717 lines
42 KiB
Plaintext
717 lines
42 KiB
Plaintext
Urantia Book Paper 56 Universal Unity
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SPIRITWEB ORG, PROMOTING SPIRITUAL CONSCIOUSNESS ON THE INTERNET.
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Subjects Archive The Urantia Book Urantia Book PART II: The Local Universe :
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The Evolution Of Local Universes Administration Of The Local Universe The Local
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Universe Mother Spirit The Local Universe Sons Of God The Life Carriers
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Personalities Of The Local Universe Ministering Spirits Of The Local Universe
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The Seraphic Hosts The Ascending Sons Of God Physical Aspects Of The Local
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Universe Energy--mind And Matter The Constellations The Celestial Artisans The
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Local System Administration The Local System Headquarters The Seven Mansion
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Worlds The Morontia Life The Inhabited Worlds The Planetary Princes The
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Planetary Adams Planetary Mortal Epochs The Lucifer Rebellion Problems Of The
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Lucifer Rebellion The Spheres Of Light And Life Universal Unity
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Paper 56 Universal Unity
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Introduction
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GOD is unity. Deity is universally co-ordinated. The universe of universes is
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one vast integrated mechanism which is absolutely controlled by one infinite
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mind. The physical, intellectual, and spiritual domains of universal creation
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are divinely correlated. The perfect and imperfect are truly interrelated, and
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therefore may the finite evolutionary creature ascend to Paradise in obedience
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to the Universal Father's mandate: "Be you perfect, even as I am perfect."
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The diverse levels of creation are all unified in the plans and administration
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of the Architects of the Master Universe. To the circumscribed minds of
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time-space mortals the universe may present many problems and situations which
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apparently portray disharmony and indicate absence of effective co-ordination;
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but those of us who are able to observe wider stretches of universal phenomena,
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and who are more experienced in this art of detecting the basic unity which
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underlies creative diversity and of discovering the divine oneness which
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overspreads all this functioning of plurality, better perceive the divine and
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single purpose exhibited in all these manifold manifestations of universal
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creative energy.
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1. PHYSICAL CO-ORDINATION
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The physical or material creation is not infinite, but it is perfectly
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co-ordinated. There are force, energy, and power, but they are all one in
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origin. The seven superuniverses are seemingly dual; the central universe,
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triune; but Paradise is of single constitution. And Paradise is the actual
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source of all material universes--past, present, and future. But this cosmic
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derivation is an eternity event; at no time--past, present, or future--does
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either space or the material cosmos come forth from the nuclear Isle of Light.
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As the cosmic source, Paradise functions prior to space and before time; hence
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would its derivations seem to be orphaned in time and space did they not emerge
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through the Unqualified Absolute, their ultimate repository in space and their
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revealer and regulator in time.
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The Unqualified Absolute upholds the physical universe, while the Deity
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Absolute motivates the exquisite overcontrol of all material reality; and both
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Absolutes are functionally unified by the Universal Absolute. This cohesive
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correlation of the material universe is best understood by all
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personalities--material, morontia, absonite, or spiritual--by the observation
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of the gravity
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top of page - 638
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response of all bona fide material reality to the gravity centering on nether
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Paradise.
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Gravity unification is universal and unvarying; pure-energy response is
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likewise universal and inescapable. Pure energy (primordial force) and pure
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spirit are wholly preresponsive to gravity. These primal forces, inhering in
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the Absolutes, are personally controlled by the Universal Father; hence does
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all gravity center in the personal presence of the Paradise Father of pure
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energy and pure spirit and in his supermaterial abode.
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Pure energy is the ancestor of all relative, nonspirit functional realities,
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while pure spirit is the potential of the divine and directive overcontrol of
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all basic energy systems. And these realities, so diverse as manifested
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throughout space and as observed in the motions of time, are both centered in
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the person of the Paradise Father. In him they are one--must be
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unified--because God is one. The Father's personality is absolutely unified.
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In the infinite nature of God the Father there could not possibly exist duality
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of reality, such as physical and spiritual; but the instant we look aside from
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the infinite levels and absolute reality of the personal values of the Paradise
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Father, we observe the existence of these two realities and recognize that they
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are fully responsive to his personal presence; in him all things consist.
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The moment you depart from the unqualified concept of the infinite personality
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of the Paradise Father, you must postulate MIND as the inevitable technique of
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unifying the ever-widening divergence of these dual universe manifestations of
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the original monothetic Creator personality, the First Source and Center--the
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2. INTELLECTUAL UNITY
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The Thought-Father realizes spirit expression in the Word-Son and attains
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reality expansion through Paradise in the far-flung material universes. The
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spiritual expressions of the Eternal Son are correlated with the material
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levels of creation by the functions of the Infinite Spirit, by whose
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spirit-responsive ministry of mind, and in whose physical-directive acts of
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mind, the spiritual realities of Deity and the material repercussions of Deity
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are correlated the one with the other.
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Mind is the functional endowment of the Infinite Spirit, therefore infinite in
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potential and universal in bestowal. The primal thought of the Universal Father
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eternalizes in dual expression: the Isle of Paradise and his Deity equal, the
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spiritual and Eternal Son. Such duality of eternal reality renders the mind
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God, the Infinite Spirit, inevitable. Mind is the indispensable channel of
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communication between spiritual and material realities. The material
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evolutionary creature can conceive and comprehend the indwelling spirit only by
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the ministry of mind.
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This infinite and universal mind is ministered in the universes of time and
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space as the cosmic mind; and though extending from the primitive ministry of
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the adjutant spirits up to the magnificent mind of the chief executive of a
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universe, even this cosmic mind is adequately unified in the supervision of the
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Seven Master Spirits, who are in turn co-ordinated with the Supreme Mind of
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time and space and perfectly correlated with the all-embracing mind of the
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Infinite Spirit.
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top of page - 639
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3. SPIRITUAL UNIFICATION
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As the universal mind gravity is centered in the Paradise personal presence of
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the Infinite Spirit, so does the universal spirit gravity center in the
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Paradise personal presence of the Eternal Son. The Universal Father is one, but
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to time-space he is revealed in the dual phenomena of pure energy and pure
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spirit.
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Paradise spirit realities are likewise one, but in all time-space situations
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and relations this single spirit is revealed in the dual phenomena of the
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spirit personalities and emanations of the Eternal Son and the spirit
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personalities and influences of the Infinite Spirit and associated creations;
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and there is yet a third--pure-spirit fragmentations--the Father's bestowal of
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the Thought Adjusters and other spirit entities which are prepersonal.
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No matter on what level of universe activities you may encounter spiritual
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phenomena or contact with spirit beings, you may know that they are all derived
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from the God who is spirit by the ministry of the Spirit Son and the Infinite
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Mind Spirit. And this far-flung spirit functions as a phenomenon on the
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evolutionary worlds of time as it is directed from the headquarters of the
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local universes. From these capitals of the Creator Sons come the Holy Spirit
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and the Spirit of Truth, together with the ministry of the adjutant
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mind-spirits, to the lower and evolving levels of material minds.
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While mind is more unified on the level of the Master Spirits in association
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with the Supreme Being and as the cosmic mind in subordination to the Absolute
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Mind, the spirit ministry to the evolving worlds is more directly unified in
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the personalities resident on the headquarters of the local universes and in
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the persons of the presiding Divine Ministers, who are in turn well-nigh
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perfectly correlated with the Paradise gravity circuit of the Eternal Son,
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wherein occurs final unification of all time-space spirit manifestations.
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Perfected creature existence can be attained, sustained, and eternalized by the
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fusion of self-conscious mind with a fragment of the pre-Trinity spirit
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endowment of some one of the persons of the Paradise Trinity. The mortal mind
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is the creation of the Sons and Daughters of the Eternal Son and the Infinite
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Spirit and, when fused with the Thought Adjuster from the Father, partakes of
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the threefold spirit endowment of the evolutionary realms. But these three
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spirit expressions become perfectly unified in the finaliters, even as they
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were in eternity so unified in the Universal I AM ere he ever became the
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Universal Father of the Eternal Son and the Infinite Spirit.
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Spirit must always and ultimately become threefold in expression and
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Trinity-unified in final realization. Spirit originates from one source through
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a threefold expression; and in finality it must and does attain its full
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realization in that divine unification which is experienced in finding
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God--oneness with divinity--in eternity, and by means of the ministry of the
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cosmic mind of the infinite expression of the eternal word of the Father's
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universal thought.
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4. PERSONALITY UNIFICATION
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The Universal Father is a divinely unified personality; hence will all his
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ascendant children who are carried to Paradise by the rebound momentum of the
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Thought Adjusters, who went forth from Paradise to indwell material mortals
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top of page - 640
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in obedience to the Father's mandate, likewise be fully unified personalities
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ere they reach Havona.
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Personality inherently reaches out to unify all constituent realities. The
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infinite personality of the First Source and Center, the Universal Father,
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unifies all seven constituent Absolutes of Infinity; and the personality of
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mortal man, being an exclusive and direct bestowal of the Universal Father,
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likewise possesses the potential of unifying the constituent factors of the
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mortal creature. Such unifying creativity of all creature personality is a
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birthmark of its high and exclusive source and is further evidential of its
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unbroken contact with this same source through the personality circuit, by
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means of which the personality of the creature maintains direct and sustaining
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contact with the Father of all personality on Paradise.
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Notwithstanding that God is manifest from the domains of the Sevenfold up
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through supremacy and ultimacy to God the Absolute, the personality circuit,
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centering on Paradise and in the person of God the Father, provides for the
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complete and perfect unification of all these diverse expressions of divine
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personality so far as concerns all creature personalities on all levels of
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intelligent existence and in all the realms of the perfect, perfected, and
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perfecting universes.
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While God is to and in the universes all that we have portrayed, nevertheless,
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to you and to all other God-knowing creatures he is one, your Father and their
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Father. To personality God cannot be plural. God is Father to each of his
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creatures, and it is literally impossible for any child to have more than one
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father.
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Philosophically, cosmically, and with reference to differential levels and
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locations of manifestation, you may and perforce must conceive of the
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functioning of plural Deities and postulate the existence of plural Trinities;
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but in the worshipful experience of the personal contact of every worshiping
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personality throughout the master universe, God is one; and that unified and
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personal Deity is our Paradise parent, God the Father, the bestower,
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conservator, and Father of all personalities from mortal man on the inhabited
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worlds to the Eternal Son on the central Isle of Light.
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5. DEITY UNITY
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The oneness, the indivisibility, of Paradise Deity is existential and absolute.
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There are three eternal personalizations of Deity--the Universal Father, the
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Eternal Son, and the Infinite Spirit--but in the Paradise Trinity they are
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actually one Deity, undivided and indivisible.
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From the original Paradise-Havona level of existential reality, two subabsolute
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levels have differentiated, and thereon have the Father, Son, and Spirit
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engaged in the creation of numerous personal associates and subordinates. And
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while it is inappropriate in this connection to undertake the consideration of
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absonite deity unification on transcendental levels of ultimacy, it is feasible
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to look at some features of the unifying function of the various Deity
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personalizations in whom divinity is functionally manifest to the diverse
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sectors of creation and to the different orders of intelligent beings.
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The present functioning of divinity in the superuniverses is actively manifest
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in the operations of the Supreme Creators--the local universe Creator Sons and
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Spirits, the superuniverse Ancients of Days, and the Seven Master Spirits of
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Paradise. These beings constitute the first three levels of God the Sevenfold
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top of page - 641
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leading inward to the Universal Father, and this entire domain of God the
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Sevenfold is co-ordinating on the first level of experiential deity in the
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evolving Supreme Being.
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On Paradise and in the central universe, Deity unity is a fact of existence.
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Throughout the evolving universes of time and space, Deity unity is an
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achievement.
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6. UNIFICATION OF EVOLUTIONARY DEITY
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When the three eternal persons of Deity function as undivided Deity in the
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Paradise Trinity, they achieve perfect unity; likewise, when they create,
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either associatively or severally, their Paradise progeny exhibit the
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characteristic unity of divinity. And this divinity of purpose manifested by
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the Supreme Creators and Rulers of the time-space domains eventuates in the
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unifying power potential of the sovereignty of experiential supremacy which, in
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the presence of the impersonal energy unity of the universe, constitutes a
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reality tension that can be resolved only through adequate unification with the
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experiential personality realities of experiential Deity.
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The personality realities of the Supreme Being come forth from the Paradise
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Deities and on the pilot world of the outer Havona circuit unify with the power
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prerogatives of the Almighty Supreme coming up from the Creator divinities of
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the grand universe. God the Supreme as a person existed in Havona before the
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creation of the seven superuniverses, but he functioned only on spiritual
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levels. The evolution of the Almighty power of Supremacy by diverse divinity
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synthesis in the evolving universes eventuated in a new power presence of Deity
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which co-ordinated with the spiritual person of the Supreme in Havona by means
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of the Supreme Mind, which concomitantly translated from the potential resident
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in the infinite mind of the Infinite Spirit to the active functional mind of
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the Supreme Being.
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The material-minded creatures of the evolutionary worlds of the seven
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superuniverses can comprehend Deity unity only as it is evolving in this
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power-personality synthesis of the Supreme Being. On any level of existence God
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cannot exceed the conceptual capacity of the beings who live on such a level.
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Mortal man must, through the recognition of truth, the appreciation of beauty,
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and the worship of goodness, evolve the recognition of a God of love and then
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progress through ascending deity levels to the comprehension of the Supreme.
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Deity, having been thus grasped as unified in power, can then be personalized
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in spirit to creature understanding and attainment.
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While ascending mortals achieve power comprehension of the Almighty on the
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capitals of the superuniverses and personality comprehension of the Supreme on
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the outer circuits of Havona, they do not actually find the Supreme Being as
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they are destined to find the Paradise Deities. Even the finaliters,
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sixth-stage spirits, have not found the Supreme Being, nor are they likely to
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until they have achieved seventh-stage-spirit status, and until the Supreme has
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become actually functional in the activities of the future outer universes.
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But when ascenders find the Universal Father as the seventh level of God the
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Sevenfold, they have attained the personality of the First Person of all deity
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levels of personal relationships with universe creatures.
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top of page - 642
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7. UNIVERSAL EVOLUTIONARY REPERCUSSIONS
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The steady progress of evolution in the time-space universes is accompanied by
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ever-enlarging revelations of Deity to all intelligent creatures. The
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attainment of the height of evolutionary progress on a world, in a system,
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constellation, universe, superuniverse, or in the grand universe signalizes
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corresponding enlargements of deity function to and in these progressive units
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of creation. And every such local enhancement of divinity realization is
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accompanied by certain well-defined repercussions of enlarged deity
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manifestation to all other sectors of creation. Extending outward from
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Paradise, each new domain of realized and attained evolution constitutes a new
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and enlarged revelation of experiential Deity to the universe of universes.
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As the components of a local universe are progressively settled in light and
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life, God the Sevenfold is increasingly made manifest. Time-space evolution
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begins on a planet with the first expression of God the Sevenfold--the Creator
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Son-Creative Spirit association--in control. With the settling of a system in
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light, this Son-Spirit liaison attains the fullness of function; and when an
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entire constellation is thus settled, the second phase of God the Sevenfold
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becomes more active throughout such a realm. The completed administrative
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evolution of a local universe is attended by new and more direct ministrations
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of the superuniverse Master Spirits; and at this point there also begins that
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ever-expanding revelation and realization of God the Supreme which culminates
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in the ascender's comprehension of the Supreme Being while passing through the
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worlds of the sixth Havona circuit.
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The Universal Father, the Eternal Son, and the Infinite Spirit are existential
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deity manifestations to intelligent creatures and are not, therefore, similarly
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expanded in personality relations with the mind and spirit creatures of all
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creation.
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It should be noted that ascending mortals may experience the impersonal
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presence of successive levels of Deity long before they become sufficiently
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spiritual and adequately educated to attain experiential personal recognition
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of, and contact with, these Deities as personal beings.
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Each new evolutionary attainment within a sector of creation, as well as every
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new invasion of space by divinity manifestations, is attended by simultaneous
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expansions of Deity functional-revelation within the then existing and
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previously organized units of all creation. This new invasion of the
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administrative work of the universes and their component units may not always
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appear to be executed exactly in accordance with the technique herewith
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outlined because it is the practice to send forth advance groups of
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administrators to prepare the way for the subsequent and successive eras of new
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administrative overcontrol. Even God the Ultimate foreshadows his
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transcendental overcontrol of the universes during the later stages of a local
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universe settled in light and life.
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It is a fact that, as the creations of time and space are progressively settled
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in evolutionary status, there is observed a new and fuller functioning of God
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the Supreme concomitant with a corresponding withdrawing of the first three
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manifestations of God the Sevenfold. If and when the grand universe becomes
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settled in light and life, what then will be the future function of the
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Creator-Creative
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top of page - 643
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manifestations of God the Sevenfold if God the Supreme assumes direct control
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of these creations of time and space? Are these organizers and pioneers of the
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time-space universes to be liberated for similar activities in outer space? We
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do not know, but we speculate much concerning these and related matters.
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As the frontiers of experiential Deity are extended out into the domains of the
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Unqualified Absolute, we envision the activity of God the Sevenfold during the
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earlier evolutionary epochs of these creations of the future. We are not all in
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agreement respecting the future status of the Ancients of Days and the
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superuniverse Master Spirits. Neither do we know whether or not the Supreme
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Being will therein function as in the seven superuniverses. But we all
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conjecture that the Michaels, the Creator Sons, are destined to function in
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these outer universes. Some hold that the future ages will witness some closer
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form of union between the associated Creator Sons and Divine Ministers; it is
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even possible that such a creator union might eventuate in some new expression
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of associate-creator identity of an ultimate nature. But we really know nothing
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about these possibilities of the unrevealed future.
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We do know, however, that in the universes of time and space, God the Sevenfold
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provides a progressive approach to the Universal Father, and that this
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evolutionary approach is experientially unified in God the Supreme. We might
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conjecture that such a plan must prevail in the outer universes; on the other
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hand the new orders of beings that may sometime inhabit these universes may be
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able to approach Deity on ultimate levels and by absonite techniques. In short,
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we have not the slightest concept of what technique of deity approach may
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become operative in the future universes of outer space.
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Nevertheless, we deem that the perfected superuniverses will in some way become
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a part of the Paradise-ascension careers of those beings who may inhabit these
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outer creations. It is quite possible that in that future age we may witness
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outer-spacers approaching Havona through the seven superuniverses, administered
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by God the Supreme with or without the collaboration of the Seven Master
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Spirits.
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8. THE SUPREME UNIFIER
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The Supreme Being has a threefold function in the experience of mortal man:
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First, he is the unifier of time-space divinity, God the Sevenfold; second, he
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is the maximum of Deity which finite creatures can actually comprehend; third,
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he is mortal man's only avenue of approach to the transcendental experience of
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consorting with absonite mind, eternal spirit, and Paradise personality.
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Ascendant finaliters, having been born in the local universes, nurtured in the
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superuniverses, and trained in the central universe, embrace in their personal
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experiences the full potential of the comprehension of the time-space divinity
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of God the Sevenfold unifying in the Supreme. Finaliters serve successively in
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superuniverses other than those of nativity, thereby superimposing experience
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upon experience until the fullness of the sevenfold diversity of possible
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creature experience has been encompassed. Through the ministry of the
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indwelling Adjusters the finaliters are enabled to find the Universal Father,
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but it is by these techniques of experience that such finaliters come really to
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know the Supreme Being, and they are destined to the service and the revelation
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of this Supreme Deity in and to the future universes of outer space.
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top of page - 644
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Bear in mind, all that God the Father and his Paradise Sons do for us, we in
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turn and in spirit have the opportunity to do for and in the emerging Supreme
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Being. The experience of love, joy, and service in the universe is mutual. God
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the Father does not need that his sons should return to him all that he bestows
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upon them, but they do (or may) in turn bestow all of this upon their fellows
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and upon the evolving Supreme Being.
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All creational phenomena are reflective of antecedent creator-spirit
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activities. Said Jesus, and it is literally true, "The Son does only those
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things which he sees the Father do." In time you mortals may begin the
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revelation of the Supreme to your fellows, and increasingly may you augment
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this revelation as you ascend Paradiseward. In eternity you may be permitted to
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make increasing revelations of this God of evolutionary creatures on supreme
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levels--even ultimate--as seventh-stage finaliters.
|
|
|
|
9. UNIVERSAL ABSOLUTE UNITY
|
|
|
|
The Unqualified Absolute and the Deity Absolute are unified in the Universal
|
|
Absolute. The Absolutes are co-ordinated in the Ultimate, conditioned in the
|
|
Supreme, and time-space modified in God the Sevenfold. On subinfinite levels
|
|
there are three Absolutes, but in infinity they appear to be one. On Paradise
|
|
there are three personalizations of Deity, but in the Trinity they are one.
|
|
|
|
The major philosophic proposition of the master universe is this: Did the
|
|
Absolute (the three Absolutes as one in infinity) exist before the Trinity? and
|
|
is the Absolute ancestral to the Trinity? or is the Trinity antecedent to the
|
|
Absolute?
|
|
|
|
Is the Unqualified Absolute a force presence independent of the Trinity? Does
|
|
the presence of the Deity Absolute connote the unlimited function of the
|
|
Trinity? and is the Universal Absolute the final function of the Trinity, even
|
|
a Trinity of Trinities?
|
|
|
|
On first thought, a concept of the Absolute as ancestor to all things--even the
|
|
Trinity--seems to afford transitory satisfaction of consistency gratification
|
|
and philosophic unification, but any such conclusion is invalidated by the
|
|
actuality of the eternity of the Paradise Trinity. We are taught, and we
|
|
believe, that the Universal Father and his Trinity associates are eternal in
|
|
nature and existence. There is, then, but one consistent philosophic
|
|
conclusion, and that is: The Absolute is, to all universe intelligences, the
|
|
impersonal and co-ordinate reaction of the Trinity (of Trinities) to all basic
|
|
and primary space situations, intrauniversal and extrauniversal. To all
|
|
personality intelligences of the grand universe the Paradise Trinity forever
|
|
stands in finality, eternity, supremacy, and ultimacy and, for all practical
|
|
purposes of personal comprehension and creature realization, as absolute.
|
|
|
|
As creature minds may view this problem, they are led to the final postulate of
|
|
the Universal I AM as the primal cause and the unqualified source of both the
|
|
Trinity and the Absolute. When, therefore, we crave to entertain a personal
|
|
concept of the Absolute, we revert to our ideas and ideals of the Paradise
|
|
Father. When we desire to facilitate comprehension or to augment consciousness
|
|
of this otherwise impersonal Absolute, we revert to the fact that the Universal
|
|
Father is the existential Father of absolute personality; the Eternal Son is
|
|
the Absolute Person, though not, in the experiential sense, the personalization
|
|
of the Absolute.
|
|
|
|
top of page - 645
|
|
|
|
And then we go on to envisage the experiential Trinities as culminating in the
|
|
experiential personalization of the Deity Absolute, while conceiving the
|
|
Universal Absolute as constituting the universe and the extrauniverse phenomena
|
|
of the manifest presence of the impersonal activities of the unified and
|
|
co-ordinated Deity associations of supremacy, ultimacy, and infinity--the
|
|
Trinity of Trinities.
|
|
|
|
God the Father is discernible on all levels from the finite to the infinite,
|
|
and though his creatures from Paradise to the evolutionary worlds have
|
|
variously perceived him, only the Eternal Son and the Infinite Spirit know him
|
|
as an infinity.
|
|
|
|
Spiritual personality is absolute only on Paradise, and the concept of the
|
|
Absolute is unqualified only in infinity. Deity presence is absolute only on
|
|
Paradise, and the revelation of God must always be partial, relative, and
|
|
progressive until his power becomes experientially infinite in the space
|
|
potency of the Unqualified Absolute, while his personality manifestation
|
|
becomes experientially infinite in the manifest presence of the Deity Absolute,
|
|
and while these two potentials of infinity become reality-unified in the
|
|
Universal Absolute.
|
|
|
|
But beyond subinfinite levels the three Absolutes are one, and thereby is
|
|
infinity Deity-realized regardless of whether any other order of existence ever
|
|
self-realizes consciousness of infinity.
|
|
|
|
Existential status in eternity implies existential self-consciousness of
|
|
infinity, even though another eternity may be required to experience
|
|
self-realization of the experiential potentialities inherent in an infinity
|
|
eternity--an eternal infinity.
|
|
|
|
And God the Father is the personal source of all manifestations of Deity and
|
|
reality to all intelligent creatures and spirit beings throughout all the
|
|
universe of universes. As personalities, now or in the successive universe
|
|
experiences of the eternal future, no matter if you achieve the attainment of
|
|
God the Sevenfold, comprehend God the Supreme, find God the Ultimate, or
|
|
attempt to grasp the concept of God the Absolute, you will discover to your
|
|
eternal satisfaction that in the consummation of each adventure you have, on
|
|
new experiential levels, rediscovered the eternal God--the Paradise Father of
|
|
all universe personalities.
|
|
|
|
The Universal Father is the explanation of universal unity as it must be
|
|
supremely, even ultimately, realized in the postultimate unity of absolute
|
|
values and meanings--unqualified Reality.
|
|
|
|
The Master Force Organizers go out into space and mobilize its energies to
|
|
become gravity responsive to the Paradise pull of the Universal Father; and
|
|
subsequently there come the Creator Sons, who organize these gravity-responding
|
|
forces into inhabited universes and therein evolve intelligent creatures who
|
|
receive unto themselves the spirit of the Paradise Father and subsequently
|
|
ascend to the Father to become like him in all possible divinity attributes.
|
|
|
|
The ceaseless and expanding march of the Paradise creative forces through space
|
|
seems to presage the ever-extending domain of the gravity grasp of the
|
|
Universal Father and the never-ending multiplication of varied types of
|
|
intelligent creatures who are able to love God and be loved by him, and who, by
|
|
thus becoming God-knowing, may choose to be like him, may elect to attain
|
|
Paradise and find God.
|
|
|
|
top of page - 646
|
|
|
|
The universe of universes is altogether unified. God is one in power and
|
|
personality. There is co-ordination of all levels of energy and all phases of
|
|
personality. Philosophically and experientially, in concept and in reality, all
|
|
things and beings center in the Paradise Father. God is all and in all, and no
|
|
things or beings exist without him.
|
|
|
|
10. TRUTH, BEAUTY, AND GOODNESS
|
|
|
|
As the worlds settled in life and light progress from the initial stage to the
|
|
seventh epoch, they successively grasp for the realization of the reality of
|
|
God the Sevenfold, ranging from the adoration of the Creator Son to the worship
|
|
of his Paradise Father. Throughout the continuing seventh stage of such a
|
|
world's history the ever-progressing mortals grow in the knowledge of God the
|
|
Supreme, while they vaguely discern the reality of the overshadowing ministry
|
|
of God the Ultimate.
|
|
|
|
Throughout this glorious age the chief pursuit of the ever-advancing mortals is
|
|
the quest for a better understanding and a fuller realization of the
|
|
comprehensible elements of Deity--truth, beauty, and goodness. This represents
|
|
man's effort to discern God in mind, matter, and spirit. And as the mortal
|
|
pursues this quest, he finds himself increasingly absorbed in the experiential
|
|
study of philosophy, cosmology, and divinity.
|
|
|
|
Philosophy you somewhat grasp, and divinity you comprehend in worship, social
|
|
service, and personal spiritual experience, but the pursuit of
|
|
beauty--cosmology--you all too often limit to the study of man's crude artistic
|
|
endeavors. Beauty, art, is largely a matter of the unification of contrasts.
|
|
Variety is essential to the concept of beauty. The supreme beauty, the height
|
|
of finite art, is the drama of the unification of the vastness of the cosmic
|
|
extremes of Creator and creature. Man finding God and God finding man--the
|
|
creature becoming perfect as is the Creator--that is the supernal achievement
|
|
of the supremely beautiful, the attainment of the apex of cosmic art.
|
|
|
|
Hence materialism, atheism, is the maximation of ugliness, the climax of the
|
|
finite antithesis of the beautiful. Highest beauty consists in the panorama of
|
|
the unification of the variations which have been born of pre-existent
|
|
harmonious reality.
|
|
|
|
The attainment of cosmologic levels of thought includes:
|
|
|
|
1. Curiosity. Hunger for harmony and thirst for beauty. Persistent attempts to
|
|
discover new levels of harmonious cosmic relationships.
|
|
|
|
2. Aesthetic appreciation. Love of the beautiful and ever-advancing
|
|
appreciation of the artistic touch of all creative manifestations on all levels
|
|
of reality.
|
|
|
|
3. Ethic sensitivity. Through the realization of truth the appreciation of
|
|
beauty leads to the sense of the eternal fitness of those things which impinge
|
|
upon the recognition of divine goodness in Deity relations with all beings; and
|
|
thus even cosmology leads to the pursuit of divine reality values--to
|
|
God-consciousness.
|
|
|
|
The worlds settled in light and life are so fully concerned with the
|
|
comprehension of truth, beauty, and goodness because these quality values
|
|
embrace the revelation of Deity to the realms of time and space. The meanings
|
|
of eternal
|
|
|
|
top of page - 647
|
|
|
|
truth make a combined appeal to the intellectual and spiritual natures of
|
|
mortal man. Universal beauty embraces the harmonious relations and rhythms of
|
|
the cosmic creation; this is more distinctly the intellectual appeal and leads
|
|
towards unified and synchronous comprehension of the material universe. Divine
|
|
goodness represents the revelation of infinite values to the finite mind,
|
|
therein to be perceived and elevated to the very threshold of the spiritual
|
|
level of human comprehension.
|
|
|
|
Truth is the basis of science and philosophy, presenting the intellectual
|
|
foundation of religion. Beauty sponsors art, music, and the meaningful rhythms
|
|
of all human experience. Goodness embraces the sense of ethics, morality, and
|
|
religion--experiential perfection-hunger.
|
|
|
|
The existence of beauty implies the presence of appreciative creature mind just
|
|
as certainly as the fact of progressive evolution indicates the dominance of
|
|
the Supreme Mind. Beauty is the intellectual recognition of the harmonious
|
|
time-space synthesis of the far-flung diversification of phenomenal reality,
|
|
all of which stems from pre-existent and eternal oneness.
|
|
|
|
Goodness is the mental recognition of the relative values of the diverse levels
|
|
of divine perfection. The recognition of goodness implies a mind of moral
|
|
status, a personal mind with ability to discriminate between good and evil. But
|
|
the possession of goodness, greatness, is the measure of real divinity
|
|
attainment.
|
|
|
|
The recognition of true relations implies a mind competent to discriminate
|
|
between truth and error. The bestowal Spirit of Truth which invests the human
|
|
minds of Urantia is unerringly responsive to truth--the living spirit
|
|
relationship of all things and all beings as they are co-ordinated in the
|
|
eternal ascent Godward.
|
|
|
|
Every impulse of every electron, thought, or spirit is an acting unit in the
|
|
whole universe. Only sin is isolated and evil gravity resisting on the mental
|
|
and spiritual levels. The universe is a whole; no thing or being exists or
|
|
lives in isolation. Self-realization is potentially evil if it is antisocial.
|
|
It is literally true: "No man lives by himself." Cosmic socialization
|
|
constitutes the highest form of personality unification. Said Jesus: "He who
|
|
would be greatest among you, let him become server of all."
|
|
|
|
Even truth, beauty, and goodness--man's intellectual approach to the universe
|
|
of mind, matter, and spirit--must be combined into one unified concept of a
|
|
divine and supreme ideal. As mortal personality unifies the human experience
|
|
with matter, mind, and spirit, so does this divine and supreme ideal become
|
|
power-unified in Supremacy and then personalized as a God of fatherly love.
|
|
|
|
All insight into the relations of the parts to any given whole requires an
|
|
understanding grasp of the relation of all parts to that whole; and in the
|
|
universe this means the relation of created parts to the Creative Whole. Deity
|
|
thus becomes the transcendental, even the infinite, goal of universal and
|
|
eternal attainment.
|
|
|
|
Universal beauty is the recognition of the reflection of the Isle of Paradise
|
|
in the material creation, while eternal truth is the special ministry of the
|
|
Paradise Sons who not only bestow themselves upon the mortal races but even
|
|
pour out their Spirit of Truth upon all peoples. Divine goodness is more fully
|
|
shown forth in the loving ministry of the manifold personalities of the
|
|
Infinite Spirit.
|
|
|
|
top of page - 648
|
|
|
|
But love, the sum total of these three qualities, is man's perception of God as
|
|
his spirit Father.
|
|
|
|
Physical matter is the time-space shadow of the Paradise energy-shining of the
|
|
absolute Deities. Truth meanings are the mortal-intellect repercussions of the
|
|
eternal word of Deity--the time-space comprehension of supreme concepts. The
|
|
goodness values of divinity are the merciful ministries of the spirit
|
|
personalities of the Universal, the Eternal, and the Infinite to the time-space
|
|
finite creatures of the evolutionary spheres.
|
|
|
|
These meaningful reality values of divinity are blended in the Father's
|
|
relation with each personal creature as divine love. They are co-ordinated in
|
|
the Son and his Sons as divine mercy. They manifest their qualities through the
|
|
Spirit and his spirit children as divine ministry, the portrayal of loving
|
|
mercy to the children of time. These three divinities are primarily manifested
|
|
by the Supreme Being as power-personality synthesis. They are variously shown
|
|
forth by God the Sevenfold in seven differing associations of divine meanings
|
|
and values on seven ascending levels.
|
|
|
|
To finite man truth, beauty, and goodness embrace the full revelation of
|
|
divinity reality. As this love-comprehension of Deity finds spiritual
|
|
expression in the lives of God-knowing mortals, there are yielded the fruits of
|
|
divinity: intellectual peace, social progress, moral satisfaction, spiritual
|
|
joy, and cosmic wisdom. The advanced mortals on a world in the seventh stage of
|
|
light and life have learned that love is the greatest thing in the
|
|
universe--and they know that God is love.
|
|
|
|
Love is the desire to do good to others.
|
|
|
|
[Presented by a Mighty Messenger visiting on Urantia, by request of the Nebadon
|
|
Revelatory Corps and in collaboration with a certain Melchizedek, the
|
|
vicegerent Planetary Prince of Urantia.]
|
|
|
|
* * * * *
|
|
|
|
This paper on Universal Unity is the twenty-fifth of a series of presentations
|
|
by various authors, having been sponsored as a group by a commission of Nebadon
|
|
personalities numbering twelve and acting under the direction of Mantutia
|
|
Melchizedek. We indited these narratives and put them in the English language,
|
|
by a technique authorized by our superiors, in the year 1934 of Urantia time.
|
|
|
|
top of page - 649
|
|
|
|
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
Subjects Archive The Urantia Book Urantia Book PART II: The Local Universe :
|
|
The Evolution Of Local Universes Administration Of The Local Universe The Local
|
|
Universe Mother Spirit The Local Universe Sons Of God The Life Carriers
|
|
Personalities Of The Local Universe Ministering Spirits Of The Local Universe
|
|
The Seraphic Hosts The Ascending Sons Of God Physical Aspects Of The Local
|
|
Universe Energy--mind And Matter The Constellations The Celestial Artisans The
|
|
Local System Administration The Local System Headquarters The Seven Mansion
|
|
Worlds The Morontia Life The Inhabited Worlds The Planetary Princes The
|
|
Planetary Adams Planetary Mortal Epochs The Lucifer Rebellion Problems Of The
|
|
Lucifer Rebellion The Spheres Of Light And Life Universal Unity
|
|
|
|
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