshipful concept of the Universal Father
must always be less than your philosophic postulate of
the infinity of the First Source and Center, the I AM.
When we speak of the Father, we mean God as he is
understandable by his creatures both high and low, but
there is much more of Deity which is not comprehensible
to universe creatures. God, your Father and my Father,
is that phase of the Infinite which we perceive in our
personalities as an actual experiential reality, but the
I AM ever remains as our hypothesis of all that we feel
is unknowable of the First Source and Center. And even
that hypothesis probably falls far short of the
unfathomed infinity of original reality.
105:1.7
The universe of universes, with its innumerable host of
inhabiting personalities, is a vast and complex
organism, but the First Source and Center is infinitely
more complex than the universes and personalities which
have become real in response to his willful mandates.
When you stand in awe of the magnitude of the master
universe, pause to consider that even this inconceivable
creation can be no more than a partial revelation of the
Infinite.
105:1.8
Infinity is indeed remote from the experience level of
mortal comprehension, but even in this age on Urantia
your concepts of infinity are growing, and they will
continue to grow throughout your endless careers
stretching onward into future eternity. Unqualified
infinity is meaningless to the finite creature, but
infinity is capable of self-limitation and is
susceptible of reality expression to all levels of
universe existences. And the face which the Infinite
turns toward all universe personalities is the face of a
Father, the Universal Father of love.
2. THE I AM AS TRIUNE AND AS SEVENFOLD
105:2.1
In considering the genesis of reality, ever bear in mind
that all absolute reality is from eternity and is
without beginning of existence. By absolute reality we
refer to the three existential persons of Deity, the
Isle of Paradise, and the three Absolutes. These seven
realities are co-ordinately eternal, notwithstanding
that we resort to time-space language in presenting
their sequential origins to human beings.
105:2.2
In following the chronological portrayal of the origins
of reality, there must be a postulated theoretical
moment of "first" volitional expression and "first"
repercussional reaction within the I AM. In our attempts
to portray the genesis and generation of reality, this
stage may be conceived as the self-differentiation of
The Infinite One
from The
Infinitude, but the postulation of this dual
relationship must always be expanded to a triune
conception by the recognition of the eternal continuum
of The Infinity,
the I AM.
105:2.3
This self-metamorphosis of the I AM culminates in the
multiple differentiation of deified reality and of
undeified reality, of potential and actual reality, and
of certain other realities that can hardly be so
classified. These differentiations of the theoretical
monistic I AM are eternally integrated by simultaneous
relationships arising within the same I AM -- the
prepotential, preactual, prepersonal, monothetic
prereality which, though infinite, is revealed as
absolute in the presence of the First Source and Center
and as personality in the limitless love of the
Universal Father.
105:2.4
By these internal metamorphoses the I AM is establishing
the basis for a sevenfold self-relationship. The
philosophic (time) concept of the solitary I AM and the
transitional (time) concept of the I AM as triune can
now be enlarged to encompass the I AM as sevenfold. This
sevenfold -- or seven phase -- nature may be best
suggested in relation to the Seven Absolutes of
Infinity:
105:2.5
1. The Universal
Father. I AM father of the Eternal Son. This is the
primal personality relationship of actualities. The
absolute personality of the Son makes absolute the fact
of God's fatherhood and establishes the potential
sonship of all personalities. This relationship
establishes the personality of the Infinite and
consummates its spiritual revelation in the personality
of the Original Son. This phase of the I AM is partially
experiencible on spiritual levels even by mortals who,
while yet in the flesh, may worship our Father.
105:2.6
2. The Universal
Controller. I AM cause of eternal Paradise. This is
the primal impersonal relationship of actualities, the
original nonspiritual association. The Universal Father
is God-as-love; the Universal Controller is
God-as-pattern. This relationship establishes the
potential of form -- configuration -- and determines the
master pattern of impersonal and nonspiritual
relationship -- the master pattern from which all copies
are made.
105:2.7
3. The Universal
Creator. I AM one with the Eternal Son. This union
of the Father and the Son (in the presence of Paradise)
initiates the creative cycle, which is consummated in
the appearance of conjoint personality and the eternal
universe. From the finite mortal's viewpoint, reality
has its true beginnings with the eternity appearance of
the Havona creation. This creative act of Deity is by
and through the God of Action, who is in essence the
unity of the Father-Son manifested on and to all levels
of the actual. Therefore is divine creativity
unfailingly characterized by unity, and this unity is
the outward reflection of the absolute oneness of the
duality of the Father-Son and of the Trinity of the
Father-Son-Spirit.
105:2.8
4. The Infinite
Upholder. I AM self-associative. This is the
primordial association of the statics and potentials of
reality. In this relationship, all qualifieds and
unqualifieds are compensated. This phase of the I AM is
best understood as the Universal Absolute -- the unifier
of the Deity and the Unqualified Absolutes.
105:2.9
5. The Infinite
Potential. I AM self-qualified. This is the infinity
bench mark bearing eternal witness to the volitional
self-limitation of the I AM by virtue of which there was
achieved threefold self-expression and self-revelation.
This phase of the I AM is usually understood as the
Deity Absolute.
105:2.10
6. The Infinite
Capacity. I AM static-reactive. This is the endless
matrix, the possibility for all future cosmic expansion.
This phase of the I AM is perhaps best conceived as the
supergravity presence of the Unqualified Absolute.
105:2.11
7. The Universal
One of Infinity. I AM as I AM. This is the stasis or
self-relationship of Infinity, the eternal fact of
infinity-reality and the universal truth of
reality-infinity. In so far as this relationship is
discernible as personality, it is revealed to the
universes in the divine Father of all personality --
even of absolute personality. In so far as this
relationship is impersonally expressible, it is
contacted by the universe as the absolute coherence of
pure energy and of pure spirit in the presence of the
Universal Father. In so far as this relationship is
conceivable as an absolute, it is revealed in the
primacy of the First Source and Center; in him we all
live and move and have our being, from the creatures of
space to the citizens of Paradise; and this is just as
true of the master universe as of the infinitesimal
ultimaton, just as true of what is to be as of that
which is and of what has been.
3. THE SEVEN ABSOLUTES OF INFINITY
105:3.1
The seven prime relationships within the I AM eternalize
as the Seven Absolutes of Infinity. But though we may
portray reality origins and infinity differentiation by
a sequential narrative, in fact all seven Absolutes are
unqualifiedly and co-ordinately eternal. It may be
necessary for mortal minds to conceive of their
beginnings, but always should this conception be
overshadowed by the realization that the seven Absolutes
had no beginning; they are eternal and as such have
always been. The seven Absolutes are the premise of
reality. They have been described in these papers as
follows:
105:3.2
1. The First
Source and Center. First Person of Deity and primal
nondeity pattern, God, the Universal Father, creator,
controller, and upholder; universal love, eternal
spirit, and infinite energy; potential of all potentials
and source of all actuals; stability of all statics and
dynamism of all change; source of pattern and Father of
persons. Collectively, all seven Absolutes equivalate to
infinity, but the Universal Father himself actually is
infinite.
105:3.3
2. The Second
Source and Center. Second Person of Deity, the
Eternal and Original Son; the absolute personality
realities of the I AM and the basis for the
realization-revelation of "I AM personality." No
personality can hope to attain the Universal Father
except through his Eternal Son; neither can personality
attain to spirit levels of existence apart from the
action and aid of this absolute pattern for all
personalities. In the Second Source and Center spirit is
unqualified while personality is absolute.
105:3.4
3. The Paradise
Source and Center. Second nondeity pattern, the
eternal Isle of Paradise; the basis for the
realization-revelation of "I AM force" and the
foundation for the establishment of gravity control
throughout the universes. Regarding all actualized,
nonspiritual, impersonal, and nonvolitional reality,
Paradise is the absolute of patterns. Just as spirit
energy is related to the Universal Father through the
absolute personality of the Mother-Son, so is all cosmic
energy grasped in the gravity control of the First
Source and Center through the absolute pattern of the
Paradise Isle. Paradise is not in space; space exists
relative to Paradise, and the chronicity of motion is
determined through Paradise relationship. The eternal
Isle is absolutely at rest; all other organized and
organizing energy is in eternal motion; in all space,
only the presence of the Unqualified Absolute is
quiescent, and the Unqualified is co-ordinate with
Paradise. Paradise exists at the focus of space, the
Unqualified pervades it, and all relative existence has
its being within this domain.
105:3.5
4. The Third
Source and Center. Third Person of Deity, the
Conjoint Actor; infinite integrator of Paradise cosmic
energies with the spirit energies of the Eternal Son;
perfect co-ordinator of the motives of will and the
mechanics of force; unifier of all actual and
actualizing reality. Through the ministrations of his
manifold children the Infinite Spirit reveals the mercy
of the Eternal Son while at the same time functioning as
the infinite manipulator, forever weaving the pattern of
Paradise into the energies of space. This selfsame
Conjoint Actor, this God of Action, is the perfect
expression of the limitless plans and purposes of the
Father-Son while functioning himself as the source of
mind and the bestower of intellect upon the creatures of
a far-flung cosmos.
105:3.6
5. The Deity
Absolute. The causational, potentially personal
possibilities of universal reality, the totality of all
Deity potential. The Deity Absolute is the purposive
qualifier of the unqualified, absolute, and nondeity
realities. The Deity Absolute is the qualifier of the
absolute and the absolutizer of the qualified -- the
destiny inceptor.
105:3.7
6. The
Unqualified Absolute. Static, reactive, and abeyant;
the unrevealed cosmic infinity of the I AM; totality of
nondeified reality and finality of all nonpersonal
potential. Space limits the function of the Unqualified,
but the presence of the Unqualified is without limit,
infinite. There is a concept periphery to the master
universe, but the presence of the Unqualified is
limitless; even eternity cannot exhaust the boundless
quiescence of this nondeity Absolute.
105:3.8
7. The Universal
Absolute. Unifier of the deified and the undeified;
co-relater of the absolute and the relative. The
Universal Absolute (being static, potential, and
associative) compensates the tension between the
ever-existent and the uncompleted.
105:3.9
The Seven Absolutes of Infinity constitute the
beginnings of reality. As mortal minds would regard it,
the First Source and Center would appear to be
antecedent to all absolutes. But such a postulate,
however helpful, is invalidated by the eternity
co-existence of the Son, the Spirit, the three
Absolutes, and the Paradise Isle.
105:3.10
It is a truth
that the Absolutes are manifestations of the I AM-First
Source and Center; it is a
fact that
these Absolutes never had a beginning but are
co-ordinate eternals with the First Source and Center.
The relationships of absolutes in eternity cannot always
be presented without involving paradoxes in the language
of time and in the concept patterns of space. But
regardless of any confusion concerning the origin of the
Seven Absolutes of Infinity, it is both fact and truth
that all reality is predicated upon their eternity
existence and infinity relationships.
4. UNITY, DUALITY, AND TRIUNITY
105:4.1
The universe philosophers postulate the eternity
existence of the I AM as the primal source of all
reality. And concomitant therewith they postulate the
self-segmentation of the I AM into the primary
self-relationships -- the seven phases of infinity. And
simultaneous with this assumption is the third postulate
-- the eternity appearance of the Seven Absolutes of
Infinity and the eternalization of the duality
association of the seven phases of the I AM and these
seven Absolutes.
105:4.2
The self-revelation of the I AM thus proceeds from
static self through self-segmentation and
self-relationship to absolute relationships,
relationships with self-derived Absolutes. Duality
becomes thus existent in the eternal association of the
Seven Absolutes of Infinity with the sevenfold infinity
of the self-segmented phases of the self-revealing I AM.
These dual relationships, eternalizing to the universes
as the seven Absolutes, eternalize the basic foundations
for all universe reality.
105:4.3
It has been sometime stated that unity begets duality,
that duality begets triunity, and that triunity is the
eternal ancestor of all things. There are, indeed, three
great classes of primordial relationships, and they are:
105:4.4
1. Unity
relationships. Relations existent within the I AM as
the unity thereof is conceived as a threefold and then
as a sevenfold self-differentiation.
105:4.5
2. Duality
relationships. Relations existent between the I AM
as sevenfold and the Seven Absolutes of Infinity.
105:4.6
3. Triunity
relationships. These are the functional associations
of the Seven Absolutes of Infinity.
105:4.7
Triunity relationships arise upon duality foundations
because of the inevitability of Absolute
interassociation. Such triunity associations eternalize
the potential of all reality; they encompass both
deified and undeified reality.
105:4.8
The I AM is unqualified infinity as
unity. The
dualities eternalize reality
foundations.
The triunities eventuate the realization of infinity as
universal
function.
105:4.9
Pre-existentials become existential in the seven
Absolutes, and existentials become functional in the
triunities, the basic association of Absolutes. And
concomitant with the eternalization of the triunities
the universe stage is set -- the potentials are existent
and the actuals are present -- and the fullness of
eternity witnesses the diversification of cosmic energy,
the outspreading of Paradise spirit, and the endowment
of mind together with the bestowal of personality, by
virtue of which all of these Deity and Paradise
derivatives are unified in experience on the creature
level and by other techniques on the supercreature
level.
5. PROMULGATION OF FINITE REALITY
105:5.1
Just as the original diversification of the I AM must be
attributed to inherent and self-contained volition, so
must the promulgation of finite reality be ascribed to
the volitional acts of Paradise Deity and to the
repercussional adjustments of the functional triunities.
105:5.2
Prior to the deitization of the finite, it would appear
that all reality diversification took place on absolute
levels; but the volitional act promulgating finite
reality connotes a qualification of absoluteness and
implies the appearance of relativities.
105:5.3
While we present this narrative as a sequence and
portray the historic appearance of the finite as a
direct derivative of the absolute, it should be borne in
mind that transcendentals both preceded and succeeded
all that is finite. Transcendental ultimates are, in
relation to the finite, both causal and consummational.
105:5.4
Finite possibility is inherent in the Infinite, but the
transmutation of possibility to probability and
inevitability must be attributed to the self-existent
free will of the First Source and Center, activating all
triunity associations. Only the infinity of the Father's
will could ever have so qualified the absolute level of
existence as to eventuate an ultimate or to create a
finite.
105:5.5
With the appearance of relative and qualified reality
there comes into being a new cycle of reality -- the
growth cycle -- a majestic downsweep from the heights of
infinity to the domain of the finite, forever swinging
inward to Paradise and Deity, always seeking those high
destinies commensurate with an infinity source.
105:5.6
These inconceivable transactions mark the beginning of
universe history, mark the coming into existence of time
itself. To a creature, the beginning of the finite
is the
genesis of reality; as viewed by creature mind, there is
no actuality conceivable prior to the finite. This newly
appearing finite reality exists in two original phases:
1. Primary
maximums, the supremely perfect reality, the Havona
type of universe and creature.
2. Secondary
maximums, the supremely perfected reality, the
superuniverse type of creature and creation.
105:5.7
These, then, are the two original manifestations: the
constitutively perfect and the evolutionally perfected.
The two are co-ordinate in eternity relationships, but
within the limits of time they are seemingly different.
A time factor means growth to that which grows;
secondary finites grow; hence those that are growing
must appear as incomplete in time. But these
differences, which are so important this side of
Paradise, are nonexistent in eternity.
105:5.8
We speak of the perfect and the perfected as primary and
secondary maximums, but there is still another type:
Trinitizing and other relationships between the
primaries and the secondaries result in the appearance
of tertiary
maximums -- things, meanings, and values that are
neither perfect nor perfected yet are co-ordinate with
both ancestral factors.
6. REPERCUSSIONS OF FINITE REALITY
105:6.1
The entire promulgation of finite existences represents
a transference from potentials to actuals within the
absolute associations of functional infinity. Of the
many repercussions to creative actualization of the
finite, there may be cited:
105:6.2
1. The deity
response, the appearance of the three levels of
experiential supremacy: the actuality of personal-spirit
supremacy in Havona, the potential for personal-power
supremacy in the grand universe to be, and the capacity
for some unknown function of experiential mind acting on
some level of supremacy in the future master universe.
105:6.3
2. The universe
response involved an activation of the architectural
plans for the superuniverse space level, and this
evolution is still progressing throughout the physical
organization of the seven superuniverses.
105:6.4
3. The creature
repercussion to finite-reality promulgation resulted
in the appearance of perfect beings on the order of the
eternal inhabitants of Havona and of perfected
evolutionary ascenders from the seven superuniverses.
But to attain perfection as an evolutionary
(time-creative) experience implies something
other-than-perfection as a point of departure. Thus
arises imperfection in the evolutionary creations. And
this is the origin of potential evil. Misadaptation,
disharmony, and conflict, all these things are inherent
in evolutionary growth, from physical universes to
personal creatures.
105:6.5
4. The divinity
response to the imperfection inherent in the time
lag of evolution is disclosed in the compensating
presence of God the Sevenfold, by whose activities that
which is perfecting is integrated with both the perfect
and the perfected. This time lag is inseparable from
evolution, which is creativity in time. Because of it,
as well as for other reasons, the almighty power of the
Supreme is predicated on the divinity successes of God
the Sevenfold. This time lag makes possible creature
participation in divine creation by permitting creature
personalities to become partners with Deity in the
attainment of maximum development. Even the material
mind of the mortal creature thus becomes partner with
the divine Adjuster in the dualization of the immortal
soul. God the Sevenfold also provides techniques of
compensation for the experiential limitations of
inherent perfection as well as compensating the
preascension limitations of imperfection.
7. EVENTUATION OF TRANSCENDENTALS
105:7.1
Transcendentals are subinfinite and subabsolute but
superfinite and supercreatural. Transcendentals
eventuate as an integrating level correlating the
supervalues of absolutes with the maximum values of
finites. From the creature standpoint, that which is
transcendental would appear to have eventuated as a
consequence of the finite; from the eternity viewpoint,
in anticipation of the finite; and there are those who
have considered it as a "pre-echo" of the finite.
105:7.2
That which is transcendental is not necessarily
nondevelopmental, but it is superevolutional in the
finite sense; neither is it nonexperiential, but it is
superexperience as such is meaningful to creatures.
Perhaps the best illustration of such a paradox is the
central universe of perfection: It is hardly absolute --
only the Paradise Isle is truly absolute in the
"materialized" sense. Neither is it a finite
evolutionary creation as are the seven superuniverses.
Havona is eternal but not changeless in the sense of
being a universe of nongrowth. It is inhabited by
creatures (Havona natives) who never were actually
created, for they are eternally existent. Havona thus
illustrates something which is not exactly finite nor
yet absolute. Havona further acts as a buffer between
absolute Paradise and finite creations, still further
illustrating the function of transcendentals. But Havona
itself is not a transcendental -- it is Havona.
105:7.3
As the Supreme is associated with finites, so the
Ultimate is identified with transcendentals. But though
we thus compare Supreme and Ultimate, they differ by
something more than degree; the difference is also a
matter of quality. The Ultimate is something more than a
super-Supreme projected on the transcendental level. The
Ultimate is all of that, but more: The Ultimate is an
eventuation of new Deity realities, the qualification of
new phases of the theretofore unqualified.
105:7.4
Among those realities which are associated with the
transcendental level are the following:
1. The Deity presence of the Ultimate.
2. The concept of the master universe.
3. The Architects of the Master Universe.
4. The two orders of Paradise force organizers.
5. Certain modifications in space potency.
6. Certain values of spirit.
7. Certain meanings of mind.
8. Absonite qualities and realities.
9. Omnipotence, omniscience, and omnipresence.
10. Space.
105:7.5
The universe in which we now live may be thought of as
existing on finite, transcendental, and absolute levels.
This is the cosmic stage on which is enacted the endless
drama of personality performance and energy
metamorphosis.
105:7.6
And all of these manifold realities are unified
absolutely by
the several triunities,
functionally
by the Architects of the Master Universe, and
relatively by
the Seven Master Spirits, the subsupreme co-ordinators
of the divinity of God the Sevenfold.
105:7.7
God the Sevenfold represents the personality and
divinity revelation of the Universal Father to creatures
of both maximum and submaximum status, but there are
other sevenfold relationships of the First Source and
Center which do not pertain to the manifestation of the
divine spiritual ministry of the God who is spirit.
105:7.8
In the eternity of the past the forces of the Absolutes,
the spirits of the Deities, and the personalities of the
Gods stirred in response to the primordial self-will of
self-existent self-will. In this universe age we are all
witnessing the stupendous repercussions of the far-flung
cosmic panorama of the subabsolute manifestations of the
limitless potentials of all these realities. And it is
altogether possible that the continued diversification
of the original reality of the First Source and Center
may proceed onward and outward throughout age upon age,
on and on, into the faraway and inconceivable stretches
of absolute infinity.
105:7.9
Presented by a Melchizedek of Nebadon.
*
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