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