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The 5th Epochal Revelation
-The Urantia Papers
PAPER 73
THE GARDEN OF EDEN
73:0.1
THE cultural decadence and spiritual poverty resulting
from the Caligastia downfall and consequent social
confusion had little effect on the physical or biologic
status of the Urantia peoples. Organic evolution
proceeded apace, quite regardless of the cultural and
moral setback which so swiftly followed the disaffection
of Caligastia and Daligastia. And there came a time in
the planetary history, almost forty thousand years ago,
when the Life Carriers on duty took note that, from a
purely biologic standpoint, the developmental progress
of the Urantia races was nearing its apex. The
Melchizedek receivers, concurring in this opinion,
readily agreed to join the Life Carriers in a petition
to the Most Highs of Edentia asking that Urantia be
inspected with a view to authorizing the dispatch of
biologic uplifters, a Material Son and Daughter.
73:0.2
This request was addressed to the Most Highs of Edentia
because they had exercised direct jurisdiction over many
of Urantia's affairs ever since Caligastia's downfall
and the temporary vacation of authority on Jerusem.
73:0.3
Tabamantia, sovereign supervisor of the series of
decimal or experimental worlds, came to inspect the
planet and, after his survey of racial progress, duly
recommended that Urantia be granted Material Sons. In a
little less than one hundred years from the time of this
inspection, Adam and Eve, a Material Son and Daughter of
the local system, arrived and began the difficult task
of attempting to untangle the confused affairs of a
planet retarded by rebellion and resting under the ban
of spiritual isolation.
1. THE NODITES AND THE AMADONITES
73:1.1
On a normal planet the arrival of the Material Son would
ordinarily herald the approach of a great age of
invention, material progress, and intellectual
enlightenment. The post-Adamic era is the great
scientific age of most worlds, but not so on Urantia.
Though the planet was peopled by races physically fit,
the tribes languished in the depths of savagery and
moral stagnation.
73:1.2
Ten thousand years after the rebellion practically all
the gains of the Prince's administration had been
effaced; the races of the world were little better off
than if this misguided Son had never come to Urantia.
Only among the Nodites and the Amadonites was there
persistence of the traditions of Dalamatia and the
culture of the Planetary Prince.
73:1.3
The Nodites
were the descendants of the rebel members of the
Prince's staff, their name deriving from their first
leader, Nod, onetime chairman of the Dalamatia
commission on industry and trade. The
Amadonites
were the descendants of those Andonites who chose to
remain loyal with Van and Amadon. "Amadonite" is more of
a cultural and religious designation than a racial term;
racially considered the Amadonites were essentially
Andonites.
"Nodite" is both a cultural and racial term, for the
Nodites themselves constituted the eighth race of
Urantia.
73:1.4
There existed a traditional enmity between the Nodites
and the Amadonites. This feud was constantly coming to
the surface whenever the offspring of these two groups
would try to engage in some common enterprise. Even
later, in the affairs of Eden, it was exceedingly
difficult for them to work together in peace.
73:1.5
Shortly after the destruction of Dalamatia the followers
of Nod became divided into three major groups. The
central group remained in the immediate vicinity of
their original home near the headwaters of the Persian
Gulf. The eastern group migrated to the highland regions
of Elam just east of the Euphrates valley. The western
group was situated on the northeastern Syrian shores of
the Mediterranean and in adjacent territory.
73:1.6
These Nodites had freely mated with the Sangik races and
had left behind an able progeny. And some of the
descendants of the rebellious Dalamatians subsequently
joined Van and his loyal followers in the lands north of
Mesopotamia. Here, in the vicinity of Lake Van and the
southern Caspian Sea region, the Nodites mingled and
mixed with the Amadonites, and they were numbered among
the "mighty men of old."
73:1.7
Prior to the arrival of Adam and Eve these groups --
Nodites and Amadonites -- were the most advanced and
cultured races on earth.
2. PLANNING FOR THE GARDEN
73:2.1
For almost one hundred years prior to Tabamantia's
inspection, Van and his associates, from their highland
headquarters of world ethics and culture, had been
preaching the advent of a promised Son of God, a racial
uplifter, a teacher of truth, and the worthy successor
of the traitorous Caligastia. Though the majority of the
world's inhabitants of those days exhibited little or no
interest in such a prediction, those who were in
immediate contact with Van and Amadon took such teaching
seriously and began to plan for the actual reception of
the promised Son.
73:2.2
Van told his nearest associates the story of the
Material Sons on Jerusem; what he had known of them
before ever he came to Urantia. He well knew that these
Adamic Sons always lived in simple but charming garden
homes and proposed, eighty-three years before the
arrival of Adam and Eve, that they devote themselves to
the proclamation of their advent and to the preparation
of a garden home for their reception.
73:2.3
From their highland headquarters and from sixty-one
far-scattered settlements, Van and Amadon recruited a
corps of over three thousand willing and enthusiastic
workers who, in solemn assembly, dedicated themselves to
this mission of preparing for the promised -- at least
expected -- Son.
73:2.4
Van divided his volunteers into one hundred companies
with a captain over each and an associate who served on
his personal staff as a liaison officer, keeping Amadon
as his own associate. These commissions all began in
earnest their preliminary work, and the committee on
location for the Garden sallied forth in search of the
ideal spot.
73:2.5
Although Caligastia and Daligastia had been deprived of
much of their power for evil, they did everything
possible to frustrate and hamper the work of preparing
the Garden. But their evil machinations were largely
offset by the faithful activities of the almost ten
thousand loyal midway creatures who so tirelessly
labored to advance the enterprise.
3. THE GARDEN SITE
73:3.1
The committee on location was absent for almost three
years. It reported favorably concerning three possible
locations: The first was an island in the Persian Gulf;
the second, the river location subsequently occupied as
the second garden; the third, a long narrow peninsula --
almost an island -- projecting westward from the eastern
shores of the Mediterranean Sea.
73:3.2
The committee almost unanimously favored the third
selection. This site was chosen, and two years were
occupied in transferring the world's cultural
headquarters, including the tree of life, to this
Mediterranean peninsula. All but a single group of the
peninsula dwellers peaceably vacated when Van and his
company arrived.
73:3.3
This Mediterranean peninsula had a salubrious climate
and an equable temperature; this stabilized weather was
due to the encircling mountains and to the fact that
this area was virtually an island in an inland sea.
While it rained copiously on the surrounding highlands,
it seldom rained in Eden proper. But each night, from
the extensive network of artificial irrigation channels,
a "mist would go up" to refresh the vegetation of the
Garden.
73:3.4
The coast line of this land mass was considerably
elevated, and the neck connecting with the mainland was
only twenty-seven miles wide at the narrowest point. The
great river that watered the Garden came down from the
higher lands of the peninsula and flowed east through
the peninsular neck to the mainland and thence across
the lowlands of Mesopotamia to the sea beyond. It was
fed by four tributaries which took origin in the coastal
hills of the Edenic peninsula, and these are the "four
heads" of the river which "went out of Eden," and which
later became confused with the branches of the rivers
surrounding the second garden.
73:3.5
The mountains surrounding the Garden abounded in
precious stones and metals, though these received very
little attention. The dominant idea was to be the
glorification of horticulture and the exaltation of
agriculture.
73:3.6
The site chosen for the Garden was probably the most
beautiful spot of its kind in all the world, and the
climate was then ideal. Nowhere else was there a
location which could have lent itself so perfectly to
becoming such a paradise of botanic expression. In this
rendezvous the cream of the civilization of Urantia was
forgathering. Without and beyond, the world lay in
darkness, ignorance, and savagery. Eden was the one
bright spot on Urantia; it was naturally a dream of
loveliness, and it soon became a poem of exquisite and
perfected landscape glory.
4. ESTABLISHING THE GARDEN
73:4.1
When Material Sons, the biologic uplifters, begin their
sojourn on an evolutionary world, their place of abode
is often called the Garden of Eden because it is
characterized by the floral beauty and the botanic
grandeur of Edentia, the constellation capital. Van well
knew of these customs and accordingly provided that the
entire peninsula be given over to the Garden. Pasturage
and animal husbandry were projected for the adjoining
mainland. Of animal life, only the birds and the various
domesticated species were to be found in the park. Van's
instructions were that Eden was to be a garden, and only
a garden. No animals were ever slaughtered within its
precincts. All flesh eaten by the Garden workers
throughout all the years of construction was brought in
from the herds maintained under guard on the mainland.
73:4.2
The first task was the building of the brick wall across
the neck of the peninsula. This once completed, the real
work of landscape beautification and home building could
proceed unhindered.
73:4.3
A zoological garden was created by building a smaller
wall just outside the main wall; the intervening space,
occupied by all manner of wild beasts, served as an
additional defense against hostile attacks. This
menagerie was organized in twelve grand divisions, and
walled paths led between these groups to the twelve
gates of the Garden, the river and its adjacent pastures
occupying the central area.
73:4.4
In the preparation of the Garden only volunteer laborers
were employed; no hirelings were ever used. They
cultivated the Garden and tended their herds for
support; contributions of food were also received from
near-by believers. And this great enterprise was carried
through to completion in spite of the difficulties
attendant upon the confused status of the world during
these troublous times.
73:4.5
But it was a cause for great disappointment when Van,
not knowing how soon the expected Son and Daughter might
come, suggested that the younger generation also be
trained in the work of carrying on the enterprise in
case their arrival should be delayed. This seemed like
an admission of lack of faith on Van's part and made
considerable trouble, caused many desertions; but Van
went forward with his plan of preparedness, meantime
filling the places of the deserters with younger
volunteers.
5. THE GARDEN HOME
73:5.1
At the center of the Edenic peninsula was the exquisite
stone temple of the Universal Father, the sacred shrine
of the Garden. To the north the administrative
headquarters was established; to the south were built
the homes for the workers and their families; to the
west was provided the allotment of ground for the
proposed schools of the educational system of the
expected Son, while in the "east of Eden" were built the
domiciles intended for the promised Son and his
immediate offspring. The architectural plans for Eden
provided homes and abundant land for one million human
beings.
73:5.2
At the time of Adam's arrival, though the Garden was
only one-fourth finished, it had thousands of miles of
irrigation ditches and more than twelve thousand miles
of paved paths and roads. There were a trifle over five
thousand brick buildings in the various sectors, and the
trees and plants were almost beyond number. Seven was
the largest number of houses composing any one cluster
in the park. And though the structures of the Garden
were simple, they were most artistic. The roads and
paths were well built, and the landscaping was
exquisite.
73:5.3
The sanitary arrangements of the Garden were far in
advance of anything that had been attempted theretofore
on Urantia. The drinking water of Eden was kept
wholesome by the strict observance of the sanitary
regulations designed to conserve its purity. During
these early times much trouble came about from neglect
of these rules, but Van gradually impressed upon his
associates the importance of allowing nothing to fall
into the water supply of the Garden.
73:5.4
Before the later establishment of a sewage-disposal
system the Edenites practiced the scrupulous burial of
all waste or decomposing material. Amadon's inspectors
made their rounds each day in search for possible causes
of sickness. Urantians did not again awaken to the
importance of the prevention of human diseases until the
later times of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
Before the disruption of the Adamic regime a covered
brick-conduit disposal system had been constructed which
ran beneath the walls and emptied into the river of Eden
almost a mile beyond the outer or lesser wall of the
Garden.
73:5.5
By the time of Adam's arrival most of the plants of that
section of the world were growing in Eden. Already had
many of the fruits, cereals, and nuts been greatly
improved. Many modern vegetables and cereals were first
cultivated here, but scores of varieties of food plants
were subsequently lost to the world.
73:5.6
About five per cent of the Garden was under high
artificial cultivation, fifteen per cent partially
cultivated, the remainder being left in a more or less
natural state pending the arrival of Adam, it being
thought best to finish the park in accordance with his
ideas.
73:5.7
And so was the Garden of Eden made ready for the
reception of the promised Adam and his consort. And this
Garden would have done honor to a world under perfected
administration and normal control. Adam and Eve were
well pleased with the general plan of Eden, though they
made many changes in the furnishings of their own
personal dwelling.
73:5.8
Although the work of embellishment was hardly finished
at the time of Adam's arrival, the place was already a
gem of botanic beauty; and during the early days of his
sojourn in Eden the whole Garden took on new form and
assumed new proportions of beauty and grandeur. Never
before this time nor after has Urantia harbored such a
beautiful and replete exhibition of horticulture and
agriculture.
6. THE TREE OF LIFE
73:6.1
In the center of the Garden temple Van planted the
long-guarded tree of life, whose leaves were for the
"healing of the nations," and whose fruit had so long
sustained him on earth. Van well knew that Adam and Eve
would also be dependent on this gift of Edentia for
their life maintenance after they once appeared on
Urantia in material form.
73:6.2
The Material Sons on the system capitals do not require
the tree of life for sustenance. Only in the planetary
repersonalization are they dependent on this adjunct to
physical immortality.
73:6.3
The "tree of the knowledge of good and evil" may be a
figure of speech, a symbolic designation covering a
multitude of human experiences, but the "tree of life"
was not a myth; it was real and for a long time was
present on Urantia. When the Most Highs of Edentia
approved the commission of Caligastia as Planetary
Prince of Urantia and those of the one hundred Jerusem
citizens as his administrative staff, they sent to the
planet, by the Melchizedeks, a shrub of Edentia, and
this plant grew to be the tree of life on Urantia. This
form of nonintelligent life is native to the
constellation headquarters spheres, being also found on
the headquarters worlds of the local and superuniverses
as well as on the Havona spheres, but not on the system
capitals.
73:6.4
This superplant stored up certain space-energies which
were antidotal to the age-producing elements of animal
existence. The fruit of the tree of life was like a
superchemical storage battery, mysteriously releasing
the life-extension force of the universe when eaten.
This form of sustenance was wholly useless to the
ordinary evolutionary beings on Urantia, but
specifically it was serviceable to the one hundred
materialized members of Caligastia's staff and to the
one hundred modified Andonites who had contributed of
their life plasm to the Prince's staff, and who, in
return, were made possessors of that complement of life
which made it possible for them to utilize the fruit of
the tree of life for an indefinite extension of their
otherwise mortal existence.
73:6.5
During the days of the Prince's rule the tree was
growing from the earth in the central and circular
courtyard of the Father's temple. Upon the outbreak of
the rebellion it was regrown from the central core by
Van and his associates in their temporary camp. This
Edentia shrub was subsequently taken to their highland
retreat, where it served both Van and Amadon for more
than one hundred and fifty thousand years.
73:6.6
When Van and his associates made ready the Garden for
Adam and Eve, they transplanted the Edentia tree to the
Garden of Eden, where, once again, it grew in a central,
circular courtyard of another temple to the Father. And
Adam and Eve periodically partook of its fruit for the
maintenance of their dual form of physical life.
73:6.7
When the plans of the Material Son went astray, Adam and
his family were not permitted to carry the core of the
tree away from the Garden. When the Nodites invaded
Eden, they were told that they would become as "gods if
they partook of the fruit of the tree." Much to their
surprise they found it unguarded. They ate freely of the
fruit for years, but it did nothing for them; they were
all material mortals of the realm; they lacked that
endowment which acted as a complement to the fruit of
the tree. They became enraged at their inability to
benefit from the tree of life, and in connection with
one of their internal wars, the temple and the tree were
both destroyed by fire; only the stone wall stood until
the Garden was subsequently submerged. This was the
second temple of the Father to perish.
73:6.8
And now must all flesh on Urantia take the natural
course of life and death. Adam, Eve, their children, and
their children's children, together with their
associates, all perished in the course of time, thus
becoming subject to the ascension scheme of the local
universe wherein mansion world resurrection follows
material death.
7. THE FATE OF EDEN
73:7.1
After the first garden was vacated by Adam, it was
occupied variously by the Nodites, Cutites, and the
Suntites. It later became the dwelling place of the
northern Nodites who opposed co-operation with the
Adamites. The peninsula had been overrun by these
lower-grade Nodites for almost four thousand years after
Adam left the Garden when, in connection with the
violent activity of the surrounding volcanoes and the
submergence of the Sicilian land bridge to Africa, the
eastern floor of the Mediterranean Sea sank, carrying
down beneath the waters the whole of the Edenic
peninsula. Concomitant with this vast submergence the
coast line of the eastern Mediterranean was greatly
elevated. And this was the end of the most beautiful
natural creation that Urantia has ever harbored. The
sinking was not sudden, several hundred years being
required completely to submerge the entire peninsula.
73:7.2
We cannot regard this disappearance of the Garden as
being in any way a result of the miscarriage of the
divine plans or as a result of the mistakes of Adam and
Eve. We do not regard the submergence of Eden as
anything but a natural occurrence, but it does seem to
us that the sinking of the Garden was timed to occur at
just about the date of the accumulation of the reserves
of the violet race for undertaking the work of
rehabilitating the world peoples.
73:7.3
The Melchizedeks counseled Adam not to initiate the
program of racial uplift and blending until his own
family had numbered one-half million. It was never
intended that the Garden should be the permanent home of
the Adamites. They were to become emissaries of a new
life to all the world; they were to mobilize for
unselfish bestowal upon the needy races of earth.
73:7.4
The instructions given Adam by the Melchizedeks implied
that he was to establish racial, continental, and
divisional headquarters to be in the charge of his
immediate sons and daughters, while he and Eve were to
divide their time between these various world capitals
as advisers and co-ordinators of the world-wide ministry
of biologic uplift, intellectual advancement, and moral
rehabilitation.
73:7.5
Presented by Solonia, the seraphic "voice in the
Garden."
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