Paper 12 — The Universe of Universes

P.128 – §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.

P.128 – §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.

P.128 – §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 – P.128

P.128 – §4 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.

P.128 – §5 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

P.129 – §0 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.

Seven Superuniverses
(p. 129)

Outer space levels (p.129)

Seven Superuniverses with four outer space levels

P.129 – §1 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:

P.129 – §2 1. The Central Universe–Havona.

P.129 – §3 2. The Seven Superuniverses.

P.129 – §4 3. The First Outer Space Level.

P.129 – §5 4. The Second Outer Space Level.

P.129 – §6 5. The Third Outer Space Level.

P.129 – §7 6. The Fourth and Outermost Space Level.

P.129 – §8 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.

P.129 – §9 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.

P.129 – §10 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.

P.129 – §11 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.

P.129 – §12 The Outer Space Levels. Far out in space,
at an enormous distance from the seven inhabited superuniverses, there
are assembling vast and unbelievably

P.130 – §0 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.

P.130 – §1 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.

P.130 – §2 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 – P.130

P.130 – §3 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.

P.130 – §4 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.

P.130 – §5 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

P.131 – §0 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.

P.131 – §1 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.

P.131 – §2 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.

P.131 – §3 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 – P.131

P.131 – §4 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:

P.131 – §5 1. The Personality Gravity of the Universal
Father.

P.131 – §6 2. The Spirit Gravity of the Eternal Son.

P.131 – §7 3. The Mind Gravity of the Conjoint Actor.

P.131 – §8 4. The Cosmic Gravity of the Isle of Paradise.

P.131 – §9 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.

P.132 – §1 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:

P.132 – §2 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.

P.132 – §3 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.

P.132 – §4 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

P.133 – §0 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.

P.133 – §1 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.

P.133 – §2 Personality Gravity is noncomputable.
We recognize the circuit, but we cannot measure either qualitative or
quantitative realities responsive thereto.

4. SPACE AND MOTION – P.133

P.133 – §3 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.

P.133 – §4 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:

P.133 – §5 1. We think the Conjoint Actor initiates
motion in space.

P.133 – §6 2. If the Conjoint Actor produces the
motions of space, we cannot prove it.

P.133 – §7 3. The Universal Absolute does not originate
initial motion but does equalize and control all of the tensions originated
by motion.

P.133 – §8 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.

P.133 – §9 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:

P.133 – §10 1. Primary motion–space respiration,
the motion of space itself.

P.133 – §11 2. Secondary motion–the alternate directional
swings of the successive space levels.

P.133 – §12 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.
P.133 – §13 4. Compensatory or correlating movement designed to co-ordinate
all other motions.

P.134 – §1 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.

P.134 – §2 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.

P.134 – §3 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.

P.134 – §4 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.

P.134 – §5 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 – P.134

P.134 – §6 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

P.135 – §0 standard day is arbitrarily so recognized.
The totality of space respiration destroys its local value as a time source.

P.135 – §1 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.

P.135 – §2 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.

P.135 – §3 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.

P.135 – §4 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.

P.135 – §5 There are three different levels of time
cognizance:

P.135 – §6 1. Mind-perceived time–consciousness
of sequence, motion, and a sense of duration.

P.135 – §7 2. Spirit-perceived time–insight into
motion Godward and the awareness of the motion of ascent to levels of
increasing divinity.

P.135 – §8 3. Personality creates a unique time sense
out of insight into Reality plus a consciousness of presence and an awareness
of duration.

P.135 – §9 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.

P.135 – §10 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 – P.135

P.135 – §11 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.

P.135 – §12 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.

P.136 – §1 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.

P.136 – §2 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.

P.136 – §3 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.

P.136 – §4 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.

P.136 – §5 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.

P.136 – §6 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:

P.136 – §7 1. The Absolutes in potential.

P.136 – §8 2. The Ultimate in direction.

P.137 – §1 3. The Supreme in evolutionary co-ordination.

P.137 – §2 4. The Architects of the Master Universe
in administration prior to the appearance of specific rulers.

P.137 – §3 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 – P.137

P.137 – §4 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.

P.137 – §5 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.

P.137 – §6 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.

P.137 – §7 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.

P.137 – §8 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

P.138 – §0 is the assurance of stability for all
created things and beings. He is God; therefore he changes not.

P.138 – §1 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.

P.138 – §2 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.

P.138 – §3 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.

P.138 – §4 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.

P.138 – §5 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.

P.138 – §6 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.

P.139 – §1 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.

P.139 – §2 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.

P.139 – §3 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 – P.139

P.139 – §4 "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.

P.139 – §5 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.

P.139 – §6 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.

P.139 – §7 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

P.140 – §0 nature than with the equally real and
mighty operations of a spiritual nature which are discerned only by the
spiritual insight of the soul.

P.140 – §1 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.

P.140 – §2 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.

P.140 – §3 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.

P.140 – §4 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.

P.140 – §5 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:

P.140 – §6 1. Matter. Organized energy which is subject
to linear gravity except as it is modified by motion and conditioned by
mind.

P.140 – §7 2. Mind. Organized consciousness which
is not wholly subject to material gravity, and which becomes truly liberated
when modified by spirit.

P.140 – §8 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.

P.140 – §9 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.

P.140 – §10 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.

P.140 – §11 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

P.141 – §0 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.

P.141 – §1 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 – P.141

P.141 – §2 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.

P.141 – §3 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.

P.141 – §4 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.

P.141 – §5 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.

P.141 – §6 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.

P.142 – §2 [Presented by a Perfector of Wisdom
acting by authority of the Ancients of Days.]